My Little VentrueChapter 40
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Stephen is the name. Most people call me Stevie for short. I’m a young brother living in Brockton. A six-foot-two, 240-pound African American male with mocha skin. Like many other young folks living in the city of Champions, I go to Massasoit Community College. I’m taking up Criminal Justice there. I’m in my first semester. Soon, I’m going to head to Bridgewater State to get my Bachelors. I’ve got a story to tell you. It involves me and some friends when I was having the most confusing week of my life.
Sometimes, life can sure get confusing, know what I mean? In this life, I didn’t get many breaks. I wasn’t rich and my family wasn’t exactly made up of nice people. My mother Elle doesn’t give a damn about it and never has. My father Frank is far away and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care. He’s got his own business, his own money and his own everything. My little sister Anna is a nasty little bitch with psychotic tendencies. She would probably kill me if she could get away with it. Most of the time, my parents stay in Haiti but sometimes they come here. My father hasn’t been to visit me in almost six years. The real problem comes from my aunt Gabe. She’s a manipulative bitch who hates men in general. She uses people like pieces on a chess board. She’s the most evil person I know. Her husband Lou, my uncle is a dumb guy who thinks his wife is a saint. I hate the bitches in the house and the dumb guys too. I don’t hide my hatred for them. They like to mess me up every chance they get.
Man, do I have stories for you. You’re probably wondering why I bother staying in a house like that. Well, I’ve got nowhere else to go. I came to the United States from Haiti at the age of fourteen. I was just a kid with a visa traveling with his parents. My parents decided that my sister and I would stay in America to pursue our education. And so we did. We ended up living in a house that my parents bought with my uncle and aunt. I started high school. My father made a dumb mistake the following year. He got caught in some immigration bullshit while traveling with my passport. The immigration bureau seized the passport and that’s when everything started to go wrong. I was stuck in America without a green card or a social security number. How in hell was I going to survive?
My father told me not to worry about it, that he would support us until the situation got resolved. He was stuck in Haiti, unable to come to America since he got involved with in mess. I went through high school and graduated from Brockton high in 2003 at the age of eighteen. This was one of the most exciting days of my existence.
The next fall, I went to Bay State College. I wanted to study Criminal Justice but my family pressured me to study Computer and Internet Management. Bay State College was this small private school in downtown Boston. I studied the computer business there for two years. I wasn’t very good at it. The only good that came out of it was an improvement in my typing skills. I failed miserably in the computer business and didn’t even get a degree in it. My whole family came down on me like I was a failure. Yes, they hated me because I failed at something they forced me to do. I would have succeeded if I had been allowed to choose my field of study. In those days, I didn’t dare oppose them. I thought they might throw me out or something. I was an immigrant without legal papers living in America. I had to be careful. The family had the papers and the money and the house. Pissing them off was not a good idea.
Still, I was through with rolling over to please them. I had a conversation with my father and told him that I wanted to study Criminal Justice. He agreed and I enrolled at Massasoit Community College as soon as I could. I started my classes there. I took three to start. Five of my classes from Bay State transferred. I would need about two semesters at Massasoit before I could graduate. I began working hard toward graduation. I hoped that by the time I was done, my immigration case would get resolved.
I was wrong. A while ago, my uncle had hired a lawyer to represent me with the immigration department. They were trying to get me the status of permanent resident of the USA. I hoped it would work. Unfortunately, it didn’t. One day, the lawyer summoned me to his Boston office. I went there and he told me the bad news. The immigration department had dismissed my case. I had to figure out another way of becoming a permanent resident of the United States of America. Another way to do it was to get married to some American woman and obtain my legal papers that way. This idea didn’t appeal to me at all. We’ll get to that in a second.
I wasn’t very fond of the idea of marrying a woman, especially in the United States. I’ve seen what happens to some married men. Sometimes, the wife is violent or controlling and turns the husband’s life into a nightmare. There were no support groups for men who were abused by the females in their lives. Those poor bastards received no help. I had seen the way my aunt treated my uncle. Oh, she never hurt him physically that I knew of but she often spoke ill of him and belittled him, though never to his face. She was a treacherous and manipulative snake. What if the woman I married turned out to be just like her? I wasn’t a great judge of character as far as women were concerned, how in hell was I supposed to tell between the good ones and the wicked ones?
There is another reason why I did not want to marry. Ever since I was around seventeen, I’ve become aware of something different about myself. I felt a certain attraction to both girls and boys at times. At first, it bothered me a great deal. I was a Haitian brother living in the Black community. Black people didn’t like gay people. At all. I’ve heard a lot of Black folks say that they’d kill a gay person if he or she came on to them. I kept this to myself. I didn’t even experiment. I was in denial for a long time. Eventually, I began to do a little exploring. I read books about people who were gay or bisexual. I discovered that not all gay men were effeminate like the stereotypes said but many were as masculine in appearance and behavior as straight men were. This pleased me a great deal.
