Cassie is only surprised it has taken so long for this to happen. She walked into her bathroom and found herself sitting on the edge of tub looking exhausted. She's wearing what looks like a raggedy parka and snow boots.
"I'll be out in a minute" the other Cassie says also without surprise. "Everywhere else is full" Cassie supposed that to mean she's used up all the times she can pop into pritkine' room during the week she sprained her ankle.
"How far forward are you?" she says. "You know they can all hear you"
"You know I can't tell you that" her other self says, "I learnt the silence spell from Rhea"
"Cool!" Cassie says "I should learn that" and then feels stupid
Her future self gives her look that silently agrees. Cassie feels irritated she has to get that look from herself as well as everybody else. But in the spirit of self preservation she asks "want me to bring you some food?"
"Yeah" her future self says "something sweet."
"Obviously," Cassie says.
She walks out of the bathroom and straight into Rhea. "Don't go in there!" she says "I ate something off last night."
Rhea looks at her in horror and she hears a vamp further in the room crack up. She sidles into the kitchen and grabs some cookies and then feeling selfless, the last of the donuts with sprinkles on.
She carries her spoils past Rhea. "Just going to take a bath," she says awkwardly. Predictably Rhea says "of course Lady. Do you need anything? A drink?"
Always thinks Cassie sourly, "No no," she says. "I'll just be-"
And then she's shutting the door of the bathroom
Her future self looks at her blankly. "I'm so awkward," she mutters and reaches over for the donut
"I am actually going to get in the bath," says Cassie and turns the taps on. Her future self looks longingly at the rising steam and she hurriedly strips down and stands in the centimetre if water wondering if it's too disgusting to mark her territory.
"I'm going now," her future self sulks and Cassie wonders dismally why she doesn't have a bathtub in the future.
The next time Cassie is sitting alone on her little gold and pink velvet armchair in her bedroom.
"I must tell you ," Cassie says, "You look awful. My god, your skin."
Her future self looks sour and chomps on a cookie on the delicate side table. "I haven't exactly been able to keep to skincare regime," she says.
"You have to do something, Cassie says passionately and may or may not be talking about her face.
"Well," says her future self, "There's always that bird shit Ming De sent us."
The box sent by the Chinese consul is glossy lacquered wood. Cassie opens it and starts taking everything out. Ornate paper fans, tins of oolong tea, green tea, rosebud tea, silk pillowcases, dense makeup brushes made from luxuriously soft squirrel hair, small square sheets of embellished paper
"What's that?" Cassie says.
"Letter writing set?" Her future self is sprawled on the floor.
"But where's the envelopes?"
Her future self sits up and takes out a package of beautiful sweets in a hand painted sunset box and says slightly shocked, "She sent us so much stuff."
"It's fine," Cassie says off hand, "this is all trinkets to her. We sent her lamia skin. That's actually impressive."
"It was wasn't it," her future self smiles genuinely for the first time
The bedroom door opens and Marco looks in. He closes the door and then opens it again looking at them.
"I don't want to know," he says finally.
Cassie rolls the frosted glass cylinder between her hands and pops the cap open. "It doesn't smell like bird shit," she says and squirts some out.
Her future self takes it and starts rubbing it on her face. Cassie snorts and does the same. "I think it's meant to be a mask," says her future self doubtfully. "It's not going in." Cassie agrees and they both sit there thinking of the luxury birds whose shit they could be wearing on their face until the masks harden.
"Urgh bathroom," Cassie says and they both pop in instantly like a double act.
Cassie gets a lot of compliments on her skin that evening and preens until she Marco passes on a phone call to her and she groans looking at her wardrobe.
The closest Cassie came to money growing up was Tony's mafia style bling and she is aware it shows in every part of her. When she wears makeup it's bold and bright. Her nail polish glitters pink, expensive track suits and oversized necklaces are what she spends her newly instated Pythia funds on. When she wears dresses they're short and tight, her heels are skyscraper high and she has enough hairspray to set the room in fire if someone lights a match.
This doesn't bother her. She revels in it although she knows it bothers the couture clad vamps of Mircea's stable. Mircea will sometimes send her delicate heels, silky dresses, tasteful jewellery but he doesn't seem bothered when she shows up in her own clothes. She suspects he enjoys her trashy glamour, unlike many he's secure in his own place in the world, royalty from birth. Being seen with a woman who dresses white trash doesn't threaten him. Even Marlowe looks uncomfortable with some of the stuff she wears.
