My Little Ventrue Pt. 09 Ch. 07

The sound of her begging hurt. Fucking Christ it hurt. God he hated this. Julias would have hated this, too.

"Tilly," he said, staring into her eyes. His two crows cawed, like an echoing choir. "Tell me, what was Garry's plan tonight?"

"He... wanted to take the building, or fight you, or maybe both. The other team was supposed to make sure no one interrupted us here."

"And your rules of engagement?"

"N... no killing."

Sighing, he let go of the girl's mind, stood up, and paced the floor they'd cleared of boxes and rat corpses.

"Damn," Ryan said, "you really are good at that."

Jack managed a small smile for the man, before setting his chin in his fingers as he thought. To Dominate another vampire to the point he could ask them important information like that, should have been difficult. But Tilly was only a neonate, plus the curse made it easy, and honestly, Jack knew he could probably Dominate her without the curse. He was really, really good at it.

Tilly stared at him, half terrified, half angry, now that he'd violated her mind like that. Of course she was angry. He'd be angry too if someone took a trip into his mind against his will, the only sanctum anyone truly had. It made him sick, but holy fuck, he was really good at it.

He avoided looking at her as he paced. How to fix this, how to fix this?

Sighing, he looked at Ryan, and Ryan met his eyes. Yeah, this was also going to suck, but he had to do it.

The man didn't even see it coming. Jack grabbed his mind, and crushed his Beast under his heel.

"Ryan. Go help the others at Xnomina. Forget that you captured Tilly."

Ryan nodded, and left.

"Holy shit!" Jessy backhanded him across the shoulder, earning a few annoyed squawks from Mulder. "Dude, what the fuck?"

"Jessy, do me a favor and go upstairs. If Hella or any of them show up, tell them to go wait on the roof."

She eyed him, half frowning half squinting. But after a few seconds, she sighed, nodded, and left.

Leaving him alone, with Tilly.

"If... if you hurt me, Mason will--"

Jack squatted down in front of her again, and she froze up. Scully clicked at her a few times, and Jack smiled at his friend before scratching the back of her head. All vampires knew Animalism, but it was the Gangrels and Ventrue who were naturals at it. A young Daeva like Tilly probably didn't have a clue how to communicate with animals, and seeing the two undead crows on his shoulders obviously scared her.

"Tilly. You know what I did to the werewolves when they stepped out of line. Mason was there. I beat them, broke them, tore off limbs, and--" He stopped as the painful memory cut through his guts. Playing the bad cop was surprisingly hard, sometimes.

"That... that wasn't you, that was the curse. Jack the Ripper."

Sighing, he nodded. "You're right."

"I am?"

"You are, mostly. This curse makes me damn powerful, Tilly, but the Ripper is a whole different beast."

"And--"

"And you're right, I didn't beat up Avery and her wolves. The Ripper did." He leaned in closer, and she winced and pulled her head back. "That doesn't mean I couldn't."

She gulped.

"But I wouldn't. I wouldn't because, apparently, I'm the only person in this whole damn city who thinks we don't have to settle everything with violence."

"Um, is that a joke? You're no pacifist!"

"Never said I was a pacifist. Hell, I'm completely against pacifism. You think something's worth having, you better be willing to fight for it." Groaning, he sat down on the floor, a few crates against his back, and the area cleared of rat corpses. "And what I think is worth having, is what my love thinks is worth having."

"The Prince?"

"Mhmm. She wants everyone to get along. She genuinely thinks we could all cooperate, stop fighting, and embrace the future together. And you know what? I think it's doable."

Tilly eyed him, like he was a tiger behaving far too much like a friendly house cat, liable to snap and kill her the moment she let her guard down. Typical Kindred.

"Uh huh." She didn't believe him.

"Problem is, most of the Kindred are convinced it's not possible, and a few of them are such monumental assholes, they're willing to cause strife so they can take advantage."

"Garry isn't--"

"I didn't say Garry. If anything, Garry's holding back, and trying to figure something out that doesn't involve killing everyone. Oh, he wants to kill Michael, and destroy the Invictus, but he doesn't want to do it over the ashes of dozens of Kindred who don't deserve it."

She snorted and looked the other way. "You expect me to believe you like what Garry's doing?"

