A/N: Here's chapter seventeen! What's that? You didn't have enough with Lumi, Kipper and Chester? You want more? Oh, well, okay! Here you go! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bloodlines, but I do own my OCs.
She never thought being a kindergarten teacher would turn her into a psychology master.
It was the first phone call of the year, at least. But, still, she'd rather none at all. Her eyes turned back to the drawing she held onto. Having the kids draw their families was one of the first activities she conducted for this very reason.
She knew she'd have to clean up vomit. Fine, she was fine with that. Boogers, snot, dirt, other delightful bodily liquids, she was fine with.
But this is where she drew the line. The phone picked up, "Hello?" A quiet female voice answered.
"Hi, Missus Travis? It's Miss Frisk, your child's teacher. Do you have a moment?"
A slight pause, "I'm actually…really busy…"
"Too busy to talk about your daughter's future?"
The line clicked off. Miss Frisk sat back, completely astounded. Sometimes the human race made her want to take a glass vase and throw it across the room.
She put the phone down and rubbed one of her temples as she looked at the drawing. Of course, it was very abstract, but clear enough to see the daughter, crying, standing outside what she assumed was the house, holding hands with what looked like the devil. Inside the 'house' was a body on the ground, with long dark hair and Xs for eyes, red crayon scribbled all over her.
And then devil was grinning away.
Tomorrow, Daisy was going to ask her why her drawing wasn't posted on the wall.
Tomorrow, Daisy was going to come in with a pretty smile and bright cheery eyes in a pretty little dress, like she had been for a week.
Miss Frisk would have killed to adopt her. To keep her safe.
Killed.
She took a deep breath and stood up, putting her drawings back into a manila folder. She headed out to the hallways, towards the small parking lot.
She contemplated kidnapping the girl. She'd gladly take the repercussions, even if there would be any. Anything to save that little girl.
She even contemplated killing the father. The Devil.
But that would make Daisy miserable. She just wouldn't understand. She was so happy at school because she had friends who didn't hurt her, a family away from her own. But at home, she cried, she was miserable. She'd be even more miserable if Miss Frisk took that away from her.
As she drove down the streets, on her way home, she stopped at a coffee shop she did every evening. Sure enough, there she was behind the counter, smiling away. "Hi Finley!"
"Hi Aurora." Finley Frisk smiled warmly, "How are you?"
"I'm doing well. You look upset…is something wrong?" She started preparing a drink for her friend.
"Another domestic case with one of the students." She said softly.
"Really?" Aurora's bright eyes grew a little sadder, "Have you called the police?"
"No, not yet." She said, "I guess that's the next best thing."
When Finley was little, she was that little girl who wanted to be a firefighter one day, a doctor the next. Honestly, she was still like that. She'd love to be a police officer right about now.
That's part of the reason she became a teacher. Maybe she couldn't be everything at once, but at least she could teach kids how to be the next hero.
Aurora handed Finley her mocha as Finley took a seat on the other side of the counter, "I just don't know what to do with the girl…" She admitted, "I want to help her. She's going to be miserable if the police imprison her father…"
"I know. It's better that than permanent damage, though. You know that."
"It will cause permanent damage, no matter what."
"It'll be worse if it continues."
Finley gave a little nod as she sipped from her drink. "Didn't your cousins have a problem with it?"
Aurora gave a little nod. "May took things into her own hands. I'm not sure April really took any…damage from the ordeal."
Finley sighed and rested her head on her arms, staring into the distance.
"If only we had more saints like you, Finley." Aurora said sweetly, "I think this place would be much better."
Finley blew hair away from her forehead. "If she shows any signs of being upset after the whole thing kind of…blows over…I'm adopting her."
"Adopting her?" Aurora asked, "I'm not sure you could…afford that…"
"You don't think so?" Finley asked.
"I mean, you don't make much as it is…" She said softly, "They've been cutting teacher's salaries a lot recently, haven't they?"
