city_limits Old Friends In Unusual Places
This was still a relatively new place to Victoria, although the vampiress was sure she must have spent some time here as a child. She could not, in fact, recall a single school she had ever stopped at for a period of time one could describe as 'long'. she was not the most impulsive member of the undead, but it was because of the geographical unfamiliarity, that she had somehow underestimated the distance needed to get back to her own residence, before the sun would make doing so an impossibility. There was a little while yet to go, but her physical appetites had been more or less satisfied and it would be better to find shelter sooner than later.

A nearby apartment block seemed to hold the answer. A lone female had gone through the front entrance and that was the fanged brunette's key. Following on at what would seem a casual rate, the flashing number of which floor the elevator now headed to was noted with private interest and Victoria resolved to use the second, beside it. A few moments later and her own metal box opened to reveal the sight of that same woman searching for keys to place in what had to be her own front door. Just perfect for her needs: The room had been identified and the means by which to enter it would easily be obtained.

Victoria's kills were most often by seduction, simply because she thrilled to the sensation of another's surrender to her. It had very little, if anything, to do with morality. It was purely a way to make the experience most enjoyable to savour. She had a protective streak for those she cared about, but that was by no means an anomaly in the vampiric world. There were, however, times when viciousness had its place and she was certainly no stranger to that. Her pace was soft and stealthy, meaning there was little warning of her presence, until the time came for an audible shift of bone and muscle, allowing her a regal crest and elongation of fangs.

But just as she was about to strike...

"Jill...?"

Hands were open, readied to take ahold of prey by waist and over mouth, to grip until the inevitable had been taken care of. This early in the morning, nobody was likely to come out and look. The advantage of that highly-developed sense of smell, however, was what stopped the more predatory of the brunettes in her tracks. The former lawyer had once been in training to be turned, herself and the type of things they had got up to, had made sure the mortal's scent was instantly recognised.

But even though their resulting differences had been reconciled, that was more than a year ago. She had not expected to see her again, here, now.

Jill was busy fumbling through her keys when the voice from behind made her stop. So startled was Jill, that she jumped and dropped her keys, the jangling of them to the floor hiding the yelp she let escape. She had no idea anyone was behind her, thinking that, at this ungodly hour, she was by herself.

Dressed in a T-shirt, sweats and pair of sneakers, Jill had spent the night trying to tail that coke dealer. He was a slippery little son of a bitch and liked keeping late hours and meeting after dark. That made the Agent suspicious, but without any solid proof, she could not convince her superiors to bring in extra help.

Slowly, the former lawyer turned, finding the voice familiar once the shock wore off. Once her eyes stopped on the source of the voice, Jill froze, unable to think or move for at least several seconds. This could not be Victoria standing before her.

Could it?

"Vicky?!" She replied with a growing smile. She did not know if a hug was in order here, but if it was, she was glad she decided not to wear her cross necklace on this night. That would have made things quite awkward.

"Um... Wow." The reaction would have looked rather comical to a casual observer. Victoria had her vampiric self very much on physical display and the resulting awkwardness, especially when spoken through a row of sharp teeth and fangs, was very out of place, considering the usual image Vicky attempted to project. "Small world, huh?"

Bringing one of the hands, which had been destined to potentially end the woman's life, up to the back of head, Victoria scratched the same through hair, not quite knowing where to go with this. She had not expected to meet anyone she knew here, much less someone who had once sought to be a sexual play-thing. Supposing that this was either proof of intelligent design or a karmic kick in the rear, the vampiress rose a demonic brow and followed through with a momentarily bemused smile.

"Don't suppose you'd mind if I stayed the day? I mean, I could just... Y'know... I could go try seeing if I could kill someone else and take their place, instead?" Victoria excused, hand turned up. "It's no big deal, really!"

Jill smirked, unlocking the door to her apartment and holding it open for Vicky. "C'mon in," she said. "We don't need you impersonating an Olympic torch."

