Morning Coffee, For Auria and Alistar

[Atticus Brooke]

At Exactly nine o-clock in the morning, Atticus Brooke stepped into Auria's Books. As he ensured the door closed behind him, Keero peeked out from under his shirt collar. It had been a breezy morning, and Keero had elected to sleep through their usual walk to Auria's book shop. But with the warmth of the shop greeting her, she had woken and was now looking around with her black eyes, her tongue flickering out happily at the familiar shop. It was unlike anything Atticus and she normally went to. They usually went to the highest class restaurants, but this one shop and cafe had managed to sneak its way into Atticus' list of preferences. Keero slithered the rest of her body away from Atticus' warm neck, laying her tail and body down Atticus' chest carefully instead.

Atticus gently placed the day's newspaper down on his usual table before running a hand through his brown and lighter blond hair. Being five foot eleven, he was taller by two inches than the bookshop's owner, but as he leaned against the counter, he found himself the only person within view, and quietly wondered if Auria had company in the back. He quite liked Auria. She was pretty, and he hadn't had a female companion beside his daemon for a few years now, not since he found out his girlfriend had been a vampire obsessed woman. Atticus smoothed his black waistcoat with its dark blue pinstripes down his chest, before smoothing his hands down the dark blue suit over his waistcoat and navy shirt. He checked the time with his silver pocket watch from the breast pocket of his waistcoat. No, it was a minute past nine. He would have been on time through the door.

Perhaps she had to run out and get milk. offered Keero to Atticus' curious frown. He quietly viewed the door preventing him from looking into the back. Keero and he had had a dream the previous night of being invited back there, but he doubted it would happen. Atticus believed that she wasn't interested in him, due to his being the current mayor. Keero slithered out from under Atticus' upper clothes, creasing the collar on the right side as she slithered down his arm. She used her chin to ring the bell for service.

[Auria Leonsbane]

Auria was in the back with Ally sorting through the huge delivery. There were boxes everywhere stacked high with books, and some Auria didn�t recall ordering. �Ally, I don�t think I ordered half of these. Where am I going to put them?� She put her hands on her hips in annoyance. �Not what I needed at nine in the morning,� she grumbled as she got nudged by Banerji rubbing against her in comfort. She leaned to the table to pick up her tea and sipped it, the warmth calming her. There was nothing more soothing than a cup of tea. Or being in Ally�s arms.

Shush mine, check the invoices before you get stressed. If they�re not ours we can get them picked up, Banerji suggested. Auria nodded and gave the snow leopard a small smile and an ear scratch that made him purr happily. �Ally, do you want another cuppa? I�m gonna have to make me another in a minute.� She said turning her chocolate eyes to his. �I�ll have to check the invoices. This can�t be all mine,� she looked annoyed at the stacks of boxes. Turning back to Ally she suddenly pounced on him and pulled him into an embrace and mushed her lips against his in a passionate kiss. Auria grinned up at him with a cheeky smile that glistened in her eyes. �Now if the shop was shut, I can think of better things to do right now...� Auria said smirking suggestively.

However, it was then she heard the little bell ring. �Bother,� she said grumpily. She just didn�t want to leave Ally�s embrace and clung to him for a while, kissing him again deeply. �Come on you, let�s go make money.� She grinned and lead the way out of the back room to the front of the shop, Banerji following behind and immediately becoming wary when he saw the Mayor and candidate standing there. Auria smiled softly at him, �good morning. Sorry we were sorting through the delivery. What would you like this morning?� Auria had one hand scratching Banerji�s ear so he purred and didn�t let on that he was jumpy.

[Alistair McIntyre]

Ally was too busy leaning against a wall watching Auria unpack boxes and grinning with a cuppa in his hand to help properly. The books that had already been unpacked were a much greater pile than the previous month�s delivery. �If you get to keep them for free, I don�t think you need to complain,� he teased. Kyra was too busy hopping from one foot to the other, desperate to keep her balance on a large, slightly swaying pile. Ally shook his head. �If you knock them down, you have to put them back in order!� After receiving a magpie�s glare, the Scotsman laughed. He was too relaxed to worry about anything. Auria was stressed enough for the both of them, and he didn�t want to add to her frustrations. �And a cuppa would be great, if you�re offering.� With that, she made a suggestive comment, leaving Ally humming in approval. �Me too. But it�s not, and you�ll have to wait until the end of the day.� It was odd how confident he became knowing that he finally had someone that believed he was sexy. Everything had a better spin on it since he had gotten together with his vampire best friend.

