Chapter 63 – Loose Ends

October 10, 2004 = Sunday

~Eliza Flores~

I awoke the next night where I had fallen asleep, so I figured I was safe. Stepping out of the closet I tried again to make my powers work, but I felt so rundown. What could be causing it?

Going over everything that had happened to me the previous night, my memories lingered on the pin the prince had given me. The golden ankh, a symbol of the prince, stood out as the one thing I carried that I hadn't before, but that seemed odd. Why would the prince curse his own favor?

I couldn't figure that one until it hit me. He never said the pin was a sign of his favor, just that I would be his emissary to the Anarchs. He never actually said anything about the pin itself, so I had to figure that this was his own treachery. He knew I'd find Nines, sent his agents to follow me, then sprung the trap to leave me powerless and at the mercy of werewolves.

A faint smile curved my lips. No one could have anticipated I'd kill one of the dreaded beasts without my powers, thereby saving my own skin. Even Nines couldn't save himself with his.

Throwing the pin away, I felt my power run back through me like a dam breaking. Reaching for the shadows, I left the sunken tub and returned to my motel room, appearing in the bathtub so I didn't get saltwater everywhere. I immediately shed my ruined clothing, then turned on the hot water to wash the grime off my skin. My presence didn't go unnoticed, but they didn't bother me as I washed myself clean. I also took the moment to think, and it wasn't looking good.

It all boiled back to LaCroix and Ming Xiao. They had an agreement to drive everyone else from the city and divide the rest between them and they didn't care who they hurt along the way. They had used me as a patsy, framed Nines, then LaCroix tried to have me killed not once, but twice since I figured out his plan.

That also meant that anyone connected to me, kindred wise, was at risk of retribution. Meredith, Eloise, Mira and Sammy were all going to need to stay in tonight. Sammy and Mira should be getting up in the next room, so I'd tell them to stay in and under the protection of my ghoul Yukie until further notice.

Turning off the water and toweling dry, I stepped out of the shower and toilet area into the combination closet and sink area to see several anxious faces waiting on me, one of them a brown haired woman I didn't recognize who sat at the table looking miserable. I ignored them for the most part, and concentrated on getting dressed. Knowing I was about to go into life or death battle, I wanted heavy leather and that was something I didn't have. Looking at my closet, I was also out of suits.

"Yukie," I called out of the bathroom door. "Bring me some clothes and some casual wear. I want to dress before I meet our guest," I asked, even if she looked more like a hostage as I studied her in the mirror. Yukie brought me some clothes, and I dressed quickly before stepping out into the main area of my little motel room.

"So, where were you?" Sammie asked once I stepped out of the bathroom.

"Pacific Ocean," I told her to make her scoff. "Drove a car off a pier in Santa Monica and spent my day in a sunken boat."

"That was you?" Sammie said in surprise. "It was all over the news today! They recovered the car but there wasn't anyone inside!"

"I walked out, right along the ocean floor," I told her. "Found that wreck and holed up for the day."

"Why not return home?" Yukie asked.

"Couldn't," I told her. "The prince figured out how to block my powers. I didn't get them back until this evening."

"So, how did he do it?" Mira asked me. She was dressed in a forest green Maxi dress and looked exquisite while Yukie did her makeup.

"I'm going to guess a spell on a pin he led me to believe was a mark of high position," I told them. "I threw it away and got my powers back."

"Good guess," Dominique said. "I've been reading your spell books and it's possible to lay a spell on an object with a delayed reaction."

"I have got to read those books," I muttered. "Got anything on a tracking spell?"

"Like the one Celeste used on me?" Sammie asked and I nodded.

"Sure," Dominique said then jumped her Barbie doll sized body down from the bed to run over and pull out a book. She opened it up then showed it to me, but it wasn't in Celeste's handwriting.

"Thanks, Dominique," I told my familiar. "I was needing that."

"Your welcome," she said happily.

"Who's she?" I asked.

"Vanessa Seiche," Mira said as she eyed the brown haired woman. "She runs the country club and golf course you sent me to."

"And she's here, why?"