"I'd get another job."
"Then you'd be busy all the time…you'd never have any time to spend with her. You should look into bringing a lucky boy into your life if you wanted to do something like that."
Finley sat up and looked confused, "What's a boy going to do for me that I can't do myself?"
"Well…" Aurora gave a little smile, "He can take you out to dinner, make you feel like a princess."
"I am a princess." Finley crossed her arms, "I don't need a boy to tell me that."
"Okay, well, let's look at it mathematically then. Two people can bring in more money than one person."
"…" Finely looked away and crossed her arms, "Well, why don't we move in together then?"
Aurora seemed a little surprised. Finely had become a close friend about three years ago when Aurora moved in and opened up a café. As a regular that showed up every night, Finley and Aurora became fast friends.
"I mean, I wouldn't mind. I live just down the block. I'm not sure where you'd park."
"That's not a problem." Finley sat up, "And then, we could adopt Daisy!"
Aurora looked a tad concerned as she smiled, "Let's just see how much we can make…"
Finley finished her drink and tossed it in the bin, "I'll start packing. Or, going through the whole moving process, I guess…"
Aurora sighed, "And I guess I'm cleaning when I get home…"
"Pleasant night out, yes?"
Sirius whirled around, seeing Jasper stroll through the castle halls of Lafayette's stronghold. "Uh…yeah…sure thing, kid."
He crossed his arms, smiling, "Remus's assault on the Giovanni base was all but a success. The Giovanni himself got away, unfortunately…"
"Oh yeah?" He looked ahead, "Whatever, what's one stinking Giovanni gonna do?" He said. Remus, Lafayette, and Cedric were out at the moment, a mission they hadn't told anyone about, including him, which bothered Sirius. Until now, all of their plans were told to him. If he wasn't gaining information, he was useless.
"I must say, I'm rather surprised by you, Mister Sirius."
"Huh?"
"Well, I do suppose you took out the Anarchs all by your lonesome…give or take…with some helpful spying…so I suppose you are quite a capable warrior and agent for the cause."
"What the hell are you getting at?"
"The way you carry yourself, your countenance." He said, "You're dirty, casual…so common…I don't know what she would see in someone like you…"
"…she…?" He asked, as his eye widened and his fists clenched. He grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him against the wall, "Alright, listen you little turd. I knew you and your flunkies weren't actually Sabbat. You newbies are gonna get all of us in huge trouble…you're gonna blow the entire operation I've got going on here…if they find out that you're not Sabbat, then they'll kick me out too…"
"So you're saying you're not Sabbat…how interesting…"
He slammed him against the wall again, "Tell me who you work for!"
He coughed, "Oh…Sirius…isn't it obvious?" He snickered, his snake-tongue flickered out, "She's missed you…for so long…she Embraced you…and you abandoned her…now after all these years she's finally back, to punish her childe."
His eye got wider and wider during Jasper's speech. He slowly let him go, shuddering, "Natalia?! You work for Natalia?!"
He chuckled, "We all do…" He said, "We're her top agents. We're here to dismantle the Sabbat, followed by the Camarilla. I guess that includes you, doesn't it?"
He snarled, "Listen, punk, whatever she's promising you…it's a lie, got it? Don't fall for her tricks like I did."
"Oh, like I'm going to listen to her little runt of a childe. Please…you chose to abandon the great Natalia's wisdom, and for what? A dirty Sabbat castle…don't be ridiculous."
"What the hell are you even getting out of this anyway?"
He smiled, holding his arms out, "Once I impress the great Lady Natalia with my deeds, I will finally be hers, eternally! She will be reunited with her sire, Kemintiri, and I will be with her, once and for all!"
"Jeez…that's your motivation…you really wanna be her sloppy sevenths?"
"Silence." He barked, "What I will have with the great Lady Natalia will be far more than whatever sort of mud rolling you had with her."
