Celeste: I think Larry's truck is a huge aquarium in disguise! After writing out of Patty's perspective I'll never be able to kill her again...
Thanks to sister-b (I guess Damsel will spend it on Ventrue-beatup, special Anarch trait), Sazei (YOu are so soulless! Poor Patty! Oh yes and that will backfire on Kat, haha), Maellowyn (Girls don't you have a heart? Yukie sounds good, Pisha is reserved and Beckett? Yes, he'll pop up at some time), rednightmare (You're all bad persons! sympathy for Patty! Joking, hehe. You let a bit mercy shimmer through), Zaekka (depressiv? Das Kapitel war nur PSA! Bißchen Moral für die Kinners) and dropletsoflight (I hope this meets up ypur expectations) for the reviews! They are a huge support for me!
At least the music didn't stop and Katherine was looking down at the entrance. She wouldn't plunge blindly out of the Confession's office without getting an overview of the current situation; besides this behaviour had often saved her undead butt during the sarcophagus course. Anyway she was glad that Venus hadn't turned up the music in the Confession to an ear-smashing volume, else it would have also been impossible for the vampire to have heard the noises.
The scenery was not what she expected, however it was quite alarming. Her first thought was that it could be a group of drunken kine. How she wished she were right! It was Damsel, in the company of two other Kindred. Simon leaned with his back against the cash counter, touching the back of his head. It was hard to spot any more details from this far away and of course with a bunch of people gathering at the said spot. 'Great, just what I need now.' Of course it was possible to shoot at them from the higher platform she was standing on, but that was really not an option to consider and beating them up eye to eye was kind of suicide. Talking it out? Well at least she needed to try. Upon nearing the scene, Katherine could spot more details like the shattered glass of the cash counter where Simon probably had been thrown against it. Of Heather she couldn't get a glimpse, well other things came first. Better not to step down and take the heat directly.
"...bring her out and we'll talk about that outside!" she could hear Damsel snarl angrily at Simon.
"Why should I?" His answer was more of a growl.
"Okay people, the show is over. Just go and have fun again, nothing to see here." At first the humans needed to get out of the line and her dominant voice, trained during her time with the military police, helped to send at least some of them away. Gladly this was also kind of a standard situation she'd often encountered there, when drunken soldiers were brawling in a pub or disco. Sadly those down there weren't soldiers but vampires, which made the case somewhat more difficult.
"Argh! You! You damn bootlicker!" Immediately Damsel shoved herself through the ring of humans, shaking her fist at Katherine who stood out of her reach. "Come down here and I'll pay you back for that shit!" So Patty had showed up at The Last Round.
"Venus? Have you called the police? Damage to property and threatening is something I don't like." Anarchs or not, they at least respected the Masquerade and if they were to barge into a club full of humans, they had to deal with the mortal consequences.
"Fuck you bitch! Come down here and let me polish your face, or else we'll blow this shitty club up!" One of Damsel's companions started to laugh and hit his open palm demonstratively with a bat.
"Why not instantly and beat her licks up?" Pointing the bat at the counter, he started to laugh again and the other two joined his laughter to signal their approval. A muffled squeal could be heard which was probably Heather. Did they really think Venus and her were ghouls?
"You know the rules. They have no idea what's going on so keep your hands off them. I'm sure we can find a solution to this predicament." Again laughter from the two other Anarchs while Damsel's anger was only fuelled by those words.
