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LaCroix’s new lackey was more competent than he thought and weirdly, she was pleasant enough to spend time with. Especially after she refused to snitch on Mercurio to their boss and saved his hide even though she had no reason to do so.
“The internet connection in your place is way better than mine.” Victoria typed something in her clunky laptop. “Sebby pisses off if I don’t catch up with his emails.”
Mercurio almost spilled the beer he was drinking. Maybe it was rude to drink in front of someone without offering them anything but he wasn’t going to let someone he barely knew suck his blood and he didn’t have any blood bags in his home. It wasn’t like he often had vampire –no, they called each other Kindred they had a fancy name for everything- visitors.
“You call him Sebby?” Knowing LaCroix for decades, He knew their boss would turn this Fledgling’s brain to scrambled eggs if he knew how she had called him.
“Not when he is in hearing distance.” Victoria turned her hazel eyes to him and smiled, her fangs visible. Mercurio thought she was cute until he remembered the warning words LaCroix told him before she arrived, about how he should be wary of Toreadors because they can make him do whatever they want.
Their power is a softer version of ours said his boss When a Ventrue tell you to do something, you do it even though you don’t want to. When Toreador use their power, they make you feel like it is the thing you want. That is why they are not fit to rule like the Ventrue. They rely on lies and manipulation.
Mercurio knew his boss enough to realize he was bullshitting. To him, there was no difference between being commanded by a Ventrue or Toreador but it looked like vampire politics worked differently.
“Tell me.” Victoria closed her laptop and leaned toward him. “What do you know about the vampires?”
“I know that your kind call themselves Kindred, not vampires.” He rolled his eyes. “You are new to this, aren’t you? The boss said you hadn’t even gotten the basics.”
“You can say that.” Mercurio felt a tinge of guilt when her expression soured. They weren’t exactly friends but she saved his hide from their boss and reminding Victoria of her lack of knowledge felt wrong.
“Maybe the boss could help you catch up.” Mercurio cringed at his own words. Let alone helping this Fledgling, LaCroix would probably kill her if given a chance. It was obvious that their boss was sending Victoria on suicide missions.
“Suuure.” He leaned back and started to play with his hair. “You have been working with him for decades. Have you never asked him to turn you into a… Kindred?”
“No, why would I?” Mercurio scoffed. He never had a desire to be a bloodsucker. If he asked LaCroix probably would discard him for overstepping.
“I don’t know, for eternal youth?”
“I already have that. Have you forgotten that I am almost sixty?”
“I am talking about not being dependent on anyone. What will you do if LaCroix dies?”
“Why would he die?” To his knowledge, LaCroix was one of the power players out there who lived hundreds of years. Mercurio didn’t even want to think about the possibility.
“I don’t know.” Victoria crossed her legs, leaned her back and made herself comfortable as if it was her own place. “Things are getting tense in L.A. Everything can happen. Can’t you sense it?”
“Now you started to talk like one of those Malkavians.”
“I jest.” She smirked at his comment. “But be honest. Have you really never wanted to be a Kindred?”
“I considered it once but after learning more about your nature… Nah, I am good as a Ghoul.”
“Our nature? I mean, I understand that drinking blood and not being able to stand under sunlight isn’t for everyone but I thought you wouldn’t mind. Don’t you work mostly during the night anyway?”
“Not just that.” During the past years, Mercurio couldn’t help himself and asked LaCroix if they were able to have sex. Even though they met rarely, his boss looked like a corpse freshly kidnapped from the Morgue.
After his question, LaCroix looked at him with his chilly eyes long enough for Mercurio to consider fleeing from his presence. Then he finally answered briefly; No, the Kindred weren’t able to have sex.
“I heard you guys… You know, weren’t able to…” He refused to talk about this issue with a woman, even though the woman in question was an immortal bloodsucker.
“Tell me Mercurio.” Victoria leaned toward him again. She exactly knew what he was talking about. “We aren’t able to do what?”
“It is inappropriate to talk about this in front of a woman.”
“Let me guess then? We aren’t able to…” She tapped the table with her nails. “Have sex? Do you think we aren’t able to have sex?”
“I don’t think that!” Well, if she was going to be open about it, there was no use acting courteous. “LaCroix told me about it when I asked…”
“You asked him about it?” Her eyes widened; it looked like she was trying not to burst into laughter. “I wonder how he hadn’t ripped your head off right there. You really must be valuable to him.”
“Yeah, I wondered that myself.” Mercurio chuckled. “He was pretty certain about it, though.”
“Well, it wouldn’t surprise me that if LaCroix didn’t have sex since his Embrace. Sometimes I think that his suit is glued to him. But I assure you we can do that. I mean, having sex.” Victoria winked at him. “At least I can assure you that I did.”
Mercurio could feel the heat on his cheeks. He was neither inexperienced nor shy when it came to women but talking about those issues in front of another felt weird.
“You did?”
“Yes.” Victoria stood up and appeared right in front of him at a moment’s notice. It should have been superhuman speed, he thought as she gently held his chin. Mercurio inhaled her perfume, she smelled of vanilla and something more spicy. “With a Ghoul no less.”
Mercurio felt like he was choking.
“Are you… using your powers on me?”
“What? No. I dread that thing called Presence. Kindred always assume that I am hypnotizing them.”
Victoria’s hand on his chin, her smell on his nostrils, made his head spin in a good way. Throughout his long life, he never felt frustrated when a woman touched him so why was he now? Because she was a vampire?
“Also, I would never use my powers on friends.” Victoria collected herself together quickly, she ghosted her fingers on his chin. Her ice-cold fingers felt pleasant on his skin.
“Friends?” Mercurio wasn’t able to form a coherent sentence consisting of more than two words all of a sudden.
“Aren’t we?” She looked disappointed. “I guess you only saw me as a business associate. Pity. I was going to offer something but it would be… too intimate for the professional relationship between us.”
“What?” She pulled her hand from him and Mercurio realized he definitely wanted her touch back. “What were you going to offer Victoria?”
“Can’t say.” Victoria took his laptop and put it in her bag. “Maybe one day I would offer it again. Bye, Mercurio!” She took her bag and walked by him, gently squeezing his cheek before leaving. Mercurio remained at his place for some time. Even though Victoria was long gone, he still felt dizzy.
“Did she… mean sex?”