Winter's chill took momentary residence within Esper James, that cryogenic flash of realizing you have been caught in the act. In EJ's case, she had been caught in the act of committing a literal crime - evading the police - by the woman who unofficially owned her. She began to quiver, cowering shamelessly before her mistress, the vampiric overseer's presence alone sending her to her knees. She just had to go out and party, didn't she?
Judas took to a lean that resembled a bow, arching her back forwards to follow EJ's face in her despairing descent. There was no pillar strong enough from keeping the secretary from crumbling, a pyramid of sand in the face of a powerful gust. Meeting the ravenette's eyes with her own emeralds was like a careless glance towards a basilisk: petrifying, yet even as she was turned to stone, she fell apart. Few things could have picked up the pieces of her emotional state from where they lay embedded in the floor.
"Welllll, EJ~? I finally found you... it's been a while. Not really that long, in the grand scheme of things, but... You know." The taller woman looked down upon her subordinate as an owner over their pet, over an object in their possession. That was always how Judas appeared, it was true, and yet in this moment it evoked a sense of superiority to the point of being outright predatory. The strong devour the weak.
Est watched this all happening as if in a stupor, a level of shock in equivalence to EJ's grief stunning her in place. The woman she had tried to kill earlier in the week was now standing here before her, and more than that, she was making EJ melt. It was almost voyeuristic, watching Esper James become a puddle right before her eyes, and there was a ping of guilty pleasure in Esthrielle's heart in response.
"J-Juh... J-Juda... Jud-das...! I swear, I... I was just out with a f-f-friend for a night o-on the town, nothing m-more than that!" The words came in a sputter not unlike a clogged spigot, stunted snippets of words-to-be slipping away into nothingness. Esper James began to cry, hot tears to melt the touch of ice which lingered upon her skin. She felt her mind begin to slip away, pulled backwards through an open door within her own mental faculties, vision blurring in equal measure from her tears and from her panic. Her mind howled at her to backpedal, to go run and hide, but her body wouldn't respond.
"Ohhhhh~? A friend? Is this your friend, this... girl? I remember our date night really well, you know, both how sweet and innocent you are, and also how I got shot in the knee. Ha ha ha. Get up, EJ... I'm not gonna hit you. Honestly, I'm not really mad, or surprised, that you fell in with an Easterner." Judas snickered, her eyes narrowing nearly to crimson slits. An elegant hand reached out to give EJ's cheek a tender caress, leaving herself open to Esthrielle.
The gesture did not go unnoticed, the snowcap girl slowly but surely lowering her guard. Est crossed her arms now, leaning back upon a single leg, the other going forwards to set up a boundary between herself and the vampire. EJ knew could only process two things as Judas reached for her, twin instincts kicking in with terrible force. Firstly was that Judas would be pissed off at her if she didn't lean forwards and accept the caress. Secondly, however, was a deeply ingrained need to flinch away from a potential strike.
As EJ flinched, the desire to delay punishment overwhelming her aversion of punishment presently delivered, Judas's hand rushed forth like a hungry viper. She took Esper James's cheek in something very akin to a caress, but only if starving predators offer affection to their prey before consuming them.
"EJ, c'mon... I know we've got a lot to talk about, a whole lot, but here... isn't the place. If we're gonna have a serious talk, we need to go somewhere more private. What about work on monday?" Judas's tones were dulcet and her words honeyed, but their hidden intent was the rose of the bouquet. EJ wasn't aware enough to mind the thorns.
At the offer of amnesty in exchange for another bad day at work, EJ's heart rose just as the vampire's presence had initially cause it to wither. She gave her face now willingly to Judas as Esthrielle looked on with an expression of comingling disgust and amusement. Esthrielle sneered as Esper James began to nuzzle into her overlord's palm, rolling her eyes before immediately returning them to what lay before her. She spat venom as her words began, filling the void left by EJ's absent response.
