Kunzite tossed down his cards and sighed. "You won. It was hard enough playing poker against you when you were a human. Now it's impossible."
Mamoru gathered up the cards, stacked them, and then began shuffling them. "I wondered how I ever won before."
It was Jadeite who enlightened him. "You were pretty closed off back then and completely in control of your reactions. It made you damn hard to read."
"Are you sure you don't want to play, Motoki," Nephrite asked, looking over at him and pointing at the card Mamoru was about to deal out.
"Nope. Now I know why I lost every time. I'm not making that mistake again," Motoki admitted. The six of them from their original poker game had gotten together, but he had insisted on sitting out the whole time.
As Mamoru dealt the cards, Kunzite asked, "Motoki, when do you want to become a vampire?"
Unphased by the suddenness of the question, Motoki replied, "I'm ready now, really. It all depends on the question of what happens to Reika after I turn."
Mamoru's hands froze as he looked at his long-time friend in shock. "Reika?"
Leaning back and blushing slightly, Motoki, pushing through his embarrassment, said, "She likes it rough, and when I turn, how do I hold back? I'd ask Jadeite since Rei was still human initially, but I don't think it translates the same since he'd spent his whole life learning how to control his strength."
Jadeite said, "True, but she's wild too. I had the same worry. The fact was that I learned I could trust myself. You'll get to that point when you admit to yourself that you would protect her. That, and trust her to speak up by having a safe word."
"You could always have her drink your vampire blood," Nephrite commented.
"Or she could transition at the same time as you," Zoisite said, speaking up. "From what I hear, she wants to transition too."
Motoki nodded, "I wanted to be there for her as a vampire and help her transition when it was her time. You're all going to say that's not my choice, though."
Going back to dealing out the cards, Mamoru said, "It's not your choice per se, but you should offer that. It would give you a way to bring up your own translation."
Nodding, Kunzite added, "I agree. She should know what kind of man you are and that you want to be there for her, but it's a decision that should be made between the two of you."
Fooling no one with his switch in topic or his forced light tone, Mamoru said, "You want to transition?" Even Motoki, who didn't have heightened senses, knew this was a big issue for Mamoru.
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
Mamoru cleared his throat. "No, I just…."
"You can't feel it because he's not your King —yet," Zoisite said. "But he's, I think the word is —happy. It's not really sufficient for what we are getting off of him."
"You can feel that?" Mamoru asked.
Kunzite said, "Just like we could feel how much you wanted to kill the Grim Reaper Saturday. Things that are globally important to you seem to get translated to us."
"We don't get sex stuff!" Jadeite added he thought helpfully.
Zoisite got them back on track, "He's elated."
Trying to force himself through his embarrassment over talking about anything personal, Mamoru said, "You've been my friend for a long time and the only one who mattered to me for quite a while. I'm pleased you will be a vampire. I have to admit that I didn't know you were considering it."
"Usagi offered to help me transition…" Motoki thought about it but wasn't sure. "Thinking back, I'm not sure if you were even dating yet. I've been thinking about it for a while. And then I talked to Reika, and she's interested in transitioning too. That finalized my decision for me." Everyone knew that was because he wanted the length of his life to be in parallel to hers.
"Talk to Reika," Mamoru said as he looked at his cards. "I'm sure Usagi has a plan on how to handle whichever decision you make." Everyone else thought it was amusing that he was so confident in Usagi that he believed she had it all planned out. Not that they thought he was wrong.
Luna frowned at the results of her research and then called Artemis at work, "he wasn't fired for diluting cancer drugs."
"How are you and the baby," he asked, not wanting to skip past her health. She had been feeling tired a lot lately, and he knew she was avoiding the question.
"She kicked me in the kidney earlier, but I've spoken to her about stopping that, and I've forgiven her," Luna teased.
"Luna," he said, wanting her to be serious.
She sighed and punched the bridge of her nose. "She did kick me," Luna defended. "I'm tired, but I am working from bed like you insisted."
"I would prefer you took it easy. I just want you to get the rest you need," he pressed.
"Darling," she said, chuckling. "It's not my fault that I can get more done sitting on my butt, in my pajamas, in bed, than most people can only do with a ton of legwork."
Smirking, Artemis said, "Yeah. I forget that sometimes. One of my coworkers today took three and a half hours getting something that would only have taken you five minutes. Of course, he has to have a warrant, so there is that."
"There is that," she agreed, chuckling. "Too bad you need everything to be above board for court, or I could help you out."
"You are helping. It was in the Van Helsing case."
Luna frowned, "I know eliminating a lead is supposed to be helpful, but it doesn't feel helpful."
He held his phone tighter, wishing he could hold her instead and comfort her. "It's looking more and more like someone's trying to point the investigation at the cult."
"You think it's Detective Itsuki like Yamato?"
Artemis nodded even though she couldn't see him. "Yeah, and Yamato is going to talk to Usagi about it all now that we have the results from you opening a sealed court file."
Luna blushed, "Charmer."
Laughing, Artemis said, "Pointing out a committed felony wouldn't be flirting with anyone but you."
"I'm special," she teased.
"You really are," he replied, meaning it with his whole heart.
Minako stared out the window of Kunzite's bedroom. She heard him walk in, and she said, "I'm worried about Beryl. Joe said he wasn't able to get much, but he found out she's here and is surrounded by men."
