Vivienne

“No thank you.”  Casey quickly frowned and realized she hated any mention of the word. “I’m good, thanks.”  When the items landed quietly on the table Casey shifted as far away from the table as she could. “I am just excited to hear about you both.”

Adjusting the black intricate collar on her trumpet dress, Denise took the time to study Casey. “I will be happy to tell you our love story in just a few minutes.”  Denise raised one of her long eyebrows. “Casey.  While I have decided that you are useful to Marion and myself, do not be fooled by my .. generosity.” A green solid beam shot from her palm to the second floor and wrapped itself around another doll and made it fly straight to Denise’s hand. “While not as intricate as my Marion’s, this will certainly do the trick for you.”

Feeling sharp needles shoot through her body, Casey felt her body lock up once more.  Unlike the spell that simply moved her across the room, this variation came complete with intense pain.  “No…need…”  Casey pleaded as the pain engulfed her and tears flowed down her cheeks. “Please…too…too…”

Denise made Vivienne stoically sit up and she wistfully walked over to Casey and scooped a set of twin tears on her fingers. “These will do just fine.”  Streaking the salty liquid down the length of the clay doll, Denise flicked her finger and released Casey. “Do we have an understanding now?”  Denise blinked her devilish yellow-red eyes and smiled. “I did it out of love, you know.”

“Brian said the same things.”  Casey muttered and flopped backwards on the loveseat, thankful that the needles were no longer driven into her nerves. “I am not convinced that this is love.”  Casey amended as she rubbed the pain from her wrists. “I can’t see how causing pain is showing love.”

Weaving her green light all around the clay figure, Denise nodded slowly as she willed the doll to take a miniature form of Casey. “Brian was not quite ready to deal with love in a positive manner.”  Denise blew on the doll as if to dry paint. “None of them really understood.”  Swirling her long green dress, Denise spun and walked back to the sofa. “Perhaps Raollet.  The rest?”  Smoothing her silky dress beneath her bottom, Denise gracefully sat down and displayed the doll. “My lovely Casey, Everything you see here was in preparation for my Marion to come back to my arms.”  Denise snapped her fingers, making the marionette force Vivienne back into her lap. “There we go, my love.”  Setting the doll beside the marionette, Denise crossed the little figure’s legs.

When she felt her muscles involuntarily move to make her legs cross, Casey lost any pretense of being happy. “Okay, you made your point.  I don’t need to be controlled.”

“You’d be amazed at what small enchantments can accomplish.” Denise started twisting Vivienne’s hair through her hands again. “I get to maintain things without the expenditure of.. we will just call it energy.” Denise traced her long fingers around the perfect curves of Vivienne’s face. “So many great topics.  Where to start?”  Denise nibbled on her lip a moment. “Casey.  Let’s begin with you.”

“I can’t wait.”  Casey sighed and pointed down. “May I have control of my legs back, please?”

Denise nodded, “Certainly.  You can move now.”  She pointed to the young ward. “Let’s bring up a perspective.”  Denise waved her hand at the floor for a moment and like creating a small movie set, Vivienne’s Virginia Beach home appeared with Casey and Vivienne discussing Casey’s wardship. “The past is at my fingertips.”  Denise winked. “I don’t suppose we need the dialogue?”

“No, I know what happened.”  Casey sighed and scooted back in her seat, rubbing her legs.

“Excellent!”  Denise bent over and kissed Vivienne’s ear. “You picked the perfect cover, my love.  I know while you care for her, you are not in love with her.”  Denise’s red behind the yellow in her eyes seemed to flare, “You are beautiful.  Eye Candy.  When you walk by, people turn their heads and look.  You get attention with those little pouty lips of yours.”  Denise blew lightly and made the image disappear in a cloud of sand. “That makes you extremely useful, so I agree with Marion’s assessment of your value.”

“Viv-Marion would never describe what we have like that.  I gave myself to her because I felt the connection, not some arbitrary value.”  Casey took a deep breath and glanced over to Faye.

Denise dismissed Casey’s response with a light hand wave. “Tell yourself whatever you need to.”  Denise paused and looked at Faye as well. “Love will come in time.”  

“Tell yourself whatever you need to as well.”  Casey uttered too fast to take back.

Denise lightly laughed, “Let’s see now.  What was the next topic?”  She pointed to Casey. “Come over here.  Marion is quite hungry, I have looked at the red ring in her eyes too long now.”  Denise gently turned Vivienne’s head and looked into the vampire’s blue eyes. “No need to suffer needlessly, right darling?”

Having never seen Vivienne with deep red rings surrounding her soft blue eyes, Casey hesitated for a brief moment. “Um..Denise, can Marion respond if I ask her a question?”

