Chapter 4.24 – Be Mine

Note: my game has the ‘occults keep losing their facial markings and eyes’ bug and I couldn’t be bothered to keep drawing them on manually, so there are inconsistencies in their pictures.

She was still not there and Seth was out of ideas.

She hadn’t been at her home, her job, anywhere he’d seen in her memories. It’s like Jessica Spoon had simply vanished.

None of the faces she’d left behind could give him and inkling as to where she might be hiding, despite his firmest interrogations.

Holy devil. He was losing his mind.

Should he go back to the Vatore house and wait there yet another night? Or should he accept that he had scared the poor girl and she had fled into the night leaving all her possessions behind and that he may never see her again?

It was surely a flaw in him that every woman in his unlife were so ready to flee; to forget that he existed.

Well, except for one.

He had to admit that the lure of the manor and his mistress was almost unfightable, wedged into his cranium like a heel in the… you get the idea.  Ack! He loathed her, yet he yearned for her.

He sat on the bed looking at the plush toys. Imagining the Galloway manor. He could remember the grand old building like he’d been there only yesterday; the river that flowed alongside, the lush lawns, the elegant halls and rooms. The endless corridors, the dank basements, the impenetrable walls…

He wondered if Faith truly was there. What she was doing. Whether she missed him as he did her. Whether she’d even entertain him if he paid her visit, or whether she’d throw things at him and tell him to shove himself into his own posterior.

She had such a wonderful way with words.

Staring at the pink walls in the candyfloss bedroom of the Woodland Borough Police Department’s absent Officer Spoon and faced with yet another dead end, Seth’s overworked brain began to tick with another idea. A way to satisfy his urge, see his mistress and test his craft, all at once.

Could he visit the manor without anyone knowing he was there?

Faith strutted down the corridor, her steps echoing against the stone walls. Caleb said there was one toilet in the whole manor, but he couldn’t remember exactly where it was. She’d left him to bask in their shared disgrace as she’d wandered off to clean up.

It had taken a few steps to find her balance as she felt both giddy and drained.

The last few hours had been like riding a roller coaster with no restraints. A real white-knuckle and rough ride. Even though she was covered in bite marks from the waist up Faith had loved it.

And of course, she wasn’t the only one with fangs; she’d given Caleb as good as she’d got.

Okay, Caleb wasn’t the best lover she’d ever had – he was definitely selfish – but that kinda didn’t matter when he could go for hours. It gave her plenty of time to, um, catch up.

Ugh, another dead end. It’s like this place was made from stone spaghetti. Honestly, who designed it, her mum?

Faith chortled at her own joke and turned back on herself, retracing her steps until she was back on a landing that looked sort of familiar, faced with a cloud of blonde hair that definitely was familiar.

“What a pleasure to see you here!” Kitty said, her lips curling at the edges into not-quite-a-smile. Her hazel eyes scanned down Faith’s body to her bare feet and back up again to her face and her smile grew wider. “I almost thought you would not come, and yet, I see you certainly have.”

Was that a joke? Faith took a step back. Even undead as she was, standing next to Kitty felt cold.

“I’m just visiting Caleb,” she said in a small voice. “To chat.”

Kitty waved her hand jovially, dismissively, but Faith noticed the slightest eye twitch as she did so. “There is no need to lie. If you wish to fornicate With Caleb that is none of my mind.”

“We weren’t—”

“Just keep it to his chambers,” she snapped. “Or yours…” she purred, softening her face and tilting her head.

Faith felt like she was in a blender with a tiger. “Mine?”

“Yes yours,” Kitty repeated, back to her sultry self. “You may take the purple room.”

Kitty seemed so sure of herself in that moment, assuming that screwing Caleb meant that she was moving in, that it got Faith’s back up. “Stay here?” she snorted. “Pass. This place is a dump.”

“Oh,” Kitty sighed. “I see. Well, the flesh needs some work, surely, but the bones are fine.”

