My Little Ventrue Pt. 10 Ch. 09

"I'm moving everyone, Triss. We're all moving."

"I, uh, what?"

"I'm changing the rules for this stupid game, Triss. Everything. And we're all going. That shit I said before about leaving? I didn't mean I'm leaving. I meant everything is. I'm changing the rules to this stupid fucking game, and I want to know if you're okay with that."

"Okay? Jesus Jacob, I still don't even know what you fucking mean!"

"Oh. You don't know." He let her go and started walking in the direction of Dolareido. "I can't explain everything. It'll take too long. The Prince is up to something, and if I don't get this stone rolling now, I might never. We're out of time."

No fucking way. She grabbed his hand and yanked on it, hard enough to half turn him to face her.

"The fuck did you bring me out here for then!?"

"I thought maybe you knew what was happening, at little a least, but you don't. The Prince and her friends have been keeping secrets and keeping them well."

"Secrets? Jacob, my head is spinning. Just tell me what's happening."

He let out of a heavy sigh. Whatever it was he'd planned to do, her not already knowing about it had slowed down his attempts to explain enough to the point he was just going to go without her. Well, fuck that.

"If I told you there's another way to see Julias again, another way to have him in your life, would you take it?"

"Are you fucking serious? I--"

"Answer the question," he said, voice cold and hard.

She froze. "I... I mean... I..."

He turned and faced her, eyebrows heavy, but it was like something had just carved his face out of steel.

"You were finally moving on, weren't you? Finally ready to let him go."

"Not... Not ready. But, I was getting there. After what happened to Mary, and... yeah..." She gave his shoulder another shove. "And you told me to! You told me to forget about him and move on!"

He nodded, every shred of joy gone from his body language. None of the usual chaos Triss was so familiar with, and liked. It was like she was looking at a monolith.

"I suppose I should have told you you didn't have to move on. But, fuck me, I didn't know if it'd work. We're so close, and now Annie's doing what she always does: tries to keep the status quo, keep the peace. But it doesn't have to be like this! We can change the rules. We can tear it all down, and change everything."

She gulped on a dry throat as she stared at him. "Jacob, you're scaring me. What... What are you doing? What's going on?"

"There's no time."

"What the fuck!? You pulled me out here and started talking about resurrecting Julias again, and--"

He came in, came in fast. One moment he was standing there a few feet from her. The next, directly in front of her, inches from her face, and the moving air he'd pushed aside came a second later.

"I didn't say resurrecting Julias, Beatrice. Think bigger. Think so much bigger."

"I... I still don't--"

"Don't worry about it. I thought you knew, thought maybe Jack told you the little he knows, maybe you'd pieced things together. It doesn't matter. I thought maybe we'd talk about it, maybe I'd show you, maybe... It doesn't matter. We can talk later, after I've torn down the walls."

Before she could say anything, he stepped back, and vanished.

"Jacob? Jacob!" Nothing. Silence.

She stood there, unmoving, staring, processing, and each time her slow-ass brain managed to absorb something he'd said, a shard of ice stabbed her in the back.

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

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

~~Damien~~

Fiona recovered from Mary's second death quickly. It wasn't because she'd only spent a little time with Mary in the time she was alive. Fiona got attached to people in a matter of minutes, especially someone like Mary. But she also bounced back, never forgetting what she lost, but at the same time, immune to being dragged down by a memory.

They'd go visit her ghost soon. It'd probably make Fiona cry again, but she insisted.

For now, they sat on Fiona's bed, surrounded by cute stuffed animals, with Fiona sitting on Damien's lap. Naked, with her hands tied behind her back, she rested her head on his shoulder, legs wrapped around his waist and hips. He'd fed on her, fed deep; it being the first time they'd made love since the incident at the ball, they both had some pent up desire to spend. An hour later, Fiona was absolutely exhausted. Still exhausted from the Kiss, and she would be for many hours yet, and exhausted from an hour of Damien ravaging her, driven to almost animal aggression from the strange, powerful kick of her blood.

He peeked down over her shoulder, and grinned. Her hands were cuffed, and resting against her lower back, and her ass was bright red.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Nnnmmmn."

He chuckled as he kissed her cheek, the rush of her blood finally settling. Mostly. He was still quite hard, so he set his hands on her ass again, and gently moved her back and forth against him.

