Blood of The Rose

Chapter 22: Divide and Conquer

Santa Monica

The Asylum

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains mention of child abuse without going into detail. It's canon from the game and central to the plot, but be forewarned, it gets rather emotional.

Without knocking this time, Ruby and Weiss both barged into The Asylum's penthouse apartment once clear of the elevator. Therese was immediately evident, holding a gun up and pointing it at the bathroom. But then she turned towards them…

And both fledglings froze in shock.

The left side of her face, the side that had been visible initially, was done up in its usual bun, with several strands loose and an eye with dark mascara that matched the lipstick, but on the right… A messy pigtail was gathered on the side, blood-red mascara artfully spilling down from her right eye that matched the lipstick messily smeared across the right side of her mouth.

She was both Therese and Jeanette.

Jeanette and Therese were the same person.

Ruby could only blink in surprise as her overtaxed brain struggled to come to terms with this new, unexpected development, but the… woman had already turned towards her, mouth set in an angry sneer.

"You stay out of this!" Therese's cold, imperious voice snarled. "To think that anyone would risk their life for this filthy, tainted waste of blood! This will just make it easier to kill the three of you together!"

Her demeanor immediately changed, eyes becoming more pleading and her voice subtly shifting to a higher pitch, undeniably that of Jeanette. "Help! Save me and I'll help you find Bertram, I swear!"

"Weiss…" the brunette murmured helplessly.

"Yes, I see it," her partner responded blankly. "I don't know what to make of it, but I see it."

"Shut up, Jeanette!" the Therese personality shouted angrily, ignoring the fledglings and taking over once more. "I warned you to stay away from Tung - he's turned you against me! I always looked out for you! But you couldn't stand my success, you had to meddle, didn't you? I didn't want it to end like this but you forced me!"

"You never gave me any credit for anything, Therese!" sneered Jeanette. "I was the one calling the shots! Bertram was dancing on my leash! How does it feel to know that I beat you?"

"What…?" Ruby cleared her throat, hesitant to intercede but not wanting things to get too far out of hand. "Um, what's going on here?"

Therese smirked coldly. "Isn't it obvious? I'm about to rid the night of this deviant, backstabbing whore! Do you realize that, despite her condition, she still… fornicates… with kine, no less! So despicable… so… so unclean!"

The smirk turned from cold to smug in a flash. "You're one to talk, dear sister… or should I say, Daddy's little girl?" Jeanette glanced over at the fledglings with a leer. "Do you want to know just how depraved the Baroness of Santa Monica can be?"

"Shut up, Jeanette!" her sister snarled haughtily.

"You'd love the world to think you're a saint. When you thought I was asleep, I used to hear father come in at night. I heard him whisper how much he loved you in your ear before he-"

"Don't finish that sentence or you're dead!" Therese demanded, her demeanor becoming more frenzied.

Ruby felt sick to her stomach as the conversation unfurled. Suddenly she could understand how an abused little girl could have split herself into two personalities to deal with her life… And then, once turned into a vampire, the Malkavian curse taking hold…

"Jeanette..." the brunette whispered weakly, sorrowfully.

Taking it as encouragement, Jeanette smirked and continued. "...Had his way with you. And he didn't have to force you, you went limp and became his plaything. Do you think I didn't hear it, night after night? Always the obedient daughter, until…"

"Shut up!" Therese snapped desperately. "Just… Just shut up!"

With sudden clarity, Ruby could see how this would go, one of two ways. Either Therese or Jeanette would win, finally subduing the other side of themself that they could no longer exist with. And she was in a position, now, to help with that choice, encourage one personality or the other in the struggle for dominance.

That, or if she chose wrong, both her and Weiss would meet their end this very evening.

Please, please let this be the right choice…

The brunette fledgling cleared her throat, gaining the attention of every Kindred in the room.

"Go on, Jeanette," she stated firmly. "What happened?"

Her choice smirked at her gleefully, though she seemed to turn towards the wall for a moment to address her "sister."

