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#ahhh fucked up vampire family dynamics my beloved
tadpole-apocalypse · 6 months
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I sometimes think about Astarion having to escort Cazador as his pretty accessory anytime he left the estate.
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saltine-kakyoin · 5 years
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🎶 and jotaro and also kakyoin AND another character..whoever u want ;)
oho… you’ve sent me another message? you know what comes next bro, u brought this upon yourself….this is us now man
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anyhow, AH. thos boys…god this one is gonna be so difficult because I have So Many Songs that are tied to them. as for the other character, i think i will do my boy sergio because i really need to share my brainstorming songs for him before i explode! :0 thank you again for sending these in, bro!! have a good night, ily! c:
this will be long bc i always ramble..i will be tagging this as long post for mobile gang!
Jotaro:
thom- i hate to start this off with a jotakak-themed song because i know some people Despise jk. i’m sorry for y’all who do, but ahh this song has been stuck in my head for days now! :’( In terms of the SDA, i always think of this song as like…jotaro’s bittersweet journey w his feelings for kak. it’s something about the like, ghostly windchimes in the beginning, the phone buzzing in the bg, and the “please don’t run away”s man, ahhh. I listen to this song a lot when brainstorming him coming to accept that friendship is as far as he and kak go. However,“ The pitter patter gave a rather rinse and lather feeling/ As opposed to shitty attitudes that made me bitter after laughter/ And I dearly regretted it” really makes me think of pt. 4 jotaro in any context. We only see the end result of his development from SDC, but like hhh… do you think he regrets being so gruff? I think of that 1 fanart where he’s looking at the group picture + hoping they knew he wasn’t annoyed by them (or something along those lines, i forget the exact line…ahh)
something’s missing- So, ofc not all parts of this song apply.. and truthfully, I listen to this song while thinking of the immediate period after the crusade in the SDA and how the crusaders are all left with this hole in them (..@kakyoin literally.. i’m sorry i had to. also, abdul is the hole). Out of all of them, though, I always think of Jotaro the most w this song- “My dad asks, ‘Were you okay out where you were stranded?’ How do I tell him that I wasn’t just okay… I was so much better?” LIKE DAMN THAT IS ONE (1) KUJO JOTARO… :( i think he comes back from the crusade and just feels.. severely misplaced. Going back to Japan and the girls following him to school every morning feels so alien to him.
tempest rhapsody- this song is just… *chef kiss* It makes me think of like. star platinum’s first manifestation, and of the emotions one would feel during a 50-day crusade to a place you’ve never been before, where you run the risk of death at least once a week…how would it feel to know if you got seriously injured in a fight, there would be a very real possibility that your *cough* dearly beloved *cough* mother could die? this song is my answer to that question
only in sleep- another choir song! i cannot help myself. This one is more for canon Jotaro. I’ve read a few fics about the universe reset where he’s reunited with the other crusaders one last time before everything becomes nil, and…..augh. “The years had not sharpened their smooth round faces, I met their eyes and found them mild — Do they, too, dream of me, I wonder, And for them am I too a child?“ is imo such a jotaro 4 am deliberation
softly- THIS. this was the Original jotakak song, no offense thom. i used to listen to this song on REPEAT while reading nessun dorma, ahhh. so much of the sda jotakak dynamic is shaped from that fic and this song, hghshg. Anyhow, now that I’ve worked on the development of their relationship in the sda, this song is most definitely a song for the jotaro who unknowingly pines in 3rd year and then comes to realize that ah…these are Emotions during uni. during their third year, jotaro and kakyoin do a ton of self-exploration, and spend more than one night floating in the pitch black void of the ocean talking about what they’re going to do after graduation with only the stars to accompany them. they lose this when jotaro goes to florida for uni + kakyoin paris, but they make up for it by calling each other all the time, so “Touch you softly I call you up late at night” made this song an instant hit in my book ghshghw. I adore this song, through and through. ;u;
post-published honorable mention bc i rediscovered him while i was workin on polnareff’s playlist!! DOLLY ZOOM is another really good song for pining jotaro. in the sda, he feels really Horrible about having a crush on kakyoin for a long time because he and his family (that is phrased weird, i am sorry) are the entire reason kakyoin got a hole punched right through his abdomen and spine. they’re the entire reason kakyoin spent months learning how to walk and use his legs again. he doesn’t do anything except bury his feelings because, to him, it’d be Really selfish to do otherwise. i listened to dolly zoom nonstop when i started writing Jotaro’s Decade-Long Yearn because it captures the guilt really well, ahh.
