Jack watches in apprehension when a man in his mid-forties walks over to him and Fiore as they're looking through the Hyundai parking lot - Fiore's leaning towards SUV's, much to his utter surprise, he figured she'd be looking for something small and fast, like the Maybach - but Fiore quickly pulls her sunglasses down and fixes the man with dark blue eyes before either he or Jack can say anything. The man seems to go into a sort of trance, agreeing without hesitation to let them trade the Maybach Exelero for any car on the parking lot when she asks, and he'll cover the difference - and, as he's the Automotive General Sales Manager for Hyundai in the area, he can afford it.
Fiore smirks at Jack, for just a minute, and in twenty minutes they've got the newest, most tricked-out electric SUV on the entire lot.
Jack leans over as he's getting the paperwork together to file, and quietly asks "What just happened?"
Fiore whispers "If someone looks me in the eye, they get really…suggestible. It's why I bought the sunglasses. Relax, though, it isn't permanent and we're not exactly stiffing him or anything." At least, as far as she knows, it isn't permanent. Everything she's been able to find on the subject of Succubus Trances has pointed to as much, anyway.
While Fiore has a point there, and Jack knows she's got a point, he says "We can't just go around using powers on people like this. If we do, we're no better than what you've described Dakkar Styx as."
Fiore stiffens for a moment, and he can practically feel her outraged glare as she looks at him…and then her shoulders slump slightly, and she mutters "Vampires, especially ones like Dakkar and Antonino, have no need for something as weak and useless as morals. So he's said for as long as I can remember, and doubtlessly far longer than that. I admit, I'm…a little rusty on the topic myself."
She looks over at him after a moment, and quietly adds "I can't promise I'll never use this power again, Jack. But I wouldn't hurt someone who doesn't deserve it, nor would I cheat them or rob them blind." Information-gathering, or ending an argument, perhaps, but not to hurt someone or destroy their livelihood like Dakkar undoubtedly would.
Jack stays quiet for a moment, then nods his head while saying "Alright, then. Just…don't let it go to your head, alright? Please?"
Fiore nods, saying "I'll try. Tell me if you think I'm going too far. I…Vampires aren't affected, you see. I have no idea how strong it is - it should be as temporary as my Allure, from the meagre amount of research I've been able to do…" She's cut off by a yawn suddenly, and removes her sunglasses to rub at her eyes for a moment.
Jack raises an eyebrow, asking "You alright?"
Fiore nods, murmuring "I'm just used to being up at night most of the time is all. Vampire schedule, and all. I'll be fine."
Jack nods, then yawns as well. At her look, he grins sheepishly and mutters "Jet Lag. I tried to sleep on the plane, but…you know."
Fiore shrugs, saying "I don't, actually. Never been on one. But, I can imagine. You head into Walmart, I'll work on the car while you're inside. We'll need at least two futons, some food that doesn't need to be refrigerated unless you want to get a fridge or minifridge, and something to keep the clothes we just bought in. Burner phones, or a new sim card for you at least."
The general sales manager comes back, the key fob to the car in hand, and Fiore gives the man a smile and pulling her sunglasses up once more for a brief moment and says "Thank you for your help, sir. Now, can you do one more thing for me?"
He nods at once, and she says "Thank you. Take this car off the inventory list, replace it with yours, and use the Maybach as your own personal car. And forget any of this ever happened."
Jack raises an eyebrow at her once the man walks away, and asks "You weren't going to take the money?"
Fiore shakes her head, saying "I emptied my account a week ago, it's all in my clutch. We don't need to worry about money, and cash is untraceable. Like I said, Jack, I'm not going to rob somebody blind." She's also not going to jeopardize their chances of escape for something like money when she already has plenty of it on hand.
Jack just shakes his head in amazement, climbing into the passenger side after grabbing all the bags from the Maybach, and asks "Walmart now?" Is he ever going to figure this woman out?!
One minute she's snapping and snarling, electrocuting Werewolves and blasting Vampires into walls, and the next she's gifting million-dollar-cars to salesmen. She values her personal space quite a lot, but suggested they pose as a couple to get through a clothing store, to - the phrase 'don't judge a book by its cover' comes to mind.
In bold and underlined italics, no less.
Fiore pulls him from his thoughts, putting the SUV in drive and saying "Big time. We'd better make it good, because by tonight our faces are going to be all over the news." If they get lucky, Dakkar will use grainy footage for Jack and old photographs for herself - but, unfortunately, she doesn't usually get that lucky.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Fiore drives them to the blessedly-empty Walmart parking lot, and parks in the front of the lot saying "Here," she hands him one of the new sweatshirts he bought, "put this on so you'll be less recognizable on the cameras. It was the one on the bottom of the pile, so any cameras that might've filmed us in the clothing store shouldn't have caught it. Go buy some stuff, I'll be doing a bit of an upgrade on the trunk."
Jack half-seriously says "I'm almost scared to ask what kind of upgrade."
Fiore shakes her head, saying "Some of the most powerful Fae can create small…pocket dimensions would be one way to describe it. Twisting and manipulating the space in an enclosed area to expand it. It's only accessible if the Fae that created it or one that knows of it activates the magic, however, so nobody's going to be able to find it unless I let them." Far as she can guess at, it's meant to create a safe space for the Fae to hide in if there's danger nearby. She's so sincerely hoping it works like that, because they have to sleep at some point and she's not going to be able to make it through a second night.
