Disclaimer: I don't own V:tMB and I kinda own my main character, the part I don't own is the fact that she's Tremere. Her clan, plus all the identifiable V:tMB characters are owned by White Wolf Inc. The rest of my main character I do, in fact, own. Please be kind, this is my first V:tMB fic.
9. Chapter Nine
Despite my vow to push the dream to the back of my mind and do my best to forget it—I couldn't. It was a task easier said than done, especially when LaCroix called me to the tower to discuss a piece of work he had lined up for me during that particular night. Because the fates were conspiring against me, it had to be the night I had the dream.
I took a deep breath as I got ready for work, careful not to think about it. I had managed to convince myself that I shouldn't go a-hunting before bed anymore, that alcohol filled hobo blood too close to bedtime was, for me, the equivalent of a sub sandwich before bed for a mortal. Never a good idea and usually caused bad dreams.
Heather was downstairs reading on the sofa. I did my best not to disturb her, quietly making for the counter to grab my weapons. She must have seen me, because she wished me luck for the night's work. I thanked her and holstered my guns.
"Don't get yourself killed," She warned, never looking up from her book. My eyes swept over the title of the novel, Memoires of a Geisha, interesting choice. Personally, I was glad Heather liked refined books like that, instead of stupid books that have no elegance whatsoever. Jeez, I should have been a Toreador.
"You too," And I left the apartments. At first I was nervous about going to the LaCroix building; I needed more time to convince myself that the dreams would go away. But, in the end, I pushed myself forward and swallowed my anxiety.
Walking to the tower was OK, and for the first time since I woke up, I felt that the dream really would just disappear like I wanted it to. I told myself over and over that it was nothing, and that people have meaningless dreams all the time, and it didn't have any ulterior motives behind it. I was—just—horny. It was nothing, nothing but a bad blood dream. Yeah, that was it. I felt loads better.
The fates hated me. That was simply it. When I arrived in the penthouse to get my assignment, I saw LaCroix sitting behind his desk, as usual. But, just for a moment, the dream came back, and there he was—naked as the day god made him. I felt my face blush for the first time since I became one of the undead, followed by a barely-stifled laugh climbing up my throat. I mean, imagine it—I mean, that same night I'd woken up from a sex dream about that man, I just happened to be called to his office for a job! And—and—when I got there—! Aha-ha! And to top it all off—I imagined him in the same amount of clothes I dreamt him in!
"What are you giggling about?" LaCroix asked sharply, annoyance painted in his eyes. I shook my head, swallowing the insane laughter building up. Oh if only he knew—but I was very grateful he didn't.
"Something I heard on television," Lies, but that was okay, the very last thing L.A needed was for its prince to know of the events that occurred only a little while before in my subconscious. I tried to hide my smile—badly—gave him the most professional look I was capable of. Finally the nakedness faded from view, and he was back in his regular dark suit. "What did you need?"
He kept his eyes down at the paper, dejected, hiding his expression from me. When I saw that, the laughter died away almost instantly: the one thing that you learned while working with LaCroix was that when he looked gloomy, you knew something was wrong. He often looked serious or angry, but never sad. And if he did, he did a wonderful job of hiding it.
"W-what…?" I questioned, making sure to keep my voice an audible whisper. I'd never seen LaCroix look that way, and it had caught me off guard.
The surprises just kept coming.
"Sheriff, would you please excuse us a moment?" He never asked sheriff to leave his office in all the years I worked with him. My big buddy was always right beside the desk, watching LaCroix get angry with me or give me a job. Whatever it was, it was serious.
He nodded and left, all without a word. I watched him leave, wondering what in god's name could be going on, when I heard LaCroix speak:
"I'm about to lose the company." My head jerked back to him, shocked. I never imagined that LaCroix would ever lose the foundation, it was his company! It took a few seconds for his statement to sink in; I didn't think he really believed it himself, having had the company for so long—I could never know for how long exactly.
"What? But it's your company. Is it money problems? I never imagined you would have money problems," I rambled on, trying to make sense of the situation and maybe make it lighter for him. As much as I disliked LaCroix, I understood how much the company meant to him. The LaCroix foundation meant the same to him as Max had meant to me all those years ago. It hurt to lose something you loved that much.
"It's not money," He said, "It's another company. They're attempting a hostile takeover of the LaCroix foundation."
