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The sharp edge of the blade in the pale hand was beautiful. It did not matter that it was her own hand. The contrast of that deathly white flesh holding the lethal weapon was like art. She could sit and stare at it for hours and be completely mesmerized by it. The weight of it and the sparkle of promise as it danced beneath her silver orbs. It called to her asking to be used. For the moment it hissed with each movement across the long piece of leather that would serve the purpose of polishing it to perfection. A few repetitious up and down strokes of the weapon completed the task. The strop was removed from where Satine had it and tucked away for future use. A cloth folded in her hands and soon it glided in a slow firm caress along the length of the blade to remove the polishing compound recently applied. The ritual was complete. Her sword would be ready for use when called to serve.

The raven haired necro still favored the ax used in her first kill but she hardly could walk the streets with such in her hand. Not unless she wanted to claim she was competing in some lumberjack tournament and walking her *** to it. that would be a hard sell with the way the police had been watching her. Back to that ax. It was Chester’s but she took claim to it and showed him how to use it. It could be the simple grain of wood in a surface, the scent of motor oil that was similar to the scent of him and she could feel that handle so snug and tight in her palm as her fingers curled around it. A first weapon. Was it that way for others?

Satine stood up from the black leather seat beneath her. Stepping over the twin full body x-ray coffee table was as easy as stepping over a crack in the sidewalk. Her hand tossed the cloth and the small container of the polishing compound back in the black chest that held pretty much all she cared to have possession of. A green sandal caught her eye and she extended the effort of her hand to stretch and pick it up. A second lift of the lid to the vintage floor chest gave her a place to toss it out of view. Out of sight and out of mind. It was a good rule of thumb. Now that she gave it some thought she wondered if she should invest in a deep freezer at some point. And an ax.

Two hours later the night greeted Satine with a plethora of scents and sounds that would remind her that summer was arriving. Her walk through Bullwood and up into Cherrydale was brief. On through Wickbridge she traveled on foot. There she found the social bodies forming circles around pub tables drinking or adding to the bustling dancefloors. It was too early to find anything dazed, confused and alley bound so she moved on. Nothing called for her attention and for the moment she was grateful she had sucked on that plastic juice pouch she bought in the shop conveniently set up in Pandemoniums lobby.

The cravings were less as far as the hunger went. Satine was finding a it easier to keep control of as long as she didn’t smell it or see it. Blood. It was nearly impossible to ignore the effects it had over her. It was as if she instantly lost her mind. It sent her into some sort of frenzy and brought the itch beneath the skin on her hands to dig into something to the surface. Something warm and preferably writhing in pain that she created. All of this reminded her she was not foolproof and was subject to weakness just like the woman who raised her was. that is where the similarities ended between them. Satine’s issues were darker than her mother’s addictions. Satine had blood on her mind and scenarios of decadent violence flooding her thoughts. Each one threatened to slowly push out the limited sanity she had left to anchor to. So much for those calming fires she relied on when everything else became too much to handle.

“You got a light?”

A voice caught Satine completely by surprise as she stepped out of the River Rock transit. The source was not out of sight for long as a click of a few steps revealed a tall female that looked completely out of place in the business suit and nearly perfect auburn hair wrapped up tight in a smart wrap. The shimmer of a flame erupting at the top of a silver lighter cradled in her hands was another sign that this really wasn’t about needing a match or a random crossing of paths. Fingernails that were far longer than practical moved in a relaxed movement that let her know that the woman she was currently staring at had all night to wait for an answer. The scent of a freshly lit cigarette pulled Satine’s focus from the blood red nails that tucked the lighter into a small pocket on the front of the black on black ensemble.

“Ask and you shall receive.” Satine mumbled as she stepped around the female intent on proceeding forward to her random adventure waiting for her beyond where she currently was.

“In that case…” The soft exhale of a well savored breath hissed behind her as she made her first step off the limited sidewalk. “How would you like to make $200?”

Satine’s foot paused in the air as if the question was a moving car speeding right in front of her nearly hitting her. What the ****? She looked down at her clothes as her foot settled back from where it came. What the hell was that supposed to mean? A turn on her heels had her back in front of the taller female.

