The morning light streams through shuttered windows, making both people blink at the arcing rays. Sophia finally enters the room, looking equally as beautiful as the night before, "The pain should be settling down soon, and after that, or just…now! You can go home." She's talking to Katherine mostly, Director Belltower, as far as anyone can tell, lives here.
"Did you get the bag of blood, I was serious about that," Katherine said again, "Pretty much only thing keeping me from the bone marrow and other upgrades. I was thinking that, the eyes, and something that can do math really fast. Like a brain powered calculator that runs statistical models." She says, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
"Ew, cyberware." Sophia mock-gags, before grabbing a icebox and putting it next to Katherine's bed. "Five litres of prime B+ Sophia, report back soon!"
"I'll e-mail tonight," She said, then to Director, "I typed up a full after action report, and sent it to you with some forms I found on the intranet that came with the employee manual. I also took notes, videos, and worked on I think everything?"
"Good work." He sighs, starting at his phone, "Just have the AAR with the Comptroller and this op's in the past." Belltower stands up with much less of a hiss, rising to his feet grimacing as he stares at where his suit lies in ruins.
As he stands up Katherine looks at him with a weird tingle. "Can you give him a back… Thingy? Brace? The thingy. It goes on your back."
"I can't fix him being a beaten up fourty year old, no, agent Doukas." Sophie chuckles.
"The neoprene thingy I think it's called, not like hardware." She says still staring, very intensely feeling odd.
"M'Fine." The Director shakes his head, brushing a hand to straighten out his brown locks. "Just need a day off."
Katherine looks at him, "Director, it's a feeling. Please. A small piece of elastic won't kill you."
The please makes him twitch annoyedly. "Fine." Whilst Sophies eye's widen. She gets a back sleeve and slips it on him before he leaves in a fussy, annoyed mood.
"I have known the man for fifteen years, he's never crumbled that easily." She stares at Katherine with mild amazement.
Katherine looks at Sophia with a very pleased smile, "In his defense, I am adorable." Standing up with a stretch to leave grabbing the icebox. "Also, like, every precognition I've had has turned out immensely important and useful," she followed it up with as she left.
Katherine got home just in time to meet with the cat breeders who dropped of the very large Cat, and signed a lithany of paperwork, that after nearly fifteen minutes, she finally lost her cool and said, "Here's fifteen thousand dollars, if you come to my home to take my cat I will fucking kill you. I will also get away with it." Practically chasing the two men out of her home with shooing motions handing them fifteen bands in a plastic bag. "Everything about this process has made me want to find your families and execute them." She says as they run off.
The large grey cat seemed pleased in the home as it explored, though still flinching at new sights and sounds as a new cat does. Katherine had placed two litterboxes throughout the house, and had done meticulous research on the right food. She had purchased a ridiculous amount of automatic and manually operated toys, and every twenty feet of floor space was dotted with an automatic water fountain. While nip diffusers after even more research lined the home in various outlets. The Kindred forums had shown that some vampires kept cats, and she had tried to do everything she could to make the tiny behemoth feel comfortable.
"Gonna name you…" She stares at the animal as it almost instantly moves to lounge into her lap. "Gaius."
The thing meows as time starts to flow, the day passing in a monotony of chores and errands, the closest to a fast-forward anyone can get. It's only when the last of the orange rays dip below the horizon and lunar dark spreads that a budding excitement forms in Katherine. Groaning from upstairs, including from Eleanora shows that two vampires can leave very lasting consequences on eachother. "Kaaaaaaaaaat." Estelle calls out, "We went too haaard."
"I brought snacks!" Katherine said as she pulled the ice chest out of the fridge and ran up stairs to the bedroom, "And the cat showed up." It followed behind her, before flinching at the vampires, but not hissing or running. She placed the chest on the end of the bed on a chest, pulling out a blood bag, and passing it to Estelle.
Estelle greedily digs into the blood bags, briefly stopping, "Huh, this is…like…a twinkie?" She continues drinking unabated after that.
"Sweet, but not satisfying?" Katherine asks not worried, but curious, "They offered to do it to my blood but I wasn't going to do anything without testing."
"Nah, nah, its…like corn syrup sweet, I could just keep going." She finishes a second bag, going for a third as Eleanora raises one to her lips, gently tasting it.
"Apparently bone marrow enhancements makes your blood like that, and produces much more than normal." Katherine says looking at them happily, "I was considering it."
