Secret Sins Ch. 17

"Don't soak your panties, Grammie, nothing happened."

"Last warning about the grammie thing, sweetie pie. And she was sleeping with the side of her face right between those nice, big tits of yours."

"That's right, she was sleeping."

"Oui, that's right, sleeping with her mouth about three inches from one of those permanently erected nipples of yours."

"I was wearing a blouse and bra," I reminded with a smile.

"The drool was a very sexy touch, I might add."

"That's enough," I droned, settling in on my side with my back to her. She'd been putting horny images and ideas in my head, and I was trying to be a decent person, at least for the sake of our hosts.

"You want her, don't you?" she said more than asked, not teasing now.

(Pause)

"Yes," I admitted in a voice so small I at first wondered if she even heard it.

"Well, she's nice. They all are. It makes it better, you know."

I nodded, assuming she was looking.

"But, you should take her," she said.

"I was so tempted," I further admitted, no longer angry with her about it. It wasn't her fault. She wasn't the disease, but only another victim, patient zero, and she was as heavily infected, possibly more so, than I was.

"No, I mean you should take her. Keep her."

(Pause)

In practically a single movement, I flipped around and sat up in bed.

"What?"

"Keep her. She'd be good for you."

"Seraphine, she's not a cat," I explained. "She's a person."

"Elena is a bit like a cat. Maybe that's why I kinda like her."

"Are you hearing yourself? I will not treat people like anim-"

"Elena!" she yelled.

"Oh no, Seraphine, what are-?"

"Elena! Get your pretty little ass in here!"

"Oh my God," I groaned, face in my hands.

Less than ten seconds later, my new little friend stood in the doorway, sleepy eyed but ready and willing to serve, her nipples making as big an impression on me as they were on her top.

"Another drink, Ma'am?"

"No," Seraphine told her with the devil's smile. "Just come sit on the bed with us."

"Okay," she agreed with a yawn.

"Elena," my grandmother started once the girl had situated herself on the mattress with a vapid smile for us, "I want you to tell me the capital city of Canada."

" ... Washington."

"Do you know how babies are made?"

" ... Uh... Mummy..."

"If you bought a can of pop for one Dollar and ten cents with a five Dollar bill, how much change would you get back?"

"Ummm..."

"Do you know what a noun is?"

" ... Is that like, on Dr. Who? Oh, it's one of the bad guys on Dr. Who, isn't it?" she asked, bouncing a little on the mattress with an excited smile.

"Yes, it is," Seraphine lied with a loving grin.

While I had no idea what she was trying to prove with any of this, I was running out of patience with it. It was beginning to border on insulting, and I knew that Seraphine could, at times, be quite insensitive if not downright cruel.

"Do you know who the Prime Minister of Canada is?"

"Um, I think his first name is... Ray. Is that right?"

"Seraphine," I warned.

"Sure it is, baby. Now tell me, how many times do you have to multiply the number ten by itself before you get potato?"

"That's enough!" I snapped. "What the fuck are you trying to prove!?"

Elena was a little startled at my sudden, fierce tone with a woman who could easily throw me through the side of her father's RV. But Seraphine only smirked at me, saying, "My, that's quite a reaction for such a small joke, the first of many, and many worse, I'm sure. Elena's awfully lucky to have a friend like you."

"If you're trying to do what I think you're try-"

"Elena, aren't you lucky to have the Lieutenant as your friend?"

"Am I ever! She's so cool, and... she's pretty, too."

"She sure is. I'll bet you want to stay friends with her forever."

"Yeah!"

"Sure you do. That'd be pretty hard if she ever left you though, huh?"

"Seraphine!"

"She- she wouldn't do that," Elena said, though her glance told me in no uncertain terms that she was now afraid that I'd do exactly that.

"Elena," I broke in with a forced, reassuring smile, "stop hearing our voices until I clap my hands."

Her attention began to drift like a boat that's been untied from the dock as La Sorciere de riviere and I squared off once again.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" I demanded. "You don't think she gets teased and used enough? I've been in her mind, and the only blessings she has is her family and the fact that she can't understand why some people treat her the way they do!"

"I know that. I've been in that mind too. She doesn't have much of a life ahead of her, does she?"

"Not thanks to people like you!"

"Well, thank your God for people like you."

"Are you seriously trying to tell me to take on a...?"

"A retard?"

"Shut up!"

"It doesn't matter what word you use, sweetie pie, it all means the same thing. She'd be a good little friend for you, and you for her. Of course, I'd expect you to share her, but she'd be yours and a lot happier with you than she'll be without you."

"She has her family!" I pointed out.

"Don't be so short sighted. How long do you think it will be before she ends up in a facility somewhere? You can do things for her that her family can't."

"What is it that you think I can do for her, and I wish I had popcorn for this!"

"Ooh, we can have Elena go make us some of that microwave popcorn they have now with the butter inside the-"

My facial expression was interruption enough.

"(Sigh) Why does it always have to be like this with you?" she asked. "When are you going to learn that, after two hundred and fifty fucking years, I might actually know what in hell I'm talking about? Sweetie pie, you don't realize it now, but you can do things for her that no doctors, drugs, or any decades of therapy will ever do for her. More importantly, you can be an important friend that she'd never have otherwise. Wouldn't that make you feel good?"

