2025-09-27 - The Hollow Club: Werewolves Vs Vampires

Lennox is dressed in his usual all-black from boots to leather jacket, a couple of silver rings on his fingers, and perhaps a couple of knives stashed here and there. "So, we're headed to a place called the Hollow Club," he says as they step out into the very unwelcoming, cold, and dank basement. "I heard about it the last time that I was here. It's supposedly a vampire club and a good place for people watching the who's who around the city." He gives a little shrug of his shoulders and flashes a grin at the others.

"Like, vampire-vampires?" asks Cooper as he follows behind Lennox. He doesn't look very goth-y at all. He's wearing a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and a blue bomber jacket with white stripes along the lapels. "Uh, should I have grabbed a stake or something?"

He hasn't got any kind of weapon on him. But he's starting to think maybe he should have.

Jack would not miss a 'team outing' to do some potentially creepy shit. Bird-Jack sits on the human's shoulder popping through with (hopefully) no immediate incidents. "Vampire club? So what I'm hearing is if we couldn't change out of work clothes we're still okay. Good knowing this."

Looking around the basement he murmurs "Seems we know what their budget isn't. Hopefully it all went into the bar." The grey and black shoulder corvid flaps and Jack says "It was vampires or vampirates, I don't know. They night have burgers or something." Almost more than likely that's a bad joke on hopes. "No one is murdering you today, Coop."

"Hollow Club is a good but vaguely ominous kinda name," King says to Lennox, walking along beside him, Jack, and Cooper. She's in her usual attire of heavy boots, black jeans, and a black band tee, but adventuring out and about means a black leather jacket has joined. The paramedic is fresh off a shift and highly caffeinated. Good to go. "What is it with vampire aesthetic and dank aesthetics. If I was gonna live forever, I'd put some money in the market and invest in something posh." Of course she's wearing a blood red lipstick and glammed up makeup. Awful lot of goth tendencies there to be talking shit about basements.

"I'm all about the cozy goth aesthetic." Oh, that must be it then. She also probably has weapons stashed on her person. She walks like a woman armed. "Don't worry, we'll protect you," she says, and though she seems to be replying to Cooper's potential nerves, she's looking at Jack when she says that. A grin is flashed and she looks around, scraping a boot along through something gritty on the floor. "Ugh. Did I mention I hate basements?" Despite the words, she seems to be having a pretty good time tromping around down here. She digs around in a pocket. "Shoulda brought some glow necklaces."

"Like vampire vampires," Lennox confirms to Cooper and reaches into the depths of his black leather jacket, pulling out a knife in a sheath, flipping it over in his hand to offer it handle-outwards to Cooper.

"I mean, the portal location's shit, like most of them, but it at least gives us a little room to walk into the city without just dropping into somebody's lap," Lennox tells Jack as he begins to head up and out of the basement onto the first floor then out the front door, taking the lead since he knows where he's going.

Then he smirks at King and says, "This isn't the club. This is just the portal."

Once they're out on the street, it looks very much like one might picture any east coast city. There's a mix of older and newer architecture, though not quite as modern as present day New York might be. The streets are paved. There is electric lighting. The buildings are mostly stone and brick, though, rather than concrete and steel, though there are a few of those further in. "We can catch a cab a couple blocks up," he says, nodding westward.

"Do I look like vampire bait? I can change," says Coop as he motions to himself. He takes the knife from Lennox, hefts it awkwardly, then tucks it into the inner pocket of his jacket. He looks around at the others and he definitely looks like a jock and not goth or goth-adjacent.

He glances at King and smiles nervously. "We're not here to get into a bar fight, are we? Hopefully no one will need protecting from anyone, right?"

As they head up to street level, he glances around and blinks at how similar it looks. "So is the money the same here?"

"Glow necklaces would have been a good call," Diana says to King as she sticks a tootsie pop back in her mouth. She's dressed for adventure in a pair of black jeans, combat boots, a white tank top, and a fitted leather jacket. "It does smell kind of funny in here," she notes, wrinkling her nose.

As far as if Cooper looks like vampire bait? She hand wobbles.

Jack agrees with King, "Also Diana's a magician, Cooper. If it gets real scary she'll make you disappear, You might wind up as a bunny for a while but people love a cute rabbit." Looking to Lennox he says "Hopefully they're not like movie ones who turn into dire bats. I might have to get a selfie with one if they do before I run screaming like a little kid."