"Because I recognized her as a vampire," the woman groaned. "That lack of a reflection is a dead giveaway."

"The VIP lounge has a lot of highly polished surfaces and mirrors," Mira told me. "Turns out, she uses one to see who's coming to and from her favorite working area. She didn't see me with her assistants and put two and two together."

"Well, at least you protected the masquerade," I said glumly. "Why didn't you kill her?"

"Maybe we can still use her," Mira said as she got up from the bed. "I didn't want to do something like this without asking you first, but I want to ghoul her."

I thought it over, trying to figure out if it were feasible or not, then decided it couldn't hurt. Since I wasn't doing the actual ghouling, it didn't violate my penance that I had received from the Padre, and I did need to divvy my holdings if I didn't survive the night.

"Alright," I said, granting my permission. "You may ghoul her."

"Thank you!" she squealed.

"Oh god," Vanessa groaned.

"Relax," I told her. "You drink her blood, it's over and we return you to the country club."

"But what is it going to do to me?" she asked.

"Long life, stay young, the ability to rejuvenate and not get sick," I counted off as if by rote. "The only trade off is an overwhelming love and desire to appease your domitor."

"Meaning, her?" Vanessa asked as Mira rolled up the sleeve of her exquisite dress. "Considering she ordered that Japanese harlot to stab me if I tried to leave, I find that hard to believe."

I let that slide, even if Yukie seemed incensed by it, and watched as Mira stalled as she tried to figure out how to get blood out of her wrist.

"Just sink your fangs into an artery and let the blood out," I told my childe when I got tired of the wait. Mira sank her fangs into her wrist, then pulled back to let the blood trickle down her wrist.

"Now, drink," I said, using my dominate on Vanessa. Vanessa did as she was ordered, drinking from Mira's wrist until I pulled it away from her mouth. Vanessa leaned back in her chair, her body language tense with sexual innuendo and an open invitation.

"And she calls me harlot," Yukie quipped as Vanessa collected herself.

"I just have a thing about things being pressed into my chest," Vanessa fired back. "Been a fear that's how I'll die for years."

"So now what?" Mira asked as she straightened the sleeve of her dress out. "She just does what I say?"

"Pretty much," I told her. "Just keep tabs on her for a week for the next dose, and you'll know it's time because she'll get jittery like a druggie looking for their fix."

"Thank you," Mira said as I sat to the table and began to write on a pad.

"So, where are you headed, tonight?" Sammie asked me.

"Ming Xiao's," I told her. "I have problems. I was framed for murdering one of the political leaders in the city, and there's no way to clear my name."

"So, you're leaving?" Mira asked me as she looked over my shoulder to see the will I was writing.

"I doubt it's so simple," I told her. "If we leave, we have to appease a new prince. Which with me being framed as a political assassin might not be so easy. I'm afraid I'm stuck in this town."

"So wait, you're under a blood hunt?" Sammie asked as she pieced it together.

"I might be," I confessed, then saw the confusion on everyone's faces and decided to explain it. "It means I broke the rules and the prince has called for my death."

"Oh, shit," Mira said. "What happens to me?"

"You continue on, just keep your head down and listen to Samantha," I told her. "I'm leaving you the golf course and half my money, so you should be able to at least survive for awhile. Samantha, I'm going to leave you the motel and strip club plus the rest of my money. If you need anything about the new club's location, Michele Riviere knows all about it. The dancer, Diamond, is the one I selected to run the place in my stead, plus she has the support of the dancers by impromptu vote."

"You're not planning something drastic, are you?" Samantha demanded to know.

"Unfortunately, there's no way to clear my name," I told them. "Even if I were able to get to the prince and explain what happened, he'll either have me killed anyway or find another way to have me killed. I'm a political liability now, since I figured out he had a deal with the Kue-Jin."

"What?" Sammie demanded to know. "He actually made a deal with them?!"

"Yes," I told her, deciding to give her the details so maybe if I died she could still bring him down. "The idea was for them to gang up on the Anarchs to drive them out of town. The Sabbat coming in didn't help matters, so they decided to frame Nines for killing a primogen. I was made to be the patsy, since I was new and didn't have a political axe to grind."

