How the other half lives (Starling and Gannen)

Gannen Harst was a hard man to deal with, or so he was told. Honestly, he didn't think he was that unreasonable. All he wanted was for his species, the Vampanese, to run the show as it were. No more Vampires in their mountain and no more Desmond Tiny in his... where-ever the hell that creepy little man actually lived.

He wanted his people to rule the night and have the humans continue, none the wiser, as their food sources forever. After all, humans cared little about the scum of their society dying off mysteriously and the Vampanese were more than happy with this for now. Why kill or alert your prey after all?

But unfortunately for Gannen, the Vampanese were not the only players in the battle for the night. The vampires lived and Desmond Tiny was still seen to be too powerful to be able to take down. So they would deal with Tiny to kill the vampires. Hence why he was here, in the lobby of the fife star hotel, waiting for Tiny and his charge to arrive.

Unlike the vampires, the vampanese had expanded into human territory. Why hide away when you could become 'respectable' businessmen? Politicians?

Hell, the Novotel hotel chain was owned entirely by Vampanese businessmen, hence why he had asked them to meet him here. So that Tiny's charge would see the difference between the stagnant vampires (living in a mountain) and the progressive Vampanese, who were integrated with the humans and influential to them as well.

Lilith had been glad to get away from Vampire mountain and the hurt that had been done to her there, she wanted to be able to have a small break and meet with some new people, perhaps the Vampanese would treat her better than the Vampires had done? Then again it would be hard to be treated worse than they had treated her, although she was missing the friends that she had made while staying in the mountain, Starling as sure she could write to them later.

Sighing slightly as she walked into the hotel with Desmond, she had been listening to him none stop trying to explain why things had gone wrong with her and Larten...to be honest she didn't really mind why things had gone wrong, it allowed her to actually see the world for what it was not blinded by fake love for Larten any longer. Starling wondered how many cute guys she had passed up because she had been so blindly following Larten like a lost puppy.

She had power and she would embrace that power without having to fear what people thought about it, what she did she didn't need to explain. Maybe she would find a vampanese who appreciated her power and would like her for it, as opposed to shouting at her when she used it against someone, who in her opinion, rightly deserved it.

A small smile appeared on her lips when she saw the vampanese she was here to see, he was attractive she had to admit, had the whole bad guy thing going for him. She was wearing nothing too extravagant, she didn't feel like dressing up today so she was in skin tight black jeans with a red checked shirt and cherry red doc marten boots.

Desmond introduced the two of them and then with a knowing smile went out of the hotel and about his business leaving the two of them, rather rapidly alone. Blinking from his sudden departure she felt the need to introduce herself again;

"Hi, like Desmond said I'm Lilith, but I'd prefer it if you'd call me Starling, it's nice to meet you."

Gannen could tell that they were approaching. Desmond Tiny's scent on the wind was always a repulsively strong one that just begged to be picked up on. He would have scrunched his nose up in disgust if it weren't for the soft, sweet, scent that was accompanying Desmond. It was a beautiful smell that made Gannen lick his lips a little bit with sudden hunger, even though he knew the person wasn't human and could not, therefore, be eaten quite in the way he wanted right then.

When he noticed her in person for the first time he couldn't help but lick his lips again. He might just have to eat her in the non-bloody way judging by how beautiful and sexy she was. He got to his feet smoothly to greet them. He shook Desmond's hand with no small amount of disgust before gently kissing the back of Lilith, or Starling's, hand,

"A pleasure to meet you Starling." he purred to her huskily before smirking a little bit, "I hear you've been and seen the Vampire mountain. Well... we vampanese have no such meeting place I'm afraid."

He gestured around at the lobby of the massive Novotel that they were standing in,

"We invested in the human world instead. This hotel chain is ours." he told her with a predatory look as he looked her up and down, "We are as much a part of human life as we are a part of the night... would you like to check in to your room? It is an executive room so there is plenty of space for us both... to discuss matters of course."

Starling could see the way that he was looking at her and she blushed softly, she hadn't been looked at in that way before, it was a sort of carnal glaze to his eyes that made her think that he wanted to take her upstairs and do very naughty things to her. Of course now that Desmond was gone she could go upstairs and have him do those things to her without being embarrassed about him coming in halfway through or something like that.

