Chapter 13

Nikola stared at his computer screen. The factory he had worked at was closing up. He felt bad about it. He wondered what had caused it. It was successful, and his former boss had been a good guy. Always mingling with them and even making candy together with the new people to show them the ropes. He had thought Nikola much of what he knew about candy. And now his peaceful heaven was closing doors forever.

He checked and saw it was because the land that the factory was on was about to be sold for a new McDonald's. It was a small space and didn’t make that much candy. It must have taken his boss everything he owned to keep it afloat without the workers knowing. And now his coworkers will be out on the streets.

Then he checked for how much the land was going to be sold. Just 100 000. He had plenty more on his new card from all his stealing. A few clicks later and he was writing with his former boss using Dimitri’s last name so that the man wouldn’t link him to his past dead employee.

The vampire managed to convince the almost ruined man to sell the land to him without the need of a phone call. Malkav had told him that there was a way for him to fake his voice, but he hadn’t taken the time to master it. He was glad everything went easily as he made the rental arrangements.

Nikola wanted to go easy on his former boss, but the man had his pride and offered him 40% of the sales and wasn’t willing to bulge for lower. Saying he would earn his chance for a new start with the factory. For a good measure Nikola offered to invest another 100 000 dollars and after a little convincing the man agreed, but he promised he would return the money to him, 7 000 dollars for 20 months on top of paying his rent.

Happy that he had done something for his former community, Nikola closed the laptop and checked his phone. Ivan had texted him. He did a double take when he read it. Ivan wanted love advice from him. Him, who had talked to Ivan about his unhealthy relationship already. What would he tell the blonde? How to keep Matthew in the bedroom? He sighed and texted back that he would meet him at a club in what was the unofficial “red light” district of the town.

He put on some black pants and a black T-shirt and went outside. Freddie was watering the new plants that the Malkavians had filled the corridors with. He blushed as he saw him, but still said hi. So, he was still disturbed about his screaming from that one time. He should take out Freddie and hook him up with someone. Make him loosen up a little.

 There was this Brujah that hunted in the same bars as Nikola, and the two had made a fast friendship. He had the rebel vibe going strong for him and wasn’t a half-bad dancer. He should get him to meet Freddie.

Feeling like a good friend, he went to the club and passed a couple of strip clubs on the way. Dimitri had gotten him into one with Malkav once, and he had gotten a lap dance from one of the attendances. He honestly couldn’t see the allure of a stranger doing something like that for him. Now when Malkav had done it was a different matter altogether.

Nikola entered the club and sat to wait at a table. Soon Ivan joined him. He looked improper in his everyday clothes, but just as always, he looked unfazed of where they were. The Russian looked wistfully at a person drinking vodka near them, and Nikola chuckled.

“So, Vanya, what is this about relationship advice? You know perfectly well that my experience is…not of the good sort. But still, I’ll listen and give my input if you want me to.”

“Cousin Niki, Matthew is acting strange. I suspect he had spoken with your leech Dimitri and now he…he sits in my lap as we watch hockey and his hands room very low while we dance the tango and his kisses are very deep. Your husband is corrupting my boyfriend and I want him to stop. Else you will be a widower very soon. But enough about Dimitri. How do I return Matthew’s advances without hurting him? I don’t know what to do. There are so many things I fantasize doing to him while he behaves the way he is instructed, but he is too young! He just turned 17! I am at my wits end. What do I do, cousin Niki?”

Nikola pushed his glass around in his hands thoughtfully. So, Matthew wanted to play a love game with Vanya. He was a teenager and understandingly eager. He himself had been like that at his age. But if Ivan started to give in too fast, he was right that the Canadian might get scared. Then he gave his childe a look and sighed at himself at his next question.

“Vanya, you are 20 so don’t get angry that I ask you this but have you had intercourse with anyone before?”

Ivan gave him a mock hit to the side before shaking his head.

“No, I was never in love before Matthew. What does it matter, cousin Niki? And why are you smiling like that?”