She only has to steel herself when she's in situations like this. The political elite, a dinner party where she can't flash in cause chaos and then leave but has to sit around making small talk. The group is small and its mostly people connected to the American senate. People who are aware of her perceived shortcomings and assume Mircea is their gateway to her. She knows if it had been a wider circle, with people from the European or Chinese consulate she never would have been invited to attend. This is a pacifier thrown her way. Something to make her feel she's in the loop. A month ago they wouldn't even have bothered with that. Dragging them to watch a gladiator fight in hell must have made a difference.
Mircea sits next to her in a beautifullly tailored suit. It's cold in New York. The wool looks so rich and soft she wants to run her face against it. He has one of those silk shirts on and smells faintly of pine and luxury tobacco.
His thigh is pressing against hers and she shifts in her seat suddenly turned on. His mouth twitches upwards as if he can tell and her nipples harden.
Her skin prickles the moment he enters the room and she turns to look. He's tall with long golden hair, broad shoulders and wearing some kind of tunic with starbursts embroidered subtly in the fabric. He's not a vamp, he's fae. *I'm sure I've seen him before* she thinks but soon forgets all about him.
Afterwards Cassie presses up against Mircea unsubtly when they're in the elevator.
"Is there something you want Dulceata?" he murmurs and she's aching now. He figured out what she likes far quicker than she did.
She ends up riding him on a gilt chair in a quiet back room. He strips her of all her clothes and sits down opening his trousers to let his prick poke out. She climbs on him and says *nnnnrrrgh* siting down. His soft wool trousers brush against her buttocks and her thighs as she rides him and she starts whimpering clutching to the lapel of his crisp suit jacket while he smiles in control, teasing her. She slides down fully impaled limbs aching and whining until suddenly she's on her back in the sinfully soft carpet while he fucks her briskly his balls slapping against her slit . She guesses another senate member has mind called him because he's suddenly all business and not drawing it out at all.
She starts wailing as his hips reach staccato and then he's twitching and spurting inside her and then slowly withdrawing as she lies there limply. He wraps her in somethhg soft and then says "Dulceata? I need to see to something. I'll be back soon. No one will disturb you." He brushes a thumb against her nipple and stands up not even mussed noticeably. She's sweaty, and leaking his cum and hates him a bit for that. She forgives him slightly when his eyes rake over her body avd he gives her a dark wicked grin. "Stay here until I get back." He says.
She shrugs not being able to hide how his voice affects her. "I guess I've got nothing better to do right now," she says airily.
After he leaves she lies on the floor and feels strange and lonely.
***
Cassie sometimes dreams of the day she saw Mircea again as a young woman. But this time when he makes excuses for Louis Cesar, Thomas and even her gentle Rafe she sees them *smirking* as they leave.
"No wait," she says as Mircea takes off her robe.
"Don't worry dulceata," he says soothingly, "there's nothing you can do. You don't have a choice anyway."
Other times he cries endlessly about Radu until she can't bear it anymore and rides him until he shuts up and sees this him hide a smile.
But the worst dreams are when she's being gang raped by the bookend guards of the Consul and they're huge dicks are splitting her in two. *Help* she begs Mircea but he shrugs and turns to the consul and says, "Not the method I would have chosen but very effective" and smiles that lovely wicked grin at her.
She gets to her room very late to find another Cassie in her bed.
"This is the last time," the Cassie in the bed says. "Can you feel it?"
Cassie can now.
She gets into bed and listens to herself breathing in the dark. "What are you looking for," she whispers. Her future self whispers and Cassie lies there thinking for a long time.
And then rolls over and shakes her. "Did you find him?" she hisses.
"You can't ask me that," her future self says annoyed.
"I can't lie to myself when you're in front of me. There's no other reason you'd be running around like this. You know- "
She stops. Her other self just lies there. Finally she says cautiously, "I went North." And stops.
"That's it?" Cassie says.
"I'm so cold." her future self whispers. "Wherever I go it's cold. Except here. I've used up that whole week with Pritkin. And now I've used up all my time with you. However far back I go I can only get to winter."