While I was at Bay State, a friend named Greg took me to fraternity meetings at a nearby school. This fraternity was made up exclusively of young men who were gay and bisexual. Very few of them were Black but that didn’t bother me. I felt comfortable around them, especially one named Devin. He was a nice kid from Carver. Yes, for some time, I tried to join the fraternity but there were some problems. I didn’t have any money for the special trips they planned. Also, I lived in Brockton and commuted to Boston. Quite often, I had to leave fraternity meetings early to catch my train and bus. In the end, I didn’t join but I will remember those guys fondly for the rest of my life. They were good people. Among them, I felt like I belonged.
While at Bay State, I had crushes on several people. First and foremost is Lauren. A slender, bronze-skinned tomboy with dark brown hair and golden brown eyes. She was beautiful. I met her while I was walking from class, after being upset by some guy named Henry and his derogatory comments. From the moment I shook hands with Lauren, I was smitten. I liked her. Also, she was the only girl I felt comfortable with. Talking to her was easy. I don’t know why. I would talk to her often. There were other pretty girls on campus but Lauren was the one I liked. She was pretty, she liked sports and she seemed to be just one of the guys wherever she went. I liked that in a woman. Before I knew it, I had fallen in love with her.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out. Lauren had a boyfriend. In the end, I had to acknowledge that it simply wasn’t meant to be. I called her once and we talked. I thought she was pleased to talk to me. I was wrong. The next time I called, she didn’t pick up. Some man, who might have been her father called me a creep and told me not to call he
r. I got the message loud and clear. I even got my heart broken. Still, I got over it. Since I had been disappointed by the ladies, I decided to give the gentlemen a try.
Not long after Lauren got out of the picture, I met a handsome Latin man named Marlon. Marlon was handsome, cultured and exciting. We met at a library, while I was helping my friend Wendy with her class assignment. I talked to Marlon when I handed him a flyer. While suffering through the abuse that my family put me through, I discovered that there were quite a few web sites with information aimed at helping Male Victims of Domestic Violence. I listed the info on flyers and handed them out. I gave them to people everywhere I went. I thought I was helping people out. I hope I did.
I spoke to Marlon about why I did the work I did and we got to talking. We had to be discrete, though. I suspected that Wendy might like me. She was a pretty Black girl and actually quite nice. I wasn’t about to give my heart to any girl after what Lauren did to me so I wasn’t interested in being more than friends with Wendy. Marlon would prove to be just what I needed for the time being. He introduced me to a world I never knew existed. The alluring and secretive world of gay men of all colors. He took me to my first gay bar. He gave me my first same-sex kiss. He was awesome. He was so handsome and smart, so cool and cultivated. He knew about art and music. He took me to restaurants. We walked around in the park together. He was something else. I was smitten with him real quick. We didn’t have sex because I didn’t feel ready but I liked him. It’s too bad that he moved away. Or so I thought. Once, we planned to make a date. An official date. I planned on meeting him there. I was so excited. I was also considering having sex with someone for the first time. I liked Marlon and I trusted him. I went someplace near the Bay State campus, got some condoms and then went to the bar to meet him. I waited for him. I waited until the bar own threw me out. Humiliated, but still hopeful, I waited for him outside the bar. I waited for a long time, then I left. I never saw him again. Marlon had been my second biggest disappointment in the romance department.
I learned a valuable lesson from both Lauren and Marlon. Men and women couldn’t be trusted. Not with one’s heart. I had admitted to myself that I was bisexual. I was basically okay with it these days. That didn’t make life any easier, though. A man had hurt me. A woman had hurt me. I walk around and I hear women say they don’t trust men. I also hear some men say they don’t trust women. I smiled to myself. The misogynists and the misandrists of the world got it wrong. Both genders were flawed and untrustworthy. Both were liars and deceivers. Neither gender could be trusted. Take it from me, someone who’s had relationships with both.
After what Lauren and Marlon did to me, I wasn’t exactly fond of members of either gender. I continued to help some people when I could, though. I still had the instincts of the Boy Scout I had been on my island of Haiti. When I started school at Massasoit, I decided to focus on my education. I was twenty one years old. I wanted to get a degree in Criminal Justice and go to the police academy someday. I was also looking for potential solutions to my immigration dilemma. I’m talking about filing another appeal.
