Jared Mason, a.k.a. Renfield awoke to hear the voices of his bodyguard and administrator discussing the day's news. They were at least two rooms away, but he could hear them quite clearly. Even further away he heard the muffled scream as Carmilla once again awoke from her nightmares. He smiled; this abandoned mansion was perfect for his needs.
"Not as good as we might have hoped, but it will have to do until we have some idea of the security around his room." The voice was Varney's, Renfield's tall, thin and somewhat older and wiser adminastrator.
"Mina should have made sure the job was done before she left," protested Lucy. The slurred quality of her words telling Renfield that she was drunk.
Most drug-lords wouldn't be happy about a drunk bodyguard, but Renfield was unconcerned. It was not known that he was the real person in charge for one thing, and another was the fact that Lucy's sixteen year-old body just didn't look as dangerous as it truly was. Even drunk, she was a better bodyguard than most. Besides, he liked it when the blood was tainted by something, maybe he wouldn't go hunting tonight.
"The other unfortunate police officer's body?" Renfield asked his administrator.
"Dr. Emily Grange has been informed of the details," assured Varney. Renfield didn't like that idea.
"I like to keep my involvement with the Camarilla to a minimum, Varney," Renfield said quietly. "And my involvement with the Followers of Set even less."
"Dr. Grange believes me to be a rogue ghoul," Varney insisted. "She is unaware of your existence." Renfield looked doubtful, but Varney had never failed him before.
"One problem taken care of, then," Renfield suggested. "Fo' the moment anyway."
"And another one formed." Renfield leveled a cockeyed stare at Varney. "A woman has been asking about you, waving around old photos from your living era." Varney proceeded to describe the reported woman's european features. "One of our lesser dealers said that someone recognized your picture and told the woman she'd seen you at the Shadowspot nightclub. A young black lady." Varney was definately predjudiced, not tolerating anything that wasn't his race and gender. Renfield's girls were almost an exception to this rule, they served his master after all. He did wish that Renfield were more particular about his choices when selecting "dates." As far as the vampire was concerned, however, one girl was as good as any other, as long as they were innocent to begin with.
"Why didn't he follow her?" Renfield asked angrily.
"She just vanished. Nobody noticed her longer than she wished them to, the only reason our man saw her was that he heard your name spoken. I have standing orders to listen for the names Jared Mason and Nathan Coleridge. After the lady she was talking to finished her story the woman left the bar. Nobody remembers seeing her come out, but our man saw her go through the door."
"At what time did this happen," he asked after some brief thought.
"Daylight."
"Magi hunting vampires?" Lucy asked.
"Or mebee an Outlander or Blue Blood," Renfield thought aloud, referring to the two clans of Kindred best known for the power to survive daylight. The shape-changing Gangrel, and the aristocratic Ventrue, to be specific.
"Very powerful ghoul," They shivered at that thought. Ghoul were mere shadows of the vampire who gave him blood. Only old ghouls with older masters or those that entered into their own mystical studies, such as Varney, possessed powers beyond a superhuman physique and immortality.
"Hmm," Renfield was annoyed. "It's time to feed Carmilla anyway, bring the informant to me unharmed. As for the mystery woman we'll wait for her to show and see what happens." Varney smiled now.
"We already have the informant, sir,"
"I hope this one's an innocent," said Mina as she walked into the room. "It will be entertaining to see that self-rightous bitch frenzy on someone who doesn't deserve it. She cared less about that hit man than she did about the cat last time."
"Shall we introduce our captive to Miss Carmilla, sir?" Varney asked.
Renfield's seventeen year old face cracked into a feral smile revealing two long sharp canines as he stared into the thirty-four year old face of his oldest servant.
"Let's."
Jaera prepared for the coming battle in meditation, uniting her physical being with her avatar. Her avatar, her soul, screamed for the hunt to begin in earnest. It thirsted to swoop upon her prey like the hawk it resembled. Jaera concentrated on the abilities of the hawk, on the speed, accuracy and the ripping talons. Her body began to respond to her thoughts as the spark of life within her and her knowledge of the reality behind the patterns of life worked to perform her will.