"Oh, so just a word from you and everything's okay, yeah? I know where you fucking live, skank. This better not be a trap or I will... I'll make you regret it." The emphasis of her words and the razor's edge of her tone was undermined by the wavering which nestled within her speech as she watched. Judas had taken hold of Esper James's multipurpose choker with the forefinger on her left hand, her right going to take the blonde's waistband. Ghoulish hips were brought forth by the waistband's hold, her upper body lagging behind from Judas's appropriation of EJ's neck. In the end, EJ was leaned back too far to support herself; instead, she was forced to fall back into the choker, letting Judas keep her aloft.
"Yes. I'm a very powerful woman, tramp. But... I know I can count on EJ to be back to work on Monday. As for tonight? Well... We're all here, and my personal secretary has already begun drinking. So we can have a little fun instead." Judas pushed EJ's hips back to an appropriate stance relative to her torso, the hand that had been on EJ's waistband now going up to help urge the cup towards EJ's mouth. The vampire cackled, a sound that made EJ's stomach do a flip for a profusion of reasons.
The wave of nausea and excitement in equal part snapped Esper James from her fugue, causing her to blink a few times in repetition before focusing in on her boss's face. The weight of what she had just said began to set into EJ's skull, adding further inadvisable excitement to her emotional array. Judas was not a party girl by any means. She did not frequent establishments such as these for any reason at all. If she did, she probably went to a notably dressy and refined one, not a hole in the wall like this.
The prospect of dragging Judas along, if only to get on her good side and ensure further punishment was diminished, outweighed any other option for the bedraggled blonde. The potential to dance with her out here in a place like this was even better, though it was late entering her train of thought. Esper James could only smile as wide as her lips allowed, manic in her desire to please her superior, every inch of razorlike ivory on full display. At least, they were until Judas's gentle urging at EJ's fruity beverage prompted the latter woman to imbibe.
More blood. More booze. More stimulants. The stimulant crush was thrilling, yet it bore an exhaustion, too - a malleability to the form and soul. She had been overdoing it recently - blood for a great many meals recently, hot, sweet blood straight from the vein, and multiple meetings of donor blood to undead lips. Durable as she was, the science that kept the second-living did not prevent afflictions of the mind. She was getting used to it, used to the thrill, to the rush.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"Fine! Fine. We can share her for the night. Only tonight. After that, we are enemies again, alright? We almost killed eachother once. Let's try and avoid having it happen again." She could barely believe what she was saying. This woman was her enemy for more reasons than could be counted on a single hand, and yet, the idea of a temporary ceasefire was more than amenable. Neither of them were looking to fight if it wasn't necessary, and neither were prepared for it. It wouldn't benefit anyone. Plus, the cyborg wasn't in a fighting mood.
Judas simply laughed, nodding as she did, now holding the cup up by its bottom now that the rim of it was to EJ's lips. The ghoulette, to her credit, didn't sputter once; she guzzled down every drop of the boozy brew, at least all that had been left remaining, and now she wobbled slightly from stimulation. A misstep left her fumbling, straight into the arms of her watchdog. Est caught her easily, holding her close as she did.
Judas stuck out a hand to take Est's abandoned drink, appropriating it for herself, knowing full well that Esthrielle wouldn't drink a glass full of the stuff, regardless of its donor origin. Est said nothing, her prickly expression cooling to a gentle simmer of annoyance. The fact that Judas may legitimately be influential enough to ensure that both tonight, and EJ's future, were both free and clear? It was annoying to the tomboyish assassin. Sure, she had known Judas was apparently an influential exec, but just how influential was she?
It didn't matter. Now that Judas had caught the pair of them, they were trapped. Best to just follow along with what the cruel domina wanted, rather than rebel and cause a huge scene, with the added malus of jailtime and likely the death sentence in Est's case. Vitus's elite always needed more donor blood, and while her limbs pumped nutrifluid, there was definitely real blood to be drained from somewhere inside the Italian...
Judas slammed the drink in record time, making an already-tipsy Esper James (and an onlooking but silent Roth) do a double-take. It didn't have the same effect on her that it did EJ, of course: while the veins and sinews of her exposed neck seemed to respond, muscles tightening therein, it was nowhere near the visceral, rippling effect that it had on the ghoulette. She seemed emboldened, if anything - standing tall, straight as an arrow, her unnatural aura of dominance exerted now to full effect.
