Chapter 10 – Bad Blood and Sibling Rivalry

September 28, 2004 = Tuesday

The next night saw me blast straight through my routine. I was actually ready in my usual blah gray clothes, a vial of blood already pulled and waiting when Sharron came through the door. She surprised me, showing up in something resembling reasonable. She wore a blue t-shirt over a pair of skinny jeans, and her heels were only two inches. Her hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail, and her makeup was light.

"You got it?" she asked, after Brian had shut the door. I pulled out the vial of blood and handed it to her.

"Just pop the top, and drink. Same stuff that me and Brian are on."

"It, it looks like blood," she said, eying the contents.

"Same stuff I took," Brian said. "That's the best though."

"Okay, then," she said, popping the top. With a quick motion, she downed a dose of my blood. "Hmmm," she purred. "it works so fast."

"Just remember, any problems at all, come back here, and don't tell anyone about taking it," I said, knowing she was enthralled by my blood to do my bidding. "And remember, if you want your next fix, you'll have a thousand for me."

"Yes, ma'am," she said, turning for the door. She had it open and was stepping out, when she turned back. "Anything for you," she breathed, a smile on her lips as she closed the door behind her.

Once the door was closed and I was sure she was gone, I turned to Brian. "How did the hunt for a long coat go?"

"Seems like one hundred fifty will buy a cheap one, though a heavier coat can cost upwards of three hundred. A cheap coat for just keeping the chill off is like fifty."

Reaching under the bed, I pulled out my messenger bag and the short katana-like sword and placed both on the bed. "I kind of wanted a coat long enough to hide this while I wore it," I said, modeling the sword against my back. "Which coat do you think is long enough?"

"I'd go with a leather coat, about knee length. Kind of expensive, but if you want to carry that thing, or a sawed-off shotgun, couldn't get better."

"Give me a few nights to think it over, and to see what's to come," I said, having dumped the bags content on the desk, and slid only the essentials back into the bag. Those essentials being the Astrolite, the thirty-eight, and some ammo. "Hopefully I get to see Tung before the nights over. If it's early enough, I might go ahead and blow that warehouse. So I might not be back for a day or two."

"I'll be here, waiting," he said, kicking back on his bed, and pulling a magazine from under the mattress. It was another Playboy, and I seriously didn't want to know what was in it. Men.

I left the apartment, and walked past the "ladies" on my way to Asylum. I was a little hungry, but their blood lacked any pizazz. Once through the door at Asylum, I checked the bar. No one was hanging around, so I headed over to the elevator and took it to the top floor. I no more got inside the door where Therese sat behind her desk when she sharply stood up and locked eyes with me.

"You, that was MY event at the Gallery! Did you think I wouldn't find out!" she yelled.

"But," I started to say, reaching into my bag, when she cut me off.

"Shut up! I thought I could control my sister as long as Tung was out of the picture, but nothing's changed! I should have expected you'd succumb to Jeanette's wild influence like all the others. But how dare you!" she said, eying my hand as I withdrew it from the bag.

"I didn't do it!" I tried to protest. I had the locket in my hand but Therese was on a full rag.

"Don't lie to me! Jeannette already confessed she tricked you into doing it! But that's still no excuse for your ruining my important celebrity function."

I held out the amulet, trying to sound as meek and persuasive as I could. "I swear I didn't do it. I even brought you the item from the Ocean House."

Therese stalked forward real fast and snatched the locket from my hand, then eyed me. Her eyes were as cold as a snake, and I worried she might have some kind of speed power. I so did not want to get staked again.

"Jeanette claimed you did it for her, but let's say I believe you. After all, you've acted decently and rationally up to now. I imagine you'd still like me to call off the feud?" She eyed me, and I must have said yes by entire body language because she continued on. "There's only one problem. If Tung gets word that I've threatened Jeanette, which he most certainly already has, it's not likely he'll believe me. So, in order to call off the feud, you're going to have to convince Jeanette to forgive me first."

"Couldn't I just kill her?" I tried to ask, then smiled as if I was only making a joke. "I'd be happy to talk to her."

