My Little Ventrue Pt. 08 Ch. 04

Clara laughed. "But you slept with her anyway?"

He sat up straight and winced. Awkward. "Uh, yeah. But, it's not what you think. With Antoinette, the sex isn't the intimate part. And even mid...you know, she never truly lets her guard down."

Laughing, Clara looked up and stared off into nothing. "I suppose I can understand that, considering what I was doing."

"You mean with Jessy's ghouls?"

Her turn to wince. "Yeah. You... you didn't see the pictures, did you?"

He raised a brow. "Pictures?"

"Oh thank god. Those ghouls took some pictures, probably because that slut Jessy wanted to see. I was drunk, and I... guess I didn't really care. When in Rome, right?"

"Ha, yeah, when in Rome." He gave her a small punch in the knee. "So, I've slept with four women at once, and you've slept with four dudes at once?"

She blushed, horribly at that, face going bright through her tan skin. "Apparently."

"Sounds hot."

She choked on a laugh. "I mean, yeah, it was. Jessy, uh, definitely trained her ghouls."

"Sex is a sport, in Dolareido. But intimacy, romance, that stuff? It's so damn rare."

"And you have that with Antoinette."

After a long, heavy sigh, he looked at her and forced himself to make eye contact with her. "Yes, I do. It's a strange relationship, no doubt about that. We've talked about it, and... it's something we're both aware of, and we'll both work on it."

"The sex?"

He choked on a laugh. "The relationship."

"I suppose she's mastered basically every aspect of sex, right?"

"Yeap." No way around admitting that.

"Lot of women in Dolareido really seem to take the lead, sexually speaking."

"I guess? I mean, the guys do too." Julias did, definitely, but he didn't say it. "It's just, people kinda notice it more when women do, cause it's not something that female kine normally do, you know? But, Kindred aren't kine. For vampires, it's a pretty even split on most behaviors, sexual aggression included." Far as he could tell, the Beast did not have gender proclivities. It didn't have a gender. It was a mass of shadow, claws, talons, beaks, fangs, fur, and feathers. How much of the human remained, when one became a vampire? A question for the Ordo, or the Circle, he supposed.

"Yeah, I guess. It was the same thing, in Tijuana. The vamps, girls included, were pretty damn aggressive about what they wanted. The sex was... everywhere, and it was pretty intense, from the sounds."

"But, that's not what binds me and Antoinette, if that's what you were thinking. Yeah, we have sex, and we enjoy it, but there's a lot more to us than that." He didn't want to have this conversation, but maybe it was good to have it. Painful, sure, but Clara was interested in him, and thought his current relationship wasn't a healthy one. Much as it sucked, it was probably a good idea to try and fix her impression.

"Do you joke around with her?" she said.

He shook his head. "Not really, not the way you're thinking, anyway." She was undoubtedly referencing how the two of them had joked around tonight, as seamlessly as two old friends who knew each other well. Hell, he could joke around with Clara more easily than Damien, or even Julias. Something about her was so damn enjoyable and fun.

She raised a brow at that. "You don't?"

"No, but that's not what makes us happy, you know? I mean sure, I enjoy laughing, and joking around, but to me, it's... it's not what I crave."

That confused her, and she tilted her head to the side as she watched him. "Eh?"

He laughed and shrugged. "I'd sound pretty pretentious if I explained. But, uh... ever seen Frasier?"

She laughed, and before he knew it, his laugh grew to match hers. No need to say it, they were both bringing up funny memories from the sitcom. Clara was old enough to have watched the show when it aired, and Jack found modern television mind numbing, stupid, and written specifically with ADD in mind. Naturally, he deferred to older shows.

"Well," he continued, "you know how a lot of the humor was poking fun at those two for their elitist mindsets? Fancy wine, fancy decor, nitpicking details about opera, etcetera?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, those are the kinds of conversations Antoinette and I have. Not about wine or decor, but that is how we approach topics, things like science, music, movies. We obsess and nitpick over specifics and minutiae, and... it's fun for us. We can talk for hours about it, argue, debate, or indulge each other. It's really satisfying, and fulfilling. I... I know it's not what most people think of, when they think of a relationship, but it makes me happy."

"So, you're Niles?"

"Aha, I mean, I guess?" Niles's greatest weakness was women. Jack could relate.

"You know Niles ended up with Daphne, right?"

