My Little Ventrue Pt. 06 Ch. 16

"Good point."

"I have a better topic," she said. "Caleb." Eric grumbled, and Jessy laughed as she pat his chest. "Aww, getting all manly and grumbly just because I mentioned his name?"

"He tried to prove I couldn't control myself." For entirely good reasons, but still.

"Well, you did go a bit psycho, you know. Got all possessive of me and shit, and tried to fight Michael."

He lifted his head so he could frown at the girl on his lap, but she was grinning at him. Teasing. He rolled his eyes and set his head back down.

"I guess I did."

"And hey, don't get me wrong, I'm into it. But you and Caleb really fucked shit up."

"... you're trying to build up to a hammer drop, aren't you?"

She sighed, nodded, and groaned. "We have to pull patrol duty for a week or two. On top of our normal shit."

"Fuck, that does suck. No free time."

"Yeah."

"I'm injured. Can't I pull some sort of injury card?"

She laughed and pat his chest again. "You seem healed to me. You damn wolves heal so fast."

"True, but your boss doesn't know that. And not completely healed I'll have you know. Something about Caleb's claws and teeth really fucked me up. And... and that thing your boss changed into, fucked me up pretty bad too."

"Michael's transformations are fucking nuts. Dude's so fucking old, he transforms into shit that I'm pretty sure is the source of a lot of scary folklore. He uses it once every thirty years or so. You should feel proud."

"Heh, maybe. Proud, and bruised."

Laughing, she stroked her cheek against his shirt, and tucked her hands in between his arms and chest in a half hug. "We'll be together for it, so, that's good, right?"

"Very good."

"Good." She lifted her head long enough to smile at him, and stayed there for a moment. Weight crept into her gaze, and she sighed as she continued to look at him. He met her gaze, tilting his head to the side slightly so it rolled along the couch arm.

He almost said something, asked her why she was looking at him like that. But he didn't. He'd learned from his mistakes in the past, learned to not ruin something, not put his foot in it, or in his mouth. Just shut up, and let her come out of her shell on her own.

He'd known women like her in the past, tough women, women who were very outgoing, lively, loud, and acted like they wore their emotions on their sleeve. They didn't. There was something soft inside, something they guarded closely, something hidden behind the wall of extroversion, of energy, of exaggerated action. Best thing he could do, if she was finally not being that person for a second? Shut up, and listen.

Another sigh escaped her, and she put her cheek back on his sternum.

"You... you're not going anywhere, right?"

Multiple ways to take that question. Leaving the city. Leaving her. Dying. It didn't really matter which she meant, and she probably meant all of them.

"Didn't plan on it."

"Good. Good." She nodded as she kept her cheek to his chest, and her hands against his sides tightened a little. "Jack mentioned Beatrice, and how she's taking Julias's death. I can... I can't imagine the pain she's in."

"Me neither." He knew she wanted to talk about it, but he wasn't going to say that. No, just, sit and listen.

"I saw those two, Julias and Beatrice at a ball, and they... they fit together so well, like puzzle pieces. And now he's gone, and... fuck, she must feel like her whole world's ended." Jessy slid in toward the back of the couch, and snuggled into his side. Kat, bless her soul, hopped up onto the couch back, giving Jessy the freedom to press her body into Eric's as she slid higher, into the nook of his arm.

His arm around her found a nice groove, a half hug, elbow bent so his hand could rest on her shoulder. This was the girl who'd seduced him at a night club, and had sex with him while simultaneously seducing Fiona. She'd had orgies nearly every night before he came along, far as he knew. The night scene, fucking in a crowd under pulsing lights to the beat, was her life. Lying on a couch, snuggling, talking, those were things she wasn't familiar with. New territory for the deadly vampire.

So he said nothing, and stroked her shoulder as she worked up the courage to keep talking. This felt nice. Being someone else's shoulder? New territory for him, too. His wife had never really opened up to him on that emotional level, and in hindsight, he had to wonder if she even had the emotional depth to do so. Had he? He'd had the emotional maturity of a self-involved kid then, convinced a relationship should be nothing but sex and laughter and booze and good times. He'd avoided 'heavy' conversations, and so had his wife.

