Triumph Through Perversity Their little secret... That had been the arrangement and so it came to be.
Many months had passed, since Doctor Katherine Metzger came to know the curious vampire-who-was-not. A mortal, turned, yet not turned. The scientific possibilities were intriguing enough, with vampirism, alone. With this development, however, they were almost boundless. Such was the reason for her supplying the blonde with undead feasts. Metzger never commented on the results she got, from the various tests undertaken upon her guest and nor was she obligated to. Reverie obtained captive nutrition and Metzger got information. All in all, a most enviable deal, for all concerned.
And as with most deals, the time had come to accelerate it.
The chair was one they had used before. This was not the first time Metzger had got the blonde to sit in it, for the purposes of checking teeth. As ever, a slight personality change had been shown, with Reverie's latest quenching of bloody thirst and, really, Metzger preferred it that way. Her interest was primarily focused around the changes upon Reverie, in and around the act of feeding. th eitem of furniture was not too different to what one might expect at a dentist's residence, although fitted with straps. Straps utilised now, as per usual, around wrists and ankles.
"Open," the Germanic brunette requested of Reverie's mouth for inspection.
"And say, 'Ahh'?"
Reverie's grin was slight, almost sarcastic and as sharp as the teeth Metzger was itching to see again. Bright green eyes focused fully on the Doctor, as she deliberately opened her mouth, saying nothing.
Who was she to question why a human would want to put their fingers inside a deadly place. After all, did people not stick their heads inside the mouths of lions and aligators, for no other reason than knowing they could? Perhaps the danger was thrilling to the Doctor. Reverie did not know, nor did she ask.
Do not bite the hand which feeds...
Yes, quite. Although the restraints did bother her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Reverie's true self, her human self, felt agitated by them. Controlled, like an animal or science project. Ah, but that was all she was to the Doctor, of course. For as long as she allowed it, anyway.
Katherine Metzger possessed a very complicated personality. Layered. Long before this, Katherine had been a legitimate, hard-working genius of her field, motivated by the need to discover solutions to puzzles taxing even the brightest of scientific minds. Her means were often unorthodox and the woman approached such quandries in three dimensions, if not more. One fateful day, she had accepted a call to assist against crimes of the very pursuasion she later came to adopt, herself. Temptation grew, twisting and turning around within her, like the coils of some gigantic serpent, until the brunette could not longer resist.
And she had got up to far more dangerous things than consorting with big cats and reptiles...
No, she quite appreciated killers, these days. For not only was she one, but the more efficient, the more powerful the mechanism, the more intrigued she became with it. Doctor Metzger was all about potential and exploitation of the same. She wanted - needed - to know how they worked. The purpose of their function. how to take them apart, so that she might put them together again.
Taking hold of Reverie's lower jaw in one hand, Metzger did not respond to the light-hearted comment. The German may or may not have a sense of humour, but her existence often seemed as sterile as that very laboratory. One of many and empty, save for the two of them. "Hold, please," she ordered, methodical in her examination, as she retried an instrument meant for probing. A small mirror to the end, allowing her to look and see, lit with fibre-optic illumination. Around the inner corners of Reverie's mouth, she went, looking, noting, only to remove it and concentrate, instead, on the foremost sets of teeth, both upper and lower. The pad of nearest thumb brushing over the calcium, wiping vampiric blood.
"What sharp teeth you have, Fräulein," she observed with admiration, even if not compassion.
There was a definite snort from Reverie at that little remark from the Doctor. The young investigator knew exactly how sharp her teeth were. After all, they had been that way for almost eight years now. In the beginning, there were lots of accidents. Not just for other people but for herself. It took time to learn how to bite her lip without making it slice open, let alone opening packets of things without biting a chunk out of the side.
Yes, Reverie's teeth were sharp, indeed. That was how she had come to like them. Although it took some years, they did eventually grow on her, so to speak.
Not for her more demonic side, though. Oh no, they loved the change from the word go. Relished, almost, all the ways in which they could inflict pain and devour vampires. Quite a different approach, all together, it appeared.
However, when she felt the thumb trail across her teeth, Reverie did deliberately let her mouth slightly close. Almost as if a warning, although her eyes sparkled, telling a different tale. Yes, her demonic side was toying with the Doctor. Restrained or not, she was still dangerous.
