Rose’s Story:
Midnight Snack at Denny’s
Story by Ashley
[Editor’s note: this tale takes place toward the end of BOOK II, Story 3, Chapter 1, part 3: “Taketh the Cup” and the beginning events of BOOK II, Story 3, Chapter 2, part 1, “Domine, obsecro te”]
After our meeting with Sascha Vykos and her cutting us loose along with an arm each, I could still feel the icy focus running through my veins. Asa and I regrew our limbs in a few moments and carried Zachary out by each end of his mangled corpse of a body.
He hit us with an oddly cheery tone despite being in a world of hurt, and Asa asked that Zachary put “DJ” away. I was more concerned with moving my fledglings away from the nest of monsters a stone’s throw away.
We started moving again, and Zachary went lifeless once more as he searched the Cobweb for Cedric and Comet. Between his wandering mind and my nose, we were in the car in a snap.
As the boys caught up, I was already thinking of our route out of here to the other side of town and a Denny's where we'd find Benjamin and Gwenevieve waiting. After a bit of discussion, Cedric obfuscated the car but went into a sort of trance in the process. Then I started driving.
With just one taloned finger, I spun the steering wheel and the entire car around in one motion. Hirut’s blood was still inside me, and I commanded it to help us flee. I could feel the entire street and reacted to it as if I was just gliding down a river’s current. Comet sat beside me and screamed beside me as I moved this car the same way I would myself on the hunt. Expletives flowed out of his mouth just the way a Mortal breathes, “Holy shit,” “Fuck-fuck-fuck~,” “You crazy bitch!”
Without being seen by any police or lower-ranked Sabbat, I knew I had the whole road to do as I wanted with. So, I barreled down the road as fast as possible, making our way to Denny's in record time while barely paying attention. It felt like moving at the pace of a stroll. I could still talk to the boys, even turn to the backseat without missing a beat, and then I started reminiscing about my last visit to this Denny's.
- - -
It was ten years back, maybe ‘83? Me and Rin had both just finished a shift over at The Red Dog…. interesting that my old stomping grounds match up with me so well. Just got some red hair, and I guess I'm occasionally a dog. Fate's cute like that. We were sitting in an old Beetle, watching the full moon dance in the clouds through a haze of smoke, passing a blunt between us while trying to ignore the dingy glow of the Denny's sign. Our half-spent blunt leaked hot resin into my mouth and my lungs, and I started coughing, barely keeping my pancakes down.
“Ffffuck! My ribs… ugh. Be gentle with the draw.”
Rin took the blunt between her freshly manicured nails, slowly nipping at it.
“Still sore from the other night?” She asked.
“Yeah… that guy pounded me like nothing I’ve had before. Worth the hundred bucks, though,” I managed.
We made eye contact, processing what I said, and then both burst into a fit of laughter and coughs layered together.
“You'd probably make more that way!”
“I mean… if I liked guys?”
“Twenty dollars is twenty dollars, babe. Wait, didn't you hook up with a guy a few weeks ago?”
“Uhm… I guess it confirmed it? I felt frustrated after. Didn't want to look at him.”
“Sure~. I mean I've felt weird after making it with a girl. Doesn't mean it's bad all together.”
“Nah. It wasn't shame. I think I just liked the way it felt to be out of the normal role. Kinda like…”
“Like with your ex?”
“I mean– I don't– I guess you're right.”
“Ughhh, get that lesbian out of your head! It's been half a decade. And finish this before it goes out. I'll drive us home, and we can smoke a bowl, too.”
I dragged as much of the blunt down as possible while Rin finished her fries, dipping them in a shake. I was stuffed full of half the Denny’s menu already.
- - -
I wondered where Rin was tonight, she'd be twenty-seven by now. Maybe she’s still working out at the Red Dog. Hopefully not.
The reminder of being so stuffed also made me realize how hungry I was, and suddenly, we were in the Denny's parking lot. My nose was immediately hit by the nastiest, greasiest odor I’d ever been exposed to, along with the smell of over a dozen humans… and then every piece of wildlife.
