151. New Extremes

Warning: blood, coarse language

Bridgeport, present day...

J.D. sensed Krimsyn’s subdued mood on their drive home from the lake house. He tried to get her to talk about it, but she shrugged him off, telling him it was nothing, he shouldn’t worry about her. His stomach twisted in knots, it was always something when she said that.

Before he could push her to talk, he was distracted by Michaela in the passenger seat. Their daughter was excited about her matric dance on Friday and her graduation exactly a week after the dance. She couldn’t stop yapping about both.

“I still can’t decide what dress to go for? Mom, mom, will you do my make up for me or should I ask Eloise or Leigh. Mhh, I think I’ll ask Eloise, her makeup always rocks!” Michaela went on and on and Krimsyn just nodded in the back.

J.D. didn’t say anything for a large part of their conversation, he was way out of his depth when it came to fashion and makeup, he had no frigging clue what dress would go with what hairstyle.

Soon Michaela was gushing about her date; she was excited about taking mystery guy to the dance.

The mystery guy was the only thing J.D. wasn’t happy with. Every time he asked her about the punk, Michaela closed up, insisting it wasn’t the right time to bring him home. J.D. couldn’t wait to meet the sucker and grill him; he was looking forward to making his life miserable.

Home at last, they settled in front of the TV in the living room, but nothing interesting was on.

Krimsyn rested her head on his lap; she mumbled something about being drained. She had been constantly on the move for the past few weeks, helping Michaela with her matric dance and graduation outfits, supporting Eloise and Devon during Tamsyn’s trial and doing promotional work for After Dark, J.D. was surprised she hadn’t passed out from exhaustion.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked her as he absently played with her hair; he was referring to her subdued mood.

“It’s about your conversation with Krisis at the lake house isn’t it?” He continued as he stared at her. Even with the dark circles around her eyes, and her skin paler than usual, Krimsyn was still the most beautiful woman in the world. It was amazing how after a hundred and two years she still had his heart firmly in her hands.

He couldn’t wait to make her Mrs. Summers, couldn’t wait to fill her with his seed again and watch her belly grow. He wanted another child, as crazy as it sounded. It would never work with their hectic schedules, but he couldn’t stop yearning and wishing.

He knew his sudden, but very strong paternal urges had a lot to do with watching Krisis and Devon, and seeing how happy they were with their younglings. His fear of losing his only daughter had a hand in it also, a bigger one in fact.

In a few days Michaela would no longer be his Mickey Mouse. He’d never say it; he’d never even show her how much the thought of letting her go out into the world on her own churned at his insides because she was already torn up about leaving the nest.

“Krisis met with Thornton,” Krimsyn’s announcement put all thoughts of babies and weddings on hold.

J.D. gulped. He wasn’t expecting that one! He’d figured it would be Krimsyn who’d reach out to the Vampire Council’s second in command first, considering Krisis’ deep rage and hatred for the other man.

“When?” He asked when he’d gotten over his shock.

“Yesterday. They had a long chat in his office. Thornton didn’t rape Margaret. He told Krisis he loved her,” Krimsyn replied. Her eyes were still closed, but her cheeks were moist from her tears.

J.D. silently brushed them away and bent down to kiss her. She trembled in his arms; he pulled her up and held her. He could feel the relief rush through her body as she released the long breath she’d been holding for the past two hundred years. He knew how much it had ripped her up inside, the idea of being a consequence of rape. And now she was at peace. Finally. And it reduced him to tears too...

When they’d both calmed down, Krimsyn relayed everything Krisis had told her about his talk with their father, and she also told him she wanted to meet Thornton for lunch and open up the lines of communication somewhat.

J.D. agreed; it was a great idea. He’d always found it sad that their daughter didn’t have a relationship with her maternal grandfather, especially when he was right there in Bridgeport, and her relationship with his own parents wasn’t as strong as he and Krimsyn would have liked since they only visited Champs Les Sims once a year, twice if they were lucky.

His laptop chimed on the coffee table, interrupting their conversation. It was an e-mail alert and he reluctantly left the couch to check it.

“Fuck this!” He growled as he scanned through the e-mail.