No longer was it just her presence that made the knees of her secretary wobble as a newborn deer, it was that pheromonal impulse inherent in all vampires, their so-called psionic ability. In truth, no one knew what exactly it was, but medical reports released by Tsang and Vitus's local government alike chalked it up to pheromones, able to provide subliminal urges to obey and act upon unspoken desires. The desires in question? Those of the vampire, of course. They hadn't reached the top of the second-living food chain simply through being the best.
"Alright, then, ladies. Let's... Let's head out to the dancefloor. Both of you stay close to me, and we'll all have a great evening. After that? You're both free to go. I'll pull my strings to make the corporate puppets dance, and then... A normal life for the both of you. No more killing people, though." Her fangs were teased to the others in a smug grin, eyes narrowing again as she surveyed her two playmates for the evening. Est's shoulders slumped in what she hoped seemed to be feigned reluctance, though there was very real relief within her.
EJ nodded fervently, her empty cup already forgotten as she dropped it to the club floor so that she might embrace Judas, a pathetic display of submission. She was as a groveling dog desperate for its master's touch, already too frazzled to remember why she was here in the first place or her spat with Purity, the alcohol setting in so quickly that all she could desire was the touch of a woman she had known in myriad ways.
Judas was happy to oblige, though one arm was spared - stretched up and out, opening up the opportunity for Esthrielle to join EJ in the warmth of offered affection. The Wayfinder nearly spat on the ground at the wordless offering, but after a scant few seconds to actually consider it, she found herself drawing close and resting her own head inches from EJ's own, the both of them pressed to Judas's torso. It was warmer than most undead - in fact, with the addition of the blood from moments ago, it was becoming ovenlike.
"Good, good... Both of you know your place. This will be the only time I say this so explicitly, but... If you two disappoint me tonight? If you don't show me a good time? If I find that you've been hiding away from me just to then be boring when I catch you? Well, I won't be so merciful. Do what I want, don't get sent to IRE." She set her head askew, facing down towards the pair of bullied beauties at her torso, and gave them each a gentle kiss on the forehead.
Just as it always did, this left a fiery tingle like that of a branding iron upon EJ's flesh, but also as always, the sensation was more akin to ecstasy than agony. It caused her to shiver, to lean with further insistence into Judas and Est both, to yearn for her boss's touch. It was like a drug, the love of a vampire, even if it wasn't so much true love as it was sadistic play.
Esthrielle, too, was affected. In fact, she was shocked as her bare skin was given a euphoria previously unfamiliar, the hair on her neck raising up, her closed eyes snapping open for a mere moment. But the physical sensation concentrated on her remaining organic parts was not nearly as alarming as the literal alarms that went off in her head, displayed on the AR-interlink of her inorganic eyes. Her limbs were failing. Whatever Judas had just done to her, she was weakened as a response - legs barely strong enough to stand, arms barely strong enough to cling.
She grit her prosthetic teeth and bore with it, shutting her eyes again in a furrow-browed scowl. Cooling distaste for the second-living was renewed in humorous form as she damned Judas for being able to dull her back to base humanity with naught but a kiss. Esthrielle was suffering outwardly while inwardly delighted by the sudden, intoxicating display of some kind of affection - EJ, in turn, was thrilled to have been given such a gift so quickly after making amends.
Judas held them there for a handful of moments, letting the seconds while away as grindcore sound and industrial thrill wrought itself upon the Jezzebelle's attendees. Her left hand gestured to a yet-still-watching Roth for three more of the same, one without blood. Oh, she would get Esthrielle to drink blood one of these days, perhaps before the night's end. But it was a bucket-list goal. Something that could wait until she had bent the cyborg's autonomous body into a more pleasing, docile shape.
As the drinks were presented, Judas allowed her playmates their freedom, gesturing to the libations. "Alright, ladies, drink up. I don't want to have spent all this time in this little zoo you call a fun time for nothing. I want the both of you good and fucked up... Maybe then I'll let you go, hmm~?" She winked and began to cackle even as EJ rushed to grab her own drink, Est less hurried but no less eager to take her own.
Tonight was going to be a long fucking night, thought Est. Maybe they should've just stayed home...