Kakyoin (it is 1:24 am as i’m starting this… let’s see how long i agonize over this part lmao)
ultraviolence- ahh, ze Mindworm Song. I really despise diokak and the fact that he had to spend like…3-4 months with the mindworm just chilling in his brain, but I can’t ignore the fact that he latched onto dio’s friendship and was initially elated to have that whole thing happen. It haunts Kakyoin in canon, and it Most Definitely haunts him in the SDA, and i think he and jotaro have a lot of conversations about how and why and what that whole experience was like. I always end up coming back to this song when brainstorming this year in the au. The beginning just sounds so lonely, and the background choir/ voices really give me the heebie jeebies. Then, there’s the build-up to the beat drop, which really make me think of like. what being mindwormed could feel like? And how it must feel to be so lost in that sauce that you become a passenger in your own mind, lost to the whim of one super manipulative vampire, augh. “You give me love, you know you give me love with your ultraviolet rays” ties into a few of FKA Twigs’ other songs where she sings about not being enough and really obsessively deriving love from someone whose attention is ultimately really harmful and unhealthy, and I think about that and Kakyoin a lot. :(
sound and color- so truthfully, this is my go-to song for any character that dies/almost dies and comes back, or goes through a Huge Life Change. kakyoin fits both of these bills to a T! this song makes me think of getting used to being around such a rowdy but tight-knit group of people who genuinely care about you All Day Long after spending your entire life in isolation. I always think of like, a happiness montage when the second half of this song comes around, and the montage i daydream about for kak during that section is *chef kiss* Sound + Color is like one of the best songs ever, and it’d be a crime to not have a kak setting for it. 
first love/late spring- fellas, here’s the kakyoin equivalent to jotaro’s softly. this song was IT, back when the sergio-divergent au and the “All the Crusaders Live” au were two separate things. back then, kakyoin and jotaro’s realization that oh, fuck, they really meant the entire world to each other happened much earlier in the plot. Looking back on that now makes me squint, but I do think that this song is still really fitting for kakyoin exploring those feelings- friendship is one thing, but romance is something entirely different and a lot more intimate. i think it’s a tug-of-war for him, between wanting to jump in to those feelings and wanting to run far far away from them because he doesn’t want to be wrong and ruin their friendship. good times in the kak hole
last words of a shooting star- I really love the bastard fucker side of kakyoin that is explored and celebrated in our fanon, but I can never shake the fact that some of his last thoughts were of his parents (and i think he was sorry for making them worry? which… baby…) and that his polite, “outwardly anxious” presentation was this big facade for like.. the Deep and Soul-Wrenching loneliness he felt because he was a stand user? The first stanza and “They’ll never know how I’d stared at the dark in that room/ With no thoughts” make me think of kakyoin deeply- if his family had never gone to egypt and he’d never met dio or jotaro, what would have happened to him? Who would he be? i’ve always been super attached to that part of kak bc fundamentally… I Relate. but also i am just fond of it because it makes me sob- he deserved so much better than to get murdered by the same man who manipulated his entire identity right at the climax of his character arc….some crimes can never be forgiven, hirohiko….
vertigo- i don’t listen to this song for kak often, but it is a Quintessential Kakyoin song. according to khalid’s twitter, vertigo is a song about “Overcoming overthinking. After every dark days, there’s a brighter outcome. Being at a super low place in your life and realizing that, there’s other people going through that same path you’re walking down. There’s always light at the end of the tunnel. It’s also a story about fear of abandonment.” which….Big Kakyoin Energies. The “Are we alive?Or are we dreaming?” part also ties back into the Kakyoin Parties in a Coma for a Month arc- your mind has a wild wild time when you’re in a medically induced coma, theoretically because it’s trying to fill in the blanks for all of the stuff you’re sensing? And coming out of a medically induced coma is a bizarre experience, where it’s hard to tell if you’re still in the coma and just imagining things or if you’re actually awake. Kakyoin has a mad time in the month immediately after SDC, one that i’m sure he doesn’t enjoy too much after the death 13 fight.
