Heartthrob

Esthrielle nearly leapt to the front of the van to savage Lucretia, fangs bared and eyes wide with absolute rage - and she would have, if Purity hadn't grabbed her by either hip as soon as the Italian began to move. Lulu's eyes flashed wide for a moment, a single breath, but her expression returned to joviality without delay; it was, however, tinged with guilt.

"You fucking bitch! You horrible, wretched, cock-sucking fucking whore! I'm gonna-" Est fought against Purity's grip, arms flailing as she clawed at Lulu's face, fingertips mere inches away from making purchase. She wasn't really trying, of course; wasn't putting her whole strength and will into it. Purity knew it, Lulu knew it, and Esthrielle couldn't help but know she didn't actually want to assault the woman in the driver's seat... she just didn't know what else to do, how else to react.

Esper James had ceased her tearshed, now staring with doe-in-headlight eyes at the women before her. She instinctively threw her arms around Purity, holding her so very tightly... clinging to the pinkette, really, like a frightened puppy seeking shelter in its owner's shade. Her mind was a blur, thoughts tossed into whirlwind disarray; she wished she knew what the fuck was happening, or why, or what to do. All she could think to do was follow her instincts, in the end - and her instincts were to seek comfort as best she could.

The comfort she sought was found in the worn fabric of Purity's shirt, and the warmth of what flesh lay just below. It was, as it always was, a pleasant juxtaposition - the heat of the living against the cool of the not-quite-as-alive, true life against the manmade facsimile born in a cold-womb. Purity didn't smell as much like perfume as she usually did, but that was fine - Esper James didn't even pay mind to her peach pink lover's scent this time. Ghoulish senses were too focused on sight and sound to even consider smell.

Zofia yet sobbed, but with less gusto than before. Her heartbreak had come and gone, all the tears in her body wrung free like water from a dishrag; now, though her body went through the motions, she had little sorrow left to be brought out. Her chocolate eyes snapped between Esthrielle and Lulu and Purity in equal measure, slowing only once Est's furor began to fade.

Rage had bloomed within Est where despair had once made its home, but it went as quickly as it came. With Purity's hands on her hips and absolute silence in the van other than the sounds of breath (and a single woman's intermittent sobs), all that furious fuel was burnt through to fumes. Est stopped her flailing; she dropped to her knees, prosthetic knees taking the impact without a whisper of complaint. The loud thud of it made Zofia jump, though - and give out a short yip of surprise and fear. She would have blushed, had anyone turned to look her way.

Est continued to stare Zofia down, eyes locked, her own chest heaving with breaths left ragged from crying and cursing in equal turn. Purity pulled her back, off of her knees and onto her ass; the warlike Wayward was wrapped in loving arms, held close enough to feel their owner's heartbeat. It was the best that Puri could really do, but it was more than enough. Esthrielle drew in a single shaky breath, and then released it in a flood of vented emotions - the hydraulics in her arms puffed as well, signaling their own winding down. She was calm - as calm as she could be in the situation, at least. It would have to be enough.

Lucretia cleared her throat, gaze flitting to the floor of the van for a split second before returning to Est's own. Thin lips split wide, their painted nature making the wobble of them all the more obvious. "A-Ah, uh... eh... Eheheh... S-Sorry. Sorry, fuck, sorry. I wanted to get you guys out, right? But... But I saw Angelien in the hall, headed towards the armory. It was a split second decision; I knew it'd work, they'd let us all go free, b-but... Fuck, aha, fuck. I'm so-"

More words were set to follow, loaded in the chamber and prepped to be fired, but Est quashed their chance at life. She huffed heavily, loudly, perhaps a bit performatively; then, the Italian slammed her eyes shut and screwed up her face, readying her own blistering bit of rhetoric in an instant. As it came out, though, her invective wasn't nearly so scalding as it seemed it should have been.

"Fuck you. I'm done with saying it, I just... I had to get that last one out of my system, haha. B-But, gah... You're right. As much as I hate to say it, you were right to do it like this, and you're still right to have pulled it off without telling anyone. I... I'm so pissed at you, Lulu, b-but... But I won't be forever. In time, I'll calm down. And I'm sure I'll feel bad about being such a bitch to you." In the silence of the van and the acoustics of its metal interior, her monologue came across with titanic weight.

