My Little Ventrue Pt. 09 Ch. 04

"Things of that nature, yes. Bull, horse, rabbit, raven, frog."

Triss tried to not laugh, but couldn't help it. "Holy shit. Any mention of a cauldron?"

The two vampires shared a chuckle. Ok yeah, the shit Elen had managed to perform, the crazy rituals and witchcraft she did, it was super impressive. But the book was apparently something ripped straight out of a fairytale, with witches sitting around a cauldron, stirring in frog legs and newt eyes.

Maybe that's what Elen did, in the old days? Maybe she had a bunch of witches, hiding out in a swamp? A village nearby, with people the witches got to royally fuck over, abduct their children or something, and do their crazy flesh magic on? Silly as the fairytale shit sounded, the original fairytales were fucking nasty stories, full of nasty deaths, and a witch that could use flesh like a painter used paints, fit right in there.

"No cauldron, so far."

"Well, figure out what she needs to get an actual living, breathing body working. We can probably get her anything she needs, or close. But we ain't Frankenstein. I don't have a basement full of crazy technology."

"I doubt anything in here will require more than the flesh and blood of animals," Black Blood said as he slowly turned to another page. Animals. That included kine, no doubt.

"This must be an interesting read for you, you old fucker," Triss said. "You, some weird ass spirit obsessed with the flesh of the dead, corpses, death, and all that shit, and now you're reading a book that's completely about life."

Elen smiled at her. Couldn't tell if it was BB's smile, or Elen's, but again, no response. He, or she, turned the page, and kept on reading.

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~~Natasha~~

Eight weeks after the incident.

"Are we sure this is... s-safe?"

Jack shrugged as he reached for the door to Avery's apartment building. "Probably not."

"B-But we're gonna go in anyway?"

Jack nodded, wearing a half smile, and gestured to the air. Natasha almost squeaked as fluttering noises fell on them, but she recovered quickly. It was a normal sight at this point, to see Jack with two crows on his shoulders. Mulder and Scully, his pets, and according to him, his friends. They had helped him in some dire situations. They'd even helped him during the attack on the hunters. At this point, they weren't just pets, and she had to remember that. They were his allies and informants.

Other Ventrue and Gangrels had done similar things, and all Kindred knew to be wary when crows, or rats, or coyotes were nearby. It just wasn't normally done in Dolareido, not in a city that never slept, and was steeped in technology. Cameras were everywhere, from store corners to patrolling drones. Using crows or rats was seen as old school, and ineffective, unless you were a very powerful Kindred and capable of using those elements easily. Viktor did that. Julias did that. Now, Jack did that.

"Jessy's nearby with a few Kindred and thralls for back up. And you know how much shit they'd be in if they attacked me when I'm acting as ambassador."

Not really an ambassador. Peace keeper and negotiator. But she didn't correct him.

"I know. B-But, I hear about how angry Avery was, for what you did."

Jack winced. "Well hopefully they've calmed down. I know they've healed up."

"We have healed," Brianna said, glaring at them as they came through the doorway. "I don't know how calm we are."

Jack smiled at her, and nodded, almost like a bow. "Brianna. See Derick or Santos lately?"

She grimaced, and the expression slowly morphed into a frown. "No."

"Well hopefully I can change that, get everyone cooperating again."

"Pfft, good luck. And why's she here?"

"She's here as my back up, in case someone tries to attack me." He reached up and stroked the head feathers of one of the crows. "She'll peck your eyes out, you know."

Tash giggled, but quickly shut up, doing her best to suppress her smile. That wasn't the sort of quit witted joke Jack would make. That was the kinda comment Julias would have made. It still hurt, knowing Julias was dead, but it did make her feel good, seeing him in his childe.

"Don't be a jackass," Brianna said, also trying to suppress a smile. "I meant Natasha."

"Natasha's here for the same reason, but also, the Prince has business with Avery, for what Matthew and Arturo did to Tash."

"Then she could have come herself."

Jack shook his head. "You know that isn't how this works."

Sighing, Brianna gestured to the stairs. "Yeah, cause your elders are a bunch of pussy bitches. Only one of you with any balls is Garry."

"Maybe. I'm not here to debate that."

