Mako's Message: Ch216. Took awhile, but I'm satisfied with the results. And it's nice to have this particular monkey off my back for the day.

Of course, I still have a huge pile of reviews to respond to. But I'm happy about that. Reviews keep me going, lift me up, and remind me that I'm not wasting my time with this fanfiction stuff.

So thank you, all of you who have reviewed, new and old, for keeping me going. Because I'm a loyal motherfucker and I don't want to disappoint you all. One way or another, I will finish this story. Even if I'm writing it until I'm 80. (Which is a distinct possibility at this point. -sweatdrop- )

Anyway, here we have another chapter that I hope you'll all enjoy. It gave me a number of problems, but I was surprised and pleased with the way I got around them. For example, the douche was supposed to be just a douche...but I kept having images of The L.A. Beast and Andrew W.K. come into my head so he kind of turned affably evil if he can even be considered such. More Chaotic Neutral I guess...

Enough of my rambling! On with the show!


Tonight was fun, but I'm not sure how productive it was.

The most fun part happened before the actual investigation though. I got all gothed up in strappy boots, torn fishnets, a leather miniskirt, fingerless gloves, a red tube top, a black half jacket with metal studs, black lipstick and black wig with red highlights. I even found a clip-on nose ring.

Angela had a hard time not staring at my abs, which I thought was weird. It's not like it was the first time she's seen them. It did make me think I should show them off more. At least around Dave.

Anyway, while I was trying it on she said, "Pull the skirt down a little lower," and when I did she bit her lip and said, "I kinda want to fuck you now. I think we have a winner."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Sure, whatever."

And she said, "Okay, maybe not fuck you, but it does make me want to see what's under the skirt," and she reached over and tugged it down another half inch.

I shoved her away and said, "Angela, we've showered together. You've SEEN what's under this skirt."

And she said, "Well, yeah, I've seen it, but I never actually looked. I think it's more the whole outfit though. Something about it is like, one giant tease." Then she looked up and smirked at me, "I'll have to borrow it sometime."

And I just looked at at her and said, "Angela, you're like, three inches taller than me, this won't fit you."

And she said, "Oh, it'll fit alright." and wiggled her eyebrows at me.

I hate that she's able to make me giggle like that.

She did have a point though. I did kinda feel like I was asking for it. Well, not IT but, ya know, it felt like the outfit was one gigantic cry for attention.

So, Marcus and I went to meet up with Dave and Todd near where this party was going to be. Dave looked me up and down and said, "I see you're going with fake tits again."

And I said, "Bitch, this is all me. Never heard of a push-up bra before?"

And he just gave this look that said, "Pull the other one."

So I said, "Okay, it's a padded push-up. But this is still mostly me."

Then Marcus reached up and rubbed at his eyes said, "Can we please stop talking about Mindy's breasts."

Dave actually seemed a little embarrassed by that, but Todd hadn't even been able to look at me since he first saw me. So I walked up beside him and hip bumped him to get him to look at me and said, "Ya know, you have permission to ogle me all you want during this. I AM supposed to be the girl you're dying to get with after all."

"Yeah, about that," Marcus said, "Run this plan by me again."

Dave and I shrugged and I said, "It's nothing special. I'm playing a goth hottie that Todd wants to bang but is totally out of his league, so he's taking me to this vampire party to try and impress me."

"So no, that's not how Todd normally dresses," Dave added to explain Todd's..."disguise". If I had more faith in Todd, I'd say he looked like a total poseur on purpose, but I don't so he probably didn't.

Dave looked me over again and I gave him a little smile, reminding him that he was more than welcome to look. Or touch. Or fuck. Ya know, whatever. The he grabbed Todd and walked him over to the other side of the car. He said, "I want you to keep a close eye on her. She's supposed to be here as your date, so don't be afraid to get between her and other guys. I mean, you're supposed to be trying to impress her right? So don't let other guys cock block you... You know what I mean. Just make sure nothing happens to her."

I don't think I was supposed to hear that, since he took him away to say it. But it made me happy to know he thought guys would be hounding me. Him thinking I needed to be protected would have been insulting if I didn't know he knows exactly how much I DON'T need Todd watching my back. Hell, if there's trouble I'll have to protect HIM.

Then he came back and he must have known I'd heard at least part of what he said, so he pulled me around to the other side of the car next. For some reason I started having fantasies about him telling me to be careful and not to let anything happen to me, then kissing me. For a really long time. And his hands grabbing my butt and running up my back and around to my boobs and... Okay, none of that happened and I'm starting to have entirely new fantasies.

What he did do was say, "I know you can take care of yourself, but if you do things could get...bad. And Todd might start wondering about you if he hasn't already. So, if you don't HAVE to, let Todd be the protective boyfriend or whatever."

And I said, "Aww, don't you want the job?"

He gave me that, "I'm being serious," scowl of his, so I said, "Don't worry, I'll let Todd be all manly and junk. But don't worry if things get bad," and I pulled a knife out of my skirt, "I'm prepared."

Dave scrunched his face up and said, "Just be careful. Marcus and I will be out here if you need us, so don't do anything that might give you away unless your or Todd's life depends on it."