"Would you like to tell the story? She makes herself out to be the virgin Queen of the Night. Pious as a nun, stable as the Earth's orbit. But it's all an act, isn't it?"

Therese struggled to maintain control, turning towards the pair of fledglings pleadingly while still addressing Jeanette. "I'm the good girl. You're the wicked one. You've done nothing but plot against me when I had our best interests at heart. And despite that, I've always covered up your mistakes. I've taken care of you." Her voice dropped into a frenzied snarl. "And this is how you repay me?"

"Taken care of me?" Jeanette scoffed. "You've done nothing but keep me down, blamed me for every mistake. Did you expect me to let you rule my life until the end of time? No, sister, you've had it coming since our last sunrise."

"Is that right, dear?" Therese smirked loftily. "If it wasn't for me, you would have never survived this long. Remember? They tried to separate us, but I refused. I chose this life and brought you into it so that we could stay together. Obviously, you've forgotten."

"Ruby," the platinum-haired fledgling murmured as she unobtrusively sidled up to her. "What are you doing?"

"Making a choice," she breathed back. "Hopefully the right one." Raising her voice, she decided to give another nudge, directing this one towards Therese. "That doesn't give you the right to always tell her what to do."

"She's a control freak!" Jeanette agreed vehemently. "People, things, emotions - if she can't control something, she gets rid of it!"

"And you're a wild animal!" Therese retorted. "You'll rub up against anything that'll take you in for the night, then, when you're stuffed and bored, you bite the hand that fed you!"

"And yet," Ruby injected with a reasonable tone, "Therese was the one who tried to have me and Weiss killed just now."

"Therese will never let you live. You've disappointed her. I used you, yes, but I didn't try to have you killed. Therese has no problem with killing, do you? Remember Father?"

Hmm, and back to dear old dad again…

Therese seemed to recoil back at Jeanette's venomous words. "Father loved me. I was a good girl, I always did what I was told. You always hated that he loved me. You disobeyed him, you brought men home when he wasn't there… You were an awful daughter to him!"

"So, what happened to your father?" Ruby asked quietly into the silence that seemed to grip the room in a suffocating embrace.

"I was always good to Father…" Therese was downcast, her usual superior visage reduced to that of a broken woman recounting her even more broken past. "...But Jeanette made him miserable. Over the years, it all became too much for him. I think she broke his heart. So he… killed himself, right in our room."

The hesitant, despondent visage was shattered by an indignant sneer. "Killed himself? Therese! You placed his finger on the trigger, blew his mind all over the silly clown wallpaper. Right after he found me in your bed, and thought I was you."

"He was always angry at you!" Therese countered frantically. "You drove him to drink! When he died, he was in torment!"

"As I recall," Jeanette smiled wickedly, "he died with a smile on his face."

Ohhhh, snap! "So, you killed your own father, Therese," Ruby prodded.

"The police sure believed that," Jeanette continued. "They broke us up for a little while, remember? The first thing you did after your escape was find me."

"Enough!" Therese demanded, seemingly at the end of her tether. "Don't say another word about that!"

Jeanette sighed, seemingly in resignation of how things had turned out. "So, sweet sister, is this how it has to end? I admit I always knew this night might come. Well… any message you want me to give Father? An apology?" The smirk that flashed across her face was cruel and knowing. "A love letter?"

That, apparently, finally broke the stalemate. The elder Kindred seemed to struggle with the gun, both hands vying for control, while Ruby and Weiss took a few hesitant steps back. The brunette tensed, either to throw herself to the ground or activate her Fortitude, when suddenly the gun went off with a thunderous boom that resounded throughout the enclosed space. The smoking gun fell to the floor with a dull thud, and the blonde looked up at Ruby and Weiss somewhat mournfully.

"I… I killed her," Jeanette's voice stated with soft wonder, regret falling from her lips like the tears she seemed unable to produce. "I didn't want her to go… I only wanted her to change. You understand, don't you? Poor, poor Therese…"

Ruby was hesitant to approach the distraught Kindred, but held up a reassuring hand. "I understand, Jeanette, I truly do…"

The blonde vampire seemed to gather herself, standing tall once more. "You wanted to find Bertram. He's at the old gas station in an empty oil tank. He'll help you because I'll ask him to. But you must keep your tongues tied tight about what happened this night, understand?"

