~~Jack~~
He knocked on Damien's door. Someone very much not Damien opened it.
"Fiona," he said, smiling.
"Jack! How are ye, ye bawbag? And who's this lass?"
"Veronica, meet Fiona, Damien's girlfriend, and... a paranormal creature."
Both Jack and Veronica were dressed in suits, though Veronica's was less fancy. It was how Invictus did things. Vampires and their servants were well dressed, but it was obvious who the master was.
Fiona, on the other hand, was wearing a white button shirt, and nothing but. Damien was above average height, while Fiona was short, almost short as Tash; the shirt covered her enough to hide her ass, but only barely.
"Paranormal?" Veronica's eyes lit up, and she shyly waved at Fiona. "Hi, Fiona."
"Hi Veronica! Jack, ye here to see Damien?"
"Yeah."
"Damien!" She turned, hopped a bit, and waved down the hall. "Jack's here to see ye!"
Jack facepalmed. "I coulda done that."
Fiona stuck her tongue out at him, skipped down the hall, and came back with Damien, the biggest smile Jack had ever seen on her lips. Even Damien had something of a smile on, a bit awkward, and a bit happy, an emotion the man didn't show often. Something had happened between them.
"Damien," Jack said, and he sighed as he looked the man up and down. "Looking better. How long till the leg comes back?"
He shrugged with one shoulder, other locked onto the crutch he leaned on. "Fiona's blood is damn strong. A few weeks?"
"Yeah but those werewolf teeth are strong, too."
Maybe he should have worded that better. Damien winced and looked down at his missing leg, hidden inside his suit pants, folded halfway down the femur.
"Jack, about Maria."
"Antoinette's talking to her tonight," Jack said. "She seems to think Maria won't be as big a problem as I think."
The Mekhet nodded. "I agree with the Prince, then. Maria's not as... obsessive as we thought. I think you'll be fine."
He had a hard time believing that. So far, elders were the ones that were either the most logical and wise, or the most insane and willing to burn everything to a crisp for their pursuits. But if both Damien and Antoinette were on the same page, maybe they were right? Maybe Maria wouldn't do everything in her power to catch him, tie him up, and slowly set him on fire? Nice thought, but he probably just jinxed it.
"Veronica, Damien. Damien, Veronica."
Veronica finger waved. Damien nodded a greeting.
"New thrall?" he asked.
"Yeap. I'm taking her around and introducing her to friends. She'll be at the mansion most of the time, so, figured she should know who she can trust."
"Ye can trust me, lass!" Fiona hopped past Damien, grabbed a very startled Veronica's hand, and shook it with way too much energy. As long as Jack had known Fiona, she'd always been a happy hyper kinda girl, but this was a new level of enthusiasm. "Ye gonna build yerself a harem, Jack?"
Again, Jack facepalmed. "I didn't plan on it."
"That's nae a no." Giggling, Fiona slipped back into the apartment and beside Damien, and she cuddled his free arm to her side. "Lass, yer master's dating the horniest, most beautiful vampire in the world. Be ready for--"
Damien nudged her side, and she giggled.
Veronica blinked at Fiona several times, probably also surprised by how bubbly the girl was. Well, bubbly was good. Bubbly was great. It was a nice reminder paranormals didn't all have to be edgelords.
"Did you want to come in?" Damien asked.
Fiona shot Jack a quick look, complete with a harsh glare. Very much a 'go away!' glare.
"Uh, sorry, can't. Like I said, showing Veronica my friends, so she knows who's who, and meets them. Presence is important."
"I'll talk to you later then."
Fiona smiled a thanks for Jack, waved, and took Damien back to his bedroom, bounce in her step relentless.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back on the street, he walked the sidewalks of Dolareido with Veronica at his side, her slightly behind him. He didn't ask her to do that, she just did it. And he'd be lying if he said he didn't kinda like that. The Ventrue half of him was happy. He had to be careful, or this whole situation would feed his ego until it burst.
"Uh, Fiona," Veronica said, "... she said something about a harem?" She leaned in close enough she could whisper it and be heard over the street traffic.
Jack half laughed, half groaned, and motioned for her to walk beside him. She did, nervously, and he smiled at her.
"You and others will be responsible for my property. With training, you can become my day guard. With more training, you can become... a lot of things. But, harem? That wasn't my plan. It's just... sex and vampires go hand in hand. Cliché, I know, but you remember what happened when Elaine Kissed you."
