“Feeling lucky?”
Gunner

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Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, PM

GM: The pair lie upon the floor in one another’s arms. Their hair and makeup is mussed, despite their best efforts, but Josua doesn’t seem to care. Not if he may hold the goddess close—or rather, be held by her, his head resting just below her breasts, her hands stroking his hair. He rubs his hairless legs against Jade’s, shivering at the sensation.

“We’re sex bombs. You know that? Just look at us. We’re primed and ready to explode.”

“And we just did.”

Celia: “We just did,” she agrees. Her fingers run through the silky smooth strands of the dead girl’s hair. What had her name been? Brianna? Bree? Brittany? She thinks it might have been a B, but she doesn’t recall ever asking. Just draining her, swallowing every last drop, sinking into the warmth of blood and ecstasy.

Literal ecstasy.

God, what a night.

Jade’s lipstick does not bleed, but Joy’s had. So had some of the power around her eyes, and the wings she’d been given look a little… off-kilter. It will be a quick touch up to set it right, made faster still by the gifts of her clan. In a moment, though. Now, she wants to enjoy the weight of Joy pressed against her, the feel of those silken strands.

“A bit premature,” she says idly, “we could have ensnared a whole slew of mortals, brought them back here to worship.”

She touches a finger to Joy’s lips.

“I’ll see you on your knees yet, darling.”

GM: “Oh, yes, mistress,” purrs Joy, nuzzling her belly. “We both want to see me suck a whole army’s worth of cocks. These lips were made for cocks.”

Celia: “They make gags, did you know, that keep your mouth open. O-ring gags, they’re called. You’d just have to kneel there and take it while they fuck your face if I got you one of those. Strap you down. Let men fill you from both ends.”

“You’re such a fuckable little bitch.”

GM: “I really am. I dress like such a slut, too. I can’t even leave my dressing room without fucking someone. I’d probably take the entire casino in my mouth and up my ass if I tottered out of here.”

“I wouldn’t even get to feed, with an o-ring gag. I wouldn’t even be a real lick. I’d just be a piece of ass.”

Celia: That’s all she is now. A piece of ass. Jade’s piece. Jade’s creation.

Jade shifts, thighs spreading to either side of Joy’s hips. She uses the weight of her body to pin the slut down, reaching for the bag of cosmetics. A few tweaks and her face is set to rights again.

“Next time,” she tells Joy. “Next time, I’ll let them bend you over like the whore that you are and stick as many cocks in you as they like. Now, though, we have a game to play.”

GM: Joy beams and bats her lashes under the makeup artist’s touch.

“We do. I haven’t even sucked any cocks yet, but I just want to say how educational this has been, and how much better I understand women now. I’m just as promiscuous as I was as Josua, but when I’m Joy I’m this absolutely shameless, cock-ravenous slut who’ll spread her legs the moment someone looks at her. It’s so illuminating to see myself that way.”

“I’m just such a slut.”

Celia: She longs for a cock again. She’d make Joy swallow it.

“Such a slut,” Jade agrees. She rises, towering over the girl on her back. On her back, like sluts should be. Back or knees; that’s where they belong.

Jade fixes her appearance in the mirror. Only when she’s done does she return her attention to Joy the slut.

“I suppose it would raise too many questions to make you crawl after me. Pity. You look good on your knees.”

Celia: All the same, a snap of her fingers summons Joy after her as she strides from the cabin.

There are more people yet to admire her work.

GM: Joy dutifully licks her shoes as she fixes her face, running a longing tongue up and down the straps and heels.

“Are we going to see Marcel, mistress?” asks Joy, her own heels clicking after Jade.

Celia: “Is it time already?”

GM: “We have some time left, mistress.”
“I could really lick your shoes, get them up to polish.”

Celia: “Mm,” Jade hums, finally turning to look at her, “and how would your lover feel if he found you with your tongue on my shoes?”

GM: “He’d know this is where an enormous, completely shameless slut like me belongs. But he’d be too polite to say it.”

Celia: “Do my heels need shining?” Jade glances down at them. “Did you miss a spot earlier?”

GM: “Oh I bet I did, mistress, I was probably too busy imagining them as cocks down my throat to do the job properly.”
“Or you could take me out in front of the casino guests and show them what a complete slut I am.”

Celia: Jade taps the roof of her mouth with her tongue, tutting at the excuse.

“If he finds cause to be displeased with my appearance because of your oversight, I’ll see to it that the next man who touches you splits you open.”

She knows just the one.

“Come, Joy. Let’s give them a show.”

GM: “It’s impossible for anyone to be displeased by your appearance, mistress. Just my polishing job. I hope he is, though. Getting split open is just what a hungry slut like me gets wet thinking about,” giggles Joy.

She clicks along after Jade to the main gambling hall, where the pair are assailed by a riot of sounds, smells, and scintillating colors. The first thing they notice is the massive array of slot machines with blinking lights, whirring sirens, and tokens clattering into the metal payout drawers. Gold and bright primary colors glint excitedly everywhere. Rowdy jazz music plays from speakers and a live band. Crowds of clapping, exclaiming, shouting people are clustered around the array of games, including three-card poker, blackjack, roulette, craps, Mississippi Stud, and Ultimate Texas Hold’em—and the ever-present slot machines that make up the most of any casino’s revenue. An all-you-can-eat Creole/Caribbean-themed buffet and bar is set up in the corner, along with the band. Cocktail waitresses weave their way through the lively crowds while suited croupiers smartly deal out cards.

Celia: She’d been too wrapped up in Josua’s embrace to pay much attention to her surroundings last time. Now, though, freed from the blessing of her clan, Jade sweeps her eyes around the casino. Larger than she had anticipated for it being on a boat. Nicer, too; she’d been picturing more of the same from the racino.

She ignores the slot machines entirely—she has had no luck there and her particular skills suit her better at the tables where she plays against other patrons rather than the house. Hold ’Em, specifically, though she doubts the prince will take kindly to her robbing his players blind.

“What’s your poison?” she asks Joy. “Craps is always a crowd favorite. Maybe someone will let you blow on their dice.” High energy around a craps table.

And half the players don’t understand the rules, just throw their chips onto numbers and hope for the best.

GM: “Craps sounds perfect, mistress. I’ll lick those dice right in front of them, totally shameless,” giggles Joy.

Celia: “I bet you could blow someone under the table. No cameras down there.”

GM: “I’d want a camera to capture that, though.”

Celia: “Not some stern-faced security guard that drags you before your mistress and asks what you think you’re doing sucking a cock without permission?”

GM: “The guards would all want me to blow them too. And you’d say yes, a slut like me was born to swallow dicks down her mouth.”

Celia: “If I had a cock,” Jade murmurs in her ear as they wind through the floor of breathers, “I’d make you kneel under the table no matter where I was with it in your mouth at all times. I’d let other people take a turn for a red chip. You would work your way around the table, swallowing load after load, until I told you to stop.”

GM: Joy gives another girlishly delighted giggle. “Why don’t we do that, mistress? I can just suck the heel of your shoe, instead of your cock.”
“See how many red chips you can pick up.”

Celia: “Your friend won’t mind the spectacle?”

GM: “Would you, mistress? If it were your casino?”

Celia: Probably.

She looks around to get the measure of the typical patron, wondering how far she can push this.

GM: New Orleans isn’t Vegas, and the Alystra isn’t Harrah’s. They look mostly middle-class. “The richer patrons usually go to the baccarat lounge upstairs,” Joy adds.

Celia: She’s less interested in their wallets than she is the sort of person they are. The kind who don’t bat an eye at a BJ under the table? How many other hookers are here this evening? Jade scans the crowd.

GM: This place seems higher-class than Harrah’s.

Which is to say, the hookers are more discrete, and any giving under-the-table blowjobs are being pretty careful not to get caught.

Celia: Jade won’t be the one to cause a scene within someone else’s territory, tempting though it is. She shakes her head at Joy’s insistence.

GM: Joy makes a pouty face. “We’re a pair of sneaky girls, aren’t we?”

Celia: Jade can’t help but smirk.

“Are you trying to get me kicked out so you can hog him to yourself? That’s rude, pet.”

“That makes you a selfish little slut.”

GM: “You need a self to be selfish, mistress. Joy is just an extension of Jade. She’s a piece of Jade’s art.”

“I’m definitely a slut, though.”

Celia: “The thing about sneaking, you know, is that in order to do so you have to be ordinary. Nothing about us is ordinary. We turn heads. We want people to look at us.”

The look she gives Joy dares her to disagree.

She casts another appraising eye around the room, looking for a likely target. Someone with whom Joy can get down and dirty like she wants to. Someone who might even pay for the pleasure of it, turning Joy into the literal whore that Jade knows she is.

And there they are, the sort of mark that Jade searches for. Seven of them at a Hold ‘Em table with their leisure suits or their t-shirts paired with jeans and their stacks of chips. Casually dressed, but to the trained eye—her eye—they scream what they are. Wealthy. Experienced. She pegs the short, dumpy, dark-haired one as a pro player. The thin, twitchy one as a dealer or bookie, maybe both. The old one as a retired… something. Something that hardened him, that makes him slow to smile, but she knows with certainty that it isn’t his pension or his 401k that he’s gambling away this evening. A larger one, black, with a silver watch on his wrist. Blancpain. She can see it from here; despite the loose jeans and too-large shirt, he’s a man of means. And a virgin. She can tell by the way he smiles at the cocktail waitress in her little corset and skirt, by the way he laughs too long and too loudly at her joke, by the way he hands her an extra green chip when she drops off the drink and touches a hand to his shoulder.

Clever girl.

Jade watches the play from the corner of her eye as she approaches the cage to exchange her cash, handing over five crisp bills to receive a plastic tray full of red and white. Jade thanks the cashier with a smile and moves off, tugging Joy with her. A word to the hostess and the two girls are on their way to the table.

“Stand behind me,” Jade murmurs to Joy, “and work out that knot in my shoulder. We’ll see where it goes from there.”

There’s no such knot. Jade’s body is flawless.

“Evening, boys,” she says to the assembled men as she takes the final seat, just in time to catch the little blind. She sets down two white chips and waits for the cards, lifting just the corners to check them.

GM: Joy murmurs for Jade to appear normally in the cameras. Marcel’s people are trained to look for players who don’t show up normally, and will automatically assume they are cheating.

There may not be a knot in her shoulders, but Joy relishes touching them all the same. Very clearly so. She flashes the other players a wide smile as she works her hands back and forth over Jade’s skin. Both girls draw immediate looks from everybody. Some of the players try to look less smitten than others. But all of them must be.

How can they not be, to play alongside a goddess and her creation?

The short, dumpy man smirks between the pair of them. He looks pretty young. “Evening, lovelies. Feeling lucky?”

The older one grunts, though his stare lingers on Jade. Is it lust?

Mr. Blancpain them both and repeats, “Evening, lovelies,” with a wide smile.

Definitely virgin, to be repeating the other guy’s greeting.

Joy eyes all three, and the others too, as if deciding who to blow.

Or blow first.

The dealer, meanwhile, deals cards. Jade gets a nine and six of spades.

Celia: Jade inclines her head toward the dealer, the man she pegged as the pro player (now reconsidering, since she’s never known a pro player to talk about “luck” at a poker table when they all mostly believe it’s a game of skill), and the virgin. She follows Joy’s advice to make sure that she appears normal to the cameras; she’s had so much practice with it, after all.

“Brought my darling charm with me,” she says all the same, making a vague gesture toward Joy, “how could I not?”

Not a great start to her night with that hand, but six and nine are rather auspicious for her, aren’t they? Blatantly sexual and all that; maybe she’ll catch a straight. She’s already in for two. She’ll call the five and limp in if the table lets her.

But when the betting comes back around and the short man raises by $150, Jade simply folds her hand.

GM: There’s three cards on the table now. Seven of clubs, ten of clubs, three of hearts.

“Good luck charm might work better than a darling charm,” says the short man.

“Oh, a darling charm can work for a lot of things,” smiles Josua, still working Jade’s shoulder.

The virgin’s stare lingers on them both.

The fourth card is an eight of diamonds. Another man folds. The others check. The short man raises another $50.

The fifth card is a jack of diamonds. Everyone reveals their hands. The short man has the ace of hearts and a six of clubs. The chips all go to him.

“I don’t believe that poker’s a game of skill,” he says as he collects his chips.

The older man looks at him like he’s stupid.

“If luck is on your side, it doesn’t matter how good or bad you are.”

“Should I suck his cock?” Joy murmurs in Jade’s ear.

Celia: The words draw a peal of laughter from Jade. She lifts a hand to cover her mouth, and if anyone glances her way she simply shakes her head. Amusement dances in her eyes.

He’s one of those.

The button moves to the left and Jade is now the big blind. She sets down her red chip before the cards ever pass to her.

“Luck,” she says with a faint smile, “or a large stack to buy the pot.”

She does not dignify Joy’s question with a response. It’s a clear no.

GM: She gets the ace of clubs and the ace of spades.

One man calls.

The short man just smiles and raises another $150.

The virgin calls.

The older man folds.

One man folds. Another calls too.

Celia: Pocket aces? There’s no hesitation. Jade calls.

GM: Everyone plays through the hand as the dealer deals his cards. There are some more calls, checks, and folds, but two aces make the hand a largely foregone conclusion. When all the cards are laid out, and everyone reveals their hands, the short man had a king and queen. A great hand, but not good enough. The virgin and the others didn’t even venture higher than numbered man.

The chips go to Jade.

“Luck’s on your side this time,” the short man says breazily.

The old man snorts. “I’da raised earlier.”

Celia: Jade stacks her winnings in front of her, one brow arched at the old man’s comments. She’d gone all in by the end of it.

“Sure,” she says, “and chased everyone off the hand.” Which means less winnings, but Jade won’t be so crass as to discuss money at the poker table. She just smiles.

“I s’pose my girl is a good luck charm after all.”

GM: “Yeah,” says the virgin, “she’s definitely a good luck charm!”

“There are places you can just buy it, kid,” says the old man with another snort.

Celia: “A cute, lucky charm,” Jade agrees. She blatantly eyes him. “You want to borrow her?”

GM: The short man grins. “I believe in luck, but not lucky charms. Though she’s clearly charmed the table.”

There’s nothing at all subtle about the hungry smile Joy flashes the virgin.

“You sure you won’t need her luck?” the virgins asks with a mildly forced-sounding chuckle.

Celia: “I can come off her for a hand or two. Just make it worth my time.”

“Those hands of hers are magic.”

GM: Joy gives a bimbo-ish giggle and touches her fingertips to her lips. Her eyes don’t leave the virgin. She doesn’t say anything. Just plays the dumb bimbo on Jade’s arm.

“Okay then, you bet I will,” the virgin readily agrees.

Celia: Jade waves a hand at Joy.

“Go on then, dollface.”

“Make the man happy.”

GM: Joy gives a delighted giggle and starts to work her hands up and down the man’s shoulders. She’s very intimate in her touch. She leans in close so her hair brushes against his shoulders, but she doesn’t stay still. Sometimes her breasts brush against him. Sometimes she breathes half-audible sultry-sounding things in his ears. Jade is pretty sure she fondles his dick under the table, too.

Far from being a good luck charm, the virgin is flustered to the point he can barely think straight. He places big bets and raises as often as he can, just to look big and bold when Joy coyly whispers what a big pair he has.

The cocktail waitress gives Joy a dirty look when she comes by again.

Celia: As if Joy or Jade care about the dirty looks given to them by the kine who carry drinks for a living.

Maybe the others at the table don’t notice the way that Joy’s hands slip beneath the table, but Jade, seated right next to the virgin, hears the sudden intake of his breath when Joy’s hands find the spot where he’s really tense. She smirks and plays her hand, taking advantage of his distraction to force him into a large bet that nets her half his stack.

Joy carries on while Jade plays with the boys, making idle chitchat as the time passes. True to his word, the short, dumpy guy who believes in Lady Luck seems to have a knack for getting exactly what he needs. Lucky plays fast and loose with his chips as if he knows that she’s smiling down on him, and more than once he flips his cards to show something Jade wouldn’t have kept—lower, off suit—but still manages to win the pot. One hand he forces another player all in and they reveal their hands; it looks like the other guy has him beat until the dealer lays out the last card and the gentleman who loses mutters angrily about “catching the nuts on the river” before he stalks from the table. Jade winks at Lucky as they watch him go.

There’s always someone waiting to take the empty seat. Players come and go as the cards are dealt and chips change hands. Lucky tips the dealer well when she rotates out to make room for one of her coworkers.

By the time Jade and Joy start thinking that they should get going to meet Marcel, Lucky has the rest of the table beat in stack height. Jade isn’t so crass as to count her money at the table (or reference the song), but she’s at least doubled her initial investment and is pretty secure with her “second place” earnings.

GM: The virgin tries to stay attached to Joy. He offers to buy her drinks. “Or food. Or whatever you want.”

Joy gives a delighted-sounding giggle and glances Jade’s way as if for permission.

Lucky grins at both ladies as the game concludes and walks over to a Mississippi Stud table. He promptly starts winning at that too.

Jade sees the pit boss and several guards and floormen all watching him now.

The eye in the sky, of course, is always watching.

Celia: Jade gives Joy and the virgin a long look, then finally nods her head. Of course Joy can play with her new toy. She pulls Joy close as she starts stacking chips on the rack to cash out, leaning in to whisper in her ear.

“You are going to take your new friend into a private, secluded area and blow his mind. Get on your knees. Unzip him. And suck his cock like the fuckable little faggot I’ve turned you into.” She touches a hand to Joy’s cheek, thumb tracing her lips. “Make sure you swallow.”

GM: Joy gives another bimbo-ish giggle.

“Yes, ma’am. Right on my knees, like I’m meant for. I’ll throw up in front of you, so you can be double sure.” She hungrily licks her lips. “Unless you’d like to watch?”

Lucky, meanwhile, soon wins a jackpot. He’s got so many chips.

Celia: He has to be doing something. No one is that lucky. And he hadn’t played well enough for her to think that he’s some sort of idiot savant.

Jade shakes her head at Joy, nodding for her to enjoy the virgin on her own. She’s tempted—she’d like to watch Joy be a slut—but the intrigue surrounding Lucky simply calls to her.

It’s not natural.

What is it?

It reminds her, frankly, of her Uncle Seb and his uncanny ability to win whatever his little heart desires. Jade watches from nearby to see if she can suss out his trick.

GM: Joy takes the virgin by the hand, rubs her hips against his flank, and makes off with him, promising to “blow your mind, sweetheart.” She’s all giggles and sly (or obvious) touches, constantly in motion, constantly teasing and caressing and flirting. The man stammers is assent as if unable to believe this is happening.

Lucky doesn’t seem to be palming cards or leveraging sleight of hand. If the dealers are in on it, they’re very good actors, because they’re watching him just as suspiciously. Jade can’t see anything untoward in what he’s doing.

Beyond the fact that he just keeps winning.

Or that he doesn’t seem to care how intently the casino is watching. He can’t possibly be unaware.

Celia: He’s still winning by the time the cashier finishes with her chips. Jade finally slides closer.

“You weren’t kidding.”

GM: “I was born lucky,” he replies breezily.

He counts his many, many winnings.

“Want to hit the slots?”

Celia: “You lucky there, too?” She sounds amused, but walks with him.

GM: He walks up to one, feeds in a coin, and pulls the lever. Three bananas turn up. Coins pour out.

“I’m lucky everywhere,” he grins.

“Want some of those? I can just get more.”

He indicates the coins.

Every employee eye in the casino is on him now.

Celia: “Lucky everywhere?” Jade eyes him as the coins pour out of the machine. It’s the sort of thing she’s only seen happen in movies. “How do I get some of that to rub off on me?”

GM: “Honestly?” smirks the kid. “You’re either born lucky or you’re not. Good things happen around me, though. Stick around and some will probably happen to you.”

Celia: “You mean like I’ll get to watch the security guys use your face as a punching bag?”

GM: His smirk doesn’t fade. “Didn’t I just say I was lucky at everything?”

Celia: “Even love?”

GM: “Yeah, I’ve banged a ton of girls.”

“Everyone likes a winner.”

Celia: “So you use your luck to rob casinos blind and get into girls’ pants.”

GM: “Yep. Can you think of a better use?”

Celia: Several.

“Probably. But I see the appeal.” Since he has none of his own.

GM: Lucky pulls the levers for a few more slots. He wins at every one.

“Hey, can I get a bag for all this?” he asks an employee.

“Of course, sir,” comes a very frosty response.

The pit boss and several security guards walk up to him.

“You need to come with us, sir.”

“Oh, sure,” he says absently. “Bag first, okay?”

Celia: Jade does that thing she does sometimes, the one that makes people like her and listen to her as if she has any right to be there. She says she wants to tag along and bats her lashes even though it isn’t strictly necessary.

GM: All of the employees prove more than amenable to her company.

“You’ll get your money from us, sir,” says the pit boss.

“Okay, that works,” shrugs Lucky.

Everyone goes back to what looks like the manager’s office. The manager is a bearded, balding, middle-aged man in a dark suit who does not look at all happy to see Lucky and Jade across from his desk.

“So,” he says, spreading his hands.

“You think we’re fucking idiots?”

“I’m just lucky. That’s all,” grins Lucky.

“You’re lucky,” says the manager.

“Yep,” says Lucky.

“You just won the privilege to play a very exclusive game with us, Gunner. You’re the only guy in the casino who gets to play it.”

“Really?” asks Gunner. He’s leaning back in his seat and not looking at the man anymore. He’s staring up at the eye in the sky.

The manager follows his gaze to the camera with a thin smile. “Yes, Gunner, we’re watching here.”

“We’re watching everywhere.”

Celia: Jade wants to play, too.

GM: “So what’s the game?” smiles Gunner, finally looking back at the man.

“We take turns beating your ass until you tell us why you’re so lucky,” says the manager with a very nasty smile. One of the guards grabs Gunner’s chair, spins it around, and throws a punch at him.

The man trips over his own feet and crashes flat on his face.

Celia: Oh.

Oh.

He’s actually lucky in all things.

GM: Gunner clucks his tongue.

“So, can I have my money now?”

Celia: What does lucky blood taste like? If she drinks from him, will she absorb some of that?

She doesn’t know, but she wants to find out.

GM: The manager rises from his seat.

The ceiling fan suddenly snaps off and crashes into him. The man goes down in a heap behind his desk.

Gunner looks at the other guard, who’s pulled a gun.

“Hey, are you allowed to have those?”

The man squeezes the trigger. The explosively loud bullet ricochets off the wall and hits him in the knee. He goes down in a screaming, bleeding heap.

“So, should I go to the cage?” Gunner asks, removing his hands from his ears. He covered them just in time.

“You… idiot…” rasps the manager’s voice from below his desk, “when our boss gets back…”

Jade smells blood from there.

“So he’s not here? Wow, lucky me,” smiles Gunner.

He looks at Jade. “Wanna visit the cage? I don’t think these guys actually have my money.”

“It’ll turn up, though.”

He peers down at the motionless first guard.

“Oh, wow. I think he actually knocked himself out. What a fucking clutz.”

Celia: Jade had nothing to do with this, but somehow she feels like Marcel is going to find a way to blame her for it. Maybe if she keeps tabs on the lucky guy he won’t have a reason to.

“How deliciously illuminating. I think you’re right that they don’t have your money; shall we?” She rises, stepping neatly over the prone man to move toward the door.

GM: The bleeding, sweating man on the grasps for his gun.

Gunner shakes his head at him.

“That’s a really bad idea.”

He kicks the gun away, slips an arm around Jade’s waist, and walks out with her.

“Believe me now?”

Celia: “You certainly caught my attention, and that’s lucky in and of itself.” She’s a shameless flatterer.

Of herself.

GM: Gunner laughs. “You wouldn’t be here with me if it wasn’t.”

Celia: “Does that mean anything we do together is bound to succeed?”

GM: “Basically, yeah.”

Celia: She can think of so many fun uses for a lucky friend.

Jade smiles winningly up at him as they traverse the floor and head to the cage, already running through a handful of scenarios.

Maybe she’ll keep him.

GM: Gunner smiles back and squeezes her ass. He walks up to the cage and asks for his winnings. The man on the inside saw him go off with the pit boss. Everyone saw him. He hands over the money in a bag.

Celia: “We should make you really lucky,” she murmurs into his ear as he collects his winnings.

GM: “Huh, I think the pit boss ran off,” says Gunner, striding towards the exit with her.

“How do you figure there?” he asks, amused.

“You wouldn’t believe some of the things that’ve happened to me.”

Celia: “No?”

“Tell me.”

GM: “Let me show you.”

Celia: “Show me?”

GM: The two walks down the riverboat casino’s ramp. Gunner walks dead into traffic, spreads his arms, and falls over onto the road like he’s doing a snow angel.

Traffic screams and blares. Tires squeal. Cars furiously honk. Drivers shout from their windows. Gunner just lies there.

More cars madly careen past. Horns ceaselessly blare. Some tires miss him by bare inches.

He just lies there. Untouched.

Celia: Jade waits safely on the sidewalk.

“That’s hardly proof,” she calls out to him, “since they’d avoid hitting you anyway.”

GM: Gunner gets up, takes his time dusting himself off, and walks back as passing drivers scream after him.

“We’re pretty past proof.”

“I’m invincible. I don’t think there’s anything that can actually hurt me.”

“Believe me, I’ve tested it. I’ve jumped off buildings. Tried to shoot myself with a gun. OD’d on drugs.”

“I think I’m some kind of god or something.”

Celia: “A god,” she repeats, amused.

GM: “You got a better name?”

Celia: “I don’t know if I believe you, is all. If you jumped into a bathtub with a toaster are you telling me that you wouldn’t die?”

GM: “Yep.”

Celia: “You’ve never gotten sick? Broken a bone?”

GM: “Nope.”

Celia: “Have you ever actually been sad?”

“Lost your keys?”

“Been broken up with?”

GM: “Oh, yeah. But I always find someone new.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever lost my keys.”

Celia: “Hm.” Jade eyes him. “Did you grow up in New Orleans? I can’t imagine you’ve been able to hit the casinos here without getting caught for that long.”

GM: He just laughs. “Get caught and… what?”

Celia: “They’d ban you, wouldn’t they?”

GM: “You think that’d stop me?”

“But no, I’m not from here. New Orleans was just a place I wanted to visit.”

Celia: “You in town for a while?”

GM: “Haven’t decided. Long as I have fun.”

“Where do you want to go bang?”

Celia: “My cabin is on the boat.” Jade eyes him. “Think you’re lucky enough to get out twice without the guards catching you?”

GM: “Sure am. You work for the owner or something?”

Celia: “His lover. I guess we’ll see if you can win me over.”

GM: He shrugs. “I will or I won’t. Either way, I’ll end up in someone’s bed.”

“I can say basically whatever I want to girls. If I really want pussy, some will fall into my lap.”

Celia: “Funny,” she says as they head back inside, “I have the same effect on men.”

GM: “It’s probably what you’re best at.” Gunner follows her in. Things have seemingly gone back to normal in the casino, though employees immediately start watching him. He’s seemingly unconcerned.

Celia: “Mmm,” Jade muses, watching the guards watch them. She winks at one. “You’re probably right. I suppose you’ll have to let me know how I compare to the bevy of other beautiful women who throw themselves at you.”

Where had Joy gotten to? Jade scans the casino floor as they go.

GM: Joy’s back at another table, shamelessly flirting with several men at once. The slut must have sucked off the virgin already.

Celia: Jade wiggles her fingers at the girl in a sort of “come hither” motion.

“You don’t mind sharing, do you?” she asks her would-be companion.

How lucky: two gorgeous girls and one man.

GM: Joy murmurs something to the men, fondles both of their dicks, and saunters on over.

“Just my luck,” grins Gunner.

Celia: “Look what I found,” Jade says to Joy, taking her by the arm, “the luckiest guy in the city.”

“And he’s all ours tonight.”

GM: “Lucky us,” giggles Joy.

“You don’t know the half of it,” smirks Gunner. “I’m Gunner.”

“I’m Joy. I’m a slut,” beams Joy.

“Wow, I really am lucky,” says Gunner.

Celia: “She gives great head,” Jade offers.

“Spends a lot of time on her knees, you see.”

GM: “I was born to be on my knees,” nods Joy. “I’ve already sucked off one guy tonight and I’m hungry for more.”

Celia: “And did he tell you how amazing you are with that pretty little mouth of yours?”

GM: “Oh yes, mistress, he was ecstatic. He blew the biggest load into my mouth and I swallowed it all.” Joy giggles again and brushes against Gunner, all smiles and tender caresses. “But enough talking, talking isn’t what my mouth is for. Getting dicks crammed into it is what my mouth is for. If I’m talking and not sucking a dick, something is really wrong.”

“She your sub or something?” Gunner asks Jade, amused.

He’s already very, very hard, though. Joy smiles and strokes his crotch.

Celia: “She’s my pet,” Jade tells him. “If she’s good tonight she gets a little collar and everything. Isn’t that right, sweetling?”

GM: “That’s right, mistress. You can lead me around on a little leash and everything,” beams Joy.

Celia: “Only if she’s a good girl,” Jade says to Lucky. “Otherwise she gets the boot. You’ll have to let me know how she compares, too. Lucky was just telling me about all the women who throw themselves at him because he’s such a lucky guy. I don’t think any of them were as cute as us, though.”

GM: “Or as eager,” grins Gunner. “Lead the way, ladies.”

Celia: Jade leads the way toward Joy’s cabin, giving the girl a look as if to ask if it’s okay that they take Lucky back there.

GM: She nods, but also taps her canines, shakes her head, and mouths ‘permission.’

Celia: Jade knows the rules, but she appreciates the warning regardless. She gives a tiny nod and a shrug in response; maybe she’ll sip from Joy once she’s had a taste to see if they both get lucky from the kine’s blood.

It doesn’t take long to reach the cabin. Jade has Joy let them in and closes the door behind the three of them.

She doesn’t lock it, just in case Joy’s other lover decides he wants to get in on the action with Lucky.

GM: Gunner pushes them both onto the bed and starts hungrily pulling off the girls’ clothes.

Joy goes straight for his cock.

Celia: There’s not much to pull off beneath Jade’s dress; when the material clings so soundly to her body she doesn’t bother wearing anything beneath it to break up the clean lines. She lays Gunner out on the bed while Joy toys with him and searches briefly for the handcuffs to bind his wrists to the posters.

GM: “Ooh, nothing underneath,” Gunner grins. He starts to pleasure her breasts with his mouth while Joy sucks his cock. He doesn’t fight, though, when Jade cuffs him to the bed. Just grins.

After all, can they keep him there if he really wants to leave?

Celia: They’ll find out shortly, won’t they?

But why would he want to leave?

He’s got a girl on his knees for him.

And another one stretched above where he’s sprawled out on his back, teasing him by letting him kiss her mouth, then her neck, then her nipples, then finally positioning herself over his face so he can use his tongue between her legs while Joy takes him into her mouth.

GM: Gunner licks, nips, and tugs Jade’s nipples, burying his face against her breasts. He hungrily eats out her pussy and sounds like he’s thoroughly enjoying himself from the way Joy sucks his cock. Maybe she’s just great at blowjobs.

But Jade can smell the blood in her mouth.

It’s like nothing she’s smelled before. Somehow… electric.

Celia: She wants it. It isn’t fair that Joy gets to take his blood when Jade was the one to lure him back here. Joy hadn’t done that. She’d gone off to fuck the virgin and Jade had followed Gunner and stayed near his side and brought him back to the ship. Even his attention to her clit with his tongue doesn’t distract her from the scent of the blood.

Her fangs grow long in her mouth as she pictures herself leaning down to take a little nibble for herself.

There’s a compromise in here somewhere, isn’t there? Joy takes from Gunner. Jade takes from Joy. It’s a second-hand, vicarious sort of hit, but maybe it will be enough to scratch that itch. She bends at the waist, keeping herself positioned above Gunner, and pulls Joy’s hair to the side to expose the back of her neck. The tips of her fangs dig into skin.

It’s not technically poaching.

Blood wells. Jade licks it clean.

GM: Joy’s blood, or rather, Gunner’s, tastes like… gold.

Electricity.

Slowly but surely, an exhilarating sense of infinite opportunity steals through Jade. She feels as though she can do anything, anything at all… and the impossibly seems suddenly not only possible, but positively easy…

But it’s only for a moment, and gone just as fast she pulls back from Jade’s neck. There’s only a pleasant buzz on her tongue, a sense of having touched something huge, something incredible… and walking away with a thimbleful.

Joy continues to rapturously suck Gunner’s cock.

Celia: Liquid luck.

It’s like liquid courage, only Jade knows that no matter what she attempts to do it’s going to turn out just right. Not just to her, either; it’s not the sort of thing that makes a sorority girl think she killed it at karaoke when she’s never been able to hold a tune. It’s the sort of thing that makes the same girl actually kill it when a record label exec just happens to be drinking at the bar and “likes the cut of her jib, why don’t you sign right there on the dotted line sweetheart so we can make all your dreams come true?”

It’s the sort of thing that puts a tingle in her spine and a fire in her core. It’s gold and diamonds and every home run and royal flush and winning lottery ticket.

Maybe he is a god. Maybe he’s the god of luck. Maybe he’s the god of luck and she’s the goddess of love and beauty and together they can make lucky, beautiful things happen.

Maybe the luckiest thing that could ever happen to him is that he meets Jade and she gives him immortality in exchange for the gold in his veins.

She struck gold.

And she keeps digging.

She doesn’t let up; she drinks from Joy until Joy ceases drinking from Gunner.

GM: She doesn’t.

But Joy promptly turns and throws her off.

“You got a taste already,” she purrs. “Rest is mine. Only so much I can take while playing it safe.”

She rapturously licks her lips. “God, what the fuck even is he…?”

“Hey, cock here, requires sucking,” says Gunner.

Celia: Her claws almost come out when Joy tosses her aside.

She almost throws down with the greedy bitch who thinks to deny her the spoils of her oh-so-clever hunt.

Only almost, though. Waste of luck, isn’t it? She can think of so many better uses for what thrums through her veins right now.

She leans in only to lick closed the holes her fangs left behind.

“You heard him, slut. Put that mouth off yours to use.”

GM: “With pleasure, mistress,” Joy beams, all submissive smiles again as she wraps her lips back around Gunner’s lick. There’s absolutely nothing fake about her pleasure. She pleases him real good. Gunner is gasping, straining against the cuffs, his toes all but curling.

“Oh, fuck, you’re good…!”

Celia: Jade’s probably better.

But she isn’t so crass as to say it. She watches instead: watches her tease him with a tongue along the shaft, watches her use her fangs to tear tiny little cuts into his flesh so she can lap at the blood, watches her close her lips around the head of his cock. She takes her pleasure from his mouth instead, muffling the cries about how good Joy is, putting his tongue exactly where she wants it to be: worshiping her.

And when she finally does find her release it’s the kind that makes her toes curl and her (useless) breath catch in her chest and drenches him with the evidence of a job well done.

Joy can’t take that away from her.

GM: “What should we do with you…” purrs Joy as the three lie spent in one another’s arms. Wet in one of their cases, sweating in another one’s, and satisfied for all three. There’s cum all over Joy’s face, but she daintily removes as much of his blown load as she can with her fingers and slowly licks it up. She swallows it down with an audible gulp, as if to give him the best of both worlds.

“Marcel should be back soon. It’s funny he isn’t here already, he normally isn’t late for anything.”

Celia: “Mm,” Jade muses, trailing a hand down Gunner’s chest, “maybe he’d be mad about this one robbing him blind and his luck saw to it that he was kept away.”

GM: “Or maybe it’ll be my luck he gets back and sees me in bed with his girl, before I get away again,” Gunner remarks lazily.

“Someone’s confident,” purrs Joy.

“It’s easy to be confident when you’re lucky,” says Gunner.

“Why isn’t anyone doing anything if you robbed the casino blind?”

Celia: “They tried.”

GM: “Maybe they’ll try again,” says Gunner. “Or maybe they just don’t know I’m here. Lost me in the crowd or something.”

“You never know what luck’s gonna be.”

“Guess not,” says Joy, resting her head against his shoulder now that his cum’s all licked up.

“You’re so tasty… I really wonder what we should do with you…”

Celia: Jade knows what she wants to do with him.

But she doesn’t share her thoughts.

She doesn’t even think her thoughts.

She fills her mind with images of watching Joy suck off a line of cocks while chips rain down around them.

GM: “Maybe we should get in touch with Marcel, just to see what happens…”

Celia: “Give him a ring, then.” Jade trails a hand down Gunner’s chest. “Let him know we have a new toy for him to play with. Maybe he’ll have you bend him over for being a bad boy.” She nips at his neck, careful not to draw blood.

“I’d offer to blow him while we wait to end that age-old debate about who does it better, but you’ve got the advantage of equipment there.”

GM: Gunner frowns.

“Er, what?”

Celia: Jade giggles, pressing a finger to Gunner’s lips.

“Shh, it’s okay.” She shifts, moving over him to straddle his hips. “Joy’s really good with her mouth, but I blow her out of the water when it comes to being on top.”

GM: Gunner’s erection is getting increasingly limp.

“You said equipment…” he says with a long look at Joy.

Joy gives a delighted giggle.

She lifts her dress and pulls down her panties.

Gunner blanches.

“You… FREAK WHORE…!”

Joy giggles again. “And you loved every moment of it. We could tell.”

Celia: “It’s okay, baby, don’t be too upset with yourself. Joy’s mouth is magical. But so is my pussy, and all you had was a taste.” She wiggles a little, using a hand to stroke him firm again. “Don’t you want the real thing now?”

GM: Gunner twists and pulls at the cuffs. They come off.

“Oh no!” exclaims Joy.

“You’re fucking SICK!” yells Gunner, rolling off the bed and pulling up his pants.

Celia: He throws Jade off of him as easily as he gets out of the cuffs. She lands on the other side of the bed, giggling all the while, watching in amusement as he gets dressed.

“He’s so cute when he’s flustered,” she says to Joy. “Get Marcel in here, pet, he’ll be interested in seeing this.”

GM: “Sure thing, mistress,” giggles Joy, tapping off a text.

Celia: “Come back to bed, Gunner, let me show you how it’s done.” She pats the spot beside her, reaching toward him with the innate gifts of the blood. Her clan’s gift. Her gift. Her gift more than anyone’s. Seduction, the thing that makes men want to bury themselves between her thighs and women fall to their knees in submission. Seldom used—when has she needed the assistance to make someone want to worship her?—but still a valuable tool in her kit all the same.

That sense of heady desire flares from the very core of her being, unfurling like a mist to surround him, to fill him with that same sense of lust and craving that ensnares so many others with just a tilt of her head and crook of her finger. Lucky guy, isn’t he, to have such an alluring woman like her interested in him.

Her smile promises such a good time, if only he’ll come back to bed.

GM: Gunner stares for a moment, then pulls his pants off. He pushes Jade down against the bed and buries his now-firm cock between her thighs.

Celia: With luck—and they seem to have that in spades—Marcel won’t see Jade rutting with the kine like some sort of breather herself. But she can’t think about that now. Now she’s focused on absolutely blowing his mind with her body. Maybe it’s him. Maybe it’s her. Maybe it’s a combination of them both, or the fact that there’s danger lurking, or the effects of the star mode she whacked him with; whatever it is, he hits all the right spots on her and she hits all the right spots on him, and they fight and tussle and grapple for dominance. Jade lets him take top for a time, then flips him over and shows him how it’s done. Like this, she says with her hips and her hands and her mouth.

She lets him finish inside—her cunt is as dead as the rest of her despite its warmth—and feels it trickle out of her when she finally rolls off.

GM: They don’t fight alone, either. Joy clambers on too. Gunner starts again with instinctive revulsion, then Joy smiles and touches his cheek. All his disgust melts away. She sits on top of his face and lets Gunner suck her cock while she buries her own face between Jade’s breasts, licking, nipping, biting, and sucking. The coppery scent of vitae fills the air while while her fingers play alongside Gunner’s cock, mercilessly teasing and rubbing Jade’s sweet little nub.

Gunner feels pretty exhausted, though, and isn’t the best partner. His thrusts lack vigor and he seems relieved to just lie there as Jade takes top and does the heavy lifting. His face is pale. Joy did feed on him fairly deeply.

Celia: It’s enough for her, at least; she finds release between his cock and Joy’s fingers, and when it’s over she’s covered in cum and sweat and blood and—

“—desperately need a shower,” she says to Joy, “before Marcel arrives. Both of us.”

GM: “Oh, I think I rather enjoy looking at you three this way,” comes a man’s smiling voice.

Baton Rouge’s prince-in-exile is a tall and handsome man with rectangular features, a prominent nose, dark caramel-brown hair sculpted into a short mustache and goatee, and deep blue eyes. Two gold crucifix earrings hang from his ears. Jade’s never seen him without them. He’s dressed in a tailored navy silk jacket that flatters his trim physique, tan slacks, and a white dress shirt without a tie.


He glances at the large bag full of cash, then smiles back at Gunner. “It’d be my pleasure if you and your friends could join me for a late dinner. The Alystra’s biggest winner deserves some comps, after all.”

Gunner looks at Marcel with something between amusement and curiosity. “Your people tried to beat the shit out of me for cheating.”

“Yes, I’m terribly sorry about that,” replies Marcel. “They’re fairly zealous. Have to be in, this business. Gamblers will always look for a way to cheat. But I’ve reviewed the tapes, talked with my people, and I’ve concluded that you owe your streak of good fortune simply to being very, very lucky. There’s no rule against being lucky.”

“I’m glad you see it that way,” replies Gunner. “I am lucky. Very, very lucky.”

“As this encounter rather proves, doesn’t it?” Marcel agrees amiably. “Come, why don’t you three put on your clothes—or leave them off, as you prefer. We won’t be disturbed.”

Celia: Naked, covered in blood, and smelling of sex isn’t exactly how Jade had wanted to greet the prince-in-exile.

Well, that’s not true. Naked and covered in blood seems appropriate given what Josua has told her about the lick; it’s the sex thing that gives her pause, and maybe the fact that he heard her call him “Marcel” to Josua, but a quick glance at his face—smiling—tells her that maybe he’s not bothered by it.

