And All Flesh Shall See It Together (invite)

[Kefira]

Sunset had not yet fully fallen on the land of Valir as Kefira's long-heeled clicksteps rang across the pavement in the north of town. She felt the warmth of the last rays of the sun dance across her skin with that knowledge of danger that isn't fully realized. The photoreaction seered her skin only very little by this late hour, feeling more like a very strong sunbeam to a human and thus was easily corrected by the healing powers of her blood. She looked unconcerned about the entire scenario anyway. She was focused and single-minded, as usual

Her long legs brought her eventually to the front of one of the many tattered building fronts in the North Quadrant, this looking exactly like the rest except that it was somewhat less easy looking. It wouldn't be quite so easy to break in to use the place for a drug hovel or a homeless refuge, so people past it over. It wasn't of interest if it wasn't easy. Easy was the name of the game on this side of town. Its apparent strength didn't stop Kefira from approaching, however, and her stride did not stop for the big oak door, easily pushed aside by her key, or the creaking protests of the big brass hinges. She found herself on the inside of the place at once, and silence settled around her.

As soon as the door closed behind her the dirty, unkempt world outside of the townhouse disappeared into nothingness. A soothing and civilized silence fell around her as she stepped by here a gilded mirror that was wholly intact - a miracle - passed there under a chandelier that was entirely functional - unheard of - and finally made her way into a side sitting room that was equipped with comfortable looking leather couches and lounges, as well as lamps enough to see by. And the lights were actually turned on. It was a wonder.

The form of the Brudja Prince could only just be made out over the back of one of the chairs within the room and Kefi thought she recognized the faint flutter of thin pages of some sort. She raised her eyebrows curiously in unison and made her way quietly over to where he sat. She had no doubt that he could hear her and sense her but he had not yet issued a greeting and so she came right up to his chair, resting her arms lightly upon the back as she eyed his magazine over his shoulder. Her lips smoothed into an amused smirk.

"You have whores enough to fill up every room in your flat, and still you have to buy them on paper, too?"

[Bruis]

Bruis had been cradled in his ridiculously expensive leather chair since sunrise that morning. He had watched, enthralled, as the sunlight slipped between the razor-sharp slits of the horizontal blinds wondering what pain could be his if he just reached out and opened it. Pondering which part of his body would start to break down first. Idly toying with the idea of finding out. Bruis was powerful, rich, handsome and surely knew all of these things and a hundred others besides, but money, power and women couldn’t help the fact that he had something wrong upstairs. Something that made him want to inflict pain, not only on others but also on himself. His quiet contemplation accompanied the long hours without the Vampyr hardly blinking. After all, what was twelve hours of sunlight in comparison to six centuries of existence.

He had, of course, known Kefira was coming long before she came to perch on the back of his chair and read over his shoulder. The magazine he had taken up just before sunset lay open on his lap at the centerfold; A saucy redhead sitting on a large green exercise ball wearing a sporty pony-tail and wrist bands and not a whole lot else excepting gleaming white sneakers. Bruis smirked and flipped the page nonchalantly. “Maybe if any of them were worth the bread they were buttered on, I could save my pennies for a holiday.” His droll quip was simply that. Bruis was ‘so hot right now’ and both he and his Generaless knew it. Wordlessly, he lifted a hand up and behind his head to caress Kefira’s jaw softly in a gesture that few would think him capable of exhibiting.

“What news of the Scout I sent to the South last week? Is there any potential 'talent' in the Entertainment District?” The pad of his thumb glided upwards to rest in the hollow behind Kefira’s earlobe, and his bright eyes went blank, as though in his mind he was searching for something or communing with someone. As if on cue, Yumi, the almond-eyed beauty entered with another girl in tow.

