when the sun goes down

And Hannya questioned why all vampires were so paranoid. This was a prime example. Lawrence got wrapped up in Penny’s beauty in a few hours before she slipped the ring off his hand with ease. For what though? It was nothing special to the naked eye. To the mortal eye. Just a clunky piece of jewellery that wasn’t that fancy. His parents didn’t exactly lay out a selection of rings for him to choose from. He got whatever they gave him before he was ushered out the door with his backpack.

It kept him alive for all these years. Glued to his finger through everything, but now it was gone and he knew it exactly where it was. In the pocket of some pretty blonde, he’d met at the bar.

Just like what happened with Hannya, he found himself falling into yet another trap.

Gone was that sweet girl he met at the bar. Replaced with some fiery girl who rammed her hand hard into her chest. Lawrence stumbled back a few steps, colliding with a body behind him, not expecting such strength to come from someone so petite and cute-looking. The person behind him muttered something, but Lawrence ignored them. He went to step back forward. Back towards Penny, but she was already storming towards him.

“I don’t know where your ring is, nor do I care.”

Then the scales appeared on the side of her face. They were white and beautiful under the dim lights, but what the fuck? Scales? There was a fit of anger burning behind the surface with Penny too, just like the anger that was bubbling inside Lawrence. Furious she was denying it and also mocking him in the same sentence. “It didn’t take me days to notice. I noticed the following morning when I tried to open the curtains in my goddamn apartment and nearly went up in flames. The morning after I saw you in this bar and you were doing whatever the fuck you were doing with my fingers” He stepped forward, closing the gap between the pair. “Is this what you do? Flirt with males and take their jewellery? Pretend your interested before running off with their goods?” The anger was also stemming from the fact she’d managed to fool him so easily.

“I know you stole it. There is CCTV everywhere in this bar. You can clearly see you sliding my ring off my finger with your tongue” Thieving aside he did find the whole act somewhat alluring.

Thankfully almost every corner of the bar there was a camera. Hector's second set eyes to keep an eye on customers and employees alike. Lawrence sprinted to the bar as soon as the sunset to watch the CCTV back. To watch his ring get stolen in HD whilst he was too busy getting wrapped up in Penny. He was quick to flick the screen off when Hector walked into the office though, not wanting to admit to his boss what had happened. How stupid he’d been.



PENNY BARTLETT

Too many had Lawrence stormed into an altercation headfirst and that was exactly what he was doing with Penny. An expression on her face that warned him she was ready to lash out at him at any second. There was no way he was backing down from this though, even if it did mean he’d have his ass beat by some petite female.

Perhaps his heart was yearning for more than fleeting one night stands, which is why he allowed himself to be deceived by a beautiful blonde with striking eyes.

What the fuck did she want with his ring anyway? It was rendered useless to anyone else who tried to use it and it wasn’t exactly something that held value. At least, he didn’t think he did. It looked like every other daylight ring out there.

She had the audacity to pretend it wasn’t her either. God, he wanted to grab her by the throat and launch her across the bar. Even more so when she told him she didn’t believe him about the recording. This woman was pushing every single button possible. His jaw clenched, his feet almost glued to the floor, his posture rigid. He was allowing his temper to get the better of him as she flashed him a sly smile. The dark veins tickled beneath his eyes, his eyes grew darker as he glared back at Penny. It wasn’t some show to try and scare her, as she did to him with her fancy scales.

Lawrence took a deep breath, his face returning to normal as she asked to see the recording. His body relaxed a little as she moved forward, pushing him back again. He didn’t travel quite as far this time. “Fine” He responded through gritted teeth. He turned around, weaving through the bodies until he reached the exit. He swung the door open, glancing behind him for a second to check Penny was following but didn’t bother to hold the door open for her.

The corridor was much quieter than inside, and cooler, which Lawrence was grateful for. He slipped his jacket off as he walked off in the direction of the office. He could hear Penny’s footsteps follow him, a few steps behind. Once he reached the door he tapped heavily on the keypad, before pushing the door open. This time, he held it open for Penny but only to prevent it from locking.

