The apartment is tight, smelling of cigarettes and copper. A studio apartment, a bed crammed into one corner, window, sole window tapped over with black electric tape and then curtained over with thick black cloth. Estelle's in pants and a bra, staring at a computer as she types in access codes for police databases, glowing eyes reflecting everything the screen shows.
Leaning forwards, putting an elbow on the table to steady as she finds an entry for a Katherine Doukas, she taps and starts looking over the storied file. "'Course, nothing on what actually happened." She mumbles, a cigarette finding its way into her mouth, flaming point a thrilling danger and fulfilling an oral fixation.
Email provider spoofs finally bring results, and records are dragged out of the department, letting her eyes drift across emails one by one by one. The entire last two years consumed slowly. Idly, a YouTube tab starts playing music with a click as Estelle presses the cigarette into her arm to think.
The shock of unnatural pain, a rarity, sharpens senses, sharpens them enough that her head turns to the door, two heartbeats outside it. A second later it bursts open as the assailants invade the apartment. The vampire's up and moving fast, observing the plainclothed men, vests obvious under shirts while starting to point a revolver at them.
A gunshot rips through her, pushing the gun out of alignment and sending a .44 into the tarmac of the roof above. Music finally starts up, a pulsing beat that alights the dark room even as scarlet arcs spill on yellow stained white walls.
Priest are you there can you hear my voice
Do you hear my prayers are you out there
The man who shot her has a smirk, words starting to form, "Dumb bi-" Before with revenant fury, Estelle shoves off the ground and pounces on him, lanky limbs and superior height pushing the, now obvious, officer against a bookshelf, collapsing the thing and spreading comics and texts alike across the floor whilst the other officer grabs at her back, slick with the blood of her gunshot.
Forgive me priest for I have sinned
I know not what I do
Sprouting fangs, Estelle goes to bit the man, but gets whipped by the but of a pistol before she can think, stumbling off him and through her bathroom door, cheap mounting not lasting a second against the impact, flattening against the floor, blood coating the off-beige of it.
Mother I am here I can hear your song
I can feel your fear HE'S done you wrong
"Stay on the ground!" The brown haired man, fourty, bad health, loves donuts, will taste sweet, Estelle thinks, staring at him past the gun. Rising up has an immediate reaction, a rattle of gunshots as he does not stop shooting until the magazine runs empty, the constant bang of the firearm setting everyone's ears ringing and splattering the bathroom tile with gore and blood, twenty one rounds now in the vampire.
Temptation fed HIS own desires
In THE ring of fire in my ring of fire
Tonight
Falling to a knee as muscles fail, the mad, angry and excited look on the woman's face somehow intensifies before she rushes forwards again, hands reaching out and smashing into the man's chest, forcing him against a far wall across the fifteen foot apartment space, cracking drywall and bouncing his head off the internal parts.
I would have sacrificed it all my dear
I would have bled for you
"Let him go!" The other shouts, finally recovering with a bleeding cut on the back of his neck, where the bookshelf's impact was harshest. Another gunshot sprays more blood as Estelle's body turns to a ruin of lead and gore, words unable to leave her as lung simply do not work. The brown-haired officer under her grip squirms, lanky limbs bruising flesh with force as she stares into his fearful eyes.
Til death do us part
You were unholy right from the start
A pistol bashes into the back of her head with a crack of bone, but Estelle doesn't spare it a glance as, suddenly, she descends into the pinned human, splitting open his throat and messily drinking in blood. The injuries on her seem to reverse actively, flesh and bone and muscle and organ coming back together in real time as the officer pales.
It's a nice night for a black wedding
It's a nice night for a black wedding
Pulling away with a wide-eyed, glorious fulfillment, her eyes snap to the other one, his gun loosely held in both hands and pointed at her. "S-stay back!" He shouts, backing away himself.
