My Little Ventrue Pt. 10 Ch. 17

"But we--"

"Triss." He sighed as he hugged her, and kissed her forehead. "I'm dead, alright? I'm dead. And that's okay."

Fire shot up through her hands, and she punched the man in the chest. He stumbled back.

"It's not okay! You shouldn't be dead! That wasn't fair! You got yourself killed trying to help Jack! You think that's okay? You fucking shit! You asshole! You fucking--"

He hugged her again. She squirmed and fought against him, but he held her close, and god damn it, she gave in.

"I couldn't let Jack die. And I couldn't Samantha die, either."

"I know," she whispered.

"But you're right to be angry with me."

"I know."

He laughed and stroked her hair. She relaxed against him, and sobbed a little longer.

Noises grabbed her attention, and she turned her head enough to see back to the tear. More gold shapes emerged from the glow, more and more, a whole bunch of people she didn't recognize. And a few she did.

The gold souls stepped up to the group, each of them never leaving the gold water that leaked out of the tear. Each of them, sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes more than one, found someone in the crowd. And the crowd was, predictably, frozen with shock. None of them expected to this. How could they?

Laughter grew from the gold souls when they realized they had to be the ones to break the silence, and they ran up and joined whoever it was they came to see. Some dude ran up to Clara and hugged her. A woman Triss recognized ran up to the werewolves and hugged each of them: Stephanie, the one who'd died to an azlu a few years ago. The other werewolves came, too. Carter, Monica, and Caleb. Others Triss didn't know, came up to Avery, and the old woman broke into tears. Old pack mates?

A woman came up to Eric, and hugged the stunned man.

"Mom?" Eric said, so quiet Triss had to read his lips to hear it over the growing sound of dozens of people talking.

The woman squeezed her son, and kissed his cheek, before hugging him some more. She gestured to Jessy, too, and gave the woman a quick hug before starting a conversation, which had Jessy squirming. Apparently, she was scolding the Gangrel, and she gestured to Jessy's... breasts, on a couple occasions, and mentioned Eric's dad. Weird.

Two people came up to Natasha, a man and woman. The little vampire was reduced to sobs instantly, and she hugged them like they'd vanish any moment. Probably not far from the truth.

"Julias," Antoinette said, "I... I do not understand. Please, tell me what is happening?"

Julias shrugged as he stepped away from Triss. She was tempted, so damn tempted to hold on, but some piece of her, the wise part maybe, told her it'd be a mistake.

"Black Blood's tear managed to reach across the chasm. Just a little, a tiny sliver. And the guardians"--he gestured up to the glowing orbs--"figured, after what you guys managed to do, you'd earned a quick visit from us."

"The chasm?"

Julias put up his hands. "Sorry, can't talk about it. But the guardians there gave us what we needed to cross it, and visit for a bit. Those of us that haven't sailed on past the horizon yet."

Sailed on? Past the horizon? Was the afterlife a pirate adventure?

"How long is a bit?" Triss asked.

Julias smiled down at her, but it was one of those somber smiles he used when he was about to give bad news.

"Enough time to say hello, goodbye, and maybe a few things in between."

"Right." She gulped down her guts that were trying to jump out through her throat, and forced herself to nod. "I--"

A squeal forced her to spin around, ready for whatever suddenly made someone scream. But, it wasn't that kind of scream. It was a kid's scream, the excited kind.

A woman stepped out of the tear, and a small kid ran ahead of her, a boy. Whoever the little boy was, he didn't give a shit about anything else, except one thing: Sándor. And the poor guy was struck dumb, eyes wide, and mouth dropped. He did manage to at least get down on a knee, and catch his kid, before the little guy could tackle him.

"Theo?"

"Dad!" The kid squeezed, and Sándor's eyes, still open wide and staring past the little guy, looked to the approaching woman. Tears were in his eyes. Sure, part of that was probably because his kid was crushing his fucked up arm and shoulder, but from the way he was looking at his wife, Triss knew the reason for most of them.

"Sándor," the gold woman said, and she got down on a knee with him. Slowly, she leaned in, and set a kiss on his forehead, before running her fingers over his short hair, and giving him a proper kiss.

"Margaret, I--"

"Shhh." She kissed him again, and shook her head.

The two adults went quiet, and rested their foreheads against each other, while their kid squealed with joy. It was so damn beautiful, Triss had to look away. Sándor was crying, same as her, same as everyone.

Damien wandered over, eyes drifting between everyone and the tear, before coming to Julias.

