My Little Ventrue Pt. 10 Ch. 02

A genuine journey into the pits of a strange afterlife. This was exactly why Natasha had fled the Ordo when Daniel had sired her. Crazy, horrifying things. It was so much easier to worry about real things like money and power and blood, all the Invictus ever cared about. But the dragons dipped their toes into so many strange places, and now she was dipping hers, too. And despite herself, she kinda liked it.

Her phone didn't like this place, though, and attempts to take pictures failed. Figured. If she had time, she'd get a sketchpad and draw things, but she wasn't exactly a skilled artist.

The cave went on, and they walked. Rolling waves of stone, usually smooth, sometimes not, the occasional enormous boulder bigger than a house, and then patches of sand, as if they were walking on a beach. Far as they could tell, the realm didn't change under their feet, so all they had to do was turn around when they wanted to go back. Still, it was a super easy place to get lost, and if it hadn't been for the Uratha or Sándor, Tash would have preferred they leave a trail of breadcrumbs to follow.

"This place is empty," Eric said, gesturing around, "and I don't see anything important. Maybe we should go."

Sándor nodded. "It is empty. If Black Blood tore a hole open to here, then either we can't see why it did, or it made a mistake. Perhaps the tear wasn't meant to exist, since it doesn't on Natasha's predictions."

"The predictions could b-be wrong," she said. "I mean—"

"Tash," Avery said, "you've been right about all this shit for months now. Get your head out of your ass, and stop defaulting to 'I could be wrong' anytime someone pokes at the plan. Yes, we all know you could be wrong. Congrats, that's life. But when you got a plan that seems to be working, you fucking default to believing it first, questioning it second. Get me?"

Tash squirmed as she looked away from Avery. "I-I know."

It didn't take more than a second for Jessy to march up to Avery and stare down at her. "Hey! Don't be a bitch. Christ, you like this with that Henry dude? Guy must have the patience of a saint."

Avery glared up at Jessy like the vampire was only an inch tall. "Don't bring my personal life into this."

"If you plan to live in Dolareido, don't expect much privacy." With a very evil wink, Jessy licked one of her fangs.

"Strange, cause I thought I'd done a pretty good job of keeping my private life private."

"Oh? A little birdie told me a certain werewolf bitch, short, milf body, silvery blue eyes and black ponytail — you might know her — has a thing for giving her man handjobs in locations she probably shouldn't. Movie theaters and stuff, you know? Where it's all dark and no one can see what you're doing."

Everyone stopped, and stared. Matthew and Arturo dropped their jaws. Natasha backed up, several times, until she put the boys between her and the volcano.

"You... fucking spied on me? When I was just hanging out with Henry?"

"Invictus spy on everyone."

"We're allies!"

"Pffft. We're acquaintances with similar goals. Thralls and ghouls all over the city are watching you, and Jack isn't the only vamp in the city with some animals to help him."

"You fucking ungrateful little shit!"

Jessy didn't back down. If anything, Avery's anger was gasoline on her fire. God, Jessy could be such an evil bitch. And right now, Tash was glad to have her as a friend. Maybe.

"Oh get over it. We've got all sorts of intel on the lot of you and the sort of shit you get up to when you're not locked up in your little apartments with drapes shut tight. I know Carter's found himself a little kine fox who's into older guys. I know Erica's been exploring her dom side, whips included. I know Monica's got really close with a kine couple. Everyone knows about Mason and Tilly, and Brianna and Santos and Derick. Bet you didn't know Noah, your resident closed-off antisocial asshole, has become really close friends with a couple girls who—"

"I get it! Holy shit, don't you fucking respect people's—"

"And I know you, oh holier-than-thou bitch, not only like to take charge when fucking, but apparently you really got a thing for anal." Without dropping the grin, Jessy shrugged like it was no big deal. "Vamps really go for anal a lot, cause there's no clean up required, right? We're ready for anything, all the time. But werewolves gotta eat, right? Must be a pain in the ass — ha!— to get prepped for anal sex with your man all the time." Jessy leaned down toward Avery, full-on eye contact engaged. "All. The. Time."

Tash stepped behind Matthew. Hopefully the width of her giant boyfriend would be enough to block the impending explosion.

"I... I... am a grown woman, vamp. I'm not going to be embarrassed about the things I like." Which was an obvious lie, considering she was blushing. Not a lot, not nearly as much as Tash would have been if Blushing Life, but still, more than they'd ever seen the woman blush.

"Uh huh. Well, be nice to Tash, or I'll have every dirty, sexy little secret you Uratha have, all out in the open. And I got more."

