Sextile Venus-Ascendant

Chapter One~ The Libra

Kira Lee Morris stared down at the woman in front of her. She didn't know she was there yet, intent as she was on the scrubbing of the toilet she sat before. Something had changed. This wasn't the same woman she had followed around all her life, spent the night with countless times, and loved more than anyone in the whole world. Kira tilted her head as she watched the dark haired beauty before her, humming happily, as if she wasn't currently on her knees scrubbing crap out of a rich person's toilet. She sat back, tapping the brush against the rim before putting the seat down and flushing it. Exactly thirty seconds later, she had pulled her horrible pink gloves off, dusted her jeans down, and turned to find herself face to face with a pair of familiar hazel eyes.

"Lee!" Jupiter launched herself at her younger cousin. "When did you get in? Why didn't you call me, I could have picked you up? Does Mom know you're here? How did you even find us anyway?"

"Do you actually want me to answer, or would you rather just keep firing questions at me?"

Jupe smacked her arm with the gloves she still held. "Smartass. I don't know where you get it."

"Obviously from your side of the family." Kira laughed, hugging her cousin again. "It's good to see you. Aleksa told me you were up here, Vladie told me this was your last house today." Looking around, she nodded. "Frickin' rich people."

"Right?" Jupiter bobbed her head in agreement. "C'mon, we're all done, the owner should be here right about-" On the floor below them, a door slammed. "Now, apparently. Come on, if you're lucky, maybe she'll think you're one of us and you'll get a tip." Jupe nudged the younger woman and beckoned her to follow.

"Oh, Mrs. Jones, beautiful as usual." Gushed the platinum blonde woman that stood marveling at the shininess of her home. "And done before I was home, excellent. Now, here is your usual fee, and a little something for all you ladies, to get yourselves a treat." Sure enough, the woman, who might have looked a little over thirty, if not for the obvious signs of botox on her forehead, went down the line, handing each of the Jones ladies a bill. Jupiter had pulled Kira to the end of the line beside her. The woman handed each of them something without even stopping to look at them, expecting that she was just another cleaning lady. "Well, ta-ta for today ladies. I'll see you again later this week."

"Thank you for your generosity, Mrs. Russell." Aleksa gave her a sweet smile, beautiful even in her older years. It was easy to see where Jupiter got it from.

"Oh, think nothing of it. It is my husband's money, after all. Not that he cares what I spend it on. Have a lovely day, my dears."

"And you as well." With that, the line of women marched out the door, to make their way home.

Kira looked down at the crumpled bill in her hand, and almost choked to see the face of Benjamin Franklin staring back up at her. "Holy, shit. She wasn't kidding."

Jupiter laughed. "Yeah, Olivia Russell. She does that all the time. She must really be upset with him to have given all of us hundreds."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, my dear baby cousin," Jupe linked her arm through Kira's. "Mrs. Russell is a relatively nice lady, but her husband isn't so much. So, whenever he does something that upsets her, which is almost all the time, she goes out and spends as much of his money as she thinks she can get away with, including tipping the staff."

"Jesus Christ. And he lets her?"

Aleksa Jones joined the link on Kira's other side, leaning in conspiratorially "He figures, as long as she is kept happy, he can keep his young, beautiful, trophy wife and not have to deal with the hassle of a divorce, like his previous wife. A lesson to you girls, never rely on a man for anything. Make something of yourselves so that when you do meet the love of your life, he can proudly say to his friends 'Yes, my beautiful woman, she takes care of everything!' But, don't let him be a freeloader."

"You go it, Mama." Jupe laughed. "Come on, Kira, let's go do something tonight."

"What about family dinner?" Her mother asked.

"Ma, it's Friday night."

"Jupe, it's ok. It'll be nice to see the family. And besides, tomorrow is Saturday, we can hang out then. There's actually something I need you tell you guys...something the whole family needs to hear."

)0(

Dinner at the Bolotnicov household was never a dull affair. Between the multitude of people at the table talking and the arguing, it was a surprise that the neighbors never complained. Everyone was talking over each other, with Kira seated between Jupiter and Aleksa, when Vassily suddenly slammed his hand down at the head of the table.

