A Bump in the Road. Chapter Twenty-Three.
A Bump in the Road
Chapter Twenty-Three
By Roofles
I looked damn good. It was a black, James Bond like tuxedo with only enough intricate design to it that would allow me to blend in with the crowd. The tuxedo had those strange tail flaps in the back making me look like a proper gentleman as I strode forward, cane in one hand and mask over my face. The mask, like the corner of my outfit, was a darker jade green in the shape of a jaguar. The trim of the suit was Aztec design of the same color I was sure was made of crushed jades. Golden designed fangs hung down over my lower jaw from the mask; it left my mouth expose but covered my cheeks, eyes and forehead with a gold outline with feathers around the edges. Much like the ones on Tezca's toga sorang. Authentic, I assumed. And colorful.
Once dressed I was about to ask what the plan was but hadn't even opened my mouth when the door opened. Wind gushed inside causing several of the dresses to lift up. No one came in and the door slammed hard against the side wall as it banged in from the hurricane force.
"Oh, good. Your carriage is here." The Marques fluttered in from the back room, clapping her hands together. She wore long elbow high white gloves that covered her slender fingers. She offered a hand to me. "It was my pleasure." And then she nearly swatted my face motioning us to leave as I tried to kiss the top of it all gentleman like. "Go, go. You are just in the way of the other customers now." She shooed like someone hundreds of years younger.
I exchanged a thank you, a look with Tezca at the fact there wasn't a single other customer and exchange a pleasant farewell with the girl behind the counter. And my phone number. Melissa was a vampire, yet, I was sure. And even so. She had a smoking perfectly round curved booty. I'm an ass man, what can I say?
Tezca scooped me up over one shoulder and headed out. "Call me." I waved and as we left the door shut behind us.
There was indeed a carriage waited outside for us. A victorian styled black coffin shaped box with four bronze wheels and a similar design around every outline of it. Drawn by two rhino sized horses that didn't seem to know they needed a driver to run. Their eyes were empty and black, much like their bodies. I wasn't even sure if either of the two nightmare horses even had fur. The door opened up for us as the my were-jaguar coworker set me down. I promptly dusted myself off, gentleman like, smacked him in the shin with the cane I had been given and headed inside. The head of the cane had a golden jaguar styled head piece. A little on the nose but maybe I could pawn it off later.
Tezca snarled, hopping on one leg holding his other knee before following me in. I took a seat on the cushion red velvet seat, next to the window in the far corner. I kicked my legs up and rested against the side of it. I really should've been far more concerned with magical carriage rides and vampire black widow woman helping out just for kicks and giggles. A coffin shaped box, drawn by two creatures I was sure came out of Edgar Alan Poe's nightmares.
Tezca sat on the other side, in his were form again. And he looked... Dashing? I had to stifle a laugh, though I did appreciate the effort. He looked more like a goonish body guard than a suave tuxedo spy, like myself, and the suit itself didn't exactly fit him and was ripping at the seams under his arms. His mask was a simple white that covered his whole face and over the top of his muzzle but not the side of the snout. Leaving his whiskers to breath. And giving him a phantom of the opera kind of look to him. A goon vindictive drama queen that was love torn and lived in the rafters writing bad poetry. Just what I needed...
And he was scowling.
"What?" I finally gave in as the carriage began to move. It lurched forward as the twin rhino sized horses began walking. I would seriously hate to be anyone caught in their path. And not even for a second, during the whole trip, did they stop. And the bumps in the road I tried to image were just potholes. "Penny for your thoughts?" I chuckled now as he frowned. He really did look like a goon.
But that wasn't a bad thing. At least he appeared...human. This whole experience has taught me one thing. I hated animals. They could appear friendly one second, viscous the next and then back to being dumb looking. People were far more easier to deal with. I mean if you knew someone was going to stab you in the back they had the courtesy to give you a warning. Animals gave no such luxury.
Tezca just grumbled, growling and folded his arms, I could hear the suit he wore ripping a bit and he relaxed. Though his shoulders were still tense. And if I shoved a coal up between his ass cheeks I was sure I'd get a diamond by the end of this trip.
"What was that?" He nodded back at the shop and I quirked an eyebrow.
"I do believe that was a shop. They sell things. For money. To make a profit. To be able to survive on." I laid out for him and he gave me another scowl. Normally when a massive sized were-jaguar was annoyed, glaring and lifting his fangs at you? You'd be afraid. Pissing your pants kind of scared. And I'm not exaggerating either. It's frightening as all fuck.