Maybe she’s gotten lucky.

Jade winks at the prince in lieu of an obsequious bow in front of the mortal—Masquerade and all that—and slips into her dress. She’s not modest or shy about her body, but she’d gone through all the effort of selecting the gown and by God Marcel will see her in it.

GM: The ex-prince smiles back, then looks at Joy. “This is a new look on you.”

“Does it please His Majesty?” smiles Joy, tilting her head and placing a hand against her hip. She’s still wearing her dress.

“Oh, yes.”

“Are you a king or something?” asks Gunner, amused.

He’s fairly sluggish in pulling on his clothes.

“Or something,” agrees Marcel. “Don’t forget your money. Leaving that much on the floor is tempting fate.”

Gunner puts on his shirt and slings the bag over his shoulder. The three proceed to a private dining room with a lone table seated next to a window overlooking of the dark Mississippi. Staff bring in plates of food that looks like it’s from the buffet. They don’t give funny looks or ask questions about the three’s messy state.

Gunner plops down heavily in his chair and digs heartily into the shrimp and sausage jambalaya. “God, that took a lot out of me.”

“I can’t blame you, those ladies look very vigorous,” smiles Marcel. He doesn’t move to eat any of the food on his plate. “Salt?”

“Sure,” says Gunner between a mouthful.

Marcel moves to pass him a shaker, but knocks it over. Salt spills all over the tablecloth.

“Oh, dear. I hope you don’t believe in bad luck.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t,” smiles Gunner between a bite of shrimp.

“Really?” asks Marcel, before a broad-shouldered and well-muscled man smashes Gunner’s face onto the table. The grim-faced, suit-wearing man kicks out Gunner’s chair, then delivers two more brutally hard kicks to the man’s gut after he hits the floor. Gunner gags and jerks.

“You should.”

Celia: Jade ceases pushing the food around her plate at the commotion, looking first to Gunner and then to Josua. She sighs heavily, forcing the air from her lungs.

“How silly of us,” she says to the boy-turned-girl, “there are plenty of mirrors in your cabin we could have broken to save His Majesty the trouble.”

GM: “Yes, that’d have rather done the trick too,” says Marcel.

Joy holds a hand to her mouth and giggles. She hasn’t touched her food either.

Marcel glances at the large, suited man.

“Get my money back where it belongs.”

The man picks up the bag of cash and tosses it to another employee, who disappears through the door.

“Wh…” gasps Gunner. He tries to rise to his feet, but the suited man delivers another hard kick to his kidneys. He curls up and moans.

“I’m afraid luck can only get you so far without brains, Mr. Gunner,” says Marcel. “And by my estimate you’re in rather short supply of both right now.”

“Not a good place to be, given how much you owe me.”

“Owe… you?” Gunner gasps out from the floor.

“Yes.”

“Got back your… mon… how th’ fuck di…”

“So I did. But you also owe me for my time and trouble, my injured employees, and not least of all, my casino’s loss of reputation. It’s your ‘luck’ no one heard the gunshot, but everyone saw you cheat. This sort of thing looks very bad. At least with most forms of cheating, the entire casino can’t tell when someone thinks they’re getting away with it.”

“And since I owe Miss Kalani for bringing you back after you got away, we’ll put you on the hook to her too.”

“Ooh, someone’s gonna get it,” giggles Joy.

Celia: She almost feels bad for the kine; it’s easy to imagine that someone as old as Marcel has plenty of ways to make a man pay, none of them involving dollars or cents.

Waste of blood though, isn’t it? Especially that blood.

Perhaps she has a solution.

In fact, she does have a solution.

“Madam Alsten-Pirrie has shown me a number of decidedly delicious punishments for those with grasping hands, my prince. I’d be delighted to take him off of yours and mete out justice on your behalf.” She smiles down at the man on the floor. “I’d offer something in return, of course.”

GM: “No doubt you’d be equally happy to make sure his blood doesn’t go to waste, Miss Kalani,” says Marcel with a knowing smile.

“But I’m a reasonable prince. Go on.”

“Listen… I can, get you money…” wheezes Gunner.

“I’m sure you can,” Marcel says to the kine. “But I have money, and if I let you go, I’m fairly confident I’m never going to see you again.”

“You’ll probably catch a lucky break, if any of us go looking for you.”

Gunner doesn’t deny it.

Joy clicks her tongue.

Celia: Jade smiles at Marcel’s words, giving a little shrug of her shoulders.

“Waste not, want not. Josua has told me you have a little problem with the rattlers. One of them owes me a favor; perhaps I can be of some assistance there.”

GM: “So you’d trade me the favor for Gunner’s blood,” considers Marcel. “Who’s the rattler?”

“Bl… ood?” Gunner gets out.

“Oh yes, Mr. Gunner. Your blood is worth a great deal,” says the ex-prince.

“You’ll be paying me back with it, one way or another.”

Celia: “He’s new,” Jade says, lifting her shoulders with another shrug. “But if you’d rather not take a gamble there, Your Majesty, then I understand if you’d rather utilize my skill set to find out what you need to know.”

She has already proved her worth, hasn’t she?

GM: “Yes, I only gamble recreationally,” says Marcel. “There’s no gambling at all in running a casino. Take it from me, Mr. Gunner: the house always wins in the end.”

“That’s why you should just let the house fuck you,” agrees Joy.

Gunner gives a moan.

“There’s a variety of ways I can use the luck in your blood,” says Marcel. “I’m undecided on how, though.”

“I’ll tell you what, Miss Kalani,” he says. “I’m a reasonable Kindred, and you brought Mr. Gunner back after he gave my people the slip, so I’ll consider half the blood originally in his veins to be yours.”

“Help me with my cottonmouth problem, and I’ll tell you just what Mr. Gunner is, what ways there are to use his luck—beyond the obvious—and what ways there are to witlessly spoil it. For us as well as him.”

“Deal?”

Celia: Jade only has to consider it for a moment before finally nodding her head.

“You have yourself a deal, Prince Guilbeau.”

GM: “Wait,” Gunner wheezes, raising a placating hand. “What if-”

“Be quiet,” orders Marcel, his voice heavy.

Gunner’s mouth works. No sound comes out. Joy smirks. Marcel turns back to Jade, then dismisses the suited man (ghoul?) with a wave.

“People like Mr. Gunner, you’ve probably guessed, are naturally blessed with good fortune.”

“Some say they’ve made deals with a crossroads devil. Some say they’ve made a lucky prayer or tossed a coin into a fountain at some Japanese deity’s shrine. Some say they were born under a lucky comet. Some say they’ve ritually stolen their good fortune from others. And some just say they’re naturally lucky bastards.”

“Could be some, all, or none of those things. Who knows.”

“Don’t ask your average Tremere about them. Most warlocks probably won’t know a thing.”

“They’re drawn to casinos, though, for obvious reasons. Like flies to honey. Mr. Gunner isn’t the first one I’ve dealt with, though he is one of the stronger ones. They aren’t all as lucky as him.”

“There’s no reliable way to detect them that I know of. The smart ones, they play some losing hands, win a jackpot, play some more losing hands, and then never come back.”

“Of course, most of them aren’t smart. They live on the edge. And why shouldn’t they? Their luck always carries them through. They have no reason to change their behavior if they never experience consequences.”

Marcel smiles down at the curled-up and silently mouthing Gunner.

“If.”

“Omens of bad luck neutralize their powers, for a little while. Spilled salt, broken mirrors, black cats, walking under a ladder, you name it.”

“There’s no power without a catch. For them, us, anyone.”

Celia: “Everything has a price,” Jade agrees with a small smile. “Perhaps he should have realized that when I went to fetch him and brought in another just as lovely.” A nod toward Joy.

“He’s human, though? Or something different?”

GM: “Besides being preternaturally lucky, he’s as human as anyone not in this room.”

Celia: Jade nods. She leans back in her chair, contemplating the man on the ground and the exiled prince in front of her.

“Bit of a gold mine, isn’t he.” How fortunate for Marcel that Jade brought him back and all but hand-delivered him. “And aside from robbing casinos—” which Jade has no need for, since she all but cleaned house at the poker table on skill rather than luck and has no desire to wind up on the other end of that large ghoul’s fists despite her natural hardiness “—how might one best utilize that luck?”

GM: “There are four ways.”

“One, we can simply drink it. Some of the good luck will rub off on us. Outrageously good things can happen, or calamities can be turned aside. The deeper the drink, the stronger the luck. And before you ask, keeping kine like Mr. Gunner chained up in a dungeon surrounded by spilled salt so we can drink them forever doesn’t work out. Too much bad luck rubs off.”

“Secondly, there’s ghouling them. That makes their luck stick around quite a bit longer than drinking it. Eventually, though, that luck fades away too. Something within our blood just doesn’t agree with it. The Embrace would probably kill it even quicker, but that’s conjecture on my part.”

“Third, there’s stealing their luck and binding it to a talisman, like a rabbit’s foot. As long as you carry it, you’ll be lucky. The good luck never seems to extend to keeping the talisman, though. They have ways of getting lost after a while. But they’re usually good for more luck than just drinking it.”

“Fourth, there’s stealing their luck and transferring it to another person. A ghoul works like I’ve described. An ordinary kine, though, would enjoy Mr. Gunner’s good fortune for the rest of their life.”

Gunner’s eyes widen with horror as he reflexively tries to rise, earning another swift kick to his belly. The large ghoul’s foot stomps down over his back several times for good measure. Hard. His mouth works in a silent moan.

“Oh, yes, perhaps that’d be the most cruel punishment of all,” says Marcel.

“Letting you walk out of here, alive and whole, with only a few bruises and edits to your memories. But without your luck.”

He smiles down at the beaten man.

“And what are you without your luck, Mr. Gunner? Not much at all, I’m inclined to think.”

Joy titters.

Celia: There goes her plan to keep him locked in a room with an assortment of black cats.

“If you bind his luck to another kine, you’d run into similar problems as before: you can’t keep them. Unless they already like you and want to stick around, or owe everything they are to you…”

Or they love you unconditionally.

So much so that they’ll submit to being a ghoul and getting a tattoo and feeding you and learning how to fence if it means getting to keep their memories of what you are, and maybe a little bit of luck is enough to get them off the blood that hooks them so they can enjoy a mortal life without risking the Masquerade because, lucky them, no one ever looks their way.

“Can it be split between multiple talismans or people? If he’s as strong as you say, Prince Guilbeau.”

GM: “His probably can, yes,” says Marcel. “They’ll be individually less potent, though. You have the same amount of luck, it’s just a question of where you want to spread it around.”

Celia: “A ritual, is it? The stealing and binding?”

GM: “Yes, it is.”

“That brings us to our next order of business.”

“I’m going to stash away Mr. Gunner someplace safe and secure. I’m going to bleed him periodically, and he is going to make me very lucky. I’ll give it a week before his luck starts to atrophy, and probably a month before it’s gone completely.”

“You have that long to bring me actionable information on my cottonmouth problem. If you don’t, you’ll owe me a different favor in return for the information I’ve given you. "

“If you can go one further, and actually lift Marie out of her torpor, I’ll do you one better.”

“I’ll give you all that’s left of Mr. Gunner and his luck. You can drink him, or I’ll perform the ritual on a talisman, ghoul, or kine of your choice.”

“Also, if you’re tempted to steal him from me—don’t take this personally, I do run a casino, and you’re friends with a master thief—I’m probably the only Kindred in the city who knows the ritual. If you manage to spirit Mr. Gunner away, all he’ll be good for is drinking.”

Celia: “Not to mention it will sour all future arrangements between the pair of us, and there’s still so much we can do for each other.” Her smile is full of promises. “The earlier mentioned half,” she asks, “what of that?”

GM: “You’ll get that over the next few nights. Josua’s already bled him deeply and I don’t want to kill him from overfeeding.”

Joy titters again and strokes Marcel’s arm. “Just wait until you try him, my prince. He tastes incredible.”

Celia: “Will you tell me about Marie? What you’ve tried? What you know? I’d hate to waste time treading the same ground.”

GM: Marcel does so. Marie and Anthony were out hunting together when they were attacked by Setites, who torpored Marie and almost slew Anthony. Marcel has fed Marie his blood to no effect, and he’s fed her blood from another Kindred of comparable age, just to be sure the problem didn’t lie with his vitae. Both have had no effect.

“I think the Setites cursed her somehow,” he says. “The serpents who torpored her would likely know more. Perhaps how to lift it.”

“I’ve spoken to blood sorcerers from the Sanctified, the Anarchs, and the Crones, but they’ve been of little assistance.”

“And the Tremere will not help Marie.”

“So that leaves the serpents who did this to her, but my reach in the Quarter is limited.”

Celia: “The Tremere won’t help Marie?” Jade lifts her brows at that.

GM: “She’s a renegade from the Pyramid under sentence of death.”

Celia: “That sounds like an interesting story.”

GM: “Yes, it is. But it’s decidedly moot until she wakes up.”

Celia: Jade assures him that she will do what she can for Marie. His influence might not stretch far enough into the Quarter to be useful, but hers certainly does.

And she has just the friend to speak to about this.

---

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, PM

Celia: It’s with an additional spring in her step that Jade takes her leave of Marcel for the evening, their plans to share the prince-in-exile put on hold with the appearance of Gunner and the oh-so-tempting bait he’d dangled in front of her. The two Toreador return to Josua’s cabin to retrieve her things and collect her painting.

GM: Josua, still dressed as Joy, reports to his/her chagrin that Jade’s portrait has gone missing.

“Believe me, I’m as pissed off about it as you are,” s/he pouts.

“It was a really good portrait and I was going to charge you a decent amount for it.”

The pair are interrupted, though, when Josua/Joy has to run to the bathroom to vomit up the cum s/he’s swallowed.

Celia: “…it’s missing?” She waits in the doorway while he vomits.

GM: Josua/Joy wipes his/her mouth, and with it, some of the lipstick. Josua seems like he’s coming back.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I have no idea where it’s gone.”

Celia: “How could it have gone missing..?”

GM: “I wish I knew. It was such a good painting!”

Celia: “It’s a casino. Did you check the tapes?”

GM: “Oh, that’s an idea. I hadn’t gotten around to it.”

“Ok, I’ll ask the guys there to take a look.”

Celia: “Thanks. When did it disappear?”

GM: “Hm, I think a few nights ago?”

Celia: “Someone ransacked your room a few nights ago and you haven’t gotten around to finding out who?”

GM: “Well, you know, things and people to do.”

“And the painting was all that disappeared, it’s not like they tore up my room.”

Celia: “And you don’t think that’s weird?”

GM: Josua slips out of the dress and folds it up.

“Well, stuff gets stolen. It was a really good portrait.”

Celia: “Yes,” Jade agrees, “that’s why I want it back.”

GM: “I’ll get it back, don’t worry. I want you to have it just as much as you do.” He takes off his bra and panties.

Celia: “Didn’t you have other work go missing?” Jade crosses her arms. The word ‘hunter’ had been thrown around over that.

GM: “I did, yeah. Marcel’s really worried about it.” Josua unbuckles the straps to his heels.

“But nothing’s happened, so how bad can it be?”

Celia: “Hunters.”

“Or, you know, your sire.”

GM: “Maybe if I’m lucky they’ll ash her.”

“And I am lucky. I drank a fair bit of that guy’s blood.”

Celia: “No,” she corrects, “what I meant was maybe it’s her keeping tabs on you.”

GM: Josua pauses at that.

Something passes in his eyes.

“Okay, I’ll talk to the people who watch the tapes, first thing.”

Celia: “If you want assistance tracking someone, let me know.”

GM: “I will. Marcel would be, uh, really upset if he knew this happened again.”

Celia: “Especially if it means his security failed to prevent it.”

GM: “So I can’t really ask him to have his people look for it.”

“He’s already got them looking for my sire, anyway.”

Celia: “Might be worth letting him know his place is compromised.”

GM: “Maybe after we get the portrait back. Less bad news.”

Celia: Jade rubs a hand across her face.

“I have enough going on without getting picked up by hunters.”

GM: Josua steps behind her and rubs her shoulders.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get it back. That’s a really smart idea with the casino cameras.”

Celia: “Unless she’s shadow dancing, or morphed, or came in through your window…”

GM: “You’re way too sexy to get picked up by van helsings.”

Celia: “Mmm, did I tell you about the pair who found me and how I convinced them to fuck and let me go?”

GM: Josua laughs. “Oh my god, for real?”

Celia: “‘Sex ritual,’” Jade tells him with a roll of her eyes.

GM: His hands wander down her breasts and hips.

“Oh, I’d like to do a sex ritual.”

Celia: “I bet you would,” Jade murmurs, leaning back against him.

GM: “You’re sex on legs, you know that? Someone could spend all day fucking you. And me. We have so much in common.”

He hugs her close, back against his chest. His mouth trails her neck, planting licks, nips, and kisses.

Celia: “No wonder Marcel didn’t tumble with us. He wouldn’t have gotten anything done the rest of the night.” Her head tilts to the side, exposing the long line of her neck for his mouth. “You’re insatiable.”

GM: “Only because you’re so, so much to state with… someone could fuck you forever, and it’d never get old… I can’t get enough of you… and I’m such a sexy sexy slut, you can’t get enough of me…”

He tugs her back to the bedroom, naked but for his wig. He falls back onto the bed with her, his supple hands caressing up her belly to squeeze and pinch her breasts. Then he crawls around and buries his mouth between her thighs in a 69 position. His firm cock rubs against her face.

Celia: It doesn’t rub against her face for long; within seconds she takes it into her mouth. Her fangs puncture his skin near the head of his cock, but she brings the whole thing into her mouth to show him once more that his words about it “never getting old” are absolutely spot-on.

GM: Josua’s fangs pierce the flesh above her clit even as his tongue seeks out her sweetest spot. The minutes pass, and her lover’s mouth leaves her screaming and clutching the sheets as wave after wave of sensation rocks through her loins, sating the Beast and the Man (or Woman) in equal measure. His hot blood shoots down her throat like cum as she rapturously sucks his cock. She can see why Alana gave the most enthusiastic blowjob she’s ever seen (from someone else). It’s just too bad all the things she can do with her tongue don’t do anything for him: now that she’s had a cock and had it sucked she does have a better idea of how to pleasure someone else’s.

She sups from him, and he sups from her. The two’s blood becomes as one. They leave each other in a spent and sated pile on the bed. That tingling sense of infinite possibility lingers on her tongue like electricity… and stronger than it did before.

Celia: She’s giddy by the end of it, her body a bundle of sensitive nerves and bliss that might have once left her lightheaded and dizzy and absolutely unable to bear the thought of prying herself out of bed to face the night. Now, though, now she’s electric; now she’s charged; now she’s fire.

She can do anything.

And there’s more. So much more waiting for her, all she has to do is skin some snakes for Marcel.

Marcel. Now there’s a lick she can get behind. Maybe she’ll reach out to her contacts in Baton Rouge, see if she can’t find out how to put him back into power up there, split her time between the cities on the lap of luxury in both. Pity he’d thrown in with Vidal; he’s so well-suited to the Quarter, isn’t it?

She giggles at the thought. She barely knows him. She’s just imagining.

“Do you think he liked me?” she asks Josua when she finally takes to her feet, reaching for the understated clothes she had arrived in.

GM: “I think so,” says Josua, leaning his head against his fist and laying another hand over his thigh. “I mean, maybe it’s a little early, since you haven’t even fucked him yet, but he’s definitely interested if you can help out Marie.”

“And you did bring back that Gunner guy.”

“I mean, probably the only way he’d be happier there is if you brought him the other one.”

Celia: “What other one?”

GM: “The other lucky guy.”

“He mentioned that to me once, a while back. He said there was one in the city.”

“Could be a lucky girl, for all I know.”

“But they’re smart and subtle and haven’t ever come to the casino.”

Celia: “Hm. How’s he know about them then?”

GM: “Couldn’t tell you. He just said he had his ‘sources.’”

Celia: “Mm, the old licks and their secrets.” Jade thinks she might know someone who knows someone who might be lucky.

GM: “But whatever. This Gunner guy is really lucky. Marcel’s really happy to have his hands on him.”

Celia: “I’m glad I lured him back in, then.”

GM: “Serves him right, robbing the casino. That was a really stupid idea.”

Celia: “Marcel was right about playing it smart. Play some losing hands, at least. Don’t brag about winning.”

GM: “Yeah, I remember. He said to play some losing hands, then win a jackpot, then lose some more, then never come back. That seems pretty smart.”

Celia: “He was pretty smug about the whole thing.”

GM: “He is Ventrue,” laughs Josua.

Celia: “Oh, I meant Gunner.”

GM: “Oh, I thought you thought Marcel was smug.”

Celia: “Marcel was… surprisingly approachable.”

GM: “I think he’s a little smug.”

“He’d be a great prince, wouldn’t he?”

“Gunner was pretty stupid, you’re right. I don’t think he even knew about vampires.”

Celia: “Well, neither did either of us prior to our Embrace.”

GM: “Marcel says a bunch of licks have tried to rob him before. That they see the casino as this great place for fast cash.”

“But he knows pretty much all the standard tricks, and he automatically assumes that any lick with a really lucky streak is cheating.”

Celia: “Uh oh. Is he going to send someone to break my kneecaps because I won at poker?” She sounds more amused than worried.

“I avoided the other table games so he wouldn’t think I was stealing from him.”

GM: “I don’t think so. He knows that game’s more skill than luck.”

“He’s okay if licks play at his casino, anyway, he just says they should view it as a fun evening rather than a place to make lots of money.”

Celia: “Never gamble what you can’t afford to lose and all that. It could be easy, though. To dip into their heads and see their cards, that sort of thing.”

“Stupid, though. Wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of whatever he could dish out. Unless it’s in like… a hot way.” Jade wiggles her brows at Josua as she finishes dressing.

“I’m going to head out. Let me know about the painting and what you find on the security footage.”

GM: Josua grins as he watches her pull on her clothes.

“This is like covering great art. It’s a public service if everyone gets to see it.”

“Oh well, you picked a good time. I don’t think Marcel’s really in the mood for sex right now.”

“Thinking about Gunner and his casino and everything.”

“That’s how you know he’s a blue blood and not a torrie, fucking always comes second.”

Celia: “What a terrible way to prioritize.” Jade smirks at him. “I won’t take it personally that we didn’t end up in bed, then.”

GM: “I know. It really is.”

“Feel free to send back Celia to pick up all your clothes.”

Celia: “So you can fuck her again?”

GM: “Why else?” he grins.

Celia: “I’m sure she’d enjoy that.”

GM: “You know I’d show her a great time.”

“There’s just nothing like the sight of a famous breather on their knees. You must fuck her all the time too.”

Celia: Jade just grins at him.

“You’ve no idea.”

---

Previous, by Narrative: Story Thirteen, Celia VIII
Next, by Narrative: Story Thirteen, Genevieve V, Sterling V

Previous, by Character: Story Thirteen, Celia VIII
Next, by Character: Story Thirteen, Celia X

“Just look at what you’ve done to us."
Josua Cambridge

---

Wednesday evening, 16 March 2016

GM: Celia wakes up in her lover’s arms. Her phone, like so often, has a number of text messages.

The oldest, from Logan, reads Robby is a cuck.

Celia: Celia exhales sharply through her nose at the message. Quietly, though. She thinks maybe she woke up before Roderick for once. Not that her half-laugh would wake him.

lol why?

GM: Her brother does not immediately reply.

A later one, from Emily, reads Oh man. Story for you later tonight.

Celia: Oh boy.

Oh boy.

Are you bringing Robby to dinner?

GM: A third, from her mom, reads Would you like to swing by later tonight, sweetie? Maybe I can have a better dinner for you then :)

nah just us + mom + Lucy + Dani, Emily texts back.

Celia: oh okay. i wanted u 2 meet someone but can do another day

GM: can do tonight if you want, it’s just a casual dinner

Celia: “You up?” Celia asks over her shoulder.

GM: There’s another text from Randy.

Reggie’s been fucking Mabel, do u care?

Celia: Consensual?

GM: “Mmm. Yeah,” Rod answers, giving her a kiss.

maybe?

Celia: find out.

“Oh. I was going to shave your head.”

GM: kk

“Ah, but I’m a dude, that’d actually look good on me,” he smirks, pulling her against him.

Celia: “I dunno, I bet you have a pointy dome under there.”

She snuggles closer anyway, peering up at his head as if she can see beneath his hairline.

GM: “We can find out, if you like. It’ll just grow back.”

Celia: “Mm. Maybe tonight, then.” She can replace Blossom’s beau’s hair with Roderick’s, if she wants. She’d cut and colored her own, but if he’s offering…

“Mom is having Dani over for dinner tonight.”

“I was going to ask if you wanted to join us, but then I thought maybe not a good idea..?”

GM: He thinks. “Maybe ask Dani?”

“Actually, she’ll probably be pissed after you tell her she’s not emotionally blackmailing me for rent money.”

Celia: “Maybe you two can work it out tonight so Friday isn’t awkward as fuck.”

GM: “Ah, that’s a really good point. I don’t want to get into anything around Dad.”

“I also don’t want to around your family, frankly. Maybe we should just meet somewhere privately?”

“This isn’t their drama.”

Celia: “Oh. Yeah, for sure. She said she’s relatively free tonight.”

Celia fires off a quick text to Dani.

He wants to talk to you. Can we meet after dinner?

GM: There isn’t an immediate response.

Celia: “Mostly,” she says, “I want you to meet my mom with your new face.”

“So that when you inevitably ask me to marry you it’s not going to be weird.”

It won’t be anyway, she knows, since Diana knows.

But it’s better for her cover.

“And Emily,” she adds.

GM: “Okay,” he says. “Let’s just resolve our drama away from them. It’s really bad manners to drag uninvolved people into it.”

Celia: “Nah,” Celia disagrees, “Emily and Mom would love to play mediator, and I’d make a big batch of popcorn for all of us.”

“And we’d throw it at you when you say the wrong thing.”

“Very helpful.”

GM: He cracks a smile. “Ha. Maybe that would lighten the mood.”

Celia: “And Lucy would tell you you’re both being silly and to hug and make up.”

GM: “Six-year-olds can be smarter than grown-ups a surprising number of times.”

Celia: “I am a genius,” she tells him, setting her phone aside to flip the pair so that she straddles his hips.

“More that they lack a filter.”

GM: “Who says that isn’t smarter?” he asks, pulling her in for a deep kiss.

“God, you’re so hot.”

“It’s such a privilege to wake up next to you, you know that? So many licks don’t have that.”

Celia: “That’s why they’re all miserable old cunts.”

GM: “Whereas we have your happy sexy cunt.”

Celia: “Wet, too. You should do something about that.”

GM: “I still owe you.”

So he does.

---

Wednesday evening, 16 March 2016

Celia: When they’re done, Celia tells Roderick that she’ll let him know what Dani says. They can meet up at the place they met before, if he wants (“Celia’s house”), and then she’s on her way to Flawless to meet Alana and have a quick bite before dinner.

The routine for a quick snack is pretty simple: Alana brings the client back to work on them, flips a switch that lets Celia know they’re ready (whether this means they have a mask on or are laying face down with their eyes closed varies from service to service), and Alana makes some excuse to open the door. Hot towels. Hot stones. Glass of water. Need more product. Whatever it is, she lets Celia slip inside to feed.

Alana, still wearing Celia’s face, is with a local EMT that hates how she looks and still lives with her mom. Celia has been able to help suggest style and makeup changes, removed a lot of the old acne scars that had plagued the girl since childhood, and over the past few months has really let the inner glow shine through. Celia snacks on her while she’s masking, eyes closed beneath the damp cloth stretched across them that “reduces puffiness and delivers hyaluronic acid to the area to minimize fine lines and wrinkles.”

It’s a convenient excuse.

GM: It’s a convenient feeding routine.

Alana looks just like Celia. Can do the same things to a client that Celia does. The hapless kine likely wouldn’t even notice the switch, even if she had the open eyes to see.

Abby White looks better under Celia’s capable hands. She’s still overweight, but that’s nothing Celia couldn’t fix either, if she wanted to. Alana looks at the plump girl with the same withering contempt she regards all overweight people.

But fat or thin, her blood is just as hot and vital over Celia’s tongue. Her Beast was a hungry thing, after all that sex with Roderick.

After all that sex the previous night, too.

Celia: And tonight, with as much as she has going on and all the flesh she has to sculpt, Celia takes more than she needs. She doesn’t have time to see more clients and take little sips from them all as she normally would; she bleeds herself instead while she works, making an excuse about a new product and microneedling that’s going to make Abby feel tired for a few days and to take it easy while her body recovers.

Her Beast, at least, is content with the knowledge that she has banked as much as she has, and looks forward to imbibing it later. Celia pointedly does not think about the other people the blood is for; she only plans to drink it if something crazy happens.

Celia slips back out the door once she’s done with Abby, moving into Jade’s suite to get ready for Alana. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes for her to finish with Abby; she’d been on the second mask and all that’s left is to remove it and moisturize.

GM: Alana is back promptly.

“It was good for everyone to see you around during the day, mistress,” she says as she lays down.

“I had Louise fill in again during the audition.”

Celia: “How did it go?”

GM: “It went very well, mistress! Ron said it was mostly a formality, we’d have the part ‘as long as we didn’t vomit over the camera.’ But I still think that it did.”

“I asked if he could schedule any night roles or shoots, too, just in case you wanted to do some acting yourself.”

“He said he’d get back to me.”

Celia: “Perfect.” Celia smiles down at herself, syringe of anesthetic in hand. “I’m very proud of you, ‘Lana. I’m excited to see where this goes. I don’t know that we’ll be an actress forever, but it will be fun for a while.”

“Little pinch, darling.” The needle pierces her flesh.

GM: Celia’s face beams at her mistress’ praise.

“I loved being you, mistress. I spent soooo much time in front of the mirror, after you gave me permission…”

Celia: “I don’t doubt that,” Celia says with a grin. “Maybe I’ll keep you like this for a while when we go to LA and turn myself into your boyfriend instead of Jade.”

GM: “I’ll suck your cock all night long, mistress,” Alana purrs. “I’ll go to sleep with it in my mouth.”

Celia: “We’d never leave the haven.”

GM: “I’ll snuggle up to you during the day, when you’re asleep, fit your dick in my mouth, and lie there until you wake up. For hours. Sucking your cock is such an honor, mistress.”

Celia: Celia leans down to press a kiss against the lips that look like hers.

“You’re insatiable, pet. I love it.”

GM: Alana kisses her hungrily back.

“I had another dirty thought, mistress… there are cock gags, I’m sure you know. Gags shaped like cocks, with these big thick panels in front. Very sexy. But they’re made of plastic, of course.”

“You could make a real cock gag, with a real cock, for us. You could lock it on me so I’m stuck with a real dick in my mouth until you decide I can use it for something else.”

“You could take me out in public, somewhere with lots of people. And I’ll have a real dick in my mouth the entire time, and not be able to say anything.”

Celia: “Like a sex club?” Celia muses, unsurprisingly aroused at the thought.

GM: “Yes, mistress. Where they all could know.”

“Or even somewhere boring, like a church. Somewhere you’re not supposed to do sexy things. I could stare at a priest with a real dick in my mouth.”

Celia: “Pretty sure we’d be chased out of a church.”

“I’ll consider it.”

GM: “A sex club would be very sexy too, mistress. The only thing more sexy than a gag in my mouth is a gag that’s also a real cock.”

Celia: “Tempting. What if we made it hollow so that anyone could put their cock inside of it? I could walk you around on a leash and let people use you like they want to.”

GM: “A cock in a cock, mistress,” Alana beams. “That’s perfect! Then they could all cum in my mouth too, and you’d never even have to take the gag out.”

“I’d have to swallow all of their cum. Or just let it all sit in my mouth.”

Celia: “Good girls swallow.”

GM: “Yes, mistress. I’d swallow it all.”

“It’s just very sexy to know I wouldn’t have a choice.”

“If I were bad and didn’t swallow, you could say you wouldn’t remove the gag until I did.”

“I might have this big, big load of cum in my mouth, from god knows how many guys, that I’d have thought I could get away with spitting out, once the gag was out, and then you’d punish me for being bad by making me swallow all of it at once.”

“It would be like drinking cum, there’d be so much.”

“Drinking, not just swallowing.”

Celia: “I’ll work on something for you, then.”

GM: “Thank you, mistress,” Alana beams.

Celia: Then the work begins, the sculpting and twisting to turn Celia back into Alana: lighter hair, darker skin, eyes that gently lift in the corners, lips a little more full than Celia’s own. Less padding in the breasts and butt—Celia has always enjoyed a tiny bit of extra there, whereas Alana does not like any reminders that she used to be fat. She scrubs away Celia from her ghoul until just Alana remains, working quickly but not impossibly fast.

GM: Alana’s voice slurs as the anesthesia kicks in. She remains still as Celia works on her, then thanks her mistress for giving her her body back. And for her use of Celia’s oh-so-sexy body.

Celia: When it’s done, Celia asks Alana if she was able to get ahold of Lucia for her.

GM: “Yeth, mithreth. The thaid the could mee’ you a’ the Thangio’anni manthe in thoo thayths, a’ 3 AM.”

Celia: “Friday at 3?” Celia repeats.

GM: Alana nods her head.

Celia: “Perfect.”

Celia tells her to enjoy her evening and that she’ll be wrapped up with family stuff for a while.

Once Alana is gone, Celia turns to the next mask that she needs to make. She has no immediate plans to put Diana around any Kindred, but Roderick will need a disguise for this evening. Her fingers form the second of his masks, smoothing it out into a face that looks nothing like him but is still attractive enough to be seen with Jade. It doesn’t take long.

Once it’s done she slides both masks and the wig into her bag to distribute to the Garrisons tonight and heads out to meet her mother.

---

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, PM

GM: Dani still hasn’t gotten back to Celia. Roderick texts that he supposes Celia can ask in person, then. He’ll come over when his sister gives the thumbs up.

Celia: She says she’ll let him know.

GM: Celia arrives, meanwhile, at her family’s house. Emily and Diana both greet her with her hugs. Lucy is asleep in bed. Dinner is already eaten. Diana makes a show of offering Celia food, “If you haven’t already eaten, sweetie,” but doesn’t press as hard this time. The question mainly seems asked for Emily’s benefit.

“All right, I gotta tell you this,” Emily grins, plopping down on the living room couch.

“So, between Mom and I wanting to learn how to stab properly, and then Logan too, Robby decided it might be best to just practice on our own, outside of HEMA.”

“And we were able to fit in some time to do it today, at Mom’s classroom. Which was pretty convenient.”

“Wide open space we wouldn’t be bothered and all.”

“We wanted you to come-”

“-but you had an important client,” Diana nods.

“So hope you don’t feel bad we didn’t invite you, sweetie.”

“Also, Emi, do we really need to tell this stor-”

“-are you kidding, Mom? It’s a fucking awesome story!”

Diana hems and wrings her hands.

“So, Logan was a total butthead,” says Emily, turning back to Celia.

“He went on about a bunch of machismo bullshit, some real he-man stuff, about having a ‘hunger to win’ and how you had to enjoy hurting people to be good at fencing.”

“He gave Robby a ton of pointers. Robby, who’s been practicing swordfighting for years, unlike Logan, who’s only just picked up a sword.”

“Yay for my boyfriend getting to experience some mansplaining.”

“He really was just trying to help, sweetie,” says Diana.

“Well, he wasn’t. He had this really arrogant, confrontational body language too. Implied Robby was a ‘nice guy’ and a wimp. And a nerd.”

“And, you know, Robby can be a little shy. And he’s pretty modest. He’s not as much of a bitch as me.”

“So he didn’t make too big a deal with Logan, though I was starting to get pissed.”

“So, they’ve got all their equipment on, got the swords, Logan boasts about his ‘hunger to win’… and Robby completely hands him his ass.”

“Like, it’s not even close. Robby just knocks the sword out his hand, twice, and has his sword at Logan’s throat. Like Logan’s got butterfingers.”

“Then when they go again, and Robby lets Logan take the offense—lets him—he just blocks and dodges everything Logan throws at him when he’s nothing, and when he makes these big stupid charges, Robby taps his chest with the sword. Where he coulda slashed him open.”

“It goes on like that. Logan just completely fucking loses it, screaming all sorts of shit, and then Robby literally knocks him on his ass. Like, trips him. The whole thing’s just laughably one-sided.”

“So much for Mr. Nice Guy Cuck.”

Emily’s smiling widely. Diana just makes a fretful expression and clears her throat.

Celia: “Jeeze,” Celia laughs when the story is over, “I was wondering why he sent me that text. That puts everything into perspective.” Celia shakes her head. “He said similar to me yesterday, about needing a killer instinct.”

GM: “Shows what that counts for.”

Celia: “How’d it go otherwise?”

GM: “Well, I was really turned on. Seeing my boyfriend kick ass. I gave him a blowjob in the car at the McGehee parking lot.”

Diana looks scandalized. “Oh! Emi!”

Celia: “Hell yeah.” Celia high fives her.

GM: Emily high-fives her back. “I mean it was strategic, doing it in the car meant he was ready to go again when we got back to his apartment. Because I was still really horny.”

“Sweetie, that’s—someone could have seen you!” exclaims Diana.

“And—the car, you might have… gotten it dirty!”

“Relax, Mom, I swallowed so we didn’t have to clean up cum from the car seat,” Emily grins. “Whole thing was very efficient.”

Celia: “That’s the best way to do it,” Celia nods.

GM: Diana looks like she’s about to pass out.

Celia: “Stephen and I used to fuck in the car. Windows got all foggy.”

GM: “Aw, that’s sweet,” says Emily. “In semi-public?”

Celia: “Think someone took a photo.”

GM: Diana’s hands fly to her mouth.

“Relax, that would’ve been… seven years ago,” says Emily. “Doubt anything’s going to come of it after this long.”

Celia: She can’t share that she just did it last night, too, but with someone else.

So she doesn’t.

Just grins.

GM: “I didn’t know windows actually fogged, though. Robby and I’ll have to try that.”

“Oh! Sweetie, you could get caught! Please don’t!” their mother exclaims.

Celia: “Tell them to join in, if you are.”

GM: “Bingo. They’ll be co-conspirators in the… crime?”

“Please tell me you’re pullin’ my leg,” murmurs Diana.

“I dunno, depends how hot the photographer is,” says Emily.

Celia: “Bingo,” Celia says, “no uglies. No uggos in your threesome.”

GM: Diana clears her throat and says, “The practice went very well, otherwise, sweetie. After, ah, Logan quit. I kissed his boo-boos all better-”

“-which he was a jerk about too, but I guess at least he let you,” says Emily. “I’m glad you stayed, though.”

Celia: “Glad you had fun with it. Learn a lot?”

“Did Dani already head out? I thought I was on time.”

GM: “Dani’s asleep, sweetie,” says her mom. “She came back from school and-”

“-wait, Mom, you’re not finished. Tell Celia how great you did,” smiles Emily.

“Oh, well, I was a lil’ nervous at first, but Robby told me how Jean-Claude Van Damme did karate and ballet, and thought ballet was way harder. So that made me feel better.”

“But it was interesting! I knew from an academic standpoint that ballet had its roots in fencing, but it was pretty neat to give that the ol’ college try!”

“She did great,” says Emily. “Robby complimented her technique way more times than mine. His girlfriend,” she emphasizes with a mock-severe look towards their mom. “Kept saying how graceful and flexible she was, and how she made every move look like a dance.”

“Oh, he had plenty to compliment you about, sweetie, for one thing you were-”

“Nah, you earned it, Mom. You beat me fair and square,” says Emily. “You did great. Be proud of that.”

Celia: “That’s awesome, Mom. I’m real proud of you. Gonna stick with it?”

GM: Diana blushes a little. “Thanks, you two. And I think so! Robby said my bum leg would probably give me a hard time, at some point, but there was no reason we couldn’t take things a lil’ slower.”

Celia: “Awesome. I’m glad you had fun and learned a lot. That’s great! And I’m glad you are gonna take it slow when your leg hurts.”

“Speaking of…”

“When do you want me to set up dinner with Maxen?”

GM: “Oh, we actually did set up a dinner date this Sunday, sweetie, through Logan. Does that work for you, or should we reschedule?”

Celia: “Oh. Yeah, that’ll work. What time?”

“Are Logan and David coming?”

GM: “7 PM. We thought we’d do it after Lucy’s in bed. I don’t… quite want to have them together, just yet.”

Emily gives a firm nod.

Celia: Celia nods as well.

“For the best.”

GM: “And no, it’ll be just us three and your father.”

Celia: “Sounds like a plan. What happened with Viv, Em?”

GM: “I thought we’d invite the others, after… after we’ve eased back into things some more.”

Celia: “For sure. I feel like I haven’t seen David in ages. Maybe I’ll call him, see if he wants to go out.”

GM: “I know he’s been busy with law school. He and Dani are actually classmates! Maybe somethin’ with them both?”

Celia: “That could be fun.”

Double date with two sets of siblings, that’s not weird at all.

GM: “So with Viv, she said if she wasn’t arrested or anything, there was little legal question here,” answers Emily. “She said Maxen could come forward later, but that it’d mostly be a ‘he said, she said’ and she doubt Mom would sell me out.”

Diana gives a firm nod.

“So 2 v 1 witness and no claim at the time. She said that’s pretty open and shut.”

Celia: “Sounds like it worked out pretty well then. That’s great.”

“Stab him again on Sunday if he gets lippy.”

GM: “I’ll be sure to.”

Emily sounds mostly kidding.

“Viv ran through with me how that might play out. Maxen comes forward this morning and says, ‘Emily stabbed me.’ Police ask why he didn’t call them at the time. Mom and I deny it. And now the story is ‘big former football player claims he is stabbed by way smaller woman. She and his ex deny it.’”

“Viv said he could pursue a civic tort, but hard to win that one for the same reason. Big strong guy claims weak little girl stabbed him, how do you break as a juror? She said he could mostly make headaches, make our life annoying, file a police report and get me brought in for questioning, bothered by cops, etc. But unless Mom breaks against me, hard to sell.”