That was smart of Jack, to not defend Antoinette. The werewolves respected Avery for being the first into the fray, dumb as it was for the general to run in first, but Jack didn't need to make more enemies here. He was peace keeping, not antagonizing, even if it meant someone insulting his girlfriend. How had the boy matured so much? Antoinette said he was an old soul, but usually that was just how adults insulted someone without actually insulting them. Old soul was synonymous with bitter asshole.

Jack definitely had a cynical side to him people his age usually didn't have, but there was more to it than that. A little Julias in him, to soften how scathing his personality could be, maybe.

Tash and Jack walked up the stairs of the crummy old building, and Tash looked around with each step. Such a beat-up old building. But the werewolves were comfortable here; Art and Matt had told her repeatedly. They weren't comfortable in the city. Even Clara and Carter, who'd taken up the Invictus offer on living in expensive apartments until the incident, had told Matt and Art that they didn't like it. None of them were comfortable in the middle of the city, except Eric.

Maybe that was why Eric could handle himself when transformed, in a circumstance the others thought too dangerous? City werewolf?

Jack knocked on Avery's door.

"Get in here already," a voice called from the other side.

Jack sighed, and looked at Tash; so did the crows. Tash nodded, resolute. She could do this.

They went in, Brianna behind them, and the werewolf closed the door once they were in the apartment.

"Hello," Jack said, nodding to the group as Brianna passed them to join her pack.

"Yeah, hello," Avery said between clenched teeth, leaning back against the furthest wall, worn couch between them. "Why the birds?"

Clara stood beside her, arms folded, and she managed to look at Jack for a half second before looking elsewhere. Tash did the same thing, when her eyes met Matt and Art's.

"Scully and Mulder are my friends, and they notice things I don't sometimes." Jack stepped further into the room, and used a subtle little finger gesture to invite Tash to follow him. Being the center of attention of twelve werewolves was not something she wanted to do, but this was important. And if she didn't deliver the order, Antoinette would do it herself, and it would not surprise Tash if that ended up with someone dying.

"Well," Avery said, "spit it out. How much are we fucked, for trying to save everyone's asses?"

"You're not fucked, Avery. This isn't Tijuana. The Kindred here aren't your enemy. And whatever you think Maria's up to, you're wrong about it, for a bunch of reasons. Go near her again and it won't go well for you. But," he put up his hands before any of them could say anything, "I'm not here to threaten you guys. I'm here because Antoinette isn't kicking you out."

Avery snorted. If they were outside, she'd likely have spit on the floor.

"Why? I'm sure Maria and Michael want us gone."

"Much as my boss would like otherwise, the Invictus don't own the city. Antoinette does. You guys did good work, dealing with that first azlu, and she knows it. She also recognizes that there's something up in Dolareido, something going on. It's not Maria, despite what you may think, but there is something going on."

Natasha nodded. "I've been t-tasked with... finding out what I can. I'm sure it's not Maria."

"How are you sure?" Clara said.

"Because I've t-talked to her. I... I know her, well enough to know she wouldn't do this." Before anyone else could argue, she put up a hand. "B-But, something is going on, and I'm going to find out what. And to... to do that, the P-Prince has ordered that Matthew and Arturo help."

Every wolf in the room looked at the two men. They both squirmed, looked at each other, at Jack, avoided looking at Tash, and looked to Avery.

"And if I say no?" Avery asked.

Jack held out a hand and started counting on his fingers. "Without the permission of the Prince, you attacked one of the Primogen. You're not too stupid to realize that Garry is now pushing on the Invictus because of the damage you caused giving him an opening."

"That wasn't--"

"But worse than that, Matthew and Arturo staked one of the Prince's students, and fellow dragon." Wow, he really did sound like Viktor when he got bossy. "So, the two responsible, will be doing the dragons a favor. Reparations. It'll probably be dangerous, but too bad. Until Natasha says otherwise, Matthew and Arturo will be taking her in and out of the Hisil as she wishes, and front lining any efforts she makes where bodies are needed. Barring apocalyptic circumstances, they'll be hers to use as she sees fit for the foreseeable future, until this hidden presence issue is resolved."

The two boys blinked at Jack, before finally looking at Tash. She did her best professional face, nodding slightly, and hopefully conveying that she wouldn't abuse this. She could, if she wanted. The dragons would love to get their hands on a willing Uratha to do experiments on, or maybe monitor how they managed to jump between worlds, so they could someday emulate it. If they agreed, she could force them to do stuff like that. But she wouldn't. They had to know that already. They trusted her. Didn't they?