"God you make me sick! You really sound like that fascist LaCroix's offspring, standing high and mighty up there while others take the blows! Get down or I'll come up!" The comparison to LaCroix made her twitch a second. That was bad. Katherine had not the slightest inclination to go down. Really. She liked her hide; however it would really be bad to leave Simon alone down there, not to mention that they would damage her club. The financial loss would be not so nice and hopefully Venus had called the police by now. And she hated to be compared to LaCroix! With gritted teeth, the Ventrue walked slowly towards the meandering stairs, her eyes spotting the fuse panel. The stairs were surrounded by solid walls with no possibility of looking through. Wait! Again it was more of a habit to inhale and exhale air slowly. It helped her to concentrate, and wasn't it an important trait for an officer to be able to think straight even when under pressure? Exactly. She could shut off the power. Simon was probably able to see in the dark which would give him an advantage. Heather seemed to have taken cover underneath the cash counter right behind the door, so just in case Katherine needed to she could pull her out of the fire and then shoot everything which came through that door. Even in pitch black darkness it shouldn't be impossible to hit a target who was standing in a doorway, and if Simon couldn't see as good as she thought? Well that was pretty bad, however Katherine needed time so that the police could get in or even the Sheriff. At least this was an attack on Camarilla territory but her bet wasn't on the help of the Prince, so perhaps the Scourge might come but they usually patrolled the city's borders. Still this was her best option to get out of the hit relatively unharmed, so she shut off the main electricity, then immediately opened the door somehow. 'Glad to be so familiar with our club, Venus,' trying to grab something that felt like Heather.
"Get them Simon!" Katherine shouted, and as an answer she could hear the bashing impact of wood against wood where the said Caitiff should be sitting, followed by some screams of scared humans and Damsel's loud cussing about fucking, wimpy Cammys. Crawling prone, slowly forward, all senses heightened, she finally got a hold on something soft and warm as another blow from a hard object shattered the last pieces of glass from the counter, raining them down and thankfully leaving her without a wound. Heather let out another scared squeal, and even more as someone tried to open the door violently. Not wasting more time, Katherine pulled Heather out of the room and into the one she'd come from herself, thanking one of her instructors at the military who'd let them practise pulling comrades out of the line of fire this way, till they could do it during sleep.
Not a second too late as the sound of a door cracked open was heard and chaos among everyone else in the Confession. Should she really dare to shoot? The gun was dragged out, aiming in the direction which was probably the door and probably Damsel. Crap that was way too risky, so she simply held still, while Heather started to sob. 'Mist, Mist...bleib ruhig.' It was hard to soothe herself, to keep a cool head through all the ruckus while having no idea what was going on in front of her, not even being able to hear the steps of the person through all the noise. This way she could have at least guessed better who it was, but considering the person broke the door open it had to be one of the Anarchs. Still Katherine hesitated to shoot, considering the police could arrive. Furthermore her heritage was to blame, the social structures where she grew up. In Germany you didn't start shooting around like an idiot and the laws about guns were extremely strict. 'Damn...all of them!' Using blood to increase her strength, Katherine jumped up, leaping forward with her shoulder and tackling right into the person. Ironically she could feel breasts where she rammed her shoulder into. 'Oh great.' Only one thought was able to pass her brain as a fist landed in her stomach and another hit right after that so impossibly fast that it couldn't be human.
"Got you bitch!" Damsel hissed and Katherine could feel an air draught pass by her face. So Damsel wasn't able to see in the dark like herself. As long as Katherine could evade her hits, she had a small chance. Still, it was a bad situation.
"You can still leave my club and we forget all of this." Stumbling a bit backwards, Katherine tried to guess how far Damsel was now standing. It was a very tight space they were in; anyway she knew the proportions better.
"You killed Kenny, and sent his lick back to us. My answer bootlicker? Eat this!" Katherine had no idea how Damsel could aim this precisely or if it was pure luck that the heel of the Brujah's hand exactly hit her mandible. She could hear how her own bones cracked, tasting her own blood because she also used it to look lively, so it was flowing around in her body. The blow sent her flying straight into a stone wall and she fell on the sobbing pile that was Heather. 'Shit!' Katherine could see stars, while pulsing pain emanated from her broken jaw. It was hard to get back on her feet. 'Damn, why always my jaw?'