I heard your cry and I just knew
I never meant to forsake you
"Stop." A word pierces his head, making him freeze, "Disarm." His gun hits the ground as his fear reaches a peak. "Surrender." He gets on his knees, hands interlacing behind his head as the bloodsoaked woman rips the handcuffs from a belt and forces his hands into them.
Mother there's no reason to repent
You know not what you do
Grabbing the sides of his head, she glares into his eyes as her own go milky. He starts screaming immediately, something happening as shakes and shivers overwhelm him. Its two minutes of absolute pain before she pulls away. She smirks, moving to a highly illegal gas stove and turning the dial.
I heard the bells and I just knew
An angel once now a ghost of you
Deliver me from my own desires
Estelle uncuffs him with a command, "Stay." Freezing him here. She puts the lighter in his hands, making him tremble. Pointing a finger at the air, she commands again, "Smell."
From my ring of fire - from my ring of fire
And with a grin that borders on monstrous, she demonstrates lighting the lighter, commanding, "Ten minutes."
Tonight
----------------------------------------
Katherine woke with the smell of blood, gas, and gun powder as rock bumped in her head. The sound of a lighter flicking makes her mind recoil, and her eyes flash open in fear. Startling Eleanora, freezing, grasping her in a panic. "Call Estelle, I think she got hurt, she was attacked." She was desperate, scared, "The police came to her apartment and shot at her, they're dead but she got torn to shreds. She had to blow up her home. It's my fault." Then a little quieter, "I think she had fun though, at least."
Moments ago she was dead asleep, now taking the time to nap during the afternoons, so she could rise with Eleanora, but this time was different. She had trouble breathing as panic set in, her lungs going into overdrive. "It must have happened last night, or two nights ago. I don't know when. It's my fault."
Eleanora looks down at Katherine with concern, stroking her hair, warm from the extended contact. "Mon amour, I called her, not you." She assures, continuing to touch her love. "But speaking to her is a good idea, un moment." The phone buzzes, and a voice that sounds rough and obviously accented comes out.
"Yeah? The hell you two need?" A buzzing saw is audible in the background.
"Sorry! Sorry you had to blow up your home! I'm sorry!" Katherine is yelling into the phone from the bed, still in the grips of her panic attack.
"You wanna make it up to me-" Eleanora cuts Estelle off, "Business, not pleasure." Is softly said, a sharp edge to it. "Yeah alright, fuckin' buzzkills." The buzzing saw in the background slows to a stop, a man barely audible in the background.
"Don't you worry your head Katherine, it's just a shit studio apartment, I've gone through five in five years." The vampire assures, pulling the phone closer to her, voice clearer.
The panicked breaths slow, but not by much. Katherine tries to remember a breathing exercise.Tries to remember anything. The Adrenaline of the vision grasping her chest constricting it into tightly wound knots. She gets up, her new doctor had actually given her something that could help, she digs through the trenchcoat, trying to find it.
"So, to catch you two up." Estelle speaks into the phone loudly and clearly, voice echoing in whatever space she's in, "The PD is looking for people trying to access records on you. Either that, or they have a trawler."
Finally, in the pocket she found it, a nasal inhaler, which she huffed multiple times. Her breath finally slowing on the third as the new pharmaceutical fills her with a sense of ease. Oh thank god… It works… The panic attack starts to vanish almost immediately as the drug hits the mucous membranes of her nose.
"Now, I have an individual here that I'm going to saw at for a bit to get nice and mentally lubricated." She doesn't clarify who is getting mentally lubricated, but the excitement is evident. "And after that, I'll figure out what exactly happened on that fateful night two years ago, alright?"
Eleanora has a look of distaste, mumbling, "Sauvage." To herself.
"She's helping us, and she seems nice," Katherine said, "They're bad cops, they deserve worse." Finally catching her breath, and crawling back to bed, scared, and sad, and hurt for reasons she didn't quite understand.