“Aw, this is too cute! But this is a problem. But…you don’t need me to give you the talk, do you? Surely, your parents?”

“Cousin Niki, if you give me the talk, I’ll put you in a chokehold! And Katyusha raised Natalia and me, so no, I didn’t find out about sex from my parents. I’ve watched porn, though, so I know how it’s done in theory.”

“Ah, fine, fine. I wasn’t looking forward to explaining it all to you anyway. But…I have a crazy idea with which you can sweep him off his feet while he remains in control. You already dance the tango for him, and it’s not so different, and when Malkav does it for me, I lose all control. Have you ever watched a striptease?”

Ivan watched him in pure horror, and then Nikola backtracked to what he himself had suggested and gave a chuckle. Dimitri would gloat for days if he ever hears him talking like that.

“Cousin Niki, I can do without the extra information! Now I have the mental image of nerdy cousin Malkav doing striptease. I need mind bleach. But as for your idea, well, it has merit. Will you teach me how to do it?”

Nikola sputtered and stopped playing with his drink. So, he still had some shame left in him. Good to know.

“What?! Is there no internet for you? Right, you can’t practice with Matthew there. I’ll see if I can get Malkav and Dimitri to leave the apartment on a hunt with me, so you can have a safe environment to practice in. But I won’t lie to them for what you are using the apartment. So prepare to be teased by Dimitri and, well, you know how bad Malkav is at reading social cues. He would probably offer to give you pointers and Matthew…he is not ready for a Malkav level show, trust me. Now there is a woman giving me looks from the bar. I’ll go on a hunt. Wait for me outside, ok? Considering I’ve been ordering her drinks ever since I noticed her, it won’t be long.”

He gave the woman a soft smile and got up to join her at the bar. She looked like Christmas had come early as she patted the stool right next to hers. It had taken him half an hour, but it was a pleasant and easy hunt. He had Ivan drink from her too, and then split the contents of her wallet between them. He didn’t even act surprised at his behavior anymore. But soon he should get Ivan to start killing and hunting by himself. It was the right thing to do, and it would return Ivan his independence.

They returned to Ivan’s apartment to find Matthew with a knife talking to a chicken as he held it down on the kitchen counter. Dimitri was watching a soup opera and giving the occasional giggle from the couch.

Ivan went to Matthew and tried to take the knife out of his hands, but Matthew’s grip on it was too strong. He kept talking to the chicken, and Nikola realized that the boy was describing porn to it. Just what had Dimitri done this time? He left a confused Ivan with Matthew and went to sit by Dimitri, who immediately hugged him.

“Just what did you do this time to shock him so much?”

“Niki, my love, my soul! Today is a special day for our son. You see, I want to avoid having to feed him when he becomes like us, so I made him start killing today. But he is such a sap that if you too weren’t so close in age, and it was possible for men to give birth, I would have really been mistaken that he was our flesh and blood. Taking more after you, but still.”

Nikola’s expression changed to one of indignation, and Dimitri snapped a photo of them. He really wanted to shove the stupid camera so far up his ass that a surgery would be required to remove it. He giggled at the new mental image of Dimitri taking pictures with his ass and calmed down. He snuggled up to him and embraced him back.

“What do you mean, you started him on killing?”

“Oh, you will be proud of me! I was very considerate and took the time to devise lessons out of it. First, I started him on ants. I got an entire ant farm and gave him a magnifying glass so that he would slowly burn them in their home. To teach him how he should feel on a hunt, you know? Then I had him step on a cockroach, you should get a big guy to resolve that little problem but don’t do it for him! You baby him too much as it is. Now after all that he was very shaken, so when I took out a life fish for him to butcher he downright panicked and clogged the sink with a tallow to just let it swim in the space. So, I lost my patience and told him that since he clogged the damn sink I’ll call a plumber and let him pay for the unclogging and since he doesn’t have money of his own, he would have to pay some other way. Were you aware that our silly son things that Johnny Sins is an actual plumber, electrician, astronaut and so on? Ya, I said I’ll call him. He was pretty fast to butcher the damned fish after that, and he even put the tallow in the washing machine. We raised him well, didn’t we?”