"Where did you go pussy? Can't you suck a real hit in the face, only LaCroix's dick? Even Alex put up more of a fight." The first insult dripped off of her. It didn't matter anymore because she had decided to leave the States but the second one was a step too far. Mentioning her treacherous sire who'd just Embraced her for whatever damn reason he had awakened her anger. How dare she compare her with that loser of a sire! Swallowing the blood and letting out a hiss, something else took over her senses. One week in the clutches of the Sabbat left stains, and being beaten up reminded her of one of Hargreaves' lessons: in the Beast lies also strength. Yes the Ventrue antitribu's teachings may have been brutal, and despised by the Camarilla, however she could still discover some sense in it. Perhaps because Hargreaves had been much like an instructor from the military. Could it be harmful to mix tiny bits of that into her behaviour to survive? To conserve dignity? Katherine worked hard to get rid of the taint her sire had brought upon her, throwing her into this world without telling why and then being so foolish as to get caught; and Damsel knew him? Fine.
"Where are you bitch? Done with pissing your pants?" The mocking wasn't heard anymore. There was no urge to control her anger, not even an attempt to suppress it. The Beast could smell its prey, the source of anger, the source who wanted to hurt it. Another hiss, the pain forgotten, the Beast jumped at it, falling on the ground with the prey and starting to sink its claws into the flesh. The prey struggled, cursed but the Beast wasn't feeling anything, nor would it tremble after a blow, feeling hits into the broken jaw, its face, the abdomen but not feeling any pain, only the desire to rend and tear apart the source of its humiliation, sinking its teeth into it and ripping it apart, tasting its cold blood and hearing how it screamed. A fast move sent the Beast away from its prey, smelling how it tried to run, to hide. The Beast wouldn't allow that, it knew the scent of its prey and started to chase it but someone held it, shouting unimportant gibberish. No one stood in the way of the Beast and its prey! At first it protested with a hiss, then a growl and finally bit into the subject who tried to cage it as a light was bending it, new scents mixing in with that of its prey and blood, losing it.
"Kat! Shit, hold it girl! Damn! Get your teeth out of my hand!" Katherine was once more brought to the ground, slowly feeling how the red cloud lifted, shoving the Beast slowly back into its cage which wasn't easy at all. The Beast wouldn't freely give up control and after every frenzy it took more and more effort to chain it again. Every bone hurt. It felt like her ribcage had been shattered into pieces, as she tried to look through her smudgy vision at the person bent over her. Glowing red eyes stared at her and slowly Katherine tried to say Simon's name but her jaw felt like a wet mass of flesh, every motion sending searing pain and clouding every thought even more; however the solution to this mess was obvious.
"Ne...ne...chuuli..." Actually this should've sounded like 'Mercurio' but with her chin smashed it was pretty hard to say and some loose teeth were getting in her tongue's way. Furthermore she couldn't see if it was really Simon, however those thoughts did not linger very long in her mind as the injuries forced the Ventrue into torpor.
How much time had passed was out of the picture as warm, tasty blood touched Katherine's tongue, flooding her dead body with a sensation which could not be described. Instinctively she swallowed it down greedily, healing some of the more minor injuries.
"Sweetie, you look like a truck ran over ya'." It was Mercurio's voice and once more she could only thank God for him being there. "After all that blood from me, I expect dinner next time when I come home." The ghoul laughed and the vampire stopped to drink more blood from his wrist. It wasn't much but it should at least knit the worst things together, most importantly her jaw.
"I'd kidnap the kitchen chef of the Four Seasons if you would want it." It took some minutes before she was able to speak, utilizing the blood to mend the broken bones.
"No need for that. Just make me some nice stuff from ya' home country, would ya'?" Not that she was a great cook but Mercurio seemed to be serious. Can't turn down a request from such a helpful man, so she simply gave him a thumbs up while rolling from the couch, feeling the broken ribs.
"How did I get here?" There was of course the explanation that Simon had somehow managed it, but still Katherine liked confirmation.
"Some huge guy carried you in here. What happened?" So it was Simon after all. She'd made a really good trade with him so to speak. Mercurio got the short version of what happened, as said Caitiff opened the door and stepped into the apartment, blood stains on his white shirt and jeans.