"Oh I'd be biting you every hour." Estelle grins, looking at Katherine with a hungry lust. Eleanora swallows a gulp. "This woman is unhealthy. Not enough sleep or food, she has some sort of untreated tumour, its why it feels less filling, Estelle."
Katherine bit her knuckles, but dutifully noted down observations. "Huh, but nothing off other than that?" She says looking at them both.
"I have a very refined palate and cannot taste much different. Except of course, that you are better." Eleanora is practicing her English again, trying to stick to it.
That makes Katherine bouncy, nodding, "Awesome, and honestly that was perfect Eleanora." She said suddenly. Then through-out the night regaled them with her tales and exploits. Showing them both the video of the incident, talking about the people she met, and just excited about her life in general, wanting to share every moment with them she could. The E-mail already sent off to Sophia, with all observations dutifully recorded.
"So they just… pay you six figures to kill someone…once a week?" Estelle is very curious. "Like…that's it?"
Katherine shrugs, "It seems they lack the amount of people with the necessary skills and disregard for life to do it. Which is kind of sweet in it's own way."
Eleanora nods, "Every…order requires its warriors, and every warband needs its killers. It is a stable place to be." She is currently trying on dresses, bite marks clearly evident all up her waist and arms.
"You guys bite each other?" Katherine asks, "Last loop Estelle told to not even talk about that."
"Uh…Yeah." Estelle rubs her arm, "You shouldn't…its not a good look."
"Legally speaking, its illegal. But, well, the law rarely applies to me." She smiles into the mirror, deciding on a green silken dress.
"Especially now," Katherine looks at Eleanora's lack of reflection, "What do you see when you look in a mirror?"
"A monster." She answers with the smile still on her face, turning from the mirror.
"Like, metaphorically or… Do you see a fucked up reflect— Oh!" She says as Eleanora cuts her off.
"Very literally. Yes." Eleanora finds the word. "The Beast which has replaced much of my soul lurks in reflections, too terrible for mortals to bear."
Katherine looks at the mirror then back to Eleanora, then to Estelle, "It feels like most of the beast stuff is a condition of circumstance more than anything. If vampires could feed in non harmful ways, and allowed to live like… Normally, I feel like a lot of things would be different?"
"Certainly, but we would never accept rule from mortals, and they'd never accept rule from our kind." Eleanora gently explains, slipping the dress on and turning to see how light it really is, finding the ends almost float with small gestures. "Co-existence has been a goal for many over centuries and millennia, but…it never quite works out."
"Shame," Katherine says quietly, "I guess depending on how long I live I'll add it to my list of goals. I need new ones now that I have a Cat and two girlfriends. That… Was it. I didn't really plan beyond that. It was that or the revolver."
Estelle reaches over and smacks Katherine, "Suicidal ideation gets annoying smacks." She does it again.
"That was in the past, now I mostly think about…" Katherine stopped for a moment trying to think about what's on her mind. The pause is extended as she finally stops and looks at her journal, "You two and guns."
"Mon amour, you are very…cute? I think that's the right word." Eleanora sits on the bed's edge.
"Cute, hot, dangerous, sexy, adorable, violent, meticulous, happy," Katherine lists off on her fingers with a grin, "Good with a gun, good with animals, good with people, a time wizard, one of the best lovers in the world."
"Good with a tongue." Estelle adds, finally unfurling from the bed and showing lines of bite marks on her back.
"Jesus." Katherine said, but biting her lip. "Definitely getting that marrow implant. I… Want that." She points at the line with glee.
"Eleanora is fucking dangerous off the handle." Estelle almost complains, "She realized she couldn't hurt me and just fucking lost it." The comments bring a wry smirk to Eleanora's face, settling in to stay awhile.
Katherine sent a second email to Sophia, Make me invulnerable to death but bitable? Short form rejuvenation? Thinking carefully about attaching the video, but deciding against it the idea making her cringe internally that the intrusive thought was allowed into her mind.
"See, this bitch, would just jab down far enough that it hurt, and keep doing that." Estelle continues her tirade, "And then when you aren't ready, after an hour of fucking fake bites, she just goes for it out of nowhere and makes me brak a bedpost!"
"She does that to me doesn't she?" Katherine looking at Estelle confused, "You both do that."
"Its a little different when you can just…chomp instead of the sorta gentle slide we do with you." Estelle explains, gesturing to her back.
"That's gentle," Katherine asks both excited and concerned. "How tough do I have to be to get chompable…" She wondered quietly looking at the marks. "Would you be willing to bite down on a pressure gauge later or am I getting into weirdo territory?"
