Heartthrob

As the meat-high began to wane and the others in attendance became bored of mingling, EJ became vaguely aware that she was being lifted to her feet. Vaguely not because she was unable to perceive it; rather, she was so busy perceiving other things, everything else she could, that the brief moment of motion wasn't even worth noticing. There is the sound of a bell being rung towards the front of the shop, and Alex disappears from view - when he returns he has a pile of clothes in his hands, which are thrust towards Purity. They're women's clothes, stylish and modern, but far too small for someone of her height and bust. Logically, they're for the dizzy little secretary.

"Cmon, EJ, let's get you dressed... You've been bundled up in that blanket long enough, haven't you? C'mon, we can use the guest room; it'll only take a little bit." Purity smiled gently down at her dazed and confused lover, who managed to gaze up and grin in return. Her touch felt so good... So warm upon EJ's cool skin, even through the blanket. But there were things that were still bothering EJ, things that wouldn't so easily be pushed away through the influence of flesh and blood and booze. They weren't minor concerns, either - they needed to be addressed. Her grin faded and her expression became obscure as she screwed up her face in an attempt to wipe away some of her high, if only so Puri knew how serious she felt. It didn't do much except cause the other woman to giggle as she led EJ away.

They stepped down a hallway or two before entering an unused bedroom deep in the bowels of the restaurant-and-home complex, a tiny affair with a twin bed and a single cabinet. Hanging from the ceiling was a lone bare bulb which burned like a dying sun, filaments holding out to try and stay alight despite age and wear and usage. Purity closed and locked the door, then turning to EJ with a wicked smile; the pile of clothes was dropped unceremoniously onto the floor, Purity's hands going to her coat's buttons and beginning to undo them, slowly but surely, bare flesh peeking out with every disk slipped from its cloth bindings.

EJ was oblivious, too busy focusing on her words. Her mouth opened to speak, tongue feeling strange within its ivory housing, speech drawn out through effort and concentration alone. "Purity... We gotta talk. I, uh, I don't think you've been... super honest with me, y'know? Like, you've been keepin' secrets from me, 'bout stuff you should probably tell me if we're gonna date. I dunno, it just feels like..." Her slurred words are stopped by a finger pressed to her lips, thin and dainty, drawing the ghoulette's eyes open and over to Purity once again.

"Esper James... Boo, don't worry about it, ok? I promise I'll explain everything once we're home, but you're a bit messed up right now, aren't you? You can barely even concentrate... God, you can barely talk, right? I've got plenty of experience handling people who are fucked up, don't worry... Just take some deep breaths, start getting that blanket off..." Purity's words rang like twinkling bells in EJ's ears, each one shaking her in a way that destroyed any semblance of speech that formed in her own throat. Focusing on Puri's words kept her own from growing, kept her from speaking through simple distraction, and by time Puri was done speaking EJ had grown frustrated from trying to even form the thoughts in her head into a tangible form. When Puri's hand went to help peel the blanket free, EJ's eyes snapped over to her, away from the wall she had been absently gazing into until then.

"No...! We've gotta talk about this now, ok? It's important! I'm not that fucked up! I'm only f-fucked up 'cause you made me eat that stuff! I... I didn't want to, y'know?! But... But... If I didn't, then I'd be fucked up in a worse way! I'd rather be like this than being insane and biting people, biting you, but I still have a say in it!" Her petite physique trembled beneath the blanket, fingernails digging into her palms as hands became fists, sharp razor-teeth bared for her audience of one to see. Rage welled within her, but something else, too: fear. Fear that she was still going to be that little pushover she had always been - fear that speaking her mind was going to get her punished or hurt, as she had learned it would in the past. Puri was her girlfriend, right? Or something like it? They weren't official, sure, but they were pretty good together, and pretty close. That meant they could be honest with each other, didn't it?

Puri sighed, tutting her tongue. She continued to get EJ free of her blanket cocoon, slowly but surely, but spoke in return to try and assuage her lover before she became hysteric. "EJ, sweetie... You're being really crazy right now. Look, you never have to eat any ever again, I promise... We only did what we had to to help you. To make you feel better. You do feel better, don't you? We couldn't buy you any medicine, but if you didn't get a grip, you'd be in jail. Do you want to be in jail?" Her tone was sweet but her words were dripping with venom; there was a definite implication beneath it all that chilled EJ, that made her snap more awake than anything else had done at this point.