Oh, right. Well, that example backfired pretty quick, and the look in her eyes said it all. Niles had been with a wretched, elitist woman before he fell for Daphne, and once he'd finally started a relationship with Daphne, he'd found his happiness.

It was painful, holding Clara's gaze, and they both looked down at the same time. Reality wasn't like a sitcom, and he was stupid for bringing it up.

"Jack," she said at last. "I--"

"Hello."

Jack and Clara jumped up, and Jack wasted no time drawing a dagger from within his suit. But, the new figure did not attack them. It just stood there, looking at them, occasionally tilting its head from side to side.

A woman, and a ghost. Like Mary, she had hollow eyes, with a see-through body, and mist trickling out of her legs to mix into the gray fog that surrounded them. Her face was soft and her hair was long, going past her shoulders. Gray. From her clothing, Jack guessed she wasn't some crazy ancient ghost or anything; probably someone from the 90s, considering the t-shirt and jeans. But the jeans and t-shirt were faded, gray things, just like her hazy skin.

Only the strange, green light in her chest stuck out from the oppressively dreary grayness of it all. How the fuck had a glowing green light managed to sneak up on them? The ghost must have been able to turn that off or something.

"Hello," Jack said eventually. "Um, I'm Jack. This is Clara, and Sándor." Might as well be nice to the ghost, and do his best to not make enemies. He put his dagger away, and brushed his thumb against the silver knife hidden underneath his jacket. He doubted silver would work against a ghost, but he could be wrong.

"I'm Sabrina." The ghost hovered closer, and Jack and Clara both took a step back, only for the huge rock wall to greet them. If the ghost noticed their retreat, she didn't care. "Why are you in the Great Below?"

"Great Below?" Clara said. "Is that where we are?"

"Yes, the Great Below." The ghost nodded, and gestured to the fog behind her, and distant, drifting green lights. "You're alive. You shouldn't be here. You could get hurt."

Jack frowned. "Hurt, by who?"

"Us," Sabrina said, and again gestured behind her. No other ghosts were nearby, and the gray mist was thick, but that didn't stop Jack from seeing the hundreds, maybe even thousands of distant, drifting green lights move about. The green glow pierced the fog somehow, almost like a lighthouse, or maybe an angler fish "Why are you here? Are... are you here because of the spiders?"

Clara nodded. "Yeah. They're called azlu. I--" She stopped herself, and leaned over to Jack. "How much should we tell her?" she said, hand up to cover her mouth and his ear.

Jack turned, repeating the gesture. "We're up shit creek without a paddle, and can't afford to piss anyone off. Tell her... most things."

Clara nodded again before looking back to the ghost. "Sabrina, have you seen a giant spider... monster thing, running around?"

The ghost woman shivered and hugged her chest. "Yes! Very scary." Hints of a perfectly normal, human voice were underneath the raspy, harsh ghost voice, the remains of whoever this girl had been, someone named Sabrina. "And it hurts us. We left it alone after that."

"We'll try and kill it if we can," Jack said. "But... but..." He blinked down at the ground, and then at the ghost Sabrina, then Clara, and then fell onto his ass. "Oh shit. Shit shit. Not now. Not now..."

"Jack! What the--"

"It's alright! It's alright, just... it may not be sunrise here, but it is back on the... surface, I guess." It certainly felt like they were underground, in the three dimensional sense, and the alternate dimensions sense. Great Below sounded right. Normally, dawn knocked vampires out within seconds, but Jack tapped into his vitae, and forced it up through his body and into extremities. Keep him moving, keep him talking, just for a few moments. "Clara, you--"

"I'll play guard dog until you're awake, Jack. Don't worry, no one's getting close." She wriggled her fingers, like a cat unfurling their claws experimentally. "Ghosts are made of ephemera. If I have to, I can defend you and Sándor."

"Try... try and play nice, ok? Better to make friends than enemies, you know?"

She laughed as she squatted down beside him. "Jesus. Even after everything that's happened, you're still trying to play diplomat?"

"Call it a habit, by this point." He looked at the Begotten beside him, then to Clara, then to the ghost. "Sorry, suppose this is a strange way to learn I'm a vampire."

He watched the ghost, scanning for any unusual behavior as torpor dragged him down. No hostility, no movement, only a confused expression on her face. Well, hopefully she wouldn't kill him while he slept.

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~~Antoinette~~

The first thing she did once the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, and she awoke to a new night, was inform her sheriff of the situation. The second thing, was ask for an update from her student. Natasha confirmed Jack was not answering his phone. Apparently, neither was Clara, according to her lovers Matthew and Arturo.