“Scared?”  Denise’s thin wiry smile crossed her black lips.

Casey shook her head, “Not at all.  I would just like to speak to Marion.”  She reflected on the double commands still in her head. -No Fear, Keep calm.-

Denise cleared Vivienne’s bangs from her eyes, “My Marion has always been able to speak.  She is just being shy.  The marionette is just keeping her complacent with her body.”  Denise wiggled her fingers, “When she first saw me she was so overwrought with excitement that her claws did a little damage that I had to recover from.”

Casey looked over the barn as she walked over to Vivienne.  First kneeling down, Casey scooted over to Vivienne and placed her hand softly on the ancient vampire’s cheek and warmly smiled, “You are a work of art, Marion.”  Casey winked, “I can’t find a flaw in..you.”  Pushing her long curly hair away from her neck, Casey leaned forward, “Take your time, I will think about the manor…oh..”  Casey winked, “..Leave the marks.”

Vivienne felt the magic of the marionette fade into the background much like a movie would change scenes like a slow fade. “Interesting choice, my ward.  I will endeavor to comply with your.. request.”  Vivienne knew that her captor was making a grave mistake by letting her feed from her ward that was already laden with her own vampiric magic.  While not as strong as Faye’s blood to her, Vivienne did get a slight surge of balance and strength from ward-blood. “Allow me to take advantage of this..perk.”  Vivienne’s gleaming white fangs quickly locked in place and her mouth began to lightly water anticipating the relief that Casey’s blood would provide to her burning throat. 

Casey shivered as Vivienne’s fangs pierced her skin with a slight tear and pinch of pain. “Mmm..oh…yesss..”  Feeling the rush of exciting pain, Casey wrapped her hands around Vivienne and kept her mistress close as Vivienne gently pulled the blood from the four holes in her neck.  Casey blearily looked up at Denise with her swimmy brown eyes, “Miss Crow, thank you for this.  Your…mmm, love is generous.”

Blood.  Source of life and power.  Arterial and thick, Vivienne felt her body re-energize to match the excitement that Casey had experienced from the four bites. -Somehow she knew.-  Vivienne told herself as she counted to eighteen in her head.  Blood swirling on her tongue, Vivienne carefully plugged the four holes and blew on the clots she’d created. Keeping to the more formal tone that Casey had started Vivienne gently smiled, “An experiment if you will, Miss Rivers.”  Vivienne pulled away and settled back in Denise’s lap. “You wanted a work of … art on your neck, A real artist tries new techniques.”

Denise clapped and leaned over to give Vivienne another kiss. “Yes, Marion.  I knew you would start to remember how things were before you left.”  Denise waved Casey away. “Remember that generosity in the coming years.  You may take your seat now.” Looking down at her prized possession, Denise cooed lightly, “Show me your eyes, Darling.”

With new blood coursing through her, Vivienne knew that the red hunger rings would have disappeared from her eyes and restored her enchanting blue orbs.  Unwilling to lose the small amount of movement she was allowed to have, Vivienne turned slowly and gazed at the gray face hovering above her.

“There they are.  Unique, sparkles of unwavering blue.”  Denise trailed one of her long black fingernails over Vivienne’s cheeks. “You are the only vampire I have ever seen with blue eyes, Marion.  Made for me.”

Clearing her throat softly, Casey waited until Denise had looked at her before pulling her knees to her chest. “I could go upstairs and admire your studio, if you both need time alone.”  She meekly hid behind her knees and gazed up. “You..you have so many wonderful pieces up there.”

Gently rubbing the tattoos that adorned her cheeks, Denise sat for a moment contemplating. “I do want some alone time with Marion, but that will be later.”  Pride welled up within her after the praise of her artwork, “You have lots of time to gaze over my studio.  I would have pointed you to the house where I have other pieces, but you and Brian seemed to have created quite the mess over there.”

-Mess.  Whatever.-  Casey thought as she kept her knees tightly against her. “How..how many more pieces do you have?”

“All in due time, My dear girl.”  Denise gently traced her fingers over Vivienne’s ears, “I have it all sectioned off..by..”

Casey lifted her head up and smiled, “By your flow…my mom calls it her flow.”

Clearing the gray-black hair from the front of her face when a slight breeze passed through the barn, Denise carefully folded the strands back to their place behind her ear. “That is certainly one way of putting it.  Phase is another and yet a third is called their period.”   Denise pressed her black stained lips on Vivienne’s forehead, “Let’s explore this topic a bit more shall we?  You did say you were excited to hear about us.”  Denise watched as Casey slowly nodded her head. “You see, art is how I met my lovely Marion.  Did you know she was a model?”  Denise laughed and gazed longingly into Vivienne’s eyes. “I was so young, in my final year of the art institute.”