My Little VentrueChapter 40
- 2 years ago
- 41
- 0
I woke up feeling the warm embrace of a naked body lying next to me. At first I thought I was at home and Jenna had rested her head on my chest but then I realized that it was better. It was Nikki laying her head on my chest and she was lovingly rubbing it with her hand.
I started playing with her hair, relishing the feel of it, hoping I would never have to lose it again.
"Good morning," said Nikki softly. She kissed my nipple and then continued her rubbing.
"Good morning beautiful," I said still brushing my fingers through her hair.
"I would love to wake up every morning like this," purred Nikki. "I think it would make me that happiest woman on the face of the earth if I could wake up like this every day."
"It would make me very happy as well," I said.
Our happiness was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. I let it ring.
"Aren't you going to get that?" asked Nikki.
"No, it's probably Jenna."
"It's only one ring. It's the front desk," said Nikki.
"OK," I said as I picked up the phone.
"Robert Pryce," I said into the phone.
"Mister Pryce, this is the front desk. We have a call to transfer to you."
There was a slight pause and my heart sank.
"Robby?" said Jenna on the other end.
"Yeah?" I said, my fear rising.
"MY GOD! I've been SO worried about you!"
I looked over at Nikki and motioned for her to stay quiet.
"I'm fine Jenna. Just very busy."
"You have to stay in contact with me. I need to know you are ok."
"I'm fine. I think you are overreacting."
"I love you though," said Jenna. "I need you to come home to me."
"Jenna, I'm very busy right now. I will come home when I'm done here."
"Don't you love me?" asked Jenna.
I didn't say anything. Something in the back of my mind told me that my charade had to stop. I knew the telephone wasn't the best place to break this kind of news to her, but I couldn't keep lying to her.
"No," I said quietly.
"No what?"
"No, I don't love you," I said.
I could hear Nikki gasp next to me. As for the other side of the line it was silent for a moment and then I heard sobbing.
"Is it because I'm still not good enough in bed?" sobbed Jenna.
"There is no passion in our relationship," I said. "I'm slowly dying because of it."
"I'll change," cried Jenna. "I'll do whatever I have to do."
"I'm sorry Jenna. It's not your fault. I demand too much from my partner and you can't give me what I selfishly want."
"I will change for you Robby! Please give me a chance to change for you!"
"I gave you six years to change Jenna. I can't wait any longer and now it's too late."
"Please! Please! Please! I don't want to lose you!"
"It's the way it has to be Jenna. When I get home I want to start working out a divorce. Hell, I'm giving you a week's head start on me with lawyers. I would hope we could come to an easy division of assets and just part ways."
"I don't want to divorce you," screamed Jenna. "I won't let it happen."
The dial tone of the phone buzzed in my ear after the loud click of Jenna hanging up.
"God, I didn't want to do it that way," I said to myself as I hung up the phone.
I looked over at Nikki and she was in tears.
"I'm sorry I did that in front of you," I said. "I just couldn't lie to her anymore. Not after last night."
"I didn't know if you were really serious about leaving her," said Nikki. "I thought I might as well get a good night with you at least if you weren't telling the truth, but God I'm so happy that you were telling the truth."
Nikki put her arms around me, squeezed tightly and sobbed into my chest. I just held her to me, thanking my lucky stars that she was back in my life.
Still sobbing she began to kiss down my chest and to my tummy. I sighed deeply as she passed my belly button and then kissed the head of my cock. She grabbed my cock in her hand and gently licked it from top to bottom.
"Can we make love right now and skip the foreplay?" asked Nikki, tears running down her cheeks.
I nodded to her and she then straddled me and lowered herself onto my throbbing member.
"Oh God! I really missed having you inside of me," said Nikki as she began to rub her clit on my cock.
Nikki rocked on top of me slowly moaning softly. I reached up and grabbed her breasts and kneaded them in my hands, increasing the pitch and volume of her moans. Nikki started bucking against me like a woman possessed. I moved my hips in a futile attempt to accentuate her movements. She was just too wild. There was no rhythm, just a pure lust driven orgy of movement on her part.
"AYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE FUCK!" screamed Nikki as she came. She then collapsed on top of me and sobbed into my chest.
I slowly rubbed her back with both of my hands as she cried, softly whispering words of comfort into her ear.
"I'm so sorry for letting you go," sobbed Nikki. "I was so stupid. So, so, stupid."
"It's ok baby," I said. "We can make things right now."
Nikki nodded furiously into my chest.
