Akiel was leaning against the red brick corner just inside the alley. He’d turned away from watching Aiyana and Tepin to take in the night sky and the sounds of the city. Cast in a deep cloak of shadow, he was releasing tension and responsibility into the night air where it belonged that night. Tepin’s arrival at the alley entrance prompted him to push away from the wall and take a step toward her. He smiled as she slipped in beside him. Her hand on his cheek, her lips and her fangs and the aroma of her body drew all of his attention to her - where he wanted to stay for awhile. With a kiss and a pair of fingers on her neck, he proved this to her.

He draped an arm across her shoulder as she pressed to him. Together, they walked a little further into the alley.

“It’s been a while since we’ve hunted together, Love,” he said. As they walked, the ancient rift opened before them, like a silk curtain parting and revealing a passage between one world and another. They entered in the alley and appeared just inside the grounds of Zilker Memorial Park.

David spread his arms out wide, like his eyes and his gaping and yet smiling mouth. His look of surprised humor fit his face just fine, but his spread out arms forgot about the guitar he had strapped over his shoulder when Tepin returned it to him. It slipped down to the elbow of his right arm and he had to move fast to catch it before it fell. Barely a successful catch, but close enough.

“Well, yeah,” he said, perhaps overly eager. It wasn’t just that she’d asked him to leave his guitar in her room. After all, she'd said he could crash there for the night. It was the look on her face, her eyes, the tilt of her head and the way she touched her hair. Signals. All signals that gave him those funny butterflies that don’t mean anxiety. Suddenly, she seemed a bit older and more endearingly attractive. He blinked and worked to regain himself.

“I’ll just … pack it up and we can get going,” he said. But he stood and looked at her a moment longer before acting on his word. A few seconds later, his guitar was packed, his hat was slipped onto his head and he was standing beside Aiyana.

“So, what’s happening on 6th street?”

Aiyana began leading the way down Guadaloupe to 11th Street.  There, she took a left and headed away from the crowds and towards the large Mariott visible about fifteen blocks distant. 

" 'What's on 6th street?' " She asked his question back to him in a slightly shocked fashion.  "Everything is on 6th street.  Dancing, drinking, tatto parlors for when you've had too much to drink and want my name across your ... arm."

She tossed her head back, and her hair flared up in a sudden breeze.  Her beret stay seated firmly on her head.  She pulled a cigarette out of her pocket, and put it in her mouth.  She had to remember to breath right now, and this was one sure way to do it.

"I'll have to change and smear on some makeup.  No one ever believes that I'm over twenty-one when I look like this."  She gestured down at her outfit.  "But I hadn't really planned on going out tonight."  She paused.  "You've got ID, right?"

They were walking together and David was probably about as aware of his surroundings as he’d ever been. It was strange. She was talking and making perfect sense up until the point where she complained that no one ever believes she is 21. His eyebrows jerked up, even if he really didn’t want them to do that. David looked at her and had the thought that his assessment of age was whacked. The fact that he was off by a few years in appearance and a few hundred in reality never crossed his mind. She was magical in his eyes, and all the more available - which made him nervous anyway. Those butterflies in his stomach were telling him something, but it would only be much later that he’d receive the message.

“Oh. That 6th street.” He said with good comic seasoning, although he hadn’t really known. He was smiling like a git and he wanted to stop. But, what could he do? There was just something about her.

“Yeah, I’ve got ID.”

David felt crestfallen at that admission, but not by much. Being 19 didn’t officially get him access to the good spots. But, he’d been in and out of bars and strip clubs for a few years already, so he figured his looks would get him in where his ID would rat him out.

He continued following her. Actually, walking beside her while going where she wanted to go. Turning a corner, The Marriot came into view. His eyes bugged a little. It was no YMCA, and he couldn’t help the selfish thought that he might be sleeping in happy digs tonight. He couldn’t help the next thought that came to mind, either. Aiyana had moved just a foot or two in front of him, and his thought turned to a wayward glance. He shook his head. When was the last time he got stupid over a girl? He couldn’t remember. Maybe he just got stupid again.

“You bunking in there? Wow. Nice digs.”

Aiyana led the way into the Mariott and straight to the elevators, digging in her purse for a room card.  She had heard the tone of voice David used when she had asked if he had ID.  "Lemme guess," she smirked a bit in a teasing way.  "You're not twenty-one."  She didn't wait for an answer.  "That's okay.  I should be able to get us in anywhere we want to go."

She slipped the key through the slot, opening the door to a very nice double bed room with a view of downtown.  Her suitcase was on the holder in the corner with the clothes she had brought piled perilously inside of it.  The entry to the bath had two sinks, and the bath itself was a different room.  A group of girly products was stashed on the corner of one sink.

"We're bunking in nice digs tonight."  She grinned at him.  "No mini-bar, but all the view that you can drink."  Then, she turned to her suitcase.  "Now, I get to make like I'm twenty-one, and you get to make like the door is really interesting, boy-o."  She waited till he turned around before shrugging out of her tank top and snagging a beaded strapless top from the top of the suitcase.  It accentuated what she didn't have, but it also made her look more sophisticated. 

“Ok.”  She gave him permission to turn around as she headed for the sink.  Product for the hair.  Eye liner.  Lipstick.  Blush.  Shimmer.  She could feel his eyes on her as she transformed.  “I know I’ll never look twenty-one, but I can do better than twelve.”  She took a last look in the mirror.  “Ready?”

“Um, ” was all David could manage at her realization that he was not yet 21. But she made it all work with her promise that she should be able to get them in where they wanted to go. How she was going to do that, he didn’t know. Considering the night so far, he had no doubts at all that she could do it.

He was about to say something about how fine the room was (after all, he hadn’t seen the likes of one that fine in years) when she cleverly suggested he turn around as she dressed. With a mild flash of embarrassment, David grinned and quickly turned to face the door.

“I’m impressed with the moulding, but I think the plexiglass sign is a bad design decision,” he said tilting his head and with mock seriousness.

She gave the Ok to turn and he did, perhaps a bit too eagerly. She revealed more skin, and David wasn’t so pure of heart that he hadn’t noticed it in a happy way. He didn’t say anything. He just watched her as she did that voodoo that girls can do. Watching a girl get prettier in a hotel room generally led to even less pure thoughts, but David only smiled. He had to admit, she was looking fine.

“Twelve my ass,” he chuckled. “You look great.”

He then realized that he hadn’t set his stuff down. He was still holding his guitar case and backpack. After nearly throwing them on the bed closest to him, he went to the door and opened it.

“After you!”

Aiyana giggled at David's critique of the door and made herself get ready as quickly as possible.  If she hadn't been doing this for centuries, her hands might have shaken with the nervousness that she felt in the pit of her stomach.  It was one thing to go out with a group of vampires.  Instead, she was going out with a human boy.  She would have to be careful. 

At his compliment, she stared at him a long moment before she smiled a bit sadly and offered a thanks.  He seemed to mean it, but she was so used to the pity compliments of the others that it was hard to believe a real compliment when she heard it.

Then, she smiled.  "Then, after me," she declared and took off back out through the hotel and down to 6th St.