At my house, things were still the same. My aunt was still a manipulative and cold-hearted bitch. My mother didn’t give a damn whether I lived or died. My father was still in distant Haiti. My uncle was still a meek guy who thought his nasty wife was a saint. My cousins, my aunt’s children were still the arrogant little monsters they had always been. My kid sister, now an adult, was becoming a psychotic freak with manipulative tendencies. They messed me up every chance they got. There were nights when I slept in my room, cold, because the heat had gone out and they were too cheap to buy some oil for the basement boiler. Once, my aunt did a nasty trick and cut the phone to prevent me from talking to my friends for a whole week. During that week, everybody in the house had a cell phone. Except me. Isn’t life sweet?
It’s Spring 2006 now. The days are starting to get warmer. I look around and everything is looking better. Around campus, people are dressing hotter. The guys are looking good. I’ve seen muscular black-skinned Adonis-types walking around and Greek gods who are tall and have chiseled golden physiques, I swear! The ladies look good too. I almost fell down the stairs while checking out a tall, curvy, big-booty sister. Man, she was a hot one! It’s tough not to get distracted. I check out everyone, you know!
I try to stay in touch with my friends. No matter what is going on in my life. My cousin Mario is in New York and he’s in a similar situation. He’s being tormented by his uncle, a nasty piece of work named Manny. Manny’s wife Wilma, who is also Mario’s aunt is another piece of work. A fat woman with a temper and some violent tendencies. I try to keep the lines of communication open between him and me. He’s a year younger than me and a bit hot-tempered at times. I hope things work out for him. He’s a good kid. My best friend Charles stopped talking to me after I told him my little secret. My other friend Evan caught me chatting at a GLBT Forum and stopped talking to me after that. I suspect both Charles and Evan might have some tendencies but I can’t be sure about that. Both of these guys are violently homophobic yet they never have girlfriends. Sounds suspicious, don’t you think?
Best among my friends is John, an older Black man from Africa who lives in Brockton. He’s a nice guy and a generous one too. He’s helped me and my father when we both needed it quite badly. I hold him in high regard. He’s also one of the smartest people I know. Things are tough for him right now but I pray they get better for him. John and I hang out together regularly. He recently became a grandfather. I was so happy for him.
So, this is my life in a nutshell. A 21-year-old Black male who is a virgin. A bisexual guy who has yet to have sex with anyone, in spite of the fact that he has written two anthologies of erotica that he hopes to publish someday. An activist for the rights of Male Victims of Domestic Violence a stern opponent of the Anti-Male Bias in the American Justice System. That’s me. I hope that someday soon I will get my degree and go to the police academy. I hope to become a police officer someday. Also, I hope to be a permanent resident of the USA with full legal rights. My story is not over yet. Hopefully, there’s much more to come.
~~Julias~~ “The Carthians are rebels without a cause. They don’t do well taking orders from the older covenants, and work to try and establish more modern forms of government.” Julias paced back and forth in his kitchen, glass of red in his hand and his childe at the counter. “They don’t sound bad,” the boy said. “They’re not ‘bad,’ but they’d tear down generations of structure, of heritage, of rules and dynasties just because it doesn’t have the flash of a modern government.” He gave a...
~~Jack~~ Jack’s eyes went wide. Half of Viktor’s head was gone, just gone. The bloody gibs of brain matter and bone turned into tiny fires that faded into ash and embers before they even hit the ground. “Shit! Shit shit, what-” Julias put a hand against Jack’s mouth, and pushed him back against the wall. “Sniper, down the path.” Jack reached up and pulled his sire’s hand down. “What about Viktor!? The fuck are we supposed to do now?” Just as he was about to start ranting, his jaw dropped...
~~Antoinette~~ “Oh god oh god oh god.” Jack, trembling and ready to sweat — though thankfully unable without the blush of life — looked out over the crowd. The two of them were in Bloodlust, one of her fonder establishments to enjoy. The pulsing music, and the dark red lightning with the occasional white light strobe made for a combination of sinister, sexual, and theatrical visual stimuli. Everyone in Bloodlust felt as if they were partaking in a movie. Everyone except her poor little...
~~Beatrice~ Part of her wanted to sneak up on Julias, try and catch him by surprise, see if her scant twenty years could get past the man’s eyes. Have fun! Play with him, like old times. But, these weren’t old times, and her sneaking into his mansion, or trying to at least, was a bad idea. He probably had lookouts about, snipers, and they’d shoot first if they saw suspicious rustling in bushes. So the front door it was. Knock knock. “Good evening Miss Damor, Miss Denver,” the doorman said....
~~Jack~~ His trip to speak with Azamel had been successful, more or less. Azamel looked worse than ever, but he found her speaking with Sándor, and it seemed like they were coming to some sort of agreement. Not that Jack got to stick around long enough to find out more. Azamel promptly booted him out, saying her arrangements with Sándor were none of his business. It was his business, kinda. It was his job to keep the different species getting along. But he left anyway, a bit thankful for...