"I can look into relocating down here this week. I don't want to lose you again."
Nikki rewarded me with a flurry of kisses.
"Make love to me," said Nikki softly.
I was still in her so that wasn't too hard of a request to grant. I pulled her legs forward and sat up taking her into my arms. We ended up sitting, with her on my lap and her legs around me and impaled on my cock. We were limited in our movements but that didn't matter. This wasn't a lust filled roll in the hay anymore. We were sharing with one another our love. We kissed and caressed one another while slowly and passionately coupling. We made love like that for nearly an hour. I brought her to three very quiet climaxes and we finished when I finally released into her in a relaxing, yet satisfying orgasm.
The rest of the week went pretty much the same every day. Nikki would spend the night with me and we would make love every morning before she would go home and get ready to come back to the hotel for work.
During the day I actually spent my time drumming up some local business. I talked to a few of my business contacts to see if they had any contacts in the Tampa area and was pleased to find a few local contacts in the area looking for IT consulting services. I quickly set up a few appointments and next thing I knew I had two new customers in the area to work for.
Jenna called every day and pleaded with me to take her back. She informed me that she would do anything it took to make things work, which made me feel even worse for doing to her what I was doing. Every call ended the same way. She would get frustrated and yell at me and then slam down the phone. I knew in my heart that Jenna loved me more than life itself. I just hoped against all hope that Nikki felt the same way about me.
For our last night together I made reservations for Landry's, an upscale restaurant in the area. I wanted to make the night as special as possible so that Nikki would have a wonderful experience to look back on as she waited for my return to Florida.
We arrived at six in the evening and were immediately seated in one of the best seats in the place. I had slipped the Maitre De a twenty dollar bill to ensure that it was the most romantic and secluded spot in the restaurant.
I took Nikki's hands into my hands and looked across the table into her eyes.
"This has been one of the best weeks in my entire life and I owe it all to you," I said.
Nikki gave me one of those smiles that melted me. "I love you so much. I promise you that if you ever ask me the same question you did fifteen years ago that my answer will always be yes."
I was a bit stunned. We had only been back together for a week and she was already talking about marriage. The thought had crossed my mind, but not enough to say anything about it.
"Let's just take things one step at a time," I said softly.
"I'm just so excited," said Nikki. "It will be wonderful. You will be back in my life. I will be able to leave my mom's house once and for all."
A sick feeling began welling up in my stomach.
"I should have never doubted that you would become successful," continued Nikki.
I was suddenly ripped from the room as the memories I had been suppressing over the years came flooding back to me. Memories of pain and heartache.
I had made reservations for Nikki and I to have a special dinner at the Gasthaus restaurant. I had spent my last dollars on a small engagement ring for the girl I loved and this would be the evening I was going to pop the question.
I picked Nikki up at five and drove the short distance to the restaurant. I made a grand show of pulling up to the front of the restaurant and getting out and opening the car door for her and then escorting her inside before going back out to park the car.
Once I got back inside we were escorted to our table. The restaurant looked like an elegant German beerhouse complete with the beautiful waitresses showing tons of cleavage carrying eight beers at a time. We had a lovely table on the balcony overlooking the main dining room. It was the perfect romantic setting for what I was going to do.
"Nikki, I made some decisions regarding school next year," I said to lead things off. I gotten my grades from school a week prior and found that I was now on academic probation. Nikki had been such a distraction to my schooling that I rarely attended classes. I got off better than she did, however. My distraction to her schooling earned her a ticket out of the school for at least a year.
"Are you going back next year?" asked Nikki. I figured she didn't want me to return so I wouldn't be away from her during the school year.
I shook my head. "I'm not going back next year. I have a different plan. I have decided to join the Army full time and go on active duty. They are sending me to Germany."
Nikki looked shocked. I had anticipated that. I knew she was feeling like I was abandoning her. I was about to offer her the solution.
"I want you to come with me to Germany Nikki," I said. I then stood up and walked over to her side. I kneeled down and took her hand. In my other hand I held the ring I was going to give her.
"Nikki, will you marry me?"
Nikki looked at me in shock. Her shock then turned to tears.
"This Army thing. You already signed up for it?" asked Nikki crying.
I nodded.
"Then I can't marry you," said Nikki.
My heart stopped.
"Why?" I demanded.
"The Army has no future Robby. I need someone who is going to be successful and be able to take care of me. I don't want to have to live from check to check, wondering how we are going to make it. My mom would definitely not approve of me running off and marrying a soldier. Why did you have to go off and do this Robby?"