"I think Garry's not half the asshole the Invictus think he is, but he's doing what he thinks he needs to do. With Viktor gone and Lucas gone, he's taking full advantage, cause he's genuinely worried for you guys. Getting Terra Den under his thumb, nudging Avery toward Maria, he did that shit because he's a good guy trying to help his people." He shrugged. "Sure, he's a dumbass, and is dipping his toes into nasty shit, walking down hypocrisy lane, but his heart's in the right place."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this."

"That hard to believe someone out there actually thinks we can all get along?"

"Yeah, it is. And why are you telling me?

"Because something just happened that's going to start this fire, and if I don't break a few rules, a lot more people are going to die." He held up a hand, and Scully jumped onto his finger. He pet her head with the other, and she nestled into the shape of his palm and fingers, taking shelter, as he looked to Tilly. Yeap, this was a dangerous game, but if he didn't do something, shit would get a lot worse than tonight. "You heard what I said about Amanda. Amanda Pol."

Tilly froze, and gulped again. If she'd been Blushing Life, she'd have gone as pale as a vampire.

"Pol? Uh, black chick, kinda short and tiny? Long black hair?"

"That's the one. A good friend of mine, actually. She helped me with personal shit on a few occasions." Like helping him spy on his mom and sis before everything went to Hell. Slowly, he slid his fingers down the back of Scully's head, before scratching some of her feathers, his eyes locked on Tilly. "So understand how much faith I'm putting in my lover's hopes for this city, when I tell you I'm going to let you go."

"Let me go? But... but if we killed Amanda..."

"Then you've officially gone too far. Invictus will claim you crossed a line, and they'll engage in war. The Prince will be put in a difficult position, because she wants to stay hands off, but she can't just let the covenants go to war, not in the streets."

"We never wanted the Prince to--"

"You were naive to think you could fight the Invictus, and she wouldn't get involved eventually, Tilly. Christ, I've talked to her a thousand times about this. If you idiots only knew by how thin a thread you were hanging. You know in other cities, the Prince would throw up a bloodhunt against vamps for shit like this?"

Tilly glared at him and squirmed in place. "There aren't any dragon Princes in other cities."

"Probably not, true." Far as he knew, other cities were almost always run by the First or Second Estate, and occasionally by Carthians; anarchist cities. For a city to be run by a witch or a dragon was almost unheard of. And it kind of made sense. The Invictus or Lancea et Sanctum would rule with the peace of the gun, and kill anyone who stepped out of line immediately. The Carthians would try ruling without a structure, and it'd fail. But dragons and witches? Dolareido was a weird city.

"So you're... really going to let me go?"

"Yeap."

"Because of Avery and Mason."

"Nope."

"Then why? Don't give me this peace shit."

"Because I owe Garry." He gave Scully a kiss on the beak. "But more so, because I want him to realize someone in this city is actually not an asshole. Because I'm trying to create peace, whether you believe me or not, and if I have to be the first one out of the trenches singing Christmas carols, so be it."

"Trenches?"

"World War I, the Christmas Truce... you know?"

She raised a brow. He buried his in a palm. Carthians.

"Um, then... thanks, I guess."

"And Tilly."

"Y-Yes?"

He reached out, and smashed into her mind once again. "You can't tell anyone about this, except Garry."

Slowly, she nodded, like a zombie. The suggestion, buried in her subconscious, would overpower her consciousness. She wouldn't be able to tell anyone except Garry, and would have trouble even thinking about why she couldn't. Eventually she'd piece together why, but the suggestion would remain nonetheless. Jack couldn't let this secret get out and backfire on him.

It was a game, wordless, no one allowed to outright say what they were doing. a trading of intent with Garry and only Garry. Christ, he fucking despised every moment of this. The Danse Macabre could go to Hell.

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

"I can't say I'm too happy with how the situation resolved," Michael said.

Jack held the man's gaze. It was the next night, and Jack had had the opportunity to heal and put on some clothes that weren't ripped to shreds. On his shoulders sat Mulder and Scully, and they both looked around the office room curiously. This was the first time they'd ever been allowed in the building, but considering they weren't actually crows anymore, it'd be fine. And if it wasn't fine, well, fuck whoever told him otherwise.

"The Tanvar building remains under our control."

Michael, sitting at the table while Jack stood at the tail of it, shook his head. "A lot of merchandise was damaged."

"Not all that much. And considering we stopped Garry's attempt to take the building, it was well worth the damage."