A saw starts back up in the phone call as, apparently, Estelle doesn't see the point of being private about this, and Eleanora mutes the call just before a scream echoes, distaste growing on her face. "She is too close to her Beast." The elder vampire quietly complains, "I fear she will lose herself any night now."
"Wouldn't being nice and treating her more human help?" Katherine didn't truly understand, but the underlying logic made sense to her. "People are what we make them either because of our support, or in spite of our efforts. I think a therapist told me that."
Eleanora smiles, "Yes. But the Beast is closer than most anyone can be, and to her, I imagine it is not whispering anymore." She speaks as if it's something alive and separate. "Mine is silent, only rising in hunger."
"Can she pull back? Is it permanent?" Before realizing, "Your phone is on mute, she could be talking to you right now. She can't unmute it. I'll ask more later."
Unmuting the phone to a shrill scream, Eleanora's face twists slightly, not in worry for the man's pain, but distaste at the person doing it. "-h I realized that when you stopped answering my questions-Oh come on Dick! It's just a hand, you still have two until I move-Did I say two? I meant one-Well, none in a second."
"You know muting her doesn't mute us Eleanora, right?" Katherine said her brows furrowing.
Eleanora nods, "I know, I didn't say anything secret?"
"That's why I like you, you're very open about your feelings." Katherine's response was punctuated with a smile that seemed completely unaware of the shrieks in the background. "It's nice. Bad cops abuse their authority over others though."
Eleanora remembered a mention of black and white thinking. Things were either good or bad, with very little in between, she simply nodded, that way she did when being supportive of the person not necessarily the statement. It was more than enough for Katherine.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Aaaand, done!" Estelle laughs, "I'm proud of you Richy! You're still awake." Her tone is surprisingly nurturing for being mostly a joke, "Don't worry, we can put those back on later, now, tell me about your love of human trafficking!"
"See!" Katherine said gesturing to the phone, "You don't fall into flesh trade."
Estelle does answer that, "Now I'm curious as to the logistics of falling into it. Do you just… not realize that the terms are fake? 'Oh yeah I'm moving 100 steers to Latvia'?" Whilst Richy begs for something, light slaps echoing as she tries to get him to focus.
"Steers don't sob." Katherine said quietly, a hot temper boiling up. "You hear someone crying… You help. Either put them down or save them not… slavery or worse…" At the word worse her lip curls in disgust. "Fuck that guy."
"Eleanora you better be hugging her, or I'll take her off your hands." Estelle jokingly threatens, finally focusing Richy with a sharp slap. "There he is! Alright, two years ago, shootout, docks, five officers dead, one put on the blacklist, talk or I cut your dick off, Dick."
Its muffled, he's nowhere near as clear as Estelle, "I-I-I don't know-GAH." A squelching noise comes out of the phone as she answers his lie with pain, "PLEASE-God-The Tong! God, it was for the Tong!" There's shivers audible on the phone. "The Tong? We kicked them out in 08, keep talking."
"They got rolled into the bigger Chinese mob, Wah Ching. They came down from SF and wiped out the Asian Boyz Cambodians who were there since the eighties." Katherine added trying to help.
"Oh yeah this is vampire shit-Damnit, sorry Dick." Estella apologizes to the man. "Back in '08 there was a clusterfuck, Camarilla's fault in my opinion-Don't worry Dick you aren't making it out so I don't gotta worry-Had a bunch of asian vampires around, they didn't, uh, call themselves that." The explanation is rapid fire, bouncing from word to word.
"I wasn't in the metro area where shit went down then, and Eleanora was in France, so not sure what happened, but there's no more-Well there's asian as in the ethnicity vampires-but there's no actual… Asian vampires, capital A." More rapid fire explanations, catching Katherine up to now in seconds of wordplay as a saw starts up again.