She pressed on, pushing her oratory advantage before some third party saw fit to slip in. "You... You scared me. Scared the four of us. You did the right th-thing, though, and... Thank you for it. Where will you go?" The question bore similar weight to the preceding statements, and Lulu's eyebrows raised as if she had been slapped; surprise flashed to her face, but an awkward smile formed as her brows returned to their resting state.

"I'm gonna stick with you four! C'mon, Est, we both know I can't fucking go back, h-haha! They'd kill me! Literally! Helping you three get out is one thing, but Zofia? The mother abbess would find a way to get her little lapdog to dump me in a ditch with all my salvageable bits stripped free." She laughed then, just as awkward and uncertain as her smile - though for Esthrielle and her lovers, it was their turn to be shocked.

Zofia, however, burst into an expression of bewildered delight. She pushed herself to a kneel in an instant, gaze once again going between Esthrielle and Lucretia, though not with nearly so much worry as before. "Oh! Lulu, you're - you're gonna leave too? Oh, yes, yes! C'mon, girls! W-We're gonna start a new life here, free from the church, and the mother abbess, and... and no more violence! No more field ops! No more fucking researching! Hahaha, yes!" Her smile was infectious in its confidence; Lucretia found her own grin bolstered, and even Esper James couldn't help but be caught up in the wave.

Purity held her tongue. She was doing her best to be invisible, it would seem; it was Est's turn to take the stage, she figured, and outside of offering the creature comfort of loving touch, Purity had no place intervening. She had no idea what Est and the other two Waywards had been through in their time at the convent - she could only guess at what it had been like, and none of her guesses were optimistic.

Being press-ganged into theopolitical extremism at the prime of their life, condemned to murder innocents at gunpoint, always kept at arm's length by the woman who gave them their orders? It made Purity think of EJ, involuntarily; hell, she figured that the mother abbess and Judas would probably get along. Better they never met, in that case.

But... Lulu wanted to stick with them? And Zofia did too? Were they just gonna end up as five weird women living out in the UNAC countryside, like some sort of unorthodox, modern day witch coven? Purity nearly laughed at the image that evoked: the five of them in witch costumes, dancing in the moonlight and evading taxes as best they could. Would that even work?

No. Of course not. Of course it wouldn't work; she couldn't tell them yet, not quite yet, but... with the bounty on EJ's head, they'd never make it out of Vitus. There were toll booths on every road, and they'd get checked for contraband without a doubt. The checkpoint guards would find EJ, they'd arrest every woman in the van, and Tsang would take possession of them. That would be the end of the story; no one would be able to save them, not fast enough to stop whatever that horrid vampire bitch had planned.

Purity sighed. Now wasn't the time to worry about that - she'd have the rest of her life to worry about what Judas would do if she caught them. For now? These bitches needed wrangling; Purity, as it just so happened, was a professional bitch-wrangler. She just needed to find an opportunity to do it.

The opportunity would arrive fairly soon. Est broke her stunned trance to chance a response, eyes as doe-in-headlights as Esper James's had been minutes ago. "Wh-What...?! We're... We're all sticking together? I, ah, I thought... P-Purity, I... Will your contact, er-" Est began to turn her head back to look at Purity, desperately searching for affirmation; the carnation-colored conductress smirked, seeing an opportunity to ease her entourage's minds.

She leaned down to smooch Esthrielle on the cheek, then nodded quickly once she rose back up. "Yes, she will. My contact can house us all, I'm sure of it; and furthermore, she'll do so happily. She'll do anything I tell her, really... but that's beside the point." A confident look came across the pinkette's face, plump lips curled upwards and brows set low to solidify her surety.

Lulu blinked at the most organic of the five of them once, twice, thrice, before squeezing her eyelids tight and beaming in earnest. "Alright! Hell yes! We'll stick together! That's the safest option, I'd say. And, heh, Zofi and I can help plenty; we're not fugitives like you three, you know? The only people who know our faces are a drop in the bucket compared to Vitus's population. Here, Puri - get in the shotgun seat. Help direct me!"

And so it was. Purity gave Est another kiss, and one for Esper James, and even one on Zofia's cheek; once each woman had been given just enough of Purity's love, the seductress slipped out the back doors and into the passenger side. The van lurched into motion once more, backing out of the alleyway it had been stowed in and onto the street. Thankfully, traffic was minimal (for Vitus, at least) at this time of day. So much sunlight sat ill with the second-living, even through cloud cover.

