A spit to their faces

Nicolas picked the projectile up, it used to be a projectile, he saw that man fire them both, yet here they are not a dent or a scratch, so he looked up at Deno who just received his second drink, now he made sense, his calm demeanor, his confidence to just stroll into a mob compound, this man really was a prince of darkness.

Deno glared at him with a smile on his face, but then shook his head and started chuckling "Okay okay, so I can't keep up this serious face any longer"

"Saria was right, you make a joke out of everything"

"Of course I do! You should have seen the dark ages, no one laughed then!"

"The dark ages?"

"I was born that time, grew up in that miserable era, but because of that I promised myself to see the lighter side of everything"

"Even the downfall of man kind?"

"Nope, I'll admit that was a joke too far taken"

"What do you mean?"

Deno sighed then sipped from his glass "I... Hate werewolves Nicolai" he said placing his glass down then making bucked claws with his fingers "I absolutely, for the ever life of me, love! To hate wolves! With a passion! They're the one thing that can kill me and once a wolf has your scent you'd have to run across the entire fucking planet to escape it, they're fucking relentless"

"I see..." Nicolas said wide eyed at that powerful explanation.

"But..." Deno sat forward "If there was anything on our beautiful planet I hate more than wolves, is my two brothers, and sister... Nicolai..."

The man in question swallows seeing Deno's blue eyes glimmer red and an aura of black came around him.

"I... Hate... Them.... I hate them more than life! I will never die but that I do not even hate as much! I wanted to kill those fuckers a long time ago but placed my faith in werewolves to get the job done! But here behold the scaly cowards are smart! Cowards! Running like fieldmice at the very idea of a prowling wolf! I swear! I've seen Anastasia run banshee wailing at the mere sight of a German Shepard!"

Nicolas held his hands up and glanced at the room, the entire bar had their attention on them thanks to his outburst "Uh, its a play people, he's practicing a play"

"Oh how I fucking wish I was!" Deno said making Nicolas flinch.

"Calm down man!"

"I am calm!"

Nicolas nodded "Okay... Sure..."

Deno sat back taking a deep breath "The problems of trust goes both ways, just like poor Bella can't trust humans the same goes for us vampires, the only time I trust a human is when I have them compelled, under my little spell..."

"Why did you trust me then?"

"Because if Bella could, the most skittish person on mother earth, I guess it was okay for me to do the same"

"I see"

"But unfortunately for that Van Hellsing woman I can't say the same, I don't trust her because they hunted us long before the hunt on wolves ever began, like she'll ever gain my trust now"

Nicolas swallowed the rest of his whiskey the moment another glass got placed down, then he shook his head chuckling.

"What?" Deno asked.

"I don't even see the point, if you tell Saria Bella is the only one who can kill you, how do you get that cupcake to... To..." He gestured two hands at Deno "Take on someone like you? She's a buttercup and you're clearly more than a match for her by yourself, and you say you're the youngest?"

"Exactly my dear friend, Belladonna is in no physical shape to fight a vampire... Yet..."

"Yet?"

"I came here to take her under my wing, I wanted to offer her sanctuary, it was the ultimate spit to the faces of my siblings since they initially asked me to kill her, then I will train Belladonna to better herself, when she's ready, I'll accompany her to go kill my wretched family"

Nicolas looked him in his eyes to see if this wasn't another one of his jokes, but Deno smiled "Then maybe I can have the two of you fall in love so she can finally have a happy life"

Nicolas blinked "Wait what?"

"Yes! You're clearly the person she has the most trust in on our blue planet, you should marry the girl"

Nicolas laughed leaning in "You, think that's possible?"

"Why not!? Let me tell you the main reason why I hate my family" Deno said gulping that second glass away with vengeance.

"I was in love with a human woman, the beautiful Astrid, oh how she made this heartless cold chest of mine so warm"

"Did she know you're a vampire?"

"Yes of course, but I didn't want to turn her, it was the heat of her skin, the soft soothing sounds of her heart that drew me to her"

Nicolas held his mouth closed and slipped a chuckle.

"I know, sounds like a real twilight saga hey?"

"I'm sorry... You don't sparkle do you?"

Deno cracked with laughter "No I do not! But the author of that book couldn't have portrayed vampires any better"

"How so?"

"They were pretty, all inspiring, the sparkling of the skin drew their prey in like moths to a flame, brilliant actually"

"Right, so how do you look in the sun?"

Deno held his hands wide "Behold"

"So you don't burn?"

"Only those we turn burn in the sun, as for me and my family, were impervious to sunlight"

"Makes sense, the one God given way to combat you lot and it doesn't work, poor Saria must be so frustrated"

"And let her be, the snobby little brave heart, as for you my dear human... I think you should win over the heart of our wolf girl, she deserves a man that can take care of her..."

Nicolas looked at his glass thinking of a life with her, she was pretty, and did have a beautiful personality...

"Just don't piss her off, she might kill you" Deno said making Nicolas laugh.

"Yeah, that's the only thing I'm worried about"

"I suggest you build a cage of silver, she can't get in I promise"

The two laughed for a few more seconds then Nicolas frowned "So? What happened to Astrid?"

Deno's laugh suddenly subsided "Jealous Anastasia Le Blanc, couldn't handle a vampire lord being in love with a human... So she turned her"

"Turned her? That all?"

"Astrid was never the same after that Nicolai, she became a slave to blood, just like most humans do, there is a way to slowly and subtly turn a human into a vampire, allow the human to ease into the life, but Anastasia drank her near dry so when she turned the hunger was tripled, Astrid wanted nothing more than to feast off humans, so... I had to lock her up"

"Wait, what do you mean lock her up?"

"I will never find it in myself to kill Astrid, so out of my own weakness I slammed her in a dungeon and threw away the key"

Nicolas sank behind his hand "Fuck, I'm sorry man"

Deno cleared his throat and drank his third away "Its in the past, a vampire who doesn't receive blood will eventually wither away, she probably already left this place"

"Probably..." He looked at Deno who seems to struggle with that idea, then threw his second glass of whiskey down "Right! So your plan..."

Deno looked up.

"Its our job to get Bella back and take her where you can train her to fight?"

"Yes indeed, so tomorrow we go back to that compound and try convince her to join us, I suggest you do the talking"

"Right... Though, why was she afraid of you when wolves are your sworn enemy?"

Deno shrugged "She probably haven't found her courage yet, which means Belladonna truly still has deep sleeping potential to become the goddess of war herself"

The waitress brought them each an new glass and Nicolas held his up "I like the way that sounds"

Deno smiled and they clinked glasses.

Unbeknownst to the two liaising at the table they where being eavesdropped, the man stood up and finished his glass, placed a bill down and left the room.

Outside he dialed a number.

"Yes, Miss Le Blanc? I have news about Deno"