My Little Ventrue Pt. 10 Ch. 23

Triss smiled. "He is."

Jack sat, smiled at Triss, a gave Garry a stern look.

"I--"

"This isn't about Vicky and Parker's brothels, is it? Those two little fucks can suck my dick, Jack. Those brothels are getting problematic, and--"

Jack put up a hand. "Not about that."

"Then the fuck do you want? And why'd you bring the witch?"

"Hey!" Triss yelled.

"Oh come on, you telling me you're not a witch?"

"You said it like I was some ugly bitch making villagers sick. Which, I mean, I could do, but I resent the implication."

Garry laughed, plucked a knife that'd been stabbed into the corner of his desk, and idly flipped it in his hand as he looked back to Jack, waiting.

"I'm here," Jack said, "to talk about Jacob."

Garry stopped flipping the knife.

"I've already talked about Jacob with the Prince."

"All official, right? As official as a Primogen meeting can get."

"And?" Garry asked, narrowing his eyes.

"And, that's not what you want to hear, is it? What was said in those meetings. I know you and Jacob were friends, sort of. You want to know more about what happened, right? No Carthian was there to fill you in on the details."

With a heavy snarl, Garry stabbed the knife back into the desk's corner closest to him, and Jack got ready for a fight. But, nope, Garry stayed sitting, feet still up on the desk as he looked up and stared at the peeling, stained, white paint on the ceiling.

"And what will this information cost?"

"Nothing."

That got him to take his feet down.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing," Triss said, "you fucking asshole. Not everything needs to be a transaction."

"With the Invictus, it does."

"I'm not here as Invictus," Jack said. "If I were, I'd be telling you to stay the fuck away from Vicky and Parker's brothels before Michael retaliates." It took some doing to not make it a more personal threat. Talking with Garry was always a struggle, like trying to help a wounded animal who didn't understand you were trying to help, so they kept snapping at you as you tried to undo the trap. It put Jack on edge.

The man laughed and shrugged. "Alright. Lay it on me, kid. What do you want to tell me about that fucker?" And there it was. Garry frowned, voice darkened, and followed his words with a quiet snarl. He wasn't happy with Jacob.

"That Jacob wasn't a villain."

"The fuck are you talking about? He's dead, right? You and the Prince and that bitch Elaine killed him because he--"

"We killed him, yeah." Better he think that than knowing Sam did it. "And stopped Black Blood. But, Jacob wasn't a villain."

"He stirred up the hornet's nest on purpose, Jack, and got me and Michael fighting. He got Avery on Maria's ass, and nearly got her killed." Her, being Avery. Garry didn't give a shit about Maria. "And unless I'm wrong, Antoinette was pretty clear Jacob is the reason Avery showed up in the first place, and lost people to the azlu. Jacob--"

"Jacob barely lifted a finger and had you and Michael ready to burn the city down to kill each other and ruin each other's lives. Don't put that on Jacob. Yes, he tricked Avery and others to go after Maria, but if Avery had just taken a second to talk to Maria, that wouldn't have been a problem. And yes, Black Blood lured them here to fight azlu for him, but Avery wants to fight azlu. Her whole pack does. Even if he hadn't specifically lured her, she'd have happily come."

Garry raised a brow. "You're seriously defending him? You?"

"I figure you deserve to know the truth." Or at least some of it. "Jacob, and even Black Blood, weren't just a couple of villains trying to fuck everything over. Sure, their goals were selfish, but they wanted to share their goal with everyone. They legitimately wanted to help the whole world, Garry, especially Jacob. Fucked up as it was, twisted as it was, they wanted to help. Hell, Jacob could have killed us at any time, at the end there. He didn't. He wanted us alive and around when things changed, and I don't think it was to gloat. He just... He..."

"Jacob was awesome," Triss said. "And yeah, he needed to be stopped, but no one walked away from that fight thinking Jacob was some shithole fuckwad, Garry. He was a great guy. Maybe misguided and fucked in the head, I don't know, but he was a great guy. I miss my boss."

Garry looked between the two of them, silence heavy in the room. But after a minute to think about it, Garry nodded as he leaned back in his chair and put his feet back up.

"Jacob and I were always strange friends. We agreed on a lot of things, and disagreed on others. He really fucking hated Avery for what Simon did. If I hadn't talked to him, I wouldn't be surprised if he... if he woulda killed her. Poor guy was really fucked up."

Jack didn't say anything. Triss didn't say anything. Everyone stewed in the shitty reality that Jacob hadn't been some horrible person, some vile asshole villain who needed to be put down. He was a man who'd been hurt, and saw a way to 'fix' that problem for everyone.