Nikola had begun chuckling at the ants, then his chuckles had stopped at the cockroach but had resumed at the fish. He was now clutching Dimitri and hiding his face in his shoulder as he laughed like a madman. Why didn’t he think of doing something like that for Ivan? Then he remembered how strong the Russian was and toughed better of it. He looked back between tears at the two lovebirds and saw that Ivan was holding Matthew with one of his arms and was petting the chicken with the other. He looked like a lost puppy. Nikola laughed harder, and Dimitri joined him when he tracked his line of sight.

“You see Niki? I’m not a half bad Papa. I deserve a reward for being so caring and involved with our son, don’t I? A kiss maybe?”

Nikola leaned in and kissed Dimitri without hesitation. He nuzzled his nose and stood in his arms, his body being rocked by his chuckles every so often.

“Anyway, then I took out a hamster and ya you laugh now, but he shrieked so loud the noisy old lady from upstairs came to threaten me with the police. I told her we were watching a horror movie, and she left. After much snot and tears from sonny, the hamster is now named Patches because he is multicolored, and I had to stop the lesson to get my ghoul out of work so that she can bring me a cage and everything a hamster needs. The little critter is eating cabbage now and mocking me with its very existence. He stares at me straight in the eyes. He knows he is untouchable and that I am defeated by his cuteness. You don’t mind checking its mind for any illusions of grandeur, do you? Because I can make Patches disappear if my suspicions are true.”

Nikola stopped his chuckles and got up.

“Well now I need to see Patches. Will you show me it?”

He said between giggles, and Dimitri took his hand and lead him to Matthew’s room. Nikola stared at the hamster. It stared back. He checked its mind, and it was calm like a cloud. He took a baby carrot and placed it in Patches’ cage. It was soon in his mouth and the rodent was munching on it in an adorable fashion. Maybe he should get a hamster for himself, they were too cute. Or a bunny.  Bunnies were way fluffier, he would get himself a bunny.

Then Dimitri waved at the fluff, and its eyes narrowed. It turned it’s back to them, then shock its butt and turned around again. Surely, it hadn’t just? He scanned its mind and there was indeed a deep satisfaction as it was watching Dimitri sputter and make threats at it. Dimitri had just been told “bite me” by a hamster! Nikola fell on the floor, clutching his side as he laughed. Dimitri actually whimpered at him before scooping him up in his arms and carrying him back to the couch. He liked Patches already.

“Well now that I know I only needed a hamster to put you in line back when you moved in with me, I feel silly. Had I known it was this easy to reduce proud, strong and scary Dimitri to whimpering in indignation, it would have saved me a ton of trouble? And to think…”

His sentence was broken as Dimitri was kissing him. He gave him a warning bite on the lips and then licked the abused space. Nikola grinned, knowing that he had shared in on Patches’ victory by making Dimitri shut him up.

“Ok, I get everything until now, but what about the chicken?”

“Let me finish, Mama. I’ll get to that. Now after Patches I decided to get him something equally fluffy but less cute, your Ivan’s equivalent of a drug dealer, I guess. So, I had another ghoul bring a rat from the sewers in a cage. But sonny screamed like a little girl when he saw it, dropped the knife and went to grab his plushy, so he can use it as a shield. Now I was having none of that, so I opened the cage and the rat attacked Matthew, sensing a weak link. He chased him around like that, and our bright son didn’t even have the good sense to hide in his room. He kept screaming and the lady from upstairs came to knock on our door again. I killed the damned rat and made Matthew sit with it in his hands the whole time I spoke with the nagging hag. He started mumbling something in French, it sounded like a lullaby. I had never been more embarrassed in my whole unlive. So next I was at my wits end as sonny was having a nervous breakdown holding a rat on the couch. And ouch, dear, are you attempting to tear my cock off? Darn it, have mercy! Or else I won’t tell you about the chicken! That’s a good wife. Now I was at a loss on what to do. But then it hit me. Why not take him on a hunt of sorts? I slapped him a couple of times to, dear, I already told you it hurts when you grip me there! You don’t want me to stop talking, do you? So anyway, I took him to a farmer’s market and had him pick out a live chicken for dinner. He thought it was another pet, the sap, so he named it Duncan. But I told him as soon as we got back that either Patches or Duncan will bite the dust and get cooked for his dinner. I tried telling him that Patches was considerate a delicacy in South America, but he started crying and apologizing to Duncan. So, he begged me to give it a fairy tale as a last vigil. Except all his tales from his childhood have kindred in them, and he didn’t want to scare Duncan, so he started retelling a porn about a dog watcher and a crazy lady with a Chihuahua. I listen to it with half an ear as it was very intriguing. The lady made very original use of her pet rat’s toys. And Matthew is attempting to drawl it out, so he is thinking up parts to prolong it. Now how about you…”