"No one followed us," he growled as his gaze spotted Katherine. "All fine?" The Ventrue nodded.
"I owe you some. How did you know where to bring me?" More important was the fact that Simon didn't deliver her straight into the Venture Tower. Jesus, not to think of what LaCroix would have done to her while she was in torpor, like feeding her his blood to bind her more!
"You told me to go to Mercurio if I ever needed something," he shrugged while Mercurio walked away into his bedroom, answering his ringing cell phone. Simon took a seat next to Katherine on the couch. "Why did you turn off the lights?" Ah, he wasn't that bland at all.
"I guessed." Simon gave her an odd look. "When you threw cars at me, I hid in dark corners. It should have been impossible for you to see me, but you did. So I simply wagered that you could see in the dark. Seeing the enemy while he can't see you is an immense advantage, besides we knew the area better than them. This way we were able to outweigh the disadvantages of numbers and power." Three Brujah against a Caitiff and a Ventrue was without a doubt a disadvantage. Gladly none of them were Gangrel.
"So you can't see in the dark?" She gave him a glance and was reminded that he didn't know about the specific traits of the different clans. Cautiously rubbing her jaw to check if it didn't hurt much anymore, Katherine leaned back, wincing shortly in pain because of the still-broken ribs.
"Every clan has other specialties. You for example have Gangrel blood, even if you are clanless. I can't grow claws or see in the dark." How exactly things worked for a Caitiff was beyond her knowledge. Blood was blood right?
"What can you do? I mean you're not the fighting type, sure but fuck! You're not dumb. Is that some kind of..." He searched for the word in his mind. "...trait?"
"No, I was in the military and trained to consider the area if there's a fight. One of my traits is that I can swallow some more injuries than other clans, and..." Katherine stopped. The other two disciplines were quite explosive to mention. She needed to select her words carefully. Gladly Simon didn't seem to mind her hesitation. "...something like Dracula can do, you know? Hypnotizing humans so I can feed more easily upon them or so that it's easier to convince them about something." Wow that was vague. Simon had an odd expression on his edgy face.
"You can do that with vampires too?" Ah, bad question. Even if it was simply out of curiosity, or worse: out of suspicion.
"No. Their will is too strong. Else I would have convinced Damsel to leave, rather than clubbing me into a pile of crap with her bare hands." Bland lie, however at least this little incident was useful to cover it up.
"You nearly ripped her jaw out."
"What?" Was he kidding?
"Dunno, you totally flipped out I guess and some minutes later I saw how she ran out, her jaw dangling strangely around and you chasing her." Katherine looked at her hands and spotted a lot of bite marks. Everything in her body was hurting so she didn't notice it.
"I frenzied." It came dry out of her like it needed to be said out loud.
"Why that?" The Ventrue sighed heavily. She wanted to feed but since Simon had gotten her out of the Confession, even stopping her frenzy before she started hurting innocents, he deserved answers.
"She pissed me off. Hit the wrong button in mentioning my sire. I don't like that." Short version, no reasons, nothing that would reveal too much.
"Good to know that." It was the first time Katherine saw her companion slightly smile.
"Guess you like to keep your face intact." He nodded as Mercurio came back in, rubbing his forehead.
"Bad news, sweetie. LaCroix wants you up in his tower and he didn't sound very happy. I think I'm deaf now..." Oh Jesus, that was great! No time to feed and to heal every injury. Not to mention she didn't want to go thirsty into the devil's cave. Feeding on Mercurio was not possible. Sip on him now in this condition and he would sleep through the whole next day. Damn! So there was no other option.
"Simon, would you be so nice as to accompany me to the tower? I...can't heal this mess right now. Low on blood." Blinking, the Caitiff gave her a questioning look. Which said, 'Why not? Simply grab a mortal, hypnotize him and stuff.' "My blood needs certain standards. I can't feed on the next best mortal who crosses my way." He nodded and stood up.
"Got a car at Salvage's. I'm getting it and picking you up." And before Simon would return, Katherine closed her eyes to rest a bit.