When the bell rang, Ally didn�t hide his disappointment very well. Kissing her back, he sighed as Auria left his embrace. At her words, he followed her out to the front of the shop like a lost puppy, Kyra carefully leaving the stack of books to rest on his shoulder. By the time that Ally had straightened out his appearance, Auria was already talking to someone. Ally was right behind, and finally saw that it was the town�s Mayor, Atticus Brooke. It was the start of the election process. It had recently been announced that a vampire was going to run against him, and Ally was a little worried about what was going to happen. He didn�t even know what could happen, what could change. As of that moment, he hadn�t seen an interview with either candidate. He had a sneaking suspicion that things would have to change after someone openly challenging Atticus. No one was sure exactly how he was taking it.

Smiling warily, Ally politely greeted the Mayor. �Good morning, sir,� he said, Scottish accent becoming more of a purr than anything else as he tried to suppress it. Kyra�s gaze was too fixed on the reptile in Atticus� shirt. There was something not quite right when someone had a type of snake as a daemon.

[Atticus Brooke]

"Oh that's perfectly alright." said Atticus to Auria's explanation, giving her his largest and well known grin. "And good morning, my dear. If we may, could we have a black coffee and two of those delicious apple donuts you have?" Atticus' brown eyes caught on a gentleman he didn't recognise as he stepped in from the back. When the man greeted him, Atticus offered his hand to shake. He didn't recognise this man, but it was suggestive that he had left the back just shortly after Auria. Was he her partner? "Good morning, sir. Atticus Brooke at your service." He gave them both another beaming smile. "How are you both? Are you well?"

Keero curled her lower body around her tail tip, before giving a yawn, causing her fangs to lower from their resting place when her mouth was closed, and causing a drip of venom to slither from her left fang onto her tongue. Luckily, the venom wasn't posionous to her or Atticus. As she flicked out her tongue to ensue non of the venom landed on the counter, she realised that the male was a little wary, but that was nothing new. Since that damned vampire had decided to go against Atticus in the coming election, quite a few people had been worried about their response. She viewed the snow leopard with interest. She and the daemon had yet to speak to each other, and she wanted to. Though she never really quite knew what to say, which was why she hadn't bothered.

"It would be a pleasure to hear what you think Berryn Falls would benefit from. As everyone knows, I'm happy to listen to any suggestions and take everything under consideration."
Ask about the DPD! reminded Keero as she snapped her jaw shut.
"Ah yes. That reminds me. Since reading that article about the Daemon Proximity Disorder, I find myself increasingly worried about citizens who may have suffered from the disorder. Other citizens have asked me if we could have a specialist centre here in town," A little white lie. He wanted it here. "to help those with DPD to overcome it. Of course, to do that, I would need to know of at least two sufferers to get the funding needed. Do you have any objections or quiries, or know anybody that might benefit?"

[Auria Leonsbane]

Auria was watching Ally smiling as the magpie hopped around on the books, her mood lightening a little as he teased with the magpie. She had noticed a slight change in Ally since they had become lovers, he was more sure of himself and it pleased her greatly that she gave him that confidence. �Meanie,� she whispered grinning in his embrace.

Auria picked up his dissappointment as the bell rang and the pair went out to see Atticus. She smiled at Atticus as she felt Ally come up behind her, giving her a bit more confidence to deal with this, well awkward customer. He was only awkward because he had an outright hatred for anything non-human. She was glad she was in the dark about her �condition� because of it, she�d heard the stories, but it meant a lot of play acting with this sort of customer. �Black coffee and apple donuts coming right up,� she said smiling at his request and went to make him them as Banerji watched the snake looking at him curiously. He gave the snake a curt nod, as he sat by the desk looking pretty as always as his beloved went to the cafe area and poured hot black coffee into a cup and placed two apple donuts onto a plate and carried them to his usual table. �There you go, I�m fine thank you. How are you this morning?� Idle chit chat was the way to go.

She went and stood by her desk, hand rubbing on Banerji�s head as she looked for the order copy and invoices. �DPD? Oh yes, I read it in the paper. It must be awful,� she said nodding to Atticus wording her words carefully. �I�m afraid though I don�t know of anyone who has it, not that I�ve seen anyway.� Auria casted a glance at Ally, who looked a little wary himself.
Kyra, tell Ally to chill and not to say anything incriminating... Banerji said privately to Kyra alone. There was something not right in how he was questioning this...

