Leona had been wandering the museum rather aimlessly and quite bored, irritated by the number of bland security guards walked the halls. Of course they were no real threat, just an annoyance.

She was wandering from exibit to exibit, not really paying attention to where she was. It was a pity the place would be closing in an hour, it was so interesting! Errmm... Right.

She sighed as she looked around the newest exibit she ended up in. Egyptian... Great... She looked blandly from artifact to artifact, not really impressed, but then acorss the room the young vampiress with a tawny gold mane spoted something that held her interest.

A statue in the far corner... A woman. A woman with a lions head.

She made a bee line for it, in awe of the artistry in the stone and marveling at how it had stayed preserved longer than even the most ancient of vampires she had met thus far. She wanted to reach out to touch it, but the velvet rope prevented that. Who was this power? This goddess...

Sekhmet... That was her name, or so the plaque had said. The Goddess Sekhmet. A wild fire glimmered in the girls eyes as she looked back up and the image of the deity. She looked back at the plaque. This goddess must have been powerful, great and mighty to have been given the head of a lioness.

How right she was. Her name it seemed ment 'The Mighty One' and she was a goddess of devistating power. A hunter and deadly enemy in the moonlight. The Lady of Slaughter was her title, she was a goddess of death, of blood lust... She was praised with fear, all bowing before her in terror of the destruction she would bring otherwise, praising her and playing music to sooth her anger.

Leona looked back tot he image of the goddess. The statue was tall, the lioness woman bare from the waist up, breasts covered by a slimple blood red rosetta pattern. The dress covering her lowerhalf was faded slightly, but chips of a blood red still remained... She could nearly feel the power.

Lookign back at the plaque she read the hymn of the Goddess...

Mine is a heart of carnelian, crimson as murder on a holy day.
Mine is a heart of corneal, the gnarled roots of a dogwood and the bursting of flowers.
I am the broken wax seal on my lover's letters.
I am the phoenix, the fiery sun, consuming and resuming myself.
I will what I will.
Mine is a heart of carnelian, blood red as the crest of a phoenix

Istar Indora walked silently, his dress shoes silent despite their composition and their all together immaculate nature. The hard, new leather made not a sound, even as the man found himself in front of a statue of the goddess Sekhmet, having walked through most of the museum. Now Istar didn’t know the Egyptian pantheon of gods as well as he knew others, but he had studied them time and again and like his love of art, music, and literature, his love of mythology had also been sparked by his long gone sire, Alexia “Alex” Rose. Just thinking of Alex made him remember things he had forgotten about everything…yeah the woman was quite the teacher, but Sekhmet, well Sekhmet brought back other memories that made the vampire smile.

So wrapped up was he in thought, that for a long moment, Istar Indora didn’t notice the woman in front of the stature, then as he stepped forward, his white leather loafers finally making a distinguished “klack” he saw her and immediately got the skin creeping feeling that meant this woman wasn’t human.

Well, Indora wouldn’t hold that against her, she didn’t seem much a threat, but at the same time he found himself on his guard. If she turned out to be some psycho, well that would just be Istar’s luck. Istar was hopping that he was wrong, really hoping, but hell you just never knew with the city of Demaitre, it was a hell of a town.

Making a few more foot steps, so that he was sure she heard him coming, Istar walked toward the woman with a light smile, moving until he was standing beside her, looking up at the statue. Looking it over, he declared it magnificent, though not quite the work of art that the real woman was. Yeah, that was right, Istar Indora knew the real Sekhmet.

Well that was what one of the most beautiful women and most powerful vampires he had ever met had told him. She had told him that she had been Sekhmet. From the feeling that Indora got in his gut around her, he didn’t doubt her for a second, a millennia is a long time to live, the veteran of three and some change, who’s to say she isn’t or wasn’t a goddess. Yeah, the eighty year old vampire believed her.

Looking at the woman beside him with an easy smile, smoothing the lines of a Sky Blue Armani suit with a crisp white shirt and fedora of the same virginal color, Indora said lightly.

“Wow, it’s beautiful. Though I think the inspiration is better than the statue.”

Leona smiled as she heard the voice. "Death... Blood... Destruction... What better insperation." It was a crule twisted smile on her face. "I would have loved to have met this... Sekhmet.... A being beyong measure... Beyond power..." She looked over her shoulder at the man. "Wouldn't you agree?" He was a vampire, she knew it. And he probably identified her as the same.