Avery shook her head. "Fuck that. You think I'd trust the Ordo for a second? This city ain't that far off from Tijuana, Jack. I'm not trusting any vamp with the lives of my--"

"I'll do it," Matt and Art said, at the same time.

Natasha tried to suppress her smile. She failed.

Avery didn't suppress her scowl, though. She stepped between the boys and Jack, and jabbed a finger into their chests. "I don't care how guilty you two feel about this. You know what happens when the Gauntlet fails? We didn't do anything wrong. We followed the trail, followed the evidence, and I made a call."

"I get that, boss," Art said. "And we all went in on your side. But you found a new tear since Maria's been sleeping in a box for the past near two months."

Natasha raised her eyes to the woman and glared at the back of her head. She found something, new evidence, to suggest Maria wasn't the problem, and she hadn't told them? A glance Jack's way showed he was thinking the same thing. What a bitch.

"That doesn't prove anything. And even if it does, I'm not losing two more of my pack to vampires. Not again."

Again. Jack and Tash looked at each other in the corners of their eyes. One minute, it was super easy to hate Avery for being an impulsive bitch. The next, it was easy to empathize with her. So many things had gone wrong for her in the past because of vampires. Getting her to trust them would take forever.

Matt shook his head. "I trust Natasha, Avery. And not just because we're... were dating. I trust her, completely."

Art nodded. "We should do this."

"I don't want you to do this." Avery folded her arms across her chest, and tapped her foot on the floor. "I told you what happened after Simon. And you fucking know what happened in Tijuana, you were there. You can't just... blindly trust a vampire cause you fucked her."

The boys looked at each other, before they looked down at Avery, frowned, and stepped around her. Natasha's dead heart would have skipped a beat if she was Blushing Life. Matthew took her right, Arturo took her left, and they both looked down at her with smiles. Then they looked back to their boss, frowning.

"We're trusting her," Art said, "because she's smart as fuck, smarter than me, and smarter than you. We shouldn't have done what we did to her."

Avery turned and growled. "I gave her a chance to prove Maria's innocence."

"We didn't even tell her when we were going in!" Growling right back, Art shook his head. "We ran in, guns blazing, when we should have worked with her to make sure what we were doing was the right thing!"

Oh god, it was happening. They were defending her against their boss, their pack's leader. They were--wait. Matt looked down at Jack while Art talked, and the two traded quick smiles. They'd... talked to each other, at some point. When? Why?

Avery threw her hands up. "We needed to surprise her! If Maria knew we were coming, she could have covered up everything, hid her tracks!"

Matt shook his head this time. "It doesn't matter. If this is what the Prince wants, we should do it. I trust Tash to do right by us, by all of us."

Tash beamed up at the two men, but when Avery looked straight at her, she shrunk in place. The woman walked up to her, and short as Avery was, she was a good deal taller than Natasha, and she glowered down at her like she wanted to kill her. She probably did. But Jack was right beside her, and the woman glanced at him between her murderous glares.

"If you hurt my boys," Avery said, venom in her voice palpable, "I'll kill you. Get me?"

Her boys? Natasha frowned at her, but bit her tongue. She wanted to say something argumentative, like they were Tash's boys, not Avery's. But the room was already a pressure cooker.

"I w-won't hurt them. But they will be taking me into the Hisil when I n-need to go." She stood her ground as best she could against the pack leader, but there was no denying Avery was a powerful individual. Strong physically, but really strong in charisma, personality, confidence, and all the things that made a good leader. And easy as it was to think Avery was stupid, she wasn't. No wonder it was hard for Matt and Art to go against her. A look around showed the pack all listened to Avery, and the more the woman spoke, the more they looked at Natasha like she was the enemy.

Jack shook his head. "She's the nicest vampire in the whole damn city, Avery. Let it go." He stepped past her, and looked to the other werewolves. "Again, understand that you crossed a line when you attacked Maria, and it's only because of specific circumstances that the Prince doesn't intervene. Attacking Natasha, on the other hand, was inexcusable. Matthew and Arturo will be repaying that debt.

"That's not the only reason I'm here though. Garry's on the warpath, and you wolves are partly to blame for that. Did he ask you to attack Maria?" He looked back over his shoulder at Avery, who stood between him and Natasha.

Avery sighed, shook her head, and rejoined Clara at the back wall. "I'm not squealing on Garry, Jack. Maybe he asked, maybe he didn't."