She came out of the meditation in tune with her avatar, physically and mentally. She would rend her enemy with her talons, soon, it would all happen very soon. Then her sister would have her revenge. The changes she had worked on her body reversed. She knew she could do it now, that was all she needed to know.
Jaera watched as her talons reformed into hands, and felt her feathers once again become hair. She saw the accuracy of her vision diminishing as her eyes reverted to normal. Of course this was her sanctum, here it was her view of reality that ruled. The view that anything can be accomplished by mastering the philosophies of Do. Outside her apartment the Technomancy ruled, vulgar magick would be difficult and, perhaps, dangerous to perform.
Jenny watched the door open from her position. She didn't know why she had been brought here. She didn't realize that her words about one stranger to another stranger had doomed her. All she knew was that one of those who had brought her to this horrible building was opening the door. She was ready to spring upon whoever it was and bring him down with the table leg she had found. She hesitated when she saw the two teenagers followed by a tall thin man. She recognized the teenagers as the kid she was asked about earlier and one of his repeat dates.
By the time she remembered to make a break for it, the other teenager, a blonde girl whoseemed a year younger than the boy, took the table leg from her with speed and strength that Jenny had never witnessed before in anything human. Though she was only twenty-four years old, and she assumed that their were things that she had never encountered before. She looked up from her position on the floor were she had fallen into the handsome face of the heavy-metal punk before her.
"Ah heah that ye bin blabbin' abou' me to someone," the youth said in an difficult to decipher Southern accent. "Allow me t' intro-duce meself to ye, ah'm Renfield."
"As in Dracula's insane helper?" Jenny asked nervously.
"Nah, I ain't no limey, and I ain't no servant. This lady heah, who ah believe has yor in-ten-ded weapon, is Lucy. The fella behind her is my overseer, Varney." Now that was a name she had heard.
"You're the drug-lord," she accused Varney nervously. She was thinking that maybe she had put some cop on his kid's trail.
"Wrong," The black-haired man indicated Renfield. "He's the drug-lord." Jenny rocked back in confusion and made a nervous study of the teenager before her.
"But he's just a kid," she protested.
"He's much older than he looks," insisted Varney.
Meanwhile Renfield had been looking her over. Not just her dark, creamy skin, long, black, curly hair and the dancer's physique. No, he looked beyond that to the aura that surrounded her, that revealed her innocence.
"My what a tasty looking dish you are. Mebee I should keep you instead of kill you. What do you think of that?" He smiled letting, her digest the information, but he answered himself before she could. "Either way, you must meet Carmilla before we decide your fate, or rather she does, but first you must be prepared. Mina."
A dark Asian-European girl of about the same age as Renfield came in then wielding a scalpel. The girl's eyes gleamed with virtually no humanity as she approached her target. Jenny tried to back away from the shimmering blade, but Renfield's eyes fixed her in place as surely as chains would.
Then Mina used her scalpel to cut away Jenny's clothing and undergarments. Then the scalpel cut flesh, causing no real damage, but causing real pain. The neck, the thighs, near the wrists, the breasts all the sensitive and vital areas sported small cuts near them that bled freely by the time the ghoul was finished.
When she was done, Mina licked some of the blood off of Jenny's breast and then off of her scalpel.
"Say hello to Carmilla for me," Mina called sweetly as Jenny was escorted to the Box. Of course Jenny didn't know it was called that, all she knew was that they were approaching a door barred from the outside and being hammered on from the inside.
"Such a waist of energy," Renfield noted, shaking his head. "Back away from the door, Carmilla," he commanded. The hammering stopped abruptly.
"My name is Katrina!" The voice yelling from inside the room sounded to be the youngest of them all. Renfield laughed at the defiance as Varney opened the door and he pushed the terrified Jenny into the room and shut the door again. The banging on the door started again almost immeadiatly with even greater strength.
"Let me out! Please let me out! Don't leave me in here with her!" Carmilla sounded desperate and pleading, Renfield was pleased.
"Who are you?" There was a whisper, he understood it, but it wasn't loud enough for him. "What? I can't hear you."
"I SAID MY NAME IS CARMILLA YOU BASTARD!" she screamed. "Let me out of here, now."
"No," he said simply.
"But..." she started to protest from behind the door.
