“So the night went that good, huh?” Jett asked.
Petra nodded. “I thought it did, at any rate. I hope he thought so as well.”
“Didn’t you ask?”
“Well….no, but we were both fairly happy.”
Jett nodded. “So whens the next date?”
“I have no idea.” she admitted. “I’m not sure what protocol is for this sort of thing. I’ve never done modern dating.”
“Have you heard from him again?”
“No, but it’s only been one day.” she paused for a bit, thinking.
“Give him until Saturday or Sunday, at least. If you don’t hear from him by then, then I think it would be okay to reach out to him.”
She nodded, watching as he tuned the guitar she’d recently gotten him. There were several minutes where the only sound in the room were the gentle noises of the plucked strings of the guitar.
Jett watched her from his peripheral vision. He didn’t know her well, but they got along pretty good, and had found each other to be good confidants.
“You don’t connect to people very well, do you?” he asked, referring to a past conversation.
“I’m capable of it, of course.” she admitted. “But there are few people I take to quickly, and when I do, it’s typically via instinct.”
“Have there been many of those?”
She shook her head. “No…but I have the distinct luxury of being friends with those I do…and they have the reassurance that they have my loyalty…save maybe the most recent ones.”
“Explain please?”
“Not counting the last two, I can count on one hand the number of people this has entailed.” She lifted a finger, counting. “The first would be my nephew, Nico.”
“From your breathing days, I take it?”
She nodded. “I loved him dearly…you’re the first to know that, so feel privileged.” She held up another finger. “The second would be Brandon, the third Vince, and the fourth would be yourself.”
“Me?”
“I don’t open up like this to just anyone. Even with the aforementioned numbers two and three, I can find it difficult to confide some things.”
“Thank you for the confidence. So who are the other two.”
“Mandy….and her father.”
“Hmmm…..interesting. Okay so…was it, like, the same kind of circumstances for each person? Or…”
“No. With Nico, it may have been because we were close growing up. He was older by several years, but he never made me feel like my lack of years were a burden. We’d planned on marrying, once…” she trailed off. Jett debated whether to pro for more information, but decided against it, turning instead from turning the guitar to playing an idle tune. He deduced he’d made the correct decision when she sighed and focused back on the conversation.
“With Brandon it was cautious trust, but only because I’d been trained for so long to believe him to be the enemy. I quickly found that he was more noble than those I had been serving, and took myself to him to swear fealty. Meeting the man himself only cemented this.”
“Sounds like with Brandon you’d just found someone you could put your faith in.”
“I suppose that’s it. I hadn’t particularly ever thought of it that way.” she said, idly rubbing her fingers over a small figure on a simple leather cord.It had long since lost its finer features, but it was still a tiny token of her faith in the gods of old.
“Vince?” he prompted after several quiet minutes.
She smirked. “That one I’m not sure how it happened. It just….did. Possibly because I had an attraction to him. The attraction only lasted so long….but I gladly still consider him a friend.” she looked down at her lap momentarily and then up at him.
“You’re kind of hard to figure out too. You’re charismatic, intelligent..and you don’t talk down to me or disregard me because of my size or gender. That helps. You haven’t had an easy life…I can see that in your eyes. I don’t know….it’s just…well…maybe the charisma. You’re pretty easygoing and a good listener, too.”
“Good enough to me that you trust me. Didn’t need to explain.”
“I felt you warranted it.”
“Thank you.”
“Where does that leave me again?”
“Mandy and Claude.”
“Right. Mandy…well like you, she’s charismatic. She’s just…well….likeable. I can’t think of a single reason why, anyone in their right mind would want to hurt her – especially if they know her. I’ve spent some time with her, and she bothered to try and get me to open up, to make me have fun. I can’t really say that about many. I mean, yes, people have tried – Brandon chief among them. But, trying? and getting success? That’s a different story.”
“Now for the juicy one…” he said, teasing her.
