My Little Ventrue Pt. 09 Ch. 09

"What I meant, young childe, is that you actively seek ways to make him happy."

"Isn't that what dating is?"

"In a sense. Dating often comes from a place of selfishness; a reasonable act, when you have yet to form a deep bond with the other. Only when two have been in a relationship for a time, and have developed love for the other, do you truly find joy in putting the other before yourself." She leaned down over Samantha, and gently probed her temple. "Before yourself, not instead of yourself. Remember that."

"O-Okay." Samantha looked back into the mirror, nodding. The advice had sunk in, to some degree at least, and that was enough for now. "But, I know lots of people who've gone out of their way to put their partner before themselves, even when it's a young relationship." Perhaps not.

"Yes, but there is a difference between the wistful joys of a new relationship and all its novelty leading to powerful gestures -- often done from a place of selfishness, not selflessness -- versus a genuine, deep desire, to see your other thrive. You were married for many years, and happily, oui?"

"Yes. James and I loved each other, and often did things for each other." No hesitation from her childe to speak of her dead husband. Naive and fragile in some ways Samantha may be, but sturdy and strong in others as well.

"I only bring attention to this topic, because there are some individuals that are inherently self sacrificing. Such individuals can display the behavior of one deeply in love, and yet, they are simply lacking in self confidence and self worth, and cannot imagine doing something for themselves. Such individuals do things for others and only others, and it can, and does, lead to terribly self destructive patterns."

"You think... I'm one of those women who don't know how to consider themselves first?"

"I think you can be. I wanted to draw attention to it, that is all. And I apologize if I you were consciously aware of it as you pursued your relationship with Jacob. I am not there to monitor your interactions with the man, but as I said, you seem to enjoy his company, to the degree that I thought, perhaps, quite powerful."

"Oh, I get what you're getting at. I..." Samantha sighed as she looked herself up and down a few more times. "It's a little early to think I might love him. I know I'm the sort to get, uh, swept off my feet easily, but I'm not a child, sire." Even as she said it, she grinned at her reflection. Not a child, but she was well aware her emotional attitude when romance was involved, was quite powerful and juvenile, and fun. The sort of woman who genuinely found themselves caught in the drama of soap operas.

"Agreed."

"But, he is great. And it's not just all the sex." She managed to say sex without squirming. Oh how her little childe was growing up. "I'm afraid to push too hard though."

"Oh?"

"About his past, and about who he is. He talks about some of the things he's done, interesting stuff you know? Exploring the world, and even some of the witchy stuff he's delved into. But he doesn't talk about the personal stuff, like Minerva. At least, he doesn't tell me everything, like where the... emotional scars are."

"It may take years for him to do so, but if your relationship continues to grow, I am confident he will." For all Jacob's troubled past, the man was not so broken that the touch of a good woman could not soothe his soul, at least a little. "Now, let us be off. I hope to make great progress tonight."

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All eyes fell on Antoinette the moment they entered Bloodlust. A few seconds later, onlooking eyes fell to Samantha, and soon after, Ashley and Julee. All four women were dressed to kill, inviting the gazes of the men and women in the club. It would make this teaching moment easier.

Soon, the four of them were upstairs. Ashley and Julee stood behind the booth, doting and ready, while Samantha and Antoinette sat within.

"How has your skill with Majesty progressed?"

"B-Badly. It's easy to find a meal with the witches, so I'm getting lazy. Othello's always sharing Madison, and Jacob has thralls and ghouls, and... yeah."

"As expected." Antoinette rolled her eyes, and put a hand on Samantha's where it rested on the booth table between them. "We will--"

"Where is everyone?" Slowly, Samantha leaned over the edge of the booth seat, before sitting upright with a start. "Sorry, sire! I just... I see plenty of kine, but aren't there usually at least some Kindred here? And I don't see any of the thralls or ghouls I usually do."

There was no avoiding it. Samantha was a Kindred of Dolareido, and while she was no Invictus or Carthian, the war affected the city and everyone in it. To Antoinette's chagrin.

"This growing war affects many things. It simmers, for the moment, but soon I expect it will boil. All the Invictus and Carthians are preparing for that war."

Sighing, her childe nodded as she scooted back into the booth, and then closer again until she was almost touching Antoinette's side. The poor creature was afraid, perhaps for herself, but a single glance to her eyes screamed who she was truly afraid for.

She would forever be a mother.

"You... can't stop the war?"

"That is a complicated question, Samantha."

"I know, but you're the Prince. You're super strong, and so's the sheriff."

"I am strong, young Kindred, as is my old friend Daniel. But we are not invincible. Plenty of Kindred my age have been defeated by hubris, and by ignoring the reality around them." After a heavy nod, Antoinette leaned over the table, setting her elbows upon it and netting her fingers together. "Here we sit, in a club, or perhaps a night lounge depending on your perspective, and we are able to do so because I am quite hands-off with the covenants in my city."

