The Thorn Tree

Angelus winched at the pain in his toe "You know you don't really mean that." he whispered back to her. He added "And you forgot, also got tips." At least I tried

Van sighed heavily, not really wanting to talk about it, but figured they wouldn't leave her alone until she coughed up her story. "It wasn't technically a job, it was more like slavery. I was an act in a circus. A source of entertainment. I was treated like dirt, so I got out. My boss wasn't too happy and left me with a parting gift." She again pointed to her eyepatch. "So yeah, now I'm here, since I always wanted to be a cook."

Gil stared blankly at the bodies of the fairies he killed a few seconds ago, as blood dripped from his dark metal blades.He started slowly walking while wincing at the pain which was slowly fading which made him worry as it was a sensation of his body dying.The bleeding wasnt so intense now, thanks to the lightning he used to partially seal the hole on his chest.After what seemed like ages he arrived in front of a door which lead to a cellar 'damn, seems that I'll have to find a place to stay for a while so that the wounds may heal in peace, that also means that I'll have to surrender myself to the mercy of strangers.What sodding luck' he thought as he started to cough blood at a higher intensity.He slowly entered the cellar and while trying to utter a word collapsed and his mind started to fade away...

Leah barely payed attention to Van's story when she heard the door open and smelled blood. She then turned to see the source of the smell, only to see them collapse on the floor. "Shit, Annie I hope you have some blood on hand, he'll probably need quite a bit." She said as she grabbed a first aid kit hurried to the man's side and quickly got to work cleaning and patching up the man's wounds, though she had little experience she acted as though she'd done it millions of times.

A tragic story, but then, whose isn't.
Annie spun to stare at the collapsed man just inside the door to her bar. Damn. Trouble this soon.
"I have blood but no human. Old rules still apply. I don't think cow blood will do the trick here."
She thought for a moment, healing wasn't her strong point, and most of the cures she knew were for slow acting poisons and spells, not plain blood loss.
"Perhaps a drop of vampire blood would help him."

"Right, I forgot about that, and you're probably right about the cow blood." Leah said regarding the blood. She doubted her own blood would work and she was afraid to even attempt it, despite her gut feeling that was saying it would be fine. "Angelus, you're a vampire, think you could give him a drop or two?" She asked. "I'd do it, but I don't know if it'd poison him or not." She explained.

Angelus turned his head just in time to see the man fall. He sighed and took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve. "Okay but only because, you asked nicely." he took an empty glass and set it on the counter. He cut his wrist with his nail and squeeze out enough blood to fill the glass 3/4 of the way. He picked up the glass and walked over to the guy. "Someone hold his mouth open for me."

"Thanks for doing this, Angelus." Leah thanked him and watched him fill the glass. "I got it." She said as she raised Gil's head slightly and opened his mouth for Angelus. "With all that he should be up and around in no time." She added quietly.

Angelus poured the blood into his mouth "That ought to do it."

"No wonder Gin liked you so much," Leah said while looking down as Angelus poured the blood. "I always thought she was kinda nuts." She said and attempted a weak laugh, then coughed to distract herself from the thinking of her sister.

Gil started convulsing and turning violently as his tattos started to shine and his veins began to turn black as well as his eyes which were now turning in all directions unable to reach a point of view.After a few seconds his state returned to normal as he gasped for air and said 'no matter how many times it has been done the feeling is still as painfull as always'.Slowly he put his hand on the largest of the wounds and electricity started to effect the wound as it slowly closed up.

Leah jumped back and hit her head on a nearby table when the man started convulsing so suddenly. "I didn't expect it to work that fast." She said as she probed the back of her head for any injuries. "Damn table." She muttered. "What happened, for you to get so badly injured?" She finally asked the man once the pain in her head started fading away slightly.

"Yeah, I'm awesome." Angelus laughed when Leah jumped back and hit her head on the table. "are you okay?" he asked in-between laughs.

"It's not that funny you know." Leah grumbled as she rubbed the back of her head, she could already feel a knot coming up. 'Great, another damn knot.' She thought angrily to herself. "Yea, I think so." She answered. "By the way, payback's a bitch." She said to let him know she was gonna get him sooner or later.

Van couldn't help but chuckle. 'Klutz,' she thought to herself. "You alright there, guy?" she asked the stranger, not batting an eyelash at his near seizure. She'd seen way worse than that in her time.

Gil shrugged and said 'been through worse,first time I was hit without any supplies though,dqmn I can't believe that such a sucker spell hit me,must be getting old.By the way, the name's Vergilius.'Slowly he stood up and checked if all the protective cloth was in place as he looked at them with his red eye.After a few seconds he picked up his blades and began to clean them.

"Vergilius. That's quite a mouthful. Not got a nickname by any chance?" annie gave her best smile, all neat sharp white little teeth, her eyes sparkling unnatural violet. 'Anyway. Welcome to the Bl... I mean the Torn Tree. I'm Annie."

He looked at Annie and said 'you can call me Gil, you're a faerie aren't you?' He sighed and put down his weapons while taking a small ammount of the blood which was on the floor.Tha blood quickly turned into a sphere and levitated on his hand before it started to enter thr wounds.

"Vergilius?" Leah had trouble pronouncing his name. "I'm Leah, hope you don't mind me calling you Gil as well." She said cheerfully.

"Vergilius? Nice name." he said pronouncing it perfectly. "I'm Angelus."

Van eyed him closely. Seemed powerful. She'd watch him carefully. "Name's Van," she said offhandedly, trying not to pay too much attention to the blood. It had been a while since she'd fed. 'Sometimes being a blood elf is annoying,' she thought to herself.

" I'm Fey yes, for the most part we dislike the term Faerie, but I don't care that much. Anyway, if you like you can stay here for a bit. Till you're steady on your feet. Those injuries looked fairly serious."
She turned to the other, "The tour is now over. Through there is my room and that other door is a toilet. You can hang around for a bit or come back tomorrow night when we open, it's your choice."

Gil sighed and started stretching 'they'll probably heal in a day or so, though I really wish they wouldn't.I'm aware of the term you dislike, I just use it as a way to irritate those who are serious about it,you never know when that irritation may result in them unintentionally creating an opening.'

"Lucky I'm not serious then. You wouldn't want to irritate me." She stepped behind the bar and pulled out glasses, "Want a drink anyone?"
Then she turned back to Gil, "I somehow get the feeling you are not on best terms with the Folk. Am I right?"

Darknes appeared in Gil's eyes for the first time 'Let's just say that our feud is very,very personal' he said slowly removing the cloth over his left side of the face to show the slave tattoo there 'we've been playing this game for the last 50 years.Apparently my former master wasn't very pleased about me taking her left eye.The healing and the manipulation of blood are just a painful memento of my time there.'