Both Weiss and Ruby nodded, though the brunette was the one to answer. "I understand, Jeanette, we won't breathe a word of this."

"Good. And… don't hesitate to come see me once in awhile. I'm going to be so lonely without Therese… I mean, I may need someone like you both, sometime, duckling and snowflake. And... I do get bored so easily. Maybe you could come by and cheer me up sometime?"

"Sure Jeanette," Ruby smiled softly. "You have my word."

"And mine as well," Weiss added gently. The pair of them nodded their goodbyes and left down the elevator once more.

The brunette blew out a breath. "Wow."

Weiss nodded pensively. "So… I'm now bound by your word and cannot relay this to the Camarilla, nor to my Master."

"Yeah… I'm sorry, Weiss, I didn't think about that, but… It's really for the best, don't you think?"

"No, it's quite alright, and I agree with you." Weiss flashed her a small smile. "You handled yourself quite well in there. Like a genuine Ventrue."

That small praise, right there, was enough to make Ruby's face light up with a brilliant smile for the foreseeable future.

o o o

The diminutive girl perched on the barstool at the end of the counter, cradling her bottle of blood gingerly. She felt like a raw bundle of nerves, frayed and unraveling. Her mind was bouncing around with the possibilities, the paths laid out before her.

And, most frustratingly of all, none of it was within her control.

Neo sighed and fiddled with her cell phone laid out atop the bar. She was hoping for something, any sort of sign, a signal, a text… Anything at all to dispel the dread portents that tugged at her psyche.

"Sorry, sweetie, nothing yet," her phone stated soothingly. "I'm sure it will work out, though…"

How can you be sure? The paths diverge tonight, dark and light, happiness and despair, and I must deal with the consequences! One way or another, my future belongs to whomever I am left with!

"Pardon me, but did I miss something?" her bottle inquired politely. "What's happening?"

Something momentous, Neo replied with considerable unease, glancing up towards the ceiling as if she could peer into the penthouse apartment. But it's not my place to witness, merely to pick up the pieces. She shifted in her seat nervously, her black overcoat swaying back and forth behind her. I am afraid, she whispered despondently.

The elevator door across the way opened to reveal both Little Red and Ice Princess. The pair of fledglings radiated a certain amount of contentedness as they exited the boisterous club.

Neo took a deep, unnecessary but calming breath and slowly let it out.

It is done. Now… I find out who my mistress shall be.

She hesitantly approached the elevator, riding it up to the top. The tiny Kindred paused at the door then, her hands clenched together, pleading that the one she needed would be there.

And then she opened the door, softly and slowly, to be greeted with a joyous cry of "Sugarpop!"

Neo grinned widely. It's going to be okay. I'll be okay, with my Mistress no longer shackled by the Dark Daughter of Janus, we both will be perfectly okay.

With that, Neo threw herself gleefully into the arms of her most favorite vampire in all the world.

A/N: Hey, how about that, I left you with some Neo fluff. And so the Voerman sister arc is finished for the time being. Honestly, this scene rates in the top ten WTF moments of gaming. The first time I played through I was totally floored, had no idea it was coming. I tried very hard to keep that same feeling of wonder intact for those who haven't played the game before, hope it came across okay!

So, we're on the way to visit Bertram, but first there are a few stops to make. We'll spend one chapter tying up loose ends, and then go see our good buddy Bertram, blow up a warehouse, and have a party.

Bountiful thanks to my patient and diligent Beta and collaborator, Live to anger the World, and hugs all around for all of you wonderful readers and reviewers! AntonSlavik020, Sharkdude5, Athkore, Blacsparrow, kinigget, Haley Earthstone, TacoKing23, Lyall777, Nicodemus Cain, zerosabers, thanks for the support!

Stay shiny!