One shot that was on my mind. I might play with it later after I finish Denouement Part I.
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The Bookstore was one of the hottest clubs in London. With one of the most exotic collection of men and women of every blood type, Pam made sure her clientele were happy and in return they kept her world safe from prying eyes of The Authority. For twenty five tumultuous years the humans and the vampires coexisted. During the first few years there were battles, not necessarily, of good versus evil, but rather a contest she liked to call 'my cause is way bigger than yours'. It was political and her business was pleasure. Where did people go after a hard day or night? She could only speak for the majority of the vampire crowd in London, because they were all regulars at her club.
The club on the outside looked abandoned. Technology made it easy to discern human from vampire and if they made it in. They were inside they were both screened for unscrupulous effects, like silver and guns. The Bookstore catered exclusively to vampires and sometimes they brought their pets. When they entered there was a vial of blood, and each human was put in the database to be checked and verified as an ally. Business had become excruciatingly high tech, but she adapted with the changing times, because she was a survivor.
She didn't take up battles she couldn't win fair or otherwise. She saw the fruits of being a patriot, a freedom fighter, an insurgent, a loyalist. Every continent had a cause more noble than the next; Pam chose her own vowing to care for it above all others no matter how seductive. Her club, her money, and her lifestyle that was important.
"You looking fierce tonight bitch," her dark skinned business partner sashayed up the stairs. The crow's nest was designated for special clients and their delicious guests. Tonight everyone convened in the lower levels to sample the human delicacies her club had to offer.
"I am fierce bitch," she offered in the London bred accent she almost lost living overseas. She spent quite a lot of time the southern states, Alabama mostly, where she happened to meet the eclectic Lafayette.
A human her maker caught selling 'V'. Using him as the face for her business, any business for that matter, hadn't been the first thought on her mind when she chained him in her dungeon. She only saw potential in him after her maker released her. A club, a new purpose, a new face, a new city to revamp the outlook, her relationship with her maker built.
The former V dealer leaned against the railing holding a glass of champagne. He studied the crowd. They were busy throughout the whole week. Vampire's had impressive stamina and if they were happy they always came back for more. They were the perfect clientele always hungry and willing, to give into other baser instincts the club catered to.
"What's with the glasses?"
Pam touched the brim forgetting she had them on.
"Sophie Marx."
The name was the only explanation Lafayette needed as he turned back to the diverse species, each one beautiful and desirable in their one way. Sophie Marx was Pam's alter ego. A human raised, but not born in Alabama even though she could have passed off being a native. She was a knowledgeable attorney that dealt with other branches of her business that humans felt more comfortable dealing with humans.
Pam's eyes trailed over his dark blue metallic suit tailored to show off the physique only a devout narcissist would keep.
"See anything you like?" she sat back in her seat on hand on the table and the other rested in her lap. She looked like the epitome of satisfied. In truth she was bored. She saw the same faces, smelled the same aroma of sex wafting from her clients and employees, and tasted the same samples of blood.
Lafayette with a knowing smirk turned to her, "I always see something I like." But it didn't always mean he went after it. "I saw a fine ass Estonian model that looks right up your alley," Lafayette broached sipping from his champagne.
With dry curiosity Pam scanned the crowd looking for this Estonian. Standing she walked over to his side to get a better look of the brunette. Lafayette did know her tastes, but she wasn't up for playing tonight. "I'm calling it an early night," she gave him the courtesy of knowing she left. It was better than hearing his mouth later on if she didn't tell him. She didn't glamour him after the three weeks of hell she put him through. Pam like the fear she smelled on him whenever she came nearby. She knew he wouldn't cross with her with the knowledge of what she was capable of. Though, she noticed with trepidation the fear was a distant aroma. Taking its place was respect and dare she say love. She understood she introduced him to a different life by all accounts it was better than where he came. Pam treated him well enough, but she supposed he interpreted it as sentimentality to make sense of his burgeoning attachment. They never discussed the shift when it became distinct. They just accepted the new dynamic. If Pam let herself dwell on it she was comforted by it. Someone other than her maker would feel the sting of her absence if she met the true death.
The owner descended the stairs with the grace of a woman, who knew the power of her body. It was a hell of weapon, beauty. Pam had brains, but looks always went a little farther. A tool that required as little effort as a wink and smile and the world opened up to it, was a coveted item. People, who were aesthetically challenged in the face, worked harder and had a penchant to overcompensate. Hence the inordinately large number of unattractive political figures, world changing scientists, and Pulitzer Prize winners.
The sea of mismatched species instinctively parted. She spied Lafayette's Estonian staring at her from the bar. She entertained the thought of taking her home. But, she thought better of it. She saw the image in her head. The sex, she gave the woman a cursory once over would be decent—maybe even exceed her expectation. If she was human she belonged to vampire and there was no guarantee that vampire would be her type. If she was vampire, then there was the two hour rule which gave her two hours before sun came up to get wherever she wanted to go.
