Banned PG-13

[cassysj]

I was inspired to write a darker freshie story after reading Lucky's Break of Day and Allegrita's Boulevard of Broken Dreams. This is not related to them but reading them got my mind working.

I do not own any recognizable Moonlight characters no copyright infringement is intended



Beth drove up to Josef’s house. She wanted to drop off her New Year’s gift Scotch AB Negative since she and Mick never made it to the party last night.

A very subdued Tangie opened the door. “Beth…is he expecting you?

Beth was surprised, usually she was just welcomed in and surrounded by Kostanistas. Sometimes she felt like a queen in their presence. Every freshie’s dream was to have a vampire boyfriend.

“Um….no. I just wanted to drop off a New Year’s gift. Is he here?

“He’s still asleep. I can wake him. Tangie said hesitantly.

Something was going on here. She was dying of curiosity, she was going to say yes when Josef slipped in the room and startled both of them.

“Unnecessary Tangerine, I’m up. Wake the rest of the girls and make sure everything is taken care of in thirty minutes.

Tangie ran out of the room like as scared teenager instead of the most powerful freshie in Los Angeles.

“Are you mad at Tangie? Beth asked.

“Not right now. I’ll let you know in thirty-one minutes.

“What’s going on?

He smiled. “Beth, is that for me? You shouldn’t have.

“Ummm it was for the party last night. “I’m sorry we didn’t make it, we got stuck at Ben’s party and…

“Fur over fangs? Josef quipped.

“Huh???”

Josef shrugged. “Never mind, when you’re a big girl I’ll explain it to you.

“Josef, did something happen at the party?

“Nothing I’m going to discuss. I’m going to get ready for work. You may ask Tangie in….he looked at his watch. “Twenty-seven minutes.”

Beth heard a flurry of freshies running around on the second floor and Tangie barking out orders. About twenty minutes later Tangie came back in the living room.

“Josef said you wanted to ask me something.”

“Tangie, what the hell is going on?

“Blacklist.”

Beth scrunched her brow in confusion. ‘Blacklist? The tv show?

Tangie smiled weakly. “No, if only that simple. Pearl, one of the party favors last night has been blacklisted.”

“What does that mean?”

She does not exist as far as Josef is concerned. We had to remove her contact info from our phones and block her number, delete any texts, emails and any posts of hers we’ve responded to on the Freshie board. Josef will not go anywhere she is hired.

“What did she do?” Beth asked.

“Fred Cunningham made a pass at her during the party last night.

Beth blinked. “How is that her fault? She’s not exclusive to Josef.”

“She was last night. If he hires you for a party you belong to him.” Tangie said seriously.

“Well, was she making out with this guy or something? Beth asked.

“No. He touched her boobs and her butt.”

Beth was furious. ‘That’s not her fault. Tangie you’re a woman, you know that sometimes we get unwanted attention.

Tangie nodded sadly. “I feel bad for her but there’s nothing that can be done. She exercised poor judgment.

“That’s insane. Beth snapped.

“Beth, it’s not so much the pass as the…..

Josef stuck his head in. “Tangie, I’m leaving. Beth it’s always a pleasure.”

Beth frowned. “Josef how can you blacklist a person for being sexually harassed? I thought you lived in the twenty first century.

Josef put on his coat. “I do. Pearl was not blacklisted for sexual harassment. She was blacklisted for disrespect.

“What do you mean?”

“I contracted her for a party. That means she’s a party favor and doesn’t leave the living room. She went into a private room with Fred Cunningham. A freshie can’t do that without my permission.”

“Maybe he forced her.” Beth said.

“Fred Cunningham doesn’t force anyone. Does he Tangie? Josef said seriously.

Tangie shook her head. ‘No, he doesn’t force but there is no respectful exit.

“I don’t know about that Sweetheart. Tell Beth how you handled it two years ago.”

Tangie sighed. “I told him I was flattered by his interest but I was on the short list for Josef’s dinner. He let me go immediately, he went straight to Josef and said. “I didn’t mean to eat off your plate. My apologies. Josef asked me what happened and then he offered me an exclusive contract

Beth was furious. “Josef if you know this guy has a reputation, why do you let him in your house?”

“He’s the leader of Las Vegas. He never touches an exclusive and he usually brings his own bottle. Fred is not the problem. That girl should have rejected him like Tangie or…..if she’s not that fast on her feet when she finished feeding him she should have told Tangie what happened. Tangie would talk to me and I’d have a friendly chat with Fred about how I haven’t thrown an orgy since 1984. If Pearl had done the right thing she’d be rewarded not banned.


“Orgy?”

“Yes Beth. Freshie parties used to be a lot wilder. He still parties like its 1999. Las Vegas is his first territory. Fred’s party favors are always available for entertainment. That’s part of his contract with them. Fred asked me for the sexual password since Pearl didn’t get undressed. He thought it was a game. That was the first I heard of it. When I told him it wasn’t that type of party he was mortified.

“He should have been embarrassed. Beth continued. “He doesn’t have the right to…

Beth if a freshie isn’t smart enough to not get into trouble or get out of trouble respectfully they can’t work for me in any capacity.

“Josef that’s not fair. You have no right to ban her.

“Beth, she’s still breathing. That’s the limit of my mercy. I’m done talking about it. Happy New Year.” He slammed the door so hard the house vibrated.

Beth turned to Tangie. “I know you can’t “say” but don’t you think he’s being unreasonable.”

“Beth, freshies survive by following certain rules. You have to know when it’s time to fight, time to flee, who to feed and when it’s okay to…...you know what I mean. Vampires need us but we’re easily replaceable. If you anger the wrong vampire you’re banned. I have to call Plum and tell her Pearl’s been banned from Kostanland that means she’ll be banned from Fire Blossom as well.

“That’s not right.” Beth said.

Tangie shrugged. “It’s reality.”

[MickLifeCrisis]

There's always that darker side to vampire life. I guess this would fall under the "complicated and difficult" aspect.

Nice job, Carol!

[francis]

How about a second chance? That's unfair, I agree with Beth, but so are the rules.

[allegrita]

Wow... poor Pearl. Considering all the attention being paid lately to stories about celebrities behaving badly toward women, university campuses changing their responses to complaints about sexual harassment and rape, horror stories about rape and sexual harassment in the military etc., this story is really timely. It angers and saddens me that in the vampire world, too, it's considered the weaker person's fault that they were victimized. I'm with Beth. Pearl got blacklisted and that creepy Vegas vampire didn't even get a slap on the wrist.