That Sweet Vitamin V

[pentagrandma]

“Chief cook and bottle washer,” commented Jesse, filing away the name Butler. It had a familiar ring to it. That new fella that’d been comin’ ‘round, larger than an ox and stouter than a mule? He’d have to keep a lookout for him, particularly if there were even a grain of truth to Apep’s statement. Thrills were about all he was ever lookin’ for.

He lifted a hand to accept the vial of liquid, tilting it this way and that as he considered its contents; lashes swept low over his gaze. Didn’t look natural, but he hadn’t expected it to.

“Yep,” he answered. First time, he’d done it in a fever and acted crazier than a sprayed roach; second time was better, but he still didn’t like it much. His focus drifted up toward the demon as he questioned, “Same high?”

[Black Philip]

"Better," the snake promised, smiling softly as Jesse inspected the contents of the vial. Sutekh had grown bored of the conversation and began slithering into one of his tubes, possibly moving into the walls to hunt for mice. Apep would summon him back if needed. In regards to the Venom, Apep's promise wasn't entirely just a salesmen's pride. Venom was often reported to be better by those who used it, and besides, Apep wasn't likely to make something's selling point that it was the same as anything else.

He flashed the fangs again, but also pulled out a small black nurse's kit. He unzipped the black leather container, pulling out clean needles, a turnkey, alcohol pads, cotton balls, bandages, and iodine. As Jesse considered his readiness, Apep laid these items out neatly on his bed, forming a pretty row of drug paraphernalia. Needing to address his own impending sobriety, he grabbed his bong and took a massive hit, blowing the smoke up towards the ceiling in a series of beautiful smoke rings.

"See those," he said, pointing to the rings. "On Venom those would be portals to new worlds, each a kaleidoscope of possibilities. Venom succeeds where acid fails, in that it isn't just an obvious hallucination, it's a journey. If you want thrills come no further. Venom will thrill your senses, your heart and mind. It will take you wherever you want to go, and is only as limited as you are, and I don't think you're a limited guy, Jesse."

"As to administration, I can bite you, and you can get high that way, or you can shoot it up. Most people prefer I prick them. After all, wouldn't want to go home with an arm covered in pokes right?"

"So," he finished, finally getting to the literal point, as he held a syringe near his fangs. "Ready to take the plunge?"

[pentagrandma]

Jesse’s gaze floated lazily up to those misty rings, watching as they expanded and dissipated into nothingness. New worlds, huh? He doubted any of those worlds would be the kind he cared to visit. Wouldn’t hurt any to take a peek at them, all the same.

He dropped his focus back down to Apep, long after the smoke had cleared, and dipped his chin to give the green light. With the beginnings of a smirk twisting his lips, he said simply, “Dealer’s choice.”

[Black Philip]

Apep decided that since he was a wolf, that he'd likely taste like shit. The only other reason to bite him, was the set up for a quick fuck. However, Apep wasn't oblivious and noticed Jesse hadn't paid him any mind physically. Pity. Apep gingerly reached for the syringe kit, opening a fresh pack with a quick tear. He didn't need to cook anything, the spoon and "cookers," like with meth, added a trashy element. Drugs were supposed to feel glamorous and freeing after all. Nobody liked to see the sleaze. He extracted the venom through the hypodermic needle, inserting into the cork of the vial. The snake demon drew it up slowly, the chamber now a lime green. He tapped the needle.

"Lie down," Apep instructed, some of his swagger giving way to a more practical tone for business. Apep pulled out a rubber band that he used as a tourniquet, and after Jesse picked an arm - unless he made Apep pick that too -  Apep tied it around his bicep, causing the veins in the wolf's forearm to blush.

Apep gave final warning, and then slid the needle into Jesse's arm, a practiced ease in his fluid movements. He'd done this before, and Jesse would have no pock marks, or railroad tracks. Apep would never let that happen on a first try. Once the drug was administrated, Apep made sure Jesse had a place to chill during the trip if he wanted. Apep wondered how the venom would effect his client. It effected everyone a little different.

[pentagrandma]

Our Jess hadn’t never been the type to do what he was told - but when he was instructed to lie down, he complied. He didn’t shy away from the needle, offering out the arm nearest Apep without ceremony or reluctance. While many might’ve averted their gaze from the injection, Jesse watched - turning his focus away only after the venom had been plunged all the way into his system.

