Itchy & Scratchy

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 10

The private table behind the curtain at the back of the pub was quiet with just the two of them sitting there. Octavia stared at the cup of tea in front of her, her hands wrapped around it and feeling the warmth.

Vinyl sat across from her. Since they were going for comfort beverages, she had decided on kvass. She took off her pink sunglasses, folding them and putting them down on the table.

“Jack said it was good tea,” said Vinyl.

Octavia made a slight gesture of acknowledgement.

Vinyl glanced at her phone. Since meeting up with Octavia outside the meat packing plant, she hadn’t told anyone yet. There hadn’t been time.

Vinyl glanced back up. Octavia still hadn’t moved. Vinyl ventured, “So...what happened?”

Octavia raised her head, sucking in a breath, trying to speak, trying not to speak. “I...I…”

“I’ve never seen you like this,” said Vinyl, leaning forward. “Is there anything I can do?”

Octavia swallowed, eyes going back to the table. “No. They’re gone. I saw it with my own eyes this time.”

“Who’s gone?”

“My parents.”

“They were there?” Vinyl asked quietly.

Octavia made a sound about halfway between talking and not talking, but the words burst out of her. “They were vampires. Mutton Chop kept them as slaves.”

“O-okay, wow, um…” Vinyl grimaced, but recovered, reaching to touch Octavia’s hand. “Back to my original question, is there anything I can do for you?”

“I think…” Octavia glanced up for a moment. “I think you’re doing it now.”

Vinyl said nothing, just sitting with her hands folded in the center of the table. Octavia used the silence to collect her scattered thoughts.

“I don’t know why this is so difficult,” she said.

“I’m not surprised,” said Vinyl. “Honestly, this is more like what I expected. I’m more surprised you were so calm the first time you went through this.”

“But this is not who I am,” Octavia protested.

“You’re a robot?” Vinyl asked. “Yeah, I have to admit, you really keep it bottled up. But that doesn’t mean you have to. You gotta show what you feel, don’t hide. Come on and do it.”

Octavia looked up. “Did you just quote the Spice Girls?”

“It’s not like you thought I had good taste in music to begin with.” Vinyl grinned.

Octavia exhaled slightly harder than normal. She lifted her cup and took a sip. “This is good tea.”

She put her cup back down and folded her hands. “Do you know if it’s possible for one vampire to enthrall another, or even werewolves or zombies? My parents were not the only ones there.”

“I think so.” Vinyl tipped her head, brows knitting. “How did you know?”

“They didn’t recognize me at first, but it seemed like they fought through it.”

Vinyl suddenly pulled out her phone and began tapping rapidly on it. She appeared to receive a reply and went straight back to hammering on the digital keyboard.

“What is it?” Octavia said.

“I’m just asking Pip something.”

Jack poked his head around the curtain. “Can I get you ladies anything?”

Vinyl looked up. “I need either garlic powder or garlic salt, wolfsbane, and a knife.”

“Which wolfsbane, aconitum or arnica montana?”

“Which one do you think?”

“You don’t have a knife on you?”

Vinyl gave him a look. “Come on, dude.”

Jack disappeared. Octavia looked at Vinyl. “What are you doing?”

“Just testing something,” Vinyl replied.

They waited a few minutes in silence for the order. Vinyl gestured. “What’s that on your hands?”

“Besides the blood?”

“I can see the blood. You’re covered in blood.”

That was part of why they were at a table in the back, behind the curtain. Octavia was still literally drenched in drying blood from the explosion at the meat processing plant.

“The other residue on my hands is plastic explosive,” Octavia said.

“Damn, I must have missed a real party.”

The pub waitress arrived with a plate that contained a small plastic bottle of commercial garlic powder, a small flower, and a worn paring knife.

Vinyl grabbed the plate and put it down in front of Octavia. She quickly consulted her phone and then grabbed the salt shaker off the table and popped the lid off the garlic, sprinkling both over the wolfsbane.

“This is going to be like doing tequila,” said Vinyl. She pointed at the wolfsbane. “Put that in your mouth and wait for the liquid.”

Octavia, confused but trusting Vinyl, picked up the mess on the plate and put it in her mouth. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t at all appetizing.

Vinyl picked up the knife and pricked her thumb. As a drop of blood welled up, she held her hand close to Octavia’s face and said, “Lick that.”

With her mouth full, Octavia glanced up to Vinyl’s face. She was serious. Hesitantly, Octavia put her tongue out.

