My Little Ventrue Pt. 05 Ch. 19

"Thank you," the skeleton said, face down, head mostly submerged. Creepy. "We will talk... again, I am sure. That Begotten working... for... Jeremiah... will be a great threat."

"Your w-w-welcome, bye." She got up, and held out a hand to Fiona. The spider lady walked beside her, her spider legs all pressing to the sand behind her, but also her human-ish legs tip-toeing along the sand on their points. Fiona seemed to usually walk on her spider legs only, so, she was hurting pretty bad. A spider monster's version of limping.

Once they were a ways away, Fiona guided them to a shadow behind one of the larger, strange, alien corpses, and again plucked at the darkness with her claws. Like before, she someone pulled open the shadow, like opening a door, and she motioned to the empty black she'd created before her.

"This burrow will lead into shadows around Bloodlust. I'm afraid a different burrow will be... hard to make, right now. Is that close enough to where you'll be going?"

"Y-Yes, it is, thank you. Will... will you be ok?"

Fiona nodded her crown of horns, and gestured to the dark tear in reality she'd created. It was as natural to breathing to these monsters, moving between the dark corners of the Earth. "Burrowing out of that gargoyle's home would have been difficult in that situation, but my lair is connected with Athalia's. I can get back home easily."

Home. Fiona called her nightmare home. That was a key difference between monsters and the other paranormals, she supposed. As far as she knew, the Uratha, for Avery's pack at least, they all considered normal, physical, planet Earth to be their home, like the vampires did.

Her home was in the tower of the most powerful vampire she knew; her boss, too. And her boss would be dying for an info update.

With a nod and smile, she waved to Fiona.

"T-Take... take care of yourself. I think D-Damien likes you."

She laughed, and ran a clawed hand along one of the massive horns on her head. "I... I think you're right."

"Oh! Um, I m-mean, more than just b-b-because he rescued you, but also—"

"We're going on a date, soon." The spider monster smiled at her, a very Fiona smile, and pushed her through the black.

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Bloodlust it was, the alley outside, in the darkest corner.

Ugh! No more dark! No more dark things, no more shadows, no more black, obsidian, onyx, raven, jet, ebony, none of it!

She limped out into the fake lights of Dolareido streets, and sighed relief as she found herself able to actually see everything without having to squint or focus. It wasn't a far walk to the Elysium Tower, and this close to it, she didn't need a buddy to travel safely. Limping sucked, but a ten minute limp was a small price to pay to get to the safety of the Prince's walls.

But, first, check in. She pulled out her phone and sent the Prince a quick message informing her she was on the way. And a message for her boyfriends, saying she was alright, and that they better be alright too. And finally, most importantly, a message for Jessy.

~Hey Jessy. I'm back in Dolareido. Heading to Elysium Tower now.~

~Hey Tash. We need to hook up and chat! Need to thank you for the rescue.~

~Thank Jack.~

~I did, no worries. Your boys alright?~

~They'll heal... I think. And Eric?~

~He went back to his place. I got a bunch of ghouls guarding him while he sleeps. And the Invictus are going to be guarding the area from now on.~

~Smart, but after what happened, I think it'll be some time before the hunters make another move against us.~

~Probably, but I don't want to risk it.~

~Getting attached to Eric?~

~I think I am.~

~He strikes me as a monogamy lover, Jess.~

~Hey, I can try monogamy!~

~I think I remember you detailing to me, frequently, how much you dislike the idea.~

~Yeah well... fuck you, that's what.~

Tash rolled her eyes. Jessy didn't really understand how much the tone of her words didn't come through in texting, and instead of her sounding fun and spontaneous, her aggression sounded mean and harsh. But Tash was used to it by now.

~I'll talk to you later, Jess.~

~Later.~

With a small chuckle, she walked up the stairs of the tower's front door. She waved to the man at the front desk, and started her way down the stairs in the back. Down a few flights of stairs, and into the Prince's main experiments room, where she usually found the Prince doing her work. Not there. Hmm. Shrugging, Tash moved down another flight of stairs, and poked her head into the Prince's favorite lounge room, the one with the dragon fountain. The lights were on, and set to white. Thank god, light.

"Natasha, my dear. Please, sit, relax. I am glad to see that you are safe." The Prince was sitting on the couch, but where she would normally be reading, she was sitting with nothing in her hands, body turned and staring at the fountain, her back snug to the couch.