They both turned around to a loud sound and saw that Ivan was holding a bloody knife and the chicken was running around with its head cut off. Matthew was gaping at it and pointing at it. He screamed as it fell on the floor and blood began pooling around it. Then he made to run off to his room, but Dimitri was in front of him quickly.

“Where do you think you are going, sonny? Duncan needs to be plucked, and his insides need to be brought to his outsides. Furthermore, you need to marinate him and grill his heart and lungs and eat them in front of me while Duncan is nice and warm in the oven! It’s bad enough you let the amazing Hulk do your job for you!”

“I need to tell Patches the news. I’ll p-p-pluck Duncan after that. Patches and Duncan were such good friends, as they ate cabbage together. He has a right to know.”

Then he sidestepped Dimitri and walked into his room. The vampire hid his face into his hands, and then a loud banging came from the door. An old woman was loudly demanding what was happening. Dimitri snapped at her that they sacrificed a chicken to their lord and savior, Satan. She was not amused with his “joke” and told him this was his last warning. He retorted that he was having her for dinner, and then she huffed and went back upstairs.

Nikola was slightly worried about the old lady, but there was nothing to be done. Dimitri will really have her for dinner now that he was pissed off. There was nothing to be done about that. And she had called him a sinner once as she saw him walking hand in hand with Dimitri. She really wasn’t a nice neighbor.

After Matthew was done consoling Patches, he came to a clean floor courtesy of Ivan and to an already boiling water. The Russian showed him how to pluck Duncan, but it was so traumatizing for Matthew, he started telling Ivan of his porn stories without knowing it. Ivan looked like he wanted to scream as he listened, and he took it out on the dead Duncan. Then he guided Matthew’s hand as the teen butchered the chicken and took out his intestines. Matthew ate the grilled heart and lungs and then began to thank Duncan for his tastiness. Dimitri facepalmed himself until he had a hand print on his forehead.

“And to think I was going to drive him to an actual farm, so he can butcher a pig next! I don’t understand why he is such a sap. Where did I go wrong raising him?  Will you answer me, Niki?”

Nikola ran his fingers in Dimitri’s hair and leaned on him again.

“Why don’t you keep him on chicken killing until he stops naming them before you move him to something bigger? A full-sized pig is too much. Why not one of those small decorative ones?”

Dimitri whipped his head in his direction and stared at him in amazement.

“You won’t berate me that I got him killing animals? You approve of it?”

“I don’t approve. But I promised I will leave most of his education up to you. He is to be your childe, and you know better than me what he needs to survive.”

Matthew had them all saying grace and something positive for Duncan the chicken as he was finally cooked. He had even brought Patches’ cage, and Nikola scanned the rodent’s mind. There was deep amusement there as Patches looked at the roast chicken. Nikola didn’t tell Matthew that, as the boy kept talking to the hamster and promising him that Duncan was at a better place, free of pain and suffering.

Dimitri and he went back home and picked up a rabbit on the way. Dimitri was disgruntled, but after Nikola gave him sad eyes, he relented. But as soon as Malkav saw the bunny, he got a weird look on his face. He petted it’s soft fur, and then it bit him. He just stood there and let the bunny take its fill.

