My Little Ventrue Pt. 08 Ch. 01

Nowadays, if given a choice, he'd take a good suit too. A well tailored suit was comfortable, and looked good. He was wearing a casual suit right now, without the jacket, and he could admit to himself it felt good to look good. And that's probably what the Invictus wanted, for him to get attached to the money. Well, he was thoroughly attached at this point, and had basically forgotten about Azamel's offer.

"Yeah, it'll be a problem. First, Viktor died. Then some Invictus Kindred died, when the fucking idiots joined Lucas, got brainwashed in that weird place -- because apparently brainwashing was a thing -- and attacked the Prince. It hurt our numbers. That put the power in Garry's hands. He took advantage of that opportunity, and sired Jeremy Long."

"Right, right. Was Long at the ball last night?"

"Yes, but he's been doing a good job of avoiding attention. I can't get him alone, and I just know if I talk to him when he's with Garry, I'm going to start a fight."

Garry's new childe, Jeremy Long. Eric didn't know the man, but he did owe one of his thugs, Montoya, a lot of money once upon a time. Killing Montoya's goon Mr. Pitt, and literally eating him and his henchmen, had been Eric's introduction to the power and berserk rage of the Gauru form. Nauseating as it'd been, he could still remember the taste, and he could still remember liking it.

"How much you know about Mr. Long?"

Jessy shrugged and peeked out the window. A mostly empty parking lot, with street lights shining on pavement.

"I know a lot more about Terra Den, the only real threat to Dolareido in a lot of financial districts. Long himself is pretty secretive. All I know, is that he's a ruthless businessman, practically a predator."

A predator. Eric smirked at that as he looked down at the cafeteria table. Well, it made more sense now for Garry to sire someone like that, if the man had the instincts of a predator. Gangrels were drawn to people like that.

"Considering how things went last night, I figured everyone was getting along," he said.

Jessy snorted and shook her head. "Vampires are fucking horrible. Lowering our guard long enough to fuck, isn't fully lowering our guard. You didn't notice? A bunch of them vamps, mid-fuck, were looking around and scanning for what other Kindred were doing, recon and assessment shit."

"The fuck can you learn from watching how someone fucks?"

"A lot! You can get a sense for who's really letting their guard down, who's too stupid to watch their ass, who's smart enough to keep their eyes open."

"You plot devious plans in the middle of sex, don't you?"

She laughed and winked at him. "Only when you're going slow." After a few, silly laughs, she leaned in close to him, elbow on the table. "Looking to take another stab at being Batman?"

"Say what?"

"You know, sneak into the Shadow realm, and clean some scum off the streets?"

Eric raised a brow. "Thought you didn't really agree with my idea?"

"What? I--oh, you mean about what Matt and Art said." Sighing, she slid out of the booth, but slid back into it on his side. After a few moments to get comfortable against his shoulder, she traced a finger along the table. "I dunno. It's not like Kindred hate kine or anything. But we're not kine, and neither are you, not anymore. It doesn't make sense to put yourself out there for no other reason than to be a good Samaritan."

"I... I guess. But my dad's human."

"Yeah, but..." Sighing, she rubbed her cheek into his shoulder. "I don't know how you werewolves deal with it. Vampires, we spend the first ten, twenty, even fifty years of our second lives, struggling with this issue. Eventually, we accept that we're not human anymore, and we stop feeling much sympathy for them. They're food."

Ouch.

"I... don't know if I can ever do that." How the fuck could he even think in those terms? Another fifty years? He'd gathered that Uratha lived a long time, maybe a couple centuries from what he'd seen of Avery, but that was nothing compared to immortality.

"I get that. And besides, I'm not against what you want to do. Sounds like fun. And I like the idea of pissing Avery off."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Bitch is arrogant."

Eric smiled at his girlfriend, leaned down, and kissed her forehead. No need to say what he was thinking, especially since she promptly punched him in the leg for the silent insult.

"Ow."

"I'm different than Avery. I'm awesome."

"Of course."

