Foul Play [Cassie]

[Silas Rosier]

Jesus Christ, was Dacian deliberately trying to push his luck? Silas wasn’t a moron and the recent spell of illness that had been plaguing his staff members hardly failed to attract his attention. All his female staff suddenly coming around with vampire bite symptoms and he was supposed to what, ignore it? It hadn’t taken him long to set up outside surveillance and put a tracking charm on the staff security bracelets. If any of his employees disappeared to anywhere, Silas was going to know about it.

He didn’t manage to nip Dacian’s latest attack in the bud because he had been off in London doing God knows what in God knows where, but he had barely just arrived back when a very irritated Head Waitress strode over to inform him that one Cassie Vimes hadn’t come back from her break in almost two hours. The waitress had practically scurried under a table at Silas’s look of fury. God FUCKING damnit.

Staying only long enough to head into the storeroom, Silas collected Rickie Connery’s much less feminine and more watch-like shield bracelet. It was dead useless against Dacian but like hell he was going to visit the vampire as the only one without some form of spell resistance. There was no need to check what the surveillance had found, he could pretty much guess the reason Miss Cassandra had disappeared and the tracking charm was showing she had somehow ended up in the Quidditch Stadium change rooms. Dacian was apparently growing a brain when it came to keeping himself hidden, he’d been nothing but ridiculous so far, but what he expected to achieve against magical methods of locating people Silas had no idea.

Once getting into the reception area and out of the way of the anti-apparition charms, Silas apparated outside the change rooms. He could hear voices inside sure enough; Cassie’s, then Dacian’s. If he wasn’t so infuriated he might have cracked a laugh at what they were saying. What was the old adage? Speak of the devil and he shalt come? Well the devil was here all right. If he didn’t know any better he’d think Dacian was trying to flatter him with the whole ‘Silas is big and scary’ routine.

Ripping the crucifix off its chain around his neck, Silas let it hang visibly in his right hand before stepping in, his wand pointed squarely at the back of Dacian’s head. The scene he was looking at was not exactly what he’d been expecting; Cassie’s expression as she looked at Dacian was hardly adoration but the way she was stroking his chest suggested otherwise. Jesus Christ, why was everything so fucking complicated with people? He wasn’t even going to ask what Dacian was doing in a towel.

”Just drop the fucking act, vampire.” Silas growled through gritted teeth, eyes narrowed murderously. ”She’s not the one attacking my employees, stalking me, or trying to kill me for sport. Do not think, walk the fuck away, or lets you and me end this right now.”

[Dacian]

Something about her tone of voice suggested she really didn’t ‘get it’. She relayed the concept to him and then flung it over her shoulder. What was so difficult about ‘He could kill you so keep away from him’? His patience was starting to wane. With a frustrated huff, he swallowed a growl and resisted the urge to carry her of into the forest and kidnap her permanently. At least he’d be able to keep an eye on her then. “You’re not taking this seriously. This isn’t—”

He should have known by now never to let his guard down, though Cassie seemed to make it impossible not to while he was around her. With inhuman speed, he was up on his feet and facing Silas in the blink of an eye. One hand clutched at the towel, maintaining his modesty, while the other arm lifted automatically to shield his eyes from the crucifix. He didn’t need to see the man behind its glare to know exactly who it was. The voice was enough, and now the smell of him was reaching the vampire too.

All at once, Dacian had dropped all his pretences and that hateful snarl bubbled up in his throat. The difference between the semblances of humanity he presented to Cassie and the animal rage reserved for Silas was staggering. Only the threat of the crucifix kept him at bay, else he would have launched at the intruder as soon as he had made his presence known. Dacian didn’t like to be followed, and he certainly didn’t like to be threatened.

He might have damned his dignity and ran if it weren’t for Cassie. He half-crouched in front of her, shielding her from the other man. Her shirt still hung unbuttoned from her shoulders, and Silas was not getting a free show. The vampire snarled, wishing he could at least meet the man’s eyes as he countered the threat. Dacian could be a fairly possessive man over those things he considered his own. He carried few possessions with him, but there were certain people he would defend as if they were his property. Vivian was one of them, and Cassie another. There were a few others dotted through history that he was prepared to defend, though they were few and far between. Ultimately Dacian was keen on protecting himself, so it should have been a comfort to Cassie that he had laid a claim to her, though it was doubtful she would appreciate the way he expressed it.