I, on the other hand, felt no such fear for him.
And that might've been the problem. I was getting...too comfortable with this all.
"With that thrall?" He continued to glare at me.
"Thrall?" I chuckled as I resting back and matching his gaze. "The hell is that?" He didn't answer. Only frown. "Please, oh wise mighty Aztec god that knows all the information of someone from jeopardy, enlighten my ignorant self."
"Vampire bitch." He said delicately.
"Just because she's a-," I tried to reason out but he cut me off.
"The vampire wasn't a bitch. She was the vampires bitch. That's what a thrall is." He clarified a bit crassly though as if he had swallowed gravel. His throat was rumbling with that growl. If you never seen a jaguar growl or roar, look it up sometime. It's rather amusing and not exactly king of the jungle kind of sound. A mix of coughing and roaring. "Mind controlled helpless slave, drugged up on vamp juices."
I tried not to laugh. "Juices? Kinky."
"Exactly." He just frowned. "Their saliva is intoxicating. Drugs you, so you don't even try and fight back as they feed." Tezca frown lessened a bit. "And the thrall's usually just rip you apart and eat you. Rather than the whole blood sucking thing. Or so I hear." He shrugged now far more casual as if he didn't just tell me the woman I was hitting on wanting to eat me like a juicy, thick piece of raw steak.
"What a woman wants," I shrugged with a laugh. "I'm not pushing the issue. Just having a little fun."
"Fun?" Tezca said a bit harshly.
"Yeah. Fun!" I glared back now. "Ever since this whole damn thing started I hadn't had a single minute to just relax and enjoy myself. I'm not even sure what's been going on, in the REAL, world. I hadn't had coffee in too long! Always worrying about something, or someone. And now I have two seconds to just fool around and your getting on me about it? Something that won't even happen?"
Tezca folded his ears back but didn't relent. "Your missing the point!" He snarled turning to face me fully now, and ok. It was a bit intimidating. I found myself withdrawing a bit but tried not to let it show.
"And what point is that?" I gave a harsh laugh and cold glare.
Then Tezca looked away, abruptly, as if admitting defeat. I had won an argument, that was a first. His head dropped towards the floor and the tension in his shoulder built up before breaking away and just collapsed in defeat. His chest deflated. "Whoever you are to be with. I will be too." He said slowly, in a soft voice.
I eased up a bit. "Excuse me? The hell does that mean." His voice alone made me soften my defensive nature. It would be like picking on a kitten and not a big bad jaguar. That and I honestly wasn't sure what he meant.
"It means." He snapped his jaws looking up at me but wavered the next second. His features softening as he looked at me, those eyes softening and relaxed. The fire within them dieing down the smoldering embers rather than roaring flames. "It means," and his hand lifted up but stopped before he even reached out. "Whoever you end up with is who I will too. You can not," he clenched his fingers into a fist and looked away. "Think of your life as your own, anymore."
I let that sink in for all of two seconds. "So I'm like a parent now?"
"No," Tezca shook his head. "It's not in that sense. I just. It's just. I." And then he threw his arms up and the defensive nature I had seemed to have slipped across the carriage and into the jaguar who scowled. "Fine! You really want to know how this is?"
"Yes." I said coldly and came to regret it.
Crossing a leg over the other, Tezca folded his arms and didn't say anything as he rested back, looking out the window. Nothing happened. At first. Then, like a steady stream, it hit me.
Annoyance. Anger. Frustration. Hunger. The smells in the air, the noise from outside, the cushion underneath his own seat, the tension in his shoulders, the fear he felt for the horses drawing our carriage. Every breath he took, every thump of his heart and inner thoughts came to me then. And I soon learn what he had been trying to explain.
I wasn't alone in this. Not even in the smallest of ways. Everything I am, I was? Tezca now was. And everything he is, he was? I am now. And I finally knew what it meant to have my soul sewned together with that of a spirit. I wasn't alone in this.
It had been so easy to ignore that fact. He was away from me. I saw him, could touch him and our thoughts had seemed to be our own. And now? Now I knew why. Tezca had built a dam in order to keep all those things to himself and finally? It had spilled over and onto me. And it felt so heavy. My mind wasn't able to hold all his thoughts and feelings and...and everything.
"What is this?" I chuckled, hoping it was some kind of joke. I felt a louder, the annoyance and frustration that was. And I myself wanted to grind my teeth because of how I made myself feel.
