You Might Not Believe In Me

Who: All the kids
When: Evening
Where: Vivian's Mansion
What: A Gala

Jaida hated these fucking things. Hated them, loathed them even. If she didn’t know how important it was for Vivian’s business, she wouldn’t have even given attending a second thought, she would have just gone off to spend her evening in one of their clubs instead. It was a testament to just how much she’d come to care for Vivian once again that she even attended them, let alone went so far as to dress about as close to normal as the little muse could manage. Trying to find something that would pass as acceptable for the guest list for the night was next to impossible, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t at least tone down her normally insane wardrobe choices. She’d had to pause in the middle of her hunt to shoot a quick glance at the clock – if she didn’t pick up the pace, she’d be late to be at Vivian’s side as she greeted those guests of hers for the night and it’d be awhile before she heard the end of that. Ninety percent of the guests coming tonight looked down on the muse already, she didn’t need to give them extra reason – they weren’t that font on Vivian to start with, it didn’t help for her to have shacked with some wild little street rat. Tugging her tights into place, Jaida grabbed the dress she’d chosen for the night and slipped into it, reaching back to do up the zipper quickly. Thankfully she’d perfected this whole ‘getting ready in a hurry’ routine, so it wasn’t long before she pulled open her changing room door, grabbing for her leather jacket. “Vivvy, darling, are you ready?” she purred teasingly, sliding her arms through the sleeves as she went in search of her, “Come and show me what fabulously expensive dress you’ve chosen to knock their socks off in tonight, you fucking hot bitch.” She knew she couldn’t have been that far, it was only a bit earlier that Jaida had heard her rummaging around for an ensemble of her own.

“I can’t fucking tie these things,” Cal huffed for the third time, pushing into the bathroom he shared with his brother, “Do you have any idea how to fucking do up one of these things? It’s like some bloody puzzle that is beyond me.” He looked downright amusing in the most pitiful of ways, standing there in his steely gray suit, dark hair styled in a way that made it look anything but and that tie hanging undone about his neck, his eyes looking over to Shannon beseechingly. There was no way he was going to get it tied on his own, someone was going to have to do it for him. Maybe Juniper knew how? It would be a sorry sight for him to show up to meet her for their evening together at the gala with his outfit for the night still in disarray. He was still working on that winning her over bit, trying to keep impressing her, to not let this positive momentum he’d started the night of their birthday parties drop off. “I’m going to start buying those bloody clip-on ones at the market, then I won’t have to worry about this,” he grumbled, leaning against the doorframe, the thin black scrap of fabric hanging from one hand. “Oi,” he glanced up then, “are you taking Eden tonight?” It seemed the one, if only, downside of the two of them getting their own rooms, it seemed to be that he and Shannon didn’t have the same time to talk with one another as they had before. They each still made sure to lean in on the other when they got the chance, check up and make sure that everything was alright. There might have been fewer of those small moments together day to day, but the bond between the brothers was undoubtedly growing stronger. Each one was truly starting to settle in, to become more and more at home in their new jobs, at the mansion…things were turning out far better than Cal had ever expected. Not that he’d admit it.

Who: People
When: Night
Where: Through the Looking Glass
What: The mouthy one, and the human are a year older.


To his credit, Shannon had really wanted to keep his mouth shut about what had happened in the lift between he, and Eden. Really he had, and he had managed to do so for a few hours. At least until his frustration had worn off. After that, he hadn't found that he wanted to keep it to himself. It had almost felt as though if he didn't talk about it, it would make it as though it hadn't happened. As though it were nothing more than a creation of some fevered imagination. Of course, talking about it to his brother hadn't been what he was expecting. Instead of pat on the back, and that normal dishing about what had, and hadn't happened, Cal had seemed to rather scowl at him. At first, he had wondered if he was sweet on Eden as well, but Cal assured him that wasn't the case at all. No, he hadn't gotten laid, but the two had left each other on a good note, that was more than could be said of Cal, and Juniper. Though there for a while, he thought that he should have just gone ahead with it. It would have beat the hell out of walking around with that uncomfortable ache in his trousers for a time. Had he done that, there would have been the issue of living with her, and having to deal with possible shifts in emotion. At the moment, he liked her, because he barely knew her, there hadn't been time for anything unpleasant to come to light, nothing to send him running to the hills. That might still happen, and had they slept together, there would have been no escaping the possible awkward situation. Those were the trials of man. To either get one's dick wet, or maintain freedom. Or what little freedom they had.

