(CMS:BT) Chapter 12

Trent stepped out of the car, and looked across the street at the Plasma Bistro as the kine saloon was called. It seemed to be a busy place, as even early in the morning there was a long line that wrapped around the large building. There were a few humans standing along side their masters, and he knew that meant he would have to play as a pet to Corliss once again.

"This isn't like that other place, is it?" Trent asked, as she came around to stand beside him.

"No, this is a high class type of place. Like an informal restaurant… well, sort of."

He felt Corliss' thin fingers wrap around the crook of his arm, as she began to walk forward. Looking down at her skin touching his own, he cleared this throat before turning his eyes back to the long line. "It'll take hours to get in here… I doubt flashing my badge will get us in."

"We don't need a badge nor do we have to wait in line." She said with a smile.

He turned his attention to her smiling face, "Oh, I forgot, you're a Macrea."

As they approached the front of the line, the bouncer had began to wave a group of four towards the door. When he noticed Corliss, he held out his hand with his palm facing the small group. They stepped back into line, and watched as Corliss and Trent entered into the bar.

"Good Morning, Miss Macrea." The bouncer's deep voice greeted her, as he opened the door.

"Come here often?" Trent asked as they walked through the narrow hallway.

She shook her head, "No, but I do own the place."

He sighed, "This is informal?" Trent asked, as he looked around the room.

It was a nicer place then their last trip to a kine bar. Instead of human innards hanging from the walls there was fine art. Everyone was seated at a table, and a live jazz band played on the small stage. A large bar sat thirty people at a time, and across the room was four swinging doors to the kitchen. There was at least four stories to the place, and each floor was almost identical to the last.

"How are you certain that Horst is even here?"

"Oh, she's here. This is all she has to do. Being the sixth daughter, she has very little responsibilities. Practically, her father just wants her to dress well and entertain guests at his parties." Corliss said as she surveyed the room. "She's probably on the roof, that's where the dancing and more casual socializing occurs."

"Casual socializing?" Trent asked, as she lead him towards the elevator.

"Well, of course. Even in the human world, there are places where you speak to strangers and places where you do not. A totally different social structure in a bar, then say a restaurant." She said as the small elevator door dinged open.

Stepping inside, Trent thought he could pull his arm away from her without embarrassing her in front of others. As soon as he was about to jerk his arm away, he felt Corliss' finger tips gently rubbing his flesh. It sent a tingle up his arm causing him to forget his plans of abandonment.

On the roof, they were immediately hit with a loud thunder of noise. The band played a much quicker tune, and those who were trying to carry a conversation had to talk over them. Trent wondered why he hadn't heard the band playing when they were outside of the building, until he noticed the soundproof glass walls and ceiling around them.

"You spared no expensive, did you?" Trent asked her.

Corliss grinned, "Kine will only visit the classiest of places, and besides we would have been ticketed for noise had we not done this." Her eyes wandered to the bar, "Would you like some wine?"

"Uh, no, I'm on the job and it's early."

She chuckled, "Oh, you would much rather sneak in your whiskey in the bathroom, then?"

Trent frowned as he glared down at her, "Fine, I'll take some."

"Red or white?"

"I really don't care."

"Ok,." Corliss began to walk away, but Trent grabbed her arm.

"Make it white, I want to make sure that I am not drinking blood."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine, stay here and try not to insult anyone."

Trent watched several of the vampires dancing on the shiny wood dance floor that was in the center of the roof. Most of the humans were packed into a corner, blank stares on their faces, and arms crossed. He felt sorry for them, as they were trying so hard to be what they weren't. Tricked by the kine into believing that being one them was far superior to being humans. Of course, it was starting to seem that way to Trent as well. Corliss didn't want for anything, and when she did want, it was never for long. Trent had his far share of money, as a matter of a fact, he spent very little of his earnings.

"Well, hello." A woman with jet black hair and bright red lips approached him. "And who's pet are you?" She asked running her hands across his chest.

"I'm not a pet." Trent said, he refused to play any games or give Corliss the satisfaction.

She grinned, "She said you would say that."

"Who?"

The woman pointed at Corliss at the bar, then turned back to him. "I'm Jenelle. Corliss said you wanted to speak with me."

Trent felt uneasy in the woman's presence, her eyes looked at him the way a hungry tigress looked at it's prey.

"Here you are." Corliss handed him a glass of wine, and then offered one to Jenelle.

