Cheers,
Jaws
Chapter 6
We went down a set of steep granite steps to a large stone hallway where we were greeted by the sounds of shouting and bickering. "What the fuck?" Anita said confusedly. Jason rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. "It's Jean Claude and Asher. They've been going at it for the past two hours. Luckily, I speak French, though J.C.'s been throwing around some terms so completely gutter that even I don't get them. Asher just gets more refined as he goes, J.C. gets louder, more insulting, and dirtier. Asher says J.C. loves you more than him, J.C. says he's imagining things, that he loves you equally, Asher says that's not enough, he wants to be loved again, and J.C. says he is loved, and then calls him several swear words, then the whole thing starts over again." Anita looked at him, obviously horrified. "You mean Jean Claude is yelling AND cussing?!"
Jason nodded gravely. "Yup." Anita shook her head quickly. "Whoa. He's gotta be royally pissed…" She strode forward quickly and pushed open a heavy wooden door. The noise of the screaming got even louder, revealing that the two men were indeed arguing in French.
"Oui, Beau! Je vous aime mieux! Je vous ai aimé meilleur pour toute éternité! Je vous aime plus que n'importe quoi dans ce monde, vous avez absorbé automatiquement le bâtard! Mais vous n'étiez pas ici, et j'ai aimé Anita plutôt! Mais maintenant vous êtes arrière et je vous aime calme, mais je suis la limite à elle! Nos pouvoirs l'un sont. Je ne peux pas la tourner loin sans le meurtre un de nous!" I had absolutely no idea what the long haired brunette man with the deep blue eyes had just screamed at the fuming blonde man from across the huge bed, but obviously it was very bad. Anita got even paler than usual, Edward's eyes narrowed in an unusual display of emotion, and Jason's chin hit his chest. I poked him in the side. "Yo, Translation, please?" He looked at me and blinked a couple times. He closed his mouth slowly. "Jean Claude just told Asher that he's always loved him best, but that he isn't able to give Anita up because they're bound. He basically just said that he just keeps Anita around for her power, not because he loves her."
Ouch. That one had to hurt. Anita's look of hurt soon turned to one of fury. She flung the door the rest of the way open, so hard it split in half, and the half that was left nearly smacked her on the rebound. "Oh don't worry about me, Jean Claude!" She shrieked. "I'll be fine. I'm about 10 times more powerful than you are. I'd barely feel a twinge if we separated, but hell, it just might kill you, wouldn't it? Well then, let me just go ahead and solve the problem. Might as well kill you now." She pulled a gun that looked a lot like mine from under her left arm, and aimed it at the vampire. Less than a second later he fell to the floor, holding his knee and hissing with pain. She'd just shot out his fucking knee cap! Right on, man!
She stalked forward, gun still aimed at him, but Jason darted in front of her. "Anita, Knock it off! If you kill him the entire fucking city is gonna go to hell. He's the only vampire in the city that's powerful enough to control everyone." Anita took a deep breath and backed off, sliding her gun back under her arm. Edward looked vaguely disappointed. "You're right Jason…Jean Claude…I can't even think of a name bad enough to call you. You're a vampire. I guess that about sums it up. Nothing but a giant fucking leech. You know…Richard is an asshole, but you just beat him out. At least he really does love me, even if he doesn't want to. I'm done. That's it. I just…shit…Jason, you have to get to work, take Dally with you. Neither one of you need to see this shit."
Jason half bowed. "Of course, Lupa." He darted forward to rub his cheek against hers and purr into her ear. He grabbed my hand and half drug me out of the room, resisting my attempts to stop and eavesdrop. The tiny blonde werewolf marched single mindedly up the stairs, still tugging me along behind him. He pushed open a door to one side of the long set of stone steps just in time for a huge, pale redhead with no shirt and a long sword slung across his back to rush through. "Hurry up, Damien, before she kills someone!" Jason chided. The red head shot him a venomous look and headed the way we had come, taking the steps three at a time with his amazingly long, green leather clad legs.
Jason sighed. "C'mon Dally, everything'll be fine as soon as Damien gets there." We headed out of the huge warehouse and towards the tiny parking lot. Jason pushed the button on his key chain and unlocked the doors of a flashy sky blue Camero. "Nice." I said appreciatively. Jason grinned cockily. "The master of the City's favorite pet, and the Head bitch's most obliging lover gets paid very well." I shook my head slightly and climbed in. Jason started the car and peeled out of the parking lot, turning the metal on the radio down to a level where you could almost hear yourself think. "So what's your story?" he asked curiously.