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
"Actually, already done that. Eighteen-hundred pounds per square inch at a snap." Estelle chuckles, snapping her mouth shut with a clack of enamel on enamel.
The noise gave Katherine an excited giggle even though she knew that would never happen to her, "You know… This new doctor fixed two ribs and a broken spine in like six hours…" The… Suggestion thrown out with hopeful and reckless abandon. A third email, Can you make my skin resist eighteen hundred pounds per square inch?
Eleanora looks at Estelle, then Katherine, "Ma Katerina, you want us to hurt you?" She's blunt, wry smirk on her face.
"Did… Oh right, we haven't had that conversation yet." Katherine said suddenly, "Our first date was at a movie, and we all got insane so I decided to see how far I could push the limits. I cut myself on a knife then ran like prey to the car, then ran like prey to the house, then did the same thing to the bathroom and locked the door letting you both pound on it. Then, I finally opened it up and I think if I hadn't asked politely not to be murdered that was going to be the loop right there." She starts listing things off, "We've tried fire, electricity, razors, needles, knives, crops, paddles, belts and… There's one more that's super important but I can't remember… Oh caning rods."
"Can I use my cigarettes on you?" Estelle asks, lightning one up and putting it in her mouth.
"Yes." Katherine says, "We haven't found the limit yet, but I'm sure it's there… Somewhere." Then as she walks up, and snatches Estelle's cigarette out of her mouth, she winks, "The down side is because I'm into all that I push very hard."
"Tu me gâtes, mon soleil." You spoil me, my sun. Eleanorra watches keenly, blue eyes sharp and focused on Katherine's actions.
She looks back smiling, "The feeling is mutual, mi brise." Then back to Estelle, as she takes another puff of the cigarette and backing away, "I wanted to engrave my guns, but I think I might have done so in bad taste, so now I want to ask. I put a fencing épée on one side, and then on the other a car?"
"A…car?" Estelle laughs.
"To… Represent the weapons of your respective… Homelands?" Katherine said, now a little concerned
Estelle is broken by this, devolving into insane cackles as she falls off the bed. Words try and come out, dying in the mass of cackling and laughter. She moves to silent guffawing until she can get another breath in, starting the cycle over.
"Her reaction makes me think that this might have been extremely offensive." Katherine admits worriedly looking to Eleanora as Estelle rolls on the ground.
"Just a tad, my love." Eleanora is smirking, a very soft chuckle to her.
"The claymore's Scottish right?" Katherine said quietly, "It felt very poignant at the time, but the guy asked me like six times 'Are you SURE?' and I… Guess that was the first hint."
"Perhaps a…how do the gaelic say it? Shillelagh?" Eleanora considers.
Now Katherine was a bit more confused, as she pulled up her phone, typing the word into google, "You mean a stick?"
"An irish war club, yes, my love." Eleanora is looking at the screen, nodding recognizably at the very tiny images on the general tab.
She switched to the images tab, then saying "Oh, actually, this is bad ass yeah."
Smiling, Eleanora gives another soft laugh as Estelle is slowly unrolling herself from the ground.
"In my defense I learned what the troubles were like, literally a week ago." Following it up with, "And those words were never used, so I had to do more googling on my own time."
"How do Americans like…exist in the world?" Estelle asks through shivering giggles, trying to stand up and go to her clothes, very very amused.
With a small pout Katherine says, "It's not like people in Europe are aware of every conflict Americans are in!"
"We are. We get dragged into them!" Estelle complains, getting her pants on and stretching with a hiss.
Eleanora shakes her head, "Come now, no politics in the bedroom mes amours." She stands from the bed.
"Wait seriously?" Katherine says confused with a yawn, then cooing as the cat leaps onto the bed. "See I knew she'd like you two." The look Gaius was giving Eleanora implied more fear than anything, especially as it flinched and twisted as the vampire moved through the room.
Estelle leans down to the cat, eyes glimmering, calming it down almost instantly, "I'm actually pretty good with predatory animals." It rolls over, staring at her. "It's the herbivores that really freak. Had a cow charge me once." She slowly reaches out to pet it, getting a hiss. "Not that friendly with 'em yet." Estelle straightens back out, letting the glimmer fade.
"Well when they roll over that's actually a defensive position," Kathrine pointed out as the animal continued to lounge on its back, "They tell you what they need it's just a different language." She picked up a toy and whacked it, sides of whirling as the whirring animated ball tumbled in her hand. She threw it with a casual toss watching the cat dart to chase it around the house.