"I don't suppose--"

"Sorry, Damien," Julias said. "The older people are, the harder it is for them to get around, in the river. And elders vampires are very old." He pointed at his own neck. "Carrying anchors, you know? Takes them a long time to let them go."

"I see."

"But, I did speak to him. He's... open to the idea, that he might have been wrong. And an asshole."

Damien laughed. "Music to my ears."

Julias laughed with him, and motioned for Damien to come in closer. Damien raised a brow, but came in anyway, and Julias leaned in to whisper a few things to him. Each word had Damien's eyes widening, and eventually, a smile, the same sort of heavy, overwhelmed smile everyone else was wearing.

"Thanks," the Mekhet said. "I will."

Julias nodded as he winked at him.

Elaine and Antoinette chuckled as they looked at each other, before they both nodded, and stepped back. No one was coming to visit them. Why? Triss looked up at Julias and nodded toward the two elders.

He grinned, and nodded toward the tear.

Sure enough, a couple of new squeals joined the chorus of happy voices. Two women ran out of the tear, and went straight for Antoinette.

"Lana? Darlene?" the Prince said, staring.

Triss was seeing lots of firsts tonight. First time seeing Jacob get emotional, and now first time seeing Sándor get emotional, and Antoinette too. The Prince hadn't seen it coming. They'd all been blindsided by the dead coming out to say hi, but Antoinette looked utterly confused, like there was no way a dead person would actually want to see her again. Vampire guilt, probably, over how the Vinculum bound ghouls. But considering how devoted Sabrina had been to Viktor, post death, it was nice to see a couple of more normal girls doing the same for the Prince. They hugged her, and she hugged them.

Triss glanced Athalia's way. Daniel was with her, talking with a man Triss didn't know, some ghost from Daniel's past. Athalia was the third wheel in the conversation, and she inched away a bit to let the two talk as she glanced toward the tear a few times. Jesus christ, it hurt to watch. Go talk to her? Nah, not a good idea. Much as Triss and Athalia could actually talk to each other now, that was a far cry from--

"Mom!"

Another voice came out of the tear, and everyone shut up instantly, as a woman emerged. Even without the glass eye anymore, it was a face Beatrice would never forget. A face that shot heat up through her body until her Beast roared.

Her skin didn't shine quite as bright as everyone else's. No, that wasn't it. It was glowing, but it wasn't glowing the same color. Some different shade. Bronze? Whatever the strange color was, it also pulsed out of the thing hanging from her neck.

A stone, the size of her head, hanging from her neck by a black chain. A quick glance to Julias got the nod she was looking for. That was one of the anchors he'd been talking about.

With the rage in the woman's eyes, Triss half expected the soul's feet to taint or burn the gold water underneath her into the same black water the rest of the cave was covered in. But no, no change at all. She came closer, coughing a few times, and struggling with each step. She looked exhausted.

"Angela?" Athalia took a couple steps toward her daughter, but the look in Angela's eyes stopped her.

"Mom." Angela managed a few more steps before she fell to her knees. The anchor hit the gold water, and the splash that followed made it clear just how heavy the thing was.

Athalia didn't hesitate. She was down on her knees beside her dead daughter in a second.

"Angela, I--"

"Jeremiah," Angela said, grinding her teeth, "was... an asshole."

"What?"

"Jeremiah was an asshole!" She snapped her hands out, and grabbed her mother by the shoulders. "He took a little girl and twisted her. Made everything worse. Lied and used her. I didn't deserve that! I didn't... deserve that..."

Athalia tried to keep back her tears, but there was no point. Everyone was already in full emotional breakdown mode, and even with the craziness happening, this was still a surprise.

"No, you didn't," she said eventually, voice wavering. "And you didn't deserve what I did to you, either. What... What my Horror did to you."

"No, I didn't! You ruined my life, my childhood! The nightmares your stupid Horror put on me! I didn't deserve that! But..." She clutched her mother's shoulders tight, the both of them on their knees in the gold water, and the daughter visibly trembled. "It wasn't fair of me, to blame you for everything. It wasn't... it wasn't all your fault. I know that. I know that, and... and I came here, dragged myself here, with this stupid thing around my neck! Because... I had to... I fucking had to... I had to say I'm sorry."

Athalia blinked down at her daughter, before looking around until she spotted Beatrice, and without her usual look of anger or frustration, or even icy daggers. She looked at her like she was looking for help on what to say. And Triss didn't have a god damn clue, so, she shrugged, and gestured back to her daughter. Talk to her, you dumbass.

