Fine *** Mess- (Zodiac)

[Dulce Periculum]

Riding on a rather loud machine did little to keep the two from catching up while the flying down the endless roads. Telepathy was great for situations such as this. The wheels were turning at an excessive rate keeping them over the speed limit for long durations. While the wind gave the length of their flying hair hell the leggy allurist revealed what was going on since they last connected.

The restaurant was doing well and business was better than ever. The cuisine was in demand and the customers kept coming back, well most of them. More often than not those who did held good terms with Hantu and were in his favor. As for Sada Abe, she managed to become irreplaceable. Go figure. Dulce was able to admit that it would be difficult to imagine the pint size Japanese powerhouse not being around or her typical antics. She seemed to be enjoying her role and the hate emails and threats were not half as frequent as before. The generous pay and the perks that compensated handsomely for her duties kept her content and insanely busy. Perhaps that was the answer to any prior issues with the personal assistant.

Summing up the updates she mentioned that a few trips were made to Borneo that were for the most part uneventful. There were a few minor mishaps that came with travel and being the fanged minority in an exotic pool of warm malaysian blood. Anything that occurred proved to be nothing they didn’t find their way through and ultimately out of. All in all it was a memorable experience each time they returned and safely left. Now it was her turn to hear about what had kept the gypsy close to her back quiet and busy all at the same time.

“Tell me what you have been up to. Changes? New additions?” It was possible. Zodiac was far more the type to take in those who could benefit from the darkness and the improvements it could offer one in need.

[Zodiac]

She clung to Dulce only as much as necessary. Doing nothing that would distract the woman from controlling the bike. Normally the gypsy enjoyed something like this on horseback. The cycle was truly five times faster than a horse, but on the other hand the cycle was six times stupider than a horse was. It was all Dulce controlling the machine and zero instinct from the bike.

Her update was basically quick, but factual. Her little empire continued to chug along in the black. She had even considered trying to add a fifth operation in time, but for some reason she could not get an answer on the zoning issues. Things had sunk into a basic pattern, which wasn’t always a bad thing. The money kept rolling in and she mentioned a few new investments she had acquired recently.

Customers continued to float to her and the cards used her as their conduit to advise, warn and encourage them along in their lives– living and not so living. There had been little call for anything wild and impulsive simply because nothing was happening. Not a lot had even caught her interest enough to even begin to become motivated into any kind of action.

”No new additions I am afraid,” she replied with her thoughts as she watched the world flying by. ”It has been awhile since I found anyone I would even think of blessing with this curse. Not saying they aren’t out there, but they haven’t crossed my path. Of course, I am not everyone’s idea of a sire either. Those who want the wild rush, the power, the ability to raise hell on earth would probably find me…boring. Some old maid sitting in a rocking chair by the fire sipping tea and surrounded by cats. Holy ****! I actually do that some nights.” Zodiac sighed and frowned.

She snugged a bit closer to Dulce and rested her head against the woman’s back. ”Not even 30 yet and I have become my grandmother. It is something I had always aspired to be in time, but not like this. Not this way.”

[Dulce Periculum]

"You did better than most."

Dulce only did the deed once but it was a world of reference for the responsibilities that went with creating what she was. Once was generally uncommon. Typically once a set of fresh fangs sharpened up enough to deal some lasting damage people nearby by or within reach started disappearing at concerning rates. It was a fair assessment. Some were known to turn the sanitation guys swinging by with an early start before the sun finally woke up. Zodiac saw hers as children and took great care in what happened to them before and after. The one in particular traveling the nights in a horse drawn buggy was a bit “off” but even that one fit into the picture Zodiac had created and could take pride in.

The creation of Chaindog was more a series of misfortunate events that resulted in a good man having to embrace the darkness that haunted her. Zodiac was there to witness the process which, more than likely, gave Chaindog a fighting chance compared to if he was left with her to try and make sense of it all. It was far from what she set out to do that night she crossed his path but it is what happened.

