Title: Ignition
Author: scy
Feedback: scynneh@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Not mine
Fandom: Heroes/Moonlight
Pairing: Josef/Adam/Lola
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Up through 'Cautionary Tales' and 'B.C.'
Summary: Even wanderers eventually encounter the unknown.
Author's Notes: Given the history of these three, it's only a matter of when they met up, not if.
November 2007




Lola's way was usually bloody; if it wasn't her blood, someone else's covered her hands. She was very liberal in the spread of damage, letting it fall like a barbed net over everyone in range.

Josef stepped over yet another body and called out, "Did you have to kill all of them?"

"Don't tell me you feel bad for these mortals," Lola said, wiping a smear of crimson off her face. "Did I get it all?" She turned her head from side to side for Josef's inspection.

"Yes, and I don't care about them," Josef said. "I was feeling rather hungry and you've gone and killed the last of them."

"None of them were worth turning," Lola said dismissively and spread out her bloody fingers in front of Josef's face.

He took her hand and licked it clean.

Lola watched, her breathing coming faster as his tongue moved over her skin. She seized Josef by the nape of his neck and yanked him in for a kiss that was all teeth and heat.

He had backed Lola into the wall and she was arched into the unyielding surface at her back when they heard a groan.

Josef paused and they both looked for the source of the noise. There had not been a single heartbeat in the entire tavern when Josef picked his way through the killing ground, but now he heard a single, pounding rhythm.

"Where?" Lola asked softly.

Josef let the air, laden with iron and death float over his tongue and his eyes cut to a pile of corpses piled against the opposite wall.

Lola stalked forward and Josef flanked her, both of them with bared fangs and predatory focus.

One of the bodies rolled, the man braced himself and hacked out a cough that was no death rattle. He fell back into the wall and met the sight of the vampires approaching with a wariness that didn't dim the clarity of his gaze. "You've killed all of my men," he said.

From where they stood, Josef and Lola could see the blood staining the man's collar where he had been bitten.

"I know you," Lola said abruptly."We met years ago, at sea." Lola said. She seemed unnerved, a state she rarely experienced and held herself still and prepared for any attack. "It has been decades since, but you haven't changed."

The man raised his head and smiled at Lola. "Yes, I remember."

"You're not human," Lola said.

"That's rather harsh," the man said. "I believe that accusation can be leveled at the two of you."

"I ripped his throat out," Lola said to Josef in an undertone. "I am sure of it,"

Not one to insult a woman when he was handling the same shock, Josef only raised an eyebrow. "Apparently that was not sufficient."

"Will the others rise as well," Lola asked the man.

"I'm not some revenant," he said. He was too covered in grime and blood for Josef to make out much of the man's face, but his eyes were a startlingly clear blue and he didn't appear surprised that he'd died and been resurrected.

He was not what he seemed, a state Josef could identify with.

"What is your name?" Josef asked.

"Adam Monroe, and you?"

"Josef Konstantin, and if you have not been formally introduced, may I present Dolores Maxford Whittaker."

"It's a pleasure meeting you," Monroe said. "As opposed to the alternative."

"I suppose so," Lola said and smiled.

The speculation in her eyes was familiar and Josef sighed. "Are you going to make a second attempt at killing him, or would you like to try for a more lengthy acquaintance?"

Lola frowned and Josef settled the matter before she drenched them both in blood. "Since I'm fond of this coat, I'm suggesting you restrain yourself until we learn this man's story." Josef kept his eyes on Monroe, and saw his body relax a tiny bit.

"As I don't believe any weapon on hand would kill you, I am going to reclaim my sword purely for myself," Monroe said, and Josef allowed it with a nod. There was a blade lying bare on the floor, a sword of Asian design that Josef watched the man sheathe with such care that it had to have some very special meaning to the man, who didn't look like he strayed far from European blood.

Josef continued speaking to keep Monroe from getting the notion that he should strike first. "Any showy displays of aggression will be countered swiftly, and I warn you, Lola is an ingenious creature and she will savor an opportunity to explore new territory."

"There are so few arenas left," Lola said.

Monroe struggled to his feet. "That is a complaint with which I can sympathize."

"How long have you lived?" Lola asked, perfectly blunt as was her wont.

"A great deal longer than my body shows," Monroe said. "And yourselves?"

"The same," Lola said. She circled around to gaze curiously at Monroe. "You say that you are alone, and that there was no one who brought you into this life?"

"You are a direct woman," Monroe said. "No, there was nobody who stayed and guided me through the aftermath of the first time."

"How did you discover this?" Lola asked.

"I find that such experiences are best recounted in a more comfortable setting, and I am standing in my comrades' blood," Monroe said.

"Do you seek revenge for their deaths?" Lola asked.

"They were in my employ, their loss is not one that my accounts will mourn, but I would like to be clean, and it's only the hour that has kept this massacre from being discovered."

Josef took up a lantern and rummaged through the bottles and found an unbroken jug of whiskey.

"It's rather inelegant, but it does conceal such things."

Monroe moved around the window and picked the dead men's pockets efficiently and without any apparent sentimental qualms, both of which Josef approved of.

Monroe handed Josef half of the bounty. "Since you earned it."

"Actually, it was Lola who culled the herd," Josef said.

Monroe bowed to Lola. "Milady, you do impressive work."

"It was nothing," Lola said. She had not taken her eyes off Monroe. "Resurrection is one miracle, immortality is another, only saints aspire to such feats."

"I am no saint," Monroe said. "And even in such a brief span of knowing one another, you can tell that I would not make such a claim, Milady Whittaker."

Lola dimpled, and Josef spoke before there could be any more flattery or insults.

"If you two have postured to your satisfaction, stand back and let me set this hovel ablaze."

"Rather finicky, aren't you?" Monroe asked and emptied several more bottles of spirits excluding the whiskey Josef cradled,

Josef was reasonable when Monroe questioned him with a look."We must have something to keep us warm."

"I'm sure that the pair of you never lack for such comforts after nightfall," Monroe said.

"And how do you keep the cold away?" Lola asked, her eyes tracking Monroe's steps as they exited the building, fire spreading behind them.

Monroe met Josef's eyes as he smiled. "That depends entirely on you."

-end