People: too conspicuous, fast-food: would actually kill me, possum: edible and safe. We were already hidden, probably anyway, so I just shifted into a wolf in the driver seat… turns out that’s a little scary to watch. Zachary wailed and flew out of the car faster than I could, which was convenient considering I didn’t have the thumbs necessary to open the door. When all four paws hit pavement, I was nothing but a shadow stalking the night, darting into a dumpster and sinking my fangs into a family of opossums. I was still hungry after that, and then my instincts took over.
I’m dismayed to say I don’t remember what happened next. A blink and an undetermined amount of time had passed. I woke in the foliage somewhere in the same neighborhood as the Denny’s, covered in blood but completely stuffed. Hopefully, it was just vermin that went down my gullet. I took my shameful dog-bath in a stream nearby, shook my whole body to knock loose as much water, mud, or flesh from my coat as I could manage, and then made my way back to Denny’s.
Asa was waiting outside for me and opened the car door without any direction. Smart guy. I shifted back into my much softer, prettier form. Luckily, I wasn’t Asa’s type- too girly. Wait. I’m a girl?!? Nice.
Once we made our way back into the Denny’s, Cedric had already used Dominate to disperse the entire crowd. Made grabbing an aluminum thermos really easy. If I had spent a lot of my blood on our party with the Sword, I was sure the boys would be hungry. So, I poured them a drink, a little Rosé. Zachary didn’t bite but later had some blood bags. Does he not trust me saying my blood's infertile?
The hungry Zachary told us an interesting story: supposedly, Sascha founded the Sabbat, or was one of the founding members, literal ages ago. She was also supposedly a man who ripped off her dick and chucked it at some snotty elders. She’s kinda cool. Terrifying, disturbing, and probably irrevocably evil, but still pretty cool.
I also realized we had more in common than I thought, which made sense as to why she got so weird with me. She said it must be freeing to be me. She’s right, but why doesn’t she feel free? She had much more control in her alteration than I did. As comforting as knowing the spirits made my body true to myself is, it wasn’t a choice.
In other news, Gwen shared that she got into Vinculum with Sascha and that supposedly the best of the Camarilla would be raiding the newly founded Sabbat domain the next night. I only went
to the Ball to ensure the fledglings’ safety, but there's a question as to what the point was if they'll all be dead within a week. Given, Sascha isn't likely to be among the casualties. She's still a good contact, so maybe a silver lining there.
Over the drive to Big Friedah’s farm, I contemplated what exactly Sascha could give us, and me specifically. She'd likely know where Bottleneck is. Finding him and ripping his foul, insectoid worm of a heart out would be very Cathartic. He wouldn't even recognize me.
Death- of course, that's where my mind went first. There's always the chance that Henry or Vitus is alive, given Vitus has probably been knighted as a Ductus by now. Henry, he'd be dead or worse, I'm sure. Jinx… fucking Jinx.
Once we made our way to the outskirts of Friedah’s domain, we all came to a stop, and I had the coterie and co. wait while I speak to the lovely and oh so strong owner of the farm. I couldn’t pinpoint her exactly, but it was safe to say the big farmhouse would be hers. Her dogs didn’t give me the chance to ring the doorbell.
They came snarling and barking in a whole pack, but I knew I was the bigger, scarier dog. I just stood my ground and reached a claw out to them, allowing them to make the first move. Friedah came out the door before one was brave enough to approach.She didn’t recognize me at first, and that honestly made me happy. Not looking like I did before. We caught up a bit, and she was joyed to see me along with “the way the spirits made me”. It was like she thought I had died. I prodded a bit, but not much. I asked if she knew what would happen to me, and she said I was the first to survive it.
It was a mix of emotions I dismissed as less important than the moment. So they could’ve killed me, and there were others like me. What made me special? T oo angry to die, lucky, or was I meant to be this way? I’ve always wanted to be a woman or felt like I’d be better at it than I was as a man. I don’t know if I’m better this way, but it certainly feels better. These thoughts were churning underneath the surface while I fetched the boys.
About the boys, Friedah had a request for their presence. She needed vitae in order to keep some old ghouls alive and asked that one of my coterie give a blood tithe for it. My blood’s infertile like hers, Zachary might’ve driven them insane, and Gwen would try and use them as assets. That just left Asa: a Caitiff perfect for the task. He’s always been the altruistic type, so I figured he’d be more than willing.
The coterie agreed and began setting up to die for the day while we gave the ancient ghouls a visit. Asa seemed oddly hesitant but went through with it, and the ghouls bounced back, looking half a century younger. After Friedah slipped out, Asa got really serious and asked for a moment alone.
