My Little Ventrue Pt. 03 Ch. 15

"I looked where you told me. Far as I can tell, Jacob was involved, but only after the arrival."

"After... There were two of those monsters, and Natasha assures me that that was, allegedly, a very unusual development. Perhaps Jacob is the cause?"

"Maybe." Daniel stopped by the window and looked out over the city. The glass was a particular sort in its one-way distortion; they could look out, but others looking in saw only blurs. "He's been doing something with his blood magic, as you suspected. But I could not figure out what."

"... you could not?"

He shook his head. "I know whatever it was, was aimed at Avery."

"Did he speak to Azamel?"

Daniel nodded again, and reached out to pluck her sword off her desk. No doubt Daniel had fetched his own silver sword, for the inevitable need. It was undoubtedly hidden within his drab trench coat even now, perhaps strapped next to his usual sword, far larger than hers, unwieldy and, in her opinion, almost absurd. But the man was comfortable with them, and had proven his skill a thousand times over during their partnership.

And as if he was unsatisfied with the size of hers, he swung it around a few times, each swing a perfectly balanced and natural movement. She raised a brow and watched him, and smiled after a time as Daniel nodded to himself, slashing the air a few times more for each nod.

"I'm not sure what he said to her either. Or Garry."

"Garry." She sighed and squeezed on her hair, before she resumed combing it. "I fear your outing was for naught then."

He shrugged and set the short sword back upon the table. "Except we know Jacob has been talking to those two."

"His talks with Garry are inconsequential. His typical games, pitting the Carthians and Invictus against each other."

"Maybe. He talked to both, and then returned to perform his crúac ritual."

"The same night?" That was unusual. She turned toward one of her monitors, and using the touch screen, expanded the view the camera had of the canyon at the edge of her city. Night vision, to deal with the darkness Jacob harnessed there. All quiet on the western front. Of course, Jacob's gift for obfuscate rivaled Daniel's; if he wanted to be hidden, she would have to catch him with her own eyes to find him, not a camera.

Daniel came around the opening in the surrounding, circular desk to stand beside her and look at the camera feed. It was pointless, but nevertheless. "I know," he said, "that he's pushing Garry to fight Turio, McDonald, and Mire about the Mirrden area. More so, as of late. But what he spoke to Garry about that night he visited Azamel, I do not know. And of the ritual, I heard only mention of Avery."

"... no mention of Minerva?"

"No. But why else would he mention Avery's name, other than in pursuit of revenge against her?"

"Why would he mention her name at all? Jacob is intelligent, and forever aware of his actions. He does not react, but acts. If he said her name, it could have very well been due to suspicion of eavesdropping. You did miss a Primogen meeting after all."

He nodded, and turned to look at a different monitor. Antoinette followed his eyes to the live feed of one of her servants, and the thrall's feed was pointed at Natasha's new apartment building.

"She... wasn't there, when I visited."

"Ah, then I imagine she is enjoying the company of her two new friends in Avery's Meninna pack." The girl seemed prepared to step out of her comfort zone with those two, and based on the details Natasha shared with her, the two wolves both had an interest in her. More than the tiny Mekhet realized, Antoinette was sure.

"Is that wise?"

"No. Nor was it wise for her to join them on a misguided excursion into the awaiting webs of monsters. But she felt confident in her two new friends, and that she could trust them. Perhaps it is us who are biased and blind?" As painful as admitting it was, she had to concede that Natasha, perhaps foolish in her choice, was not a foolish person. If she felt she could trust the two Uratha, maybe there was a bridge to be built from that friendship. Antoinette had assumed Jack would be the tool for such political machinations, but maybe Natasha would be instead.

"Perhaps..." The man reached over his shoulder and withdrew his sword from behind his back, where it was hidden within the coat. Impractical place to hide a sword, but the man had half a millennium of practice. "I'm not convinced. Avery did not just kill Minerva, she tore her apart."

The Prince steeled her gaze and looked her sheriff from sword to glasses. A silver sword, like her own, custom made and infused with other metals, but still mostly silver; the intent was to cleave werewolf flesh, not wood.

"... we will remain vigilant. If Avery oversteps her bounds, then... instead of escalating to exile, it may be in our best interest to simply kill her and her pack."

"Including Natasha's new friends?"

Antoinette sighed, and motioned for Daniel to put the sword away. "A last resort. But, they are a pack. What one does, they all do."

"... indeed."

Indeed. They did not want to say it, and the two of them stared at the monitor displaying four different camera feeds of the apartment building the Uratha had been granted by Garry. And beside that monitor, two more, again with live feed from a host of hidden cameras and several of her thralls. And Antoinette was not the only source of eyes upon her inflow of visual information; a host of thralls within her tower devoured it with a fine-tooth comb, for any and all pertinent information.

It would soon be time for her to expand her purview from information, espionage, and politics, to also include brutality and violence. Not since the purge had she embraced such measures. But with monsters and wolves stirring chaos, the necessity was becoming apparent.

She sighed, and let her mind drift to Jack. If the boy could soothe the hearts of others as he did hers, perhaps violence with the Uratha could be avoided. But it did appear that the wolves were staying, and eventually, no matter how hard she or her love tried, sooner or later someone would respond against the other with violence. And, above all, she suspected Jacob.

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~~Beatrice~~

"Wow," Jennifer said. "You're like a super hero."

Beatrice raised a brow at her friend, and shoved her in the shoulder. It was the two of them, sitting in her alcove and watching some trash show on her laptop. Not exactly what she should be doing, considering all the fucking insanity going on in the city right now, but she felt she deserved a break.

Still hadn't told anyone about Damien though. Better for everyone that way.

"Don't be fucking stupid. It was trying to kill me, and I was trapped. Did the only thing I could do."

"If you weren't trapped, would you have run and let your friends die?"

"No, but—"

"Hero!" Jennifer sat back up straight and got in close, legs nudging, before she started watching the show again. The girl always seemed ready to jump Beatrice, try and kiss her or something, but she never did. Must have respected Julias's wishes, at least a little.

"I—" She stopped herself as she heard some clap clop of shoes to the stone, and a few words from Aaron. Jacob was back then.

Sighing, she got up and walked out of the alcove. Time to talk to the man, maybe get a second earful. Maybe some garbage about risking the Masquerade. Which wasn't garbage, but the Prince was overestimating the threat of pissing off the wolves; they wanted secrecy as much as the Kindred did. The Begotten, on the other hand, Beatrice couldn't put her finger on. Not Azamel, at least.

"Jacob," she said, as old eyeless came walking past the blood bowl. New blood was in it, still wet, despite that Jacob had been missing for a couple days now. The fuck was he up to? "Suppose you know already."

"Yeap." He smirked at her as he walked past, and gave her a half reassuring, half condescending pat on the shoulder. "Surprised you're still alive."

Wow, she liked her new boss. Should have known he'd let her make her own mistakes, and not yell at her for them like some sort of dad.

"It was quite the shit show, but everyone lived... except that one werewolf, Stephanie."

Jacob stopped once he was a few feet past her, and took a moment to glance over his shoulder. The grin on his face froze her to the core.

"I know."

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~~Author's Note~~

And that's the end of Part 3! Took a while, but the introduction of all these characters and different elements allows me to expand and grow the story. Part 4 will feature less abandoned subway tunnels, and more of the storytelling locales and politics that you saw in Part 1 and 2.