She took him in with her eyes blue eyes, rimmed with blood. He seemed old fashin... Like someone out of the ninteen-thirties or something, in a blue color that was almost like her eyes. A white shirt and hat of sorts accented the pale color with his darkened skin. He was handsom, she would grant him that.

"What is one like you doing wearing a color so pure?" She said with a bit of a smirk. "Ones like us should have no need to masquerade as something we are not." She said casualy as she turned back the the statue.

“Color so pure?” Istar repeated giving the woman a lift of an eyebrow in question. “Now of all the things that I’ve ever heard someone else with out particular condition say, that ma’am is by far the oddest.”

He gave her a teasing smile.

“Really though, don’t tell me you’re one of those folks that are all doom and gloom,” He closed the distance between them, so that anyone that might happen through would not catch what he was about to say. “Come on doll, just because we only come out at night doesn’t mean black is the official color of the Immortal Undead.”He quipped. “You gotta be yourself, and that’s what I do, not apologizing to anybody for it either.”

A thoughtful look passed across Istar’s features and he took a step back, looked at the statue again, and his smile widened as his focus shifted back to his original line of thought.

“Well I guess I do have to agree with you…Death…Blood…Destruction, they are a nice mix, but that wasn’t the inspiration I meant. Nope, I mean the goddess herself, yeah see, she is a vampire.” Istar again whispered that last part. Yeah, perhaps it seemed he was being a bit paranoid, whispering whenever he brought up vampires, but hell Immortals had existed for a long time now, real long in some cases, so yeah perhaps there was something to be said for paranoia.

“Note the tense of my statement.” He said now, jokingly. “I didn’t say she was, I said she is…she’s in town, where I don’t know, but I met her and she let me ask all the stupid questions that I could manage and didn’t kill me for being an idiot.” Amusement sparkled suddenly in his eyes. “All in all, a very nice lady. The oldest person that I’ve ever met, powerful in a way that makes your skin want to crawl away, but nice.”

"Hm, with blood on your hands, I would assume white would pick up the stain, the taint." She mused. "Which is why you wouldn't catch me dead in it." WHy was he bothering to keep his voice down? There was no need to hide.

Leona's eyes opened wide as he spoke of the Goddess. Sekhmet... The goddess of blood, of war and death... "She is real?" There was a tone of disbelief in her voice as she turned to face this man who claimed to have met her. "And she is alive still, in this very city?" After all what were the odds?

She shook her head. "You're lying through your teeth. I'm sure she would have skinned you alive and left you to burn in the sun."

She did not doubt that the great Sekhmet was a vampire, most of the bloodiest gods of the past were. It was even possible that she was alive. But here in this city that was nothing in the world, and willing to alow a mear fledgling in comparison to speak with her. No, that could not be true.

She turned to the next exibit, a black statue of a cat, adorned with decorations galor, gold and jeweled... He could not have meet an ancient with such a bloody history and escaped unscathed.

Istar smirked at the woman; he couldn’t help it, really. No, he wasn’t just being a pain in the ass, her reaction just caught him so by surprise that he had to chuckle and take to heel, following her as he laughed. Was this disrespectful to his “elder” perhaps, but as always Istar was resigned to his sense of humor and the boldness that wouldn’t let him back off after comments like those.

Still smiling, he fell into step beside her.

“You know, for such a pretty girl, you’re quite the wet blanket.” He teased, his amber-brown eyes making a show of a slightly lascivious once over as he gave it to her. “I mean, taint, who the hell would call stains on white taint. But then perhaps I’m being too hard on you, maybe I just met someone who has slept for centuries on end, I mean maybe you’re the type that can curl up for that long and suddenly you came out with all this harshly pent up bitterness.”

His smile brightened, but rather quickly Istar saw where this was going and so it was that he sighed, wiped the smile off of his face and simply walked beside the woman with a neutral expression.

“Alright, I’m sorry. I was being nasty there, and there is no reason for it, I apologize. Now as for me lying, nope, not at all. The woman that used to be Sekhmet, she lives or whatever it is that you call what our kind do, but anyway, I’m a lot of things darling, a cold blooded murder, a torturer, a bonafied dyed in the wool bastard, but never a liar. Everything I told you is true and as for her skin me and leaving me in the sun, why the hell would she need to do that. If she had felt so inclined she could have combusted me with a thought, Pyrokinesis. She has it, as do I. It’s one of those odd little variations in the blood, but a hell of a skill.”

