He nodded to her then watched as she walked away. He moved off the crowded dance floor and stood next to the bar leaning against it. He watched the crowd carefully making sure he didn’t miss Ana. Bain’s head turned slowly to ward the bad as the bar tender asked if he wanted a drink he refused standing straight up and began moving back through the crowd of people heading toward the bathrooms.

She was taking much longer then expected… maybe she had been stopped by some guy after all what she was wearing was… well it was very pleasant to look at. He could see just see her hair popping out in between two people and he started to move toward her. he reached her quickly stopping a few feet away from her. “are you ready?”

Ana nearly sighed in relief. Another close call, but she was still safe. She ran a hand over her boside, making sure the ribbons and lace on the old corset were still stitched securely. Then she straightened the bodice and waked over to Bain.

"Whenever you're ready, we can leave," she replied.

The two pushed through the crowd to the club exit. Ana took a deep breath when they finally left the building, savoring the taste and scent of the fresh night air. She could taste the first sweet hints of rain on the soft breeze, along with the tang of building electricity.

"It will be raining soon," she murmured, mostly to herself. "A late summer storm."

Bain nodded down at her indicating he was more then ready to leave the club. He turned and waited till she was next to him before they made their journey toward the exit. He kept close to Ana making sure not to loose her in the crowd of people and that no one bumped into her.

When they finally made it outside Bain sighed in relief he had always hated crowded places, and he watched with relief as Ana to took a big gulp of air, maybe he wasn’t the only one that hated such places… he eye brows forwarded in thought. Wait hadn’t she said that she was their to ‘unwind’ then why did it seem like she was taking in air as if she hadn’t been breathing?

Shaking the thought away he turned his attention to the sky noticing the lack of stars. “yea… it would seem so” he replied to her statement as he returned his gaze back to her. “shall we get you back before it rains?” he smiled at her waiting for her to move first because he had no idea where her place was located.

Ana nodded.

"That's probably best," she replied. Slowly, she started walking in the direction of her apartment, making sure he was with her before resuming a normal human pace.

There weren't many people out on the streets anymore; those that were seemed to be mostly unconscious drunks and the occasional working-corner-girls. To her surprise, Ana spotted a couple of other vampires interspersed with the stragglers. Discretely, she glared at them, warning them away from herself and Bain. The club strip was neutral hunting territory, she knew, so there was no danger of offending a turf leader.

The apartment building that Ana lived in was just coming into view when the threatening storm started and rain started falling on them.

He started to fallow after her as she moved in the direction of where she lived. He kept pace with her watching the few people that were still out on the streets as they walked by. He watched with interest as Ana glared at a few of the stragglers. He wasn’t quite sure if she was worried they would approach them or if it was something more.

To his amazement those that she had glared at had promptly turned and disappeared into the shadows so quickly Bain hadn’t been sure if they had been their in the first place.

As the rain began to fall he kept his steady pace. He didn’t mind the rain but he wasn’t so sure of Ana. He figured if she ran for shelter he would fallow if not then well, that just meant he hadn’t wasted energy running for shelter if she didn’t mind the rain.

Ana quickened her pace, trying to get out of the rain faster while maintaining a human-like speed. Thank god her bodice was water-friendly... She started to look around for Bain when he came up beside her, easily matching her pace. Quickly, the two went into the apartment building. Just as they got through the door, lightning lit up the night and thunder crashed. Ana nearly hissed and bared her fangs at the sudden light, but restrained herself.

"Come on," she murmured, "my apartment is the loft. I can at least give you a towel to dry off with."

She led him up the stairs, past the other floors, until they reached the loft. Unlocking the door, she opened it and stepped aside for him to go through. Then she followed him in and closed the door softly behind her.

Once in the building he shook his cloths letting small droplets of water drop to the floor. As thunder sounded and a bright light filled the room he sighed a bit frustrated he didn’t mind the rain but walking in a thunderstorm was never a smart thing. He would ether have to wait it out or suck it up and risk it to get back to his dorm.