"Now, Kira, Aleksa tells us you have something to tell us. I want to know, right this moment." Her distant uncle's heavy accent cut through the astonished silence like a knife. Pointing his finger at her, he said, "You better not be pregnant. I will not have another mouth to feed, especially not from that ublyudok*."

"It's nothing like that, Uncle Vassily. You might actually be excited for this." By now, everyone had stopped eating and were staring at her in rapt attention. Kira took a big breath. "Mark and I broke up." The table erupted in a chorus of cheers. "What the hell?"

"Jesus, we were wondering when you would dump his sorry ass." Jupe rubbed her back, a twinkle in her eye. "Glad you finally came to your senses."

"Jupe, that's no-"

"Good to be rid of that trata prostranstva**." Grandma Lyudmila said.

"No, you don't-"

Aleksa patted her back with a sweet smile, "You deserved so much better than him, my milaya devushka***. He did not treat you right. But, do not worry, you will find the right one. And when you do, it will be like sparks, fireworks in your heart."

Everyone was talking, getting louder as they tried to shout over one another. This is why she rarely visited in the first place, she couldn't handle her family. Closing her eyes in an attempt to block out the pressure that was building in her chest, her breath caught in her throat. Everything went quiet. Opening her eyes, she realized that they had stopped talking to stare at her, because she had stood up so quickly that she had knocked over her chair. "Excuse me." She whispered, throwing her napkin down on the table and running outside.

When the cold autumn air hit her cheeks, she took a few breaths to slow her pounding heart. She had to get a grip on this. Kira hadn't realized that she was moving. It wasn't until she stood before a fence to the alley of the apartment building that she saw that her feet had carried her away from the lights of the street. Goosebumps sprang up all over her body, having walked out without her coat. Kira simply ran her hands over her arms in an attempt to warm her skin, and continued down the alley and out the other side. Eventually, she found herself at the park she and her cousins had played at as children, bare as it was now after dark. Good for her, at least. The swing set on the other side of the playground beckoned to her.

It was nice to be alone. And at the same time, it wasn't. The quiet of the night gave her space to think and breathe without someone else being in her bubble constantly, but it also made her think of how vulnerable she was out here by herself. Anyone could come along. But, in this silent moment, she couldn't care less. It was peaceful, and the moon smiled down at her from the sky. Unfortunately, the stars were hidden from her sight by the usual smog of Chicago. That was one thing she would miss about being out in the countryside.

"Lee?!" Her eyes fell to the street where Jupiter ran towards her. "Hey, you ran out pretty fast. Are you ok?" The older cousin sank down into the swing beside her.

"I'm fine, just not...I couldn't really handle the family."

"I hear ya. They drive me crazy, too. But, I know you. I know when something is really wrong with you. You can talk to me, you know that." Jupe took Kira's hand as they swung in silence for a moment.

"Mark and I didn't break up."

"But, you said-"

"I know what I said. It wasn't mutual. Apparently he got it in his mind that I was cheating on him with his coworker."

"Where you?"

"Jesus Christ, Jupe, of course I wasn't! Lately Mark's been...different."

"Different how?"

"He's...he's just...I don't know. He got really jealous about stupid things. Me talking to friends, going out with them on the weekends, hanging out with some guys from work. When I'd start talking about coming to visit, he'd get really mad, talking about how I was trying to leave him, that I was going behind his back. One day, he just snapped. Called me a whore, and threw me out of the house."

"Just like that? Did you get any of your stuff?"

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons he thought I was leaving. I was packing to come visit. Asshole. We always end up picking the worst ones, don't we."

Jupe suddenly got a far away look on her face. "Yeah, I guess we do." Noticing the way Kira was holding herself, she snapped back. "Kira Lee?"

"What?" She swung her head around from looking back up at the moon.

"How long has it been going on?"

"Has what been-"

"How long was he hitting you?"

Kira's eyes widened. "How-"

"Holy crap, Lee, just answer the question!"

Kira looked down at her hand, which were twisting in her lap. "I don't really know. It just kinda...happened." Shifting, she pulled up her sleeves to show the handprints that adorned her arms. Jupiter grabbed her wrists, pulling her closer.

"How do you not know when this happened? Christ, Lee. Have you called the police?"

"I already tried that. You really think I'm that stupid?"