As Gannen kissed the back of her hand she blushed softly, making her pale skin even paler. Still in a little bit of the rut that the miscarriage had left her in, she wasn't feeding as much as she should have, which meant that she was still a little bit hungrier than she would have liked. Biting her lip softly she let her sharp fang poke out between her lips.

"Yes you are right I have been there but...I'd rather not talk about it." she whispered softly, closing her eyes briefely before she reopened them, she was holding back the wave of emotion that she had rush through her when she had thought about Vampire Mountain, she would rather she didn't go back if she was really honest with herself.

Blinking a little when she heard that the hotel was owned entirely by the Vampanese, Starling was a little bit shocked and surprised, but, pleased. She didn't want to spend the next few weeks or so living in a dark damp cave again, it was hardly very pleasing for her when she came to think about it. This hotel looked so lovely, so plush, she was excited to be here.

"I looks like a beautiful hotel Gannen, I've never been somewhere as plush as this before." she smiled softly, before paling again "Yes I would love to check into my room, to retire and discuss what you have in mind." Starling stated, wondering what exactly he did have in mind.

Gannen was aware that his gaze would probably be found offensive by most women seeing as how he was obviously checking her body out and seeing how sext that she was. And thinking about what he would do with her if he got her alone. Now that Tiny was out of the way he was free to move in on the sexy young woman. There was nothing to stop him but the limit of their own desires and he had a feeling that her desires were anything but fully developed.

He saw her blushing and grinned a little bit to himself.

It was, in the end, clear though that she wasn't going to just get into the whole idea of sleeping with him. Probably something that had happened with the vampires he was sure. After all, he wouldn't put it past the morons to do something to push her away to this degree,

"Very well then Starling, I shall respect your wishes on this matter and others." he assured her with a softer grin, having sensed a little bit of the discomfort that she was feeling because of being reminded of the vampires, "Do not worry my dear, your visit with us will be much more enjoyable by far."

They were quickly booked into the executive suite and Gannen quickly led her to one of the private lifts that only vampense and their guests could use. Exiting on the right floor, he opened the door for her to reveal the large, high up, room. It was complete with bedroom area, living area and a massive bathroom. He raised his hands before bowing slightly with a grin,

"We aim to please and when we aim we connect!" he joked a little bit before looking around the room as he closed the door, "I trust that everything is to your liking?"

Starling blinked a little and she smiled slightly wider when she heard that Gannen was going to respect what she had said and he wasn't going to ask her about the time she had spent with the Vampires just yet, she would be willing to talk about it in time perhaps when she got to know him a little better. She had learnt from her trip to the mountain not to be really open with people when she first met them, she wouldn't make the same mistake with Gannen.

"Thank you." she smiled softly "I hope that I'll have a great time here, it's already a lot better, I have to say the hotel feels a lot more homely than the mountain ever did, thank you for allowing me to stay here while I meet some more of the vampanese."

When they walked into the executive room Starling blinked and looked around, it was massive! It was the most huge room that she had ever seen, walking into the bathroom she had to supress a squeak as she saw the massive bath, the powerful shower, all the freebies! Hurrying back out she grinned and ran her hand over the TV, over the iPod dock, before jumping onto the bed and laying spread eagled on it.

Sitting up she grinned, light hearted and so pleased with her room.

"Ah it's so great!" she laughed softly "I can't believe how posh this all is, and the view! It has the most amazing view!"

Jumping off the bed to go to look out the window she smiled happily; "Everything is wonderful, thank you again. What was it you wanted to talk to me about before?" Starling asked, tilting her head to one side.

Gannen was beginning to get a little bit suspicious of just what had happened over at the mountain with the vampires if he was completely honest. After all, what could have been so bad that she didn't even react well to the mention of the place? He had his suspicions and really hoped that they were wrong. After all, his brother was a vampire prince. Becoming a vampire hadn't taken away the man's sense of duty and honour had it? He chuckled a little bit,

"Yes well I imagine the lack of bats and damp does that." he joked with a little smirk at the way he was able to beat the vampires with just this little display. He chuckled a little bit more and nodded, "You're welcome to stay here for as long as you like. In every novotel there will be an executive room waiting for you should you need it, our gift to you."