He turned to her as her voice drifted up to his ears. “alright” he replied as he made his way up the stairs behind her. he stared at her for a moment before he entered her apartment. He looked around curiously as he noticed all the unique things she kept. He silently wondered where she had acquired such things. He turned to look at her when he head the door shut. “nice place you’ve got here”

"Thank you," Ana replied as she pulled out a pair of towels. She handed one to him and used the other to try to dry her hair. Going over to her closet, she gently sifted through the brocade gowns and other such things until she found a silk kimono. The kimono was a light, spring green, embroidered with delicate pink water lilies and shimering dragonflies. After she had grabbed the garment, she dug a tanktop and pair of pajama shorts from her drawers.

"Please excuse me for a moment," she said, heading towards the bathroom. Once inside, she quickly changed out of her damp corset and mini skirt.

When she emerged from the bathroom a few moments later, she was wearing the tanktop and shorts, with the open kimono over top. Absently, she wondered how bad the storm outside was getting, and almost at the same moment, thunder cracked right overhead and the lights suddenly went out.

He accepted the towel from her and began to towel dry his hair, face and arms. He watched as she disappeared only to reemerge in her new outfit. Not so soon after she had come back thunder rumbled and everything went black.

Bain sighed in frustration. She reached into his pants pockets and whipped out a lighter. Igniting it he held up the small flam and squinted his eyes to make Ana’s figure out in the darkness. “you wouldn’t happen to have any candles would you?”

Ana's eyes adjusted to the darkness almost immediately, and she could see Bain fumbling for something in his pocket. She heard the small click before the tiny flame appeared. She could see him struggling to find her in the darkness and glided over to him silently.

"I think I have some candles somewhere," she said, and she saw him jump. 'He must not have been expecting me to be so close...' she thought. "Let me go see what I have." Placing a hand on his arm, she steered him to the bed, glad that she'd thought to take the extra blood at the club. Instead of being ice-cold, her hands were only relatively cold compared to the heat of his skin, which could be written off as what happened from the rain. "Here, sit down and keep drying off."

With that, she vanished into the darkness again. First, she went to the window and opened her blackout curtains. For a moment, she regretted doing so. A flash of lightning lanced her eyes, and she hissed softly, baring her fangs. Thankfully, by the time she had, it was dark again. Regaining her composure, she closed the curtains again and went into her tiny, nearly-unfurnished kitchen to find some candles.

Within moments, she found a bundle of white taper candles that would fit the standing Gothic-style candlabra near her bed. Going back to the room where Bain was, she easily lifted the iron-and-silver candlabra and moved it futher from her bed before putting candles into the five stems.

"May I borrow your lighter?" she asked. When he handed it to her, she lit the candles, softly illuminating the room.

His body jolted as he realized how close she was. His hand rested on his chest where his heart was as he scowled In the direction she was. He hated being snuck up on and prided himself on the fact that it rarely happened. So why had she been able to get so close so quickly and without his knowing. He filed that thought away for further inspection.

He willingly let her steer him toward her bed and he sat down. her hands were cold, probably from the rain, he wondered if the rest of her was cold as well… his head snapped up in her direction as he head a hiss but before he could be sure of what he heard thunder drowned out any other sound. He frowned slightly did she have a cat?

He waited patiently until she was back in front of him silently wondering how she could see so well in the dark. Upon her request he handed her the lighter. Finally grateful for the light that was now illuminating the room.

Ana sat down on the bed as her eyes adjusted to the candle light. She could still hear the faint beating of Bain's heart from when she'd startled him, and she tried her hardest to ignore it.

"The candles should last us until the storm passes," she said. She could hear the storm raging outside still. Doubtless, classes the next day would be cancelled. A storm this bad was bound to down trees and power lines. Glancing over at Bain, she saw him giving her an odd look.

"...What?" she asked. "Did I say something strange?" Or did she manage to slip up somewhere? She sincerely hoped that she'd said something odd and not done something odd...