Damien had never considered himself to be a breast man. He'd never considered himself a sexual man at all, but that likely had something to do with a healthy dose of brainwashing in his young life, and harboring resentment toward Slut City. Having a healthier second life and an amazing girlfriend certainly changed that. And the feel of her very, very, very large, soft breasts squashed against his chest, was euphoric. The werewolves were all extremely fit, and all the vampires were groomed before siring, often at a point of peak physique, always with some degree of abs and whatnot. Fiona's body, on the other hand, had a hint of softness to it that he adored. She liked chocolate.

He smiled down at her, and pushed forward a bit so she was forced to lean back, body arching as he kept his hands on her lower back. Her head dangled between her shoulders, and her chest jutted out, allowing her massive breasts to flow back and forth against her like water as he softly fucked her. Her freckles on her pale skin were utterly gorgeous, and he leaned down to kiss the ones he found along her sternum and top of her breasts.

He came inside her again, and gave her a few extra hard bounces, earning some tiny, weak squeaks from her. Fiona was borderline comatose, but he knew she was still awake, and from their conversations, he knew one of her favorite kinks was to be rendered borderline catatonic with exhaustion, and get used like a sex toy.

He slid her off, gently rolled her onto her side, and uncuffed her. She quivered like a leaf every moment, even as he slid her under the blankets, grabbed one of her favorite stuffed animals, and set it against her chest. Without thinking, she slowly slid her trembling arms around it, and hugged it against her as she melted into the bed and pillow. Why she wanted to snuggle with an octopus, he didn't know, but the stuffed animal was indeed a cute octopus, and she loved it.

It'd been a gift, him to her, but not his idea. Jessy had suggested it, because apparently despite her being... Jessy, she knew how to shop for a bubbly girl like Fiona. The Gangrel was somehow simultaneously very dumb, and very smart, and he doubted he'd ever figure her out.

Chuckling, he curled up under the blankets with his girlfriend, snuggled in behind her, and hugged her.

"You okay?" he asked again.

"Mmn... mnnn."

He grinned down at her, kissed her neck, and slid his hugging arm higher. Big as her breasts were, with her on her side, the upper one squished the lower, and he slipped his hand between them. So soft, so heavy, he gently cupped and squeezed her higher breast, earning a couple more half-asleep groans from Fiona.

And then he squeezed and fondled it a few times, because it was apparently his right as boyfriend if the girlfriend was ever too tired to wake up in the morning, or was too tired to stop him after sex. He didn't necessarily agree, but Fiona -- and Jessy -- insisted it was true. And ultimately, he was a man, a weak man, and if his extremely busty girlfriend was comfortable with him playing with her breasts whenever he wanted, he had to take advantage of the offer.

A wise young man once said: 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.

"Still a lot of hours in the night," he said.

"Mmm."

"I told you we should have waited 'til later. What am I gonna do now until sunrise?"

"Mmm."

"I could tie you up and leave you like that, all night."

She managed a quiet, weak chuckle as she turned over onto her back. Naturally, he slid the blanket down to her stomach, so he could admire how her giant breasts squished and spread against her chest. She took the cute octopus with her, holding it on her chest.

"Mn... mmmm."

"Or I could lie here with you, and hold you all night long."

"Mmmmmm." She turned into him, and snuggled into his chest. She couldn't get too close, with the octopus now between their sternums, but she tried anyway.

He slipped his arm around her back, and kissed her forehead. "I love you."

"Mm."

He laughed again, and--

The phone rang. Jack's ringtone.

Groaning, he let go of Fiona, and fetched the phone from the nightstand.

"Jack."

"Damien. You ready to fight an azlu?"

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

Wearing a comfortable casual suit, and a trench coat with a very long sword between his shoulder blades, Damien joined Jack on the street, and they made their way to the tear.

"I could be back with Fiona, you know."

Jack laughed as he glanced up, likely checking to see if his crows were following. They were.

"Did I interrupt something?"

"We were finished. But sometimes I do like to cuddle, you know?"

"Cuddling is nice."

"And I Kissed her, so she's very... vulnerable, right now." Damien didn't really consider himself the 'talk about sex with friends' kind of man, but living in Dolareido with Fiona for a girlfriend was changing him. Plus, after everything Jack and Damien had seen of each other, and of their girlfriends, there really wasn't much to get shy about.