Once they were both inside he pulled the chair up in front of the computer. Silence lingered in the air as Lawrence tapped away on the computer. A click of a mouse here and there. “Are you a snake or something? Y’know with those scales back there”He asked, his tone flat as he kept his eyes on the monitor.

Finally, he found the recording of the night. A smirk on his face as he double clicked to open the file. “Skip all this shit” He muttered as he buffered forward through most of the evening. Mainly just Lincoln mulling around, Lawrence behind the bar, and Hannya strutting about the place. A low groan as he skipped through quicken images of him and Hannya on the screen. The demon sat on the bar, her legs wrapped around Lawrence. There was no sound, but flirting was evident in the moving pictures.

Eventually, Lawrence hit pause the moment he saw Penny’s face appear on the screen. “It’s a good job the owner didn’t install some grainy CCTV” He carefully skipped through their interactions until he hit pause again, “Now what’s really good about this software you can actually slow the recordings down” He clicked a few times before hitting play. Lawrence shuffled forward in the seat, placing his finger lightly on the screen. “There you have it. You sliding my ring off my finger” He hit pause once again, turning the chair to face Penny. “Would you like me to replay it? Maybe even have it copied onto a disc so you can take it home and watch it in your own time” Lawrence folded his arms, settling back into the chair, extending both of his legs.


PENNY BARTLETT

The cockiness that oozed from Penny stirred a different kind of anger in him. The sort where you know you’re right about something but the other person isn't accepting it. Adamant they were right even when the facts were staring them in the face. The CCTV would bring her down soon enough. Crashing from her high horse and Lawrence was looking forward to seeing her face when she realized she’d been rumbled.

Admittedly, it was rude to let the door swing back on Penny. Amongst other things, his mom did teach him manners, but they weren’t about to extend to the woman who had his ring. He watched carefully as she slowly approached the door. Could he snap her neck? Would that even kill her? Then he’d never get his ring back, but at least he’d won whatever game she was looking to play.

Eyes shot up at her as she cackled. Her laugh caused even more rage to rise inside, as though she was laughing at him. A moment of silence as she was appearing to gaze at him from under her mask. Hiding behind it. He shrugged, thinking a snake was a pretty good guess. Apparently not, “Well I’m assuming you’re some kind of reptile… cold-blooded and all that” Gone was the sweet and alluring Penny he met the first night. She had been replaced with some stone-cold scaly thief. He kept his eyes locked on hers for another second, trying to figure her out. “Whatever” He mumbled quietly, turning back to the screen.

He tried to fast forward through the images of him and Hannya as quickly as possible, but it was at maximum speed. Rapid images of him and the demon who offered an open vein whenever Lawrence asked. Penny noticed too and felt the need to comment. He threw her a quick glance.

Now it was his turn to be cocky. Rile Penny up just how she’d done to him.

He watched Penny as she watched the video, tearing his eyes away quickly as he realized he was admiring her. There was no time for flirting when his life was at stake.

“I—” He straightened himself up in the chair, a deep frown on his face. Was she messing with him? “Are you blind as well as a thief?” His jaw clenched as she dug her heel into his thigh. She was strong and part of him was still trying to figure out what the fuck she was.

This didn’t go as he planned in his head. He was expecting to drag her in here, for her to admit she’d stolen the ring and return it to him. No, she was denying the whole thing despite the evidence. The glaring clear evidence couldn’t be disputed. He grabbed hold of her foot before throwing it off his thigh with force. Lawrence quickly stood up out of the chair, those veins threatening to make an appearance again. He saw two options. Threaten her or try and guilt-trip her into giving it back. Spin-off the story about how his parents gave him the ring, minus the whole before they kicked him out of the coven.

“I was going to say that my parents gave that ring to me as a gift and it’s the only thing I have left of theirs, but you probably don’t care due to your lack of empathy, eh” He inched forward, closing the gap between the pair as he placed his hands either side of Penny on the desk, his eyes locked on hers, “I was going to break your neck, but something tells me that won’t keep you down. Would you survive if I ripped your heart out?” A rhetorical question to himself, a low hum in his throat before he sighed, “Keep the damn ring if you want it that badly” As much as he wanted his ring back, he also didn’t want to spend another second in the office with Penny.


PENNY BARTLETT