Blood of The Rose

Chapter 14: Daughters of Janus

Santa Monica

The Asylum

Ruby looked around as the doors slid shut behind her, cutting off the opening riff to Nothin' But A Good Time by Poison. The elevator she found herself in looked to be as classy as the rest of the establishment, with green leather upholstered walls and hardwood flooring.

"Definitely don't make 'em like this anymore," the brunette murmured as she pressed the button for the second floor. The elevator smoothly lurched into motion, and before long the doors slid open once more to reveal a small foyer.

She walked out and immediately picked up on voices coming from the single door opposite her, so she decided to pause and listen before knocking. As she stood there her gaze quickly traveled around. The foyer had the same tattered red wallpaper and wood flooring as below, along with a small mirror that adorned the wall next to the ornate and heavy wooden door.

"Your city?" the first muffled voice spoke up angrily. Ruby quickly recognized it as coming from Jeanette. "Last time I looked, it was called 'Santa Monica', not 'Stuck-Up Bitch'."

"Oooh, nice burn there Jeanette," Ruby whispered with a grin.

"So vulgar! I can't even look at you sometimes, you Jezebel!"

The brunette fledgling snorted softly to herself. Obviously the pretentious and frigid second voice was that of Therese. The fuck is a Jezebel, anyways?

"Oh Therese, you really do paint a flattering portrait of me with your turn-of-the-century barbs," Jeanette snarked. "I always assumed you could do nothing but look down on me."

"Just the sight of you!" Therese exclaimed in response, obviously going over a path that was well-trodden. "The sight of that wicked, tainted pout concealing that dirty, diseased mind…"

Ruby shook her head in wonderment. Sure, Jeanette seemed to be a little… unhinged, but Therese seemed to be carrying it a bit far. She crept forward, her enhanced hearing straining to listen as Therese continued.

"Sin! You have no shame!"

Jeanette laughed scornfully in reply. "Let she who is without sin cast the fierce tone."

"Go ahead and mock me. You pull your pranks, make fun of my ways, it suits you." Therese scoffed disparagingly. "You're just one big joke."

"Don't you call me that!" her sister exclaimed with an affronted tone.

Therese continued her verbal attack, haughty and scornful. "Should I start calling a duck a pig as well?"

Jeanette's voice quickly became tearful. "I'm your sister! How can you treat me like this?"

Ruby heard Therese sigh condescendingly as a door slammed, sounding as if she were moving closer towards the foyer. "That's it Jeanette, run away from the truth. I'll take care of everything, as always."

Gulping, the brunette decided that now was as good a time as any, and knocked on the door. The same cold, imperious voice called out. "Enter!"

The large room she walked into seemed to be a combination of working office and bedroom. The ornate room had a soft red persian rug with a deep pile in the center. Directly across from the door where she entered was a sturdy wooden desk, and standing right next to it was a blonde vampire in a pinstripe suit. The woman wore black-rimmed glasses, black lipstick, dark eyeshadow, and her hair back in a bun with several strands loose and framing her face.

With a start, Ruby recognized the vampiress from the Theater on the night she was turned.

As she hesitantly stepped forward, her silver eyes flickered about the room, trying to take in more of her surroundings. Several paintings lined the walls, mostly pastoral scenes, and two extremely tall, grotesque statues reached up to the vaulted ceiling against the left wall. A series of faded green dressing panels separated the room, and on the other side lay what looked to be an ornate, pink, frilly bed, along with a dressing table adorned with an overly large heart-shaped mirror. A laptop sat on the dressing table, while a monitor perched atop the heavy desk, making her wonder if the former belonged to Jeanette.

The fledgling warily eyed the severe-looking vampire, whose face instantaneously went from irritated to politely welcoming.

"Please, come in. I do apologize for my sister's crassness if it made you uncomfortable. She's unabashedly scandalous, but… in the club business, I suppose that kind of personality is a necessary evil."

Ruby walked the rest of the way up to the woman and nodded her head in polite greeting, hands clasped behind her back. Her new outfit seemed to actually give her a certain amount of confidence that her previously ratty clothes did not. Mental note, shower Weiss with thanks for this. Wonder what you buy a vampire as a thank-you gift? Maybe a bag of really tasty blood?

"Oh, no, no problem at all," she stated out loud, only the hint of a waver in her voice. "Um… My name's Ruby Rose. So I guess that means you're Therese?"

