It was near dawn when they had finished, the pulls of sleep claiming them both. Well, at least it was starting to claim Petra. It was easier for Vince to stay awake. She got comfortable, spooking into him, holding his arm around her with one hand while she pulled the covers over them both with the other. She felt happy, safe, at peace in his arms. It was something she had longed for, for far too long and for now, she wasn’t going to dwell on the unpleasantness that lay in front of her.
No, now she wanted to revel in the comfort, safety, and contentment that his embrace brought her. She gave the arm around her a light squeeze, and smiled slightly as she began to drift off, thinking of how he had changed since their first meeting And yet, some things were very much the same.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Note: Hilariously, when I started this piece, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” started playing
The new arrival looked out at the cityscape that lay before her, admiring the evening skyline of the old city. She brushed a strand of her red hair over her shoulder, and smiled to herself.
“I’m here for you, Davey-boy.” she sang softly.
She turned away then, heading into the apartment from the balcony, and motioned for her lackeys to close the patio doors. As they were being closed, another approached her.
“That’s her, Miss.” he said, pointing to the tablet. Displayed on it, was a Facebook page, made private only relatively recently. There was enough evidence there, however, to see what Mandy looked like these days.
“Good work.” she replied. “Now to find her. Go scouting, pay a Nos, do whatever you have to do. I need to have talks with the little lady who stole my best ghoul.”
Her lackeys nodded, and set to work obeying her directions. It was all they were useful for, really. David had been her favorite, because he had a mind of his own. It was because of that mind that he’d been able to rake in so much money and debt owed her. It was also because of that, that she’d had to punish him on more than one occasion. It was such a shame too, really.
She held a hand out and examined her nails to see if their color had chipped at all. Satisfied, she went back to thinking things out. She’d done a little digging after learning he’d up and left. She’d learned of his divorce from whats-her-name, and what’s-her-name’s subsequent disappearance with her dollar-store-reject version of Dave’s friend. She couldn’t help but wonder and be curious if Dave had finally gotten the gall to do something about that shrew.
She laughed. It delighted her to know end to know that soon she’d been setting up shop again. She wasn’t even angry about it having been moved to New Orleans. After all, New Orleans was far bigger than Summit Vista, and logically that meant business would be bigger as well. The bigger the business, the bigger the chance for debts owed to her – debts she could call on for prestige and power in order to claw her way up as high as she could.
Ain’t not little upstart going to upstage me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris gave a brief wave to Claude as he left, and waited until he heard the door click closed before looking to his sister. He waited still further to ensure the man had had time to get to the parking lot before he spoke. It was the first time either of them had been alone in a room together. He wasn’t counting her transporting him the other night, since from what he understood she had hardly been her typical self.
“So how do you really feel about him being a vampire?”
Mandy sighed and shrugged. “I’m not against it by any means. To be honest, it’s kind of a relief.”
“Why’s that?”
“I still wanted my father to be a part of my life after I was changed, and was told I would have to ghoul him. You remember that bond Vince talked about?”
“Yeah. He called it magic, I think.”
She nodded. “As far as I understand it, it is. I certainly don’t have control over its effects, and I don’t think any other vampire does either. It typically just enforces your loyalty to whomever is giving you the blood keeping you a ghoul.”
“Something to that effect was mentioned, I believe.”
“In any event, the blood bond that was formed between he and I was, from what I gather, a strong one, because he was fiercely protective of me to begin with.”
“Michel mentioned he’d managed to scare off any and all potential dating interests.”
“Yeah.” she said, scrunching up her face in annoyance. “That’s kinda part of the reason I ended up New Orleans.”
“Tell me?” she frowned, debating on whether or not she ought to.
“It started with a joke. Michael and I were just hanging out, and we discussed seeing if we could convince our fathers to let us travel for spring break – just he and I. He joked that it might be the only chance I’d ever have to get laid. I laughed and agreed, and didn’t think much of it. We talked about where to go, and since I’d always wanted to come here, we decided on that, and then talked to our parents.”
Chris leaned back against the couch, listening. He was using social skills he’d picked up over time to read her. Body language and tone was what he was mostly paying attention to, in addition to the story.
“How was it sleeping on the couch?”
“Don’t change the subject.” he retorted.
She rolled her eyes a little and sighed before sticking her tongue out at him. “It wasn’t hard for Michael to convince his parents – they’ve always been somewhat lenient, having learned that putting on the leash too tight results in more problems.”
“Troublemaker?”
“He used to be. Uncle Dave always said I tempered that. In any event, I knew it would be harder to convince my father. I added in the promise that I would look into some of the colleges and universities down here. He agreed to let me go, as long as Michael and I shared a room. I mean, he was trusting us.”
“So how’d the vacation go?”
“It was great. I was loving every bit of exploring all the nooks and crannies and bits of history, finding the real places and not the touristy ones. I don’t think Michael was as into it, so I let him go out and party a few times. It was on an evening tour of the LaLaurie house that I ended up meeting Endrik.”
“LaLaurie?”
“Delphine LaLaurie was a wealthy white woman who lived in New Orleans in the early 1800’s. In early 1834, I think it was, after her third husband left her, she went kind of mad, so history says. Rumors spread of her harming her slaves. The year before, I think it was, a young slave had fallen to her death in the courtyard, and an investigation was done. All the slaves she had owned were set free, but one by one she bought them back.”
He remained quiet, listening as she spoke, and waiting for her to remember the events that happened.
“Some months after her third husband had left her, there was a fire at the house. It destroyed part of the house, and brought to light seven slaves who had been starved, tortured and chained in the upper parts of the building.”