"Oh, let's see...You stayed with that jerk for, what, three years? And in all that time, you never said anything, never tried to get away?"

"Of course I tried!" Kira ripped her hands away. "I tried to tell the police, but he has friends on the force, good friends that would never believe that he could do such a thing. They were convinced I had done it to myself. Listen, it's done with. I'm away from him, he's a thousand miles away. I just...need a place to stay for a while, till I can get on my feet."

"Well, you won't have to. As it happens, I've been thinking about getting my own place. You can live with me. It would make it easier on both of us if we didn't have to do it alone. Besides, there's always room for another maid on the crew. Money's pretty good, tips are even better. We could make it."

"Wouldn't your boyfriend mind?"

Jupiter snorted. "Boyfriend? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Aunt Aleksa said you'd been dating someone for a while the last time I talked to her." Kira watched as a blush made its way across her cousin's cheeks.

"Oh. No, that...that didn't pan out. We haven't seen each other in a while." She seemed lost in thought, only to break out of it a moment later. "Anyway, we can go looking for a place tomorrow, see what kind of places we can afford."

)0(

Later that night, Kira was curled up on a cot in the corner of the women's room of the house. Her back was killing her and she couldn't find a good way to sleep. The house was eerily quiet, broken only by the sound of the aunts snoring softly. Finally having found a semi-comfortable way to sleep, Kira settled down. At least, she did until something hit the window.

Plink...plink...plink

She was literally just about to get up when she noticed Jupiter stirring in her bed. Kira stopped moving. Why the hell was she getting up in the middle of the night? Why was there someone throwing something at the window? Stilled, Kira watched her cousin tiptoe out of the room. Ever the curious one, she had to follow, but not before rearranging her covers to look like she was still there. Down the hall, down the stairs, and out the back door, she followed. Jupiter turned into the same alley she had walked down earlier. Glad that she had not put any shoes on, Kira made her way, hugging the wall, and then leaned just enough to put her cousin in the line of sight of one of her eyes. There she was. And there was someone else. A man, by the looks of it.

Maybe it's her boyfriend...maybe she lied so that I wouldn't bother her about it. But they never lied to each other. He was tall, taller than Jupe and taller than her probably. Though, she couldn't see his face, she could hear him.

"You need to be careful. You can't just go out on your own like that." His voice was low, whispering so that Kira had to strain to hear him.

"Shut up, I'm a grown ass woman. I couldn't just let her run off like that. She was hurt."

"More than she let on. You might need to take her to a hospital. I smelled blood." What the hell?!

"You know, there's more than one explanation for that." Jupiter snarked.

"Yes, I do. I also know the difference between that and regular blood, which is what I was smelling." Kira wrapped an arm around her torso. The movement made her step forward with one foot, right onto a dry leaf. It crunched softly under her. It shouldn't have been loud enough for them to hear, but watched as the man's head turned, his eyes flashing in the low light. Shit. Kira took off as quietly as she could back into the house. She had jumped back into bed and settled back down right as Jupiter came through the door.

What had happened to make Jupiter think she needed to hide things from her?

)0(

Sure enough, Jupiter was up and ready to go early the next morning. She had already gone out to get the paper so they could look at the classifieds for a place, and had the coffee on with breakfast made by the time the younger woman woke. Kira stumbled into the kitchen around 8:30, eyes barely open behind her glasses, hair in complete disarray.

"Good morning, my sweet baby cousin." Kira just glared at her before clunking her head down on the table.

"Why the hell are you so peppy this morning? You are never this excited first thing." Neither of the young women had ever really been morning people, one of the many things they shared in common.

Jupiter set a coffee mug down in front of Kira. "I dunno, I just...I recently had a new outlook on life, and now..."

"Now, you're the queen of caffeine."

With a laugh she said, "Yeah, something like that. Come on, Lee, this will be good for the both of us. Just think, you and I can have girls night every night. We can talk about boys without the family always butting in, we can actually get some sleep at night, keep alcohol in the house. You could work with me and the others."

