~~Natasha~~
She stood there in front of Sándor, frowning, arms folded across her chest, and chewed on the inside of her cheek. Antoinette stood beside her. A thrall was busy cleaning of the prisoner's body; it was a human body after all, and it did things human bodies did. Pooping, peeing, all the nasty realities of trying to keep a dangerous person prisoner. The horror stories prisoners of war shared were never fun reads.
"Still unresponsive," Antoinette said, sighing. "The mark on his back also remains. Whatever Elen meant when she said it healed too quickly, little Vola, it does not appear to be on a time scale useful to us."
Jack stepped around and looked at the mark, while Daniel stood further back in the room. Natasha's sire was responsible for Sándor, for making sure the man was kept alive, and that each day a thrall cleaned the man's waste while under the sheriff's protection. They were using intravenous nutrition for Sándor as well, since he didn't seem to respond to attempts to feed him. The man was basically a comatose patient, a dangerous comatose patient.
"I might be able to break through into his mind," Jack said, "if I use you-know-what. I'm pretty sure it would tear Sándor's mind apart though. We could get a little info, maybe a lot of info, but we... I'd be turning this man into an invalid in the process."
"I d-d-don't... like that idea," Natasha said. "And, t-tactically, it might not be worth it. He m-might not know much, and... and if we can break him out of whatever's happened t-to him, he'd b-be a valuable ally."
Antoinette smiled down at her, nodding. Natasha beamed. Thinking in terms of strategy, cold and logical, was a skill Natasha excelled at, when she could separate herself from the reality of her circumstance. Easy to do when playing chess, not so easy to do when making choices that affected people's lives. But it was a skill, learning to think like a strategist in the middle of real chaos. With time, she'd master it, like her boss and sire had.
She doubted she'd ever arrive at a point where she could capture a prisoner, hold them hostage in such painful restraints, and interrogate them, possibly with torture. But there was no doubt in her mind that the Prince and the sheriff had likely done exactly that in their very, very long lifetimes. Maybe in a few centuries, she'd be capable of that too? Scary.
"I agree, my student. Jack, unless circumstances become dire, I would not ask you to take such a risk." Antoinette stepped aside to let her thrall walk past with the soiled cleaning cloths. Far as Tash knew, this particular thrall was basically not leaving the tower until the hunters were gone, for safety reasons. And for all they knew, Sándor might have found a way to affect the thrall's mind without them knowing. "But you missed another reason, Vola."
"Oh?"
The Prince nodded toward the little Ventrue. "We do not understand the curse Jack Terry suffers. It brings power to bear, but I will not risk his life, or threaten my city with its insane aggression and volatility."
"R-Right." It was easy to forget that Jack was carrying some sort of curse inside him, and that it wasn't him that was so strong; or at least not just him. The boy was formidable without the curse, she was sure, but there was no denying his insane spurts of rage and power must have been caused by the curse. If he called upon it, what would happen? Would it devour him? Maybe Jack would fade away over the years, and become someone none of them knew, or wanted to know?
Poor Antoinette. Those fears must be eating away at her all hours of the night.
"Daniel will learn more from the Begotten with time," the Prince said. "Silence will only bring so much protection, from the eyes of a Mekhet." With that, she left, and the three of them followed after her, leaving Sándor in the darkness, still bound in chains, still with his eyes covered. It must have been agonizing to be stuck like that, but they couldn't take any risks.
Once the door was closed behind them, they stopped and faced each other.
"I understand you and old friends are heading off?" Antoinette said to her.
"Yep. W-We're going to... spend a little time, remembering Julias." It was due. She didn't want to do it, because it was going to be painful, and she was bound to cry her eyes out, but it was due.
"I suspect I will need to take Samantha hunting in a few days. Her Beast will be content with stored blood for only so long."
"Should I come with?" Jack said.
"Non. Leave this to her sire, my love. There is an art to feeding that is... specific, to women, and Daeva especially."
Natasha smiled at that. If there was anyone that could teach Samantha how to hunt for a mark with the seductive tools of a Kindred, and a woman, it was Antoinette. She was in good hands. Not that Tash had gotten to spend much time with Samantha in the few days since her arrival, meeting her only a few times. She seemed nice though, maybe too nice.
It was hard to think of Samantha as anything other than a broken woman, a mourning mother, a widow, and a terrified fledgling. Antoinette could see more, no doubt, and Tash trusted her judgment. If Tash guessed right, Samantha would soon find herself buried in male kine. It wasn't a topic Tash could broach with Jack right there, but Samantha was a very attractive woman, cute, and carried some of that older woman sexiness.
"Specific to women?" Jack said, before cringing and throwing his hands up around his head. "Oh god, you just put images in my head. Why? Why would you do that?"
Antoinette laughed, walked over to the small man, and kissed him on the forehead. "My love, surely you knew this would happen. Samantha is Daeva, and you know my views on sexuality. I fully intend to help your mother embrace her... inner goddess, as the fledglings say these modern days."
Tash choked on a laugh. Inner goddess, oh god.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Natasha, Jessy, and Jack all walked into Jack's apartment together. It looked like Julias's old apartment, fancy and sleek, cold colors, steel and black and stuff. Jack called it his American Psycho apartment. It'd changed since her last visit too. He had paintings on the walls, more of them, and new ones too. He definitely had a thing for Gothic motifs, and also some macabre stuff like skulls and bones, but he also had some rather sexy looking... ghosts? Pale women in corsets who were partly see-through. A few sexy witches. A few sexy... reaper things, too.
"Dude. Hot." Jessy walked up to one of the paintings, where a woman with a skull for a head wore an open black robe, showing off a body of similar proportions to Antoinette; absurdly massive breasts that would have spelled eternal back pain for any breathing entity. "Antoinette see you put this stuff up? I mean, I like, but I'm getting some cheesy sexist nerd vibes."
Laughing, Jack sat down on his couch and shrugged. "She's the one that gave me the idea."
"I suppose she'd encourage you to put sexy things up, considering who she is."
"And," Jack added, "she's big into fashion, including costumes. I've seen her wear some stuff that makes these pictures look tame."
"Daaamn." With a chuckle, Jessy sat down next to him, while Tash sat across from them on the other couch, a glass table between them.