"...I... I do feel better. I do. But that doesn't mean I feel ok! Maybe... Maybe we could have talked about this, at least? Instead of tying me up and carrying me around like a cold bag f-full of meat? Instead of being so weird and secretive? And, frankly, what did Kristoff mean about 'one of your litt-' Hey! Stop it!" EJ cuts herself off as Puri finally removes the swaddling of the blanket, now coming close to the trembling ghoul, her hands coming to the jacket which now loosely hangs upon her shoulders. Purity's barely clothed, her jacket acting as a cloak to conceal her generous nudity while the rest of her outfit lays cast-off on the floor. She goes to kiss EJ, to press their bodies together, but the ghoul pushes herself away and dodges Purity's grasp.

"What the fuck are you doing?! I'm trying to talk to you, Puri! This is serious! I'm... I'm not really in a sexy mood, anyways! I mean, maybe when we're back at your place, but... No! No, no, no. I'm trying t-to have a serious discussion with you!" EJ's face twisted into a confused scowl, brows furrowing but eyes widening as she tried to make sense of the situation. Purity seemed a bit dismayed that EJ had pulled away but she was anything but deterred; she simply cast off the coat and began to pad along the bed on all fours, creeping towards EJ with a thin smile.

"Sweetie, come on. You're acting hysterical; frantic, even. Take a deep breath, count to ten... Five things you can see, four you can feel, three you can hear, two you can smell, one you can taste... C'mere, just let me snuggle you. You'll feel better." There was something in the pinkette's eyes, the way they gleamed, that wasn't as benevolent as her behavior and words might imply. The hands that once caressed and cuddled EJ felt as threatening as claws; the mouth that bestowed kisses and sweet words of praise was the maw of a hungry beast ready to eat. The anxiety in EJ's chest only heightened as Purity grew closer, the gap between them closing by the moment... and then, Puri's hand was laid onto EJ's knee, tenderly but insistently trying to push it aside.

EJ's opposite foot went to Puri's shoulder like lightning, the same shoulder which was padded with gauze and tape, pushing hard to stave the club darling off. Puri's eyes went wide and she yowled in pain, biting her lower lip as she rolled back to be free of the painful press, eyes shutting tight and face a mask of suffering. EJ hopped to her feet in an instant, adrenaline pounding into the core of her being, instincts heightened and thought dulled by the influence of flesh; she was barely thinking of what she was doing, only responding to the subconscious. While Puri nursed her shoulder and cursed, spitting words that EJ wasn't even paying attention to, the ghoulette threw on the bare minimum of clothing that had been brought for her: a black slip-on hoodie and a pair of grey sweatpants, topped off with a pair of stylish skate shoes from some brand she had never heard of. They'd do, for now; all she could think of was getting out of here, out of this building, away from Puri and her friends.

There was a feeble call of "EJ, wait! Come back!" as the door to the bedroom was tossed wide, but the blonde had no intention of even saying goodbye. She had to leave, and she had to do it now. Back through the hallways she ran, hood up and shoes untied, past a few back rooms that didn't help her in the slightest to navigate; she hadn't paid enough attention when they first went to the bedroom, and now she was hopelessly lost in the mundane, featureless backrooms of the complex. Hallway after hallway was passed, room after room, until her nose picked up something: a person, their breath, heavy with booze and blood. A vampire. From the cologne which followed, it was the one from earlier, Alex.

And he was approaching quickly.

She stopped dead in her tracks like a child who had been caught, fear keeping her legs from moving, brain addled and anxious and raging against the situation she had found herself in. Her internal conflict was turmoil, but it was broken into shards of wordless terror as the vampire turned a corner. His smile put her already cool veins to ice, and when she made the mistake of looking into his eyes, she was frozen completely.