He watched as she sat on the bed beside him though a little further from him then he would have liked. He looked at her still trying to figure out what that noise had been and how she had been able to see so well in the dark.

“No….” he said hesitantly he didn’t want to upset her with his thoughts he figured he was just being stupid and overly observant. He quickly looked away from her to the candles. Perhaps he should leave before the storm got any worse? A flash of lightning and the sound of thunder was is reply. Or perhaps he should stay here for a little bit? But was he comfortable with that? what she?! Not wanting to make himself seem like a freeloader. He stood up.

“perhaps I should head back to my own place before this gets any worse” he said as he indicated the weather outside. He wasn’t quite sure he wanted to leave yet but it felt wrong to stay without consent.

Ana noticed his hesitation but waved it off for the time being, relieved. He hadn't noticed her reaction to the lightning, at least not enough to realize something was amiss. She was slightly surprised when he stood up, though.

"I doubt it wise to venture out in such weather," she replied. Was she really about to invite him to stay the night? "It would be better for you to stay here, at least until the storm passes." ...Damn it all, she did. Curse her long-dead parents for raising her right!

Inwardly, she was already trying to figure out how to slip under Bain's radar. After all, she couldn't have him finding out that she gave new meaning to the phrase 'dead sleep'... There was no food in the kitchen, either, which would be hard to explain...

She pretty much just screwed herself over.

He looked at her surprised. He hadn’t expected her to invite him to stay but he couldn’t deny the pleaser he felt that she was comfortable enough with him to let him stay for a little while. He smiled down at her “as long as it’s alright with you” he sat back down beside her sitting almost close enough that their skins where touching.

“so how would you like to pass the time?” He wasn’t sure what to do but he didn’t want to sit there in silence though. “perhaps we could talk…” he inwardly sighed he wasn’t much of a talker but he figured that was what most girls liked to do… at least the ones he was familiar with. “or we could play a game…” he wasn’t quite sure why he had said it but it came out anyways.

He silently berated himself this is why he didn’t talk to others it always seemed like everything came out wrong. He then turned to her “that is of course you have any better suggestions” he scowled more to himself then to her. “which I am pretty sure you would”

Aw, how cute, he was starting to ramble. Ana smiled slightly.

"What would you like to talk about?" she asked. She glanced around her apartment at her accumulated belongings. The long shadows from the candle light danced across the walls, making the paintings and scrolls seem almost alive. The rich embroidery of her gowns glittered in the flickering light, passing from brocade to silk to tiny pearls and sequins.

She could see her small collection of weapons on one side of her closet; an oakwood bow, a leather quiver of arrows, a thin rapier, a belt of throwing daggers. The arrows and blades were all edged in silver, just in case she was forced to fight one of her own kind.

She looked back at Bain, and couldn't help but notice the rhythmic pulse of blood in his neck. Quickly, she looked at his face, and saw how the candle light made his eyes shimmer. Then she realized they'd been silent for quite some time.

"Unless, of course, you would rather just retire for the night? It is rather late, after all."

He held up his hand. “honestly no I would much more prefer to talk I’m not much one for sleep.” He looked around the room taking in all the odd assortment of items. Where had she acquired all these things? Some things he had never even seen before.

“if you don’t mind me asking where did you find all of this stuff” he said as he indicated the older style dresses, paintings and weaponry. “a lot of this looks like something you would see almost a hundred years ago…” he trailed off slightly in thought.

"These things?" Ana repeated. "They're just things I've... collected. I must confess a certain fondness for ball gowns, and I've been told I have a talent with the bow. And some of these things a quite a bit older than a hundred years." 'Such as myself...' she added silently. Getting up, she went to her closet and pulled out a blue satin gown with constellations embroidered on it in silver thread. The front of the bodice had three panels, and a silver crescent moon adorned the middle panel.