“Right. You don’t even have electricity here.”

Kitty huffed and blew a little curl from her forehead. “This again. I am working on it but this world is so very overwhelming and complicated, do you not think? I guess not, native as you are to the buzzing and the chaos. I have read extensively on the subject, and I gather that to have electricity for Caleb’s laptop requires something called a ‘battery’ which sounds like a misdemeanour.”

“Sure, but you know you need to charge the batteries, right? Do you have mains electricity?”

Kitty blinked blankly. “I do not follow.”

No shit. Faith stifled a laugh. It was like trying to talk to an alien. “You could just buy a generator.”

“…I could?” Kitty asked. “A generator, you say?”

“Yeah. When the power goes out at the cinema, we have a backup generator that kicks in to power the place. Lots of places have one.”

“I see. And how does one power the generator?”

“We added diesel to the one at Funhole. Some are powered by the sun.”

“Powered by the sun?”

“Yeah, using solar panels and shit.”

“As in, a panel that is warmed by the sun and… faeces?”

“Uh no, stuff, I meant ‘and stuff’. Yeah,” Faith said trying to remember anything she’d learned at school. “The sun’s rays make energy and that makes electricity via the panels.” I think. Although to be honest, I could tell Kitty any old shit and the old hag would probably believe it.

Kitty looked to be listening to Faith’s inner musings reminding Faith to be careful.

“Oh! I see!” The blonde vampire gushed. “Wonderful – I shall source a generator and some sun panels! See! Five minutes here and you are already proving indispensable. Whatever will I learn after you have stayed ten years?” she laughed.

“I’m not staying.”

Kitty looked put out, but only for a moment. “Even if I manage to fix the electricity issue?”

“Nope.”

Kitty sighed. “Very well. I see you drive a hard bargain. How about your own chambers, electricity and prey on tap?”

Faith thought about Debbie and the other girls that were no doubt living – oh god she hoped they were still living – in the basements, and cringed. “I’m not into—”

“Blondes. Yes I remember. I can source you someone more to your liking?”

“I’m not keeping anyone in the basement.”

“I see. And I cannot allow the living to roam free in the manor so… very well. Perhaps I can give you tips on the best places to hunt? The local public house is rather full of dark, masculine ones of an evening – workers from the local quarry – rugged, hardy—”

“Noted, but I ain’t staying.” She pouted, wondering what the older vampire would offer next.

“Well then,” Kitty smoothed down her dress. “I guess I have nothing you want. Good-bye, Faith.” She started to walk away and paused. “Unless…” she murmured as she turned back. “How about this; I can teach you.”

“Teach me what? The art of the perfect curl?”

“Oh! Do you like them?” Kitty grinned and fluffed her hair. “I rather thought they might be frightful.”

“Eh. You could probably do with some conditioner.”

Kitty blew a curl from her face. “Conditioner. I see. Look at you, teaching me something else. Oh! Let me reciprocate, Faith. Stay and let me teach you whatever you wish to learn. I have over five hundred years of knowledge – I am sure there is something that you would wish to learn from me.”

“I don’t need to learn nothing.”

“Oh? No help, say, developing your powers?”

“I don’t need any help with my powers and if I did, I wouldn’t ask you. I own my power, don’t you know? I can blast people to oblivion using only my brain.”

“Fascinating!” Kitty gasped. “How?”

“How?”

“Yes,” Kitty asked. “Tell me. How do you do that?”

Faith shifted her weight. “…I don’t know, exactly…”

“I thought as much. Faith, do you even know what your power is?”

“Blasty brain?”

Kitty laughed. “No. Oh sweet child, you can do so much more than ‘blast people with your brain’.”

“I can?”

“You can! Your magic is deep and dark and so unusual. Please. Let me teach you, nurture you.”

Faith couldn’t pretend she wasn’t intrigued by what Kitty was offering, about what untold powers she had because, let’s face it, she’d done fuck all so far. But Kitty wasn’t the first one to offer to unwrap the big ol’ present in her brain. Seth had too, right at the start, and that had ended up as a huge steaming pile of shit.