Dacian lowered his forearm a little, squinting against the glare of the cross. “You’re making a grave error, Silas. She’s mine, you won’t take her.” Assuming Silas knew already that Cassie was the woman he’d been seen with at the Three Broomsticks, Dacian would not have revealed anything that Silas didn't already know. Dacian was unaware of how much information he had just given away. If he had treated Cassie like any other piece of meat, he might have avoided future grief. Now Silas knew for certain Cassie was the one, and Dacian was prepared to face down a man armed with a cross and a wand to keep her.

[Cassie Vimes]

Whatever Dacian had been about to say, likely more of the same warnings, he didn’t get to finish his sentence as Silas burst into the room. As entrances went, even though it was lacking an explosion and a puff of purple smoke, it was pretty spectacular. It made Cassie flinch, her heart racing with shock, but that was nothing compared to the speed with which Dacian was on his feet, facing off against Silas even as he tried to shy away from the cross he was holding.

Well, that wasn’t exactly how she’d pictured trying to explain her unexplained disappearance from work. For a start Cassie had planned to be fully dressed and Dacian would be nowhere in sight. Not quite the same as having her shirt unbuttoned and sitting in a compromising position with a vampire in a towel. ’I can explain everything.’ Just wouldn’t cut it. Especially since she really, really couldn’t. Cassie got the feeling she was the least clued in of the three of them.

Scarier even than the possibility of getting fired and the fact that Silas was pointing a wand at them (well, mainly Dacian) was the growl that tore itself from Dacian’s throat. Cassie had never seen him look so… inhuman. The accusations Silas was making weren’t helping either. Would Dacian really have tried to kill the man for sport? She didn’t know what to think, it was the ultimate in ’He started it! arguments.

Trying to suppress a shiver she wrapped her shirt across her torso to cover up and crossed her arms over the fabric to keep it there. No way she was going to sit there and redo all the buttons like some mortifying reverse strip tease. Not that it wasn’t a little ridiculous that she felt more embarrassed than Dacian who was standing there in just a towel. There were more pressing matters at hand though, both men looked tensed and ready to kill each other the second one of them made a move.

”Stop it!” Cassie snapped, standing and attempting not to sway too visibly as a dizzy spell washed over her. Her gaze flicked too her boots laying on the floor near the end of the bench. That was one disadvantage to working at Scores, less clothing meant less places to secret away a wand. With hers stashed in her boot she had no hope of reaching her wand to gain that added protection before it all kicked off. She was helpless, Dacian had been right. How annoying.

”Silas,” She shot him a pleading look, hoping against hope Dacian hadn’t been right about the club owner being a monster intent on dishing out pain with a side of death. ”Put the cross away.” Cassie wouldn’t be able to watch Dacian suffer through another crucifix burn. She put a hand on Dacian’s shoulder, hoping it would be enough to remind him that mauling her boss wouldn’t be appreciated either. ”Could somebody please explain what the hell is going on?”

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[Silas Rosier]

What happened next was nothing more complicated than a simple equation as far as Silas was concerned. Silas had warned Dacian to move or else he was going to get it, and the vampire hadn’t, opting instead to be deliberately stubborn, disturbingly possessive, or oddly chivalrous. If he wasn’t so convinced Dacian was a malevolent, isolated bastard Silas might have noticed the vampire’s manner was equally protective as it was aggressive. It could be called noble, but ultimately fruitless. Cassie, including what she was wearing, had taken a backseat in mind for the moment even if she was being an idiot. Put the cross away, sure, for Dacian to rip his throat out immediately? Because that was a clever idea. While Dacian was there in front of him and an easy target, Cassie Vimes was irrelevant.

”You made your choice then,” Silas said darkly, lip curling into a smirk and not even giving Cassie a look in her direction of acknowledgement. He couldn’t complain, Dacian had just given him permission to cast a spell he’d wanted to do for a very long time. In a flash his wand flicked down to point at Dacian’s chest and a burning, powerful light virtually blasted outwards from the tip, radiating violently to scorch Dacian from head to toe and illuminating the room like a bomb flash that wouldn’t go away.

[Dacian]

The crucifix exuded a light that Dacian could not see past. If he had seen the expression of utter triumph on the wizard’s face, Dacian would have realised his mistake. Due to the fact that Silas seemed to know everything else about him, it had been logical to assume that Silas had known about Cassie when he’d mentioned a woman.