"I've been...holding back." Tezca coughed a bit and sat forward. "Keeping myself, to...myself. You have not been." And then he folded his hands in his lap and looked down. "I know. Your angry about this, you hate this. Of being bound to me. And if there was anything I could do about it, I would have. For both our sakes. For your sake." And his eyes looked up at me and if he could cry I sure he would have then.
The thing is with people? They can fake it. You can pretend to be sad, angry or even an emotional wreck in order to get sympathy. Victims and criminals alike do this. Actors do this. They may even convince themselves to feel that way. But in the end it isn't real. Hell. I knew this because I did it on my job everyday in order to get into buildings, restricted areas or to see random people. Playing off of others emotions to get what I wanted.
And now?
Now I could feel Tezca words flowing from him and he meant every single one he had said and it was...shocking, to say the least. My job, my very life is about being dishonesty, sneaky, trying to trick others and hide your own shame. And now? This was a little too real. Like being confessed to for the very first time. Or confessing too. Or both. My whole life was laid out on the table, every card in my deck and Tezca could look through them as he pleased. And sometimes was forced too.
"I hate this," and he did. "I'm sorry," and he was. "And I just... I just don't know what to do!" And he didn't. Nor did I. "I'll do anything to give you the most space that I can, to give you the life you want, but there are some things!" He grinded his teeth and there was that loud stabbing feeling in the back of my mind. A frustrated anger and pure rage that I myself felt from the sheer raw heat from it. And it scared me. "That I can not just sit by and take."
"Like me flirting with random bimbo vampire thralls?" I chuckled and he smiled at that. At least he could feel my positivity rather than just...negativity. And I in turn could feel his. His rage had been like the scalding surface of the sun. His amusement, happiness? A gentle summer breeze on the beach front.
"I don't mind that." And his tail swished to the side and I was sure he actually like the feeling that came with it. From me. There was a reason why people flirt, and not just for the ending results. It feels good to flirt and be flirted with. Raises your self-esteem and gives you a shot of endorphins. Tezca lip quivered into a sly smile, baring a few teeth. Then he shook his head and I could feel the slate being washed clean. "I can't just let you go sleeping around with,"
And then I cut him off. "Whoa! Whoa, there. You think I was actually going to hit that?" I stabbed over my shoulder as if motioning to her. "You got to be kidding me?" I laughed and got up, the carriage shook and I had to get a hand to steady myself. Tezca offered his.
His touch was warm, the paw pads smooth and though he could have easily crushed my arm in his grip there was a controlled strength to it that allowed me to get my sea legs and sit down next to him. I didn't say thanks but I knew he knew I was. And he also knew I did not like the fact I couldn't keep things hidden from him either. And I knew Tezca found this amusing as all hell.
I used to be taught as a kid that God was watching over everything you did and you should be ashamed for it. I grew out of that, nor denying or excepting it. As, in ignorance on the matter, I could live my life the way I chose too. And now? Now it was like that again. Take your life and lay it out in front of you and have a stranger just look over it and tell me. Tell me you wouldn't have changed anything if you knew it would be looked over. And don't kid yourself. You would, no matter who you were. That's how my life was now and forever to be.
My actions weren't my own anymore. And I think that's what I hated most.
"Look," I slapped him on the back, feeling a little silly seeing as how Tezca was nearly a foot taller than me and the fact I could, literally, fit inside him as if he was just a rather large sports mascot. "I won't be jumping into bed with anyone, anytime soon. I just needed..." Gods above. I felt like I was married and they caught me checking the waitresses hot ass out. Tezca made no inclination that he felt what I felt but his tone betrayed it.
"I know," his voice was soft and a large hand gripped my thigh, my whole thigh easily in it's vice iron like grip. "I do not wish to become a wedge in your life. But."
"But you have to live with my actions on it all." I nodded in agreement. The carriage lurch and his hand tightened on my leg and I held his back a bit more. "What about you then?" I asked and he lifted an eyebrow waiting for me to go on. I was thankful for that, that he wasn't just trying to root around for the answers inside my head. He had the courtesy to wait for me to go on. "You must have your fancies as well," I chuckled. "What gets your ticker off?" I tried to be delicate on the matter but still ended up being crude. And I even tried to feel what he felt.
I felt a sharp door close, that snapped shut on the flow of emotions from him. I winced at the feel. I needed to learn that trick, I thought rubbing the side of my head as if someone had just hit it.
"Nothing." Was his reply and we didn't speak for the rest of the trip, though he wrapped an arm around me and rested back looking out the side window.
"So if I get angry?" I finally asked looking out the other window, still sitting next to him. There were trees going by and we were in some kind of forest. Not wild or untamed. It was all trimmed, immaculately so.