"What is it?" Trent asked, looking into the yellowish liquid in his glass.

Corliss grinned, "It's a lovely French chardonnay."

He looked at the red wine in both of their glasses, before taking a sip of his own. When Corliss drank from her own glass, he realized that the two kine were not drinking wine at all. Instead, their glasses were filled with a thick blood, it was the first time that he had ever witnessed Corliss act as a kine. It hit him then that she really was not human in the least, and his father's words that she was trying to seduce him began to echo again in his ears.

"Jenelle," Corliss began speaking over the loud music, "have you heard of Rylan's death?"

She nodded her dark locks, "Yes, I felt terrible that I couldn't join you on the day of mourning. However, my father refused me permission."

"We received a list of woman that Rylan had once been seeing, and…"

Jenelle looked around nervously, before whispering. "Let's go to your office, Corliss. I can't afford anyone over hearing this."

She agreed, and again took Trent by the crook of his arm. They reentered the elevator, and made their way to the fourth floor, where Corliss' office was beside the kitchen. It was large office, complete with filing cabinets, couch, fireplace, desk, and book shelves. Corliss took a seat on the couch and Jenelle sat down beside her. They both looked at Trent, who had decided to remain standing. Being alone in the room with two kine drinking blood was making him very nervous.

"It's true. I was having a relationship with Rylan." Jenelle began. "We stopped seeing each other about six weeks before he went missing."

Corliss nodded, "Anything unusual happen that might help us?"

She cleared her throat, before taking a large gulp from her drink. "I smelt pup on him, all the time. And not just like he was around it, there was a heavy scent. I knew he was sleeping with someone else, but it didn't really matter to me, we weren't serious. A Horst could never be with a member of the Macrea clan. It was just fun to sneak around and pretend, you know?" She looked to Corliss for reassurance, and it was giving to her with a nod of her head.

"Who ended it?" Trent asked.

"I did, I mean, I could take other kine having him, but to know a pup was touching him….that disgusted me. Besides his unwillingness to hide it just ruined the illusion that I was going for."

"Can you think of anything else, Jenelle, anything at all that could help us?" Corliss asked as she held Jenelle's hand.

She slowly shook her head, "I'm sorry, love, but Rylan and I weren't verbally intimate. We would have our fun then go our separate ways, that's just how we enjoyed it."

"Thank you, Jenelle. If you think of anything, call me and we will set up a meeting." Corliss squeezed her hand as she stood up.

Jenelle kissed Corliss quickly on the lips, "You know that I will. Please, don't tell anyone that you talked to me about this. My father is already very close to disowning me, and hearing this would send him over the edge."

"Your secret is safe with me." She said before the dark haired kine left the room. "Well, that didn't really tell us much more then we already knew."

"Told us that Rylan was with a pup, probably Amelia, at least two months ago. Kind of a long term relationship for him, wouldn't you say?"

Corliss shook her head, "No, he was with Ellice for a long time… something like four years." She drank down the rest of her drink, which made Trent shiver slightly. Standing up, she noticed Trent staring at her wine glass that still had a thin layer of blood covering the inside. She smiled, "Making you uncomfortable?"

"A little."

"It's not human, if that makes you feel better. It's peacock that they let harden a little before serving." She took a step closer to him, and towards the door.

Trent didn't move out of her way though his legs told him to, something forced him to stay. Even if he knew what Corliss was now up to, he had been thinking it over throughout the prior evening. He wondered how far she was willing to go with it, but more importantly he was curious to what it was like. He had already kissed her and though he acted like he hated it, in truth he had wanted to do so again. Now that he knew that she was purposely trying to use him, perhaps that tables could be turned. He could always stop it when he wanted to, after all, he would be in control now.

"Are you ready to leave?" She asked, not stepping away from their closeness.

He didn't know what he was going to do now, he hadn't thought that far. Maybe the moment of proximity was all he needed, so he downed the rest of his wine. Corliss took the wine glass from him as he brought it down away from his lips.

"So, where next?" Corliss asked.

"Maybe, we should try to speak with those Faustos that Rylan was speaking to at Club Black."

She frowned, before nodding, "You're right. If we don't tell anyone we talked to them, then maybe they'll meet with me. They think I am a traitor to the Faustos though. At the beginning of my life as a Macrea, I refused to share insider information with them." Her eyes looked up into his own, "But, if I tell them that I have proof that they have been speaking with Rylan, then they might meet with us."