“And that’s happenin’ when hell freezes over,” says Diana.

Emily smiles. “Plus, that isn’t a police report he wants to file as a legislator, let alone a prospective governor. ‘Majority leader’s ex-wife’s adopted daughter stabs him when he visits ex-wife with restraining order.’”

“Viv did say this would be a different story if I was Emile, though. Yay for having a hole between my legs.”

“But she said without evidence, like a knife with my prints and his blood, or a recording, this whole thing is just a domestic squabble.”

“And even then, his whole tough guy reputation as a big strong physical dude gets undermined if he fires a report about a girl stabbing him.”

“Plus, finally, she said you and Mom have the resources to help me through anything that’d really fuck a lower income person. Days off from work, going to court, talking to cops, etc.”

“So, yeah,” Emily finishes. “I’m just really relieved not to have this hanging over us.”

Diana nods. “Viv does good work! I made her a batch of cookies to say thanks.”

“You do pay her, Mom.”

“I know, but still. She’s done a lot for us.”

“You’re right, she has.”

Celia: Celia listens to it all, looking for any holes in the story, anything that Maxen could use against them. It sounds, though, like the biggest threat to them right now isn’t the mortal world at all.

It’s her world.

And she’s not really concerned about that, either.

She’s glad of that, at least, and she says as much—though not in so many words—slinging an arm around Emily and announcing that “I guess we’re stuck with you, which is great ‘cause listen I don’t think Robby wants to fight me for conjugal visitation rights.”

GM: Emily grins and squeezes her shoulder back. “Then don’t. Maybe you could both… visit. At once. Do they allow that?”

Celia: “I’d blow your mind, sweetheart, Robby would never hold a candle to what I can show you.”

Celia wiggles her brows.

“But also no, I think you’re limited to one.”

GM: “We’ll smuggle you in then. In a cake you can burst out of.”

Celia: “Naked.”

GM: “Like with a file. But a bigger cake. Mom can bake it.”

Celia: “Mom, get crackin’.”

“Emi said she’d lick the frosting off my… nose.”

GM: “I’d lick you in lots of places, to be extra sure I got it all. And you’d wonder if we were still in prison, ‘cuz you’d be seeing stars.”

Celia: “Oh damn, girl, maybe I should introduce you to my new friend-boy, we can tag team ’im.”

GM: "Dangerous. Both of us together might leave him in a coma. But isn’t the love that burns brightest that which burns briefest, or something poetic?’

“Yes, let’s talk about your new beau!” Diana agrees emphatically.

Celia: Celia giggles at the mortified look on her mother’s face.

“I think we broke her brain,” she loudly whispers to Emily.

“Technically, Ma, we’re not sisters. Technically. So it’s not weird.”

GM: “And if I shove you off a cliff, it’s gravity or the ground which kills you, not me,” Diana huffs.

Emily whistles. “Love the new attitude. Seriously.”

Celia: “Y’think it bothers her more that we’re two ladies or that she considers us both her babies?”

GM: “Mom, which is it? Inquiring minds want to know.”

“Not-dirty minds wouldn’t think to know!” Diana declares with another huff.

Her attempt at a glare still looks a kitten trying to mimic a roaring lion.

Celia: “Uh oh. Now we’ve done it.”

GM: Emily grins. “Maybe practice in front of the mirror a few more times.”

Celia: “Maybe get a sword, I bet you’d look more intimidating with a sword.”

GM: “I don’t have a sword,” Diana hmphs. “You two have such dirty minds, you really know that!”

“Do we? That’s news to me,” says Emily.

Celia: “I had no idea.”

GM: “Because I thought we had really squeaky-clean minds and needed to visit some, uh, ‘places of ill repute’ to get some experience. Stop being so sheltered.”

Celia: “We should go make it rain on some strippers. See how flustered Robby gets. Let some other girl tease him for an hour or two. Then take him home and blow his mind.”

GM: “Er, rain?” asks Diana.

“Pee on them,” says Emily. “That’s what you do at strip clubs, you pee on the girls. Make it rain.”

“What!” exclaims Diana.

Celia: “Yeah, golden shower, Ma. Real messy. That’s why the floors are so sticky.”

GM: “How do you know they’re stick… oh, lord, sweetie, have you been to one?! You could get… you could get…!” Diana waves her hand, fumbling for words.

Celia: “Danced on a pole once and everything.”

GM: “It’s true, I was the pole,” says Emily.

Celia: Celia shifts onto Emi’s lap, moving her hips in a suggestive way.

“All those dance lessons made me real flexible.”

GM: Emily smirks and runs her hands up and down Celia’s torso.

“You could get more flexible with, with ballet lessons! Which take a lot of time, so no time for strip clubs!” says their mom.

Celia: Celia purrs at Emily.

“Twenty dollars and my shirt comes off.”

GM: “Forty dollars for the shirt to stay on!” declares Diana.

“Oh, bidding war,” says Emily.

Celia: “How much am I worth to you, Emi?”

GM: “Sixty, at least,” says Emily.

“Eighty!” counter-bids Diana.

Celia: “Sorry, Emi, looks like the ballerina has you beat.”

“Private show later,” she stage whispers behind her hand. “Don’t tell Mom.”

GM: “The ballerina is goin’ to ask her lawyer to write an airtight contract so the eighty is binding ’til Kingdom Come,” huffs Diana.

Celia: “Speaking of lawyers.”

Celia finally slides off of Emily’s lap to take the seat next to her instead.

“Watcha makin’ for Friday?”

GM: Diana looks relieved.

Emily gives her a look of exaggerated longing.

Celia: Celia winks and blows a kiss.

GM: “Ah, let’s see, I was thinkin’ some oven-fried chicken, or maybe crock pot chicken and dumplings,” says Diana.

“With some kind of salad or green side, and shoofly pie for dessert.”

Celia: “Sounds delicious.”

They both know it doesn’t.

GM: “Maybe a second side too, since we’ll have lots of people. I’m goin’ to go grocery shopping tomorrow.”

But they pretend.

Celia: “I, ah, was gonna clear it with Dani first, get her opinion on it, but I ran into a guy who used to know Stephen. Went to school with him. Was thinking about bringing him.”

GM: “Oh, he your new guy?” asks Emily, wiggling her eyebrows.

Celia: “Actually… yes.”

GM: “Good. Randy wasn’t going anywhere. Not with you, anyway.”

Celia: “At least you and Logan agree on something.”

GM: “A stopped clock is right twice a day.”

Celia: “I think you’ll both like him. Might bring him by before Friday so it’s not your first time meeting him.”

“Probably not tell Henry he’s my new guy, focus on the friend angle.”

GM: “Be happy to,” nods Emily.

“Just give advance notice, so I can cook up somethin’ to woo you his heart,” her mom winks.

“Huh. He’s got the same name as Stephen’s dad,” says Emily.

Celia: “Oh. No. I meant Henry as in Stephen’s dad.”

“Don’t tell Stephen’s dad about my love life.”

GM: “Oh. Yeah. That makes total sense.”

Diana nods.

Celia: “Awesome. I’m excited for you two to meet him. I told him about Robby,” she says to Emily, “and his HEMA stuff. He said it sounds cool and that he might want to play some World of Shadow games with us.”

GM: “Yeah, you mentioned earlier. Robby said he’d be happy to run a session for us all.”

“It’s good nerdy fun with lots of banter between dice rolls and unhealthy snacks.”

“Oh, I’ll make y’all healthier snacks, if you want,” says Diana.

Celia: “I think it’s the point of the gaming,” Celia says to her mom. “To eat junk food.”

GM: “But don’t you want to eat healthy food, if it’s still tasty?”

“Well it’s sort of like you could give a blowjob in the privacy of your own bedroom, or on your knees in a school parking lot,” says Emily.

Celia: Celia snorts into her hand, dissolving into laughter.

GM: “I don’t know what the appeal is there,” Diana mutters.

Celia: “The thrill of someone wanking while they watch from afar and knowing you got two dudes off at once?”

GM: “It’s—it’s a girl’s school! The only men are responsible adults, thank you!”

Celia: “Show the girls what waits for them in their future, then.”

GM: “Or their parents. Yell, ‘This is your daughter pursuing her dreams of higher education!’ at them.”

Celia: “You know what they say about successful women.”

GM: “What, that they suck cock too?”

Celia: “Somethin’ somethin’ makin’ bank on their back.”

GM: “Er?” asks Diana.

“Never mind, I don’t want to know!”

“She’s so innocent,” says Emily. “Part of me wants to croon and preserve it, and the other part of me wants to totally despoil it.”

Celia: “We can bring her clubbing with us.”

GM: “Fuck, it’s been forever since I went out. School and all.”

Celia: “You’ve been real boring lately,” Celia agrees. “Blow it off, let’s go out soon.”

GM: “We’ll make it a girl’s night and pick up lots of hot guys.”

“You two have boyfriends!” says Diana.

“And we still will, if no one’s a blabbermouth,” smiles Emily.

Celia: “Variety, et cetera. Plus half of them are for you.”

GM: “Blugh! No thank you! We’ll do an arts and crafts night with Lucy instead, how’s that?”

Celia: “Hmm… hot sex, drugs, dancing, and loud music… or coloring with a six-year-old…”

GM: “That is a very easy decision!” declares Diana. “We can take turns sitting her on our laps and coloring over her shoulder.”

Celia: “Uh huh. We could do both.”

GM: “Read my mind,” says Emily. “We can draw sex positions with them. Sort of a ‘pick in advance’ thing.”

Celia: “Bingo.”

GM: “You are not drawin’ sex positions around my baby,” hmphs Diana.

Celia: “She’s gotta learn sometime.”

GM: “Start ‘em young. Plus we’re all your babies, aren’t we?”

“Yes, you are. And speakin’ of, Emi, don’t you have school to study for?”

“Ah, yeah. I kinda do.”

Celia: “Go, go,” Celia shoos her, “so we can play Doctor later.”

GM: “I’ll know that many more spots to touch you.” She gives Celia a hug. “This is fun, though, having someone else in the house with some adult humor.”

Celia: Celia slings an arm around her. “I’m always gonna be here for you. We’ll get the boys together soon. I’ll text you.”

GM: “Rad. Count on it.” Emily gives Celia another squeeze, then she’s off to her room.

“You two drive me bonkers, sometimes, but I’m glad you have each other,” smiles Diana.

Celia: “Me too. Minus the bonkers.”

GM: “I don’t mind, sweetie. I really don’t. Sisters tease.”

Celia: “That might be something you need to come to terms with, though.” Celia glances down the hall to make sure Emily’s door is shut. “There’s a lot of that kind of stuff with my kind.”

GM: Emily sleeps in the attached carriage house (more like carriage room), so there’s that much extra distance.

“Oh, like how?” Diana looks worried.

Celia: “Just if you’re ever around it, there’s a lot of… sex, I guess.”

GM: “Ah. Well, I’d appreciate you not takin’ me to that, sweetie. It just isn’t my scene.”

“But if it happens, I suppose I’ll just try and pretend I’m in a rose garden, or somethin’.”

Celia: “I’ll, ah, try to avoid taking you to anything like that.”

“Your leg okay after the fencing?”

GM: “Thanks,” her mom nods. “We took things slow, and Emi gave me a massage after we were done. But I wouldn’t say no to another,” she smiles.

Celia: “A quick one, if that’s all right. I have a few meetings tonight.”

GM: “Of course, sweetie. My leg doesn’t really hurt right now, anyways.”

“I wanted to talk to you about Dani, unless you had anything to bring up first?”

Celia: “No, go ahead.”

GM: “She… told me about Stephen,” Celia’s mom says quietly.

“Is it true that he’s… Celia, is he hitting you…?” she whispers, her eyes wide with a mother’s concern.

Celia: Oh.

“She… told you about Stephen?”

GM: Diana nods.

It’s probably no surprise, with the amount of time the two have been spending together.

Celia: Celia runs a hand through her hair. She hadn’t decided yet if she wanted to tell her mom who her boyfriend really is.

Maybe it’s better this way.

“He’s… it’s… he’s not abusive, Mom.”

GM: “But is he hitting you?” she asks.

Celia: “He just… it’s different, with his clan, they just have this anger about them. And… he did, yes, but it’s… he… I don’t want to say that I deserved it, but the situation was… complicated.”

“I had to break up with him. When I was turned into this. I had to tell him something that would make him not want to see me ever again. So I told him I cheated on him.”

“And then I saw him later, and he was like me, and he… we started talking, a little, and I told him who I was, and he was… he blamed me for being turned, too. Said that I tore out his heart and that he wouldn’t have accepted it if not for me, that when his sire asked if he wanted it he said he had nothing else to live for.”

GM: “Oh, Celia, baby…” her mom whispers, her face pained as she squeezes her daughter’s hands.

Celia: “I guess he’d been kind of stalking me online. And Lucy. He thought she was his. And he asked if that’s why we needed the pill the one night, if she was someone else’s kid.”

GM: “Oh. What did… you tell him about her?”

Diana’s face is wary.

Celia: “That she’s not mine. He knew the dates didn’t add up anyway. And then he said I was lying and he lost control of his Beast and attacked me.”

“We didn’t talk for a few years.”

“And then I… asked him out.”

“And things were good for a few weeks.”

“…and then they weren’t.”

GM: Diana listens, holding Celia’s hands in hers but not judging yet. There’s an odd tinge of apprehension and hope to her face.

Celia: “He wanted to know the truth about the cheating. Said that… that our past dictates our present. So I… I told him. I told him the truth.”

Celia looks away from her mom.

GM: “Oh, Celia…” Her mom murmurs, embracing her tight and stroking her hair.

“It’s okay, sweetie… we all make mistakes, we all fall short… I don’t blame you…”

Celia: “So he… he hit me for it,” Celia whispers into her mom’s shoulder. “He got angry and lost control.”

GM: Her mom just hugs her close and runs a hand up and down her back.

“I’m sorry, baby… that must have been very, very painful…”

If nothing else, she knows what she’s talking about there.

Celia: “We’re hard to keep down.”

GM: “We… vampires?”

Celia: “Yeah. Your type, too.”

GM: “We are?”

Celia: “Yeah. You heal with blood. I could stab you and you’d heal it. Only a few things can really kill me. The rest of it just knocks me out.”

GM: “Oh. That’s… handy, but here’s hopin’ we won’t need it much.”

There’s a hungry look in Diana’s eyes at the words ‘heal with blood.’ Perhaps Celia would then have to replace it.

But she quickly asks, “But you got back together?”

Celia: “Yeah. Recently. But it’s… it’s hard to date like this. People just… they suck. I’ve had a handful of flings—” more than a handful “—but no one I love.”

GM: “I’m sorry, sweetie. A mom’s love might not be the same, but you’ll always have it,” her mom smiles in answer to her initial words, rubbing her arm.

Celia: “Can’t take you to bed with me, though,” Celia tells her, echoing the words she’d said to her and Emily nights ago.

GM: “Well, hence not the same,” her mom says with a wry half-smile.

Celia: “But I love him. I can talk to him. I can be Celia around him.”

GM: “So you have to be Jade around other vampires. But Stephen brings out Celia?”

Celia: Celia nods.

“Yes, exactly.”

GM: “That sounds like something very precious and special.”

Celia: Her sire brings out Celia as well, but that’s too complicated to get into with her mother.

“It is. He loves me, too, even though he… even though he hurt me. It’s not like it was with Dad. It’s not.”

GM: “Is he sorry he did?”

Celia: “Yes.”

GM: “He’s said so?”

Celia: Had he? She thought so.

“Yes.”

GM: “Then that’s somethin’ your father never did,” Celia’s mom nods. “Until now, anyway. He never once said sorry before, even when we made up.”

Celia: “He’s not like Dad. It’s different. It was just twice, and… I’ve gotten faster since then, so if he’s about to lose it I know to get away.”

GM: “It sounds like you both messed up… but wanted to make up.”

Celia: “We did.”

GM: “That happens.”

“You think he might… lose it again, ever?”

Celia: “…honestly? Yes. But not at me. Not like that.”

“It’s like… okay, the other night when I was in the tub.”

GM: “I remember that. It was very scary…”

Celia: “I lost control. But it wasn’t at you, it was just… I was hungry, and you were there.”

“That’s when the Beast comes out. And that’s what happens with him. He loses control.”

GM: “That wasn’t you I saw in your eyes, baby. A mom knows her kids.”

Celia: “It’s not me. It’s this other part of me. We all have one. I mean, Dani doesn’t, but it’s different.”

GM: “Oh, why not?”

Celia: “Thin-blood. Their physiology is different. They’re too far removed from the original vampire to manifest a lot of the same things we do.”

GM: “Oh. Dani explained that. She said she wasn’t a real vampire.”

Celia: “Some people think she isn’t. They’d call her a half-breed.”

GM: “She said you said she had fangs and drank blood.”

Diana is quiet for a moment. “Jade called me a half-breed. Or… you did, as Jade, rather.”

Celia: “It just means ghoul, in that case. In Dani’s it’s… like a slur.”

GM: “Dani doesn’t deserve slurs. She’s a sweet girl.”

Celia: “True-blooded vampires think they’re better than everyone else. Ghouls, thin-bloods, kine. They’re the white supremacists of our world, basically.”

Celia shakes her head.

“It doesn’t matter how sweet she is if no one accepts her. They killed someone at a party on Saturday just for being like her.”

GM: “I accept her.”

Celia: “You’re not a vampire.”

GM: “Well, I thought that didn’t really matter?”

Celia: “I mean it doesn’t matter if you accept her.”

GM: “I think it matters a lot to h-” Diana starts.

Celia: “Not to my society.”

GM: “Oh, I see.”

Celia: “It’s like the Mexican kid telling the black kid that he accepts him. None of us care. You’re not white, so that’s all they see.”

GM: Diana frowns faintly at that comparison.

Celia: “There are people, like me, who aren’t bothered by it, but most people… most people consider them abominations.”

“Even her brother…” Celia shakes her head. “He lost it when he found out.”

GM: “His Beast, you mean? Or really him?”

Celia: “He lost it and his Beast came out.”

GM: “Okay. Dani is… blaming him, rather than the Beast.”

Celia: “She hasn’t seen it. She doesn’t understand. He almost lost it when they met but I… I got in the middle of it. Calmed him down. I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t.”

“I didn’t warn her well enough about him,” Celia says with a sigh, “and now they’re mad at each other.”

GM: “I think we can both try to calm the waters,” says Diana. “If we explain what the Beast is, maybe.”

Celia: “I don’t think explaining is going to work. Maybe if we show her.”

GM: “Dani is very, very lonely. She might be mad at her brother, but I think she really wants to have someone else she can talk to and confide in. She needs more people than just us.”

“A big brother’s love would be a wonderful thing for her to have right now. Especially Stephen’s! He was such a nice boy, it kills me that she doesn’t want to see him.”

Celia: “I’m trying to get them together tonight so they can talk.”

GM: “Sooner they make up, the better,” Diana nods.

“Showin’ her the Beast might be a good idea too, if she doesn’t get hurt. Show versus tell, and all.”

Celia: “I could have Stephen, ah, cuff me or something.”

GM: Her mother gives a worried frown. “Would that hurt you? I know you said you don’t as easily, but…”

Celia: “He’d have to bring it out. It comes out when we’re hurt, hungry, angry.”

GM: “I don’t want to hurt you, sweetie…” her mom murmurs. “Maybe I can just explain what happened with us, to Dani.”

Celia: “You can try.”

GM: “And you could too. Two trusted voices and all.”

Celia: “Worth a shot. Being stabbed isn’t my idea of a good time.”

GM: Her mom squeezes her hands. “I won’t let someone stab you, sweetie. I’ll fight ’em off, if they try.”

Celia: Celia smiles at that. “One fencing lesson and you’re ready to take on the world.”

GM: “When my baby’s on the line, you bet,” her mom chuckles. “If it keeps you safer, my heart’s all in it.”

Celia: “I’m glad to hear it.”

“I didn’t tell Stephen about you.”

GM: “Oh, yes, we got distracted! I just want to say, sweetie, he’s an absolutely wonderful boy and I’m overjoyed he’s still alive and that you two can still be together. He did so much for our family. For you. He was really… I could just tell, he held your heart in a way Randy simply didn’t. I am beyond happy for both of you. I wish you many long and happy years together.” Her mom smiles and rests her hands on Celia’s shoulders as she talks.

Celia: Celia tries to smile. She does. But the thought of the future that’s waiting for her, the idea of turning him into something like that… The smile takes longer than normal to lift her lips, and it doesn’t quite meet her eyes.

“Me too, Mom. I just hope one night it’ll be easier than it is right now.”

GM: “Can I help make it easier?” Diana asks, glancing long into her daughter’s eyes.

“I want you to be happy with your beau.”

Celia: “It’s just… politics. Bit of a Romeo and Juliet situation.”

GM: “Well, if it means somethin’, your family approves. Theirs didn’t.”

Celia: Celia laughs at that.

“That’s true. Now we just need the vampire family to approve.”

GM: “We’ll work on that, then. But what matters is you two have each other, and you have something very precious. Anything that can drive back Jade and let you be Celia is worth its weight in gold.”

“Anyway, sweetie, we got a lil’ side-tracked. I wanted to talk about Dani.”

Celia: “Right. Go ahead.”

GM: “All right, so, here’s the situation with her. She’s told me just about everything I think she’s told you. I’ve helped her move her things over here, temporarily. I woke her up early today, to go to law school, and she came back and passed out. I want to get her on a schedule where she’s up early, stays awake, and goes to bed early, ‘cause it’s not healthy to break up your sleep.”

“For, ah, non-vampires, anyway. I don’t know if that’s the same with vampires.”

“She’s sleeping in my bedroom right now, by the way. I’ve been sleeping with Lucy. Fun lil’ slumber party for us.”

Celia: “We normally sleep all day and don’t sleep otherwise.”

GM: “Ah, well, sounds like the rules are different for her. She’s asleep in my room now, like I said.”

“I’ve talked to her about school, and she’s been… sweetie, she was raped and turned into a vampire. She’s fallen behind. In her coursework, job, you name it. I’ve talked with her boss and professors, to help straighten things out without saying too much about her situation, just letting them know she’s goin’ through a hard time and still wants to do her best. Emily and I have also helped her with her phone bill, laundry, car maintenance, basically all the lil’ life things she was letting slide."

“Emily has also been very good to her. Even if they can’t talk about quite as much. But she knows Dani was raped, and thinks that’s why she’s spending a lot of time in bed.”

Celia: Celia listens quietly. She hadn’t realized that Dani had fallen so behind.

GM: “She says she spent a lot of her time at that bar, trying to track down who did this to her. And just stay fed.”

“I’m very glad you found her. I think her life would have spiraled apart if you hadn’t.”

“She’s a smart and brave girl. She is able to talk about what happened to her and call it what it is. But… I think she is in a very vulnerable place, still. I really don’t think she should live alone. After your father… after your father raped me, I was so thankful to have Emily living in the same house. Because she knew and believed me and did so much to support me and help out. Especially pregnant. I really think Dani needs that kind of 24/7 support in her life right now.”

“I’d be happy to be that for her, and I think she’d be if I was, too. But she talks about you all the time. She talks about how much she’d have loved to be your roommate, and she was really sad you couldn’t be. Can I get you to reconsider?”

“She thinks just the world of you.”

Celia: Ah.

Yes.

The bond has come back to bite her in the ass.

“I… I’m never home, Mom. My house is literally a closet and a bed. I barely even sleep there most nights, and there’s a lot of… I mean, I have a very private life, it’s hard to just invite someone in to that. I could get, like, a communal place with her, but I’m not going to be there all the time. Like tonight I have a handful of meetings, and tomorrow I’ve got two more, and Friday is… well Fridays are usually pretty full, Saturdays I’m gone most of the night…”

Celia exhales heavily.

“And Stephen and I are supposed to get a place together. There’s a lot of, uh, sex.”

GM: “Hm. I don’t think she’d be offended, but bein’ a third wheel isn’t much fun.”

“I don’t think Dani wants to spend all of her time at home, anyways. I don’t think that’s good for her either. She needs to keep livin’ her life.”

Celia: “I told her the same thing.”

GM: “I just want her to have support when she is home. I don’t want her to live by herself right now.”

Celia: “I’ll think about it, see if I can figure something out. I just don’t know how supportive I’m going to be if I’m never home.”

GM: “Well, that could be here, if you can’t figure out something else. We have room to do this for a while. I’m just worried how we’ll explain her hours to Emily. Maybe we can get her accustomed to bein’ up during the day.”

Celia: “I’m supposed to meet with someone tomorrow night who knows more about the thin-bloods. I’ll see if she has any suggestions there.”

GM: “Okay. For now, I’d postpone the apartment idea, until she’s in a better place mentally. Right now I think she would benefit a lot from some live-in support.”

Celia: Maybe she can give her Mabel and they can… support each other.

GM: “Also, sweetie, I think she feels very helpless.”

Celia: “Helpless?”

GM: Her mom nods. “She didn’t find out who did this to her. She’s heard from you about how bad duskborn have it, what second-class citizens they are. She’s had to hide from and tiptoe around other vampires, get a special tattoo, jump through hoops with her job and work, not even pick up her own things from her apartment, that whole incident with her brother…” Diana pauses. “To be clear, sweetie, I believe you’re doin’ what’s best for her and her safety. I think she would be in a vastly worse place if she hadn’t met you. But I don’t think she feels like she has very much control in her life, or is able to do things that build confidence. I think that’s why she’s lashing out at her brother, because it lets her be in control of something. That’s my read, anyway.”

Celia: “Ah…” She hadn’t considered that. But she’s been acting like a mother bear, hasn’t she, to keep Dani safe.

“What do you think I should do?”

GM: Her mom thinks. “Is there anywhere you can let her make many choices? Or, color outside the lines? Help you out in some way? I think she’d feel better if she felt needed and useful. Like she was earnin’ her keep. You remember how important that was to Emily, when she moved in with me.”

Celia: “Maybe?” Celia hedges. “I’ve gotten so used to doing things on my own, I didn’t really think about asking her for help. I didn’t want to burden her after everything she’s been through, thought she could just focus on school…”

GM: “I think if she’s at all like her brother, she feels best when she feels needed. Like she’s making a difference.”

“And I think she is a lot like her brother, despite how… how low an opinion, I guess, she has of herself.”

Celia: “All right. Yeah. I can think of something.”

GM: Diana beams. “Wonderful, sweetie! Do you want to wake her up and tell her about it?”

Celia: Celia checks the time.

GM: The ladybug clock reads half past 8.

“Or I could pass it on, whatever works,” Diana says at her glance up.

Celia: “Ah, I can’t right now actually. I need to be across the city in thirty minutes.”

“Can you tell her I’ll call her later? I have a meeting, but I’ll swing by after.”

GM: “Okay. I’ll probably be asleep, if that’ll take you a while, so you can let yourself in.” Celia still has a house key.

“Or, actually, you could give her a call first, so she can clear out the cats. They don’t seem to mind her at all.”

Celia: “Thanks for putting them away. I was wondering why no one hissed at me tonight.”

GM: “Yes, they’re in Emi’s bedroom. I’ll do that whenever you come over now.”

Celia: “I have to get going, though. I didn’t realize the time.”

GM: “Oh! One last thing, sweetie. Are you hungry?”

Celia: “…yes?”

GM: Her mom nods. “Would you like my wrist or neck?”

Celia: Is this weird?

This is weird.

Pete would be so mad at her.

But the woman just tastes so good.

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.” Her fangs are already out; she runs her tongue across the sharp edges. “You’ll be woozy tomorrow. Nothing important going on?”

GM: “How woozy? I have work, but I could call in sick if you need a lot.”

Celia: “No, no. Just… a little more tired, maybe. I only need a little.”

GM: “Okay. I can manage that for you, sweetie.”

Diana leans forward, baring her neck.

Celia: She’s just never going to tell Pete.

Ever.

Already close enough to touch, Celia closes the distance between them. It’s like going in for a hug and resting her cheek against her shoulder, only now… now she opens her mouth and pierces her mother’s flesh with her fangs, sinking into the embrace and closing her eyes as the rich, warm blood spills across her tongue.

She drinks.

GM: It tastes like love.

Just like last time.

A mother’s love. Endlessly, willingly, happily giving. Like warm chicken soup, homemade just for her. There’s a stronger, purer flavor to it, this time. There’s none of the fear, shock, and disorientation that spiked her last libation from the woman. That bitter undercurrent is all gone. This is rich and warm and full. For a moment, Celia can forget her Beast’s pangs, and glow under the taste of that liquid love, that she could cultivate from no other vessel.

And Celia knows. She can taste it. Her mother wants this. Not just the pleasure of Celia’s kiss. She may not even want that at all. She wants to give of herself, to help her daughter. There’s joy in her blood, at being able to give of herself for Celia. At being able to feed her baby.

Celia: Her kind will never know this taste. She can’t imagine there’s anyone else in the world who will ever know what love this pure tastes like.

She’s lucky.

So incredibly lucky.

She savors every mouthful that she swallows, letting it fill her with the emotion that everyone like her thinks is dead to them, lost forever when their mortal coils slough away. Is this what Celia tastes like when Roderick drinks from her? When her sire drinks from her?

Love. Pure, raw, unfiltered. Someone she’d do anything for.

She sips at the divine nectar offered to her and for a moment lets her troubles fade away. She wraps herself in love, a warm blanket on a cold night.

When she finally pulls back, licking closed the holes, she swears that she can see stars.

GM: Her mother’s breath comes heavier in her ears. A blush has crept across the woman’s paler cheeks. Her eyes shine as she touches Celia’s cheek.

“You’ve had enough, baby?” she smiles. “I could give you more in a thermos, where it’ll stay warm, if you want some to save for later…”

Celia: Tempting. So very, very tempting.

But Celia shakes her head at the offer.

“You’ll hurt yourself if you give too much. I need you healthy. Once or twice a week, no more than that. Small amounts like this, right from the vein. That’s when it’s best. Something I can look forward to.”

GM: “Okay, sweetie. Just know that I’m always, always here if you need me, and if you need more, okay?”

Celia: “I know, Mom. I love you.”

GM: Her mother hugs her. “I love you too, Celia.”

“Carpe noctem, is that what the phrase is? Go seize the night,” she smiles.

Celia: So she does. Celia melds into Jade when she turns away from her mother, fingers blurring across her face to transform the girl into the lick. Even in this face, Celia’s smile briefly shines through at her mother. She’s Jade, yes, but the daughter remains beneath the surface of the domitor. Her form blurs, first into a familiar gray cat to rub up against the woman’s legs with a purr and a meow, letting her know that something good still resides within her, and then the cat takes a running leap and shifts again. Fur becomes feathers, limbs become wings, and the nightjar takes off into the sky.

---

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, PM

Celia: From this vantage point, high above the city, the girl and the bird both find peace. Even the Beast, hungry though it is, cannot help but be silent within her while she soars across the sky. Perhaps it, too, is thinking of another night, another flight; how many of them now has she spent with her sire?

She understands the yearning he has to travel as he does above the heads of the kine that scurry like ants beneath his booted feet. This is my city, she imagines him saying, though words do not frequently pass his lips. He had once told her it would all be his. Years ago, on the highest building in the city where he had collected her from her cousin’s apartment, he had said those words to her. It had pained her then. She had thought of how easily his plans could be stolen from her; she had not understood the words that followed, the place that he intended for her. Now, as the years have passed, she does. She is his tool.

Something within her, something made of steel rather than flesh, rebels at the thought.

She does not want to be a tool.

But that is the way of things, is it not? The elders among them turn the younger into pawns and tools until those younger prove themselves to be capable, to be worthy, and ascend further. So many her age are content to live their nightly existence; they never hunger for more, never seek to rise above what is handed to them. She and Roderick had spoken of it once, the neonates that pay lip service to their patron of choice and offer to be “ears on the ground,” as if there are not dozens like them who do the same thing. Selling hot air.

Jade, Celia, the Beast—they do not want to sell hot air. They wear the masks and say the words, but inside they scheme.

And tonight… tonight they prove to themselves, to their friends, to their sire and their grandsire why the Blood is not wasted on them.

Tonight they turn a boy into a girl, indifference into passion, acquaintance into ally.

Tonight they push the first of the dominoes that will spiral through the city.

The nightjar flaps its wings and soars, reveling in the freedom of the night sky and the thoughts that flit through its mind. One night, perhaps, it will fly beside the sire who blooded it.

Tonight, though, its mission is solitary.

The lights from below beckon the bird to begin its descent, spiraling slowly through the clouds to find the glow of the riverboat. Her playmate waits within.

She glides toward the window left open for her and drops into the painter’s cabin. She shifts from bird to lick.

Jade has arrived.

GM: Jade has arrived, and not a moment too soon.

Perhaps a few moments too early.

As the nightjar swoops by, it see Josua in bed with another vampire. She’s a short, slim, and black-haired Asian-American vampire who isn’t wearing anything. Josua isn’t either. The two Kindred are locked in one another’s embrace—or at least locked under the female one’s. She’s pushed him face-down into the bed and is straddling him from behind, raking fangs and nails down his skin as she laps up the cooling blood. Josua writhes underneath and whispers sweet, submissive words, the kind that are an endless roll of velvet against one’s ears.

There’s a precise perfection to her appearance, the esthetician behind the nightjar can tell. Neatly trimmed hair, long unbroken nails, plucked eyebrows, smooth shaved skin—care was taken prior to her Embrace, care that speaks to her sire’s attention to detail and calculated intentions. Details invisible to the kine, invisible to the trash at the edge of society, but all-too clear to those in the halls of power—or someone who runs a spa. It speaks to legacy and affection. The same care is evident in her manicured and painted nails, carefully styled hair, and a carefully styled, conservative-looking dark blouse and skirt currently lying on the ground.


Alana, at least, has also come through. The nightjar sees the expected makeup case and two suitcases likely filled with folded clothes sitting in the corner of the room.

Celia: What’s this? Another tasty little morsel for her to top?

Someone else might be jealous, but Jade sees the offer for what it is: two for the price of one. Isn’t there a saying about early birds and worms?

Jade shifts, fangs already long in her mouth at the sight and scent of blood.

“Naughty naughty fledglings, starting without me.” Velveteen words drip from her tongue like thunder poured over ice, arousal and hunger in her eyes.

She doesn’t ask for permission. She doesn’t say that she’s going to join them. She just does, stalking forward on heeled shoes without bothering to remove the rest of her clothes. She slides in behind the Tremere—archon’s childe, she remembers from the club, and some part of her purrs at the delectable little treat he’s taken for himself, though she would expect nothing less than perfection from a fellow surgeon—and sinks the points of her fangs into her neck.

GM: “You showed up early,” laughs Josua. “I have a very full schedule…”

Kyrstin gives a low growl and turns around just as Jade’s fangs pierce her neck. The Tremere’s blood and her mother’s are like night and day. Yes, it isn’t brimming with love. But it’s stronger, headier, and with such a darker, sharper taste, all grim determination and jagged glass. It’s the difference between a loved one’s home-cooked soup and a highly-rated restaurant’s. It might not have the same love, the service with a smile. But it’s made by more technically proficient hands, from costlier ingredients, in a dedicated and likewise costlier setting. It’s a good contrast to go from day to night, rather than day to shoddier day like if she’d supped from another ghoul who didn’t love her.

Kyrstin’s hands, meanwhile, already work to tug off Jade’s shirt, then her fangs sink into the Toreador’s neck. The archon wouldn’t choose someone weak for his childe. Josua, beneath them both, pulls down Jade’s panties and teasingly traces his fangs across her lower lips. His painter’s hands appreciatively squeeze her posterior.

“A body built for bedrooms…” he murmurs, then sinks his fangs into her pubic mound.

Celia: Everything she takes the girl takes right back from her. Pity; she hadn’t wanted to need to break into the supply she has built up. But she will. After she enjoys these two.

Her clothing comes off with little regard to its structure, shirt shredded when the Tremere takes too long with the buttons down her front, skirt hiked up around her hips to give Josua the access he needs. A shift of her lower body positions her shins across his forearms, pressure applied to keep him pinned beneath her.

“Hush, pet,” she growls, lifting her mouth from Kyrstin just long enough to get the words out. Another shift of her hips and she’s put the best part of herself over him, pressing down to smother his lips with hers and present him with the feast he so clearly desires. Jade leans in again, claws and fangs tearing across Kyrstin’s chest. Her tongue follows.

GM: Josua likely couldn’t be happier to have any speech muffled beneath Jade’s best part. He struggles with his arms and makes little gasps and squeals in a very sexy way. His tongue expertly goes about its work, lapping and stroking and teasing her in all the right places even as bliss shudders up her loins from the kiss of her clanmate’s fangs. She’s sitting on a volt of electricity. She wants to scream and leap off, but not really, she actually wants to grind down, wants to shove her cunt against his face like she shoved her cock down Alana’s mouth, to make two holes become as one. He’s a fire smoldering beneath her, lending fuel to the lovemaking machine she is up top. Kyristin mirrors her motions. She bites and kisses, but mostly bites, across Jade’s lips, neck, shoulders, breasts. She rakes skin with her nails. She waits those tortuously long seconds for the blood to cool, then laps it up. The Tremere neonate doesn’t have passion so much as she has determination, relentlessly seizing what she wants. She isn’t a virtuoso like Josua. Her touch doesn’t please so much as take. She is, Jade assesses, his junior in the arts of love.

But then, she isn’t a Toreador.

Celia: She takes after her sire in that manner. Or at least that’s what Jade had always imagined when she fantasized about the archon: taking what he wants. Seizing it like he seizes everything else in his Requiem. Controlling her pleasure like he had controlled her body so effortlessly on the floor of the club; a hand here, a touch there, she had bent to his will. Restrained strength. Even his mind in hers had been delicate and precise, never venturing beyond what she had offered to show him.

Pity, too, as she’d had such wicked visions she could have shared that all involved his taught, toned body intertwined with hers.

She contents herself with the childe, some small part of her wondering if Grey and North have ever fucked, another part wondering at his response if she takes the fledgling for a lover to show her how it’s done.

Like this, her touch says, fangs trailing shallow scratches from clavicle to nipple in slow, prolonged movements. She goes the other way to lick it clean, down to up rather than up to down. Down, though, her hips over Josua’s mouth, riding the tongue he uses to tease her with as assuredly as she would ride another part.

GM: Maybe if she fucks Kyrstin hard enough her sire will feel it. Through the Blood.

What a compliment that would be.

Does Donovan feel it, when she gets fucked really hard and really well? Does he sense her pleasure? What feelings does it stir in his cold breast? She fucks so often, and so expertly, surely he’s felt it at least a few times.

It’s enough to think about him while she’s with them.

Jade shows the Tremere how it’s done. Like this. Like that. Slow. Savoring. Compatible with taking. Just do it right. She shows them both how it’s done. She reminds Josua it’s his place to lick, from the bottom, to worship her cunt and be thankful for it. He is. He so clearly is. The three lie spent on his silky sheets (of course he has good sheets) when they’re done, slick with one another’s vitae.

“Always a pleasure to be fucked by an expert…” the other Toreador purrs, stroking a hand along Jade’s vitae-smeared flank.

Celia: Does he feel it when she has a particularly strong release? Does it strike him in the middle of important meetings, a vision of her topping or being topped by someone else, the echo of her pleasure arcing through the space between them?

It’s a decidedly delicious thought, made all the better by the way the Tremere responds to her instruction.

When they’re both spent—she did that—and collapse onto the bed, Jade curls up behind Josua and nuzzles the back of his neck with her lips.

“Happy to assist,” she murmurs against his skin. Her tongue flicks along his flesh, wiping it clean of blood. She itches to sink her fangs into him again.

“I’m Jade,” she says to Kyrstin.

GM: Josua clearly has that same thought. He grins and starts to clean her up with his tongue too. They won’t let a droplet go to waste.

“Kyrstin,” replies Jon’s childe, propping her head up with her fist.

Celia: “I know your sire,” Jade says to her as Josua busies himself once more with his tongue. Her eyes flick down the naked girl’s body, appraising, then back up. “He has good taste.”

GM: “Then I am sure you are unsurprised. He is meticulous.”

Celia: “Excellent word choice for him.” Jade finally smiles, running a hand through Josua’s hair. “Are you being released upon his return?”

GM: Josua grins and continues to lip the bottom-most portions of her breasts. They’re clean of vitae.

“I am being released this Sunday,” Kyrstin answers.

Celia: “Congratulations,” Jade tells her, only momentarily distracted when Josua’s lip closes around a nipple. “I’ll be sure to attend. Is he back, then?”

“Perhaps a party afterward,” she muses, clearly already planning something.

GM: “Thanks,” says Kyrstin. “Archon North has pressing business elsewhere, but I’d still enjoy a party.”

“That must suck he won’t be there,” says Josua between sucks.

Kyrstin shrugs her slim shoulders. “He knows. He’s proud of me. It’s enough that I’m here because of him.”

Celia: It was enough for Jade that Donovan and Lord Savoy had been present at her release despite being introduced to their society as Veronica’s childe.

She asks after Kyrstin’s schedule and what night would work best, already wondering where she can throw a party for the girl. The one Veronica had hosted for her had been a night to remember; Jade will step in for North, if he’s busy with his archon things.

GM: The harpy’s childe got a party just for her, after all.

Kyrstin is free the Wednesday and Thursday after her release.

A buzz goes up from the phone amidst Jade’s clothes.

Celia: Jade lets her know she’ll be in touch.

“Hold that thought, pet,” she says to Josua, rolling off the bed to pluck the phone from where it sits beneath her clothing. She gets Kyrstin’s number and checks the message. Efficient.

GM: It’s from Randy, on her question about whether Reggie was fucking Mabel with her consent.

Mabel maybe thought it was Evan fucking her so kind of?

Celia: Thanks. I’ll handle.

Reggie is going to be the sort of rapist-vampire that nightmares are made of.

GM: He said it himself. He takes what he wants.

On the other hand, Jade’s heard a few licks say they’re all rapists, in their own way.

Celia: “I’m excited for the party now,” Jade says, dropping her phone back onto the pile of clothing and sliding into bed with the two. “I don’t suppose your lover will let you come to the Quarter if I host it there, hm?”

