. 10

~~Beatrice~~

Beatrice stared at the crow that'd wandered into the cave. That, was unusual. Rats, sure, sometimes they approached the cave entrance, but the people inside, the lack of food, and the overall air of 'don't come in here or you'll get eaten' the cave gave off dissuaded rodents and insects. The entrance was also full of sharp brush, and not friendly to birds.

The crow hopped over to her, and the motion announced who it was. It had a broken wing.

"Scully?"

Jennifer sat up. "What? I--oh! Um, that... that does appear to be Scully."

"Scully, what're you doing here?"

The crow hopped up to the alcove, and flapped her wings a few times, settling. The broken wing looked nasty when she did that, but it did work, fully flapping and everything. Triss couldn't help but smile at the thought of her flying, like a car with some drag on one side.

"My Animalism sucks. Jen, help me out?"

Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Learn to step outside your comfort zones of Disciplines."

"You can talk when you can Cloak. At all."

Chuckling, Jennifer leaned over to the bird, and clucked her tongue a few times.

Scully clucked back, crooned, cawed, and hopped left and right a bit. Pretty damn animated. Triss looked past her to Othello and Madison, who were still going at it, and deep into the heavy, grunty loud parts of sex. Madison was borderline comatose, Othello having Kissed her, but the big lug just kept pounding away, making the poor girl cum again and again and again. No wonder they didn't notice the bird.

Aaron would have noticed instantly, but the dude was out with his supposed girlfriend none of them had seen. Triss was starting to doubt she existed.

Jen snapped her hand out, and grabbed the bird.

"Jen, what the fuck!?"

Jen snarled as she held the shocked bird by the body, pinning her wings, while her other hand grabbed her feet.

"Scully, listen to me closely. If you're lying, I'm going to rip you in half. Say it again."

Scully took a few seconds to recover, but eventually she clucked and cawed again.

"I... I don't believe you."

Scully cawed again.

"Shit. Shit shit." Jennifer slowly let go of the crow's body, but not her legs. "She says Jack's in danger."

"Jesus, I figured it'd be something like that if she came looking for help. But why are you--"

"She says Jacob's the danger."

Beatrice froze. "What?"

"Jacob's the danger. Jacob's been up to something, and everyone knows, everyone except us, and they're all out dealing with stuff right now connected to it."

Oh fucking shit. Triss groaned and buried her face in her hands. No no no. Jacob, what the fuck are you up to?

"She know details?"

Jen shook her head. "She's a familiar, not a person. Probably not safe to give her too many details, cause, you know." She gestured to how easily she'd caught the bird.

"Did Jack send her?"

"No, she came on her own, because she thinks Jack's in trouble. She thinks Jacob might have done something, and apparently, he's been up to something for a while?"

Triss leaned in close to Jen, and whispered. "When Jacob took me outside a bit ago, he... he thought I knew about something, about... something."

"About... something." The word was quickly losing all meaning.

"He was up to something, and he thought I already knew about it. Apparently Jack and the others already know. And... And whatever it was, it was big. He ran off to do... whatever it was."

"And you're telling me now?"

"I had to fucking think about it, okay?" Triss sighed as she looked to the crow. "Why'd she come here, and not visit the others?"

"She says she can't get to the Prince, but Mulder's still trying. She tried everyone else, and they're all gone."

"All of them?"

"Everyone with a window."

Groaning louder, Triss slid back and smacked herself in the face a few times. "Jacob Jacob, what the fuck are you up to?"

Jen and the bird clucked at each other a few times more.

"She says whatever it is, everyone's been trying to stop it for a while. Something to do with Black Blood."

Black Blood. Hearing the name in this context was like getting stabbed in the fucking spine with a fucking icicle.

"So, Natasha?" Triss asked. Jen shook her head. "Damien?"

"With Jack."

"The werewolves?"

"Most of them are with Jack. The others aren't at their home."

"Eric?" Triss asked. "He's probably with Jessy."

"Not home."

"Sándor?"

"Probably with Jack," Jen said. "Scully says they're all grouped up to fight a spider monster. I assume she means an azlu, not Fiona. And... she thinks Jacob's interfered."

"Fuuuuuuck. Wait, what about Fiona? She around?"

"Scully doesn't know where she lives."

"Fuck. I don't have her in my phone either. Fuuuuuck." She snapped her gaze over to Othello, who was slowing down. For half a second, she thought about going over there and telling him, getting his opinion. But, no, that'd be stupid as fuck. Othello was her friend, but he'd been Jacob's friend for fucking decades. Did he know what the fuck Jacob was up to, then? Probably not. Didn't mean she could trust him.

