Vivienne

“Vivienne.  Call me Vivienne.”  She pointed to her right, “This is Faye, my partner.  The two of them make my family.”

Clarity seemed to wash over Franco, “Family.  You are here and obviously got my letter.”  He looked around, “Where is Drake then?”

Faye cleared her throat and her green eyes flashed red, “I ate him.”  Faye licked her lips, “Vein by vein.”

Fear still evident in his black eyes, Franco turned towards Faye. “That behavior is highly frowned upon, young one.”  He casually sniffed the air. “Issac will not think too kindly of that should he find out, Drake was out here on my behalf and I was speaking for the council.”

Vivienne quickly stood up, causing Franco to almost tumble out of his chair. “I long established that the council means nothing to me.”  She pointed to Tarsey. “Drake earned his final death.”  Vivienne winked to her lover and slowly resumed her regal position in her chair. “Now then.”  Vivienne placed her hands on the arms of her chair, her well groomed red fingernails tapping lightly. “Faye here has graciously educated me as to the importance of family.  With that in mind, I have answered your humble request.”  Vivienne paused and waited for Franco to compose himself. “If you need to feed again to calm your nerves, be my guest.”  She added, “I have infused wine available that Miss Rivers should have offered you while you waited.”

Chuckling softly to herself when Franco nearly came out of his skin, Casey nodded. “I did, Vivienne.  I have Martin to thank for helping me understand certain needs.”  She gave a pleasant nod to Sylvie, “Thank you for that.”

Sylvie’s eyes seemed to shimmer and reflect a Cheshire cat moon, “Of course, it was my pleasure.” 

“No, no.”  Franco steadied himself before the nightmare before him. “Miss Faye…”  His voice seemed to gather a bit of flair as he turned to look at Faye’s cat-like eyes. “My sincere apologies.  I knew Drake and I suspect that your rationale for his demise was linked to..”  He pointed back to Vivienne, “...Family.”

“I don’t want to get into it, Mister Tarsey.  Family is important to me and I wanted to know more about…”  Faye pointed to the other three vampires in the room. “Us.”  Faye blew a kiss to Vivienne, “You were right, I am only days old.”

Sylvie sighed and shook her head, “So that was true.” A single tear of blood slid down her tanned cheek, “My condolences.  Drake was a bastard.”

The entire room erupted in laughter, lightening the mood.

“I completely agree, Luna.”  Faye smiled and looked at Vivienne, returning her airy kiss.

Sensing the tension of meeting one slowly subsiding, Vivienne crossed her legs and pointed to the rest of Franco’s party. “You are all free to sit down as well, there are plenty of empty seats.”  She paused as the others took the opportunity to move the heavy chairs to Franco’s part of the table. “Let me get to the reason for why I invited you here this evening.”

Franco looked at his watch and rubbed his chin. “Was it your intention to keep us trapped in your manor all day?”

“No.”  Vivienne lightly laughed. “Unforeseen events to everyone but Miss Luna, I suspect.”

Franco shook his head and raised one eyebrow, “I see your witchcraft is still in full swing, darling.”

“Spiritual gift, you silver tongued devil.”  Sylvie's eyes now reflected half-moons. “I only see what the ancestors let me see, you know that.”

Half-smiling Franco thumbed over to Sylvie while looking at Vivienne, “So, she says.  Don’t let that beautiful face fool you, Doctor.  She sees tangents that no one else does.  I have had the privilege of knowing Miss Mikoda for many years now.”

Vivienne nodded, gently tucking a few strands of her onyx hair behind her ears, “I have had the honor to experience her vision firsthand.”  Vivienne blinked her sapphire blue eyes softly with the memory, “That was the reason for the delay this evening.  Faye…Moreau…”  Vivienne nibbled on her lip and looked at her lover, “...And I had better business to attend to.”  She refocused on Franco, watching him pet the arm of his people. “Mister Tarsey, I have you here because I wanted to address you before I made the full decision to appear before this council.”  Vivienne kept watching the older gentleman keep petting the lady he’d fed from.

Casey started laughing, “She wanted home field advantage.”  Leaning over, Casey propped herself on her hand and elbow.  “You know…”  Casey mumbled randomly as she looked at all four vampires. “I know it’s all part of the gig, but all of you are gorgeous.”

“Thank you for the kindness, Miss Rivers.”  Franco snapped his fingers and one of his girls ran over and knelt before Vivienne before handing her a phone.

Vivienne politely took the phone and looked at the woman. “Thank you.”  The woman scooted closer to Vivienne and exposed her neck. “That will not be necessary.”  Vivienne began looking at the phone when she heard the girl start softly crying. Placing the phone on the table, Vivienne looked at Franco.

“Ah, yes.”  He whistled and the girl came running back and knelt down behind him. “I know what this looks like.”

“Looks like you have half-enslaved your entourage.”  Vivienne added.

“I am sure you are aware of the phenomenon where humans like being fed upon.”  Franco patted the girl on the shoulder, “Don’t cry Veronica, Doctor Moreau isn’t punishing you, dear.”  The young girl darted back to her seat. “They are not thralls or charmed in any way, they volunteer.”  He pointed to the four girls, “They are a subculture that affectionately call themselves, Blood Bunnies.”

Sylvie shrugged, “I have unfortunately used a few myself.  They really do like it.”  She pointed to Casey’s neck and then her own glistening full moon eyes, “Close to as much as you appear to, Miss Rivers.”

Dismissing the small tangent, Vivienne picked up the phone once more and looked at the shadowy object captured. “What am I supposed to see in this, Mister Tarsey?”

“That is the puzzle we are facing.”  Another girl ran down and retrieved his phone. “We call them The Ripped.  That is the only picture we have captured.  They are more slippery than eels.”  Franco reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a drawing. “The ones we have managed to kill have this imprinted on their right hand.”

Vivienne waited for the next blood bunny in line to deliver the little drawing. “Ah, yes.  Human magic.” When the room went deathly silent, Vivienne looked up from the rune. “What?”

Franco scratched his salt and pepper hair, “Human magic?”  He shook his head confused, “I am eight hundred years old and have never seen human magic.  Surely you have to be wrong.”

Vivienne folded the paper and pushed it for Faye to see, “The last time I saw it was during the Spanish Inquisition.”

Faye looked at the drawing and shrugged, passing the note to Casey. “Looks like upside down grass or something.”

Casey opened the folded paper and then quickly pulled her phone out, tapping frantically. “Vivienne..I…I know…”  She thumb scrolled through her pictures online, “I have seen this before.”  She handed Vivienne the phone. “Brian has that on his right hand.”  Casey slowly added, “He told me it was a birthmark.”