"I'll tell ye what, since ye've accepted yor name Ah'll leave the light on for you. Ow's that."
"NO Ple-ee-ease! NO!"
"Talk to ye later then." Renfield flicked a switch and the crack under the door suddenly revealed light and shadow where Carmilla was standing. Then he and his servants left. A ways down the hall he suggested. "Go get Mina, I want to watch this on the secruity camera."
Jenny backed away from the hysterical girl. Carmilla/Katrina had rushed past her and tried to get out before the door had closed, but hadn't been fast enough. Jenny decided that she must be crazy, probably driven there by those human monsters outside.
Katrina wasn't stripped like Jenny had been, she was wearing a white t-shirt with red stains spotted over it, and pair of black jeans. She looked like one of those people in those eastern European countries you see on television news. Katrina, looked about as healthy as them, too. She was small and thin with a very pale face, her black hair was stringy and tangled. It wouldn't take much to make her look lovely, underneath it all. Like the other two girls, she had matured early though their was still no doubt as to her age. Jenny made the deduction that they had been chosen based on appearances, which was part of the truth.
Katrina continued to pound on the door for about two minutes before sliding to the ground sobbing and repeating "no" over and over again.
The cell, for that's what it was, was a large bedroom. The furniture was sparse and made out of metal. Most of it was twisted and bent too, suggesting prisoners other than the girl of fifteen, maybe seventeen, years it held now.
"Why did they kidnap you," Jenny asked hoping to start up a conversation for no real, logical reason. She needed to do something to keep her mind off the human monsters outside and the fact that she would probably never see her family or friends again.
The girl didn't answer, merely sobbed and weakly pounded on the door. Her face was now turned away from Jenny as if to try to ignore her. Jenny moved forward and touched the girl on the shoulder, meaning to turn her around to face her.
"No! Stay away from me!" screeched Katrina when she felt Jenny's hand touch her. Her faced whirled to face the naked, bleeding woman. Jenny recoiled, red tears streamed down the girls face to add to the stains on the floor and the t-shirt. Her skin was more pale than almost anybody Jenny had ever seen in her life, but worst was the pair of fangs Katrina sported. Jenny screamed.
"You can't be, you don't exist," Jenny declared to Katrina.
"Keep away from me!" Katrina yelled. "Stay away from me!"
Jenny didn't hear her; at least she didn't understand her. She was too much in shock to notice anything. Katrina, on the other hand was quickly losing her battle with the Beast. Already the fangs were out, and the blood was still in the room, she was still starved of blood. The Beast was rising, and slowly Katrina rose with it.
Then she paused and cried out before charging at a terrified Jenny, all thoughts other than blood evicted from her mind. Terrified as she was Jenny dodged out of the way of the first charge. Katrina was starved and, as a result, weak. The chase about the large room lasted a good minute before Katrina finally tackled her prey and bit sharply into her throat.
Suddenly Jenny forgot her fear and pain, and felt only the ecstacy from Katrina's bite. Jenny had never felt anything like this, no mortal had without a Kiss from a vampire, it was pure, untarnished ecstacy. Beneath this was anger and sorrow, she would never leave a mark on this world now. All because she had told a stranger about another stranger. Now there was nothing for her to do, for the moment Katrina's fangs had pierced her skin, all ability to resist had vanished. Human minds weren't meant for the surging emotions that vampires expierenced.
The Beast, as Katrina had been told it was called, was in control for the moment, and it wanted to drag as much pleasure out of this as possible. Thus, what could last as short a time as half a minute lasted for five full minutes. Katrina stayed latched to the unfortunate woman the entire time.
Only after the hunger was sated did instinct let go and intellect take over. It was at this point that Katrina felt the guilt, even greater than when she had killed the hit man, for he deserved to die. This girl did not, who knew what would have been ahead of her but for the interference of a petty, cruel, and vampric adolescent.
Above her the intercom crackled to life, out of the range she could jump.
"Have a nice meal?" Renfield asked.
"DAMN YOU TO HELL RENFIELD!" Katrina yelled.
"If you want her back all you have to do is feed her."
"NEVER!"
"Suit yourself." The intercom clicked back off leaving Katrina alone with her guilt.