“What’s wrong?” Krimsyn asked from the couch.

“It’s Carla and Gabe. They still can’t find the kid,” J.D. explained as he shut off the laptop.

“Hey, if anyone can find him, it’s those two, stop stressing,” Krimsyn got up from the couch and enclosed him in her arms.

J.D. wished he could believe her.

It was a month since Joshua went missing; the Clarkes were patient with them. They understood they were doing everything within their powers to locate their son. But J.D. knew their excuses were starting to sound redundant, and they couldn’t carry on like this, they had to find him. Soon.

J.D. didn’t understand how a new vampire could just vanish off the face of the earth. There was no trace of him anywhere, and the fact that there was no body trail in Bridgeport and surrounding areas wasn’t helping matters.

The trackers had reached the conclusion that either Joshua had come into his abilities very quickly (which was highly unlikely), or an older vampire, a clan even, had taken him in and they were showing him the ropes.

The latter gave J.D. little comfort. Some Vampires, especially ancient ones, were not as noble as their clan, and they could easily exploit a newling. But there was always a chance that decent ancients, like Thornton, had found Joshua. J.D. wished with all his heart this was the case. For everyone’s sake…

The Vampire responsible for J.D.’s discontent state of mind was caught up in yet another heated argument with Beau.

Joshua wanted to leave. He wanted no part of his plan with Carmen. He was in love with Michaela and in his fragile, newling’s mind he’d created a fantasy world where he and the Frost-Summers heiress lived happily ever after.

“You didn’t see her. When she walked into the bar, she chose me. There were other guys, guys way older and ten times better than me, but she chose me! Why else would she turn me if she didn’t want to spend eternity with me?” Joshua asked.

“Get a grip. She doesn’t love you. Besides, she is way out of your league! I’ve seen that girl in magazines and VMC; she won’t roll with you if you don’t have money. And let’s face it, you’re broke!” Carmen, draped on the counter with her legs crossed and smoking her life away, hissed in her whiny voice.

Beau glared at her, he’d lost track of the number of times he’d told her not to sit on his counters like she owned the damn place, the plush seats in the living room were there for a reason. But Carmen, like Joshua, had proved to be as stubborn as a mule.

“Look. I know the Frosts. They kicked me out of the band and Krisis killed my brother! They are evil. Michaela hurt you. She took away your humanity, took away your dignity, don’t you want to see her pay? You didn’t ask to be turned into this blood sucking monster. She robbed you of your life. Don’t you see?” Beau tried again to make Joshua see he was nothing but a snack to Michaela and turning him was purely instinct on her part, her actions were not driven by pheromones.

But Joshua refused to believe him, refused to think less of Michaela; nothing Beau and Carmen said would change his mind.

“Yes she does. She loves me. And I love her,” he mumbled to himself as he reached for a plasma juice in the fridge.

Beau threw up his hands in an ‘I give up!’ gesture and left the room. He was tired of trying to make Joshua see that he was better off in their little corner.

He fell heavily on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about his plan. At least Carmen was still on board, one less thing for him to worry about...

He thought he’d seen crazy when he’d watched his brother obsess over Laura, and then later with Leigh. But when he’d walked into Carmen’s flat a few weeks ago and saw the hundreds of photos, posters and newspaper clips of Krisis covering every inch of her walls, he’d realized Vladimir’s obsession had been child’s play compared to Carmen’s delusions. She would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.

When he’d asked her about Krisis and why she didn’t recognize him when they first met at the Grind, she’d reluctantly told him she’d been recently released from a Shang Simla prison.

Carmen had closed up when he’d asked her why she’d done time, insisting a woman was entitled to her secrets. Of course being the sneaky person that he was, and to protect his interests he’d dug into her past and what he found was shocking to say the least.

Carmen, who’d gone by the name of Lisa Chen in in Shang Simla, had a history of fixating on celebrities and it was her last obsession with Shen Li, a Chinese movie star, which had earned the orange coveralls.