Clara, missing. Jack, missing. A hint of worry ran through Antoinette's spine. Considering the conversation she had with Jack not long ago, about the nature of her relationship, the idea that her love and that woman were both together somewhere was a painful notion. But the fear passed quickly. Jack was an honest soul, and even if he struggled with some internal conflict, it would not drive him to commit a dishonest or treacherous act. He was simply incapable of crossing that line.

Her phone rang, the sound announcing it was her sheriff. She answered.

"Jack?"

"Not at his mansion. Auspex found a few hints that Clara was here, along with Sándor."

Jack, with the werewolf and the monster. It was the boy's job to work with the Begotten and the Uratha, but such things were done through Avery and Azamel, not Clara and Sándor.

"Can you follow their trail?"

"No."

Groaning, she got up from her chair and looked down at her city from her tower. A message came through on her phone. She checked it, and sighed. "Michael has not seen him either. He does not need to report every day to the Invictus leader, but nevertheless."

"Talked to Damien yet?"

Despite her best attempts, she scowled. "I suppose if it must be done, it must be done. How do you feel about the man, now that you have been training him?" Yet another favor she did not entirely agree with. But, in the future, if she demanded a favor of Damien Burksen, he would hardly be in a position to say no. Silver lining.

"He's a lot more mentally stable than he has any right to be, considering what happened to him and Lucas. I see a lot of Jack in him. The calm, calculating part of Jack. The boy has probably helped Damien overcome a lot of his past."

"Yes, I imagine Jack has. He cannot help himself."

"And the nightmare monster seems to have sparked something else in Damien."

Antoinette chuckled. Yes, Fiona's unending optimism and joviality would likely melt any heart, and Antoinette knew Damien's heart well, from when he had cut off one of her arms, and legs. There was much to be melted.

"If Sándor and Clara are with him, then I am sure Jack is alive. But he is indisposed, and that is startling." The hunters were dead, after all. What could have captured or harmed Jack, the monster, and the werewolf? There were many possibilities, but they were all unlikely. And without an idea as to where the boy could be, what she needed to find him, was a hound. "Return to your previous task, Daniel. I will speak with Lucas's childe."

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~~Damien~~

Within several minutes of waking, Maria and Damien got to work. The joys of being Kindred, waking and sleeping came instantly, and this night, he'd stayed at Maria's. She'd wanted to get started early, and he didn't mind. Fiona had said she was busy with Athalia anyway.

"Good, good," Maria said. "You are learning to relax your hands."

He nodded, and let his fingers drift along the keys, moving rapidly but never flexing his wrists or tightening his hands. It was important to allow the hands to move with the keys, to dance along them, or they'd trip and stumble.

Months of constant practice had allowed him to move onto some fairly interesting classical pieces, and he impressed himself with both his ability to learn them, but also his joy in playing such music. Classical music held a depth in both technical and emotional dimensions he had never considered in the past, but now, it was water he was happy to swim. This piece, Petite Suite by Claude Debussy, was charming and soothing, with a bounce in its step. A simple song, compared to the stuff Maria played, but a good stepping stone for Damien.

It was also played by two people. The ghost lady sat beside him in one of her typical, old fashioned white dresses, and she watched his fingers while playing on her half of the piano. Deep under the Grand Cathedral of Dolareido, the music filled her large den, as her deformed-but-pleasant ghoul drifted about, cleaning, lighting candles, and humming expertly to the melody.

Damien smiled at her. The sight of her broken skin, and the hints of mist that dripped from her, didn't bother him anymore. And his presence didn't seem to bother her anymore, either. It was obvious that the introduction of him into her personal life as a student and bishop of Longinus had interfered with her routines; he spent a lot of time in her underground den. But after a time, she'd adapted, as had he.

He didn't try and teach her about the things that interested him; not that he had many, considering how limited his life had been. But the greater reason, was he knew better. Maria was ancient, and set in her ways. Their relationship worked far better if he simply let her teach him what she was willing to teach, and maybe occasionally ask her to teach him a bit more, but never the other way around. Maybe some day in the future, he'd have something to teach her, but for now, their relationship was of teacher and student. And, because they were the only two in their covenant in Dolareido, leader and follower.

A phone ring interrupted their song.

"Go, answer it," she said.