"You're sorry? But I--"

"I know you're sorry! You said you were sorry a hundred times. And... And I..." Angela broke down, and hugged her mother. Everyone went from silent, to stone silent. Whatever bug was going around and getting everyone sick with the sobs, they hit Angela hard. A murdering psychopath. A broken child, who never really got to have a mother.

The stone hanging from Angela's neck shrank. Hard to see, considering she was hugging Athalia, but the stone lost half its size, and the weird glow it gave off half died with it. All these dead people, dead souls, came here to say something to everyone alive, and it seemed pretty obvious now they were doing it because they wanted to help those unlucky enough to still be alive. Angela came for a different reason.

Triss looked away. From the way Julias and Mary were looking at Angela, nodding knowingly, they weren't surprised. Hell, from the little smile Triss noticed on their faces, they'd saw this coming, maybe even talked to Angela and convinced her to do this.

Triss spoke up. "Should I--"

"No," Julias whispered. "Angela's made a lot of progress, but she's got a long ways to go before she can sail."

Sail. Considering all the talk of a river, she had to wonder if that was a metaphor at all.

"I suppose y'all don't hate each other up there, do you?" Triss asked.

Superman shook his head. "No, we don't. But I can't talk about it. Literally. Part of the deal for getting to talk."

"Oh. I guess it'd be bad for business if Heaven gave up its secrets."

Laughing, Julias gave her another hug, before stepping back. "I'm gonna go talk to someone."

"But--"

"I'll talk to you again before we go. Don't worry." He winked at her, gave her his usual suave, confident jackass grin, and walked toward Sándor. Sándor!? Oh shit. She walked after him, but managed three steps before one of the gold ghosts came her way.

Sándor's wife. Tall, slim, long dark hair, and a couple of hard eyes pointed right at Triss with the sort of direct confidence only women who chewed up business proposals for breakfast had. Sándor did say she was a hardass, the sort of woman who demanded things when she wanted them. Which was pretty awesome, honestly, but right now those determined eyes were pointed at Triss, and they were more than a little scary.

Margaret came in close, put a hand on Triss's shoulder, and pulled her away from the group, leaving Sándor behind with his kid, and Julias. Julias laughed and joked with the obviously paralyzed gargoyle, no doubt doing his best to help Sándor get over the fact he was a big part of the reason Julias was dead. It was painful to watch Sándor squirm, but Triss couldn't help but smile seeing it. It'd taken a long time to get over the fact Sándor had been involved in Julias's death, and seeing Superman laughing and clapping the man on the shoulder was strangely... easing.

"You're interested in my husband?" Margaret asked.

"I uh, um..."

"Beatrice, I'm dead. Have been for years. He's not. It's okay if you're interested in him."

She winced. "Is it? I mean, after what I was doing, and--"

"You learned your lesson. Right?" Damn, her voice was hard.

"I... I did." Triss gestured around her at everything. "I--"

"I don't mean because it turned out you can't resurrect Julias. I mean because you've realized how fucked up it is, to do something so selfish. You don't get to break the rules because you think life is unfair. Right? Or did you agree with Jacob?"

It was like getting slapped in the face. Double damn, this woman could be cruel.

"No, I guess I didn't agree with him. I thought, maybe, I did, but... no, I didn't. I don't."

"Good." Margaret smirked as she leaned in, and put her arm over Triss's shoulders so they were inches from each other. "Now, I don't know if you're a good fit for Sándor. Maybe you are. I'm no match maker. But... you know about his Horror. You know about the worst of it."

"Yeah, I guess."

Sándor had to kill people to satisfy his Horror's hunger, absolutely had to, and probably in very brutal, terrifying ways. It was territory vampires were familiar with, but that was like comparing swimming in the shallow end of a pool to deep sea cave diving.

"Azamel's helped him with controlling his hunger, but it's still a problem. He dealt with it on his own when he was with me, despite my shitty attempts to help him, but I was just a human. You're not. I expect you to try and help him out, okay? Even if he pushes you away, push back."

"But what if--"

"I don't mean right now. I mean, if you two hit it off, see if you can help him find a good way to feed, okay? You're a vampire. Figure something out."

This woman's personality could smash through a brick wall. Maybe instead of her and Sándor falling in love, she'd basically bullied the man into romance? Judging from his reaction to seeing her, he did love her, though. But aggressive as Triss knew she could be, she couldn't see herself hopping a semi and driving through Sándor's boundaries and into his personal life like this woman probably had.