Jessy wasn't lying. She had a lot more secrets than that, for sure, with all the tools the Invictus had for spying on people, plus the stuff she knew about Clara and her time with Jessy's ghouls.

"Be nice? I'm not being mean. I'm—"

Eric raised a hand. "It was a little mean."

Avery glared daggers into Eric, before looking to Matt and Art. "What do you think?"

The boys looked between each other, before squirming a little.

"You can be harsh with us all you want," Art said. "But, uh, yeah you kinda cross the line when talking to other people."

Matt raised a hand. "Not that Jessy isn't crossing a hundred lines right now—"

"Says the porn star," Jessy said, chuckling.

"But, um... maybe be a little nicer?"

Tash smiled up at the back of Art and Matt's heads. Aw, her boyfriends were defending her. Which normally she'd appreciate, but Avery was a dangerous bear to poke. Wolf.

Avery glared at Matt with enough intensity to melt steel. And when Tash peeked out from behind her, Avery leveled her gaze straight at her. It was like staring into the eyes of a raging storm.

But after a few moments, Avery took a deep breath, sighed, and relaxed.

"Sorry, Natasha. I've dealt with a few Uratha like you before, and... I guess I'm just falling into old habits. You're smart, ok? Just go with it."

Slowly, Natasha stepped out from behind Matt, and offered Avery her best apologetic smile.

"Th-Thank you. And I know Jessy is a bitch, but—"

"Hey!"

"She means well. And I'm not made of g-glass, Jessy. I can handle a little criticism. I had Maria for a boss for a long time."

Jessy groaned and scrunched up her nose. "Christ, right. I don't miss having that bitch in the council."

"M-Maria wasn't that bad. She just... w-wanted to make sure things went well."

Avery laughed as she started walking, and everyone else followed her cue. "I get that. I hate that vampire corpse bitch, but I get it."

Crisis averted. Everyone started moving again, Sándor at the front, with Eric and Tash's boys behind him. The girls took the back this time.

Jessy leaned in toward Avery, walking beside her. "You're really hot, by the way."

"Don't start."

"Aw come on, don't be like that, I'm just trying to settle the water. Besides, I wasn't lying. You really got that milf—"

"I never had kids."

"Cougar then, whatever. You got this tiny, compact, deadly woman thing going that is fucking hot as sin. And the pony tail down to the ass makes you look like a nineties action hero or something."

Avery rolled her eyes, but Tash could see a hint of a smile there. While Jessy had absolutely zero tact, she had the unnatural ability to disarm people, at least when sex was the topic. Usually. Sometimes.

"Sorry if I'm not as comfortable with sex as you, vamp. Having a pulse and body hair and a menstrual cycle kinda gets in the way of that whole immortal succubus vibe.

"Then it's a good thing you're in Dolareido, so you can get every wax imaginable whenever you want, night or day." Jessy winked at Avery as she came in a bit closer, and bumped hips with her. "And I know you do."

"Fuck I hate you."

"No you don't. I'm delightful." Jessy nodded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Just ask Eric."

"The pup might be a bit biased, don't you think?"

"True." Not deterred, Jessy hip bumped Avery again. "You looked great by the way."

"Looked? You—"

"You and Henry didn't bother closing the drapes. Not all the way, anyway."

"We didn't fuck against the window!"

"That don't matter. It was an apartment building. Lots of people with telescopes, and drones and stuff. Wasn't just my spy that saw you riding that dude on the couch."

"Oh fucking god." Unable to take it anymore, the poor woman hid her face in her hands. "They recorded it, didn't they. You got me on tape."

"Pfft, please. I got everyone on tape. It's Dolareido."

"I don't suppose you'll—"

"Watch it with you? Sure. You got no idea how hot that firm ass of yours looks with a dick in it. And the way you rode him, facing away, squeezing his legs? Poor guy was just trying to survive how much of a hornball you were being." Jessy leaned in closer again. "Your legs were shaking."

Natasha, standing with Jessy between her and the pack leader, gulped on a dry throat as she peeked up at her friend, and then across to Avery. She was blushing again, but at least she didn't look angry; not livid, anyway.

"I'm not making porn for you, Gangrel."

"Too late now."

"And I... I... I know what I like. Henry's a nice guy, and I guess I like—"

"Putting on a show? Taking a kind guy and pampering him with all sorts of kinks he never thought a girl would happily satisfy? Cowgirl anal, and then enjoying it so much you can't help but get all tingly and swollen, and everything inside just fucking boils. Before you know it, you're soaking guy's balls, hands clutching his shins as you cum." Thankfully she whispered it, because Avery blushed a thousand times worse than before, but the boys didn't hear it. Tash did, with how close she was. "It's an interesting spin on the trope. Hardass boss still likes being in charge in bed, but likes being gentle? Dommy mommy? It's unique. Usually the hardass bitch boss wants to be submissive in bed."

