Vampire: The Masquerade FanFiction 3,4&5

Chapter Three

I finally arrive in San Francisco. I am so stressed out. The instructions are very strict on the schedule. I'm not allowed to be even one minute late.
It's 5:15 p.m. and the taxi ride is 45 minutes to an Empress chain hotel. I have to be there by 6 p.m. I fly to the nearest cab, jump in and breathlessly demand for him to drive as humanly possible to my destination.
"Only human?" The driver asks in a soul quivering voice.
Okay. He's weird but I'm too late to care. Besides weird cab drivers are the faster ones. I am right and we pull up at 5:58 p.m. "You know, I once dropped off a young soul much like yourself to a place like this and they went on to--"
"Yeah, yeah great story! I have to go now, see you, bye!"
I throw a $100 bill in his face, gather my stuff and run into the building quick smart.
I decide that the lift would take too long so I do an Olympic sprint up the stairs.
On the verge of making medical history by Death by Stitch I half fell into the apartment just as my watch struck six.
My dark hair is sticky and plastered to my face by sweat. The silk bottle green dress I've been instructured to wear is damp. I get up and realise the apartment is completely dark. The light switch has no effect. I figure they must prefer to do it in the dark. My rapid breathing fills the unseen room. My Sixth Sense, the one cultivated over nineteen years of uncertainty and vulnerability, is telling me some is things off. Screaming it actually.
The beating of my heart has nothing to do with the flights of stairs now. I want to leave but my family needs money. I realise what a stupid thought that is, how could I continue to support everyone if I was dead? Time to get the hell out of here but the door has shut. I didn't even notice. I am disorientated. In my panic I fall over what I think is a coffee table... Or a corpse.
The You're So Screwed imagination I have is going into overdrive. It can't be a dead body, it's just some over the top client... Right? Phantom fingers close over my throat. I've always hated green...

Chapter four

I hate green. That is my last thought and memory. Now I just hunger. For sex and... I've almost always loved sex but now I am desperate. I NEED it. I know I won't get it lying on the floor, alone in a shabby hotel apartment. I stagger to my feet.
I look down at myself in the purple dress. Purple? That's funny. What is also funny is my hand and arm. I've always held a healthy tan, but now I'm looking kind of grey.
More sun, I think as I head out the door. I cost along on autopilot as I exit the hotel, somehow knowing there's nothing for me there.
I stop at an allyway. A homeless man is digging through bins.
You want him, I think to myself dreamily, you've had worse Lady. Take him, right here. He will be grateful!
I nod, smiling. I take a towards him. Sex, then I can have... I freeze. Have what, exactly? No, no, I don't want this! I run blindly from the ally. I think I'm crying but I'm not. You can't, my mind whispers, not yet.
I cry out mentally, "I don't understand, what's happened to me?!"
I smack into someones chest. It doesn't happen often because I'm tall, but I'm hunched over. I feel so empty. Inside the emptiness is pain. Someone is speaking.
"Hey! Are you--"
I look up. He is blonde, wild,
free. His eyes tell me. Suddenly our lips enclose the space between us. He does not resist me, he doesn't wish to. Yes, he knows what it will mean. Yes, you must. I pull back, gasping. I start to run. He wakes up and clutches my arm.
"Hey! I can help you." I can feel him, his ESSENCE.
"You must not touch me," I moan.
He releases me immediately. "Okay. It's okay, just follow me?"
Sleepy, dreamy, without the call there is no resistance. Back on autopilot, I wander after him.