I understood then. She was trying to help me deal with my slutty nature while at the same time trying to make it so that I'd be doing something nice for someone. I took my turn to sigh, a third helpless smile for her coming across my features. As a creature that had no real thought for most people, it was important to remember that Seraphine often floundered in a pool of her own ignorance, almost as deep as the one in which Elena floundered.

"I love you," I said, "But Seraphine, I just can't take Elena away from her family, and I can't do anything for her other than be her friend and-"

"Don't underestimate yourself. And don't underestimate how much you'd enjoy having her around. Look, we've talked about this sort of possibility before, and for good reason."

"What reason is that?" I asked, ready for anything at this point.

"The reason that you have to satisfy your needs and, as much as you love me, sooner or later, I won't be enough by myself. You know, Angelique and I sometimes had our problems with that. In retrospect, I think I should have left her alone about how she was... gave her some space. She was always making friends with our people, actually working right alongside them in the fields, naked, like our tradition had it... Now I see that it helped her to be around other, normal people. Her people, I guess. You're a lot like her in that way. But she was more respectful than to keep hounding me with unrelenting questions about things I didn't want to discuss just then."

"I'm sorry, Grammie, my parents never tied me to a chair as punishment."

"A pity they didn't. It would have saved me the trouble."

"I think we're straying off topic," I informed with a sarcastically sweet voice.

" ... Oh my god, I wish Hurdle had just fucked you right up the ass when he first met you. Yes, we're off topic. I've been trying to tell you that you have to allow yourself some... output. Personally, I don't think the girl is enough, but a few of your ancestors enjoyed a female 'friend'. Eleonore plucked one right out of an Alms House, and that woman served her reliably for years. Eleonore loved her almost as much as she loved her whack-job daughter. But, she also had a male 'friend', an employee of hers. He kept things on the rails at the worksite and kept her well satisfied in the bedroom.

"So yeah, you should not only keep Elena, but collect a few others as well. I know what you're thinking, but if you let me explain, I think you'll see the sense in what I'm saying. If you have two to four people, you won't be so apt to make a total whore of yourself, such as going to functions like Marilyn's party. Have I mentioned how sad I am that I never got to meet that silly little freak earlier than I did? Anyway, don't get me wrong, I would personally rather watch you degrade yourself with a different group of strangers every week because I get off on it, but I don't like seeing you torture yourself like you do."

"You're suggesting that I... What are you suggesting?"

"That you have an entourage."

I looked at her for a moment, then laughed aloud.

"No, I'm telling you, it's wise and has been done by a lot of your ancestors, myself included, off and on. Not only do they provide sex, but they provide the safety of numbers and legal identities. In the meantime, if you can limit yourself to sex with your entourage, your guilt issues won't be quite so hard for you to deal with, and you won't always be Miss Mopey."

"I am not mopey!"

"At the very least, take Elena. Her parents won't have a problem with it once we explain it, and then you can get yourself a man. A man with a nice, big, fat fuckin' cock that he can shove down little Elena's throat while you watch. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Suddenly, and as she promised, I began to see some sense in this. I looked at Elena to find her eyes on my bare boobs with a simple, appreciative smile on her face that really got to me.

"That's adorable."

"You better mean that," I softly threatened.

"I do. And you know she's a virgin, right?"

I didn't know that, but I suppose I should have. I certainly didn't know how to respond to the news.

"I'm going to let her go so she can be all yours. Be ready to take her from me."

"What? Wait, I didn't-!"

"(Clap!)"

"Wh- oh, hi!" Elena greeted, her lights blinking back on.

"Look me in the eyes, Elena," Seraphine instructed.

"Seraphine, I didn't say yes!"

"So take her now and decide later; here she comes."

I didn't have a chance to say anything more before she did it, letting Elena off her leash. The first thing that happened wasn't very dramatic. She jerked a little bit, then looked at us in turn.

"I'd get her fast if I were you," Seraphine advised.

With that, she leaned back, making it very clear that, if Elena was going to be reacquired, it wouldn't be by her. Meanwhile, Elena's brow furrowed. Two and two were slowly adding up for her and, with a soft curse, I did what I had to do before she could make her pedantic way to four.

"Elena, do I have something in my eye?"

Yeah, I know, but it worked on her as I kind of knew it would. I'd caught her just as she was becoming quite sure that something weird was going on with me and Seraphine, and that it might be a good idea to talk to her father about it. A few seconds later, I was evening her out.

"Seraphine and I are good people."

"Yeah," she agreed with a smile. "I love good people."

"That's very odd," Seraphine noted. "They usually tend to repeat what we say. She did that with me too."

Angrily waving her quiet, I went on with, "And you trust us completely."

"Yes. Especially you, Tara."

"I think she's hot for you, sweetie pie, and I don't think it's just the effect of our-"

Turning, I emphatically ground, "Would - you - please!?"

She raised her brows and hands, palms up like she was the victim while I turned back to Elena to fix the near disaster Seraphine had created.

"Elena, you'll always do what I tell you, and what Seraphine tells you in my absence," I resumed.

"Always."

"You and I are going to stay friends," I told her.

"Okay," she happily replied.

After a pause where I looked behind me at Seraphine's expectant expression, I turned again and added, "That means that... well, it means that, when your daddy drops us off in Saint John... you're coming with us."

"Okay."

And that was that. I looked to Seraphine again. I'm not sure why. I think I needed some support just then, but her expression of satisfied approval fell short of the mark.