[Talitha]

Talitha was absolutely amazed at what just one single week could hold for a person. She had almost changed beyond recognition since that fateful night when Prince Bruis had taken her in. The beautiful girl that had taken her in Club Tryst had helped her become what she was now, and she felt forever in debt to both she, and Bruis for saving her. She had gained at least three pounds in just seven days, which she found amazing since she hadn’t even been stuffing herself silly. Three square meals a day, she realised, was all the body needed. Needless to say she did not look quite as much a gaunt skeleton that she did before. She was clean, her skin creamy, her hair shiny and cut properly. The clothes she had been given were amazing, and she loved each new day where she got to wear something new. Even with the work that came with this new deal between herself and Bruis, she had thrived like a weed on it. With her reclusive nature and her inability to communicate how she really wanted to, taking orders was hardly a problem for her, and as far as she was concerned, it was worth it.

She had been playing with the laces on her red leather corset when she’d felt him, her head looking up at Yumi, who knowing the Prince much better than she did, immediately stood and headed for the door. Talitha needed no prodding, and she too stood and followed her quietly and obediently. She knew where she was in the food chain, and while Yumi had been kind to her, she had a feeling that she secretly loathed the fact she now had to compete for the Prince’s attention. The teenager’s infatuation with the Prince would take a blind man to not notice, and Yumi was certainly not a stupid woman.

Just a step behind her, Talitha stood, her eyes bright and alive, observing the room with curiosity. The woman who occupied the room with them caught her attention, the tattoos covering her body an incredible mark upon her. She glanced only for a moment, before returning her eyes downward at her boot covered feet, pretending she found her cargo pants covered legs to be the most fascinating thing in the world, hoping, praying that Bruis would acknowledge her changes in some way. She yearned for his approval, to prove that he had not made an unwise choice in taking her in. And she also yearned, though was smart enough to keep those thoughts from her mind at that point, that she would overtake Yumi’s position of favourite. Just as much as Yumi wanted Talitha gone.

[Kefira]

Kefira allowed an accepting line to settle on her lips as Bruis replied to her jibe. She allowed his fingers to caress her features with little acknowlegement, except to tilt her head ever so slightly like a cat moving more solidly beneath scratching fingers. If it meant anything more significant than a pet you couldn't tell it by looking at her. The only expression that reached her features was that far away look of enjoying another's attentions and the more immediate expression of business at hand. Even as she began to speak and quite without any decisive purpose her own fingers slid down the back of his wrist and then combed idly through his dark curls.

"A little, but nothing very impressive." The Prince would have expected an answer of that sort; Kefira was never impressed. "You know the Entertainment District is full of half-wits and poofs, but if we go for quantity over quality we may have one or two survive." The sneer that turned her lips and exposed her fangs was tangible in her voice. For reasons she could not explain except that it helped to have a target for her huntress tendencies she hated the Aurillians almost as much as Bruis did. The idea of devouring the humans who would become their allies was as delicious to her as their blood one day would be.

Whatever his response would have been, it was cut short by the entrance of Yumi and another girl, dressed from the waist up at least as if she were meant to be one of Bruis' breathing centerfolds. As to that end, however, Talitha still had some improving to do. A few days' time isn't enough to correct years of damage done by malnutrition and dirt, and a good washing couldn't make hair that hadn't been healthy when it was grown suddenly become as lustrous as hair that had been conditioned to perfection like in the magazines, nor could one week erase that mark upon the cheek that is the tattoo of someone who has been too thin for too long. Still, she was remarkably beautiful, with a silky smooth whiteness to her skin that was absolutely exhilarating, and as Kefira let her eyes drift over the girl she, too, saw the potential that Bruis had seen. Gaze full of the girl, she approached her, looking deeply into those oceanic eyes.

"Stunning," she murmured, reaching two fingers to Talitha's chin to turn her head ever so slightly and admire her long and newly washed neck. "You are a pretty little thing," she complimented the girl, almost civilly. Though she was wild and unkempt, Kefira could spot things and people of value when she saw them and this was true of Talitha. "You have outdone yourself this time, Bruis," she said to her Prince, and then smirked as she saw the twitch of indignancy in Yumi's expression. She gave Talitha a wink and released her chin back to a comfortable level.