Jack grinned at him. "I have to admit, that sounds nice. I can't exactly do that with Antoinette. Can't Kiss her. And I wouldn't snuggle with my thralls or her ghouls. Bit too personal."

"There is... something satisfying, about holding her when she's so weak she can barely lift a finger. Sometimes I... never mind." There was such thing as too much information. Talk about sex, sure. Actively describe how Damien, on a couple occasions, snuggled with Fiona after sex, found himself playing with her breasts until he was hard again, climbed onto her, and fucked her breasts while she was too exhausted or weak to do anything but smile and mewl? Bit too much.

If Fiona had her way, there'd be a full video recording of one of their longer sessions like earlier tonight. She'd share it with everyone, and point and giggle and swoon over every single thing, particularly the cuddling. And knowing his girlfriend, it'd only be the beginning. Before long, he'd be joining Natasha, Jessy, and Jack as, apparently, porn stars.

Jack grinned at him again, but it faded as he sighed, the two of them turning an alley in North Side as they headed around the building to enter from the back.

"Talk to Mary?" Damien asked.

"I tried. She hides. I know she's talked to Mom, but I'm pretty sure she's talked to no one else... except maybe Jacob."

Damien glanced Jack's way. That couldn't have felt good, knowing the man they all suspected of concocting an apocalyptic ritual, was able to talk to his ghost sister while he couldn't. He shouldn't have asked. Time for a topic change.

"Azlu. We know it's there, now?"

"Avery says she's seen signs of it," Jack said, "a few times, and it seems to be following some kind of schedule. Pretty normal, animals do that."

"Azlu are animals?"

"I mean, prehistoric half flesh half spirit animals, but still animals. Avery says it'll show up any time now. She thinks the spot's become some sort of hot spot for them and they come through every few days. They want to seal up the hole, but haven't, because we always have someone keeping guard."

"We don't right now?"

"Caleb's been hanging out this time. He's Irraka, whatever that means, and can stay hidden and stuff."

"Like the Cloak?" Damien asked.

"I guess. Supposedly he's pretty good at hiding, better than most Irraka according to her."

"She does seem to know her stuff."

Jack scoffed. "She tried to kill Fiona, thinking she was an azlu."

Damien shrugged. "I mean, she is a human spider monster hybrid thing, just like azlu. A thousand times more attractive than an azlu, but still."

"What, her sense of smell couldn't tell the difference?"

"Maybe she thought it was a unique breed or something?"

They both shrugged as they opened the door to the back of the old abandoned building, and into the basement. As he did, Scully and Mulder flew down and perched on his shoulders.

"Sorry buddies," Jack said. "We're getting into some potentially dangerous stuff tonight. I can't take you."

Both crows flapped their wings a few times, and cawed at Jack.

"Not happening. We're gonna fight an azlu. That means spiderwebs, and ghosts, considering where we're gonna be fighting. Way too many ways for you two to get hurt, or maybe even left behind if something horrible happens. You're staying here, where it's safe... er."

They squawked.

"No arguing! No, wait for us up on the building. I got Damien with me, and Sándor, and a bunch of werewolves. I'll be fine." He slid a hand along one shoulder, forcing one crow to hop onto his hand, and then the same for the other. "Now go."

After a couple more loud caws, they obeyed.

"We could use them," Damien said. "Where we're going, scouts would be very useful."

"Caleb, Monica, and Carter can be our scouts. I'm not risking my friends, not again."

"Aren't I your friend?"

Jack laughed and shook his head. "Hell no. You think that's why we hang out all the time? I just need you for a shield."

"Makes sense. Very Danse Macabre of you."

They chuckled as they walked down the stairs into the basement of the building.

Avery and Clara were there, along with Caleb, Noah, Carter, David, Erica, Mason, and Monica. Which left Art, Matt, Brianna, and Eric missing from the Uratha of Dolareido. Sándor was with in the basement too, though it only took a small glance to realize the man was distracted by something, eyes pointed down, brows slightly furrowed. Furrowed was unique for him, a change from his usual neutral expression.

Everyone was dressed casually and ready for a fight. T-shirts, loose jeans, sneakers or army boots and whatnot. Damien expected to be the only one wielding weapons, save for Jack, but Carter had a flamethrower with him. Which made Damien and Jack extremely nervous.

"Hey," Jack said, offering a small wave. Damien said nothing, no need.

Everyone looked up, and a few of them returned the wave. Sándor nodded, but otherwise, went back to whatever thoughts were probably torturing him.