LaCroix sat behind his desk, drumming with his fingertips against the polished wood, his head resting on his left knuckle. Simon was waiting outside the tower in his car. She'd convinced him that it was better that way; besides all of LaCroix's frustration was entirely directed at her. So the young Ventrue stood – more or less – firm in front of the Prince and awaited his outburst, the storm forbade by his knitted eyebrows and narrowed eyes. It was silent in the office, with the exception of the Prince's drumming fingers of course. It felt like he was using it to wear Katherine down and it didn't miss the effect. She twitched nervously with her eye, keeping her head low.
"How..." LaCroix began slowly, his eyes still scrutinizing the beaten figure in front of him. "...was I unclear in terms of 'subtle'?" Good to know he had knowledge about what happened, however it was also good to know why she was here. She blew the thing with the Toreador. Slowly Katherine opened her mouth to say something. Wasn't he at first complementing her on the success? Oh well, that was probably sharing the same fate as those, 'We will rule this city side by side.' Bastard. "Silence!" he hissed in a low voice. "Do you know that the Anarchs are now accusing me in the open for the death of one of theirs? Do you even have any idea what this means?" Obediently, she shook her head. "It means that negotiations are frozen!" His fingers stopped their drumming. Instead he clenched them into a fist and hurled it down on the desk, which made her twitch once more. "I would punish you now for your failure, but it is clear to me that you already received one. Remember it and never repeat such a misstep again." Yes, that was clear and – Wait a minute! What the hell was he talking about? It made no sense and dumbfounded she glanced at him like the beaten pile of meat she was. No punishment? No suicide mission? "However: to clean up this mess, I need to show goodwill towards those heathens." Snorting, the Prince stood up and paced again in front of his desk like a madman. "Baron Abrams – may he soon meet Final Death – seems to have problems with hunters in Hollywood. His foolish childe attracted them."
"Ash Rivers? He left the city as far as I know." It simply blurted out of her and LaCroix silenced her immediately with a cold glare, stopping his obsessive pacing and stepping down to her.
"You know Abrams' childe?" The question sounded like an interlude to another scolding.
"Well...I sort of helped him with his hunter problem while I was searching for Gary and the stolen sarcophagus. Later I freed him out of the Society of Leopold." And it was there Ash had sworn to leave the city so that none would see his burned face. Well, he ran away before Katherine could tell him it would heal. Anyway, LaCroix stared at her in silence.
"Why didn't you tell me that?" he hissed again in his low voice, grabbing her neck with a firm grip which sent an electric jolt through her body, feeling the hurting ribs once more.
"It was nearly a year ago and it didn't seem important...." Sound of gritting teeth echoing through the office silenced the young Ventrue, staring into cold grey eyes, showing death.
"Not important?" The Prince's voice was an octave higher. "The childe of Isaac Abrams has not one, but two life boons to my protégé and this is not...important?" Sarcasm dripped out of the last word, and the grip around her neck tightened. Katherine didn't even dare to wince or move any muscle while LaCroix was this close to her, baring his fangs and starting to laugh softly. "Your naïveté in politics humours me." The grip loosened and instead of nearly snapping her neck, his fingers slowly explored their way along it. Needless to say it utterly irritated her, including her need to stomp down the urge to close her eyes and purr like a cat. However, this was hard and she moved a bit so that the pain in her ribcage distracted her from every uprising thought about how tender the fucking bastard was at the moment, looking at her like she was a goody good dog, his pale lips showing a wonderfully smug smile... 'Trap, trap, trap, trap! Seconds before he wanted to kill you and now...this!' She hated him for that! Whatever the Prince was now thinking, Katherine knew he wouldn't share it with her, so with his – surprisingly – newfound good mood it was time to bring out another topic.
"Mr. Pieterzoon invited me to go with him back to Europe." The caressing stopped immediately, the smile washed away. "He asked me before about you and the sarcophagus. I didn't tell him anything about it. Just the version everyone knows, that I opened it." She didn't need the narrowed eyes to tell her she'd just crushed his good mood again into pieces. "He suspects that you know his real reason for being in Los Angeles, because of the deaths of so many Primogen."