Cassie herself was understandably confused. Dacian had been careful to keep his rivalries from her, knowing she would be less likely to even let him near her if she knew his track record. Despite the fact their conversation had been deteriorating into what would likely become another verbal sparring match, the vampire had been optimistic that he might win the argument overall. Now it seemed he was unlikely to convince her of any innocent he might have confronted with Silas himself. He was unable to stop that feral growl in his throat even knowing it would frighten Cassie. Anger was a natural part of him she had only been privy to in times of stress. In the back of his mind, he didn’t want her to know that this was his usual state of mind. She’d argued he wasn’t a monster. If he got the shot at Silas that he wanted, she’d be taking that back.

As she stood behind him, he shifted, keeping directly between her and Silas. The hand that wasn't holding the towel at his waist (why modesty mattered at this point was beyond him) moved to steady her. It was a good sign at least that she was trying to help him, but it was a snowball’s chance in Hell that Silas would even think about putting the cross away. The immortal squinted against the glow, turning his head at the touch of Cassie’s hand on his shoulder.

That perhaps saved him from complete blindness. He saw no movement from Silas’s wand due to the light of the cross, but the golden nimbus that exploded from it certainly caught the attention of every pain receptor on every exposed inch of skin and ripped a scream from his throat. The vision of the nearest eye to the blast was completely blanked out, leaving only white burning pain. The other eye suffered almost as severely, but he was on the move in an instant saving it from more damage. Counting almost on memory, he bolted towards the door that would take him toward the blissful dark of outside, crashing over anything in his path.

The light chased him down the next corridor and hounded him until he made it to the final door that opened onto the pitch itself. He tripped onto the grass, rolling instinctively on the dew-soaked ground. He wasn’t actually on fire, but it felt like it. His skin would be almost glowing red if he could see much beyond blurry indistinguishable black and white shapes.

Lumos solem. Not quite the sun, but damned close enough.

Fires danced behind his eyelids, adding to the excruciating pain on his retinas. His chest heaved and it felt like he was breathing smoke past his cracked and chapped lips. He looked as if he’d spent one-too-many hours on the beach. Aside from a band from waist to knee, his normally pale skin was now violently red, cracking in places and blistered. Unlike the burn from the crucifix, at least these would heal almost as swiftly as a normal flesh wound. That didn’t stop it from hurting any less. Second and third degree burns hurt. A lot.

He’d lost his towel somewhere in his flight, but he welcomed the cool ground on his bare skin. He lay on his back for as long as he could afford, until the burning pain had subsided enough to allow movement. With a groan he rolled onto his front, drawing on the energy he’d need to get up. He had to go before Silas decided to finish the job. He wanted desperately to go back for Cassie, but it would be futile. Silas would not hesitate to use whatever method he could to drive him off again, and the vampire had no idea if the next spell would stop him permanently. He should have known Silas would follow. The man couldn’t keep out of business that wasn’t his. The man had no limits, no fear. It made him impossible to read and impossible to anticipate.

It was an infuriating feeling to be beaten by a mortal, but what else could he do? He could hardly take the man by surprise in this state, but could he leave Cassie behind? What would Silas do to her? He strained his senses, trying to hear anything from inside that might tell him what was happening. Losing Cassie to Ed was tolerable, he could always take her back, but losing her to Silas? That was a scenario the vampire refused to entertain.

[Cassie Vimes]

It wasn’t like Cassie had expected the two men to sit down and spill their life stories, but she had been waiting for some kind of response. Anything. Silas had barely even spared a glance in her direction, not that she was itching to have that look of loathing turned on her, but an acknowledgement that she was even in the room might have been nice. And Dacian it seemed resorted to growling rather than words, so he was no help either.

He half turned towards her and Cassie thought she was finally going to get some answers, but instead she caught a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye and before she could utter a warning a blinding light burst from the end of Silas’s wand. She screwed her eyes shut tight against the glare, but even then the world still turned a bright white. By the time she’d opened them again Dacian was gone and every time she blinked blocks of light danced in front of her vision, making it hard to focus.

”Wanker!” She spat at Silas, managing a hateful look in his direction that was mostly glare and hardly any squint at all. God damn it was hard to look pissed when it felt like your retinas had just been burned out. Cassie didn’t have time to be afraid the spell had burned Dacian to a crisp, he’d escaped the room, she was certain. Well… Fairly certain. And the rest of her was too angry to let doubt slip into her thoughts. ”Are you fucking crazy? That attack was totally unprovoked.”

Cassie’s fists were clenched into fists, knuckles white with the pressure. She wasn’t going to hit Silas, that would be suicidal while he was holding a wand, but damn she wanted to. To distract herself she set about collecting the belongings that Dacian had left behind, hating the fact that she had to turn her back on Silas to do so, but making sure she looked damn pissed off, even from the back. She didn’t really believe that he would attack her. Considering he hadn’t even noticed her before she was hardly top on his list of priorities.