"Oldest trick in the book," Mira scoffed.

"Right," I agreed. "I managed to get word to Nines before they came for him, mainly because he saved my life and I felt I owed him. Now, he's dead and the prince framed me for it."

"So, what are you going to do?" Sammie asked me. "Try and get them to fess up?"

"I doubt they'd fall for a cheap trick," I told her. "I'm afraid my only way out is going to be to actually commit political assassination and kill both Ming Xiao and the prince."

"But who's going to take over the city?" Samantha asked me.

"I just want to be left alone," I told her. "If they had left me alone and let me, I'd have faded behind stone walls and let the city be."

"But ruling the city could work in your favor," Sammie told me. "You could keep out the unruly members of society and calm things down. As the leader of the city, you could also have them pay you money, or taxes rather. You wouldn't need much in the way of a business then."

"True," I said, thinking it over.

"Sounds like the family," Mira said, piping in. "They call it protection, but what it really means is you can't pick on the little guy without angering the big guy. Bully protection at its finest."

"And you can sit back and work through others," Sammie pointed out. "You have us, Meredith and Eloise. We can act as advisers and intermediaries while you sit back and rest easy."

"I'll think it over," I said, halting any further arguments either for or against it. "For now, I'm headed up to talk to Meredith and Eloise and tell them to stay in. Until this blows over, one way or another, don't risk your neck by leaving."

"Alright," they agreed.

"I'll let you know how it goes," I said, then slipped out the door after leaving my will with Sammie and Mira. A few girls lounged by the pool, but for the most part it was quiet at the motel as I walked towards Meredith's little suite.

I did see Diamond's pale blonde hair reflect in the dim lamplight of a hall, so I decided to stop by on my way upstairs. My new manager of the strip club and motel seemed to be keeping tabs on her sister Cherry, who was probably with a client. Diamond was dressed in a little black number that was tight on her body, a matching purse over her shoulder and standing on three inch heels.

She noticed me and seemed to steel herself for what was to come, probably having more choice words to say over her sister's current vocation but knowing she was powerless to change any part of it. She also knew I was kindred, but wasn't bound under my blood, and if tonight didn't turn out like I wanted, never would be.

"Diamond," I said in way of greeting as I stopped to chat. "How's Cherry?"

"With a client," she said in a flat tone.

"You don't seem happy about it," I told her.

"It seems yesterday that Hans gave her the idea to charge them more to go bareback!" Elsa in ever increasing pitch. "AND EVEN MORE TO LET THEM CUM IN HER!"

"So..." I started to say but was cut off by her continued anger.

"She's just trying to get pregnant! Heaven only knows whether or not she is right now!"

"Calm down," I said, hoping she would keep from making a scene. She gave me a stern look but held her tongue. "Now, does it appear that she's going to make her cover?"

"I think so," Diamond admitted as she slumped against the wall. "She's worked non-stop all day."

"And you don't want her to dance?" I said, clarifying her position.

"Of course not," she admitted. "I'd rather she followed her love of music than dance in the club."

"What would you offer if I made sure she never followed in your footsteps?" I asked her. Diamond looked up in hope, but then the hope faded as she seemed to realize she had been had.

"What would you want?" she asked, confirming that she understood this was a ploy by me to put her firmly under my control. Where before she wasn't one to do anything she didn't like, and I had allowed it, now she understood she was about to do stuff she didn't like and was going to have to accept it.

"Just you," I told her. "Politics in my world being what they are, I have to make sure no one ever defies me. Not binding you in blood allows you certain freedoms you would otherwise enjoy, things like telling people about me or my fellow kindred. After tonight, that changes. You want your sister out, you do exactly as you are told, when you are told."

"How do you intend to change her mind?" Diamond asked. "If she's set on dancing now, how are you going to set her off on something else?"

"I have my ways," I told her. "I'm also going to mark you and her with a spell so I can find you wherever you try to run. You try to scam me, I'll find your sister and turn her into the world's biggest whore. Betray me, and you will find yourself consciously aware of the whore you've become as you live out the rest of your days bareback at forty bucks a pop."