"Well LAPD didn't really understand the nuances anyways it was like maaaaaybe a decade ago they started to realize 'Asian' was a terrible way to classify what was actually dozens of ethnicities. Most of these gangs were seen as 'in-fighting' when in reality, The Yakuza, The Chinese mob, and a Cambodian gang are actually very distinct groups. There's no actually Asian gang, because the term is so wide it covers a shit-ton of people who do not always get along." Then thinking, "Or were you saying there's only European vampires in Los Angeles? Like… Werewolves, or—"
"Think species, yeah." She clarifies as Rich gurgles, a saw cutting in deep.
Katherine made a face, "Sorry, I took social sciences in college."
The noise stops and the saw slows, "Oh don't you worry, I don't find your info-dumps annoying." A drop of metal and plastic hitting the ground sounds out clearly, "Eleanora doesn't talk about shit to anyone because she doesn't think about it, so I'll catch you up with life-well, unlife."
Completely out of the blue, without really thinking, "You blew up your home do you have a place to stay?" It was an offer. An offer, she wasn't entirely sure she was allowed to extend as she stared at Eleanora, then saying, "I'm sorry I saw her get shot. It was worrying." Trying to be extremely quiet, but only as quiet as a mortal can.
"Ne vous excusez pas pour votre cœur." Eleanour says, patting Katherine's side, "I am yours, you are mine. This is our home." She clarifies again.
"Cela signifie-t-il que c'est bon ? Je ne veux pas vous déranger ni créer une situation politique étrange." Does that mean it's fine? I don't want to put you out or create a weird political situation. Katherine now had much more time to study and practice French, as she got her laptop, but the actual language mastery was still terrible.
Eleanora considers, trying to wonder if anything could be afflicted by this. "Elle est mon arrière-petite-fille. Elle est dèjà à moi." A smile breaks across her face at that. "She can stay, mon amour, and you can offer shelter to any you wish.
"Merci, je t'aime, tu représentes tout pour moi." Thank you, I love you, you mean everything to me. She responded, happy looking at Eleanora with a smile.
"Well." Estelle finally answers, "I have a trunk! Its sunproof." The chuckle at that is very entertained, followed by gulping noises.
"Is… That… Where you want to stay? We have like a dozen bedrooms." Katherine offers, keeping a very careful eye on Eleanora, "You can catch me up, I can teach you french, you can help me teach Eleanora english! Plus, someone else who knows how to use netflix, and I'd feel safer with more people around."
"Juuuuust a second." The vampire on the phone asks for time, a wet ripping sound passing as something fleshy loses connection, "Alright, heads off, time to drop him in the rat hole. Yeah!" She answers Katherine, "I'll take any opportunity to make great grandma mad!" Its a joke, one that makes Eleanora smile warmly.
"Wait, je croyais que les vampires manger les gens?" Before shaking her head, trying to flit back and forth between two languages was hard, "Shit I mean, don't vampires eat people?"
"We don't eat-well, most of us don't eat people- We drink blood!" Estelle laughs, "I'll just projectile out gore if I try that." Garbage bags shift and strain as they are filled.
"Oh, I assumed it was like owls, where you kind of just…" She thought for a second touching her chin, "No I guess it's not Owls that have pellets. There's a kind of bird that eats other birds and spits out their bones later. I don't know when True Blood was on TV, I wasn't super into it and that side of Tumblr never really appealed to me."
"Sure-though-just so we're a hundred percent on the same page." The grin is audible on her face, "Can I flirt with you?"
Her eyes shoot to Eleanora's face, studying her, "Sais-tu ce qu'est le polyamour?"