She’d stalked the actor and harassed his girlfriend to a point of madness. Her reign of terror had almost ended fatally after an eight hour standoff with the police. Her trial was quick, but very dramatic; all the stuff tabloids thrived on. The judge had sentenced her to ten years for kidnapping and attempted murder of the actor’s girlfriend, Jun Han.

Since her family had washed their hands off her when she got arrested, moving someplace new after her release was the logical thing to do, and Bridgeport had seemed to be as good as any place to start over.

Her obsession with Krisis had begun during the media uproar of Dr. Jacqueline Steinberg’s death, when the K-Infinity drummer had been right at the centre of the controversy. What had attracted her to Krisis was the possibility that he’d killed Jacqueline, and finding out he was a rockstar was a bonus. Beau had learned this over a dinner of cold pizza and flat coke at her apartment.

Joshua hadn’t tagged along on that visit, just as well because Beau had shared more than he should have with Carmen. But it was all for a good cause, to establish trust in any relationship one must share a bit of themselves, make themselves vulnerable to the other.

And he’d done exactly that when he told Carmen he’d killed Jacqueline.  She was disappointed when she learned this, and he’d seen Krisis fall from grace in her eyes, but her attraction to the drummer had increased tenfold not even five minutes later when he dropped his second bombshell, about Krisis killing Vladimir.

Carmen was exactly what he needed. She had balls of steel and she wasn’t afraid to go after what she wanted. It wasn’t hard to push someone like her over the edge, and given the extent of her obsession with Krisis, Beau knew she’d need little pushing. And he couldn’t wait to watch the drummer bleed when he lost the one person he loved the most in the world.

But before they got to the good stuff, the grand finale, he wanted to have a little fun with the Frosts, toy with them a little and that’s where Joshua came in. But the silly punk wasn’t sold on the plan and he was tired of trying to sell him something he didn’t want.

It was time for a different approach.

At blinding speed Beau rose from the couch. “Forget the plasma pack,” He murmured, taking the juice pack from Joshua just as he was about to take another sip.

“Nothing beats the real thing,” he smiled as he ripped his wrist and offered it to Joshua.

Carmen watched, fascinated by the newling going crazy at the smell of Beau’s blood.

“You know you want it,” Beau flashed his fangs.

Joshua fell back against the fridge, his frame, as slight as it was, left a noticeable dent.

He closed his eyes tightly, struggling to force down his temptation. “No I don’t. I don’t need it,” he insisted weakly.

For a second Beau felt horrible for doing this to him again, considering what a struggle it was to wean him off fresh blood to begin with, but the boy had left him no choice. This was the only way to keep him under his complete control.

He moved closer to Joshua and waved his wrist in front of him. Crimson drops fell on his t-shirt.

The metallic smell was overpowering, it was too much, Joshua howled, a pained, terrifying sound that caused Carmen to clamp her hands over her ears.

“Come on, it will make you stronger, faster, better. Michaela loves strong men. You do want to be strong for her, don’t you?” Beau continued with his seduction.

Joshua needed no further encouragement, the moment he heard Michaela’s name, he lost the last shred of his self control. He grabbed Beau’s wrist and began slurping away.

His moans of ecstasy growing with each fill he took.

“Atta boy,” Beau gently patted Joshua’s head, coaxing him to drink more.

But the feeding frenzy was interrupted when a golden ball of energy flashed into the room.

“Dada!” Vladimir cried on the floor.

Beau pulled away from Joshua’s fangs. The young vampire tried to hang on to his arm, but he pushed him away with little effort.

“You’ve had enough!” He snarled at Joshua before reaching for his son on the floor.

With Vladimir in his arms, he rushed to his bedroom and closed the door behind him, issuing a silent warning to both Carmen and Joshua; he didn’t want any interruptions.

“Vlad,” he gently kissed the blond tufts of hair on his son’s head.  “You know you are not supposed to port. Mommy will be worried about you.”

Vladimir stared at him and laughed, touching his cheeks with his chubby hands.

Beau thought it was funny and brilliant that Vladimir, who was not even two years old, could orb in and out of space.

It was normal for some Vampires to port or blink as it was called, but it was unusual for vampire children, especially as young as Vladimir to use it with such ease.  But what was even more unusual was his son’s shape-shifting ability.