"You wouldn't?" she said. I pooled the blood in my hand startling Diamond who tried to become one with the wall as she tried to get away. I snagged her by the hair on the back of her head and pulled her away, marking the necessary arcane symbol on the back of her neck. When it was done, it flashed red before fading, leaving a bright red birthmark where it had been.

"What was that?" Diamond demanded to know.

"A mark to find you by," I told her. "So even if you try to run, I will find you."

"Oh," she said as she rubbed her new mark. She seemed to deflate a bit, and I had to think it was over the fact that she knew now how hooked she was.

"Also, I want you to look after the girls if I don't come back after tonight," I told her. "The club and motel will go to my friend Samantha, but I want you to run things for her.."

"Really?" she said in astonished tone. "What's wrong?"

"I've been framed for something and I have to set things right," I said, skimping on the details. "If it works out, I'll be back. If not, I'm not coming back."

"But what about my sister?" Diamond asked me. "Can you do what you're going to do tonight or do we have to wait?"

"I can do it as soon as I see her," I told her, making her smile. "If you don't mind me asking, what would you rather have her do?"

"I can choose?" she asked cautiously. "And she'll actually work for it?"

"I think so," I told her. "I've never tried to do things long term, but I can try. She might one day decide to do dancing again, but I can try."

"Thanks," she said as I heard a door open. Diamond's eyes went behind me and I turned to see Cherry letting her John out, an older man with a wide smile on his face as he got in an older car and drove away.

"Oh, hey," Cherry said as she stepped out to reveal the most revealing thing I'd ever seen on a woman. It was a black leather mini skirt so short it barely hid anything and a sheer halter top that was little more than a leather strap with two sheer triangles that cradled her ladies and showed off her pink nipples. She also had a pair of stiletto heels with little diamond studs across the straps that emphasized her new chose profession as my whore.

"Cherry," I said as I approached her. "Mind if we talk inside?"

"Oh sure," she said brightly and led the way inside. I activated my auspex and peered into her mind to find out that she had indeed been busy selling the beaver, however, her constant jumbling of numbers as she constantly counted and recounted prevented me from figuring out how much she actually had.

"So, what's up?" she asked, and I hit her with my dominate to make her eyes glaze over as she went under. I then put the locator spell on her neck, before moving back in front of her.

"How much do you have?" I asked her.

"About eight grand," she said in a monotone.

"Wow," Diamond said from behind me.

"When I finish here in a second," I warned Diamond, "I'm going to leave her a bawling mess. But when she comes out, she'll never dance again as a stripper."

"Oh," Diamond exclaimed. "You're already doing it?"

"I've started the process," I told her. "Now comes the hard part."

Diamond was silent as I pushed my will deep into Cherry's mind, hoping that the changes I was about to force on her would be permanent. If it wasn't, well, it wasn't like I'd be around to get yelled at.

"Cherry," I said, starting the process. "You will remember you have failed our agreement. You did not make the necessary amount in the time alotted, and that I decided to not add you to the club. Instead, you will go to school and apply yourself..."

"A lawyer," Diamond said. "Make her a lawyer."

"...and you will study and become a lawyer," I continued. "If you ever fail, you will talk to your sister and listen to her advice about a new profession. You will lose your desire to strip in a club, and never sell yourself for sex again."

"Okay," she said in a flat tone.

"She'll really try?" Diamond asked and I nodded. The moment I broke eye contact, Cherry broke down crying and sat on the bed.

"Anna?" Diamond said, rushing to her sister's side.

"I failed," she sobbed as her sister joined her. "I didn't make enough."

"It's okay," Diamond said soothingly. "You can always try again..."

"No," Cherry said forcefully as tears fell from her eyes. "It's over Elsa. The guys just don't find me beautiful like they do you."

"Shhh," Diamond, or Elsa rather, said, trying to calm her sister down, but Anna was having none of it as she cried.

I left the sisters on the bed and walked out, figuring they didn't need me anymore. I continued up the stairs to Meredith's suite, seeing the light on through the window as I passed. I knocked on the door and Meredith answered it, moving aside to let me in without a word.