"I've asked her to me at the diner across the street, to reconcile, but I'm busy with the club and other endeavors. I'd like you to go to the diner and promise her that I don't plan to take any action against her. Wait for in the back booth, near the phones."

"I'll go, then the feud is off?"

"Yes, I'll call it off once I've spoken with her myself."

Feeling dismissed, I left her room and took the elevator back to the dance floor and left out the front door. I headed across the street to the Diner and went in. The place was almost empty, the short order cook was cleaning the grill when I walked in. I went to the back booth and sat down, waiting for Jeanette to show up, though with an airhead like that, I might be waiting all night long.

I was just starting to wonder if I should email the Prince to settle Therese's problems when four men walked in. I was just about to dismiss them when the first one through the door raised a shotgun and blasted it towards me. I felt the sting as the buckshot tore at my face and arm, even as I rolled under the table. I could hear more shots ring out, smaller and more like fireworks going off, with small splinters flying around me. Okay, these guys needed a reminder where they stood on the food chain.

In a few seconds, when everyone's gun was empty and being reloaded, I exploded from under the table and charged the thugs. A thug on the right was the first to snap his pistol back together, and the first to find out how strong I was when I grabbed his wrist and shoved it under his chin. Pulling the hammer back with my trigger finger, I mashed the trigger with my thumb and the gun discharged into the man's brain.

Picking the man up with now free hands, I dumped him on the nearest thug. The man with the shotgun had finally finished inserting bullets into his big gun and I reached over and yanked on it, pulling it from his hands before he could even shoulder it. The last thug raised his pistol, and I planted a foot against his ribs, tossing him to the wall. Spinning the shotgun around, I blasted his chest wide open. The thug who I'd dumped the body on, cocked his pistol, and I put a shot directly into his face before getting an awful earache from a thirty-eight which caused me to drop the shotgun in pain and surprise.

I spun on the frightened youth, seeing nothing but red, and charged him. He let fly with the rest of his pistol, the five shots impacting my chest, and I fell on top of him and extended my fangs and bit for his neck. The guy must have been a wrestling champion because he got his arm between us, and flipped me off him. His mistake, was instead of wrestling me, he tried to scramble for the shotgun. I jumped on his back and sank my fangs in, sucking in mouth-fulls of his precious blood. He didn't last long after that, and as soon as his heart faltered I pulled away.

I then picked up the shotgun, which was just in front of me and inspected it. It was too long to carry, and I wiped my prints off with a napkin. The short-order cook was still cowered under the counter, and I stepped into the bathroom to check my wounds. I didn't feel anything missing, and a lack of holes had me confident enough to leave. I was just stepping out of the bathroom when the phone rang. Figuring it might be Therese with news on Jeanette, I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Miss Flores, I'm terribly sorry about that. My sister was furious about your refusal to take part in her designs, so she sent those men to kill you. I'm going to make sure that it never happens again."

"I take it you got the chance to talk to Jeanette, then?" She better, or I was thinking of using that shotgun on her.

"Yes, I did. Drop by, we'll take care of this Tung business."

"On my way," I said, hanging up the phone. Great, now I could down to the really gritty, then as I saw the carnage I had already unleashed on the kill squad. Pitiful, weak humans. I guess I really am the top of the food chain.

I left the diner just in time to hear sirens approaching, and scurried across the street to Asylum when a cop car slid to a stop in front of the diner. I didn't wait around, in case anyone saw me and headed inside and took the elevator to Therese's room. I walked in, to see Therese holding a pistol on the wall. Though when she looked at me, yeah, I wondered why I didn't see it before. Asylum, as in Insane Asylum.

Half of her face was the professional businesswoman I was trying to work with. But the other half was the makeup clad face of Jeanette, including her ponytail. Twin sisters, both of the same clan, no way to tell them apart. No wonder no one saw it.

"You," Therese said, locking eyes with me, gun swinging in my direction. "I'll deal with you in a moment. Now, I'm going to make sure she never crosses me again."

