New Beginnings (NJ)

[Shinigami]

Aubrey sighed as he hung up the phone. He had just begun his "rebirth" in the human working world as his old friend, Jacob, liked to call it. It was impossible to keep a job for as long as he can live, due the fact that he was already over 3,000 years old as it was. The fact that he never aged always drew him into the shadows after so many years as a company head or whatever he had choosen to do.

His phone conversation had consisted of his most trusted banker, and fellow vampire, rattling off question after question about what he was going to do next. He had plenty of resources to draw from, knowing a vampire in almost every major job field across many countries, but he had decided to stick with a passion of his he had seldome time to indulge in.

Aubrey was drawn to art, probably because of his ancient Greek heritage. He had always had an eye for it, and even loved to dabble in it himself from time to time. Since he had many valuable pieces adorning the walls of his three-story house, and he had years, centuries rather, of first had knowledge on the subject, he had easily decided on the job of Art Dealer. Aubrey also worked with the local art museums within the city to authenticate artworks every so often.

***

After the phone call, Aubrey decided that he needed an evening in the city to clear his head. And why not look around for available office space for his new indevour while he was at it?

The first stop he made was a large bookstore that he favored. He had quite an extensive library and Aubrey loved explanding it. Books were one way he kept up with the times and the styles of the day. He only spent a few moments browsing the books, already knowing which ones he wanted, before paying and heading back out into the city streets.

He frowned as his stomache told him he needed to eat. He hadn't eaten all day, or drank for that matter. Since he awoke that afternoon Aubrey had been planning out his job change. He spotted a small cafe style restaurant across the street and smiled.

'That'll do nicley, and maybe I'll catch a drink afterwards.' He winced at how horribly pun-ish that last thought sounded in his mind, but he made his way across the busy street carefully.

[Demeter]

Jade stared down at the puddle of coffee that was slowly sinking into an manuscript in disblief. She had just spilled her mocha across one of the firms best seller's newest novel. Really, it was just another perfect moment to the perfect day. She dropped a handful of napkins onto the puddle and attempted to clean the mess up.

As she blotted up the spilled beverage, Jade thought about her day. The twins had been going on about which colleges they had been researching, the expensive ones, of course. And Laurana had been in a pissy mood just because some classmate of hers had a brand new car while she was stuck with some old junk heap. Jade assumed that some point there would be screaming matches between her and the twins about which college they would be attending and Laurana would just have to deal with the old junk heap until she stopped hitting mail boxes.

Jade tossed the soaked napkins onto her plate and whinced at the damage to the papers in front of her. Half of them were now illegable blobs of brown. She pulled one of the pencils she had stuck into her hair out and scrawled a note across the top about getting another copy. She slumped back in her chair while replacing the pencil in her hair and glared at the manuscript.

Lately her job had started to seem more like a chore then the joy it been a few years ago. The pampering of authors, the at times violent ways the underlings went about moving up the corperate scale and, of course, the freshly-graduated girl that had been hired on and given to her to train up. Dawn was not above commenting on how young Jade seemed for a woman with three teenage children. There had been days when all Jade wanted to do was ram a pencil into some part of Dawn's body while the girl commented about the way Jade looked in stage whispers.

Sure, there was a reason for the way Jade looked, she was a vampire, but she didn't go around advertising it. Maybe it was time to find a postion in a completely different field. Jade glanced out the window of the almost completely deserted cafe she was sitting in, trying to find some sort of inspiration and watched as a man crossed the street. She tilted her head the side as she watched him. From young age she'd been able to tell the difference between the species and some subconconcious part of her brain told her that this was a vampire and a very old one at that.

Jade blindly reached out for her coffee cup and what little drink was left in it. Herhand bumped in to the mug a little to hard and Jade cursed as a fresh stream of spilled coffee wound it's way off the table and onto her leg.

[Shinigami]

Aubrey walked into the cafe with the intent of settling in the corner booth with a latte and one of those small, ungodly healthy cafe sandwiches. His plan had been going quite well as he approached the counter and placed his order, spotting the corner booth empty and waiting for him, but he got that itchy feeling on the back of his neck. He sighed. He knew that feeling was just his sixth sense telling him there was another vampire near by, but the city was full of vampires, and it really shouldn't bother him so much.

As he waited for the lazy teenager behind the counter to finish his order, Aubrey gave a glance around the small cafe. He managed to find the culprit. A young female vampire, that couldn't be very much older than her mid-twenties appearance, was having a very stressfull day so far. He smirked lightly, noting that she must have spilled her coffee about two or three times by the look of the pile of wet napkins and the stains across the papers on the table. The teenager interrupted him when he rudely informed his order was ready.

