Number of fucks given in this post: 9
Jack took her club night promoter into Club Dolour with her, to give her an excuse to have a look around. The club was located in Tradeston, in the old railway archers south of the river.
Once she was set up in a good position near the bar, with a bottle of beer, the promoter left Jack to work on his own tasks.
As she watched, a pretty goth, about 5’11” approached to try to seduce her. He introduced himself as Tarquin DeJulianne and tried to touch her hand as if to kiss it in greeting. As he did so, Jack felt a wave of danger coming from him. The man was wearing long gloves that went over the elbow and the material was cold to the touch, almost liquidy in its feeling, in some kind of satin weave of silk.
Jack pulled her hand away.
He smiled and said, “But mon cherrie I would not do anything to you you wouldn’t enjoy.” He has a strong, and fake, French accent.
“Yeah. right,” she replied.
He asked smoothly, “You have come into my dominion and now you are scared to let me touch you? I can take your fear, if you would only let me.”
Jack said, “Dominion? That’s an odd word to use. Do you own this place?”
“Yes, my world.”
She looked across the crowd, using it as an excuse not to hold eye contact for more than a second or two. With a frown, she saw Toby, the goth she met the other night, making his way through the crowd from behind Tarquin.
She said, “Perhaps we should go outside for a word… I can’t hear you very well in this noise.”
“You can hear me well enough, but I can have the maestro dampen the music if you like.”
“Ah,” Jack nodded, “No need to do that for me.” After a pause, “So, if this is your dominion… who are you beholden to?”
Toby arrived behind Tarquin and ran his cheek along Tarquin’s shoulder who absentmindedly stroked him as one would stroke a faithful hound.
Jack looked at Toby in disgust.
Tarquin blatantly ignored her question and continued, “You gave poor Tobias a dreadful fright, but I have taken his fear, I could take yours, if you’d let me.”
“As I said to Toby… you haven’t introduced yourself to the right people in Glasgow.”
Tobias smiled a smile of superiority at the Brujah, he seemed to be showing off that Tarquin was touching him and not her.
Tarquin gave an overly-theatrical chuckle, “My my, we are the right people, mon cherrie and it is you who has come and not even give us your name.”
Jack shrugged, “Good point. I’m Jack. Scourge of Glasgow. And by our rules this isn’t your domain.”
“Maybe your rules should change. Do you know that you made Tobias think I had sent you to kill him.”
“Wasn’t my intention.” Jack stated.
“Of course, Tobias is still young, he will learn that my love for him is eternal, as for all the children of the night.”
Jack snorted, “So are you and your pet here intending on hanging around?”
Tarquin replied, “I have been here for a very long time and I don’t feel like moving, neither do those I have gathered around me.”
“Congratulations on staying hidden for so long.” Jack said, “Your Toby here got a bit sloppy though.”
“We couldn’t have people know about us, the vision of an angry mob with torches and pitchforks is not something I wish to revisit.”
“Where are you from, Tarquin?”
He ignored her question again, “But if that is the case I will have to instruct young Tobias further to avoid such incidents in future. Would you say that if you weren’t of us you would have been able to tell?”
Jack replied, “He was feeding in full view of passers by from the road.”
“I thought I had taught him better, thank you for bringing it to my attention. But now that you have found us, let me offer you an introduction to join us. You need no longer be alone in your pain. You can be with those who understand what you are and who can help you through the hard times.”
“Fuck you,” she replied bluntly, “Let me make you an offer to come and introduce yourself to who I consider the Elder of this city.”
“There is no threat here, it is an offer made in good faith. When I found Tobias here he was little more than a monster.”
Jack said, “I am not alone. I have friends and those I consider family.”
Tarquin continued, “Someone had created him and abandoned him without telling him anything about who or what he had become.”
“You can be part of our community, too.” Jack offered, “It’s the easy option…”
“I have no desire to join your community, mon cherrie. We are doing just fine here. I would though ask that you and yours show me the respect I am showing you.”
Jack asked, “You just want to be left alone?”
“Peace, no more scaring the wits out of mine.” Tarquin said.
“I’ll take that offer back with me but unauthorised people in our city and not something we’d normally tolerate. Is there some way to strengthen your case for solitude?” Jack asked, trying to be diplomatic while in hostile territory.
“That would put me into an awkward position,” Tarquin said, “I could simply take the fight, the anger, out of you and leave you no choice, but where would that get us?”
Jack sighed, “Well, as I said, I’ll take that back with me. I’m sure we’ll be in touch.”
“Can you not simply, not mention us? For decades we have managed not to cause you any trouble. I am sure we can continue to do just that.”
“You see… I’m one of those people with a strong sense of duty.” Jack explained, “but your main problem is… I’m not the only person that spotted Toby here.”
Tarquin stated, “You cannot have him. I see where you are going with this, and all those who join me enjoy my protection.”
“Oh, keep him.” Jack said, “If he stops being so bloody obvious.”
“That I can promise you, but can you promise that your lot won’t simply send their thralls to dispatch us during the day?”
Jack said, “I promise that I won’t send my thralls to dispatch you during the day. I don’t have the authority to make promises for anyone else.”
“Tell me what you think they will do, and I can tell if you are lying to me.”
“Not a fucking clue.”
He asked, “You work for these people, surely you must have an opinion?”
Jack shifted on her feet, starting to get twitchy, “As I said, your presence without an introduction is against our rules. Punishments vary – starting at being removed from the city and working up. And I don’t know how the boss will react.”
“You say you have a strong sense of duty and honour, if I was to prove myself your better, would that win me the right to stay? You are the scourge, so surely if I best the scourge honourably?”
