Vanessa tells her packmates that they can go...that she needs to get cleaned up and think about what just happened for a minute. Then she closes the bathroom door in John's apartment and locks it. A minute later the sound of shower-water starts.
Vanessa stands naked in the shower, a stunned/dazed look on her face as the shower-water hits her mid-chest. She has the shower curtain open enough that she can peek at the tiny baby laying on the pile of bloody towels next to the tub. The baby with olive skin and fuzzy black hair. This baby who is somehow her daughter.
After a few minutes of standing there she finally comes back to herself enough to close her eyes and put her hands to the place where her heart once rested in her chest and murmur thanks to Ayida Wedo & Damballah-- the demi-goddess and demi-god rainbow serpents-- who were channeled and created this baby within her. Then she bends and lifts the baby into her arms-- finally aware that she's crying and still covered in her birth-blood-- and washes her carefully and reverently. It's a mortal, human baby somehow. Created by two demi-gods and a vampire! She prays a moment and receives the answer that she can name her daughter anything she wishes. Nothing immediately comes to mind-- Vanessa is still in a state of shock.
Once her daughter is clean, she wraps her in a clean towel and lays her back in the other towels. This makes her baby calm down and go to sleep, so Vanessa finally addresses her own bloodiness...and attends to the problem of passing the broken eggshells still within her body.
John sits at his table outside the bathroom. He stamps out a cigarette and shakes his head looking back towards the bathroom. He flips the book in front of him a few pages and continues to scan the pages. He reaches over to his pack of smokes and pulls one out. He lights it with a gold lighter and takes a drag.
"Alright, Sunshine?" he calls behind him.
A large, tired-looking serpent lays coiled loosely in the tub-- nearly filling it-- pieces of eggshell laying at one end of the tub. She hears John's voice, and shifts back into her human-looking form.
"In a matter of speaking..." she calls back, her voice a little strained. She stands and gets out of the tub, and then grabs the last clean towel and wraps it around her body. She bends and picks up her sleeping baby, and then finally unlocks the door and walks out, her long, wet hair sticking to her arms and shoulders. She walks over to the bed and sits on it-- almost flopping down as she sits-- and then stares blankly at the wall for a moment. Then she looks over at John.
"Jesus Christ..." she whispers, shaking her head. "Thanks for letting me...have her in here." she says. "I had NO idea..." she motions her head at the baby in her arms. "God...a human baby...I don't even know what to do!"
John looks over and raises an eyebrow. "While you were in the shower I toddled off and nicked some formula. It's on the stove now...feed her? her that when she wakes up." he says and then takes another drag. "Can you handle it then? Raising this baby?"
Vanessa glances over in the direction of the stove when John tells her about the formula, and a relieved look crosses her face. "Formula...that's right. That's what babies drink. Thank you, John." she says with undisguised gratitude. Then she gets a little smirk on her face. "What do I owe you?" she teases.
John looks over at her and grins. "I haven't decided yet." he says. He looks towards the baby. "All healthy then? Ten fingers ten toes?" he asks. "Right...well you haven't answered me yet, Sunshine. You planning on raising her? Cause if not I've got a friend who'd do the trick...even let you visit her when you like."
Vanessa looks at John in horror, unconsciously bringing her baby up to her chest and holding her tightly and protectively. "I can do it." she says with stubborn firmness. Then she realizes how angry that sounded and relaxes a little. "She is a gift from my patron loas, created within my body. They want me to raise her, so whatever I have to do I will raise her. I'll...read a book, or something. Oh wait-- Armande might know! I'll ask him when I get home." she says almost to herself.
She looks back at John, and then peeks down at her baby. "Yes...all healthy. I even checked her myself and she's human. Although...she's...sparkly...like you." she says, making twinkling-motions around her head with her fingers in demonstration.
"Brilliant. Another one of me...just what the world needs eh?" John says shaking his head and taking a sip of his drink. "A gift from your loa eh? Which one? Could give me a hint as to what she is...or what she'll be at least."
Vanessa looks at John with a little pause, and then nods her head. Not much point to holding anything back now.