Michael raised a brow. It wasn't smart, talking back to Michael, but Jack was out of patience with the man. Every time they met eyes, Jack held them, despite knowing damn well doing so would only make his boss angrier. Hell, he might eventually realize Jack suspected him of killing Amanda. Calm down, and tell your Ventrue half to back off.

Jack looked down.

"Ideally," Michael said, placated, "you would have killed the man."

"Garry was very powerful. He healed rapidly, and his transformations were difficult to predict. It felt like I was fighting Sándor for a while there. Only reason I survived is Jessy."

"I'd heard you had resoundingly defeated the gargoyle when you fought in his dream."

"That was the Ripper, sir." And defeat was a strong word.

Michael glared at him. "So you didn't unleash it upon Garry."

"For the most part, no."

"Even though your life was in danger."

Yeah, danger you were hoping would either lead to Ripper killing Garry, or Garry killing Jack.

Mulder and Scully cawed, and Jack clicked his tongue at each of them. Shhh.

"I understand you want me to use the curse as a tool, Mister McDonald, but that's playing with fire. I'll use it as a last resort and nothing else."

The absolute statement was enough to earn Michael's glare, but eventually the man stood up, walked over the window, and stared down at the crowd below. People still stood around and looked at the damaged building, gathering outside the police tape that circled it.

"You're trying my patience, Mister Terry."

Not trying it hard enough if he was still willing to use titles.

"Sir, I understand what you're asking for, and I understand why, but this is a personal matter. I cannot just... use the curse like a weapon." He'd already told his boss about all the shit he had to go through to keep it under control. He carefully avoided mentioning that the Ripper was an actual voice in his head, but he made damn sure Michael knew Jack went through Hell to keep it contained. Michael had even given him time off, and a lot of it, to get it under control, but now he wanted Jack to use it like it was a Discipline he could summon with vitae.

"And now that Miss Pol is dead?"

Now that Miss Pol is dead, I want to rip your fucking head off, take over the Invictus, and use that position to get some peace with Garry.

But, no. Much as that idea sounded appealing, Jack knew he couldn't defeat Michael, not unless he went full psycho Ripper on his ass. One of these days, he wouldn't be able to wrestle control of his body back from the Ripper, and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take. Besides, even if he did unleash the Ripper, there was a chance Michael would still win. He had to do this the vampire way, the Danse Macabre way, by being a sneaky, scheming dick.

"We can force the issue a different way," Jack said. "If we -- you -- call out Mister Tones for this transgression in a Primogen meeting, perhaps he'll acknowledge he's overstepped?"

"Perhaps. But I expect he'll only admit to the harassment of Xnomina. A foolhardy Kindred not prepared and getting trapped in the crossfire? He won't take credit for that."

Of course he won't. He knows it wouldn't happen. No, the only reason Amanda was dead was cause Michael killed her.

"What's the next step then, sir?"

"Our recon teams need a couple weeks to secure details, but I expect us to make a decisive strike against Terra Den. In the mean time, keep up defensive measures near the Tanvar building."

That made sense. If Terra Den was giving the Carthians a new suite of tools to fight with, removing that advantage would make a prolonged battle harder for the anarchists. He almost expected Michael to say they were going to launch an attack on the Carthian half of South Side, and the buildings they knew many Carthians considered home. But that would likely only catch young Kindred sleeping; older Kindred slept in hideouts.

But it would come to that eventually. Now that Amanda was supposedly dead, the Invictus had no reason to hold back. In a month, Jack knew Kindred would be killing each other every chance they got.

Not if he could help it.

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

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

~~Eric~~

The night Jessy had come back from her tussle with the Carthians, she'd been cut up and exhausted, with some literal holes in her body. He gave her some of his blood, but apparently she'd already fed; needed a lot of blood to heal from her wounds, she said. She also went to sleep under his bed. These days, she'd sleep in his bed, trusting him -- and his extra layers of blackout curtains -- to keep her protected from the sun. But from what she'd told him, the Carthians couldn't be trusted to 'play fair' anymore.

Thralls and ghouls were outside on nearby rooftops during the day, watching the building in case other thralls and ghouls decided to attack. That'd be crazy. Vampire servants attacking during the day? He had trouble imagining it.

So, while Jessy slept under his bed like a corpse, he gave Avery a call.

"Eric? The fuck you want?"

He rolled his eyes. "God, you're a bitch."

"Yeah so I've heard. What do you want?"

"Just want to know what's going on."

"You're dating a big time vamp, ask her."