The moment I stepped inside, Meredith slammed the door shut behind me. I spun to ask her what it was about but Eloise threw a spell at me. My celerity kicked in and brought the world to a crawl as the blob of blood left her hand, and I ducked under it and rolled to clear before the world sped back up.

"Surrender or die!" Eloise yelled at me as she coated her hand again. I was able to see Meredith coating her hand as well, and it hit me.

"Am I under a blood hunt?" I guessed, wondering if the prince made my death official. I had assumed he was doing something like this, but was it official?

"We found out last night," Eloise said as the ball shimmered in her hand. "Now either submit to being staked or I'll kill you where you stand."

"Pity," I said as I dropped into a combat crouch. "You know how powerful I am, Eloise. You ready to fight that?"

"I like my odds," was all Eloise replied as both she and Meredith threw their spells. I used my celerity to roll free, then pulled on the shadows and sent a shadow-tentacle through Meredith's heart that crumbled her into a pile of ash.

Eloise screeched as her backup was killed, coating both her hands in blood to do more spells. I didn't even think as I pulled a blade from the shadows and charged the irate woman. Eloise's outstretched red coated palm turned into a water wall that bounced me back, and Eloise gave me a wicked grin. I tried again to put my blade through the shimmering wall of water, but it bounced off the wall without penetrating.

"Ready to see the real power of thaumaturgy?" she challenged. The red of her other hand shot straight through the wall with the speed and accuracy of a fastball, hitting me in the chest and my legs folded under me. I tried to get up, but my body didn't want to work.

"Can't...rise...to the occasion?" she punned as the wall of water cascaded into nothing. "It's called cripple. Paralyzes the victim. You know what else thaumaturgy is good for. Its blood rituals. Let me show you."

Eloise knelt by me, turning my head to face the wall before undoing my top. I struggled to move as Eloise sketched arcane symbols on my chest, seeming to stop after each symbol as if she were checking a book for better accuracy.

With my head turned to the wall, all I could see were shadows. I tried to pull on them to mold them but without my hands working the shadows stayed on the wall. Eloise continued to sketch on my chest, and as she was nearly completing the circle she had sketched, it made me panic. I tried to shift into my shadowy form, but it remained out of reach as well.

As Eloise seemed to finish the last of her sketching, I broke down and begged my shadow for help. It seemed to contort, and then it was like I was looking at a shadow version of me. Shadow-me kicked Eloise away, but since I couldn't move, lost track as Shadow-me got up and began fighting for my life.

The sound of the battle behind me was intense as they struggled and tumbled on the floor and into objects, but only Eloise was making grunting and screeching sounds. It wasn't until Eloise gave a loud shriek that I was able to move again, prompting me to roll to my feet. Shadow-me mirrored me, leaving a human shaped pile of ash on the carpet I assumed was all that remained of Eloise. Shadow-me looked at me for a second, then contorted as she resumed her normal function as my shadow.

I looked around the empty suite, then huffed. I had just killed two people I once considered allies because of the prince. If I hadn't come up here, they'd likely wouldn't have attacked me after things with the prince had been settled, but here I was.

An open book at my feet made me look down. It was a Tremere spellbook, and after picking it up, found the spell Eloise was sketching on my chest. Or ritual rather, as I read the page. It was a ritual designed as a replacement to diablerie, but instead of killing me and imbuing my drinker with my powers, it would have replaced my soul with the caster's effectively killing me as my soul was sent into oblivion. The price was high, as the caster's body was killed in the process, but it was foolproof in that the practitioner became their intended subject in both clan and generation.

"Damn bitch probably planned this," I said aloud as I ripped the page out and shredded it. As with the plague spell, this one was too powerful to leave lying around as if anyone got close enough to use it on me they likely would.

Taking one last look around the room, I couldn't help but like the more open layout of the two room design. It was definitely more comfy than my single room downstairs, and with the occupants dead, couldn't find any reason not to move in. It would be more comfortable for all concerned, and if I survived, needed until I ironed things out with the club and golf course.

