My Little Ventrue Pt. 10 Ch. 09

Jack sighed and shook his head. "I... would prefer deal with this situation sooner rather than later."

Jennifer stabbed a finger down at the table. "Don't you dare do anything without telling your mother, Jack."

"I won't, I won't. Just... need to figure out how to tell her. She won't like this."

Triss raised a hand. "Then maybe we don't do it? Maybe we just... don't... do anything?"

They all sank in their chairs. Not doing anything was definitely an option, just a really painful one.

"I... wonder," Jack said. "Antoinette's been dealing with ghost stuff, or spirit stuff anyway, for a long time. You think she knows how to do the stuff Harcourt's talking about?"

"Maybe," Triss said. "I'm sure she knows something. But... maybe not the sort of shit Harcourt's talking about. She's probably got rituals to trap Mary's ghost, lock her in a jar, bind her to an object, all sorts of crazy shit. But just... help her move on? She'd probably have said something if she knew, right?"

"Probably." And maybe not. Antoinette could be damn ruthless when it came to her role in the Ordo Dracul. Whatever allowed her to further her knowledge about spirits, ghosts, and whatever else lurked in that weird world, she'd pursue. And he knew what it was like to have an obsession. It was like going through life wearing horse blinders, and it got very easy to get so focused on whatever was in front of you, you forgot anything else existed. Even other people.

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~~Antoinette~~

"I am sorry, my childe, but there is little that can be done for Mary, not with the knowledge I possess, not in the manner you seek."

Samantha sighed as she sat at the table across from her, deep in the tower in Antoinette's primary experiments room.

"I know. You'd have brought it up months ago if you could have." The poor child. She groaned as she leaned forward, and buried her face in her hands. "And... I suppose you know about what I did."

"Stealing Elen's book and knife? Of course, my childe."

She groaned louder. "Why didn't you stop me?"

Because it was in Antoinette's interest to let her childe get closer to the witches, and to Jacob.

"Because it was a valuable lesson to a dragon."

"Lesson?"

"Us in the Ordo Dracul can teach our students with many methods. A simple one is to let our students pursue a mystery to its end, and to document the path well. To understand the implications of each step upon the path. To understand the tree of causality, and how each event ripples out to create new events." Antoinette reached out, set a hand upon her childe's, and gently pulled it down from her face to rest it upon the table. "I am sorry. Truly. But I thought it best to let you chase this mystery, though I felt only pain waited for you in the end."

Samantha nodded as she stared down at the table. "I... I'd say that was harsh, too harsh, but all you did was let me do what I wanted to do. I'm not a little girl who needs to be protected by their mom."

"Indeed. Though, believe me, young Daeva, I wish such lessons could be learned in a less painful way. And I also admit, I was quite surprised to see Mary alive and well. A small part of me was even convinced you had succeeded. Jacob, as well. But..."

"But it was a fool's hope."

"Most hopes are, young childe, but do not dismiss them so easily. Such hopes can often lead to great change. Regardless, you are now left with the same situation you were in months ago."

"I know. Mary... Mary's ghost, she's even more unstable now. I talked to her after what happened, and it... it was obvious. She can talk to me, but anyone else, she'll probably attack. She's... happy, about getting those three nights, but she's also more..."

"Anyone would become erratic after going through such an experience, Samantha. I can only imagine how traumatizing it must have been for Mary's ephemera mind, where every emotion and memory affects her body in very palpable ways."

Samantha nodded as she leaned back, and looked behind her at the summoning circle where Antoinette performed her experiments. "I don't know what to do. She says she's not Mary. And... And I..."

"Even if she is not Mary's soul, she is still an entity, with some form of strange awareness. And she has the memories of your daughter, does she not?"

"She does."

"Then, I cannot fault you, for feeling for her as if she were your daughter, Samantha. And I cannot fault you for wishing to continue taking care of her. The house will remain off limits to kine and others, but..."

"But it can't stay like that forever." She looked to Antoinette, with a hardened gaze unbecoming her. "I... I can't do anything, not yet. But give me some time, and I'll get there."

Antoinette kept her face neutral, but seeing her sweet childe struggle with something no one should ever have to deal with, was almost overwhelmingly painful. As with Jack, being with Samantha unearthed a sense of empathy she thought long lost. And that was dangerous.

