Sharper than Fang

Part Two

Suneyva rose from her chair soundlessly and left the room. Her private balcony allowed for the greatest view of the old park's only working gates. Jesse would have to leave through there and if nothing else she wanted a small glimpse of the Kine who would presume to take her Childe from her.

She watched, hooded in shadows, as Jesse ushered a young man into a waiting car. Paul seemed to be about the same age Jesse had been at the time of his Embrace, nearly twenty. She also remembered who he was; she had known this mortal for a few years now. He was very cute, though maybe not as beautiful as Jesse he had something about him that was very attractive. Suneyva stepped back though the glass doors into her bedroom and took several deep breaths to calm her nerves.

It was time to put this matter aside and turn to Council business. The meeting was in less than one hour and she still needed time to prepare. The matter of the elves might take a long time to conclude and she did not look forward to any arguments. Though she felt that alliances with any of the other clans were possible, none had been cemented as yet.

Distracting her, just in time, from her too serious thoughs, Julianna swept into the room. She spun before the elegant Norsewoman.

"Will this satisfy you?" The English lady smiled demurely at her Sire, smoothing her silken, dark blue, formal gown.

Suneyva smiled back slightly. "You are, as always, beautiful, but you need not act so femme for my sake. You should know how much I enjoy your strength as well." She seemed to be on the verge of a laugh, but sobered quickly.

"But you have forgotten. I will be late tonight. The Council meeting...It could take hours and I can not be certain of when we will finish. I would hate to make you wait for me and Jesse has already left for the night. He most likely won't be back before morning."

Julianna tilted her head thoughtfully. "A problem?" She sat on the quilted bedspread, arranging her skirt around herself carefully.

"Yes, a potential problem. I will have to work it out with Jesse. It's because of the Embrace. He has a lover, a Kine lover. Have you met Paul?"

Julianna shook her head. "No, though I have seen Jesse with someone often in the past several months. An attractive young man. He has the most beautiful green eyes I have ever seen." She paused, staring at her hands for a moment. "Jesse wants to Embrace him?"

Suneyva sighed and sat next to her first Childe, and lover, "Yes. He has not been asked for this by Paul, but he is thinking about it. I do not know if I can grant him permission to go to the Prince. I do not know Draven well, I have no urge to get to know him. Tremere...I'd rather that Jesse not need permission at all."

Julianna looked up at her, grinning in an unlady-like manner, "Of course, we are Gangrel. Permission is for those who are weak and dependent. You asked permission of no one to Embrace Jesse and I."

"That is true, but we live in a city that has a Prince now, and we must at least go through the motions. No matter how much we despise them. I will not have my progeny running the streets like a pack of Sabbat, he must get permission from Prince Draven. If he does not there could be trouble for all of us and a Blood Hunt called upon Jesse and Paul. I would spare him from that if I could." She stood and holding out her hand for Julianna, lifted the Kindred lady to her feet.

"But now I must leave for the Council meeting. I will find you when we have finished." She vanished from the room, leaving Julianna blinking after her.

*

Jesse turned left after exiting through the gate, a spur of the moment decision. He glanced at Paul out of the corner of his eye. The young Kine seemed confused.

"Aren't we going to the club tonight?" He turned to look directly at Jesse.

Jesse shook his head, "No. I need to talk to you. It's important and I thought that it would be best to go somewhere more private. Suneyva has a cabin a short way out of the city. Do you mind?"

Paul frowned, this was what his friends had warned him about. He trusted Jesse, and loved him, but this made him very nervous. "I guess not. How long will we stay there? Maybe I should call someone and let them know where I'll be."

"Don't you trust me? I wouldn't hurt you. I thought that we could talk on the way and at the cabin. We could stay the day since it's been light-proofed. I hoped that you would be willing to make love with me, but if you don't want to we could leave before morning." Jesse stared at the road, refusing to glance at Paul though he wanted to with all his heart. He bit his lip.

"I do trust you, but I sometimes wonder what you have planned for me when you tire of my presence." Paul looked away from Jesse, watching out his window. It had started to rain and the roads reflected the lights dreamily in the puddles on the side of the streets. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Us, our future. I don't want to lose you and there is only one thing I can do so that it never happens. If I...Embraced you. But you haven't even hinted that you would want that so I've been scared to offer. Should I ask Suneyva and the Prince for permission, do you want for me to Embrace you?"

Paul paled, "I don't want to grow old and die, but is that enough? Is my love for you enough?"

"It is. Suneyva created me for less." The car skidded a little as he turned onto the off ramp. "I should tell you of that."

Paul looked at him again, half turning in his seat. "Is it important?"

"Very, she created me out of pity and anger. Not anger at me, but at three neonates. Almost one hundred and fifty years ago. I had been hunting and I got lost in the woods. We lived in a very rural area of the country, on the west coast. I wandered into Suneyva's territory, though I didn't know it at the time. I ran into a problem.

"There were three young Malkavians traveling through the area north of San Francisco. They found me and they were hungry. Malkavians are crazy, those three certainly were no exceptions. They attacked me. I was terrified of course. These were legendary creatures and by all rights shouldn't exist at all, and yet they were attacking me, taunting me. I couldn't protect myself from them.

"They hurt me very badly, drawing out their attack for several hours. They tried to drive me as insane as they were and they nearly succeeded. They didn't just beat me or taunt me, or feed from me. They did all of that and then they-" He hesitated for a moment, trying to keep his hands steady on the wheel. "They raped me."

Paul sucked in his breath, "I'm so sorry Jesse, I had no idea." He saw Jesse shake his head and decided not to say the rest of what he was thinking.

"Suneyva found us and chased them away. I'm not sure why she hadn't found us earlier, maybe she watched them for a while before doing anything. Maybe I should be upset about that, but I'm not. She didn't have to do anything at all. I think that she saved me because she felt sorry for me, and because she was so angry at those Malkavians for trespassing on her territory and then attacking one of her Kine.

"I guess that I don't care though. She chased the Malkavians away and then when she saw that I was in shock and dying she Embraced me. It wasn't the traditional Gangrel way, but she had broken tradition for Julianna also. She went on breaking the rules. Since it was nearly dawn and I was catatonic she took me to her have and kept me safe.

"She explained everything to me the next night, when I was feeling better. She taught me how to hunt, the rules of the Masquerade (though strictly speaking we don't follow all of them,) and a little about Kindred society. Julianna was with her and helped with me for the first dozen or so years. I have been with Suneyva ever since she Embraced me and she doesn't want to let me go even now."

Jesse stopped abruptly and glanced at Paul. "Suneyva created Julianna out of love. Their relationship is much more equal than the relationship I have with either of them. Suneyva has power over me as my Sire and she uses it whenever she can. Not to hurt me, but I am not completely free. Not yet. I wouldn't keep you like that. I want to teach you everything I know so we can have an equal relationship. I don't want to have power over you, like she has over me. I want to be your lover, forever."

When Paul didn't respond Jesse continued. "I had hoped that you felt the same way. I suppose that I should have known better."

"Jesse I do feel the same way, but it's a big step for me. I love you so much and I don't want to be without you. I want for you to Embrace me. I want you to get permission from Suneyva and the Prince. I'm just unsure of what it will mean; what will happen to us."

Jesse stopped the car. "We're here. Let's go inside to finish this, okay? I'm not sure what might be around here and I don't want to take any chances with your life." He got out of the car and went around to open Paul's door for him. He helped the Kine out of the car and they went into the cabin together.

Back to Part One

Sharper than Fang Part Three
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