There was no transition between sobriety and euphoria. It happened quick. First there was one; then the other. He could see what he thought might be electric currents flickering in the air, along with every near-at-hand cell and atom, swirling in a kaleidoscope of colorful prisms. There were remnants of the normalcy he’d been accustomed to, sure - but nothing was as it had been before. Even Jess had to acknowledge the beauty of it.

It wasn’t long before those churning chroma took on new shapes; shapes that soon bled together to create one mass that Jess could only comprehend as reptilian scales. A serpent, mayhap; too massive to take in at once. He could be miles away, and it still wouldn’t be far enough to see it all. Like the vastness of the sea, impossible to fully perceive with the human eye. Not even with drug-induced augmentation. Not even from space. But he could get closer - could zoom in on those opaline mirrors and peer inside. He reckoned, if he did, he might find the new worlds the snake demon had mentioned before.

Instead, what he found when he extended a hand and plucked and tugged at the lamina before him, were bits and pieces of his own life - cast in the shapes of memories and dreams. In one, he found his mother as she had been; pawing at some new beau as she passed drunkenly through the front door of their shabby little home, with no regard for the young son who sat within gawking distance. In another, he saw her again, but only in likeness; acting how he imagined a mother ought, imparting sweet words and nurturing affections. Such a pretty little fantasy.

He saw and smelt Alabama trees and soil. Saw fights, victorious and failing. Saw cars; some in the shop, and some he’d stolen. Saw joyrides. Games of chicken. The boys back home. He saw himself and Boone, duking out some petty argument until he’d wound up pinned against a wall and things became heated in new ways. Not a fantasy, but real.

... And then, he saw Boone’s face when he was disavowed and deemed not right. It was an expression that brought about the end of his sequence of memories and wishes - and invited, in place, the nightmare he’d deluded himself into believing was at the pinnacle of all thrills.

He’d been there, in his mind, for that first change; he’d even tried to stop it. He couldn’t then, and he couldn’t now. Not as mama scrambled for the door, too drunk and slow to escape. Not as the carpets and walls were painted red with blood and gore. Not as her desperate mewling tapered out as the life in her drained away. Not as he gorged and gorged, until there was nothing recognizable left.

As Jesse lie upon Apep’s futon with unfocused eyes, reliving what could arguably be the most defining moment of his life, he broke into a cold sweat. An unhinged smile spread slow throughout the unfolding of his vision; at odds with a welling up of tears that remained unshed. With each fitful intake of breath, his chest upsurged spasmodically - until, eventually, he quieted and stilled.

[Black Philip]

Apep watched as Jesse went through his trip. People were at their most vulnerable when drugged out, and Apep learned much from them. He didn't steal from Jesse, or try anything else more sinister, because it was bad business, and because he'd heard wolves turned when feeling threatened. No, the time might come to screw over this dumb as rocks wolf boy, but today was not that day. Apep counted the money he'd been paid, and considered it a good day's work. Jesse might refer others now, or come back himself. The Scarei pulled out his smart phone, replied to some texts and updated his mortal social media accounts. All the while, a single serpent eye stayed fixed on Jesse, just in case.

The minute changes in Jesse's mostly still body were all recorded mentally. Apep wished he had the powers vampires had, the kind that would let him see what his customers saw. He realized Jesse was coming out of it, and greeted him with a bottle of water.

"Drink this," he suggested, placing the water bottle next to him. "You'll feel better."

He didn't ask how the trip had gone. He figured Jesse would either tell him everything or nothing at all, and asking was only going to make him seem less confident in his product. He knew it was good shit, the best shit. If Jesse couldn't enjoy it the way it was meant to he was like a man who couldn't taste wine properly. There was little hope for him. Then again, perhaps he loved the trip. Only Jesse knew for sure.

[pentagrandma]

Jesse was drawn partway out of his moonstruck haze by the motion of the bottle being placed by his side. He played possum for a while longer, tears finally spilling from the outer corners of his eyes to bleed into the beaded sweat at his temples, with no effort made to catch or cover them. Either his brand of toxic masculinity wasn’t the kind that found shame in weeping, or he was still too far gone to care.