"Jesus christ, is sex all you ever think about?"

"No, but I think about it a lot. Everyone does. I'm just honest about it." Shrugging, she gestured down at Tash. "You must have seen the vids of this girl getting stuffed with cock right up to the lungs." This, Jessy didn't bother whispering.

Oh god damn it. Tash punched Jessy in the hip, but Jessy just laughed.

Avery took a quick peek at Tash before looking away. "I... have."

Tash gasped. "Avery!"

"What? Everyone in the pack talks about it, about Matt and Art suddenly being porn stars. I wanted to see what the fuss was about."

Jessy growled like she was about to sink her fangs into a fresh meal. "Tash is so small, you can actually see their dicks pushing out against her belly. Fuuuuuuuck it's so hot."

Now it was Natasha's turn to be hyper embarrassed, but at least she couldn't blush without the Blush.

"At least she fucks them while they're in human form," Avery said.

Jessy grinned. "For now."

"For now?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna break her, and get her to fuck the boys when they're transformed at some point."

This was ridiculous. Why were they talking about this when walking through the fog of the Underworld? Ghosts everywhere, hidden in the mist. Ghosts above and in the distance, hovering along, thousands of them, green lights on a path Tash didn't understand. It was a scary place! But the moment Jessy saw the opportunity to steer the conversation toward sex, she did with the utmost gusto. The girl had a problem.

Avery sighed and shook her head. "It's weird."

"Nah, come on. What girl hasn't fantasized about getting pinned down by some huge, oddly handsome monster, you know? And filled to bursting and—"

"Not that. I mean, Dolareido. There's a presence here, something that calms the wolf in us. I thought for sure Eric was going to rip you in half if he transformed when you guys were intimate."

"He nearly did." The grin on Jessy's face was positively filthy.

"Not... not that kinda ripping. Girl, what the fuck is wrong with you. No, never mind, forget I asked. What I'm saying is, there's something weird about Dolareido. The whole damn city is odd. Like, I feel like there's something... else, happening. Someone or something out there is fucking with this city in ways we don't know about. Apparently Eric's talked to the actual Luna, so maybe he knows something, but he doesn't tell me shit."

"Well stop being an ass and he'll tell you more. Use a carrot."

"A carrot? Bribe him?"

"I mean, kinda? I got his dad in good shape by promising him pictures of my tits. That seemed to work. Maybe it runs in the family?"

Tash groaned. Avery groaned. There was no helping this woman. The only person who was as devoted to sex as the entirety of their personality, was Othello, and Othello didn't go around poking and prodding people with it. Far as Tash knew, the gorgeous man was content to be a sex addict in silence. But Jessy, she turned it into a game. How uncomfortable could she make people with her sheer abrasiveness and shamelessness?

"I'm not going to show your boyfriend my tits."

If her comment had been an attempt to throw Jessy off, it didn't. The woman was impervious.

"Nah. But Eric's trying to do his own thing as a werewolf, right? Get this whole vigilante thing going, while you're against that. Maybe if instead of trying to convince him to do otherwise, you actually help him out? I don't mean physically help him on his hunts, but maybe teach him a thing or two, without trying to turn him into your bitch?"

"I haven't been trying to turn him into my bitch. But I'm not so dumb I can just ignore—"

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. Let the dude do his own thing, and—"

Natasha put up a hand, and gestured forward. The boys had stopped, and all of them were looking out into some sort of ravine, complete with jagged, sharp rocks, and lots of places to fall.

Slowly, everyone came up to the edge of the ravine and looked down. Fog, but not so thick they couldn't see it was about a hundred feet down, climbable even. Tash half expected to see green lanterns down there, but no, no ghosts, near or in it. Left and right, it was one long canyon cut into the dark rock, and weirdly enough, it looked half natural, as if time and weather had created it, but also that it'd been helped along by human hands with tools.

Tash squinted as she crouched down, tapped her vitae, and gazed into the mist and dark. She peeled away the darkness and found identifying marks as best she could, cuts in the black and gray stone, and several old chisels. As she adjusted, she found more things, more bits of metal, man made, things like shovels, and some old railroad carts. All of it was rusted and worn.

There were more than rocks and old tools down there. With what Jack and Jessy told her about the old train graveyard they found months ago, she had to assume the Great Below reflected the places it was close to in the physical realm, or was connected to them somehow. This long canyon had to be reflecting something from Dolareido, maybe from its massive expanse era, same as the train graveyard.

She sucked in a useless breath. There were enormous spiderwebs down there, many of them. God damn it, not again.