Thirst Ch. 10

Monroe: `Csn.i.see yiu?'

"Oh come the fuck on," she hissed, but the response came in seconds:

Mizrah: `of course you can, i was worried you were getting bored of me :D come to my place babe`

Just like that she was smiling again. "Babe," she muttered, shaking her head. Honestly...who called her that? Such a title was at odds with the woman she'd so busily constructed around herself, wearing her like a suit of compact, gracefully muscled armor that never slowed down, never gave up; someone for whom softness was a sin, holding aloft their charter in defiance of the ancient night

Monroe: `You could never be boring. I'll see you in a bit <3`

...but she'd worn the armor so long that she'd forgotten about the self-entity underneath, the tangible shell of her Humanity that damnation hadn't entirely usurped. Echoes of the person she'd been, but even in them Monroe herself didn't quite recognize this woman who smiled when she got his messages, who...sent him little heart emojis, and had fun . For most Vampires the idea of 'fun' became subsumed in the nightly dance for survival and perpetuation of their perversions and paranoia. Did Isidoro, Baalthasar or Shira know 'fun'?

...was she becoming like them? More to the point, was Mizrah's halting, or somehow reversing that? It was really nice to just be around someone like him, with his carefree affability.

Chiding herself for losing sight of her goal - Article Two: The Syndicate Avenges Its Own - she nonetheless paused to regard herself in her phone screen with a quizzical eye toward critique...one that became a shrinking flinch of horror every time she saw the pale, drawn thing she'd become absent the Blush.

Most of her ashen form was hidden beneath a midriff-baring green army-jacket with a gray hood, and she hadn't bothered to wear anything but a dark blue sports bra beneath. Dark blue Adidas track pants made her feel like she was cosplaying a gopnik from Sredny Hill but...in the end, she reasoned that she'd be shedding most of her clothing upon seeing him anyway. There was no point resisting the very real need she felt to have sex with him...especially if he'd been messing around with his groupies.

She'd reclaim him...it was the least she could do, given what she had planned for him, and she couldn't take no for an answer. She steeled her heart - he wouldn't be sweeping her away in the tornado of his presence, not this time.