“Is that’s what’s bothering you?” The man sitting opposite of them leaned forward to sit up straight in his chair. He laid his arms out on the chair arms in a relaxed but confident position. It seemed to William that this would be an appropriate position for a job interview. William knew that the man was mocking his friend and he threw him a sideways glance. This earned a smile from Mr. Pacifico as he redirected his attention back to Charles. “My name is Kenneth Pacifico.”
“Why would anyone in their right minds name their child Kenny?” Katherine asked under her breath.
“I know the concept of time must be difficult for you,” Kenneth answered sharply, “Shape shifters do have such short lives compared to us.” He glanced under the table at the alert golden brown wolf. “But you have to understand my dear, my parents were Sicilian.”
He let the small revelation hang in the air for a moment. William knew who the Sicilians were but other than that, the title alone did not impress him. His friends had much the same reaction. This earned them a slightly sour look from their guest.
Kenneth continued a little less enthusiastic than before, “I was born in Follonica Italy, in 1941. My father wanted me to have a proud Italian name, but my mother,” He looked pointedly at Katherine, “She wanted me to have a more unique and western name. She won out in that argument and so I was given the name of Kenneth.” He swept his eyes over the group stopping back on Katherine. “You have to understand that this was years before South Park. Of course, once that show aired and soared in popularity I was already as you see me now. I never had the pleasure of being constantly chased with sounds of my friends crying out ‘Oh my God, they killed Kenny.’”
“You are a relatively young vampire then.” Charles stated.
Kenneth smiled at the dark black man, “Why yes I am, in the grand scheme of my people I am, at any rate.” He glanced over at William and said quietly, “So he’s the brains of the group. I understand, it’s no shame to be the mindless muscle, William. I have met and killed one or two Enforcers such as yourself.”
Katherine sorted, “I doubt that.”
Kenneth turned back toward Katherine. There was a harsh look in his eyes as he roughly spoke to her. “I didn’t say they were Shape shifters or that they were even werewolves, now did I?”
“Why don’t you tell all of us exactly what you do mean.”
William turned to the melodic voice that had sounded just to his right. Standing there was Ansuya who had Nicolas in front of her and off to her side, she was holding the arm of a scantily clad woman. The woman was very pink skinned. Her blond hair was dyed, though pretty well done, dark roots were no where to be seen. William guessed at the dye job because the shade of the girl’s hair didn’t quite go with her skin tone. The woman was staring up at Ansuya. She wore an adoring smile on her face. She was leaning into the elder. To William, she looked like one of those white statues of a woman who was swooning over something that rich people kept in their gardens. The girl was young, only about twenty-one or maybe twenty-two. Her boobs were massive for her body frame but even without that tell-tale sign William knew they were fake. Her tight blue and purple corset left nothing to the imagination and the skin around her breasts were pulled tight at odd, harsh angles. He supposed that could be from the corset itself but somehow, he just knew the girl had had work done. She was in shape though; he had to give her that at least. He long well-muscled, toned legs shot up from her six inch platform heels right up under the short, see through, fabric that wrapped around her waist. It wasn’t a skirt or a pair of shorts, it just looked like a piece of fabric, like an ultra-thin see through scarf or towel.
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Ansuya gently guided the girl to a seat next to Nicolas who had sat down a moment before. She turned to face Kenneth, who was now standing up facing her as well. The elder didn’t speak; she only looked at the young vampire.
Kenneth met her eyes with his. He wore a faux smile that was wafer thin. William knew that if he could spot something like that than Ansuya would already be building a mental psychological profile on this guy. “I am shocked by this unexpected surprise.” He said almost jovially. “When I choose this place for tonight, I had no idea that I would be standing in the presence of the elders Alexiares and Ansuya Das, at the same time.” He bowed his head, much as he had done with Alexiares. “I am honored to meet you both, truly.”
Ansuya arched an eyebrow, “Who are you?”
“I’m Kenneth Pacifico. I was just in the middle of a marvelous little chat…”
“What did you mean a moment ago by having ‘killed one or two enforcers?” Ansuya asked with a straight face.
Kenneth stood still, smile still on his face, looking into Ansuya’s eyes. William watched his mannerisms carefully. The man stood as still as a cat on a mantle. There was no sweat or noticeable anxiety. The man may have been looking for something, but nervous or intimidated he was not.
Kenneth said, “Yes, I have killed several whose destiny it may have been to become enforcers or sages or even trackers.” He glanced back at William and the others sitting on the bench behind the table. “And as pleasant as this meeting has been I have business to attend to.”
Before he could move Ansuya asked casually with an undertone of iron, “What House are you with?”
Kenneth stopped and gave her a sideways glance. He replied slowly, “House? That is an interesting, if not rather restricted way of looking at things, isn’t it?”
Ansuya took a step closer to the vampire. She gathered herself and raised herself to her full height. Ansuya wasn’t playing games with this particular vampire. William hoped that Kenneth gave her a reason to act. “Do not play games with me, parasite. What House do you belong to?”
Kenneth raised his eyebrows as he looked toward the ceiling. He shrugged in the negative. “I have no idea what you are talking about, Miss Das.”
She smiled thinly at the vampire. She arched an eyebrow at him and asked, “Why are you here?”