"Don't you love me?" I gasped.
"Not if you aren't going to be successful," said Nikki, saying the words I tried my hardest to repress for fifteen years.
"Is something wrong?" asked Nikki.
"Huh?" I replied, disoriented.
"You were daydreaming," said Nikki. "I've been doing that a lot lately too. We are going to be so happy together."
"Happy, why?" I said coldly.
Nikki's expression turned to one of worry. "What's wrong Robby?"
"Answer my question," I demanded.
"We're going to be happy because we love each other so much," said Nikki nervously.
"And?"
"And what?"
"What about the fact that you will be able to move away from Mom?" I said.
"Yeah, that will be nice too," said Nikki. "I have lived like a peasant for so long."
My anger boiled.
"Why did you come on to me so quickly Nikki?"
"Because I missed you."
"Are you sure it wasn't because you saw a ticket out of your monotonous, dreary life as someone with no future?"
Nikki was shocked. My words had cut her like a knife and I reveled in it.
"No," she cried. "That wasn't it. I missed you."
I could tell she was backpedaling. I knew she was up against the ropes.
"You figure that you will be comfortable with me and be able to spend money again and be spoiled by me."
"That's not it," cried Nikki.
"You haven't changed at all in these fifteen years," I spat.
"I have changed," pleaded Nikki. "I realize now that I made a mistake letting you go."
"Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Isn't it? Now you know I made it to be a successful person earning six digits a year. What if I came back into your life now and I was as poor as you are. Would you have still taken me back into your life? Would it have been as easy to seduce you into my bed?"
Nikki didn't say anything yet spoke volumes.
"I didn't come down here on business like I told you," I said. "I came back here knowing that you worked at the Double Tree Hotel and Suites. I came back here to try and win you back into my life. For fifteen years I have made it an obsession to become successful so that someday I could win you back. Now I realize how stupid of an idea that was."
"Please Robby," pleaded Nikki in tears. "It isn't like all that. I would have taken you back no matter what."
"Be honest with me," I said looking into her eyes.
"I would have," said Nikki, avoiding my stare. I knew then that she was lying. The one thing I had always had with Nikki was being able to stare into her eyes and sharing our most intimate of feelings. I knew that because she couldn't look back at me that she wasn't being honest.
"You are in love with the idea of being married to me but not in love with me," I said.
Nikki collapsed onto the table top and bawled. I noticed our waiter and motioned for him to come over.
I handed a hundred dollar bill to the waiter. "Please make sure that the lady's meal is taken care of," I said.
The waiter looked over at Nikki sobbing into the table and then at me and nodded.
"Goodbye Nikki," I said.
"Don't go," screamed Nikki. "Please don't go. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what I did fifteen years ago. Please."
"Goodbye."
I got up and walked away from the girl of my dreams. Never in my life had anything felt so right.
I looked out at the snowy landscape below me as the Boeing 757 I was riding in glided over Southern Indiana. Nikki was behind me. I knew the fantasies about her were over. I realized that there was more to our relationship than just the wonderful sex and what I saw of it sickened me to the core.
My thoughts drifted to Jenna. I knew she still wanted me back, yet I didn't know if I could return to her. There was still a part of me that cherished Jenna for everything that she was outside of the bedroom. She was the perfect wife in that respect. I was coming to realize that maybe that was more important that a good roll in the hay from time to time. Part of me though still wanted to sever that tie with her. I had betrayed her and felt like I couldn't in good conscience return to her.
~~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...
~~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...
~~Jack~~ He knocked on Damien’s door. Someone very much not Damien opened it. “Fiona,” he said, smiling. “Jack! How are ye, ye bawbag? And who’s this lass?” “Veronica, meet Fiona, Damien’s girlfriend, and ... a paranormal creature.” Both Jack and Veronica were dressed in suits, though Veronica’s was less fancy. It was how Invictus did things. Vampires and their servants were well dressed, but it was obvious who the master was. Fiona, on the other hand, was wearing a white button shirt,...
~~Jack~~ As the two of them sat on his couch in his old apartment, he spared no detail. It wasn’t exactly new information for Elaine; they’d have this conversation already. But it was obvious she wanted more info about the emotional side of the Ripper, about how he thought, how he felt, how the fucker took over Jack and basically became a new person. She wanted the information Jack had kept a little vague, to spare Antoinette. Of course, the Prince likely inferred a lot of it, but that...