Neal Martinson walked through the busy dance floor of Club Desire, his pride and joy that he had created from the ground up, knowing that the both the strip club in the basement and the brothel on the third floor were in full operational swing that evening as the bass pounded on the dance floor. He looked up to the second floor landing that was visible from where he was to see the other dance floors being wandered in and out of, giving a soft smile to know that others shared his love of old-style music that played on those floors. He often found himself wondering what it would have been like to see the music of the nineteen-twenties and beyond firsthand and know what they brought to the world, he was envious of the genre that had gotten to do so since he himself was born within the wrong time, or so his mother had always said. He saw the employees doing their shift change, some leaving for the night and some retiring to the quarters that he provided for them in the back of the large first floor, he had tried his best to make his club not only successful but a place that people would want to visit and work at, it had been his goal and he had succeeded. He walked into the back, heading for the private elevator that would take him to the top floor that was used entirely as his penthouse apartment, glad to be able to retire for the night and know that things were left in good hands with the many people that he had had working for him over the years.
When he had started Club Desire, he had intended it merely to be a dance club and nothing more for his fellow Unwanted, but it had grown into something so much bigger from there and he was more than proud to say it, especially when shoving it into his father's face at family reunions on the rare occasion that he actually went to them, preferring to come up with excuses not to go back to his Boston home. With a wave of his hand, the lights flickered to life, the warlock Changeling smirking to himself as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, watching the make-up and whatnot fade from his flesh without so much as a smidge of remover being brought to it, that was something he loved most about his powers, the ability to be or look anyway that he wanted, it made things interesting, especially on the raids. He didn't get the opportunity to go on many of them, but the few that he did he had quite enjoyed and had made great friends on, such as Johnny Blackjack and Angel Deman, the latter being the newest member of the group that they had recovered on the last raid that he had gone on. There had been another one headed to Tuscon that had left early that morning that his girlfriend Belladonna Lamia had gone along on, his eyes falling onto one of the many photos of her that adorned the home that he lavished with all the amenities that he could have ever wanted or needed.
He had been glad for the chance to check on the club since he had been in his penthouse the entire time babysitting his girlfriend's daughter Audrianna, her pride and joy and the little girl that he was completely smitten by, and had agreed to watch while she had been out of town for the day. She had just recently been picked up by Chris St. Laurent and Sarah Ironside, who normally watched her when Donna was busy but since they had gone on the raid as well she had been left in his care and though he had been a bit nervous about that fact, it had gone relatively easily, the toddler enjoying watching movies and spending the day with him. He wouldn't admit aloud to anyone just how attached he had grown to Audrey, he was sure that it showed with the way he acted with her and was actually almost sad to see her be picked up even if he had thought that he had broken her at one point until she started laughing and he had breathed a sigh of relief.
He also couldn't bring himself to admit it, but he couldn't stand with Donna went along on raids that he didn't go on with her, it was pure torture to be apart from her after all that had transpired from the time that they had met until he had finally given into the way that he felt for her, and she gave him the chance to be with him. It seemed like so long ago now when he thought about it, but still at the same time it seemed like it was just yesterday that she and her daughter became a part of his life, and at the thought a smile came to his lips as he set the security alarm and walked through the living area to the kitchen to poor himself a glass of wine. Tossing his suit jacket on the chair, he sipped the wine as he made music pour from his stereo, relaxing fully at the sultry sounds of swing as he did so and lost himself in thoughts of what all had brought him to this point again before downing the glass and heading to the study to see what, if anything, was waiting for him there. Surprised to find the lights off when he knew that he had brought the lights to life within the entire penthouse, he flicked on the light switch manually to find a set of long legs lounging on the mahogany desk, his eyes taking in the pale flesh and moving up them and the torso to the beautiful face of hands down the most beautiful woman in the entire world.
Belladonna Lamia was without doubt a goddess among Vampire-Sidhe, her midnight hair and stormy gray eyes almost supernaturally charged, her blood red lips curling into a smile as her slender fingers smoothed the black dress that she was wearing that evening, clearly glad to see that she had caught him by surprise. He truly hadn't thought she would be home until much later that evening and that he wouldn't see her until the next day as it was, she was usually much more anxious to get back to Audrianna when she came home from raids and to check on her theater, seeing how much it meant to her. Almost as if she had read his mind, and he wasn't entirely sure that she couldn't perform such a feat for that matter, she smiled and shook her head, sliding her perfect hair over one ear as she switched which ankle crossed over the other, her spike heels sparkling in the light. "Sarah and Chris are watching her, I thought that tonight was better suited to seeing you given the circumstances of the raid and all," she said softly, her voice husky and thick with her English accent since she had been born in Bristol long before being moved to one of the compounds and kicked out of it within the first three years of her life.