~~Antoinette~~ From the meeting room of her great glass tower in Elysium, Antoinette stood in front of the window-wall, and watched the city burn. Far off in the distance, the night sky had turned slightly orange with the light of flame, as the large fire of the North Side’s warehouse district spread. Sirens filled the air, and flashing lights of firetrucks and other emergency vehicles zipped by. “It burns,” she said. “Quite the sight.” Jacob stood beside her. The old Nosferatu was...
~~One week later.~~ ~~Jack~~ “Twenty million.” “Fifty million.” “Twenty million.” “I’m sorry. Is there an echo in here?” The sly brute adjusted his gloves, even as he put his feet up on the table. A pistol rested in his chest strap, mirrored by the four thugs who stood behind him. Thugs in suits. “I know what the merchandise is worth, and it’s not worth fifty,” Jack said. He was standing, with his arms folded across his chest and a surly look on his face. It was all part of the game, of...
~~Jack~~ Back at the burned apartment building, alone this time, and using his free time as well. Course, Invictus didn’t exactly mandate hours, but you were expected to work a certain amount. Work above that, accomplish things, and you moved up in rank and social standing; which was like gold in the Invictus. And he wanted to figure this out, who burned down this building, who killed Barry. He stood atop the ceiling of a neighboring building. The sun had just set, and he only had a couple...
~~Julias~~ Everything had fallen apart in a matter of seconds. When it was just the six hunters, he and his childe could have handled the situation easily. Even Angela, for all her absurd might and endurance, was only human. Six humans? He could have handled this himself. Having to work quickly, break through Angela’s defenses, deal with a magical barrier, and save Samantha, threw a wrench into what would have otherwise been simple. Unless the hunters managed to nail him with a shotgun or...
~~Beatrice~~ “It this ... everyone?” Sighing, Jack nodded, crouched low on the roof of Robina’s. “Clara’s not here yet, but yea, h this is everyone. If any of the hunters escape into a nightmare, Azamel will send Fiona to help us on that end. You know, assuming she can find us.” Beatrice started counting. Six vampires, one werewolf, and one monster; potentially two monsters, if they had to fight in the nightmare. That was not nearly as many people as Triss was hoping for. And, for some...
~~Beatrice~~ Following the Invictus right hands was hard enough, but now she had to follow three. Shadowing Julias was easy. Like a typical Ventrue, he was useless on his own. His power was in creating and controlling armies. But damn he looked good in a suit. Those broad shoulders, the combed back mafia hair, even the damn tie. It was a good thing she wasn’t using the blush of life, or she’d be rubbing her thighs together already. Fuck, the stupid knight made her feel like a cat in...
~~Beatrice~~ She had to get something to eat first, then she’d show Julias. She’d show up and beat the undead shit out of that piece of shit, stupid shit fuck. Eat first though, definitely. She was drained and tired from shadowing the trio, and there was no way she was going to confront big bad ancillae Julias without a stomach full of blood. She’d tried feeding on some people gently lately, using the darkness and her strength to her advantage. It had worked well enough, and she’d had more...
~~Julias~~ A taxi would not do, not for this. Perhaps it was too ridiculous, too absurd, or just too over-the-top, but Julias took great delight in the magnificent limousine they were in. Other Kindred would arrive in their usual ways, but the Prince expected a certain level of presentation for her ball, and Julias got that. There was something beautifully innocent in the mindless indulgence of expensive vice, jewelry, and wearing someone on your arm. Jack was in the limousine with him,...
~~Natasha~~ She stood there in front of Sándor, frowning, arms folded across her chest, and chewed on the inside of her cheek. Antoinette stood beside her. A thrall was busy cleaning of the prisoner’s body; it was a human body after all, and it did things human bodies did. Pooping, peeing, all the nasty realities of trying to keep a dangerous person prisoner. The horror stories prisoners of war shared were never fun reads. “Still unresponsive,” Antoinette said, sighing. “The mark on his...
~~Jack~~ Her. It was her. No doubt about it. As if someone popped a balloon in his face, snapping out of his memory to the present was loud and painful. That was Susanna’s childe, and Jack’s great grandsire. “In the name of peace,” Antoinette continued, “these three hunters were invited to the ball to be shown that Dolareido, my city, is not as devolved as other cities with a Kindred presence. We are better than our baser desires.” She adopted an evil smile, and looked back to the hunters....
~~Jack~~ It only took a small nod to the bouncer for Jack to get in. Just a week ago, he wouldn’t have dared dream of it, but Invictus connections were endless – larger than just Xnomina - so now here he was, stepping into throbbing music and pulsing lights. The air smelled of sweat, body’s grinding against each other with the beat, and enough skin was exposed to make his heart race. Or at least, it would have if it still beat; the fact it didn’t never stopped unsettling him. Everything was...