"Darlin', I love you, I really do. But, if you don't get the hell out of my face before I've had a chance to drink my coffee, I might very well punch you in the face." This brought on another round of laughter from the older woman. Kira took a sip of the sweet nectar in her cup, sighing. "I'd love that. But, I doubt I'd be much help cleaning houses. I'll probably find a job at a restaurant eventually. Lord knows there's plenty to go around."

"True. Well, come on, let's see what kind of places there are in the area."

The two of them sat there for a good hour, circling places they thought looked good, making a list. By the time anyone else was up, they had a good idea of what they were looking for. Aleksa had just walked through the door as Jupiter had gotten up to get more coffee. When she passed Kira, she suddenly seemed wide awake.

"Milaya devushka, what happened?" Jupiter was at her mother's side in less than a second, watching in horror as the older woman pulled the back of Kira's shirt up, exposing bruises all the way up and around her side.

Kira yanked away, I fell down some stairs when I was leaving Mark's house."

"No, my dear, stairs did not do that. Who? Tell me, who has done this to you so that I can give him the beating he so sorely deserves."

Jupiter grabbed her hand, making her look up. The expression on her cousin's face told her all she needed to know. "We are taking you to the hospital right now."

"I'm fine. It's just bruising. Nothing's broken, nothing's bleeding, I'm fine." Kira was suddenly brought back to the previous night when the mystery man in the shadows had told Jupe that he could smell blood on her.

"Mom," Jupiter pulled her up, tugging her through the door. "Lee and I need to have a talk, we'll be back in a little while." Without waiting for an answer, the two were gone, leaving a very confused Aleksa standing in her nightgown in the middle of the kitchen. Down in the alley, Jupiter spun around on her heel to face Kira. "He did that, didn't he."

"Jupe-"

"No, don't you 'Jupe' me. Answer the question. Did he do that, when he thought you were trying to leave him?" Kira didn't answer. "Christ, Lee. This could guy could have killed you, and you say you're fine? You're not fine!"

"I told you last night, it's done. Over. He and I don't have anything to do with one another anymore. And I don't need you and your secret boyfriend sneaking around behind my back to make sure I'm ok."

Jupiter stopped and gaped at her cousin. "What?"

"Yeah, I know about the guy. I was awake when he started throwing rocks at the window last night. Honestly, I'm surprised no one else woke up. You were freaking me out, so I followed you down stairs. What kind of freak can smell blood? I've never even seen the guy, so he can't have been close enough to get any kind of scent off me. You and your creepy ass boy toy need to keep your noses out of my business. I'm handling it, ok?" With that, she stormed off back inside to grab the paper off the table where they had left it. Jupiter was still standing outside when she walked back out. "Shut your trap and let's go. These places aren't going to stay there forever."

)0(

The rest of the family wasn't too happy that the girls were moving out, though Grandma and Aleksa agreed that they needed to have their own space, start out in their lives away from the family. So, two weeks later, the family had taken the day off to help the girls move their things into the new apartment they had found. It was a steal, considering how nice it was. But, the owner was an old lady, and the building was completely empty save for one old man that had about twenty cats living with him. Kira hadn't brought up what she had seen in the alley, nor did Jupiter say anything about knowing that she had been listening. They had paid the deposit for the apartment with some of the money Jupe had saved up, and the first month's rent with Kira's money. Starting the coming week, Kira would be working with the other ladies, at least until she found another job.

Kira's room was rather bare, once she had unpacked her meager belongings, with only a thrift store mattress on the floor, a desk lamp beside it so she could read, books piled on the other side, some clothes on hangers in the closet, and two or three small boxes of personal items in the corner. Vassily had bought her some sheets for the mattress, so at least she had a blanket. The rest of the house was slowly filling with old things that Vassily was glad to get rid of, such as a couch, some cookware, and Vladie's old TV. Jupe had more money, so she was able to buy herself a real bed set, and she had her dresser and other things to decorate. By comparison, it was rather sad.

On the bright side, their fridge and cabinets were filled up, courtesy of the family, and the building had internet. The girls decided to celebrate after the family had left, making spaghetti and meatballs, and breaking out some wine to go with it. The Fluffy Movie played on the TV via Netflix, as the two of them laughed themselves giddy.

"Oh, god, Lee. It's so nice to finally have a place of my own." Jupiter poured herself another glass of wine.

"Mmm," Kira had been taking a sip. "Technically, it's not just your own. I live here, too."

