Recovery

[Black Philip]

Lisa-Joe laughed as Nikolai implied he'd be leaving. This guy really didn't understand that he was in district custody. Lawbreakers were not simply set free. The last time he was banished. She was also mildly offended he didn't remember her kicking the shit out of him. That had been so special for her. 

"You crashed your shitty car inches from a known vampire bar, and had a bone sticking out of you. You broke the masquerade for the second time. Humans, law enforcement, and reporters sniffing around my bar because you got your ass beat by someone you probably pissed off is a masquerade violation."

She grabbed him by his shirt collar. "You're real crime, however, is not remembering who I am. My name is Lisa-Joe Hampton, and I am the Harpy and second in command of the Central District. The last time we were together I broke you apart and tossed you into an alley. Remember now?"

She figured this memory bit was likely an act, at least for now.

[Saiketsu]

You dragged me here, he wanted to shout at her. You're the one who opened up this can of worms. He was perfectly fine with the idea of being found by either the sun or the mortal police, being put back together at a hospital after robbing some sterilized blood straight from the operating room. He was more than prepared for those consequences. What he hadn't been prepared for was some red-headed bitch saving his pathetic, sober ass.

But he didn't say that because she had inadvertently connected the most important dots for him, and his - supposed - Masquerade violation was the least of his concerns.

"Lisa-Joe Hampton?" Confusion was plain on his face, quiet disbelief. He hadn't meant to say it out loud, but he needed the space in his brain for the wheels to start working. He knew that name, he knew this woman, but from where? It was an important name, to be sure. The Harpy of Central. Something was swirling in his mind and he began to see that greyness creep in at the edges of his vision, a crescendo of alarm ringing in his ears. Judas rattled his chains. This was Jake McCloud's bitch.

The memory surfaced from some abyss and Nikolai could see her again, the same face, the same voice, approaching him as he spoke with the Disciples, years ago now. She was smoking a cigarette then, too, the same detached visage staring down at him. Who was he then? What name did she know?

David.

"I remember you, all right." He said, leeches crawling up to the forefront of his mind, peering through his eyes and keeping a firm hold of the chains on Judas as they listened, giggling excitedly in his left ear. "You tried to get me to do a hit for you," he remembered spottily, with a brief snort of laughter. "How the fuck do you remember me from that long ago?" He neglected to mention that he had recently found her number - after all, how many people named 'Lisa-Joe' could exist in the city? - in the pants pocket of some kid that he had a heroin-induced blackout with. That couldn't be a coincidence and the missing information was maddening. Was this a blackout? Things were beginning to fall into some kind of place and he needed her knowledge for his own mental clarification.

[Black Philip]

Lisa-Joe rolled her eyes and kicked over the chair Nikolai was handcuffed to. It hit the ground with a loud thud, and gave Nikolai  a great view of Lisa's shoes. This game was getting annoying. She had half a mind to grab a Malkavian or a Toreador and pry out a confession, but then he'd cry foul. Besides, she liked beating him up privately. A knock at the door came, and the Harpy went to answer it. Amy waited with three more glasses filled with hot blood. She accepted the tray and sent Amy off, placing it on her desk.

"You seem to be forgetting when I broke several of your ribs and beat your face into a pulp, for feeding on a dope fiend in the bathroom," she said all in one fluid sentence. "Here's how this works," she said tapping the blood filled glasses. "Answer a question and I give you a drink. Keep playing hard to get, and I'll throw you in a werewolf cell and come back in a few weeks."

She moved over and lifted the chair, grabbing a glass of blood and holding it just out of his reach. "Why did you wreck your car, and who gave you that royal beating?"

Not even she had torn out a bone like that. The person who did it must love causing pain.

[Saiketsu]

He was losing track of how many times he was on the ground looking up at someone tonight. It was his face and left shoulder that connected with the floor first, his body moving in unison with the toppling chair. On impact with his bad shoulder, he shouted an expletive or three at her, and tried to pull himself away, only to remember that his good arm was cuffed stupidly to the chair that was now laying on its side. The weight of his body slumped him out of the chair awkwardly, agony echoing up his neck from the uncontrolled movement of the lifeless arm.

Nikolai looked up when the door opened to see the blood delivery and his mouth instantly started watering pathetically. When she pulled him back upright, he glared at her, vision spinning. No, he didn't remember her beating him, but the dope fiend in the bathroom sounded vaguely right. Was it the kid he found in his apartment she was talking about? He was too tired for all this shit. He eyed the glass as she tapped it, needing the blood more now than he could ever remember needing it in the past.

For his own sake, he swallowed his vicious response to her threats.

But she was barking up the wrong tree. Something prickled inside of him and he felt the leeches begin a chorus of hissing, scrabbling, whispering, encouraging him to lie about how he ended up in her custody looking the way he did. Lie about Mitchelletto. The volume in his head was rising again and Nikolai grimaced against the sound, trying to think. A brief tic made Nikolai slip in his grasp of himself as his head swivelled to the right. He groaned and hoped he wasn't being extremely obvious about the madness that he was attempting to suppress. After being burned from the inside from that pig of a sire, he didn't even have the strength to throw up mental walls to keep her out, should she want to invade him too. It seemed to be the theme of the night for Nikolai Armani.