“How will you teach me? What will it entail?”

“That depends how you learn. I have many methods.”

Faith scoffed. “Yeah, I know your methods. If you think you can chain me up—“

“I do not. I would not.”

“Sure…” Faith licked her teeth, her resolve wavering. “In theory, if I stayed here, could I leave at any time?”

“Any time. I do not have the power to make you stay. If I did, I would not be offering you such an attractive proposition; I would simply clip your wings and you would be mine.”

Faith chewed over this. Kitty had a point and Faith had the strangest feeling of déjà vu.

“If I stay. If! And if you teach me. If! What do you want in return? ‘Cause I doubt you want hair tips.”

“I do need to learn about this ‘conditioner’, but rather more… Oh!” Kitty gasped and covered her face as if she was embarrassed. “I hope for your friendship. I do! Caleb is… socially inept, let us be honest. But even if the man could string two sentences together he is still only a man. Faith, I have long lacked for a feminine companion, one to while away the night locked in a deep discussion over the males we wish to court, to share advice on the fashions to the day, to giggle and to blush with—“

Faith snorted. “Seriously? You want me to stay here to be your bestie?”

“My… bestie?” The tickle in Faith’s head grew stronger as Kitty tried to understand. “Oh, yes. If that is what you would call it. I would like you to consider being my ‘bestie’.”

Faith couldn’t stifle her snort. It was ridiculous. “Right. You can’t just ask anyone to be your bestie. Besides, I—” already have one, Faith thought with a knot in her stomach as she replayed her encounter with Melinda the previous night. She fixed her face and smirked. “I don’t want you.” She ended instead.

For the first time ever, Kitty looked genuinely sad at Faith’s snideness. When she spoke again, her voice was small and shaky.

“You mock because you don’t understand. Loneliness is the most crippling disease and I have suffered long enough. We have suffered enough. Oh, Faith! Imagine what this place could be; alive with colours and minds and conversation, as once it was. Dinner parties, banquets, balls and soirees. Fine men and the blushes of love.”

Faith must’ve been hallucinating, because she could almost see it, hear it, taste it but then was plummeted back into the dank corridor, the colours fading before her eyes.

“I only ever ask that my offers are considered. Will you consider it?”

Who were those guys? Were there other vampires? That one with the dark hair looked like he’d be up for a good time. Maybe if she hung around she’d meet some others.

“…Maybe.”

“Maybe is good enough for me,” Kitty said. “I shall take my leave and let you weigh up your options. Oh! And the privy is at the end of the hall, opposite the grand bathroom. Please enjoy both and help yourself to salts and oils; I favour the myrtle myself, however Caleb enjoys most a woman scented of frangipani.” she whispered. “Oh!” and she called as she sauntered off. “Your chamber is to your right.”

Toilet forgotten, Faith waited until Kitty’s heels had disappeared into the distance and then hurried to the room Kitty had indicated could be hers. She was sure that Caleb hadn’t entered this one; he said some were off-limits and that they all looked the same anyway.

As she pushed open the heavy, squeaky door, Faith found the room already lit with candles, the logs in the fireplace ablaze, the bed laden with fresh linen and towels and what looked like homemade toiletries. The walls and curtains were some shade of purple, long faded. It was every bit as creepy and miserable as the rest of the house but it was huge. Bigger than her room at home that she’d shared with her kid sister. Bigger than her whole house had been.

And it could be hers.

She sat on the bed and sunk into the plush mattress, surprised to find that the pillows were plump and new, the sheets were freshly laundered. Almost, she realised, like someone knew that she’d be coming.

Like someone had hoped that she might stay.

Faith sniffed the toiletries. She had no idea what they were but they smelled expensive. She lay back and looked around her chambers as a knock came at the door.

Should she stay here? Could she trust Kitty at all?

Did it matter?

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