Not this time. And, much as Jessy said she didn't want to talk about heavy, he knew she did.

"Tash is probably crying right now," she said, "to Art and Matt. I can just picture it, little Tash, sniffling, trying to explain what happened. She might get through five words, before bursting into tears—well, not tears, not without the Blush. But she'll be crying, and hugging them, and she'll be inconsolable. They'll pet her, pat her head and stuff, and... yeah."

Eric lifted his hand of the arm she was snuggled into, and set it on her head. Instant murrs of satisfaction, and she rubbed her cheek against his chest a little harder.

"She was really attached to Julias, you know? She first came to us, all spooked up and scared and shit, and we didn't really know the details about her sire at the time. Apparently she'd gotten super spooked by her time with the Ordo Dracul, but yeah, we didn't know that. Lot of us thought she was just this tiny wimp. Like, so tiny, right? And even more timid than your typical Mekhet. But Julias, he..." Jessy shuddered a little, and squeezed on him a little harder. "He didn't care, didn't feel a need to condescend or manipulate in typical Invictus fashion. In meetings and gatherings, she was Miss Vola, and no one gave her the time of day. But Julias took her off to the side, and explained things, since she had no sire that we knew of. To him, she was Tash, not a title with a fucking respect quota to meet."

Her shudders returned, and didn't stop, tiny things that rippled through her, earning some quiet sobs. He kept his touch soft, lightly stroking her scalp and combing her hair with his fingers.

"Sounds like he was a nice guy."

"He... he was my friend. I could always trust Julias, you know? Even when he replaced his fucking lunatic sire, I could always trust him. I used to go to Bloodlust with him, and sometimes we'd find some kine to hook up with, play wingman for each other. When we had to get into tussles with the Carthians, he always had my back, even when he disagreed with me when I was... a little more aggressive than I should have been." Her squeezing arms only grew tighter, and her sobs continued, mixed with whimpers. "And... and... and now he's... he's..."

Eric said nothing. He held Jessy, held her close, and let her cry. First time in his life he'd ever held someone like this. And, self-involved as it was, he had to admit, it was a peculiar feeling for him. The raw emotion, the thoughts laid bare, the utter vulnerability. She was so defenseless. A single word, a good jab, an insult, a passive-aggressive remark would be all he'd need to break her and leave her a ruin of tears and betrayal.

All he wanted to do was hold her, and see if maybe, just maybe, he could ease her pain a little by hugging her. It seemed like such a small thing, such a little thing, but he couldn't imagine doing anything else.

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~~Natasha~~

"Julias is... he's... he... d-d... died..."

She threw herself at the closest one: Matt. She grabbed his waist, buried her face in his chest, and started crying. No, not crying. Crying wasn't a strong enough word for the pain tearing through her, making her shake and her muscles clench uncontrollably. Bawling. Maybe bawling was better.

Matt froze. Good. Don't move. Let her squeak into his chest for a bit.

"What?" Art said, stepping around Matt, and squatting down beside her. She wasn't so short that he had to squat, putting his head lower than hers, but she appreciated it anyway. Whimpering like a pathetic little girl, she threw her arms around his neck, and buried her face there as well.

The three of them were standing in the garden outside the Elysium Tower. Apparently they'd come to talk to her, and were too old fashioned to send a text. Or maybe they'd just wanted to surprise her.

"Sheriff?" Matt said. "What happened? We knew something happened at the hospital, but no one's filled Avery in on the details yet. "

She managed to lift her face from Art's neck long enough to look behind her, to see Daniel standing by the stairs.

"Jack will fill Avery in... but perhaps not immediately," Daniel said. "I will explain some, in the mean time."

Natasha didn't listen, but some of her sire's words managed to penetrate her sobs. He mentioned the hunter attack on the hospital, and that Jack and Julias were caught in it. He mentioned Julias's death. He mentioned the clean up the thralls were handling, and the Ventrues Vicky and Bruce, too.