"I-I.." Voices flickered back and forth, giving him different suggestions, warnings, and threats. "I-I was on my way to a buddy's house. I-I must have... b-blacked out." The smell of the blood in the room was more important than the small nuances of his insanity. He hoped that it was enough for her.

[Black Philip]

It was enough... for one glass.

She picked up one of the steaming cups and placed it before Nikolai's mouth, tipping it back even slower than the first one. She wondered if his beat would make him fight. She hoped that getting blood satisfied it more than not getting it, but she used the tempo to draw out his salvation. Still, she could see more color returning to him, and heard what sounded like bones, organs, and other body parts healing beneath the surface. Once the full glass was consumed she walked back and placed it on the tray with the other two. She saw the struggle on his face, but she'd thrown all her training into her physical power and supernatural charisma. She couldn't read his mind against his will. She'd only learned telepathy for Jake. She decided her supernatural charisma was the key to getting better answers!

The Harpy walked over to the prisoner again, sitting on his lap and grabbing his head with her index finger and thumb. She tilted it till her eyes and his were locked. At first Nikolai  would feel nothing, but that would quickly give way to noticing how beautiful those eyes were. In fact, she looked more beautiful in every way. The curves of her body could be seen beneath her clothes. Her red hair became softer and almost strawberry blonde. Her voice seemed deeper somehow, sexier and husky. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, and she was sitting right on his lap.

"Now, tell me who you were going to see, and where you coming from," she instructed sweetly, her entrancement fully blossoming in the young vampire's mind. Harpies were beautiful and dangerous. Lisa-Joe was happy to be both.

[Saiketsu]

Hot blood trickled into his mouth and down his throat and his mind began to sharpen. He closed his eyes and felt it rush to where he needed it most - his cheek and shoulder began to tingle unpleasantly, tendons grinding over bones with muted cracks. While the volume in his head died down rapidly, the desperation in his throat made him slurp up the dregs of the glass until it was taken away from him. His jaw quaked with want of more but he closed his eyes and tossed his head back, relief dripping through him like drugs in an IV.

He was surprised to feel her weight on his lap and instinctively he tried to withdraw - with no result besides tension in his position under her. There was something happening, something relating to her and Nikolai struggled against it, feeling a familiar pull in his chest and his groin. The more he struggled, the more he fell under her spell. Nikolai wanted suddenly to reach out and hold her face to him, to press those cruel lips to his and praise her body with his mouth. His expression softened out of suspicion and mistrust and into something needy, wanting. He had never felt so enamored by anyone...

...except Sonya.

Her words brought him comfort and he clung to it like the fool he was, focusing on her red-hot beauty that he had failed to notice before she placed herself on his lap. Before he could think about it, he offered her an explanation.

"Vincent Michael Tartaglia," he murmured instantly, swimming in those bright blue eyes. "He lives about four or five blocks from here, over on Anthony Street. I needed him to put the bone back under my skin so it could heal properly. I was coming from outside the cit--"

His tongue and throat tightened blackly, shadows racing before his eyes. Dark hisses and low rumblings from the leeches in his head. They grasped his vocal muscles and bones before he could push anymore air out through them, leaving him gasping and trying to clear his throat. Somewhere there was a rattling of a cage, the unlocking of a chain that kept Nikolai in control of himself.

[Black Philip]

Now they were getting somewhere. This Vincent person could be interviewed and then memory wiped. The Harpy was pleased, and giggled a little under her breath. She heard the sudden stop in his words, and it gave her pause. He should still be talking. And her power was undeniable in the room. His memory loss seemed more real now. Did he truly lose the last few months or years? The other idea was more disturbing; the idea that someone was keeping from talking somehow entered her mind. A high level Dominate command? But who had that kind of power, and why would they want David?

She got up and grabbed another glass, repeating the slow pour of blood down Nikolai's throat. She kept her face seductive and playful. Once fed, she resumed her spot on his lap - making sure to grind her way into a "comfy" spot. She poked at his nose with a cruel little finger, and placed her other hand gingerly on his chest.

"Now you can just shake your head yes or no," she cooed. "But did you just come back from outside the city?"

[Saiketsu]

He liked this game. More blood and the invisible fingers holding his throat clamped shut released and allowed him an indulgence. The feeling in his fingers began to return, though it was too early to try to move them. He wanted no more pain than he absolutely had to endure. Again he drank and closed his eyes as the tingling took over. He was worlds better by now, the little lesions from the car accident sealed over, closing deep in the dermis from the inside. When he felt her weight on grind on top of him, his groin moved to respond at first before prioritizing the damages over his hard-on. IF only he had the blood to get it up, she would feel him harden beneath her ass. The thought was a pleasant escape from his reality.

His chest was aglow with fresh blood and desire for the beautiful creature on his lap. Could she feel how warm he was now? Nikolai looked closely at her lips and imagined what it would be like to lock a hand in that gorgeous red hair and kiss her deeply. He almost missed what she was asking, his attention fixated on her lips. Nikolai nodded, appreciating the texture of her skin so close.

