Grateful for the rubber gloves they had nabbed, they sat her up and leaned her against the wall, and towel dried her so she was dry enough to slip a crimson maxi dress over her head, figuring the color would blend in with whatever blood they might have missed. They then rolled her hair into a knot at the back of her head and stuck a hairpin in it, not bothering to dry it.
As they took a few steps back to admire their work, Laina mumbled, “I think I did something bad. How’d I get in the bathroom? Is that a finger over there? I’m hungry…”
Jenna and Gigi looked at each other and then back to her, and in unison said, “Laina, just shut up.”
Helping her to stand, they flashed back to where their captive still laid unconscious, glad no one had ventured in there in the time they’d been gone. It wasn’t until Laina said, “Y’all look silly” they realized they still had on aprons and gloves. They snatched their makeshift cleaning garments off and threw them in a haphazard heap on the floor. What was one more mess to explain? They already knew they would hear about the catastrophe they’d left in the bathing chambers. But that was a worry for later.
“Okay, we can do this.” This came from Gigi in a non-too confident tone. “Laina!” she shouted, when she noticed her sister’s fangs gleaming and her mouth salivating as she kept staring at the mage. The only response she got was, “Huh?”
“Come on, Gigi, let’s get this over with. There’s no telling how long she’s gonna stay like…that. And we’ve got who knows how much longer before this dude’s dead, then we’ll really have our asses in a sling.” With that, Jenna reached down to grab the mage and take Laina’s hand as Gigi grabbed the other one. No way in Hel were they going to allow her to flash on her own.
Right before they flashed, Laina started bouncing up and down where they stood and asked, “Are we about to go build a snowman?” With an answering grunt of exasperation, they were gone.
So, where were we? Awe, yes, right here… “Gigi, Jenna, Laina, who the Hel is this, and where the fuck did he come from? Laina, why is your eye twitching like that, and what in Sekhmet’s name do you have on?”
14
Triple Threat or Train Wreck?
After explaining how and where they had found the techno mage, and the inevitable questions were asked as far as how best to get information from him; torture, a trusted sorcerer, or a trusted witch, Laina began convulsing once again. Only this time was much worse than the last, and even more terrifying for those she loved to watch. As she dropped to the floor on her back, blood began to slowly pool in each orifice; her mouth, nose, eyes, even from her ears.
As if on cue, Darvyn and Elyssia flashed into the room. “Tia, I think there’s something wrong with the— What the fuck?” His tone quickly changed from worried and frantic to utter dread and confusion when he saw his daughter lying on the floor, bleeding out and convulsing. Wasting no more time, Darvyn flashed directly to where Laina lay, kneeling beside her. When he went to gather her up in his arms, however, he got a shock for his efforts. “The Gods damn it all! Has she been drinking from a fucking techno? You girls should know better than that.”
“We do, but—” the other two answered in unison.
“But? But what? And this had damn well better be good. Because this is the worst possible time for this shit.” Darvyn visibly grew more frustrated by the moment.
“But she wanted to find out what he knew.”
“And how did she bloody well plan on doing that? Bleeding him dry until he was a corpse she could take to the necromancers?” Darvyn’s voice continued to rise with both fear and frustration, making Jenna and Gigi automatically take a couple steps back. To no one in particular, he shouted, “Someone get a donor in here! Wait, make that two. She’s gonna need a lot of blood.”
“You really don’t know?” the two shrieked together, then began finishing each other’s sentences, something they tended to do when they were upset. Everyone’s heads turned from Gigi to Jenna and back as they spoke. “I mean, yeah…we kept it from…like everybody…but you’re our dad…how could you not…know? Do you pay…any attention to…us at all? Or just when we screw up?” They shrilled the last of that question together.
“You spoiled rotten…of course I know she can gain information from blood!” Darvyn shouted at them. Times like these they all wondered what truly went on in those brains of theirs. “Anya, I’m going to need your help. And wipe that damn smirk off your face.”
She outright laughed at the looks she got from everyone at that comment. “Oh, my Goddess. I sometimes forget how much slower you full-bloods age. But you used to drive Dad crazy too, and you were supposedly past your teen stage.” As she walked to where they were, she directed towards her nieces, “What you boneheads failed to realize is a tech’s blood is too damn thin to read, even by a vampire as strong with the talent as your sister is. She may have gotten a faint echo, if she was lucky. And everyone in the family knows your so-called secret.”
“Y’all…know?” the girls asked wide-eyed.
“Oh, can it!” Tia had been listening to everything play out until she couldn’t take their incessant shrilling anymore and abruptly stood from her throne.