Accidental turnings were not as uncommon as some would think. Liam, as he was last known to be called, certainly didn’t set out to have more than a midnight snack with a side serving of back alley and orange crate fun when he discovered an inebriated Abigail Sutton standing at a bar enjoying a victory party for her firm. He didn’t even have to spend the money for the excessive shots of tequila to get her good and primed. She was good to go and already there when he stepped into the place with his dazzling presence and irresistible charm.

What happened next wasn’t rocket science. More like Sea Monkey tank set up 101. Funny thing about it all. Even years later on particular nights with the right elements in play she still could taste the dirt in the rain drops covering her hand that provided the only barrier between her face and the well used pavement. Her closest point she had ever come to dying left her waking beneath the wet midnight sky, alone stretched out on the soiled asphalt behind one of many Harper Rock’s beckoning nightspots. Not every set of fangs had great intentions. Hers included. Only difference was that if she could give the fallen soldier the choice he was originally robbed of, she would. She cared for very few and he was one of those near the top of a very, very short list.

”We don’t need to mention names.”

The gears shifted as the bike beneath them winded down in it’s speed as it took the narrowing roadway and the curve around the bend that had seen them both before. Once the road straightened out more speed found them. The gentle and welcome weight of the gypsy’s head on her back had an unseen smile threatening to form at the corners of her imposing lips. Like two desperados on the highway to hell they were once again. Heading for nowhere but still a safe distance from their often discussed ending and the infamous sundrenched cliff that claimed Thelma & Louise.

“At least you remember your grandmother, Betty. You had to tell me about mine thanks to my early onset of memory loss. For the record, yours was one of a kind and it suits you just fine.”

[Zodiac]

”It suits me? Oh good, I’ll take up knitting.”

Who was she kidding? She already did knitting. Sometimes those quiet hours between feeding and finishing work and the siren’s call of sleep had to be filled. There was only so much reading, television, experiments, potions, spells, shopping, and other things one could do before it became empty. When you had ‘forever’ to work with, being bored was a major danger. Knitting helped. She remembered pissing Velveteen off with it. In a meeting, her entire focus on what was being discussed while her hands worked away in reflex. The tiny click clicks of the needles touching each other sent Vel over the edge one eve so she did it at home. It wasn’t like she did it all the time or made silly outfits for her cats.

Well, not so much anymore at least.

She glanced to the side, but saw nothing so far to suggest where Dulce was taking them. It didn’t matter. It had been too long since the pair of them did something together. She considered what Dulce had said about her memory issues. The gypsy had seen it in more than one vampire, and she had made note of it in a book she had been working on on the subject of being turned. Not everyone ‘turned’ in the same way. Some had zero memory loss, some had gaps in a few things and others, like Dulce, came up almost a total blank when it came to who they were. Zo had been lucky. When she was turned, she was left to sink or swim, so there was no one around to pour any thoughts into her confused brain when she finally woke up. She was in a familiar surrounding and Miss Ginny was up in her face all excited. By the time she finally decided to open the back door to her shop and her hand discovered the sun was no longer a friend, she had the time to mentally acclimate to a degree.

Waking up in the middle of a party in a bar did not help the whole memory deal, she guessed. She remembered when she made Iris. The girl awoke in the same room she had gone under in and found the gypsy smiling at her. ”Feeling better, Iris?” she whispered to her mind as she stood up and offered her hand to help the girl take her first steps into the darkness. Iris developed a few quirks along the way (who didn’t? All things considered.) such as her love of all things Victorian (right down to the knickers she wore under more skirts than Zo would ever consider), but her memories and sense of self seemed to have survived in tact. If Zodiac found a few more subjects to compare things too, she’d write her findings up proper and hand them off to someone who could make use of them. (The Doctor, perhaps.)

Perhaps this was part of the ‘hidden blessing’ in becoming a vampire. Memory loss also meant a lot of mental baggage the living drag around with them was suddenly out of play– allowing them to grow and evolve without all the phobias and hold backs they had in life. So were people like Iris and herself the ‘defective’ ones then?

”Perhaps you were blessed in that,” she replied to Dulce. As for herself, many of the fears she had when she was alive were active and kicking away now. Sometimes she could be a paranoid mess that would not leave her home for days at a time.

”Where exactly are we going?” she finally asked. The landscape was slowly becoming familiar to her now.