~~Beatrice~~ Climbing down into the cavern was getting easier. But no matter how good she was getting at it, if the clouds decided to cover the night sky, the obsidian shadow below her was an easy way to get some broken, mangled limbs. God damn the canyon was a bitch, with no good footing anywhere, and enough jagged rocks to kill any kine who fell down, guaranteed. But she was familiar with it now, knew where the good rocks for grabbing were, knew where to put her weight into a crevice to...
~~Jack~~ Getting taken back to the real world was a curse and a blessing. Everything, everywhere, was teasing him with answers he couldn’t get to. What was the Ritual of Faces? Black Blood and the red wraiths, what did they have to do with the ritual, how were the hunters doing it, why were hunters and spirits working together, what did the red wraiths mean when they mentioned ‘who the monster speaks with ... the trail to their goal.’ Azamel? Were they talking about Azamel? If they were, how...
~~Jack~~ “Oh my god,” Jack said. “Oh ... dear Lord,” Damien said. “Now arriving, Mister Jack Terry, of the Invictus, and champion this evening. With him, Mister Damien Burksen, of the ... Lancea et Sanctum, and champion’s guard,” the ghoul in the tuxedo beside them called out. The crowd turned to them, clapped for a few moments, nodded their hands, and resumed socializing. Somewhere along the line, Antoinette’s invite to the ball, which had included a ‘some skin but not too much’ message,...
~~Jack~~ “So you let Tilly go?” Elaine asked, chuckling as she stepped in past the door. They were in his mansion, and Mulder and Scully sat on his shoulders, eying the much, much older vampire. Idly, Jack noticed that neither of the birds crapped anymore. They’d always been smart enough to not do that in the mansion, but apparently it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. “How do you know that?” “Do you think I came to this city alone? I have eyes and ears everywhere.” He eyed her. She...
~~Beatrice~~ The war was over. Jacob laughed when he told her that. Told her it was temporary, because the Carthians and the Invictus and ‘Churchies’ always eventually got in each other’s face and business. Tale as old as time, he said. But either way, for the moment, there was a truce, and that meant people could breathe easy; dumb metaphor considering vampires. Triss and Jen were at the cave when Sam showed up, and she smiled and waved at them before she slipped into Jacob’s alcove. They...
PART 1 Them fuckin’ Armed Services get all the credit, but who gets their asses blown out of the water to get them their crap, for chrissake? Us fuckers in the Merchant Marine, that’s who. Goddamn sub-bait. And then they don’t send nobody to fish us out. Goddamn Krauts. Goddamn war! Cookie bobbed in his lifejacket and watched his ship disappear, a sorry excuse for a vessel, to be sure, but nonetheless, his ship. Sailors deep-six all the time, the risk they signed on for, perhaps. Bad luck,...
~~Julias~~ A sleeping Kindred is not really sleeping. Instead, they are nearly in torpor, an undead coma. When the sun disappears, they wake in an almost jarring pulse of energy from their dead body jamming vitae through their limbs. Older Kindred, like Julias, had long learned to rise with awareness and efficiency. Younger Kindred like Beatrice rose with a startle, as if someone had injected adrenaline straight into their heart. They had fallen asleep together on his couch when dawn...
~~Beatrice~~ Beatrice had no idea Dolareido had so many dark, hidden corners. “You Carthians. It will never cease to amaze me how much you want to adapt the modern,” Jacob said. “Modern?” The two of them were deep into North Side, and probably near the edge of the city. It was a big city; she’d never been out this far. “That you would take a car, instead of this!” The crazy Nosferatu gave that weird chuckle of his, and jumped. With the old, dark robes he was wearing, he looked like a...
~~Jack~~ “Oh ... god...” He couldn’t cum anymore. Just the thought of another orgasm made his insides ache in pain. No more, his balls cried. We’re dry! The devil and her two imps didn’t seem to agree. Ashley and Julee had both let him drink them, just a little, just enough to spark the arousal in his Kindred body once more, without either of them succumbing to exhaustion for it. And they took advantage. “One more?” Antoinette said, smiling up at him. The Prince was on her back on her...
~~Jack~~ If there was one way he was going to die, it’d be between two dangerous women. Antoinette’s tiger eyes returned, with all the ferocity and rage of when Lucas had crashed her ball. Like a crushing storm, being so near her shook him to his core as the rage poured off of her, buried him in rolling thunder that vibrated his bones and pulled his gut up into his throat. She wasn’t looking at him anymore, thank god; her eyes would have bore holes through his body and couch otherwise. The...