"I bet you thought I forgot," He said, poking head around the door frame of the cell the two brother's shared. "I might have, seeing as you haven't fucking mentioned it." Ducking inside, he moved over to the little end table which sat beside Callum's bed. He placed down on it, a small decorated cake. "Happy Birthday, man." It was then that he presented his younger brother with a wrapped gift, "It's not much, but I haven't really been making any money." Callum had at least been able to keep a bit of pocket change with the tips he made at the bar. Shannon had nothing to show for the work he had been doing in their owners garage. "Jaida let me have a few photos off my camera developed. I thought that would be a good one," He explained, once the gift had been opened to reveal a framed photo of the two of them on the deck of a small boat. "That was the boat we rented in Greece. That was a bloody gorgeous day, wasn't it? Anyway, I thought you might want to have that, in case... I don't know, in case anything happens." It didn't matter how many times they were assured of their safety while in the vampires possession. Shannon wasn't going to completely let his guard down, and assume they were safe. Humans were never really going to be safe in this sort of setting, in this world where they really didn't belong. Where they were little more than food. "Juniper said that sort of cake is to die for. It's tiramisu flavored. I don't know. The chefs refused to just do a simple chocolate cake, so she suggested that one." Something about a simple recipe being below their standards. "By the way, why didn't you mention to her it was your birthday as well? She wasn't pleased..." Yet, she had still been willing to help Shannon out getting everything together.

Sitting down on his bed, he reached down to strip of his own trainers,before moving to fish his clothing for the night out of the wardrobe the women had provided he, and Callum. They kept saying that soon enough they would be allowed to have their own rooms, but until then, it wouldn't be fitting to just let their clothing lay about all over the place, getting wrinkled, and god knows whatever else. "I don't have a gift for Jun... think she'll be annoyed? It's her party, and all, but Eden invited me." Shannon didn't like not having a cent to his name. Even on his own, he would stash enough money away for those little things. He was at least grateful that he'd been able to get something for Callum, even if it wasn't much. As for Jun, he would just have to apologize, and wish her a good one. "Alright, so... this is a date, but it's not like a date date... you think I can get away with something so casual?" He asked, turning around so that his brother could see what it was he'd picked for the night. "Should I dress up more?"

October 2, 2055
Who: Jaida, Eden/Shannon and Juniper/Callum
When: Evening
Where: Alexander home - the lift and a bathroom, specifically
What: Jaida's writer's block leads to some in-house entertainment

If there was a downside to being a muse, a being whose sole purpose in being created was to inspire others, was that those fucking amazing powers of yours were useless as far as your own talents were concerned. So when Jaida hit the inevitable bout of writer’s block after working in the in-house studio for weeks on end, it left her in a frustrated huff. What the fuck was she supposed to do now? Vivian had been busy pushing some lucrative deal through at work and that left the petite redhead dangerously unsupervised. Clearly she was going to have to come up with some way to entertain herself, which probably meant someone was going to regret her sudden lack of musical progress… Thankfully, it had only taken a day or two to remember that Vivian had purchased their new little toys precisely for this reason, to provide a bit of a laugh when things were dull around the mansion. And given the way the brothers had been eying the two assistants they employed, it just seemed natural to play a little game of Cupid. It was times like this when she was endlessly thankful that the home she and Vivian shared came equipped with a camera in almost every room – it would be like having her own private soap opera. Oh, she was so excited! She’d just have to recruit a few of the weres to help her out and boom!, something to take her mind off of that mental blockage. This was going to be so much fucking fun!

Given that Eden was her assistant, the little elemental would be the easiest to set up. After all, it was her job to come running when Jaida gave the order. All she had to do was phone the Brit and ask for a meeting that evening, around 8 o’clock, just the time she knew Shannon would be finishing up in the garage, heading back up to the floor that housed he and Callum. She’d trap the two in the lift, stop the door so that they couldn’t get out, crank the heat and see what happened. Easy as pie! As for Juniper and Callum, that would take a little bit more luck, a little more help from those crafty creatures she and Vivian employed. It would be more spur of the moment, less likely to be able to be planned ahead. She knew that she could send for Callum and have him lured nearly anywhere, but she’d have to keep a close eye on Vivian’s assistant to make sure that things went down just the way she wanted to. Jaida assigned one of the werewolves to keep an eye on the fair-haired beauty, to report back her every movement – J wanted to know where she was at all times. And, duh, they weren’t to let Juniper catch on. When the call finally came in that the werecat had gone into one of the private baths to take a quick shower, the muse sprang into action. Knowing that both Shannon and Callum had a bit of a handyman streak in them from all those years of living in dumps across Europe, she called down to the youngest brother and asked if he wouldn’t mind paying a particular bathroom a visit to fix the shower. It just wouldn’t stop running and, gee, it was getting so gosh-darned annoying. He agreed of course, it wasn’t like he had much of a choice, and that helpful little wolf was already to lock the door once Cal arrived. Now that was bound to be a scenario worth watching. Would Vivian blame her if she made sure to record those two particular security cameras this evening? No, she didn’t think so at all.