To make his point, Istar reached into his coat pocket and came out with a single cigarette. The “young” vampire didn’t much smoke so much these days, but every now and again, and this seemed as good an again as ever. Holding the cig, Istar focused on the tip, his eyes shifting in their vision, to the movement of molecules. It was just a mental picture, or at least that’s what Indora told himself, and creating friction in that mental image, the cig flared to life and the man took a few puffs before walking past a no smoking sign and getting a bit self-conscious. He put the cigarette out on a finger tip and tossed the cig in the trash as they passed it.

Istar smiled at the woman again, then as he thought about her statement about white.

“Now, which of us would be the fledgling if we can’t make it through a meal without spilling it on ourselves?” He teased.

"Pretty huh?" She mused. "That's it? Usualy I hear, beautiful, stunning even." She turned aroudn with a smile to face him as she leaned against a podium. "I even had one young man tell me I was as beautiful as the sun once..." She said thoughtfully. But then her mouth twisted into an evil smile. "About.. two hours before I killed him anyway." She chuckled slightly, shifting her tawny hair behind her shoulders and out of her way.

"But no, I'm afraid I'm to young to sleep quite yet." She corrected. "In fact I resent the fact that you think me so old to be honest." Her voice was indignent as she turned her back to him again to read what was on the podium, compleatly uninterested.

"Simple." She said in responce to his attempt to destroy her theory she turned around as he lit the cigarette with out a match or lighter. "Congratulations sweetheart, but I've seen better magic tricks." She smirked. "Anyway, she would have done that simply because of who she was." She stepped closer to the man.

"If she were Sekhmet, she would do whatever she could get the most pleasure from. And I'm sure she would enjoy a thing like that. I know I would." She admitted. "But I'm sure there would be even... better ways to enjoy someone like you." Her eyes narrowed to a mischevious smirk.

Istar smiled at her.

“No, you’re not a vain one…oh no.” He teased her. “Stunning, like the sun, um, I would give you beautiful, because yes you are that…stunning, no. I’ve met stunning, I’ve been in love with stunning, and been at the mercy of stunning. Sorry, pretty lady, but you don’t reach stunning. Your lunch was just flattering you.”

Istar laughed at that despite himself, a bit of pay back for the magic trick statement. He could have tested it on her, not that he went around attacking innocent, well not so innocent people, but hey it would be nice to get a little respect. So what, he didn’t have a millennia under his belt, or even a hundred years, screw the whole age thing, he was powerful already. Hell, his sire had made sure of it. She wanted to avoid just the kind of stuff that this woman was showing him, that he might be considered weak, vulnerable, someone’s meat. It wasn’t gonna happen, not at age 80 or 80,000.

Smiling at the woman, he said. “Who she was? You are basing the image of a woman that has lived longer than most civilizations have recorded history, on a myth, a myth that she told me personally was a mixture of fairy tales spun around her religion, and you say who she was! That’s funny, I don’t mean to be a jerk about that, but really, folks change. I’m…”

He paused and closed the distance between them a bit.

“I’m an assassin, I kill people for a living, I do whatever my employer pays me to do to my targets, but give me another ten years, let alone a thousand and I might be rather well sick and tired of it. The point is, that the Sekhmet you might be expecting, well she might not be home any more, or may not even have existed. Let me just say that the woman I met, she was stunning, she was like the sun, one of the most beautiful women that I’ve ever seen and I met her after agreeing to a job, she was sitting at a table, sipping a glass of wine, the vision of sophistication and beauty, and from blocks away I could have felt her power. I think you’re expecting the wrong kind of person, because if she was into random destruction for pleasure, well let me just say that I don’t think there is a damn person in this city that could stop her from leveling it.”

Istar sighed then, he had caught the woman’s smirk, but just as quickly he shook his head. “Darlin, there are…many ways, but what can I say, I’ve already got a girl or should I say stunningly beautiful woman of my dreams. You’re cute, and as a man I’m tempted, but that’s it. Though I am enjoying our talk…”

She was quite taken aback but his responce.her prey wasn't just flattering her! She had heard such complements from others as well! Why else had she always been able to get who or what she wanted? Well then! He must not have known beautiful if it bit him in the neck then! Hmph.

She sucked in a breath as a smirk when he stepped closer. He was just trying to get her all riled up wasn't he? But he was ruining her beautiful version of her Goddess. She couldn't allow that!