He asked that I never make him do something like that again and went on to say it went against everything Diane, his sire, taught him. I had no idea it was such a big deal and swore I’d never ask that he do it again. Hell, I wouldn’t have asked if I knew. I hoped he’d be doing well with whatever conflict he had roiling inside. There seemed to be a lot he wasn’t sharing.
After the grim conversation about Asa’s mysterious moral code ended, the coterie began piling into a sun-proofed barn. Well, Gwen slept in her car’s trunk. I was happy my plan had gone off without a hitch, and my people were safe, but with the tunnel vision fading, all the emotions I was running with flooded in.
As soon as the coterie was out of sight, I latched onto Big Friedah in a bear hug. Well, it would’ve been a bear hug if she wasn’t so big. She gave me a new unlife, and I was always going to love her for it. I wanted her to know that. I was grateful, and I am grateful. I’d never felt like I belonged anywhere, including my body. She gave that and a home to me. If I could go through all the pains of my existence again, I’d do it. Living like this, like me, has been preferable to even being alive.
I laid down on some loose hay with the rest of the crew and noticed a bit of emptiness in the room without Gwen. Then I thought about her and the rocky relationship we’ve had lately. Has she even noticed? Did she even read the letter I sent her pouring my heart out? It’s exhausting, but I’ve also been a nightmare of a clinger anyway. It’s just been a few weeks, after all. If only I had someone to talk to about it; I knew she wouldn’t. Then I remembered I have two fledglings that would definitely relate along with a bonafide human in the room, so I just let it loose.
“Hey guys… I think I did something really stupid.”
Zachary perked up, “What?”
“I kinda let Gwen feed from me,” I admitted. “Well, not like with Asa. We had a little fangbang. She woke upstarving, and I thought we’d been flirting, so I offered, and she snapped into me hard. She drank up more than half of what I had and just left me there. Didn’t even hold my hand.”
“What?!” Zachary asked, perplexed. “I mean, what even is a fangbang?”
“Oh yeah, you guys wouldn’t know,” I realized out loud.
Cedric interjected, “I think she’s saying they exchanged blood, and with a Giovanni of all things, ugh.”
“I mean, I didn’t drink from her! No bonds that way,” I defended.
“Even worse,” Cedric determined.
“Why would that be worse?!?” I asked, confused.
“I’m going where I can’t hear this insanity,” Cedric said as he threw up his hands.
Asa hopped in as Cedric moved to the other side of the barn,
“I know what it is, kind of a kinky subculture thing.”
“I don’t think that’s the same. It doesn’t hurt like that for us. Well, actually it did hurt with her. She was rough, and their curse made it even worse. It might’ve been okay if she was trying, but I’ve still never felt that close to someone before.”
“Well, the sun’s coming up, so we’ve gotta wrap this thing up fast. You seem to have a habit of getting partners that aren’t good for you, that you don’t deserve.”
“I mean… I guess you’re right. Obviously there’s Jinx, and then all my exes from when I was alive were…”
“That was then. Back then, you were different, right? Had a more… masculine form? Why not make a change with your new feminine form? You deserve so much more than people like that. You need someone who cares about you. Right?”
“I guess you have a point. I’d never thought about it that way.”
I’d have liked to talk more, but Asa and the rest literally hit the hay a moment later. At first, I was a little confused as to how the transformation was related to my admittedly bad romantic habits.
Then, I jumped from that thought to another. I’d always given everything I had to women, like I was living for them, through them. I couldn’t be one, so I did the next best thing. Then, that, paired with feeling broken myself, made me latch onto broken people I felt like I deserved and hoped I could fix. I hoped that I could be fixed.
So, I took what Asa said to heart. I am better now, I deserve better. No more chasing girls who are emotionally stagnant or clinically insane for me. Why did I even want Gwen? Because she’s pretty? Because she’s strange? Because she reminds me of Jinx? What hooked me so fast?
I’d been acting like a hopeless teenage girl. I considered that years of puberty over three nights would probably leave a lot to adjust to. It’s been like feeling everything all over again, but with a new texture. It’s been great, but it’s also overwhelming. God, gods, spirits, whatever, my unlife is weird.