Lulu threw in a CD from the glove compartment as they drove - the sound of it nearly sent Esper James into catatonia via reverie, a familiar sort of sound to what she knew from the Jezze's playlist washing over her. With those grinding, growling, sex-and-drugs club beats and industrial came memories both sweet and sour, and EJ couldn't help but crawl closer to Est as her mind traveled to distant vistas.

First, of course, was the night she met Purity. Bled out and drunk as a sailor on shore leave, she had stumbled out to the dance floor, enticed by flashes of bright pink locks and dark black latex. A collar that bore her name... The scent of sweet fruits, wine, and pink candy... The bump and sway, the feel of Purity's cool palm on blood-warmed, ghoulish flesh. Fuck. That night had been a blast; in many ways, Esper James wished she could be back there one last time.

But, the next memory in this little parade of reminiscence brought her low where once she had been high. Judas. Once again, everything came back to that cruel, self-centered woman. Feeding her and Est drinks... Getting the both of them way too drunk, way too fucked up... The flashing lights, the feeling of steel fangs breaking her flesh... the warm, humid nightclub air hitting her exposed loins... And then, the night after.

Est's face, before and after. Judas leaving the both of them in the dark of her bedroom, bodies coated in sweat. The bliss of sleep... and the unease of the cat-not-cat. The taste of blood and meat, so sinful and succulent yet nauseating in retrospect.

Esper James bit down on her tongue, hard enough to pierce the flesh straight through, in a desperate attempt to stop the nightmarish recollection. As black blood began to fill her mouth and pain flickered through her synapses, she shut her eyes to keep from looking at the woman beside her. Esthrielle couldn't help but notice the blonde's pain; she squeezed EJ tightly, resting head-on-head.

Words were unnecessary. They wouldn't help; and besides, they had spoken so much in the alleyway. There was so much to think about, so much to consider... Est was battling with her own thoughts, Esper James could only assume. Even if they weren't the same, even if she wasn't reliving triumph and trauma in twin mental pathways, she was surely thinking about something. Something good, hopefully... but given the way things were going? She was probably preparing for the worst.

The van toddled onwards with little wordplay exchanged between its occupants. Purity pointed and gave directions, sure, but Lulu had little desire to give much more input than the odd sound of confirmation and acknowledgement. Zofia had taken to laying on her side of the van, hands behind her head as she stared skyward - those LED eyes boring a hole through the ceiling, focused on anything but the material world.

Songs flipped by, the CD eventually ending; a new one was slipped in, more metal and less EDM. It took Esper James a few seconds to realize it was HATEFUCK - though in truth, she gleaned it from the way Est began to bounce to the beat. Opening her eyes, EJ looked up at the Wayward in whose embrace she was buried - Est was doing her best to bob and sway to the rhythm without jostling her little lap-ghoul too much. Esper James went to smile up at her, but that idea was swiftly smashed to pieces as she felt warm black blood dribble out the corner of her mouth.

Est's eyes, thankfully, were still closed.

Then, finally, the van began to pull to a stop. Looking out the windows at the back doors, EJ found that they had pulled into yet another alleyway - and came to a stop. The music was switched off, the engine powered down, and the driver turned back in her seat. Ghoulish greens gave Lulu their full attention, being now the only woman in the back who even had her eyes open in the first place.

"Hey, ladies! We're here! It's, haha... It's somewhere Purity says she knows, yeah? But we're going in the back way. Meeting with the owner. Purity knows what's going on, just... We're gonna follow her. Be good little citizens. She's, uh..." Lulu cackled nervously, looking over to Purity for a split second before whipping her head back to address the girlies in the back. "She's got a cover for us."

Purity turned back, then, offering naught but a sinister little sliver of a smile at the other women. Zofia and Esthrielle had opened their eyes to catch it now, and while Zofia wasn't too off-put by the expression... Est's response wavered, a wobbling smile that belied her apprehension. Purity gave her a wink.

"Don't worry, ladies. I've got a great cover for us. I promise, we'll get through all the doors, get up to the main office... just let me do the talking. Ok, cuties?" Cuties? Cuties. EJ felt a tremble in her heart at that word - Purity was up to something for sure, without a doubt. Where the fuck were they? What sort of drug-den or back alley brothel were they about to enter?