~~Antoinette~~ Oh no. She sat upon the highest floor of her tower, a tower she had built upon what she designated would be Elysium territory, where Kindred-on-Kindred violence was prohibited, where feeding was prohibited, and where discussion was encouraged. To place her tower within its embrace was a choice she had made, a political stance signifying her devotion to peace and cooperation. And within the highest floor, her main office was her place of control, and where she could personify...
~~Damien~~ One of the hunters came out of the shadows. He recognized this one. A woman, short, thick with muscle, and with a shotgun in her hand. “ ... you’re dead,” Damien said. “You were one of the hunters killed in the chaos, in the—” “In Sándor’s chamber, yeah.” She came closer, tilted her head, and showed them her neck. There was a giant scar where an Uratha had torn into her. “How!?” Matt asked, growling as he began to pace. The big guy put himself between the group of them, and the...
~~Beatrice~~ The two vampires jumped up and spun around, looking around in the dark. That voice. She recognized that voice. What the fuck, why was it here? Both of them pulled out their phones and started shining them around, but the catacomb was empty. “You ... you can’t be here,” she said. “No one’s ... no one’s been sacrificed.” Jen stepped in closer to her, and pressed her shoulder to hers, enough for Triss to feel her friend trembling. While Triss was still shaking because her world...
~~Jack~~ It’d been two weeks since the incident. Two weeks since the news broadcasted Jack’s fuck up with the crows. Two weeks since Julias’s death, his mother’s embrace, and the capture of Sándor. Two weeks of futile attempts to understand what had happened to him. He’d stuck with journaling, organizing his thoughts and putting them to words, but it wasn’t working out very well. All he could manage to write were succinct paragraphs that were obviously bitter, cynical, and angry. Sometimes...
~~Antoinette~~ “Does he speak?” “No.” Antoinette sighed as she glared at the bound man. Two thralls were seeing to his body, cleaning and maintaining Sándor so he did not drown in his bodily fluids, or die of starvation. An unfortunate consequence of keeping a prisoner alive was handling the frustrating elements of biology. It was not a process she was unfamiliar with. She kept several prisoners in her tower, after all, emergency sources of blood should she or an ally need them. Dealing...
~~Beatrice~~ Jacob hadn’t been in the cave when she came back with everyone. She was kinda thankful for that. Stressful conversations could wait until another time. Waking up was a strange feeling, and the memories hit her hard. Angela, Jeremiah, Athalia, the fucking twisted curse Jack, the huge gargoyle Sándor, it all came back to her a little faster than she’d have liked. Joy, over knowing Angela was dead, and Jeremiah too. Sadness, about Athalia; not a lot, but enough to make things...
~~Jack~~ “It’s been a long time,” Michael said, and he pushed open the door. Jack, Jessy, and Damien followed. The leader of the Invictus, and the three Right Hands, together, in the home of Viktor Honors, and then later, Julias Mire. A beautiful mansion, very Victorian, with its grand entrance room and big wooden stairway with fancy railings. Hell, there was a chandelier. It was very Viktor. It was very not Jack. Michael stepped over to the stairs, but didn’t go up. Instead, he leaned...
~~Antoinette~~ Veronica, still unconscious, lay in the ritual circle, bathed in the blue light of her chandelier. Antoinette and Elaine both pointed their tablets at her, observing with keen eyes as the humming machine in the background ran through the various wavelengths the devices were programmed to respond to. They started with the same frequency that had detected the remnants of the Strix upon Jack’s person, and moved outward from there. Nothing. Antoinette breathed a sigh of relief,...
~~Antoinette~~ Three months later. She stared down at the corpse, and sighed. Sigh turned to frown. Frown turned into snarl. In her youth, she would have likely elevated to outright rage, and destroyed all in her vicinity. But she had long learned to control her anger, and she quelled it now as she stood, confused and frustrated. Blood seeped out over the lines of the ritual circle, over the dark tile, and around her feet. She stepped about it effortlessly as she motioned to Daniel. “It...
~~Jack~~ “Not long after I sired Viktor, I left him, and disappeared.” Elaine held his eyes, for a while, but eventually she looked down. “I was not proud of abandoning him. I do not think he ever forgave me, even after my return.” The two of them were still on the stairs in his mansion. The stairs were the best place for a conversation, and their magic powers could hopefully disarm an elder vampire. “I wondered about how you could have been his sire, without anyone knowing.” “It was not...
~~Jack~~ Every time he woke up, it was a shock. Julias had said a Kindred doesn’t really sleep, cause how could a corpse sleep? They just become a corpse, and when the sun sets, they un-corpsify. Each and every time, it was like someone jammed adrenaline straight into his heart. He sat up in his bed with a jolt, and could feel the Vitae spike through his system to wake him with its unnatural power. But then it settled. He’d grown more comfortable with his new body, its strange, thinned and...