Making up my mind, I took the key from beside the TV and went downstairs to get my merry band of girls moving to more spacious quarters when I noticed a familiar red haired man carrying his ice bucket towards the ice machine. I ambushed Hans after he filled his bucket, hitting him with dominate and making him stand still. I also marked him with a locator spell, like I had Diamond and Cherry.

I also looked into his mind, parsing through his memories back to when I had last dominated him. I was glad he didn't have any memory of me inside him, and that he had carried through on impregnating Cherry after I spelled her to have a revenant child.

"Hans," I said, pushing my will deep into him, "You have decided you hate sitting around doing nothing. You will leave the motel and go find work elsewhere. You will stay in the Los Angeles area, and you will stay away from the woman you know as Cherry. If she corners you, you will say you are no longer interested in her."

"As you wish," he muttered.

I dropped my dominate and let Hans resume his way back to his room with the ice bucket, smiling as he began muttering about sitting around idle all day and where he could go work. The locator spell would make it where I could find him later and use him to further impregnate women I was going to use to father revenants, if I had a later.

I returned to my room, finding all five still inside talking. They gave me a quizzical look as I entered, all the talk stopping as I entered. I handed Yukie the room key for the suite, then faced the group.

"Slight hiccup in the plan," I told them. "That key is to Meredith's suite, she won't be needing it any longer."

"She leaving?" Mira asked, but I shook my head.

"She and Eloise jumped me," I explained.

"Do I need a vacuum cleaner?" Samantha asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I dusted them both," I said, not happy about killing Meredith. "Since the suite isn't going to be needed by them, I want everything here moved up to it, tonight. I'll take care of the manager, but if anyone asks, Meredith decided to leave."

"Alright," they agreed.

"We can discuss the finer points of sleeping arrangements later, but Yukie gets the couch," I told them. "Having her next to the door is smart in case she needs to stop an attack or a cleaning lady."

"Hai," Yukie agreed. "Roomier on the couch."

"Just remember, don't leave the motel," I told them, then looked at Yukie. "Think you can survive off pizza for a few days?"

"There's a local place that delivers sushi," she explained and I wondered why I never thought of that.

"That's great," I said, then thought about what else I needed to handle. The only thing that crossed my mind was that I needed to see Jimmie and dominate him into telling everyone that Meredith was leaving in the morning and wouldn't return. All I'd need do is make sure she didn't have a car that people would recognize and wonder why it was still here.

I left the room without further word and headed for the manager's office, finding Jimmie playing cards with three girls with all four in various stages of undress. One girl, Ruby who was a young redhead currently wearing only a purple bra, seemed to be on the losing end as she was the most undressed. The other two ladies, Star and Stripperella, were in their lingerie, and Jimmie had only lost his shirt.

As I got closer, I could see that there were also some poker chips on the table which stumped me as a way of playing strip poker. The play was just starting, so I watched as they started by putting a white chip in the center as Jimmie started dealing the hand.

"Five," Ruby said as she threw in a red chip after seeing her hand.

"I'll see that," Star said as she added another red chip to the pot.

"Make it ten," Stripperella offered as she threw in two.

"What the hell," Jimmie said as he tossed in a blue chip.

Ruby just moaned as she added another red chip, while Star just added hers silently. Ruby discarded two cards, while Star tossed three. Stripperella tossed only one card, while Jimmie took three. They all kept their faces straight while they picked up their cards, and soon Ruby was tossing out a blue chip.

"Ten this time," she said as the chip clanked into the pot.

"You ready to lose that bra?" Star kidded her friend as she tossed in a blue chip.

"Not sure," she said as she looked around the room uncertainly. "I'd like to get yours off, though."

"Now ladies," Jimmie said as Star fingered her chips. "Play nice or I might have to switch decks on ya."

"Didn't you do that five hands ago?" Ruby chided him. "About the same time I started losing my clothes?"

"That's just your bad luck," Ella told her. "So, Star, going to bet or finger your chips all night?"

"Just thinking," she replied as she tossed a blue chip into the pile.

"Well, I'm out," Ella said as she tossed her cards into the pile. "Not worth dropping my panties."

"That's the best part," Jimmie said as he tossed in a blue chip. "I call Ruby. Ready to lose that bra?"

