Thanks to Sazei (I also love the game, else I would write FF about it, hehe), Maellowyn (nicht ganz Wochenende aber ich denke das ist nicht schlimm), sister-b (I liked Barabus's t-shirt), dragonfly2003 (the Pen & Paper rules give way more room for intrigues, hehe) and rednightmare (it's a Nosferatu fanfest!) for the reviews!
It felt like an empty hole in her heart. Since yesterday Patty had this strange feeling that something was missing besides the blood from Kent. Her lovely, beautiful Kent. She loved him as much as she could love anyone. He was her life, her everything and now he was somehow gone and it was not only the cry for his blood which made her horrified to lose him, but also not being near him, not being able to please him so that he would give her one of his heart-flattering smiles! But the greatest horror, however, was to age. She'd known Kent for nearly twenty years. Twenty years of being his ghoul with the appearance of a teenager and without his blood, she would look like a woman in her mid-thirties! Withered, an old hag, ugly, not desirable anymore. The party would be over and this thought was nearly worse than the need of blood. Patty wouldn't let loose. She would find Kent and even if what that stupid vampire over at the Confession said sounded like idiocy to her at first, it was some kind of convincing. At first Patty thought it was ridiculous but this was slowly replaced by the urge to really ask the vampires over at The Last Round. They were Kent's friends or whatever but she simply wanted to ask them because the vampire in the Confession was somehow trustworthy. Being near her felt a bit like being near Kent – of course she wasn't as nearly as cool and awesome as Kent – and something told her to trust the woman and then all made sense! Kent would never engage himself with such a bitch and ugly hag as Damsel! Of course the red-haired thug would then take other measures, because Kent was out of her reach. He had style and taste in fine women like Patty of course, not in butches like Damsel.
Reaching the dark alley the vampire had told her to go to for some security measures, Patty looked around giving the street thugs a suspicious look and then spotting a fat guy near a truck, clothed in a jersey of the L.A. Lakers. He wore sunglasses, an afro and, well, was disgustingly fat. Could that be the guy she meant?
"Baby girl! Welcome to Fat Larry's truck of mack – the only store for all your needs after ten o'clock." She had no time for a rapping wannabe 2Pac.
"Yeah, nice...some vampire there at the Confession sent me and said you have some things for...security." Nervously her eyes shifted around. The urge for blood was so overwhelming!
"Oh, man, you been feedin' on the rock, girl? Nah... nah, nah, baby, I don't sell none o' that no mo'." Larry shook his head and leaned against the truck. "I got watches, got jerseys, got stereos – this week only I got a Galapagos tortoise – man, I got what you need guaranteed!"
"Not that man! How should I defend myself with a cheap watch?" That rapping stressed her nerves and Patty could hear how her voice was jumping an octave higher.
"Hey, so you like the pipe. Didn't say I wouldn't sell you nothing. Chill! Peep this gear I got." He turned around and opened the back of the truck for a small gap. "Yo' come here and look at this." Patty pulled her jacket tighter around her as she stepped forward to look at the interior of the truck. There she saw what she needed. Some guns, knives. Not that she had a lot of experience with guns. She was a party girl and not a fucked up wannabe female Rambo, however a knife should do the job and she didn't have much time or money.
"A knife." And the last thing she needed was to get caught with a gun. Larry handed over a pretty huge butcher thing, but she was dealing with vampires so it was suitable and without losing more words, Patty hurried to The Last Round. She needed the blood! It was all her mind was coming up with. The knife was hidden in her short jeans jacket, a hand clasped around it like it was her last anchor to rescue her from despair. The door opened and the loud music hit her ears. How could Kent spend time in this horrible hole? The music hurt her ears every time. Techno was so much more to her taste! Immediately she nearly ran up the stairs to confront Damsel but was blocked by this huge hulk whose name she'd already forgotten again.
"What do you want here again lick?" Nerves already on the edge it took a lot of restraint not to scream, regardless of the annoyed look the vampire gave her.
"You have him. Where is he?" Barely those words came out the ghoul's mouth. Kent said he would be gone for a while, doing some stuff. No parties for a change but he would come back today. He promised.
"Listen junkie, we already said he's dead and the Cammy at the Confession knows." The black vampire rolled his eyes, annoyed and pissed but Patty didn't give a damn.