She rolled her eyes, and made a show of threatening to throw a nearby pillow at him, but didn’t. “I can’t explain Claude either. Not really. A healthy mix of attraction and admiration I’m sure are part of it. Helps that he feels like someone I can be myself around.”
“Want to explain the admiration and attraction bits?”
“They’re kind of intertwined, really. At least, I think they are. He’s incredibly sexy to me. I mean, there’s his looks, intelligence, dedication…he’s very aware of his role in things, and is very willing to play the necessary parts, because he understands some of the harsher realities that are out there.” she started idly fingering her necklace again. “His priorities are good ones, and by that I mean his daughter. We talked the blood bond some the other night, and he’s not sure what actions are the result of himself or the bond, but he’s decided to just roll with it. I can admire that.”
“Knows what’s coming but has decided to do the best life has to throw at him kind of thing?” She nodded. “You’re worried, aren’t you?”
“A bit. I’m worried that someday, that something, somewhere, may somehow degrade him because of that bond. I don’t want to see that happen, even if nothing becomes of us. It would be a saddening loss.” she confessed.
“He could be turned.”
“I asked him about that. He said he hadn’t thought about it, but that if it would help him help Mandy better, he’d do it.”
Jett winced slightly. “Kinda sounds like the worse end of a bond, if you ask me.”
“I know. I very badly want him to be an individual and regain what he’s lost already.”
“It wouldn’t help any if Mandy did it. She’s still a baby as far as vamps go, and that might make things worse.”
“I know, I thought of that.”
“Just how much thought have you put into his being a vampire?”
“Too much, I fear.” she laughed a little, and then sighed.
“Tell me?”
She smiled at Jett. “On our date, I asked him what he was like when he was a younger man. Based on the traits he listed…” she trailed off, mulling things over again. “If he were a vampire, he could be inducted into a pack, and that would break his current bond.” she said.
“Umm…Petra?”
“Hmmm….?”
“You failed to mention something.”
“What’s that?”
“‘Based on the traits he listed…'” he repeated. “You trailed off.”
She smiled a bit sheepishly. “I suppose I did. I ws going to say he sounds like he might make a perfect member of my clan.”
“Lasombra?”
She nodded.
“Nothing is stopping you from embracing him. This isn’t a Camarilla city.”
“I’m aware of that, nimrod.” she joked.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“What if he ends up resenting me for it? What about the bond that exists between sire and childe?”
“I see. Well…..ask Brandon?”
She made a noise. “I’m reluctant to ask him for any such thing.”
“Why?”
“I don’t feel I deserve such a favor.”
“Personally I think that’s ridiculous.”
She shrugged.
“Petra…if anyone deserves something like that…” she waved him off though. “No.”
Jett sighed. Petra glanced at a clock on the wall. “We’ve been holee up in my room for a while. Why don’t you get something to eat?”
“Alright.” he said, standing up. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. Just look forward to the next date, ok?”
She nodded, and he left the room, wondering if perhaps, like prior issues she refused to discuss before, he should maybe ‘accidentally’ let Brandon know. This would remain on his m ind for a while.
Petra thwapped herself with the pillow. “Stupid.” she muttered, and flopped over onto the bed. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift, but tried to keep them focused on Claude, at least a little. In her daydream, she envisioned Claude enjoying the night and all it had to offer with her – as a fellow Cainite. The typical feminine daydream of building a life with a crush surfaced in her, dusting itself off, and tailoring itself to the life of a vampire.
She wouldn’t embrace him, no…but he would be embraced by someone she trusted…and they’d fore a pack together. Not one with Brandon, Endrik and Mandy, but one of their own….perhaps hunt up a notable or two in town and initiate them. They could ally with Brandon’s, of course…but they would be their own thing, a strong arm of enforcement to be contended with, wherever they were needed or directed. Still though, her doubts were reflected in this daydream. She could not picture them together romantically – perhaps because she hadn’t experienced that yet – she wasn’t sure. But she could picture them together, as companions and packmates, if nothing else.