"Look, she ain't great, she's barely a lady. She's just some evil witch who gave into the beast, like her sire before her." He said, "Sure, she ain't frenzying, but when you're that far gone, what's the difference?" He asked, "Take it from me, you fuck up once, and you're dead to her, she abandons you before you have a chance to make up for it. You just have to hope you wake up before the sun rises or you're dead."
"I don't need to hear your lies!" His eyes grew with a crazed lust, "You abandoned her, she told me!"
"Yeah, it's called feeding someone lies so they follow you blindly." He said, "She left me, kid, not the other way around. I was following her around like a sucker for decades, just like you, I suspect. Once she left me, I was finally free, I could finally do what I want. Look, I hate your guts, but I feel sorry for you at the same time. Why don't we tell her to fuck herself together?"
"Stay back." Jasper held a hand out, shuddering with a wicked grin on his face, "Perhaps…if I defeat Natalia's runt right here and now, she'll accept me! Finally, after serving her for so long!"
"You can't beat me in a fight." Sirius almost laughed, "Look, this little Followers of Set uprising ends now. I'll end it myself, before Natalia gets involved. I can't afford to have the four of you turds running around causing chaos."
"You're too late…"
"What?!"
He snickered madly, utterly pleased, yet sounding like a neglected child at the same time. He held his face, his grin huge and his eyes much too wide for Sirius's liking, "Your…precious leaders…they're already being ambushed…by all of the Followers of Set under Natalia's command. She probably killed all three of them by now! You're too late!" He laughed, "You're too late!"
"Little brat." He held a hand out, a green glow coming from it, "I don't have time to deal with this…have fun orgasming and going nuts…" He said.
When nothing happened, his eyes widened, "What…what the hell? Why didn't that work?" He tried again, and nothing, "You her childe too?"
"No…my sire, while devoted to Lady Natalia…is part of another cell."
"So in other words, your generation is terrible." Sirius said, "Good, I was actually worried for a second there. But why doesn't Serpentis work on you?"
"Oh please, those foolish mind Disciplines have no effect on me." Jasper said proudly.
"Damn…" He said, "So putting you out of commission is gonna be harder than I thought…"
"I think not, I will leave this wretched castle to provide backup for my forces!"
"If you think I'm gonna let you get away, then you're more batshit than I—"
Jasper took a deep breath, blowing a sandstorm right in Sirius's face. Sirius yelled and flew back, slamming against the opposite wall. "Hey! Kid! Get back here!" He yelled, but once the dust settled, Jasper was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn it…" Sirius said to himself. By now, Jasper was probably providing rear support for his Setite forces. Lafayette, Remus, and Cedric, wherever they were, were in deep trouble, if not dead already.
But would this benefit him? He did, work under Strauss after all, so destruction of the Sabbat meant that it was one less thing to worry about.
No, Natalia was a much worse opponent than the Sabbat. He hated to admit it, but it was up to him to save the Sabbat.
"He legitimately sounds like a fucking chainsaw." Cissy said.
"I can't turn the music up any louder without wakin' him up." Skelter muttered.
Killian was sitting shotgun, snoring away. Apparently sleeping sitting up was a bad idea for Killian's breathing.
Which made no sense, because he didn't need to breathe.
No matter how many times Cissy kicked him in the head, he didn't stop. Skelter gave up and just drove a little faster, which was scary within itself, because normal Skelter driving was fast, and fast Skelter driving was just borderline out of control.
"Did he have like…problems with sleep apnea or something?" Catalina asked, getting jolted by every random bump.
"Not sure…pretty sure he wasn't Embraced till he turned forty…or something…" Anastasia muttered.
"Really?" Cissy asked, "Jeez, seems a lot younger than that." She pressed her boot up against the side of his face, "Hey, jackass, wake up." She kicked him a few times, still eliciting no response.
"You realize sleep for us is like torpor. He's gonna be out like a light." Skelter said.