Jack promises Cooper, "You look like a total snack, friend ,but we will make sure no one gets rood. C'mon we look fine." As for is the currency the same Jack wonders, "This is a good question. We will see. To the cab! And if they don't like my debit card? To the pavement!" He's happy to crawl out of the basement before sending the bird up. "Let's get a good look so we can find our shitty basement and don't wind up in a different shitty basement unable to get home."

"Ya just never know," King says to Cooper, glancing up at the city, eyeing the lights, the stone and brick buildings, and pops a piece of gum into her mouth, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets again. Her pace is sedate, easily keeping up with the longer-limbed of her compatriots. At the westward direction given, she sets off in that direction. "The city has some charm. It's givin' vintage. Still would prefer a spooky forest, but as long as none of my relatives pop outta the woodwork, I don't mind a city."

She stifles a laugh at Diana's reply to Cooper. "Wasn't gonna say it." Says one of the leather jacket patrol. She jostles around something in her pocket, a suspicious can-shaped item printing against the leather of her jacket. "Jack, are you always this upbeat? It's all silver linings."

"Nox, how many knives you got under there," she asks in a softly muttered aside.

"We're not here looking for a bar fight," Lennox says, "Which is not at all to say that we won't find a bar fight." He leads them on up past several more derelict looking buildings and tells Cooper, "If you're going to change. Now is probably better than in the cab." As for the currency? He pulls out a wallet -- a different one than he usually carries, and flashes some cash. "I got us." Don't ask him where he got that.

To King he nods when she asks if Jack is always like this. Yes, yes he is. As for how many knives he has on his person? "Why, do you need one?"

And then they are flagging down a cab at the end of the street. It's as one might expect any cab in any city to look like. There's a thick divider between they and the driver, with a slot for Lennox to slide the cash through. Then they're on their way to the Hollow Club.

Before the cab arrives, Cooper ducks into an alleyway. If anyone's looking, they'll see the shift. When he emerges, he definitely looks like he fits in better. He's morphed his clothing to shades of black and grey, including a leather jacket where the bomber jacket was, black jeans and a black t-shirt. His hair is different too. It's usually about chin-length in surfer waves. It's now dark brown, short on the sides and longer on top, though it's still curly.

"I'm not really good in a fight, so uh, probably better I don't look like bait?"

Then they're off to the club. As the cab drives along, he pulls out his phone and snaps pictures. Then he turns his phone around to snap a selfie with whoever wants to lean into the shot.

"I'd do better than turn him into a bunny," she assures Jack as she slips her hand into his.

She smiles over at King when she laughs at her joke. "No one's ever minded looking like a snack. And yes, he is," always this upbeat. "You get used to it, or you learn how to just... tune him out."

"Were we supposed to bring knives?" She asks Lennox. "I am not much of a fighter."

Jack grins to King in that way that suggests he might be an enabler or an instigator- possibly both. He leans in for the selfie, not one to leave a guy hanging. "Wooo, there we go." There's a caw of protest from the bird as Diana and Lennox out his frivolous ways.

Diana's hand gets a squeeze though. The lanky pianist says "If you don't have a knife disarm them with your sparkling personalities."

King waves off a knife, the smile lingering. "Curiosity," she answers Lennox. The smile's turned to Diana when she answers verbally on behalf of Jack, though something in Lennox's expression confirmed it already. "Kinda wanna see how any sharp things you can fit in your pockets." She tucks back in the cab as they zoom off to their destination.

On the heels of Jack's disarming quip, she mutters, "... or slap a Sweet Treat sticker on your butt and introduce yourself as fast food."

Lennox looks Cooper over and says with a toothy grin, "I'd still bite you," waggling his eyebrows just a little. He shakes his head to Diana though and says, "Not necessarily. I just prefer not to go anywhere that's got hostile supernatural situations going on without something on me."

He then flashes King a grin and says, "You're welcome to try and find out if you want.. later." But once they're in the cab he's a little more quiet as he keeps an eye on their surroundings.

When they arrive at the club, there's a rounded set of steps that lead up to a pair of double doors that have curling ivy vines for handles. Above, in a gothic font it reads "Hollow Club" with the image of a silhouette of a large twisted tree, a large hollow in the center of it beneath warped and finger-like branches.

The sound of music can be heard even from the street as they get out and make their way to the door. Lennox nods to the group behind him and then to the doorman, indicating that they're with him, and all of them are allowed inside.