Writing the Estonian not worth it she left through the back entrance that came to a series of tunnels made during WWII. From there she reached the entrance of the park through an incline that came up as steps hidden by vegetation. The moon was out tonight. Bright above and over the bright lit city that had changed so much since she was turned. Her time was a simpler time back then. A part of her missed that world. They youth of living and enjoying each day like you might die the next.
She didn't take her car out tonight. She cursed herself for wanting to take a stroll. Who the fuck took strolls anymore? On Friday night people were partying. Vampires were feeding and sexing each other. Even overcompensating politicians and Pulitzer Prize winners were getting some. And if they weren't they sure as hell weren't taking a stroll. Despite her ability to speed to her home she decided to walk anyway, she might enjoy it at the least she could reflect on life. So in a black coat that hung beyond the beginning of her thighs, a corset and a skin tight black skirt and six inch heels she embarked on her stroll.
Eric, her maker, fucked her until she couldn't walk in the old days. She smiled from the memory. He taught her the fundamentals of eating, surviving, and being brutal when necessary. He was a noble vampire raised by another noble vampire much older than Pam's few hundred years. He had a cause or two, but he never asked her to be a part of any of them. As her maker he could have demanded, but she fought with him willingly even though it was against her baser instincts.
She could feel him from time to time, but their progeny maker bond was broken around the same time she met Lafayette. For a few months she felt lost. But she found her footing again, like she always did. With money saved and a loan from her maker she made The Bookstore. An overseas business venture she paid off her debt, made an identity that made her one of the most available and desired women for men and women.
This stroll shit wasn't a good idea. She was depressing herself. She should have brought the Estonian bitch. Strolls weren't as she romanticized them. Pam sped to her apartment with supernatural ease. She stopped at the corner of her block walking more sedately to the steps leading to her home. Her eyes trained on a dark figure at her front door. It didn't look like they were waiting. Their back was to her. From the sound of her lock being manhandled and the frustrated grunting it looked like the stranger intended on breaking and entering. Was she being robbed? A slow smiled formed.
Showing her fangs would most likely make the would-be intruder run for their lives. But, she was bored and to salvage her night she couldn't think of anything better than playing with her food.
Calling on the southern accent from a time that wasn't so long ago she poured the contents of her purse on the ground. Crouched over the mess she cursed in the way only a woman named Sophie Marx would. "Oh, fudge!"
The intruder opened the door turning immediately when she saw a woman on the ground and distraught. She looked at the open door and growled as she closed it again consoled in the knowledge that the hard part was over.
"You ok?"
Pam's eyes almost rolled to the back of her head when she smelled the aroma of the intruder's blood. Fixing her gaze on the contents of her purse and the task of returning them she shook her head, "it's so nice of you to help," she looked up and large brown eyes stared back at her in welcome. Pam remembering the part she was playing began profusely thanking her.
"Oh thank you," so much she drew her purse to the safety of the crook of her arm. "Thank you so much I don't know what I would've have done with you," she drawled in a thick southern accent.
"Don't mention it," the dark skinned woman shrugged. She didn't want to make a big deal out of the minute kindness. Thornton turned to the steps, with her good deed of the night she wouldn't feel so bad about what she was going to do next.
Pam's hand whipped out halting her escape, looping her arm through the strangers she felt the muscle underneath, "oh, but your kindness must be mentioned," she drawled pushing up her glasses. "It just must."
Thornton noticed her accent for the first time, her travels had ruined her accent, but this stranger's was reminiscent of innocence she lost. "Where are you from?"
"Alabama," she tilted her head, "raised but not born, but shamelessly proud of my accent if that's whats got you so curious about my origination."
Thornton stayed on the top shelf, but turned her body more towards the presumed southerner, "what's a Cotton State debutante doing across that big a….big ocean," she changed.
Pam smiled discreetly at the change, but she didn't point it out.
"I'm a librarian," Pam heard herself answer the question.
Thornton examined the immaculately dressed woman, looking every bit the erotic fantasy of any and every person with the librarian fantasy. She would have to start reading again. She hadn't read a book in a very long time. "So you're here for work?" Thornton assumed.
"Yes," she nodded eagerly pushing up her glasses in the process. Pam was having fun. "Books enlighten one to a slew of fascinating details." She justly embarrassed as she continued, "Why I couldn't think of anything more exciting than losing myself in a hard back novel. Love, adventure, sex," she said excitedly then back off dislodging her arm. "Look at me I've gone an embarrassed myself," she used the temporary head turn to hide her smile.
"Books do it for you huh?" Thornton amused by this woman found her intriguing.