"Did he help you attack Maria? Give you information?"

Avery raised a brow. "Didn't you hear me? I'm not saying shit about Garry. Only friend I have in the whole damn city."

Jack frowned. Judging by the muscles Tash could see in his neck, he almost growled.

"I'm trying to be your friend."

"You almost killed me. You almost killed Clara."

"That wasn't me! That was..." Jack clenched his jaw until Tash heard his teeth grind. "I'm sorry about what happened. I'm doing everything I can to get rid of this curse. I don't want it. And I..." Jack looked at Clara. She met his gaze, and didn't look away. But, she looked... crestfallen, and she rubbed one of her arms as the two looked at each other.

Avery snorted. "Never heard of a vampire being sorry."

"Come on, guys. This is me. Remember when that first azlu attacked? I could have left you to die to the second one. I jumped back in." Jack turned around and looked at the werewolves standing in the kitchen. "Remember when you guys tried to kill Fiona, thinking she was an azlu? I smoothed that out with Azamel."

"How about," Clara said, "when you asked me to help you deal with the hunters, and I did?" Jack froze, and stared at her. Everyone stared at her. Clara sighed and shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean... I just meant that we've been through hell together, but you're damn quick to say we're the problem."

Sighing, Jack took a step back, toward Natasha. "That's not what I'm trying to... Look, you guys aren't a problem, ok? But this is a vampire city, and you're guests. Work with me, alright?" He stood up straight and clenched his jaw again. "I came here for two reasons. Did the first," he gestured to Art and Matt, "and the second, is simple. Stay out of the fight, okay? The Invictus and the Carthians have to work this out, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. Keep your heads low, don't get involved, and we have no problem."

Avery snarled, but nodded. "Fine. We'll stay out of the way, if you keep the fight out of our path."

"Path?"

"We're not done this hunt. Like the boys said, we found a new tear, and there's a chance Maria didn't create this one. Don't get in my way, and we won't have any problems. Got it?"

Even now, despite obviously being in the weaker negotiating position, Avery spoke like she was in control. Woman was so damn stubborn. But, the more Tash saw of her, the more it was becoming apparent how Avery worked. She was stubborn, because she had to be.

Jack managed a half frown, half smile. "Deal."

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She smiled up at Matt and Art. The three of them stood on a roof top, one of the massive apartment buildings in the entertainment district. Even up here, the night sky was washed out from all the lights. No stars. She didn't mind. She was happy.

"Blows my mind sometimes," Art said, looking up. "Eric lives here, has lived here his whole life, and to him, not being able to see the stars is normal."

Matt nodded. "He's a new breed." The two of them were leaned against the door they exited to get up here, and Tash stood in front of them, smiling.

"You two stood up t-to Avery."

Art sighed, nodding, and scratched the back of his neck. "It wasn't really about standing up to her."

Matt nodded again. "It was more about, that... that we..."

"We were morons. We shouldn't have jumped the gun like that. We shouldn't have stopped you from coming. We shouldn't have--"

"We shouldn't have done this without talking to you. We knew you thought Maria was innocent, and you might get in the way, and--"

"We didn't want you to get hurt. But we shouldn't have made that decision for you, and we shouldn't have--

"We shouldn't have thought that we couldn't stay in the relationship, and do what Avery wanted us to do. We should have talked to you, explained things, and--"

"We shouldn't have given up on us, and betray you like that. Betrayed us, like that."

Us. She folded her arms across her chest, and did her best to look like she was an angry teacher, tapping her foot on the rooftop. It took a mountain of willpower to keep from smiling. "And you shouldn't have st-staked me. That hurt."

"We know!" They both said, throwing up their hands.

"That was horrible," Art said, "and it's my mistake. Matt argued, but I convinced him after the fact, and--"

"I let it happen, and then we just set you on the bed and left, and we thought for sure that--"

"The relationship was over, cause we knew we crossed a line. We shouldn't have. We didn't think. We're--"

"Morons. Absolute morons. We didn't want you to get hurt, and--"

She put up a hand, and sighed as she smiled. She couldn't help it anymore. "You know I'm not going to b-be... lenient, right? You agreed t-to do this, which means when I tell you to do something -- about my goals -- that you have to do them? If I want to go into the Hisil, you have t-to take me." The boys winced, but they nodded. "And you have to trust that I know what I'm doing, w-when we're there. You're not allowed to stop me."