Despite everything going on in her head, the sandwich is delicious. Izzy knew from the first bite it would be a favorite; the sauce turns out to be a cheese sauce.
While she eats, she keeps her back turned toward the vampire. She hoped it would help her control her urges, but instead it is making her more nervous. The cat and the stranger start talking, and Izzy can't help but overhear the conversation.
“I heard it has come this way…” the vampire whisperers leaned forward.
“I have heard nothing,” the cat says in response as he removes his hat and smooths his hair repeatedly.
“You know how to find it.” The night walker reaches out a hand and grabs the cat, stopping him from pying with his hair.
“I refuse to py this game. Go back to wherever you have been hiding.” The cat snaps and pulls his hand away.
“We have known each other for a long, long, sad, long time. Remember Berlin, or how about France? Or how about Istanbul?” the vampire says.
Izzy is still trying to not listen in. But it feels juicy. She feels the warmth from her second gss of champagne flowing through her.
“That's why you need to go. You can't help it; everywhere you go, chaos and destruction follow,” the cat says while miming an explosion. “And it was Constantinople at the time.”
“You know what it's capable of. What could happen if it gets used the wrong way?” The vampire says, looking around the room, “This is a nice pce with lots of culture. Why let it fall apart?”
“I thought you were done being a finder?” Cat evades and answers with a grin.
“And I thought you were done being the humans pything?” the vampire retorts.
“We all have our chains,” the cat says, his smile dropping into a scowl.
“And our promises,” the vampire says back and stands up. He passes Izzy on his way out the door; he nods as he passes, smiling, showing his long, sharp fangs. Stained red with blood.
“Berlin was a nightmare,” the cat mutters. “Did anyone really think the wall was a good idea?” He walks down to the end of the bar and watches the musicians py.
Izzy and Jacob finish eating, and Jacob holds a hand out to Izzy. “Dance?” As they stand up and head to the dance floor, the music changes from a slow jazz to a hot jazz. Izzy looks around and tries to see what dance goes with it.
An albino woman wearing an almost bck purple dress, her lips a brighter purple, and her ptinum blond hair braided, she starts dancing the Charleston. Izzy watches in confusion but starts moving to the music, trying to figure out the steps.
She dances over to Izzy. “Follow my lead,“ she gestures and begins to walk them through the process of learning how to do the dance, starting simple.
At the end of the song, Izzy and Jacob are out of breath, but at the very least, they know enough to seem less silly as they go through the motions. “Uh, thanks,” Izzy wheezes. The woman nods and dances away. They weave their way to the bar.
He whispers in her ear seductively, “Nature calls,” and heads to the men’s bathroom. On his way there, he notices a strange door in the hallway; it wasn't there yesterday. It's made out of steel and looks to be thick. It doesn't have a door handle. Jacob would spend some time examining it, but he is desperate to pee.
Izzy sits at the bar. Still in a bad mood, the Cat quietly walks up to Izzy.
“Anything else I can get you?” he asks. Wiping the bar.
“No, I want to know What is he looking for?” Izzy asks, feeling relieved that she could finally talk to the cat in semi-private.
The cat looks at Izzy. He blinks slowly. ”It’s none of your business. Let it go, Izzy.”
“What happened in Berlin?” she asks instead.
“If I tell you, will you let the rest of it go?” He asks, putting the rag away.
“Maybe,” she says.
He grins and leans over the bar.
“It was 1962. The second wall had just been built, and a fellow was shot down trying to flee. The rapidly deteriorating conditions of East Berlin had gotten to the point some people would rather die than stay. I was bartending at a trendy bar at the time. For a while it got bad. The riots stirred up the supernatural community, and with it came the finder,” he says with a sigh.
His mind falls back through time. “We knew he was around when the bodies started showing up in the morgue. The rumor was that a serial killer was in town, and they were not wrong.”
“After the fall of the Nazis, people were finding all sorts of plundered relics in unlikely pces. The Spear of Destiny was supposedly hidden in Berlin, and with the riots, rumors were flying around that someone was using it to whip the city into chaos.”
“He walked boldly and covered in blood into my bar and, in the worst German ever, threatened to burn Berlin to the ground unless I told him where it was.”
“‘Where was what?’ I said back at the time I had no idea what he was talking about.”
"'Neptune wants his trident back,’ the vampire said. My clients had all fled the bar, leaving just me and him there alone.”
“I didn't know Neptune was even alive anymore. The gods of that era had mostly moved on. Earth isn't so kind to old gods. After all, there are other races and pces with greener pastures.”
“He wanted the trident, or the spear of destiny, as it was called ter in history. I had a theory but no proof that the mayor had it hidden. I should have just told him, but I figured he would just give up and go away, and besides, Neptune can be a real dick.”
“I wasn't prepared for what he was willing to do to get it. He cut a path through the city, and the morgue started filling up. Then the violence stopped, the riot stopped, and the Spear of Destiny had left Berlin. The city wasn't safe anymore for non-humans. I made some calls, and a few weeks ter I was on a boat being transported to America.”
“What? And you just let him sit at the bar and drink?” Izzy says, eyebrows raised, gripping her gss.
“What else am I supposed to do?” He grins, “But now we have a problem, and I don't know how to fix it. Have you seen the dog around?”
“No,” Izzy says she had hoped to run into him tonight.
“When you do tell him we need to meet.” The cat says, “As soon as possible.”