Pam turned to answer, "if by it you mean does the written word give me heart palpitations," she turned back closing the distance her withdrawal created. "If you mean vowels," she purred fighting the smile when she heard Thornton's groan. "Con…..," she drew out in a moan, "sonants, story structure, and character development do it for me." She pushed her body against Thornton suggestively, but she whipped around so that her back brushed against the thieves feminine front. She could feel the nipples through the fabric of her coat. Pam withheld a laugh as she leaned back turned her head until the heat of her breath hit the strangers how with the overwhelming awareness of her proximity. She let the smell of her perfume overtake this human.
"Why, I've never experienced more joy when I curl up on a couch, on a sultry Sunday evening in The Heart of Dixie. The cool breeze tickling my thighs because, as your aware pants sometimes underwear is damn near suffocating in that heat—the mood is just right. I don't feel like such a fool swooning over the prowess of a capable author." She felt Thornton's hands sliding around her, but before she could get a comfortable hold around the librarian's waist Pam pulled away bouncing down the steps. "But you don't want to hear about lil ole me," she made her way down the street intent on hailing a taxi.
What the hell just happened? She felt impossibly drawn to this strange lover of books, to the point where he body, on its own, responded to her with eager hands. Looking wantonly at the woman who blew her mind talking about books, Thornton glared at the first taxi she'd seen in an hour. It would come when the last thing she wanted to do was let this woman out of her sight. Running up the steps she locked the door she spent a good five minutes opening. She would come back again and get what she came for. It wasn't going anywhere.
Pam was getting in the cab, when Thornton panting from speeding down to catch her caught the door before she could close it.
"We're you bullshitting back there?" Thornton angled her thumb in the direction of the steps they were just standing at. She didn't wait for Pam to back out because that's what she read on her face when she asked the question, "nevermind move over."
Pam managed to purse her lips in contemplation. "I don't make a habit of sharing cabs with strangers."
Thornton taking charge made her move over, "neither do I," she gave the cab driver the desired address ignoring the fact that this wasn't her cab. Thornton admired the long pale legs then drew her eyes up to the blond watching her admire them. Offering a hand and a smile, "I'm Thornton."
Pam took her hand, "by choice?"
Thornton laughed, "for half of my life sure, it's just a name," she shrugged. The dark skinned woman waited for the blond to introduce herself, but she was content to watch the passing city. "This is the part where you tell me your name."
"Is it?" she drawled raising a single eyebrow.
"You were the one concerned about us being strangers."
Pam saw her point taking the hand that remained outstretched for her to shake, "Sophie Marx. And to clarify, "you're just Thornton?"
"For now."
"That's not fair I've told you my whole name."
"The name could be fake and so could mine," Thornton pointed out.
"By that logic we're still strangers."
Thornton began digging in her pocket. Putting on a wedding ring she grabbed Pam's hand and placed the second band on the librarian's hand with surprisingly little resistance.
"You move quickly don't you?" Pam examined the gold band in the passing street light. "Will be staying in that beautiful home you were burglarizing?"
Thornton laughed in answer, "No, and I didn't burgle. I opened the door and then I closed the door. I found something more interesting to get myself into tonight."
Pam's brow rose.
"And I did not mean that as it sounded." Thornton rushed, "I know the rings don't help, but I'll explain the shortly."
"Do all women go for this?"
"No," Thornton plastered on her most charming smirk genuinely appealing. "But the one's worth knowing are always up for an adventure."
Thornton smiled. The cab stopped. Handing him two bills for the ride and tip she got out first then helped the blond with a hand of assistance. Pam stared at the impressive home and the smell of humans that were milling around, while others handed off invitations to be accepted inside. Looping Pam's arm around hers Thornton started them toward the long stairs waiting in the line of London's finest entering.
"What are we doing here?" Pam asked. She was no closer to solving the mystery of this meat.
"Blending in," Thornton answered through a smile handing off their invitation skipping the line from impatience.
They didn't check their coat. Holding her hand she kept the blond close to her, "you want to be a part of one of those adventures you read about it in books?"
She stopped by the table of deserts letting Pam go. She saw who she was looking for standing in a small group with an impressive young woman on his arm. His eyes were dark and brooding, but for some reason women fell for it along with the money.
"I can't say I have," Pam breathed theatrically.
Thornton smiled, "where's your sense of adventure," she backed away, "I'll be back," she stated before disappearing in the crowd.
Pam looked around the expanse. Some of them she recognized from the club. The vampire Thornton took a great interest in was a regular with the blond woman, who seemed to be a fixture at his side. The blond started over to her while her vampire lover disappeared just like Thornton. Pam saved that detail to query about later.
"Beautiful dress," Pam complimented still in character as Sophie.