The club itself has several levels. The main floor sits among the roots of an enormous twisted tree sculpture that extends all the way from the first floor to the third and serves as a spiraling staircase upward. The first floor hosts a dance floor and the main bar areas, the second a mezzanine, for the who's who to watch and be seen, the tables close against the railing so that everyone can enjoy the view, and the third, a little more distant, a little more private and quiet, where darkened booths can't even be seen from the lower levels, hidden among the spare branches that form the balcony railing.

The lighting shifts from dark deep blues and purples to emerald greens and teals, punctuated by the occasional pulsing heartbeat of crimson red that seems to emanate from deep within the tree itself.

"I can handle people wanting to bite me," says Cooper cheekily. "But it's probably better I don't look like the first guy to die in a horror movie. Also, please don't turn me into a prey animal!"

Then when he arrives at the club, he takes it all in. As they make their way inside, he sidles up to Lennox. "So uh...looks like you've been here before? Do we have a mission or are we just living out our World of Darkness fantasies?"

"Do I have multiple personalities?" Di asks Jack, her brow quirking and amusement crossing her lips. She then gigggles over at King. "Lennox's pants are too tight to carry more than a couple of knives," she teases.

The cab ride is quick, and then they are pulling up to a pulsing nightclub. Her fingers squeeze around Jack’s just a little tighter, unsure what exactly they are doing here. It’s all fun and games until someone ends up unable to go into the sun for the rest of eternity.

She turns her head toward Lennox, also curious about Cooper's questions. Has he been here before? "I have always suspected that you're a member of the undead," she teases with that grin of hers.

"Many facets. We call it multi-faceted, Diana." Jack says. The place looks like an urban haunted wood and murmurs, "All the men at the Boo'dwalk are, Diana, didn't you hear? Rowan said so. I am a specter, Lennox is a bitey boy. It's all true." it's all literal fabrication and the props department.

Looking around he manages to give the place some judgement that comes out favourably. "King, you uhhh, got salt in your pockets too in case?" Roo being the key word, but for what is anyone's actual guess. "Okay I don't hate their Dj so far this is niiiice."

"Boy, do not think I won't take you up on an invitation like that," King says, grinning at Lennox. She, too, settles in for the rest of the ride, watchful as the landscape whizzes by, getting the lay of the land, as it were. "Quality control, sugar, somebody has to check," King murmurs to Diana with a laugh.

There's a few beats of silence as they pull up on the club and then King says, "I had to say spooky forest..." And yet, she doesn't sound put off by the spooky vibes. She passes through the door, courtesy of Lennox's contacts or the bouncer's benevolence, or both, keeping an eye on her fellows too. There's a glance over at Jack and Diana, and then one to Cooper. The latter gets a quiet, "Dig the new duds." A quick change of that proficiency deserves acknowledgement, even if it comes late.

"I got half an order of salty fries, Jack, that count?"

"This aesthetic I can get behind," she says, glancing up at the club, watching that red pulse through the color shift lighting in here. She begins to make her way in a little deeper. "Those that have to be led into temptation don't deserve to enjoy it," she says, like someone who's woken up in a holding cell more than once, gaze on the bar. "Good choice of destination." She brushes a hand across Lennox's elbow and then she's stepping into the crowd. You cannot leave her alone long in proximity to alcohol and a dance floor.

"Yeah, I've been out here a couple of times. I came out with the initial expedition that discovered the place, and then after they cleared it, came back out once or twice," Lennox says to Cooper then grins sidelong. "Little of both? I'm learning what the situation is here, supernaturally. It's definitely got some World of Darkness vibes. But also, it sounds like they might have encountered people like us, people who can travel from world to world before. I'm curious about that. Were they from Earth? Somewhere else? How'd they do it? Do they have portal tech too?"

He muses on this as they make their way into the club. "Vampires tend to live a long time and have a lot of information. Figured they might have something about it in their libraries or.. whatever." He gives a little shrug of his shoulders.

"Plus, this club is cool and I wanted to see it for myself, so what better than a night out with friends and a little potential information gathering, am I right?" he asks as they make their way to the bar. Diana gets a little bit of a smirk and says, "I'd make a good vampire." He does not comment on his pants, but does just grin over at King.

"Well, it's not a spooky forest, but it definitely has spooky forest vibes.." he says as they make their way over toward the bar. Leaning up against it, he motions to the bartender and indicates the group that's on his tab, ordering one of their signature cocktails for himself and then pointing out to those with him, "You want the ones without the little red drop next to them.. unless you want blood in yours."

"It seemed like there was a colour palette happening," says Cooper to King as she compliments his shifting.