His slick black dress shoes click-clacked along the tile floor as he approached, already thin eyes narrowing with insidious mirth when he saw the state of her, his smile wide enough to eat dinner off of. Never before had such obvious joy in another person filled EJ with such dread, except perhaps in Judas herself. He kept walking until they were only a foot or two from one another, before his hand slipped into the breast pocket of his suit, producing a familiar-looking device. A smartphone.

"Hmm... You look lost, Esper James. Almost like you're running from someone, right? Haha... Hahaha! Oh, wow, Puri really threw you for a loop, huh?" He loomed over her like an evil overlord, the psionic waves radiating from him keeping her locked into place. The mind was a frontier that was still rarely explored in modern days, but vampires had low psychic pulses to help them influence others - those that trained this ability were considered to be the foremost diplomats the West had to offer, though they had little sway over those who had completely mechanized their brains. This man was one of said vampires - one whose presence was truly dominating if he chose it to be, like the seducers and tricksters from stories long since forgotten. The smartphone was turned in-hand to display its back, the sight of the case punching EJ in the figurative jaw.

A funny-looking anime girl with rainbow hair and boxing gloves was posing on the back, surrounded by a beautiful scene of the ocean. Rainbow Shrimp, EJ's favorite character from an extremely dated anime from the East, before the Cultural Influence Termination and Extrication act had gone into place. It was her phone. Why did he have it?

"This was in that... duffel bag you arrived in. I figured you might need it. Don't tell anyone about this, ok? We undead... We Tsang employees, we've got to stick together. Puri's my friend and we do good business together, but I know you, and I know your boss, even if you don't know me; I know that you're important, powerful people, and even more than that, I know that you're a good person, somehow, despite it all. We don't have a lot of good people left in Vitus nowadays. So you're going to take this phone, you're going to go down the hallway I came from and take a left, and you're going to go straight until you find a doorway out. And you're going to forget that this little meeting happened. Ok? Nod if ok."

EJ nodded, emotion welling in her chest to meet and quell the rage and fear burning there. She wasn't so sure about what he said - about undead needing to stick together - but it seemed like he was being genuine with her. That was enough for EJ. He held out her phone and she took it gingerly, afraid he was going to snap at her somehow when she tried, but no such reprisal came. He nodded as she slipped it into her pocket, going to turn on his heel and walk away, expression mellowing out to smug self-satisfaction as he did.

"Oh, and EJ? Purity... She didn't mean it, whatever it was. All I ask in return for this is that you give her a second chance. She's been through a lot. You have too, I'm sure - you must know what it's like."

Before she could find the words to answer he was gone, click-clicking down a different hallway on those black dress shoes, moving far faster than his casual gait should allow. And then he was gone, and EJ was alone with her phone and the directions he had given her, still wondering about what he had said. Give her a second chance? Sure, she hadn't been trying to hurt EJ, just... the blonde was tired of people assuming what was best for her, even into the realm of stuff like this. To have Purity, someone she trusted and felt for, ignore her words and feelings just to get some tail? It felt insulting. Demeaning, even, and yet she couldn't find herself being as angry as she had been earlier. She'd speak with her again, in the future, but not today. Not for some time, she figured.

Down the hallway to the left, then straight till she found an exit. It was simple enough, and yielded the advertised results - the door at the end of the hallway spilled out into a small stairway that led up and out into a dingy back-alley, one choked with refuse and damp. Snow didn't last long here but the water from it did, making plenty of puddles for EJ to stamp through as she walked out into the early evening, the sun just beginning to dip in the sky; the city's smog was colored a breathtaking hue from the sunset, one of the few beauties which remained of the natural world here in Vitus. It felt bittersweet to her.

Her phone was used to call a cab, and she shuffled into it wordlessly. She was headed back to her apartment; the idea that Judas or her goons may be there was present in her head, but she had nowhere else to go, and she wasn't keen on relying on others to hide from her problems. This she would face head-on, if there was anything to face at all; and if there wasn't, she would find solace in solitude for a time. In the distance her complex loomed through the pollutant sky, an imperious palace of concrete and light, as crushing and soulless on the outside as it was within. However hellish it may be, however, it was home. EJ felt very ready to be home again.