honorable mention goes to i am not yours- this has been a kak song to me for a long time as well. the context of the song is way different from my interpretation for this setting, but AH. I just think kakyoin really struggles to differentiate and understand romantic feelings. This song really reminds me of that struggle, and I think also touches nicely on like. the identity issue of it all too.. “yet i am i, who long to be” yanno? ; J ; it’s hard for me to explain
another honorable mention, my statue sinking. in the sda, after the events in egpyt, kakyoin is thrown into a coma for like an entire month while his body gets operated back together, and then he spends months in physical therapy learning how to walk w a prosthetic spine (kudos to cyborg speedwagon being a reverse engineering madman :D). i like to imagine that there’s also some degree of therapy going on this whole time, also. you don’t just get donuted + thrown into a coma for a month without some counseling to get you back on your feet..i think the lasting effects of dio’s influence are addressed here, but only briefly because it’s not something kakyoin is eager to explore. however, I think that this song captures the like... distress? i guess? of knowing that your life has been irreparably thrown off course because of dio. like yes, you met some really wonderful people that helped you learn how deeply healing friendship could be! but also.. you lost months of your life to mind control, and then another month to a coma, and then additional months to training your body to function again....there’s some psychological stress there. While I think that Jotaro and Polnareff are affected the most by the crusade, I think they all emerge from it with some degree of ptsd. Being targeted by complete strangers at all times of day cannot be good for your mental health, you know? Anyhow, I think My Statue Sinking captures that aftermath feeling really well. Everyone survives and recovers from the crusade, but there’s a part in all of them that is lost to Egypt. 
on to sergio!! (it is now 2:04 am lmaooooooo) sergio will be easy because I only ever listen to the same handful of songs when I’m writing him hdhgh
i will come to you- this is THE sergio song. i think of this song every time i write about him, whether it’s the “believe in me…” “also believe in me” lyric exchange that i imagine he has with both tomoko and holly; the “and i will pray to my father…my father…and he will abide” part being about him reaching out to joseph with his final breaths and spilling all of the beans about dio and begging him to finish things so that Tomoko and Josuke, the Kujos, and he and Suzi can be safe; the “foreeever……foreee-eever.. forever..” part being where he dies and his soul passes into the next realm.. “even the spirit of truth [golden prophet] whom the world [..yeah..] cannot receive, because it seeth him not [bc suad defects and buries sergio instead of bringing his dead body to dio]. Neither knoweth him, but you know him…for he dwelleth in you and he shall be in you [literally the entire joestar/kujo/higashikata family being so near and dear to him + his spirit being with them even after death]” and then, like.. george i, jonathan, and george ii coming to retrieve his soul during the “heeeee shallll beee in youuu” part… “i will not leave you comfortless. i Will Not leave.. You Comfortless… iiii wiiiill come…. to you.. to You” part being about his soul mingling within star platinum and crazy diamond because he has a Need, even in death, to protect them. UGH (also his essence being especially prevalent in crazy diamond, which is partially why its power is to repair things!! bc hamon! ; O ;) literally I have an Entire music video with sergio’s death set to this music. i’ve listened to it way too many times.