"Let me guess," I spoke up, still trying to make the situation less grim, "You want me to go down there and knock some CEO heads?" I slammed my fist into the palm of my other hand to signal my point. He shook his head.
"No, then the successor would try even harder. Don't think I hadn't mulled that idea over." Good ol' LaCroix, always willing to send me to beat someone up for him. "To make matters worse," Oh god, I didn't think it could get worse for him. I pitied him for once. Weird. "We both are trying to get a business contract of a third company—and whoever gets the contract will decide if the LaCroix foundation will live or die."
"Oh I get it," I must have sounded stupid, but I wasn't a business woman, "If the other company gets it—they'll have enough money to take over your company," I was so proud of myself for understanding. "But if you get it, you can buy out the other company and it'll die!"
"Very good," He sounded as though he were praising me on a third-grade problem; I felt my pity die a little.
"But what I don't understand is what you want me to do about it." That really was the only thing I didn't know. I wasn't schooled in the ways of the big powerful CEO rats. I was just a simple worker bee like average, every day Joes. "I don't know anything about stealing company contracts or hostile takeovers." Suddenly feeling a ping of brilliance, I pulled my guns out and held them up; "I mean, I know about hostile takeovers—but not the legal kind."
Had it been anyone else in the world, they would have laughed. Or snickered at least—but LaCroix just sat at his desk, looking at me with dark, angry eyes that made me put my guns away. He needed to lighten up a little, despite the graveness of the situation.
"The deciding company—its president is a—" He seemed to choke on the word. I could only imagine what it was, Sabbat?
"—a Sabbat?" I tried to fill in; he shook his head.
"No, a—" The word still seemed lodged in his throat; I almost wanted to give him the Heimlich to make the word come out. I couldn't think of anything worse than a Sabbat. Whatever it was, he was probably overreacting. "—a family man,"
I didn't really know how to respond. I could almost hear his request in my head, but I somehow wasn't expecting it. He hadn't even said anything besides that, and all the pieces began to fit together. Him telling me about his company's problems, asking Sheriff to leave so we could have a private meeting, suddenly it all made sense.
"Y-yeah?" He gave an irritated sigh, proving to me that he really disliked having to ask this sort of thing from me or from anyone. He never usually asked, he ordered. The whole ordeal was painful for him, and not just because he was losing his company. I'm sure he would have preferred that I shot him in the head right then.
"And to have a fighting chance against my rival company, I need to prove to the president of the deciding company that I'm just as interested in that as he is. Which means—" I believed it more then than I did before, he wanted me to kill him. He'd rather be dead than have to ask such a thing of me, and I agreed with him on that. "—that I need you to masquerade as—" The way he refused to use the word was comical, it was so unlike him to need anything from anyone and having to ask for something was painful, Like bathing a temperamental cat with claws. "—my—" It took him a few minutes to cough the word up, like an almond lodged in his windpipe. "—bride."
Like I said before, I knew the request was coming, but I was still surprised when the word finally came out. I didn't know how to react; so I reacted in the only way I knew he understood.
"What's in it for me?" Maybe it would make him feel less like he was asking a favor, and more like he was giving me an assignment as usual. I didn't know for sure, I was just trying to lesson the obviously painful blow on him. It was against my vow to let any harm come to him.
"I'm offering eight hundred dollars," He proposed, "Was that the sort of payment you had in mind?"
"Make it a thousand, and we have a deal." It wasn't much to ask of him, if he had eight hundred dollars to pay me to pretend to be his wife, then he had a thousand to seal the deal. LaCroix was over two hundred years old; he had to have made a lot of money by now.
"Deal," It went down just like a business deal. He proposed a service; we haggled on a price, and sealed the deal. Very professional.
"Deal," I echoed, "OK, what sort of thing do you need me to do?"
"What you women do best," He instructed, "Try and outshine my rival's bride."
It seemed easy enough, and I was getting paid a thousand dollars to do it. There were only two things I didn't know if I could do: Spend my night off in a dress, and pretend to be Sebastian's wife. Both seemed rather painful, but I would find a way to muddle through.
This was the idea I wasn't too positive on. I mean—the idea I think is good, but I didn't know if it was considered too fluffed up or not. I went with it, only because it's part of the plot. But idk. I did my best to keep LaCroix in character, and I think it went good. Hope you like it!
Edited by Lady Rain.