Aubrey knew he wouldn't be able to sit in his corner booth quietly if this poor woman got any more frustrated, so he turned to the teenager again. "Excuse me, do you happen to remember what that woman ordered over there?" The kid sighed, rolling his eyes before looking over at the table indicated. He nodded, saying she had ordered regular coffee. "Ah, then get me a regular coffee, too. It seems the lady needs another." The kid mummbled as he filled another mug and handed it over. He thanked the kid, of course, before heading over to the table, grabbing a handfull of sugar and half&half.

"Excuse me, Miss? It seems you are in need of another coffee," smiling as he said it, not wanted a woman's rath to be turned on him. He set the mug down, carefully, and placed the sugar and what not next to it. "I wasn't sure what you had in your coffee, so a just brought a handfull. Do you need a little help cleaning some of this up?"

Aubrey placed his plate and latte on the empty table next to hers, not imposing himself and trying to be gentlemenly as usual. He grabbed some more napkins from his table and offered them to the woman, letting her clean off her own leg, while he moved some of the already soiled napkins out of the way.

[Demeter]

Jade had been in the process of mopping up the second round of spilled coffee when she heard a clatter and a voice. She looked up the see the vampire from the street setting his own meal at the table next to her. "I..Uh...No thank you, I think I've got the cleaning part pretty much covered and thank you for the coffee."

Jade quickly bundled up the pages of the novel she'd beem editing and stuffed them into her bag, not really worried about their condition as she was going get a fresh copy later on, preferablly protected from any sort of food stains this time. After dumping a few of the little containters of half & half,plus a few packets of sugar, into the fresh cup of coffee, Jade looked over at the male vampire and smiled. "Thank you for that," she motioned to the pile of napkins, "have you ever one of those days when, not only is nothing going your way, but everything is going out of it's way to make it an absolutly horribe day?"

She tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her hair and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Jade."

[Shinigami]

Aubrey smiled, nodding, "Oh yes I have. And I've had many years of experiance to find that the next bad day always seems to be worse than the last." He shook the offered hand, curbing the ancient impulse to kiss it in mixed company. "I'm Aubrey. It's nice to meet you."

The tables in the small cafe were rather close together, as they always are such places, so when Aubrey sat at the next table he was still close to Jade's table. He chose a seat that would allow them to continue the conversation without him having to turn completely around. He took a ginger sip of his latte, as they were always made scolding hot, but found that this one wasn't too bad. Maybe the teenager behind the counter actually knew what he was doing after all. He held the cup between his hands and glanced back over at Jade. "If you don't mind me asking... those papers you had, they weren't too terribly important were they? It would seem a shame if they were with all the coffee on them."

He paused to take another sipof his latte and eye his sandwich with suspicion.

[Demeter]

Jade nudged her bag with a booted foot. "Every day has the potential to be a bad day with two kids looking at colleges, the expensive ones, naturally and a sixteen year who, if you believe her, never has the coolest things. I'm sorry if all that was completely out of the blue. I don't normally do that. Nice to meet you, Aubrey."

She turned and glanced out the window while using a stirrer straw to blend the coffee with the sugar and half & half. After a minute she turned back and smiled. "No, those papers are really all that important. I can get another copy. I work as an editor at a publish house. That was the manuscript for one of our biggest author's newest novel."

Jade glanced at the sandwhich. "You're brave, for eating one of those. I normally go for the salads; they're made by an outside source."

Jade turned back towards the window and stared at the passing traffic.

[Shinigami]

Aubrey smiled as he sipped at his latte yet again. "Ah, children - teenagers, rather. I never settled down to have any, which I regret really. Though, now I think I'd be more of a 'spoil them rotten' type." He chuckled, "I guess it comes with old age, but I guess children woud be happy with that to some extent. Sounds as if your youngest is one to like being spoiled if it were offered to her."

He finally gathered a little courage, setting his cup down and picking up his sandwich. Aubrey took a small bite, and found that it wasn't the worst he'd had. He tried to talk himself into eating healthier, but it was killing his appetite. He took a few more bites before washing it down with a swig from his mug, the liquid having cooled quite a bit.

Aubrey glanced up as Jade continued about the papers, "Well, it's good you can get another copy. Though, I've always heard those manuscripts are thick as hell. I'm heading into art dealing currently. One of my reasons for being in the city today. I was office hunting." He smiled, and chuckled at Jade's comment about "the sandwich." "Yes, well, they get it right sometimes. It's not half bad today, and I'm not known to get sick to often. I guess I have a stomache of steel."