[Bruis]

Bruis, who was yet to leave his chair and examine the progress of his newest project, felt the jealousy radiating from Yumi like sunlight reflecting from a pond’s glassy surface and just as transparent. The exotic beauty held by the raven-haired whore was what had drawn him to her in the first place, and now that she was getting older and still hadn’t earned her Blessing she had every reason to be jealous. She was expected to teach Talitha the ways of Bruis’ household, her ways of pleasing the Prince and she was reluctant to do so because she wasn’t entirely sure now that she wasn’t expendable. If Bruis had a heart, he more than likely would have at least felt a passing flurry of the mercy that currently evaded him.

“Thank you,” the Prince replied genially to Kefi’s compliments and ascensions, seeing it time at last to push himself boldly from his chair and abandoning his magazine before sleekly standing at the side of his Generaless. A sly hand snaked around her slender waist absently and he leaned on the back of the chair he had just left, his eyes burning with a lust that wasn’t quite palpable… yet. It was then and only then that he took in the improvements in Talitha, such as they were before he then directed his attention to Yumi. “You have done what I have asked?” he enquired.

“Yes, My Liege,” she answered immediately. “She has her room above the Club, a wardrobe to her disposal and has been dining with us each night in the servant’s kitchen.”

“Good,” replied Bruis almost before his whore had stopped speaking, effectively cutting her off. She scowled. “As of tomorrow, you will accompany Yumi everywhere, Talitha.” His tone indicated that he was not the type to be gainsaid, just in case the child got any ideas from his sensual familiarity with Kefira. Almost as if he did so without thinking, Bruis splayed his fingers across the abdomen of the beautiful Vampyr under his grip effectively spanning her slender waistline. From his vantage-point behind her, the Brudjan enjoyed the look of pure venom on Yumi’s face, and smiled at her.


"Careful sweetness," he advised the more experienced member of his household. "You're not likely to heal like we do if something goes wrong."

[Talitha]

Talitha seemed to do a better job at containing her jealous than Yumi did, most likely because she was still very carefully searching her out place in the scheme of things. She had been a part of groups that had a distinct pecking order, and she knew that you could not be bold until you knew your own place. The way the Vampyr woman had almost given a vote of approval had given her a small hint of pride that had a habit of sneaking out of her otherwise subdued personality. She gave a nod at the Prince’s request, chosing not to speak since she had the feeling he did not want to hear anything she said. She had noticed she could feel strange things from Vampyrs, like a breath of wind that was their emotions. She had no idea why, or how… but she felt the same rush of disinterest from him that closed her mouth and produced a firm nod.

Her bright eyes flicked to Yumi as she was spoken to, and she felt that pang of smugness as she was put in her place. She quickly tucked it away, but she knew it would have been sensed, and she darted her eyes to the ground quickly. She did not want to anger him, or do anything that would get any sort of response that Yumi had just received. She had to work on containing her emotions, and she frowned a little in disappointment of her slip up.

[Kefira]

Kefi trained her attention mostly on Talitha while Yumi was chastised. She had long ago abandoned any pity for the creature who conformed herself so easily to the Prince's will, and seemingly without gaining anything of substance in return. Tailitha, like Yumi Kefira assumed, seemed to think that the clothing and the food and the roof over her head as enough. Material things, objects of survival rather than trinkets of desire. For her own part, Kefi would have rather died than debase herself for so small a price. The Gift, now that was well worth serving the Prince, but these women had been offered no such thing. The Prince may have suggested it, but he hadn't offered it. How long had Yumi waited? It was with some amount of disdain that the cocoa-skinned woman looked on the almond eyed sex toy. Yumi was nothing; she had chosen to be that way.

And she did not expect that Talitha would turn out any different. That was a shame, she thought, because the girl's eyes were deep and she had a look of suffering about her that Kefi thought might be used for her advantage if she only knew how to turn it around for herself. But the way the girl stole glances at Bruis seemed to seal her fate. She was taken with the Prince, and she would serve him for his seldom offered praise alone. Kefi shook her head softly, her eyes betraying a short-lived glimmer of compassion. It was the only time the girl would ever see that light in the Generaless' eyes.