He watched her reaction to the room with no small amount of amusement. She was animated that was for sure and she seemed to enjoy being in this new room. It was one of the better rooms in the hotel so he could understand that he supposed,

"Just as well we decided to upgrade you eh?" he teased her a little bit before gesturing to the coffee table with it's two comfy chairs. He took a bottle of wine out of the mini-fridge and poured two glasses, one for each other them, before sitting down, "Nothing too serious of course Starling. Just wanted to know how to make your stay here as... pleasurable as possible."

Starling laughed quietly it was a quiet laugh but a laugh none the less, this room had made her so happy and she was glad that she would be able to stay here as long as she liked, whenever she liked apparently. It was so generous of them to give her this..she really hadn't expected it. She hadn't gotten a gift when she had gone to the Vampires, and now the Vampanese had given her a really awesome one...it was kind of sweet if she thought about it.

"Wow, that's...that's so generous thank you Gannen." she exclaimed with a shy smile "I'll make sure that I make use of all of those rooms at some point, it sure helps me if I need to travel around, which I'm planning on doing a fair bit of once my visit to the vampanese is done."

Moving over to the small table and chairs, Starling watched as the wine was poured, taking her glass Starling held it loosely by the stem, it was cool against her skin and she wondered how it would go actually drinking it. She hadn't drunk any wine for a long time and normally it made her more than a little tipsy, at least she could stagger to her bed if she needed to.

"Well...it's already so wonderful I...I don't know if there is anything else that I need to make it more enjoyable." she stated, blinking softly "I guess some good company might help, there's no point having such a nice room if there's nobody to come over and enjoy it with you, I'd get kind of lonely."

Gently, she sipped at the wine and sighed softly; "And uhm, I was wondering what your approach to feeding was...from the looks of it it's just, get your own. I am thankful for that, I hated drinking from mugs while I was in the mountain." Starling admitted with a small pout.

Gannen merely held up a hand and waved away the thanks that she gave him and the vampanese for such a gift. To be honest the gift was from him, the other vampanese didn't really believe in giving gifts for some reason, as if they thought your only rewards should be those you have taken for yourself through either combat or hard work. He could tell by her reaction that the vampires hadn't given her anything good like what they had given her.

Chalk one win up for the vampanese.

"It is the least we could give to someone as lovely as yourself Gannen. I tried to get your free Café Nero coffee for life too... but it was massively expensive." he joked a little bit with a wink before grinning a little bit, "Well if you decide to travel I can give you a business card or two. They'll give you contact details of influential vampanese within the area who might help you as well."

Sipping at the win happily, he noticed that Starling seemed to be eyeing the wine a little warily. Perhaps she had managed to get drunk in the vampire mountain and something had happened because of that? It would explain her reluctance to talk about it he supposed. In the end he just grinned a little bit when she said that she would want some company,

"Well for company you can have me for as long as you wish." he told her with a grin, "I am in the room just across the hallway from you so I haven't got far to walk, or stumble back, in case we end up getting drunk at all."

When she spoke about feeding he nodded in agreement,

"Yes it's very much 'get your own'." he agreed before commenting, "Don't drain the staff please, otherwise this whole hotel suddenly becomes evil or something and we had to leave it."

Starling was a little surprised about how helpful Gannen was being, he was so nice to her and so far nothing had gone wrong, maybe the whole not throwing yourself at someone thing was working well, it wasn't making her upset yet so perhaps she should continue in this vein. Did Gannen find her attractive? She certainly hoped so. Starling wanted to make sure that he was as attracted to her as she was to him.

"How did you know that I liked Café Nero so much?" she asked with a grin "I wouldn't want you to spend so much money on me for a simple gift...I wouldn't be able to accept something like that, given how long my life is hopefully going to be, there would be a lot of money on that gift card." Starling joked softly, twirling a finger in her long black hair.