Then again, after the shit that'd happened, she kinda already got to see his personal life, up close. Maybe she wouldn't need the semi.

"I'll try."

"Good. Now, sex."

"What!?"

"Shh! Jesus." Margaret snapped her eyes around before leaning in closer so their foreheads touched slightly. "My husband deserves to be happy. I don't know how much of a fit you two will be, if at all, but just in case, I figure I should give you a tip."

This conversation was not happening.

"I--"

"Sándor is at odds with his Horror all the time. He hates being aggressive, because of how much it reminds him of his Horror. So, you and your 'girlfriend'", she air-quoted girlfriend, "will have to take control, when he's not with his Horror. He'll be pretty passive, usually. Take charge, and it'll go smooth."

"Wait, when he's not with his Horror?"

Margaret smiled. "And when he is, it'll be the opposite. He's a giant monster, Triss. Be prey. Run away, hide, squeal and have fun, and he'll chase you and fuck you into oblivion. It'll be great. Just, don't do it if he hasn't fed in a while, for reasons you already know."

Triss gulped. Sándor's dead wife was giving her sex tips on how to fuck the man, and on how to fuck the giant gargoyle, too. Damn, the woman would have fit in Dolareido perfectly.

"Jen, she uh, she wanted to know if--"

"Yes, he does."

"Holy shit."

"Just, be careful, okay?" Margaret said. "You know what the deal with his Horror is, how dangerous it is."

"Definitely." And if Margaret was watching her husband from Heaven, or whatever it was, she knew about the time Sándor had nearly eaten her and Jen.

Margaret grinned at her, and looked her up and down a couple times.

"I think you'll be good for him. Sándor and I loved each other, but like I said, I was human. I could only help him in so many ways. Maybe you and Jen will do a better job." Cue oddly evil grin from the woman. She knew she was making whatever she was talking about ambiguous. Jen would have loved this woman.

"You know Sándor and I aren't actually dating, right? This advice sounds a bit premature."

"Well, now you're getting his dead wife's blessing, and... and I want him to be happy. The man deserves to be happy. He's got a thousand anchors on his neck, and it's not fair. And I've seen enough. You and Jen can make him happy, in a lot of different ways." She leaned in closer again. "And I know my husband. He likes you a lot, but you've probably noticed he has a hard time showing his feelings. So, this is cheating, but that's fine. You've earned it. Get him alone -- well, not alone if you're bringing Jen -- and bully him a little to get in his pants. A little! He'll be happy you did."

"But--"

She gestured back to her husband. "Dude has trouble hurting a fly. He needs help."

Beatrice couldn't help but smile. "He really is a nice guy."

"To a fault."

"Apparently I seem to like that quality in men."

Margaret laughed. "Julias is a pretty great guy."

They both turned to watch Julias. He'd moved on from Sándor, and was chatting with Natasha and Jessy, his oldest friends. Tash was pretty much sobbing nonstop, and even Jessy was struggling to stay strong. But once Julias gave them both a hug, the Gangrel broke into sobs, too.

Triss smiled and looked back to Margaret. "You--"

The dead woman winked at her, and walked off to rejoin her husband. As she walked past Julias, the two gave each other some quick, knowing grins, before Julias came back and joined Triss again.

"Do I even want to know what you said to Sándor?" Triss asked.

Julias shook his head. "Nope. I told him all your worst secrets."

"Asshole."

He smiled at her, and she tried to return it, but it didn't last. Before she could stop it, tiny sobs worked their way through her throat, like hiccups, and she ground her teeth as she looked down.

Julias hugged her again, and stroked her hair.

"Tell Jen I love her, too, in that strange way only she seems to understand. You got a weird friend in her, but she's great, and I hope you too stay together for a long, long time."

"I will."

"And... I've got to go."

"I know." She buried her face in his chest again, and squeezed him again. Part of her thought she should be freaking out, screaming at him to not go, to stay with her. She would have, if this had happened not long after Julias died. But, much as it sickened her, she had to admit, time helped heal the wound.

Look at her, getting wiser every night.

"And--" A quick gasp from someone else cut him off.

A new person came out of the tear, someone Triss didn't recognize. But from the way Jack and Sam got up and dragged themselves over to the man, and hugs were had, it was probably James, Jack's dad. Handsome guy. He chatted with his family, and the look on Sam's face was amazing. She looked happy. The Terrys, all together again.