GM: “I don’t suppose so,” Josua says with an effected sigh.

“Perhaps Marigny,” says Kyrstin.

Celia: “Might as well.”

GM: Kyrstin doesn’t look disappointed, at least.

Celia: She would if she knew what sort of parties the Evergreen sees.

But Jade won’t burst her bubble.

Something Roderick had said to her about Tremere comes to mind. The demon thing. Is there a casual way to link demons, sex, and parties?

If anyone can do it, Jade can.

She makes idle chitchat for a moment, asking after the Tremere’s studies, and finally slips it into the conversation. Grunewald was the ghost expert; who’s the demonologist of New Orleans?

GM: Apparently, Jade can.

Kyrstin answers little about her thaumaturgic studies, directing conversation back to the party, but looks amused by Jade’s “joking” question. While the chantry doesn’t have a dedicated demonologist, Erwin Bornemann and Elsbeth von Steinhäuser likely know the most about demons, by dint of being the chantry’s senior-most Tremere.

Celia: Jade tucks that information away for later and lets Kyrstin steer them back toward party talk. She wants to know what Kyrstin wants to do to cut loose now that she’s “her own Kindred.”

GM: Kyrstin wants to indeed cut loose. Dancing. Partying. Music. Attractive vessels. “Like in college.”

She’s not interested, though, in “the kinkier shit.” Like vitae-gorged ghouls raping each other to death for the promise of more in front of laughing crowds.

It would be a lie to say Jade has never seen that.

Kyrstin, meanwhile, allows herself a faint smile.

“Lucky me to have a Toreador volunteering.”

Celia: Lucky indeed.

“I have a handful of clubs in the Quarter if you ever feel the need to cut loose after this party. Let me know; I’d be happy to take you out again.”

GM: Kyrstin nods. “I also enjoy piano music.”

Celia: “You should hear my grandsire play sometime.”

GM: “I fucked someone on a piano once,” Josua mentions idly.

Celia: “Did you play a tune?” Jade asks, one brow arched.

GM: “Sort of. I tried to hit the keys with my feet, but the positioning was awkward.”

Celia: “We should try again sometime.”

GM: “Yes, we should.”

Celia: “Or set a canvas on the ground and roll around in paint.”

“Or both.”

GM: “Mmm. I’d want to paint every last inch of you…” Josua murmurs, suckling her other nipple.

Kyrstin looks faintly amused again.

Toreador never stop thinking about sex.

Celia: Josua might have more sex than she does.

Is it possible?

Hadn’t she had three threesomes in one night last week?

Christ.

She’s happy to go again, though, or to let Kyrstin get on her way so she and Josua can get down to business. Sex business. Very serious stuff.

GM: Kyrstin’s libido seems satisfied. The blood disappears from her body with a murmured invocation and wave of her hand as she dresses. She says they have her number, then heads off.

Not everyone can be as much of a champ as the two Toreador.

---

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, PM

GM: Josua doesn’t seem satisfied at all. He goes again with Jade. It’s everything and more that it was last time. It leaves her shivering with satisfaction and her Beast howling for more. They’re insatiable.

She’s not even sure how many times she had sex last night. There was Roderick, Reggie, Alana, the two breathers she picked up… and when was Vinny? That was also with Alana. It’s all blurring together.

“Mmm, good warm-up,” Josua purrs.

“But this is just practice for us with Marcel, me as a girl…”

Celia: They end up sprawled across the floor when they’re done the second time; at some point they had shifted and fallen and kept going, neither one of them bothered by the abrupt shift in position. Jade rests now with her head on his chest, tips of her claws running across his stomach.

“Mm,” she agrees, “just practice for Marcel.” Her eyes find the suitcases. “I see my delivery made it on time. Did you get a look at the girl who brought it?”

GM: “Yes, she was great in bed.”

Celia: Jade lifts a brow.

“You fucked Celia?”

GM: The other Toreador laughs and strokes her backside.

“You couldn’t have expected me not to help myself, sending in a treat like that.”

Celia: She’d left that out of the report.

GM: “I follow her on social media, so that was even better. There was lots of anticipation.”

Celia: “Wait a minute, so you got it up for her or you fangbanged her?”

GM: “Fangbanged. I’m happy to get you off the breather way, but it doesn’t do anything for me.”

“I did get her off that way too, though.”

Celia: “How chivalrous,” Jade says dryly. She’s both amused and aroused by the thought of Josua following Celia online and finally getting a chance to bang her. “Measure up to your expectations?”

GM: “Oh, yes,” he purrs. “I’d jerked off to her photos when I was alive. She was more submissive than I expected, but that might’ve been the renfield in her talking.”

“I gave her some of my blood, too, to balance what I took away. Since I’m so chivalrous.”

Celia: “Pity,” Jade says, nails tapping against his chest, “I was going to take it from you.”

GM: “She took it from me. I had her suck it from my dick.”

“There’s really nothing like the sight of a famous breather on their knees for you.”

Celia: Jade shifts, sliding down Josua’s body until she’s kneeling between his legs.

“Was she better than me?” Jade asks, fangs trailing down the inside of his thigh. “Should we compare?” She laps at the blood her teeth bring forth, not bothering to wait for it to cool; she wants to give him the full effect of the pleasure she can bring him.

GM: “Oh, there’s no comparison…” Josua grins. He sits up and wraps his legs around her torso, pulling her in close against him. His painter’s hands close around one of her breasts, not directly kneading it, but rubbing his palms against one another with the nipple caught between.

It’s tricky positioning, with her head so close to his cock.

Celia: It doesn’t stop her from taking what she wants from him. Last time he had put a tiny little prick at the head of his cock for her; now she creates the same sort of hole with the point of one fang, eagerly sucking the blood from him. Her mouth vibrates around him when he begins to touch her breast, growl or purr or breather-like moan muffled by the flesh in her mouth.

GM: He leans down, fangs piercing her neck as her own pierce his stiffened manhood. Bliss shudders through her as he wraps his arms around her, holding her close against him with all four limbs.

Celia: She doesn’t let it devolve into another full round of sex; they need to meet Marcel, after all, and Josua needs to be transformed first. She gives him enough of a taste to put her assuredly ahead of her ghoul before releasing him, pushing him back down onto the floor and settling herself above him.

“We should shower before we meet him, no? Come in fresh?”

GM: “Mistress knows best,” he smiles, his fingers idly finding their way towards her womanhood.

Celia: Her fingers close around his wrist, preventing him from touching her.

“I assume the breather way does nothing for him, either. I’d prefer if you not tell him, if that’s the case.”

GM: “Yes, I was going to say. Don’t cum. He’ll be really grossed out.”

Celia: “Old licks are so…” Jade just shakes her head.

GM: “I wish I could still fuck that way,” Josua sighs.

Celia: “Honestly, it’s pretty much the best of both worlds.”

GM: “I’m so jealous. I can still make myself hard, but it does nothing. Seeing Celia Flores suck me off is satisfying on a purely psychological level.”

“Don’t get… wet, either, or let your nipples get hard. Can you turn that off?”

Celia: “Ah. Right. Yeah. Kind of like how you turn it on. Just blood control.”

GM: “Okay, good. But don’t worry. It’ll still be a fantastic time. He’s amazing in bed.”

Celia: “Maybe I’ll join his harem and move in with you here,” Jade muses, “we’ll never leave the boat.”

GM: “He’d like that,” smiles Josua. “He’s always looking to build his harem.”

“Well. Since before Matheson, anyway.”

Celia: Jade winces. “Yeah, I imagine that put a damper on things.”

GM: “Yes, it’s an ugly look now.”

Celia: “I mean, it’s not like he’s doing the same thing.”

GM: “Oh, he isn’t, at all. But he figured the optics would be too hard to explain, and licks looking to sling mud might seize on it.”

“So with Marie in torpor and Evan gone, I’m the only one of his regular harem left.”

Celia: “Evan was his?”

GM: “Well, used to be. Roxanne was really jealous, so Evan left. He was really apologetic about the whole thing, tried to offer Marcel a boon, but he said no.”

“He’s pretty casual about it all, he knows flings don’t last forever.”

Celia: “Oh. Huh. I didn’t know that. I mean, I knew Roxanne was jealous about him being with other people, but… huh. Did Marcel ever look into what became of him?”

GM: “Oh, Rocco talked to him about it. But not really. Licks go missing sometimes and he figured the other Storyvilles would try to find Evan.”

“After this long he’s probably ash, which sucks. He was good in bed.”

Celia: “Always a loss.”

“Also, not to sound ignorant, but isn’t Marie relatively young? Why’s she torped?”

GM: “Marie got torped by Setites. Marcel’s fed her his blood, but she hasn’t woken up.”

Celia: “…what?”

GM: “We dunno what’s wrong with her.”

“Marcel thinks maybe the Setites put a curse on her or something.”

Celia: “That’s awful.”

GM: “Yeah, she was great in bed too.”

“She and Marcel had amazing chemistry. Even outside of bed.”

“Which was interesting, because he usually likes boys. Like, it’s not a hard preference, but I’ve seen him go for a lot more guy licks than girl licks.”

Celia: “Why does he make you dress like a girl, then?”

GM: Josua smiles. “Variety is nice, isn’t it?”

Celia: “Would he like me more if I were a boy?”

GM: “Hmm, maybe? Like I said, girls can do it for him. He was really into Marie. He just tends to prefer boys.”

“I guess it depends how sexy a boy you make.”

“He likes his boys sort of feminine, too. Hates facial hair on them. So I think that’s why the idea of me being a boy in girl’s clothes does it for him.”

Celia: “Well considering the base I’d have to work with…” Jade gestures down at her flawless self.

GM: Josua laughs.

“It’s a perfect base. Don’t worry. He’ll be all over you.”

Celia: “Mm. Good. I hate feeling rejected. I’d have to bring you back here for round… seven, or something, to make me feel better.”

GM: “He’ll love you. Just fuck him the way he likes it, and it won’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl.”

“He likes being on top. Ventrue, prince, and all.”

“But he doesn’t like it if you just submit and simper, he likes lovers with spirit. Who push back.”

“But he wants to win, because Ventrue prince and all.”

“And when he does win he doesn’t want to just beat you into submission, he wants you to surrender.”

“And he wants you to be happy surrendering. Because you realize his way is the best way. You know?”

Celia: “Surrender to the prince,” Jade says, nodding. If she weren’t busy practicing not getting wet in front of Marcel Josua might notice her arousal at the thought. Or maybe that was there from earlier. Who can tell with her.

Jade takes a moment to look around his room, searching for a microwave.

GM: There is none in the small cabin.

“He loves it when people call him ‘my prince,’ too. Or ‘Your Majesty.’”

“He’s a great prince, I think he should still be one.”

“I think it’s so awful what those sewer rats did. It’d have been so much fun to live in Baton Rouge under him.”

Celia: Well fuck.

“If and when he takes back the city, are you going back with him?”

GM: “Oh, yes! I’ll be a real prince’s boytoy, won’t I?” Josua grins.

“And he can do whatever he wants to me…”

Celia: “Does that make you a princess?” Jade asks idly.

GM: “I’d love to be his princess.”

“His princess bitch.”

Celia: “Mmm. Now that sounds delightful.”

GM: “He says he ran a lot of the city out of his bedroom, too, so that’s fun.”

“If you had sex with him and he liked it he’d give you better hunting grounds.”

Celia: Jade arches a brow.

“Marcel for prince,” she declares.

GM: “And if you lived with him in his haven, as part of his harem, then you’d really have it made.”

“He says neonates all competed with each other to impress him so they’d get to live with him.”

Celia: Jade can’t think of anyone who would offer her real competition.

GM: She’s flawless, after all.

Celia: “Are we sure he’s Ventrue? Sounds like the sort of Toreador prince I could get behind.”

GM: “Oh, so, that’s the thing.”

“He actually is Ventrue, and really Ventrue. He’s just really subtle about it.”

“He still, I guess you could say, thinks with his head. All of that with his harem, and the fucking him for better feeding grounds, is calculated. He has this whole rational explanation for why he does it.”

“I mean, he also likes it, but he does it because he thinks it works best.”

Celia: “Approachable, blood bonds, good time, doesn’t look like a stiff, instills competition to stay in his good graces. Probably more I’m missing.”

GM: “Yes, that’s basically it.”

Celia: “Makes sense.”

“If I’m ever prince maybe I’ll keep a harem, too.”

“Maybe I should start one now.”

GM: “I’ll compete to be in your harem.”

Celia: “You can keep the rest of my bitches in line.”

GM: “I’ll blow all the other entrants out of the water, when I’m not blowing you.”

Celia: “Are you going to blow me? I can find a doc to give me a cock if you’d like.”

GM: “Really? I thought you could use one of those double strap-ons. Where there’s a dick on both ends, so the deeper you peg a guy, the deeper you get fucked too.”

Celia: “Oh. Yes. I like that more. Let’s do that.”

GM: “I don’t know why any girl uses a single strap-on.”

Josua glances at the time. “We should get showered and changed, I want to hit the casino as a girl before we fuck Marcel and my clothes get ruined.”

Celia: “I, ah… you don’t have a microwave in here, darling,” she finally points out after she’s decided the appliance isn’t hiding behind an easel somewhere.

GM: “It’s cramped here. Why do you want a microwave?”

Celia: “Flying gave me the munchies and I brought a snack because I thought it might and cold blood is gross and I don’t want to lose it on your lover.”

GM: “Oh, okay. There’s a microwave in one of the staff rooms, we can use that.”

Celia: “Perfect.”

GM: “Permission to rise, mistress?”

Celia: “I suppose.”

GM: They get up. They shower. They still wind up fucking in the shower.

Josua gets dressed, leads her to the staff break room, gets out everyone but a girl he starts making out with, perhaps to “distract.” Jade is left to microwave her snack.

Celia: Distract.

Right.

Jade heats the saved blood in the microwave until it’s a little warmer than most humans run, then tells Josua she’s “riding the edge” and goes back to his room to lock herself in the recently fucked-in bathroom. Just in case.

She drinks all of it, already adjusting her schedule to give herself time to get more for Edith and Pete. Inconvenient. But it gave her wings. The literal sort, and the metaphorical sort; without them she wouldn’t have been able to add Grey to her list of conquests or find the next crumb in the trail that will lead her to finding out more about demons.

Not really a path she ever thought she’d want to go down, but here she is.

GM: Here she is.

It would be so easy, though. To just drain someone completely. To have more than enough blood for her needs.

Josua comes back soon enough. “Ready for my makeover?” he smiles.

Celia: She probably will, anyway. After she leaves here. Call Reggie and give him the task of getting rid of the body, which in this case really just means dragging it back to the spa for her. Still, it’s good practice for when he eventually joins her in undeath.

God, she’s really going to miss fucking him. She can’t imagine he’s going to be able to get it up like she does once he’s dead.

“Ready,” she says, makeup bag already unrolled and brushes on her hip. She gestures for him to take a seat. “Thanks for the assist.”

GM: “My pleasure,” he replies, sitting down. “Don’t we do makeup after I’m dressed up, though?”

“Unless it’s a dress that doesn’t have to go over my head.”

Celia: “Usually,” she agrees, “but we’re not quite the same size so nothing I brought is something that will need to go over the head. Zippers and whatnot, things you can step into.”

His chest is larger than hers. Not the tits, but the ribcage itself.

“If you’re eager to browse, though, be my guest.” She gestures toward the luggage full of clothing.

GM: “Makes sense,” he agrees, slipping off his shirt. It’s a trim, hairless, and well-proportioned chest.

“Oh no, we’ll do everything your way, mistress, in just the order you want,” he grins.

Celia: “I hope you know how to walk in heels,” is all she says to that.

GM: “Step down heel first, then toe. Take shorter steps.”

Celia: The work begins.

Josua is hardly the first male client she has ever put makeup on. Aside from Landen—whose face is structurally more masculine than most of her clients even if they aren’t technically a boy—she’s had plenty of them come into the spa over the years. Drag queens, male models, boys who just want to look pretty. Plus the dolls; though less frequent than the female dolls, she and Elyse have still worked on a handful of males.

The application process is similar. Josua has no hair to remove, no scruff on his face that she needs to get rid of, and the gel that she pumps into her fingers and smears across his skin meets no resistance.

“Moisturizer,” she explains, “to help the rest of it go on smoothly. If you like, I can have Celia drop off something for you to use nightly. Our skin takes a special sort of product.”

Her eyes find his again, lips curving into a smile.

“Not that you need much. You’re gorgeous.”

Familiar words; hadn’t she said the same to a blonde Ventrue once?

She dismisses the thought as quickly as it comes, reaching for the primer that will even out any rough patches, fill in any tiny little holes, and help the foundation adhere to his skin.

“Base coat,” she says, pouring a measure of liquid onto the back of her hand and dabbing at it with a brush. That, too, goes across the entirety of his face, blended out with a damp egg-shaped sponge and another brush all the way from his hairline to beyond his jaw. She lets it sit while she reaches for a palette of shadows, beginning with a flesh-toned color to create a base layer along his eyes to help blend everything together. Then white in the corners, applied with a tiny brush that only puts the pigment where she wants it to go. She pauses a moment while she looks into his eyes, debating on color for the lid.

Green can go a handful of ways. The neutrals work best with browns and taupe to make them pop, or any of the other smoky colors. Plum and gold can work as well. Green, too, to give vibrancy to the eyes themselves. He doesn’t have the coloring for plum, she thinks, and neutrals can be boring. But gold… gold might work. Gold and green? Is it too reminiscent of a snake?

No, she thinks, when Marcel sees him he will have no reason to think snake.

A new brush gathers the pigment from the palette, swiping it across his lid. Gold, olive, and pine, the colors bleeding into one another as she blends, blends, blends. Always blending. There will be no unblended lines on this masterpiece, not with Jade wielding the brush. A tiny drop of a green with hints of blue at the outer corner—dare she call it jade?—before the whole thing darkens and dissipates into a smoked out look toward the brow’s tail. Black liner across the top lid, flicked into a wing, and white at the waterline to widen his eyes.

Drama, she thinks. She has given him drama.

He will not be the playful sort of sub this evening; when the pair of them meet with Marcel they will show the faces of two beings that must be conquered by the prince before they will roll over and submit.

Jade works his brows next, plucking the stray hairs that make them too thick to be feminine and filling in the rest with a brown pomade slightly darker than his natural strands. She sculpts them with her tweezers and her pot of color, giving him a fine arch that makes it look like his eyes are constantly smiling.

Another coat of foundation erases any of the fallen pigment from his shadows. She uses another brush to swipe on highlighter that brings attention to his recently decked-out eyes, contour to erase the hard lines of his jaw, and blush to give his face a delicate flush.

She blends it all with brush and finger and sponge.

The boy beneath the makeup disappears as she works, the features becoming less masculine and more feminine with every stroke. A final application of powder locks the liquid in place, and a spritz from a black-capped pink bottle melds it all together.

Then it’s time for the extras: the strip of lashes she applies with a tiny amount of glue, the mascara to meld them together. And lipstick. Green can be hard to match, but Jade has all sorts of colors in her box of goodies, and she finds a liner and liquid lip in a berry that goes well with both the gold and the green.

“One moment,” Jade says before he looks into the mirror. She steps away to pick through the luggage, coming back with a wig and band. She pushes his hair back from his face and secures it with the band, then sets the wig overtop of it and secures it with a brush, a bit of glue, and a handful of tiny little clips that disappear as soon as she places them.

When she’s done, it looks as if she has taken an airbrush to his face.

His skin is smooth. His eyes sparkle. His features have been both softened and hardened, creating the illusion that Jade wants the world to see: Josua Cambridge, female.

Celia: When it’s done, Jade spends a long moment looking him over. She searches for flaws, searches for mistakes, searches for any sign that this isn’t what he might want. She tells him to smile, then to scowl, and finally to pout.

Perfection, she thinks. He is not a cherub-faced saint, no, but the drama of the eyes has not turned him into a vicious killer, either. It is not a look she would put on Veronica or Caroline, two licks with steel in their spine, but neither is it a look that she would give to a child, Leilani, or Celia herself. With this he can be what he wants: predator, prey, strong, weak, goddess, acolyte.

He can wear the mask he chooses.

She holds out a mirror.

GM: Jade and Elyse have worked on their share of male dolls. They’re a lot like Gabe was. Being given female bodies and dressed in female clothes is an immediate, humiliating blow to their spirits. Jade could call it sexist. Could remark on the things it says about gender roles and social views. But there’s nothing like being made to a wear a dress, panties, and bra—with real breasts—to emotionally castrate all but the most defiant males.

GM: Humiliation, Elyse always says, goes so much further than physical chastisement. Pain is an undesirable stimulus dolls will try to avoid. But humiliation destroys the capacity for resistance by making the doll see itself as less than it formerly was.

But Jade and Celia have worked on their share of men who enjoyed being prettied up, and Josua is no exception.

“Really, we still benefit from moisturizer?” he asks. “I thought our skin was perfect. Or at least stuck basically the way it was.”

He smiles at her words. “Yes please, though. Whatever makes me more gorgeous.”

They are familiar words.

But how many times has Josua probably described how much he loves women to other women, like he told Jade he did?

And Josua does clearly love women. Love being made up as a woman. He sits still, and with more difficulty, holds his face still as Jade reworks his face from male to female. He has good facial structure. Delicate lines. Not that a hand as masterful as Jade’s needs those, to bring out someone’s inner beauty, but it’s faster when there’s a lot of outside beauty already. He comes out divine. He’s gorgeous. Stunning. Head-turning. Josua holds the mirror to his face, but only high enough to see his lips—“Our clan blessing is going to kick in, if I see myself all dolled up, and then I’ll try to fuck you. We should at least wait until I’m done.”

But he relishes smiling, scowling, pouting in the mirror. He relishes smiling more than scowling, and pouting more than smiling.

They’re pretty lips.

They’re a pretty everything.

Because everything turns pretty around Jade.

“Wow. Just look at those lips,” he exclaims, holding his finger up to just beneath them, careful not to touch the lipstick. “I could suck so much dick with these lips.”

Celia: “You’re going to suck so much dick with those lips,” Jade tells him.

GM: He puckers his newly-red lips and kisses the air twice. “Yes ma’am!”

Celia: “Do you really think our clan’s blessing is going to make you want to fuck if you see yourself?” It’s an amusing thought.

“I can take a picture, if you want, to show you later.”

GM: “Oh, I’ll be completely off my game if I don’t even know how I look. You can just stop me if I try, and drive me crazy with anticipation, crazy enough to make me soaking wet if I was a real girl, until we see Marcel.”

Celia: “I imagine you’re going to be hit on more than me once we hit the floor,” Jade says with a pout.

“Why don’t we make a game of it? Whoever collects the most numbers wins.”

GM: Josua grins. “Oh, I’m amazing at fucking people, and getting people to want to fuck me, but I just know I’m going up against a master, here. I’m going to have to be at the absolute top of my game.”

“Loser owes the winner a boon?”

Celia: “No cheating. You can’t whack someone with star mode.”

“You need a name,” she adds. “And clothes.”

GM: “Hmm. How’s Josina?”

Celia: “Is Josina a real name?”

GM: “Does it sound real?”

Celia: “No.”

“Jessie?”

GM: “Jessie feels like a tomboy to me. I don’t want to be a tomboy, I want to be pretty girl who sucks so much dick. What about Joy?”

Celia: “Joy could work.”

GM: “Joy it is. Can you do anything for my shoulders? Those can be such a giveaway with transgender girls.”

Celia: “Any practice with a female voice?”

GM: “Hmm.” Josua clears his throat. “How’s this?” he asks in a smooth and velvety, higher-sounding one. It’s on the deeper end for a woman’s voice, but not unusually so.

Celia: “Better,” she nods. “I brought things that will hide the broader shoulders, in any case. With draping and such. And a bra. Unless you want me to cut you open and remove some parts. Just grab me a butcher’s knife, yeah?”

GM: Josua laughs. “Maybe if we had more time. I heard there are licks who cut out parts of themselves.”

“I’m not sure why they do it. So they weigh less?”

Celia: “Convenient carrying case.”

“I heard about a lick who pulled out his intestines and used them to strangle people. He didn’t want to lose any blood so he thought that was the best way.”

GM: “Seems easier just to carry rope.”

Celia: “I mean, I’m pretty sure he was fucked in the head before his Embrace, and it just brought out something even worse inside of him.”

Conscious of the time, though, Jade crosses the room to open the rest of the luggage. Inside is a pretty hefty selection of dresses, skirts, and lingerie in all sorts of colors and lengths.

“I brought a little bit of everything so you’d have options. A deeper V will distract from the shoulders. So will a cutout on the shoulders themselves. Probably nothing sleeveless or strapless, though.”

GM: “Let’s go with the v-neck. Really show off my new assets and draw eyes there.”

Celia: “Spoken like a true slut.”

GM: “I’m going to be a complete and total slut. The only reason I’m not already is that guys can’t be sluts.”

Celia: She gives him a look at that.

GM: “I mean, when did you ever hear of a guy getting shamed for having lots of sex?”

Celia: “Only rapists.”

Jade can’t help but think of Reggie again. He’s definitely on the line there. Maybe that’s why she likes him so much.

GM: “I hope someone rapes me, while I’m like this. That would be so sexy.”

“I think I should win if someone tries to do that, even if I get fewer numbers.”

“Same goes for you.”

Celia: Jade considers him for a moment, looking up from the selection of dresses in front of her.

“Does it count as rape if you want it to happen?”

GM: “Probably not, they just have to think we don’t. Or not bother with consent.”

He follows with clear interest, if not pleasure, but lets her pick.

Celia: “If you want to be raped,” Jade says idly, fingering the dress in her hands, “I could ask my friend to turn you into a real girl for a night. Give you a cute little pussy that someone can take advantage of. Really fuck you like a man fucks a woman.”

GM: “Oh really? That’d be so hot.”

Celia: “Win our bet and I’ll call in a favor.”

She finally offers him the first selection, holding it out for his perusal: long and red, deep V in the front, with two slits up the side all the way to the thighs and long sleeves that will hide his shoulders. It’ll allow for a peek of leg without showing off his male physique. She points out these features to him and sets it aside for his perusal.


The second dress is similarly designed, with a deep V, long sleeves, and a longer hem to hide his legs. Black instead of red, though, with a mesh sort of netting that will cover most of him. There’s also some open skin on the shoulders to show some skin, since it lacks the slits of the first.


She offers a shorter one after that that will hit him mid thigh, charcoal with little sparkles on it, a deep V, and long sleeves to hide the shoulders.


GM: “Wow, those are some really slutty necklines. Perfect for me,” Josua grins. “Let’s go with the third. Full-length dresses would be out of place on the casino floor. And I like the sparkles.”

“I’ve already shaved my legs for tonight.”

“And it’s a deal, too. We’ll call in your friend if I win, to give me a real pussy.”

Celia: The full length dresses hide the legs, which are decidedly masculine despite being shaved, but she’d already pointed that out to him. She simply nods and reaches for a bra, slipping it onto him and hooking it in the back. Josua isn’t the first boy she’s turned into a girl for the night; she’d pre-stuffed the bra to give him a set of tits bigger than her own. He’s larger than her, his frame can handle it. A bit of blending and contour with a brush across his chest makes them look as real as hers, too. No hack-jobs here.

Jade helps him into the dress—it’s not hard to get into a dress, really, but sometimes zippers in the back can be a little challenging—and adjusts it as needed, finally nodding her head.

“I had to guess on your shoe size,” she says, “so I went with a strappy, open toe. Gives more room.”

GM: “Perfect, I was just about to ask what we had,” he smiles, appreciatively squeezing his new breasts once he’s in the dress.

“God, I’m so fuckable.”

Celia: Jade can’t help but laugh. She tells him to hold still while she coats his nails in a quick-drying polish, fingers and toes both with a pop of color that contrasts nicely against the charcoal dress, and once those are dry helps him into the heels and fastens the buckles.

Finally, she offers him a selection of jewelry: necklaces, bracelets, or rings if he is so inclined in a variety of metals and tastes. She lets him pick his own accessories while she dresses herself.

He might think that floor-length dresses don’t have any business being on the casino floor, but Jade knows that the right body, the right attitude, the right woman can pull off a gown even in a place like this. She slips into it, a black number with just as many sparkles as Josua’s chosen number, with a plunging neckline and cutouts across her mid-drift. A slit up either side rise almost to her waist. The dress dances around her legs while she walks, showing off her toned and shapely thighs.


Some dresses wear the women, obscuring them from sight as it steals the stage, but even this dress can’t compete with the body it clings to. She pairs it with nude heels and pulls her hair into a twisting, half up style that leaves a handful of strands free to curl about and frame her face, the rest of it falling in a cascade of dark color down her back. No jewelry save the ever-present sun ring on her left hand.

Formal, but dressed down with the amount of skin it shows. Something that she can wear both on the casino floor and to meet the prince later. Adaptable to any situation. Like her.

“Ready?” she asks.

GM: Josua smiles as she does his nails and fastens his shoes. He spends some time selecting jewelry and goes with a double chain pendant that hangs low down his exposed neck, drawing further attention to his breasts, and some hoop earrings that also detract from the prominence of his shoulders—“Plus hoops have a kind of slutty vibe, don’t you think?” The long sleeves don’t leave much room for bracelets, but he goes goes with a simple gold wedding ring and attached diamond engagement ring, “So I can make jokes about that, and maybe it’ll make guys want to fuck me more, because who doesn’t love stealing something that isn’t theirs?”

But when Jade finishes with herself, he falls silent.

Silent. Still.

Mesmerized.

Celia: Josua’s chatter becomes the noisy backdrop to the cabin she has turned into a dressing suite. She laughs along with him, agreeing that hoops are slutty and that stolen things taste better, and becomes accustomed to his voice filling the space. It’s only when he stops that she looks up, catching his eye.

What does it for him? Is it the dress, the heels, the makeup? The exposed skin? Or is it Jade herself, the body she has spent countless hours turning into a living embodiment of art?

She aches to know what makes him stop and stare.

“Your future admirers are waiting.” Low, sultry tones, suggesting that she doesn’t care one whit who waits for them.

GM: Perhaps it’s some or all of those things about her. Perhaps it’s himself, as he stares into the wall-length mirror behind her. Perhaps it’s both.

His next words are a whisper.

“My admirers.”

“Your worshipers.”

Josua sinks to his knees, managing a graceful descent despite the heels.

“God creates. That’s the first thing he does, in the Bible. He makes the world. God is the supreme creator.”

The palms of his nailed hands stroke her exposed thighs caressingly, lovingly.

“The goddess creates.”

“Look at us. Just look at us. Just look at what you’ve done to us.”

Josua shivers and wraps his arms around Jade’s leg as though seeking assurance, a pillar to cling to amidst a raging storm. His new breasts press against her smooth skin as he breathes out, his voice at once choked and velvet,

“Long dress on the casino floor. You don’t follow the rules. You define them. You make them. You rise above them, like Aphrodite from the sea, and they all try to mimic you, they all want to capture your spark, your your brilliance, your glory, some mote of your divine light, but they’ll all fail, because you’d never try to be more perfect by being like someone else. The goddess does not mimic her worshipers. They are your worshipers. Everyone out there. That’s so perfect. That’s so fitting. I wear the short dress, the little dress, because that’s what everyone else does, and it really makes me the little bitch, next to you. That’s so fitting. Your dress is your cock and yours is longer than mine, so that double makes me your bitch. It’s such an honor to be your bitch, mistress. Man is less than the goddess. It is natural. It is right.”

He runs his cheek along her leg. He clings her leg like a lifeline as he slowly lowers his head until it rests almost at the floor. He kisses her feet. He kisses her toes. He kisses the nail of her big toe, then laps at the gaps between her toes with his tongue.

“The goddess creates. That’s what she does. You’ve created Joy. You took male and made it female, and just as sexy as before. You made your own world. I am your child, your creation, your heavenly breath. There can be no competition. Every number I get is a number you get. When I look in the mirror, I don’t see me, I see Jade. I see her touch on me. I see her touch on every part of me. I see her care, her knowledge, her taste, her style, her vision. Her presence.”

He works his way up, head still bowed before her in supplication. He kisses the strap of her shoes. He kisses her ankles. He kisses his way up her ankles. Up her legs.

“I feel your presence in the wig on my end. I feel your presence in the silky bra and panties teasing my skin. I feel your presence in the breasts I can’t stop squeezing. I feel your presence in the dress wrapped around me, enveloping me, oh god, mistress, you’re everywhere, you’re everything, I can’t escape you, I owe all I am to you, and I want to just hug myself and scream, it feels so good to have you in me. I can’t walk. I can’t think. I can’t talk, about anything except you. You’ve subsumed me. Oh, I just want to roll around on the floor, hugging myself, hugging you, screaming in ecstasy, in joy, because I am Joy, your creation, your extension, your avatar, and the only reason I’m not, the only reason I’m not rolling around on the floor like I’m possessed, which I am, possessed by Jade, is because I know it would displease you if I mussed up your work and to defy the goddess is unthinkable. I’ve got this beast inside of me, this sublime wellspring of energy. I’ve got you inside of me, all over me, all around me, I don’t think there even is a Josua now, there’s just Joy, there’s just Jade. I want a big strong man to bend me over and fuck me silly. I want him to use me completely while I bow down and worship you, and when he cums I want us both to scream your name as the goddess comes forth, because it’s not me he’s fucking, it’s you, your creation, your Joy.”

He kisses her thigh. He leaves a trail of kisses up her thigh. Adoring kisses. Worshipful kisses. He tastes her flesh as though it is divine mana. He clings to leg like he would cling to a pillar of pure light that could carry him into heaven. He peels back her gown’s slit skirt like a divine revelation lies beneath, and falls upon the flawless skin in rapture, trailing it with worshipful kisses.

“Joy, mistress. Your Joy.”

“Your. Joy.”

Celia: Aphrodite from the sea. It’s the second time someone has said that to her, that she is Aphrodite from the sea. That she has risen up and taken the sea with her. That she cannot be defined by the ideals of beauty because she, her, she creates them. She defines them. She is them. She is them and they are her, the bar that has been set, the level that others strive for. She is not the dress on the woman; she is not the gown on the rack; she is not even the regalia hanging from the stick-thin frames of the women in Paris and Milan and New York with their slightly stooped posture and their stage makeup.

She is the creator. The divine inspiration.

The goddess.

And, oh, how he worships her.

On his knees, his touch reverent, his words melodious. She basks in it. Revels in it. Rejoices in it. The praise that he lavishes upon her swells the heart within her chest, the head upon her shoulders, every word of it true, true, true.

She did this. Created him. Created her. Created Celia, created Jade, created others—so many others, all of them eye-catching beauties. Elyse has dolls, little bits of porcelain and glass and wood chippings that she glues together and arranges in their fancy little dresses. She has human dolls she molds into chaste beings: perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect woman.

But she—Jade, Celia, whoever she is, whoever she once was—she creates personas. Bodies are naught but clay beneath the tips of her fingers. She molds. Sculpts. Paints. The dolls sit pretty on their little shelves with their vacant eyes; hers walk, talk, breathe, love.

That’s the true art, there.

Inside her chest, her dead heart beats. A flush spreads through her body at his touch and words and adoration. She is an artist. She has created Joy. Created this moment, this passion.

She did this.

The goddess touches the tips of her pristine fingers to Joy’s cheek. Her nails stroke the delicate flesh, a tender gesture that ends at her chin. She lifts, tilting the eyes up to look at her. Green eyes framed in green and gold and black—smoky, nebulous eyes, eyes that shine in ardent desire.

“You are mine.”

Steel wrapped in velvet. Liquid fire. It pours from her lips, acceptance of his place beneath her. No, not acceptance; insistence. This is where he belongs: on his knees in front of her, grateful that she has allowed him even this much.

Her skirt parts for him. She welcomes his touch, the whisper of his breath across her skin as he rises higher, as his tongue teases the delicate folds beneath the fabric of her skirt. She asks for more; she pulls aside the material covering her chest and pierces herself with the point of one nail just above her nipple. Blood wells within the cut, then drips down the exposed flesh of her breast. Ambrosia, the divine nectar of the gods, and she offers him a taste for his steadfast devotion.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, tells him to drink from her earthbound sheath.

GM: Josua, Joy, whomever, rises so that he might fall upon the goddess, rapturously licking up the flowing blood. His mouth leaves lipstick prints across the pale breast. He rises further arms encircling her, his breasts pressing against hers. He seems to especially enjoy that sensation of their breasts touching, because he spends several moments doing nothing but rubbing his chest against hers, giggling with delight at the feeling. Then his mouth plants more of those worshipful kisses across her lower neck, stopping shy of her mouth, for he is not worthy to kiss her there. That is where a man kisses a woman, and where a woman kisses a woman.

He may be a woman.

But Jade is so much more.

So he does what all men and women do in the presence of the divine.

He sinks to his knees.

He worships her.

---

Previous, by Narrative: Story Thirteen, Genevieve IV, Sterling IV
Next, by Narrative: Story Thirteen, Celia IX

Previous, by Character: Story Thirteen, Celia VII
Next, by Character: Story Thirteen, Celia IX

“Games are all that’s left of me.”
The Man With The Silver Smile

---

Wednesday night, 15 May 2013, PM

Sterling: The weeks pass. Sometimes he needs her frequently; by his side at the Silver Dollar as his moll, or to pass the early hours with a game, or to walk the streets with her and talk about nothing. Other times he does not call her for days, or occasionally in excess of a week, when his only excuse is that the sight of his conscience should surely make him ill.

Tonight, though, he wants to take her out to dinner. Dinner, and maybe a movie. He likes movies where he can bet on the endings.

He seems tired. His kind don’t seem tired often.

He tells her to take Ash. If she asks about the theaters not allowing the dog, he simply laughs.

Sterling: It’s a long walk. He wears an unusually subdued suit; it’s only grey, unlike his more garish usual patterns. He has the cane with him, but seems almost to lean on it.

“I had cancer,” he says apropos of nothing. “Before I died, I mean. I guess I still do, but it’s not bothering me.”

Genevieve: Ash walks well on a leash. She’d had to train him into the habit, but now he walks next to her as easily as she walks next to Sterling. He stops to sniff occasionally, so the two of them pause while he does so, and Gen keeps her attention on her domitor.

“I’d heard the change sends things like that into remission.” There’s a pause as she surveys him. “Your real voice, the smoker’s voice?”

He changes it often enough that she isn’t sure.

Sterling: “Yes,” he says, in that smoke-scarred rasp. “Once upon a time. I guess it’s my first voice, really.”

“Now,” he says in the almost feminine, supercilious voice he favors for social settings and witticism, “I suppose it’s just another.” He winks, like a magician explaining a trick.

“I was dying. I had a son, but I was going to be dead before he was grown anyways. I had a wife, but she would have wanted me to get help. And I didn’t want help. I wanted to keep my hair, my mind. My body.”

“Had family, too. And I loved them. But I didn’t want to tell them, either.”

Genevieve: “You told your wife about the Embrace but not your cancer?”

Sterling: He smiles briefly, and his silver teeth seem to grate against their bone neighbors. “It’s a long story. Suffice it to say there wasn’t a tremendous amount of rationality applied to either revelation.”

He points at the street. “You know this used to be called the Rue de Craps? They changed it because of all the churches. Bible-thumpers.”

He likes to change the subject when he’s uncomfortable. Even when he’s the one who started it.

Genevieve: Gen knows that he brought it up for a reason, though. She presses on. She can’t be afraid of him or she’d be a bad conscience.

“You miss them?”

Sterling: “Hmm. Not as much as I should. I should miss them more. My life should be woefully incomplete without them, my lady love and my baby boy. And maybe it is. But I’m too wretched of a bastard to notice.”

His voice turns real, for that last sentence.

Genevieve: “You notice. That’s why you bring it up.”

“That’s why you mentioned it to me, before.”

“And why you buy him things.”

“You’re wondering if you’re doing enough.”

Sterling: He is silent, for a while. They pass street performers, gay bars, nightclubs. Drunkards and tourists and the politer society of vagrants that police haven’t banished. It’s still early enough that the night feels safe, promising, rather than something with teeth that hides monsters in its shadows.

But monsters still walk. He still walks, leaning on a cane she’s pretty sure he doesn’t need. She notices the grey at the corners of his hair, the bags under his eyes that must have been there the night he died.

“Enough, like what? I wasn’t built for child-rearing, even before I became what I am. The kindest thing my kind can do is stay away. You know that better than anyone, I expect.”

Genevieve: “Then doesn’t that answer your question? That you’re doing enough. You’re staying away. Doing what you can for them from afar.”

She looks at him out of the corner of her eye. She had dressed for dinner and a movie as if this were a normal date, and her heels click along the ground. She takes his arm in her hand, leaning on him like she would any mortal.

“How long as it been since you have seen them?”

Sterling: He accepts her arm, accepts her proximity. She knows how she must smell to him. Intoxicating. Willing.

They get to the restaurant. It’s a nice place. French. The maitre d’ is very confused, but oddly non-argumentative, when Sterling tells him dogs are, in fact, allowed. He orders a drink he sips intermittently. She should get whatever she likes.

Genevieve: She doesn’t press him. She orders what’s on special, Coq a vin, and a drink as well. Chocolate soufflé for dessert, though they haven’t reached that yet. A glass of wine. Maybe two. Actually, she says to the waiter, a third. Keep them coming. She likes the taste. It makes her head as bubbly as the liquid in the glass.

Ash gets a meal as well, some sort of duck. Gen doesn’t press for details about it, just makes sure there’s no garlic or onions that can mess up his tiny tummy. Though she thinks Sterling could fix it, if the dog were to get sick. Still, she enjoys feeding him pieces of charred duck beneath the table. It’s greasy. Clings to her fingers. Other people stare, but she pays them no mind.

She only has eyes for her domitor. She waits, silently, for him to speak. He’d had a point.

Sterling: “Her, it’s not so hard to visit,” he says. “She hates me. She looks forward to my visits, I think, and we play chinese checkers. But she hates me. I can live with that. I see her a few times a year.”

Genevieve: “And him?” Gen prompts.