But he was right. People did change... She had come into her true self... She had pushed the weakness out and became stronger. "Ohh pish... there is no way one can tire of tourture and death..." She grinned as she leaned in ever so slightly. "It's just so... Exciting. As an assassin... I'm sure you've felt that before."

She was disipointed as he mentioned a lover. Hmph, back to before, he probably didn't know beautiful if it bit him in the neck. She put on a seductive little pout. "Oh, come now. I'm sure she'll never know." Her hand moved up to the collar of the white shirt, gingerly tracing the fabric as she smiled up at him. "Some times it can be fun to give in to temptation."

Istar raised any eyebrow at the woman’s statement about torture and death, mean while ignoring her hand on his shirt, but he didn’t even waste the effort of trying explain to her that he wasn’t particularly into torture. Now that’s not to say that his job didn’t usually come with the feeling of a job well done, oh heck yeah it did, but torture…nope, torture was something he only did when it was asked, but he didn’t particularly enjoy it.

As for the death, well no he hadn’t gotten tired of that just yet, but as he had said when the former goddess answered his questions, he had no idea how he might feel about it in a thousand years, heck fifty or a hundred.

“Sorry doll, you still don’t have me convinced. The woman I talked to, she was the goddess, I’m certain of it. I’m not as naive as ya might think, and her power was as real as anything that I’ve ever felt. If she wanted to go wraith of God or gods, we’d be done. Simple.” With that, he added, returning her smile. “Temptation is nice,”

His hand then took hers from his shirt and he pressed lips against the back of the hand, then without a second thought, he released it to the woman’s side.

“But breathing or lack there of is better. Trust me when I say that she’d know. Just liked I’d know if our places were reversed and besides sometimes temptation is just being weak…”

She sighed. A stuborn one he was... Okay... But if he seemed to be that insitant that he had met her... She must be real. Stuborness in that area was fine, she guessed. But she still didn't get all of what she wanted... Damn shame too. He looked like he would be fun. But yes... If her lover, if she had just one, had come home with another woman's scent, she woudl know at once. "Well then I supose I'll spare you the wrath of your lover." She sighed as she turned back to the exibit. Besides, she coudl find someone much more willing.

But... There was still somethign else he might be able to give her...

"Could you take me to her?" She asked looking over her shoulder. "I want to meet her like you did." Her eyes glinted with excitement. "I want to see her with my own eyes, to speak with her as you did."

Maybe she would know the vampire sired her... Maybe she could find out who had cursed her to this life, she could hunt her sire... Deliver the justice that he, or she, so sorely deserved...

She turned to face him again, unable to stand still. "Please. Take me to her. I will pay whatever price you want."

Istar seemed thoughtful about the woman's request, and then with a rather neutral expression he said.

"Well I'm not sure how she'd feel about that. I mean I could ask I suppose, but the choice is hers I can't speak for on her social calendar. She's an acquaintance, someone that I got some rather great advice from, and had the pleasure of her company, maybe I would even be glad to have her as a friend, but we’ve only spoken the once…so in short I’m not making any promises. I’ll call her, ask, and well it will be up to her then.”

Istar paused then, as if he had simply gotten another notion, and in truth he had. He had remembered how his conversation with the woman before him.

“Also, be respectful. She’s a very polite person, so since she is, that means you are too. Got me?”

Not even waiting for an answer, Istar thought to see if he could remember the number he had gotten from one of the most power, alluring, beautiful, and wise, women he had ever met.

It wasn’t hard to remember the number, heck Istar remembered almost every number that he had ever been given. Not some supernatural skill, but something that was just a part of him, had been even when he was a kid, then his expression slipping into neutral, Indora thought briefly on the responses he might get to such a call.

"Of course!" Her grin was more of an excited smile, betraying her humanity in her childlike excitment. "I would love the chance to meet her. I would truly be honored." She had to grin though as he said she should be respectful. "I'm not as stupid as to insult an ancient. Especialy if she has had so many ledgends of her. All myths are wound aroudn a grain of truth after all." She pointed out. "I'm not going to do anything to get myself killed, but it's nice of you to worry."

"So you will ask her for me?" She asked curiously. "How will I know what her answer is? I mean it's not like I have oene plave I stay or a phone or anything." She shrugged, but perhaps she could simply take the cellular phone of the next human she killed. Everyone seemed to have one these days after all.

Istar raised an eyebrow; it was a sudden and surprised gesture. He looked at the woman, let his eyes wonder over her, which perhaps wasn't the best of ideas considering, but he sucked up any and all male urges in an instant and asked.

