Shattered Innocence Ch. 23
After leaving Clara and Odette to show their sister her own room, Carmilla enters her home office along with Zestial.
The woman starts pouring tea for herself and the Ancient Overlord while he is examining the Conspiracy Board.
"Now, thy understands how thou knew the culprit twas not a Sinner," he then turns to the Arms Dealer.
"Yes. But despite how little bit information is, it has narrowed down the search. If only slightly," Carmilla takes a seat while picking up her own cup. "I tried asking once but before a panic attack all I received was horns and a tail."
Zestial can see the worry upon her face. "Thou are still troubled, Old Friend?" the man approaches her and accepts the offer of tea.
Carmilla sighs. "This happening to young girls is always sad and not many are willing to go through the journey. It's Emily's reaction after the child is born that scares."
"Thou fear she would not love her own?"
The woman nods. "No," the Arms Dealer sees a small stack of mail and decides to go ahead and search through them. "I am afraid that she would hate them. Whether she gives up the baby or keep it, I've seen the results of young mothers like her resent their own children and abuse them only because they are permanent reminders of what they went through."
"Though she was in a weakened state when found, Emily is showing that she is strong willed," Zestial smiles. "Her defying thou, even though on thou's behalf, to seek aid from Princess Morningstar is evidence."
Carmilla smirks. "I supposed so. I only need to have faith in her to not lose herself," she then finally takes a sip of her drink but does a spit take after reaching the bottom of the mail pile.
.oOo.
Though plain, Emily loves her new room. All that's in there is a bed, dresser, and a writing desk but that's all she needs. Odette and Clara believe otherwise, and the sisters found themselves talking about how they could spice it up.
Emily's phone soon went off as it sat on the writing desk. At first, the seraphim barely paid any attention to it as she was just happy to finally talk to her sisters again.
Clara picks up the device, "I'll get it for you," then sees the number.
"The Hell!?" the puffy-haired Carmine stares at Emily. "How did the f(bleep) you get this number!?"
Seeing the caller ID as Velvette, Emily snatches her phone. "It's a bit of a long story," and answers. "Hello," and regrets doing so as she holds the phone away from her ear.
"Emily, Darling!" Velvette shouts. "You were supposed to let me know when you left that sh(bleep)hole! I had to find out from one of Vox's faulty spy cams?"
"Y-yes, well," the angel glances at her sisters who are still confused by what's going on. "I only just got home," she's really going to have a hard time explaining this to them. "I really did mean to call. I just wanted to wait until I settled back in."
There was a hum from the other end. "Fine! I'll take your word for it… This time. Now, have you gotten my surprise, Luv?"
Emily raises as brow, "Surprise?" she turns to Clara and Odette who only shrug in return. "What surprise?"
"Really? Figured your Mum would've had a heart attack by now. I know she's gonna hate it. But I'm sure you'll love it. I'm actually on my way to your new flat right now to see your reaction!"
"What!?" all three Carmines shout.
"Velvette. I would like to see you too, but this probably isn't a good ti—" the seraphim then jumps as her mother shouts her name.
"EMILY!"
"Oof! Sounds like the windbag just found it," Velvette comments. "See you in a few, Luv. Kisses!" and with a click, the Vee hangs up.
The sisters look upon one another, unsure what's going on. Then their mother shouts again.
"EMILY! Come here, NOW!"
Emily hurries out of her new room and down the hall to meet her mother in the living room holding something in her hand with Zestial not far behind her. Her sisters are behind Emily as they're too curious as to what their sister has done this time to get into trouble and exactly what this has to do with a Vee.
Carmilla glares. "Explain this!" she slams a magazine down on the coffee table. An issue of V's Weekly featuring a new model on the cover. It showed Emily in the dress from when she did a photo shoot for Velvette.
"I, um, I-I," she refused to look the woman in the eye. "I owed Velvette a favor."
The Arms Dealer crosses her arms. "What kind of favor?"
The doorbell then starts going off.
Clara turns to Odette and whispers, "You don't think…" She only receives a shrug.
Emily continues, "I kept getting lost on the way to the Hotel and I told Velvette that I would model for her one time if she'd take me there."
"Was there anything else she wanted?" As an Overlord, Carmilla knew that even a favor requires a deal, and deals have a lot of weight here in Hell. The ringing continues. "Clara! Odette! Would one of you please send whoever that is away?"
The two Carmine's eyed one another before glancing at their sister as they left the room.
"Nothing. Velvette was very kind," Emily looks down with a small smile growing on her face. "She actually did her best to accommodate me. Even when I had an episode in her studio."
Carmilla raised a brow as that is far from the Vee she knew.
Clara's voice is heard saying. "You can't come in here!"
Speak of the Vee. Velvette enters the room. "Darling!" the Influencer runs up to Emily and plants a kiss on both her cheeks. "Now, tell me, Luv. How did you like your surprise?"
"I don't not like it," the young seraphim glances away with a slight blush. "But I wasn't expecting to be on the cover."
"Like you deserve any less? Look at you!" the Vee gestures to the angel. "Your natural beauty needs to be seen. How about another shoot? I'll let you pick out the outfit this time."
Carmilla then snaps. "Stay away from my daughter!"
Velvette turns to the matriarch and flips her off. "P(bleep) off, Hag! I wasn't talking to you!" then faces the New Carmine. "Now what do you say…" her hands are then taken by the angel.