Jupiter threw a pillow at her, causing her to laugh loudly. "Brat! You know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah, I got ya." The movie came to an end, and Kira looked down at her watch. "Jeez, it's already 12:30. How the hell did that happen?"

"The joy of being a young, independent adult, and the wonderful company of one's best friend will certainly do that." Finishing off her drink, Jupe slapped her cousin's knee. "C'mon, bedtime."

"I hear that." Then she caught sight of the mess in the kitchen. "Damn. Ok, put these to soak, then clean 'em tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a good plan to me. We just gotta make sure we don't, ya know..."

"End up being slobs? Yeah, no. Your ma would kill us." Jupiter rolled her eyes as a way of saying Don't I know it.

With the kitchen mostly clean, the two of them hugged and went to their separate bedrooms.

It was almost an hour later, Kira had fallen into a slightly alcohol induced doze, when she woke up to the sound of her window sliding open. It wasn't quiet, not like in the movies. She lay still as death, watching in fear as a large form slid gracefully through the small space and dropped to the floor. Her hand moved ever so slowly to the object she kept by her sorry excuse for a bed. Heavy boots thudded against the wood as the figure stood there for a moment, before making it's way over to where she lay.

"Your Majesty?" He whispered.

He was answered by her swinging her baseball bat against the side of his head. Flicking on the light, she jumped up and hit him again, a cry escaping her as she brought it down again. The man growled as he reached up with one hand to protect his face, grabbing the bat away from her in the process. Just as he was beginning to hit back, Kira's door swung open, Jupiter yelling for them to stop. Both of them stopped moving and looked at her.

"What the holy fucking hell! This creep just crawled in through my fucking window!"

"Lee, calm down. Jesus Christ." Jupe moved across the room to check on the man. "He's a friend of mine."

"A friend?! What the hell kinda friends do you keep? Friends don't sneak through a window in the middle of the goddamn night, and then call someone 'Your Highness.' I'm not going to calm down until you explain what the fuck is going on!"

"I thought you would have told her." The man stood to his full height, towering well over Kira's 5'6" stature. "Considering she saw us together."

"Holy fuck." Was all she said. Before her stood someone who didn't look quite human, given that his ears were pointed, as well as a few of his teeth, and his eyes were an odd color. It didn't help that he was wearing clothes like nothing found on Earth.

"Lee, this is Caine Wise. Caine, this is my cousin, Kira Lee."

'Pleasure to meet you." He bowed slightly. "I apologize for the intrusion. I thought the window lead to Her Majesty's room. Apparently, I was mistaken."

"Caine, quit with the majesty stuff."

"Sorry," he looked down at his feet, which were clad in clunky looking boots.

"You have fangs," Kira whispered, more to herself than to them.

Jupiter's eyes shot to her, Caine having already heard her. "What was that?"

"He's got fangs..."

Caine's oddly-colored blonde beard moved as he chuckled. "I forget sometimes how you terrsies can be."

Jupe slapped his shoulder. "Don't be rude."

"I wasn't trying to be. I was simply stating that when faced with something new and strange, you tend to become either defensive, or..." His eyes cut back to her, "you point out the obvious. Yes, I have fangs. Most Lycantants do."

"What the hell is a Lycantant? Who the hell are you? Why the hell are you even in my room to begin with?"

Both of them were silent for a moment. "I thought we already went over this..." Caine replied. "My name is Caine Wise, I am here because I was mistaken in thinking that this was Her Ma- Jupiter's room."

"Yeah, I got that part. But, that still doesn't really answer who you are to her and why are you trying to sneak into her room in the first place."

Another awkward pause. "I have some important business to discuss with her."

"At almost three o'clock in the morning? What could possibly be that important, that it couldn't wait until a decent hour?" Both Jupiter and Caine looked like children who had been caught doing something naughty. "Wait, wait, wait. Jupe, is this the boyfriend Aunt Aleksa was talking about? The one you said, and I quote, 'didn't pan out'? That boyfriend?"

"If by a male who is a friend," Caine cut in, "then yes, I do consider myself her boyfriend."

"No, Caine, that's not what she means. She means are you and I in a relationship."

"Of sorts, yes."

