Blood of The Rose

Chapter 21: Unappreciated Favors

Santa Monica

The Asylum

The fledgling duo exited the elevator and stopped at the door to the quarters atop the club. Ruby knocked once again, but winced as she heard the imperious "Enter!"

"Right," she murmured softly. "Time to make nice with the Queen."

They entered the room, immediately confronted with a coldly furious Therese, wearing her usual grey pinstripe skirt suit.

"You! What were you thinking?!"

Ruby gaped at the seething Kindred. "Er-"

"The museum!" Therese interrupted angrily. "That was MY event! Did you think I wouldn't find out?!"

Ohhhh no, we've been fucking played… She exchanged a helpless glance with Weiss, before returning to her futile effort at deflecting the elder Kindred's ire. "But-"

"Shut up!" She turned towards Weiss, who visibly wilted before the glacial grey eyes. "And you, I know who you are! Did Ozpin send you along to sabotage me, or merely to portray me as an incompetent to the rest of the Camarilla? Were you an active accomplice or merely a dunce?"

"I- I- Er, that is…" Weiss stammered, uncharacteristically flinching and unsure.

"Nevermind," Therese cut her off shortly. "Obviously you're collaborating with this girl here, I should have know better than to expect any amount of intelligence or respect from fledglings such as yourselves!"

The severe blonde rounded on Ruby once more, who shrank back with a barely-audible eep. "I thought I could control my sister as long as Tung was out of the picture, but nothing's changed! I should've expected that you'd succumb to Jeanette's influence like all the others. But how dare you!"

Ruby winced as Therese's voice rose to a shriek. She tried once more to get a word in edgewise, but evidently the elder Kindred had far too much steam building up to allow for it.

"And don't even try to deny it, Jeanette already confessed she tricked you into doing it!"

Ruby let out an irritable huff. Then why are you busting my tits over it, lady? She's your sister!

"It was probably all Tung's idea - I'll deal with them later." Therese glowered at the pair of cowering fledglings. "But that's still no excuse for you ruining my museum!"

"Look!" Ruby finally managed to interject. "I got the damned locket from the Ocean House as well as a diary! Here, see? Take them!"

The blonde vampire snatched the items from Ruby's hands with a snarl. "My museum is wrecked, do you understand? Now, if you'd like to atone for your colossal act of disrespect, I have one more task that needs to be dealt with."

"But… But we had an agreement!" Ruby protested weakly.

Therese smiled, cold and uncaring. "We had an agreement. You blew that agreement. Even if my sister is at fault, you played into her hands. And I've all but had her destroyed for her actions against me." The elder Kindred paused, her ire seemingly draining away to reveal a bone-deep weariness. "In fact… I may have been too severe with her."

Weiss stepped forward to bail her companion out and prevent the brunette from returning the blonde to her earlier furious state. "We do still need to speak with Tung," she interjected with quiet deference. "What is it we may do for the Baroness of Santa Monica?"

Therese nodded with a sigh. "I made some threats against my sister - idle threats - involving fire and her impious satin sheets. She took them quite seriously and is avoiding me. I want to meet with her and explain that they were said in the heat of the moment."

Ruby nodded slowly. Okay, so play peacemaker, maybe we can swing that… Except that this is exactly where I didn't want us to be, stuck in the middle of their feud! Not that we have a choice at this point…

"I asked her to meet me at the Surfside Diner, to reconcile," Therese continued, "but I'm busy with the club and my other endeavors, including cleaning up the mess left at my museum. I want the two of you to go to the diner and promise her that I don't plan to take any action against her. Wait for her in the back booth, near the restrooms."

Ruby and Weiss both shared a nod. "So, we'll go…" the brunette agreed reluctantly. "And then you'll call the feud off with Tung?"

"I want to see my sister," she replied simply. "Yes, I'll call it off once I've spoken with her myself. Just do what I ask."

"Of course, Baroness," Weiss responded with a short bow. The fledglings turned as one and departed, both trying very hard not to let their haste be unduly obvious.

Back in the elevator, Ruby banged her head against the side. "Fucking hell…"

"Yes, we do seem to have been caught up in this," Weiss sighed.

"She played us!"

"Yes, she did."

"And then that… bitch went back against her word! I don't care what she said, we had an agreement, and now she's just getting free work out of us!"