"Oh don't worry," I said and reached up and patted him on the cheek, "I'll be a good girl while I'm pretending to be a bad girl," then turned and walked back to Marcus and Todd.

Dave sighed then followed me.

Marcus said, "Alright, I'm taking a big risk here by letting you do this. I should be going through the proper channels, but since all we have to go on is a hunch, I'm counting on you to get something solid." He paused then said, "Dave and I will be waiting out here. If there's any trouble... I'll call in the disturbance and go in. Dave will stay out here unless I explicitly tell him to help me." Which he had to say so Todd wouldn't get suspicious if there was a fight and Kick-Ass came to the rescue.

Then he gave us little ear pieces and said, "These will only transmit for a couple hours, so I want you both out of there before then."

Todd and I nodded so he said, "Alright. Then go in there and... I don't know. Socialize. Try and work your way into the group and find any clues that this might be our killer cult."

There was a moment of silence as it reached go time, and nerves actually started setting in. I mean, I'd done my research on these sort of people, so I felt confident that I could do this...but I'd never done it before so, yeah. And of course there's Todd. Good guy, kind of an idiot. If there was going to be a screw up it was probably going to come from him. And of course there was the possibility that this was all a trap and the food could be drugged and all the "guests" would end up having their hearts carved out.

Fortunately I don't think Todd considered that. And if he did, I have much more respect for him because he didn't show it.

Then Marcus said, "Well, Good luck."

Dave said, "Stay safe."

Todd nodded and I shook my head, "We'll be fine."

The building the party was in looked like it used to be a warehouse but was renovated into apartments. The first floor seemed to be all common space, with the actual apartments being on the upper floors.

The people were... well, my outfit wasn't out of place, but I was definitely one of the more "dressed up" people. Todd actually blended in better than I did. Much more...average.

Surprisingly, the person who stood out the most was a guy in jeans with a Metallica shirt and a Giants cap.

Other than that...it was a party. The only thing that might have seemed odd about it was the range of ages. I don't really know what I was expecting. People in hoods chanting?

A smokey room full of skinny, pale ass, people in heavy make up and black clothes?

I dunno. Anyway.

One of the guys there recognized Todd from his profile picture and came over to say hi.

Todd introduced me as "Allie" and I held my hand out to the guy and said, as sarcastically and seductively as I could, "The pleasure is all yours."

Then he took my hand and actually kissed it.

It felt weird but I liked it and started wondering how I could get Dave to do that.

Todd swatted him away and said, "Hey, hands off, that's my girl."

I just tilted my head to the side and said, "That remains to be seen."

And Todd's friend looked at him like, "Well buddy boy looks like your lady is up for grabs"

I don't know how how he was able to say that just by looking at Todd. The guy was ridiculously expressive and I could just hear it in my head.

So I said, "Well, I'll leave you dorks to fight over me. I'm getting something to drink."

I went over to the punch bowl and filled a cup, I didn't actually drink it though. I wanted to wait at least an hour before I touched anything, just to make sure it was okay, and in the mean time it helped me blend in.

I wandered around for a bit, trying to get a read on the crowd and who might be important while Todd seemed to be enjoying himself, talking to some friends and looking over at me every few seconds. I think he got teased a few times because of it, but whatever he said in response had them laughing.

I'm pretty sure at least one of the comments was about how one of them wanted to do something to me and for a second I was pissed about it. I mean, how can boys just want to have sex with a girl because of the way she looks? I mean, I know I'm awesome but they don't know that. I could be a total bitch whore but they don't care.

But then I got all depressed because the thought after was, "Dave is the only one who knows me." followed quickly by, "And he doesn't want me." And I started to wonder if there was something actually wrong with me. All these other guys seemed to think that I'm hot and want to do me. Or at least they think Hit Girl, Samantha, and Allie are hot and want to do them.

Why are the only guys that want me sleezeballs?

Except for Dillon. He's nice. He doesn't want me anymore though.

Anyway, before I got that far down that train of though, Metalica guy came up and said, "Hey Babe, what's got you down? You're at a party! You should be smiling!"

So I turned to look at him the same expression on my face and said, "I am smiling"

And he just looked at me with a raised eyebrow like he knew I was joking and waiting for me to crack, so I just kept looking at him and the longer I did the more he got this excited and expectant look on his face, and it just got harder and harder and eventually he was looking at me with this big open mouth grin with wide crossed eyes and I broke.

I couldn't help it.

So I'm standing there trying to laugh as little as possible and he's just standing there grinning at me and says, "There we go."

And his cocky grin is what lets me pull myself together and say, "Hmph."

And he said, "So, a girl like you, I bet you could have any guy you want," (and by "any guy" I could tell me meant him.) "So why did you come with a skinny little dork like him?"

So I looked up at him and went back to being aloof, and said, "Well, the thing is..." and I paused then said, "He has a really, big, dick."

And he threw his head back and spun on his heel and said "Gaahhh!" and took one step like he was walking away then turned right back around and said, "What if mine's bigger?" with his thumb hooked in the waist of his jeans.