Wordlessly, he sat up to reach for the bottled water, unscrew its cap, and drink deeply. It had helped. Cleared his head a little, but didn’t do much to sober him. Still, our Jess had been through the best and worst of it. His peak was over; weren’t no way to go from there but down. He might’ve thanked Apep after he’d had his fill on drink, but when he cleared his throat, there were no words to summon. Instead, he set the near-emptied bottle aside, and snorted back a congested intake of breath.

He needed a smoke something bad.

[Black Philip]

If Apep noticed Jesse's tears, he made no mention of them. It made the demon curious what the pup had seen, but found people often didn't want to explain their trips. Before the venom, Apep had become somewhat frustrated with the wolf's thickness, but now the proper balance was restored. Venom had helped Jesse find something, and whatever it was made him more likely to come back for more.

"Anything else I can provide you today," Apep offered with a respectful tone and small grin. 

[pentagrandma]

Jess began to shake his head but halted the motion before he could complete it. Hadn’t there been something else he was looking for?

He pulled out his phone to consider and closed his eyes against the glare of the screen - returning it to his chest pocket shortly thereafter. Nope. It took his drug-addled brain a while to conjure up the thing he’d wanted without the added help of his mobile device, and even longer for his mouth to shape its name.

... “Lovebite?” Might’ve been a longshot, but asking never hurt nobody. He’d heard of the app not long before and had downloaded it; it had required an access code, though, and he hadn’t one of those. Still, he’d wanted one. He wondered what kind of trouble could come from baiting a vampire. The fun kind, he reckoned.

[Black Philip]

Apep thought better of his first impulse, which was to tell Jesse that his kind wouldn't be welcome on the fanger's fuck site. Then again, why should Apep care what Jesse used it for, or quite frankly what would happen to him if he got caught. The mere fact that he'd come to Apep for an access code suggested he knew he couldn't just registrar like a normal human. Apep remembered an earlier conversation with the necromancer.

Got some rare blood from that app, could also use it to get you some vampire souls

The witch was a wanted woman, and yet had somehow gotten on the site. Apep figured if anyone had a code for old Jesse, it would be her. She'd been clear about sending over morons for any old thing though. Don't. Apep considered for a moment.

"There's a witch I know," he began, making it seem like he really shouldn't say. "I mean, I'd tell you, but she's a little dangerous. I need to know it's worth the risk."

His palm was  held out, and Jesse should know nothing happened for free, least of all a referral to a hard to find person like Tess. He waited patiently for the other man to reply.

[pentagrandma]

With great effort, Jesse steadied his focus upon Apep’s outstretched palm. His lashes swept low in a slow and interpretive blink, then conveyed his belated understanding by way of leaning forward to aid in the retrieval of an ass-flattened wallet. He thumbed open the fold to pull out a stack of crisp bills that amounted to a little over a grand; mostly hundreds, with the sporadic twenty dispersed throughout. It was all he had on him and, though it was no paltry sum, he placed the pile within Apep’s open hand without hesitation or ceremony.

[Black Philip]

Apep practically hardened at the feeling of that cash, far more than he'd wanted for the tip. Jesse didn't need to know that though, and Apep finally felt content he'd acquired a new, and lovably gullible, customer. His hands moved like lighting to Jesse's drugged eyes, but in reality it was only a deleterious slight of hand. The money was gone, and like it never existed. Now within Apep's slender fingers was a black business card. In silver lettering was the following information.

Thesdea Thane,
A Witch without morals
Weed out ya mind
A good fucking time

Included was an address, and nothing more. Jesse's venom addled mine might notice that it shimmered with magic. Apep bowed slightly, and gave a pleased grin to the wolf.

"Tell Tess I sent you, and she won't give you any trouble," Apep explained. "But if you're found out carrying that card, you didn't get it from me."

The snake said it so kindly, but the vaguest hint of a threat came through like a strong chili power. Golden eyes flashed before Jesse, and Apep moved to the stairs that would let Jesse out.

"See you soon Jesse, and please refer a friend. I'll make it worth your while."

[pentagrandma]

Our Jess squinted to make out the silver lettering on that card, dismissing its odd shimmer as an effect of the venom. He placed it within the fold of his wallet, returning it to his back pocket thereafter. With a singular nod and an eloquent grunt of affirmation, he stood to make his way, albeit slowly, toward the staircase and out of Apep’s nest. Eventually, he made it to his car and sat at the driver’s side – smoking up a chain of cigarettes, before mustering up the needed sobriety to drive himself back into the city.