Jupiter slapped her palm against her forehead. "A mated-pair relationship. I swear to god, you and your damn dog habits."

"I think I need to sit down." The bickering was cut short, by Kira stumbling backwards toward her bed. Her arm was caught in a large hand, helping her sit down slowly. She came face to face with Caine, just as he was pushing her head down.

"Put your head between your knees, breathe through your nose. It'll keep you from having a panic attack."

"I know how to fucking stave off a fucking panic attack." Kira's arms flailed a bit, knocking him away. Caine put his hands up in surrender and sat back.

"I can see that the Bolotnikov temper runs in the family."

"I'm not a Bolotnikov. I'm a Morris. Jupiter is my cousin by marriage, several removed. You," she pointed at the woman in question, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

This led to a very long night of the three of them seated in the living room, Jupiter explaining, with Caine jumping in every once in a while to correct or help explain something. At one point they had to stop because it was very obvious that Kira was no longer listening, just staring off to the side of Caine with rapt attention.

"What are you staring at?" Jupiter finally asked.

Kira was quiet a moment more, before taking in a deep breath to answer. "Your ears keep moving." She said simply.

At that, Caine burst out laughing. Both women jumped at the sound. Jupiter couldn't remember the last time that she had ever heard him laugh like that. "Of course they do."

"I knew a guy in school who could do that once. But..."

"It's a little different, right?" He finished for her. "It's because I'm not trying to make them move. It's an involuntary action, like you would see in a dog or a wolf. Considering I'm a Splice..."

"Human mixed with some sort of animal, yeah, got that..."

"So, what is it that confuses you?" He asked.

"Lots of things. Like how it's possible that things like you exist. How my cousin is some sort of reincarnated queen who now holds ownership over the entire Earth, and that's the only reason I and billions of other people aren't dead right now. How instead of just coming out and telling me that you had some sort of...guard tailing you, you decided to hide him away in the shadows. This whole thing is confusing and it's really late...my brain is not firing on all cylinders right now." Getting up, she stood for a moment, as if not really sure what she was supposed to do. Turning in place, then turning back, she pointed to Caine. "You don't go anywhere, ok? You two might have to re-explain this whole crazy situation."

"What about the family?" Jupe asked.

"I just found out that my cousin is the ruler of the world...an alien ruler, with an alien, Splicer, bodyguard."

"I'm a Splice, not a Splicer. A Splicer is the person a Splice is sold to, to be spliced, and trained."

"Yeah, whatever. Look, point is, I need time for my brain to process all of this, and figure out whether it's all a dream or not."

"I'm sorry to drop this on you, Lee."

Kira waved her hand, dismissing her apology. "Dog-boy is sleeping on the couch tonight. Where have you even been sleeping all this time?"

"I-"

Kira's hand went up again, stopping him. "Nevermind. I can't process any more information right now. I'm going to bed. Goodnight. And no hanky-panky! At least not tonight."

"Shut up and go to bed, Lee."

Once Kira had left the room, Caine turned to her. "Why do you call her Lee, if her given name is Kira?"

"Oh, she went through a phase when we were little where she hated her name, and told everyone she wanted to be called Lee. We typically only call her by her first name when she's in trouble."

"I see. So, I assume I am to be camping on this rather lumpy piece of furniture for the night?"

"You would assume correct. If Lee were to wake up and find out you were gone, she'd think she was going crazy. It might be good to have at least one other person know. I need someone to talk to about all this." At the look she was given, Jupiter scoffed. "Someone besides you, dog-boy. You tend to be a bit thick sometimes. At least she would understand what it's like being born on Earth. Maybe one day we can take her to visit the Orus. Or even Kalique's planet. That one was beautiful."

"Perhaps...if she doesn't do something stupid to get you killed first."

Jupiter laughed. "Go to sleep, Caine. I'll see you in the morning."

)0(

A/N: So, I actually just watched the movie Jupiter Ascending today. It wasn't as bad as I was led to believe. Eddie Redmayne's character was probably the worst part of the whole thing. Wolf Channing is damn hot though. As for the translations from earlier in the chapter, here they are.

*-Bastard

**-Waste of space

***-sweet girl.

Read and review, my lovelies. Give me something to work with.