"Her name is Ayida Wedo. She is the winged rainbow-serpent. Her consort and mate is Damballah, also a serpent. They are over the rivers and seas...waters that run and move. Water and magic..." she says, her eyes shining. She strokes her baby's hair without realizing it as she's speaking.
John purses his lips and sighs. "Well that narrows it down, Sunshine." he says. "I've called in some help, mind. If anyone will know what this child is, he will." John says. "So do any names come to mind? Be careful...names mean everything...and nothing all at once." Vanessa looks at John in surprise when she hears he called in some "help." She shakes her head slowly. "No...no names yet. I'm still a little..." she spins her finger in a circle next to her head. "Loca right now. I want a clear mind. Who did you call?" she asks, suddenly looking wary and clutching her baby to her chest again.
"A friend. Don't worry, Sunshine, he won't take her away. I've had dealings with him a few times, a stand up guy if you will." he says. "Loca...I like that. Exotic." he says.
Vanessa rolls her eyes and gives him an exasperated look.
There is a knock at the door and John turns to Vanessa with a wan smile. "That's him. He's a little formal and strange but you'll catch on." he says. John walks over to the door and opens it.
"Come on." he says turning around and walking away from the door. The tall figure in black looks down at the threshold and then back at John.
"Say the words..." he says in a deep rich voice. John sighs and winks at Vanessa.
"I do herby swear no harm comes to he that steps into mine sanctum and that he who enters within leaves without pain, injury, nor curse." John says. "Don't be a prat, and come in."
Vanessa raises an eyebrow. "I hope that oath includes me, too..." she says a little under her breath.
The tall man enters and closes the door behind him with but a touch. He turns and Vanessa can swear she should see his face but there is only shadow. He is tall, almost six foot seven or more. He wears all black and a wide brimmed hat that covers his face in shadow.
"Is this her?'"
"You catch on quick," John says sitting back down.
"I have no time for wordplay, adept. Tell me what you require."
Vanessa looks at this man and stands quickly, turning her body so it shields her baby, watching him warily. "Shouldn't someone be asking ME that? Or giving me some kind of proper introduction?" she asks. She turns on her Sight and sees that this is a mage, too...only much more powerful than John. She gives John an accusing, worried look.
"I am a stranger," the man says.
"He certainly is. Stranger, this is Sunshine, Sunshine this is stranger. Good, now we are all accounted for." John says. "Stranger here is only going to see what your child is and what effect she has upon the synchronicity highway. Isn't that right Stranger?" John says looking at him.
"That is why I have been called..." Stranger says. "I see...I thought perhaps there was more required." he says as he walks over to Vanessa. "This child is a worker of Voodoo, the loa...I can see the rainbow serpent beneath her eyes." he says.
Vanessa stands perfectly still, tensed as like a cobra waiting to strike if threatened. However, she listens to the stranger with rapt attention, just as eager to hear about her baby as the rest of them. She nods her head. "Yes...I was channeling Ayida Wedo when her consort Dumballah came and mated with me...us...we..." she says, trying to explain, although not letting her guard down. "She will be a powerful Mambu when she is older?" she asks, excitement in her eyes.
"I meant you, child." the Stranger says. "Take my hand and hold the child tightly."
"You can trust him, Sunshine." John says.
Vanessa glances at John, and then back at the Stranger. She re-focuses her Sight and looks at him intently. After a few moments she nods her head. "All right..." She cradles her daughter firmly in one arm and then takes the Stranger's hand.
The Stranger raises her arm and closes his eyes. John watches with a bit of fascination as the Stranger goes walking. A few moments later the Stranger releases her hand and steps away.
"The child is magus." he says.
"Well that clears that up, too, right." John says shaking his head. "We already knew that, tell us something we don't know."
"She is to be taught as her mother was and her mother before that and so on through the ages. This has happened before as it will happen once again." he says. He turns to Vanessa. "She is no night stalker. Even should she be in peril you must not. This child must grow to fruition unhindered and unfettered of your blood."
Vanessa looks at the Stranger in wonder, and then those stubborn lines appear on her forehead again. "Unfettered, you say." She gives a smirk and shakes her head slowly. "Interesting choice of words, but I understand what you are saying. Not a vampire nor a ghoul will she be." She pauses. "This is the will of my loas? Do you know what it is she was created to do?"
