The Eyes:They See

Costume Time
The Eyes: They See

Chapter Four: Costume Time


“Damn I hate sewing,” Jason announced throwing the black fabric on the ground after he pricked his finger for the third time. “I don’t see why we have to make these ourselves. It’s why they invented tailors and costume designers. Jean Claude pays good money for our costumes and I don’t have to do any work.” He was getting frustrated, especially since he wasn’t even sewing just following Nathanial’s hems with straight pins.

“Don’t take it out on the fabric,” Stephen said laughing at Jason’s monstrosity of a costume. The boy just could not sew worth a damn. He knew that inevitably like last year Nathanial was going to jump in and make the entire costume for him

“Because it’s fun,” Nathanial responded. “Besides I told you that I would help you with your costume. How did you convince Damian to use his time off from Dance Macabre to partner with you for your show?” Nathanial still could not believe it.

“Two things really, I told him all he had to do was stand there and his costume is rather conservative, full pirate getup hardly any skin showing. And second, one word Halo.”

“What does the video game you two always play have to do with this?”

“Easy. We made a bet on a game and I won so he has to do me a favor.”

“He must have been pissed off when he lost. You two take that game so seriously.”

“Are you kidding I pulled that win out of my ass I hardly ever win. He was flabbergasted it was hilariously wonderful. And I am telling you man Halo is a way of life.” Jason explained to him as he looked at the pattern of his cabin boy costume with a wicked grin on his face. He had to admit the idea was defiantly fun.

Damian was to be the imposing captain and Jason the cabin boy was putting on a slutty little show for him. It was one of his better themed ideas over the years. Last year they did a group theme of Peter Pan and the lost boys. Two years ago it was story book free for all. Pick your favorite classic book character. There was an Arabian Nights act, and a fairy tale act. The most popular act that year was a very twisted Oliver Twist ‘Please sir may I have some more’.

Halloween at Guilty Pleasures was more of a Vegas show than regular strip club and This year though Jean-Claude felt that total show themes were out of date. Everywhere was doing themes and the crowd was always full. Tickets were sold in advance. The shows didn’t take place at the club because the space was too small but rather in the large theater at the Circus. The theaters were equipped with cameras and screens so that the back rows would have an excellent view of the stage. The whole show was why Dance Macabre was shut down so all focus could be on the Guilty Pleasure performance. There would be three performances one on Halloween eve, one on Halloween and the last the day after. It worked out this year, two years ago the performance had to moved up a week because Halloween fell on the full moon and with half the dancer being Lycanthrope it was impossible to hold the show.

This year Jean-Claude wanted something different for the show. He wanted each act to be completely different with nothing in common with the previous. He wanted to shock the audience with randomness and spontaneity. He wanted to shock the audience so that every dance was new and exciting. Jason is doing the pirate thing mostly because it was the only thing he could convince Damian to join in on. There were lines to memorize and a sound track similar to Pirates of the Caribbean for his dances. Stephan and Gregory are doing an angel and devil thing with white feathers and fire which was pretty hot since they were identical twins. Jean-Claude had a permit for pyrotechnics and that to a big part of their act innocence heat and lust. The room will get pretty hot but will cool down quickly with the help of mist and magic for Nathanial act. He is doing an avant-garde ribbon dance with black satin everywhere. He’s been practicing for months now on how to dance, the costume and colors he chose this afternoon. So far he has place the most thought into his performance, but that was not unusual there is a perfectionist nature to him. And he truly loves to perform. Jason loves being the center of attention in almost everything leading him to be a regular clown most of time. Stephan and Gregory perform because they are good at it and they know it. Gregory especially just loves excelling. But Nathanial changes when he dances, he displays a confidence that challenges his extreme submissiveness that he displays to the outside world.

“Stephen.” Nathanial called out turning to face the other side of the room where Stephen was working on his costume. Gregory had opted out of the shopping leaving both costumes for Stephen to work on. Luckily their costumes were relatively easy make, since the wings were already ordered and being custom made. “Have you and Gregory picked out music yet for your performance.”

“Yea, Greg is working with Diane now picking the music and writing the choreography so we can get it to the pyrotechnics so they can get started planning the fire. Were thinking a type of Angel get’s pulled down to hell by its evil lust full twin. I’m not too good with lines and speaking in public so ours is going to be completely told with dance and music. We were thinking a rock/metal vibe.”