"Why do the men seem to bother you?" he asked, crossing the room and pulling her into his arms.
"She sounds very sexual, and she has used mind control before. I worry about what that could mean for Mamoru —Endymion to her."
Kunzite said, "It means we need to protect him from that happening."
"Apparently, I failed before! You and the guys were all brainwashed."
He tipped her chin up to make her look at him. "How is that your fault?"
With tears in her eyes, she said, "How isn't it?! What good am I if I fail to protect the people I love."
He shook his head, "This has everything to do with your past Minako. If you were there that night with your family, you'd be dead too. Do you think that's what any of them wanted?! Think, Minako. Your family had the peace of knowing that at least you would survive."
"Why me! Why not my brother?! He was perfect and-"
Kunzite cut her off with a growl. His eyes then narrowed, and it felt to her like she could envision his inner wolf. "You. Don't. Get. To. Choose that. Don't regret your life. I don't."
"No! I love my life!" She looked into his eyes, hoping to make him understand. "I miss them so damn much. I had to go on living without them."
He held her close and whispered, "I understand. I do. But that doesn't mean that it's your job to save everyone in their honor. You, by being the amazing woman you are, have already honored their lives. They wouldn't want you to live with survivor's guilt."
"I hate feeling helpless," she admitted. "The feeling brings me back to how I felt the day they died."
He held her tight, knowing that his job was to protect her and stop what was coming. Kunzite didn't care how hypocritical that sounded.
Jiji stood across from the police station and watched as the officers, detectives, and other personnel filtered out at the end of the shift. He grew weary of watching them all leave. But he had fucked his way into some information, and he couldn't figure out how to ask about Yamato's schedule without raising alarm bells.
So, to him, that meant stalking the front of the police station in an attempt to run into that pretty IT tech again. The first time he met her, he was with the policewoman he was having sex with.
That had been an opportune moment for him and one where he counted himself lucky. He wasn't able to speak to Shizuho much when he met her. His fuckbuddy had been cold to her, and the pervading sense of jealousy had been pronounced. Not that he blamed her. Shizuho was exceedingly more sexy than the policewoman he had been screwing for information.
But the other thing that had been obvious to Jiji was that Shizuho wanted him. Now he was looking for her, hoping to run into her today finally.
And today was his lucky day.
He crossed the street once he locked eyes on her and followed her as she walked towards the parking lot next to the station.
"Shizuho," he shouted out as he neared her.
Jiji watched as she turned abruptly and was seemingly annoyed initially, and then he watched as a smile broke across her face when she recognized him. "Jiji?" she asked, evidently not believing she had actually run into him there.
"In the flesh," he replied. "Fancy running into you here."
She rolled her eyes at him and chuckled, "Let's not play games. It's juvenile. You were waiting for me to come out of the station."
"I was," he admitted, not seeing another way to play this.
"Good boy," she purred. "You're being honest. Now. Are you exclusive with Hana?"
"Do you care?" He asked, figuring Hana was the name of the policewoman he was having sex with.
She shook her head in response. "Only if you do."
Jiji chuckled and stepped into her personal space. "I can promise you that I don't give a damn about that woman." He then pinched her nipple, not caring who was around. He knew the other chick, Hana, apparently, wasn't working today. "Do I have to take you out for dinner? Or can we skip the boring part and go straight to the fucking?"
She smirked and cocked her head at him. "You're going for complete honesty now."
"You don't seem to like games, and I find them unnecessary as long as we still end up naked and sweaty."
She rubbed his hard cock and said, "Sex is at my place. I know I wash the sheets. I've been burned by that before. You are buying dinner, but it's delivery. We'll get hungry at some point tonight."
He was thrilled they would be going to her place. He was hoping to get a chance to log onto her computer when she was worn out from sex and place tracking software on it. Hana didn't bring a laptop home, but by the looks of the bag over Shizuho's shoulder, she had hers with her.
Jiji raked his eyes over Shizuho's body and made it clear that he was picturing her naked. He licked his bottom lip and said, "I like the way you think."
She got a devious look on her face and then said, "I can't stand that bitch Hana. Let me send her a picture of us naked together from your phone, and I won't make you wear a condom."
"You dirty slut," he praised her, meaning it as the highest compliment. "You're so fucking perfect." He was done with Hana anyway, so he was more than glad to have a quick, painful way to end things with her. Jiji also knew he couldn't get her pregnant, not with the dark magic infecting him, not that he really cared, but he admitted that he might want to keep her around even after he didn't need information from her anymore.
She walked toward her car and motioned for him to follow after tossing him the keys. "I want to suck your cock while you drive my car."
Early the following day, while Shizuho slept, Jiji worked to download the spyware onto her computer. As the download was happening, his phone binged again. Hana had been alternating between calling him and texting him all night in a jealous furry.
He looked at the latest text message count from her, and it had hit fifty-seven. She was definitely not happy to revive the video of him fucking Shizuho as she screamed in pleasure.
Jiji wondered if Hana could tell that with the new chick, he wasn't having to fake his pleasure. He hoped she saw the difference. She had been so dull, and he was elated to have moved onto someone of Shizuho talent.
Once the spyware was installed, he removed the thumb drive and slipped it into its hiding place on his belt buckle. Then, he made his way back to the bedroom. He felt it was time to wake her up for another round of hot sex.