"Just not looking forward to streaking back to my room if I do," she replied. "Two pair, tens over fours."

"I got you beat, sweetie," Star said as she laid down two pair of her own.

"Not so fast," Jimmie said as he laid down three threes. "I've got top hand."

"Oh, phooey," Ruby said as she crossed her elbows. "Streakville, here I come."

"Not before you join buffville," Star said, smiling.

"Now, now," Jimmie said as he eyed Ruby's chest. He might not have approved of Duke's punishment of the girls when they didn't make cover, but he was still a guy. "The bra, or a dare?"

Ruby whined as she thought it over, and I stepped closer to give her a break. "I'd go with the dare, personally."

"Oh hey," they all chorused together.

"Jimmie, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked him.

"Sure," he said as he got up from his chair, then looked back to Ruby. "Don't do anything till I get back."

"Like the Macarena?" she joked with him.

"Har-dee-har har har," he mocked as he moved to join me. "Let me take care of the boss before you get nude."

"Don't keep me waiting," she called sexily, running a bare leg over the top of the glass table to tempt him.

"If only I were a younger man..." he muttered as we stepped outside.

"So, what's the deal with the strip poker game?" I asked him.

"Passes the time," he said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Not that it's all that high stake. I just won seventy-four bucks."

"And Ruby's bra?" I asked, and he gave a devilish smile.

"It's nothing they haven't shown the world, before," he said. "Plus, this is all consenting adults, nothing is forced here. There'll be no crying when it's all said and done."

"Good," I said, then hit him with dominate. "In the morning, you will say Meredith Coates has checked out and moved on with her life, and you don't know where she's went."

"Okay," he said as he stared off into the distance.

"Also, my friends and I will be moving into her suite, so tomorrow evening you'll deliver a set of four keys to the room for our use."

"Okay," he said again, then a thought hit me.

"Does she have a car?" I asked him, and he shook his head.

"It's in the shop," he said, and I felt a little better that I wouldn't have to make her car disappear. When she failed to return and no one could find her, it'd be sold and that would be that.

"Now, go back to your game and enjoy yourself, and if anyone asks I was just asking how the motel was running and you gave me the usual spiel," I told him, wrapping things up.

"Sure thing," he said, then went back inside.

I stood and watched Jimmie get heckled by the girls as Ruby stood and began to remove her bra. Everyone was smiling as the top was removed and discarded, then she sat back down as play continued. I watched another hand, seeing Star lose her own bra this time, then another as Ella was forced to stand and remove her panties.

A door opening behind me made me turn, seeing Diamond and Cherry leaving the room where the latter had been selling herself for the past couple of days. In the wan light of the dim yellow bulb I could see the white powder Diamond had given her sister to alter her state of mind enough to get her headed home.

Home. The thought of home had my eyes going to the door to the suite I would now return home to and saw Yukie carrying my spell books towards the door with Mira and Sammie bringing clothes behind her. The odd shape of some of the clothes informed me my weapons were likely rolled inside and hidden from view, which was considerate.

As Yukie, Mira and Sammie disappeared from view as they entered the room, my eyes were left to take in the ebb and flow of the motel as various girls and guys drifted around, carrying on their lives. Life I no longer had.

Standing there in the driveway of the motel parking lot, life just seemed to spin around me. Girls were laughing and jokes were had as they walked around in a blur, but I felt so disjointed from it all, like I didn't matter, when I wasn't noticed and people walked around me.

But I did matter.

With a force of will I forced the world to slow down to normal, then reached for the shadows and jumped to the Golden Temple. I had someone to kill and a life to reclaim.

Even if it killed me.

Author's Notes: Sixty-three down, two more chapters and an epilogue to go. I know many will be sorry to see this story finish out, but it couldn't go on forever.

If anyone has any questions about what was happening during and after the card game, it's likely because a first hand account of what it feels like to enter Torpor has never been written, or at least you've never read my version of it.

Hope everyone like this chapter, and many thanks to all those who have liked, followed and favorited this story throughout its run. But, as always, if you like it, hate it, want me to burn and die, I won't know if you don't leave a review!