La Posada --Chapter 10 --PG-13

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librarian_7
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La Posada --Chapter 10 --PG-13

Post by librarian_7 »

Disclaimer: I don't own Josef. He thinks he owns freshie Lucky, but I do.

La Posada

Chapter 10


Lucky took a last glance over the body of her email and hit send. She’d asked Josef a few questions about the authenticity of the setting of a novel she was reading, and knew that if he was in the mood, he could discourse expansively about life among the rich and famous in 1930’s Hollywood. Just a few days previously, he’d given her some really choice tidbits about life aboard a pirate ship in the 1690’s. She was waiting eagerly to hear more of that story someday. Tonight, though, there was no chance of a response before her limited online time was up, so she reluctantly logged off, intending to settle in for the remainder of the evening with a good book.

Every evening around this place was a quiet one, she thought. All us good, submissive little freshies busily working hard at building up our blood. She had a sudden picture of rows of corpuscles doing pushups, and rolled her eyes. And a-one, and a-two.

That thought was interrupted by the ringing of her house phone, about the same time she became aware of a commotion in the hallway. At first, as she moved to pick up the call, it sounded like random banging followed by incoherent shouts, but she realized that one of the voices was shouting, “Lucky!”

Marla’s strained voice on the phone did not reassure her. “Please stay inside your room, dear. We’ll have this situation handled immediately.”

“What situation?”

“It’s nothing to worry about. We’ll deal with it.”

A sudden pounding on her door, followed by a loud scream of “Lucky! For God’s sake, open your door!” It sounded like Sam.

She dropped the phone, not even bothering to hang it up, and rushed to the door. Flinging it wide, she caught her breath with a gasp at the scene. Sam was in the hallway, struggling with three of the staff. As she watched, one of them tried to put a hand over Sam’s mouth, and Sam bit down hard, eliciting a cry of pain and a curse. The bitten one drew back a hand as though to strike, and Sam plunged harder against his captors, screaming frustration.

“What the hell is going on here?” Lucky demanded, pitching her voice loud enough to be heard over the fray, and everyone froze, momentarily. Sam looked disheveled, wild-eyed. There was a bit of blood on his mouth from where he’d bitten the staff member, and the sight of it struck Lucky to the heart. This was just wrong.

“Help me,” he mouthed.

A sound of running footsteps, and Marla appeared around the corner of the corridor. “Lucky, go back in your room, please.”

“I don’t think so.” She crossed her arms stubbornly. “What’s going on?” she asked again.

“I’m going to have to insist,” Marla snapped.

“They’re sending me away, Lucky,” Sam said, still struggling. “It’s too soon, and they’re sending me back.” He seemed almost in tears. “I just wanted to say goodbye.”

Lucky rounded on Marla. “What is your problem? You know we’re friends, can’t you just give us a minute or two?”

Marla grabbed Lucky’s arm above the elbow and half dragged her back a step or two, neatly positioning herself between the two freshies. “This was not my idea,” she said with quiet intensity. “And surely you can guess who ordered it.”

Lucky put a hand over her mouth, feeling slightly sick. “Oh, shit.” She couldn’t take her eyes off Sam. He’d quit fighting, but the devastation on his face was plain. He was hoping she could save him somehow. She could see it in his eyes.

“You brought this on,” Marla continued, “so don’t blame me.”

Trying to contain her anger, to present a reasonable front, Lucky took a deep breath. “Please, please don’t do this. Just—please don’t.”

Marla seemed caught in some odd expression between exasperation and sympathy. “You do understand…your patron was very clear that he was to be separated from you immediately.”

Lucky felt utterly trapped. If Josef were here, she could reason with him. He was known to listen to reason, on occasion. But just as obviously, this was a result of his last visit, and she had no idea what kind of collateral damage would result from getting him involved again. One last ditch effort, perhaps. “Look, just…just let me talk to him for a minute, and then we won’t even look at each other again. Marla, he told me what his blood results were yesterday. He’s not strong enough to go back into a regular rotation. You know that.”

Marla closed her eyes briefly, and shook her head. “I argued against it, Lucky. Mr. Kostan is extraordinarily persuasive, and I am not going to cross him on this one. Besides, I’ve spoken to Sam’s patron. She’s anxious to have him home. She cares about him, she won’t hurt him.”

“I’ve seen the evidence of how she cares about him. Have you?”

“Yes.” Marla looked away. “Lucky, I’m going to tell you this once, and I want it to be the end of it. He is not your problem. Tell him goodbye, and then put him out of your mind. You have enough on your hands, with your patron.”

“We were only ever friends, Marla. That’s all. Josef is going overboard on this, and he’d realize it himself, if he were here.”

“Well, about the last thing I want right now is another visit from Mr. Kostan,” Marla snapped, laying as much emphasis as she could on the formality of the name. “So I intend to do as I’m told, and send this boy away.” She paused, and continued more quietly, “I don’t like it either, but I don’t have much choice.”

There was no budging her, it seemed. Lucky sighed. “But you’re going to let me say goodbye?”

Marla pursed her lips, stared hard into Lucky’s face, then nodded shortly. “Make it fast.”
She turned back and made a gesture to the men holding Sam, and they reluctantly released him.

The tall blond that Lucky vaguely remembered meeting a time or two, Sam’s host, frowned at Marla. “This is not a good idea. We’re going to have to hurry to make the flight as it is.”

“So hurry. You can make up five minutes going down the mountain, Randall. I’ve seen the way you drive.”

