~~Jack~~
Ten days after the incident.
The 'incident'. It was the nicest way they could put it, and the most succinct way. It also let them talk about it without putting everyone on edge too much. Avery and Garry had thrown the first punch, because Avery was convinced Maria was up to something, and Garry pushed her into acting. Pushed, or tricked, because even Carthians were Kindred, and never did anything directly. Easier to call it the 'incident', instead of 'the opening act of what was going to be war'.
"You gonna be alright?" he asked Veronica.
She nodded, smiled, and waved. "I will. Mulder and Scully will caw if something happens, right?"
"Right."
"And," Jessy added, leaning against the open door of his mansion, "you got the Invictus emergency number. Speed dial it and some armed thralls and a clean up crew will come running."
"She can call me, ya know," Jack said.
His partner shrugged. "You'll probably be busy if something happens. But don't worry about it, Veronica. No one's gonna attack the mansion, not with your master's reputation."
Mulder and Scully cawed from a nearby statue outside, some old shitty thing from Viktor's past. And a few more crows beyond that cawed as well. Friends of his friends. Jack smiled at them, waved, clicked his tongue a few times, waved to Veronica, and left with Jessy.
It didn't take long to find the first tunnel entrance, one of the old, closed doors to the abandoned subway. Locked doors weren't a problem for Kindred, and Invictus had keys anyway. Past that, they took a trip down one of the tunnels, found a closed-off service ladder, went down again, and were in the deeper level of the tunnels. He didn't expect to run into any of the Nosferatu that lived down here, but this was the tunnels they typical slept in. It was also the tunnels that connected to Azamel's favorite spot.
"So, dude, watched the tape last night."
Oh god damn it. That was going to make this whole night an awkward pain in his ass.
"I don't suppose you can not--"
"Dude, where was the tit fucking?"
"I... what?"
She held out her hands in front of her, as if holding giant breasts. "I was looking forward to seeing some tit fucking. Cause, I mean, come on."
This woman, good god. He laughed, and laughed, until he had to clutch her shoulder to keep from falling over.
"Sorry. It just didn't come up."
She grinned at him, one of those playful grins she made a lot these nights. Something happened between Eric and her, probably in the 'love you' department, and the woman was unusually happy all the time these nights, like Fiona had become.
"Still though, when Elaine got on your back, and the two of them just flattened you between their tits, I could literally see your cheeks get squished. It was fucking adorable, and hot as hell." She shivered and bounced in place a few times. "Hell, it was all really hot. Elaine, posing like a fucking fashion model, mid ass fuck. Veronica, soaking that dick each time you spanked her. Fuuuuck that was good." She hooked an arm over his shoulders, and walked with him down the tunnel, grin only growing. "I can guarantee she'll be masturbating to that every night until... well, every night, except the ones she gets to fuck you again. That on the menu? Maybe more movies, too?"
"If this were any other job, I'd get you fired for sexual harassment. And then sue you. This is not appropriate work behavior."
"Aw, come on. Dude, you were totally rocking it in the video. Even Eric said you were in great shape. You look tiny in the suit, but naked, you're gorgeous."
The compliment shouldn't have worked. Hell, if anything, knowing Eric watched the tape should have made him feel uncomfortable. But he was so desensitized to sexual embarrassment at this point, he just couldn't feel awkward anymore. And the fact people liked the sight of him naked was an ego stroke he couldn't deny.
"I didn't plan on making anymore movies. But knowing Antoinette, she'll bring it up again. Or just, you know, invite you and others over to be an audience." She had the facilities to basically set up a stage play, except it'd be a bed, and Jack and Elaine and Antoinette would be on it. Probably the ghouls and thrall, too.
"I'd totally be down for an invite."
"Yeah, I figured."
She laughed, and Jack groaned. At this rate, everyone in the damn city would know they were down here, or at least everyone who already lived in the tunnels, the younger Nosferatu specifically. But, maybe hearing him joke around with Jess would endear him to them a bit? All the neonates avoided him, and that stung sometimes.
"I want to get Tash in on seeing me fuck Eric when he's transformed, but I'm not sure how. When he's transformed, cameras and shit don't work right, so I can't just record it or do it live and stream it."
Good fucking god.
"Whyyy?"
"Fuck, I dunno. Eric says Luna or the moon or whatever might actually be, like, an actual deity or person or something? So she or it is kinda, I dunno, keeping an eye on things and fucking with nearby tech? Which is all sorts of creepy, the idea of a moon chick watching us and--"
"Not that! Why do you want to Tash to see Eric transform and have sex?"
"Fuck dude, why not?" She shrugged and let go of him. "She has two werewolf boyfriends. I'm hoping--"
Jack shook his head and waved a dismissing hand. Ugh, the woman did not get it. "Tash kept her boyfriends locked up, in chains, for three days before she released them. Art and Matt have an official warning from the Prince that they crossed a line against the dragons, and that they're on thin ice; the Prince told me Tash agreed with it, too. Those two wolves owe the dragons, and the Prince is going to collect. You really think that relationship is still going?"
"Hell yeah. Those two idiots got it bad for that girl."
That was not the response he expected.
"Um, they betrayed her trust. And, you know, staked her. Staked her! Ow!"
Of all the people he expected to be understanding about this, Jessy was not one of them. Hell, Jessy was the first person he figured would throw fists over something like this.
"I get that," she said. "And hey, when Tash told me what happened, I thought for sure those two morons were done, relationship over. But I've seen them since it happened, you know? They're miserable."
"Being locked up in a cell for a few nights, dangling from chains I might add, can make anyone miserable."
She shook her head. "Not like this. If they were kine, I'd expect them to be pissing their money away on booze right about now, brooding over the relationship they destroyed in a bar or something. They're totally fucked up."
Sighing, Jack stopped and faced her. "So, what, you think she should forgive them, because they're sad?"
"I don't--"
"Cause honestly, if I'd been them, I'd have done the same thing."
Apparently that was not what she'd expected to hear. "The fuck?"
"And I bet Tash would have done it, too."
"You can't be serious."
"I am. And come on, Jessy. If Michael, your sire, told you shit was about to go down and the Invictus were needed to fix shit or mountains of people were going to die, Kindred included, you'd do it, too. Maybe not for the Invictus, but to save the lives of hundreds of paranormals, and millions of kine? And you know damn well you'd lock Eric up against his will if you thought he'd stop you."
"I... fuck, I don't know! I'd... fuck me, I don't know. I'd have talked with him first! Avoided needing to lock him up at all."
"Even if Michael told you not to talk to him about it?"
"Fuck, I... fuuuuck."
It all boiled down to logic, something he knew Natasha understood. It probably ate her up, knowing that, if the roles had been reversed, she'd have done what Matt and Art did. Shame, guilt, all that shit Jack was all too familiar with, just not in the same context, thank god. Art and Matt did what they had to, because they knew Natasha would interfere, and to them, keeping her alive was more important than their relationship to her.
Tragic, cliché, but very real. It was a sad story. Art and Matt liked Natasha, a lot, probably loved her. But the situation just didn't allow for that relationship to continue without issue. Vampires of different covenants often didn't get close to each other, because they often ended up on the opposite side of issues, either because of personal beliefs or the orders of their superiors. Avery thought she was saving lives, and so did her pack. It sucked, a lot, that Avery went up against Maria when Natasha was convinced of her innocence. But Avery was convinced, still was, and the only reason she and her pack weren't banned from the city -- or dead -- was because she didn't try that shit on Antoinette.