[Alistair McIntyre]

Leaning a little more informally on the desk separating the Mayor from him, Ally kept his smile fixed. Kyra luckily didn�t have to worry about a facial expression. She wouldn�t have been able to keep it neutral anyway. As Ally and Auria were busy trying to make nice with Atticus, the magpie daemon kept a close eye on the reptile. If she had one, she would have wrinkled her nose. What had to only be poison dripped from the scaled mouth, right out onto her tongue, only to be licked back up. It was sickening. Once more, Kyra wished that she was a more useful creature. Being a fragile bird didn�t help Alistair in need. Look at what had happened with Adam in the woods. If she had been bigger and stronger, she could have pulled Kyat to him instead of leaving Ally to do the hard work.

That was when Atticus added the usual politician�s spiel about wanting to hear something that ordinary people wanted. Ally nodded, opening his mouth right before the Mayor continued, trying to carefully ask about DPD. A flash of Adam appeared in his mind again. Auria answered first, denying any knowledge about any sufferers. Ally gave a small frown, not thinking too much about it. Of course, he quickly had to shake the expression from his face. What had the human said? That he believed the government were taking people, experimenting or something on them?

Adam. He wants to know about Adam. Kyra�s private words mirrored Ally�s thoughts. We have to be careful. I don�t like that snake. And he�s�

I�m not about to sell out a friend. Ally skimmed over the fact that Kyra was about to mention the fact that Atticus was another untrustworthy human. Maybe it was unfair. Ally had to deal with ordinary humans all of the time, and they were fine. Still, he had to admit that some of the words of other Pack members were starting to reach him. Everyone had to be careful. Hopefully Evelyn Foxworth would be the woman that pulled the vampires and werewolves out of the shadows, right into society. �It would be an interesting topic to write about,� Ally then said aloud. �I�d be more than happy to help promote a centre, though. I know I�m not the biggest celebrity, but I could speak to my agent, see what I can do�� It should be enough to change the subject.

[Atticus Brooke]

Atticus Brooke smiled at the man's offer to help promote the centre. "Well then, I would be glad to have you on the team, Mr," Keero sighed.
That's Alistar McIntyre. The writer. she hurriedly told Atticus, so the obvious lack of knowledge wouldn't be as obvious as it should.
"Mr. McIntyre." Atticus nodded his head. "If you could write a few promotional pieces once it's fully in motion, I would greatly appreciate it, and of course, you would be paid for the valuable time taken to do so."

Keero dipped her head for a moment in reply to Banerji's nod. That was nice. She slithered back to Atticus and curled round his left wrist. Despite her location, she noticed the look Auria gave to the male. They know something. They know someone! She gave a little hiss of triumph, but she hurriedly cut it short. It would not do to give away her excitement. Perhaps one of them had an attack here. Maybe they don�t know the person by name.
Be quiet, Keero. I�m working. Keero quietened, watching Auria. Atticus left the counter, strolling to his usual place and picking thoughtfully at his newspaper�s corners for a moment. �I�m well, thank you.� He said, giving Auria a smile as she placed his and Keero�s usual down on the table beside his newspaper. Front lines were about Foxworth again, blast it. He had to call his journalist friend and set up an interview about the DPD thing. He needed his angle. Foxworth�s was going to be equality. Even though the elections hadn�t started yet, he and Keero could see it, clear as day. It was probably obvious to even the most non-political mind in Berryn Falls.

Keero uncurled herself from Atticus� wrist, and slithered over her apple donut. She always liked to do this. She laid the majority of her body atop the rectangular donut, and felt as it began to sag. She then slithered off, curling herself round the plate�s circumference. She then raised her head and viewed her donut for a moment. She struck. So fast that Atticus had to check he had seen right. He watched with a slight smile as Keero tugged back on the donut, shaking her head side to side slightly before a section of the donut broke free. She swallowed it and smacked her lips, the slight lump moving down her slim torso quickly, but seemingly getting stuck just slightly past the halfway mark. Keero didn�t need to eat everyday, what with her being a snake, and Atticus didn�t seem to need to either, although, being the human and not the daemon, he preferred to. Atticus always enjoyed watching Keero attacking human food. Of course, it was more interesting to watch her go after a mouse from the pet shop, but that was one of their little secrets. Couldn�t let people know they bought vermin just so Keero could hunt and eat them. It would probably upset the animal activists, and it was bad enough with the vampire and werewolves equal rights and so on and so on. What a load of old tosh.