The thrall shivered and blushed. "That was... amazing."
He raised a brow as he looked at her. Sure, Julias had taught him a lot about reading people, but Veronica made no efforts to hide what she was thinking. She enjoyed that night.
"And I won't lie, Antoinette has two ghouls -- thralls that have been elevated and given immortality -- that join us in bed all the time. She, Elaine, and--"
She grabbed his arm, and her eyes went wide. "Immortality?"
He grinned at her. "Told you there'd be perks."
Slowly, she let go of his arm, and shivered again. He recognized that shiver, the sensation of a new reality finally sinking in, the mind opening and letting in a myriad of unthinkable futures. It was quite a rush.
He started walking, and she meeped as she dashed to catch up.
"So," he continued, "while I will be creating new thralls, you'll never be asked to do anything sexual. Give blood on occasion, yes, but nothing sexual. And... if you did want to do something like that, Antoinette would be there. We love each other, a lot."
"I know. I saw it in your eyes, and her eyes, when you looked at each other." She giggled as she joined his side again. "You're so different from each other! And she is... uh... well." At first she used a single hand to reach up and suggest height. Then, after a shy glance, used two hands to suggest a giant bosom.
He laughed. He couldn't help it. Every moment with Veronica was like taking a kid to Disney World; evil corporate greed included, given he was Invictus.
"Antoinette's got quite a history. She's half a millennium old."
"Holy shit."
"Elaine, too."
"Holy shit!"
"And you don't have to commit to anything like what Fiona was suggesting. I've put enough on your plate as is."
She blushed again as she looked down. "Well, this is Dolareido. I've done some crazy things, and I liked doing them."
He smiled at her, knowing damn well he was giving her that 'I knew that already, I'm your father' kinda look, and kept walking. It wouldn't exactly be fair to assume she'd done crazy things, just cause she lived in Dolareido. He'd been born and bred in Dolareido, and did absolutely nothing crazy his whole life. But, she did have blue hair, nipple piercings, and a clit hood piercing, according to Elaine. There was some fire in her, and she wore it on the surface.
"Next up on the list. Jessy and Eric."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He sent Jessy a text, and she directed him to Bloodlust, which of course meant loud EDM, lots of red light with bits of pulsing white that made the whole place feel like the inside of a literal heart, and lots and lots of drugs and sex.
"Ever been in here?" he asked.
"Not Bloodlust, no. It's super expensive! And fancy and stuff. I've been to nightclubs, and a couple raves. But not here."
Well, this would be quite a night for Veronica then. He walked up to the bouncer, and without a word, the bouncer stepped aside and opened the door for them; Invictus employee knew him on sight, after all. Veronica followed Jack in, and a glance back showed the utter awe on her face as she looked from the bouncer to Jack. Every moment was a new revelation for her, and Jack couldn't help but enjoy it. This was too damn fun.
And he needed that. After what happened last night, he deserved a little fun, right?
People stepped aside for him as he walked past the bar, and stood before the dance floor. Some of them recognized him, but most didn't. Maybe it was his limp, and how he avoided any hard steps to not put pressure on his insides. Maybe it was his eyes, and the confidence he carried, confidence he'd slowly built up over the past three years and then some. Or maybe it was his aura, the vampire aura of the Beast even kine could occasionally sense. Whatever it was, kine stepped aside for him, and Veronica stared at him all the harder as they did.
Up on the second floor, he looked around at the booths. The closest one had a couple of Invictus vampires in it, two women. A kine male sat between them, and was being treated quite nicely with both vampires pressing their barely covered breasts into him as they nibbled on his shoulders and neck. Both had a hand in his pants, which Jack was thankfully unable to see with the table in the way. Judging from the look on the man's face, he was swimming in bliss.
Next booth had a male vampire, with a woman riding his lap, facing him. She had her dress down and off her shoulders, and she pressed her fake breasts into his chest as the man drained her.
Next booth beyond that had a scene Jack had actually seen before. No vampires here, but two male kine sitting outside of two females, with their hands up their girls' skirts, fingering them hard enough to make the two girls shake. They were loving it, and they buried each other in kisses and fondling hands.
Jack walked past them all with only a short lived glance, though he could tell Veronica wanted to watch, even if she didn't realize it. Moving on was enough to have Veronica chasing after him, and he smiled to himself as she did. The vampire in him loved that.