"You're kidding me right?"

When the woman didn't answer, Istar groaned and simply sighed.

"Wait a second, so you're telling me that you don't have a home? How the heck? I mean you're the first..." Istar paused, not wanting to be rude, but it was a bit hard.

Really hard, because he wanted to ask how on earth it was that any immortal was homeless. He sighed; he didn't even know they made a homeless model vampire. I mean, even the most old school, I don't pander to humanity "purists” among the undead at least had a crypt or something. Some had crypts with hot and cold running water, satellite TV, and old Victorian beds. There was some odd mixes, and Istar was a cable man himself, but wow! Homeless! That struck him as a complete and total surprise.

Having fought his rudeness, or rather every rude question that hopped to mind, Istar was suddenly overcome and he had to ask.

“Um…why are you homeless?”

Leona shrugged. "I just don't alright... I don't like staying in one place for too long really..." She looked away. "Plus it's not like I can afford anything and a ninteen year old who can afford a house or an appartment is a bit suspicious." She shrugged.

"I won't sleep in a grave or whatever else either... I know I'm better than that. I usualy just sneak into hotel rooms or whatever... The Kings Brewery is okay... but thei're starying to get suspicious of why I never come out in the day and all. I just get this weird vibe from them." She shrugged again, appearing now just a normal teenager. A teenager who had serionsly screwed up in life.

"Why does it really matter if I have a home or not though?" Somethign abotu him calling her 'homeless' was starting to fluster her. "Just give me your number, I know how to use a phone you know. One of my kills is bound to have one after all." She pointed out. "Everyone has one this day and age. I'm bound to collect a couple here and there."

Pawning off sich things she gathered from her victims was acutaly how she made most of her money. Watches, jewelry and all that. CD players and the like.

Istar didn’t say anything, but he took her answers for what they were worth, well what he guessed they were worth to her anyway. In truth Istar couldn’t tell her how to run her life, but…

Damn it.

The whole homeless thing was odd, he had to admit and while he wasn’t into feeling sorry for folks, he suddenly wondered what was up with this girl, not to say that he didn’t believe her or her reasons for no home, but in truth she had to know that a nineteen year old with a home wasn’t that odd, at least not an apartment. She could pose as a college student nearly anywhere or just a run away, some one who was used to taking care of herself.

Looking at her, Istar smiled as he knew that she could pull that ruse off. The girl had laughed at him about his pyro-kinesis. Yeah, that took guts or stupidity; he was willing to believe guts for now.

Taking a deep breath, Istar took a moment to consider the young woman, and yeah he knew she wasn’t that old. He got the same feeling about nearly all immortals, but Istar could damn well tell the difference. There was a big one too, a chasm if you will between the feeling that came with the young and what came with the ancient. Istar was willing to bet that he was older than this girl, but suddenly he pulled himself out of his thoughts and opened his mouth to speak.

At first the words wouldn’t come, but a few moments and another sigh later.

“I guess you could do that…but well, damn it. I have a house, a big one…you want to crash? It’ll at least give you a night suspicion free.”

Leona shook her head, declining the offer. "Thanks but no thanks sweetie." And he really was being sweet. To take a murderer into his home like that. "But I have a feling your woman wouldn't like that very much. You bringing a pretty little girl home and all?" She shook her head again. "Besides, with you.. It would be one big tease to me. To be spending the night under the same roof without being able to have fun? Nah, not my style." Her smile turned into a grin.

"Just give me your number. I'll give you a call tomorrow night I suppose. I can probably find a room somewhere tonight and call you later." She shrugged. There were a few motels she knew of and all, so finding a place was no problem really

Istar was about to reply, saying that his girl didn't stay with him, nor would she object to him help someone down on their luck, actually she was usually the reason the better human impulses in him arose. Oh, he was gonna say quite a few things, but the woman's statement about them sharing a roof being a tease...well Istar just wasn't gonna reply to that one. Yep, he couldn't be held accountable for what might come out his mouth if it never came. Clam up was the path to the gold in this event, so Istar gave the woman a slight nod. Only saying.

"Alright darlin, point noted."

Istar was suddenly glad that blushes didn't show up well with his skin tone, or rather you had to read more expression if you weren't familiar with the skin, and he nodded.

"Alright, I've got a card. Not my business card, just my real number instead of the contacts I use for business. I'll give you one and you can call later...how's that sound?"