The blonde smiled tightly. "Therese Voerman, yes. I'm the proprietor of this club, and the only person in this city whose good side it's in your best interest to stay on. And yes, I do remember you, fledgling. What brings you to Santa Monica?"

She took an unnecessary but steadying breath. Okay, I need this, don't fuck it up Ruby... "I'd like for you to call off the feud with Bertram Tung. Er, please."

"Tung's exile is self-imposed, I assure you," she smirked. "But then, what reason would I have not to hate that loathsome Nosferatu scoundrel." Her haughty voice lowered into a disgusted murmur. "Bloody Nosferatu. They're so… unclean."

Absently, Ruby noticed that, unlike Jeanette, Therese's eyes were a single color, pale blue and cold, even more so than Weiss'. "Um… Why do you hate him?"

Therese frowned briefly. "He meddles in my affairs. He's a bad influence on my sister, and she on him. If you were in my place, would you let him compromise your authority? You most certainly would not. I'd quite like it if I never had to hear that name again."

"Sooo if you don't have a feud with him… Can you just, I dunno… put the word out that he doesn't have to hide, maybe?"

"Why would I do that?" she answered with another arrogant smirk. "Let him think I mean to kill him. That way, I don't have to worry about him sabotaging everything. Do you realize how his subterfuge makes me look to the Camarilla?"

Ruby nodded uncertainly, unsure as to why it was everything seemed to boil down to politics with vampires. "Um, okay, buuut I still really need to see him. Y'know, Prince's orders and all."

"Tung and his co-conspirator's actions ruined my chance at partnership in a crucial piece of property. I do have several other promising ventures, and one in particular has been, to say the least, an ordeal." The statuesque blonde tapped a finger on her chin as she looked the fledgling over consideringly. "Hmm… I'd be willing to put the word out that my grievances with Tung have been swept under the rug, but in return, you'll have to help me remove a particularly burdensome spirit from a property I'm looking to invest in."

She felt her eyes involuntarily bug out. "A- A- A spirit? You mean… like, a ghost?"

"Ah, I forgot, you're still new to this." Therese graced her with a slight smile. "Allow me to break you in: Yes, ghosts exist. Werewolves, mummies, and I'd expect a whole lot of other things I've never seen share the night with us."

Well of course, why the fuck not, she shrugged to herself. In the back of her head, she knew, was a little voice screaming at the absurdity of it all, but she clamped down on it. Now was not the time to lose it, she could schedule a nice little mental breakdown after she got the hell out of Santa Monica.

"Yeah, okay," she finally sighed. "Sure, I'll do it. What do I have to do to get rid of this ghost?"

"Rumor has it that a personal item of a ghost's may be used to draw it out or excise it from its haunt. While I don't put a lot of stock in hearsay, it's my last option. So I want you to go to the Ocean House hotel, find an item of the spirit's, and bring it back." Her eyes glittered coldly with some unnamed emotion roiling behind the veil.

"And then you'll call off the feud, right?" she prompted warily.

"Oh, I fully intend to do so," the elder vampire answered with a small, almost condescending grin. "You'll find that dealing with me, on the whole, is appreciably more predictable than dealing with some of the egomaniacs that are my peers. So long as our business doesn't go sour, my word is gold."

"Okay… I guess I can respect that. And, um, I appreciate it." Ruby fiddled with her hands clasped at her waist. "Sooo… I guess I kinda need to know where I'm going, right?"

"Indeed. Here, take this." Therese handed over a key that was attached to a simple green fob. "The only way to reach the Ocean House at night is through a tunnel in the sewers. You'll need that key to open the gate for that tunnel."

Ruby's face screwed up reflexively at that. "Sewers? Oh, great…" she muttered.

Before she could even retract her hasty reaction, Therese's face contorted into a scowl at the perceived slight. "Listen, you're young and naive so I'll offer you this chance one more time. Continued existence versus a beautiful sunrise. I'd give it serious consideration."

The fledgling was quick to backpedal. "No, no, no worries, sewers are… great. Really. It'll be… fun." Son of a shitbiscuit...

Nodding, Therese turned back towards the desk and gave a dismissive wave. "If you'll excuse me, I've got situations to set straight."

Eager to escape, Ruby nodded as well and hurriedly turned to exit the room, but as she glanced behind her she was brought to a halt. In between the door she'd entered and another, presumably for a bathroom or closet, was a huge, floor to ceiling painting, easily fifteen feet tall. Prominently featured was a gaunt-looking suited old man with two little blonde girls in front of him, both in lacy white dresses. The one on the left had her hair loose while the one on the right wore her hair in low pigtails with red ribbons. The fledgling got a definitively creepy vibe looking at it, but she was unsure if it was the way the creepy old man seemed to bore into her or the starkly depressing background of a barren tree.