Atticus took a sip of his coffee, and gave a large smile of delight. Perfect, as always. �The coffee is wonderful, Auria, as ever. May I call you Auria?� He looked at her, awaiting her reply, before turning his attention back to his paper. He skipped the first page, and began casually reading an advert. �You know, I had heard someone had a DPD attack here. A youngish male. Had some sort of dog for a daemon.� What he didn�t add was that he also knew the dog was white, and the man had dark hair. His lady friend working in the CCTV security centre for Berryn Falls proved very useful at times. �He must be new in the area. I know most people in Berryn Falls by name of face.�

He watched Keero sink her fangs into her next bite of donut, and wondered what it would be like if she attacked another daemon. Of course, if the DPD sufferer he was currently interested in didn�t volunteer himself, well. There were ways that wouldn�t involved Atticus and Keero that could be achieved. Threats, money bribes, physical attacks, home invasions, blackmail, and of course, Atticus� favourite, kidnapping. He wondered briefly if any of the Association�s members would know of anyone, or if anyone was willing to help out. They�d be paid nicely of course, by an off shore account that wasn�t traceable to Atticus. He couldn�t help but smile again. His members would help, especially if he said he was using DPD to ensure that infected didn�t take his job. He and the Association were quite happy with him as mayor. Pleased with themselves even. He had power that he could carefully use against vampires and werewolves, although he had been biding his time to do so, and now with Foxworth sniffing about his job, he couldn�t afford to take advantage of his job like that.

[Alistair McIntyre]

[Don't worry, I had permission to go next, honest ]

The werewolf kept as neutral as he possibly could. Of course he had to be friendly and open, despite the obviousness of Kyra�s reservations. There was nothing concrete to prove that the Mayor was anti-non-human, and the pair might be totally wrong. Still, everything that he had heard from the Pack� they weren�t his biggest fans. And once again, with the idea that he was behind subtle kidnappings, well, it wasn�t a pleasant way to view someone that had almost total power. �Please, Ally. Everyone calls me �Ally�.� It would odd if he wasn�t forthcoming with his name. Ally was supposed to be a human, an upstanding member of society. He wasn�t the greatest or most famous writer, but he had to be one of Berryn Falls� minor celebrities. At all times, he needed to appear as positive a role-model as possible. �And I�d be honoured. If there�s something that�s going to help Berryn Falls, then of course I won�t want the government to pay for anything. This is my home now, and I�m proud of it.�

If the whole DPD centre was true, which he didn�t want to doubt, Ally would be more than happy to write for free. Apart from the selfish reason that he would get some free publicity, what he said was true. When he had been forced to leave Scotland after his turning, he never thought that there would be anywhere that he would ever be really happy with. Of course, it wasn�t just the place itself that made the town; it was his friends and the opportunities that he had found to write. Auria and James had been fantastic pillars of support, even though they had no idea what he had run from. He wasn�t going to be telling either of them any time soon, anyway. He never spoke about life before coming to the town, and he wasn�t going to change that.

Watching the snake eat the donut in that predatorial manner was a bit unnerving. Atticus seemed to be pleased, but Ally could have easily been reading too much into his expression. Tomorrow was the night of the full moon, and all of his senses were on edge. Moving towards Auria, Ally protectively put his arm around her waist. He was beginning to take to writing in the bookshop as Auria worked, the inspiration coming from the books around him and her presence, but he couldn�t possibly unwind when someone like the Mayor was around.

Still, even though he knew that he had to be careful, Ally�s writerly nature had to also come through. �Um, actually, I can appreciate you�re really busy, getting everything together to start campaigning to keep your position as Mayor��

What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?

Look, a job�s a job. And it�ll be interesting, if we�re careful.

Kyra flitted down to the desk, spreading her wings in a stretch to try and show that she was completely at ease, despite how worried she was. Why do you always go and put us in situations where we have to be really careful all the time?

�Well, I would love to have the opportunity to interview you. I know I don�t do a lot of journalism, and you probably have lots of interviews lined up�� Leaving the sentence hanging in the air, Ally smiled hopefully, still holding onto Auria for support.