The nectar she was imbibing from the defenseless man's neck was sweeter than anything shed tried. It filled a hunger she didn't even know she had. Her opal eyes shone brighter as if they had an internal luster. Gulp by gulp, she emptied the man.
Wolf One tried to gently push her away, realizing quickly it wasn't gently but he was losing too much blood to have any power. When he finally went limp Nelly knew it wasn't long till it would be too late to stop.
The bliss that filled her made it oh so hard to think about stopping. With all her willpower she managed to stop, but the emptiness in her teeth hurt. Like a heart broken it yearned to be filled. Bring back the bliss it screamed at her. She bit back in, it was unbearable.
It was all that she expected it to be. Was this how it would have felt with Gideon too. In her mind the sculpted face of Gideon looked at her betrayed, like a scolded pet. She was eating at the neck of another man, just ten hours after her wedding. Nelly retched loudly, finally returning to earth.
She stumbled up, almost falling, her head spinning from ecstasy and disgust. Like a cat trying to get rid of a fur ball she retched more, but there was no fur ball to release. She tried steadying herself on the table beside the mirror. Her grip almost slipping on the tablecloth and dragging down everything on the table with it.
With some effort she straightened herself enough to see her visage in the mirror again. Eyes bloodshot, pupils large as teacups and a crimson streak on her chin. In Nelly's mind she wasn't a ghoul longer, she was a vampire. Beautiful frenzied vampire.
In this moment she pondered how her mother kept her composure so well, or was that exactly why she was so composed all the time.
Wolf One coughed up a storm. Nelly turned to watch, wiping the rest of the blood on her chin on the tablecloth, dragging bits and baubles on the floor. Nelly laughed shortly, there was a long way to become like Mother.
"I thought you killed me." Wolf One said holding his neck and looked mildly surprised when he saw his hand came back with only a few drops of blood. Nelly looked at the man and some sparks of recognition were trying to light a fire in her mind.
"You said something about loving me." Nelly said approaching the man.
"Back then, now you are just a lucky broad who became a vampire." Wolf One said and flinched as Nelly knelt in front and licked his bloodied hand clean. The fires were now lit, he was Kadek Botello, a local kid and bully. Local from back in the day when she was still one of the Breadstreet Orphans.
"Fear not beaten puppy, you are mine now—but you'll never have me." Nelly said and laid her foot on his chest pushing him back down.
"I'll never be yours." Kadek said and regret his actions the instant he said them. Nelly snapped her fingers and his face became warped with pain.
Surprisingly quite good looking even in all his agony. Fearing she might start enjoying giving pain if this continued, she snapped her finger again. Her vampiric powers stopped activating, they had even more beneficial uses now that she had a thrall, but he didn't have to know them yet.
"Paco I know you are listening, come pick up my new puppy." She said and pressed her leg a bit harder into Kadek's chest. His brow furrowed again in visible discomfort, until Nelly stepped back. "Go to his apartment and if it is nice we will be taking it over for the mission."
"Of course miss" Paco said bowing with fist over heart. "What mission if you may tell?"
"We are taking over MASKS." Nelly said a moment later her eyes peering in to the distance.
***
"It works well enough." Nelly said to the maid wearing red earrings and a matching ribbon on her uniform.
"Miss you can't be serious, there is only three rooms here, we would have to share a table and couldn't be out of your way," said Red exasparated at her master. They were all crammed in to the hastily emptied apartment of Kadek, but four hours later. Their only layover the time it took to join in with the regularly leaving crew not to arouse suspicion.
"I am not bothered." Nelly said again sticking to her guts. Red sighed and held a hand at her forehead.
"You can't stay with these crude men in the same house. And even if you are not bothered we are, at least let us buy the neighboring apartments." Red pleaded her case one more time and hanged her head as in defeat. Nelly agreed, having the two apartments beside would be handy, even though living a bit cramped for a while wouldn't have really bothered her.
Red smiled with what seemed a glint in her eye, but it must just have been Nelly's imagination. She sat down, on the one chair the maids had deemed acceptable to be part of their life for the time being. Only because Nelly had asked for something to sit on. Its time was nearing its end, with the gazes the two maids that followed her here, had given it.
Nelly opened her phone and accessed a private chat app for the family use. Stripped of everything that could potentially be a security hazard. She deftly wrote to Cathrin, who answered in but a few seconds. Cathrin was on her way to meet cousin Brinks, the one who had looked after Lalage in the last few years. Good excuse as any to pressure a family outsider with too much greed.
The three sisters had met quickly before Nelly left for her potentially extended stay away. They re-itarated their unified front against Lalage, Walsh Inc and potentially Gideon himself. The three of them even went as far to say the family motto: 'A tree is only as strong as its roots.'
Everyone had their own ideas what exactly the motto stood for, but what Mothers view of it was that the core family were the roots that held the Arbore strong. If one root suffered, so would the tree as a whole.
The phone buzzed, a new notification sprang up smoothly. Lina had sent a message that read: 'Viscountess Nadia Peerenboom is a friend of mine without support. She could be useful. Be fair.' The message was followed with a pleading emoji. Nelly smiled, with the help she was receiving it was only just that she saw her sisters wishes were followed. Not like it was in Nelly's plans to make one sided deals. She penned her message and managed to just shoot it on its way, before the door burst open.
Kabek strutted in, helmetless and in civial clothing. The combat suit wasn't meant to be pretty of course, but Kabek had really grown from the spineless youth to a well built, properly portioned youth. Except for his mouth Nelly sighed.
"You can't just take my house like this. Where am I supposed to live." Kabek said laden with more swears as he admonished all the missing items of his. Paco had followed him in staying a few steps behind, eyes warily following the pacing Wolf.
"If you are mine, everything you own is mine by extension." Nelly said laying down her phone in her lap.
"Shall I take this mutt outside and wash his mouth miss?" Paco said. Nelly's eyebrow rose, if she wasn't wrong she spotted some emotion in there. Quite late for puberty, she mused.
"I can handle being your dog cause you are strong, but this bronzed beach bod character isn't going to step on my toes." Kabek said spit spraying everywhere. Nelly shook her head and wondered how many Kabek had survived to a position like Wolf One with that mouth of his. It was but a blink later and Kabek was in a headlock being dragged out of the door.
"Excuse me, I'll train him to be good." Paco said and disappeared, only a few muffled swears emerging from his within his bear embrace. Nelly crossed her legs and had a finger at her chin. Paco was acting weird.
What great timing, Yellow—the maid with yellow earrings and ribbon to match, excited one of the bedrooms cleaning equipment in hand.
"Yellow dear, tell me doesn't Paco seem different." Nelly said to one of her trusty maids. There were four core members to the group. Red, Green, Blue and Yellow all forsaking their names in joining the closest ranks to the Arbore family employ. Head maids were separate, gaining names and jewelry based on a precious stone they would be named after.
"You should have seen his face when he heard that Kabek had confessed to you." Yellow said smiling wide like the sun at an afternoon tea party. The smile froze a moment later. Her face pale white as a bleached sheet. Nelly laughed heartily, a tear tried to escape but she picked it up from the corner of her eye.
"Your tea spill will be safe with me." Nelly said and smiled at the bowing maid. "How about I take you out shopping with me on the morrow."
"That would be great!" Yellow said ecstatic to get out again after quite a long time of busy wedding preparations. Nelly sighed and Yellow continued on with her cleaning mission, humming a recent ballad.
Wondering if sleep would come at all tonight, Nelly stared in to the distance.