Vol.4 Ch.38 – Disaster Domino II
Chapter 38: Disaster Domino II
Abigail stood in the spray of her shower, letting the water rain down on her skin in the hopes that it would take the gloom with it.
She'd been happy, genuinely happy, for the first time in forever that morning. But knowing that they would soon head out into unimaginable danger again had put a dampener on her mood. She knew what she had to do, knew how easy it would be, even more so with how easy it had been to wake up next to Rachel, but still she hesitated.
She ran her hands over her body, starting at her face. She felt the slight blush on her cheeks even through the cold water. The warmth hadn't left her. She had expected it to leave as if a bucket of ice water had been dropped on her when she'd watched Rachel rush to Jeanne but it hadn't.
Her hands traveled down to her throat, squeezing it just like... no. She wasn't a victim any longer.
She cupped her breasts. Were they adequate? They didn't have the heft that Elaine's clearly had but they were larger than average, she supposed, without a hint of sag to them. She'd never cared much about them but people enjoyed looking at them. They were firm to the touch but she had no idea if others enjoyed that. She'd never cared much.
Her hands traveled further down to her stomach, flat, ever-so-slightly toned thanks to the military training she'd been subjected to before coming to Base 15. Her tummy had always been pleasantly flat but now it had that tiny bit of tone to it that she'd always wanted before the world had ended.
One hand stayed on her tummy, feeling a throbbing deep inside that she was certain she was just imagining, while the other slid lower, finding a dampness that had nothing to do with the spray of the shower. She resisted the urge to linger but instead let her hands slide down to her thighs, to her shame.
Oh, her thighs were well shaped, just like the rest of her. But the uneven skin on her inner thighs belied the truth. It took her a moment of gathering her courage to actually look at what her fingers had felt. Rows upon rows of jagged pale lines along her inner thighs. They weren't neat. The razor hadn't been particularly sharp and the cuts had been uneven. That had been the point. The pain of the razor catching had been the point. The ugly scars had been the point. She had wanted to make part of herself as ugly as she had felt back then.
The pain and the blood had been a way to distract herself whenever the thoughts had crept up. She had even rationalized the jagged scars as a fringe benefit. She'd been such an idiot back then.
Even worse, she was pretty sure she could fix them in minutes now. Her natural regeneration hadn't made them go away but she was sure her light magic could do it. Hell, even if that didn't work she was certain she could slice the skin of her thighs off and heal back pristine skin afterwards. But she wouldn't.
This, too, was part of her life, part of her pain. But right now she wondered how it would look to someone else, to someone she wasn't trying to drive away.
It was another thing making her hesitate. If she went through with it, both of them would see. Rachel had already guessed how broken she was but if she undressed for them there would be no hiding it.
Silly, impulsive decisions coming back to bite her at the worst time, story of her fucking life...
**
Jealousy was not something Aurora was used to feeling.
She hadn't had time for it while under Caulder's thumb and even before that she hadn't been in the habit. But the way Elaine got along with the angel woman irked her in an undefinable way. It's not like she had wanted to be the center of attention today but she had expected Elaine to fawn over her a little more. She'd been an excellent teacher and she'd been suitably excited for her when Aurora had finally managed to get the hang of this magic thing but right now Elaine and this Kaja were off in their own little world, talking about magic in a way that barely made sense to her.
“Do you get what they're saying?” she asked the woman whose arms she found herself in.
“Mostly,” Mariana said in that endearingly dreamy way. “It's very advanced but I can make sense of it.” Before Aurora could make a grumbling sound she continued: “She looks so excited about it, doesn't she?”
“Yeah,” Aurora said, trying not to sound jealous.
“It's like she always had to teach others about magic and is talking to someone who knows more than her for the first time.”
Aurora pursed her lips. That would actually make sense. Alexis, Ophelia, Evelyn, Abigail, Cassie and now her. Elaine must have given six people the magical birds and the bees speech. Of course she'd be delighted to talk to someone more knowledgeable for once. God, she felt stupid.
“You wanted her to pay more attention to you, didn't you?”
The words gave her pause. “Yeah.”
“I know how you feel,” Mariana said.
“What about you?”
“I wasn't the one who learned magic today.”
“That's not what I meant,” Aurora said.
There was a pause before Mariana admitted: “I want her to look at me, too. Though maybe not quite the way you do.”
Aurora frowned, processing the words. Was Mariana saying that her interest in Elaine was purely platonic? Or did she mean she was attracted to Elaine but thought Aurora wasn't? Probably the latter. While they all tried not to act like they were walking on eggshells around her, it was never as bad as when the topic of sex came up.