By the time Tash and Daniel had gotten to the hospital, it was already the next night, and the thralls had cleaned up the major issues; namely, all the dead crows, and the human corpses. A quarantine was put in place, and every patient in that wing was declared potentially contaminated by the birds. Hospital staff would have to wear protective gear when treating them.

He also mentioned they'd captured the Begotten Sándor. That got some affirming grunts from the two werewolves.

Tash tried to keep her voice down, she really did. She didn't want to be making so much noise, especially outside the tower where some other vamps were nearby. The younger Kindred hid in the shadows, afraid to come out in the presence of the sheriff, werewolves, and an ex-Right Hand. But they were there, she could sense them, see some of them, and it was royally embarrassing considering the noises she was making.

She forced down her sobs, grit her teeth, and let go of Art's neck. The heartbreak in his eyes almost shattered her, but she gulped down the need to weep, and took a step back. Weeping could come when they were in private.

"I'll... I'll explain more details to them, sire," she said. "Were you t-two coming to... visit for the night?"

"Yeah," Matt said, offering Daniel a salute before coming over to join her and Art. "And... yeah, I guess we should talk inside?"

Nodding, she started the walk into the lobby, with Matthew and Arturo close behind. She felt silly and dumb, for breaking down the moment she saw them, especially out in the open where everyone could see her. How did Isabella and her group feel when Barry died? And others, who'd been a part of Lucas's uprising, their deaths must have affected some Kindred they'd known. How many of them burst into tears in the open? Probably none.

But Julias was... Julias.

Matt and Art said nothing as she guided them down to her room. Jack was probably back from his visit to the Invictus; no way he'd stay gone for long, with his mom here and Sándor as well. She—oh, right, Jessy! She pulled out her phone, and sent Jessy a text.

~You ok?~

~I guess. Just lying here with Eric, being a bitch and crying.~

Jessy crying. Jessy didn't cry. If she was crying, that meant a lot, and Tash struggled to not burst into more sobs as she read the message. Thank god Jessy had no problems being honest, once the truth smacked her in the face.

~I just got back from checking in with the cleanup crew with Daniel. It... it was pretty insane, how much damage the hunters did. And how much damage Jack did.~

~He told us about the weird curse thing. Fucking nuts.~

Ah, that was good. If Jack was being open and honest about this strange change that'd happened to him, Tash could talk about it; with one of his fellow Right Hands at least.

~I... I still can't believe he's gone.~

~We're going to have to go out, maybe in a few days, have a send-off party or something.~

~I... think I can do that.~

~K, I'm going to go back to sobbing.~

~Me too. Bye.~

She put her phone away, and forced down the rising urge to sob again. Not now, not yet.

Once she was downstairs, deep in the underground floors of the tower, and in her temporary bedroom, she motioned for the two boys to enter. So many times she'd done this, always with either the intent or knowledge it'd end in sex. It'd become a ritual almost, her two werewolves joining her, following her into this room, and it sparked a couple memories of her with her legs spread out, her tiny body vanishing between theirs.

The happy thought lasted two seconds, before the thought of Julias dying slammed into her. His tall body and broad shoulders, similar to her boyfriends', his combed-back short blonde hair, his confident smile, the way he filled out a suit, it'd all made him seem so imposing the first time she ever saw him. He—

"He was... he w-w-was... the first Invictus to... t-to be nice to me." She sat down on the edge of her bed, and looked down. She didn't need to ask, as Matt and Art came to join her, each sitting on either side of her. "He t-taught me about life in the Invict-tus, and... and... he helped me so much..."

Matt set a hand on her back, and rubbed, while Art leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees. With a sigh, he looked at her, offered her a weak smile, a knowing smile, and waited.

"I... I hadn't t-talked to him much, since coming back to the Ordo Dracul. I... w-we were supposed to talk again, and... I wanted to! I... I wanted to, b-but it just... never happened." She buried her face in her hands. "And now I can't!"

The sobs started again. She didn't bother trying to suppress them anymore, now that she had walls around her, and she trusted the Prince's construction to be basically sound proof. The only people who'd get to hear her be a big baby, were Matt and Art, and she didn't mind that at all. Jessy later too, doubtlessly, but for now, just her boyfriends and the black marble walls.