He was grinning as his sipped his latte again, almost out now.

[Demeter]

Jade slumped forward slightly, hunching her shoulders inwards. "Her father would have spoiled her if he had the chance...she was still very young when he died. And there are days when children are not blessings."

Jade glared down at her back and reached down to stuff the corners of a few pages into the bag, not caring about the further damage she was causing to them. "They are as thick as hell and twice as worse. You chance one part of a sentence and you suddently need to pamper the author's ego. Most of my job is making sure all the authors are happy. Did you find any suitable spaces for an office?"

She watched as Aubrey bit into and swallowed part of the sandwhich. She raised her glass and toasted him. "You, sir, are blessed to have a stomach of iron. I hear they can be wonderful things."

[Shinigami]

Aubrey set his cup down, leaning on the table, toward Jade so he didn't have to speak as loud. He knew that there were many people that were natural eavesdroppers, especially in places like this. "I'm sorry. He sounds like he was a good man. I've heard from a few friends that there are times when children can be quite a handful, and not so lovely." He smiled lightly before continuing, quietly. "Is it safe to assume your children were born before...?" He let the sentance trail, knowing Jade would understand what he was asking. It was rare for a vampire, and one with a family, to die. Be killed, rather, as vamprires don't die naturally.

Aubrey smiled, almost shyly as he replied to the question about his office hunt. "Well, I haven't had as much time to look as I'd like. I made a pit stop at the book store across the street. Though, it seems our businesses will both be about keeping our clients happy, eh?" He finished off his latte and thought over whether or not to finish the sandwich, and decided he was finished with it. It wasn't -that- appitizing after all.

"Yeah, well, sometimes even an iron stomach deserves better food." He spared an almost guilty glance at the workers behind the counter before snickering.

[Demeter]

Jade smirked, mostly to herself at Aubrey's question about her late husband and the trio of children she had. She took a drink of her coffee and curled her hands around the cup, trying to soak up as much of the radient heat that she could. "I was married, made a mother three times over, and widowed all before my twenty four birthday, at which I was still a just a Custos."

Jade glanced at the sandwich and rolled her eyes. "We may both keep our clients happy, but your clients will pay you to give them works of art. We editors tend to have to pay our clients just to keep them around. Some I don't have to coddle into writing something and others I have to hold their hand through every step of the process."

Jade glanced from the sandwich to the young people behind the counter to the half eaten blueberry muffin off to one side on her table. "If you as them, the answer you'd get is that its not their fault the food isn't all that great. They are more concered if Mary is dating John or Steven then what we adults think of their culinary skills. Though, if you want a truly wonderful meal, the french place a few streets over...well, that is just bliss."

[Shinigami]

Aubrey raised an eyebrow, showing innocent interest as Jade spoke of her background vaguely. "Custos? Really? That's quite an oddity amoung us. Most rogues don't bother with Custoss or like when they decided to go biting. Do mind me asking what line you're from?"Aubrey knew he could easily find out on his own, but looking into Jade's mind was invasive and rude if it was unwelcomed, and most rarely welcomed it.

A smile touched his face as Jade spoke of their respective jobs. He rested is elbows on the table, his chin then resting on his clasped hands. "Well, I guess that's true. Though, I don't think I could stand coddling an adult like that just to get them to do their job. I commend you for putting up with it." He paused to slide his sandwich a bit further away, giving his elbows room.

Glancing up, Aubrey caught her comment about the food, snickering in the direction of the counter before re-directing his attention back to Jade. Her mention of the French restaurant peaked his interest again. He smirked. "Bliss is it? Well, you obviously haven't had good Greek food. I do love French food, though. Quite good in and of itself. I'm guessing you've been there before?"

[Demeter]

Jade ripped open a packet of sugar that Aubrey had brought over and dumped it into the drink in front of her. She stirred the sugar into the coffee while she regarded the vampire across from her. "Anila. I was a rather easy target the night I was turned. Also know as I was very drunk."

Jaded looked down at her lap and chuckled. "I had thought that it was just all a very bad dream the next day and then, well...the reaction when I figured out that it had been no dream wasn't very pretty. I think I broke a few things," She leaned back in her chair and cast another glanced towards her bag, "I don't mind getting my author's to write; I've made several good friends. It's just my co-workers that I want to strangle half the time."