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[Silas Rosier]

Silas had expected the light from Lumos Solem to be bright, but, ow. It was hard for even him to look, being forced to tilt his head back and squint when he wasn’t even standing in the spells field. The scream that reached his ears was none the less incredibly satisfying. As the light charm wore out the room was noticeably a Dacian short, and although Silas would have liked to see a small pile of ashes where he had been standing, it was good enough. That ought to teach him to stay the hell away from Scores in the future. It was for the vampires own good really, how could he be expected to learn to be sly if he got away with every stupid course of action he chose?

Silas feeling notably less murderous now, the anger was dissipating but the unmistakeable, insanely addictive feeling of adrenaline was there. Been a while since that had last happened properly, and Silas exhaled loudly through gritted teeth as the smell of burnt flesh reached his nostrils, making him start grinning in a way that looked vaguely maniacal. It was a rather unfortunate combination to be both dependant on energy rushes yet mostly lacking the fear and stress responses to provide it. Perhaps what was why aggravating Dacian was so much fun? Unconventional, but it got the job done.

Cassie was shouting at him. Fair enough, he’d expected that. Did he care? Not really, no. Instead Silas just strode on past her and through the door Dacian had disappeared out of with every intention of finishing the job. Where had the vampire run off to? He looked down both sides of the corridor and then walked forwards through a second door that opened up into a tiny balcony overlooking the Pitch, and thankfully the place Dacian had collapsed next to the door was just out of view. No sign of him. The vampire must have scarpered and Silas was far too lazy at the moment to stage a hunt. Damn, he would have liked a second shot but he was going to have to be pleased with what he’d gotten already. Next time Dacian wasn’t going to be that lucky, and he was going to make sure of it.

Instead he turned and walked back into the change rooms in case there was anything he’d missed. By the looks of it Cassie was just picking up the vampires things. The pair of boots sitting innocently on the ground got his attention. Last time they’d met Dacian had pulled some sort of quaint throwing knife from them and attempted to stick one in his forehead. No sense letting Dacian hang on to those then. Of course, it was only after Silas aimed his wand lazily in the direction of Dacian’s shoes and mentally uttered Accio Knives that a small flaw in that plan became obvious. It was only dumb luck that he didn’t chop is own fingers off the first time, and emboldened by the first success he carelessly did the same with the blades lodged in Dacian’s belt and earned himself deep, two and a half inch long cut across his palm for the trouble. Face set, Silas jabbed the bleeding injury with his wand to seal it after dropping the blades in his pocket.

That seemed to be all. Cassie could do whatever the hell she wanted after this. ”He’s not dead, isn’t he? Think of it a warning shot,” Silas said stiffly to what Cassie had shouted at him before, watching her pick up the rest of Dacian’s things with only mild interest. ”I’d consider assault, attempted murder and now kidnapping provocation enough for a lesson he won’t forget. That vampire has harassed me once too often and this is the first time I’ve actually done anything to him rather than a few meagre insults.”

[Cassie Vimes]

Once again Silas completely ignored her and walked past her to leave the room. Well that kind of deflated her anger a little. It was pretty hard to screech at a person who wasn’t even in the same room any more. There was a good chance he was going after Dacian to finish the job and fear gripped her at the thought. Cassie kicked out at the bench in her frustration, only succeeding in giving herself what would probably be a pretty impressive bruise on her shin in the process.

She felt so helpless. Cassie really, really didn’t want to fight Silas. For one he was her boss and that was a guaranteed way to get her ass fired. There were also the doubts Dacian had introduced by warning her about Silas. Warnings that had turned out to be entirely justified. He’d tried to kill Dacian! Even with her wand, which she was fairly sure she could reach before Silas got far or came back into the room, she was not longer certain she could hold her own.

Cassie needn’t have worried. Silas was back in a matter of minutes and he wasn’t sporting that rather disturbing maniacal grin she’d spotted before so she didn’t think he’d found and killed Dacian. Relief flooded through her so quickly that her knees almost gave out. Sitting down on the floor and bursting into tears wouldn’t send Silas the right message though, so instead she hugged Dacian’s clothes closer to her chest and reached for his coat and hat hanging from one of the hooks over the bench.