“Cool.” Jason piped in. “Jake is doing a short dance to 80’s glam rock after my segment.”

“That will defiantly bring up the energy levels, I hope I don’t disappoint with my part, its hard being a single act going one after a double, and twins at that with fire.” Nathanial said.

“Yea but that ribbon thing you’ve been practicing is very hard and sexy. And the colors you picked out are amazing.”

“Really, I was thinking of an ice lust with blue lighting after your fire would work well. I was thinking using ethereal Enya type music and then blending it into electronic.” Nathanial explained. “Hey do you think Anita will like it, she doesn’t seem to like me much anymore.”

“What are you talking about she loves you.” Jason told him while Stephen nodded in agreement. Everyone knew that Nathanial was one of the men that Anita was in love with. “Why do you think she doesn’t love you anymore?”

“She’s been getting so angry lately, like this morning she growled at me. I didn’t like that nor did my kitty. It seems like I annoy her just for being. I don’t know maybe it’s just my imagination or she is just stressed.”

“Nathanial I know why she growled at you this morning, I just didn’t say anything.” Jason told him.

“Why?”

“Anita is just not from your world. She doesn’t understand that you’re submissive. She has been taught that independence is strength. She doesn’t understand your need to submit and because of that she doesn’t know how to react to it. Because she does not understand she reacts negatively to it.”

“What do I do, I love her and I want her to accept all of me. I’m trying to be more independent like she likes I even got my driver’s license even though I hate driving.”

“Just give her time. Being a bit more independent is good for you but don’t change all of yourself or you will eventually be miserable.” Jason explained.

“Balance is the key to your relationship,” Stephen told him.

“You need to find a balance and she needs more time.” Jason told him but deep down inside, as cute as Nathanial and Anita were together, he knew they just didn’t belong. Nathanial needed a dom and Anita could not and would not take that role in his life.

Both Jason and Stephen believed that with the proper dominant Nathanial would thrive. He was a born submissive and had a need to be needed, a need that Anita would not fill. They were also sure that she would never understand his need for pain in his play. That was not her style. She still saw love and sex as a bed of roses and flowers and cuddles. She could not understand pain and pleasure, and while neither Jason nor Stephen truly enjoyed BDSM it was a part of Nathanial and something he truly enjoyed and Anita was keeping that from him. Jason and Stephen had discussed this before and they were sure that others knew this as well but as long as Nathanial felt loved and protected by Anita and Anita felt the need to protect Nathanial the two would stay together regardless that neither is what the other wants or needs.

“Thanks I’ll try. What would I do without you guys?”

“Be bored,” Stephen said as he proceeded to hit Nathanial with a pillow, abruptly ending any serious discussion. Today was about fun and Nathanial’s relationship troubles were not fun.

**

After getting off the phone with Zerbrowski, to inform him of the possible demon situation, Anita quickly drove home to print off the files. No one was home as Nathanial was spending time at the circus with Jason. With twenty missing male lycanthropes and five missing female it took nearly fifteen minutes to print and put each into its individual folder. She figured that at least ten had left of their own volition a few running away with their secretaries or the nearest motorcycle misfit or some such excuse.

By the time Anita got to RPIT the blood test had come in, Bear. There were very few bears living in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Anita knew of a group who lived in the next county over they had a permit for full moons at Florence Lake Park. While Florence Lake was really more of a large pond than a lake it was stocked with fish especially for their group.

“So what else do we have?” Anita asked Dolph.

“Not much. Jerry is working on facial reconstruction software trying to get an ID on the vic.”

“Great, get that to me as soon as it’s done I can run the face through my files.” Anita told him.

“Your files, what files do you have that we don’t?” Dolph asked with an angry tone. His anger had a habit of coming out when Anita showed that her life had too many contacts with monsters. He could not see monsters as anything else but monsters.

“Yes my files, I have selection of profiles on missing lycanthropes in the area.”

“Why don’t the police have those, all missing persons are on file with the police.”

“It is not a legal requirement to run a missing persons report on an adult, and many lycanthropes would rather not be in the system. I hold the files for their protection.”

“Damn it Anita. Stop protecting the enemy.” Dolph barked at her.

“They are not the enemy and they have every right to the protection of privacy. Get your head out of your ass Dolph, they are the ones being killed this time.” She was getting sick of his bitch temper. While it had improved in the past few months he was still getting on her nerves.

