Outliers

Ever since Arséne came back from his extended business trip he’s been full of surprises, Gabriel has learned. He’s always been quiet and content to stay by Gabriel’s side until told otherwise, and while this was fine for a bodyguard, Gabriel wished he’d be a little more outgoing and selfish for a change…which was why he was pleasantly surprised when the younger bun started to come out of his shell more. Arséne was always an inquisitive sort, but never liked to show that he was. Thankfully, he was terrible at hiding his emotions, and it was easy to pick up on his interest in something by the look on his face, so Gabriel was happy to sate his curiosity when it cropped up. Tonight however, he had no need to do that song and dance: after calling Arséne to his study to inform him that he would be visiting the cabaret club later, the greed-horned succubun shyly mentioned accompanying him on his trip.

“You once said that the club sounded like too much for you,” Gabriel said humorously as he arched a brow. “Did you forget because it’s been a while since you’ve done your duty?”

“Not at all.” Arséne’s face flushed. “I just think that…now that I’m back, I should step out of my comfort zone a little. You always say good things about the staff there, so I think…I’ll be fine.” 

It was a reasonable response, one that Gabriel seemed quite pleased to hear. He’d nearly forgotten about how keen of a listener Arséne was.

“As you wish. Let’s depart now, then—the club will be opening soon, and you’ll like it more if we go when there’s less people. Though, now that I’ve brought that up, that reminds me…the police department issued an advisory not too long ago, didn’t they? Someone has been busy slaking their thirst,” The older man said dryly. Arséne’s hand gripped the pommel of his rapier in response; it seemed he was taking the news a little too seriously. “That means that the club shouldn’t have as many patrons around. Not very good for business, but in this case it’s a boon for you. Come.”

Gabriel rose from his seat and began to leave, but after a moment he stopped. “Oh, and leave your weapon here.”

Arséne was taken off-guard by the command. “But—”

“You’ll find that Velvet Temptations has exceptional security. That, and weapons aren’t allowed in the club anyway. How many years has it been since I’ve been going to the club without you, Arséne? And here I am, alive and well. I promise you that we’ll be fine.”

“But the advisory—”

Gabriel snorted and waved his hand dismissively. “Come now, you know that that doesn’t concern us. We’ll be fine. Now set your rapier to the side so we can go.”

Arséne undid his holster from his side and held it for a moment, staring it down as if it could make Gabriel change his mind. Gabriel didn’t blame him; Arséne had chosen to devote his life to him, and if there were dangerous figures prowling around at night, he would try his damndest to protect Gabriel to his last breath. But in the grand scheme of things, it was a silly thing to protest: Gabriel had been going to the club this whole time without problems, and they would be chauffeured there. It’s not like they’d be roaming the streets on foot in the dead of night, and even if they were, they’d be the last buns that a vampire would look at. Because it was definitely a vampire, even though the news wasn’t being reported as such.

After a few more moments of silent staring, Arséne finally acquiesced. With a small sigh he set his weapon to the side, and they were off.

---

“Gabriel!”

Gabriel and Arséne had barely gotten through Velvet Temptations’ coat check when someone barreled into him and latched onto him. With a soft laugh, Gabriel raised a hand to calm Arséne—who he knew was doubtlessly alarmed by what he would probably assume was an attack of some sort—before using that same hand to pet the succubun who was now eagerly climbing up him like he was a tree. It was Eros in bun form, which meant she wasn’t working the floor tonight.

“Good evening Eros,” Gabriel cooed, helping Eros on her climb until they were face to face. “Did you miss me that much?”

“Did I miss you? You haven’t visited in months, of course I missed you! Between you not showing your face around and the state of the club due to recent events—” Eros cut herself off as she turned to gesture to the club with her tiny hoof. Gabriel’s gaze followed, and was unsurprised when he saw very few patrons inside. “—we’ve seen better days. But now that you’re here, you’ll do the club a solid and buy out all the hosts for the night, right?” Eros batted her eyelashes. “It’s the least you can do after disappearing for so long…”

Gabriel huffed out another laugh. “I assumed you wouldn’t be doing too well with the news floating around, and came prepared to do as much, yes. Close your doors for the night, if you wish—I’m sure a night off will do you all some good.”

“My hero! That’s why you’re my favorite client.” Eros said, her wings beating happily behind her. “Anyways, why are you here? This isn’t the best time to be enjoying the nightlife. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but a patron from the Church said that it might be vampires prowling around—oh! Who is this?” Eros looked at Arséne in surprise. Looks like she only just noticed him, not that Gabriel was shocked. Between Arséne’s silence and Eros’ sneaky sweet-talking, he knew she wouldn’t have noticed him until she was done obsessing over the club’s coffers.

“That would be my bodyguard. His name is Arséne. Believe it or not, he’s been my guard long before I met you.”

“Your bodyguard? But he’s so handsome! You’d put a pretty face like that in danger?”

Arséne blushed and looked away in response, crossing his arms over his chest. If he’d been planning on saying something, that had shut him up pretty quick.

“I’ll have you know that I personally trained Arséne myself, so he’s pretty capable. Do you think that my skills are lacking too?”

“Hmmm.” Eros gave Gabriel a discerning look before she shrugged. “Well, it still stands. It’s dangerous out right now, so I can understand why you’d wanna bring your guard out, but…”

“Oh, no, I’m fine. Arséne simply wanted to take a look at the club for himself and see what it was like. He’s only recently returned from a long trip, you know…”

Eros squinted. “You don’t have to lie about it to save face, Gabriel. I know it’s kind of scary—”

“Scary?” Gabriel’s brows shot up in surprise, and the corners of his lips twitched. 

Confused, Eros looked between Gabriel and Arséne before saying, “Uh, yeah? The murders and stuff that we just talked about? People dying? Vampires?”

“Oh. You…weren’t joking about that.” The older bun breaks out into an uncharacteristically toothy grin, showing off his very-sharp, very-obvious fangs. On their own, they weren’t exactly a telltale sign of vampirism. Plenty of succubun had fangs, after all. But considering it was Gabriel, who also shamelessly dressed the part… “Ahahaha….oh, dear Eros. I promise you: vampires will have no interest in us, if they truly are lurking around at night.”

“And how can you be so sure of that?”

Gabriel looked at Arséne for a moment before replying matter-of-factly, “We have high collars.”

“High collars.” She repeated, dumbfounded. “...Ugh….well, I guess…” Eros truly looked stumped by the reply. Her expression was making it harder for Gabriel to keep a straight face, himself; in an effort to maintain his composure, he pushed the conversation along.

“Yes. So, as you can see, we are perfectly fine…now then, as much as we appreciate your concern, we didn’t come here for a lecture did we? Escort us to a room, and show Arséne here why I think so highly of this club.”

Sighing, Eros wiggled out of Gabriel’s hold with a pout. “Yes, sir…”

Well, even if the club wouldn’t be as bustling as usual, at least Gabriel got a good laugh out of their little exchange tonight. Maybe one day, he would tell Eros…