"Prince, you seem d-distracted."

"Oui. Julias has informed me of the results of your mission. It displeases me that the entity Black Blood has involved itself so... acutely." With a sigh, she looked Tash's way, and a frown graced her otherwise preoccupied expression. "Your leg?"

Tash was sitting, and the Prince noticed the bad leg. Impressive, and it made Tash smile. "It br-broke, when the hunters... blew up the door we were going t-to open."

"These hunters are frustrating, are they not?" Sighing again, the Prince leaned back on the couch, and looked up. "I have dealt with hunters many times through my life."

"You have?"

"Indeed. None of them have been as tenacious, as well prepared, or grouped in such a large number as these. There were times, two centuries ago and before, when mobs would gather and burn down a vampire's estate, under suspicion they were a vampire. One of the few times superstition worked against us, not for us. I feel like I am in a similar situation, where a mob has come to burn down my estate; in this case, my city. And no vampire, no matter how strong, dismisses the threat of a hundred peasants with torches; or in this case, flamethrowers and molotov cocktails."

It was easy to forget that Antoinette wasn't always the modern, mature, Prince of Dolareido. There was a time when she was young, learning her power, developing her connections in the Ordo Dracul, and growing her fortune and kingdoms. What sort of mistakes did Antoinette make when she was younger? Opening a door with explosives on the other side, probably not, but there was probably a similar comparison somewhere. Maybe, like she said, she opened a door to a bunch of peasants with torches.

The thought put another small smile on Tash's lips. Antoinette making mistakes was a hard thing to imagine, and forcing herself to picture it helped put her boss in a more relatable light.

"Please, describe to me details that Mire may have left out."

"Um, s-sure. The descriptions we have of Jer-r-remiah and Angela are accurate. But, I noticed, w-when they were retreated from... B-B-Black Blood's intrusion, that they are trained."

"Hunters are notorious for developing skills a typical kine would not."

"Y-Yes, but they were trained like... like professionals. They had formations, signals they m-made with their hands, and they knew how t-to respond to chaos quickly."

"That is a step above the typical hunter." With another sigh, Antoinette pulled some of her wavy hair over her shoulder, and began to slowly comb it with both hands. "Most hunters are one, maybe two, sometimes three individuals, rarely with any training at all. But they train themselves, learn through trial and error, and become formidable. Never a professional though, as you describe."

"Have... have you known many hunters?"

"I have met several, in my life time. Some are from an age I cannot remember. But, perhaps eighty years ago, I met one. A man, with every classic issue you could imagine from a hunter. His wife had been killed by a Kindred only days after their wedding, and the man witnessed it. He went down a rabbit hole, buried himself in the lore of our kind, and of other paranormals. For ten years, he dedicated his life to hunting us, after he realized it was impossible to expose us to the public." Kindred had their fingers in the police, media, and governments. Exposing them through those means would be borderline impossible. "A hunter's life had destroyed any chance I had of speaking with the man. Ten years of dealing with monsters — and I do not deny that there are many Kindred worthy of the descriptor — had rendered him unwilling to communicate. In the end, I was forced to kill him."

"You... you sound sad, about-t-t that."

The woman lowered her eyes to her fingers and hair, and went silent for a moment as she watched her fingertips coil the ends of white strands. "... I am, dear Natasha. He did not deserve death. A part of me wonders, if these hunters we kill do. From what everyone has told me, Jeremiah and Angela sound worse than the hunter I met, by far. They sound like..."

"L-Like psychopaths."

The word earned the Prince's glance, and nod. "Yes, that they do."

"And Angela, she... she seemed healthy and f-fine, physically."

"Another anomaly. Considering the damage Jack says she suffered, a normal kine would be in a hospital for weeks, and unable to push themselves for months."

"I shot her though! Shot her, and J-Jeremiah twice. B-But only the limbs."

"A shame. But considering how the night went, you did better than the others." The Prince smiled at her, and Tash beamed. Old as Tash was, she still got a schoolgirl joy out of making her boss proud, even when that boss was Maria. "Wounding those two should have bought us some time, then. Make sure to enjoy yourself for the next few days."

Enjoy herself? She could do that. She was pretty sure she knew how Jessy was going to enjoy herself, too. Hopefully the girl didn't become a snack for a wolf in the process.