"Don't listen to her! She'll kill us both! Save me and I'll help you find Bertram I swear!"

"Shut up, Jeannette! I warned you to stay away from Tung. He's turned you against me! I always looked out for you! But you couldn't stand my success, you had to meddle, didn't you? I didn't want it to end like this but you forced me!"

"You never gave me credit for anything, Therese! I was the one calling the shots! Bertram was dancing on my leash!"

They eyed me, and I honestly didn't know who to support in this insane fight. If both knew where Tung was, I could support either one. I guess the biggest question was, which side did I trust more? I needed more information on these two nuts.

"Why are you both fighting?" It was a simple question, and one I needed an answer to.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm about to rid the night of this deviant, backstabbing whore! Do you realize that, despite her condition, she still," Therese paused, face screwed up in disgust, "fornicates! With Kine, no less!"

Kine? Must be humans. They did seem to have their own weird words for everything. But we could still do it? Damn, I'm missing out.

"You're one to talk, dear sister," Jeanette's high voice said. "Or should I say Daddy's little girl? Do you want to know just how depraved the Baron of Santa Monica can be?"

Therese's deeper voice then shouted, "Shut up, Jeanette!"

"You'd love the world to think you're a saint, when you thought I was asleep, I used to hear father come in at night. I heard him whisper in your ear before he..."

Therese's deeper voice shouted again, "Don't finish that sentence or you're dead!"

"Both of you stop!" I shouted at them. Yeesh, no wonder she was crazy. Who knew how long she'd been molested.

"Don't you want to hear what happened?" Jeanette asked. "How she became the pillar of the community she is today?"

"Stop it right now," I commanded, as Therese began to point the gun towards her head, while the other arm held it off. "Both of you."

"Don't try and stop me," Therese said, as she struggled with her other half. "I've had to overlook her treachery, her seduction," then shook her head, "relations, with my enemies and the consequences of it. But I won't endure her any longer."

"Endure me?" Jeannette asked, hurt in her voice. "You've done everything you could to smother me. You'd love to bury me in your closet, along with all your other skeletons."

"I'm the good girl," Therese said, exerting herself to overpower her other half. You'd think she would have done it by now, but maybe she was left handed. "You're the wicked one. You've done nothing but plot against me when I had our best interests at heart. And despite that, I've always covered up your mistakes. I've taken care of you. And this is how you repay me?"

"Taken care of me?" Jeannette said, disbelieving. "You've done nothing but keep me down, blamed me for every mistake. Did you expect me to let you rule my life until the end of time? No, sister, you've had it coming since our last sunrise."

"Is that right, dear?" Therese mocked. "If it wasn't for me, you would never survived this long. Remember? They tried to seperate us, but I refused. I chose this life and I brought you into it so that we could stay together. Obviously, you've forgotten."

I needed to get a handle on this, and like now. "If you both want to continue to exist, you're going to have to live with each other." Okay, it sounded lame, but it was getting their attention.

"She's a control freak!" Jeannette said. "People, things, emotions. And if she can't control something, she gets rid of it."

"And you're a wild animal. You'll rub up anything that'll take you in for the night. Then, when you're stuffed and bored, you bite the hand that fed you."

"Both of you have been working against each other. Together, you'd be a power."

"I don't think that's possible," Therese said, kind of quiet. "How could I ever think to trust her again?"

"Trust me?" Jeannette said, surprise in her voice. "Who could trust you after what happened with Father dearest?"

"Father loved me. I was a good girl," Therese said, hurt over Jeanette's words. "I always did what I was told. You always hated that he loved me. You disobeyed him. You brought men home when he wasn't there. You were an awful daughter to him."

Wow, no wonder these two hated each other with a passion. "That's in the past," I said, trying to persuade the two from letting blood flow. I so didn't need the Prince's ire from all this drama. "Forget about it."

"How can I forget that Therese killed father with the shotgun after catching him in bed with me? Blew his mind all over the silly clown wallpaper."

"That's a lie, Therese said rather quickly. "Father killed himself because of Jeannette. She made him miserable."