"How's your mom taking it?" Garry asked.

Jack didn't flinch.

"She's recovering, pretty fast, too. The whole situation was weird. She really liked Jacob, but he also really helped her... find herself, I guess. She's not the same person anymore." He smiled. "I owe Jacob for some of that." And his sister for a lot of it, too.

After an awkward laugh, Garry grabbed his knife again and resumed tossing it in one hand, flipping it handle to handle each time.

"You came all this way just to have a chat about Jacob?"

"You're not that far."

"Far enough. But don't think I'm taking this as a favor done, Jack. I don't owe you anything for this, got it?"

"Got it."

"But... thanks, anyway."

Nodding, Jack got up and made for the door, but stopped.

"Garry."

"Yeah?"

"You play an instrument?"

"The fuck?"

"He plays a bit of bass," Triss said as she got up and joined him. "Just a bit."

Jack nodded, grinning.

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

"The fuck do you want, Jack?"

Oh boy.

Wincing, Jack forced himself to keep eye contact with Avery. Every time he talked with her, it was more and more obvious the woman was wolf software running on human hardware. He had to treat her like a dangerous animal, and that included not showing signs of weakness.

"Just wanted to check up on the pack."

Avery grumbled and looked back to her TV. She sat on her couch in her apartment, a couple of her pack nearby watching as well, but it was clear Jack's arrival had soured things a bit.

No Clara. He looked, but no, she wasn't around, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"We're fine," Avery said.

"Yeah, you sure sound fine." Maybe a little bit of his classic cynicism and sarcasm would push the conversation along better.

"You really gonna visit just to get on my bad side? And why's the witch here?"

"I'm already on your bad side. And Triss is here because she's my friend." He smiled at the Nosferatu standing beside him, and she fist-bumped him in return.

"Figured you'd take that Damien dude with you," Avery said. "He was damn good with a sword."

"It's his day off. But that doesn't matter anyway. I'm here because... we haven't really talked much since that night, and--"

"What? That fucking surprises you? Jack, I had to watch that curse thing use your body and kill two of my family. Not to mention nearly kill the rest of us."

"I know. I just thought--"

"Thought what? That because I got to talk to their ghosts, or souls or whatever, and that Monica and Caleb gave you a pass, that I'm going to stop seeing your face every time I think about how they died?"

Fucking ow. Jack looked down, shaking his head. "I... I..."

"Fucking bitch," Triss said. "You just fucking said that wasn't Jack."

"I know it wasn't." Avery got to her feet and marched up to them. For a little woman, she could march. "And Caleb and Monica told me to not blame you. Hell, they told me to thank you for everything you've done. And sure, I'll do that, I'll thank you for everything you've done, kid. But... I'm only human."

"You're not human," Triss said.

"Oh shut up, you know what I mean. I'm just a fucking person, and... and I think about Stephanie and Carter, and I'm fucking wrecked. I think about Monica and Caleb, and I'm fucking wrecked. But at least with Steph and Carter, I get to have my revenge. I hunt and I kill those fucking abominations and have for a fucking century. But... Monica and Caleb? All I can see when I think about them, is that Ripper asshole wearing Jack's skin."

Heavy silence, even worse than with Garry.

"Yeah, I get you." Nodding, Jack turned and reached for the doorknob. "Sorry. I thought--"

Avery put a hand on his shoulder and turned him around.

"Kid, what I'm saying, is... just give me a bit of space, okay? Give it a few years and maybe I'll be able to look you in the eye."

He breathed relief. "Okay, sure. Um, and Clara, she--"

"Is handling it better than I am. She's still young."

"Good. Where is--"

"Out with Harcourt, getting laid I assume."

Triss and Jack smiled at each other, before stepping out.

"Hey, Avery," Triss said. "You play an instrument?"

"Bit of drums. Why?"

Triss and Jack's smiles only grew as they left, leaving Avery with eyebrow cocked and confused.

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

Triss and Jack walked the streets, slowly heading back to the more populated center of South Side. They didn't say anything for a while. Not an awkward silence, just a silence that didn't need to be broken. If it hadn't been for Julias's visiting them to say goodbye that final time, it definitely would have been an awkward silence, and painful. It'd be the sort of silence most people had to deal with when hanging around with people who used to be connected by someone, and now that someone was gone.

Jack and Triss were lucky. Unlucky, and lucky.

"I'm on my way to Damien's," she said after a bit. "Piano lessons."