"Triss?"

"Let's go outside."

Jen glanced over at Othello, nodded, and the two--three of them left, one of them still a hostage. Once they were outside, Triss wrapped them in her cloak, and they put a bit of distance between themselves and the cave.

"Okay," Triss said, "we gotta figure this shit out. Jack's in danger. A bunch of people are in danger. The bird thinks Jacob's to blame. Everyone knew about this except us, and everyone also happens to not be home! Fuck. Fucking christ fuck fuck!" She threw up her hands and marched around, stomping on the ground and sand. "What the fuck is going on!?"

"She says she thinks the Prince is home, but she doesn't have a way to get to her. Not easily, anyway."

"Not like the Prince has a pigeon carrier service set up. It's the twenty-first century for christ's sake. Fucking fuck! Why doesn't she go back to the thralls and ask them to contact the Prince?"

"Mulder's already doing that, but it's a complicated situation."

"Complicated," Scully said, earning a small jump from both vampires.

Triss threw up her hands again and pointed at the bird. "I fucking forgot she can talk. She can explain it to Jack's thralls!"

Scully shook her head. "Can try. Complicated. Mulder will try."

Jen couldn't help but smile at the talking crow. "Mulder getting those girls involved is already going to piss Jack off, and you know it. And Mulder's going to have to try and explain what's happening with bird talk, at least enough so they can contact the Prince."

"He can just fly in there and yell 'call Prince! Call Prince!'?"

"Scully," Jen said, "is Mulder under orders to not tell the girls about the dangerous stuff Jacob is up to?"

"Yes."

"Which could make it difficult for a crow to figure out how to approach the situation. He's a crow, Triss, not a human." Nodding, Jen clucked and crooned at Scully a few times more, getting similar in return. "But, Scully thinks he'll succeed anyway."

Triss rolled her eyes. Damn slut was just being patronizing now, since she could talk to the bird a lot faster with Animalism.

"Okay," Triss said. "I... oh fuck." She threw up her hands again and paced around some more. "Do I even want Mulder to get the girls to call the Prince? Is that something we want happening?" Scully flapped her wings a few times, trying to get away, but she wasn't going anywhere. "Christ, we don't know what Jacob's up to! Do we even want to... to... I don't fucking know!"

"True. We don't know what Jacob's up to, exactly. But... do we... trust him?"

"We should! We fucking should! He helped us when we were fighting Angela and Jeremiah! And he and Black Blood saved Jack's ass before then, too! Remember? Black Blood saved him and all his friends from Sándor's nightmare that first time. And me, the second time! We should trust him!"

Jen frowned slightly as she looked between Scully and her.

"Triss, I know we... we should trust him, but we also shouldn't trust him. Even he'd say something like that."

"I know! But..."

"And we know he's been up to something. And he's been talking to you about it, more than anyone. And apparently, everyone knows, and they're not happy. So, I guess... you're the only one with any idea what Jacob's up to that we can talk to. Do you trust him?"

"Fuck me. I... kinda trust him. Trust him enough to give him the benefit of a doubt! Trust him enough to get a little angry at the idea of the Prince, and apparently everyone on the fucking planet, trying to get in his way!" She stomped around a few more times for good measure. Maybe kicking rocks and sand would help summon answers. No such luck.

Jen watched, listened, and when Triss was done, they all looked down and tried to wrap their minds around the problem. It was like trying to find a path in fog thick enough to strangle them.

"We need more information," Jen said. "Scully, you're sure everyone's gone? Anyone we could talk to?"

"All gone! Checked all see-through walls!"

"Windows, Scully."

"I know. I said! See-through walls!"

Triss couldn't help but laugh. Bird brain was not human brain.

"You checked all the windows," Triss said, "and it sure fucking sounds like people are all out there, doing only god knows what. You said Sándor was with Jack, too?"

"Master said so. Damien with, too. And wolf people."

Triss pulled out her phone, and sent out a few texts. She tried to be as discrete as possible, in as short a time as possible. 'Hey, what's up?' And waited. And waited. And waited.

No response from Jack.

No response from Natasha.

No response from anyone's numbers she had, Sándor included, but he was probably in his lair, or in the tunnels. Or like the crow said, with Jack.

They waited ten minutes. A god damn fucking eternity. No answers.

"What about Athalia?" Jen asked the bird.

"Don't know." Scully pecked at Jen's fingers a couple times, but Jen held on. "Don't trust Jacob."