Noticing the resistance, Metzger registered puzzlement, quirking an eyebrow. She tolerated no such thing and slid hand into a more encompassing hold of lower jaw, readjusting the shape of mouth to its earlier position. In fact, she tilted the blonde's head further back, as a whole. "Don't make me use the clamps," she told her, sternly, although as more of a dark humoured verbal gesture, than genuine threat. "Wider, darling..."
Still, using a subject's playfulness to get what she wanted was not outside this physican's methodology and, knowing fully well that Reverie's innate strength made for a far more robust frame than many, literally sat herself down onto Reverie's lap. An observed, "Hmm," was voiced and she reached over to the nearby wheeled trolley, opening a drawer to retrieve metal flask. Leaving Reverie's mouth, for the time being, she opened the lid, allowing the girl to get a whiff of the contents.
"This would make you more co-operative, ja...?" A veiled smile. "This is... Different. A special concoction, I believe will be rather pleasing to your tastes..."
Eyebrow was quirked, in turn, when the Doctor sat herself down in Reverie's lap. There was nothing the blonde could do about it, as she was restrained. Not that she was oppossed right now, given the fact that she was not herself. She was, of course, whoever the vampire was which she had consumed, before settling into that chair, in the first place.
There was a sort of chuckle, although it sounded dark. "Doesn't this cross the Doctor/patient rules, Katherine? Getting to sit on the woman you're looking at... Naughty, naughty..." The words were almost purred out, teasingly, of course.
When the flask opened there was an immediate familiar scent. One, however, Reverie could not quite place. Intrigued, she turned to look at the container and lifted another eyebrow.
"Yes, I believe that would make me more co-operative."
Extra food? Who would pass up such intoxicating nutrition?
A reply was more murmered than spoken and Metzger dipped finger into the contents, painting Reverie's lips with the crimson to be found there. A curious thing, indeed. So very unhygienic. Why could the authoritarian Katherine Metzger be so liberally expressing such a temptation, with such casual disregard for cleanliness?
There were reasons... They just had yet to be properly revealed.
"You like this, ja...? You find this taste pleasing?"
Lips were licked slowly, although green eyes stayed on Katherine's face. Watching every move, so that nothing would get missed. It was a peculiar taste. It was almost like getting a red wine and adding sparkling carbonated water too it. So peculiar, yet... Tantalising.
There was a playful snap of teeth and a low growl, "Yes. I want some." But she was not apparently asking. Instead, it was more of a statement. One which could have been an order, had her arms and legs been free. As it was, Reverie was in no position to make demands. Especially not with the good Doctor sitting on her lap, like it was an everyday occurrence.
"Good," came the only reply and Metzger continued her 'artwork'. The reason for that scent's familiarity would become clear, in good time. As of right now, Metzger had her logic for acting out these ceremonial gestures. "Stage one," she spoke, in running commentary, "provoke a response... One must be careful, Fräulein, to elicit this, most carefully..."
She was smearing that unlife-giving fluid over Reverie's lips, like sugary lipstick. Dead blood... Undead blood... Yet, to the girl, this was a source of energy. Something she craved. Something she desired. She watched without care, as the tip of Reverie's tongue seemed to snake out, almost possessed of an eternally-seeking mind of its own, to delve and taste against the skin of brunette's digit.
"Stage two, observe..."
Her next dip into that veritable chalice, came in the form of all four fingers of that hand. A more generous smear, this time, leisurely across the whole of mouth. Something of what could almost be described as a material smile, while she watched Reverie react accordingly. Watched that tongue lick and lap skin clean, only to be rewarded with a further generous donation of that same liquid, repeating the process. Now, though, placing those fingers directly into mouth, teasing them across the sharpness of fangs, shortly before withdrawing from the same.
"Stage three, measure the reaction and refine..."
With that, Metzger brought the flask, itself, up to Reverie's mouth, gesturing for the girl to lean forward and allow her to pour.
"I'd like to know your reactions as to what you taste, Frau Howell... That's it, darling... Drink..."
React, Reverie did, although not instantaneously. She was too busy drinking deeply from the flask. Soon, it was almost empty. Something which the changing Reverie did not seem to enjoy. "I like it, it's... Different." Her voice had almost taken on a growl. Then head tilted, as if clinically assessing the room, before eyes were directed straight to Katherine again. "Careful, one must be calm when poised upon an experiment. Things could go drastically wrong, Frau Metzger."