"Where are the others?" Damien asked.

Avery spoke up first. "Black Blood's in the spirit world. We spotted it up to something, making some kind of move near one of the tears. Brianna, Matt, Art, and Eric are investigating, along with Tash and Jessy I guess. And Flow."

Flow, the giant water spirit that worked with Avery. It'd been forever since Damien had seen her... it, and the sight had been damn impressive. How Avery had recruited its help, no vampire knew, and the spirit Flowing Sanctuary was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

"You think he's going to create a new tear?" Jack asked.

"I think 'it'"--she emphasized it--"is definitely up to something. The fact I don't know is infuriating, and I have no choice but to play the recon game. But, it's going to do something at the same time I think the azlu are going go check out this tear." She gestured to the literal tear in the air behind her. "So something's up. We're gonna catch this azlu, kill it, torch it, and the other team is gonna report back what Black Blood's up to asap. Sándor has that Mark fellow watching the other tear, deep in the Great Below, and he can report back to us, too."

"You think tonight's the night of the ritual?" Damien asked.

Sándor shrugged slightly. "Mark reports nothing unusual, but that could easily change."

"He got a way to get to here from there?" Jack asked.

"Not to this specific place, no. There will be a delay information, if something happens. Athalia is waiting in the tunnels, in case Mark does report something. She may be able to help, and perhaps ask for Fiona's help."

Damien sucked in a breath between his teeth, loud enough everyone looked at him.

"Fiona...," he said, "may not be available."

Avery glared. "And why is that? This is kind of important."

"I... Kissed her, a couple hours ago. Thoroughly. She's completely drained. So, I mean... unless we fight in the dream realm, where she can merge with her Horror and help us..."

Every single werewolf groaned, and Damien shifted in place a couple times. Shit.

Clara raised a hand. "Why isn't Daniel coming with us? He's the sheriff, right? This seems like his kinda bag."

"I texted him," Jack said. "He said he was busy with the Prince."

"Busy?"

"Busy, which is sheriff-speak for doing something extremely dangerous and relevant. Otherwise, I'm sure he'd be here." Jack walked over to join the crowd, and Damien followed behind. "We going in?"

"Yeap. Caleb, stealth up and go in first. Carter, Monica, follow him in, scout out the area. Damien, cloak us up."

Damien nodded, and tapped into his vitae. Deep into his vitae. He was great at the Cloak of Night, but Cloaking a whole group of people? Difficult. It was a good thing he had a belly full of Begotten blood.

"Anyone staying on this side?" Jack asked.

Avery shook her head. "Everyone joins the hunt. Besides, it's not like we need someone on this side, holding a rope. Wouldn't do anything."

"True, I guess."

Leave it to Jack to voice Damien's concerns. The idea of all of them going through the portal and into the Great Below, was a scary idea, because it meant they were at the mercy of the tear. Sándor was coming with them though, and if for some reason they couldn't use the tear, he could get them out. He was Begotten.

Damien walked around, and touched everyone on the shoulder. Some physical contact would make it easier. They couldn't keep touching him, which would have made it even easier, but a quick touch would hopefully be enough. He didn't need to with Carter, Monica, or Caleb, thank the Lord. Still, that was half a dozen werewolves, and Jack, and Sándor, he had to cloak.

Going through the tear was a strange business. It looked like it was thin until you got close, and then you could see the tear had a thickness to it only visible from within. Avery had said it reminded her of the gold and white you saw when crossing the Gauntlet that separated the physical and spirit realms. And it did look similar, though instead of gold, there was black. Endless black, like looking into oblivion. He thought he saw stars, but the white dots in the distance moved noticeably when he did. If he wanted to, he could reach out and touch them.

He did not touch them. Crossing the Gauntlet had been scary enough, and according to the Uratha, there was a chance things lived inside the wall separating the spirit and physical world. And, according to them, it held secrets they had no way of discovering. So he kept his hands to himself as he crawled through the tear, and got back onto his feet on the other side.

The Great Below. One unfathomably giant cave, with walls of dark rock so tall they could fit a city, skyscrapers included. Fog drifted, ebbing and flowing like a slow, lazy ocean. Swarms of ghosts miles away moved, drifting over land and through the air overhead, holding green lanterns. From so far, the lanterns were only distinguishable as green dots, surrounded by blobs of haze.