Bored at Night

He sat there, swirling around his drink while listening to Irene reply, he didn't seem to know why a Vamp would want to talk to him, but there was always the friendliness between them from a few drinking games. He stopped swirling to speak. "I agree, if this talk made me queezy I probably wouldn't continue talking about it" He told her, smiling a little bit as he took another drink of his alcohol. "So," He wasn't quite sure what to talk about, he had never had a casual conversation with a Vampire before, besides Stefan before he had found out.

Irene sipped on her drink, which had been quickly replaced when she had finished the previous one, and started eyeing people's neck, though discretely so. She didn't want to scare off her company, not when she was having fun talking to him.

"You know," She began not quite taking her eyes off the bartender's neck. "most people don't know they're going to be attacked until it's too late."

James looked to her as she began glancing around the Grill, wondering why but didn't bother asking. As she looked at the bartender, his eyes followed. She must have thought he was hot or something like that. "Well yea, if it were me I'd not have any idea. Just walking down main street without a care in the world, and all of a sudden get bitten by something, or someone." He told her, "Of course, I am talking about before I knew about *Vampires*" He smiled in her direction as she kept one eye seemingly on him throughout his talking. "But now that I know about all of the supernaturals, I tend to always watch my back and surroundings for surprise attacks"

Even though Irene was far away from the bartender, she could still see each and every one of his heartbeats. She was glad, though, that James didn't seem to have noticed. Either that or he hadn't understood what she was eyeing. Her hunger was still increasing, but she shoved that aside for a while, wanting to enjoy the conversation she was having with James a bit more.

"I still don't know who turned me. It was so fast, and the night was so dark... I didn't get to see who attacked me." She told James, blinking hard as she remembered that day. It wasn't a story Irene often shared, but by some reason she thought she should tell him.

He listened as Irene described the time around her turning, and he thought it be a little odd how she didn't see her attacker. Although it probably wasn't very hard to do that type of thing as a Vampire, to get in and out before anyone sees you. Would be an easy feat. He then proceeded to speak, hoping not to piss off the vampire beside him, but he seemed to do a good job remaining both himself, and Irene calm, or rather calm. "So you never got a good luck at the fang who turned you? There could be a chance he is still alive."

James' interest in her story surprised Irene, as many other things about him did. Well, if he could learn that he had been hanging out with vampires and not freak out, there was something different about him, and Irene knew that, but she was still startled by him quite often.

"I've thought about it, but I don't see how I could ever figure out who turned me. I tried already, especially after I learned what I had become, but I never managed to find out." Irene explained, sighing.

He took yet another sip of his scotch before listening to Irene talk about her events. "You weren't compelled to forget? Because I've heard that once turned, the compulsion wears off. That could be an easy link" He told her, trying to appear laid back, but also somewhat curious as to why she couldn't remember, or how she was exactly turned. "But if you need to ingest vamp blood and then die, wouldn't you be able to see their face?"

Irene forced her memory like she had done so many times, trying to remember at least a glimpse of the vampire's face, but, once again, she failed miserably. All she could remember were the same things, nothing new, nothing different.

"All I remember is walking up to the forest and seeing something moving in there. Then something gripped me from behind and I couldn't move. I felt something wet being shoved into my mouth, vampire blood, I guess, and I had no choice but to swallow it. Then... nothing." She explained wondering if maybe she had been compelled to forget. The point where her memory ended was strange. She didn't remember passing out, or any pain from being killed. Just nothing, as if she had not lived those few moments.

"Maybe I was compelled... But I have tried to remember something for 400 years, shouldn't I have been able to, if I was compelled?"

James listened intently on her telling the story about how she was turned. Didn't sound like compulsion, just wrong place at wrong time with a fang running around. He didn't seem to know a lot about Vampires, just their abilities and how to protect from them and how to kill them. Which, seemed to make him fairly confident while being around them: Drinking vervain helped repel feeding, wearing against compulsion, only thing he didn't have was a stake on his person. As she finished talking, he looked into her vampire eyes and began to reply. "You would think. I heard that as soon as you enter transition the compulsion begins wearing off, doesn't matter on how old the vamp is that did it to you." He told her taking a sip of his scotch, again, as he remained a little tense.

Though Irene had long come to terms with the fact that she would probably never figure out who had turned her and though her hopes hadn't really gone up when they started talking about her turning, she couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed. A new hypothesis had been created, but she still wasn't any closer to figuring out who had turned her.

"Yeah... If only there was a way to test if I was compelled, or if I am under compulsion now, then we could try and figure it out." She sighed, trying to think of something that she could do as a test.

James listened to her reply, "That's the one million dollar question isn't it?" He asked her, smirking a little bit. "Too bad there doesn't seem to be anything around to use that can see if you are compelled. Only thing that can be used against compulsion is vervain, but you need to take it before, or have it with you. But, since it is lethal to vampires, I wouldn't really suggest it.

There was only one way Irene knew that could break compulsion made by a vampire to another vampire, and that was either killing or neutralizing the vampire who had compelled the other. But if she didn't even know who had turned her, so there was no way of breaking it, if it really existed.

"Vervain really is highly poisonous to vampires. I've heard, though, that some build up a resistance to it." She commented.

James took another drink of his Scotch before replying to her. The bartender proceeded to pour more alcohol into his almost empty glass as he did so. "It sounds like it would be painful." He said, "Drinking vervain when you are poisonous to it is like, well, drinking poison." He told her as the bartender finished pouring him another drink. "But I doubt that would help you remember"

Irene nodded, wondering if it was worth a try. For two hundred years, finding the vampire who had turned her had been one of her main goals, and even after she stopped actively searching for him, she still took any and all opportunities to gather some clues. Maybe trying that would be worth it, especially if it had other uses. Being immune to vervain could come in handy.