"Ew," he says when Lennox mentions blood drinks. He's immediately regretting the leather jacket in the club. He shrugs it off and tosses it over a nearby chair. One of the benefits of clothworking magic is never worrying about losing a jacket. He can just make another. He leans on the bar and looks over what's on-offer. Then he chickens out and just orders the cheapest, most boring beer on offer.

"Are they like...trying to be nice vampires? Kinda True Blood vibes? "

“It’s like in Halloweentown 2 when everyone turns into their Halloween costume,” she says, recalling the iconic Disney Channel Original Movie. “Or what that Hawlloweentown 3?” She shakes her head. “Definitely 2.”

Diana can’t help but move a bit to the beat as they drift deeper into the club. Like King, who could help it?

Lennox’s theory on what knowledge the Vampires may have is… quite clever. “Had I known it would be such a vibe, I’d have chosen a better outfit,” she comments. Feeling a little underdressed and too covered up for a club like this.

“You’d make a very sexy vampire,” she agrees. She ends up just copy Lennox’s order at the bar, as that seems the most safe.

Jack looks over and asks Diana, "That the wone where Debbie Reynolds has to get her magical groove back?" He does not share why he has enough knowledge to ask that very specific question. As for are they nice let's find out. People is people."

Looking to King as she's backing up, he says "I think easier. Little quarter inch barricade. Very useful until we snack our defenses apart." He looks around and stays turned to keep one eye on the group and King in peripheral vision. "I htink I'll have the Anemic Mary. What are we all into?"

Amused as ever, King glances over her shoulder at Cooper, hearing that before she gets too far afield, "Uh, darlin', how many episodes did you watch exactly?" She sweeps a glance from Diana to Lennox as they banter about vampires and her smile ticks up a notch. If they are surrounded by bloodsucking fiends, nobody's gotten handsy or toothy yet, so she's ever relaxed.

And so her face is turned to the group when it registers what Lennox says about the drinks. She leans against the bar and, after a pause, says, "Noted." To the bartender she says, "I'll have what they're having." She thumbs to Lennox and Diana. "This place does have a certain corset vibe going for it, doesn't it? I don't usually put on the platforms unless I know there will be no running for the night. It's all fun and games until the historically accurate cobblestone catches your stiletto heel and you flatten a short king just trying to enjoy his Yeti Whip in peace." She turns to face the room, still leaned back against the bar. "Thank fuck Quincy's the forgiving sort. And sturdy. Did not even need a clinic visit."

"What I'm into isn't usually a question I answer till the third date."

They are certainly surrounded by quite a number of people. It's a Saturday night and the dance floor is full. The mezzanine is teeming with those sipping their drinks and watching the floor below and there's no doubt eyes from the shadows. Not all of them are vampires, of course. There are a host of humans here, either looking to be bitten, or just wanting a little taste of the vibe and the aesthetic. There are no doubt other supernaturals as well.

"That is.. a very specific example," Lennox says to King with an amused grin. Drinks are acquired. The cocktail Lennox has chosen has a kind of smooth smokey flavor with a hint of citrus on the finish, served on the rocks with a curl of orange peel and a dusting of cinnamon. It probably has a fancy name. Lennox didn't bother to remember it.

He laughs a little, both at Jack's question and King's answer. "I'm into long rooftop conversations beneath the stars, good music, and a little light bondage," he says with a perfectly straight face before flashing a grin.

Then he asides to Cooper, "Nice.. is.. overstating it a.."

That's when someone suddenly flies over the edge of the balcony with a flailing of limbs that indicates that they did not actually intend to be launched unceremoniously in that way. There's a roar from further back into the balcony and that's when an enormous werewolf, flanked by two smaller (relatively speaking) dire wolves appear at the edge. At least four dancers on the floor get taken out by the individual who lands on them as dancers scatter.

Cooper is just starting to relax and sip his beer when the wolves hit the floor. He nearly spits out his beer when he spots the creatures. "Holy shit!" He scrambles awkwardly for his discarded jacket which just happens to hold the knife Lennox gave him. But the bar is dark and the jacket is black and he can't see where it went.

He ducks down behind a chair and tries to not look like a target.

“Yes!” Diana beams. “That’s the one!”

There is a sigh and nod in agreement to the corset vibe. “We could have looked so hot,” she laments. She could illusion something better for the occasion, but then she wasn’t sure that she it was worth the energy, even if it was a small amount, in case they found themselves in a bind later. “Next time,” she decides.

Lennox's answer gets a wicked smile. "You and I both," she laughs, until someone is splatting on the ground in front of her. Diana jumps back into Jack and bites back a scream.

"Is this normal?" She asks Lennox, who has been here before.