"So much for him having a day off."

"Dude. Teaching me is a delight."

"Ha. Good enough to play anything yet?"

"Nah, not really. I mean, some simple Disney stuff?"

He laughed. "Figures."

"How's that?"

"You're the type who's probably always wanted to be a Disney princess."

"Hey, fuck you. I am a beacon of feminism. I don't need no king or--"

"You want to sit in bed, get fed pancakes -- or blood now, I suppose -- by a bunch of servants, while your dad rules a kingdom and owns a giant castle. You want to try on fancy custom-made dresses, and have suitors doing everything in their power to win your hand."

She snorted and shoved him. He shoved her back.

"Hey, that... does sound awesome."

"As awesome as a cave filled with skulls and candles and ritual symbols?"

"I mean, yeah? I live in a cave filled with skulls and candles and ritual symbols. Being a pampered princess would be novel." Despite her attempts to hide it, he could see her grinning.

"What's up?"

"Well, Sándor asked me to move in with him, sorta."

"That's... wait... weird? I mean--"

"Not like that. I mean, into his lair. We still haven't seen Aaron, and I'm pretty sure he's just up and left Dolareido. But if he hasn't--"

"He's not gonna--"

"Dude, you don't know. You didn't see him, at the end, when he tried to stop me. He--" She cut herself off this time, and waved both hands for a second. "Don't worry about it. He's my problem, and I've got a few rituals set up to hopefully warn me -- us -- if he shows up. I was gonna say, because no place I sleep is perfectly safe, Sándor's letting me stay at his place, his lair. And, uh..." She squirmed a bit, rubbed one of her arms once, and looked down as she smiled. "He was pretty insistent I could stick around."

"Stick around? You mean, live there?"

"I guess? Kinda? ...yeah, live there." She shivered. "That's fucking scary!"

"He is a nightmare monster. The castle is, literally, a nightmare."

"Not because of that. Er, mostly not because of that. I meant more normal shit. How the fuck do you live with someone else?"

"You hadn't been living with Jennifer and Jacob and them?"

"Fuck no. I hung out there, sure, slept there too but that ain't exactly 'living'. Sándor thinks I could, like, live with him."

"Which is... what? Hanging out in his lair slightly more than you did the witch cave?"

She threw up her hands. "It's symbolic!"

"Symbolism is a trap. Just think about the reality. You're gonna spend more time with the guy you love--"

"Whoa whoa whoa! No L words have been exchanged yet."

He leaned in and eyed her. "Really?"

Rolling her eyes, she shoved him away hard enough to hit a lamppost. None of the nearby kine looked. Her Obfuscate skills were getting better.

"Really. Awesome monster sex aside, my relationship with Sándor is very... normal, and new."

"And normal means what? You can't say things like 'I love you' because there's no big, dramatic moment to underline it?" He leaned in again, eying her until she turned away slightly. "The relationships that need big dramatic moments are called 'toxic relationships'."

She put a hand on his shoulder, but instead of shoving, she pat it slightly, and smiled.

"Getting smart in your old age."

"My sire taught me a lot. He was awesome."

"Yeah, he was." Laughing, her pat turned into a shove, and she timed the shove so his shoulder hit a lamppost dead on this time. "Yeah, it's normal, and I'm very afraid of ruining that. It's so comfy."

"I admit, comfy does sound nice."

"Dude, there is no one living a comfier life than you."

"Eh?"

"We all saw you getting jerked off by Elaine onto the Prince's tits, with five"--she held up five fingers--"kine there to kiss it all off."

"Oh... right." Damn it, Ashley. "Sex aside! I love Antoinette and my relationship with her, but I wouldn't exactly call it comfy, in a normal kinda way. And thinking about it, maybe I wouldn't like normal? I dunno."

"Well I do, apparently. I like that I can get in bed with Sándor and we can cuddle and watch a movie and no one has to say a fucking thing. It's almost like... all the drama shit got wrung out of us before we ever started dating."

"If you're gonna be basically living at his place now, then maybe it's something to think about?"

That got another smile out of her, and she nodded as she looked down, thinking. She loved the guy, she knew it, but it was just so weird for her to be in a normal relationship she didn't know how to approach the topic. In another month or so, they'd sit down and have a romantic, powerful, but otherwise normal and healthy conversation where they'd share their feelings with each other. In her lover's castle.

Before he could stop himself, he laughed.

"The fuck is so funny?"

"Disney princess is moving in with a beast and his giant castle. Does he have talking utensils?"