The former lawyer watched Vicky's every movement and listened to her every word, although they did not all initially sink in. The Agent had literally expected to never see the vampiress again, which was why she wrote
that letter before getting out of Las Vegas. She wondered if Vicky had read that and if she still remembered what it said.

But as Vicky's words began to sink in, Jill wondered something else.

"You were going to eat me?" She asked with a bemused grin of her own.

"Well, yeah," Victoria replied, looking back, once she had stepped inside. Arms reaching over her head for a cat-like stretch of body. "An outright kill's easier to get from a complete stranger, than a co-operating invitation." This was a private residence, after all. Even if only rented. "I'm glad you remembered that much, kitten. Might've had to make my home, out in the corridor, otherwise!"

This was not an unusual situation for her, but it was the first of the woman's abodes in Chicago, which Victoria had stepped inside of. It was not old, she could smell that much, but was starting to get that 'lived in' feel, which Vicky had been getting proficient at sensing. There was a certain chemical difference between a place which had been totally cleaned up for someone to move into, compared with somewhere which had been left more or less alone. Taking the couch, it was clear that the former lawyer had not fallen on hard financial times. Perhaps it was not the most luxurious of places, but was better than many could be.

"I'm guessing you saw my first appearance on the big screen," Victoria began. She had been in a couple of the others her company had put out, although it remained her most recognised character role. Ironically, being that of a seductive vampiress, she was thinking it was not a million miles away from the one she had once been playing, for real, with the woman before her. "What'd you think?"

Jill frowned with a furrowed brow as she shut and locked the door behind her, then made her way to the curtains overlooking the city. She shut them to keep the sun out once it had set, not keen on having her former love interest burn up in the middle of her living room.

"You're gonna' hate me for this," she said, "but I haven't seen a movie in almost two years. The FBI doesn't give me a lot of free time."

For a moment, the agent internally panicked, her eyes glancing about the living room for any crosses or the like. That was the last thing she needed; her new-found religion freaking out an old flame.

And wow, was 'flame' so the wrong word to use in this instance.

But the statue of Mary she bought at Summerfest was in her bedroom, as was her cross. Jill would not be one to really show off her faith before others; when she wore that necklace, it would almost always be tucked under her top and the Mary statue would remain hidden to anyone who did not get as far as her bedroom.

Jill did wonder, though: Would the statue affect vampires the way crosses did? That was something she was never clear on - whether it was just the cross or any religious symbol.

"Oh," Victoria replied, surprised. "Not even any clips on TV?"

It was not out of ego. Vicky was just intrigued that Jill, of all people, would have been unable to catch it in some respect or the other. If not doing so was simply a wish to not see the vampiress feeding on another, that was fine. It was simply a a response she found peculiar. Not to worry, though. The vampiress was not one to revel in her fame and, had she wished to, could probably get into a project of her own or someone else's, if ever need be. The gap of a year, however, was now a curiosity to her and of what changes might have taken place.

"Come here."

It was a shift in Victoria's tone of voice. The space beside her was indicated with a pat of hand upon the surface and it sounded not so much like a request, as an instruction. Vampiric features were still in place and it was with eyes of a yellow hue, which she used to look up at former lawyer.

"Do you still trust me?"

Jill sat on the couch as the invitation was given, unable to tear her eyes off the feral sight before her. Most vampires could be grisly and disgusting with their demonic faces in full view, but Vicky was more... Intriguing, than anything else. That was probably a by-product of the fact there was once a time Jill would have gladly called her 'sire', but even now, Jill was not turned off or scared by the sight before her.

God was probably not too fond of it, but Jill did not have to follow His word entirely by the letter, did she?

"You kidding me?" She said with a hint of a smile. "I should be asking if you still trust me. I was the back-stabbing lawyer bitch."

There was no self-loathing or hatred in that remark - just a matter-of-fact tone, which accentuated the fact that Jill had long ago realised the reality of her past. More specifically, the fact that she could not change it. All she could do was to make sure the present and future were not as... Sinful, for lack of a better word.

"Yes, I still trust you."

"Good."