I thought for a minute before answering. "Typical sob story. Mom's weak, Dad's an asshole who likes to use his fists. Half raised on the streets of N.Y. In and out of jail, lots of drinking and smoking, lots of straight up rodeo rides and crooked card games. Caught three bullets to the chest from the pigs, survived it, went roaming, ended up in Santa Fe. Got caught trying to boost Edward's H2, had a gun aimed at my head, then 20 minutes later he decided I'd make a good apprentice. So here I am." Jason shot me an indecipherable look before nodding once.
"You're right. That's the usual sob story, almost down to the letter. Well, except for the apprentice part, most of us aren't fond of Edward." I looked the petite werewolf up and down, taking in the fishnet and leather, The sky blue iris' the exact color of the car, the sly grin, and the mischievous look in his eyes. "Alright, now I've spilled my guts. Your turn."
He shifted in his seat. "Well…I was raised in a middle class all American family. Two working parents, a younger sister. When I was thirteen, we went camping. We did it all the time, we were real outdoorsy people, ya know? Anyway, we got attacked by a couple of rogue werewolves. Killed my Mom and Dad almost immediately. My sister was 10 at the time; she lived a few more hours. I got a slash across my cheek and a bite on my shoulder. I was barely hurt at all. So I ran off. Didn't even go after help. None of them had pulses. I was a pretty intelligent kid, I knew I'd be in foster care if I stayed, and I didn't especially want that. So, I ran for it. I ended up here, in Saint Louis. The pack got ahold of me almost immediately.
"If you haven't noticed, I'm kind of a smart ass. Normally, people frown on that, but the head bitch, the Lupa at the time, was kinda perverse. Okay, REALLY perverse. Raina…man. There are no words to describe Raina. She was a sadist; literally. A fuckin sadomasochist if you wanna get right down to it. She got sexual pleasure out of other people's pain. She took the word slut to a whole new level, she made porno and snuff films with her wolves and the leopards around here. She was a real freak of nature, so I guess it didn't surprise anybody, that she was a pedophile as well. She thought me being a smart ass was funny, and she…I guess you could say she took me under her wing. I was her play thing. An amusing toy. I got the respect any teenager wants, she got a steady fuck.
"When I was about 17, one of the pack members, Richard got really powerful. He's a really nice guy for an alpha werewolf. Raina wanted a piece of him. So he agreed to be her plaything for a month if she would give me up. She said okay, and after the month was up, Richard took me home with him. As I said, I was a smart little bugger, so I got my GED online in about 8 months. By then I had a steady job, so I started going to college, majoring in English lit. I got through about a year of it, when I discovered the wonders of being a blood donor. So I became snack food in Nikes for Jean Claude, the master vampire of the city.
"Richard threw up his hands at about that time and kicked me out, but Jean Claude took me in, so it wasn't a big problem. And since I was his Pomme De Sang, Jean Claude paid for everything I did, my clothes, my gas money, let me live with him, and bought my food and cell phone, plus gave me an allowance, so with that and a steady paycheck, I ended up pretty well off. I quit college because I didn't figure I needed it anymore. I mean, seriously, I was getting paid VERY well for letting Jean Claude bite my neck once a day, and other than that having sex with any thing and everything that moved. If I never got any other job, or a college degree it wouldn't matter because, hell the money I already had would keep me pretty damn comfortable for the rest of my life.
"Then Anita came into the picture, killed Raina, made Jean Claude fall in love with her, and basically complicated everyone's lives all to hell. She yanked my sorry ass back out of the cesspit of sex, sex, and more sex that was my life, and sent me back to school. Made me feel like I was about 8 years old, but hell, she did it for my own good. So now I'm a blood donor for Jean Claude, and a quick fuck for Anita when she needs it, as well as part time college student, and a full time employee of JC inc. It's a good life."
I snorted at that. Hi story was apparently finished just in time, as we pulled into a dimly lit parking lot. He turned off the car and grinned at me. "This is it, work sweet work." I looked at what was apparently the back entrance of…wherever we were. "Hey, are you sure your boss won't mind me coming in with you?" Jason grinned. "Trust me, if Anita said you're to come to work with me, then you're coming to work with me, and nobody's going to argue." Jason climbed out of the car, and I followed suit.
"What is this place? And what exactly do you do?" I inquired. Jason's grin broadened. "This is Guilty Pleasures, and I," He slid his hands down his sides and flashed me a slow smile. "Am a stripper." He headed for the back door, tossing me a saucy wink as he went. I groaned. Jesus Christ. My life just isn't fair.