For a second I was tempted to tell him to prove it. I mean, he wasn't bad looking and he was kinda built like Dave, except his muscles looked more like they were for show, and it's not like I have control over my hormones. But then I realized that was exactly what he wanted.

So I rolled my eyes and said, "I also like dorks."

That's when Todd came up and said, "Hey Allie, this guy bothering you?"

Then Metalica said, "Naw, don't worry little man, I'm not her type. She likes skinny dudes." and he ruffled Todd's hair as he walked away.

Todd glowered at him as he walked away, "What a douche."

I waved him off, "He's just a guy."

He said, "Still, I don't like people giving you problems."

Looked at him and said, "I am fully capable of taking care of myself."

"I know, but if you kick some guy in the balls they'll probably throw us out."

I snorted at that. I'm pretty sure that's NOT why Dave was worried about me being left on my own, but it was nice to see Todd was dedicated to the mission.

While we were standing there, I noticed someone get stopped and turned away when he tried to go through a door towards the back. That immediately caught my attention. Especially since I knew I'd seen other people go through. Which meant it was some sort of VIP room and not like... the supply closet or something.

So Todd and I went over to the door, and the guy stepped up to stop us and said, "Why are you here?"

And Todd stopped and said, "Ah..."

And I looked from Todd to the bouncer and back to Todd and something just clicked so I said, "For the Queen."

And the bouncer looked at me, then looked back at Todd, and Todd nodded and said, "For the Queen."

The stood there for a second, looking between us, then he shrugged and said, "Go ahead in."

The next couple of rooms weren't anything special and there was another guy leaning on a door leading further in. The food was nicer though. For example, it was actual food. Not just chips and pretzels and junk. I was seriously tempted to eat one of the sandwiches, but now I had to wait another hour to make sure everyone who ate THIS food didn't pass out or die.

It also seemed like it was more of a discussion group. Because everyone was sitting around talking about Vampires and Vampire related stuff. Like blood, death, immortality, sex, isolation, and a higher purpose. That last one really got my danger sense pinging.

I kinda got a little to into it though, because I think I said something like, "The moment when someone is dying and they just accept it is actually kinda beautiful," and all the little side conversations stopped and everyone started staring at me and I was like, "Shit I fucked up."

And then this other girl smiled and said, "Ya know, I never looked at it like that."

And Todd looked over at me and gave me this little smile and shrugged and then conversation picked up again talking about the beauty in death.

Then someone came out of the back room, and said something to someone else while two other people went straight out to the front rooms. One of them looked like they were crying.

Then the guy who'd been watching the door gestured to me and this other girl, who was wearing a knit cap even though it was summer and jean jacket with the sleeves torn off, fingerless gloves with the hand bones painted on them, and short shorts over tights with sneakers. Her lips pulled up in a slight smile, but her face was pretty much blank otherwise. Including her eyes.

Anyway, the girl got right up and headed over, but I hesitated for a second, not wanting to leave Todd behind.

He raised his eyebrows and gestured for me to go though, and so far they'd all seemed pretty harmless(Creepy, but harmless) so I went through after her.

The last room in the building was a kitchen. And it had a big, heavy, emergency door leading outside. There was also a hallway, about twenty...maybe thirty feet back? There was an elevator there with two guys standing guard.

He started asking us a bunch of questions about us. Nothing too personal. Just what our lives were like. He didn't make us answer anything either. I had to make up a lot and I borrowed some things from Jessi's life for realism.

Then he asked, "Why do you want to serve the Queen?"

The first and fastest reason I could come up with for why I would want to serve a vampire queen was, "I want a chance to become immortal, and use my power to rid the world of evil."

He seem intrigued by my answer for a moment then he turned to the other girl and said, "And you?"

She said, "I want to do something with my life. Give it some sort of meaning. A purpose."

The guy looked at us for a few minutes without saying anything, then pointed at the other girl and said, "You may go ahead to meet the Queen. She will decide if you will join the Inner Circle." Then he looked at me and said, "You may rejoin the party if you wish."

The girl smiled at me and touched my shoulder as she started walking towards the hall and said, "Maybe you'll get picked next time."

I watched her walk down to the elevator and the guards stepped aside to let her in. After the doors closed, the guy who'd been asking us questions stepped between me and the hall and gestured to the door.

I turned and strode out the door, telling Todd we were leaving without looking at him.

It took a minute for him to catch up, and by the time he did I was already out of the building and on my way to meet up with Marcus and Dave.

Dave and Marcus were already out of the car and coming to meet me, since they'd heard everything. As soon as we met up Dave asked, "So you think it's them?"

"Yeah, it's them," I said, "It has to be."

Marcus didn't seem happy about how things went, "I don't think we have anything I can work with. Even if I admit to recording this myself, I don't think anyone will think this is worth looking into.

I said, "But what about the charts? The killings?"

"I can try, but even if they do decide to look into it there is too much going on in this city for them to put any real effort into this. They'll probably just give it to me to look into since I'm interested in it."

"Well, that's that then," is what I said, but I knew Marcus knew I meant I was going in myself.