Lucky pushed by Marla to get to Sam. He threw his arms around her, and she could feel the desperation rolling off him in waves. She hated herself for finding the human warmth of him stifling, but there it was. Knowing they were being watched, too, made it hard to find words.

Sam dropped his head to her shoulder. “I’m scared, Lucky. I’m scared.”

She put a hand up to his temple, brushed back the hair and lifted his face so she could see him, saying things she didn’t believe. “It’ll be all right. She cares for you, I know…she’ll understand.”

He shook his head, slightly, hopelessly. “She’ll kill me, or she’ll dump me, and I don’t know what would be worse.”

Lucky could almost feel the disapproving eyes on them. “Whatever happens, be strong, Sam. You can do this.” She leaned forward, whispered in his ear. “Get in touch. Set up a new facebook page—fake everything. Send a friend request, and mention, mention star-gazing. So I’ll know it’s you.”

Sam nodded. He was about to reply, when Randall tapped him on the shoulder. “Look, I’m sure this is beautiful, but we need to go.”

“Go to hell, Randall,” Sam snarled. His eyes were full. “Lucky…I…I can’t say what you’ve meant to me.”

She put a hand gently to his cheek. “I wish things were different, Sam, I do. I’m so sorry about all this.”

Then the warm relentless hands were turning him away from her, and others were holding her back. She watched him walk away, Randall’s arm around his slumped shoulders.

Lucky had one of those moments, as Sam and his escorts disappeared down the corridor, when she knew she’d remember every detail of the scene. The console table of chunky wood in a Southwestern style, holding a bright bowl of fresh flowers centered on it beneath a mirror with a cut tin frame. She’d never noticed the light fixtures in the hall before, three-dimensional multi-pointed stars of brass and milky, opalescent glass glowing under the curved adobe ceiling, the slightly rough floor of dark, broad planks. It was exotic, evocative and at the moment, she hated every bit of it.

She rounded on Marla, ready to have it out, but the other woman held up a silencing hand. “Let’s take this out of the hallway. This is too public.”

The one detail Lucky hadn’t noticed until now was that up and down the long corridor, other doors here and there were open, curious heads peering out. Yet there they were, all interested in whatever mischief or misery might be going on. You’d think freshies would have better sense, she thought sourly, but she nodded to Marla and swept back into her room, expecting to be followed.

When she heard the door close behind them, she whirled around, taking a deep breath, prepared to launch into a tirade, but Marla spoke first.

“I didn’t want to have to do that,” she said. “I’m in a corner, Lucky. You put me there, when you got Kostan involved in this.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Really? If you hadn’t whined him into making an unauthorized visit, we could all have let this slide under the bridge, and Sam would be safe in his room right now.” Marla started pacing, and Lucky sank onto the sofa, hands over her face.

“There is no way Josef would have wanted that boy put in mortal danger,” Lucky said. “I just don’t believe it.”

Marla stopped and stared at her in disbelief. “How well do you know that vampire, Lucky? Do you think he’s all moonlight and roses, just because he’s nice to you?”

Her hand stealing to the fang that hung around her neck, Lucky looked up defiantly. “I know he can be ruthless, when he needs to be. But—“

“But nothing. You let him know that someone had put hands on—let’s not mince words here--his property. He doesn’t stand for that. He’s not the type.” Marla was glaring at her, hands on hips. “I tried to tell you, Lucky. I really tried. But you had to go on thinking this was some romantic game. One you had some hope of winning.”

Lucky felt like the walls were closing in on her. Her chest hurt. She shuddered out a long sigh, and spoke softly. “I know I never get to win. I know there’s no happy ever after part. But—he’s everything to me, right now. And I don’t care what he is or what he’s done. I’m just saying that you didn’t have to handle the situation the way you did.” She paused. “Why couldn’t he have just been mad at me? That would have been enough. He knew—”

Curiosity got the better of Marla. “Was he mad at you?” she asked.

“A little, maybe, at first, but then we—look, it’s personal. And I never thought he’d take it out on anyone else.”

Marla narrowed her eyes, thinking. She was aware of vampire territoriality, but this did seem a little extreme. She had to wonder what else was going on. In the meantime, though, she sat down beside the distraught young woman, put an arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Lucky. We’re all upset over this.”

“Upset?” Lucky snorted. “Right. Sam cares about me, and I may have gotten him sent to his death. Yeah, I think that qualifies as upsetting.”

“Welcome to my world, sweetheart. I spend my life patching up broken freshies to send them back to the monsters.” Marla grimaced. Painful, but there it was. One of these days, something would be too much, and she’d tell Slade he could shove this cushy job, and strike out on her own. Yeah, sure she would.

“They aren’t monsters.”

“They sure as hell can be.”

They sat in silence for awhile, chewing on that. Finally, Lucky spoke, a question so low Marla had to strain to hear it.

“So what do we do?”

The older woman shrugged. “We go on, sweetheart. We do the best we can, and we go on.”
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maggatha3
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Re: La Posada --Chapter 10 --PG-13

Post by maggatha3 »

Why is Marla accusing Josef? It was her ex-Sire who suggested sending Sam away...Josef will know, and for sure he won't be pleased. :noway:
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Re: La Posada --Chapter 10 --PG-13

Post by darkstarrising »

This chapter presents the ugly, dangerous side of what it means to be a freshie. They are property, to be controlled, treated or cast off as a vampire sees fit. Sending Sam back to his vamp could be sending him to his death or worse.

But what game is Marla playing? Slade told her to send Sam away, not Josef. She's playing with fire, she is.
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