Brushing some hair from her eyes, Trent tried not to touch her skin against his own. Yet, he found the back of his hand gently rubbing it's way down her cheek. Corliss grabbed his hand as it came to a stop at her jaw line.

"I should try to line up a meeting with them; you can go home and rest. We will meet later in the evening." Corliss told him as she let his hand go.

Before she could catch it again, Trent cupped her face in his hands. Corliss remembered Adriel's words and tried to keep her stance in front of him. Trent's lips barely brushed her own, before he felt the tension in her jaw. "Don't touch me anymore." He mumbled as he spun around and walked out the office door.

Corliss followed him down, and offered to give him a ride home, but he chose to take a cab, and leave her to arranging their meeting.

---***---

Sitting down at her desk, Corliss tapped her pen against it's hard surface as she stared at the phone. She had never witnessed Trent act in such a manner, and it had left her confused. Biting the end of her pen, she picked up the phone and dialed the number to her secretary at the Macrea Office Building.

"Lyra, it's Corliss. I need you to find me the number to Julian Fausto… his private number. No one can know that you are looking for it, understand?" Corliss pulled the pen away from her lips, "No one, Lyra, not a soul." Hanging up the phone, she looked around the office as she waited for her secretary to call back.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Corliss stood up to answer it. She hoped that it was Trent, and yet she prayed that it wasn't. Opening the door, the tall man with long black hair stood before her, his face quite similar to Adriel's, but this was not her master.

"Kaleb, what are you doing here?" She asked, stepping aside to allow him to enter.

Kaleb was Adriel's second eldest son, and he was the rightful heir to the Macrea Clan and all of it's holdings. He looked exactly like his father, where his now deceased elder brother had taken the face of his mother, as the kine liked to say.

"I saw you downstairs with the human detective." Kaleb said as he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her away from the door after kicking it shut. He seemed anxious, and not at all like his normal confident self. "Is this about Rylan's death? Did my father put you on that case?"

"Yes." She said with a nod as they came to stand in front of the desk, "I thought everyone knew that I had been assigned…"

"What do you know, Corliss?"

"I… what do you mean?"

Grabbing both of her upper arms, he jerked her slightly. "What the hell do you know?"

"That Rylan was dating a pup, and that's about it. We have no other leads… just trying to find her. What's wrong, Kaleb?"

He grinned as he grabbed her face between his large hands, "You aren't lying to me, are you?"

"No, there is no reason to lie. Ask Adriel, I've told him everything." She took his wrists in her hands, "Are you going to tell me what this is about?"

Dropping his hands to her shoulders, he stared at her jaw line. "Rylan and I were working on a business proposition, one that my father would not agree with. If you find out anything about it, then it's your duty not to tell him."

"It's my duty to tell him anything that I discover. He is my master."

His hands began to rub up and down her arms, "Not for much longer."

"What do you mean?" She tried to step back, but his long fingers wrapped around her upper arms again.

"He offered you to me several years ago, and I am certain that he's still willing to complete the deal."

Corliss snorted, "Hardly, he has plans for me now."

"Like what?"

"He wants me to seduce the detective, so that I can get access to the Upper Circle."

"Oh, he can still use you for that. However, as my wife you are forbidden from speaking of my financial business, and that's all that matters to me."

"Your wife?" She nearly choked on the words, "That would get you killed, just like it did your brother. Is this secret really worth your life?"

Her body was shaken back and forth several times, as Kaleb yelled at her. "You don't understand! I will do whatever it takes to keep this under the rug!" Suddenly, he calmed down, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, bringing her close to him. His hand began to pet her hair, "I'm terribly sorry, Corliss. But you honestly don't understand what you are speaking of."

Taking a step back, Kaleb walked towards the door. "This is ridiculous, Kaleb. You are acting like a spoiled child, not even your brother wanted to marry me, and that was to stop a war."

"That's probably why he killed himself." Kaleb said as he grabbed the doorknob.

"He didn't kill himself, and you know it!" Corliss snapped, and within moments Kaleb was standing in front of her once more. He grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her towards him.

"You're right, I killed him. He would rather be dead then married to a Fausto scum. That's what he told me, Corliss. He knew that Adriel would force him to impregnate you, and just the thought of touching you made him sick. So, he asked me to kill him, and make it look like it was because he was married to you. We had hoped that Adriel would send you back." He ran his finger down her cheek as her terrified eyes stared into his. "Little did we know that Adriel already had a soft spot for you. I can see why now, and so can the rest of the clan."