"Good to know, Lennox, I'll let you know when there's a rooftop star naming party." There there's Werewolves, or more precicely Right-Over-Therewolves. Jack's eyes widen and he very quickly moves his drink with one hand, and as Diana bumps back into him, scoops her further the side between he and the bar. Yeaaaah that's a wolf. Jack looks to Cooper and Lennox, then checks where King is in this- know where your friends are at!

"Merde, drink quickly so you don't waste your money. These like fourteen dollars each." He makes the effort to take down his drink in one go, and keeping one hand on Diana's shoulder. "This a bad time to ask if anyone's got a tennis ball in their bag?" He looks behind the bar and asks "That guy dead or he okay?"

King nods in agreement with Lennox. "Specificity saves lives, especially when it comes to fashion disclaimers." She skims her gaze across the crowd, pausing now and then to observe one of the world native inhabitants doing their vampire or human, or ambiguously shadowy things. She reaches for her drink, bringing it around to take a sip, and slipping into a slightly deeper lean with the soft drag of leather over the bar top.

Her dark-eyed gaze returns to Lennox in a roundabout way just after he speaks again, and her attention slides down and back up his ensemble. Her lips part, and she gets so far as, "How flexible are you on the light par—" when someone gets a nonconsensual alley oop off the balcony. Well, more oop, less alley, since no one catches the dunked to the dance floor. "Man, that definitely killed the groove." She straightens up, has a demure sip of the cocktail Lennox recommended by choosing it. Distracted, she takes a second little sip.

"The fu—are those—what. Okay." Werewolves. She kicks her drink back in its entirety, because everybody knows that when angry werewolves show up to the vampire party, stuff's about to get real fast. (She likes vampire movies okay.)

"... Di, behind the bar is usually the best cover if you're not up to stabbing somebody today," she says, pushing off the bar to position herself somewhere between the problem and their non-coms.

"Fairly flexible," Lennox says to King but then he's quickly backing up from where several people just got bowled over onto the floor. He takes a long drink from his glass before setting it on the bar. To Diana he says, "Normal? Not.. when I've been here. But it's not like I'm from here." He motions to Jack and Diana to get back toward the bar. Cooper's already headed for cover but Lennox says, "Behind the bar, or around the corner at least." He is staying between them and the guy on the floor.

The guy on the floor makes a snapping sound that he really oughtn't as his neck straightens and he lets out a snarl, a large set of fangs showing. Pale. Fanged. Brutish. Looks like a mafioso in the suit he's wearing. Definitely a vampire.

"You're violating the treaty, wolf," the guy on the ground who is now standing says to the werewolf on the balcony. "Get out now and we'll forego our right to defend our territory to the fullest extent of the law."

From the balcony, there are three low growls before the enormous furred and clawed form answers. "We know you took her, Carmello. And we know you have her in this club and we're not leaving without her."

"Okay well, this doesn't sound like it's going to end with anybody strolling away," Lennox says to the others and nods toward the door. "Let's see if we can just.. move in that direction. Real slow, back toward the wall."

Cooper fumbles around and manages to find his jacket, but more importantly, the knife in the pocket of said jacket. He shrugs it on and slides it where he can reach it, then creeps out from under the table.

"Good call," he whispers to Lennox. "Sounds like we're in the middle of a supernatural turf war."

He keeps the weapon hidden. The last thing he wants is to look like a threat.

Cause he really is not.

King backs up too, but keeps herself between the brawl and her fellow Spellbounders. She glances between the balcony solves and the vampires on the dance floor. "Shit werewolves can talk," she mutters under her breath. And takes another step back, glancing behind her to check where Jack and Diana and Cooper are. A hand slides into her jacket pocket.

It's a slow backing up, eyes on the problem children in the club. She puts her empty glass down on the bar.

"Rip groove." answers Jack. As Di finds reasonable cover he looks to the bird on his shoulder and nods to Lennox, "With you. Can run distraction if they start heading at us." Curious he asks Cooper, "Why it is all the bitey people are always fighting? I never got this in movies."

He's playing it casual to move out of the way as sudden motion can register as a threat. "So much for up in the clurb we all fam."

The small group begins to stage a strategic retreat, backing toward the bar headed for the far wall, away from the floor and the general chaos that is ensuing. Thus far, no one seems to notice or be paying attention to them as their focus is on the drama going down right in front of them.

Several more vampires make their way out of the crowd to join the big guy, Carmello, in the center. "And you don't think she could have left on her own if she didn't want to be here, Donovan?"