"This is one of my favorite gowns," she purred. "I wore it to a masquerade in France once." Then she realized that she was monopolizing the subject, and would have blushed had she enough blood. "Forgive me, was there anything else that caught your interest? I'd be happy to tell you about it."

he was taken aback by her sudden enthusiastic nature toward her belongings. He smiled slightly at that. he looked around again at the items, he had figured some of the items were more then a hundred years old but honestly how did she acquire them is what piqued his interest. He watched her with interest as she made her way over to her closet and brought out a gown. He must admit he wouldn’t have mind seeing her in it…

he looked around again at her various items picking one of interest. “so… why so many weapons? Are you just fond of collecting or do you actually use them?” he asked curiously, he didn’t mean in a literal sense more of if she practiced with them.

Ana nearly rolled her eyes. Boys and their toys, after all... Carefully hanging the gown back up, she reached back behind the clothing to pull out one of her blades. This one was a small dagger, meant specifically to be concealed on a woman's body. It, too, was edged in silver, and she gently pulled it from its sheath.

"These weapons are all live, although none have seen action for some time, now," she explained. "This one was given to me by the man who sired me, he insisted I learn how to use it." There. That was as close to the truth as she could make it without giving away her secret.

Putting the dagger back, she pulled out a slender, finely made sword.

"The person who made this sword has long since passed away, but all who knew him called him the finest craftsman in the field. This blade was one of his best works."

One by one, she told Bain about her weaponry, carefully skirting around exactly when she acquired each piece. Once she had put away the last throwing knife, she turned back to him.

"Was there anything else you had questions about?"

He watched her carefully as she drew each weapon out and gave him the history of it. Though it seemed strange that someone of her age would have so many weapons and all with a history it made her seem much older then she appeared, he dually noted that she was avoiding telling him when she had acquired the objects.

He gave her a neutral look hoping she didn’t see the uncertainty in his eyes. that nagging feeling was there again… something telling him that there was something off with this girl. His gaze quickly darted from her to different things she kept in her room. Hoping something would pop out at him so the silence would end. Then he noticed a piece of the gown she had originally pulled out.

“do you’ve been to France?” he asked as he returned his attention back to her. “how long were you their for?”

He was trying too hard to keep his face blank, Ana noted. Granted, it would have fooled a normal human, but she'd been reading faces ever since she was turned. She could see a glimmer of uncertainty in his eyes, and almost missed his next question.

"In France?" she repeated. "I've visited a few times, but I never stayed long."

He was getting perceptive... She didn't like where his questions were leading. Hopefully, she could continue to dance around the real truth until he left...

"I've spent a little time in Asia, as well, which is where I got this," she added, gesturing to the kimono she wore. "Again, not long."

“So… you travel often then” he stated as he fully took in the sight of the kimono. He shifted on the bed so that he was slightly leaning back.

“you must have quite a bit of money stowed away to travel so often.” He commented absent mindedly. he looked at her and smiled. “I’ve always wanted to travel but I’ve never had the money to do so” he looked up at the ceiling as if in thought, exposing his throat.

“what was Asia like?” he asked curiously as he continued to stare at the ceiling

"I love to travel," she replied as he sat back. "I get a bit twitchy if I'm in one place too long." That, and people tend to notice she doesn't age... She was about to answer his next question when he tilted his head back, as if in invitation. She faltered for a second, eyes drawn to his veins. He couldn't know... could he?

"Asia was everything America isn't," she said finally, trying to tear her eyes away from the exposed veins in his neck. "Especially in the countryside. Though I spent some of my time in Tokyo, as well." She ran her tongue over her fangs, trying her hardest to resist the temptation his was providing.

She finally managed to look away from the gently pulsing vein just as he tilted his head back down to look at her.

he listened contently as she spoke of why she loved to travel and he could understand why he felt the same way at times. Being in one place for so long often became tedious. But when she stopped talking his eyebrows forwarded. She took a long pause before she continued, he tiled his head back down as she turned her head away from him.

‘well that was odd’ he thought silently to himself. After a moments pause he spoke. “Tokyo huh… I almost had a chance to go their once… I should have taken it” he said as if he hadn’t noticed anything strange about her behavior. “how was it?”