It was like a strike of lightning hit her as she tasted it. She convulsed and everything in her mouth came out on the plate. Octavia spit several times, trying to clear what remained. “What was that!?”

The waitress, wearing an expression of reluctance, picked up the plate.

Vinyl answered Octavia’s question. “Somebody enthralled you. You fought through it before, but it’s gone now.”

“Wh-what!?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d always been that way, maybe even before you woke up in Fleur’s arms,” Vinyl speculated, also licking her thumb to clean it. “That could explain your muted reaction to everything.”

The implications were as terrifying as they were far-reaching. What had Octavia done that wasn’t her own thought or action? Who could have done this to her, and why?

“I didn’t wake up in Fleur’s arms,” she corrected.

“Well, you know how the French over-dramatize things and add unnecessary romantic overtones.”

Octavia nodded in agreement. Changing the subject, she said, “What did you just do? I thought garlic wasn’t actually bad for vampires, just an old misconception.”

“Pip told me what to do. Garlic isn’t specifically bad for vampires, but it helps break the link to their enthralled ghouls. That’s why people in the old days used it as repellant, not to keep the vampire away but to make themselves less attractive to enthrall. Anyway, with the garlic in place, to get the jolt to make it work, we needed something besides vanilla blood so I used my werewolf blood filtered through the wolfsbane with some salt as the catalyst.”

“Why does it need an additional catalyst? Blood has salt in it.”

Vinyl shrugged. “Does it look like we’re doing science here?”

Octavia took a breath and considered it. Someone had been controlling her. She had never felt controlled, but would she? And she had to reluctantly admit, Vinyl was right, it would explain a lot.

But who could have done it? Something Mutton Chop had said made her think he was at least aware. If he or his associates had controlled her, why hadn’t they had her try to attack Fancypants or something? Did they have that much control, or just influence on her emotions? How had they had such comprehensive control over her parents?

“What are you thinking?” Vinyl asked.

Octavia glanced up. “You know, vanilla blood could be good.”

Vinyl stared at her. “Holy shit, was that a joke? Tavi telling a joke?”

“No,” said Octavia. “I just think vanilla blood could be good.”

“We do make frappuccinos,” said waitress.

“Do I look like a heathen?” Octavia snapped.

---

After paying the bill, they went out to Vinyl’s car, parked in the back alley behind the pub. Octavia was still covered in blood that was beginning to get crusty.

“I’d give you my backup clothes but they’re already kind of bloody and torn, if they would have even fit you,” said Vinyl.

“How did they get bloody and torn?” asked Octavia.

“Uh…” Vinyl tilted her head back and forth as if trying to summarize an answer before finally just replying “Nazis.”

“Sorry to hear that.” Octavia changed the subject. “We should probably tell Fancypants what happened today.”

Vinyl pulled out her phone but paused. “With everything going on, you being controlled, and your parents secretly kept, there’s something going on here.”

“You don’t trust Fancypants?” Octavia asked. “I heard Mutton Chop mention that they should have killed him when they had the chance. I don’t think he’s in league with them.”

“No, I absolutely do trust Fancy, I’m just worried what else might be going on.”

“Who all knows what happened in the last twelve hours or so?”

“Fancy, Fleur, and Pip,” Vinyl counted on her fingers.

“Mutton Chop is dead and Carousel Brass is still out there somewhere,” Octavia added.

“I guess Jack and everyone hanging around his place,” said Vinyl. “And oh yeah, the elves and the Nazis.”

Octavia paused. “You know, I brushed it off the first time, but now I have to ask: actual Nazis?”

“Don’t worry, they’re dead now.”

“The full Indiana Jones?”

“Yes, exactly. In fact, that’s what I’ll call it from now on.”

Octavia nodded, satisfied. “Well, I suppose that covers most everything. We need to find Carousel. I’m sure he has quite a few tricks left to pull.”

Vinyl nodded. She sent a message. Octavia glanced over at her phone.

Me

Found Tavi

After a moment, a reply:

Fancypants

Jolly Good.

Vinyl put the phone away. “But first, you need a shower.”

Octavia’s place was closest, and had the benefit of containing her clothes. She took a trash bag into the bathroom with her. Everything was getting thrown away.

She’d lost her purse somewhere. Searching back through her memories, Octavia realized she’d last seen it torn to pieces by the explosion. She’d have to get new weapons and credit cards. At least she didn’t have a driver’s license to lose.