The stranger looks her in the eye and says nothing.
John chuckles and raises his glass to her. "You've just asked a question he's unwilling to answer. Welcome to the club Sunshine, cheers." he says.
The stranger turns his back and walks to the door. "I am glad to see that you have fulfilled the oath, John. This will go a long way when the time comes "
"Yeah cheers to you too mate." John says. "Close the door when you leave." he says.
The stranger opens the door and turns to Vanessa. "I will come again, into the life of your daughter. Tell her of the time...I would not wish to be ...a stranger." he says and closes the door.
John sits down with a smug look and chuckling. "Scintillating sense of humor he has."
Vanessa watches him go, a look of wonder on her face. Then she turns back around to face John. "Well I'm glad there's someone out there who has the power to infuriate you as much as you can be infuriating!" she smirks. "Karma, and all that!" she says, imitating John's accent. She gives him a little wink and goes back to stroking her daughter's thick, black hair. She pauses.
"Thanks...for bringing him here. I feel so...disoriented right now. It was good to get some direction for her." she says, nodding down at her daughter. "So the Stranger is going to be around...what about you?" she asks. "You staying, or still going?"
"We'll see. I might nip off for a little bit, but I'll check in once in awhile." John says. "What about you? You staying here in your newfound freedom? Or going back to the chains?"
Vanessa gives him an amused look. "'The chains?'" She chuckles. "No, no...we're going to stay here...make this our new home. We cannot trust those in Toronto. We suspected as much, but now we know for sure. Besides, it seems our little group is in power here now...although we're not going to do much with it, I suspect. We like how things run here...the different types of beings co-existing. We can all band together to protect the city from invaders, rather than fight against each other." She looks down at her baby. "Look at this. A sign! A vampire giving birth to a mage!" She gives a little laugh. "We are meant to co-exist, it would seem." She gives John a long, appraising look. "My name is Vanessa."
John looks at Vanessa with a long look and then nods. "Nice name. I take it the two of us can trust each other? Because I would hate to have whatever it is here to be broken. Your friends...I'm not so sure of...but you seem to be alright, mate."
Vanessa nods. "Do you even have to ask anymore? You can trust me. Read me! See for yourself!" She walks over to the stove with that fluid, serpent-like way she has of walking when she's not paying attention and takes the bottle from the water, tests it the way she remembers seeing a mother test the temperature back on the streets of Santo Domingo, and then begins feeding her baby. She turns back to John.
"I traded the respect of the Sabbat in Toronto for your safety." she says quietly. "For you and the girl. The last city-meeting we were at, I was told by our seeresses that I was a traitor for siding with you and your friends against our leaders. I was told that when I got here I would have to make my final choice of who I was with." She looks around the apartment and gives a resigned little shrug. "Here I am." she laughs softly.
John looks her over and nods. "Alright then, Vanessa...I trust you. So about the kid. I'll check in from time to time and see how she's doing. But first we have got to do something about that," he says. "She's giving off psychic waves that a five year old could pick up."
Vanessa raises her eyebrows, and then glances down at her daughter. "She is?" She looks back at John, a rather proud-mother look in her eyes. "What do we do about it? Oh, and you never answered for yourself! Can *I* trust YOU?" she asks, curiously.
"You can..." John says. "Trust me, I'll do what I can to protect her." he says. "Come here and lay her on the table," John says getting up and walking over to a shelf. He grabs a black bag and brings it over. He looks at Vanessa seriously. "This will hurt, and she'll scream but nothing will happen to her, nothing serious. You understand?"
Vanessa's eyes widen and she holds her baby tightly to her again, noticing as she does that the formula bottle is already empty. She places it on the counter. "And you have no other way of protecting her? A way that won't...make her scream?" she asks, walking slowly and tentatively towards the table. She marvels at herself. She has changed a lot since her baby was born only about an hour ago. She didn't think she had a maternal instinct in her body! She used to revel in the sounds of screams! Now she cannot even stand the thought of this child ever enduring a single injury! She wonders if it shows on her face-- this new...softness.
"Wait-- tell me what you're going to do first." she says, her voice full of worry and apprehension.