She smirked at Aubrey's resturant comment. "I've tried Greek food once, and while the food was decent, the service wasn't. I haven't had any since. My oldest sister is the head chef there and spents most of the time complaing about what incompetents the underlings are. I got there a lot as I can generally get a discount. I take it you like Greek?"

[Shinigami]

Aubrey smiled lightly as he listened to Jade's tale of her turning. He was always amused to hear how others had come about. Those that weren't natural born, anyway. He thought his story to be rather boring, as he'd known what he was getting into well in advance. There were a great many more rogues now than there had been, and he heard many stories of drunken nights leading to a new life as a vampire. Aubrey's smile strengthened before he spoke. "Ah, I'm Moriba, myself, but my story is very boring. I was... comissioned, in a sense."

Aubrey glanced out of the window briefly, judging the time before returning to the conversation. "I was never one for working well with others. I did so a long time ago, when I was human. I was forced to, actually, so now I look for more solitary jobs. Or at least ones I could fire and hire the people I worked with." He smiled brightly at that, always enjoying having power over who he kept around in his jobs.

Aubrey sat back in his chair, expression open an bold when he finally tackled the subject of food and restaurants. "Well, you shouldn't let bad service sway you. And yes, I do like Greek food, as it is what I grew up on." He decided to test the waters with a question, having been quite taken with Jade and his conversation. He wanted to speak more, maybe at a different time and location. "Maybe I should show you where to find good Greek food -and- service. Perhaps, after you accompany me for a taste of that French restaurant you mentioned?"

[Demeter]

Jade blinked rapidly and stared at Aubrey. Had he basically just asked her out? "I, ah, well I think I would enjoy that, " She turned her chair around and faced Aubrey. She smiled and reached down into her bag. Jade pulled out her wallet and a pen. She placed a few dollars on the table to cover her bill and pulled out a card. Using the pen, Jade scribbled something down on the card.

She sat up and handed Aubrey the card. "All of my numbers are on that. Work, Cell, Home," she tapped he back of the card with a nail. "Why, don't you give me a call sometime," she smiled again and stood up. "Well, I must be on my way but I hope to hear from you again."

Jade picked up her back and the bills she'd dropped on the table before walking over to the counter to pay for her meal. She waved to Aubrey as she walked out of the little cafe. As she walked up the street to her building's parking lot, Jade smiled and giggled to herself. It had been a long time since she'd done that.

[Shinigami]

Aubrey smiled when Jade accepted his invitation to go out to dinner. He was about to ask for her number when she started rooting around in her bag, deciding to wait and she what she was up to. When he saw her pull out a card he smiled, figuring she would have a business card for her line of work. Aubrey was quite happy that she had accepted and as she handed him the card he stood, and old gentlemenly habit that was never a bad one to have. He smiled as he replied to Jade. "I will most certainly call you as soon as I'm able."

Aubrey remained standing until Jade walked out of the cafe and then proceeded to pay for his own meal. He was sure he had a goofy grin on his face as he tucked Jade's card securely in his wallet and made his way back out onto the street. He sighed as he started his hunt for office space began. Aubrey was able to find a nice space just down the street, and price was never really a problem for him, but the sellers haggled with him anyway.

***

Aubrey had started off the day arguing with the sellers -yet again- as he tried to secure the office space. He had just been to the office for the first time the day before, after his lovely lunch at the local cafe. The thought of Jade brought a smile to his face. He had only just met her the day before, but he had been compelled to call her all day. He had been unable to, of course, because of the annoying banker that continued to call the house. Besides, he was sure Jade had work to get done during the day as well.

Aubrey glanced at the clock. It seemed it got later quite fast and it was already close to 7. Aubrey sighed, sitting in the leather arm chair that stood next to the small table one of the many house phones was located. It was too late to go out to dinner that night, unless both of them felt up to rushing, and that was even if they could get a reservation. He had asked her out to the French restaurant after all, and those places usually filled fast. He decided to shoot for dinner tomorrow night, but he didn't mind a change, he was fairly spontanious when he needed to be.

Aubrey picked up the phone, fishing the number out of his wallet quickly before settling on dialing Jade's home number. Tapped his fingers against the table hoping she was home and not too busy. She had spoken of having three teenagers, after all. He listened to the ringing of the phone with growing nervousness, having not done such a thing for a little while, but he relaxed a little when he heard someone pick up.

[Demeter]

Jade glanced around her kitchen table and sighed. The brats known as her children were causing her problems. Again. "No. No and definatly no." She pointed to each teen in turn and stomped out of the kitchen. What did they think she was made out of? Money?