Octavia didn’t pause to look in the mirror before getting in the shower. The water immediately began to loosen the blood dried to her skin, but it needed some help to come off.

Some areas were more difficult than others. Octavia turned off the water to make her voice heard. “Vinyl, how do I get blood out of hair?”

“Peroxide,” Vinyl replied from outside the room.

“I don’t have any, or any medical supplies for that matter,” Octavia reminded her. “Also, doesn’t that lighten your hair?”

Vinyl snickered. “You don’t want to look like Fleur?”

Octavia glared at the closed door. “What are my other options?”

“You could cut it.”

“Then I’d look like you.”

“Ouch.” Vinyl paused. “Well, just do a standard hard reset: rip it out and start over.”

That wasn’t much of an option, either. Octavia reached outside the shower to get her brush and used a combination of that and copious amounts of conditioner to work the clots out. It still didn’t quite bring her hair back to normal, but after the day she’d had, just being cleaner was acceptable.

Vinyl was sitting on the bed when Octavia came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Vinyl got up and left the room.

Octavia didn’t own any clothing that wasn’t conservative. She got dressed, patting her hair as dry as it was going to get and then left it loose.

She came out into the main room. Vinyl was wiping dust off the little-used cello leaning against the wall. Octavia had put it there out of its case so she would see it while passing by and be reminded to play it. The tactic hadn’t worked.

Vinyl glanced at her as she folded the dust cloth.

“Thank you,” said Octavia, but nothing else.

They went out to Vinyl’s car. Octavia had lost her accessories so Vinyl lent her a canvas messenger bag and found a battered Browning pistol in the glovebox. It was quite a bit larger than Octavia’s old handgun, but she wasn’t really thinking about long term concealment at the moment.

“I need to find a stake,” said Octavia, checking the pistol before slipping it into the bag.

“I don’t think there are any hardware stores open this time of day,” said Vinyl. She paused in thought. “Wait, I know where we can go.”

Octavia looked out the window as they drove. Things began to look familiar, but it wasn’t until Vinyl stopped that she realized where they were.

The blackened skeleton of her family home was as it had been left. Octavia had never visited after the fire. She hadn’t wanted to remember.

It didn’t mean that she did now, but one did not always get what they wanted. And to be fair, seeing the burned out husk of her old house was hardly the worst thing that had happened to her today.

Octavia got out of the car. It was not difficult to find a scrap of wood, blackened by charcoal, that would serve suitably as a stake.

Octavia put it into the bag and headed back for the car. She would have to do something about this place, she realized. It couldn’t just keep sitting here. But there were more important things on her mind at the moment.

The realization that she was consciously choosing to compartmentalize was welcome. It meant that she was thinking for herself again. Not healthy, and she would probably have a jolly old freakout later, but better than having no emotional control at all.

Vinyl drove them over to Fancypants’ place. He was back in London. When they arrived, he was carefully examining a piece of electronic equipment on his desk.

“What are you doing with Vinyl’s turntable?” Octavia asked.

“Well, it’s not exactly a turntable, but even if you got that wrong, I’m impressed you recognized a Pioneer EFX-1000 at a glance,” said Vinyl.

“Ms. Scratch asked me to be ready to fill in for her if she had taken too long to locate you,” said Fancypants.

“Did you really?” said Octavia. “So I suppose you could take pleasure in killing the collective good taste of the greater London area.”

Fancypants laughed. “I was actually working out how to undo this stuck volume knob so the audience didn’t go deaf in the first five minutes. Then, yes.”

“I don’t even know what your DJ name would be,” said Vinyl, shaking her head. “I’m actually surprised you took me seriously.”

“‘Quality Chap.’ And not to worry, I was looking for a new challenge.”

“Maybe we’ll have to get you to play anyway, so I can actually get Tavi’s reaction firsthand.” Vinyl grinned. “Probably something like, ‘Oi, what’s this noise? It doesn't harmonize and the bass is spilling me tea.’”

Octavia would have protested, “I don’t sound like that,” but it wouldn’t have deterred Vinyl in the slightest.

Instead, she sharpened her vowels and replied, “At least I’m not, like, all about the wubs.”

Vinyl threw her hands up to sides of her head. “Oooh! Holy fuckballs, that’s amazing. Here, we’ve gotta get a picture to commemorate Tavi’s first joke.”