"Dude, fuck off." She tried to go for a shove again, but he managed to jump out of the way. "And Belle wasn't a princess. Plus, the castle is creepy as fuck."

"You like creepy."

"And it has a giant ghost town outside of it."

"You like the ghost town." He put up a hand before she could retort. "Go live your Disney fantasy... metal version, I guess."

"Ha, I guess that is what it is, isn't it? Fine, fine, I'll go live in a giant castle, safe and secure and getting routinely railed by a giant sexy monster. And hey, maybe I'll invite your mom, and she can join Jen and me riding Sándor. Think she can handle two giant dicks at once?"

"Dude... not cool."

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

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

~~Damien~~

"Aye? Ye did?" Fiona asked.

Jen grinned wildly as she nodded. "Yeap."

Damien groaned as he rolled his eyes, and glared down at the piano keys in front of him. They were in his apartment, Beatrice beside him on his piano bench, and they were supposed to be going through piano lessons for her. But when Fiona and Jennifer were around, it was impossible to get her to focus. She sat on the bench backward, facing the others on the couches, laughing and even occasionally giggling, a sound she never used to make.

He didn't say anything. Much as this chattering annoyed him, it made Fiona happy. And, it made Beatrice happy. It even made Samantha happy. She sat beside Fiona, and couldn't help but giggle along with her, sometimes outright losing control and letting out a snort from how hard she laughed. Triss and Samantha deserved some happiness.

And, in a painful way, this was sort of like exposure therapy for him, all this socializing. The problem was when Jen steered the conversation toward sexual topics, and Fiona not only did nothing to stop her, she pounced on the opportunity.

"We were both dying for it," Jennifer said. "After seeing what your blood did for Damien, first thing we did is head back and do that to Sándor, and--"

"You saw Fiona with Damien?" Samantha asked. "Details!"

Triss chuckled, glanced Damien's way, snickered at him and his probably very obviously uncomfortable expression, and looked back to the girls.

"We found Fiona and Damien having some wonderful sex at Bloodlust a couple days ago," Jennifer said. "He'd taken a drink of this cute little creature already." She leaned in and gave Fiona a playful slap on the knee. "So naturally, Fiona was making quite a mess all over the man. But it was Damien that surprised us. A private man, not exactly prone to outward acts, correct?"

Everyone looked to Damien.

He put his fingers on the keys and played the famous eight notes of Beethoven's 5th symphony. All the girls laughed.

"Well!" Jen continued, "it definitely left an impression with us. Lots of hugging, and choking, and spanking."

"Oh my." Samantha peeked over the couch to Damien, and Damien caught her in the corner of his eye before looking back to his piano.

"So we tasted Sándor, and... oh my, the rush. The absolute rush. It was so powerful, overwhelming, and frightening. It was like... getting drunk, very quickly--if memory serves. But also the same adrenaline rush of a flight or fight reaction. It was extreme. We were unprepared."

Fiona giggled as she nodded. "I hope ye enjoyed it."

"We did. But then Sándor surprised us. I mean, he told us he was going to do it, but it still surprised us."

"What did? Oh aye, right. He took ye to his lair."

"Yes. And... proceeded to fuck us until we couldn't walk anymore."

Damien slowly peeked back over his shoulder again. Okay, yes, this wasn't a conversation he'd planned to be a part of, but they were here, in his living room. And the idea of Sándor, the giant gargoyle, having sex with two women at once, while transformed, was... intriguing.

"Details!" Fiona said, squealing.

Jen, obviously thriving on Fiona's and Samantha's enthusiasm, held up two fingers.

"Two. Two cocks."

"Two?" Samantha asked.

"Two. And they were... very, very large. And one was bigger than the other."

"Which," Triss said, "I had to handle, because Jen here was too much of a pussy."

Jen scoffed. "Well I'm sorry if--"

"No no no, you don't get to play innocent here." Apparently giving up on the pretense of being here to learn piano, Triss hopped off the bench and sat down beside her girlfriend. "This bitch here was fucking the smaller dick, which was still fucking giant mind you, while I had to handle the bigger one. And then Jen taps out! Like it's wrestling! Before I knew it she was helping Sándor get both dicks inside me, and I was lucky I didn't just explode by the end of it."

"How big?" Fiona asked.

"Fiona!" Damien reached out from the bench and gave the back of the couch a slap. Of course that did nothing to deter his girlfriend. She just giggled, stuck her tongue out at him, and leaned back toward the girls.

Jen held up hands, indicating a size. A huge size.

"Like that," Jen said. "Thicker than my wrist. And that was the smaller one."