“You don’t have to prove yourself better than me.” She said, “And your lack of knowledge of our traditions doesn’t bode well for you.
Tarquin asked, “How about if I challenge your boss? His champion, against me? If I win, we stay and nobody of your boss comes within sight of Tradeston. If I lose we leave.”
Jack looked about while she was trying to think; it made her look paranoid to the people nearby who were keeping a close watch on the conversation, “As I said, I’ll fucking pass it on. And we’ll be in touch.”
He said, “You understand I am taking a large risk letting you walk out of my dominion unharmed.”
Jack’s hand twitched as she forced it away from where she would normally keep the machete.
He asked, “What will you give me in return, as I hold your life literally in my fingers.”
“You mean honesty wasn’t enough?” Jack said, “I didn’t need to offer you the choice of the introduction.”
“You are honourable, yes, and I am giving you your life. And you wish to swear in my face and give me nothing? There seems little honour in that.”
Jack snorted wryly, “Apart from time, there is fuck-all I can give you.”
“We live forever, so how about 10 years? It’s but a passing moment to us, and it gives me enough time to find somewhere else, establish myself and move the children over.”
She laughed, “With my life expectancy? I was thinking more like a fortnight.”
“How about we meet half way, 5 years and a week. And I can promise you, were you to join us, your life expectancy would be very long indeed.”
“Nice idea, but things are moving too fast in the whole of the UK for taking our time. Sorry, goths don’t do anything for me.”
Tarquin said, “You would not have to live like me. But I see your mind is made up. How about a single year?”
“Hmmm, out of curiosity… have any of your people had a problem with someone else feeding from them?”
“We are the lords of the night, we are the masters of the darkness, we are the predators, not the sheep.”
“Interesting.” Jack said.
He tried again to make an offer, “How about until the end of the year? Come 2010 you can tell anyone you want.”
Jack failed to hide her feelings as she struggled with the concept. Sorry, I just can’t force myself to make it longer than 2 months. And not even that if I see Toby again.”
He continued, “What harm are we doing here? We are no threat to you, or yours. We simply wish to be.”
“Yeah? Well, be somewhere else.”
“You still think your boss will try to hunt us down? Exterminate us like rats in your basement? When it is me who looks out for those who fall through your system. Those who have no one to look out for them. Maybe you should consider what kind of people you are working for Scourge of Glasgow.”
Jack’s voice went hard, “I said I’d no idea. I said it’s against the rules for you to be here without introduction. Get the fucking introduction. Make your case to him. then we’ll leave you fucking alone. Simple.”
“But you don’t think he’d simply accept us.”
“I have no fucking idea. If you aren’t sabbat then all bets are off.”
Tarquin said, “Otherwise you would have simply given me his number.”
“Did you ask for his fucking number? I said I’d take back what you’d said to me. He can fucking talk to you and you can have your discussion.”
He asked, “So, dearest darling Jack, may I please have his number? Better yet a picture of him. So I can speak to him. A name, and a description might suffice.”
Jack replied, “I will deliver you contact details within a week. And no one will come to visit before that.”
“Can we at least know who it is, that holds our fate in his hands.”
“Not if you only need a name and a description to talk to him yourself.” Jack stated.
Tarquin asked, “Is it not what you told us to do? Get an introduction? If you fear for him, then surely he is not fit to lead you?”
She shook her head, “He’s not someone to surprise.”
“Then describe him, give me his name and speak to him. I will likewise give you a week before I contact him.”
Jack gave in, “His name is Rothschilde.”
“The fact that I chose to allow you to leave here must show you that I harbour no feelings of deceit. And this Rothchilde. What does he look like?”
“Beard.” She said, “Wears a lot of black.”
“Is he tall, short, thin or stocky? His eyes, are they kind and blue, or hard and grey.”
“Sorry, never looked at his eyes.”
“Does he stride, or does he simply walk?” Tarquin asked.
She replied, “Average height.” Her face is scrunched at the oddness of the questions and her struggle to remember. She hadn’t spent much time with Rothschilde so her description is rough and lacking the detail Tarquin is looking for,
Finally, he said, “Well then, Jack, Scourge of Glasgow. Our fate lies in your hands. I expect you within the week and hopefully you have some good news.
“Yeah, I hope so too.”
“Remember my various offers,” he added.
“Yeah.”
“I seek to protect those who you let fall through the cracks. “Those deemed unworthy of your attention and, if you remove me, someone else has to either destroy them all, or continue my work.”
There is a wry note in Jack’s voice, knowing whose job that would be, “I’m sure that’ll work in your favour. I’ll ‘take my leave’ now.”
Jack took one last glance at Toby before going over to the events organiser and not-quite physically dragging them away. A number of people notably stepped out of her way; her conversation seemed to have drawn quite a crowd.
Once outside, Jack saw that her employee looked quite shaken. She asked him what was up.
He described to you that there was a girl, she looked into his eyes, and he couldn’t move away, couldn’t think, all he could do was to answer her questions. Really weird questions.
Jack asked, “What questions?”
“ About you mostly,” he replied, “and where you sleep during the day. And whether you had regular sexual partners, and things like that. Also whether you ever had bitten me. Someone must have put something in my coke.”
Jack replied, “Wierdo.I was talking to the owner and he was odd, too. Let’s leave this place alone. I don’t fancy having any of them in our club.”
“Yes, we best had.”
“Did they ask you about the club?”
“Yes,” he said, “I brought it up beforehand, talking to the DJ. She must have stood next to me.”
Jack said, “In fact, let’s cancel the goth night at Club Diablo. I’ve totally gone off the music.”
He looked relieved at the idea.
Jack considered that no goth night means any goths coming into the club will be much more noticeable.