"But..." Her childe looked down at her own hands, set them on the table near Antoinette's, and twiddled them. "People might die. You don't want to stop that?"

"In other cities, there are often no-kill rules in place for Kindred. I have strongly discouraged killing, but have not outlawed it, largely because psychology and history have made it painfully clear that laws against behavior do not prevent that behavior, not without great consequence. And in many cases, encourage the behavior. In other cities where the covenants rule with iron fists, the other covenants battle against them, and kill kine in secret. They wage war constantly, but unofficially."

"But... but because of how you do things here in Dolareido, it's relatively peaceful."

"Relatively. But despite my centuries of efforts, these infernal, infantile covenants cannot ever truly harmonize. With Viktor and Tony gone, it has been better, but the damage between Michael and Garry is severe. They have both killed Kindred, and hidden the evidence well."

"Killed?" Samantha gasped as she looked up at her.

"Indeed." Antoinette pat her childe's hand once again. "If I decided to embrace ruling this city as many other covenants do, you and I would not be sitting here in a club, without worry of assassination. At best, we would be looking over our shoulders every moment, anticipating it. At worst, sections of the city would be under constant guard, with no-trespassing laws in place."

"But, what if... I don't know, you dealt with the Invictus and Carthians yourself? Maybe the city's Kindred, or at least Michael and Garry, aren't... redeemable?"

"There are many who would say the same of Jacob."

Silence. Samantha stared at her, confused and shocked, but as understanding dawned, her eyes grew heavy and looked to the table and her fingers once more.

"He's got a dark history, doesn't he? Things he... he hasn't told me, but he's hinted about them."

"He does, my childe, but he is my friend for a reason. Be careful with him, but... but trust that Jacob is not Viktor, or Tony or Lucas." A sly grin teased across Antoinette's lips, but she crushed it immediately. "Ask him sometime, about his wishes for the city. I think you will find the old fossil's plans to be both drastically different than my own, and yet, contain his own strange, twisted wisdom."

"I'm afraid to do that."

"You are dating an elder, Samantha. Be prepared to wade through darkness."

Her childe slowly smiled, strength coming to her. "I've waded through a lot of darkness lately. I... guess I can handle a little more."

Jacob's darkness certainly was not 'little', but Antoinette returned the smile and nodded. Defying all odds, Jack had managed to deal with the nigh infinite troubles and pains that fell upon him. Perhaps Samantha could do the same.

Or Antoinette's hopes for Jacob would be in vain.

"Now, returning to the covenants. I will not stop this war as long as they do not break the Masquerade, because not only would it not be as easy you as believe, but also because there is more to this conflict than meets the eye. For now, understand that you should avoid speaking with either group until this war is over. As long as you do not interfere, they will not touch you. As long as I do not interfere, they will not touch you."

"M-Me? I... I guess I am your childe. I'm a target."

Antoinette grinned at her childe, and winked. "Not a good one, not if whoever threatens you wishes to live. Unfortunately, Kindred are crafty, and it is better to be cautious than arrogant." Samantha looked up to her, wanting more information. Feeling charitable, Antoinette gave her a little more truth, to sate her hunger. "Garry and Michael are not the men people think they are. There is, perhaps, a little hope that things will turn out better than my colleagues believe."

"And Jack..."

"Thankfully, Jack is not the focus of this issue. Unfortunately, he is a valuable tool in Michael's control. But I am confident Jack will discover a way to deal with this war with minimal deaths."

"Minimal. Ugh."

"Now, for the matter at hand. You are here to practice your skills, my childe. Once you can seduce men and women in this environment easily, we can move up to more difficult tasks."

"Like?"

"Such as seducing a room filled with lawyers, for example."

She cringed. "Lawyers? Bleh! Why not doctors?"

"Come now Samantha, doctors? Medical doctors? Sweet childe, they are walking, talking medical encyclopedias, without a single critical thought in their minds." Antoinette laughed as she slipped an arm behind Samantha's shoulders and gave her a gentle hug as she smiled warmly down at her. "Lawyers think. They look for logic patterns and logic holes for a living. They--I digress. Tonight, you shall seduce a couple."

"Couple?"

"A couple. Go downstairs, catch the eye of two, and enthrall them. You will use Majesty, of course. You will Awe them."

Samantha immediately began squirming, obviously still terrified with the idea of being front and center of such sexual attention. Surprising, considering the woman had no doubt become exactly that among her witch friends.

"We uh... we're not going to sleep with them, right?"

"If you wanted to, and Jacob did not mind, I would say to indulge as you desired. Jack and I prefer to keep our physical relationship between us, and when we are feeling playful, we ask our close friends, and our thralls and ghouls to join us." Speaking of Jack in such a manner almost earned a groan from her childe, but Samantha recovered quickly. "And I am under the impression you and Jacob are in a similar arrangement, though instead of close friends and thralls, you have the Circle."

More squirming. "Kinda."

"Then do not sleep with your prey tonight. Feed, and send them both into the sleepy bliss of the Kiss."