Matt continued to rub her back, and Art pat her knee a couple times, offering her some more sad smiles, before he looked to the wall.

"Is... this your first friend, to die?" Art said.

"Y... Yes." She turned a bit in toward Matt, and nuzzled her cheek into his chest. He returned the favor, sliding in a bit closer so their legs were pressed to each other, and she could disappear into the nook of his hugging arm. "D-Dolareido, it... it's been so peaceful here, you know? Ever since the Purge, w-we haven't had... things like this happen. And I was embraced around then. M-My... fifty years have been quiet, for the m-most part. Viktor, Tony, G-Garry, they got into fights all the time, and a Kindred d-died every now and then, but it was rare. Now... so many people have died, and... and Julias, he... he was invincible. N-No one was surprised he got to be in the council so young."

Viktor Honors, Julias Mire, and Jack Terry. All three had been unusually strong relative to their age, and now there was an explanation. She didn't like the explanation, because now Jack was possibly in danger, threatened by something none of them understood. The Prince was probably digging through ancient texts none of them had ever seen or heard of, looking for possible explanations.

"It's been different for us," Art said. "Tijuana was... it was rough. We lost people." He groaned and ran a hand over his head, before scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry, I made that sound like Julias's death was... yeah, my bad. What I meant was, we know how you feel. Stephanie wasn't the only family we've lost."

Stephanie. Tash frowned and looked down. She'd completely forgotten about her. The poor woman had died to a monster in the Dolareido sewers, cut down, while Natasha and her boyfriends had been stuck behind a wall of debris and collapsed tunnel.

"Um, how's Mason d-d-doing?" Her sobs quieted down a bit, and she pushed herself off of Matt's chest. Two seconds later, she put her cheek back to his chest again, and stayed there. After last night, crying on her bed, alone, she wasn't doing that again.

"Stephanie's death still tears him up, I say," Art said. "You know guys, bottling up their emotions, being all stoic and shit, never really getting over problems. Mason's like that. But, at least this Tilly girl and him are getting along."

Matt nodded, hugging Tash a little closer, and rubbing her further arm with his hugging hand. "Trying to survive emotional pain like that, without someone to lean on, is rough. Art and I have our pack, our family. When John died eight years ago, it was hard on all of us, and we..." He leaned in over Tash, and set his chin on her head as he squeezed her. "I'm sorry you have to go through something like that."

Art got up, and started to walk around her room in a slow pace. "Julias died saving his childe, right?"

She nodded. "Y-Yeah, he did. He... he um, he... he's the r-reason Jack's alive, and that we c-captured Sándor. He... he went down... fighting."

"It was a good death," Art said. He came up to her, squatted down, and pat her knee. "I know that isn't any consolation, not now, but it will be."

She couldn't see how. But, much as she was older than Matthew or Arturo, they'd been living rough lives for decades, while she'd spent the past fifty years more or less cozy, in comparison. Tussles with the Carthians, and trying to keep her ruthless bosses happy, was the worst she'd had to deal with. Art and Matt were used to this sort of horribleness.

She managed a smile for Art, a weak one, but it was something. She let go of Matt, reached out, and hugged Art, putting a kiss on his lips and cheek as she did.

"I feel so bad for B-Beatrice, too. Julias was her... her..."

"They had something special," Art said, smiling at her.

It wasn't the usual smile Art gave her, playful and teasing. And it wasn't the smile he'd given to her just moments before, sad and knowing. It was a strange smile, almost shy, but inviting. Like, a literal invite, an invitation. She blinked at him, and looked up at the big man holding her. Matt gave the same smile.

Something special.

She burst into sobs again, but despite herself, a small smile managed to sneak through, as she hugged the two men. The three of them curled up on her bed, her in the middle, and she cried onto their shoulders as they lay there with her. She tried to tell a few stories about Julias, but each attempt ended quickly, with more sobs, and she gave up after a while. Better to just lie there, and enjoy Matt and Art's company, as dawn approached.