It was only now that Kefira acknowledged Bruis' fingers splayed across her taut stomach. She lowered her eyes slowly, smirking with pleasure at his light skin against her darker complexion. Teasingly she traced his fingers with her own, leaning lightly back against her Prince. But when her dark fringe of lashes opened again her brown eyes were trained half-lidded on Talitha. She watched her to see if her eyes recoiled out of disgust or if they widened in envy. And then, again for Talitha's benefit, she trained her eyes on Yumi. With a ho-hum sigh to her voice, she asked Bruis, "I think your whores hate me, my Prince." The corners of her lips turned up lightly and she lifted her other hand to trace Bruis' jaws in almost an exact copy of how he had touched her when she'd arrived.

[Bruis]

If Talitha thought she was going to be able to conceal anything from a creature that had seen centuries come and go like the incessant swatting of an irritating gnat, she was absolutely wrong. Bruis knew the full extent of her heart as it was currently, it was one of the reasons she was here after all. He was fully aware of her infatuation with him, and of her resentment for Yumi who had been his whore and host for the past two years or thereabouts, 764 days that had for her been surreal and exhilarating but for him had been nothing more that the usual tedious hum-drum of business. It was much easier, thought the Prince as he first surveyed the newcomer and her show of piety, to allow them to think they had pulled a fast one over him. It was never prudent to carry all one’s eggs in the same basket, and the end product was all the more delicious for having taken one’s time in the preparation of the dish.

Amusement passed through the Prince like a phantom, there one second and gone the next and certainly not making enough of an impression to register on his chiselled features. Talitha was growing teeth, and she was obviously eyeing up Yumi as a place to try them out. Bruis nodded in Talitha’s direction, although due to approval of her accepting her fate as his servant or because he wanted her to realise that she would never truly be able to hide herself from him ever again was not certain. He then allowed himself time to reflect on Kefira’s sultry comment. He licked his lips deliberately at her teasing caress, wondering if he had the energy to take her to his bed tonight rather than Yumi or any of his other concubines.

“Whore,” he corrected her, shying from the plural. “The little one hasn’t earned her badges yet, my Kefi.” He too watched the human pair across from them intently, although his own purposes were masked safely with his carefully schooled indifferent expression. He felt his blood heat at the chocolate-coloured hand on his jaw line, and the Prince closed his eyes for but a moment to better enjoy the sensation and block out other sensory projections. “Do you hate her?” he asked softly, his voice having been almost inaudible unless one was hanging on his every word as he well knew the pair opposite them were.

[Talitha]

Quite the opposite actually, Kefira had done nothing to anger her or make her jealous. In fact, the proud woman almost radiated exactly what she wanted to be. Strong, opinionated and seen for more than just a servant. No, Talitha did not hate her, she had already begun to admire those qualities in her that the teenager so desperately sought out in herself.

So when she shook her head no, all her thoughts were there for the two to pour over and pick through should they choose to (and she figured they would). She was but a speck compared to them, and she felt it. But she was determined to become more, to become something better then she was now, then what she had been for all those years. Her determination was what had kept her alive all those torturous years, and it would prove to be all she needed to keep on surviving, even when there was so much more at stake.

[Kefira]

Yumi's eyes trailed warily between the two intertwined vampyr, but eventually she, too, shook her head, mumbling something about hating no one who served the Prince, bowing her head politely. Kefira sneered with disdain at this meek and mild answer from the older girl, eyeing her unhappily. "Well you are a better servant than I am," she stated simply, her voice impassive. "I hate plenty of people who serve Brudja." By the way her eyes jumped up to Kefira's, it was plain that Yumi thought the vampyr meant her. The Generaless could understand her defensiveness. She knew the precariousness of her situation, and Kefira had favored the new girl. Talitha was fresh and new. Yumi was old and used.

But at Yumi's cagey glance Kefira only laughed, a bold outright expression of trilling amusement that seemed to fill up the room despite the smallness of the gesture. "I don't care enough about you to hate you, child!" she soothed her. She smirked at the girl without sympathy as she continued, "You are a cockroach, even if your are the Prince's pet cockroach. And one doesn't hate cockroaches. They simply aren't worth the effort."