"Yeah, well, I do," Triss said. "I shouldn't, but I do. But... but I... fuck me, we need more information! But who the fuck--"

"Athalia," Jen said. "Let's go see if Athalia's home."

"Athalia. You fucking serious? She--"

"Triss, come on, you talked to her not too long ago. She--"

"She won't kill us. That doesn't mean she's our friend, Jen."

Jen shrugged. "Do you have a better idea? We go to the tunnels, find what Begotten we can, and ask them what's going on."

"And... the Prince?"

"There's nothing we can do about that. She's going to find out. She probably already knows, or Jack's thralls are calling her right now. And that... could be a good or bad thing. Fuck me, I don't know. Let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scully perched on Jen's shoulder, and the two occasionally clucked at each other. After a while, Jen didn't bother holding Scully hostage. Mulder had obviously reached the girls by now, which meant the Prince knew, or knew whatever Mulder could communicate. No point in holding his partner captive anymore.

Triss tried to understand Jen and Scully, but it was pointless. She just didn't have a knack for Animalism. It came naturally to Ventrue and Gangrels, and if Aaron had been around, she might have asked him for help. But she wasn't sure she could trust him anymore than Jacob, and that fucking sucked. Thankfully, she had Jen. And even if she didn't, Jack's two crows were scary smart. Not smart enough to navigate complicated secrets and delicately communicate that with some uninformed thralls, but still, smart. Ish.

Christ, what was going on? She was in the tunnels, going on a trip to maybe, hopefully, find Fiona or Athalia, or maybe even that asshole Mark, and... do what? Ask them what the fuck was going on? Not like they'd spill their secrets if they thought Jacob was an enemy, considering he was Triss and Jen's boss. Fucking fuck, the whole trip could backfire so easily, and land Triss and Jen in a cage with some stakes in the heart for all they knew.

Was she overreacting? No she wasn't overreacting! Jack's familiar, on her own, decided to come find her and Jen. This wasn't some fucking prank. Oh god, everything was going to fucking implode tonight, and she didn't even know what the fuck was going on.

Jen and Triss finally entered the room with the concrete stage. No Fiona or Mark, but Athalia was there, reading a book as usual. And when she looked down and spotted Triss, Triss expected to see her scowl, or at least stare at her with her usual icy glare. Instead, Athalia's expression softened a little, to something even passable for happy. Well, happy might have been too strong a word. Slightly glad.

"Beatrice. Jennifer. Visiting?" Literally the nicest greeting the woman had likely ever given in her life.

"Uh, kinda. Um..."

"You have a crow with you."

Jennifer nodded, shifting her shoulder with the bird slightly. "Yes. Jack's familiar Scully came to us."

"That's strange. Why would she do that?"

Triss squirmed as she came closer to the stage, until she was only a foot from it and looking up at Athalia.

"You... you know about... uh...." She scanned Athalia for something, but the Begotten waited, confused. "So, yeah. There's... uh..."

"Out with it, Beatrice. Is this about Mary or Samantha?"

"No. No I don't think so. I mean... maybe? It's..." Oh fucking christ, was she really about to do this? "Do you know if... if Jacob's been up to something?"

Athalia's eyes shifted into her usual ice daggers, and her familiar scowl resurfaced.

"Up to something?"

"Yeah. Up to something. Up to something... big... And now Jack's in danger, and probably so are a bunch of people."

Groaning, Athalia closed her book and gently set it on Azamel's old chair. She stood up, cracked her knuckles, and made fists as she glared down at the two of them.

"You remember you work for Jacob, right?"

Of course she fucking remembered.

"Yeah."

"And you're here, because Jack's familiar came to you, because it thinks her master is in danger... from Jacob?"

Triss groaned and rubbed her face with her palms. "I know! I know, okay. Dude is my boss, and sure, that might not mean much to most vampires, but it fucking means something to me. But... but Jack--"

"Is the only vampire in the whole damn city you can completely trust."

Sighing, Triss put her hands on the stage, and let her head dangle between her arms and shoulders.

"Yeah. If the kid's in danger, yeah, I should help him. Fuck me, even if it's to stop Jacob, I should help him."

Athalia sat down beside Triss, legs dangling off the stage, eyes looking out at nothing, face stern.

"Sándor told me he, Jack, Damien, and a bunch of the werewolves are hunting azlu tonight."

"The fuck does that have to do with Jacob?"

"I don't know if I should tell you."