Sterling: “Him, I visit. Birthdays. Summers. Sometimes. When I trust myself.”

Genevieve: “Then why do I feel like you’re beating yourself up, Sterling?”

Sterling: “You’re my conscience. You’re supposed to beat me up. I try not to do your work for you.”

Genevieve: “Then I sense something is bothering you, but I can’t fulfill my duties unless you tell me what it is.”

She sips at the wine. It’s good. Expensive, but that’s not why she likes it. A dry white. Like her.

“…are you getting rid of me?”

Sterling: He blinks, actually surprised. “Why would you think that?”

“I won’t be rid of you for as long as I can help it. You’re too vexing, and therefore too exciting.”

“And fun to fluster, of course. Maybe I’ll play with you during the movie, just to see if you can keep quiet.”

It takes her a moment to realize he’s kidding.

Unless he isn’t.

Genevieve: She squirms in her seat. Her chest is tight; she drops her eyes to the plates in front of her. Her fault for wearing a dress, easy access and all that.

He’s kidding though. He has to be. The alternative is… she won’t think about it.

“I found some names for you,” she says abruptly, changing the subject. “If you still wanted me to… pursue that in with any of them.”

Sterling: He chuckles delightedly at her reaction. “Tell me why you thought I might be done with you. And what names? Regale me.”

It doesn’t escape her notice that he’s manipulated her into changing the subject.

Again.

Genevieve: “You brought me out, you brought the dog out, you were talking about death in a roundabout way. One last good night before you cut me loose, in… whatever way that means to you.”

She doesn’t give him the names yet. She watches him instead, waiting.

He’ll tell her. Eventually.

Sterling: His eyes twinkle. “No, no, Gen. This is just a quiet night with my Conscience. A last good night with you will be far grander than this.”

He spears a piece of food on his unused fork and offers it to her like she does to Ash.

“The year I died,” he says finally, after she bites, chews, “I lived like it. At least for those last few months. I was sober. Hadn’t been inside a casino for… four years. Maybe five. I had beat it. But then they told me I was gonna die. And all I could think about was how little time I had left to play.”

Genevieve: “Instead of telling them,” she says after she swallows the offered food, “you disappeared. Back to the casinos. Smoked more. Gambled more. Left the both of them to their own things.”

It’s a guess, but she thinks it’s a good one. She takes a drink of the wine.

“Left your wife at home with a newborn.”

Sterling: “Hmm,” he says. “I visited. But yes.”

“I was going to die. At the time, I thought, better they remember me as a bastard. Or some such reasoning. It wasn’t going to be my problem, in a few months.”

Genevieve: “And then you became… this.”

She sweeps over him with her eyes. Dead, but still around.

Sterling: “I died,” he agrees, “but not the way I’d expected. And suddenly I couldn’t make things right, but I couldn’t put off caring about it, either.”

He looks morose. “Do you think they’d be happier if I just died, instead of finding a way to survive?”

Genevieve: “I think,” she says slowly, “that death is very final. That if you want to fix things, it isn’t too late. That, more than yachts and Ferraris, your son wants a father, your wife a husband.”

Sterling: “The man who might have been either died last century,” he says. “How would I play father, now?”

Genevieve: “He’s young yet. You start by apologizing for the wasted time. By showing him what he needs to know to survive in this world. With your distance and his mother in a hospital, he needs someone steady. It’ll take patience. But if that’s the man you want to be… then that’s who you become.”

Sterling: “You make it sound so simple.”

Genevieve: “Isn’t it?”

“Put the games down with him.”

Sterling: “Games are all that’s left of me.”

Genevieve: “That’s a lie you tell yourself. A mask you hide behind to avoid anything real.”

Sterling: He giggles. “You haven’t met my old man yet, or you would know the importance of masks.”

Genevieve: “You’re deflecting.”

Sterling: “Of course. Change is tiresome. It’s work. I’ve always disliked work.”

Genevieve: Gen looses a sigh. She sits back in her seat, pushing food around on her plate with her fork. The other hand drops to rub the top of Ash’s head.

“Why ask, then?”

Sterling: “So you can nag me, obviously, and so I can articulate to myself the many reasons not to change until you find one that stymies me. I’m very, very good at being bad, Gen.”

Genevieve: “You want a reason to change?” She leans forward. “If you aren’t there for your son he’ll turn into you.”

Sterling: His face goes flat.

Genevieve: Maybe that was too far. She leans back again. Looks anywhere but at him.

Sterling: “Good conscience,” he says finally, in his real voice. “Good, good conscience. You bitch.”

He finishes a drink that must taste of ashes.

“I can always count on you, Gen.”

Genevieve: It doesn’t feel like praise. She downs the glass of wine.

Better her mind be cloudy for whatever happens next.

---

Wednesday night, 15 May 2013, PM

Sterling: They finish, and pay. Ash takes a piss on the street outside. Some of it gets on Sterling’s shoes. He doesn’t seem to notice.

He walks her, arm around her waist, occasionally on her stomach, to the theater.

Again, a red-shirted attendant tells them they can’t have dogs in here. This time Sterling simply shoves several pictures of Ben Franklin into his pocket and walks past him as he stammers.

“You choose the movie,” he whispers in her ear, the way he sometimes will without moving his lips or bending to her.

Genevieve: Every time he does that she thinks she is used to it, but it still sends a shiver down her spine. So does his arm around her waist. He’s not as cool as the others of his kind, but she still recognizes what he is, what she is to him.

There’s a moment, looking at the board, when she thinks to pick something cute and funny. Something animated. But his threat lingers in her mind, and she doesn’t think it appropriate to be fondled in a kids movie. She picks at random instead, the one with the short haired girl on the poster in a white jumpsuit.

This late, there aren’t many others around. They have their pick of seats. Gen leads him up the stairs to the last row.

She keeps the dog on her lap once they’re seated, as if that will protect her from Sterling’s wandering hands.

Sterling: They watch the trailers and make fun of them together. Or at least, Sterling does. He likes guessing things about the trailers.

His hands don’t wander. When the theater darkens and the curtains press in, though, he leans over, looks her in the eyes, and says, “This is a true story.”

Then he sits back and enjoys the… is it a documentary?

Genevieve: Gen giggles when he makes the comments about the trailers. It’s the first time she’s done so around him; it’s a sweet sound, so different than her dry laugh. Makes her ordinarily stern face seem pretty. Striking instead of alien. Young, even. Like she hadn’t spent years being abused by Sabbat packs.

Then he leans in and tells her the horror she’s about to witness is real.

He couldn’t have picked a better movie for it. It’s already shot in documentary style, with the events of the movie punctuated by interviews. Lower thirds are in all the right places.

She’s silent as she watches the events play out, watches the doctors run tests on an unsuspecting girl, watches the military come in to seize control of the facility, watches them electrocute the poor woman with the demon inside of her. It’s set in a mental institution.

Like the one he took her to. To play pretend. Even the props are real. Her body had jerked like that too. They don’t show the girl wetting herself from prolonged exposure to electrical shock, though. Must have edited it out.

Her eyes are wide. At some point Ash whines when she squeezes him too tightly. After that she buries her face in his fur.

It’s too real.

Sterling: He glances over at some point, sees her buried face. Maybe he reads her mind. Maybe that explains the tone of voice. “Shit. Shit, shit.”

He’s pulling her up. “Come on, we’re leaving. Shush, Ash.”

They’re outside. He sits her on a bench some way from the theater.

“Shh, Gen. Shh. It wasn’t real. I’m sorry. It wasn’t real.”

He doesn’t change his voice. It’s burned and cracked.

Genevieve: It is real, though. Even if the movie wasn’t, what’s inside of her head is very, very real.

She moves along with him, subservient as always, and keeps her eyes on the ground. She nods at her toes, as if they can see. She’d painted them a pretty shade of red for this evening. Red looks good on her, he used to say. She hates him, but he’s right. She’d even felt pretty after they were painted.

“Okay,” she says, voice small.

Sterling: “I didn’t mean to hurt you. It was supposed to be a joke. A bad joke, maybe, but a joke. Not a punishment. I can make you forget. Let me make you forget.”

Genevieve: She doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

“You can’t make me forget what he did.”

Sterling: He’s silent, for a moment.

“I didn’t know.”

Genevieve: “It’s okay.”

She’s shaken. It’s easy to see with how quickly she forgives him. The remnants of her former slave driver, perhaps: submit or be punished. She clutches the dog to her chest. His warm body feels nice.

Sterling: “It isn’t,” he says simply. “I can make you forget what you saw. Would you like that?”

Genevieve: “How big is my blooper reel?”

She’d heard someone say that once, about the memories they took away.

Sterling: “Short. For now. This will grow it.”

Genevieve: “It’s okay,” she says again.

She isn’t sure that she believes him. He could make her do anything over the course of a night and then take it all away. Or implant fake memories. Were her vacations fake, too?

Sterling: “I won’t, then. And no, they weren’t.”

He takes a moment to realize what he’s just said, and he says again, “Sorry.”

He hails a cab and soon they’re back at her apartment, him walking her through the door and holding Ash’s lead in the other hand.

“Take a seat. Do you have those, whatchamacallits, the TV libraries everybody has now?”

Genevieve: “…Webflix?”

She does, though. She hands him the remote.

Sterling: “Yes! That.”

He takes it and after a few moments navigates it to the ‘KIDS’ section.

They’re watching a movie with talking animals, now, and bright colors. He tosses a blanket over her, and goes to pour her something. A drink, if she has anything decent. Water, if she doesn’t. He turns out the lights so the high-definition TV illuminates the dark apartment. Then he joins her on the couch, scoops her onto him. She’s never noticed how scrawny he is, before. How thin.

He strokes her hair and makes soothing noises without changing his voice.

Genevieve: She’s dead weight in his arms. She doesn’t touch the drink he poured—wine, she has nice wine, she’d brought back a bottle from Paris (if that was even real, she thinks)—though it isn’t for lack of want. Her head rests on his shoulder, eyes focused on nothing. For all the times he’d ‘diddled her’—his words—she’d never actually been comfortable on his lap. She’d wanted this for a long time, though. It’s easy to relax against him. To let him soothe her with his touch and voice, to let the musical numbers from the show wash over her and make her, if not forget, then ignore.

It’s almost nice.

Sterling: It is, isn’t it?

When it’s over, he whispers in her ear. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake, tonight.”

Genevieve: “Don’t go,” she says to him. She tucks her face against his neck, breathing him in. She’s not so stiff as she was before. Relaxed, almost.

Sterling: His stubble tickles her forehead.

“Okay.”

He stays with her, warming her. “I don’t like hurting you, Gen. Not like that. I’ll be smarter next time.”

He runs a hand under her blouse, over her bare back. “You’ll be better tended. Like a good conscience is.”

“Such a good conscience.”

“Nearly always right.”

Genevieve: “Nearly?” she asks. “When did I get it wrong? I’ll do better.”

Sterling: He chuckles. “Shush, sweet. What would you like me to do to you, tonight?”

Genevieve: She just wants to stay like this. On his lap. His arms around her. She’d never liked being touched before, not by his kind. It made her skin crawl.

This, though, she can enjoy. She can forget that he was the one who turned her into this quivering mess of nerves this evening, that he triggered the memories that had nearly broken her.

“We could play a game,” she offers. He likes games.

Sterling: “Hmm? A game? And you won’t cheat?”

Genevieve: “I might cheat.”

Sterling: His arm flickers around her, traces a breast with a finger.

“My, my. Daring.”

“I’ll have to watch you carefully.”

Genevieve: His touch sends shivers down her spine. Her nipples stiffen beneath her clothing.

“You already do.”

Sterling: “You’re a pleasure to see. I like beautiful women, and lucky things. And you’re the luckiest ghoul in New Orleans, if I have anything to say about it.”

“What game shall we play? Something with cards, or a board? Something with fingers?”

Genevieve: “Fingers?”

Sterling: “Fingers,” he repeats. He takes one of her hands in his and waggles them.

“These.”

Genevieve: “…do you have to cut them off to play?”

Sterling: “Not at all.” He adjusts her fingers, shows her his.

“Like this.”

“What shall we play for?”

Genevieve: She can think of a number of things. Secrets, stories, clothing, favors. None of it seems right though. He always wins, too, so it has to be something she doesn’t mind giving up.

She lifts one shoulder in a shrugging movement.

Sterling: “So uncertain?” he chides.

“Why don’t we play for a kiss? If I win, you have to kiss me. And if I lose, I have to kiss you. That seems fair, doesn’t it?”

His fingers move. Glide over her arms, her stomach.

“Of course, I could cheat too. You’re very vulnerable, Genevieve. A very tender conscience.”

Genevieve: “You’re very distracting,” she points out. Her skin pebbles in the wake of his fingertips. Her breath is a little shaky, too. She presses her lips together, as if that will control it.

Sterling: “Distracting? How? Surely my statue doesn’t mind me running my hands along her?”

His hands are up her skirt, then, pinching her bottom before sliding down her thighs, then wrapping around her waist, pulling her against him.

“Hmm. You should find yourself a boyfriend, Gen. Then I won’t have to give you so many… treats. Are we playing, or are you too distracted?”

Genevieve: Her attention lingers on the word boyfriend. She lets her mind wander down that road. That dangerous, dangerous road. What would it be like to date again? To be taken out by someone who won’t mess with her head, or at least not in a supernatural way? Maybe, if things got ugly, Sterling could take that from her too.

“You want me to date?”

How clumsy would their touch be compared to his? What would it even feel like to be with someone again, to do more than just… fingers?

Her cheeks heat. She’s picturing Sterling beneath her, not some faceless guy.

Can he see that?

Oh no.

Sterling: He chuckles. “Is that what you’d like, Gen? Maybe if you win, I’ll let myself be yours for a night.”

His hands stop teasing and adjusting her. They float in front of hers.

“Maybe if you lose, I’ll choose your boyfriend for you. A man should look after his conscience. Or maybe I’ll just play with you for a night, and you won’t be able to tell me how wicked I’m being. I’ll be considerate, in any case. I still feel bad, you know.”

Genevieve: “I thought your kind couldn’t have sex.”

She touches a finger to the back of his hand, then looks back at him.

“If you choose my boyfriend for me, are you going to find someone who doesn’t make you jealous?”

There’s a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips. Maybe she has forgiven him.

Sterling: “Who would make me jealous?”

His hand moves. She feels herself bared from the waist down, her skirt and underthings on her one second, the next draped over the television.

“Is there somebody else you would pick I would disapprove of?” he ponders. “Somebody who could make you their conscience, instead of mine?”

“And believe me,” he says, his rough voice amused. “We can perform, if properly motivated.”

One hand awaits hers to play. The other traces her ass from her belly-button.

Genevieve: “Someone you—”

The rest of the words go unsaid. She covers herself with both hands, thighs pressing together around her arms. As if that will stop him.

“D-don’t tease, Sterling, that’s not. Not nice.”

Sterling: He laughs. “So earnest. Finish your sentence before you tell me about teasing.”

He pinches her again, his irregular breaths tickling her neck.

Genevieve: “Someone younger.”

She jumps when he pinches her, swatting at his hand. Then she realizes she is no longer covering herself and does so again. She scowls at him.

Sterling: He bites her, drinks for a moment. When he licks her wound clean, he’s practically purring.

“I like how you taste when you’re a little wound up. A little indignant. You need both hands to play, you know.”

“Someone younger? Do you think I’m an old man?”

Genevieve: “Yes.”

But she’s grinning, either from the teasing or the way he’d just drawn from her. She has to take a breath before she moves her hands away from herself, holding them out to play. One finger extended from one hand, she thinks that’s how he said to start.

Sterling: “Well, you know what they say about playing old men.”

They play.

He wins, like he so often does. But she has him for a moment. More than a moment, even. Maybe because he’s enjoying the expression on her face too much.

“You’re good, when you don’t worry about silly things. If I’m to pick a boyfriend for you, you’ll have to get over this shyness. But I hope you don’t. It’s very charming.” He spanks her, lightly. “What makes you think I’m old? Is it my touch?”

Genevieve: Silly things, like being half naked on his lap. She’s going to tell him, one day, that he should play naked. She doesn’t think it will bother him though.

Still, when he wins she can’t help but pout, then yelp as his hand connects to her. She shoots him a wounded look, though it’s all for show.

“No. You called it a TV library.”

She almost giggles again. He can see it start, but it’s not the same as it was in the theater.

“Are you? Going to pick someone for me, I mean.”

“I went… um. I went on a few dates.”

“There’s an app for that.”

Sterling: “I heard,” he says wryly. “And I died at the turn of the century. It was a time of cable. Were they good dates? Were they good enough for you? I suppose you aren’t so pliant for them as you are for me.”

“I’d almost think you like me, Genevieve. Wouldn’t you like a boyfriend? To distract you?”

His hand wanders. Feels the shape of her.

Genevieve: I do like you, she almost tells him.

Almost. It’s there, on the tip of her tongue, there in her thoughts. The thoughts that he so carelessly reads. The mind that he breaks into on a whim.

The body he touches without a care for how it makes her feel.

He’d never hurt her. Not like that. And though she could not stand the touch of these things, though she had once said she would rather cut her wrists than ever be subject to that torture, she doesn’t pull away. She leans in instead. Her thighs part. She’s his. She wants him. And it’s a shameful thing, that wanting. It makes her feel… wanton.

“No,” she tells him, finally, “they were terrible.”

Sterling: “And what was so terrible about them? Were they handsy?”

He plays with her, as if to demonstrate.

Wanton, maybe. But so happy, too.

Genevieve: She shakes her head at him, though it’s a brief movement lest he think it due to his hands.

“No.” Her voice is breathy, panting. “They were just awful people. One of them asked if I’m white all over. Before drinks even arrived.”

Sterling: “Oh, how crass. And what did you tell him?”

Genevieve: “I smiled coyly and waited until the drink arrived so I could pour it on him.”

Sterling: Sterling laughs, a real laugh. “You make me proud.”

His fingers speed up, pass like lightning over her, as if to emphasize his point.

“So much more fun to pamper than to punish, my little Conscience.”

“I’ll find you a good lover. One who treats you right.”

Genevieve: It could be him. But he has a paramour, she knows, and for all his talk of being able to perform with the right motivation she doesn’t think he actually enjoys the act of sex itself. So she’ll take his fingers, his mouth, whatever else he wants to share with her, and she’ll be grateful for it, and she’ll show him how grateful she is with the noises that she makes, the way her back arches, the way her eyes close as she comes apart in his arms, on his lap, her head thrown back to expose the long, pale line of her throat.

Sterling: "Good Genevieve. Very good… "

---

Previous, by Narrative: Story Thirteen, Celia VII
Next, by Narrative: Story Thirteen, Celia VIII

Previous, by Character: Story Thirteen, Genevieve III, Sterling III
Next, by Character: Story Thirteen, Genevieve V, Sterling V

“Meat doesn’t have a name.”
Unknown entity

---

Tuesday evening, 15 March 2016

GM: Celia wakes up on Roderick’s chest. She’s a girl again.

“You take up more space in this form,” he chuckles.

“Still don’t mind petting you, though.” He runs a hand down along her back.

Celia: “I could let Luna come out again, if you’d prefer her company.” Celia can’t purr, not like a cat, but the voice might remind him of the gray furball he picked up last night.

GM: Another chuckle. “Think she’d be out for a while if we did that. You get pretty in-character.”

Celia: “You seemed like you needed a pet to cuddle.”

GM: “I did. I really miss having a pet, sometimes.”

“Animals aren’t too scared of me. I just don’t think my haven would be a good environment for one.”

Celia: “Too many friends with whom they wouldn’t get along?”

GM: “That’s one reason. And the sewer rats, or any lick who’s good at doolittling, could use them.”

Celia: Ah, well, there’s a reason to get rid of Shadow and Victor, at least.

“Right.”

GM: “I’m jealous of the Gangrel. They have lots of animal friends.”

Celia: “You could learn.”

“Roxy has some animal friends.”

GM: “I could. I’ve also heard of licks ghouling animals. Dogs to create hellhounds.”

“Seems a little inhumane, but I suppose that’s not a barrier to most licks.”

Celia: “Is that any worse than ghouling humans?”

GM: “That’s a more complicated ethical debate. But I’d argue animals can’t give consent like humans can.”

Celia: “Some licks don’t need their humans to give consent. They just take what they want.”

GM: “They do. But I’d rather not be that kind of lick.”

Celia: “What do you do when your potential ghoul says no?”

GM: “I wouldn’t take them as my ghoul. I’d have another lick erase their memories.”

Celia: “I had a discussion recently with a ghoul who is on a series of rewards and punishment system with her domitor. Another lick who says she feeds them their monthly hit and more when she thinks they need it. What do you do?”

GM: “Probably closer to the latter, there. Sometimes I give them more for a job well-done. There are licks who give out all sorts of twisted punishments to their ghouls, but there’s no reason to do that beyond sadism. And I think it just breeds hate.”

Celia: “Creating addicts doesn’t bother you?”

GM: “Honestly? Yes. I explained to them that this substance would be incredibly addictive. I could at least be honest about that.”

“My sire… was pretty insistent that I take on ghouls.”

Celia: “I don’t imagine you keep a full stable, though.”

GM: “I have a couple,” he grants, somewhat uncomfortably. “The relationship is fundamentally unequal. I don’t think I realized how much so until I was into it. And at that point… they’d seen too much.”

“There are factions of Anarchs that support greater rights for ghouls. Some of them are pretty radical. But are they so much more so than the status quo?”

“I try to make the relationship an employer-employee one. Blood is money. More than money.”

Celia: “That’s not a bad way to do it.”

GM: “They used to wheedle me for blood pretty hard. I got firmer, but without punishing them. I just made very clear that you’re asking me for money when you’re asking me for blood.”

Celia: She should have tried that instead of bending her mother over her desk.

Well.

Now she knows for next time.

“Wish Veronica had explained it like that.”

GM: “Well, Veronica probably abuses the shit out of her ghouls.”

Celia: “Mm.” Celia shrugs. If he’s not going to bash Coco, she’s not going to bash Veronica.

GM: “The process wasn’t perfect. Initially I said yes, you can have more blood if you pay me a couple hundred dollars. I thought that would impress its value on them.”

“That was very stupid of me in hindsight.”

Celia: “They go broke trying to get their fix?”

GM: “Yep.”

Celia: Celia winces.

GM: “So I stopped. And reimbursed them the money.”

Celia: “That was nice of you.”

GM: “It was my fault. I hadn’t realized what I was doing.”

Celia: “There’s not really a guidebook to this sort of thing. Just what other licks tell you.”

“Sometimes they’re wrong. Or their method doesn’t work for you and yours.”

GM: “Anarchs share a lot of stuff. Maybe we should write a guidebook.”

“Ways to manage your ghouls. Pros and cons to each method.”

“Who to take as ghouls, what works and doesn’t work in domitor-ghoul relationships.”

“There’s a lot of bad information out there. Or at least bad ideas.”

Celia: “It doesn’t help that most of us stop seeing them as people.”

GM: “That’s the key thing. They are people. People we have a lot of power over.”

Celia: “There’s a thing we learned in school for skincare, about the power dynamics. It’s more taught to massage therapists because some people see that as inherently sexual, but there’s a power differential as soon as you have the client / provider relationship. How some people take advantage of it. It’s the same thing.”

“I mean you see it in any relationship like that, really. Teachers. Doctors. Et cetera.”

“But you’re in charge. These people trust you.”

GM: “Really? Interesting. My initial thought had been that it was a more customer-like relationship. They’re paying you for a service they can usually give up without major disruption to their lives and livelihoods.”

Celia: “Massage? Sort of. It’s a medical service under the state board regulations. People can get prescriptions for it, that sort of thing. I see a lot of workman’s comp people, people with real injuries who need assessment to return to work. It’s not something I advertise frequently, but they’re the clients I enjoy the most. Helping them walk again. Heal from their injuries, that sort of thing.”

“But you have to remember, right, if you’re the client you’re lying naked on my table and hoping that I can put you back together again.”

“When I say, this is what the problem is, you have to trust me. When I work on you, you’re trusting that I am fixing it. There are plenty of people out there who spread misinformation or get really skeevy about it. Sleep with their clients, that sort of thing.”

GM: “They do? I thought you said that was the surest way to lose your license. That there’s a whole yellow book. Well, figurative yellow book.”

Celia: “If you get caught.”

GM: “Ah. I guess it’s like anything, there.”

Celia: “Convince someone they’re not a victim, are they really going to report it?”

GM: “That explanation makes a lot more sense, as far as power dynamics. Massages have always been a luxury for me. They were something extra my esthetician girlfriend did.”

Celia: “Can still do.”

GM: He smiles. “I’d enjoy that. Though speaking of things to do for each other, what’s your bank account number?”

Celia: “Um?”

GM: “I owe you for wrecking your haven. And the chair.”

Celia: “And you want my account number for that instead of handing me a suitcase full of cash?”

GM: “Hm. Maybe it’s better, actually, if there isn’t an electronic record.”

Celia: “What do you even do for money that you just throw it around?”

GM: “Well, I’m not rolling in cash, but I practice law.”

Celia: “My fancy lawyer boy.”

“But also… how? If you’re, you know.”

GM: “One of my renfields is a lawyer. She brings home work that I do for her. I bill her an hourly rate, so we both come out even, and she gets a reputation at the office for being incredibly productive.”

Celia: “Ah. Makes sense.”

“I had an idea…”

GM: “Yeah?”

Celia: “For you and Dani. Going into business together. Since she’s a daywalker.”

“If you keep her in the city, I mean. I imagine, once she comes around, she’d be happy to work with you. I bet you could teach her a lot.”

GM: “That’s… possible,” he hedges. “I still need to figure out what to do with her. The city isn’t safe.”

Celia: “She saw the doc. Last night. Got a mark like yours. I paid for her to make it permanent.”

GM: “Thank you,” Roderick says sincerely. “She’ll benefit from that wherever she lives.”

Celia: “We might pass her off as a ghoul for a while. She seemed open to the idea.”

GM: “I need to get her out of the city. Maybe Savoy isn’t using her as a hostage over me, right now, but that could easily change.”

Celia: “I’m not saying not to. I just… think if you make her leave right now she’ll be mad.”

GM: “I agree. That’ll be counterproductive.”

Celia: “But she’s not my sister. Not yet.”

GM: “I’d like to mend things with her before getting married. I want her at the wedding, but I don’t want to use it as leverage to try to get her to speak with me again, either. That’d just taint it.”

“Although now that you mention it… there’s otherwise not much reason to hold off, is there?”

Celia: “That’s a romantic proposal.” Celia fans herself.

GM: He chuckles. “That isn’t the real proposal. By any stretch. Was mainly thinking out loud.”

“You deserve something a lot more romantic.”

Celia: “I’d still like you to meet my mom and Emily as Roderick.”

“Though, uh, Dani… was… um…”

GM: “Was…?”

“I’d also love to meet them as Roderick. And hopefully Lucy too.”

Celia: “I don’t want to hurt you, but she was unenthused at the idea of us getting married until you… learn to control your Beast, she said.”

GM: “That’s not happening any sooner than a sewer rat learning to be prettier.”

“Or a Ventrue learning to be a less picky eater. Or a Malkavian learning to be less crazy.”

Celia: “Or me not being adorable?”

GM: “Yes, though that’s not a curse,” he smiles. “I don’t think Dani understands what the Beast or clan curses are, anyways. Has she actually seen a frenzy?”

Celia: “I explained it to her. After you left. But no. Show versus tell. Easy to explain, harder to make her understand.”

GM: “Well, that’s how it is with everything. I gave demonstrations of my speed and strength to my ghouls, when I recruited them, so they could see I wasn’t just spouting crazy talk.”

Celia: “I thought you were going to lose it on her the other night.”

GM: “I might have,” he answers somberly. “That meeting was…”

“Well. It wasn’t what I’d hoped for.”

“I’m just glad I didn’t. It did enough damage to our relationship. I don’t need it damaging any others too.”

Celia: She asks what he means.

GM: “I hurt you. I beat you senseless. I made you scared of me,” he answers frankly.

“There’s been a couple times you’ve seemed scared that I’ll lose it. When that’s the last thing I’ve ever wanted. I want you to feel safe with me.”

Celia: Celia looks like she might try to deny it for a moment, then finally looks away. She doesn’t say anything.

GM: He hugs her.

“I’m sorry. I know I’ve apologized. I know I’ve not lost it around you since then. But abusing someone who trusts you leaves scars.”

Celia: “Hard to… to explain to Coco if you do, you know, what you were doing with me again. That’s… that’s all.”

It’s a bad lie.

GM: “Sorry, what does my sire have to do with this?”

Celia: “Last time. After it happened. You took me to her to wake me up.”

Both times, but she doesn’t point it out.

GM: “Yes. I trusted her to. She hasn’t abused or exploited you, has she?”

Celia: “That’s not what I meant. It doesn’t matter.”

GM: “But I know. Twice. If you ever get… torpored around me again, I’ll take you to someone else.” His jaw sets. “But it won’t be because of me.”

Celia: He’s missing the point.

But she just nods her head.

“Wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust you.”

GM: He holds her close. “Thank you.”

“But I’m still sorry. Hurting someone who loves you is never okay.”

Celia: Then why does he do it at some point in the distant future?

Why the chains, the rape, the tongue pulling?

What does she do or not do to make it happen?

She can’t imagine this sweet boy turning into… that. That thing. That monster. She’d thought, for a moment as Sidra described him, that it was Maxen. Maybe Donovan. Cold and dark.

She would have never guessed it was Roderick.

---

Tuesday evening, 15 March 2016

GM: The two get ready for their nights and go about their separate ways. Roderick gives an address to meet her at (in cat form), over an hour before dawn, so they have to bang and talk at his haven. He calls a Ryde to get her where she needs to go.

She has some texts on her phone:

Hey, I forgot to tell you about this, but Viv says I’m not in trouble, says Emily.

You wanna come over for dinner sometime so I can tell about it?

Celia: Oh thank god. Yeah when are you thinking? Tmr? Thurs?

GM: How’s tmr? I’ll be studying more on Thurs

Celia: Kk. Sounds good.

GM: There’s another text from Dani.

School went well! Want to look into new places this evening?

Celia: Hey, sorry I don’t know if I can tonight, I have to meet w/ my brother and a few clients. Can call you after but might be late.

Glad school went well!

GM: Thanks! Gimme a call whenever.

Another text is from her mother.

Everyone at work today told me how pretty I am! I told them it was all thanks to YOU! :)

Has she been to work since Celia improved her body, after that meeting with Donovan?

Celia: Celia doesn’t think so. Maybe on Friday she went to work? The thing with her sire happened… Wednesday, and she took off Thursday… right?

Her days are starting to blur together.

You’re beautiful on your own, Mom. ♡

She’s glad she’s safe, though.

GM: Still more beautiful thanks to you! Emi says you’re coming over for dinner tomorrow, so see you then. :) Love you!

Celia: That was quick.

Love you too.

GM: She arrives at Flawless. Bentley Downs is her first client for the evening. She’s a blonde 20-something here on Daddy’s money, and last Celia heard, has held no job or harbored any ambitions of note since finishing college. Daddy just pays for everything.

Celia: She vaguely recalls Bentley from McGehee. She’d been the little cunt that had smeared Celia’s name in the mud after her dad attacked her mom because she never came back with the booze.

GM: “I’m still seeing my therapist, you know, about that funeral,” says Bentley.

Celia: She always takes a little more enjoyment than she should when she feeds from the girl.

“I imagine so,” Celia says while she works on Bentley. “That must have been an awful experience.”

GM: Bentley, at least, seems to enjoy it too. Celia’s hands are incredible.

“I still can’t believe I got arrested!”

Celia’s heard the story. There was police violence at Mercurial Fernandez’s funeral. A former client of Bentley’s (for her budding and now largely defunct “talent agency”) who was murdered inside OPP. There was a riot at the funeral. Cops arrested lots of people. Bentley too, though Daddy quickly got her out. She’s been in therapy over the experience ever since.

Celia: Of course he did. He spoils her rotten. He talks about it sometimes on the table, everything he does for her. He has no ability to tell her “no.”

Sometimes Celia fantasizes about draining them both.

But she serves as a sympathetic ear to the girl, nodding and smiling and making soothing noises as needed.

“Who are you seeing again?” she asks while her hands work their magic.

GM: “Dr. Peterson. She’s been good. But I just can’t forget what I saw in there, what it felt like.” Bentley shivers. “I had no idea people could be so cruel…”

Celia: “Sometimes the world can be cruel,” Celia says sympathetically, “but luckily you don’t need to worry about that here. Deep breath for me, Bentley. There you go. Good.”

She works in silence some few moments longer, then asks if Bentley has been taking anything for the anxiety.

GM: Bentley takes a deep breath.

“Yes, I see a psychiatrist for a prescription there…”

Celia: “And you see me for bodily relief.” She finds a spot of tension and presses as Bentley exhales. “You’ll power through this. You’re a champ.”

“What else is going on with you?”

A few more minutes of this and she’ll sink in, but maybe Bentley has been up to something fun lately.

GM: “Honestly, not a lot,” Bentley says glumly. “The boy I was dating dumped me.”

Celia: “Oh no. What happened?”

GM: Bentley gives a sigh. “Just thought I was too big a mess.”

“And made fun of me for still living with my dad.”

“And said I’m never going to be anything but a trust fund kid.”

Celia: He’s probably right.

But Celia won’t be the one to tell her that.

“What do you want to do about that?”

GM: “Right now I just want to get over what happened so I can move on with my life,” sighs Bentley.

“Maybe I need a vacation.”

Celia: Celia wonders where her sympathy has disappeared to, but she finds it hard to feel anything for a girl who spent one whole night in jail before her daddy bailed her out.

“Maybe,” Celia says. She excuses herself a moment to switch candles, letting the scent of sea breeze and mojitos float through the treatment room. “Here’s a little vacation just for you, though.”

Heated oil makes her fingers glide across the girl’s skin. She lulls her into a sense of tranquility and calm, and once she’s finally where she wants her—already half asleep—she leans in to bite.

GM: Bentley gives a soft, fluttering little gasp. Her blood tastes pampered and sweetly spoiled, like a child’s birthday cake on their perfect day, but it’s distinctly more sour than it used to be before. There’s more sadness. The flavors don’t go together naturally. Celia might not like it. Or maybe she does, if she’s into the taste of despoiled innocence. Or at least rudely awakened ignorance.

Celia: Her annoyance bleeds into her feeding. She wants her clients to remain pampered and spoiled and sweet, without that tang of sour across the back of her tongue. Her Beast doesn’t care, glutton that it is, but the girl takes more than the single hit she might have otherwise, swallowing down mouthful after mouthful of the sour-sweet fare. She licks the wound once she’s done, savoring the final taste of it on her palate.

The work ends moments later.

Celia places two hands on either of Bentley’s shoulders as she draws the appointment to a close, quietly asking how she’s feeling.

GM: “Oh, that was… that was amazing…” Bentley murmurs, her cheeks flushed with afterglow.

“You’re really amazing, Celia… way better than my therapist…”

Celia: Celia laughs quietly.

“You’re welcome to see me anytime, Bentley.”

“Sometimes all you need is a little body work to feel great.”

GM: Bentley nods, a little paler, and thanks Celia for the amazing session before seeing herself out.

Another night, another client who slakes her thirst and feels better.

---

Tuesday evening, 15 March 2016

Celia: Celia flips the room once she’s done, then reaches for her phone to call Logan.

GM: He picks up after a few rings.

“Hey, sis.”

Celia: “Hey, Logan. You still free tonight? I know you’re in school and have a bed time and all.”

GM: “I gotta be up early for the ROTC, but yeah, I’m free. You wanna come over?”

Celia: The worst idea in the history of ideas.

“Yeah. Let me find some incognito clothes so your classmates don’t mob me again.”

GM: “Cool. See you soon.”

Celia: She hangs up, trying not to think about the fact that maybe, if she’s caught, her sire will teach her another lesson.

It shouldn’t excite her like it does.

GM: Her hopes are sadly disappointed. She arrives at Logan’s dorm room without incident. He greets her with a hug.

“Hey. Want anything to drink?”

Celia: No, Bentley saw to that.

“Maybe in a bit. Just came from the spa. Pushed water on my clients and all that, have to do the same. How’re you?”

GM: He looks all right. Still big and blonde. He answers her question with a smile.

“Mom and Dad are talking again.”

“He told me you two had dinner and that it went really well.”

Celia: “We did. I have you to thank for that, actually. We got together on Saturday.”

“It did go well.”

“It was kind of emotional, honestly.”

GM: “I bet it was. There was… just a lot there, you know?”

“And Dad’s running for governor! He said he told you there.”

Celia: “He did! I’m really excited for him.”

GM: “Me too! He’ll really clean the state up.”

“I won’t have to worry about ROTC stuff anymore, either. And, hell, maybe he can get me into West Point.”

“Things’ll be great for David and Sophia too, and Isabel when she comes home. And Mom won’t have to work anymore, she can be his queen. Lucy’ll be a princess.”

Celia: “He wants to have dinner with her. Mom, I mean. We might do a whole family thing.”

GM: “Oh yeah, he said he was setting that up with her. I thought it was just gonna be them, you, and Emily.”

Celia: “Who knows. I haven’t seen David in forever, though.”

GM: “Emily’s been kind of a bitch about it all, surprise surprise.”

Celia: “Ah… did you talk to her?”

GM: He rolls his eyes. “More like tried to.”

“She just can’t be happy for them.”

“Mom and Dad both sound really happy and excited when I talk to them, what else does she need?”

Celia: “She only has part of the story.”

GM: “We’ve talked a couple times since your and Dad’s dinner. She came over to my dorm today, though. With food.” He grins.

Celia: “Oooh, lookit your little spoiled ass self.”

GM: He laughs. “I’m not married yet, so.”

Celia: “The inherent sexism. Christ.”

GM: “Hey, I’d appreciate if Dad did, but simple fact Mom’s the better cook.”

“And that’s how it is in the military too, most wives are stay-at-homes or work part-time jobs. Since you move around so much. Hard for them to have careers.”

“I hear there’s actually a bunch who work at spas and salons.”

Celia: “It’s good part-time work.”

GM: “And just saying, it makes more sense for the part-time partner to do the cooking than the full-time one.”

Celia: “I don’t disagree. Randy did the cooking for us.”

Cooking, hunting, same difference.

Celia was fed either way.

GM: “Did? You guys break up?”

Celia: “Maybe,” Celia sighs.

GM: “It’s kind of a yes or no, isn’t it?”

He hugs her. “Sorry, though. Breakups suck.”

Celia: “I met someone else. I like Randy, but it’s… complicated.”

GM: “Who’s the other guy?”

Celia: “I’ll let you meet him when Mom does. He’s a lawyer.” Like Stephen, she doesn’t need to say.

Maybe Logan was too young, though.

GM: “Oh, yeah, dump Randy. Lawyer guy’s good.”

Celia: Celia looks amused.

“You don’t even know him.”

GM: “I know enough.”

Celia: “Oh?”

GM: “Randy’s just kind of a loser, isn’t he?”

Celia: “You’ve never said that before.”

GM: “Like, you’ve been together how many years, and he hasn’t proposed? And he works for a bail bond company.”

“You can do better. Lawyer’s better.”

“I didn’t say anything ’cuz you seemed like you were sticking with him.”

Celia: “Oh. Well, thanks for that. But maybe you’re right.”

GM: “I’ll still wanna meet lawyer guy. I’ll beat him up if he doesn’t treat my sis right.” Logan grins.

Celia: “Actually… you might get the chance. He’s who I want to introduce you to for some of your pent up, uh, feelings.”

GM: “Oh, how’s that?”

Celia: “Boxing. Or hand to hand combat. Whatever you prefer.”

GM: “Oh cool, he’s into that?”

“Yeah, hand to hand’d be pretty nice.”

Celia: “Very.”

GM: “I like him already.”

“But I’ll still beat his face in if he doesn’t treat you right.”

Celia: Celia smiles. “Thanks. Appreciate you looking out.”

“Mom tell you she’s going to hang with Robby to learn to fence?”

GM: Logan laughs out loud.

“Wait, what?”

Celia: “She wanted to spend more time with Robby now that he and Emily are getting serious. So Emily suggested it. Family bonding.”

GM: “I don’t think she can really do that with her leg.”

Celia: “Dad said something about a surgery?”

GM: “He did, yeah, after he wins. Which is a little while off.”

Celia: “She can start now, though. Just take it easy, learn slow.”

GM: “I mean, I guess. I dunno how good a teacher Robby is anyway.”

Celia: “You don’t like him?”

GM: “Oh I like him. He’s kind of a nerd, but he’s all right.”

“He’s a nice guy, though. Dad always says you need to be mean, to win in fights. You need the killer instinct.”

Celia: “Ruthless. Is the word you’re looking for.”

GM: “Says that’s what a lot of fights with untrained people come down to, actually. How far you’re willing to hurt, and get hurt.”

“Like. I don’t wanna kill people or anything, but just smashing someone’s face in, who deserves it. I like that.”

“I don’t think Robby wants to do that. He’s basically just playing D&D with swords and stuff.”

Celia: “LARPing,” Celia supplies.

“But yeah. You’re probably right.”

GM: “And Mom definitely doesn’t wanna smash in faces.”

Celia: “Sure, but she can learn.”

GM: “I dunno, I think you’re either born with it or you’re not. Like, Dad has it, I have it, but a lot of people don’t. ‘Cuz it’s more than just fighting, it’s how you go through life. Hunger to win.”

Celia: “Someone else said that to me, too.”

GM: “I think Roberts has that, ‘cuz, props to him, he’s a former Army Ranger, so I’m not gonna totally write him off.”

Celia: “And maybe she’ll hate it, but if she wants to try it I’m not going to discourage her.”

GM: “I guess it doesn’t hurt. Just be aware, she’s not actually gonna learn to fight or anything.”

“Robby isn’t competitive, and she sure as hell isn’t.”

Celia: “Go with them,” Celia suggests, “and then show me what it really looks like.”

GM: “Might hurt for Robby,” Logan smirks. “But sure, I can show ‘em how it’s done.”