when david heard- so to be frank this is actually more of a joseph song, but it’s only a joseph song when sergio exists + gets murdered. :o i cried the first time i listened to this, and then months later i listened to it while thinking of sergio + like. sobbed fr fr. Joseph is asleep when Sergio calls him, so he gets sergio’s final message as a voicemail on his answering machine hours after the fact. the message itself is chilling because Joseph had no clue his son had gone on this huge mission by himself to kill Dio, and now he’s dead! however, it’s made even worse because Joseph wasn’t there to pick the call up and comfort his son in his dying breaths or do Anything. it’s just like Caesar, which is. god awful. it’s such a horrible realization because sergio, whom joseph named after what caesar wanted to name his own son, has been condemned to the same fate as his namesake. Thus this song- i’ve yet to come across a song that captures the feeling of hearing that kind of news so well. (also when i tag things as my sOOOOON or *cries my son in 8-part harmony a la whitacre*, this is the song i’m referencing :D)
zombies / terrified- ahhh, these songs capture the HORROR sergio feels upon sensing dio’s presence in Japan really well. (also “I’m going to eat you alive/please don’t find me rude, but i don’t eat fast food/ so don’t run too fast” is SUCH a dio mood…) Sergio maintains his composure about the Dio Dilemma for a good year before he flies off the handle, and his entire proto-crusade against the vampire is just. Laced with paranoia, even if he is learning a ton of useful skills. These two songs capture that feeling of something constantly watching/creeping up on you so well, and ever since i discovered them, I’ve listened to them for Sergio inspo.
the prophet- This is the only song I’ve done so far that the characters would actually listen to lmao. Sergio is a Huge fan of The Temptations, and his stand is actually named after this song! (+ the esoteric title for the hermit, which was really amazing luck on my end ; J ;) it also had a huge hand in figuring out what his stand power would be, the lyric that decided it was “God doesn’t listen to the words you pray; he hears what your heart has got to say.” However, the entire last stanza of the song ties really well into his character arc fhshgh. Also, this song just feels like it could Be the child of Bloody Stream, if that makes any sense. it’s so groovy and funky, but the lyrics are like big ominous lmao. I was super ecstatic to find this song- if sergio were to ever get an animation, this song would be the OP, yanno?
armageddon- This is another “this song would be on their personal playlist” song. Sergio’s got a lot of love for all styles of music in his heart, but jazz is his home base and always what he comes back to. I like to imagine that Lisa Lisa’s husband introduces Sergio to Wayne Shorter’s music at the age of like 8 or 9, and Sergio’s just. obsessed with the man’s music for the rest of his life. I really love Shorter’s explanation for the meaning of this song and its album as a whole: “What I’m trying to express here is a sense of judgment approaching - judgment for everything alive from the smallest ant to man. I know that the accepted meaning of ‘Armageddon’ is the last battle between good and evil - whatever it is. But my definition of the judgment to come is a period of total enlightenment in which we will discover what we are and why we’re here.” Like… wig.. I feel like that’s such big sergio energy. Armageddon itself also feels like a really nice ED- it’s lively, but in a good episode-ending kind of way. Do i dream of animating Sergio’s adventure one day? Mayhaps.
honorable mention goes to just my imagination/ my girl- We’ve covered that Sergio adores The Temptations, so it’s no secret that he would listen to these songs ceaselessly. however, i really like the broadway harmonies + instrumentals that they did for Ain’t Too Proud, so that’s what’s goin in here. these songs are THE tomoko/sergio songs…He loves Tomoko and the way she quips + teases + gets up to nonsense with him So Much. There’s a huge part of him that has No Idea what Tomoko sees in a music geek like him, but ughh he is so grateful that she likes him because she is a Goddess. he’s blessed yo..
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Unbreakable- Part 1 (Mila)
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Description: With a world full of things that go bump in the night, there is more than just one dynamic family duo like the Winchesters. Mila and Natalia Rivera are sisters who started hunting together after the loss of their parents. After ten years in the life, they run into the Winchester brothers on a nasty vamp hunt.  What blooms are relationships they didn’t think were possible.
Characters: Mila Rivera (@justawaywardwinchester ‘s OC), Natalia Rivera (@team-free-will-you-idjits-67 ‘s OC), Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Ares the dog
Relationship: Eventual Mila Rivera x Dean Winchester, Sister!Mila x Sister!Natalia.
Warnings:  Explicit Language
Word Count: 2814
 A/N: As seen per the Unbreakable Masterlist, this is my collab with @team-free-will-you-idjits-67! It’s my baby and I really hope you all enjoy it!
I slid into the vinyl booth and let out an exasperated sigh. It was so nice to take a load off after the last couple weeks. My body ached in thanks for finally resting.
The waitress begrudgingly came to take my order. “A coffee and two beers please,” I said tiredly. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow as she scribbled on her notepad. “Oh, I’m waiting for someone else. She’ll be here in a sec.” She turned on her heel with a quick nod and moseyed back towards the kitchen.