~~Natasha~~ Nothing was as satisfying as the sensation of keyboard keys giving way to just the right movement of the fingers for flawless typing. Did that make her a geek? She was too old to be a geek. Fifty-years embraced, and another twenty-five kine years on that meant she was older than commercial computers. By a lot. But she picked them up quick. Perhaps it was her lifetime of piano play that drew her to typing. Even as a kine, she found typewriters fascinating. “Yo, Natasha.” Snap...
~~Antoinette~~ The next evening was not a pleasant one. She’d hoped to awaken to news from her thralls of the boy’s whereabouts. She’d awoken to despair. “Why am I not out in those streets, Daniel?” “Because we’re trying to find a needle in a haystack, Annie.” The man stood and watched out over the city along with her, the two of them by the large window in her office, at the top of her Elysium tower. “I am an extra pair of eyes!” “You know that’s not how you find someone in a...
~~Damien~~ Damien looked over at Amanda, and she smiled at him before offering a small wave. She seemed like a kind little creature, dark skin and long black hair. Damien did not care for her sire, Gloria Jenning, who had a far larger mouth for gossip than any Mekhet should have, but Amanda seemed alright. Perhaps a little ditzy, but then, after being around Fiona, ditzy didn’t seem to bother him so much anymore. Ditzy people had the amazing ability to be happy and enjoy themselves. For...
~~Damien~~ He looked at the picture again, then put the phone away. Gulping, he pulled the phone out again, and looked at the picture. She was so beautiful, and fun, and joyful, and overwhelmingly sexual. The frizzy red hair, bouncy and big, her soft face and pale skin, her golden eyes, it was all gorgeous. Of course, she knew she had large breasts, and in classic Dolareido fashion, had no issue using them to get what she wanted; in this case, him. Lucky him. He was damn glad she left her...
~~Antoinette~~ High within her tower, Antoinette perused the latest information she had acquired through her network of spies. Pictures of Terra Den and its enforcers were cropping up, far more than she wished, as were pictures of the various Xnomina thralls and ghouls, moving against them during daylight. Forever a frustration, that a Kindred’s movements and actions were limited to the night, while their far less capable thralls and ghouls could move about freely whenever they desired....
~~Beatrice~~ Everyone left. Sándor was apparently a really, really strong Begotten, to the point he surprised Fiona when he opened a pathway back to the real world without issue. A wave of the gargoyle’s hand, and the darkness in the forest flickered. Fiona, or Vrall or whatever, went through it with her man, and they disappeared, supposedly to arrive near Damien’s apartment so he could take a moment to recoup. Two crows sat on Damien’s shoulders, and several more plus a few rats scurried...
~~Jack~~ Not much longer until sunrise. God, he was starving. Strong as the curse was, it wasn’t invincible, and it’d used a lot of his available vitae to fight that creature. Fought, and won. Don’t forget that. Jack silenced his thoughts as best he could, and waited, but the curse said nothing. Just as Jack had noticed throughout the battle with the azlu, and Sándor’s Horror before that, and the attack on the hospital before that, the curse had trouble maintaining control after expending...
~~Jack~~ ~Are you alright, master?~ Scully asked, perched on a powerline outside. ~I’m fine. Any kine wandering nearby?~ ~No.~ ~Any signs of Michael?~ ~Not yet, ~ Mulder said. The ability to communicate with his familiars over distances psychically was freaky and awesome. Normally Animalism required some sort of visual or auditory contact. But now that Mulder and Scully were his familiars, dead and revived as half vampire creatures, no auditory or visual connection necessary. Full on...
This is a stand alone story involving the Black Djinn, although you do get to see how he works. TALES OF DJINNAR: The Pool of Truest Reflection by Raven John sat in the bar with his close friend, Aleem. The setting was early Friday evening, nearly seven o'clock, and the place was filled with young professional women celebrating the onset of another weekend. Aleem noted his perpetually brooding buddy, and reminded him in his faint Arabic accent, "John? This is called Happy...
~~Julias~~ It didn’t matter how many times Julias stood before the triumvirate, he never felt safe. Viktor was old. Michael and Maria were there as well, and while they were older and stronger than Julias, it was Viktor that made his inner-beast recoil. Sometimes Julias wondered if his sire would try another torpor, before his strength grew to the point that he’d need Kindred blood to survive, and not kine blood. Every time he stood before him, he started to worry more and more about that...
