Chapter One
Kendra walked into The Billiard Room, locally known as TBR, and looked around. There was a big crowd tonight so she headed towards the security room to start out by checking the security feeds. It had been decades since she'd sought out a human companion, but it was time for her to begin hunting in earnest. As she made her way through the party-themed billiard room towards the security office she saw two guys who looked like they were about to come to blows. She casually stepped a little closer, tuning into an argument about one of the men flirting with the other's girl, and the other denying she was the first guy’s girl. Kendra rolled her eyes and then quickly glanced at those watching the developing scene to see if she could see the girl in question and... bingo, there she was, standing off to the side, wringing her hands and looking guilty.
Kendra quietly moved to the girl's side. "Is there an easy way to get the two of them to back off?"
The girl looked at Kendra and then back at the guys and then back at Kendra. "I don't know. Jake won't take no for an answer, even though I've told him I'm with Kye now. Kye thinks he's defending my honor, but Jake is going to kick Kye's ass. I don't know how to make them stop, but I'm really scared for Kye."
Sizing the guys up, Kendra could easily guess which was about to get his ass kicked. She realized things were about to escalate and it was time to do something, so she stepped towards them and away from the girl in question.
"Jake, explain to me what you think you are about to accomplish here."
Both of the guys stopped arguing and looked at her as if she were an alien with green antennae. No big surprise that it was Jake who spoke first. "Who the hell are you?"
Kendra smiled at the one she assumed was Jake. "Think of me as your guardian angel. Answer the question Jake – what are you going to accomplish by fighting with Kye?"
Jake decided to be belligerent with her. "I don't have a fucking guardian angel, and this is none of your concern. Kye thinks Angel belongs to him, but she doesn't. I'm just trying to explain that to him. End of story, now beat it."
Interesting, the smell of a lie and the truth together. He‘d almost convinced himself of it, but there was a doubt in the back of his mind. Kendra decided to try the logical approach first. "I doubt Angel belongs to anyone. Slavery has long been against the law in this country, you can't own another human being. If Angel has not promised her time to you, and if she has chosen to spend time with Kye, then that is her decision. It doesn't mean she belongs to anyone. Has she asked for your protection? Or has she asked you to back off?"
She could sense the answer before he said anything, so she quickly said, "Shouldn't you do as the girl asks, and back off? Let her make her own decisions about who she spends time with? She doesn't belong to anyone, she's her own person."
"No, no, no – see, if Kye will just leave Angel the hell alone, then she and me, we can be happy together."
Shit, she should kick his ass just for that sentence alone. But, he said it with the smell of truth. He actually believed that if Kye went away then Angel would come back to him. Kendra noted that a few of the surrounding tables were starting to pay attention to them, so it was time to put an end to the discussion. It was doubtful Jake was going to listen to reason anyway, so it was time to get his attention another way. She stepped up close to him and spoke in a low voice. "You think you can beat Kye up and then it's you and Angel, happily ever after? No, you beat Kye up and Angel will help patch him up, hold ice on his boo-boos, change the dressing on his wounds, and give him lots of TLC while he heals. They'll grow even closer in the process, shutting you even farther out. But that's not really the point right now. The point right now is that you're causing a disturbance in a place of business, and we'd really rather you not do that. So you've got a choice, you can either nicely walk with me out the door and get in your car and leave, or I can escort you out the door and have a nice police officer write up a report about how you are disturbing the peace."
Ah, the stench of anger and belligerence. And his words matched the smell. "I ain't disturbin' nothin', bitch. And I'd like to see you try to walk me out ah here."
Kendra had no problem with that, though she wasn't actually going to call a police officer. That was a bluff. The less police reports written up around a nightclub, the better for the nightclub – too many of them and the city would take away your liquor license. She said his name firmly to get him to look straight at her, and when he did, his mind was hers. "We're going to walk outside, now."
He nodded and she reached for his arm and walked out with him. She asked him what he did for a living on the way out, he said he was working construction right now. Once they were out of the building she instructed him to walk to his car and get his keys out, which she promptly took from him. It was time for her to give him some suggestions, the first being that since he'd wisely agreed it was time to leave, there had been no arrest. Next she gave the suggestion that Jake thought Kye would be good for Angel and he was glad they were happy with each other. And the last suggestion, that Jake was worthy of his own happiness, that it was okay for him to be successful, and that he needed to find a trade he enjoyed and then work towards becoming an apprentice and mastering that trade so he could get a good paying job and become a contributing member of society. Most of her vampire friends made good natured fun of her for the way she gave humans suggestions to make themselves better people while she was giving them suggestions to resolve a conflict. But then Men in Black had come out and Will Smith did the same thing, and she'd felt a bit vindicated. She wasn't the only person on the planet with the idea. It was a good idea. Of course, now she occasionally had to put up with being called Agent J, but it was only ribbing and she was okay with that.