The instructional tone of earlier had been deliberate. There were plenty of times she had used it in the role of 'Mistress', when playing countless sex-games with one another, although virtually every single one of them had been carefully designed to indoctrinate the lawyer into psychological obedience. There also often the doubt that the regular ingestions of her own essence into bloodstream, might not have dwindled completely away. Victoria had an interest in how mentalities could shift and perhaps that was part of why she had verbalised the command in the way which she had.

"We've had that talk before. At least twice, in face... We're going to put it behind us."

Agent's hand was lifted between vampire's, as it was spoken. Victoria was still using that same tone of voice, looking directly into the other woman's eyes, as she did so. A way to get full attention focused upon her. To get words to be taken notice of.

"I'm also a little bit more in touch with my darker self... You wrote that I helped you to become more human? Well, I've had to come that much more of a vampire. Not that I was all flowers and puppy-dogs, before, but I've had to find more of an independent streak. So... I'm going to take it on faith you won't try alerting your superiors to having a killer share your personal space, because we've got..." A slight smile and stroke of a few errant strands of hair out of Jill's face, before Victoria continued. "An understanding, right? Because if we don't, I've had to defend myself before and the consequences might not be too pleasant. You've been a good friend to be, in the past... That's why I'm hoping you won't go and do something like that. Would I be correct to place my faith in you, on that score?"

Jill smiled and gave Vicky's hand a squeeze. "They won't know a thing," she offered sincerely. "This isn't like the Project, where they were going out of their way to find all the beasties they could."

Would the FBI have an issue with Jill harbouring a vampire who admitted to killing? Yes, but Jill knew Vicky was not the sort to just go out and kill, out of pure glee and evil. She had her own dietary needs, which the Agent understood sometimes forced her out of her preferred means of feeding through seduction.

But more than anything, Jill knew she betrayed Victoria once before and as she looked into the other woman's monstrous eyes, she knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she would not do that again.

"I won't betray you, again."

Those same eyes roamed down the mortal's figure and Victoria absent-mindedly considered taking further advantage of the situation. Jill did not seem to fully comprehend what had been implied, but that was not the vampire's problem. Victoria was still no more interested in ruling the world, but she had become able to find more enjoyment in certain acts, than in previous times. After all, she had been travelling with Deanna for a good while and Mallory had not been there to hold her back with the proverbial anchor of love. Victoria had not embarked on wholesale massacres, no. She was, however, slightly more capable of doing particular things. Understood them more.

Decisively so.

"Then I'll take this couch and be seeing you, late afternoon," the vampiress spoke, apparently having no problem with pressing a soft kiss to her former pet's lips, just for good measure. Her facial reminder of vampirism only lifting after the event. "But unless you're in the mood for getting your own pair of fangs, I suggest you close your door, if not lock it," she advised with a purr of honesty. "Don't worry, I've fed," she assured, giving a playful, one-shouldered shrug. "I jut don't think it's fair I lie to you, that's all..."

Jill gave a nod and a small grin. "And I appreciate that," she said, letting the soft kiss linger in her mind for a few seconds. They were not likely to re-kindle old flames - especially since Jill was no longer so eager to embrace the darker side of life - but the fact that there was still a level of trust between them, seemingly made up for that.

"Feel free to knock on my door if you need anything," she added, heading into her bedroom. Stopping at the doorway, the Agent stopped, looking over her shoulder with a more genuine smile on her face. "It was really nice seeing you, again, Vicky."

"Oh, honey... You really don't want to be giving me offers like that," Victoria spoke, perhaps only half in jest. "I'll write down my E-mail and telephone, before I go. Toodles, butterfly..."

Saying it with a wink, Victoria waggled fingers in a miniature wave, watching her former partner in metaphysical crime, wander off to put herself to rest. She expected to behold a few visits to the bathroom before sleep would ensue, but the vampiress had a couch to rearrange the direction of, just in case something unexpected happened to the windows. Perhaps, Victoria reasoned, Chicago still had a few pleasant surprises in store.

And perhaps Victoria had a few of her own, too.