"I'm going to give her a small tattoo on her heel. It'll cover her tracks and make it hard for anyone to find her...except me and you of course." he says. "That a problem?" he says pulling out the tattoo gun. He changes the needle and smiles at her. "Besides babies scream if you pour water on them."
Vanessa's lips tighten as she looks at the tattoo gun and she gives a nervous laugh. "A tattoo artist, as well? My, my, John...what DON'T you do?" she grins. She looks down at her baby, still wrapped in the towel and nothing else...much like her mother. She brings her up and whispers to her.
"My child...please forgive me for this pain I am allowing upon you...I do it for your protection." she says, kissing her daughter's cheeks and forehead. Then she glances at John and carefully lays her daughter on the table, keeping her tightly wrapped in the towel because she seems to be happier when she's wrapped tightly-- see? Vanessa IS learning to be a mother! She unwraps one little foot and holds it, stroking it calmingly, and then looks up at John again and gives him a quick, determined nod.
"Alright...hold on she may try to squirm away." John says. He takes a deep breath and then says something in Latin and then begins to tattoo an insignia upon the little foot. The baby squirms and screams at the new sensation but John forges ahead. He nearly finishes when he pulls the gun away. "I need some of your blood..."
Vanessa has been so intent on channeling out the sounds of her baby's screams by watching him work that she gives John a quick nod, pricks her finger on one of her fangs, and quickly holds it out to him with a look that says, 'please hurry, this is driving me insane!'
John takes the finger and presses it to the insignia and then removes her hand. He takes the tattoo gun and finishes his work. When he's done he takes some anti-bacteria wipes and wipes over the insignia and takes the needle out of the gun. "All done." he says taking a cigarette out and lights it. "She'll be untraceable."
Vanessa nods gratefully to John as she lifts the baby to her chest and coos to her, rocking her gently and smoothing her hair until her cries taper off and she's sleeping again.
"Well I'm glad THAT is over with. Thank you John." She turns and lays the baby on the bed and runs her fingers through her hair, shaking it out as if trying to dry it and rid herself of the memory of her daughter screaming at the same time. She walks over to the sink and runs the water, splashing her face with it and sighing. She dries her face, and then walks back over to John, finding a chair to sit on.
"So tell me...do you like this new apprentice of yours?" she asks curiously. "A little young to have an apprentice, aren't you? Or are you just that good?" she asks, trying to lighten the somber mood.
"She's alright. Fast learner but a bit of git." John says. "Ah she's alright she is. She'll be good one day." he says. He takes a drag from his cigarette and looks over at Vanessa. "What do you think?"
Vanessa pauses and then crosses one leg over the top of the other, resting her elbow on the back of the chair and smiling a secret little smile. "I think I'm a bit jealous, actually." She swings her foot slowly. "Here I know you for over a year and you never invite me home. She knows you for 5 minutes and you let her into your room!" Vanessa laughs a throaty laugh. "Truthfully, she's the first genuine person we met upon arriving here. Everyone else had something to hide. She was...nice. And she likes you. Wanted an introduction." she says, watching John.
John smiles at her. "I'm a sucker for the younger ladies," he says. He looks over at her. "I saw something in her...and she had nice legs." he says. "Besides it's customary to not allow a vampire in your sanctuary."
Vanessa rolls her eyes, and then glances down at her bare legs. "What am I-- chopped liver?" She rests her hand under her chin, elbow propped on the chair, and resumes swinging her leg. "Besides...I was only 18 when I was...immortalized. So I'm still 18..." she grins. "Technically." She taps her fingers against her cheek. "So what is it you have against me, John?" she asks curiously.
John looks at her and chuckles again shaking his head. "Let me tell you about a mage my teacher knew. This man was in love with experiences. Sought them out all the time-- good, bad, whatever, right. Piss artist he was, and so one day he comes across a beautiful lady vampire. He chats her up, gets to know her for awhile. All his friends warn him against her, but does he listen, that twit? No...so he goes to a hotel and the two of them have it out and just as he's a second away from the vinegar stroke, she bites him. Drank him dry she did." John says as he takes a drag. "A few days later she takes a sunbath. Because she loved him." he says.