With a sigh, Weiss reached out and pressed the stop button. The elevator lurched to a halt, staggering them for a moment before she could affix her pale blue eyes in a determined stare upon the brunette.

"Listen to me very carefully, Ruby. This new life you have entered, it is governed by a certain rule. Those with the power get to tell those below them what to do. It is not fair, it is frequently onerous, but this is the harsh truth. As fledglings, we are bound to obey nearly every other Kindred we meet, particularly within the Camarilla."

"That's…" Ruby swallowed involuntarily, even though her body didn't really need to, it was a reflex action to hold back her nervousness. "That's pretty harsh."

"I know. But it is the way things are. We have a role to fulfill, for now it is one of subservience and obedience. But eventually, we shall rise above our status as we accumulate power." Weiss smiled tightly. "I am fortunate enough to have had a head start, but I will help you in this to the very best of my ability."

Ruby nodded numbly. "Why?"

"Er… Why, what?"

"Why are you going to help me? Once you have this… power… and can move up the chain, I'll be left behind and you can just tell me what to do along with everyone else."

The platinum-haired girl looked away, her eyes growing distant. "I've… had a rather lonely childhood. I didn't have many of my peers who I could call a… a friend. Most merely attached themselves to me because of my family name and wealth. And then once I became Kindred, well… Those of us within the Camarilla don't attach much value on friendship, instead what one Kindred can do for another, what value they have or what power they can help accumulate…"

Weiss looked back at Ruby, and she blinked in astonishment at the unfamiliar warmth in those pale blue eyes.

"You are unlike any Kindred, any person, that I have ever met, Ruby. I am… both honored and fortunate to call you a friend. I do not care what happens or where my path takes me, I shall always treasure our friendship."

Ruby sniffled quietly. "You're gonna make me cry."

"Let's not do that," Weiss smiled wanly. "Building a rep, remember?"

"Right, yeah… Okay, then. Let's go carry out our orders so we can get one step closer to getting out of this crazy town, okay?"

"Okay," Weiss smiled, turning and hitting the start button to get the elevator moving again. "Oh, and by the way…"

"Yeah, Weiss?"

"If you ever breathe a word of this to anyone, I shall deny it till my Final Death."

"No worries, bestie," Ruby giggled. "My lips are sealed." She made a locking motion at the corner of her mouth and then flung the imaginary key over her shoulder.

The other fledgling just sighed and shook her head as the doors opened up to the club once more. "You are such a dolt."

"Yep, so you keep saying. Personally, I think that's just your way of calling me bestie."

"It is not."

"Totally is."

"And that is not even a word, in any case."

"Yep, it is, 'cause that's what we are. Besties."

"...And an obnoxious dolt, at that."

Ruby grinned as she skipped cheerfully behind her friend, singing in tune with the hard-pumping music. "I'm Weiss' bestie, I'm Weiss' bestie…"

Heading across the street, Ruby caught the ranting of the doomsayer around the bend as he continued his nightly quest to harangue the world at large.

"The roots of this city wrap around the great worm, and all who live in its stinking bowels bloat themselves on apocalypse nectar!"

"Ohh, that's a nice one," she giggled appreciatively. "Very doom-and-gloom." Weiss just shot her an odd look, which she answered with a sheepish shrug.

Together the pair of fledglings entered the diner. There was the usual sparse crowd inside, this time with a few younger toughs hanging about the front area as if they had someone they were waiting on before sitting. Ruby gave a friendly wave towards Doris who gave an answering wave of her own as she headed towards the back kitchen area.

Ruby led the way towards the rear booths, Weiss trailing behind, when suddenly a loud crack sounded, causing the brunette to flinch. More sharp sounds followed, and Ruby stared incredulously at her bare shoulder, finally healed from the burn, which now sported a hole from back-to-front.

"Did I just get shot?" the brunette fledgling asked dazedly. She let out a yelp as Weiss dragged her down behind the counter.

"Yes, you dolt, those idiots are shooting at us!"

"Oh, well then… Guess I should return the favor, huh?"

"If you wouldn't mind terribly," was the sarcastic reply.

Ruby snickered as she pulled her pistol out, checking first to make sure it was fully loaded. Activating her Fortitude, she popped back up over the counter, holding the gun in both hands and aiming carefully.