[Black Philip]

Nikolai's head was now between Lisa-Joe's breasts like a suckling babe, although she made sure to keep his mouth facing the outside of her bust. She also decided he'd had enough blood for the moment, and while his nod was the correct answer he hadn't told her anything she could really use. She decided to go for the kill, and to test the limits of her control.

"Who popped that bone out of you," she asked, making sure to sound concerned, and just a little bit flirty, like if he kept being helpful she'd fix his other bone. She would not, but it would be nice to let him dream.

[Saiketsu]

Something dark growled in his head and thin fingers like fishing line wound around his trachea rendering him unable to speak. The chains on the floor of his skull rattled as if something heavy had fallen from a top shelf. He thought the name and a grappling muck bubbled up and sank the information before it could be accurately mentioned, leaving Nikolai with the feeling of something on the tip of his tongue.

"I-I don't..." He trailed off, alarms sounding and fireworks crackling at his ears. He didn't want this - any of this. He wanted Lisa-Joe, kissing him, gripping his hair, rubbing her ass onto his cock, moaning his name. He wanted coke, needed coke. His arm was tingling uncomfortably in phantom places and his head was a chaotic mess of screeching and impulses. Dope would help. "I don't kn-know.

"I'd kill for a bump right now," Nikolai muttered under his breath, expecting his beautiful companion to not notice, despite her proximity.

[Black Philip]

She rose from his lap and went to grab the last glass of blood. She held it out, but it was farther than the other two, and now she was too. The separation would feel like agony. His sweet could be seen but not touched. She smiled coldly.

"Answer me this," she said, a slight challenge in her voice. "What is your name?" She began to tip the glass over, the blood dripping onto the floor in little drabs. For now it's contents were mostly safe, but she was obviously prepared to pour it all out.

[Saiketsu]

The first pain was her absence from him. Her weight had held something down inside of him, had made the ache subside. With her gone from his lap, Nikolai felt all that pressure begin to pull his chest apart from the inside. He groaned and made a move to follow her before remembering that he was still restrained. He bit his lip to suppress the majority of a groan of frustration.

With anticipation of being fed more, he watched Lisa-Joe pick up the glass and tease him. She always liked to tease him. But then the cup tipped in her grasp, tilting dangerously and letting some life spill out. Panic ran hot through him as she poured the blood, his veins pulsing with need for every spilled drop. The invisible hold on his throat released immediately, freeing him to answer her with the first name that came to mind. "Nikolai Armani!"

[Black Philip]

She gave him the blood, enjoying his chair squirming just a little too much. David had lied to her before, or was lying now, but being denied blood could turn any vampire liar into a teller of truth. Nikolai Armani. Also sounded fake, but after feeding the baby she went over to her computer and sent the name to Benny in an instant message. The rat wrote back a short reply, five minutes. With that in mind she returned to her darling prisoner.

"One last time," she asked slowly. "Who caused your injuries?"

[Saiketsu]

Relieved and suddenly very thirsty, he drank deep as she took mercy on his body. More tingling in his arm, swelling in his caved face, the throat being eased open gradually with the absorption of more life-giving red. Itching in his cheek, his collarbone, beneath his skin...

At Lisa-Joe's question, spoken with such steadiness as to make him suspect something was wrong, the walls of his esophagus pulled wide in preparation of something large to pass. "Mi--"

A fermenting mass, obsidian and viscous, boiled up into the back of his mouth. Slick with a sheen of bloodied saliva collected at the very base of his stomach, it reached with blackened tendrils up past his soft palate and into the hard one. A taste like ash and charcoal and rotten meat surged like waves through his closed mouth, intensifying the need to gag. Wisps of shadows skewered his tongue like a pin cushion and sank an anchor in deep before pulling the muscle back sharply into a painful arch in his mouth. He was going to swallow his own tongue, the pressure building in his chest, pushing a path upwards and curling his throat into a gag. Lisa-Joe would see none of this, save the flashing of the underside of his tongue just before his lips closed and his palate arched to accommodate the pulling, tearing tongue. With his hand bound to the chair and his left arm useless, Nikolai struggled in his chair uselessly and stared at Lisa-Joe as if she were the one with her hand down his throat. 

[Black Philip]

What the fuck was this shit?

She heard the first syllable and committed it to memory, her mind immediately assaulted by her somehow choking suspect. She didn't know what to do. Lisa-Joe considered herself a multifaceted woman, but whatever the fuck was going on here was way outside her pay grade. The damn witch had the night off too, and she'd never get here in time if Lisa-Joe called. She cursed. What was the point of having a witch if they weren't here to do witch things? She went to the chair where Nikolai was sitting. The Harpy spoke slowly and softly, trying to calm him. As she did, she had an idea of how to get the information she wanted from him.

"I don't need to know it. It's fine," she assured. "Just focus on relaxing your throat. I'm going to let you go now."

Lisa-Joe placed the key in the handcuff lock, but didn't turn it right away.

"Are we calm and back to normal? Then I'll let you go!"

The Hartpy was preforming not for Nikolai, but for whatever was trying to kill him.