Vanessa listens quietly. "She drained him on accident? That IS tragic. I have never done that...or had a problem with that. That is not my way. I like when someone else bites ME!" she smiles. "You can scan me on that, too...see if I'm lying. No...my thing is to give people their desires...their deepest dreams. I am gratified in watching the looks on their faces...hearing their cries of pleasure. I have never killed anyone by draining them. Not a single person." she says, watching him. "And you may think I have never loved...that I am a cold, heartless vampire. Well...heartless, I'll give you!" she smirks. "Quite literally! But I love. More deeply than mortals." She glances at the sleeping baby on the bed. "Yes, I love..." she murmurs. She looks back at John. "Do you?"
"You don't want me, Sunshine. I don't love. Never have, don't think I'll ever." John says. "I've had a few friends die...I don't need that to happen anymore eh?" he says. "Well sun's almost up, Sunshine. I'll expect you'll be needing to leave." he says looking out the window.
Vanessa stands slowly from her chair and walks over to John, letting her towel drop as she does. She closes her eyes and stands before him. "You don't have to love me the way Romeo loved Juliet...the way two old people walking in the park love one another...that is not what I am asking, nor would I want you to have to endure. I only ask that...you love me once...until the sun rises...and then I will not ask you to love me again. For I cannot seem to get you out of my head, and I need to. If Armande and I are to raise...our child...I don't want to see your face when I lay with him. Please, John. I have never asked a mortal like this. I always used my mind-tricks-- or I didn't even have to ask. But now I am closing my eyes and holding my hands where you can see them to show you my sincerity. Do whatever you need to feel safe from me, but please...don't turn me away." she says, the hardest words she's ever spoken in her life. She has NEVER begged a mortal-- or anyone, for that matter...aside from a brief mistake she made with Carter! She stands feeling as naked as she is for the first time since she was a homeless child on the streets.
John looks her over and takes a last drag and then stamps out his cigarette. He loosens his tie and unbuttons his shirt. "Right then." he says and walks over to her and kisses her fiercely. He picks her up and carries her to the bed.
Vanessa had kept her eyes closed, as she promised, and when she heard the rustling of his shirt and tie and the lack of verbal response, she'd started wondering what was going on! So the sudden kiss had caught her a little off-balance, but once she realized her offer had been accepted she'd responded in with equal enthusiasm.
Their love-making had been so vigorous and frenzied that the moment the sun began to rise Vanessa had been caught unawares. Slumping into John's arms, she'd fallen into the death-like slumber that daylight brings to her kind.
That night she was grateful to find that she'd been kept safe from the sun, and that John had cared for her baby. If she'd ever doubted if she could trust John before, she didn't now! He'd also shown her more things she would need as a new mother-- diapers, blankets, clothes. Vanessa's dress hadn't been too badly stained from the night before, so she'd quickly gotten dressed and cleaned herself up, and then packed the baby's rudimentary supplies in a plastic bag.
Picking up her baby and the bag, she turns to John. "You think it would be possible if your taxi-driver-friend could take me home? I've got some blood on my gown and I'd hate to attract any attention right now. Not really dressed like a mother, nor equipped like one!" she smiles, holding up the plastic bag.
John nods, "No worries, Chaz is downstairs already waiting for you." he says. "Don't take this the wrong way, Sunshine, but Zant is on her way too. She might not understand you being here...or with a baby for that matter." he says. "I'll see you soon..." he says opening the door.
Vanessa laughs. "NO one is going to understand! Either thing, actually!" She gives John a final smile that says both 'thank you' and 'I won't be a problem for you,' at the same time, and then leans over and gives him a last, lingering kiss to remember. Then she turns and walks through the door, raising her hand and wiggling her fingers behind her in a final wave, and then starts down the stairs, on her way to her new "life" as a mother.
John watches her go and then closes the door smiling. He goes over to the window and watches as Chaz runs out of the taxi and opens the door for her and give her a goofy grin. He shakes his head and lights a cigarette.
The door opens and Zantana walks in and plops her books on the table. "Ready John."
John turns to her and then back to watch the car drive off. "Alright...see you soon." he says to no one and turns back to Zantana. "Your first lesson is to never trust vampires...case by case, of course."