And here she shrugged, a gesture that at once served two purposes: one, to express her apathy, and two, to brush the soft skin of her delicate shoulder across the coarser stubble of his chin even while her fingers again splayed into his cottony fringe of luxious curls. A malicious smile tugged at her lips as she returned her attention to the elder concubine, and a fateful question dropped like poison from her otherwise pleasing lips. "Do you believe them, Sir? Surely she hates me now."

[Bruis]

“No wonder,” Bruis laughed, tilting his head back in order to better revel in the soft tugging at it hair administered by the brown skinned beauty at his side. “For fuck’s sake, sometimes you even make me hate you, Kefi.” His eyes found hers as he had wanted them to, the intimate secret of just why he hated her something for her mind and her mind alone, and only projected via a thin thread of half-truth. His hand slipped from it’s falsely cemented position on her belly to cup the taut left cheek of her backside, squeezing it with wantonness before he gave it a playful slap. Standing up and moving away from Kefira’s hot caresses, Bruis slithered forwards until he stood directly in front of the pair of slaves, exerting his evident authority.

“And of course I don’t believe them,” he added. “They forget that I know what’s in their hearts. This one,” he nodded briefly at Yumi, “Would be ecstatic to see you as photosynthesized sludge in a gutter and she,” he raised an indicating index finger in Talitha’s direction, “doesn’t hate you so much as envy you.” He focused his attention almost wholly on Talitha then, his agate-like eyes boring into her innocent blue orbs. “What do you expect? From me, from this life? Do you expect to rise, like Kefi?” He smirked, casting a sly look over his shoulder at his Generaless. “You have spirit, I grant you. But spirit enough to fill all of Valir would still fall too far under the bar Kefira has set, little one.”

[Talitha]

“I don’t doubt that,” she murmured in reply, her eyes moving slowly from Bruis to Kefira and back. All Talitha had at this point was her spirit, she had been given no time to gain anything else. Whether she was able to or not was the big question, and one that worried her. Maybe she’d been out on the streets too long, or maybe she just wasn’t good enough to gain what Kefira had. Only time would tell.

But she didn’t have as much of it as they did.

[Kefira]

Kefira watched Talitha while the Prince quizzed her, interested in her answers. When she did nothing but mollify him, she was disappointed, just as she had been in Yumi. No guts. No spine. No substance. Even at sixteen when she was brought before Bruis freshly raped by one of his then dead vampyr brethren, murdered by her own hand, she had more spit and fire than these two worms. The Prince could have killed her easily, but that didn't hold her tongue. She said exactly what she thought and made no apologies for killing his man. He allowed Deo to change her. Talitha and Yumi, she wagered, would never become a vampyr at this rate.

"It seems she has no designs for you or herself," the Generaless replied as she, too, sauntered forward and inspected little Talitha, "which doesn't make her much of a whore." She inspected Tal, daring her to speak her mind and face the consequences rather than abandon herself to obscurity. She would be dead either way, her fire and spirit gone from the world, but at least if she refused to squelch herself down like Yumi did she would be dead on her own terms, instead of living alive in the world and still dead on the inside. A cockroach. An handkerchief. "But what else should we expect from a child that gives up freedom and self-sufficiency to become a slave?" This seemed to settle the matter for her own part.

Sighing with her lack of amusement, she turned her eyes to her Prince. "If these two are all the entertainment you can offer me, Bruis, it's no wonder you have your magazines." She stepped back from all three of them, her mind already reaching out to the rest of the world where hustle and bustle and business were taking place. She thought she sensed her former guardian out in the world having fun. Maybe she would seek him out. She turned her eyes to Bruis, eyeing him as she walked around the two slave girls for the door. "Enjoy your favorites, my Prince," she told him as she made her way for the hallway. Her voice teased him lightly; what did it say about a man who kept such uninteresting little things for his companions? She was glad not for the first or last time that she had made her stand from the beginning, and stood proud today because of it.