Tristan left the room with the other man walking beside him. Tristan looked over at the other man for a moment as they walked. He directed a question towards the other man. “Is there anything that you can tell me, or must I wait until we get to Mr. Nicolleti?” The other man sighed for a moment before replying. “As I said Sir, You will know when we reach the Boss, I was instructed not to tell you anything yet.” At that response, Tristan nodded and remained silent. After traversing the hallways behind the main area of the club, they came upon an elevator. It was very similar to the one that lead down from the main club, but this was private. It lead to a hidden chamber just of the Bosses office, it was to enable easy travelling between the upper and lower levels of the club for the Boss and his associates. They entered the office, The Boss, Giovanni Nicoletti was seated behind his desk. He looked at the man who had accompanied Tristan up and said “Thank you, you may leave now.” The other man nodded and left, as he did so Tristan took a seat.

“Now Tristan,” began the larger man. “I know that you do not like tying yourself to any of the authorities and organization here, but you just may have to. Recently the SSD has been inquiring about you, My associates and I have been deflecting and misleading past investigations concerning you, but we may not be able to any longer.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “They are in the City, or their agents are anyways, they are not our main problem however. The Order has been making their own inquiries as well, they know you are in the city and are searching for you. My associates and I have been covering for you, for the minor things, as your fights have netted us some nice money, and your services at certain times have been indispensible.” He paused for a moment to take a deep breath before he continued. ”Unfortunately, my associates have become worried that you may not be worth going against the order, no matter how much we dislike those self-righteous robed bastards. To that end tonight’s fight will determine whether you will get our continued support. I have no doubt you can protect yourself well enough, but a storm is coming, you should make sure you are ready to receive it.”

For a moment Tristan did think of responding in some way, but the other man’s thoughts were correct, at least in a somewhat different context. If the Order caused problems for him here, he would break away and move to another city, as he had done in the past. No, the thing that worried him the most was Her, Kandace, no Kandy, the name he gave her, before they parted, before that happened. He did not fear her herself, as she was incapable of harming him, just as he was incapable of harming her. What he feared was that this time others, perhaps innocents would get hurt due to her desire to keep him, her Master, safe. That was not taking into account her effect on those around her, him included, and although he could become relatively immune to such things, that would take its own toll on him. So in response Tristan merely nodded and then asked a question. “May I know what my opponent for tonight is, Or are you going to leave me in suspense?” Giovanni inclined his head for a moment before he responded in his deep voice. “I cannot tell you much about the fight, all I can tell you is that it is not a being that can die, not easily at least.”

Tristan smirked as he listened; he had an inkling of what it was or could be. Most likely one of the Immortal races, those who could not die natural deaths, Fae are among them, though the Fae were a peculiar lot for the most part. Another possibility would be a type of Elemental or Golem, perhaps even a Genii, all beings that are of nature, in one way or another. They were so inherently connected due to their creation that they could not die as mortals did. Most of those types resided in a Plane other than our own, though there were exceptions, elementals and the like that have a Pact with an Elemental Mage, could appear normally as could those that had been manifested with a certain type of Pact or Contract with the one who summoned them dying giving them near free reign concerning travel between their home Plane and this one, one of the reasons Warlocks are hunted and hated. Tristan shook his head slightly to clear it before standing. “Thanks for the Info, what little you could give anyways. You will see me at the fight, probably.” Tristan left soon after, with Giovanni looking at him as he left.

Tristan left via the private elevator in the Office, as he reached the lower level he took a corridor that was decorated differently from the rest. Soon enough Tristan made his way to one of the Preparation Chambers near the Pit, the underground fighting arena used here. The room looked like some sort of strange amalgamation of a Gym, a Sparring Room, a Locker Room, and an Armory, the floor of the room was layered with blue mats. Some of them held designs, others didn’t, parts of the room were more heavily padded than the rest, and the walls were a dull grey color and unpadded. There were two doors in the room, the one he entered through and then another leading to the Pit. On one of the walls there were various weapons displayed, most of them were melee, with a few ranged weapons, though only one or two of them were guns. For some reason, magic could not be channeled through guns efficiently, unless they were made from magical metals which are rare and expensive. To circumvent that enchanted bullets were created. One rather rich Enchanter created a gun that had near unlimited ammunition, though they was banned soon after and are still heavily regulated.