My sister landed in the booth across from me, throwing her bag down carelessly. “Wow does it feel good to sit down,” she exclaimed. I threw her a smirk. Natalia was my hunting partner and beloved baby sister. She was also my best friend, my home and I couldn't imagine trying to survive this crazy world without her. After our parents died, it was just the two of us, along our dog Ares, and my beautiful truck Xena.
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” chuckling. “I ordered you a beer, by the way.”
“Oh, thank god. I need a cold one.” The waitress returned with the drinks and took the rest of our order. “So, what’s our next move?” Nat asked, her fingers mindlessly fiddling with her necklace, after the waitress left our table.
Pulling out my laptop, I gave her a look. “You’re not going to like it. There’s a vamp nest that’s been terrorizing Sioux Falls. Apparently, it’s a bloodbath.”
Natalia looked down the neck of her beer bottle as she thought about what that meant for us. “Well that’s just great,” she said with sarcasm emanating from her voice.  I shot her a glare for her sass, but I also sympathized with her. We were both so tired of chasing down vampires. They were sneaky, a pain in the ass, and not exactly an easy hunt. You couldn't exorcise them like demons or bind them in silver like shifters. It took robbing corpses for dead man’s blood to inject them with and the element of surprise. Once they got your scent, they had it for life and the last thing we needed were a couple of bent-out-of-shape vamps on our tails.
 “Look, I know it’s not ideal. But it sounds like they've been trying to recruit.” I turned my laptop to show her what I found. The local college had a string of missing young women over the last few months. The police, of course, had zero clue what was happening right under their noses. They never do. She raised her eyebrows in agreement as I continued, “We can’t let that nest get any bigger. They’ll expose everything if they do.”
“Yeah, there’s no way we can,” she exhaled. She rubbed a hand over her face and my heart sunk a little. I still felt pangs of guilt for dragging her into this life. I was 20 and she was 17 when a car crash took our parents from us, leaving us on our own and me to look out for her. But in my mind, she will always be my 6 year-old baby sister playing school with her collection of stuffed animals.
“Can we at least stay and eat some real food for once?” She groaned.
I laughed at her plea. “Of course. I’m sick of microwaved burritos too.” Thank god the portions at the diner were huge. We were able to fill up on good food, take some to go, and even some eggs for Ares, much to my disapproval.
After our indulgence, we headed out of the diner back to the truck. As soon as we got to there, our boy was waiting for us with a tongue-hanging smile. The Belgian Malinois looked mean as sin, but in reality, he could be a giant teddy bear. Unless you’re a monster. Then you’re going down. Natalia ran ahead of me to let him out. They were quite the pair. I smiled as I watched him trot around her with excitement until she knelt down to scratch behind his ears. “Hey buddy!” she exclaimed. “Don’t worry, we got you some food too.” When she found the good stuff, he patiently sat to receive his reward. She placed it in front of him and he waited for permission to dive in. “Eat up, Ares!” she giggled. I laughed and shook my head at the two of them.  
I beamed at my boy. I was so proud of how far he’d come in his training. He was one of our best resources we had when hunting. His nose could pinpoint a monster from a mile away and he helped us clear buildings without getting ambushed.
Once he had eaten his fill, we all hopped in the truck. She roared to life as soon as I turned the key. I sat there for a moment, relishing in her purr. It was so satisfying to know all the hard work I had put in kept her running like a champ. Shifting into drive I gave Natalia a mischievous look “Let’s see how fast Xena can get us to South Dakota, shall we?”I shot her a wink and peeled out of the diner parking lot.
***
The magnificent Black Hill mountains flashed by as we made our way into Sioux Falls. There was no better feeling than the wind whipping my hair around and reveling in the rumble of Xena’s engine as I flew down the highway. She always answered my lead foot with a thunderous reply.
With my sister by my side and our dog in her lap, my lifted black ‘70 Chevy truck had never felt cozier. Nat broke the silence. “We stopping at a motel first or the college?”