Eleanora tilts her head, "Aimeriez-vouss l'être? La plupart des amours que j'ai veulent être seulement les miens." Would you like to be? Most of the loves I have want to be only mine. Her question is very calmly stated, looking at Katherine moreso than worrying for herself
"Je n'en ai jamais eu, l'idée d'en avoir plusieurs est excitante si cela ne vous fait pas de mal. Je ne sais pas quels sont vos... Values? Is that the word?" I've never had one, the idea of multiple is exciting if it doesn't hurt you. I don't know what your... Values are? Is that the word. She says looking at her, "Je veux essayer, elle est mignonne, mais je ne sais pas si tu es du genre jaloux. Je ne suis jamais allé en France, s'ils sont normalement à l'aise avec ça." I want to try, she's cute, but I don't know if you're the jealous type. I've never been to France, if they are normally ok with that.
"Je ne le suis pas, mon amour." I'm not, my love. Eleanora smiles at the questions, deeply enjoying an extended French conversation, "Cela vous dérange si j'éxplore? Je peux aussi être à vous seul, il n'y a pas besoin d'équivalence." Do you mind if I explore? I can also be yours alone, there is no need for equivalence.
There's a quiet tone, and her face falls just a bit, "Tu ne me remplaceras pas quand tu trouveras quelqu'un de moins brisé?" You won't replace me when you find someone less broken? Looking at Eleanora, a little concerned, well trying to seem a little concerned, but in fact very very concerned.
"Comment puis-je remplacer ton amour pour moi?" She asks, leaning into Katherine, "Un amour si profond, qu'il duré mille nuits?"
"qu'il duré? What does that mean?" Looking at her with a smile.
"It endured." Eleanora whispers into Katherine's ear.
"It's endured much longer than that, mon amour." Katherine admitted quietly. Before remembering the phone, "Oh yeah, that's fine Estelle. You're probably going to want to try and learn some French though or you'll be left out occasionally."
"I'll learn French at some point after I meet a sunrise." The woman chuckles, "Be there in an hour."
"I'll have you know I'm just as sunny as any day. Bye!~" Katherine signs off with a sing-song trill.
"You like her?" Eleanora asks, curious, "Like as in…Le désir?"
"Are you asking if she makes me… chaud bouillant?"
Smiling at the words, Eleanora nods, "Oui, mon amour."
Katherine thinks…. Trying to put the words to it, "Yes… but not in the same way? With you it's both hard and soft attraction. It's like very small and pretty and so much love. Her it's very hard attraction but also protection? She is tough, and scary, but also I want to hold her like glass? Fabergé?"
"I understand, she is much that I am not, and of course." Eleanora smiles again, leaning very close, "She is very attractive." Her breath brushing coldly against Katherine's neck at that. "But I do have one request, you do not have to follow it."
"May I be the only one that…sups from you?" She asks, looking up with bright blue eyes.
"Of course," Then thinking, "Does that go both ways? Should I not drink her blood if she offers? Or is that a more special thing that vampires don't just offer."
Eleanour shakes her head, "My blood would overpower hers in an instant. Do not worry." Assuring Katherine with another gentle touch on her neck, index finger feeling the arterial pulse with interest, delighting in the heat and life that transfers.
"Ok that's good. That's great even." She moves to the edge of the bed and pulls Eleanora in close to give her a kiss. She wonders how soon after she touches the other woman does she recognize and start moving. She never notices resistance, but Eleanora could turn to stone in a minute she just knew it. "Je t'aime passionnément." I love you with passion.
"Tu es mon soleil, Katerina." The Vampire whispers back between kisses.
Looking back with twinkling eyes, "Et tu es l'univers dans lequel je veux toujours briller." And you are the universe in which I always want to shine. Oh my god Katherine, she thought to herself, that was so smooth.
Eleanora's eyes do widen just a millimeter at that, the best reaction Katherine has ever gotten out of her. "Ah, ma Katerina. You are learning." Her whisper is dark and ripped through with a desire that spills free openly, she shifts to be atop Katherine, leaning forwards and saying, "Nous avons une heure, mon amour. Je souhaite le passer avec toi." We have one hour, my love. I want to spend it with you, Her mouth is almost on Katherine's neck, icy lips promising another burst of pleasure if they so much as brush against the warm flesh.