"And she's probably a prude."

"Probably."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Antoinette~~

Elaine took one of the guest rooms meant for vampires, with a sealable door capable of withstanding an explosion. It did not have the strength of Antoinette's personal vault door, but it was more than enough for an elder to feel secure come the dawn. And besides, both Elaine and Antoinette had thralls within the tower, armed and ready to defend their masters.

It had been decades since Elaine's last visit, but her old friend fell into her routine smoothly. There were rooms that, while not dedicated to the woman's research, were easily converted to such. Secure connections to various networks the Ordo had established could be made, allowing Elaine to pursue her research, or at least access it.

And no doubt, Elaine would attempt to continue her research, with Jack as her new focus. Antoinette knew of her friend's intentions, and Elaine knew that she knew. The issue was, whether such pursuits would be harmful to Dolareido, or to Jack. If they were harmless, then Antoinette had no reason to block her old friend's efforts. If they were potentially harmful, well, then Antoinette would put an end to her friend's experiments. It was not unheard of for one dragon to interfere with another.

It was unheard of for two elder dragons as old as them, to interfere with each other directly, though.

"Did you enjoy yourself last night?" she asked of Elaine.

"You know I did." They laughed. It was true. "I did not expect the boy's presence to be so... alluring."

"He pulls you into him, does he not? I get lost in his joy."

The two of them walked her halls, both dressed in suits and ready to work. Natasha awaited them, and Samantha would join them soon.

"And he enjoys my company, or my body, at least." Elaine frowned as she looked down at the floor. "Unlike your sheriff."

"Daniel did seem preoccupied with Athalia last night."

"Very."

"I cannot judge the man for his tastes. I do not agree with his tastes, but I cannot judge him for them."

Elaine chuckled and nodded. "I suppose. It is not fair of me to judge this Athalia creature. I cannot understand why Daniel would be interested in a woman so volatile and broken, but I shall do my best to leave him be."

"There is no accounting for taste."

"Indeed." Nodding, Elaine pulled out her tablet and checked her messages. "Your lover, Jack. I am surprised you have become so attached to one so young."

Oh this again. Antoinette sighed and nodded as well. "You do not approve of my tastes, then."

"Now that I have seen him, I am less surprised. There is an old soul inside that young body. The contrast of his youth with his attitude is beguiling, and I cannot blame you for your attraction to him." After a sigh, she lowered the tablet, and looked at her closely. "But, I am still concerned over your shared love."

"Yes, I imagined you would be."

"Can you blame me, old friend? You loved Tony with all the zeal of a Daeva."

"That was centuries ago. And... and he was a loving man, back then, Elaine." It almost felt condescending, to be reminded she was Daeva, that the curse of her bloodclan would forever stir her to obsess over that which stirred the soul. Love was no exception.

"He was an artist that wooed you with his skill and passion."

"And Viktor? What did he seduce you with?"

A hint of a frown crossed her old friend's face. "I was never in love with Viktor, Ann. You are quite in love with this young man, this boy, and I am concerned that you share too little in common for such a powerful relationship." Elaine leaned in closer, and her face softened. "Sex and friendship are one thing, but love? You love him, I believe that. But it is such a dangerous thing, Ann."

"Yes, it is dangerous. But it is worth the risk." Antoinette set a hand against one of the doors in her maze of halls, and looked at Elaine with a somber gaze. "I have not felt such joy in centuries, old friend. Surely you can understand why I would hold onto that?"

"I understand, but do you not worry that, perhaps, Jack is too young to know whether this relationship is healthy for him?"

Antoinette paused for a single second, before smiling at her friend. "That is one of the many reasons I love my little Ventrue. He has the awareness to have undoubtedly asked himself that question, and have looked for an answer on his own."

Elaine smiled, satisfied for the moment, and followed Antoinette into her primary experimentation room.

"Ah, Natasha Vola," Elaine said as she entered the room. "Hard at work, I see."

"Um, yes, um... w-what title should I call you?"