"I'm going to tell Adriel what you've done, before you can speak to him." She tried to yank away, but Kaleb kept a tight hold of her shirt.

He smiled, "Adriel knows. He has always known."

She swallowed deeply.

"That's right, no one is stupid enough to kill Adriel's son, but another one of his sons. You've always known that, Corliss, you were just to proud to admit it. You sickened my brother, just like you sicken me. Yet, I have a hundred years of your total loyalty to my clan to push me passed it. All my brother had was your selfish, spoiled Fausto princess attitude, but that's all been washed away since you been a toy for so long, hasn't it?"

"Let go of me." Corliss voice shook with anger.

Quickly, he jerked his hand away and Corliss almost fell backwards. "Maybe there is a little of that princess left?" He grinned, "Good, I don't want you to just lay there and take it when you are forced to bare my children."

"Get out!" She screamed and pointed towards the door.

Kaleb grabbed her hand, and kissed her knuckles, "Now, now, Corliss, let us be friends. We have many years ahead of us that we must spend together in harmony."

"Get out!" She yanked her hand away, "Get out!"

He bowed his head, "As you wish."

---***---

Trent couldn't believe that they had to drive so far out of the city to meet in the middle of no where. Worst yet, Corliss made him drive his own car and promised to meet him there. Of course, since he had already been drinking by that time, because he thought that Corliss was running their lead without him, he had to call Isaac to drive him.

The world was beginning to fall dark outside the car, and there was no signs of life anywhere near them. Trent looked at the directions again to make sure that they had followed them correctly.

"Where is she?" Isaac asked as he turned down the radio.

"How the hell would I know? What time is it?" He asked, but he could clearly see the clock radio read six thirteen and she was forty five minutes late.

Isaac sighed, "Trent, I have to leave soon. My son's baseball game has already started. I barely see him enough as it is."

He nodded, "Alright, I'll wait here, you go."

"I don't want to leave you out here in the middle of nowhere. What if they never show?" He cleared his throat, "I'll call you on your cell phone, and see if you need me to come pick you up."

"I left my cell phone at home." Trent responded a little embarrassed.

Isaac gave a loud, audible sigh, "Well, then I guess, I'll have to drive back up here and see."

Trent nodded his head, before slowly stepping out of the car.

Isaac pressed the button on the driver side door to lower the passenger side window, "I'll be back around eight or eight thirty, Trent. If I don't see you, I'll assume that Corliss gave you a ride. That alright? Or do you want me to search?"

Trent leaned into the window, "I'll be waiting right here." He offered the folded up directions to Isaac, "I won't move unless I see them."

Taking the piece of paper from him, Isaac gave a nod, "Be careful."

Watching his partner drive away, Trent realized immediately that he made a huge mistake. It was too late to take it back now, however, so he found a tree to lean against and waited. To his surprise, a pair of headlights appeared from down the dirt road as soon as Isaac's were out of sight. He wondered if his partner had had a change of heart, but once the car was close enough he knew that they didn't belong to Isaac. Corliss stepped out of her car, and looked around with her arms folded.

"Trent?" She said looking at the man in the distance.

He stepped forward, before walking slowly towards her. "Where the hell have you been?" He snapped, but his voice lowered when he noticed that Corliss' mascara was smeared, she had been crying.

"What do you mean?" She looked at her watch, "I'm fifteen minutes early."

"You said five thirty." He tried to ignore that streaks of black on her cheeks.

She shook her head, "No, six thirty. How much did you drink? I told you to relax, but I didn't mean for you to drink yourself into a stupor."

"I'm not."

"Where is your car?" She asked looking around.

"Isaac drove me. You probably past him on your way in." Trent folded his arms.

Corliss nodded, "I assume you want me to drive you home."

"If you can, yes."

With a sigh, she looked down the road, "Very well."

"You have a tissue or handkerchief?" Trent asked.

"Yes, why?"

Holding out his hand, he spoke, "May I see it?"

Corliss opened her car door and pulled a white handkerchief from her purse, then placed it in his hand. She was a little startled when he stepped forward and took her chin into his spare hand. Gently he wiped the black streaks from her eyes and cheek, and when he was done he showed her the black stain on her handkerchief.

She cleared her throat as she took it from him, "Thank you." Her words were very close to sounding hostile as she opened the car door and threw the piece of cloth inside.