I looked down at myself and cringed, “Definitely a motel. We still haven't cleaned up from our last hunt. Pretty sure I still have some dried vamp blood in my hair. We can stop at the college tomorrow morning.”
She nodded, “Hopefully the motel actually has hot water this time.” Ares yipped as if agreeing with us and we smiled at our goofy boy.
I scratched the side of his face. “You wanna take a bath too, huh?” Hi ears went flat in fear against his head as he scooted closer towards my sister. Who would have thought this fierce dog was afraid of water? Both my sister and I howled with laughter at him as she wrapped her arms around him dramatically.
“Don’t worry, bud. I won't let the evil bath monster get you!” he licked her face in appreciation and we laughed even harder.
I pulled into the first motel with a vacancy sign still lit and parked the truck, leaving my sister and dog behind while I got us  a room. I rolled my eyes when I saw the greasy, mid-life crisis type behind the counter. Great.
“How can I help ya, little lady?” he said with a suggestive sneer that sent chills down my spine.
I looked him dead in the eye with a ‘don’t even try me’ glare. “One room, please. Cash.” I placed the bills on the counter.
“You here all by yourself? What a shame.” He oozed a predatory charm.
“No, my sister and I are here. We’re… in the law enforcement business. You know, wielding guns and kicking ass.” I responded, maintaining my ice cold barrier. I gave him a look that suggested he did not want to know what I really meant.
“Interesting,” he said quietly. Taken down a notch by my attitude, he handed me a key. “Here you go. Enjoy.”
Without a word, I took the key and turned for the door. I kicked it open with my boot and headed back for the truck.
Jumping back in the cab, I realized just how exhausted I was. We pulled around to where our room was and unloaded our stuff. I unlocked the door and pushed it open for Nat, who was right behind me with her bags. Looking around the room, I shrugged. It wasn’t horrible. Not great, but we’ve seen worse.
We threw our bags on each of the beds and looked at each other. “I call shower first!” I yelled as I ran toward the bathroom.
“Oh no you don’t!” She shouted as she raced me to the door. We tussled for a minute before I had my hand on the knob and turned it to let myself in.
“Ha! Respect your elders, kiddo.” I grinned at the grimace on her face and shut the door. I shed all my clothes and started the shower.
While I was waiting for the water to turn hot, I searched the internet for the latest happenings in Sioux Falls. We needed a plan and had no time to lose. All I wanted to do was let the steam ease my muscles, get in my favorite pajamas, and go to sleep. But sadly, that was not on the agenda.
***
I opened the bathroom door wrapped in a towel and strolled toward the bed to get my pajamas out of my bag. “Ahhh, I feel so much better.” I teased and stuck my tongue out at her.
“ Mila. You will not believe what I saw.”
I immediately went for my gun in my bag when she elaborated.
“No, no, listen.” I relaxed and sat at the end of the bed. “There is a gorgeous Impala here, and the guys in it were just as attractive. I saw them when you were getting the room earlier and they left in these fitted suits that were just…..fuck.”
I brooded, daydreaming about what it would be like to be with a nice, attractive man. I shook myself out of it. “Well they sound wonderful, but we’ve got work to do. Go get showered so we can get to it.”
She rolled her eyes at me and mocked a salute, “Yes, sir!” I was about to sock her in the arm when she ran and escaped to the bathroom. She was such a brat sometimes.
While Natalia was in the shower, I put on a tank top and flannel pajama pants and started up my laptop to dive into the missing persons reports. I was gathering the details of the women who had disappeared. Things like where they were from, what classes they took, and where they lived now would tell us about who they were and how we might be able to find them.
While I was perusing social media profiles for intel, I heard voices from the room next door. They were muffled through the walls, but there was a very clear “son of a bitch!”and I dropped my head with an irritated breath. Excellent. Another motel where we are subjected to listen to a couple’s fight until 3 o’clock in the morning. I was praying for a decent night’s sleep and I did not need this. Ares growled at the voices from his spot on Nat’s bed. “I know, boy. If they don’t quiet down, you can sic ‘em,” I winked at him.
I was so lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed Natalia had gotten out of the shower and put on her pajamas. She sat down across from me, breaking my focus from my screen,“What did you come up with?”
