Bankotsu’s eyes swept the room, noting the flicker of neon against slick hair and sequins, the careless laughter that smelled of alcohol and overconfidence. He could feel the tension under the surface, the kind of tension that always spelled trouble. His blue eyes had been tracking a male for a while who had been hovering too close to a group of girls and their drinks at the bar. Finally the stranger was leaning too close, hand hovering over the woman’s glass and a quick slide, a flick, almost invisible to everyone else, but not to him. The ravenette finally had justifiable cause to take action witnessing the man spiking the drink as the woman tilted her head, laughing at a joke that didn’t reach her eyes, her attention elsewhere. The man smirked, thinking the darkness of the music masked his treachery.
The biker pushed off the wall, moving with deliberate weight, each step measured yet impossibly fast. The crowd parted instinctively as he didn’t need to shout or shove. Presence alone carried centuries of unspoken warning as everyone knew who he was, the leader of the Band of Seven. The club’s lights sliced across his face, shadows catching the hard planes of his jaw, and the man finally sensed him. “Enough.” The word was low, a growl under the music, carrying the promise of consequences without needing to explain. The man froze, eyes wide as he had no idea what he was up against.
Bankotsu’s hand seized the glass, tipping it into the floor with a controlled strength that left no room for protest. Predators were easy to spot when someone else was watching, someone who had learned to read intent in the flash of an eye, the twitch of a hand. The man backed away, heart pounding, mind grasping at excuses that didn’t matter. Bankotsu studied him a moment longer, a predator sizing a weak opponent, before turning back to scan the room. This world was loud, chaotic, and full of shadows wearing new faces, but the rules hadn’t changed. “The drink was spiked.”