There’s someone else who could, Celia knows.

Him.

He has the killer instinct.

Killer instinct to make Logan look like Mom.

Celia: Does she? Is that why he’d stolen her from her home, because she, too, has that sort of killer instinct?

She doubts it. No one has ever said that about her.

But he does. That voice in her head is right. He’s the most ruthless, coldest, darkest Kindred in the city, and the only one who makes her feel alive. He makes her heart beat again. Brings a flush to her cheeks and runs a tingle down her spine.

Is something wrong with her that the thought of him makes her…

Well. That doesn’t warrant mentioning in front of her brother.

“Looking forward to it.”

---

Tuesday evening, 15 March 2016

Celia: Logan and Celia make plans to meet up later in the week with her new boyfriend—Logan insists on calling him that even though Celia shakes her head and tells him it’s not that serious yet (which is a lie, but her human facade means she can’t really explain that Randy has never been her actual boyfriend)—and Celia heads out with a final hug.

Fortunately, she’s not mobbed on the way out.

She heads back to her haven to meet with Alana and the girls take their time going through the closet to select outfits. Celia does her face, then her own, and they take turns coming up with more and more outlandish backstories for their “characters.”

The problem, of course, is that Celia can’t simply make them drop-dead gorgeous, because that’s a bit of a dead giveaway to anyone who looks at them. Why would they be interested in a mobster, right? But she has zero desire to appear ugly, and Alana doesn’t want to be made more curvy than she needs to be.

So Celia ages them, turning them into handsome thirty-somethings rather than the young-20s they usually portray. Cute enough in a “recent divorcée” kind of way.

They head to the casino with plenty of dollars in their pockets to blow on a good time. Celia tells Alana who she’s looking for on the way; she doesn’t tell her about Harrah’s, just the job she’d been given in return for a favor.

“First contact,” she tells the girl when they arrive, both of them sucking in their auras to pass as mere mortals. “Real important part of the process. Help me find him, sweetheart.”

GM: At this hour, the actual horse racing is long since closed. It’s mainly the casino and food places that are open now. Fairgrounds doesn’t feel like the spot for someone to win huge jackpots, but it does feel like a good place to wind down after work with a couple drinks and fun at the penny slots. There’s a more Southern, down to-earth feel than there is at Harrah’s more corporate atmosphere.


“I think he’s right there,” whispers Alana, pointing at one of the slot machines. Celia sees a man who fits the photo she viewed online.

Celia: Celia, with a face that is distinctly non-Celia, nods at Alana’s direction. But she doesn’t approach. Not yet. That’s too needy. Instead she does what she does best: she spins a web. She orders a drink for both of them from a girl in a corset and short skirt (what is with casino uniforms, anyway? She expects it at Harrah’s or the Alystra, but not here), and sets them up at another slot machine.

“So you just put in the coin and pull?” she asks Alana.

As if she doesn’t know.

GM: Alana nods. “And if three of the same icon come up, you win!”

She takes a pull from the drink, sparing her domitor.

Celia: Celia gives her a grateful wink.

She puts the coin in and pulls the lever.

The problem, she realizes, is that slots are kind of a one person game.

GM: The machine comes up with a red letter A, J, and Q.

“Aww!” exclaims Alana.

Like it’s a surprise.

She glances at the poker table.

“Maybe lure him away…?” she murmurs.

Celia: Poker isn’t exactly a two player game, either. Blackjack would be good. Roulette. Craps. Anything but poker or slots.

She’ll manage.

She pulls again on the lever, idly wondering the best way to do this. She doesn’t want to just hit him with charm, but she could.

Just seems like cheating.

“Solo player games. Could spill a drink on him.”

Like in a movie.

She watches Vinny out of the corner of her eye to see what he’s up to.

GM: He’s still at the machine, and by all appearances, having no more luck than they are. A rueful smile touches his lips when he gets two horse symbols followed by a red ‘Q.’

“You spill the drink, mistress?” Alana whispers. A smile touches her lips at calling Celia ‘mistress’ in public.

“I could also check with the food staff if he’s had anything to eat, maybe he hasn’t yet.”

Celia: “Do that,” Celia nods.

“Bathroom is over there,” she says to Alana, then says she’s going to try a new machine. She positions herself closer to Vinny.

GM: Alana comes back in a little while. “He hasn’t,” she whispers.

Celia: “Invite him to dinner, you think?” Celia murmurs to Alana when she loses another coin.

GM: “I like the drink idea, mistress,” she answers. “Maybe both, after you spill?”

Celia: “Think he’s the kind of guy to forgive a pretty girl for spilling on him?”

GM: “Who couldn’t forgive a girl as pretty and winsome as you, mistress?” Alana beams.

Celia: It’s not like she can’t try again with another face if it doesn’t work.

GM: “I know I consider it an honor to get fluids from you spilled all over me…”

Celia: Celia giggles at Alana’s words. Still, she doesn’t think that spilling a drink on Vinny is the best way to get his attention. Unlike her, she doubts that Vinny keeps a spare change of clothes in his car or at various points around the city, and no one wants to sit at a casino cold and wet because some bimbo spilled their drink.

She comes up with a more direct plan, waiting until the machine swallows more of her coins and returns more horse-Q-horse and J-J-A results before crossing her arms over her chest. A toss of her head flips her hair over her shoulder and she finally turns to eye Vinny more blatantly.

“What’s your secret, then?” she asks. “Pull the lever a certain way?”

GM: He gives her a rueful smile. “Two symbols or one, payout’s the same either way.”

Celia: Celia pouts magnificently.

“We need a good luck charm.”

Another coin, another pull of the lever, another loss. She sighs, then moves a seat closer.

“I heard some people bet on bets. Like in poker, they’ll bet they get red or black cards in addition to on their hands, like normal.” She eyes him speculatively. “You want to make our own wager?”

GM: “Oh really?” he asks, face curious. “Sure. I’ll bet on getting a horse with you.” Another rueful smile. “Better odds of a payout than from these anyway.”

Celia: Celia grins at him. She pulls her chair closer.

“I bet you don’t get one, then, and I’ll double it if you get two. Go on then.”

GM: “Okay. How’s $5 for you if I get no horses, and $20 for me I get one?”

“Odds favor you, but I get three shots.”

Celia: Celia considers it, then nods.

“Deal.”

GM: “All right. Let’s try our luck…”

He pulls the lever.

Three symbols come up. There’s not a horse in them.

“Guess you’re the house,” Vinny says wryly. “You want chips or cash?”

Celia: “Oh, go on again,” Celia says, waving a hand. “It would hardly be sporting if I didn’t give you a chance to win it back. Jenny, you’ll keep track, won’t you?” Celia says to Alana.

GM: She nods and sips her drink. “$5 to you.”

“Okay, let’s go again,” says Vinny.

Another pull.

Still no more horses.

“$10,” smiles Vinny.

Just like that, in goes another token.

The horses still elude him.

Celia: “One more makes us even if you win,” she offers.

GM: He nods. “I had the same thought.”

Another token.

There’s a letter, there’s another letter… and then there’s a horse.

“And we’re even. Better payouts than real gambling,” chuckles Vinny.

“How about I buy you ladies some sandwiches with that $20?”

Celia: Celia can’t help but squeal when the horse comes up. She immediately blushes, giggling about how she was just excited to finally see it.

“I wouldn’t say no to that. You’re rather better company than the machines tonight.”

GM: Jenny squeals too and adds a, “Yes, please.”

He chuckles at their excitement.

“Machines at least won’t buy sandwiches. I’m Vinny.”

He extends a hand.

Celia: “They’re not very personable,” Celia agrees. She takes his hand. “Heather. And this is Jenny.”

GM: “Nice to meet you ladies,” he says, shaking Alana’s and then standing up. “This your first time gambling?”

Celia: “Oh no,” Heather tells him, “Jenny here is a card shark, don’t let the pretty face fool you. She’s meaner than a gator at Hold ‘Em. We were going to go to Harrah’s earlier only she said the last time she was there the play was lacking and everyone was real tight. So we thought we’d have some fun here instead.”

“And she said something about how all Harrah’s are the same and she wanted to see something with character while she’s in town. That right, Jenny?”

GM: She nods. “Harrah’s is like every other casino! I thought the only land-based one in the state would be something special.”

“Main thing keeping this one special is the horse races,” says Vinny. “You’ve obviously missed those, and slot machines are the same anywhere. But this one’s cozier. The people learn your name.”

Celia: “Maybe I’ll have to come back sometime to catch those. Do you come here often?” The overused pickup line comes out of her mouth and she laughs at herself. “I just meant do they know your name?”

GM: “First time I’ve actually heard someone ask that,” Vinny laughs. “Yeah. They do. I lose money here all the time.”

Celia: “That’s how they get you,” Heather says, nodding seriously.

GM: “So what are you ladies hungry for?” he asks as they approach the concessions. There’s hot dogs, grilled cheese, po’boys, pizza, hamburgers, salads, wraps, beans and rice, hot plates, chicken sandwiches, chicken wings, gumbo, sides, desserts and the usual to-go casual dining fare.

Celia: She surveys the options of food, not hungry for anything here, but orders something that she knows Alana might like. Not that she expects to be able to get out of pretending to eat; she vows to spend a few minutes in the spa tonight with Alana building the new stomach for her so she doesn’t need to keep going through this. Stomach, then penis, then sex.

GM: Alana goes for a healthy salad. Vinny orders a corned beef sandwich and onion rings. He asks if they’re sure all they want is one salad between them.

Celia: Oh, no, that won’t do. Heather orders her own. A wrap. Wraps are healthy, right? Chicken and lettuce and stuff inside a carb-loaded tortilla.

Yum.

GM: The three collect their food and sit down.

“You two from the city, or in town for the gambling?” Vinny asks as he takes a bite of his sandwich.

Celia: Heather puts off taking a bite of her wrap as long as she can, focusing on the conversation.

“I’m from here. Jenny is visiting. Birthday weekend.” Heather grins. It’s Tuesday. “What about you? I assume if you come here often enough they know you that you’re a local?”

GM: “Oh, happy birthday, Jenny,” smiles Vinny.

“Thanks,” says Alana with a dainty salad bite.

“Yep,” he answers. “Born and raised. Served in the Coast Guard for a little while and came back here after they kicked me out.”

Celia: “Uh oh. What’d you get kicked out for?”

“Is it a fun story? Did you go streaking?” Heather wiggles her eyebrows.

GM: Vinny laughs. “Me and some friends broke into our C.O.’s liquor cabinet and threw a party on a pleasure yacht, when we were supposed to be doing our jobs. We all got bad conduct discharges.”

“We were dumb kids.”

Celia: Heather laughs.

“That’s actually not that bad. Sounds like a good time.”

“What do you do now?”

GM: “I work for the city,” he says. “I’ve also been a boxer, jockey, and pawnshop worker.”

Celia: Interesting way to avoid saying he’s a cop.

“That sounds like a lot of different hats. What was your favorite?”

GM: “Hm, tough.” Vinny takes another sandwich bite. “Probably the pawn shop, though.”

“You get a lot of desperate people. Ones who want to pass off their crap as something other than it is. Something more valuable.”

“It’s a predatory business, in a lot of ways. And like I said, lot of desperate people. I don’t blame them.”

“But I’ve always loved busting fakes and phonies. Showing what’s real and what’s not.”

Celia: “You good at it? Spotting fakes?”

GM: “The guys I worked with thought so.”

Celia: “What kind of things do people try to pass off? Jewelry? Coins?”

GM: “Those are pretty common. You also run into fake watches, gold, jewels, that’s versus jewelry, baseball cards, designer items like purses… if you can think of it, and it’s worth something, there are fakes of it.”

“Don’t even get me started on fake art, but that tends to move in different circles than pawnshops. Though that’s also changing.”

Celia: “There’s a big market for fake designer purses. A lot pf people can’t tell the difference. Fake art, though? I thought that was something that only really happened in movies?”

She knows that’s not the case.

But she tilts her head a little, favoring him with a smile.

GM: “I thought so too,” nods Alana. “Like in conman movies, trying to swipe the Mona Lisa?”

“Oh, lord no,” says Vinny. “There are millions of fakes in the art world. Millions.”

“It’s harder to pass off now than it used to be, though, thanks to newer technologies. That’s why more pawnbrokers are dealing with it.”

“Because a lot of them are independent stores which can’t afford to use the same modern dating and analysis techniques.”

“But since the recession, pawnbrokers have been accepting more high-end items, like art.”

Celia: “Is that what you do now, consult with different pawn shops?”

GM: “Yeah. I still do a bit of that. Busting the fakes. Exposing the frauds. That’s where it’s at.”

Celia: “That sounds pretty exciting, to be honest.”

GM: “It is for me. Usually the other people are pissed.”

“Pissed they couldn’t make a larger buck, or pissed someone else tried to off them.”

Celia: “How do you prove the person who brought it in to pawn is either ignorant or guilty?”

GM: “Doesn’t really matter to the brokers. If it’s worth less than the seller made out, it’s worth less than the seller made out.”

“But I’ll tell them it’s a fake, explain why, and that’s usually the end of that. Don’t think I’ve ever met a broker who still wanted to buy something I said was fake at the initial price.”

Celia: “That makes sense,” Heather says with a nod. She finally picks at her wrap, abstaining from making a face as the taste of ash and shit touch her tongue.

This boy better be good in bed if she’s going to eat for him.

She chews, swallows, nods again.

“That’s way more exciting than what I do. And you were a jockey, you said? Here?”

GM: “Yep,” Vinny answers over another bite. “That came to an end after I put another jockey in the hospital.”

“You’ve had a pretty exciting life, it sounds,” smiles Alana. “What’s the story there?”

“He was cheating and tried to taser me in the bathroom,” says Vinny.

“I lost my temper pretty bad. It was a hot day and I’d had a bad losing streak. So I beat him into a coma and hung a toilet lid around his neck.”

“Sponsors dropped me pretty fast after that.”

Celia: “Do you regret it?”

“Kind of sounds like he deserved it if he was cheating.”

“Not to… be like that.”

GM: “Yeah. And I don’t. I got locked up in OPP for it when Katrina hit. That… helped open my eyes. That I needed to clean up my act.”

Celia: “You were locked in OPP during Katrina?”

GM: “Oh no, didn’t a lot of people die in the jail?” asks Alana.

“Yep,” says Vinny. “The place flooded. We were locked in our cells. People drowned like rats.”

Celia: “That’s awful.”

GM: “Lot of the guards couldn’t be assed to get us out. Some were even locked in themselves.”

“I spent two and a half days up to my chest in sewage water.”

Celia: Celia is suddenly more grateful for the way her father had whisked them out of the city, even if he’d decided to hit her for a while afterward.

Her nose wrinkles.

“How did you get out?”

GM: “Search and rescue. Cop found us. If she hadn’t, I’d be dead.”

“Sheriff said to leave us where we belonged. They actually transferred kids from juvenile to OPP. To ride out the storm.”

“They were shorter than us,” he adds grimly.

“Oh no…” murmurs Alana. “But you all got out safe? Well… the taller people?”

“Some of us died too,” says Vinny. “There wasn’t any food, water, light, ventilation.”

“Wasn’t much better after we got out, to be honest.”

Celia: “I can’t even imagine,” Heather says softly, shaking her head. “That’s just… that’s awful. I’m glad you got out.” She reaches out, touching his hand. As if realizing the breach of conduct she blushes, pulling back. “How’d things change for you then?”

GM: He offers her a reassuring smile as if to say all’s forgiven. “Well, like I said, they didn’t. They moved us to a prison camp. Guards beat a lot of people. Lot of prisoners had weapons. Wasn’t much food or medical care to go around. Bad recipe. Guy tried to shiv me for my dinner. Guards shot at us a couple times. When they were sick of dealing with that.”

“Were a lot of rapes, too. Gender segregation wasn’t as enforced.”

Celia: Heather blinks at that.

GM: “They didn’t mix us all together. But everything was an even bigger shit show, and lots of corners got cut.”

“For instance, we could watch the girls use the toilet. There was a 13-year-old who got a lot of catcalls when she did.”

Celia: “Oh.”

“Wow.”

GM: “Eventually she just stopped. I think she found a corner of the camp to piss in. So the older women beat her up. Then I think she just started pissing herself.”

“My god…” murmurs Alana. “What happened to her?”

“She got out. They probably left her on the side of the road somewhere with a jumpsuit on.”

“That’s how I got out, anyways. I wandered around for a while and tried to convince someone to let me use a phone to call my family. That was hard with the jumpsuit.”

Vinny shakes his head.

“Anyway. This isn’t a fun topic. But it was my wake-up call. I cleaned up my act.”

Celia: “Sorry,” Heather murmurs, “I didn’t mean to pry into it.”

“But that’s good, at least, that you were able to turn things around.”

GM: “I’m okay talking about it. More figured you ladies would rather talk about nicer things.”

Celia: Heather shakes her head.

“I thought it was pretty interesting. I didn’t live here then, so I’ve only really heard stories about what it was like, and the media kind of blows things up sometimes, you know?”

GM: “Or just doesn’t talk about them. They didn’t say anything about the jail inmates.”

“We were some of the worst hit. No one cared.”

Celia: “That’s what I mean, yeah.”

GM: “I made it out okay. Plenty others who didn’t.”

Celia: “I’m glad you did.”

Is that too much, too soon?

Maybe.

She says it anyway.

GM: “Me too,” he smiles back, taking another sandwich bite.

“Anyway. I’ve talked a lot about myself. Tell me about yourselves.”

Celia: “Oh,” Heather says, with a sly glance at Alana “Well, that’s a long story, but we met at college. I’m not sure that how is appropriate for the venue.” She laughs. “We’ve basically been friends since, but she lives in Austin and I moved to New Orleans. We still talk pretty much all the time and get together for birthdays and holidays. I keep trying to convince her to move here, but haven’t swayed her yet.”

GM: “Maybe someday,” smiles Jenny. “It’s tempting, but I have a job I really like in Austin.”

“What’s that?” asks Vinny.

“I’m a massage therapist,” answers Jenny. “I make people happy with my hands.”

“Good way to put it,” chuckles Vinny. “So how’d you and Heather meet?”

Jenny glances slyly back at Heather. “Like she said, it’s not very appropriate…”

“Oh, I think you’ve heard some pretty inappropriate stories from me already,” says Vinny, smiling between the two. “And now you’ve got me curious. How’d you two meet?”

Celia: Alana is the perfect partner for this.

“Well…” Heather says slowly, drawing the word out. She shares a look with Alana. “We were in our sophomore year and lived in the same dorm, and we had a class together. And there was a boy in the class that we both kind of had a thing for.”

Heather’s cheeks turn a little red. She looks away, as if she might not continue for a moment, and then finally finds his eyes again.

“So we thought that instead of fighting over him we’d just share him.”

GM: “Oh, boy,” laughs Vinny.

“I doubt he was complaining.”

“How’d it pan out?”

Celia: “We ended up as best friends and have done it a few times since.” Heather can’t help her grin. “I thought she was more interesting than him, in the end.”

GM: Jenny flashes another one and puts her arm around Heather’s waist.

Vinny laughs harder. “Oh, boy,” he repeats. “You two still together?”

“Oh no, I have a boyfriend now,” says Jenny.

Celia: “When she’s around, though.”

GM: “A little more often lately,” Jenny grants with a smile. “Heather got divorced.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” says Vinny.

Celia: Heather shrugs. “We weren’t well matched. How ’bout you, though? Girlfriend? Wife?”

GM: He shakes his head. “My aunts nag me about it all the time, but I’m not really looking.”

Celia: Heather shares a look with Alana, then glances back at him.

“Not even for a good time?”

GM: “Oh, my. That’s quite an offer.”

Celia: “If the machines aren’t putting out, someone might as well.”

GM: “You’re both knockouts. I’d be nuts to say no. Just, so we’re clear, no strings attached. I’m not looking for more right now.”

Celia: “No strings is exactly what I’m looking for.”

GM: “Perfect. How’s a hotel?”

Celia: “Perfect,” Heather echoes.

GM: The three finish their food. Vinny presumes the two came in their own car, so he offers to meet them there at a nearby place.

It’s casual enough how he phrases things, and maybe Heather wouldn’t pick up, but Celia does.

He really wants them to take separate cars to the hotel.

Celia: Why, though? What a weird thing to want.

Heather gives the best road head.

“You don’t want a preview?” she asks, flicking her tongue across her lips.

GM: Vinny laughs. “I’ll take no spoilers. Build up my anticipation.”

Celia: Heather giggles. “All right. We’ll meet you there.”

GM: “But Heather gives the best road head,” Alana remarks as they drive to the hotel.

“Oh well. Jenny can give Heather some, if she wants.”

Celia: “You spoil me, darling,” Celia says to Alana. “Why don’t you save it for tonight? Let’s blow this boy’s mind.”

“He seemed hesitant to share a car, anyway. But you did wonderful.”

GM: “Thank you, mistress,” Alana purrs, nuzzling against Celia’s head. “I’m just sorry I’ll have to share you with him.”

Celia: “We’ll have each other later, though, as promised. I know I told you no sex for a week, but your actions lately have shown me how deserving you are to have your punishment lifted.”

GM: “Oh, thank you, mistress,” Alana beams, her face radiant. “I can’t wait to suck your cock tonight. I’ll swallow it whole.”

“But I should still be punished a little, don’t you think? Maybe you can spank me…”

Celia: “I will. I’ll spank you tonight.”

“And then you can suck me off.”

“And then I’m going to fuck you.”

“After we fuck him, though.”

GM: “I can’t wait, mistress,” Alana purrs, rubbing against Celia.

“I want you to fuck my ass, while it’s nice and sore…”

“But I want you to fuck my pussy too, man and woman like it’s meant.”

Celia: Celia reaches a hand out as she drives, stroking a hand along the ghoul’s cheek.

“We’ll do it all tonight, darling. You’ll see.”

GM: Some ghouls, at least, respond well to rewards and punishments.

Or at least rewards.

Celia: Alana won’t mind when Celia gets wet while spanking her, either, or slips a few fingers inside.

GM: The pair arrive at the hotel with Vinny. It’s not as luxurious as one that Celia only dimly recalls another person going to, but the room is clean and the bed spacious and comfortable. Vinny greets the two women, then starts hungrily kissing Heather. His beard tickles her chin. His breath comes hot and heavy. He doesn’t feel like he’s done this in a while.

Celia: Heather has done this recently enough for the both of them. She’s happy to lead or follow as he needs, though once she realizes his inexperience she takes a more dominant role. Her lips clash against his, fingers sliding across his shoulders and then down his chest to undo the buttons on his shirt.

GM: Jenny unbuckles his pants. And Heather’s. She strokes his dick back and forth in her hand and slides a finger up Heather. Vinny tugs off her blouse. He squeezes and kisses her breasts, relishing in their touch. How long has it been since he held a woman’s tits?

“God, you’re both so hot…”

Celia: They are, aren’t they? Celia did that. Gave both of them the perfect round globes on their chest for him to touch. Her nipples stiffen at his attention, and when Alana starts to touch her she finds her domitor already wet. She lets him play how he wants, leaning in to kiss the side of his neck. Her fingers curl through his hair. She bites with the flats of her teeth, though keeps her fangs tucked away for now. After a second she reaches for Jenny, slipping the skirt down her long, shapely thighs to pool on the floor.

GM: He’s a slim man, with his clothes off, but toned and taut. Celia’s been with handsomer men, and better-smelling ones. His facial hair smells of sweat and drier cologne, only recently washed—for them? His head is starting to bald with his hat removed. Still, he’s vigorous and enthusiastic, and has a tight ass. He alternates between filling each woman as they kiss and fondle one another, stroking their clits. After Vinny blows his load in Celia, he goes down on Alana, pleasing both women with his mouth and fingers until he’s ready to go again with his dick. Vinny lasts a while. There’s a lot of energy in him, even beyond the hunger that must come from going a while without release (or at least a partner). The three finally lie still in a sweaty heap, Vinny with his arms around both women’s shoulders.

“Wow,” he says.

“That was… something else.”

Celia: His eagerness makes up for his lack of expertise, and Alana’s swift fingers find the spots that he doesn’t. Heather is just as loud as a girl named Cici had once been, showing her appreciation for Vinny with eager, happy noises and soft, breathy sounds that rise up from the back of her throat. When it’s over she curls herself against him, nuzzling his neck while Alana does the same from the other side.

“Amazing?” she supplies with a wicked grin.

GM: “I think I just lived every adolescent boy’s wet dream.”

Celia: “Happy to oblige,” Heather laughs.

GM: “Happier to have been obliged,” he remarks, squeezing the two women’s shoulders.

“It’s been a while since I last did this.”

Celia: “Yeah?” Heather kisses his cheek, her fingers tracing idle circles down his chest. “Doesn’t seem like it. I think I came at least three times.”

“If you want…” she shifts, rolling over to straddle his hips. Her thighs spread around him. “Jenny’s leaving town soon, but I’m always down for a no strings good time.”

GM: “It’s hard to say I wouldn’t be either, after this.”

His manhood looks too spent to go again, at least this soon, but he slides a finger inside of her with one hand. His other one starts stroking her clit.

Celia: Her body shifts, moving against the finger inside of her. A small noise comes from her throat, half a gasp and half a moan, needy and wanton. She leans back, palms stretched out behind her, letting him see all of her body while he brings her to another shuddering climax. It doesn’t take long. When it’s done she shifts again, leaning forward, capturing his lips in a lingering kiss that tells him all she needs him to know: she’ll always come when he calls.

---

Tuesday night, 15 March 2016, PM

GM: Celia returns to the brothers’ house after vomiting into a toilet, Vinny’s number newly added to her contacts. The thin-blood is still there. Gagged and tied to a chair inside of a closet. They smell worse than they did last time. Like stale sweat. Their eyes widen and they make loud muffled noises through the gag.

Celia: Jade smiles down at the thing once she arrives back at the home, in a forgiving mood now that she has made some progress for Pietro, herself, and Savoy and had a handful of orgasms to boot.

“Hello, there. Did you have a good day?” She reaches forward to undo the gag.

“I never learned your name,” she says idly.

GM: “Lady, lady lick, why you keepin’ me here, I did all you wanted…” protests the thin-blood.

Celia: “Did you?” Does he remember?

GM: “Yeah, I did, didn’t I? C’mon, tell me what I ain’t done!”

Celia: “What do you remember?”

GM: “I tol’ you how I planted the bug, but I didn’ hear shit over it, lady, okay?”

Celia: Jade nods. “You were going to get your friend for me, though.”

GM: “But, but you said you’d lemme go…”

Celia: “I did. After you get your friend for me. Otherwise you’ll just be back in my spa in a week, won’t you?”

“And we’ll do this all over again.”

“And while I enjoy seeing you and the night we shared… I’d rather deal with this now.”

She smiles.

GM: The thin-blood shakes their head. “I won’t, lady, swear! Caught me once, you ain’t gonna be as nice the second time, right?”

Celia: “No,” she agrees.

GM: “But okay, I’ll get your friend, jus’ lemme go after I do, lady, okay?”

Celia: “Which door are you marking?”

GM: The thin-blood tells her which.

Celia: “As soon as we collect your friend you are free to go.”

GM: “Okay, lady, you want me to lead you there?”

Celia: “No. I want you to stay here, comfortably as my guest, until we get him.”

GM: “But, but if I ain’ there, lady, how you know he gonna show?”

Celia: “I doubt he has eyes on you all the time.”

GM: “Can you at least lemme outta the closet, I’m all sore…”

Celia: “I can adjust your position,” Jade offers.

GM: “Please, lady, can’t you jus’… lock me in a room, or somethin’?”

Celia: “Are you going to run?”

GM: The thin-blood shakes their head. “I swear I won’t, lady, you’ll be real mad if I do. I’ll be locked in anyway, right?”

“C’mon, please, I’m real sore… I been sittin’ here all day, all night…”

Celia: “One moment.” Jade closes the door on it to see which of the brothers are around.

GM: Currently, only Randy seems to think staying to guard the prisoner is worth his time.

Celia: He’s right, but she needs the others for her plan this evening. She has him move the prisoner, making sure that he keeps him tied nice and tight, and gives Reggie a call.

GM: “Can I just keep… uh, is this a man or a woman?” asks Randy.

Celia: Jade shrugs at him. “Won’t tell me their name.”

“Be nice, we’re releasing them after this.”

GM: “Ok, can I just… keep them tied up in a room, but not be in the room?”

Celia: “You’re coming with me tonight,” Jade tells him, “so tie them tight.”

GM: “Oh, great, babe!” Randy beams.

“I’ll tie them tighter than, uh, really tight!”

Celia: “Excellent, darling.”

“Don’t let them get out or we’ll need to have words.”

GM: Randy nods along.

Reggie picks up after a few rings.

“What up?”

Celia: “I need you,” Jade says into the phone, “to show me what a badass you are.”

GM: “I’d say anytime, but I do that all the time.”

Celia: “Will you come home so I can explain?”

GM: “Sure. Less homely now, though, without your mom and friend.”

Celia: “But I’m here.”

GM: “True. Big net plus.”

“They were getting a lot less fun anyway.”

Celia: “I know,” Jade sighs into the phone, “I appreciate you putting up with them though.”

“Come see me, baby. I have fun plans for us tonight.”

GM: “On my way.”

“Also. Should probably keep your friend away from any knives in the house, if she’s staying with you,” he says before she hangs up.

Celia: She’ll have to ask him to explain that when he gets here.

Jade says she’ll see him soon and hangs up. She moves to check the bindings on their thin-blood friend.

She trusts Randy, but she’d rather not lose her asset.

And she has a question for the thin-blood.

She seats herself on the side of the bed where it has been tied, looking down at it with a gentle smile.

“I have one last question for you.”

GM: “Sure, lady lick, sure, what you wanna know?” asks the thin-blood.

Celia: “I’ve been told that some of the duskborn have the ability to use their blood for a sort of alchemy.”

GM: “Oh, uh, whas’ alchemy?”

Celia: “A sort of trick you do with your blood. Technically it’s a transformation of something from one state to another. Old chemistry. Some people think you can use it to turn metal into gold.” Jade smiles again, clearly dismissing the notion. “But the duskborn are said to be able to do things with the blood, and I had hoped to utilize your services if you knew about it.”

“I keep my contacts very, very comfortable.”

GM: “Oh, you mean like the mixers, lady? The cooks?”

Celia: “Yes.”

GM: “Yeah, I migh’, migh’ know one or two.”

Celia: “After all this is done with your friend, would you be willing to introduce me?”

GM: “Ah, sure, lady, keep me comfy how?”

Celia: “Money, blood, safety. You mentioned you don’t have a place to stay during the day. You live night to night.”

GM: “Yeah, yeah I do.”

Celia: “That can’t be very comfortable.”

GM: “Well, it, it how I always got by, I guess.”

Celia: Jade nods. “But you can’t thrive if you’re busy trying to survive.”

GM: “Well, sure, lady, I’ll hook you up, for somea all that.”

Celia: “Excellent. As soon as I get our friend I’ll come back for you to tell me more about these… cooks.”

GM: “Sure, you bet!”

“Can you untie me a little, maybe jus’ my legs?”

Celia: “Not yet, darling. Soon.”

GM: “C’mon, I ain’ gonna run, you said you’d give me blood an’ money an’ a place to sleep!”

“I can’t run anyway without my hands!”

Celia: “You invaded my domain,” Jade says to it, “which means you’re mine to do with as I wish under the laws of the Camarilla and the city. I could put you down, but I feel some affection for you.”

Jade reaches out, stroking a hand down its face. “I just don’t trust you yet. Prove to me I can while I’m gone and you’ll have the run of the house, or we can find you somewhere else.”

GM: The thin-blood pales at her initial words, then nods eagerly as if to encourage her. “Somewhere else?”

Celia: “If you want your own digs.”

GM: “Oh. Yeah, lady, that’d be great, that’d be real great!”

Celia: “Then just a little bit longer, okay?”

GM: “Okay, lady, okay…”

Celia: “I still need your name,” Jade says to it. “I just keep calling you ‘the duskborn’ in my head.”

GM: “Ah, my name’s Ebony, lady lick.”

Celia: “Ebony,” Jade repeats, “fitting. Did you pull that because mine is Jade?”

GM: “Ah, sorry, lady?”

Celia: “Your name isn’t Ebony. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me when you want to be my friend. Truthfully, it rather hurts my feelings.”

GM: “Ah, I’m sorry, Jade, I’m real sorry, my name’s Shanice.”

Celia: Jade sighs at the thing.

“It’s like when you ask a stripper at a club, you know, and she gives you a fake name on top of her fake name.”

GM: “Look, lady, you say you don’ trust me, okay, I don’ really trust you! You tied me up all day!”

Celia: “I was honest about the fact that I’d leave you tied up all day. You bugged my spa and spied on me.”

GM: “Well, okay, my name ain’ Shanice, I’d jus’ rather hold out on the real one ‘til I ain’ tied up, yeah?”

Celia: Jade shrugs at it.

“Very well. There goes your bonus.”

She rises, striding for the door.

GM: “Wait, bonus?”

Celia: She pauses, glancing over her shoulder.

“Bonus,” she repeats, “for when I don’t need to play guessing games and waste my time prying information out of people.”

GM: “Okay, lady lick, I’m sorry, if I tell you my name, can I have the bonus?”

Celia: “I don’t know, darling, do you have proof it’s your name? You’ve lied to me twice.”

GM: “Ah, not really, sorry. I ain’ got any ID or stuff.”

Celia: Jade strides back to the bed, reaching out a hand to stroke it down the side of the thing’s face. Her touch is light, gentle enough to show it that she doesn’t wish it any harm. She sends a little burst of desire to please into that touch, reaching out with the innate sense of self as much as she does her hand. After a moment she asks again.

“Will you tell me your name? The truth, this time.” The words are just a murmur in the air between them, the promise of that “bonus” heavy on her tongue.

GM: “Deja,” the thin-blood gets out thickly.

“Can I have the bonus…?”

Celia: “Do you really know any cooks, Deja? I won’t be mad if you lied, just if you waste my time.”

GM: “I do, lady lick, swear!”

Celia: Jade just nods. She rises once more, pulling the money she hadn’t gambled away from her pocket. She pulls five bills free and sets it on the table next to the thin-blood, out of their reach but visible all the same.

“Yours,” she says to it. “I’ll see you soon, Deja.”

---

Tuesday night, 15 March 2016, PM

GM: Reggie greets her at the door with a hungry kiss.

“Missed me, sexy?”

Celia: If she had breath, he’d steal it.

As it is she gives the kisses freely, glad that she can have her way with him without feeling self-conscious about her mother, Lucy, or Dani in the room. Randy is otherwise occupied for at least another minute or two; she pulls Reggie forcibly against her by the front of his shirt, sandwiching herself between him and whatever wall is closest.

“Always,” she gets out, “stop leaving me. I need you.”

GM: “Makes you miss me…” His teeth grind against hers as his tongue explores her mouth. He shoves her hard against the wall, his hands possessively roaming her breasts, rear, and hips. One hand reaches inside her panties and teasingly explores her lower lips.

Celia: “It makes me impatient,” she disagrees, but her body responds to his touch all the same, and his fingers come away slick. Two sharp points trace down his neck, but Jade doesn’t bite into him despite how very tempting he is this evening. Nor does she let him go any further than this. Not with Randy in the house.

And she needs him for other things, besides.

She tells him so, whispering her desire to him in fragmented kisses while he fondles her, telling him that she needs him to help her trap an enemy. A big, strong enemy, someone he’ll be proud of taking down. A real vampire, not a pathetic half-breed.

Help me take him out, she tells him, show me how strong and tough you are.

GM: He’s up for it.

He always is.

He cups her head back with one hand and raises his wet fingers to her lips.

“Have a taste…”

Celia: Jade takes his fingers into her mouth, closing her lips around the digits to suck them clean. Her eyes never leave his.

GM: “Always,” he repeats, stroking back her hair from her face.

“I’ll pound a stake into that motherfucker.”

“Then I’ll pound something else into you…”

Celia: She certainly hopes so.

GM: He gathers weapons and equipment for the job, asking if there’s anything else they need before they get to the address.

Celia: They need his brother and Alana, actually, so while Reggie does his thing Jade does hers in a private room with the two of them. She had thought to turn Randy into the thin-blood, but between the two of them Alana is the better liar and closer to the thin-blood’s size anyway. She apologizes for the ugly face while she sculpts the flesh beneath her fingers, forming her into an exact replica of the thing tied up in the bedroom. Her blood in Alana’s veins will make her smell enough like a thin-blood that no one should detect the difference.

“Your name is Deja,” she tells Alana as she works, “but you might respond to Ebony or Shanice. When they arrive, tell them you picked up something good and that you want to talk privately.” She fills her in on a few of the thin-blood’s habits and speech patterns.

GM: “I look so ugly, mistress,” Alana mopes.

“So… eurgh.”

Celia: “It’s just for an hour or two, ‘Lana. Then we’ll put you back to sorts and we get the rest of the night to unwind in each other’s arms.”

GM: “Okay, mistress. Okay.” The ghoul still shudders a little and looks away from her reflection.

Celia: Unfortunately Randy doesn’t shadow dance, but Jade gives him a small mark on his inner arm that will let him use the ability for the evening. Then she does her own face, turning herself into a nondescript nobody that no one would look twice at.

She goes over the plan with all of them: Alana will lure them out with the X on the door. The other three will keep lookout. If more than one lick shows or if they bring a retinue of ghouls, the plan becomes “extract Alana and get out.” Otherwise, Alana will take the contact somewhere private to be ambushed by Reggie, Randy, and Jade.

The rules are clear: minimize risks to themselves, don’t break the Masquerade, don’t tip off the guy to what’s going on.

Jade paces in the living room once it’s all set, finally turning to ask the boys if they think they’ll need more muscle. Combat, things like this, none of it is her strong suit, and they’re going in almost blind. Jade has a few ideas about who it might be, but she’s been wrong before. Either way, they can’t mess up. This isn’t a thin-blood they’re going after, but an honest to god vampire with who knows what abilities.

While Randy and Reggie discuss, Jade pulls Alana aside to record something for the bug.

“We found your sister,” Jade says to Celia.

There’s a pause.

“Where? How? What happened?” Celia’s voice sounds frantic, panicked.

“Dead,” Jade says heavily.

There’s a sharp intake of breath. Then the soft sound of crying.

“H-how?”

“The new blonde stiff told her that Meadows killed her boyfriend. Apparently thought she could take on the scourge herself.”

“Oh… oh my god, I…”

There’s muffled sobbing, as if the girl pressed her face into someone’s shoulder.

“I know, sweetheart,” Jade whispers, voice barely audible, “I know. Come here—”

“N-no! You said—you said you’d keep her safe! You said you’d help her, n-not let her die!"

“Celia…”

“Stop it! Stop it! I don’t want this anymore! I hate you!"

SMACK!

“I understand,” Jade says in a tightly controlled voice, “that you are emotional right now, and that you spoke without thinking. So you’ll only get ten blows for your outburst. Do it again and I’ll take your tongue. Do you understand? Good. Bend over. Skirt and panties. You know the words.”

SMACK!

Celia yelps at the blow.

“Whu—one, mistress, thank you for the lesson.”

SMACK!

“Two—two, mistress, thank you for the lesson.”

So it goes, on and on until ten. By the end of it Celia barely gasps out the numbers and words to her domitor.

“Clean yourself up,” Jade says coldly. Heels click across the ground. The door closes. Celia slumps to the ground, sobbing openly now that she’s alone.

GM: Alana listens, entranced, to the recording.

“It’s actually kind of hot…” she whispers at Celia with a salacious look.

Celia: Celia smiles. “Just in case things go south,” she tells Alana. “You get the signal then you hand over the information and tell him there’s more where that came from and that the bug is still in place. My priority is keeping you safe. Now… what’s a good tidbit we can record for this?”

GM: “Maybe a time and place where you’ll be alone? If they wanted to hurt you?”

Celia: “We don’t know that they do. I had another thought, tell me if this is too… weird…”

Jade tells Alana her idea.

GM: “It’s perfect, mistress,” Alana beams.

“And… pretty sexy, too…”

“Whoever gets it will really have something on their hands…”

Celia: “You mean their dick?” Jade drawls, brows lifted.

She’s not sure she agrees with the ghoul’s assessment, anyway. Maybe it’s better to to use her initial idea about a time she’s alone. Her grandsire always says you can never trust a ghoul to be honest with you…

Maybe it’s too much.

But it’s their backup plan, anyway.

God, she hopes she’s right about this.

Jade takes a moment to record what she had pitched to Alana, then returns to the living room to find out what Randy and Reggie have decided.

GM: The brothers are gung ho and ready to stride boldly into the night. Maybe they should let Alana go first, though, with her phone on so the rest of them can listen to what’s happening and plan accordingly.

Both brothers are bringing stakes. There’s also hairspray, if they want to literally play with fire.

GM: Celia’s phone then buzzes with texts from Dani.

Oh btw two dinner things

My dad said he could do Friday this week with your family, does that work for you?

Your mom also invited me to dinner tomorrow, guess we’ll be seeing each other a lot :)

She says I should come by your spa sometime too

Celia: Jade does not want fire anywhere near her. She tells the boys as much, her Beast whining in instinctive unease at the thought of an open, uncontrolled flame. They’ll stick to stakes and blades against their Kindred foes. And Jade has a few tricks of her own up her sleeve that should, hopefully, even the playing field if it comes down to that. Combat isn’t her strength, but she has other tools at her disposal should it come down to that. She will make do.

Alana will go in first to summon him, with an open line of communication on her person to let them hear what’s going on and decide how to play things. Jade gives her one last missive on her way out the door: if, for any reason, she is taken away from the scene, sell them on the idea of Celia as a ghoul who apparently resents her mistress and isn’t fully bound.

The rest of them will shadow dance to hide what they are and keep the lick ignorant to their presence. Randy and Reggie wear mundane disguises to hide who they are.

Jade checks her phone while she heats the remaining blood from her hunting expedition last night in the microwave, then calls Reggie over, asking what he meant about her friend and knives on the phone. She’s getting a bit of a Single White Female vibe from Dani anymore.