"As I recall," Jeannette said, smiling a bit at the memory, "he died with a smile on his face."

"Forget about the past, you two need each other to move on," I said, trying to be the sage of wisdom. Right now, I really wished I'd brought the shotgun.

"Why?" Therese demanded, pulling the pistol away from Jeannette's hand. At least I think it was Jeannette's. "How will this time be any different?"

"Think of how powerful you could both be if you worked together," I said, hoping they bought it and inching my hand into my bag for my knife.

"Therese doesn't like to share," Jeannette pointed out.

"Jeannette's irresponsible," Therese countered. "She's undependable. A venture like mine requires class and distinction, which is something a pig-tailed, face-painting harlot does not lend very well."

"You do have a way with words, sister," Jeannette said in what I though was mock sincerity. "You're right, I'm not in the same class, am I? I mean, murderers are so respectful these days." Okay, that last part was just pure sarcasm.

"Therese, let Jeannette have more responsibility."

"More responsibility?" Therese nearly shrieked. "So that she can ruin every opportunity I give her?"

"Of course," Jeannette mocked. "You're the only one who can secure zoning permits and shake hands. I'd never be able to keep up!"

"Jeannette, stop sabotaging your sister's plans."

"But I only do it out of love," she pouted.

"You do it because you're vindictive and jealous," Therese spat.

"And you deserve it!" Jeannette shouted back.

"If you call a truce and run this place equally, there's no need to kill each other," I said, trying to keep calm even though I had my hand wrapped around a knife.

"If she would stop treating me like a child!" Jeannette yelled.

"If you would start behaving like a rational adult!" Therese yelled back.

Okay, almost there. Now we need some common ground. "You must have gotten along at one time, right?"

"Yes," Jeanette said, almost in a whisper. "There was a time."

"When I was a child," Therese started, almost in the same whisper. "I didn't have many friends. I suppose Jeannette was the only one. We never did get to go out of the house much. Father wouldn't allow us."

"He said we'd get hurt," Jeannette's slight higher whisper told me. "So we stayed together inside and we imagined our own worlds. And we spent so much time there, together, ruling over those places those were..."

"Happier times," Therese's deeper whisper finished. "Before we grew apart."

I swear, it was like listening to a bad ventriloquist act. "You don't really want to kill each other, do you?"

"I never did," Jeanette said.

"No, I guess I don't," Therese said. "Jeanette, if I were to give, offer, you equal control in Santa Monica, would you quit consorting with Tung?"

"I'll stop working against you with him," Jeannette said, "But since I've got him in my pocket already, there's no reason for me not to pay him a visit once in a while, when he can be of use."

"That's not a bad plan," Therese said. "There's just one more thing. I want to be in charge of Santa Monica, but only pubicly. I want you to continue to convince others that are relations are strained. That way..."

"We know who our enemies are," Jeannette finished. "I agree."

"Give me the gun, Therese," I asked.

"Here, take it," Therese said, giving me the pistol.

"Tung's hiding out in an abandoned oil tank at the old gas station," Jeannette said. I'll tell him to expect a visitor and be extra nice."

"Thanks," I told them, heading for the door.

"And keep your tongue tied tight about what happened tonight," Jeannette called to me.

"Or we'll have to kill you," Therese finished.

I smiled, with my back turned to them. They had to say something. Well, they might be older, but if all they could do was run a club, maybe they needed a lesson. I pulled on the shadows, drawing them to me like a mother to her children, and watched their faces falter from smug satisfaction to horror. I pulled the darkness over every source of light, until they were barely visible, then my Shadow sight kicked in. I could see they were horrified at the shadows surrounding them, so I opened the door and let them see me, even as I darkened the light there too.

"Kill me? I'm not four days old, and already done more than either of you seem capable of. Want to kill me? Come join me in the shadows and I'll show you a party," I threatened, then walked out, letting the shadows fade back to the room. I hated bullies, but now, I guess I was one of the bigger bullies in town. What could they do anyway? Party hearty?