"Samantha, you and Beatrice may keep Elen's knife and book until you are satisfied, but I do ask that you return them once you are done. As for Elen, I suppose Jacob considers her his property."

"I don't know. I think so, but I think he just got her so he could use her to teach Beatrice stuff. He... He seems invested in her, you know? Like, I can tell when we talk, that he's proud of her. Maybe even has high hopes for her. But..."

"But?"

"But, Jacob, sometimes he... he talks like... like something's about to change. Like, he's excited for how much Beatrice has learned, and how quickly. He's super proud of her. But then his expression changes, he talks about the future, and then he goes quiet. I wonder if he's thinking about leaving, but he's hesitating because of me."

Naturally, her childe would find the most guilt-inducing conclusion.

"Has he suggested when this may happen, my childe? As old a friend as Jacob is, he does not tell me as much as I wish he did."

"No idea. It's hard with him. Vampires as old as him, they..."

Antoinette smiled. "They do not think in the short term."

"Exactly." Slowly, Samantha looked down, and twiddled her fingers on the table. "God, I feel horrible for thinking this. But I don't want him to leave me. He's the first man I've known in a long time that can make me laugh, and makes me feel safe while also making me try new things, and... and..."

"And who satisfies you sexually."

Samantha squirmed a bit, but nodded. "Yes."

"Sexuality is a vital aspect of romantic connection, Samantha. Perhaps less so to vampires, but nonetheless, do not feel shame for it." Before her childe could respond, Antoinette gently squeezed her hand. "I do not know what Jacob will do, but you are the first person I have seem him bond with so deeply since Minerva. I trust he will not casually cast you aside."

That managed to pull a smile from her. "You think so?"

"Truly. Though, I am curious about this concern of yours, that you think he may be leaving."

"Well, lately, he talks about changing things, the sort of way someone might if they were going to move away, you know? He wants to make..." After struggling to find the words, she shrugged. "It's more in how he talks about things, but yes, I do think something's been on his mind a lot lately."

Oh sweet childe, if only she knew.

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"Black Blood, I summon thee."

She looked down at yet another sacrifice, and sighed as all that met her words, was silence.

"It resists yet again," her sheriff said.

"It does."

"Then we have no choice."

Antoinette nodded. "If Samantha's inklings are correct, then I suppose we do not."

"You trust your childe's intuition that much?"

Antoinette offered her old friend a gentle smile. "Do you trust your childe's?"

"Natasha has over fifty years of training."

"Indeed, but we both know there is more to her success than simple training. Part of her skill is because of the blood, your blood, and I have faith in mine. I have high hopes for my childe, Daniel, and I would be a fool to dismiss her intuition. We begin tonight."

Black Blood was a crafty entity. It had to be. Despite its immense power, something prevented it from directly intervening with Antoinette or the others when in the physical realm. According to Natasha, it also seemed blocked from directly interfering with the Uratha in the spirit realm. Whatever rules it was bound by, those rules seemed unbreakable.

Except, it did not seem to be bound by all the rules spirits were bound by. Many of them, but not all of them. Jack thought it was not a spirit at all, and Antoinette had been inclined to believe him. Quite inclined.

She reached down, and stabbed her fingers into the man's corpse. A stereotypical criminal, a business man, fat, unseemly, who had used his position and money to financially ruin innocent people. When his crimes crossed into darker territory, Antoinette decided to remove the ridiculous kine from the world. Not the most powerful sacrifice, but it should have worked.

Even so, she expected the ritual to not work, thus, a poor sacrifice was of little consequence. Furthermore, the kine's blood would work just as well for the next ritual.

"You sure this will work?" her sheriff asked.

Antoinette chuckled softly as she gazed into her book in her left hand, and drew lines onto the floor with her right hand's blood-soaked fingers.

"I am. It is not a true spirit. And considering what Black Blood has done in multiple realms, I am forced to assume it is something greater."

"Which means this ritual could get us killed, Ann."

"Then we finish the ritual when the time comes. When Black Blood is distracted."

Daniel sighed as he stepped up beside her, and watched her paint more symbols. Often she was forced to stab her fingers into the corpse, to renew the blood; the ritual would be weakened by transporting the blood in a container.