“Say that again?” Satine was greeted upon her return to a small cloud of smoke that had formed from the release of its gray ribbons downward. “I don’t think I heard you right.”

“T-w-o h-u-n-d-r-e-d d-o-l-l-a-r-s.” The teeth that were revealed behind the painted crimson lips were nice and even. Was it wrong that Satine wondered if there was a diamond hidden behind all that bright white?

Satine was just about to do two hundred dollars worth of damage and then some when she felt the increasingly familiar sensation of lead bursting through her leg. The sounds of the steps that originally caught her attention were so fast and fading it almost sounded as if the woman made two quick movements then disappeared into thin air.

“Freeze!”

Satine really was getting tired of this ****.

“What the hell?!” Now she was pissed off all over again.

A sharp whistle echoed in the distance. Satine held her leg with one hand as she heard the steps of a panting cop coming up behind her. She had no time to waste thinking about being a law abiding citizen. It was a signal to run like the wind. That is exactly what she did heading straight for the source of the attention getting call. The shots fired behind her but this time she was lucky. She had only one wound that she was taking with her.

Satine was running heading straight towards the place she heard that whistle. She could hear the steps behind her then it was as if she was pulled from the air by whatever hooked on her arm. a jaw rattling tug had her with such power that it reminded her of those cold meathooks the guys first had. Such brute force locked down and took hold of her that she could feel the pressure race up the bone into her shoulder joint and make a path to her jaw. Her body slammed back with a thud against a surface that stunned her. The scent of something so familiar and tangible filled her just as the rush of leaving everything in her view instantly shifted into another scene altogether. Now she was terrified and she was afraid to look. Afraid and filled with some weird energy that was right up there with the whole seeing people walking around in other rooms. What was going on with her?

It started in her bones and then bloomed in less time than she could control it. It was there and she felt like she had the power to do anything. Satine’s silver eyes fixed on black hair that was not her own as it spun beneath the halo of the moonlight above. The scent returned again. Her lungs filled with what she knew from the beginning and now she felt as if she could stop the world for this very moment. She had to! It was her! Velveteen had finally came around!

For the first time Satine felt that claim and connection with the grip of the petite females impressive strength. Velveteen must work out a whole lot. Not that she was given much time to think about it. That thought was all but left behind as her body was pulled into some haze of force that had her mind spinning with it. Instantly they were gone from the street and looking at the exterior of a garage.

Satine dug her heels down into the surface of the garage floor trying to slow down the moment. What the hell was the rush? This was going to be the best thing ever. Finally they were together. She tried to writhe her arm free from Velveteen’s grasp because it was getting sore and it was not going how she had planned it at all. There was supposed to be a hug. Yes. There was. God damned right there was. She wanted her hug! Over three thousand times she probably thought about it. Velveteen was supposed to be hugging her right now. Not pulling at her arm like she was Ms. Stretch Armstrong and if she tugged a little more she could finally take her arm off. Moments like these had no room for disappointment. The woman needed to calm the **** down. Satine put her foot down and in the blur of activity that brought her to skid on her heels into the garage she finally roared out in protest.

“STOP!” Satine could feel the pulsing of that power and the rage rolling through her. This was not going to continue. “I S-A-I-D S-T-O-P!”

Satine tugged her arm back in a swift motion like a ragdoll in a petulant child’s grasp that finally was about to be free. If only she could make everything stop. The power to have everything freeze in that very moment. Yes, then Satine could handle her sister and the woman’s obvious imbalance that was causing her to be so damned irrational. Silent curses and random tingling went through Satine’s brain and body and the next thing she knew she felt some surge that had her arm suddenly free before the hand on it froze up. She stumbled back with the force of her arm pulling free. One foot tripped up the other and she was dancing with her hands and feet to correct her balance. As she found the coordination to rise to her feet she noticed that that Velveteen was not moving. Satine waited and stared as if any moment Vel would lunge at her and continue her instant march of their feet to wherever she was trying to take her.

“I just wanted to talk…” Satine dared to finally step closer. “Velveteen?”

The woman didn't even blink. Satine moved in closer. Maybe Velveteen shared the need. Perhaps she wanted a hug too. It seemed as good as time as any when she paused after opening her arms wide.