As Archie the bunny jumped around after Malkav like a puppy, Nikola couldn’t help but regret taking it home. It had hissed at him and pooped right on Dimitri’s chest as the blonde had attempted to cuddle it. The black bunny was reprimanded for the hissing and given carrots for the pooping. Dimitri had gotten out on a hunt since he was “not wanted” and Nikola would have joined him, but Malkav had taken him in his arms and made him feed Archie some of his vitae, so the bunny would warm up to him. Great, so now he was a blood bank to his own pet too.

The days after that passed peacefully. Dimitri was humiliated at home by Archie, much to Malkav’s amusement. Patches kept doing his little “bite me” butt showing thing much to Nikola’s, and Matthew and Ivan were both horrified when they heard about how Archie was a pet ghoul and prone to fits of violence. Matthew kept muttering about how the holy hand grenade must be real too, as Dimitri and Nikola were leaving that day.

Nikola started hunting alone. Operation get Freddie together with mister rebel had gone off easily, and now Freddie was happily breaking up with his new lover every day. They still talked in the corridors as they tended to the flowers, but Freddie no longer blushed at Nikola as they did so. Especially since Roger had started visiting him in his apartment. Nikola was happy for them.

The Bulgarian was walking home after a successful hunt one night as a car stopped by him. A couple of vampires got out and opened the door to the back sit and held it open to him.

“Lord Flavius Aetius of the Ventrue clan extend an invitation to you, Mister Asenov-Popescu of the Malkavian clan.”

Nikola stared at them confused. Just what did a Ventrue could want with him? Was it because of Malkav hunting down the clan in a personal vendetta for feeding him jokes instead of information for centuries?

“And if I refuse?”

“We will leave, and you will never see us again. Our lord doesn’t want to incur the wrath of your sire, or your Methuselah husband.”

Nikola nodded and without knowing why, he entered the car. He sat silently as the vampires took him to their lord.

He was driven out of town and to a spacious looking house on the outskirts of a forest. So, this vampire liked drama? As he entered, he saw that the walls were covered in mosaics. They depicted strange scenes. He stopped at one of a man and a woman together on a bed in a state of undress.

“It is of a prostitute and her patron in the tradition of Rome. I hope you are not bothered by such things, child.”

He turned towards the voice and saw a man dressed in a black suit standing on the stairs with a gentle smile on his face. The man bowed at him slightly, and Nikola bowed back.

“My name is Flavius Aetius and as you were informed I am a proud member of the Ventrue clan. Perhaps you have heard my name from your history lessons, Mister Asenov-Popescu?”

Nikola shook his head and the man’s smile deemed somewhat.

“Of course everyone has heard of my enemy Attila the Hun yet no one remembers the man who defeated him at the Battle of Chalons. No matter, we will have plenty of time for me to tell you all about my greatest triumph as we get to know each other.”

So, the vampire had gotten him here to gloat about past fame? Nikola shook his head and turned around to leave, and the vampire moved in front of him and hocked an arm around his and began to lead him up the stairs. Nikola gave an annoyed huff but didn’t resist.

“I have called you here because your little acquisition of land in my territory amuses me. The candy factory you saved was to be sold to me. But you weren’t thought the rules of the Jihad by your brutish sire, and so I forgive you. And let me assure you I am not here to talk your ear off about past glories. Rather, I wish to talk to you about your possible future.”

Nikola was lead into a sitting room, and he looked down at the floor, there was a mosaic with a skull on a pedestal that was balanced on a wheel. He marveled at it, and the vampire’s smile brightened again. He sat him in a chair and took the one opposite his, and then poured two glasses of blood for them. Nikola took his and drank. It was cold, but it smelled nice, it left a weird aftertaste.

“Ghoul blood. Specially breed for providing their vitae mixed in with their human blood. I am particularly fond of this particular vintage. Do you like it, child?”

Nikola took another gulp and moved the blood in his mouth, similar to how his mother always made him taste wine before answering.

“It is strange and new. I have never had any before. Was the ghoul hurt for it?”