She hurriedly scooted the rest of the way out, closing the door behind her. Shaking her head wearily as she re-entered the elevator, Ruby let out a discouraged sigh. It never goes easy, does it? There simply wasn't enough time that evening to do the Ocean House, especially as she really wanted Weiss to be there, necessitating her pickup first. And it most certainly was not because she was scared to go into the sewers alone. Nope, that's not it at all. Before the elevator door opened once more, the brunette closed her eyes and murmured to herself. "Please, please, please… Just don't let there be rats…"

o o o

Three figures stood concealed by the shadows outside The Asylum, waiting for a certain fledgling to appear. In the forefront was a diminutive vampire, dressed in a black miniskirt and blouse with knee-high boots, while behind her stood another Kindred with skin the color of coffee. She wore a simple white halter top and low-rise cargo capris in a matching color. Her most distinguishing characteristic, however, was her bobbed mint-green hair.

"I don't get why she's so special," Emerald muttered irritably.

"You don't need to know the why," a sultry feminine voice reminded her from deeper in the shadows. "Simply that she is… significant in ways I have not yet determined."

"Well, if she's gonna be a problem, we should just take care of her."

"Oh, Emerald… Are you trying to think with that pretty little head of yours?" A low chuckle sent thrills down the vampire woman's spine. "I don't keep you around to think. You wanted to achieve power, and all I require is your absolute obedience."

The mint-haired girl ducked her head abashedly. "And you have it, mistress," she replied quietly.

"Am I truly your mistress?" the voice goaded teasingly. "I did not Sire you, after all."

"It is… just a term of respect. Nothing more."

"Hmm. Of course…"

Just then the front door to The Asylum opened, letting the heavy bass of Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana to fill the night air like a heavy melodic fog. As Ruby exited the nightclub, the shortest vampire eagerly started forward as if to intercept her.

"Do not follow her," the hidden voice commanded sternly.

The heterochromatic woman turned, scowling, but did not proceed any further. Her glare would cause any normal Kindred to quail, but all it did was elicit another light chuckle as the shadowy woman moved into the light.

The raven-haired vampire wore a high-cut red dress that fell to her knees, with black stilettos and thin belt. The dress was long-sleeved and hung fashionably off of her shoulders, with intricate gold trim. Her amber eyes glowed in the dim light cast from the streetlamps.

"Patience, Neo," Cinder stated quietly, giving the diminutive Malkavian a pat on her mismatched hair. "You will have your chance at chaos soon enough."

Neo's scowl quickly reversed direction as she seemed to accept the platitude. With a happy skip in her step, the tiny girl spun around and strode merrily off into the darkness.

Emerald approached the raven-haired Kindred cautiously, staring off in the direction of Neo's departure. "I don't trust her," she whispered.

"Of course not," Cinder scoffed. "You'd be an idiot to do so. She's a tool, a weapon." One slender finger raised up to land gently on the mint-green-haired girl's cheek. "I point my finger," she purred, stroking the crimson-nailed digit downwards, "and say kill."

Emerald gave a start as Cinder left a small scratch on the edge of her chin as her finger slid off. Scowling, the Toreador expended just a tiny bit of blood to heal the wound.

She hated having her features marred.

"Now then, we have other matters to attend to," the raven-haired Ventrue declared, stalking off.

Emerald listened to the clacking of the woman's heels as they receded into the distance, staring unseeing at the spot she'd just vacated.

"Yes, mistress," she answered softly before stirring and following in the elder vampire's footsteps.

A/N: And now we've met a number of influential new players. Therese from the game, and then a couple of others with Cinder pulling strings in the background and Emerald being the willing lackey as always. Neo… is Neo. 'Nuff said. Just as an aside, I do believe Cinder has a rather simplistic view of Neo, which may or may not come into play at a later date...

EDIT: It was pointed out that the Firefly Mandarin curse I used was rather offensive taken out of context, so I apologize profusely if anyone else was offended, I went ahead and changed it. In retrospect, it was more than a bit tasteless used in the english translation.

Eternal gratitude for my lovely Beta and collaborator, Live to anger the World, and many hugs for my wonderful reviewers, noone297, zerosabers, Sharkdude5, AntonSlavik020, Mossblomma, SixPerfections, and djjohns94.

Stay shiny!