“That’s….horrific.”
“I know, right? Well wait, the stories get worse. Now, some of these are probably exaggerations, but you have to wonder…so just remember that. Ok, It was said that one of the slaves had their bones broken numerous times, and set so that her walk resembled that of a crab’s. Another was said to have had a hole drilled into his head, with a wooden spoon sticking out of it. Oh, and another was supposedly found with the skin peeled off his back. Let’s see…I know there was something else…oh! On a splatterpunk level of gore, someone had their intestines pulled out and wrapped around them. ”
“Ugh! How could you be interested in something so…so…macabre?!”
“It isn’t what she did that interested me and made me want to go on the tour.”
“What, then?”
“It was the why. Why did she treat them that way? If she did torture them, what must have gone through her head? What had caused her to snap and go all Dr. Moreau?”
“So you’re interest was more in the psyche behind it?”
She nodded. “I wanted to be in that upstairs space where she supposedly did those awful things. I wanted to be there, close my eyes, and try and get a sense of the madness behind her and her methods. That’s where I met Endrik. I was the only young person on the tour, and he was curious as to why I was there. So I told him, same as I told you.”
“That’s a….bizarre way to pick someone up.”
“Not much worse than Tinder.”
“Maybe.”
“So how was the couch, really?” she asked again.
“No, no. No answer for you. Finish the story.”
“Ugh. Fine. Well, anyway, he asked me to have dinner with him, and we talked more. We founds a few topics we had in common, and then he later invited me back to his place. I hesitated…but Michael encouraged it, and I went. He knew who I was with – I had sent him a picture, and it wasn’t like I didn’t have a couple weapons in my purse.”
“Claude’s idea?”
She nodded. “So….yea. Endrik was my first. After that we met a few more times. I enjoyed all my time with him. We had some great talks, and he was very kind and generous towards me, and that extended to showing me magic, and buying me books of an esoteric sort.”
He kept his expression neutral. He was finding his sister to have more depth then he’d thought. Initially, he’d thought she was just….well, a typically vapid American teenage girl sort. Watching her speak, he could tell there was more. Maybe it was more emotion, maybe it was more that needed to be said, but either way, he gently urged her to continue.
“He posed a question to me – what if I could live in New Orleans and study here, but still have Michael and my father as part of my life? It was suggested maybe I think on that. With advice and suggestion in mind, I did. To sidetrack, I’d considered myself an eclectic pagan, though not particularly devout. But, I studied the books he’d bought me, and I crafted the ritual, infusing it with my intent. He’d check my notes once in a while, make a minor comment about how things looked, and left me to it. When I through it was ready, I let him know, like he asked me to.”
She was quiet for a long spell, fiddling with a piece of jewelry. Chris sighed inwardly. “Go on.”
“Why am I telling you all of this anyway?”
“Maybe you just need someone to talk to?”
“That’s what I have Michael for.” she said, getting defensive.
“But Michael is a part of it, and maybe too close. I can try to be objective, and maybe that’s what you need.”
“Well….maybe…”
“Please continue?”
“I set things up for the ritual, performing it in the hotel room I was staying in with Michael. I was completely focused on my intent, and not what others were doing. So when Endrik said ‘I think it’s working’, with his accent no less, I was caught off guard. I was pinned down to one of the beds, and that’s how it began. He was feeding from me. I remember fading as it happened. I don’t know how long I was gone, but when I woke up, he was forcibly feeding Michael my blood, and there was some guy tied to a chair, there for me to feed on. I didn’t start learning anything until after I’d fed. Even now, I’m lacking in some areas of what feels like basic knowledge.”
“How’s your relationship with Endrik now?”
“I don’t know. Before, it had seemed like we were really connecting. It felt…well….I don’t know what word I’m looking for. Maybe seamless is the best fit? In any event, it didn’t feel like effort needed to be made to read him.”
“And now?”
“Now I have no idea what he thinks. The best words I have to describe it come from others – aloof, and stoic. He’s very hard to read any more. That’s part of the reason I try so hard to earn his praise – I enjoy seeing him happy or pleased. But anymore…”
“Anymore what?”
“It seems more like a mentor/student relationship than anything.” she sighed.
“What about you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. How do you feel?”
“I want that connection back, that’s all I know. Maybe it’s stupid kid stuff because he was my first and I had unrealistic ideas, I don’t know.” she folded her arms across her chest, and he took the cue to leave the subject of Endrik alone for the time being. Instead, he diverted.
“We’d been talking about Claude and the blood bond.”
“We were? Wow did we get off track.”
“It happens.”
“Well, anyway. What I had been going to say is that now that he’s a vampire, that bond is broken. I’m pretty sure I felt it break. So for me, it’s a relief. Maybe for him too. I love my father to no end, but he has to learn to let go a little. Maybe we both do.”
“Probably, but that’s an observation I’ve made. I don’t know anything about your past.”
“No, you don’t, and I think we’ll leave it at that for now.”
“I wasn’t going to pry. You’ll tell me if you want to tell me.”
“Damn straight.” she said.
“So are you going to tell him?”
“Tell who what?”
He shook his head. “Nevermind. The couch is perfectly comfortable, by the way.”
“Good. I’m going to see if Michael ever finished the laundry.” she said, and turned away, heading out of the living room. He could hear her checking the machines, but if his suspicions were correct, she was going to wash up from what was either a near potential cry, or a small one. He left well enough alone, however, and cleaned up the place for now, making it presentable in case the guys came back with Lucas’ friend. It had never been made quite clear if they were coming back here or staying at Lucas’ place.