"Of course I know." There was the tight grip around her neck again, the hissing in his voice and the bared fangs.
"I swear I didn't say anything which could harm you. I owe you so much it's the least I can do." It was quite a bit dramatic, however Katherine didn't want to die so it was better to get to the pleading and begging part. As far as she could judge, he liked her wincing under his eyes even if it tasted bitter to swallow her pride like that.
"What was your answer?" She stared at him without an outspoken question on her face. "What..." He dragged her closer to his face, hissing the next words directly at it. "...has been your answer to his request?" Oh, the complicated part.
"That I needed some time to think about it, and I came to the conclusion that I want to accept it." Later she would tell that to Mr. Pieterzoon but as for now the nails of LaCroix's fingers in her neck were ruthlessly carving into her flesh, leaving the young Ventrue to gasp out loud because of the inflicted pain. "Sir?" Just in case he didn't notice that he was hurting her, she addressed him; however it seemed like the Prince ignored it.
"Why?" His eyes focused on her face, catching the gaze of the convulsing neonate.
"I'd like to learn more. I..." The nails dug deeper into her flesh. "...I know you're very busy leading the city and having a childe of your own." Another gasp of pain and she could feel how her legs were shaking. "You can't possibly have time to teach someone like me properly. You said it yourself: Without a sire I'm doomed not to know my place. I don't want to be a failure like my sire." For a moment there was silence, during which the murderous gaze in LaCroix's eyes rested on her. Suddenly he let her loose and turned around, walking past his desk and looking out of the window, down on the city. She'd felt it even more while in Dean and James' company. Katherine may be of Ventrue blood but she was lacking all of the education. It felt like she belonged to the clan only through blood, being a misfit, an orphan stumbling around aimlessly. Even as the Prince's protégé she felt out of place among her clanmates. "I won't be a burden anymore so I thought you would welcome this decision." Someone who could harm him and abused his trust would leave. Wasn't that something good? Why was he so pissed?
"Leave." She couldn't believe her ears. Unsure, Katherine shifted from her left foot to the right one. Was that all of an answer she would get?
"I thank you for all the guidance you gave me my Prince. I will honour your name, you can be sure of it." He didn't twitch a millimetre.
"Sheriff, escort her out." Wait, what?
"Sir, I..." Why did it bother her so much that he was seemingly displeased with her decision? Even after all the crap he had done she was polite to him, kept his secrets, played the devil's advocate, he simply threw her out? The Sheriff grabbed her shoulder and started to shove her to the exit of the office. "Derrick, wait a second I..." Realising the stupidity of trying to convince the Sheriff to disobey an order from LaCroix, Katherine shook her head. He'd tried to do the same to her, turning her into a mindless slave. Somehow she believed Mr. Pieterzoon's words and of course it was an explanation for why she kept silent about all the corpses in the Prince's basement. Perhaps the now rising feelings of guilt and sorrow for leaving him were instilled, unnaturally forced into her mind by him. It made sense however Katherine still had trouble locking them up during the elevator ride down into the lobby and while getting back in Simon's car.
"You look even more shitty than after the beat up." Closing her eyes, Katherine could hear how the engine was started.
"Say Simon: do you want to leave this city and everything behind? Going to where no LaCrotch is, where we can perhaps find a place where we belong?" Not looking at the Caitiff with her tired eyes, and rubbing the burning marks LaCroix's nails had left in her flesh, Simon returned her a strange look, thinking why the sudden question. "Do you want to come with me to Europe?" His hands left the steering wheel, looking down at the pedals, pondering, and then he shrugged after some minutes passed.
"Yeah, why not? Nothing holds me here anyway."
"Then let's drive to the Empire Arms."
AN: I couldn't resist on the bad South Park pun. Did I mention that I'm a very, very bad liar? Must be the LaCroix side in me...