GM: The ghouls all agree to the parameters of Jade’s plan.

“She’s crazy, is what,” Reggie says.

“She tried to stab me last time we talked.”

“Your mom tried to kick me in the balls.”

“They’re both lucky I’m such a gentleman.”

Celia: “Whoa, what?”

GM: “What, you didn’t figure I could be sexy, competent, and a gentleman too?”

Celia: “I mean the stabbing and ball kicking.”

GM: “Like I said, they’re crazy.”

Celia: “When was this?”

GM: “When you were asleep.”

Celia: “Why?”

GM: “Because they’re crazy.”

Celia: “What did you do to them, Reggie?” Jade finishes off the last of the warmed blood, eyeing him past the rim.

GM: His gaze fixes on it.

“Hey, I didn’t do anything besides kiss them.”

“Told you. Gentleman.”

Celia: Jade just gives him a look.

“Reggie, I told you to leave them alone.”

GM: “Hey, I did. I didn’t try to fuck them.”

Celia: “Stop trying to kiss my mom. It makes me not want to fuck you.”

GM: “She isn’t here anymore, so happy to oblige. But if it makes you feel any better, she took away all the food she cooked.”

“Went on this crazy rant about it.”

Celia: “Oh?”

GM: “Like I said. She and your friend are crazy. Happy not to have ’em back.”

“This is a very un-sexy topic.”

Celia: Sounds like Diana finally stood up for herself. Dani too. Jade just makes a sympathetic noise at her ghoul, though.

“Eventually someone is going to geld you when you try to put it where it doesn’t belong, sweetheart. Stop trying to fuck my mom and friend. Any other woman, mkay?”

GM: “Any other woman, I wouldn’t be such a gentleman about her mom and friend.”

Celia: There’s nothing left in the glass when she’s done with it. She rinses it in the sink, watching the clock. She doesn’t want to give Alana too long a head start; she’s worried it will land her in trouble.

“Reggie,” she says, turning to him, “I like you. A lot. I don’t want you getting stabbed because you couldn’t keep it in your pants, mkay?”

GM: “Relax. Girl had no idea how to use that thing.”

Celia: That’s an oversight that will need fixed.

“This guy tonight might. Don’t get stabbed on me. I’ll miss you too much.”

GM: “Yeah, that guy I’ll stab the fuck back.”

Celia: “Right in his heart,” Jade agrees. “Put the big piece of wood in his chest. Then after you can put it in me.”

GM: “Count on it.”

---

Tuesday night, 15 March 2016, PM

GM: The drive to Rampart isn’t long. Celia and Dani text on the way. Dani is pleased to hear the rescheduled dinner date with her dad works. She says she’d love to make an appointment at the spa.

I mean I knew about it earlier but didn’t ever visit because yknow, Stephen

Celia: For sure. We can definitely get you in!

Celia fires off a handful of texts back and forth with Dani about the upcoming dinners and what sort of appointment she’s looking for at the spa. They do their job well, distracting Celia from the nerves that flutter through her stomach at the thought of what’s waiting for her tonight.

She’s going in blind.

She has theories, sure, but nothing concrete. None of this is her typical MO. She’s not the type of lick to respond with force; but then she’s not the type of lick to be so blatantly targeted like this, so maybe it is her typical MO and she just never knew. Maybe that lesson from her sire—you struck her, she’ll strike back—stuck the landing a little too well.

Maybe she’s just still worried about taking care of her mom and the rest of what’s hers.

So she distracts herself, first with her would-be sister and then her would-be lover. The one with the hat.

Hey babe what’s the theme for the party?

Does he text? He seems like the kind of guy to text. Young enough for it.

GM: Dani actually does not have a kind of appointment she’s looking for. Your mom says she just comes in and lets you do whatever to her, so thought I’d do the same

Gui does not provide as immediate a distraction.

Celia: How rude of him to not submit to her schedule.

Ha, she does. Np, can do. You gonna stay with her or back at my place?

GM: Her place. Thought you wanted me out of there

Temporary though. She’s been helping me move my stuff and look through listings

Celia: Do you want to schedule some visit times for Sunday? Can come with after work.

Work, daysleep, same difference.

Gives her time to find a few places.

And gives Celia time to tell Roderick he’s going to pony up rent.

GM: We’re both really glad to get out of Reggie’s place, he was awful

Sunday sounds great :)

Celia: I’m glad for you too. Almost decked him. Remind me to tell you something later, you gonna be up a bit?

GM: Yeah totally

Be more glad if you had decked him

He just would not fucking stop trying to kiss us and touch us

Celia: Yeah… I might.

GM: no matter how many times we said stop he just did not care

I had to threaten him with a knife to get him to back off

Celia: I heard.

GM: And then of course he started ranting how crazy I was

Yeah how crazy I don’t want to have sex after I’ve been raped

Celia: Obv not wanting his dick = crazy

Want to talk to you about that, too.

GM: He came on to your mom hardest whenever she was with Lucy. It was so fucking creepy.

Celia: wow.

GM: Yeah. Talk about what anyways?

What happened to me?

Celia: Yeah. Later though. If you want to talk about it. I won’t pry.

GM: Well. I don’t really remember a lot

Like I said

I almost thought I was… faking it?

Celia: not right now.

GM: well tldr I feel better talking about it. Your mom and I talked a lot

she told me about how she’d been raped

Celia: She did?

GM: Yeah. By your dad. A bunch of times. And that she thought it was ok for me to say I’d been even if I don’t remember much

She said she struggled with that a lot too, wondering if the rape that happened to her was actually rape because he was her husband

But she said you and Emily told her over and over that it was real

Celia: It was real. For her and for you. No one deserves that.

GM: Thanks. That helps to hear

Please don’t tell Stephen btw

Just don’t want to deal with that, he’ll go ballistic over it

Celia: He will, you’re right. I won’t say anything to him.

GM: What’s new with him?

Celia: Work mostly. Looking for a house. Misses you. Wants to go out this week, figure it will be a good time to tell him about what you want. Still thinks you should take that job offer in Houston.

GM: Fuck that

Celia: That’s what I told him you’d say.

GM: School’s here, my job’s here, the job I want is here, my dad’s here, you’re here, your mom’s here, my friends are here

Why the fuck would I want to just pack up for Houston

Because that’s convenient for him

Which actually makes me want to do it even less

When I already didn’t at all

Celia: For the “job” that Celia had just used as cover.

She’d explained this to Dani, not to say something weird via text. Now the girl is blowing it.

Celia sighs at her phone.

Yeah I get it. He’s being a butthead tbh.

GM: Fuck him

If he doesn’t pay my rent I’m never speaking to him again, tell him that

Celia: Will do.

What’s your schedule like these next few nights? Have a friend I want you to meet.

GM: Dani lists her work and school hours.

Pretty wide open apart from that. I’ve kinda been falling off the radar with my friends ¯\(ツ)/¯

But yeah would love to meet yours

Celia: Dani needs to stop taking things at face value. No one Celia actually calls friend would want to meet the thin-blood.

Perf. I’ll set it up and let you know. Don’t ignore your friends though. Easy to isolate after sexual abuse but maybe some normalcy will do you good.

GM: I just feel a lot more able to talk about what happened with you and your mom, you know?

Celia: Yeah. I get it. Can feel really lonely, like you’re the only one who has ever been through it. I’m here for you. Sometimes just therapeutic to have a normal day out with friends is all I mean, helps remind you the world isn’t terrible.

Celia types out another message on her phone, debating if she wants to send it or not. She’s not looking for sympathy. But maybe it will do something for Dani. She presses Send.

Happened to me. Never told my mom. I know it’s not the same, prob doesn’t help, but you’re not alone.

GM: Oh my god I’m so sorry. I can talk now if you’d rather than text

Celia: Working on a project. Can talk later though.

GM: Ok. But thanks. Really glad to have you + your mom in my life right now

Celia: ♡

We’re happy to have you in ours, too.

She’s glad she told Pete not to erase her memories. It might be a small lapse in security, but if Dani and Diana feel better to have each other then she won’t be the one to take it away. Everyone needs someone.

---

Tuesday night, 15 March 2016, PM

GM: Rampart Street is a shithole. Situated only just across the border with Treme, it’s the gutter that Bourbon Street’s sleaze runs off to. Buildings are run down and neglected and sprayed with gang tags. Celia hears a car alarm and gunshot go off in the distance. Homeless people sleep on the trash-littered streets. Prostitutes advertise their services. The Pavaghi doll she and Elyse worked on said its family were slumlords here. Kindred graffiti, its meaning only plain to dead eyes in the language of the Cacophony, proclaims that one is entering Savoy’s territory.

Reggie eyes the place and then Celia warily as he parks the car. “Stick close.”

Alana wrinkles her nose.

Celia: “Won’t it look suspicious if we’re all with her?” Celia asks Reggie. She trusts his judgement more than her own in this; he has done this sort of work before far more often than her.

GM: Reggie shrugs. “Said you wanted her to go in on her own. I mean when we get out.”

Celia: Oh.

She nods, has Alana turn her phone on so they can listen in, and tells her they’ll be right here. Reminds her to fidget like the thin-blood had. Offers some last words of encouragement and advice, anything she thinks will keep the girl safe, and finally sends her on her way.

Celia: She has Reggie scope out the best area for their ambush while they wait. Somewhere secluded where they can hem him in and no one can see.

GM: The site they’re to spray the door at is a shitty-looking house with boarded-up windows and cracked glass. Paint peels from the grimy walls. The place doesn’t look like it’s been lived in for years.

Celia: It hasn’t been. She knows why, too, and the words that boy had once told her to try to scare her come to her now about the murder-suicide, body baked in the oven and eaten, and still-missing flesh.

She hadn’t realized it was this house. But she doesn’t know of any licks that have claimed it; maybe it just makes a good target since no one fucks with it.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

GM: Alana gets out, eyeing some of the nearby homeless warily, and sprays an ‘x’ over the door.

With a low creak, it slowly swings open.

Celia: Oh, no. This hadn’t been part of the plan.

GM: She glances back towards her mistress uncertainly.

Celia: She doesn’t think it’s a good idea for Alana to go inside. She’d thought she was dealing with someone else, someone less… scary. Someone normal. A lick, certainly, but the normal sort.

What happens if she sends Alana inside? She dies because they think she’s the thin-blood?

Celia’s unfamiliar lips purse at the thought.

“This is bad,” she says to the boys. “I thought it would come out. I can sneak in, maybe…?”

Rusty should have come to this. His animal form is less noticeable than hers, and he’s her resident stealth expert. But it would be the both of them inside without her if it had come to that. She’s glad she left him at home; there’s no temptation now to send him in and risk him as well.

“Ideas. Quickly.”

GM: “You shouldn’t go in, babe, way too risky!” says Randy.

Celia: But is that because it’s actually risky or because he’s in love with her because she feeds him blood?

She glances at Reggie.

GM: “Do what you gotta do,” shrugs Reggie, “but I’ll be right behind if you’re goin’ in.”

Celia: “Stay in the car, Randy. We’re not out in fifteen you get out of here. Reggie, with me. Pretend you’re Randy.”

Her hands blur across her face in the shadows of the backseat, twisting her features until she’s Celia once more. She’s glad, not the for the first time, that the triplets are nearly identical; Reggie will have no difficulty passing as his younger brother. It’s something they’ve done before, though normally with more warning.

Celia slides out of car, the vague outline of a plan taking hold in her brain. She shouldn’t have done this so early. Should have waited until Saturday. But the thing on the bug supports this ridiculous idea of hers.

“Deja,” she says quietly to Alana, “you can’t go in there. I heard about the last thin-bloods that did. I’ll go. I’m not like you. And I can… can tell them more.” She puts a tiny tremor in her voice, suggesting nerves and fear and dread and something… steely. Determined. She takes the recording and tells “Deja” to go home.

Celia: Staring at the house in front of her, Reggie at her side, she can’t help but think about a night from another lifetime.

How the door at Audubon had swung open for her at the lightest touch.

Then, as now, she had a recording with her. Then, as now, she had told someone to wait in the car. Then, she had been worried that her father was waiting inside. He or his master, the monster that crawled out from under the bed.

She had gone in anyway, summoned by the beckon of the open door.

She remembers the stillness of the house. The shadow that had separated itself from the night. The hand that clapped over her mouth to keep her from screaming.

The moment had stretched into eternity. Her eyes had rolled in terror when the harsh voice began to speak to her. She was certain she was dead.

But that was then, when she was a breather with a broken arm and bruised flesh and afraid of things that go bump in the night.

Now she’s seven years a lick. At home in the dark.

Now she’s the thing that goes bump in the night.

She’s no longer afraid of shadows.

Now, though, she knows that this lack of fear will not serve her. The thing inside, whoever it is, was expecting someone that isn’t her. They’d wanted the thin-blood. The informant. The spy.

They don’t know that they’re about to get the Chameleon.

She slips into the mask with the tremor she had put into her voice seconds ago. She slips into it with the way her shoulders hunch slightly. She slips into it with the shuffle of her feet across the ground, weight shifting from toe to toe, and the way she peers into the shadows of the condemned home as if she cannot see clearly in the dark.

Inside her chest, her heart beats. Her diaphragm expands. She blinks. Smooth, practiced gestures from living with her breather family and passing for so long as human.

She slips into the mask of Celia the ghoul.

GM: “Deja” looks worried for a moment. More than the real Deja probably would have ever been. But at Celia’s words, the cowardly thin-blood all but bolts for the safety of the car.

Randy starts to protest when Celia leaves. Reggie pats his shoulder and says, “I got her, bro. Keep ’Lana safe.”

Deja passes off the bug receiver to Celia.

“Chin high,” Reggie says loudly, taking Celia by the arm as they exit the car. “I got you.”

Celia: He says it twice, that he’s got her.

She hopes he’s right.

Celia nods as if steeling herself and lifts her chin as advised. Wheels within wheels; she projects the aura of false confidence, skittish but determined, bolstered by the man beside her. Her hand slides into his as they approach the open door, sinking into the role of Celia and her beloved boyfriend.

She hesitates on the threshold. Her eyes search the gloom, an unfocused glaze to them with a slightly puckered brow as if she cannot see, as if she is not a creature of the night.

GM: It’s a long-feeling walk to the abandoned house’s front door. A homeless man sleeping the next block over turns over and moans. Another homeless man points out the pair, leers at them past rotted teeth, and cackles.

“Hehehe… heh heh… hehe…”

“Hehehe…”

The door is still ajar.

Unlocked.

Open.

Reggie gives it a push.

There’s a low creak of floorboards as the pair stride inside. The stench is what hits Celia immediately. It’s awful. It smells like no one has lived here for years.

It smells like there’s a reason no one’s lived here for years.

Celia’s eyes see through the gloom, this time. Well that they do. There are no lights.

GM: The inside of the house looks even worse than the outside. Paint doesn’t jut peel from the decaying walls, it’s gone in sections and exposing rotted wooden beams beneath. The house is empty of furnishings and decor. Truly bare houses always look so strange. So empty.

Reggie peers through the gloom. He doesn’t turn on a flashlight.

He takes a creaking step forward.

That’s when the door slams shut behind them.

Celia: The slam of the door is enough to make Celia the ghoul jump. She clutches at Reggie’s hand, forcing the heart inside her chest to beat faster, faster, faster. Her breath comes in quick, short puffs of air.

Behind the mask, Jade assesses the situation coolly, picking apart the details with what she knows of her kind.

It doesn’t add up.

Anyone with an aptitude for shadow dancing wouldn’t have needed to hire a thin-blood to plant the device when it could have broken in on its own without getting caught. Unless it’s near the door, standing still. Or not shadow dancing.

Or it’s a trap, set from the word “go.”

At Reggie’s side, Celia lets a tremble appear in her hands. She clenches them as if to obscure the tiny movement, and inside their sockets she darts her eyes in half a hundred directions.

She’s had so much practice at being afraid.

“He—hello?”

GM: An inhumanly deep voice splits the rancid air.

“Room for two more in the oven…”

Celia can’t see where it’s coming from.

But there’s a new smell wafting up her nose.

A smell like cooking flesh.

Celia: This was the worst idea in the history of ideas.

“My mistake,” she stutters, “sorry to disturb you, I was looking for someone else.”

Celia takes a step backward, tugging Reggie with her toward the door. She reaches for the handle.

GM: Her fingers close around it. The door does not budge.

Reggie snarls and whips out his gun, eyes furiously scanning the gloom.

“You have ’til it preheats to get me to let you go.”

Celia: Celia puts her hand on Reggie’s arm, shaking her head. A gun isn’t going to do either of them any good. She doesn’t think this is a lick that they’re dealing with. Ghost? Something else, something darker? Whatever it is, she doesn’t think it’s what wanted to put the bug in the spa.

How quickly do ovens preheat? Depends on the temperature. They have a few minutes at most.

Then what?

She doesn’t want to know. She tries not to think about it.

“Thank you,” Celia says to the still-empty room, unsure of where to look. Maybe she sounds silly, thanking someone for the opportunity to not die, but being polite has never hurt before. “I’m very sorry for barging in on you like this. I hadn’t realized that the home is claimed.”

What does it want? What do all things want? Sustenance. Safety. Information. Power.

“I was supposed to meet someone,” she says again. “They hired someone else to look into a lick that I know, and I… I wanted to help. I’m well-suited to that sort of thing.”

She swallows, the sound loud in the still, musty air.

“My name is Celia,” she offers.

GM: A horrible sound splits the air. Booming and scraping, like someone alternately pounding and scraping the inside of an oven as hard as they can.

It sounds almost like laughter.

“Meat doesn’t have a name.”

Celia: Celia lets out a breathless giggle. She nods her head, hand tightening around Reggie’s.

“You’re right,” she agrees. “Is that what you’re looking for? Meat? I’m happy to bring you some. There was an article in the paper a few years back, about a man who cooked his girlfriend and ate part of her. No one has wanted to touch this place since.”

The words linger.

“I imagine you’re hungry, without regular visits.”

GM: Reggie’s face is still bared in a snarl. He hasn’t put away his gun.

The room is starting to feel warmer. Celia can hear the steady ‘whoomp’ sound of an older, gas-powered oven.

“I want ghoul meat… vampire meat…”

Celia: “Well, see, that’s perfect, isn’t it? I can bring you some. Ghouls and vampires. Steady supply for letting us go. You won’t have to be hungry anymore.”

GM: “You might lie… you smell so good…”

Celia: “A lot of people would lie in this situation,” Celia says, “but I’m not. I know what it’s like to be hungry. And I had a friend… a friend, maybe like you, who couldn’t gather his own sustenance. He didn’t want meat, but it was similar. I helped him gather what he needed.”

“If you want,” she says after a second of hesitation, “I can stay here with you and send my friend here to get meat for you. If you promise you’ll let me go afterward, when he comes back.”

“Just to show you that I’m good for it.”

GM: Reggie looks at her like she’s crazy.

Celia: Maybe she is.

GM: “How fuckin’ fast do you expect us to round up other licks and renfields?” he mutters under his breath.

Celia: “Deja,” she murmurs back.

GM: “Right,” says Reggie, louder. “We got a vampire we can bring you. Right now.”

The air is silent.

But getting warmer.

Finally, the deep voice splits the stillness.

“Deal.”

Celia: “Thank you,” Celia says again. “He’ll go get the vampire.” There’s a long pause, then she asks, “would you still like me to keep you company while you wait?”

GM: There’s a harsh sound like a slamming oven door. The voice scrapes like angry metal.

“People come into my house. Less people leave. That’s the RULE.”

Celia: “I’ll stay,” Celia says. “I’m going to move away from the door and you can open it for him and he’ll bring the vampire. That way we stay within the rules.”

GM: “Ask again.”

“Oven’s warm already…”

There’s a deep inhalation-like reverberation.

“You smell so good…”

Celia: “I misspoke,” Celia says to it, “my apologies. I only meant that I didn’t want to infringe upon your hospitality by making an assumption.” Celia gives Reggie’s hand a squeeze before she lets go, stepping further into the room and away from the door.

GM: Reggie gives Celia a long look, then tries the door. It opens. He doesn’t look back, just strides out.

It slams shut after him.

Silence fills the now-warm house.

Celia: Celia tries not to flinch at the sound of the door closing behind her. She hopes he hurries. She continues breathing, blinking, sending blood through her body to force her heart to beat. She continues to look human.

After a moment of silence, she finally takes a chance and opens her mouth.

“Do you mind if I speak to you, or would you prefer that I wait quietly?”

GM: The thing’s answer booms out like a slamming oven door.

“Whatever.”

Celia: That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for conversation.

GM: The house gets steadily warmer.

Celia: “How often?” Celia asks the warm house. “For your deliveries.”

GM: “‘Til I’m hungry.”

Celia: “Okay,” she says, as if that makes sense. “My friend, the one I mentioned I help? He’s a ghost. I heard there are a lot of them in the Quarter.”

GM: “Can’t eat ghosts.”

Celia: “No meat on ghosts, though,” she says with a nod. “But a lot of licks here, too. And ghouls. You picked a good place for it.”

GM: “Taste good. Licks taste best.”

Celia: “Can I ask… do you cook them before you eat them? I thought they might, ah, not play well with fire?”

GM: “Have to eat fast.”

Celia: “You know that licks, um, they regrow. You could harvest it, maybe, and then the next night they’re healed. Maybe they’re good for more than one meal?”

GM: “Like the sounds they make.”

“Might try. If the sounds stay good.”

Celia: “I could bring you handcuffs,” Celia offers, “so that they don’t wiggle around on you.”

GM: “Okay.”

Celia: “Okay. I’ll get you a good pair. Really strong.”

“Are you… are you a ghost?” She glances around the still dark room. “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want, if it’s rude to ask.”

GM: Silence.

“I’m hungry.”

Celia: Celia nods, falling silent.

She hopes Reggie gets back soon.

GM: Silence stretches.

The house continues to gets warmer.

It’s stiflingly so by the time a bang sounds on the door.

It creaks open. Reggie comes inside, half-dragging Deja by their hair. They’re still gagged and tied up. They look at Celia desperately and make helplessly muffled sounds past the gag.

“This fuck was trying to escape,” says Reggie.

Celia: Celia nods. She had assumed it would try.

She almost feels bad for it.

GM: “Randy ties good knots, at least.”

“Mmm-f! L-pl-mmmm! Pmmm!!!” the thin-blood begs, pinking tears squeezing from their eyes.

There’s a distant sound like an oven door slamming open.

“Leave the meat.”

Deja tries to scream past the gag and meets Celia’s gaze imploringly.

Celia: The tears and screaming make her hesitate.

She feels bad for it. She really does. No one deserves this sort of fate, being fed to a monster.

But it had spied on her. It learned things about her. It would have sold that information—even though it’s gone—to the highest bidder, or to any bidder. Someone could break into its mind and learn everything despite what Pete had done to it.

Reggie’s hand on her arm keeps her from saying anything stupid. She lets him pull her toward the door.

It had a miserable existence anyway. It’s better this way.

GM: “Bring a lick next time.”

But the door opens for Celia and Reggie when they move to leave. There’s a heavy and final-sounding metallic crashing noise. Raw, terrified screams follow in the pair’s wake.

A miserable existence.

And a miserable end.

---

Tuesday night, 15 March 2016, PM

GM: “What the fuck was that?” asks Reggie as Randy drives them off.

Celia: Celia had made Reggie sit in the back with her on the way out. She’s not trembling—she only does that for show—but she can’t help but think that she had come very, very close to being the one that ended up in the oven. The hand that holds his is white-knuckled. She leans against him.

“I don’t know,” she says, “I have no idea. I don’t think it’s a ghost. Ghosts don’t eat meat. But if it’s eating licks… someone told me that, you know, we evolve to eat things weaker than us. So if it’s eating licks, it’s stronger than licks.”

“It said it likes how we sound when we scream.”

GM: “Well that’s a fucking happy thought,” mutters Reggie.

“So you gonna feed it more?” asks Randy.

Celia: “I… guess so.”

GM: “Yeah, how’s that help us?” asks Reggie.

“The mistress could feed it people she doesn’t like,” says Alana, somewhat white-faced herself.

“Okay, sure. But why not just walk the fuck away?” says Reggie.

Celia: “Because what if it can come after us?”

“We need to find out what it is. What its limits are.”

“And maybe we can make it a friend.”

GM: “Well… it wanted you to help it eat, mistress,” says Alana. “That’s something?”

Celia: “I had a theory it might not be able to leave the house. But if I’m wrong…”

GM: “Why can’t it?” asks Reggie.

Celia: “I don’t know. Why would it accept a trade if it could go out and get its own?”

GM: “Maybe it’s… lazy?” asks Randy. “Like, I can make food myself. But I like someone else making it more.”

“Amen to that,” says Reggie. “Thing sounded… I dunno, how hungry did you think it was?”

“If I’m hungry enough, I’ll say fuck it and cook something.”

Celia: “It thought I was human,” she says, “because of the shadow dancing. Both of us. I don’t think we’d have been able to leave if it knew the truth.”

“Unless it wasn’t fooled by that at all.”

“Since it kept saying I smell good, not you.” Celia glances at Reggie.

GM: “Maybe it smelled what good care you take of your body, mistress,” smiles Alana.

“You do smell so good.”

Celia: Her smile is fleeting.

“Thanks. But I doubt it.”

GM: “Well… that means either you fooled it, or you didn’t, but it still wanted you to get more… ‘food’ anyway?”

Celia: “And handcuffs.”

Celia tells them about the “harvesting.”

“That suggests it has a body, doesn’t it?”

GM: “Why didn’t we see anything?” asks Reggie.

Celia: “Turning invisible is a fairly common shadow dancing ability.”

“But… it could not have a body, I don’t know.”

“It wasn’t very forthcoming when I asked.”

GM: “All right, so how do we find out more?”

“Or, main point, whether it can leave the house or not?”

“‘Cuz if it can’t, fuck it.”

Celia: “Thin-bloods might know more about it, if they know to avoid the house after the last time.”

Pete, too, but she thinks he might be mad at her.

Maybe her recently returned from the Shadowlands former ghost friend.

GM: She’s still not sure how the fuck that happened.

Celia: Right? How the fuck?

It’s not like she can call him up and tell him that she knows.

But she’d nudged him toward her all the same, so she’s hoping her phone rings at some point.

GM: “More low-lifes,” says Reggie. “That’s fun.”

“I have to go to bed soon, mistress, for work… can we get my face fixed?” asks Alana.

Celia: “Yes. Randy, drop us at the spa.”

GM: “Got it, babe.”

---

Tuesday night, 15 March 2016, PM

GM: They’re soon back at the spa. Reggie says he has other places to be if Celia doesn’t need him, but Randy seems happy to play taxi driver waiting in the car. Alana seems even happier to get back to Jade’s suite so Celia can fix her face.

Or perhaps relieved, more so than happy.

Relieved and shuddering with disgust.

Celia: Celia sends Randy and Alana inside to take a moment alone with Reggie.

GM: He smirks, grabs her head with both hands, and pulls her into a hungry and forceful kiss.

Celia: Oh. Well. That’s not what she’d been going for, but she doesn’t complain.

GM: He pushes her against the seat and kneads her breasts as his tongue explores her mouth. His fingers soon find their way between her legs as he unzips his pants and pulls her head down over his firm member.

Celia: He knows better than that. There’s a snarl from the lick he’s trying to shove down as she yanks away, flipping the pair of them so that her thighs are spread over either side of his lap. A bit of maneuvering and she finds another hole for him to fill.

GM: This is far from Reggie’s first attempt to get head, but he doesn’t complain. He holds her tight against him as his tongue meets hers again, and then he’s pulling up her shirt to squeeze and suck her breasts. She rides him as he does, burying his cock inside her, and soon the car seat is wet with his sweat, both if their fluids, and smells of fucking.

Sex in the car has always held a special place for her.

Celia: Maybe, in another life, Celia would feel some sort of emotional upheaval about this. Maybe she’d cry and tell him how afraid she was, that she thought maybe he might not come back for her, that she thought she was going to die—burn, she was going to burn—but there he was like some bounty hunter in shining armor.

But that’s not this life. He’s not that guy.

And she’s not that girl anymore.

She takes what she wants from him, her movements frantic and needy, her nails raking down his back when he pushes her over the edge to find release. She doesn’t stop. The windows fog. It reminds her of another night, a night where she whispered to a different boy that she loved him. There are no tender whispers now. No promises of the future. Just two people releasing pent up tension in the back seat of a car.

GM: “Fuck,” Reggie mutters when they’re done. His motions were no less hungry and needful than hers, and there’s bite marks over her own skin. He seems like he had a lot of stress to burn off too.

“Doing this with my bro right inside.”

“God that makes it even hotter.”

Celia: When it’s done she stays still above him, his rapidly softening cock finally making its way out of her.

It doesn’t bother him that he’s fucking his brother’s “girlfriend?”

She’s not sure she wants to ask.

But she does.

GM: “That makes it even hotter,” Reggie repeats with a smirk, stroking Celia’s face.

“What’s his is mine…”

Celia: “That’s a real fucked up family dynamic,” she tells him, but there’s not a lot of judgement in her voice. She’s probably done worse.

And, really, it is kind of hot.

Maybe she’ll get them together sometime.

GM: Reggie shrugs. “I take what I want.”

Celia: “And what do you want?”

She’s not asking about her. Obviously he wants her.

GM: “You, for starters.”

“You and your mom together would be even hotter, with your kid just outside the door…”

Celia: Celia snorts.

“My mom and not my sister?”

GM: “She isn’t really your sister. That makes it less hot.”

Celia: “What if I want you and your brother at the same time? Hot then?”

GM: Reggie snorts. “Randy wouldn’t even know what to do with his cock.”

“He’s a total moron around you.”

Celia: “What’s he like when he isn’t around me?”

GM: “Less of a moron.”

“More like me.”

Celia: “He should try being like that all the time.”

GM: “You just turn him into a complete idiot.”

Celia: It’s not like she means to.

GM: “That’s happened with him and a couple other girls before. Ones he was really into.”

“But never this bad.”

Celia: “You telling me that your brother is in love with me?”

GM: Reggie snorts again.

“If that’s what you want to call being a total fucking idiot, sure.”

“Three-way with him would suck. Rusty too. He just isn’t into that.”

“Maybe my mom, though.”

Celia: Celia considers that. She’d only ever idly thought of fucking Regina. The woman is a tiger, though, she’ll give her that.

GM: “Hey, deal. I’ll let you fuck me and my mom together, if you let me fuck you and your mom together.”

Celia: “If my mom ever wants to fuck you, I’ll let you know.”

GM: “She’s not ever gonna on her own. We gotta encourage her.”

“Deal of a lifetime I’m offering,” he smirks. “My mom’s fantastic in bed.”

Celia: “How would you know that?”

GM: “‘Cuz I know her. She’s fierce. And I know she still fucks a lot of guys.”

Celia: “And you think she’ll want to fuck her son and her other son’s girlfriend?”

GM: Reggie just smirks. “Don’t think I can talk her into it? Since when have I let you down?”

Celia: “Never,” she admits, “that’s why I like you so much. Tell you what. Talk your mom into it and I’ll talk to mine about it.”

GM: “Just bring her back to the house and we’ll make it happen.”

Celia: “I am not going to rape my mom.”

“She has an aversion to sex. She needs some gentle coaxing.”

GM: “She’ll enjoy it once we get going. Sometimes you just gotta rip the band-aid off. Doing it slow just makes it worse.”

Celia: “Don’t touch my mom,” Celia says flatly. “I’ll let you know when you can.”

“Until then, keep your hands and dick and mouth to yourself.”

GM: “That three-way with my mom and me’ll be waiting when you do.”

Celia: Celia rolls her eyes. They’d gotten off topic.

She almost asks him again what he wants, but the moment has passed. The way his eyes had lingered on the blood earlier had made her think that maybe he wants more than being a ghoul forever.

“Did Rusty make any headway on the hunter?” she asks instead.

GM: “Dunno. Ask him.”

Celia: Celia sighs at him.

“That’s what I pay you for. Help him with it. I don’t want to be attacked again.” She pats his cheek. “Then I can’t fuck you anymore, and that would be a tragedy.”

GM: “It really would be.”

“Not to get all mushy and shit, but fucking you is somethin’ fucking else.”

Celia: She grins. “I knew you had a heart somewhere.”

“You know if you’re ever turned your dick probably won’t work anymore.” Idle words, but she watches his face as she says them, looking for a reaction to the thought of being turned.

GM: “How’s drinking blood compare?” he asks, frankly.

Celia: “That’s what sex is to most of them. It’s… comparable, honestly. I can do it their way and be completely satisfied, or do it this way and be completely satisfied.”

GM: “Sounds like an okay trade.”

Celia: “Can’t walk in the sun. No food. More rules. Need permission to travel between territories. You’ll get a little Beast of your very own. It can get pretty lonely.”

“Advantages too, though.”

“Do you want that? To be a lick?”

GM: “You’re tougher and stronger, right?”

Celia: “Yes.”

GM: “Sounds like a good deal.”

“Gotta pay extra for the better gun. But fuck if I don’t want the better gun.”

Celia: “I don’t think you’d be a good Toreador,” Celia points out, “unless you have some hidden artistic talent I don’t know about. Play the kazoo?”

GM: “I’m an artist at fucking, aren’t I?”

Celia: Celia laughs. “They don’t count that. Shame, too, I think they’d make me a grand master if they did.”

GM: “They sure would,” Randy smirks.

“Whatever, though. Vampire’s a vampire.”

Celia: “I’ll see what I can do for you, if that’s something you want.”

GM: There’s that same hungry gleam in his eye.

“Bet on it.”

Celia: Celia lets that hunger turn into something else. She takes him again. It’s quick, it’s messy, and when it’s over she presses her lips against his as if it’s the last time she’ll ever do so.

It isn’t, she knows, but the countdown has started.

---

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, AM

GM: Alana is all-too eager to get back to Jade’s suite once Celia and Reggie are finished fucking. She looks positively miserable to be trapped in Deja’s face. But she doesn’t whine.

Randy obliviously asks if she and his bro had a good talk.

“Know he can be kinda a jerk around you, babe.”

Celia: “It was interesting,” she says. “But he won’t give it a rest about fucking my mom.”

Celia leads the trio to her workstation, though, and lets Alana get comfortable on the table.

“You have an audition tomorrow,” she tells the girl, “that you’ll need to be me for.”

GM: “I love being you, mistress. I do all sorts of dirty things in front of a mirror, when I am…” she purrs.

Celia: That’s pretty hot, Celia admits to herself.

“I’m going to fuck you while you’re me.”

“I’m going to make you get down on your knees and suck the blood out of my cock.”

“And then I’m going to bend you over and fuck you.”

GM: Alana’s eyes positively flutter.

“Hurry, mistress…” she breathes.

Randy just clears his throat.

“Right, uh, I’ll stand guard outside.”

Celia: Celia finds the needle full of local anesthetic so that the girl doesn’t need to suffer while she’s on the table.

“Wait,” she says to Randy.

GM: He pauses.

Celia: Celia pierces Alana’s flesh with the needle and pushes down on the plunger to inject her with it.

“Do you want to fuck her while she’s me?”

GM: “Thank you, mithress,” Alana murmurs as the numbing sets in.

Her eyes get very flat, though, at Celia’s offer.

Celia: “You don’t want to let me watch you fuck him?” Celia asks her, running a hand down her cheek.

“What if we share you?”

GM: Randy looks between her and Celia. “Uh, I’m good, babe. Rather save it for just us, our special night.”

Alana looks even less happy at those last two words.

Celia: “Mm,” Celia says, waving a hand at him to send him on his way.

GM: “He’ll juth blow hith load before hith panth are even off,” Alana says loudly as his form retreats.

Celia: “What a compliment that would be,” Celia teases her.

GM: “Then he’d juth cwy.”

“Thath heth thoooo thorry, babe.”

Celia: She waits until the door closes behind him before she scowls down at Alana.

“Ten swats for that. I told you to be nice to him.”

GM: “Yeth, mithreth,” the ghoul murmurs.

“I’m thorry I dithobeyed.”

Celia: No she isn’t.

But Celia doesn’t correct her.

She just begins the work to transform Deja’s face into Celia’s.

GM: “I juth wan the beth for you, mithreth,” Alana says as she works, keeping her lip movements minimal.

Celia: “I’ve been thinking about that,” Celia says while she twists the flesh and muscle to resemble her own. She doesn’t even need a reference; she’s sure that she could do this transformation blind.

GM: “Yeth, mithreth?”

Celia: “I think I’d like you to learn an art form. You keep asking to come to the parties, and while the sight of you on your knees certainly titillates me, I think you’d enjoy yourself more if you were able to be adored by everyone.”

GM: “You know I’m goo with ewything here, mithreth, I can make them all pwethy… no’ ath pwethy ath you, of courth,” she says with an anesthesia-stiffened smile, “bu clother to i’.”

Celia: “Mm,” Celia says once more.

GM: “I can learn otha things, though, if tha’d make you happier, mithreth,” she adds.

Celia: “I’m just debating how to move things around if we bring on Louise full time as a manager here.”

“I thought maybe you’d want something else to do.”

GM: “Oh I love thpa work, mithreth, I’m no’ u’appy here.”

“But I wan’ tho do wha’ever maketh you happieth, moth of all.”

“Juth thell me wha’.”

Celia: “We’ll get past LA first and see where that leaves us.”

She moves on from Alana’s face, now a carbon copy of her own, to begin sculpting the rest of the body. Their sizes are similar, but Celia tucks a few things here and there and pads a few others.

GM: “Okay, mithreth. I’ll love gowig tho Hollywoo’ with you.”

Celia: “Have to nail the audition first,” Celia tells her while she finishes the work. “Know your lines?”

GM: “Yeth, mithreth, I’ve rea’ an’ pwacithed ova an’ ova.”

Celia: “Perfect. Now the real question: how big of a cock should I give myself?”

GM: “The biggeth, mithreth,” Alana beams, as much as she can.

“Thpli me open…”

Celia: “You’re not going to be able to get your pretty little mouth around it if I make it that big,” Celia teases. But she drops beneath the table to find the flesh she had harvested prior, pulling free a handful of preserved human skin, muscles, and connective tissue from the man Gui had dropped off. When was that? Last week? Two weeks ago? Back before her Requiem had blown up with hunters and Roderick and thin-bloods, when she’d just been practicing her ability to turn flesh into other objects. The dick had remained mostly intact, but she adds to it now, globbing on a handful of flesh and molding it into a roughly phallic shape. The skin is like clay beneath her fingers.

She’s done with the sculpting in short order and holds the finished product up for Alana to see, asking if she thinks it’s big enough.

GM: “Cram ith in, mithreth, I wan’ tho thoke on ith…” Alana says with a numb-sounding purr.

“Yeth, thath nithe an’ fat, mithreth… thick in in me…”

Celia: “I will, pet. As soon as you stop drooling on yourself and take your swats.”

It’s a deft bit of work to turn her clit into a cock. She uses the borrowed flesh from the dead man, twisting things around to connect blood vessels, arteries, and nerve endings. She’s done the reverse enough times and practiced on enough corpses that the work itself is quick. She’s done it to herself, too, but only for curiosity’s sake; she’s never actually fucked anyone like this yet.

Once it’s on she strokes a hand along the flesh, marveling at the way it comes to life beneath her touch. It stiffens, aching to be touched.

Celia glances down at the rest of herself. She kept her pussy and tits intact this time rather than smoothing it all out; she wants the best of both worlds, Alana’s fingers in her cunt with her lips on her cock. Already she’s wet. She can feel it when she moves, stripping from her shirt and bra to leave the clothing discarded on the floor. She stands over the table near Alana’s face.

“This is what you want?” she asks, stroking a hand up and down her freshly forged cock.

GM: Beauty is pain. Always has. Always will. Completely remaking some of the most sensitive spots on her body is excruciatingly painful, but there’s pleasure to it, too. That knife-thin edge between pain and pleasure, slanted heavily towards pain, but not enough that she can’t lose sight of the other side. Celia’s new cock is sore even as it stiffens. There’s a lot of hurt in her, now. Hurt she can take out on this simpering little sub. Fuck her until she screams. Fuck her until she’s jelly. Fuck all the pain away.

The simpering little sub who looks exactly like her.

Is this what it was like for Jamal? Maybe she can strangle the little bitch too. Pinch her nose. Really see things from his perspective. Knowing Alana, she’s going to enjoy the spankings anyway. They aren’t nearly the punishment for her they were for Diana.

“Yeth, mithreth,” Alana whimpers, motionless on the table. Celia can see in her eyes how hungry she is for that cock. How hungry another Celia is for that cock.

She demurely lowers her gaze. “Bu’ we hath tho do my thwath firth, liy you thaid…”

Celia: “Mm,” Celia murmurs, running a hand down Alana’s cheek. “I do have to swat you first, you’re absolutely right.”

It’s less for Alana than it is for her; she knows the girl gets off to it the same as she does, that it’s not so much a punishment for either of them as it is foreplay.

“I’m going to get something,” she tells the ghoul, “be naked and bent over the table when I get back.”

Her bare feet make not a sound against the floor as she strides off.

GM: “Yeth, mithreth,” the ghoul answers demurely. When Celia gets back, she sees herself naked and bent over as instructed.

This should help Jade play the role of Celia’s domitor even better.

She actually has spanked the girl.

Or at least her lookalike.

Celia can smell her lookalike’s arousal, too, see the wetness trickling down her thighs. Alana has already been fingering herself. Fingering Celia’s body.

Celia: “Now there’s a sight,” Celia purrs as she stalks back into the room with a bag in hand. Alana’s sex glistens in the light shining down from above. Alana’s, she wonders, or Celia’s? And if this is Celia, what does that make her?

Jade.

Of course.

Jade sets the bag down on the table next to where Celia bends over, pressing her hips against her backside. Her cock has gone flaccid in her time away, but it won’t be long until it’s hard again. She leans into the quivering kine, bending with her until her lips touch the back of her neck. Her arms slide around the front of the girl, fingers roughly pinching and squeezing her nipples.

“You were touching yourself,” Jade murmurs. “Did I say you could do that?”