“Oh, no, my dear. We the Ventrue are not mindless beasts, and the taste would have been spoiled because of the fear of the ghoul. Rest assured that what you drink was humanly extracted.”

“You said you wanted to talk about my future, but I already have it figured out.”

“Do you? Malkav leads an entire Jihad against the whole vampire community for the slightest insults dealt in the past. And Dimitri helps him, if not out of the pleasure of it, then because he is forced to. But you remain very inactive when it comes to the eternal war all vampires wage against each other. Tell me, child, do you think perhaps that you have no enemies? Because you delude yourself if you do.”

Nikola looked into the vampire’s mind out of habit and gave it a reading. The lord was honest when it came to his questions. Did he have enemies? He had helped Malkav and Dimitri hunt other vampires before, but so far, none had approached him until Flavius. He must have some. A certain African that now walked with boils around his cock came to mind. He could count him at least.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But they are kept at bay. And Malkav is truly immortal, and it will remain so forever. As I said, I have my life figured out. I will stay with my sire until Gehenna and if he wins against the end times stay with him afterwards.”

Flavius gave him a slow clap before drinking up his glass in one go, and then he poured himself another.

“While it is true that Malkav is an angel, albeit a fallen one, it is sweet that you think the world of him. One day, the other Antediluvians will band together against him, and then you will be left with his enemies. Dimitri would soon follow him in Death’s embrace as he actively hunts and partakes in the diableries with him, or so my spies tell me. And then you, who are so used to being a pet, will be taken in by the strongest and cruelest of the bunch who tore your sire and husband to shreds. Is that the eternity you wish for?”

Nikola hadn’t thought about it that way. But the other Antediluvians were slumbering, weren’t they? Well, all apart from Arikel, and he doubted she will move against Malkav if she had sat out the killing of the second generation.

“As I said before…”

“Yes, yes. Malkav is almighty, and only Caine and Lilith rival him in your mind. You will hear my words in time. But you must know that it is time for you to start partaking in the Jihad on your own. You are … almost alive. That is mostly due to Malkav’s blood being fed to you every time you wish for it. You had been fed different vampire blood in the form of sweets, yes? And yet, you have never done a diablerie. You are already a cannibal, child. Why not take it a step further and attain more power?”

Nikola was just about to snap at the vampire how he didn’t need more power when he remembered his words about Malkav and Dimitri dying. He was shielded by them and remained blissfully ignorant thanks to them. But what if they did die? Was he to relieve his beginning days with Dimitri with someone else? Never again.

“What are you offering and what do you want in return for it, lord Flavius?”

“Simple, child. I am offering to be your mentor. I will teach you how to wage war both with economical means and with pure violence. In return, I want your protection from your sire. Should you grant it, I will point you to the sleeping Antediluvians and Methuselahs from all around the world, and you will feast on their blood to your heart’s content. It would be like an adventure, and maybe you will become so strong you will no longer need to be a pet to survive. What do you say, child? Will you be my protégé and greatest weapon?”

The vampire extended his hand for him to shake, and Nikola stared at it. To no longer be cooped up was like a dream to him. One that he needed more power for. But it was true that he had no idea how to go about it. And this Ventrue did. Did he want to sell his allegiance to him? No. Did he have to? Yes. He reached out and shook the offered hand.

“Now that we have come to an agreement.” Began to speak the Ventrue as he filled another glass. “I will give you a piece of advice. Read everything you can find about the Masquerade. My pet hackers have told me you know of the “game” and its manuals. Read the Gilded Cage and then check the book on Gehenna to see just what we vampires fear. Any questions?”

“Are you attempting to prepare me to stop it? Because I will never be strong enough.”

“Oh, child. People kept telling me that I and the legions under my command will never be strong enough to defeat the Scourge of God, yet I remain while he is dead. Under my tutelage, even though I am merely an Elder, you will surpass Malkav one day. And when that day comes you will be free, and I will be untouchable. And isn’t that what we both need?”

“I suppose it is. So, where do we start?”