A blink, then a laugh. One almost too dark to be considered sane. Then there was a stuggle, as wrists were moved against the restraints, unable to pull free.
"Mmm, captured..."
"Ja," Metzger simply replied. Katherine had her own games she liked to play, too. They were just more... Visceral than most peoples'. That she now had a captive audience, of sorts, was considered an opportunity to capitalise upon. "Allow me to offer one a clue..."
With that, Metzger smeared what was left of the substance over wrist, pressing it to Reverie's mouth, encouraging her to take what was left from skin. A most curious turn of events, indeed. Yet, with a slight wince, Katherine deliberately pushed the more delicate flesh beneath that wrist, into a set of those sharp teeth, cutting herself and allowing her own blood now to seep into the mortal vampire's mouth, allowing Reverie to piece the clues together.
"That's right, darling," she soothed, stroking the fingers of other hand casually through that blonde hair. "A sample of my own... Drained especially for you and infused, on its own, with a contamination from the undead... You tasted me, as I would be, in such a form..."
And, with luck, the transition had caused her own, of more mortal nature, to be adjusted to. Fist clenched, deliberately to help it flow from wrist to Reverie's experimental maw.
"Nod, if you find this pleasing..."
The taste of the contaminated blood soon infused with the very alive blood was almost like an explosion of taste. Something Reverie had never done before was drink from the living. Metzger, though, she was different. Had got Reverie enticed, by doing it. Teeth sank deeper into the offered wrist and she began to drink the woman's life down very slowly. Relishing it. Picking apart the different tastes and calculating what the effects may be to herself. In short, she was starting to analyse it as much as Katherine was.
There was a strange wriggling, as if Reverie was restless. Her body was flushing and she nodded. Yes, yes she was finding this pleasing. She was finding it altogether rather peculiar, but intoxicating.
Contrary to popular belief, one did not commit suicide by the simplest of wounds at wrist. There were risks, of course, but ones with which the brunette was more than passingly familiar with. She wanted two things from Reverie: To give her a taste for the living and record all relevant observations pertaining to such. She was also intrigued as to what differences the girl might sense in the flavour of her own essence, considering what the earlier flavour now clearly represented.
But all that was to be interrupted by the sudden announcement of klaxon and Metzger cursed out 'shit' in German, looking down at the girl with a polite smile and extracting her wrist with care. The alarm was momentary, but obviously signified something of great importance. All high-level personal in the building were being alerted that their presence was immediately required. Metzger had no idea just how drastic the changes from this coming meeting would be. How far-reaching the consequences would journey. To her, it had interrupted something of high, albeit personal, priority and she unstrapped the blonde from chair with something approaching disappointment.
"My apologies. It seems my employers wish to secure my attention," she excused with a touch of annoyance.
Reverie blinked, as if drowsy or perhaps drunk. Certainly under the influence of something, but of quite what, she was not completely sure. Something inside her was changing and was happening at an accelerated speed.
Once unstrapped, she clutched her stomach with her right arm, her left was pushed forward as she slid out of the chair and onto her knees. Fingers dug so forcefully into the cold floor, that indents began to form under the young blonde's fingertips and there was a horrible retching sound, as the investigator's stomach muscles all suddenly clenched.
Mouth open, head hung, the mortal vampire began to salivate onto the floor. Her hands moving to push herself up onto her feet. She managed to stand on shaky legs, which moved up to cause her hands to shake. Was the room spinning or was it just her?
Skin was damp, a cold sweat beginning to break out over her forehead and Reverie had one chance to look straight at Katherine, with a disgruntled, "Bitch," managing to be said, just before the woman fainted.
Metzger cared not. Opening a door, she barked out a command to subordinates, ordering them to take the girl, gain a blood sample and deposit her in a taxi. Not an ounce of emotion seemed to be expressed, now that the time for social interaction and coaxing was done with. She moved swiftly to the nearest tap, washing that wrist beneath it and making sure to see to the wound before moving elsewhere.
Under Wolfram and Hart's employment, she had made startling progress. Methods to prevent scarring from taking place, were relatively small discoveries and not of a variety allowed for the outside world. In a way, it was frustrating, but Metzger always had a bigger, bolder project to explore. Nevertheless, she used such an application now, quick and painless, before moving out to attend the hurried meeting.
One which was going to change the way things were, forever.