GM: “No, mithreth,” Alana whimpers, her hands falling away. She positions them behind her back, just over her ass, as if Jade has tied them there. “I’m vewy thowwy… ith your body, tha’ you own… both of them…”

“Alana’th an’ Thelia’th…”

Celia: “Alana and Celia,” Jade agrees, “they’re both mine. You are mine. I own you.”

A pair of cuffs taken from the bag snap around Celia’s wrists. Thick leather bands kept together by a metal chain, with a handful of D-rings that Jade can use to further attach her to things and position her as needed.

“Maybe,” she tells the ghoul, “I won’t let you cum tonight. Maybe I’ll take you right to that edge and deny you now since you decided to touch my property without my permission. I’ll tie you down and leave you squirming and listen to you beg me to let you. And then I’ll walk away.”

GM: “Yeth, mithreth…” Alana whimpers, giving a little gasp of pleasure at the sensation of the snugly securing leather. “I’ll juth kith the ground, where you walk away… an’ run my tongue over itht, an’ kith it, an’ be thankful for tha’…”

“I’m vewy happy for you tho own me, mithreth, even if you don’ let me cum…”

“I love how you own me…”

Celia: “What a good little girl,” Jade says to Celia. She takes a step away. “So submissive. So obedient. The perfect little whore.”

Saying the word sends a thrill through her. She says it again, “whore,” letting it fall from her tongue like a pet name.

“You are a little whore, aren’t you? No sex for a week, I said, because we both knew that was the ultimate punishment for you. Do you think you deserve it now, whore?”

She lashes out, striking Celia across the ass. Her eyes flash as the flesh jiggles and turns red beneath the blow.

GM: Celia cries out under the sharp smack and presses her face against the table.

“I detherve wha’e’r you thay I detherve, mithreth… your properthy doeth’n have opinions… your properthy juth obeyths…”

“I’m your whore, I o’ny fuck who you tell me…”

Celia: “Then why would you think it’s acceptable to fuck yourself? That’s my body. My property.”

Another sharp, stinging smack, harder this time.

GM: There’s another loud, equally sharp cry. Celia’s hands reflexively strain against her cuffs.

“Becauth I’m weak, mithreth, an’ a whore… I need you tho keep me in line… you tho conthrol my life for me… you know be’er than me…”

Celia: “You’re a whore,” Jade agrees. “My whore.”

Another smack. Only the third, and she’d promised ten.

An idea takes hold in her mind.

“You fuck who I tell you to, don’t you?”

She wonders if he’s even up at this hour. How he’d react to being given the offer to fuck Celia again.

GM: “Yeth, mithreth,” whimpers Celia. There’s a lower cry after the third smack. “I don’ ge’ tho dethide anything im my life tha’ you don’ le’ me.”

Celia: Maybe next time, after she has a chance to enjoy the girl first.

Another smack across the flesh, her handprint becoming more clear with each blow.

A fifth.

A sixth.

She reminds Celia what a whore she is every time she strikes her. Makes her apologize for being a whore. For touching herself. For not fucking Randy like the whore that she is. For refusing her mistress. For a host of sins, like the fact that her pussy is dripping onto Jade’s hand every time she strikes her.

Like a fucking faucet.

Jade reaches ten and pauses, watching her doppelganger writhe against the wrist restraints. She strokes her other hand almost tenderly down her spine.

“Have you learned your lesson, my pretty little whore?”

GM: She can see why Paul liked it.

Why Jamal liked it.

There’s something about the sight of Celia Flores, crying out and writhing beneath her mistress’ blows, but liking it, too. Getting wet like a fucking faucet with every smack as her ass turns redder. She’s a whore. A filthy whore who needs to be put in her place. Who needs to be governed, controlled, taught under pain. Tamed.

“Yes, mistress,” whispers Celia, shivering under her owner’s touch. “I’m a whore. I’m such a whore. But I’m your whore, you own me, and I just want to be pretty for you.”

She wonders if it’s Paul’s face and not Jade’s that would stare back at her from a mirror right now.

Celia: Everything is about sex. Except sex. Sex is about power.

Someone had told her that once. Someone she had fucked, she’s sure. The words come back to her now as she stares down at Celia Flores, “my pretty little whore.”

Pretty.

So pretty.

But stupid.

Stupid, to ghoul her mom. Celia gets another swat for that. Harder.

Stupid, to talk about it in her spa.

Another swat. Harder.

Stupid, to never learn how to erase memories and fix things herself.

Another swat. Harder.

Stupid, to lose it on Elyse in the first place.

Another swat. Harder.

But pretty. So pretty. The way her skin reddens, so pretty. The way it splits beneath her hand, so pretty. The blood that drips down her cheeks.

So pretty.

And the sounds. The sounds the black skinned beauty had once coaxed out of her while her cousin watched, spread open on her lap so he could see everything, face red in humiliation and something she doesn’t want to name, something like desire. Long nails that could have shredded her dipping inside her cunt, slick with the evidence of her whore nature. Created for this. Groomed for this. By her mother, by her father, by her next door neighbor and his big, scary guards who liked to make her scream.

Fingers pinching her nipples. Squeezing. Crushing.

“Happy noises, little toy.”

Veronica’s words, Jade’s lips, the same helpless little mortal.

Jade takes what she wants from the whore. Bends her over the table and buries her borrowed cock inside. Yanks her up, flush against her chest, and licks the back of her neck. Takes her jaw in hand and turns her head to the side, licking the tears away.

“Delicious,” Paul purrs, “the tears of a whore.”

Feather-light fingers brush against her clit. They bring her to the edge but never over, teasing Celia until she’s a quivering, trembling mess in Jade’s arms.

They shift. Jade pins her to the wall with Celia’s legs around her waist.

“That’s what daddies are for,” Jamal says. His lips swallow her cries.

They shift. Jade kneels on the ground with Celia bent over in front of her. She guides her cock into Celia’s ass, fingers digging into her hips.

“This is your true purpose,” Paul grunts, “this is what whores do.”

She smells blood.

“Open up.”

Celia on her knees, looking up with fear in her eyes. Jade’s fingers pinch her nose until she opens her mouth; she shoves herself inside, making the whore choke on it. Fingers around her throat cut off her air.

“Scream,” Jamal says.

Celia screams. Flesh muffles her cries.

No one knows what’s going on upstairs.

A claw slices into the tip of her dick. A final thrust and blood spurts into the waiting mouth.

Then it’s over.

She finishes with the whore.

Jade pulls Celia close, trailing kisses down her cheek and neck. Her mouth fastens around a nipple. Fingers move inside her body, coaxing her to another shuddering climax. She whispers words of encouragement and finally swallows the delicious cries with her mouth.

They bathe together in the suite, Celia curled against Jade’s body. Jade takes her again, gently this time, and they drink from each other at the point of climax. They ride the waves until they crest and crash against each other. Jade kisses her soundly when they’re done.

No whores, not here, just Jade and Celia.

GM: That’s one thing Paul never did.

He was never gentle.

Jade’s learned it time and again, with Elyse. You break the dolls fastest by pairing kindness with cruelty. Pain with pleasure. Sternness with affection. Hardness with gentleness. Humans are social animals, wired to be nice to people who are nice to them. The psyche has a hard time reconciling how to respond when someone is good to them and horrible to them at the same time. Stronger psyches recognize they are being hurt and refuse to give their tormentor a pass. Weaker psyches fold and rationalize why they’re being hurt. It’s okay because their tormentor is nice to them too.

Some take longer than others.

But Jade has yet to see a doll whose psyche didn’t fold.

Like her mother folded.

Like Celia would have folded, if only Paul or Maxen had been nice to her too. They’d have broken her completely.

Celia is weak.

Celia screams as Jade punishes her for it. For her disgusting weakness. For her disgusting whore nature. For being so fucking stupid. Celia cries. Celia hurts. Celia’s tears taste delicious with her hurt. But Celia does what she’d told, because that’s the only thing she can do right, even if it takes lots of punishments to make it sink in.

Stupid can be taught. It just takes longer, says Maxen.

So she teaches the stupid whore. Fists her cunt as she cries. Yanks her hair. Rams her ass until she bleeds. Pinches her nipples until she cries. Chokes her, throttles that stupid fucking bitch, cuts off her air, watches her gasp for it past the cock she tries to spit out, but there’s nothing she can do about it, with her hands bound behind her back. That earns more time with the fingers pinched over her nose. The stupid bitch will be taught. It’ll just take longer.

But she’ll be a whore. She’ll always be a whore. Jade can tell the instant she pierces her cock and lets Celia have a taste. Jade or Celia or somebody once knew a gay friend who said women gave worse blowjobs. “It’s just that you don’t have dicks. You don’t know what it’s like to be on the receiving end.”

Maybe that’s true.

But gay or straight, man or woman:

Jade has never seen a more enthusiastic blowjob than the one Celia gives.

At that first taste of vitae, everything else slides off her face like makeup under a faucet. All of her pain and fear. All of her cries. All of her tears. At that hit of her drug of choice, Celia the ghoul sucks cock like she’s receiving divine communion. She swallows it balls and all. She all but eats that dick off its owner’s crotch. At that taste of vitae, is forgiven. She wants it every bit as much as Jamal said she did. Celia Flores lives for the dick. If it means she gets a hit.

Such a whore.

She just wants blood instead of money.

Then, just like with Elyse.

The aftercare.

Kissing in the shower. Making love in the shower. Making love with herself. Paul never did this. He should have. The sweet dessert after the meaty course. The indulgence. Dolls get rewards after their lessons, if they’re good. Celia told her mother she loved her and would always fight for her. Celia wants someone to do that for her too. Jade is who she can’t be around the monsters. Jade will stick up for her. Jade will defend her. Jade only punishes her out of love, so that she will do better, and Jade is so very very happy when she does better.

Maybe some would call it a devil’s bargain.

But the Flores family have been making those all their lives.

They lie in one another’s arms after they’re spent, warm and wet, owner and pet, Jade and Celia.

One soul in two bodies.

Two shards of the same psyche.

“I love you, mistress…”

---

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, AM

Celia: Jade has a final task for Celia when they’re done: she tells her to collect the hair she’d taken from the girl last week, the really beautiful blonde hair, and to mix a darker color for it. Jade is going to turn it into a wig. Color doesn’t take long to mix, and Alana is a deft hand at applying it; in the end it’s a rich, coffee-colored brown with a balayage of caramel and mahogany. Natural, but just as glossy and beautiful as Jade would wear on her own head.

She checks her phone while Alana works, looking for a message back from Gui.

GM: 1920s, reads the Ventrue’s text back. Great Gatsby. In the South.

The parties aren’t costume-themed every week, or every other week. But this week, apparently, they are twice in a row, in defiance of previous patterns. The French Quarter lord and his master of elysium prefer to keep things fresh.

Piper, she’s sure, would kill to attend.

Celia: The Ventrue gets a thumbs up back from Jade. She’s glad there’s a theme this week and she hadn’t looked silly asking about something that didn’t exist. ‘20s, though. Interesting. Wasn’t that when his sire was all the rage?

She thanks Alana with a final kiss and sends her on her way, wishing her good luck at the audition tomorrow. She tells her to have fun with the fame, too; maybe even do a photoshoot if she wants. Somewhere sunny.

“Tell Randy to stick around.”

GM: Alana happily obeys all of her mistress’ instructions, and says she’s sure he’ll have lots of fun.

She asks for permission to finger herself (and more) in Celia’s body.

Celia: Jade gives Alana permission to do as she will so long as she doesn’t take any photos or video of anything sexual.

GM: Alana is thrilled to receive her mistress’ permission.

Celia: When Alana is finally gone Jade removes the borrowed cock and pulls out a handful of other supplies that she needs, enough flesh for three more masks. It had worked well with Roderick; now she needs one for Dani, her mother’s first face, and another for Roderick.

Dani’s first. The flesh from the dead girl works just as well here as it had for the hair, and while she works she searches through her contacts for Edith Flannagan’s number. They’re not best friends, per se, but they’ve seen each other around enough, and Jade gives her a ring.

GM: Jade’s Beast is a greedy, rapacious thing as she molds flesh to her will. She feels the vitae all but leaking out of her fingers as it snarls in her ear for daring to think:

Roderick’s sister would not approve of how this mask was made. Of where its parts came from.

She’s as much a Boy Scout as he is. Minus the boy parts.

Celia: Minus the boy parts and the Gold Award.

GM: Eagle Scout. Gold Award.

Just as lacking, regardless of the parts.

Celia: And now here Dani is causing problems for Celia without even realizing. Her Beast hates the thought of giving something so weak a chance to pass as someone else. Diana’s and Roderick’s will need to wait until she can slake her hunger.

GM: More than several rings go up before Celia is greeted by a strained-sounding, “Hello?” Children’s cries are audible in the background.

Celia: “Hey, Edith, it’s Jade. You have a second?”

First name basis and everything.

GM: The cries’ volumes initially don’t diminish. Then they do.

“Oh, of course, Jade. What can I do for you?”

Celia: “I’ll keep it brief. Sounds like your hands are full. I have some questions that I wanted to throw your way; you’re a bit of an expert in the subject. Are you free tomorrow or the night after? Whenever is best for you.”

GM: “I’m free either night,” Edith says quickly. “If you can bring some juice, I’ll answer whatever you want. The little ’uns are… hungry.”

Of course they’re hungry.

Everyone knows that Edith Flannagan keeps a larger stable of ghouls than Jade (plus a needy “daughter”), in a much smaller domain, and spoils them rotten. The bill is always coming due.

Celia: “Sure thing, Edith. How’s Thursday, then? Gives me time to go to the store.”

She tries not to think about the fact that she’s contributing to the problem.

GM: Who knows how much longer her neighbors are going to tolerate it.

Celia: Jade has heard rumors that the little monster might need a muzzle soon.

GM: “Okay, Thursday. How’s at 10—”

There’s a crashing sound, then a high-pitched shriek.

“Sorry, I have to go,” Edith says quickly.

The line clicks.

Celia: This is why she’s glad she’ll never have kids.

Jade hangs up and looks down at the finished mask. It’s cute enough. Won’t draw attention to Dani. She’ll need to figure out an easy way to apply and remove it, though, otherwise she’s going to have to spin a handful of tales. Something with the blood, probably.

She’ll figure it out.

She puts the rest of the material away for now.

GM: The prospect of kids with Stephen didn’t seem so bad, she once thought.

They’d have probably been less of a handful than Edith’s.

Celia: And less hungry.

Maybe.

Celia: The option is closed to her now, anyway. She finishes wiping down her station, sends a text to Alana to set up a meeting with Lucia, and showers off the smell of sex and blood before finding a spare shirt and skirt that she’d left here at some point.

She still needs to meet up with Gui, she can’t help but think as she dresses; she thought that he would have called her by now instead of making her chase after him. She’d mentioned multiple times she wants to talk. Maybe she needs to be more forward than blatantly sitting on his lap and flirting with him. Take his pants off, see where that gets her.

Celia entertains idle fantasies about the pair of them on her way out the door, Randy in tow. She’d meant to do something with him tonight, too.

“When’s our date?” she asks as she slides inside the front seat and directs him to the club. Not yet closing time; enough time to find a vessel for a quick snack before she has to meet Roderick.

GM: He asks if “Friday during normal hours” works, and upon hearing she has dinner with Henry Garrison then, he suggests the next Friday.

“It’s gonna be, it’s gonna be really special, babe,” he grins.

Celia: “Must be, if you’re making me wait a whole extra week for it.” She takes his hand in hers. “I’m excited.”

GM: “Me too. You’ll, you’ll really like it!”

Alana texts back that she’ll do so, and also gives a preemptive heads up that she’s going to bed.

Celia: She sends a heart to Alana, kisses Randy on the cheek when he pulls up outside the club and says she’ll see him tomorrow, and slips into the club to hunt.

GM: An hour later, Jade catches another two service industry workers hopping the late night bars. She goes back to one of their places. Or they go back to hers. It doesn’t matter. She’s irresistible. The kine all but melt around her into spontaneous orgy. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel to make them fall for her.

Veronica and Pietro always complain mortals can be too easy.

Celia: They have been lately, but Celia won’t complain like her elder clanmates. She doesn’t want to fight for her dinner if she doesn’t need to; she remembers all too clearly what happened last time. She’s pleased with the easy catch, pleased to be shared, pleased to cut herself and bleed into an empty container to save for later. Blood for Pete. Maybe for Edith. Maybe for Donovan, if she and Elyse ever make it work again. Not that she’ll need to pay a toll if they’re not working in Riverbend.

Oh no, how is she going to conveniently bump into her favorite lay now?

---

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, AM

Celia: When she’s done with the men she catches a Ryde to the border. The girl disappears, the cat in its place, and when Roderick arrives she’s just as cuddly an affectionate as last time, perched on his lap while he travels the streets of Mid-City to take her back to his temporary haven.

GM: The pair have some time remaining when they get back. Roderick pets the cat and asks if the girl finally wants to learn to fight.

Or to enjoy belly rubs.

Celia: When the girl emerges—still on his lap, since Luna hadn’t bothered moving once he’d carried her inside and posed the question—she tells him that if he breaks her nose she’s going to hire someone to beat him up.

GM: “Beat me yourself. I’ll show you how,” he smirks.

Roderick says there’s three things for them to go over:

One, basic technical proficiency with very basic things, like throwing a straight punch, Celia getting her hands up to protect her head, that kind of stuff.

Second, developing the ability to react to getting hit without panic—and from that, the Beast—taking over. Roderick says this is harder than she might think. Lots of people just can’t do it, or take a ton of time to do it.

Third, developing the aggression response that lets her actually try to hurt the other person—outside of the Beast’s influence. Most people have a gut aversion to seriously, physically hurting other human beings. It’s an instinct he needs to train her rational self out of.

Celia: It’s an instinct she doesn’t have.

If someone is coming after her, she doesn’t think she’ll have any trouble responding with equal force.

But she nods anyway, because maybe she shouldn’t be like that.

GM: “I’m not talking about your Beast,” he adds. “It obviously has no problems going for the kill. We’re teaching you to fight without your Beast.”

“And this is a lot harder than you might think it is.”

Celia: Maybe for a nice guy like him.

GM: “Unless you’ve done serious physical harm to someone before, when the time comes, you WILL hesitate unless you’re a complete sociopath. It’s simply not something that modern society trains us to do.”

Celia: “Modern society didn’t train me to fight at all,” she says with a rueful smile. “But I’m happy we’re fixing that.”

She doesn’t touch his sociopath comment.

Of course she’s not a sociopath. She has so many feelings she doesn’t know what to do with them.

GM: “That’s right,” he nods. The pair have changed out of clothes into sweats (separately, at Roderick’s insistence, so they don’t get distracted fucking). He’s also cleared most of his living room. “Those second and third things are also linked. Because in addition to having a hard time inflicting violence, most people don’t react well to having it inflicted on them. They freeze or panic. The average person who gets punched in the mouth the first time doesn’t start swinging back, but goes into a psychological state we call ‘the black’ where their rational thinking and ability to formulate plans goes to shit and their animal fight or flight instinct kicks in.”

“They’re as much a danger to themselves as their opponents in that state. Or, to a physically matched opponent with actual combat training, probably no danger at all.”

“However, Kindred are different. When we go into ‘the black,’ our Beast takes over. The Beast obviously knows how to fight. This is why your average lick off the street, even without any other powers or advantages inherent to our condition, is so much more dangerous compared to the average human being. Their Beast will never panic or hesitate, and will go straight for the kill, even if they have no combat training.”

“In some ways, starting a fight with a lick who’s had no combat training can actually be more dangerous for your average breather. Because a lick with training is much more likely to remain in control of themselves and can choose not to kill.”

Celia: “Doesn’t it make more sense to let the Beast take over if I think I’m going to get into a fight, then? If it knows how to fight?”

GM: “Absolutely not!” exclaims Roderick, shaking his head.

“Maybe in some fights. But you’re playing with fire.”

“What’s your objective in the fight? Are you actually trying to kill someone, or just drive off an attacker? The latter is less dangerous for you. Are you trying to protect anyone? Do you want to take prisoners? Will you withdraw after accomplishing an objective?”

“At what point will you retreat if you start to lose? Presumably you’re not fighting to the death, since most people don’t do that. They run away if they don’t think a fight’s outcome is worth their life.”

“All of that goes out the window once your Beast takes over. It will mindlessly fight until either it or the opposition is dead. It won’t retreat, it won’t surrender, it won’t work together with allies, it won’t care about anything except pulverizing whatever’s hurting it.”

“What happens if a sniper takes shots at you from five stories up? If you’re in control, you can formulate a plan to eliminate the threat you can’t immediately perceive. The Beast will just jump at the nearest moving thing and rip it apart, even if it’s no threat to you. The Beast doesn’t use or understand tactics.”

Celia: “Why would a sniper be shooting at me, though?”

It’s not that she disagrees.

GM: “Because even if head shots couldn’t seriously fuck up your night, which they can, long-range shooting is an efficient method of taking out frenzying licks. We aren’t bulletproof, just bullet-resistant. Enough shots add up, especially from higher-caliber weapons. And if the frenzying lick you’re shooting from range can’t actually fight back, because they’re incapable of formulating a plan to take out an opponent they can’t see, then you’re basically shooting fish in a barrel.”

“If I had to pick between slugging it out with a frenzying lick or taking shots from a distance with a Remington 700, I’d pick the Remington.”

“Why wouldn’t I? It’s so much less risk for me.”

Celia: “Mm, okay. So no Beast.”

GM: “Now, maybe your fight actually will be simple. Maybe it’s just you and one or several people slugging it out until one side falls over. Maybe the terrain doesn’t offer a retreating opponent any places to hide. Maybe you’re trying to take down your opponent at any cost, in a setting where you can afford to turn off your brain. Your Beast will be a big help there.”

“But lots of fights won’t be that simple. In any fight where you need to exercise tactics—like, here’s another example, if you’re fighting near mortal witnesses and need to pay attention to the Masquerade—your Beast is a liability, full stop.”

“Think of your Beast as a grenade. It’s dangerous. It’s messy. It is very likely to cause collateral damage. There are times to use it. There are times not to use it.”

“Moreover, your Beast can already take care of itself. I can’t train your Beast to be a better fighter. It operates off pure instinct. I can only train you.”

Celia: “How do you control it? Brujah and all.”

GM: “By getting punched in the face enough times that you don’t enter ‘the black’ and let your Beast take over.”

“It’s not a surefire thing. Even with training, your Beast still might take over. But without training, it’s almost certain that your Beast will. Especially for my clan.”

Celia: “So your plan,” Celia says slowly, “is to repeatedly punch me in the face.”

GM: “I’ll teach you how to block and punch back too. But yes, I will try to punch you. That’s what people do in real fights.”

Celia: That’s not what she meant, and he knows it.

But she just says, “Okay.”

GM: “All right.” Roderick takes Celia’s arm in his and pulls it up. “First lesson is kind of fundamental, and seems easier than it is. Lots of people who throw a punch for the first time at a solid object hurt themselves, because they don’t keep their forearm and wrist or hand in line. They end up hurting their wrist or hand. Getting to the point where you can do basic things like kneeing or punching takes longer than you think.”

“So that’s what we’re going to do tonight.”

Roderick pats the wall-mounted punching bag he’s brought out, gives Celia some pointers, and tells her to throw a few punches. He’ll correct her technique as needed.

He watches appraisingly as she does so. He’s silent for the first round until he says, “I think we might have just been wasting your time.”

“You already know how to throw a basic punch. You’ve had some training.”

Celia: Celia drops her hands from where they’d been up near her face to “protect her pretty”—Reggie’s words when he’d shown her the same thing years ago—and shrugs.

“Randy likes UFC.”

They’d both taken turns showing her the basics for times they couldn’t be around. They’d made it a habit for her to swing with her whole body to put more force behind the punch, though she’s always been faster than she is strong.

GM: “Clearly you like it too. But okay, that’s good. It saves us the need to go over a lot of fundamentals.”

He raises up his own fists. “All right, won’t be anything too serious, but let’s try you in some actual sparring…”

---

Wednesday night, 16 March 2016, AM

GM: Celia doesn’t get sore or tired, which is good. The two spend the remainder of the night throwing punches and kicks at one another. Celia immediately picks up that she has a lot to pick up. Roderick can not only send her flying with a well-placed punch, he’s a lot faster than she is, too. Still, Roderick seems happy with how the night goes. Lots of opponents she goes up against may be preternaturally strong and fast. Roderick doesn’t tell her that combat training will make those inborn advantages irrelevant, but he can teach her how to work around them, and how to use her own gifts of the Blood to maximum effect. She’s pretty fast, so that’s what their lessons are going to revolve around… as well as the built-in claws she’ll frequently (but not always) be able to whip out.

Like any skill, it comes down to practice. Practice to get good and practice to stay sharp. Roderick wants to spar with her every night before bed. If they stick to a regular schedule, she’ll become a better fighter.

He remarks approvingly of how well she did tonight, and says he feels good knowing she can already defend herself.

Celia: She doesn’t get sore, she doesn’t get tired, and she doesn’t sweat. She wonders, when it’s over and he’s telling her about his training plan for her, why they bothered to change into sweats to begin with if neither one of them have that particular bodily function anymore. Range of motion in non-restrictive clothing, she guesses. Or maybe it’s that she looks absolutely fetching in one of his shirts (she hadn’t brought sweats of her own) with its neckline large enough to slip off her shoulder and her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail.

She agrees to the proposed schedule of every night before bed, her stomach fluttering at the thought that he wants to keep her around.

Why wouldn’t he? Even in the vision he’d—

The reminder of it is enough to make her mood plummet, her fantasy of finding a house with a spare room they can turn into a sparring ring dissipating into the air. She needs to find a way to fix it. A glance at the clock shows a spare bit of time before daysleep will claim them both.

“Thank you for the lesson.”

Familiar words. She can’t help but think of Donovan giving her another sort of lesson on the rooftop of her haven, how much stronger and faster he is than the both of them. What would it be like to stand across the ring from him?

Exhilarating, probably.

Another flutter. She dismisses it.

GM: She looks absolutely fetching in anything, he’s said before.

And in nothing. Definitely in nothing, too.

“You’re welcome,” her lover answers.

Those words, at least, are unfamiliar.

But so are her sire’s other lessons. What would his training regimen look like? Would he teach her, if she impressed him enough?

Celia: Still, there’s something a little special about wearing his shirt and looking as adorable as she does in it. Especially perched on the edge of the bed as she is, knees drawn up to her chest. Small and cute and maybe a little vulnerable, but that’s what he’s here for, isn’t it? A big strong Brujah to protect his tiny little lover.

Then again, who needs Roderick when she has—could have?—Donovan.

“Can we talk for a sec?”

GM: “Sure. What’s up?”

“You look absolutely adorable, by the way,” Roderick mentions, slinging an arm around her shoulder.

Celia: “I’ve been thinking about you and Dani. I spoke to her a little bit. And I wanted to run some things by you.”

GM: “All right. What’d you have in mind?”

Celia: “Just… listen before you say anything, okay?”

GM: He gives her a squeeze. “Okay. I’ll keep my mouth closed.”

Celia: “Well, I guess you can answer questions that I ask. Like… you want a relationship with her, right? Even though she’s thin-blood?”

GM: “Yes, of course! She’s my sister, before she’s anything else.”

“Just like you’re my girlfriend who I wanted to have my children with, and who I still want to spend eternity with, before you’re any Kindred labels.”

Celia: She’s not that girl anymore, though. She wonders when he’s going to realize that.

But she smiles at him, because she thinks that might be the sort of response he’s looking for and this conversation isn’t about her, and leans her head on his shoulder.

“So. Dani is mad at you. Like, really mad. And maybe it’s kind of irrational, since you didn’t do this to her, and it’s not your fault she was born female or that your dad, uh, that he loves you more.”

“The thing is, right, she had all these years where she thought that you were gone. So she was making her own way through life. And yeah she kind of followed in your footsteps, but she was still in control.”

“And then you came back and tried to tell her that you know what’s best for her and she has to listen to you.”

“And even though I’ve tried to explain the city’s politics to her, even though she understands now that she’s a thin-blood, she doesn’t really get it. So hearing you say, ‘give up your life and move to another city where you don’t know anyone,’ is just another example of the family dynamic you used to have where you were the golden child and she was, y’know, second or third class.”

“And I don’t think that you can have that same relationship with her. She’s family. She’s not just a thin-blood. She’s not just another lick who you have authority over.”

“She doesn’t want to leave.”

“Her friends are here. School is here. Her job is here.”

“It’s like that conversation we had where we discussed ghouling family members, you know? You can’t have the same sort of dynamic with them as you do with other renfields, and it might not be the same dynamic as when you were alive, either.”

“But there’s a middle ground somewhere that you can find.”

“And I’ve been calling in favors, I think I told you, and she and I have a bit of a plan, and I’ve been looking more into thin-bloods lately to see what sort of things they can do and what their limits are, and once we find those I think we’ll have a better idea of what to do with her.”

GM: Roderick listens. True to her request, he doesn’t speak yet.

Celia: “So my advice,” she says finally, “is to let her stay with me and finish school, at least, and reassess. I think if you show her that you’re not just going to waltz in and take over her Requiem she might be a little more receptive to what you have to say.”

“Also she said she won’t forgive you unless you pay her rent for the next year after she finds a place in the Quarter.”

These last words come out in a rush.

Finally, she makes a motion like he can speak again.

GM: “Why on earth should I pay her rent?” he asks at length.

Celia: Celia lifts one shoulder in a shrug.

“That’s just what she texted me today.”

GM: “I might do that if she asked me, and needed the financial assistance. But I don’t appreciate threats and ultimatums.”

He glowers.

“At all.”

Celia: Whoops.

“Sorry, that was… I should have delivered that better.”

GM: “You delivered what she said.”

Celia: “She does need the financial assistance.”

GM: “Then she can ask. Instead of threaten.”

“I’m also not even decided I want to enable that decision, even if she does ask politely.”

Celia: “You want her to stay at her place in Riverbend? Probably not ideal, but I can… I’ll see what I can do…?”

GM: “I get that she’s scared. I get that she might need time apart.”

“But she needs to get over herself. I don’t owe her anything for being, in a word, more successful. Or for Dad loving me more.”

“This isn’t ’I’m terrified of my brother’s unholy strength and rage’ Dani talking. This is ‘I resent my brother’s success and want to financially extort him through emotional blackmail’ Dani talking.”

Celia: Celia quietly nods her head.

“How d’you want me to handle that, then?”

GM: “Exactly what I said. She needs to ask me, politely, and have a relationship with me before I’m willing to help her out financially. And she should feel ashamed for trying to emotionally blackmail me. I’m not playing that game.”

“I’m not sure if I want her stay in Riverbend.” Roderick rubs his head. “I’m still mulling things over.”

“I’m trying to find out what Savoy’s angle is. I need to know that before I make a decision about what to do. It’s too big a variable to leave unaccounted for.”

“But your point is taken. I’ll try to be less dictating and more… suggesting once I’ve figured that out. It obviously pushed a lot of the wrong buttons with her.”

Celia: “Hard to know what to say to someone when you explain you’re a lick. And not actually dead.”

GM: “I had no idea how to have that conversation.”

Celia: “Did it better than I would have, I bet.”

GM: “Eh. Think you’d have handled it better.”

“Wouldn’t hurt either that your sister doesn’t have so much resentment towards you.”

Celia: “Emily?”

GM: “Yeah. If this were her and not Dani who’d been Embraced as a thin-blood.”

Celia: “Maybe her, sure. Isabel hates me, though.”

“Imagine it would have gone the same.”

GM: “You ever wonder what happened to her? How she’s managing out in Sudan?”

Celia: Celia is quiet for a long moment.

Finally, in a small voice, she says, “She’s not.”

GM: “Sorry?”

Celia: “She’s not in Sudan. She never was.”

GM: Roderick frowns.

“So what was that story hiding?”

Celia: “Same thing it hides for the rest of us. She was Embraced.”

GM: “What!? When, by who?”

Celia: “She was released with the rest of us on the anniversary. Roxanne.”

GM: “Oh my god. All that time. I’ve seen Roxanne in passing, but…” He shakes his head. “I never really spoke with her that much. I only saw Isabel once, too. Years ago, when she was acting like a completely different person. I guess I just never connected their faces.”

“Why’d you never say anything?”

Celia: “Same reason I never told anyone you were Stephen Garrison. It’s not my business to disclose.”

GM: “I’m your boyfriend,” he declares in a moderately offended tone. “And I never got the impression you two were close.”

Celia: “It doesn’t matter,” Celia says in a voice that has been numbed so it doesn’t crack. She looks away from him, but she can’t hide the scent of blood that gathers in the corners of her eyes.

“She’s dead.”

GM: Roderick pulls her into his embrace. “What?! My god, when?”

Celia: She’s stiff at first, as if unwilling to burden him with her tears and emotion when he has his own shit going on. And then she softens and the red drips down her cheeks and she tells him, in broken, fragmented sentences, that she found out the same night she found out about Dani, but that Dani is still alive and Isabel isn’t and she wanted to prevent Roderick from feeling this same sort of loss. She doesn’t need to breathe, she doesn’t sniffle, her shoulders don’t shake. But she clings to him, face buried against his chest and neck and shoulder, and blood stains her skin.

GM: Roderick holds her tight, cupping her head with one of his hands, and murmurs sympathies and assurances.

“Jesus, Celia, I’m so sorry…”

“I knew you weren’t close, but I can’t imagine how you must be feeling…”

Celia: “Em-empty, mostly. L-like it’s my-my fault. She needed help and I didn’t… I couldn’t… I never did enough.”

GM: He shakes his head. “You’re not responsible for what happened to Isabel. She made her own choices. So did her sire.”

Celia: She lifts her head, looking up at him with eyes haunted by past mistakes. “I was so… just so mad at her for such a long time. I thought, after my Embrace, I’d never have to see her again, and there she was released on the same night. It took years to speak to her, and… and when Evan went missing I… I didn’t have enough leads to follow, and everyone else was looking too, but… but it’s wrong, the whole thing was wrong, that stupid bitch lied about what happened and got my fucking sister killed.”

GM: Roderick frowns and presses a comforting hand against her cheek. “Who lied to you? What happened?”

Celia: “It doesn’t matter,” Celia finally mutters, pulling away from him to wipe at her eyes. Her fingers come away red. “I didn’t do enough for her and she died. Vidal’s agents killed her. Loyal to the prince and she was still—still put down. Now I’m the one that has to—has to lie about it when my family asks, when Mom says ‘how do you think she’s doing, will she ever forgive me’ and Logan asks if I heard from her and Dad says ’she’s the reason I saw the error of my ways,’ and starts spouting some bullshit Catholic rhetoric.”

GM: “I’d definitely tell them something,” Roderick says thoughtfully. “Just to give closure, so the wound can heal.”

Celia: “Yeah, that’s what my family needs, more drama.”

GM: “Drama’s unavoidable either way. It’ll just hurt them worse if they wonder forever what happened and why she no longer talks with them.”

“I’ve known some people with estranged family. The lack of contact and any closure from that is just the worst thing. It’s an infected wound that constantly eats at them. Some get over it, but they’re worse for it. The whole thing just lacks resolution.”

Celia: Celia doesn’t bother pointing out that she’s hardly going to take his advice on family when he went ahead and fractured his own.

GM: “Maybe just say she was killed in Sudan? It’s a dangerous country.”

Celia: “How would I even know that?”

GM: “Or rather, find a way to make them believe so.”

“Isn’t she doing missionary work? Fake a phone call or letter from the organization she ostensibly works for. Celia Flores doesn’t have to be the first person who knows.”

Celia: “Maybe,” she hedges. She had other plans for the identity.

GM: “How else do you want to get your family the news without a body?”

Celia: Celia shrugs. She doesn’t bother looking at him, instead letting her eyes land on a pattern in the carpeting.

“I was supposed to protect her,” Celia tells the floor. “Older sister and all. Protect all of them. They’re a mess. My family is a mess. David’s anxiety. Logan’s anger. Soph’s…” Celia shakes her head. “Mom’s fucked. Dad’s fucked. Lucy might not be, but batting 1 for 8 is… I mean that’s just bad.”

It doesn’t even count Ethan. Who knows what’s wrong with that kid.

GM: He gives her another squeeze.

“Honestly, all families are screwed up to some degree. I know mine is.”

“There’s obviously Dani’s problems, how my dad took my death, the dysfunction around my mom, the divorce… all families have problems.”

“But they can be wonderful things too. Your family got a lot better once your dad was removed from the equation.”

“I don’t think Emily or your grandma are too screwed, either.”

Celia: “My grandmother is the reason my mother is fucked. And my dad is back in the equation.”

GM: “Your mom is her own person. And you can force your dad out.”

Celia: She’s not going to explain the Dollhouse to him.

“I never told you about dinner.”

GM: “Happy to listen, if you want me to.”

“Or maybe you’d just like to be a cat.”

Celia: “I don’t really want to hear that I’m being stupid for wanting to believe what he said.”

GM: “Everyone wants to believe the best about their family.”

Celia: None of it is her story to tell. Maxen is her sire’s pawn. If there is something demonic going on with him, she’s not going to be the one that spills it to Roderick. Nor will she tell him that he’s running for governor. So she doesn’t talk politics and she doesn’t tell him about the dead priest or the exorcism.

But she can—and does—tell him the rest of it. That he’d been trying to find himself religiously. That he found copies of all the things he’d once destroyed to give back to his ex-wife. That he apologized for what he’d done, and admitted that words alone won’t make up for anything, but that he’d like to attempt to make it up to her, Emily, and Diana. That Emily and Diana had agreed to dinner with him to see what he has to say.

GM: Roderick listens.

“How do you feel about that dinner?”

“The upcoming one, that is.”

Celia: “Like the sheriff is going to find out and wonder what the fuck I think I’m doing with him, mostly.”

“Other than that, I don’t know. Apprehensive. Emily is going to blame me if it blows up in my face.”

“She and Logan have been getting into it lately about the whole thing. Logan thinks it’s great. Mom is… wants her man back.”

“Her words,” Celia clarifies.

Pete’s going to ask what the fuck she thinks she’s doing, too.

The idea of teasing him about Diana isn’t even appealing anymore.

GM: “Do you want to see what happens at it?” Roderick asks. “Or call the thing off?”

Celia: “I want to see what happens.”

“I want to know what’s wrong with him. What was wrong with him when we were kids.”

“Why he went from someone who would let me put lipstick and a dress on him to… that.”

GM: “Do you think you’ll find out at dinner?”

Celia: “No. It’s not like I can whack him with a charm in front of everyone and demand the truth.”

GM: “You could in private. I’d normally be against violating the minds of family members, but his case is a pretty special exception. Given how despicably he treated you.”

Celia: “What, you don’t think it’d be easier to just go knock on Donovan’s door and ask what’s up with his pet?”

“Hey bud, can I have my dad back? He seems normal again. Thanks.”

GM: Roderick shakes his head. “I don’t think there’s a power that can do that to someone, Celia.”

“Warp them into a totally different person for decades, and then just… come off, no side effects, and everything goes back to the way it used to be. That sounds too convenient.”

“Maybe you could spy on your dad, though. See how he behaves in private versus public.”

Celia: Except Donovan already knows all the ways she has to spy.

“Yeah?”

GM: “Bug his house.”

Celia: “Maybe he was possessed.” Celia wiggles her brows at him. “Maybe my bugs will pick up satanic rituals that he does on the full moon.”

GM: “I’m mostly sure demonic possession is real,” Roderick answers humorlessly.

Celia: “Oh?”

She makes a motion with her hand, prompting further explanation.

GM: “I’m not an expert on it, by any means. But are demons such a stretch when we have vampires?”

Celia: “No. I was kind of thinking the same thing.”

“Have any friends that are demonologists?”

GM: He shakes his head. “I know very little about it. Just off-hand references by some of the primogen.”

“Barely even anything. But it sounded like they believed in demons.”

Celia: “Which ones?”

GM: “Steinhäuser. Chastain. Maldonato.”

“I’d talk to a priest, anyway, if you want to know more about demons.”

Celia: “What priest? Malveaux is missing. You mean like a breather?”

GM: “My lord, no. But there are priests besides him.”

“I suppose most aren’t friendly to you, though, besides Benson.”

“The Tremere also might know about demons.”

Celia: “You think it’s like the movies where they’re tied to a specific person or place?”

GM: “Who even knows.”

Celia: “So much for all your book learnin’,” she sighs at him.

GM: “So much indeed,” he smirks. “Maybe I should just spend the rest of my Requiem satisfying you in bed.”

Celia: “You can start now.”

“Oh, wait, no.”

“First, your dad is coming to dinner on Friday, would you like to be there?”

“Then you can start.”

GM: “Oh. I was gonna ask if you were still in the mood.”

“With your sister and all.”

“But yes. I would. A lot.”

Celia: “I’ve known about her for a week and still managed to fuck you silly,” Celia points out.

GM: “True. Friday will hopefully be enough time for Dani to cool down, too.”

Celia: “She said your dad doesn’t really like a lot of new people. Figure out how you want me to introduce you. I think maybe ‘my boyfriend’ will hit a raw spot for him, considering.”

“I thought maybe Stephen’s friend from college..?”

GM: Roderick thinks.

“That works. I am a lawyer. I can be his friend from law school.”

Celia: “If you go postal in my house near my family I’m going to beat you up,” Celia warns him.

“My boyfriend taught me how.”

GM: “I’d beat myself up, and worse, if I lost it around your family,” Roderick answers grimly.

Celia: “Excellent. I’ll get my boyfriend to beat you up.”

She nudges him with her shoulder.

“I wouldn’t invite you if I didn’t think you could control yourself. I trust you.”

GM: “Thank you,” he says, sincerely. “I’ll be worthy of that trust. I promise.”

Celia: “I know. Now I think you owe me some head..?”

GM: He smiles, pulls off her sweats, spreads her legs, and busies his mouth between her thighs.

Just like their first time.

Celia: His tongue and fingers are enough to make her forget her own name when her toes curl and stars float in front of her eyes.

It’s a bright spot to end the night on.

---

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