"I forget where I bought it," the blond supplied. She tilted her head curiously to the taller blond. She didn't stand in the pretense to collect a desert. She made a point to examine Pam as if she was a stain, and she was pondering how to get rid of it.
"Yes?" Pam forgot to add Sophie's trademark cheer. She didn't like to be stared at. She didn't mind quiet admiration, she was use to it. But there was more to the interested look in the blond human's eyes, and she couldn't say she liked it, not exactly understanding the source.
"You're married," she nodded to Pam's ring.
She lowered her gaze to the ring. "It looks that way."
"I don't suppose Thornton got on one knee. Her style has never been what you might call conventional, but she's a hell of a romantic," she pointed out smugly. "She does things and you know you have no choice in the matter, but you let her do it anyway."
"Are you speaking from experience?" Pam asked genuinely curious. Perhaps this woman could tell her more about this mystery woman, who went by one name.
"She's just as bad as Bill," the blond turned her back to the party. She resented these gatherings. It was all a show for vampires and humans to be in one space with forced harmony. They all just wanted to kill and each other, they were too polite to do either.
"Bill?"
Sookie looked up from her drink, "she didn't tell you anything did she?"
Pam offered a silent shrug.
"It's her way. Romancing women, I bet she chose you because of the accent. She's always been weak in the knees for southern belles," she revealed the effortlessness of her accent. "You'll love her for a little while, but it'll end. She'll take everything and leave with you nothing."
"Lies every last one," Thornton came back wrapping her arm around Pam's waist. Pulling her into a kiss while her hand pulled the woman's body into her, Thornton was making a blatant statement. Pam's hands settled on Thornton's shoulders her nails biting the dark skin's woman's skin pleasurably. She could make all the statements she wanted just as long as she they were as gratifying as this kiss.
Sookie glared squeezing her glass until the crystal broke. Bill came from out of nowhere just as Thornton did cleaning up the mess just as discreetly as he healed it. Placing a kiss where her skin broke he introduced himself as Bill and her as his wife Sookie.
"What an interesting name," Pam pointed out with Sophie charm.
"For an interesting woman," Thornton held her as possessively as Bill held Sookie. She sucked in her bottom lip savoring the tall blond.
Sookie glared at both Bill and Thornton. But, she directed her comment toward the darker of the two, "aren't you as charming as a snake in the grass during a church picnic?"
Bill's smile brightened taking in Pam appreciatively feeling Sookie notice. "That sort of charm has always been kind in the manner of woman it attracts."
"I can't agree. No offense, but I expect the next time we see Thornton you won't be on her arm."
"If you happen to make an unannounced visit to our flat, then undoubtedly you'll be seeing more than me on her arm," Pam was all charm, "if that's what you meant."
Sookie's face fell.
Bill turned his head to hide his amusement. Thornton didn't have to go home with her, so she didn't waste the effort to hide her delight.
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Thornton wiped the tears from her eyes. The London night was cool, but Pam didn't seem to mind it as much. The look on Sookie's face it was priceless. Their shoes slapped the concrete steps with lazy taps.
Thornton withdrew a book from the inside of her coat. She improvised with the plastic cover, knowing enough to take precautions for the integrity of the quality of something so old. She handed it to Pam. She jumped down the steps leaving the blond dumbstruck on the bottom of the stairs.
"What's this?"
"I stole it, for you," she handed Pam the first edition of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.
Pam took the book holding it delicately, "you steal books, hearts—is anything safe around you?"
"Hearts?"
"I know the signs of a bitter woman. Sookie's as bitter as they come."
"She's harmless," Thornton answered dismissively, "she just hates to see me with a beautiful woman. I think she prefers the version of the story where I pine over her for an eternity while she gets the happily ever after."
"Did you help that ego along or—"
"I may or may not have stolen a trinket, known to grant eternal life, with the express intent to win back her heart." She answered Pam's astonished gaze. "I was going up against a vampire—I needed all the time I could get," Thornton shrugged.
"You loved her that much."
"I did, but I learned love isn't always worth it in end," she confessed hinting at the resentment for the emotion. "It's a long story. And I'm sure you want to be getting home. I can hail you a cab." Thornton stated holding her arm out to a cab that didn't stop.
"Who said I wanted to go home just yet?"
Thornton turned to her a smile formed as her arm slowly fell to her side. "I thought librarians might have a strict bedtime," Thornton looked at the time it was almost one o'clock.
A cab stopped on the curb. Thornton stood indecisively at the corner and Pam stepped forward opening the door getting in.
"You're not worried about sharing a cab with a stranger anymore?"
"I'm sure I could be persuaded to make an exception." She held up her ring, "you still owe me a story or two." Pam's appetite was replaced by the hunger of an inquisitive mind.
Thornton followed behind her starting from the beginning.