The first time they’d discovered it Bianca had been beside herself with worry.  A month after their return to Bridgeport, she had left Vladimir playing in the living room with his new kitten, Bobo.

When she went back to check on him ten minutes later, she’d almost died from shock and panic to find two identical kittens and her son gone.

She’d called Beau, who was out drinking at that time, crying frantically on the phone, unable to explain what was wrong with their son.

Beau had arrived at the cabin just as Vladimir switched back into his Vampire form.

Beau had been just as shocked as she was, but he’d also found it fascinating and amusing.

They didn’t know the extent of Vladimir’s shifting ability, or whether or not he could take other forms, but Bobo’s form was a definite, Vlad had taken his shape a number of times since then, and it drove Bianca crazy.

“Bobo!” Vladimir clapped his hands, it was almost as if he’d read his mind.

“He’s at home, remember, you left him there,” Beau reminded him as he kissed his cheek. He noticed his son’s outfit was stained with his blood from Joshua’s meal; Bianca would have a bitch fit if she found him in such a state.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” he murmured, taking his son to the ensuite bathroom.

He’d just finished drying Vladimir when the bathroom door swung open and Bianca’s tall, slim frame filled the door way.

“This has got to stop Beau!” She hissed icily.

“Hello to you too Bianca,” he smirked at his ex and pushed past her. She followed him to the bedroom, her heels clanking furiously on the wooden floors.

“He can’t just port in and out when it suits him. We need to do something about this, what if he ports someplace else? What then? We need to get him help Beau. I can’t take this anymore. If it’s not this, then he’s turning himself into his cat's twin!” She still hadn’t changed her mind about taking Vlad to the genetics department at Bridgeport’s Medical Center to get him checked out, but he wouldn’t let her. There was no way he’d let all those vile doctors experiment on his son.

“Relax, Vlad is fine. He knows he’s not supposed to port anywhere else. He just missed me that’s all.” Beau told her. He blew bubbles on his son’s stomach, and his answering happy squeals made him smile.

“Only because you didn’t see him for two weeks. Where were you? You were supposed to pick him up last weekend, what happened?” Bianca demanded. Just as he was about to come up with some lame ass excuse, she brushed him off.

“You know what, forget it. Just forget it. I can’t force you to spend time with Vlad. Obviously that skank in your kitchen is more important than your son,” she continued huffing and puffing as she took over dressing their son.

“Do I sense a bit of jealousy?” Beau teased. He didn’t know why, but the idea of her being jealous made him happy. Despite everything she’d done, he still loved her, and he was devastated when she walked out on him. He’d wanted to get her back, woo her back to his bed, but his pride wouldn’t let him, and of course he’d run into Carmen and Joshua weeks before that and his plan to destroy Krisis had taken precedence over everything else.

“Me? Jealous of that trash? Keep dreaming, Beau!” Bianca laughed in his face. She bundled Vladimir in her arms and left the room without a goodbye.

At the front door, Bianca turned one last time to glare at Carmen and Joshua who were now lounging on the couch, watching Pop Idols.

Beau knew what she was thinking; he could always read her like a book, courtesy of their blood bond. She knew something was going on, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it. And he hoped by the time she figured it out, they’d be too far gone in their plans for her to stop him.

“I’ll pick Vlad up this weekend, I promise,” he told her, meaning every word. But it was also an attempt to distract her and redirect her attention to other things.

“I won’t hold my breath on it!” Bianca snapped at him as she rushed down the steps.

Vladimir screamed all the way to the car, he didn’t understand their living arrangements and Beau knew his son had missed him, hence his reason for porting. It broke his heart to hear him cry like that, and as he watched Bianca buckle him in his car seat, he vowed to spend more time with him, and when the mess with Krisis was over, when he finally got his revenge, maybe he could start working on winning Bianca over…

________

I think it's safe to say we have now entered the paranormal portal in Krisis, it's going to get ugly and a little dark, so I hope you have balls of steel like Carmen. 

Thank you all  for your continued support.

Now for something sweet and cute, here's some spam of little Vlad. And if you like dark and twisted, here's Carmen's shrine.