My Little Ventrue Pt. 03 Ch. 10

"Gossip, gossip... um... uh..."

"I will start, if you are still nervous." She had only one thing on her mind after all, and she ached to speak of it. "I am very worried about Jack, Miss Vola. His new role as intermediary for the Uratha has put him in a prime position to be hurt, or suffer from the anger of the wolves, or mine. And his friendship with Fiona, a Begotten, is another strain." She sighed, and used a thick group of hair to tickle her chin with its soft ends.

"I hang out w-with Jack, sometimes."

"Truly?"

"Yeah. And... and I know you have nothing t-t-to worry about, Prince. He really... loves you."

Like someone had taken the weight of worlds from her shoulders. Antoinette sighed, long, content, and resumed combing her hair as she folded one leg over the other.

"I do hope you are right, Natasha, about not having to worry. And if you are becoming his friend, then please, keep an eye on him would you, for me, s'il vous plaît? I trust him, but... well, you were there when Lucas attacked. The boy has a habit of getting in the middle of things."

Natasha giggled, and smiled a mischievous little smile. "He does."

"So, Natasha Vola, you believe some rather dangerous, and I assume fit, powerful, handsome werewolves have been flirting with you?"

"Y-Yes. And... and they visited me, last night."

"Visited by the wolves. Do tell." A little push for her little subordinate, to loosen her tongue.

"Well, Arturo and M-M-Matthew visited... and they like to flirt with me. I thought they were t-teasing me, but... I don't know now. They... they smile at me and look me up and down and Art is a sneaky b-bastard and Matt a gentle giant. They're close friends."

Two wolves flirting with Natasha, two friends at that. Antoinette smiled and nodded. A similar situation to Ashley and Julee then, perhaps.

"B-But," Vola continued, "they um... had more to t-t-t-talk about, and... warn me about."

If only gossiping with a new friend could remain a fun and silly, relaxing activity, not devolve into more Kindred affairs. C'est la vie.

"What did the wolves say?"

"They s-said you were messing with the Gauntlet... w-w-which, I guess is true. They said that, what you're doing is d-d-dangerous, but not a problem... yet. They said... hosts are sneaky."

"Hosts? I believe Simon mentioned the word, but not in a way to give context. If what you say is true, then the word does indeed carry meaning. Hosts."

"B-But if we stay out of the werewolves' way, everything will be fine, right?"

Another sigh, another painful memory. "Perhaps, Miss Vola, perhaps. So, these two beasts came to your apartment to warn you?"

"Warn me, and... w-w-watch television." She squirmed again, and smirked. "They're funny guys."

"Please, go on." Perhaps listening to the young woman talk about her interesting new friends would take Antoinette's mind off of Jack.

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~~Jack~~

His buzzer rang. Almost a shock, considering how many people liked to circumvent the elevator. He hopped up from the couch and pressed the button. "Yello."

"Jack, may I come in?" Antoinette's voice.

Jack did a double take at the buzzer. Guess she didn't feel like circumventing tonight. "Yes, please."

He pressed the button and waited by the door. Going to be a weird conversation. Maybe a painful conversation.

A minute later, he opened the door for her, and she offered a nod before stepping into his place and setting her suit jacket aside. Still in her power suit skirt and white blouse, she sat down at his couch, folded one leg over the other, and pulled her beautiful hair over her shoulder to begin combing it with her fingers. If he replaced it with a white cat in her arms, it'd have been hard to tell the difference.

"I... am not sure where to begin," she said.

He sat down on the couch across from her, leaned forward with elbows on his knees, hands dangling, and shrugged. Definitely a painful conversation. "Me neither."

"You must have questions."

"I do. Just... figured you wouldn't want to talk about the meeting. That was the deal, wasn't it? We'd leave the business world at the office."

She smiled her beautiful smile, and her heavy eyes fell down to her combing fingers. "Perhaps that was naive. I know you left the meeting upset, and I could not help but feel responsible."

"... yeah, I was upset." Time for a real conversation, a real-talk sort of conversation. The sort of conversations they had in romance dramas when the music stopped and the silence between words pulled the air tight with tension. "I understand having the Uratha in Dolareido again is making the Primogen upset, and I get that having to go through me with no choice in the matter is going to make everyone pissed. But the fuck did Fiona do?"

He almost yelled the last bit; it was enough to make both of them blink in surprise.

"... you have become friends with her, quite quickly."

"Yeah." He rubbed his buzzed head and let it hang from his neck like a stone. Stop being a jackass. "She's really nice, sociable, even with someone like me. Kind of reminds me of my sister."

"Your sister." Antoinette got up, and came to sit beside him. One of the few times she'd ever done that; normally he'd join her. "You do not speak of your family often, my love."

My love. Good, good there was still that. Course it'd take more than a rocky meeting to break that, stop being so stupid.

"I told you about my mom, my dad, my sister. Just... not much to tell."

"I... still would like to hear more," she said, and she reached out to put an arm over his shoulders. "Later. For now, you must understand why I was harsh, why we were all harsh in the meeting."

"Julias told me. Described the Begotten, scared me with talk about their hungers, warned me about Azamel and told me to avoid her. And... I'm only half sold, Antoinette. A lot of what he said applies to Kindred too, especially elders." Poking the bear, comparing Kindred to Begotten. Poking the bear with a hot iron poker, specifically comparing to elders.

"That may be true, but Begotten are... difficult to gauge, little Ventrue. Athalia has done little to disturb the Masquerade, but Azamel and her hunger have caused destruction beyond my ability to hide. Until I can understand this new friend of yours, I am afraid I must be strict with her. And intimidating. A deterrent."