"I can't see how it would help me remember either, but you never know, it might." She replied, taking another sip of her drink. "But I have no idea if it really works. I've only heard of vampires building up a resistance against vervain, I've never really seen it."

James noticed her nod before she began replying, all he could think about while being there beside her was 'Vampire beside you'. He attempted to not think about it as his shoulder tensed. Even though they were having nice conversation about blood and compulsion, it occurred to him that those aren't very 'normal' topics to be discussing in such an open place. All he really did was nod in the direction of where she was sitting before whispering under his breath, knowing she could hear. "are you sure we should be discussing this here? It doesn't look to be the safest place."

Irene noticed as James tensed up. Though she had a lot fun watching his reactions, she couldn't understand why he had suddenly got tenser. She didn't think there was anything frightening or particularly vampire-y about what she had last said.

"Don't worry, most of them are compelled, and the ones who aren't are either too far away to hear us or too drunk." Irene replied, smiling. She always made sure no information would leak, and she was very picky about it. Very picky.

He looked at the bartender as Irene replied, he didn't really know what came over him. Maybe his vervain was getting out of his system? But if Irene hadn't bit into him yet, chances are she wasn't going to. He tried, and succeeded, at lowering his tension and relaxing a bit, leaning his arms on the bar. "That is a handy skill to have" He told her, "Compulsion. Bet it is a handy skill to have"

As James relaxed, Irene got even more puzzled. If something was going to freak someone out, it'd probably be the thought of everyone around them being compelled. But then again, she didn't really understand James, and that was one of the things that were making that conversation so interesting. She couldn't foresee his replies or his reactions, and that was a very rare thing.

"It sure is, especially since I have to hide that I'm a vampire." She replied, smirking slightly as she thought of the many uses compulsion had. "And it also comes in handy with a lot of other stuff."

James glanced around rather quickly, to see if he could tell which were compelled and which weren't. It was hard to tell, they were doing what they normally would. Sitting around drinking alcohol and eating food. "Yea, sorry I need to cut this meeting a little short" He told her, taking out his wallet and throwing a few bills onto the bar in front of him "But I need to get going, nice to meet you though, again, Irene" He told her as he somewhat bowed his head before grabbing his leather jacket.

Irene sighed, not looking forward to having a boring night. It had started out rather well, but if James was going away, she would be left alone in the Grill, and she hated being alone, unless it was her own choice.

That was when her vampire/ripper part started to show. She wouldn't be alone if she didn't want to be alone. Why would she let him go if she didn't want to? She felt a rush of excitement as she allowed instinct to take over. It had been a long time since she had truly allowed herself to be a vampire. Too long.

"Going so soon?" She asked, her voice sounding much more dangerous than it had during their conversation.

Almost immediately, James could notice the change of tone in her voice. It somehow sounded a little darker, he could sense perhaps some anger behind the words. He glanced down at his neck making sure he was still wearing his vervain necklace as she finished speaking. "Yea," He said, nodding, "I need to get home and finish up some chores then go to sleep" Trying not to make eye contact, knowing that she seemed to be getting a little bored by the tone of her voice.

Still not planning on letting James go, Irene glanced around at the several compelled people that surrounded her. None of them would be a problem. The only ones she had to worry about were the ones that weren't compelled. A scheme was already starting to form itself on Irene's brain as she snapped into vampire mode, into her old mode. She had changed a bit after moving to Mystic Falls, she had become more human, but that was an aspect of herself that never lasted. Something always made her snap back, always. It was a fragile switch that could be turned off much more easily than it was turned on.

Irene had noticed James glancing down at his neck, and she knew what he was checking. It didn't matter to her, though. Compulsion was a mere accessory, something that made her life easier, but it was in no way necessary.

"Are you sure about that?" Irene insisted, a wicked smile starting to for itself in her lips. "I wouldn't leave just yet if I were you."

He watched on at Irene as she was looking at him, he had somewhat of an idea about what she was thinking of doing: feeding, killing. But it didn't seem to matter to him, he knew that somehow he would make it out alive. He looked past Irene's head to the bartender, who was probably compelled as well, then into Irene's vampirish eyes. "Yea, I'm sure. See, I am dating a witch. So unless you want to, you know, die, I'd be careful." He smirked as he turned around, hearing her final words. "Was that a threat?"

Irene's eyes narrowed as she heard what James had to say. She hadn't known that he was dating a witch, but that made almost no diference for her. Not only did she have no way of knowing if he wasn't just trying to find a way to rid himself of her as she had dealt with witches on the past and gotten out alive. There was no reason for that confrontation to be any different, if it ever really happened. She had been planning on leaving anyway, so if worse came to, all she had to do was to skip town.

"Yes. Did you just threaten me?" Irene asked, her wicked smile becoming more menacing.

James noticed Irene's eyes narrow. Did she really not know that he was dating a witch, or was it that she didn't care at all? He wasn't quite sure, and didn't seem to really want to ask. The situation seemed to be getting more and more dangerous, and he just hoped that there were still vervain left in his system in case she feeds. They were just having a nice conversation, how could it have changed so much? Did she flick the switch on her humanity, he had a few questions and ideas, but didn't have anyone to ask seeing as the only one he could ask was wanting to probably snap his neck. "Not at all, I was just merely letting you know who you are going to have to deal with if you do decide to follow through on your threat."