There's a snarl from the werewolf on the balcony. Just then, the snarl is echoed by several more wolves -- two entering through the front door, blocking our heroes' exit, and two entering from the back, slinking along the back wall.

And here our heroes are, stuck in the middle.

"Lennox, next time you wanna be goth maybe uh...just a goth club on the mainland or something?" Cooper whispers. He stays crouched down, hand still in his jacket and on the knife. His eyes are as big as saucers.

"Don't suppose if we just tried to leave, they'd let us? I mean...we're not vampires."

"... is anybody else having flashbacks to that Twilight argument over a teenage girl?" King's question is quiet, but she quirks a smile at what Cooper says. "This is pretty goth," she says lowly, pitched for her her group to hear. But they are in a bar full of vampires and werewolves. She glances over at Lennox, "The drinks here are top notch, though..."

"In the clurb," she echoes Jack, because it's hard not to repeat that phrase when you hear it.

Jack admits, "To be transparent I was Team Alice. Jacob and Eddie took away too many decisions from people around them." He gestures hence, "Not helping the stereotypes I think." The look on Jack's face to start some shit with this powder keg in the room is high. His lips are pressed tightly together trying to be good.

"They keep talkin like she isn't running the room. Twenty bucks says she kicks all their asses, and I dunno who she is." Still he can keep his beak shut long enough to get to cover. Maybe.

"That's my secret, Cooper; I'm always goth," Lennox murmurs as they continue to make their way toward the wall. At least thus far, all those potential combatants haven't seen them and don't seem to be paying them any mind. "The drinks are great and to be fair.. this did NOT happen last time." He then looks over at Jack and shakes his head. "No idea what any of this shit his about. Just.. keep your eyes out for an opening when they move away from the doors." If they move away from the doors.

"Guess we're going to find out," the wolf on the ledge says. And then talking time is over. He launches himself from the second floor balcony onto Carmello below and it's an all-out brawl.

Humans who want nothing to do with any of this are scrambling for the doors, but run into the wolves there, who snarl and drive them back into the room. Vampires who want in on the action area already lunging at Donovan and the large dire wolves at his side.

They may need to fight their way out. Or at least dodge some of the chaos as best they can.

Which is when one of the vampires gets hurled through the air directly at them!

"Ahhh oh shit oh shit!" exclaims Cooper as an airborne vampire is yeeted his direction. He manages to get out of the way. "What do we do? Kitchen? Ask the dogs really nicely?" He's panicking a little

"Maybe if we wait a second the ones at the door will join the fight?"

King's snorts before she can totally squelch the urge to laugh. Lennox and his always-goth secret. The worse kept secret on the Boo'ed Walk. "Anybody got a juice steak in your back pocket?" Dog distraction and all.

She's looking at the door, watching humans be driven back in by wolves, even as that yeetery takes place. Steak is not gonna cut it. She almost catches a boot, throwing herself back against the bar, probably bruising a kidney or something. It's poor Lennox that bears the brunt of Count Catapult. "Fu—"

"Watch your fuckin' aim, collateral damage!" Yeah that's a werewolf who just threw a vampire at them, but when King's pissed off, her volume goes up. She did spend a good deal of her time in a big city after growing up hella country. Volume is sometimes needed to be heard.

Jack looks to Cooper considering the options, but before he can voice his thoughts he sees the grownass man being hurled toward them. All of 6'4 Jack folds into 10" tall bird Jack narrowing missing that as he manages to be under the vampire's trajectory. Sorry Lennox! He flies to King's shoulder looking to see if there's another one happening here. Typically he'd choose discretion but that man over there yelling can turn into a dog, so it's practically an invitation.

Lennox gets hurled backward into the wall and his head makes a thunk sound that is absolutely not good. He crumples to the ground under the weight of the vampire, who uses him as leverage to get back to his feet, hissing something fierce, eyes red with fury. There's several large tears through his very fancy suit where the werewolf tore through it.

Well, Cooper was right. The ones at the door do join the fight, because one launches itself at the vampire that just peeled itself off Lennox while the other one goes to take a bite out of King. Apparently someone heard her!

"Ah, shit!" Cooper immediately goes for Lennox, pausing only to let the vampire past until he can get in to help him up. He slaps at his face gently, but if he doesn't get a response he'll heft him up. "We gotta get the hell out of here!"

Then he starts trying to drag Lennox to the now-clear door.