Elaine smiled as she sat at the table, covered in artifacts, laptops, and tablets. "Officially, you may address me as Elaine, Architect of Terror, just as you are Natasha Vola, Slave. Unofficially, Elaine is fine." Upon the table, was the book, cover made of skin, and contents a strange, forgotten language. One of the many artifacts she planned to show her old friend.

"Slave?" little Vola said.

Nodding, Antoinette sat next to Elaine, and smiled at her growing student. "You have yet to learn any Coils, and some in the Ordo use the title Slave to refer to ones such as yourself. I prefer Attendant."

"I think I d-do too."

"Naturally. But, understand that if you are to remain within the Ordo, you will eventually have to learn Coils of the Dragon."

The little Mekhet nodded as she looked down, summoned some courage, and looked back to the Prince. "I understand."

"Good," Antoinette said. "Is that Samantha I hear running down the hall?"

"Um, Samantha's--"

"Here! I'm here!" Samantha said as she swung open the door. She sat down at the table, and straightened her shoulders. "Sorry! Not used to putting on suits."

Antoinette smiled at her silly childe. "It took many months before your son became familiar with them. Months more, before he was comfortable. But with time, he grew to love them, as all Ventrue do."

"Ventrue love presentation," Elaine said with a shrug. "As do Daeva."

"We certainly do, but we enjoy the art of presentation. You, like a thug, enjoy the power and intimidation of it."

"That is hardly fair!" Giggling and rolling her eyes, Elaine picked up one of the tablets, and grinned at the screen as she examined the footage available to her. "Samantha, you and I have had little time to speak. A true crime. You are my friend's childe, and I would be remiss to not learn more of you."

"Of me? I'm nobody. Just a widow, who got pulled into a crazy world by... horrible circumstances." Samantha furrowed a brow slightly before looking to Antoinette. "I thought... we were doing experiments today."

Antoinette shrugged and nodded toward Elaine. "Forgive my friend, dear childe. But she is the great grandsire of your son, and is thus interested to learn of the boy's mother."

Natasha and Samantha both sat up straighter. "W-What?" They said together, stutter included.

Poor Elaine. Perhaps her old friend had meant to sneak it into a conversation, or use the secret to toy over Antoinette's students, but Antoinette spoiled her fun.

"Your Prince speaks truly. I came to Dolareido only partly to visit my old friend, and see the latest developments in her research in ephemera. The larger part is, your son, Samantha Terry."

"My son? And... and the curse." Oh, dear childe. The woman shivered, rubbed her arms, and looked down at the table as Elaine's words ripped the joy from her. "Does that mean you're--"

"Hundreds of years ago, I had the curse removed," Elaine said. "The... details of the event, are lost to time. I have some records that may help, and I will use them to the best of my ability to help your son."

Samantha's joyful energy returned instantly, and she beamed a big smile at Elaine. "Thank you! Jack's... ugh, that boy just doesn't know how to share the load, does he? Always has to do things himself."

"A valuable trait, in many ways," Antoinette added. "Stubbornness and strength of mind often go hand in hand."

"So does self-destructive bullheadedness." Laughing, Elaine shrugged, and scrolled along her tablet. "As any Ventrue can attest to."

"Then it is good I can temper that stubbornness. My love is not the child he appears. He has grown in leaps and bounds, forced by circumstance."

"He's growing up a little too fast," Samantha said. "At least, I think he is. He's--"

"He is Kindred now, my childe. As much as it pains me, there is great value in a vampire growing as quickly as possible. Many of us are devious creatures, more than willing to manipulate each other for personal gains." Antoinette leaned in over the table, and smiled at her childe. "Speaking of devious Kindred, how did your evening with Jacob proceed?"

"Jacob? He..." Samantha squirmed in her seat, and squirmed all the more when she realized three sets of eyes were on her. "He's so interesting! Scary, but interesting."

"Scary," Natasha confirmed.

"I know little of Jacob," Elaine said. "He and I have rarely interacted. His circle was a small thing, when he nested in Europe near Ann and I. It remains small, here in Dolareido."