"You did say you haven't seen them in a long time. I doubt you want to look like you've been crying."

"I wasn't crying." She snapped as she slammed the car door shut.

"Oh really, then what did make your make-up run?" He propped himself up against her car.

"I was weeping, there is a difference, and it's none of your business as to why." She stepped away from the car and him, before folding her arms in anger.

"I wasn't going to ask why."

"Good, because I wouldn't tell you." She began to tap her foot after a moment, about the same time another set of headlights began to appear. "Always early, it's the Fausto way." She chimed, seeming to forget that moments early she had been near tears again.

Two thin, tall men stepped out of the car. One was chestnut brown hair and the other with hair that matched Corliss' own. They put there hands into their jacket pockets, before making their way to stand in front of their sister.

"Corliss, you better not be wasting our time." The red head said as he pulled his hand from his pocket to check his watch.

"When have I ever wasted your time, Julian?"

"Right now, get to the point." Silvio snapped.

"What were you two meeting with Rylan about?" Corliss asked, shoving her own hands into her long black jacket.

Julian glared at Silvio, "I told you it was a bad idea, but no…"

"Shut up, Julian, she doesn't know anything. What can father do? Spank us for talking to him?" Silvio turned his eyes to his sister, "We talked, nothing more. He was still our brother, and especially after killing that Macrea toy.

"I stopped a war by becoming a Macrea, and the two of you pretend that I never existed inside the Fausto clan." Corliss frowned, "What made Rylan different?"

"We didn't trust you because you wouldn't help the clan. You went too far, and tried to integrate yourself into the Macreas." Julian snapped.

"But Rylan, he gave you information, did he?" Corliss asked with a smug grin.

"You always say too much, Julian." Silvio barked, before he turned his attentions back to her. He grinned, "Now, Corliss, you don't need to go repeating that."

No one seemed to pay any attention to Trent, who was standing only a few feet away. He decided that this was a perfect opportunity to remain silent and hidden, perhaps learn more then Corliss wanted.

"Tell you what, Silvio, you tell me what I want to know, and no one will know where I got it from." Corliss watched the two of them whisper in each other's ears for a moment.

Silvio gave a nod, "Alright, yeah, Rylan was feeding us some insider information. Let us know what the Macrea Elder's had plans for, business wise that is. That way we could compete with them. It's how the Faustos have been getting an edge on the market against them."

Corliss frowned, "Sounds like there was more to it then that. The only elder who would trust him enough would be Marcellus." She was quiet for a moment, "Marcellus was offering him the information, wasn't he? He knew that Rylan was giving it to you."

"Yeah, that's right. He figured that if Adriel could be proven to be an unfit leader that they would hand the clan over to him." Julian answered.

"Anything else?" She looked between them.

"Going to take a wild guess, and assume you know about Amelia." Silvio didn't even wait for her to respond. "She contacted us after Rylan was killed, he introduced us a couple times. Think she saw him get killed, but she never did say for certain." He looked over at Julian letting him know it was his turn to continue.

Julian sucked on his lower lip for a moment, "We didn't like her much, because it seemed that Rylan let her know way more then he should have. He was playing with a pup, but you never let them in that close. We think he was working with her on something, maybe working for PAWS or the Upper Circle. She was just too inquisitive if you know what I mean."

"Know where I can find her?" Corliss asked. She couldn't believe that Rylan would work for anything but a kine related establishment.

Silvio nodded, "Not sure, but there are some abandoned apartments not far from the inn that he stayed at... Blue Bird Inn or something like that."

"Why would you think she would hide there?"

He shrugged, "Cause we met her there a couple times, when Rylan sent her with our monthly insight. She would talk to Ellice too."

"Why Ellice?" Corliss pulled her hands from her pockets, and when she did her brothers followed in suit. It was customary to keep your hands in your pockets so to not look threatening, when one took their hands out, it was a show of aggression.

"Ellice met with us a few times as well, her and Amelia were practically best friends. If anyone knows where she is, then Ellice does." Silvio waited a moment for another question, but none came. "Now, we got to get going. You keep your mouth shut."

"For as long as it suits me." Corliss growled.

Julian watched Silvio walk away then turned towards her, "You look good, Corliss. It's nice to know that the Macreas are taking good care of you."

"If you hear anything else from Ellice or Amelia, let me know, Julian."

He gave a nod, before Silvio yelled for him. Running towards their car, they both got in and within moments were gone from sight.