In front of the wall there were various racks and stands holding more weapons. Similar equipment in the forms of shields and the like as well as suits of armor, both medieval and modern was present as well. Against another wall there were a series of small blue and white lockers, in front of them sat a few benches spaced apart. Tristan entered the room and turned back for a moment to gaze at the door; he extended one arm and rested his hand on the door. He closed his eyes to concentrate, a dark aura flared around him as several runes formed on the door. They would keep most unwanted entities out of the room for a time, if something ied t bring them down, he would feel it. Most runes and wards were powered by the mages, or whatever magical being they were, magical energy. Thus most runes and wards could be over powered, the only exceptions were if the being had a monstrous pool of energy or if there was an artifact acting as a power source. He left the door and moved to the weapons wall and looked at what he had at his disposal.

While Tristan was beginning his preparations Erica was doing something a bit less serious. She was uh dancing, though most probably would not classify what she was doing as dancing, though it had dancing in its name. She was in a large round room, full of people, both men and women, it was decorated to give a middle eastern vibe. She was not the only one belly-dancing, there were others dancing with her, but she was unquestionably the focus of the other occupants. During her previous act, she had a more sensual aura, and the dance was meant to rile people up. This time, while her aura was no less sensual, it was more of a soothing and relaxing act. Most of the people here were of certain importance to the boss and his associates. Some of them were possible investors into the club, and perhaps other venues, others were associates of the higher-ups in the clubs hierarchy, here to sample the pleasures of the club. A thunderous applause rose up as Erica and the others stopped dancing. She then left as the others scattered around the room and continued dancing. She stopped by her dressing room for a moment to change before heading off to find Tristan.

She made her way through the hallways heading to the room he usually used to prep before a fight. She touched the door to the Preparation Chamber on the club side of it. The runes flared for a moment before they dissipated, and she entered. Tristan was in a partial state of undress, though neither of them minded it. He was practicing with a weapon, he was relatively proficient with a few types of weapons, leftover skills from before he Awakened. He turned around when she entered and sat the weapon down before tossing on a sleeveless shirt to make things easier and less awkward. As Tristan sat down Erica spoke with a sighing tone saying “You know If things were different I would jump on you in a heartbeat, probably forceful make a contract too. I probably wouldn’t be the only one to attempt that either, that is how alluring your magic power is.” Tristan chuckled as she sat down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. “I hate to break it to you, but that would probably not happen.” He paused for a moment as his voice took on a said and reminiscing tone. “If things were different, and I never found out about this world, things would be very different from how they are.”

He paused and put an arm around Erica for a moment before he continued once more. “If things were different I would probably be with my High School Girlfriend, or her sister, or both if they felt like it. Or the younger of the twins could have broken of things entirely, due to the plans she thought Kandace and I had for that night. We made no secret that that was the night we were to give ourselves to each other. The only reason we had left early that night, was because Krystal had thrown a fit when we told her about what we were to do that night.” Tristan stood up and sighed, he ran a hand through his dark hair for a moment before continuing. “Haaaaah, She should have known better, Her and Kandace had always shared everything when they were growing up. When we started to all have feelings for each other that then went on to extend to us, as well. Back then I, being the typical adolescent teenager I was, had no problems with it, at all.” He paused for a moment before he sat down again. ”Well, now that I am done being so sentimental and crap about my shitty life, how have you been?”

They continued talking about things, though they were of a more jovial and less serious nature. They talked about the incident with Jerry, as well as his other jobs. Erica talked to him about what all had happened with her at the club while he had been away.