King doesn't back down, even as a werewolf launches itself at her. She heard Lennox's head make contact with the wall, but doesn't have time to say anything, or even take her eyes off the wolf. It's a big flying bundle of teeth and fur. She barely has time to make a sound of warning for Jackbirb, but then the brave avian is putting himself in harm's way.

"Nox, you dead?" She backs up a couple paces, but doesn't take her eyes off the werewolf. "Coop, he out?" She has a knife in hand by now, ready for the wolf if it keeps coming once it shakes off the Jack Effect.

Jack benefits slightly from him being in two places right now, but also at a disadvantage from being in two places ans the size of a werewolf chicken nuggie right now. Still, the flippant pianist is reliable to start some shit, when his people are in hazard's way... less so when a vampire is being a human cannonball.

From King's shoulder he flies at the wolfman's face talons out as a deterrent which would mean more were he a falcon and not a corvid, but maybe the wolfman is bat at ornithology. There's a rolling 'Raaaak!' trying to get the others some time here, or maybe the vampires time to come pick an issue with the guy! So many options.

Momentarily distracted, the werewolf suddenly has a bird in its face and it snaps its jaws, attempting to turn it into a chicken nuggie. It does not, however, manage to do so, for now. But the one fighting the vampire casts the vampire into the crowd, using it once more like a bowling ball to knock down more patrons attempting to flee. Then it turns on Cooper and Lennox, snarling as it notices Cooper attempting to drag Lennox toward the doors. Doesn't seme like they're going to let anyone out any time soon.

"He's out cold!" Cooper shouts as he manages to support Lennox's dead weight. Just as he gets his weight supported, he locks eyes with the wolf. "Uh...look...we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We don't want any trouble." He flashes a very awkward little smile. "We're not part of either side."

Even as he's trying to talk his way out of it, he's still dragging Lennox bit by bit towards the exit.

"Haven't had a decent bar fight in years," King says, when it becomes apparent this is a kick some ass situation. She's not one to skip the opportunity to make the best of a shit situation. And so it is that she flips her knife in her hand and launches herself at the werewolf menacing Cooper and Lennox-the-Unconscious.

Jack 2 flies down from the rafters to re-dude himself looking to Cooper, "I help. You got the door?" Jack tries to grab the legs of the out cold Lennox. "We get him to a clear spot King can probably fix him up." He does offer encouragement to unconscious Lennox, "Heeeey buddy... Congrats, you are now a human hammock."

Bird-Jack is all claws and feathers trying to keep their attention off King who- well she's scary in her own way. Did the bird just try to claw honk his nose? He did. This is getting close for comfort.

King comes out of nowhere and skewers the wolf approaching Cooper and Lennox with a knife, burying it into the wolf's tough hide. It howls and tries to snap at her with large jaws, but can't quite get around to gain purchase on her. She is now practically riding a dire wolf like a bronco in a honky tonk bar. Meanwhile, Jack's jackdaw self is still making a nuisance of itself around the other wolf's muzzle, distracting it enough that when the vampire that had been getting launched returns, he is able to sink a wicked looking blade into the creature's back, causing it to howl in pain and turn fully to crash into the vampire again, knocking him back into the crowd and taking off after him, the blade still sticking out of its back.

In the middle of the floor, Carmello manages to get Donovan onto his back and is pointing a gun at his head, bellowing at the wolves to get the fuck out of the club now or he will put several rounds of silver into Donovan. There's no immediate stopping to the fighting. Some people have managed to scramble out the doors. Others have retreated upstairs to watch from above. The ground floor is a mess. There's shattered glasses, broken tables, and bleeding wolves and vampires strewn about the place.

"Bar fights aren't fun! They're freaking dangerous, man!" says Cooper as he drags Lennox to the door with Jack's help. The current scene of werewolf v vampire seems to prove his point.

He just very much wants to get out of there and away from...well, the place where people ride wolves like bucking broncos.

"Bad life choice," King grits out, holding onto a bucking wall of fur. "Bad life choice."

King takes the opportunity to use a very seldom used ability of hers, a bare hand digging deeper into the wolf's fur to leech his energy and direct it to Lennox. She heard his head hit the wall, and head injuries are tricky, silent, scary things. Her already dark eyes bleed to black and dark veins slither up from her hand into her wrist and forearm.

"Calm. Your tits. Jacob."

The werewolf Jackdaw the birb can keep distracted and he might even be mocking him a little bit figuring out where the reach and range of motion stops. Here a scratch, there the threat of going for the guy's eyes. While King does the spooky thing from the safety of, well, making the furry man a limp rug Jack tries to aid in getting as much time for her as he can.