Hearing that Gannen was in the room across the hall, Starling felt a little bit more secure, she had been a little worried being in the room on her own but now she was going to be able to call on him if she needed something. God knows what she might need, maybe help trying to figure out how to work the shower in the morning or something along that line.

"I think I like the idea of getting drunk, letting loose for a little while." Starling commented with a rougish grin, taking a large drink of her wine so that half the glass disappeared in that one movement "You don't object to that do you?"

When Starling heard that it was a get your own sort of service she nodded her head with a small smile, she might just have to get her own tomorrow sometime, she needed to feed and she wasn't going to drain the person dry which she might just do if she left feeding much longer. She doubted she would be able to stop herself.

"Alright, I promise I'll be good and I won't drain the staff." she smiled cheekily "Do you know any good clubs around here, they're normally good for a swift bite to eat?" Starling asked with a little malicious twinkle in her eye.

He laughed a little bit when she said that she liked Café Nero. That had been a complete guess but in this day and age people liked one of three coffee shops so he had had a rather good chance of getting it right just by guessing. To be honest he had chosen Café Nero because it was the only one he drank at. Of course he only drank there to cruise for women... but with the sexiest woman he'd seen in a long time right in front of him? Why would he ever need to go out again? She was all the woman he needed and all the woman he wanted,

"Ah you see, I actually just guessed." he joked a little bit as he sipped more of his wine before filling it back up to the top again. Drinking more of it happily, he laughed a little bit before handing her a gift card for Café Nero, "£50. Not quite as unlimited as the hotel rooms but still, enough to get you something you like at least a few times."

When she said that she liked the idea of getting drunk he grinned widely. Who didn't like to get a little bit drunk? Of course he would love to get drunk and it would be all the more fun doing so in her company. He got the feeling that she was one of those types of people who could make anything fun and the fun things even better,

"Alright then, you keep drinking the wine." he told her with a smirk before collecting some smaller glasses and a bottle of Jack Daniels, "Doesn't have to be wine you know, we can get almost off our heads with this much better. I say almost, I've never been massively drunk due to being of the night. I imagine you might not have such an immunity."

When she asked about clubs in the area he smirked a little bit and nodded,

"We set up a club for goths who are into the whole 'vampire' scene. They're all really dedicated I must say..." he smirked, "But there are two clubs. Afterlife; where anyone can go. And 'Bitten', where only people chosen by Vampanese can go. The club goers assume that the people who go to Bitten just think it's too awesome to go back to Afterlife. In fact 'Bitten' is where you feed on your prey."

Starling laughed softly when she heard that Gannen had just guessed, it was quite accurate a guess she had to say and she was amazed that she would be able to talk to him about modern things and he would actually know about them as opposed to talking about the latest release from Disturbed to Mika and him asking why she was interested in the latest reports on mental issues. Honestly sometimes it made her want to slam her head against a hard object.

"Oh really, for me?" she asked with a shocked expression, taking the card with a shy glance up at Gannen "Well...thank you so much! You're being so nice to me, anyone would think you're trying to butter me up, I guess maybe you are when I think about it." Starling admitted with a wink "I'll accept this gift if you promise to come and share a coffee with me sometime, okay?"

As he picked up some Jack Daniels Starling grinned again, she had wanted to drink this so much when she turned 18, but she hadn't been able to because of the treatments that she had gone through. Taking in alcohol wasn't the best thing for her. Draining the last of her wine she picked up a clean tumbler and held it out to Gannen;

"I think I shall take you up on that offer, I have always wanted to try Jack Daniels, and it's a lot stronger than wine, so, you're right I'll get drunk a lot quicker than I would have on wine." as her glass was filled up Starling took a large gulp, draining half the glass already "Hey I'm as immune to drink as you are thank you very much, although the biology of women being lighter weights than men still applies here I think."

Blinking in shock when she heard that there were clubs set up for them to go to and get fed, Starling almost shuddered a little at the idea of Bitten...there would be so many deaths there with all the Vampanese coming to feed, she thought she would rather stay in the atmosphere of Afterlife. After all, she didn't kill when she fed, quite the opposite.

"Alright well that certainly is clever." she admitted with a small smile, draining the rest of her glass and asking it to be filled again "Although I might stick to Afterlife, I've not so far taken life when I feed, that's not really what I'm about, it's more the pleasure thing for me." Starling smirked, flicking her tongue over her fangs.