“You okay?” She stuck out her hand to pat the shoulder that was as petite as her own. there was no response. Satine’s head inclined as her feet moved closer. “Please say something.”

Satien felt all the years creep up on her that she wanted for nothing more than this moment and now either she was being punished for it by Velveteen’s going silent or it was something worse. Her hand nudged the shoulder again and this time with far more than friendly pressure. There was no response. Satine looked around as the chill of uncertainty crawled up her spine. Nothing was moving. She swallowed hard as her eyes fixed on her stone-like sister. She could see through walls and discover bodies move. She felt instantly sick. What if she just turned Velveteen into a statue of flesh because she got angry? Her lips twitch at the thought. She just froze her sister and time as well. She was cursed. She got this close and now she was losing it all. Her eyes burned. She sure as hell was not going to cry. She started at Velveteen and blinked fast.

“I am so sorry.”

Fine. A couple tears were breaking through. There is always a few when you kill your sister. Satine stepped forward as if she was next in line to view the body of her deceased...which she already was to begin with...twin sister. Her fingers shook as they brushed back the hair that felt like her own as it slipped through her fingers falling back to her sister's shoulder. This was insane. Micah gave her the power to stop time and freeze things around her. She didn't deserve it. To top it all off in the madness it robbed her of the one who she had spent her short life looking for.

“So, so, so sorry. I don’t know my own strength!” Satine protested out loud truly believing she was truly capable of such.

the new necromancer's face went into her own hands in defeat. She just lost her sister and soon her *** because Micah was going to make ashes out of her. She couldn't have that. Satine sniffled and brushed the back of her hand across her face to dry her barely wet eyes. It was her mess and she would clean it up. She just had to take Velveteen somewhere until it worked itself out. It was a garage. Surely she could find some keys to something that had enough gas left to get out of town.

Satine barely had the time to get her hands away from her face when the nearly blinding crash of a hand rattled her jaw and skull with its impact. Just as her cheek felt like it possibly lost the definition of the firm solid line that supported the flesh over it another teeth shaking blow came to her. Seriously? She almost shed a tear for this ****? Satine felt more pain in the fact she was caught off guard and being scolded like a child by her sister than the pooling of blood in her mouth. While her gums dealt with the grueling decision over which teeth to release from their damaged hold Satine spit out her instant anger.

“You have enough problems and…” Satine palpated her cheek where Velveteen slapped her not once but twice. Her silver orbs were like sharp blades trying to bury into the woman who reminded her wishes do really come true and so did nightmares. She spit out more blood. “You ******* hit me because I am wounded? How did that double bitchslap feel?”

The lights in the garage started flickering on and off. Satine was boiling beneath her skin. All she had done since she left home was try to get to her and once she did the woman was like a rabid badger trying to tear her apart. And not just her, she had back up. The sound of glass popping made her jaw clench tighter. She needed to start a fire. She stared the face she knew all too well down as it looked back at her with serious and chilling intent.

Satine’s fingers slid down over her own leg and felt the wound that was actually beginning to heal faster than previous wounds. She was feeling stronger. Perhaps that was all part of it? The matching one on Velveteen’s leg was not lost on her. They were joined by each other's pain. She wondered how much of her own that the woman had felt over the years of their separation. Her hand flicked the remaining blood running down her fingers while the tip of her tongue took a count on how many teeth were left to dangle loosely like window shutters in need of serious repair.

“You would have less problems if you ever gave a thought to ******* talking to me.” Satine had a roof high bonfire blazing in her head and still she felt the rage building up within her. The fire was not working. The fluorescent light above them shattered and rained down the slivers of thin glass. “I have problems too. You don’t need to worry about my ******* messes. I cleaned them up all by myself before you and will continue to.”

Satine was screaming so loud her veins felt like they would pop out of her neck. The woman had been a vampire a lot longer than she had. What the hell was she expected to do? Figure all that went with it in a week? Her body was like a pinball machine firing up at the sight or scent of blood, her mouth had more teeth than she could count and if she was easy to piss off before now she was one step short of raging if her buttons were pushed. She got angry and she lost lightbulbs and windows. If anyone asked her she would say she was coping pretty well with it all...or so she thought. Looking at her twin all but left her questioning it now that she backhanded her.

