"Girl, you done fucked up."

"I know, I know, mea culpa! But, you know, vampire hunter, vampire..." Jack downs another shot of whatever unholy concoction she's drinking then slams her glass on the counter with a satisfied click of her tongue. "Let's grab ourselves a booth, you and I," she says, gesturing between herself and Yvette with a finger.

Yvette chuckles, then picks up her drink and waves goodbye with her free hand.

"It worked out okay in the end, she saw reason and apologized for her mistake," agrees Yvette, smirking again. "Lovely seeing you."

And then: booth!

Once they get there, Jack reaches into her pocket and drops a coin onto the table. A forcefield springs into existence around them. "Temporary, short-lived, just to get the main questions out of the way."

"Sure." She props her head on top of her folded hands, elbows on the table and looking at Jack sort of like a cat does towards a mouse. "Ask away."

The next bauble is a top she sets onto the table and then spins. "Have you ever killed another sapient being?"

"Yes. Before I turned. I don't expect you to take issue with any of those that I killed, considering your profession, but I can offer more specifics if you'd like. After, no."

Jack looks at the top, nods, then asks, "Have you ever taken blood from nonconsensual subjects after you turned?"

"Yes, because I do not think that blood donors would consent to a vampire stealing their blood to drink, which I have done, but haven't hurt anyone in so doing, and only did early on before I convinced people to donate their blood willingly. I have since stopped, and have no plans to return to the practice now that I have willing subjects. I have not directly taken blood from a nonconsensual sapient subject, through biting or through bloodletting or other means of blood acquisition, though I doubt the animals that offer blood for this bar consented, so I can't really say that for nonsapients."

Jack watches the top for a couple more seconds then grabs it and puts it back into her pocket before beaming at Yvette. "Well, well, well. A nice vampire. The world sure is bigger, huh."

"It's almost like I'm aware people will show up to kill me if I kill people, or something! Who knew!"

"Well, not all vampires have this notion. And a rare few are skilled enough at a thing or two to actually give us a headache. Speaking of which, how do you feel about joining my large rich organization of do-gooders who hunt evil things and prevent apocalypses?"

Yvette snorts. "No. Why would I do that? That doesn't sound good for my life expectancy at all. Besides, didn't your large rich organization of do-gooders utterly fail at killing me? What do you possibly have to offer me?"

"Well, it was me and my free Sunday that failed at killing you, but you do have a point. However, picture this: a penthouse with untinted UV-filtering windows in LA."

"Picture this: I am an unaging vampire with a work ethic. If I play my cards right - and I think I rather have so far - I have nothing but time. Why do I need to go through you for a penthouse when I can just legitimately earn an income and buy my own in a century?"

"Rare magical ingredients and artifacts to play with?" she offers.

"If you have any you'd like to send to me, please absolutely feel free! But I also don't see why I need to source any of that through you, either. Most of your charms weren't worth whatever you paid for them." She retrieves the baubles and begins counting through them. "Enhanced strength, can be found from several kinds of neutral demon who think it's clever to peddle their toys at squishy humans." Her fingers go to the next one. "Toughness, common as dirt but more expensive because no one that buys them knows any better," next, "Reflexes, seemingly not a bad investment, but this one was made by that hack of a witch in Santa Monica, and will fall to pieces at the first sign of trouble. Should I go on? If this is what you outfit your members with, I'm not impressed."

"Well, you see, good witches are hard to come by, and most of the human ones go crazy or evil or both. We lost a good batch last spring to a magic-eating demon, too, it was tragic."

"My condolences for your losses," she says, without particularly sounding it, "but they're not my problem. If you have a particularly noteworthy apocalypse that might actually have a shot at ending the world, you have my email. I hardly want this world destroyed, since I live here. However, I don't see how joining the goodie-goodies can possibly be good for my lifespan."

"Alright, hard bargain, then. Let's see, how about this: have you ever heard of an artifact called the Gem of Amara?"

"Please don't insult my intelligence, of course I know of the Gem of Amara," sniffs Yvette. "What about it? I'm as likely to be won over by it as I am by a bridge in the desert."

"Oh, I suppose the ex-Slayer vampire that has it and who we're closing in on is not relevant, then."

"... Fine, I'm listening."

Hook, line, and sinker.

"She has some really pretty powerful anti-scrying enchantments on," Jack continues. "And is, as I said, an ex-Slayer. But we got a lock on her and it's only a matter of time before we turn her to dust. And then we'll have this artifact that's only useful for vampires. If only we had a vampire we were willing to lend it to."

"Well if you'd like to wrap it up and send it to me as a present, I certainly wouldn't say no, but you'll forgive me if I don't find your acquisition claim all that plausible."

"But if we did get our hands on it..."