Aurora supposed it made sense. She had, after all, endured trauma that none of them could comprehend. None of them except Mariana, she supposed, given that Mariana had been inside her memories. But while the idea of just jumping into bed with another person for the hell of it didn't sound appealing, she wasn't broken. She had desires. She wanted to date, to be intimate. On her own time, maybe, but she did.
She was attracted to Elaine, wanted to know where it would lead. She had hoped the magic training would involve some flirting. That had kind of been dashed when Elaine had invited the angel along though, Aurora supposed, this was her fault by turning what had been meant to be alone time into a small group by bringing Mariana along.
That hadn't been her intention at all though. Because while she found Elaine attractive, she also felt drawn to Mariana. The woman had shared in her pain and had embraced her. They'd fought off the void of loneliness together. And she'd hoped that on top of Elaine flirting with her a bit she'd do the same with Mariana.
“I want her to look at me like that, too,” Aurora finally admitted. “I want her to look at both of us like that.”
The arms Mariana had gently wrapped around her tightened a little bit.
“How about we try after this mission?” Mariana asked eventually.
“Why not try right now?” Aurora asked, a bit of mischief sparkling in her voice.
“Let's not,” Mariana said, directing Aurora's attention at the vampire stalking into the training grounds.
Aurora had barely spoken two words to Ophelia yet but the woman fascinated her.
She had met vampires before. Meek, weak, blood-starved things that would do anything for a drop of crimson ambrosia. Vampirism could be a blessing, she knew, but Caulder had used it as a way to break people, turning them into mindless husks that would do anything for their next fix. But that wasn't what Ophelia was.
She hadn't known it then but now it was clear to Aurora that the strain of vampirism Caulder had used had to have been modified some way because Ophelia carried herself with a confidence that those thralls had never had. It was that intangible quality that let her know this woman was so strong she had to be careful how she walked and where she stepped, lest she break something by accident.
Ophelia was gorgeous, curvy and confident. She didn't walk so much as she stalked, clad in a scandalously tight black dress that highlighted her pale skin as well as her curves. Her hair was long and so black it seemed to swallow the light, her lips red as blood. The only thing that didn't fit the vampire image was the expression she wore. Not an arrogant sneer, not haughty indifference. Instead a naughty little smirk graced her lips and the look she shot Elaine was filled with so much desire it felt like there should have been a heat mirage in the wake of her gaze.
“Hello there, lover,” the woman husked when she reached Elaine and Kaja.
Elaine blinked, then her eyes got that far-away look Aurora associated with someone looking at the clock on their CARD. “Oh crap,” she said, then turned to Kaja. “Sorry to rush off like that but I promised...” Elaine began to babble but Kaja just stared at Ophelia.
“What are you?”
**
“What are you?” the angel asked her.
Ophelia didn't startle. She was confused. There was no way a high-ranking angel wouldn't know what a vampire was, right? “What do you mean?”
“Sorry,” Kaja said. “I can tell you're a vampire but... what happened to your blood lust? I've met some of the oldest vampires and they are masters of self-control but even they seem more jittery than you do.”
Ophelia smiled, then ran a proprietary hand along Elaine's bicep. “I have Elaine to thank for that. Our bond gave me an ability that quelled it. The thirst has no more sway over me.”
“That's impossible,” the angel breathed. “And yet, here you are.”
Ophelia nodded.
“It seems I underestimated the results of Stollos' experiments,” the angel said, then finally noticed Ophelia's body language. “And it seems I am keeping you two from... uh...”
“You're free to join us,” Ophelia said.
“Babe,” Elaine muttered, clearly startled by the suggestion.
Ophelia had pieced enough together from the cryptic stuff Mariana had said to the angel to assemble a pretty clear picture of the woman. The suggestion hadn't been meant to tease, it had been heartfelt. The angel was gorgeous and clearly lonely. If they could help her quell that loneliness, at least for a time, then...
“I think I should go,” the angel said and rushed off.
Shame.
**
“I missed you,” Jeanne admitted as she came up for air.
Really? I couldn't tell. Rachel wasn't enough of a bitch to say that out loud but the mauling Jeanne had subjected her to the moment they'd reached her room had spoken volumes. She liked Jeanne like this. Honest, sweet and more than a little desperate.
“Sorry babe,” she finally said. “I didn't expect Abigail to keep me to herself all night.”
“How is she?” Jeanne asked. Wormwood but it was refreshing to be with someone whose first question wasn't whether she'd slept with someone else. Jeanne wasn't jealous the way others got jealous. She didn't try to keep Rachel to herself, which in turn made Rachel infinitely more willing to stick around with her. That, and Jeanne genuinely cared, both about her and about the others.
“Much better,” Rachel replied. “I think I might have awakened something within her.”
“Something good or something bad?”
Rachel bit her lip. She could just keep quiet and let things play out but she cared too much about Jeanne to play those stupid games. “She might come knocking later.”