"Girl, I'm trying to help Jack, okay? Jack, and Sándor. You just said he's with Jack. I help the kid, I help him, too."

Slowly, like she was weighing a thousand possibilities in her head, Athalia eventually turned her head and looked back down at Triss. That, was a scary face. Athalia sucked in a breath between clenched teeth, before nodding and looking ahead again.

"Jacob and Black Blood have been up to something for... we don't know how long. Years, probably, especially the past few years. They've been creating tears, strange tears that cut from one realm to another. Physical, spirit, even into the underworld. Even to places Begotten can't go."

"Tears..."

"Yes. Tears. Black Blood and Jacob have literally been tearing holes in the... fabric of reality, if you want to get comic book movie about it. They're pursuing Minerva's legacy."

Oh fucking shit. Minerva.

"Jesus fucking christ, what--"

"Minerva wanted to punch a hole between the physical and spirit realms. Maybe a permanent one. Black Blood and Jacob are taking it a step further. They're going to tear down the walls between all realms."

Triss threw up her hands. "Okay, you hear yourself, right? Tear down the walls between realms? The fuck? He's one vampire--"

"With the help of an entity we're all quite sure is no simple spirit."

Fuck, she had a point. Triss knew something about spirits from everything she read, and from what the werewolves and Jack's friends were willing to tell her. Black Blood didn't seem to fit the bill, not completely, what with doing weird shit like penetrating Sándor's dream realm, twice.

"I don't know what this has to do with azlu."

"I don't either. Sándor said Avery was ready to ambush one, using a tear they found that didn't fit the pattern."

"Pattern?"

"Long story. But if you're sure that Jack is in danger, because of Jacob--"

"I am." You didn't need Animalism to sense the panic in Scully. If Scully had been some regular crow, then sure, Triss wouldn't have taken it too seriously. But the bird was literally undead, a familiar, and that meant quite a fucking lot. Combined with what Jacob had told Triss earlier, yeah, she had no choice but to take it seriously.

"Then I have to go." Athalia hopped down from the stage, and started down the tunnel the way Triss came from. "Damn it, Fiona. Perfect night to get drained."

"Um, I'm sorry, you have to go?" Jennifer stepped aside to let her walk past, but followed after her at a healthy distance. "Going to tell us where?"

"The tear Jack and the others went through didn't fit the pattern. They're through it right now, hunting azlu in the Great Below. If you're telling me the bird says Jack is in danger, from Jacob, then I'm going to that tear."

Triss jogged up beside her. "You know we're coming, right?"

"You know I will kill you if you get in my way, right? The cat's out of the bag. Jacob is doing something we want to stop. You work for Jacob."

"Okay, then we--"

Oh fucking shit. Athalia's glare was deadly. She didn't mean just stop him. She meant stop Black Blood. And 'stop' probably meant kill, both of them if possible. You didn't stop someone like Jacob without cutting his head off.

Jennifer jumped in front of Athalia, and held out a hand, like creating a barrier. "We want to come, but that doesn't mean Jacob has to die."

"Get out of my way, Jennifer. I didn't have to tell you anything. I told you because I thought you deserved to know. But that doesn't mean you get to stop me." Athalia held out a hand, pointed it at Jennifer, and the tunnel went silent as darkness spread out from the Begotten, blocking out the flickering lights of the old tunnel. The shadow of the skeleton monster with no legs, and enormous bone wings, slowly moved inside.

Triss jumped between her girlfriend and the crazy monster lady.

"Whoa whoa whoa. How about we figure out what's going on first? Okay? We get to Jack and Sándor and that Avery bitch, and we just stop Jacob from getting them killed, or whatever. Killing or not killing can be figured out later, okay?"

Athalia snarled as she shook her head. "You don't fucking get it. I told you what he's been up to. You tell him we know, and everything dominoes. We take care of this now, tonight, all of it, because Jacob sure as hell plans to. He's done something to get rid of the others, get them out of the way, I don't know, so he can do his ritual without interference, and start a fucking apocalypse!" She took another step forward, and the enormous shadow in the dark followed her. "So get out of my way, before I rip you in half. I need to contact the Prince."

Triss gulped, and joined Jen's side, but otherwise the two ladies were in Athalia's way, in the kill zone.

"Mulder's taking care of that."

"Says you."

Jen gestured to Scully, and Scully gave her wings a few flaps.

"Mulder at Master's nest! Talk to Master's pets. Pets talk to Prince blood drinker."

Athalia snarled. It sounded nothing like normal Athalia, and far too much like the skeleton monster.