She grabbed Octavia around the shoulders and held up her cell phone. The screen only showed Vinyl leaning on thin air, but she took the picture anyway. “Great! That goes perfect with my Octavia album.” She started swiping through her pictures, all featuring what appeared to be only solo selfies of Vinyl. “Tavi’s first double homicide, Tavi’s first screaming match with Fleur-”

As if summoned, Fleur walked into the room. She wore a sour look, which by this point was more the rule than the exception for her.

“I should apologize for what happened to your flat,” said Octavia.

“Yes, I believe eet iz best,” Fleur agreed, crossing her arms.

“Though, I certainly wouldn’t have broken everything if a hostile vampire hadn’t discovered me there. I don’t know how he found me, but I killed him in your front room.”

“He was a Nazi,” Vinyl added helpfully. “Oh shit, we never took a ‘Tavi’s first post-Reich fight’ commemorative photo.”

She raised her phone again, but Fleur interrupted. “Exactly what was eet you were doing at my apartment?”

“I went to find clues about Carousel Brass,” Octavia explained. “And I found him, too. Unfortunately, he got away, but I picked up a lead on Mutton Chop, who is dead now.”

“You killed him?” Fleur asked.

“Well, the explosion did. He-” Octavia paused, took a deep breath, and went on in a quieter tone. “My parents had been turned into vampires and must have been rescued from the house fire. Mutton Chop was keeping them like slaves, apparently under some sort of mind control.” She gestured to Vinyl. “We figured out the same thing had been happening to me, though a much milder form.”

Octavia turned to address Fancypants. “I sincerely hope whoever did this to me hasn’t caused any damage to your enterprise as a result.”

“Probably less than they thought,” he said. “But more importantly, you have my condolences.”

Octavia acknowledged it with a nod. She glanced at Fleur. “Whoever took my parents must have been right there that night in order to get them out of the house before it burned completely. Do you remember seeing anyone?”

“No,” Fleur replied.

“Wait a second, if those three guys who broke in were presumably the ones who did it, and they were apparently still around the neighborhood, why didn’t they also take Octavia and maybe even Fleur too while they were at it?” Vinyl asked.

“We can’t know that,” said Fleur.

“But it doesn’t make any sense,” Vinyl went on. “Why go to the trouble of enthralling Octavia and her parents but then not kidnapping Octavia too? It’s not like they held off because they were scared of you.”

Fancypants’ eyes moved back and forth, following the conversation with a slight, amused smile on his face.

“You killed Sauerkraut Hoagie,” said Fleur to Octavia. “I zink I should be able to handle at least anything you can.”

“How did you know his name?” asked Vinyl.

“You said Nazi.” Her accent did interesting things to the word. “Since zhere are only so many vampires, and vampire Nazis, word travels fast and I could only assume eet was him. ”

“He wasn’t the only Nazi we killed today,” Octavia pointed out. Vinyl made a fist and held it out. Octavia glanced at it, and after a moment bumped it with her own fist.

“Can you not understand zat I would be interested in who died in my apartment?” Fleur had begun to talk faster.

“Who told you Sauerkraut Hoagie was dead?” Octavia asked.

“That does not matter.”

“Then why won’t don’t you tell us?” said Vinyl.

“Just…people were talking about eet. I don’t remember who said eet exactly.”

“Then how did you know he was a Nazi?” said Octavia. “Do you know a lot of Nazis?”

“Why all ze questions?” Fleur demanded, abruptly going on the offensive. “What did I do to deserve zis?”

“Well, it’s pretty obvious you’re hiding something,” said Vinyl. “Why? What else could you be lying about? Are you even French?”

Octavia looked to Fancypants. “Do you know what is going on?”

“I do,” he said. “I had hoped you would figure it out yourself because it’s more fun that way, but honestly Fleur-” he turned to her “-this is just getting pathetic. Tell them.”

“Tell zem what?” said Fleur.

“About your relationship with Carousel Brass.” Fancypants smiled. “Did you honestly think I didn’t know?”

Vinyl’s mouth dropped open and she glanced back and forth between Fancypants and Fleur before bursting out laughing.

“Did you know this whole time?” Octavia demanded of Fancypants.

“Well, you know what they say: keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Perhaps that’s what Fleur and her associates were thinking when they introduced you to me.”

“Wait…” Octavia turned to Fleur. “Was it you? Were you the one controlling me?”

Fleur’s lips curled, still unwilling to admit anything but unable to think of a plausible lie.