With a heavy sigh, Antoinette leaned back in her chair, and combed her hair over her shoulder. "Jacob believed as I did, that if several elder Kindred cultivated a growing city in a new land, we could create a utopia of sorts. Of course, our views of the nuances of that utopia differ. Jacob is a strong believer in Darwinism, Samantha."

"Darwinism?" her childe said. "Like, evolution?"

"In a sense. Jacob, and all members of the Circle of the Crone, believe that individuals and groups must struggle, as a natural part of our second lives. I push for cooperation, and fight for it. But that man refuses to understand that his views on our second lives, his and his covenant's, are antiquated."

"And this," Elaine said, "is where Ann and I often disagree. She assumes our old way of life, of predator and prey, of letting the weak die and fostering the strong, will not survive the oncoming tide of technology."

"Technology?" Samantha said.

Elaine nodded. "Indeed. In a couple hundred years, humans will be spacefaring. Will our way of unlife survive such a change? Many Kindred fear technology, and the potential ramifications of billions upon billions of kine learning of Kindred."

"Would that be so bad?" Samantha said. "We can't all get along?" The room went silent as, again, three sets of eyes stared at her, though this time with a gentle air of disbelief, and maybe a touch of annoyance. "I... suppose not."

"Non," Antoinette said, "I suppose not. Kindred must cooperate to survive the oncoming genesis. If we work together, we can find ways to keep our society a secret, even in the advent of extreme social upheavals, and total, global alteration at the hands of technology."

"And Jacob... doesn't?" Samantha's eyes fell, and she tapped her chin several times. Cute as a squirrel.

"Jacob," Antoinette continued, "is difficult to understand. I imagine he would happily cast the world thousands of years into the past, stripped of technology. He, like all witches and warlocks, encourages Kindred to listen to their instincts, and in extreme scenarios, perhaps even listen to dark voices that whisper to us from shadows."

This time, it was Vola who raised her head and stared at her. "Dark voices?"

This conversation had quickly grown far heavier than Antoinette had intended. But, if it would give Samantha the necessary perspective to understand Jacob, all the better. She did not want her childe getting close to the man, but to simply forbid her was not fair, to her or Jacob. And, perhaps, Samantha could succeed where Beatrice would now likely fail, lost to sadness as she was.

"One of the reasons I study ephemera, this material that exists beyond our eyes, that permeates reality in strange ways, is to understand the entities that exist beyond our eyes as well."

"Entities!?" Samantha squeaked.

"Entities. Beyond the walls of existence you are familiar with, my childe, creatures exist beyond description. Natasha has ventured across the Gauntlet and into a realm of spirits. Nightmare creatures, monsters of literal fear, roam a realm of dreams, and my city. Beyond them, above and below, exists realms so grand and alien, I have struggled for centuries to scratch their surface. Creatures, or gods if you prefer, exist within these realms. And the Circle of the Crone often worship, or seek to communicate with these gods." Enough verbosity. "Jacob has communed with such entities before, as many in the Circle often struggle, and fail, to do."

Samantha stared at her for several moments, before speaking at last. "That... is scary."

"So be warned, my childe. While I strongly encourage you to avoid Jacob, I will not prevent it. Jacob is a wise man, but while you understand my goals, to understand his is an entirely different matter. Be careful with him."

The look on Natasha's face spoke volumes. She did not understand why Antoinette allowed her childe to talk with Jacob at all. Never mind that Jacob could simply force the situation if he wanted, why did the Prince not simply forbid her childe from speaking with the dangerous man?

Because, if cooperation was to be had with her old friend, she needed to extend the olive branch.

No, that was not the only reason. While Samantha, on the surface, seemed a naive and sweet woman, she was Jack's mother. Beneath her surface, there was an anvil of strength that could survive where others would perish. Perhaps it was cruel, to let her childe enter such dangerous circumstances in hopes that she could accomplish what Jack accomplished.

Perhaps, Antoinette could be a little cruel, when she needed to be.