“I just wanted to see what I was told didn’t exist.” Satine was tired but not defeated. Tired of the guessing what the **** was going on in the woman’s mind since she arrived. Of trying to make sense of the confusion and doubt that plagued her when it came to the woman she was staring at. On top of it all there was the constant struggle that it seemed to be to make a connection with the sister that could feel her pain as if it was her own. “I didn’t want anything more than that.”

Satine rubbed her cheek then put up both hands and swatted them in the air as if to say, ‘**** it’ and stepped away to walk out what was left of her anger. Obviously Velveteen needed more time before she was ready for that hug. Satine wasn’t so sure she was up to it anymore either.

Satine was not surprised at all when the woman looking at her with venomous eyes went on a rant. A rant that pretty much chewed her presence up and spit it back out without so much as the blink of an eye. There was movement that she could not miss even if the darkness was currently swallowing them. The new necromancer’s attempt at listening was short lived. The part of her that was missing something, someone perhaps never really was. It was like looking in a mirror. She was seething and it was nothing new. She had seen this look, felt its source through the layers of her shaking body. The only clues it was not another one of her episodes was the fact she would have had to dress beforehand with her eyes closed. The reflection she was now staring down with a matching glare of her own was wearing something she had never owned and likely never would. It was a mind **** she was still trying to get used to despite how much effort she had put into getting to this very point.

The words were not the same. None of what she was hearing was part of any dialog she had thought up while attempting to calm down after one of the numerous volatile rows with Chester. She never had a reason to say them. Instead she would have spewed profanity as she gripped the cracked vanity beneath her hands. Clinging to it like it would actually anchor her down as the storms raged out of control within her. Her words would be cursing heaven and hell. Each one full of promise that she would finally do it. Satine knew the power of such emotions. Those so extreme and unpredictable that could take you so far beyond reasoning that sanity didn’t even exist anymore. Looking at Velveteen she was willing to guess that perhaps it never had. Not for her or the one that reminded her she was not standing in the bathroom back home battling what was not really there.

Satine could feel the rage overwhelming her once again. The self-control she had left was pretty much pissing away between them. How did it go from her seeking out her twin to being all about thrusting her presence into her sister’s life? Between the two of them Satine was sure of one thing. Finding out that the twin she had been told didn’t exist in fact did and was capable of rolling out of thin air and also just so happened to be a vampire among many was a huge ******* shock she still was trying to absorb.

Velveteen had all the god damned time in the world to her **** together. She led an army or a mob or what was it...a faction? Whatever it was, it was big. If that wasn’t enough she had a hotel full of family. So what was her sister so sore assed about? Satine came off a plane and she might as well have landed on the moon. How much time had she really gotten to understand what she stepped into? and she didn’t know it was even there. Velveteen was aware of a whole other world that she was still trying to wrap her brain around. She didn’t get a vote. she was trying to get the **** out of Dodge and it was her sister and her band of merry men that dragged her *** back. She was just the nutcase that killed someone for a last burst of freedom and perhaps a final grasp to save herself from going crazy. Oh, and she went looking for a twin sister who at this very moment made her regret every step she took to make it happen. The sister she was stuck with for longer than she could truly appreciate was a head trip she wasn’t so sure she was wanting to take anymore.

“**** you!” Satine was missing the movements that she should have been paying attention to. She was ready to blow up and about to snap. No fire was going to calm her now. The sibling wanted to have it out. Fine by her. Satine had no use for the dramatics and avoidance. She was about to say as much when she realized the sudden pain in her thigh that had her double over was a bloody visual she could watch unfold as Velveteen worked the knife in her hands deep into her own thigh. “Are you ******* crazy?!”

Satine roared in pain as her body straightened up. Whatever glass that was left in the space around them began popping in defeat. Satine was like a dry leaf going up in flames. Flames of bone grinding pain as Velveteen continued to dig at her own flesh like she was going to strike it rich at any given moment.

“S-T-O-P!”

Satine lunged at her sister. She lost direction of her hands and began hitting blindly at the body that they connected with to claim some measure of control. Control over what happened next and over the rage that wouldn’t quit growing within.