"A policy of deterrence. I remember a cold war nearly coming to a very explosive end, due in no small part to that."

"It is not the same my love. Please understand, I have ruled this city for a long time, and the beasts that roam it need to be controlled. Forcefully sometimes. Julias understood this, and he laid the truth at her feet with no illusion or room for debate, so she would know how deathly serious the Masquerade is."

Yeah, he got that, but that wasn't the whole issue. "The moment she stepped into the room, I could tell you all thought of her as scum."

"... that... is perhaps true. I would not use the word scum, but it is a reality that we in Dolareido hold no love for the Begotten. They are slaves to their hunger, and many of them have hungers that are... barbaric."

He sighed, but nodded. It hurt hearing it, but when a prejudice was backed up by real examples, it was hard to dismiss it.

"So, if she's not a problem, like Athalia, your opinion of her will change?"

"Indeed it will." Antoinette's embracing arm hugged him tighter, and her hand started to rub his hair in that soft way against the grain he loved so much. "Unfortunately, I do not have the option to risk leniency."

She made him feel like a child, and for good reason. A city to rule, with risks to take into account with every decision, and centuries of experience to guide her; that included a dislike of monsters. All he had was first impressions of Fiona, the first monster he'd ever met.

"Suppose I failed pretty hard at this," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Just... always took myself for an impartial guy, good at being logical about things. That meeting really got under my skin."

"Jack, would you care to know a secret?" She leaned in and put her forehead to his temple, complete with some gentle nudges and soft sighs.

"I think so."

"Those meetings grate on me as well. I must be a harsh, ruthless as you said several nights ago. People know me as such because I must be, to be Prince of this city. Please do not think of me as such when... when we are together, alone."

He sat up straight and looked at her. It really bothered her that he might think of her as such. And hell, after seeing and hearing how they acted in their Primogen meetings, he had to admit, he gained a new appreciation for the cycled stories among neonates that the Primogen were giant assholes.

"I'm overreacting." He leaned in toward her, and she met him with her own lean further down, so they could put their foreheads to each other. "Sorry, I'm being an ass, and a kid."

"Perhaps. But your observations about our distaste for Begotten were accurate, little Ventrue. I do hope your observations about Fiona are accurate as well." Her hands slipped down over his arms to find his, and she brought them together before bringing them to her lips for a kiss. "We will clash in that room in the future, no doubt, and there will be sides of each other neither of us will enjoying seeing. We were naive to think it would not follow us home, but, with soft words, we may be able to soothe our tempers and worries."

"... you really are too damn good with words. Put me to shame."

She kissed his knuckles again, and then his nose. "You will learn. Now, lie down."

"Oh, ok." He turned a bit more so he could face her, and she pushed him so his back fell to the couch, and his head rested on the couch arm. Helpless and staring up at a deadly creature—not a deadly creature. Those weren't the tiger eyes he was used to seeing when she was looking for sex, or any of the eyes she sported when angry, or feeling playful, or commanding.

They were soft eyes tonight.

The goddess put her weight onto her elbows around his chest against the bed, and lay on top of him. So much taller than him, he could see her feet were pointed up from bent knees, and much of her body was between his legs. Her breasts pressed to his chest, and with her elbows tucked in at his sides and ribs, she was free to slide her fingers over his chin, his lips, his neck and earlobes.

"I spoke with Natasha Vola today," she said, and kissed him. "You were a topic."

"Uh oh."

She chuckled and kissed him again. "She told me you would love me no matter what occurred."

"Well... yeah." Her worried about him not loving her, him worried about her not loving him. A couple of idiots at this point.

"Forgive a Kindred her paranoia, little Ventrue." She let her weight collapse down on him, and buried her face in his neck. "Moments of joy are sand in my fingers."

Ah, the old sand between the fingers parable.

"You can clutch me tight as you want you know, I'm not going anywhere."

"... you are too good to me, my love."

"Ha, me too good to you?" He brought his hands up to hold her, hug her tight, rub her back and squeeze the tall, voluptuous goddess to his body. "You spoil me constantly."

"I do enjoy to spoil." She raised her head again, and grinned down at him, her dangerous eyes returning. No matter how many times he saw those eyes, it always sent a thrill up his spine. "Shall I spoil you now?"

"I uh, I don't have anything planned tonight. Julias might text me with a new contract I need to negotiate, but—"

"Then, since you have the time, I would very much like to spoil you some more." She pressed her body down on him harder, purposefully squishing her breasts to his chest. Blouse and bra and his shirt couldn't stop the wonderful feeling of her body on his. "So often we make love in my tower. We should enjoy your abode more often."

"W-Well, I mean, my apartment isn't nearly as majestic as the Elysium Tower."

"But there is something comforting about an apartment, little Ventrue. A small home that feels complete."

"Yeah, I guess there is." That was true after all. A grand tower always felt more like visiting a mansion, than something homely.

Antoinette sat up on her knees, still between his legs, and began to undo the buttons of her blouse. In seconds, her black bra was exposed, and Jack groaned at the sight of her huge breasts contained within.

"Perhaps tonight, we can find different places for you to rest your cock between my breasts? Enjoying sex upon a bed does get old, with time. Possibly here? I could kneel on the floor, trap your cock within my bosom, and slowly bring you to orgasm over many minutes, until your white warmth drips down over my body. Or perhaps by the window? I could lie down for you on my back beside it, and you could straddle my chest, lean over me, and fuck my breasts until your cum coated my neck for everyone watching to see."

Why was she so damn good with words? God he was going to explode in his pants and he wasn't even blushing life yet. He—

The door opened, and a short, older woman stepped in. Avery.

The werewolf smirked, animal eyes looking the Daeva up and down. "Nice rack."