"So I can draw on him?"
"Don't draw on him."
She reached in her back pocket and took out a tube of her black lipstick, "Heh, heh, heh…I can make Brittany…"
"Cissy…I wouldn't…" Catalina said.
"What's the worst he could do?" Cissy leaned in and yanked the mirror down from the top of the Jeep so she could see what she was doing as she started slathering lipstick all over his face.
"He's gonna turn you inside out when he wakes up." Skelter muttered.
"Nah, not when he looks as cute as I do." She said, sticking her tongue out one side and closing an eye so she could really concentrate.
"I can't watch…" Catalina covered her eyes.
"I actually wanna see." Anastasia said.
"He's gonna whoop your ass." Skelter warned one last time.
"That's fine. I can take it." She rubbed some off on her thumb and spread it above his eyelids so it looked like eyeshadow, "He's already got long eyelashes, I don't even need to do mascara." She sat back afterwards, tucking her lipstick away, "There. He's beautiful."
"Christ…" Skelter muttered, putting the mirror up so Killian wouldn't see himself.
Cissy sat back and kicked her feet up, "My work here's done."
Killian's eyes jolted open and he elbowed her feet, "No feet on the center console."
Everyone tried to control their snickers. Cissy just burst out with laughter.
"What?" He asked, "What's the problem?"
"Nothing, Brittany!" Cissy laughed.
"Oh my god…" Catalina said, while Anastasia lost the fight to hold back her laughter as well.
He was beyond confused, then he licked his lips and paused. Again, and again, before he swiped a thumb over it, "The fuck…?" He rubbed his lips against the back of his hand, "Oh, you fucking bitch…"
Cissy was nearly hysterical, "You look even worse now!" She slapped a knee, "You look like a tranny who just made out with someone in a parking garage!"
He pulled the mirror down and tried to wipe it all off, but only smudged it all over, "I'm killing you when we get out of here."
Skelter held up a pretty decent poker face, "We're about a minute away." They suddenly veered off road, into the woods.
Everyone jolted from the impact, Cissy looking outside, "The middle of the woods, really? Can we do that?"
"We got enough cash for it, at least…" Killian muttered, over the makeover. "We can buy all the supplies we need and get something constructed in a few days.
"…right. Yeah." Cissy said.
Catalina looked around, "So…we're really doing this…"
"I like it." Anastasia said.
"…that…doesn't surprise me…"
"I'm sure it'll do our ears a favor at least…Damsel's taste in music could be a little…" Killian paused, "Loud."
"Damsel was in charge of the music at the Last Round…ugh…that…also explains a lot…" Catalina crossed her arms.
"Yeah, well, she set up the speakers at least." Skelter muttered, "The only one of us who knew how to figure it out. She was the youngest."
"So…uh, yeah, how are we getting running water?" Killian asked.
Skelter was about to ask, 'what for' before he realized bathing was indeed something that would need to be done frequently. "We'll figure it out."
"Right…" He muttered before Skelter brought the car to a halt. "I think this should be just fine."
There was a pause, and then they all got out, just to look around.
Cissy took a deep breath, "Ooh, smells nice…so woodsy…I've never been in a forest before."
Anastasia laughed, "Ha! That's the one way you're not like the rest of your clan, Ravnos!" She said, "Good luck surviving, city slickers."
"That sounds like a challenge…" Catalina said.
"Sure as hell gonna be hard…" Cissy muttered, "It's so dark…"
Killian finally finished wiping his face off with some damp leaves, then he walked over to Cissy and faked her out with a punch, only to flick her in the nose when she was cowering. She crossed her arms and looked rather grumpy after that, not daring to say anything.
"Well." Skelter nodded in approval of the place, "Let's make a fire."
"Fire?" Cissy asked, "Isn't that a dead giveaway for where we are?"