He nodded, fetched the phone, and froze. "Uh... it's, the Prince." Everyone knew the Prince's number, the one she used when making an official call. The fact this was coming to him, and not to Maria, was very, very weird.

Maria turned on the piano bench, and raised a brow as she watched him. "You best answer it then."

He gulped, and did. "Hello, my Prince."

"Damien. Have you heard from Jack?"

Damien? She called him Damien?

"Jack? No, I haven't. Last I knew, he was going to talk with Sándor, about the situation with Azamel. That was yesterday."

"I see. Well, the boy is missing, as is Clara, and likely Sándor."

He was very tempted to say 'Jack's missing, again?' in an annoyed drawl. He did not.

"Clara as well?"

"Yes. You are to make contact with Avery, and request her assistance."

He froze. "The Uratha?"

"Yes. Normally, Jack would go, as you can imagine. But tonight, it would appear I am requesting that you go in his stead." From the tone of her voice, the request was very much an order. "Natasha is otherwise preoccupied."

"I see." He put his hand over the receiver. "Jack's missing. The Prince wants me to look for him, and to ask Avery to help." The ghost lady frowned at his explanation, but after half a second's consideration, nodded. "I will leave at once."

"No need. Jack informs me the Uratha have finally, thank the stars, acquired smartphones. I have her number, for emergency purposes only mind you, such as now." She gave him the number.

He was going to smack Jack once he found him. The city had seen enough damn excitement, since the last time Jack had randomly disappeared.

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~~Eric~~

Multiple layers of blackout curtains and closed windows prevented any light from getting into his apartment, including the red of a setting sun, but he could still sense dusk approaching. Despite that, the jolt of Jessy's body, sitting up with a startle, had Eric sitting up with a jolt as well.

"Ah, fuck, sorry," she said. "Still happens sometimes."

Shrugging, he leaned in toward her and set a kiss on her bare shoulder. "You never wake up gently anymore?"

"Nah. Kindred wake up like someone nearby has shot a gun. Sometimes we handle the jolt well, sometimes we don't, but it's never slow or gentle." Nodding with her explanation, she turned to face him, grinned, and threw herself at him. "Gimme!"

He let her flatten him to his big, hilariously nice bed, and Kat let out a meow in greeting. Apparently Kat's meow was more inviting than Eric, because Jessy reached out, scooped up the cat, and cuddled her over her shoulder. The purring was audible.

"Your cat is totally brain damaged."

"Yeap."

"I love her."

"Everyone does."

"Ha, she's such a cuddle slut." Jessy laughed and rolled onto her back. She held Kat up and out at arm's length, smiled up at the adorable dumbass, and lowered the cat back down onto her bare chest. Kat didn't care about boobs. Kat just wanted cuddles.

Eric rolled over to her, pressed his chest into her right shoulder, and pet Kat the cat, gently scratching under her chin. With Jessy's right arm holding the cat, they both had free access to pet the hell out of the pampered queen. She purred like a lawn mower.

"I feel bad, about Azamel," he said.

"What? Why?"

"She wanted my help, remember? Before things went crazy, she was hoping to hire me. Said I couldn't trust the vamps--"

"Which you can't."

"Which, I can't. Said I could trust her, sorta, because I was an odd one out, not a part of the werewolf pack, and not a vampire."

"All very true things." Jessy flashed him a hint of a grin before she buried her head into Kat's neck, hiding half her face in the dumb cat's fur.

"And now she's fucked, dying."

"Yeah well, from what Jack told us, it was her past catching up with her. She's a nightmare monster, you know? Literally survives on scaring people."

He shrugged. "Not like she asked to be that."

"No, but, it's still reality. I can't blame a predator for being a predator, but that doesn't mean me, or anyone else, is just going to lie down and let them eat me. And they shouldn't feel bad if a predator gets fucked by the prey, either. Circle of life."

That was an oddly wise view of it, and he raised a brow as he watched her snuggle and spoil his already spoiled and slightly fat cat. "And vampire hunters?"

"Same thing. There are vampires, so there are going to be vampire hunters. It sucks, but no way should someone feel guilty for not helping me deal with that problem. It's my problem." After hugging Kat with both her arms for a few moments, she lifted the cat again up over her head, and set her on the head corner of the bed, before turning to look at Eric. "So we try to not kill anyone, to minimize that problem. Azamel's done the same. Considering how old she is, she's done a good job. Nothing to feel guilty about."