After returning to London the group splits ways for a bit, Nelen and Drusilla staying in London Proper to keep a watch out for any attempted contact from Nelen's mole within Clan Fullmoon while Arja, Dawn, Simoni, and Natasha go exploring in the Nightside. 

Nelen and Drusilla spend some time enjoying each other's company, then after a shower he comments that it'd be nice to be able to spend some time with her in public without looking like a pervert (he is one but, c'mon, its rude to say it). To this end he gets out a charm bracelet he used to use for espionage missions when he was still a mercenary. Upon wearing it the charm temporarally makes Drusilla ten years older (boosting her age to twenty three) while, at the same time, hiding her cycloptic nature from mundane eyes (to any normal humans she'll appear to have two eyes, though magical creatures can see through it). Nelen used this to make himself appear older to throw off pursuers while, at the same time, hiding his own scars and the bandages on his hands to make himself appear as a normal human. 

They go out together, the illusion fooling any mundanes into seeing Drusilla as an adult human woman (though a very tall one). While the human aspect is illusionary, the age progression is real, pausing at a clothing shop along the way before moving onto one of Nelen's old dives from his mercenary days. The Wolf's Head Pub, a hidden bar that may not be in England (or even on the same plane of reality), accessible by speaking a certain password at a door that isn't always there. 

The bar caters specifically to supernatural clientele, all neon and chrome inside (just because they're supernatural doesn't mean they have any taste), full of patrons both human and non-human. There's a heavy metal band playing on the stage and, among their number, is someone unfortunately familiar. Edwood Vargas the Metalgician, the same man who used his magic (and spiked beer) to hypnotize Drusilla's tribe into attacking Arja and company on the Isle of Sicily. 

Nelen looks at him, his eyes widening in recognition, then looks at Drusilla, then at him again, "Oh balls..." he winces. Edwood Vargas is up on the stage belting out a classic Black Sabbath song. 

Drusilla blinks "What's wrong" she says as she looks to where he's looking, a low growl coming from her mouth...oh this wasn't good, even if she did know that Edwood had quit his 'job', her kin weren't exactly forgiving, especially about 'slavers'...."YOU!" she roars angrily, her now adult voice easily breaking through the crowd as she shoves her way to the stage "Slaver!" 

Nelen winces at that as Edwood looks up, seeing through the human illusion and seeing quite clearly that she's got an odd number of eyes. "OH FUCK!" he yells, stumbling backwards on the stage as the crowd looks around at the source of the noise. As she charges forward a set of slick red tendrils wrapping around her arms as Nelen tries frantically to pull her back, "Drus! DRUS! The bar is -neutral ground-!" he yells, "Dammit girl I don't want to get thrown out of here again!" he says, a set of blood tentacles from one hand wrapped around her arms as another set attaches itself to one of the booth chairs, which is quickly losing it's grip on the floor. 

Before she can get to him the club's bouncer, Emet, stops her by lifting her up off her feet with a single hand. Emet is a golem and probably one of the few things on the planet that can stop an enraged cyclops. Nelen assures the bouncer that he'll calm her down, telling the bartender to get her 'something that needs a reinforced mug'. 

Drusilla and Nelen retire to a private booth as Drusilla tries to calm down, a waitress bringing them some drinks. Nelen just has a coke himself, his blood magic having a tendency to get unstable if he gets too drunk, while Drusilla's drink seems to contain something Nelen recognizes as Wildhammer Ale. Made by dwarves and somehow 220 proof (110% alcohol). 

Drusilla insists that she wants a word with Vargas, though Nelen says if he has any brains he'd have already run out the backdoor by now. He adds "... then again, I know him better than that." as he sees him making his way over to their booth. Edwood pulls up a chair and sits down, then starts to explain himself. 

"Hey Nelen." he nods to him, then glances over at you, scooting a bit closer to Nelen. "Look, 'bout that mess on th' island..." he starts. 

Drusilla just frowns, taking another, longer, drink from her glass, letting him speak at least, she could probably put decent odds on her smashing up the golem but she really didn't want to be kicked out of a place that had good drinks like this... 

Edwood waits until he's sure she's not going to hit him, then continues. "Look, it was a job okay? Ya think that's the first one I had to pull a stunt like that on?" he says, "I wouldn't have even taken it if old man Fullmoon hadn't promised me enough money ta let me retire from mercenary work." he nods, Nelen raising an eyebrow. 

"Huh, I was wondering..." he mutters as Edwood looks at him, "You know I don't like goin' after kids Nelen, but we both know getting out of merc work is th' big goal for anyone who's been doin' it for more than a fuggin' week." he says, then turns back to Drus, "Anyhoo... I ain't no godsdamn slaver. Th' plan was I get yer tribe good 'n liquer'd up, sic 'em on the girls, then march 'em ta th' far side of th' island. By th' time ya'll get back I'd have been long gone." he nods, "I can control things, but I can't do it permanently. It only lasts as long as mah music does and even if that little one of yez didn't smash up my generator either mah magic woulda run out or mah arms woulda gotten tired. I don't -like- doin' merc work, but hell its that or playin' music in bars like this 'un for barely enough ta feed myself."

Drusilla seems satisifed with this, reasoning that Edwood was just hired to do a job... then Edwood reveals that he knows at least two other assassins had been hired by Franklin. Nelen looks troubled at this, wondering if they should have kept Arja and the others out of the Nightside now that he knows at least one more assassin is out there, but does confirm that Paale, the first of Franklin's hired guns, had been defeated. 

Edwood looks disturbed at this, referring to Paale as a 'psycho sonofabitch' and saying that if he knew the insane sin eater had been involved that he would've turned down Franklin's offer regardless of how much it was. 

Nelen decides that Arja and the others should be fine. Dawn knows the Nightside pretty well and, as he puts it, 'it'd take a special kind of lunatic to cause trouble there'. As he does Drusilla giggles and calls for another drink as Edwood looks suspiciously at her. 

Edwood raises an eyebrow, "Thats her first one? What the hell did ya get 'er?" he asks as the waitress brings her another drink. Edwood leans in a bit and sniffs, then scoots back as his eyes water, "Scumble? Oh jeez man... no wonder she's already buzzed! That stuff'd eat through the damn table!" he coughs a bit, feeling lightheaded just from the fumes. 

"What?" replies Nelen, "Its healthy. They make it from apples... well, mostly apples." he replies.

After this encounter Nelen and Drusilla head back to the hotel, deciding on calling it an early night and seeing how fast a mercenary and a fully grown cyclops can wreck a hotel room bed.