For months they prepared for this ritual. For months, they researched, books upon books, abandoned tomes, artifacts lost and forgotten and unearthed. For months, she dug into the archives of the order, and spoke to her fellow dragons for clues on this treasure hunt. She had been successful.

They were ready to begin.

But she would not spring the trap, not yet. What good would it be to confront a godly entity directly? They had to bide their time, and wait. And the longer they waited, the closer they came to ruin. Antoinette could be patient, and wait decades for a plan to come to fruition, but knowing Black Blood could very well destroy her city and beyond at any moment, left her forever anxious.

"Daniel," she said, after having painted one section of the floor in several hundred symbols, in exact, specific locations. It had taken three hours. "Bring me three more sacrifices."

"Alright." Daniel took a second to look at her work, made for the door, but stopped as he reached for the latch. "We only have five more kine in storage, Ann."

"Then we will need to find more."

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~~Beatrice~~

Three days later.

"A little birdie told me," Jen said, "that the Prince has been plucking people off the street. Vanishing them."

"Oh shit. Really?" Triss asked.

"Mhmm. And she's not being subtle about it."

"That's... kinda fucked up. How she doing it?"

"I heard she's taken some inmates from a nearby prison."

Triss winced. That was rough shit. Lots of the inmates in jail for nasty shit didn't deserve the sentences they got. And sure Triss and Jen made sure sure the people they killed deserved it, half because they wanted to, half because Sam begged them too, but she wasn't so sure Antoinette would be as nice.

Triss and Jen curled on their blankets and furs in Triss's alcove. They hadn't seen Sándor since the incident in his nightmare chamber, and they'd only chatted with Samantha a couple quick times since. Shit was still tense, everyone still felt guilty and horrible, so everyone went into passive mode until people started to feel better.

Thankfully, as fucking horrible as Mary's death had been, it had basically been a reset back to the way things were just a week ago. People were recovering quickly. And after three days of people lying around feeling like shit, sex drives returned. Across the cave, Othello was doing what he usually did: fucking Madison's poor ass. And of course he did it in the entrance to his alcove, so everyone could see Madison and her spread legs, since she was facing out. Long, slow, tender anal sex, with Othello sitting up and hugging her from behind with one hand, while his other caressed and massaged her clit. It was damn romantic.

So Triss lay on her side, cuddled into Jen's back, the both of them watching Madison melt away.

Triss almost said something about Mary, but stopped herself. Finally, a night where they didn't feel like total shit. Why fucking ruin that?

She leaned in, kissed Jen's neck, and slid a hand around her, undid a couple buttons, and slipped her palm around Jen's lower breast. This damn beautiful woman and her huge tits. Big pillows that were lovely to squeeze and fondle and caress. Girls like Triss and Sam had to get by on average breasts, while it seemed like every other woman in the city was packing giant badonkas.

"You should get some nipple piercings," Triss said.

"I suppose I could."

"Then you can know what it's like to wear a nipple chain and have people tugging on it."

"I'll have you know, I did not introduce you to nipple chains. You owned them before, no?" She turned her head enough to smile at her, before she looked back to Othello and Madison.

Laughing, Triss snuggled into her back a little harder, half holding her so she could keep playing with her huge tit, and half holding her because she still felt like shit. And thank god their relationship had long hit the point Triss didn't need to feel shy, or guilty for being clingy. She wanted cuddles.

"No word from Sándor," Triss said.

"No. How often do brooding sessions last?"

"I... suppose I would know, wouldn't I?"

"Of course."

"They can last for a few days, sure. I was hoping we'd see him soon, so we could talk to Sam together." Triss sighed, undid another button so Jen's breasts were both free of the fabric, and continued to tease and massage. It wasn't all that sexual, at least not enough to trigger a bout of sex. If they kept watching Othello, sure, it might happen, but Triss just wanted to snuggle with her girlfriend, and fondling while doing so was an idea she picked up from Jack.

According to the kid, breasts were pretty amazing as a stress toy, as long as you were gentle. Super relaxing to squeeze softly and feel how the softness molded to the fingers and palm. And of course, having a busty girlfriend who loved being touched made it all the better.

"Maybe he went on a hunting trip," Jen said.

"Yeah, maybe. I still wonder why he didn't ask us to help him with that shit. I mean, we've been dipping our hands in some deep blood for months now. He couldn't have asked for our help? Maybe we could have... locked him in a box with one of our targets?"