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~~Eric~~

The next night since the incident, and Eric felt a million times better. He healed fast, damn fast; though the silver bullet and silver knife wounds were still tender. Good thing he healed quick, because he had another shift at Bloodlust, and while the vampires seemed to treat the place like nothing more than a place to drop by for a cheap meal, it was his new livelihood. Had to earn it, keep the vamps happy, and keep a paycheck for his dad.

Christ, his dad. The fuck would have happened to the old man if Eric had died? The vamps owed him for helping save Jack, but he doubted that extended to his family members.

He had to visit his dad again, and get in his weekly allotment of guilt and self loathing.

With a groan and sigh, he sat up, reached out for Kat, and pet her. She was on his bed as usual, and let out a quiet meow to let him know she was aware he was awake. He smiled at the feline, and leaned in to kiss her head, which she returned with some head bumps against his chin. If he died, Kat would be fucked, too. He wasn't sure which one he cared more about.

Sighing, he got up out of bed, and peeked around his light-blocking curtains. Yeah, sun just went down, so the vampires would be getting up. He still had a few hours until his shift, so it was a good time to relax, eat something, take a shower, ponder life and the hell it'd dropped on his lap, the usual. The ghouls that had been watching him were gone; falling asleep with them outside his apartment door had been tough, but he could tell they were loyal. Once he was under, he slept like a stone.

First, a quick bite to eat. Some meat. Some raw meat. Something in him told him he didn't want to cook it, that he'd be happier eating it raw, and it wasn't like he had to worry with his new body. Delicious. He gave some to Kat as well; if he could eat raw meat, it wasn't like a true predator like her wouldn't be able to.

Second, a shower. He tossed his clothes onto the bed, stepped into the ridiculously fancy bathroom, and turned on the water. Pleasantly hot. With a long, heavy sigh, he put his hands against the shiny, tile wall, and let the water wash over his bald head. It was turning into a buzz, and he should probably shave it before heading out. The apartment was still beat up, too, but some patch work had plugged the hole in the bathroom wall. He—

He lifted his head, and looked to the door of the bathroom, as he heard the front door open. The footsteps were confident, but a bit light, and whoever it was took off their shoes; it wasn't the ghouls. Yeah, only one person would do that.

And only one person would hear the shower running, and take that as an invite to come in.

"Feeling better?" Jessy said.

"I am, yeah. If you keep walking into my apartment whenever you want, you're liable to get a punch in the face, though. Especially my bathroom. Not on purpose, course, just a reflex if you surprise me."

Jessy grinned, sat on the edge of his tub, palms to the white surface, and watched him shower. With the shower's lack of glass barrier, the water was free to drain into the drain hole in the center of the bathroom. Bathroom was so damn big, Jessy remained dry as she watched him. And judging from the small points of her nipples against her tank top, she was already blushing life. He could hear her heart beating, despite the falling water hitting his skin; that was unusual. It sounded excited, very excited, more excited than he'd come to expect from the hornball. Why?

"You're welcome to try. I love a good fight."

"I noticed." It was hard to not look at her, but if she wanted to watch him shower, then he was going to shower. And he was no boy, he was a man, with enough willpower to not throw himself at the pretty woman the moment she showed interest. At least, a little more willpower, enough he wasn't getting hard, yet. "Where's Fiona?"

"Hoping she'd come?"

"Honestly? Nah. That Damien kid—"

"Dude was sired young, but he's got half a century of his second life under his belt."

"Does he? From the way he acted at Bloodlust, I'd have figured he was a kid. Young, at least."

"I guess he kind of is. He spent those fifty years hiding in the city underbelly. He's a damn good Mekhet, but he's had little interaction with people, outside of being a fucking zealot." Shrugging, she got up, walked over to him, and leaned her shoulder against the wall only a few feet away. It was close enough for some of the water hitting him to mist over her clothes. She didn't seem to care.

"I'm pretty sure he and Fiona are a better fit."

"I guess. She's young, and super sweet. He's bitter as hell, and could use someone like her to lighten that a bit, you know?"

"I'm not bitter?"