He raised a brow, and looked out the living room window into the sunlight. "It's--"

"I meant ask her after dusk, asshole. Or better yet, why didn't you ask her last night?"

"She doesn't like telling me everything." She told him far more than she probably should, normally. "Probably something to do with being a Right Hand."

Avery snorted. Just a phone call, no vid, but he could clearly imagine her annoyed expression. "Not sure what you want me to tell you."

"A little heads up? If the Carthians and Invictus--"

"We're staying out of this, Eric."

"Gonna be kind of hard. Isn't Mason dating a Carthian? Isn't Brianna dating some Invictus?"

"We're staying out of it. Let the fucking vamps kill each other."

He sighed. "Do you have to be such a bitch all the time? You need to get laid, Avery."

"Hey, fuck you! I have a boyfriend."

He almost laughed. That was a surprisingly juvenile retort, and from an older woman like her, it was hilarious, and cute.

"Uh huh." He was tempted to dump some dating advice on her, something along the lines of 'sex good, go have it, you cold bitch' but decided against it. He was dumb, but not that dumb. "Any progress finding out who's causing those tears?"

"Still got spirits wandering around, talking about Maria, if that's what you're wondering."

"You really still think it's her?"

"I think she's involved, but, maybe not directly, or even... I don't know, ok? A new tear has been created since Maria's been on the mend."

"Which proves--"

"It doesn't prove anything, jackass. Just means there's a chance she's not the one making them." More groans. "Besides, that little vamp is gonna check it out with my boys."

"Right. Heard about that." Tempted, so very tempted to tease her about Natasha drafting her two 'boys'. "I'm not allowed to participate in this Carthian Invictus stuff either. Jessy says as long as you don't help Garry, I shouldn't help the Invictus." But he had a sneaking suspicion Michael would override Jessy's order eventually.

"Makes sense, I guess."

"But I am invested in this city."

"Meaning?"

He rolled his eyes. "Meaning, if... if shit goes sideways, I'll help, ok? I like this city. I like the people in this city. I'd like to keep them alive."

Silence, but eventually Avery let out a long, annoyed sigh. "Thanks."

"Holy shit, I think that's the nicest thing you--"

She hung up.

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

A week later, Tash showed up at his door.

"Hey Tash. Guys," Eric said, nodding to the vampire and her two werewolves.

"Eric," Tash said, meeting his eyes with a smile. It didn't last long. He could see it in her eyes when her composure broke, and she started squirming. Awkward.

Well, they had seen each other naked. They'd all seen each other naked and having sex, but to him, it didn't feel like a big deal. He'd seen orgies before ever meeting Jessy. That was Dolareido for you, a city of sex, Slut City, and the sooner you didn't let it bother you, the sooner you got to enjoy the good side. According to Jessy, anyway.

And sure, he could tell Jessy wanted more intimacy than her old life ever gave, more personal romance. But at the same time, he'd be lying if he said he didn't like showing off with her, being the center of attention, and being admired. He'd been a professional fighter after all. Fucking Jessy on camera for Tash, or doing it person? He was surprised at how perfectly comfortable he was embracing his girlfriend's shamelessness.

So, Tash might have felt a bit awkward, but he didn't. Hell, even if he would have in the past, Jessy had rubbed off on him enough that an orgy with neighbors wouldn't make him blink.

He stepped back and motioned for them to come in. They did, and the boys threw themselves onto his living room couch without a word. If they felt awkward about stuff, they didn't show it. But then, they were a pair that'd -- according to Jessy -- been double teaming women since before Natasha. Being seen naked and fucking probably didn't mean much to them.

"Jessy ain't here," he said.

"I know. B-But, you know I'm not here to talk to her anyway."

"Yeah, I guess." She wouldn't have brought the boys, otherwise.

"Jessy's busy with the Carthians," the little woman said as she followed him into the kitchen. "But, I know the werewolves and monsters have been t-told to stay out of this fight."

"Yeah."

"I am kinda surprised you, um, d-didn't really commit to the Invictus by now."

He put up hands and shook his head. "The devil pays my salary, but that don't mean I'm just gonna throw 'em my soul. If they want that, I'll need more than money."

She smiled. "The Invictus have a lot of money."

"S'long as I can pay my bills, I'm good. Don't need a fancy house or a yacht."

"Didn't you used to be a p-p-professional fighter? And, um, kinda a big deal?"