EJ thought then of Alex, and Kristoff - of that coerced luncheon, and Purity's treatment of EJ afterwards. Was this another meat trader's haunt? Somewhere that they'd have human meat fed to them, like a cannibal coterie out for brunch? Fuck that. But... But what choice did they have, even if it was? Could EJ really bring herself to shoot it down, considering their situation? Purity seemed so confident they'd be safe here, so sure of herself... so sure they'd find shelter from Tsang's storm.

Fuck it. Fine.

EJ brooked no quarry as she pushed herself up to her feet and vacated the van, Est and Zofi following along just behind. It only took one glance out of the alleyway, and at the towering buildings around, to realize she'd never been in this part of Vitus before. Well, no, that wasn't strictly true - she worked nearby, in a sense. And Purity's apartment had been here. The nice part of Vitus's downtown. The part where Tsang execs lived, where influencers and entrepreneurs made their nests. The part where money flowed like water.

Not the dingy middle-class bits, where EJ had lived and hung around. Nowhere near Kehler Complex, at least. That was... a mixed sign, EJ thought. On the one hand? Somewhere that was an old haunt for Purity, where she apparently had the sway to get them all the way to the owner's office, was a good sign. But, would anyone here recognize her? She'd rubbed shoulders (indirectly) with a great many Tsang executives back when she was a good little worker drone.

All it would take is one of Judas's underlings seeing her and she'd be cooked. They'd all be screwed. But Purity was so sure of it, she was so confident it would work well... so confident they'd be safe. Esper James kept coming back to that: the fact that Purity was sure this would work. And they had promised to trust one another, right? They were girlfriends! They were in love! Surely Purity wouldn't... wouldn't lead them astray, would she?

The procession set into motion, Purity leading the way to a heavy metal door labeled 'STAFF ONLY' in white stencil letters. She knocked thrice, bumped it with her hip, and then tapped a 'badum-tish' sort of rhythm with both hands. Seconds ticked by, moment by painful moment, as no response came... and then? The door opened.

A huge brute of a man with glazed-over eyes and milky brown eyes answered. His fair skin was given the pallor of unlife; his black hair was swept over the right side, the left shaved down to the skin. The bouncer's chiseled jaw moved slowly but with impossible weight, like stone coaxed into some grim approximation of life.

"Purity. Good to see you again. The madam is in her office. Please be seeing her, won't you." It was a question, in theory - an entreatment, really - though from the stoic's placid tone, it came across as an order. Purity curtsied with an imaginary skirt, inclining her head and smiling from ear to ear. She batted her lashes up at the statue-come-to-life and gave him a smile which dripped of blatantly feigned innocence, rising up to a full stand before offering her reply.

"But of course, Slab! Of course~ I know I haven't swung by in a moon and a half, and the madam must be quite eager to see me. Come, come... These ladies are my, aha, assistants. I'll be returning to residency soon. You understand, don't you?" The sugar in her voice was sweet enough to burn the throat as it went down, and Esper James couldn't help but take a guilty pleasure in its sting.

Oh, Purity was up to fucking something for sure. But, with this dude on their side? He knew Purity just at a glance - and any place in Vitus that employed a zombie as hulking at this brute, whose name was fucking Slab? Tsang would need to launch a full-scale assault on a fortress so deeply set into Vitus's shade. Even in the nice part of Vitus, you could tell a lot about a place by the kind of bouncers they employed - and this guy? He meant business, EJ thought. She hoped he meant business, at least.

Slab smiled, slowly but surely, as if chewing the cud of Puri's response. With a flourish and a bow, Slab took a single immense step backwards, his eyes now shut and his right arm outstretched to beckon them in. "The house is glad for your return. Please, inside. Someone will handle your van."

Lulu looked to Purity for permission - and when Purity nodded assent, the nun-cum-punkette set the keys to the van in Slab's upturned palm. Purity said nothing more, stepping into the darkened hallway which lay beyond the heavy door - but she turned to look at the women of her party. A single wink was all she gave before whirling back around, going to walk deeper in. EJ took a deep breath to steel herself, and followed. So many questions were yet left to ask... but she'd get a chance to ask them all, in time. For now?

They had a madam to be seeing.