Jack whistles in appreciation, saying "That is…wow. That is awesome, you know that? But, not to be insulting or anything, have you ever…done it before?"
Fiore grins and waves her clutch, saying "Yes. Here," she pulls out fifteen fifty's, "this should cover everything."
Jack nods, then says "…thanks…" He's reeling, just a little bit, over her just casually handing him close to a thousand dollars like it's nothing.
Vampire-Mafia semi-princess. Engaged to the prince, perhaps. Right.
Jack heads into the store, and quickly picks out a decent-sized minifridge before heading to the aisle with futons - he gets a dark red one and a deep blue, both boasting extra-soft cushioning and ultimate comfort, two throw blankets, some pillows, a new SIM card for his phone, a prepaid flip phone to activate the SIM card, a few tubes of Biofreeze gel, a few of the roll-on versions to be safe, and some food.
And then he passes the beauty aisle, and gets an idea - Antonino could smell him from five feet away, and with Fiore sitting on his lap, after all. He quickly grabs a few jars of scented creams and lotions, body sprays, shampoos, conditioners, body wash, and the strongest perfume he can find. If all that doesn't confuse a vampire or werewolf's nose, then he doesn't know what will - beyond rolling in a manure patch, anyway. He also grabs two brushes, several air fresheners, some cans of Febreze sprays, car cleaning supplies, and a few window tinting kits from the automotive aisle.
It takes him a solid hour to get everything, and another thirty minutes to get checked out as people have started showing up by then, and he quickly takes the overflowing cart out to the SUV - and he refuses to be embarrassed by the amount and variety of stuff he's getting, not when he's going on the run from things these lucky people can go to sleep thinking don't exist.
Fiore opens the back driver's side door, saying "The seats are folded down, and you've got good timing. Hand some of that over, you'll want to take a look at this."
Jack raises an eyebrow at her in confusion, she looks almost like a kid on Christmas...just a little prouder, as if she wrapped everything and put it all under the tree herself.
Jack puts everything inside, Fiore pushing the Minifridge and Futons back…and Jack gets a good look at the room-sized space that most certainly wasn't there when he left the car. He could fit his entire living room inside with ease! "Wha…how in the world?"
Fiore shrugs nonchalantly, green eyes sparkling with excitement even still, and says "Turns out, when you're not doing this in secret while a Vampire is in the shower, you can really get some space when you concentrate."
Jack swallows, then says "I'll, erm, take your word for it."
"I'll drive, and keep the car charged. You set up in back. Putting up the bigger seats will close off most of the space, leaving the smaller seat at the end as a sort of door. You want to get out, unlatch the end and push." Luckily, the seats unlatch from the back - there's a small latch that you have to pull forwards, accessible from inside the pocket dimension she created in the trunk.
Jack nods, then grabs the bag of stuff from the beauty and hair aisle, and says "Here. These are for you…well, some of them are for me to, but still. I figured, if anything that finds us can't smell anything past perfume or body spray, it might throw them off our trail. And…nevermind. You can probably guess." If her Allure works even partly by scent, it might cover it up or counteract it - she might take it as an insult if he said it out loud, though.
Fiore looks in the bag, then glances up at him with an awestruck expression. "Jack, these…nobody's ever done anything like this for me before…"
She wipes at her eyes with her palm, and Jack asks "Not even Antonino?"
Fiore shakes her head, and says "No. He'd buy me expensive dresses and jewelry, pounds of makeup…but he just wanted to show me off. Make me his piece of arm-candy, parade me around, but never let me interact with anyone. Not that I could, anyway. Nobody's ever done something to try and help me…" Nobody's ever tried to make it so she wouldn't be mobbed by a crowd of people - except when Antonino would shove his tongue down her throat in yet another possessive display of ownership, anyway.
And she doesn't count that as helping her, just him showing her off while telling everyone not to touch his stuff.
This, though…Jack actually got her some stuff that might help to cover up the scent. Actually tried to help her, instead of just dangle her out to the wolves and pull her back a moment before she's snapped up.
After wiping at her cheeks some more, Fiore smiles and says "I'll drive. Got everything we might need?"
Jack nods, and says "Let's find a deserted parking lot and use these. Thought they might come in useful. I also got some car-cleaning supplies for if anything comes sniffing around while we're asleep - cleaning the car before we go to bed should, theoretically, erase our scents from the day for the most part."
Fiore's mouth drops open when he shows her the tinted window kits, and she grins and says "That's genius. C'mon, there's gotta be something around here. If not, we can just drive out and pull over far enough that nobody will see us."
They get in, Jack opting for the backseat - how in the world did she manage to make it so the trunk expands when the doors are shut and the seats are down?! - and he starts exploring while Fiore looks for a spot.
The trunk honestly looks like a room in a house like that - completely barren, bar the stuff they have, but that just means they have room to arrange things. He puts the Futons on either side of the space, amazed despite himself that he can't feel any movement from the car moving, and plugs the Minifridge into a nearby outlet before piling the lunchmeat, cheese, and condiments he bought - and tells himself he's not making any Italians, no matter how good of an idea they sound like.
They won't be able to just stop in a grocery store whenever he gets hungry to buy some food, because their faces may very well be all over the news starting tonight.