Jack le Guy Hefts up one of Lennox's boots and then the other under his arms and tries to let Cooper lead. "There was this one bar in Toronto I would play, it was very interesting. Some of the people wore costumes and did this LARP thing I dunno, but then there were legit criminal types there, and some of them joined the game. I couldn't tell if it was corruption or conversion- which way it was going, but I don't think any of these guys are into playing nice." Looking over his shoulder he wonders, "Maybe we should have grabbed bat-bowling ball guy too?"

Jack and Cooper are able to haul Lennox out the door and into the cool night air where people are pushing around them to get away from the club. But moreover, there are also wolves walking the streets, a number of the large dire wolves watching those coming out. They seem to let the humans go, sniffing at the air for some sign of undeath, perhaps. For now, they don't seem to be approaching Cooper and Jack.

Inside, the force of King's attack causes the wolf beneath her to black out in pain and crumple to the floor, leaving her and bird-Jack a clean getaway. Diana, too, is able to flee with Jack and Cooper as they carry Lennox out into the street.

Cooper flinches and tries not to watch all the violence happening around him. Instead, he focuses on helping Jack carry a still-a-bag-of-rocks Lennox out of the club. "Goddamn I hope he's okay. He's really out cooooo...oh shit."

He lowers his voice and tries to shuffle them somewhere in a shadow out of wolf earshot. But then something clicks. "Wait...Toronto? You're not Canadian too, are you?"

King falls atop the wolf as it crumbles. She yanks her knife out of its hide and rolls off of it, breath hissing out from between her teeth. "Yo," she says, "Y'all we definitely ain't gettin' invited back to this party." Wiping the blade off on unconscious wolf furs, she gets most of the blood off of it before she slips it back into her pocket. The dark-haired paramedic gets to her feet and backs up toward Lennox, Cooper, and Jack, her back to them, facing the rest of the bar as they go. "Canadian bonding. You guys are cute." She only takes her gaze off the interior of the bar once they're stepping out onto the street.

She doesn't quite breathe a sigh of relief. Not yet. She pat pat's Nox's boot her palm even as he's carried outside. "Wake up, Nox. You're missing goth shit." A street full of werewolves is not what she expected to find tonight.

Hup hup hup! Jack gives the people not bothering them an upnod. Yup, all casual here. Eyebrows lift to cooper and there's a small grin- are they carrying their concussed friend right now? Yes, things happen. "I'm from Granby, just outside of Montreal." Which explains the québécois accent then. "Where you from?" Just carrying a body, ignore the Canadians!

Bird jack flies behind her like an omnious omen who thinks far too highly of himself as a cool accessory here. He can play battle familiar for a night.

Once they are out on the street, it seems that they are in the clear. The fighting continues to go on inside, and in the distance, one can hear sirens beginning to wail. What on earth do the cops do about this sort of shit, one has to wonder. But that's really not something that they probably want to stick around to find out. It's a long walk back to the abandoned block where the building with the portal is. But if they head a little further away from the club and the patrolling wolves, they can probably hail a cab.

"I'm from Arnprior, just outside of Ottawa," says Cooper. "I was gonna say it's wild but uhhh we are pretty close to the border." Once they have a moment out of wolf-shot, he gently tap-taps Lennox's cheeks again, just to see if he can get him to snap out of it. But no dice. He frowns. "OK, now I'm getting worried."

King resists the urge to slide into an alleyway when the sirens start, instead keeping pace and chipping in to help carry Nox. Dead weight is unwieldy, after all. At the first opportunity, she hails a cab. "Just a few friends dragging an unconscious buddy back from the club. Nothing weird here," she mutters.

"He'll be alright," she says, seeming even pretty sure of it. Pretty sure, not totally sure. She did juice him with a lot of stolen energy. She almost misses a curb when she steps down. Does leeching energy make a person high? Could just be the adrenaline dump. "I need a vinyl booth seat and some cheese sticks and a hot chocolate."

Jack promises, carrying boots, and flapping behind, "How about we try Lucky's. Not as exciting, but they have the cocoa." Looking back to Cooper he says "Awww nice, let's catch up in the cab. King, excellent work. I will parttime familiar for you when you need. That was fun, except the part where Lennox got hit. Sorry, Lennox. At least they didn't hit you in the face though."

And they do.. eventually find a cab that takes them back to then neighborhood before they make their way back to the portal. At some point during the cab ride, Lennox does finally come to and seems to feel just fine. Whatever King whammied that werewolf with, it sure fixed him up nice. There won't even be a bump on his head.