"Well you know how I feel about learning languages." Estelle smirks at the cat's actions. "That thing reminds me of someone, can't put my finger on it." She pointedly stares at Katherine while talking.
"Oh you see it too?" Katherine replies looking at Estelle, "There's someone else here who hisses at people regularly."
Estelle's smirk grows to a grin, "I was talking about the chew toy, Kat."
Feeling brave, Katherine stepped forward and wrapped her arm around Estelle's waist, pulling her into a hug from behind. Then she bit her on the neck, "Who's the chew toy now?" She said giggling.
Breathing out a sigh of enjoyment, Estelle says with a still present smirk, "You." Grabbing Katherine's arm and gently nibbling on it without fangs, obviously well satisfied from the other night.
She released Estelle after giving her a gentle kiss on the head. "I'm really happy." It was a blunt thing to say, but it was true, and it had been rare enough for a while, that simply stating it made her feel more in touch with reality.
"God you're cute." Estelle replies, smiling broadly as she gets her shirt on. Trying to find a jacket amongst the room's many pieces of furniture and corners. Eleanora's drifting down the stairs to the living room, picking an untrapped chair to sit down in and waiting for the other two.
"Are vampires good at Laser tag? That might be fun." Katherine wondered, "I guess there's also like paintballing, though I think I'd be a little more scared than average running around in the woods while hunting the two of you with a gun." Then thinking further, "Well, I guess you two would use paintballs, and I could use a real gun, but that seems unsporting."
"We could just be unarmed." Eleanora smirks, staring at Katherine from the living room, having heard every word. "And you're alone in the woods with a gun." There's a terrifyingly threatening tilt to her very soft voice at the suggestion.
The idea does sound very exciting, and Katherine looks at them with nervous jitters at the thought, "Okay…" She said quietly, "How do we do that safely? I'm getting very good with guns and time stuff."
"Kat." Estelle says, amused, "You're going into the dark forest with two vampires with no night vision. You're fucked. We see in the dark."
"I can see into the future." Katherine says now getting very excited by the idea. "I shoot into walls at people I don't even know are there."
"Sure. But you're gonna accomplish jack and shit shooting us with a normal gun." Estelle does pause, "Well, you'll get me more excited." She smirks, sliding down the stairwell railing again to make it downstairs.
"I get a fifteen minute head start, the one who tags the other is dinner then." Katherine very quickly putting together a game for safety and fun. "So if you get shot, no big deal except for knowing that you lost. If I get grabbed no big deal, except for you know… Having shot at and been chased by two horny vampires. So it's pretty much a big win-win for me."
"I could make this more fun." Eleanora's gently rapping her fingers on the armrest of her seat, "What about the two of you are running, and I'm chasing?" She tilts her head at the suggestion, considering it herself even as she offers it. "If you can…how did you say, tag me? I'll succumb to your decisions. But if I catch you, mes amours…well~." A very uncommon smile's on her face and the rapping on the armrest is a tad quick.
Estelle's quick to say, "Are you like, gonna be playing or…hunting? Cause of the three of us, you've probably ac–"
"Is there's a difference?" Looking at the two of them, already changing into tactical gear and grabbing a long arm with a holo sight. While the two woman talk she pulls out her phone excitedly.
"Yeah there's a difference, she's actually chased people down in the woods! Like, for real, to eat!" Estelle complains as Eleanora continues to smile.
"Director Belltower, I want to do… Training, in the woods, can you keep people out of Millar Falls? The park just north of Alta Dena?" Katherine says excitedly. "We're going to run around and be shooting live rounds at each other."
"Huh." Belltower answers, "Sure, I guess. Don't get crippled." He goes back to whatever he is doing with a crack of a can opening, fizzy drink inside it audible.
"Cool!" She says hanging up, "Alright, boss man says they'll keep an eye out so we can run around shooting at each other without worrying about police or whatever."
"I'll drive." Eleanora stands up suddenly, pausing as Katherine talks.
"Better idea." Katherine said, "You wait fifteen minutes, and we'll take two cars."
"Yeah, sure, that'll make this so much better." Estelle rolls her eyes, "We're gonna end up pinned to trees."
"You have no faith in your abilities you know that Estelle? Don't worry, I'll take care of you." The wink and dart out of the door was fairly similar to the cat from the bedroom.
"You bit–" Estelle chases Kat with a growl, both of them ending up outside as Eleanora pulls free a knife and cuts slits down both sides of her dress. Sitting back down and starting to count seconds with a smile.