"From the look in his eyes, Triss, I get the impression there wouldn't be much left of the target once he was done."

Triss shivered, and let go of her friend's boob. Mood ruined, even with Othello only a hundred feet away.

"Still, I think we could have helped him."

Jen shook her head, turned over onto her back, and gave Triss a kiss. "I don't think he needs help finding prey. He's really, really old, remember? The problem is just what Athalia said it was. He hates being what he is."

Sighing, Triss returned the kiss, rolled over, got perpendicular with Jen, and put the back of her head on her girlfriend's stomach as she lay down. Without missing a beat, Jen slipped her hands into Triss's hair, and combed it with her fingers.

"Vampires go through the same problem."

"Not like him," Jen said. "To vamps who get over becoming what we are, who learn to accept that we have to drink blood to survive, someone like Sándor who refuses to embrace his hungers sounds... almost juvenile. But then, he's not a vampire, and his hungers are--"

"Massive and extreme, I know." Sighing, Triss reached up and grabbed at the air overhead, as if grabbing butterflies. "I get it. He's not the same as us. He has to feed and take it all the way. He has to go full... monster." She groaned as she let her hands drop. "Christ, no wonder Athalia calls us blood leeches. Compared to Begotten, we're just... mosquitoes."

Jen mirrored her sigh and continued combing Triss's hair. "I suppose they beat us in the drama, self-loathing department."

"Tell that to Fiona. How that girl is so cheery, despite having, what, a dozen kills to her name, I have no idea."

"No guilt, I suppose. She has to punish people who've done bad things."

"I guess," Triss said. "And Mark?"

"We know nothing about Mark."

"And Azamel, she... she tried to make it work, I guess. I still remember what Jeremiah's ritual showed us. She tried to make it work for her, her hunger and shit, and it backfired in the end. Athalia basically tried to ignore it, and it backfired on her, too."

"Yes," Jen said. "As much as vampires think we have a monopoly on second life drama, I think the Begotten have us beat. And Sándor has everyone beat. It's no wonder he's sad all the time."

"I wonder what sort of woman his wife was. Margaret."

"He said she was determined, and a pain in his ass. That's part of the reason I thought being so direct with him would help him open up. Apparently, it was the wrong call."

"It probably would have been the right call, maybe twenty years ago. I'm guessing losing his wife and kid to Jeremiah, and then being a slave for a few years after that, broke him." Triss sat up with a jolt. "Oh fucking christ."

"What?"

"Is that why I like him so damn much? He's broken, and I want to fix him?" She clutched her face as she stared down at Jen. "Oh my fucking god, I'm eighteen again."

Chuckling, Jen sat up and hugged her. "I like him because I feel like... he's a kitten, who if I can coax him out of his box, he'd be a lion." And of course, she licked her lips after saying lion. "But, after what Athalia said? Maybe we should... wait a little bit on that."

"Yeah, probably a good idea. Maybe we should--"

Jacob came by, dressed in his evil witch robes, with a weird smile on his face, one Triss didn't think she'd ever seen before.

"Beatrice, come have a blather with me for a second."

"What the fuck is a blather?"

He laughed, and held out a hand for her. "Conversation."

"Uh huh." She took his hand, and he yanked her up onto her feet like she weighed nothing.

"Jen, stay here, watch some porn." Nodding, he took Triss out of the cave.

Once outside, he wrapped them in his Cloak. It was a crazy powerful Cloak, so no one would hear a thing.

"Shit's about to go down," he said.

"What?"

"Things are happening."

"What things?"

"The drop has been made. Five by five."

"Jacob!" She gave him a hard shove, but he brushed it off, chuckling as he did. "What's going on? The fuck are you talking about?"

He smiled at her, but after a few seconds of weird silence, the smile faded.

"I wanted to know if you thought about what I asked."

"Fuck me, now?"

"Yeah now."

"About leaving? I didn't even understand the question, Jacob."

He leaned in and set a hand on her shoulder. "Things are going to change, Triss. Tonight."

"So... you're leaving, now?"

"Sort of."

"Sort of? Dude, you're freaking me out. Just tell me what's going on."

He set his other hand on her other shoulder, and stared into her soul, straight through the eye bandage. Now, she was thoroughly freaked.