"Yup." Was his flat reply.
"Or sad?"
He gave a gruff grunt.
"Or horny?" I asked, trying not to smile but couldn't help it as I looked over with just my eyes. His ears flickered and his tail swished the other way but he didn't respond. "Hah," I laughed and slapped his thigh, hard. He barely even flinched at it. "You got to be kidding me!"
"Nope." He looked over at me, arcing an eyebrow with an amused look now. At least he could feel my amusement as well.
"That is so..." And then I groaned and rested with my head in my hands. "This has gotten so much more complicated than it needed to be."
"Yup." And we rode the rest of the way in silence.
Then I broke it once more. I hated long drawn out silences when I was around others. It reminded me too much of my childhood... "It could be useful though." And that seemed to pique his interest. I rubbed at my scratchy chin wishing I had a razor or a good sharp knife to shave with. I almost asked Tezca to use one of his claws but thought better against it. Seeing as how they could tear through...well anything really. "How linked are we?"
And then he spoke but nothing came out of his mouth and I heard it echo in the back of my head. As if Tezca was sitting in the corner of my mind, in that pitch darkness that always surrounded him. "As close as two guys can be." And I could hear the humor to his voice and I gave him a sharp punch on his side. My hand hurt afterward, it was like punching solid muscle. Or rather like a brick wall.
"Well that just means we have two sets of eyes, ears and senses. We can also share our worries and concerns and discuss things in private even in a crowded room." Sure there was more than one disadvantage to this but I was doing my best to make the best of a worse situation. "We could at least try to use this to our advantage on the job."
"So then..." Tezca spoke slowly watching me. One of his hands were still on my thigh and he was facing out the other window. His head moved slowly to look over at me. "You want to keep linked?"
"Maybe in only small bursts." I chuckled. I rather not be feeling every single thing he did, or hear every thought or experience every wedgie or fart. Man, that'd be horrible as all hell. "It be best if we were on the same...page though. If being a cop has taught me anything is that you and your team needs to be just that. On the same page, same wavelength." I added the last part for our sake seeing as how our situation was indeed different. "And when you are you work so much better as a team. It saves lives."
He gave a nod and raised his hand up to touch my shoulder, gripping it. And then I felt a gentle breeze wash over me as that door between us was opened again. Content? No, it was satisfaction I felt from him. Though I wasn't sure from what. The thing about emotions is if you don't put context to them it was hard to understand the exact reason for it. If not impossible. You can be angry about a billion things and without more information you were clueless as to why.
"Do you always, feel this..." I coughed a bit looking away, feeling embarrassed. I've learned to hide my emotions well rather than wearing my heart on my sleeves. And if someone could just know them so openly, I was at a rather large uncomfortably disadvantage spot here.
Tezca didn't answer. It was rather obvious he could.
"Is there a way for me to, shut it?" I tried to describe the door between us. The one that blocked his thoughts and feelings from my own. I wanted to say it was out of courtesy, why, I wanted to do it. But we both knew otherwise.
Being...real, always truthful with someone is not how I do things. Not how humans do things. White lies is what we built our society on. Everyone lies even in small things. On their resume, when talking to their children about the facts of life or even strangers. Pretending to be nice at least.
"I am not sure. It is up to you and I cannot teach you." Tezca shook his head once and gripped my shoulder. He moved closer and I pulled back, even a half inch, as his forehead rested against mine. The top of his muzzle bumped against my nose. "If I could I would." He spoke lightly, opening his eyes to stare down. "There is no need for you to feel ashamed." His eyes drifted up but not enough to look in mine, though I think he wanted too. "With me." He spoke the last part in a growl.
Tezca was my friend. One of my best friends now that I think about it. And hell, he knew me more inside and out than anyone ever had or ever would. Not by choice mind you, but he did. And he didn't reject me for it, for my self-doubts, for my inner fears and for my darker side. Someone that didn't blindly accept me as if trying to just ignore that I was flawed. Someone that just acknowledged who I was rather than pretend I was someone else.
So, not in my most respectable of moments, I hugged him. And he returned it.
It was odd. I wasn't hugging...him, per say. It was like I was in that pitch black space again. And as a glowing, naked body I was hugging Tezca jaguar-feral form. His own soul with my own. And I wept because of it. Because it was far too real for me to handle.
I had no tears on my face as I moved away and another uncomfortable silence followed. Until we both gasped as we pulled up to a door of a mansion the size of a small castle.