“I’m guessing she doesn’t have the level of control over others that she thinks she does or that Mutton Chop wielded,” said Fancypants. “She certainly tried on me often enough, when she thought I wasn’t testing my tea for her blood.”

“But you knew she was involved?” Octavia said.

“I knew that she knew more than she admitted, but it wasn’t until earlier today when she called Carousel after learning that you were at her apartment that I made the rest of the connections,” Fancypants admitted.

“And Carousel then dispatched Sauerkraut Hoagie to go after me,” said Octavia, making the connection.

“You tapped my phone?” Fleur blurted out.

“Why does that surprise you?” said Fancypants. “All this time Carousel has had you keeping tabs on me and trying to undermine me, and you never once thought that I didn’t trust you?”

Vinyl shook her head. “Jeeze, I’m not even sure I’m angry anymore, Fleur. You goofed so bad and you never even noticed.”

“I’m angry,” said Octavia. “How could you just keep her around, Mr. Fancypants? You could have told me!”

“Well, you know how I feel about traitors,” he said. “There’s a special place in my heart for them, but there’s also special place in Hell for them.”

“I did everything you asked me to do!” Fleur protested.

“Fair enough,” he admitted. “Though I see now why you brought certain targets to my attention. Prissy Petunia for example. You thought perhaps we were getting close to discovering you, so you started bumping off any connections. Dirty Trowel worked for her, so she might expose you.”

“This iz ridiculous.” Fleur shook her head. “I’m leaving.”

She turned to go, but Vinyl called, “Are you fucking serious? You can’t just walk out!”

“You can do whatever you want,” said Fancypants. “If you leave, we’ll hunt you down. If you stay, there may yet be a chance for you to talk your way out of this.”

“Are you bloody serious?” Octavia demanded. “After what she’s done?”

“Would you accept an apology? How about help in taking down Carousel?” Fancypants asked Octavia.

She considered it. Who was actually responsible for what had happened? Was it Mutton because he’d controlled her parents? Was it Carousel because he’d recently ordered Octavia’s death? Was it Fleur for helping? Even if Fleur wasn’t the baddest bad person in the lineup, could Octavia feel satisfied while she was still alive?

That could wait. Octavia turned to Fleur. “Tell me what you know.”

“I keep telling you-” Fleur began.

Octavia’s temper suddenly flashed and she started towards Fleur. “After everything you’ve done, everything you helped do, everything you turned a blind eye to, you dare pretend you weren’t involved? My eyes are opened and now I see. In retrospect, you only wanted to use me just like you’ve used everyone else. The least you could do is admit to us - admit to yourself - what you did and take responsibility. Pretending the atrocity didn’t even happen only adds insult to injury. You’re going to be held accountable for your actions either way, but it’s up to you to take responsibility.”

She stopped within arm’s length of Fleur and raised her hand. “And another thing-”

Fleur’s hair suddenly bloomed outwards as if hit with an updraft. Before Octavia could react, two tentacles wrapped around her throat and jerked her into the air.

The sheer surprise momentarily blocked any reaction Octavia could have made. She simply struggled, grabbing for whatever she could reach, kicking ineffectively against the air. Her hand fumbled for a weapon.

Fleur twisted and Octavia was flung like a ragdoll across the room, straight towards Vinyl, who ducked. Octavia slammed into the wall upside down, putting a dent the shape of her body in it before falling to the floor on her head.

Vinyl was now closer to Fleur, but she turned to Octavia, who was just blinking and trying to sit up.

Aside from having her windpipe and spine battered, something seemed off. Octavia got to her hands and knees. She looked up. Vinyl was staring, mouth open and eyes delighted.

“What?” said Octavia, struggling to her feet.

“I’ll tell you later. Kill Fleur now.”

Comments

[Neece]

Tentacles. I've seen enough hentai to see where this is going

[artofwar77]

Aside from having her windpipe and spine battered, something seemed off. Octavia got to her hands and knees. She looked up. Vinyl was staring, mouth open and eyes delighted.

“What?” said Octavia, struggling to her feet.

“I’ll tell you later. Kill Fleur now.”

No! Tell us now!

Aaaaauuugghh! Such a well-placed cliffhanger. I hate it as ardently as I admire it.

[Dustchu]

heehehehe, this is going awesomely well, good show TNaB, good show.
Fight's on!

[Noctus Umbra]

Dhampeir? Maybe?

[Adjutant Stormy]

You monster! Cliffhangering AGAIN

[AppleTank]

Oh boy

[Sylica telca]

That was definitely a twist