I groaned and rubbed my eyes “It’s pretty much what we assumed. The women all went to the college and lived in the same area. Within a few blocks, even. This has to be more than a coincidence.” I ran a hand over my face. I wanted nothing more than to crash, but I knew we needed to get our bearings before heading out in the morning. “This bloodsucker must have chosen them. But I can’t understand why.”
“Hm. That doesn’t make any sense.” Natalia sighed. She gave me a look. Dead ends did us no good.
I couldn’t even think anymore. Everything I was reading just came out pear-shaped and I did not have the energy to focus. “I have to sleep. I’m no help anymore. Maybe we can find out more when we hit the campus tomorrow.” I yawned through my words. I shut my laptop and climbed into bed. The soft covers and pillow felt like heaven. “G’night sis, sweet dreams”.
***
My alarm went off at 6 a.m. I groaned and hit the snooze button. After the alarm went off again, I decided to just bite the bullet and get out of bed. I stumbled to the bathroom, still half asleep, and splashed cold water on my face. I looked up at the mirror at how drained I looked. Like a vampire’s victim. It was going to take quite a bit of makeup to take me from this to Special Agent Cruz, my FBI alter ego to get information from the poor bastards that run these towns.
I washed my face and and applied a professional look; subtle eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara, and just a dusting of foundation. I let out a small laugh when I looked over myself in the mirror. My face said business, but my ratty t-shirt and shorts said otherwise.
I rolled my eyes as I walked out of the bathroom to see my sister still fast asleep snuggled up with Ares. Typical. That kid could sleep for eternity if you let her. I grabbed a pillow off my bed and threw it at her. Ares just looked up towards me without lifting his head. He was used to our bullshit antics. She groaned and moved the pillow off her face, “What time is it?”
I snickered as I got my pantsuit out of the closet. “6:30. Get up and get dressed. Get Special Agent Nicks together, and quickly. We need to get to the college soon.”
As I put on my black pumps, she was finally getting dressed. I pulled my hair back into a bun that accentuated my curls. As much as I am not a “girly girl”, I did love dressing as a federal agent. I felt like a beautiful force just waiting for someone to reckon with.
I sat at my laptop, waiting for Nat to finish getting ready. I checked the latest to see if there were any new developments.
“Anything?” she asked while putting on her heels.
“Nothing new.” I shook my head. “I guess we’ll just find out when we get there.”
***
We pulled into the campus and parked in  a farther lot. We couldn’t risk being seen as ‘agents’ getting out of an old truck. It tends to throw off our authenticity.
I knew where the administration offices were from a map I found last night while doing research on the missing women.  The concrete stairs leading up to main courtyard were just ahead, so I pointed the way to Nat and we started heading up the stairs.  The path lead to a cluster of buildings surrounded by trees and manicured lawns. It was a beautiful campus, but it still felt heavy.
We passed a group of frat guys sitting in a group over some burgers when I heard a whistle. “Damn. What I would do to her.” I overheard one of the men say. He was your cliche meathead: clothes too tight, dim witted juicehead. I stopped in my tracks and whipped around to face him.
“What did you just say?” I looked at him with daggers.
“I was just saying how fine you were, all dressed to impress. No need to try anymore, baby. I’m right here,” his slimy smile sent a burst of anger through me.
I walked up to him like I was about to accept an invitation to sit on his lap and his eyes widened, thinking he was victorious. I bent down to meet his face and spoke in a whispered tone “Boy, I wear heels bigger than your dick. You wouldn’t survive this ride,” as my eyes gestured to my body. I stood back up and continued my way to the office. I heard the howls of laughter coming from the rest of his table. I smiled to myself and threw a wink to my sister. “Dumbass” I said to her from the side of my mouth.
We opened the office doors and went to the receptionist desk to find out who we should talk to. As we waited, I felt Natalia grab my arm, hard. “Ow, what the hell-” I looked over at her. Her gaze was fixed to the other side of the room. I followed it to see two men in one of the offices with the door closed, speaking to someone. “What is your deal?? Who are you looking at?”
“Those are those guys I saw yesterday when you were checking into the hotel. The Adonis types. With the Impala!” she whispered loudly.
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