"No. I doubt the Cam tracked us or is tracking us in helicopters, flying all the way out to Idaho to look for trails of smoke." He started gathering sticks, "Besides, it'll bring some light, I thought that's what you wanted."
"Fine." She swatted a hand, "Go ahead."
"I'll just go buy us some lanterns." Killian reached into his pockets, then froze. He started reaching around all his pockets, completely panicked.
"Killian?" Anastasia asked.
"It's gone…" He briefly looked over at her, taking off his coat and frantically reversing the pockets, "All my money's gone!"
"What?" Skelter whirled around.
Everyone honed in on Killian as he looked for his cash, but Cissy just stood with her arms crossed, looking around at the surroundings.
"Cissy." Catalina glared.
"Hmm?" She looked over, "What?"
"Give him his money back."
"What? I didn't take it."
"Cissy."
Killian dropped the coat, then lumbered over to her, grabbing her by the collar and hoisting her up, "You give me the money now, and I'll forgive you. We won't talk about it again."
She shut her eyes tightly, "I don't have it."
"What do you mean?" He asked through clenched teeth.
"I lost it. I lost it alright!" She burst out, "Don't take my fucking head off! I didn't mean to! I took it out to do some gambling, buy some clothes, and…some asshole looted it off of me. Swear to god I didn't mean to!"
The veins in his forehead looked like they'd burst as he squeezed her neck tighter, "Why the hell did you take the money in the first place!?"
She yelped as he screamed in her face, "I couldn't help it, I just, I just did! I needed the rush!"
He growled, letting go of her, then he just turned around and gave a roar a lion would be jealous of. Cissy shuddered, rubbing her neck and shrinking back out of the way.
Catalina rested her face in a hand, "Okay…so…we have no money…this…might be harder than expected…"
Killian turned around, still absolutely livid, "Do you realize what I had to do to get that cash?" He walked back over to her, "I hope you realize this isn't a fucking joke! This isn't a sad little misfortune, this is my life you just took from me! Every panting of her, every piece of work I made that was based off of her, I sold! I sold my emotions, my heart and soul, and for what? For you to take it away from me to some fucking punk on the streets?" He was inches away from punching her, but he tore himself away and gave another stray scream, "God, you're a fucking waste! I can't believe it! You fuck with me one more time and you're dead, and that's being generous! Got that!?" Cissy nodded feebly.
"Look, Cissy screwed up, I get that…but…we shouldn't go from five to four…for any reason." Catalina said.
"You think so?" Killian challenged, "What good is she anyway? Who's saying we don't already have four plus one? Plus one fucking useless turd who's done absolutely nothing for us? She's harmed us more than anything!"
"I think we all did things we're not proud of in terms of this movement." She narrowed his eyes, "Right now, it's Cissy's mistake, but I can remember all the times the rest of us screwed something up, so arguably it's all the same."
"Let's just make a fire and worry about cash later." Skelter said.
"Alright…" Killian muttered, turning away and starting to look for sticks and twigs.
Skelter crossed his arms and sighed, "That's gonna get worse." He muttered.
"Of course, it wouldn't be us if someone didn't blow a fuse every other minute." Catalina huffed, looking for wood along with the others.
Skelter grabbed a few sticks off the ground, but bending over seemed very difficult for him without losing his balance. He tried his best then to kick up an area they could use to make the fire. "This is gonna be a hell of a night." Skelter muttered, mostly to Anastasia, since Catalina and Killian were stick hunting, and Cissy was trying to hold herself together by the car.
"I know…" Anastasia sighed, "Honestly, the money doesn't bother me much, I've roughed it before…but…I know how much it meant to Killian…"
"We're gonna have to be careful with Cissy." He muttered, crossing his arms, "She's gonna be trouble, I know it. She doesn't seem too good with this whole 'group effort' idea."
"She is a fledgling…" She said, "Still, I get what you mean. I'll keep an eye out for her…"
"Thanks." Skelter said, "Means a lot. And uh…keep an eye on gorilla man over there too. He's gonna blow a gasket any day without Sirius holdin' him back."