Jade turned into her office and slammed the door shut. She sighed and leaned against the thick panel of wood. First, at work, she'd had to deal with Dawn's not so subtle comments,a whining author, and then her children had the nerve to ask her about college tuiton and about a brand new car on of the lots downtown.

Jade flopped onto the broken but very comfortable couch she kept in her office and placed an arm over her eyes. As she did so, Jade thought about her lunch yesterday with that very nice man. She glanced towards the phone and, acting like a teenager herself, willed it ring. Cursing her childishness, Jade sat up and began to lecture herself. "You are the mother of two eighteen year olds and a sixteen year old brat. You not a teenager yourself and you will not get pouty just because the greatest looking guy you've seen in years has not called yet."

Jade against glanced at the phone and sighed. She stood, crossed to her desk and switched her computer on. She sat down on the chair and nearly fell out of it when the phone rang. She eyed the phone and grumbled. It was probably Ryan or Jack or whatever male student Ana currently had twisted around her little finger. Jade leaned over and picked the phone up. "Hello?"

[Shinigami]

Aubrey snapped to attention as he heard someone answer the phone. He smiled, slightly relieved that someone was there, as he -hated- leaving phone messages. "Hello. Jade? This is Aubrey. I thought I should call and see when you were available for that dinner we talked about." He kept his voice calm and confident, barely. He hadn't been out on a date in a while, and even though he knew he still had far better manners than most men in this age, he was still nervous. He always had been nervous when approaching women for more formal dates, most likely because that was something that just wasn't done by his class of people when he had been a young human.

Aubrey often took to wandering his house while on the phone, and he was allowed this little quirk because of his insistance that he have cordless phones throughout his house. He hadn't settled on a cell phone yet, not really willing to be bothered with learning how to use some new contraption, even though they had been out for a good bit of time. He found himself in his study, just the next room over, as he finished speaking. He was eyeing where to place his newly perchased books from the day before as he waited for a response. He found the task of shuffling books around on his shelves to be annoying, but it was needed to keep his study neat and organized.

[Demeter]

Jade perked up when she heard Aubrey answer her greeting. Somewhere, someone had decided to treat her to something good. "Yeah, its Jade. I'm free on Thursday for dinner, if that works for you. If you want the French resturant, just let me know and I'll get us a reservation but I'll leave the Greek up to you." Jade looked away from the surface of her desk and into the framed mirror across from her. She shook her head as she saw her reflection. Since when did she get all goofy; grinning and twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

Jade freed the fingers and waited for Aubrey to reply. She tapped her finger nails against the desk. When the door opened, Jade snapped her head around and glared at the twin waving papers at her. She smirked as the papers were removed and the door shut. Her children knew not to mess with mommy when she was on the phone.

[Shinigami]

Aubrey smiled, relieved. He was happy to hear that she was willing to go out with him at least twice; once for French and again for Greek. "Thursday is perfect. Why don't we start with the French restaurant, and then I'll show you where to find some of the best Greek around on another night." He was excited. He technically had to get his art gallery together, but that could wait. And besides, most of the pieces would come from his own collection, and he had to update the ownership backgrounds and appraisles first.

Aubrey glanced at the clock, trying to think of a suitable time to meet for dinner. Then he realized he have to figure out where they were meeting; either at the restaurant or at Jade's house. He had a car, a rarely used one, but a car non-the-less, so that wasn't a problem. He'd just need an address. "Why don't we set the reservation for 8?" That always seemed to be a good time, especially since he had no idea when Jade got out of work. "Should I pick you up at your house? Or meet you at the restaurant?"

[Demeter]

Jade twisted the cord to her phore around her fingers while Aubrey spoke and had her bottom lip clamped between her teeth. She was trying to not giggle like a school girl. "I'll go ahead and get our reservation for this thursday at eight at French resturant. Why don't you make one for Greek for the following Thursday, if that works for you. And why don't we just meet at the resturant. The reservation will be under my name, just ask for Jade Bonnaire."

After saying good bye and hanging up with Aubrey, Jade hopped out of her chair and did a little happy dance around her office. After settling back down, she picked up her phone and dialed her younger sister's number. "Oh, Astra," she crooned when her sister answer. "I need a favor. I need a reservation for this thursday at eight at the resturant. Please? I'll loan myself out for free labor this weekend."

Jade laughed when her sister asked why she needed a reservation. "I have a date...Yes, it is possible for me to still date. I'm a mother, not dead. Thank you, I love you." Jade dropped the phone back into the cradle and spun around in her chair.