"She told me the truth! Damsel...lies! Kent can't be dead. I need him, I need blood." Her body began to shake and on her skin she could feel cold sweat. To speak, to move, even to think straight was exhausting, like her body was ceasing to function. An engine without fuel. The vampire snarled angrily but shit who cared! She was a ghoul and hung out with more powerful vampires than this huge idiot! Besides it was despair which spoke out of her actions, and which pushed her body forward. A last glimpse of hope to get what she needed and Patty tried to scramble past the man.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he hissed and grabbed her by the shoulders, preventing letting her upstairs.
"Damsel! She knows! Let me go!" Metal flashed out of the jacket, drawn as fast as possible, aimed at the vampire's stomach but it was stopped and even before Patty could recognise it she was thrown away, landing on her back.
"Shit! Damn you! Your sugar daddy won't come now get the fuck off!" Kent couldn't be dead, it was impossible! Hot tears watered in her eyes, smudging the eyeliner and stray sobs came out of her throat.
"Skelter? What the fuck is going on down there?" There! Damsel! It was Damsel's voice!
"You have Kent! I know it! Give him back! He doesn't love you, he loves me!" The red-haired hag appeared on the stairs, as far as Patty could see it. Her vision was blurred because of the tears and the craving for Kent's blood. Giving that guy Skelter a gaze, Damsel seemed to talk to him. Only fragments of the conversation reached Patty's ears, like "shitty Cammy" or "dominated" as Damsel stepped towards her.
"Fine," the hag said. "Come with me to the alley, I'll send Kent there and never come here again, understand?" Those words were spat into her face but that wasn't important anymore. She would have Kent back, get her blood, wouldn't age! Hastily Patty crawled back on her feet and stumbled out of the bar, hearing a last mumble from Damsel, "Fucking Ventrue bitch." At the alley the jacket was again tightened around her, because despite the hot summer night she felt so cold that her teeth were chattering like a rattlesnake. Where was Kent?
"Okay, fucking junkie. That was the last time you piss me off!" Abruptly the ghoul turned around, staring directly at Damsel again.
"Wh-what are you doing here? Where's Kent?" Fear spoke out of her.
"When I'm done with you, I'll kick that bitch's ass! Arrgh! That boot licker makes me sick! Sorry lick, you've made the wrong move and you're getting annoying." Even before she spotted her own knife in Damsel's hand, it was driven right into her lower torso and again and again and again. So fast that the ten stabs had already perforated her before she even started to bleed. Slowly Patty saw her own hands touching the wounds, feeling hot blood oozing out of them as she collapsed on the ground. "Fuck! SHit on what Nines said! That bootlicker will pay..." Patty saw only how Damsel's boots turned around, vanishing like the swearing vampire, leaving her alone, bleeding, sobbing. Tears blurred her vision again, the vitae not sufficient to heal the stab wounds. It hurt. It hurt so much but more than that, something different was overshadowing the burning pain in her abdomen: the knowledge that Kent was really dead. Gone. That was the empty hole in her heart she'd felt since yesterday night.
"I simply wanted to live...wanted to see you again..." Patty whispered on the dirty asphalt. "...I wanted us to have a---a party forever...Kent." There was his smile before her eyes. One last smile for the ghoul before she died in the very same dark, lonely alley as her beloved regent.
AN: You still want to kill Patty? Mhm? MHMMM? Kidding. Wasn't I supposed to write something funny? Oh well, a small gift for Sazei and all my diligent reviewers! I would be lying to claim I absolutely don't write for feedback. A part of my ego of course does, else I wouldn't have started to upload it. And what can I say? I'm overwhelmed by all the huge positive feedback so this is a small "Thank you" for the encouragement, the kind words and the support you give with your reviews, being a huge drive for me to write and knowing it doesn't suck ass. It's like a drug...uh...wait a minute? Isn't the story's message that drugs are bad? Bah, screw it! Need drugs, onomnom. And last but not least again my beta reader Vivienne who is always fast with correcting everything.
This was a short throw-in, because this week I probably won't have time to write the next 'real' chapter, however, if you want occasionally such little side-stories just let me know. They must of course fit into it and be somewhat close to the current events (i.e something like "LaCroix's night at the beach" won't fit).