"Um, if I get two kine up here, will you feed with me?"

"No. As you know, we Daeva prefer to feed on the same individuals. If you ever find someone to feed on regularly, given time, the thought of feeding on another will disgust you." Antoinette nodded back toward her two ghouls, who remained attentive behind the booth, and they both smiled at Antoinette in return.

"Right, right."

"Majesty, young childe, is about power. Other Kindred blood clans may think of it as nothing more than seduction, but seduction too, is a battle of power. It is not as direct as Dominate or Nightmare, but a battle nonetheless. You will not clash with the minds of those you enthrall direction, but indirectly."

Samantha nodded. "I have to draw their attention, but not make it a straight on fight. So, like... teasing a cat with a toy on a string. I have to get the cat to chase, even if the cat doesn't want to."

"An apt analogy. With Majesty, you can have anyone chasing you, desperate to satisfy you, to please you, and eventually, to serve you. Once you have had centuries to master it, you will have the power to enslave entire rooms. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of people, rendered hopelessly addicted to you."

"Addicted. It... it sounds dangerous, like it could backfire, you know? Obsessed fans can do some horrible things."

"It very well could, my childe. But you are no simple kine musician. You are Kindred, and far stronger than the kine you feed on. You are the predator, and they are the prey. Remember that. Now, off with you. Approach the two kine you wish to enthrall for the night, reach into yourself, summon the vitae within, and call to them. They are cats, and you are their owner who wields the toy."

Nodding, and taking a deep, useless breath, Samantha slid out of the booth, and walked downstairs. And without so much as a glance back, either. My my, how the young vampire had grown.

Antoinette smiled after her childe, but once she was gone, leaned back into her booth. Tempted, quite tempted, to message Jack and inquire about his current circumstances, but the two of them had decided to not ask about each other's business. Jack had asked her about the Ordo in the past, but after she had explained that her secrets could not be shared, even with him, those questions ceased. He respected her and her position. And it was not long before they agreed it would lead to misfortune if Jack told her of Invictus business.

But she was the Prince, and had long earned some leeway. She texted him, a simple message.

~Are you alright, my love?~

Two minutes later, a response.

~Yeah. I think I'm gonna have to talk to Maria though. Not looking forward to that.~

How quickly the boy flirted with the rules. Do not discuss matters of the covenants.

~I do advise against that. Maria knows what you did, Jack.~

~It's the only way I'm going to learn about Michael and Garry. If I'm going to put an end to this, I need to learn. And I get the impression if I asked either Michael or Garry directly, it'd end in one of us killing the other.~

Antoinette sighed down at the phone before pressing it to her sternum. What to say, what to say? The boy wanted to learn about Michael and Garry's past, and that she could understand. But even she did not know the full depths of those two, and what had driven them to hate each other so. It was something personal, she understood that, but she had never uncovered their secrets. And even if she had, she would hesitate to share it with Jack.

Perhaps Michael had divulged his secrets to Maria? Or, considering her proximity to the man for so long, she had uncovered his secrets herself. With the woman's intelligence and tenacity, and Michael's stubbornness, Antoinette would bet on the latter.

~Be careful, my love.~

~I will, my love.~

She smiled. Jack never used poetic language. For him to indulge in flowing words was a rare treat.

Before she could slip the phone back into her purse, it buzzed once again. A message from Natasha, but not a normal text message. The little Mekhet used their secure channel in their custom software. Most dragons did not trust technology, and they were right to do so, but Antoinette had spent millions in secure software. It could be trusted. Mostly.

~Prince, I've learned something very important.~

~Oh? If it is of true importance, you may wish to tell me in person.~

Samantha returned, and Antoinette smiled at her young childe as she approached, a man and woman behind her. Two young kine, in their twenties, and both obviously quite drunk. But also, quite enamored with Samantha, nearly drooling as they followed after her, eyes wide with wonder. To them, Samantha had become the center of their world. Except, perhaps not. Another glance at their eyes showed that yes, they were quite enthralled in her Majesty, but not to the level of devoted servant.

Samantha would need decades of practice and growing power to reach such levels of Majesty. But still, considering the woman was not even a year embraced, this was good progress.

"Antoinette," she said, knowing to not use the Prince's title in front of kine. "This is Doug and Maggie."

"Doug, Maggie." Antoinette offered the two of them a playful nod. Naturally, both kine looked at her, her great height, white hair, and enormous bust, and even a fool could see the arousal spike through them. But it was Samantha that had them on a leash, and soon they turned their gazes back to the young vampire.

Another buzz from Antoinette's phone.

~Yes, we definitely need to talk in person. But I need to tell you something right now. Jacob... might be a problem. A big problem.~

A big problem. Natasha wanted to say enemy, but her timid nature, and the risk of the software being monitored, had her avoiding the word.

Antoinette kept her face stone cold, but only by suppressing a powerful urge to wince, as she looked over to childe, who beamed with pride over her successful hunt. Oh no.