Gannen grinned a little bit when she joked about him trying to butter her up. Was he trying to butter her up for something? Not particularly. Of course he would love it if she were to chose the vampanese over the vampires but he wasn't going to just try and push her to make that decision in their favour just because "she owed him" or something ridiculous like that,

"Yes, I don't drink as much coffee as I used to." he told her with a little grin before shaking his head a little bit, "I'm trying to be friendly and become your friend. That's all, if that counts and buttering you up then surely it's not all that bad right? But for you, I can definitely see myself drinking more coffee with your company."

He smirked a little bit when she picked up the Jack Daniels. The brand was iconic even to vampires and vampanese. Mainly because it was one of the few substances strong enough to get both groups drunk and not taste entirely of just burning fire in liquid form,

"It's definitely a lot stronger than the wine. It'll get you buzzed rather quickly I'll say." he told her with a smirk even as they both finished the last of the wine in their glasses and, hence, finished the bottle of wine between them. He smirked as he filled her glasses with Jack and did the same with his own. He knocked it back and sighed happily, "Well you'll get to prove that. First person to three tumblers of Jack wins one free demand of the other."

He had to admit that Afterlife and Bitten might not be her kind of scene but the fact remained that Afterlife was still an amazing club to go to even if you didn't get eaten or do the eating,

"Alright then, I can take you there whenever you like to show you the way and give you a familiar face." he assured her before smirking a little bit, "So you give pleasure rather than take all the blood? Mmm... interesting to be sure."

Starling was glad that Gannen was just trying to be her friend and was being nice to her because he wanted to, not because he wanted her to do something, or because he was trying to make her side with the vampanese. To be honest it was a refreshing approach and she was so happy that she would be able to hang out with someone like Gannen, while she got her barings in the area and while she got to know some other vampaneze.

As they finished the bottle of wine she hummed happily, already she was getting a little buzzed, she hoped that she would be able to have a great time tonight with Gannen and he wouldn't mind her when she got a little tipsy, she did get a little bit unmanageable she had been told. Although she wasn't going to stop drinking just because of that, and she took up her glass of Jack with a grin.

"Alright then Gannen, you're on! Just don't be crying to me when you lose your own little wager!" she teased as she knocked back her glass of Jacks, it was now a race to see who could finish their next glass fastest, she had a feeling it might be Gannen because he was filling the glasses.

What would he have her do she wondered, and with a little giggle, had some rather steamy images come up in her mind. She certainly wouldn't mind doing some of those things!

"You're going to show me around, what is you cramp my style?" she asked with an offended look on her face before Starling relaxed and winked, showing that she was only teasing him "The two kind of go hand in hand with me, I can't feed without making the subject feel pleasured, and I'd rather not kill anyone, it's just something I've not wanted to do...I'm still new to all this I guess."

Gannen had been told by the other important Vampanese to try and trick her into staying with the vampanese forever, just in case she could breed like Tiny's other daughter. But he had told them, very bluntly, to go to hell. You didn't start lying to someone and forcing them to do something, especially when you wanted them to be your ally in the future.

With the bottle of wine now finished they were both beginning to get a little bit tipsy, Starling more than Gannen himself seeing as he was the heavyweight here. He smirked a little bit when she took the glass of jack from him. Oooo see was trying to prove herself. But saying that, what she's doing is trying to do was prove herself to be one of the guys, fun and awesome. That kind of thing,

"Oh come now Starling... you and I both know that I'll be able to do much better at drinking this than you." he said with a laugh as he raised his glass to her to wish her luck, "Oh I won't be crying but you might do, I'm not sure. Depends of what I manage to get you to do,

"Yep I'm specifically here to cramp your style and everyone else's apparently. I say apparently because I've never actually remembered ever being able to cramp any one's style." he teased her a little bit before smirking a little bit as he knocked back another glass full of Jack. That was his second glass, one more and he won the bet. He smirked a little bit when she explained about how she fed, "Mmmm remind me to get you to take a drink from me after I'd filled up with blood of someone else."