"Brujah and Gangrel do frenzy easier…don't they…?" She asked, "Maybe it is a good thing we have an Assamite and a Ravnos to kinda balance us out…"
"Yeah, guess so. Too bad one of 'em's the reason we're gonna frenzy so much."
"I can't believe she lost all of Killian's money…to kine I'm guessing…"
He took a deep sigh, "Yup."
"Right, so, I'm Killian and Cissy's babysitter, should be fun."
He snickered, "I'll do whatever I can to help, but I'm not nearly as patient as you are."
"I know, you can just focus on…I guess building us a log cabin or something…all we have is nature…"
"Yeah, that shouldn't be too bad…" He said, then he sighed, "Well…with this damn leg, I'm not so sure. Can't even bend over anymore…"
"I'll help." She said, "Who knows…Protean could probably be helpful out here."
"I have a good feeling the two of us will do a lot more work around here than anyone else."
Killian dropped a large pile of logs and kindling, "That good?"
"Yeah, I think so." Skelter kicked some leaves in the mix as Catalina tossed in her contributions. Skelter reached in his back pocket for his lighter and tried to kneel down, nearly falling over.
"Here." Killian held a hand out, "Let me do it."
Skelter looked up at Killian, then put the lighter in his hand, "Thanks."
Killian kneeled down and lit it up, starting by lighting some of the leaves underneath. He gently blew on the flame to get it higher, and eventually, the sticks started to catch.
"It's nice everything's as dry as it is." Skelter said, "We're just gonna have to be careful the fire doesn't spread." They all backed away from the flames as they grew.
With the area finally lit up and a warm presence around them for once, everyone started taking in the truth of their situations. Cissy eventually crawled over from where she was hiding to stand around the fire with everyone else.
There was a heavy silence, and then Skelter reached in his back pocket and took out his wallet. "Gotta hold up the tradition." He pulled out a photo and threw it into the flames.
"What was that?" Killian asked.
Skelter stared into the fire, "Well…anytime Nines and I lit a good fire like this…we…threw in something. Picture of somebody, something someone had who's dead."
Killian seemed stirred by this. He reached into his pocket and took out an earring. "This was Lark's…" He looked at it one last time, then tossed it in, his gray eyes appearing orange and gold in the reflection of the flames.
Catalina pulled out a tiny locket, throwing it in the fire. He wasn't dead yet, but he would be soon.
Anastasia did her best to fumble through what little she had, finally settling on a picture and throwing that in.
Everyone looked at Cissy. Cissy looked back at everyone else, "I don't have anything."
"You don't have to." Skelter said.
Cissy stared at the fire, a little nervous still. She then reached into her pants, literally her pants, fumbled around for a minute, then threw her thong in there.
"There." She clapped her hands together, "True freedom."
Catalina's eye twitched, as the others made a face, "I think I'm going to be sick…"
"What?" She asked, crossing her arms, "It was something valuable to me. It was my first one."
"I think it's fair to say no one should try and…cook anything over this fire…" Skelter muttered.
Killian sighed and turned around, "I'm gonna go make shelters for us for the night, then."
"We could just stay in the car for the night." Skelter said.
"Yeah…well…I'm gonna get started…"
"Alright…" Skelter turned back to the flames, "I say we stay here for a week or two at most, then start looking for other Anarchs."
"Where would they be?" Anastasia asked.
"I don't know. We'd have to get back out on the road and look around."
"Did Nines ever mention any other Anarch cells?"
"Not in Idaho."
"There's nothing at all in Idaho…" Catalina said, "Which, is pretty helpful to us right now…"
"Yeah, but it's gonna be a pain in the ass real soon." Skelter said, "We'll just have to get as much done while we can."
A/N: How long with the Anarchs last, who knows…seems like they're tearing each other apart more and more as the days go by…thanks for reading!