"Ha! You are, but in a more masculine, badass, brooding man sort of way. Damien's like an emo goth boy; I could put mascara on him and it'd fit perfectly. I'm sure he'd be a hit with high school girls, and young women who haven't grown up yet, like Fiona." Chuckling, Jessy undid the zipper of her jeans, and slid them off. Those legs, damn those were nice legs. "A shame. I was looking forward to getting her on your dick, and I could just play with her tits and stuff while that firecracker came her brains out." She kicked off her jeans and threw them aside with all the care of the slob roommate everyone hates. The toned legs, large, firm ass, and the small underwear, basically a thong, alleviated any frustration he may have had.

"I guess I regret her missing too, then." That was a nice image, he had to admit. And picturing the busty little creature sitting on him while Jessy played with her body, was getting his blood pumping. That was the vampire's goal, no doubt.

"But you know what?" She scooped up her tank top, and tossed it aside as well, left in a black bra and panties. "I kind of want you to myself. At least for a little while." He raised a brow, soaping his chest as he watched the beautiful woman undo her bra, and slip out of her underwear. God damn. Torturing him, she cupped both of her large breasts in her hands, and bounced them a few times; the woman delighted in playing to stereotypical porn fantasies, and as ridiculous as that was, she did it with such confidence that he was entranced. She winked at him, stepped under the water, and took the soap. Standing in front of him, she guided the soap around his body, and chewed on her bottom lip as she moved the bar over his dark skin, his abs, his waist, and his shoulders. "Get a loofa."

"Don't got one. Never really saw the point in a loofa."

"Because you're a man, and men are dumb." Shrugging, she leaned back against the wall underneath the shower, and spread her legs. "You owe me for the handjobs. Get crackin'."

This woman, wow. Did all vampires get horny so easily? He grinned at the beautiful warrior, and how the hot water flattened her short blond hair to her head. She called Fiona a firecracker, but he could smell the arousal growing on Jessy's body, see it in her hardened nipples, hear it in her quickening heartbeat. With a quiet, rumbling growl, he got down onto a knee between her knees, set the soap aside, and placed his hands on her thighs. Smooth, and hard with muscle.

"You want me to yourself?" he said.

"Yeap."

"What does that entail?"

"It entails—nng!" She let out a moan, a loud one, and set her hands against the wall of his bathroom, as he kissed her clitoris. Completely hairless, there was nothing to stop him from bathing the little nub in slow, gentle licks, and offer a few suckles of her labia. "Fucking hell. It entails dating, you know? Like, monogamy, and lame shit like that."

He pulled his head away, and tilted it a bit as he looked up at her. The way water ran down over her large breasts, down over her flat stomach, and down to her thighs, was intoxicating to watch.

"You into monogamy now?"

"I am... willing to try new things. Because—fuuuuck." Her voice cracked and wavered, as he eased two fingers into her clenching muscles. Middle and ring finger spread open her hot, gripping flesh, and her hot juices trickled down onto his palm, only to be washed away in the hot water. Aroused and ready, in a single minute. Holy shit. "Because I've been doing the single girl enjoys nightly orgies for decades now. Time to change things up, see what a relationship can be like."

She'd never been in a serious relationship then. Did she even understand what that meant?

"I don't think I can satisfy you as well as an entourage of men."

"Heh, I think I'll be fine. Besides, I—" She shivered, and reached down with both hands to touch his head, as he kissed her clit again. "I can get some more people into our bed, if I ever get bored. You cool with that?"

"Uh, well—"

"Yeah yeah, you're a dude, and dudes got this weird thing with other dudes in the bed, hands on their girl. Ugh, Tash is so lucky." She rolled her eyes again, before pressing on his head, and guiding it back to her clit. "You wouldn't mind if I invited a girl or two though, would you? Not for a while, cause I want you to myself for now. But in the future, maybe?"

"You know you don't have to do that. I'm plenty happy with a woman like you, and only one, in bed."

"Course you are, fucking dumbass. I'm amazing." She rolled her eyes again, reached down, and guided the wrist of the penetrating hand to continue fingering her. Curling the fingers, and pressing them against her g-spot, earned another loud moan from her, and she relaxed back against the gleaming tile wall. Satisfied. "I meant for me. More hands and fingers opening things up, right? And, when I was watching Tash fucking my ghouls, I really... really got off on that. Girl had the tiniest little slit you've ever seen, no lips or anything, clit hiding between the folds. Wouldn't mind seeing some girl riding you in the future some day, while I do things to her. Not like she'd be a part of the relationship, just some extra pussy every now and then."