There were only four of them, but one had produced a shotgun from somewhere. Fortunately, the cook had already dived to the floor and the other few patrons scampered out the front, as the other three were shooting wildly across the length of the diner while the shotgun-toting one tried to creep closer.

Right, you first. She took careful aim and squeezed off three rounds.

None of them hit the closer thug, but one towards the rear dropped noiselessly to the floor, blood leaking from the wound received to his left eye.

"Crapbaskets!" she shouted angrily, crouching back down again. "I wasn't even aiming for him!"

"How many?" Weiss asked tersely, rapier clutched in steady hands.

"Three, now. One moving up with a shotgun."

"Very well. Distract the others?"

"On it." Seems to be all I can do, really…

She popped back up just as Weiss darted around the corner, sliding forward and keeping low. Once again she emanated that debilitating presence, causing the closer thug to flinch back, fumbling with his shotgun. He didn't get the chance to recover as Weiss slashed outwards, leaving him to tumble away in a spray of blood.

Meanwhile, Ruby emptied the remaining three rounds from her revolver. One of them actually hit an opponent in his shoulder, causing him to flinch back.

By that time, Weiss had sped past the first man and was among the others. The light flashed against her steel rapier as it sang out its deadly tune, eviscerating and thrusting through their ambushers.

The last one standing managed to get out a panicked shout. "You fucking bitch!" It had about as much effect as his bullets did as Weiss coldly ended his miserable existence.

Ruby stood upright, fishing out reloads for her gun while Weiss paused by one of the corpses to meticulously clean off her rapier.

"So," the brunette stated casually. "An ambush. Who do you think was responsible?"

"If I were a betting woman," Weiss stated with identical casualness. "Which I am not… But I would likely put money on one of the two siblings currently pulling our strings."

"Right." Ruby stepped past her friend, rifling through the pockets of the bodies and pulling out what ammo she could find. All but one of the pistols were of the same caliber as hers, though the last was an even smaller .22 caliber, causing her to scoff. She paused by the shotgun on the floor consideringly. "Wish I could take that along…"

"Not something you want to carry through the streets of Santa Monica," Weiss advised. "And we don't really have the time to take it back to our Haven, we need to… Er, is that your phone?"

Ruby blinked her eyes in perplexion as she fished her cellphone out of her pocket. "Huh. Who even has my number?" She slid it open, tapping in her code to unlock before answering. "Um, hello?"

"It was a setup!" Jeanette's voice came across hurriedly. "Listen, I know we've had our differences, but you have to trust me! Therese tried to have you killed!" By this point, Ruby had put it on speaker so that Weiss could listen in as well from where she was sheathing her rapier once more. "I had to lock myself in the bathroom because now she's got a gun and - please, you have to help me!"

"Okay, slow down Jeanette… Tell me what happened," Ruby implored firmly.

"Therese knew it was you at the gallery all along. She set you up and… Oh! Did you hear that? She's crazy! She paid those thieves for a hit, she'll kill anyone who gets in the way of her becoming the top dog of Santa Monica!"

"Alright," Ruby interjected, sharing a concerned glance with Weiss. "We're coming over, Jeanette, just hang on."

"Hurry! I don't know how much longer I have!"

The brunette sighed as she put her phone away in her rear jeans pocket. "So, back to The Asylum?"

"Ruby, I don't know how effectively we will be able to talk down an elder Kindred…"

"No clue, Weiss, but if it's come to this, well… I have a feeling things will finally be resolved between them, one way or another."

"As do I," she returned softly as they strode out of the diner, ignoring the fearful looks from the cook still cowering behind the counter. "And that worries me to no end."

A/N: I get all the fun curses from my fellow authors. Crapbaskets comes from the esteemed Jefardi, purveyor of all things Milk & Cereal. And now, next chapter we have the final showdown between the Voermans, with our beloved little fledglings stuck in the middle as usual! Are you prepared?

Okay, so serious note here. The next chapter contains some allusion to child abuse. It's canon within the game, though no details are regaled, and it's not something I can really skip over. I'm just warning folks now (and I'll stick another warning at the top of the next chapter), I'm going to pretty much transcribe verbatim the game dialogue with regards to that.

Hugs and kisses for my adorkable Beta and collaborator, Live to anger the World, and much love to all you wonderful readers and reviewers! Sharkdude5, AntonSlavik020, noone297, kinigget, Blacsparrow, Haley Earthstone, and a guest, cheers!

Stay shiny!