~~Antoinette~~ Her Black Hall had more faces than she’d expected. Wonderful, that meant tensions had lessened between covenants and individuals alike. There would be lasting peace in her city, even if it meant she had to drag the idiots into the peace like kicking, screaming children. She took a moment to look around. Garry, Jacob, Maria, Michael, and Julias up on the balcony. Delightful, all the primogen were there. It was the first time in a long time the primogen had come to a ball of...
~~Jack~~ “I uh, have a girlfriend.” “Oh, damn.” She let go of his shoulder, but shrugged and kept walking. “Glad you told me though. Surprising, given your circumstances. Figured you might have said yes to a date just to get on my good side.” “The thought had occurred to me.” Except suffering Antoinette’s wrath would have been a million times worse than pissing off Clara’s whole pack, let alone just her. “It’s not Natasha is it?” “No.” “That’s good. It’d really make this whole situation...
~~Jack~~ There was still plenty of time before sunrise, and Antoinette felt like pampering him a bit more. To the pool they went, but instead of using the pool, they stepped down into the hot tub. “I’m ... pretty drained, Antoinette,” he said. “Came twice, you know?” She laughed, and reached out to touch his nose as she stepped into the water. “I am sorry, my love, but I know you drank of both my ghouls only a couple hours ago. I suspect you have much sexual energy left for me to feast...
~~Natasha~~ “Something ... h-horrible?” she said. Art stepped forward into the buildings, into the civilian lobby, and sniffed the air. “Monica told us she found out that, apparently Jack managed to bust his way out of here, and kill a few hunters on the way out. I assume you know more. Can you spare us any more details?” What details could she share that she’d read about? Antoinette had her ways, and especially so did Daniel, to get detailed reports about what happened here, more than...
~~Julias~~ “Mister Terry, you’ll be working with Madam Leauvion and Madam Jenning.” The boy raised a brow. “Sire?” “I know you expected to be working with Mister Burksen and Madam Herrington, but ultimately, they have a lot of experience that would be better served working with younger, less experienced Kindred. In your team, your experience is key, and will compensate for Jenning and Leauvion’s lack thereof, while at the same time, Jenning is Mekhet and old enough to provide a quality use...
~~Damien~~ As the night went on, two things were becoming painfully clear. First, that the hunters were either not in the tunnel, or hiding terribly well. Second, that working with Fiona was extremely distracting. It wasn’t that Fiona was too juvenile to focus, or too bubbly to ... not bubble around everywhere, but rather Damien’s own mind not being able to concentrate. She was too attractive. Ever since that date, where they’d both enjoyed a meal together, it’d become impossible to ignore...
~~Beatrice~~ They walked through the cemetery gates, and stepped among the tombstones, a bunch of brainwashed kine behind them. She tried to not show it, but she was a little scared. Not of Jacob and the madness he pursued; that ship had sailed. No, she was afraid of Jack. He’d accidentally hurt these kine, their brains, with how easily he’d dominated. Accidentally performed an act most ancilla Ventrue would have struggled to perform, let alone a neonate, no less. And he wasn’t lying about...
~~Eric~~ They took a trip to a club. Eric was kind of sick of the club scene, working at Bloodlust all the time; not that Bloodlust really counted as a club, more of a night lounge thing. Bloodlust had the music, the low light, and the people, just less of them. To go to a proper nightclub was not how he wanted to spend the night, but Matthew and Arturo assured him it was temporary. They didn’t need to convince the bouncer to let them in. Natasha wrapped them in her Kindred powers, and...
~~Antoinette~~ Jack had seen her. She knew he must have. And yet, he gave chase into the forest, with Beatrice over his shoulders. So committed was he to his plan, to his need for revenge, that he would ignore her approach, the Prince of Dolareido, and his lover, to pursue it. It was not Jack she saw. It was the curse, a relic from ages past, from those infuriating striges and their obsessive need to disrupt the lives of Kindred. The curse. The damned, bloody curse, that crawled into her...
~~Jack~~ “Consider a glass cage, my love, and within, a glowing sphere bounces up and down. The cage holds the sphere perfectly still on the horizontal plane, forcing the sphere to remain locked on its vertical path. It bounces at the speed of light, which, as you know, is the limit matter may travel. No faster. 299,792,458 meters per second.” Jack nodded, eyes wide and engaged as he watched Antoinette. Understanding the world in terms of special relativity was always a troubling mental...
~~Eric~~ Jack, Clara, and Sándor, had taken a very strange route. First, they’d left the mansion, and headed into North Side. Then their trail ended inside an old, abandoned hotel. Not a hotel, but some sort of motel? Hard to tell. According to Jessy, the city went through some gold rushes and job rushes during development at the beginning of the twentieth century, and a lot of people moved to the city for seasonal work, building the subway and whatnot. So some companies set up temporary...