Kicked back in a chair in front of the wall of security monitors, Jaida’s brightly colored heels rested on the counter in front of her. In her lap, a bowl of freshly-popped popcorn sat, just ready to be munched. No, she didn’t need to eat, but she did enjoy it every now and then. And, really, a good show required a bit of a buttery snack.

Surely enough, just before 8 o’clock, she recognized the sound of a familiar voice near the lift camera. Eden stepped into frame, disconnecting from a call on her cell phone and tucking it back into her purse. She’d just parked her car in the secondary garage, shed her coat and was now on her way up to meet Jaida like a good little employee. Of course, should she get sidetracked along the way, it was a good thing she had such an understanding employer…

Not long after, a walkie-talkie seated beside Jaida on the security counter suddenly crackled to life. “He’s just arrived, ma’am,” came the voice of her ever so helpful little assistant. “Oooh, goodie! Lock the door behind him, will you, Travis? I’d appreciate it oh so much!” Watching on camera, she could see Callum, fresh off his new bartending duty, step into the bathroom Juniper occupied, unknowingly lead there by another were on staff, thinking he was just about to be a helpful little pet. Once he was in, Travis ducked around the corner to quietly flip the lock. “Good boy,” Jaida grinned, settling back in her seat. Oh, this was going to be such a fun night!

September 22, 2055
Who: The whole gang
When: Morning
Where: Alexander home
What: Cal makes a fatal error

As time had drawn on and things didn’t seem to be changing, the brothers gradually seemed to come to terms with this new life of theirs. They discovered after those first few early days of rebellion that the women who now ‘owned’ them could be downright cruel when they wanted to be. Somehow this new manner of discipline just wasn’t as easy to endure as sitting in a jail cell had once been – watching one of them go after Shannon was the worst thing that Callum could imagine and the two women seemed to know just how to each to each of them to cause them the most pain. Even if they didn’t actually do anything, they could put those visions into your head, make you see things… It was all too fucked up for Callum’s liking, but there didn’t seem to be any way out. So he’d given in, buckled down and gone into survival mode, doing whatever he had to to make it through every new day and to make sure that Shannon did as well. It wasn’t easy, Cal still felt a bit like he was in this on his own what with that whole revelation of his brother’s power still fresh in mind. It wasn’t a surprise that the women seemed to have more uses for him than they did for Callum, for the lowly mortal they’d gotten stuck with as well. What could he do, anyway? He didn’t have any supernatural gifts and, even in his normal life, he hadn’t exactly been a productive citizen. Sure he could fix a car or two, he was alright with patching up an electrical toy or two and he was a pretty keen bartender, but what the fuck did these vampires need with any of those skills? He’d figured they were downright useless…until about a month prior.

Vivian had come to he and Shannon to inform them both that she was planning a party of some sort, all of those vampy friends of hers were probably going to swing bye to check out the debauchery. Anyway, apparently he and Shannon were supposed to take up some task, to pitch in to make sure things went off without a hitch. Callum had no idea what the hell they’d decided to have his brother do, but apparently they were going to put his drink slinging skills to work and have him bartend for the crowd; which seemed easy enough, until Vivian informed him that people who weren’t exactly human didn’t exactly take their alcohol the standard way…and so he was introduced to fae dust. Compared to that delicious little substance everything else was child’s play – heroin, coke, it just didn’t touch the same buzz he’d gotten from the tiniest little bit of that dust. He had to try it of course, had to know what he was working with, but taking that first taste had probably been the biggest mistake he’d made. Vivian couldn’t know, probably had no idea just how dangerous it was to give the stuff to a mortal. It wasn’t just physically addictive, it crept into his brain and dug in its claws. His body craved it like nothing else, it got to the point where he wasn’t sure he could function if he didn’t get it. Cal had been addicted to plenty of things before and he’d always managed to kick them when he put his mind to it, but not fae dust, it just refused to be gotten rid of. Thankfully the stuff was pretty easy to come by when you lived in a house full of supernatural freaks.

He tried to keep this new addiction hidden, tried to make sure that no one, especially Shannon, caught on and he thought he was doing a pretty good idea of it. The problem was that every time he used he needed more, need it more often – it was getting to a point where Callum knew that his cover was going to be blown. This morning was just like every other morning, getting things kicked off with a hit of fae dust, a few neat little lines spread out across the back of a mirror the boys had been given. Leaning down, one nostril plugged, Cal went over each one like a pro, inhaling that magical little substance, sucking it right off the glass. The high was almost immediate, the way it sank into your skin, seeped into your blood…it really was like nothing else. With a heavy, satisfied sigh, Cal all but fell back against the wall behind his bed, muscles slowly going lax as the dust took hold. In those first moments, he couldn’t know that he’d used too much, the poor guy had no idea what it would look like to OD on fae dust.

Callum had no clue that he’d just snorted himself right into a whole hell of a lot of trouble…