Chapter Five

I shiver. My awareness returns slowly. I'm standing in the entrance of a huge mansion. Words? Talking? Ah, conversation!
"I found another wandering the streets. So much for Isaac's promise, eh? But Julian, I don't think this is the same as the others."
I notice the one named Julian. Dark, very handsome. Pain streaks up places where there is normally pleasure and I wobble. Both men turn to me.
"Thank you, Cash. I'll take it from here."
Cash leaves. I think I see his eyes fill with unfulfilled longing, passion, as he passes me.
Julian's presence is strong. Even more so then Cash's. It lingers in in the corners of the room.
"It's getting worse out there, Uncle Julian, not better," a young woman with unruly hair says.
I didn't notice her before.
Julian puts a hand up to silence her.
He asks me, "Can you tell me your name?"
It hurts but I manage to grind out, "L...Lady Le Homme."
The woman laughs, "Sense of humor, I see."
I smirk and choke on, "Irony."
She laughs again.
"Can you tell me why you're here?" Julian presses.
"I am... I was here to meet a client," It's getting easier to speak,"I'm a whore." You're also very blunt, Lady. If it bothers him, he doesn't show it.
I continue, "I was supposed to be paid my weight in gold for this trip."
"Trip?" The woman questions.
"I made the journey from Alaska. I live there with my family. The,uh, other prostitutes. It's very remote and exclusive. We don't have a name for our establishment. We still pay bills and taxes. We have had money troubles though. this was supposed to fix that." My voice cracks at the last part. Julian's eyes soften.
"How do you feel?" He says gentle, sympathetic.
"Hungry," Came my almost instant reply. Then I sighed, "For sex."
I think his lip twitches. He arches an eyebrow. "Sex? I see..." He says to the woman, who I assume is his niece, "Sounds like clan Daeva, Sasha."
The woman, Sasha, inspects me up and down, "LOOKS like a succubi alright," Then to me, "Do you understand what has happened to you?"
I set my jaw grimly. "I think I can guess. Werewolves couldn't have been the only things running around."
Sasha snorts, "You've met a werewolf?"
"A few."
"How come you're not mincemeat then?" She demands unbelievingly.
I shrug. "Canadian werewolves. They're polite."
Sasha grins warmly, "Lady, I'm beginning to like you."
I'm actually quite shy in nonsexual situations. I look down at my feet, unable to blush.
"You haven't fed yet, have you?" Asks Julian.
I cringe. I'm a vegan for two reasons; one, I love animals, even fish. Two, it helps me stay lean and my skin soft without hormones. Too much protein will bulk me up.
"Come, we will--"
The sound of smashing glass echoes in my ears and I recognise sound. Bullets. Lots of them. They go through the walls as well, so I know these ain't no pea shooters. As fast and powerful I assume Julian to be the hail of artillery fire take it's toll and he drove to the floor wounded. It's over as unexpectedly as it began. I don't trust the quiet. It seems false. Suddenly I become aware I am laying on top of Sasha.
By instinct I reached for her and threw her to the ground. Wedged between heavy furniture, a chest of drawers and a leather couch, we had been protected from the bullets.
But not the glass and shrapnel.
Sasha has a chunk of glass embedded in her thigh. It must be agony, but she doesn't make a sound. Julian has dragged to himself to another safe area in the commotion. A feeling comes over me, a sort of peaceful knowledge. I glance down at Sasha and she stares back with wide brown eyes. I put a finger to my lips in the universal sign meaning to stay quiet. She must sense what I am feeling and makes no protest as a slip off her.
I stealthily make my way over to Julian, using the trail of blood as my guide I go to the alcove under the staircase. The ammunition can not be normal. The wounds glow and burn. I sit beside him and draw him close. I smile, now the reassuring one. He is paralysed. I steal a soft, quick kiss. Strength blooms, inside my blood.
I raise my wrist to his freshly kissed mouth. The blossom, fragrant petals, heals him, taking away the magic in the shell cases. I remove them from his flesh. His expression is measured, but thankful by the flicker of his eyelash. Compared to Lorelei he is easy to read.
We all stay still until voices of concern ring out and we get up.
"Prince Julian! Are you unharmed?" Asks a frightful looking creature. I think he looks fine. I've taken up with some real beasts in my time, but I found that the outside shell has very little to do with it.
"Yes, Daedalus I am..." He pauses. "I am fine."
Other people are here too.
Daedalus enquires, "Who is this?"
Meaning me.
A dozen pairs of eyes pairs of eyes settle on me. Again if it isn't erotic I get shy. This time I do blush. The kiss?
"A Stray Cash found," Julian said.
A beautiful woman hisses, "What do they hope to achieve? These so called 'Strays' know nothing, they abandon them!"
"Lillie, calm down," Julian commands.
I shuffle my feet and stutter thoughtfully, "Maybe... Maybe it's like poisoning the water supply?"
The beauty's intense blue eyes snap toward me. "What did you say?" She growls slowly.
I want to hide behind the curtains, if only they hadn't been torn to shreds.
"I think Lady makes a good point", Sasha announces in my defence.
Now I want the ground to swallow me up. Before a cat fight can ensure Julian says, "It will be discussed later. Let me fix up my haven first," then he tells me, "Go get cleaned up."
I head up the stairs. Only the first floor was blown apart.