"Velvette. I've heard about how you treat the other Overlords," Emily calmly tells her. "But this isn't a meeting where you flex your status. This is Carmilla's home. My home. The least you could do is show some respect here. Even if it's a little. Would you want me to be respectless in your own home?"
Velvette looks up in that and with a shrug and a nod turns to the Arms Dealer. "Sorry about going off on ya. I was just eager to see my favorite onetime model who I hope would graduate to a fulltime?" she pleads with the angel.
"I will admit that I had fun during that shoot. But…" the New Carmine glances away as her hand subconsciously rests itself over her abdomen.
"But what? I don't like buts…," she glances behind the angel a little. "Most of the time."
"I may not be able to do it for very long. Not unless you were to make some maternity wear."
Carmilla shouts. "Emily!?" surprised she'd reveal this much to a Vee.
"Maternity wear?" Velvette laughs. "Why the f(bleep) would I do…" the question drops as does the Influencer's excitement and she glances down to where the angel has her hand. She then looks back up. "I'm guessing the father…"
Emily briefly glances at her friend before looking away and giving a slight nod. Soon, a set of arms is wrapped around her. "Everything will be alright, Luv. You'll see."
Carmilla's eyes widened, Zestial's brows rose, and the Carmine Sister's jaws dropped as none of them as seen this Vee appear so vulnerable.
"Now then," the Vee backs away. "This explains why your assets seemed so enhanced," she makes a curving motion with her hands.
The seraphim looked down at herself and soon realizes what her friend meant and finds herself blushing at the compliment.
"Too bad it's not going to last."
"Huh?"
"That little monster you have growing inside you will ruin that wonderful figure of yours. It's only a matter of time," the influencer teases. "But I'm sure after the rascal is born you could get back in shape in no time and when they're off to preschool you can be my model again. That is…" she glances at her with a plea. "If you're willing?"
Emily smiles. "That sounds nice. But I think I have a while before deciding."
"Meh," Velvette shrugs. "Fair enough," she turns to leave. "Best be off, Luv! Send me an invite to the shower. I'll be sure to give the brat something they'd love and your mother would hate."
"Kisses?"
The Vee turns and sees the angel give an awkward shrug.
"I know that it's what you usually do when saying goodbye."
"Sure thing, Darling. Kisses!" Velvette blows a smooch. "See you soon, Emily! Let's do Coffee next time!"
"Bye, Velvette! I look forward to it!" Emily waves as her friend exits the penthouse. She then turns to Carmilla who is once again giving her a harsh glare.
.oOo.
After leaving the Penthouse, Velvette turns over, smashes, or kicks anything she passes on her way out of the building.
Once outside, the hags voice reaches her ears.
"That's a lot of energy you could have spent on something productive," Carmilla calmly approaches from behind.
"F(bleep) you, B(bleep)ch!" Velvette snaps and makes way to her limo.
"All this just because you lost a model?" the Arms Dealer raised a brow at her fellow Overlord's actions.
"What would you know?" she opens the door but stops. "She keeping it?"
"Emily has no interest in terminating the pregnancy. It goes against her beliefs. As too whether or not she'll raise the child remains to be seen."
Under her breath, the Vee mumbles, "She's already stronger than I was."
"Come again?"
"Nothing, you old bat!" with that, Velvette finally gets into her car and slams it shut. But before she could tell the driver to drive like Hell, Carmilla knocked on the window. The Influencer rolls the window down. "What do you want now!?"
"Let us agree that we do not like one another," the Arms Dealer narrows her eyes. "But for some reason that I cannot possibly fathom, Emily is fond of you. She doesn't have many friends here. If you wish to visit or hang out, all I want in return is for you to respect her and my home. Otherwise, you may treat me as you wish outside my home."
Velvette looks up in thought. "You got yourself a deal," she then faces the front. "Now, drive!" with that, the driver hits the gas and speeds down the street.
"Ugh…" Carmilla rubs her temples. "I just know that I'm going to regret this," she then contemplates what the Vee said about Emily being stronger than herself. "Is that why your so angry and respectless?"
.oOo.
Carmilla walks back into the living room and notices Emily waiting for her.
"Look, I know that I've disappointed you a lot lately but—" she is cut off by a hug.
The Arms Dealer was careful not to squeeze her too tightly because of the wounds. She then eyes the magazine on the table and picks it up. "You do look lovely. I guess if you were interested in pursuing a modeling career, I would not be against it."
Emily looks up at her mother. "Even if it's for a Vee?"
Carmilla does her best to contain a growl as she backs away from the girl. "Where I'd prefer you to make better choices on whom you chose to affiliate yourself with as long as she respects you, I'll have no problem if you were work with Velvette. But if she offers you any contract, I want you to bring it to me first so that our lawyers can look them over."
At that, the seraphim smiles. "I will, Mom!" she hugs the woman.
The matriarch blinks at first but soon smiles as she embraces her daughter once again as that's the first time Emily freely called her that.
Clara then raises her hands. "What if I wanted to be a model?"
"Once you start wearing skirts that don't threaten to reveal your underwear we'll see."
The puffy-haired Carmine crosses her arms and mumbles, "At least I wear underwear," while glancing at Odette.
"I do wear them!" the spectacled Carmine narrows her eyes. "Just not to bed!"
As the two started bickering, they found themselves pulled into a hug by the third Carmine sister and any argument they were about to have dropped.
Emily glances up at them. "I kinda missed this while I was away."
Both blinked before returning their sister's hug.