It seemed they were both aiming to collect the vampire’s possessions and Cassie gasped as the knives in Dacian’s boots flew at frightening speed towards Silas. He caught them both without a scratch, flashy wanker. Too late she made a grab for Dacian’s belt, the small arsenal of weapons slipping from the leather loops before she could do anything to stop it. At least she got the satisfaction of watching one of the blades slice through his hand.

”They’re not-” Cassie stopped mid protest, seeming to reconsider how wise it was to argue with the man who was up several knives and a wand on her. ”I’ll be at work for my next shift.” She said stiffly, wondering if she would turn up only to get fired on the spot. Cassie crossed the room to her boots, slipping them on. It would be so easy to pull out her wand and aim a curse at Silas, but more than anything she wanted to get the hell out of there. ”Don’t try to follow.”

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[Silas Rosier]

Coming in to work anyway? Good girl. Odds were she was expecting to be fired, but honestly, fire her? After this? Where was the sense in that? No, he had to hold onto her like he’d get the plague if he released his metaphorical clutches. If there was absolutely any advantage to be gained keeping Cassie close he would be an idiot to let that go. The girl had just become useful. If, by some disturbing twist, her and Dacian were actually in love rather than the brainless lust he considered more likely, even better. After all, the best way to get to someone was to take what they were emotionally invested in and exploit it – ruthlessly. The only question was how, but there was plenty of time to decide upon a course of action. ”Don’t be late,” Silas smirked.

The change in his behaviour was rather disturbingly quick. Evidently Silas was able to flick murderous anger on and off like a light switch. Right now he looked as though he was merely having a simple chat with her back in his office. He couldn’t look more like the last few minutes hadn’t happened even he consciously tried. After all, why shouldn’t be pleased? Everything was in place and going smoothly, Cassie was clearly too scared to confront him and willing to go back to work, Dacian was probably in a ditch writhing in pain somewhere, and he’d come off triumphant for one night and severely ahead. Things going his way were evidently not good for Silas’s (not so) inner narcissist. Of course, it could be better if Cassie wasn’t clinging Dacian’s clothing to her chest and obscuring the view of what he hoped was still an unbuttoned short, but that was more of a minor detail at this stage.

Cassie was correct in being worried that she might be followed. Despite his current manner he was looking forward for a possible round two. Silas’s temporary sense of what you could call ‘good will’ had a time limit before he started looking for a follow-up thrill from somewhere else. He smiled in a way that was not necessarily reassuring. If he went after them or turned elsewhere depended on where the hell Cassie was going. She was still wearing the security bracelet complete with tracking charm so if she lingered somewhere unusual, he’d know that’s where Dacian had ended up. All the easier to finish the job if she could lead him to the vampire with little effort involved on his part. If she had any sense she’d go right back to her apartment in the Three Broomsticks and call it a night while he could just haunt less than reputable Glasgow backstreets to cool off.

”Goodnight Cassie. Don’t trust a thing he tells you about me.”

[Cassie Vimes]

Cassie gave Silas a confused look, it wasn’t exactly the response she’d been expecting and his expression was hardly that of a man that looked angry enough to sack her. He looked perfectly relaxed, she’d even go so far as to say amused. Considering he’d been snarling and trying to murder Dacian only moments before, it was more than a little creepy. Cassie was still trying to calm her thundering heartbeat and she hadn’t even been involved in the rather one-sided fight.

”Night.” She said, rather curtly. What did he expect them to just be civil to each other after the way he’d just acted? When it came to Silas and Dacian she couldn’t trust what either of them said. They were too busy trying to slander each other’s names to talk sense. She’d just have to settle being wary until somebody offered up an explanation she could actually believe. Cassie saved a special glare just for him as she passed, forcing herself not to glance nervously over her shoulder as she left to check he wasn’t going to attack her while she had her back turned.

The urge to duck and cover was pretty strong too, but she quelled it by reminding herself that her stomach had only just stopped churning at every movement she made so diving for the door would probably be pushing her luck. It only took a few wrong turns and a few choice swearwords to find the exit. Cassie had never actually been to the Quidditch Stadium before and since she’d been unconscious when they arrived she wasn’t exactly familiar with the layout of the building. She hadn’t even realised where she was until she caught an accidental glimpse of the field during a detour.

The cold hit Cassie as she stepped outside, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it as she spotted Dacian lying on the grass nearby. His clothes slipped from her grasp and she narrowly avoided trampling his hat in her haste to reach him. ”Dacian!” Cassie knelt behind him, her fingertips a hair’s-breadth from touching his shoulder before she caught herself. She could feel the heat radiating from his burnt skin and aggravating the burns would not help matters.

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