“And if it wasn’t for this demon thing I’d say good riddance.” Dolph said before marching out of the room. He knew he needed to cool off, but every reminder of just how close Anita was to the monsters was just a shove in his face about his son’s decision to love a vampire.

Anita turned around to face Zerbrowski. “What else do we have?” She asked him.

“The lab got a match on the tire print we found. It’s from a 2000 Dodge Caravan. Nothing came up on the traffic cams, no speeding, and no running a red light.” Zerbrowski explained as he held up a picture of a 2000 Dodge Caravan. “No prints were found at the scene. The knife used is a double bladed silver dagger. No match has been found in the database for the slice marks made by the dagger so it might be custom made.”

Anita hated to admit but it was not much to go on, and she had a bad feeling that they needed to catch this guy fast. Just as she was going to remark on the information that Zerbrowski told them the phone rang.

“RPIT Anita Blake speaking.”

“Marshal Blake this is Jerry over at the Lab. I have finished the facial reconstruction. They are being sent over email.”

“I’ll go check that out right away. Thank you.” She hung up the phone. “Zerbrowski that was Jerry he sent a email with the vic’s face. I’ll go get Dolph.” She said as she moved over towards the door. She knew Dolph would be right outside with a cigarette. He had recently taken up smoking. Personally she disliked smoking and hated the smell.

“Dolph, Jerry sent over the pic of our vic, thought you might want to be there to see if he has any matches.”

“I’ll be there in a minute.” He told her.

When Anita got back on the room the image had been printed off and being run through missing persons.

“Dolph will be in shortly.” She told them. “Any matches?”

“Nothing yet” Zerbrowski told her while handing her a copy of the image. The man had a strong square jaw and a thick neck. He had high Nordic cheek bones. Jerry had given him bluish green eyes and blond hair. Anita took the photo and moved over to one of the empty desks. Pulling out the files from her black leather brief case she started going through the pictures in her files. It took less than five minutes before she found a match. Anita stood up and called every one over. She pulled out the photograph that came with her file.

“This is Theodore Barker, age 27, 6’2’’ tall.” Anita told them as she held up a photo. While the picture she held up showed a man with medium brown and slightly longish hair, which was different from the image generated by Jerry, he had the same jaw line a cheek bones. “Theodore was a bear lycanthrope from just outside of St Louis. He went missing just under a month ago. He was last seen at Paris Ford Construction where he worked as a foreman. The missing persons report was filed by his live in girlfriend Maria Patterson.

The meeting continued for the next half hour handing out assignments for the next day. The job sight needed to be interviewed as well as the girlfriend. The family needed to be notified, Anita was handling that. Normally telling the family was not one of the tasks Anta received on account of her personality showing a lack of compassion at times. Anita generally felt for the families who lost someone, it was just, she usually felt her time was better spent hunting the bad guys down and this often showed in her facial expressions, however, this one was her responsibility. It was a lycanthrope and being part of the community and felt a strong need to protect them.

As Anita was driving home she ran through everything that happened today and everything that she had to do tomorrow. It was only Monday and she knew it was going to be a long week. It was nearing 10pm and she needed to get to Rutherford Cemetery to raise the Wilkins boy. He was seventeen when he died three months ago and the parents felt they needed closer to find out what happened at the party that had killed him and seven other teens. As far as the police could figure out there was a lot of drinking a black magic book. Things went all wrong from there, however the police could not figure out everything that happened.

It was well past two am nearing on three when Anita arrived at home. She had not had time to feed the Ardeur today however she had eaten two substantial meals at Burger King. Eating a lot of high calorie foods as well as meat helped to control the Ardeur. Damian was already at the Circus. Anita thought about stopping by the Circus but she was just too tired. Nathanial was already asleep his long ankle length red hair was braided down his back. The soft blue jersey sheet was thrown over him covering his ass. Nate was wearing his red cotton pajama pants. He had been required to wear pants to bed instead of just boxers ever since Anita had that pregnancy scare. Nathanial preferred to be naked when he slept and well mostly anytime. His fondness for nudity came partially because of he was a stripper and partially because he was a lycanthrope. Most lycanthropes preferred to wear as little clothes as possible. Anita however was very uncomfortable with the idea being surrounded by half naked men all the time.

Anita was barely asleep for three hours when the phone rang jarring her out of her much needed rest. The sudden ringing had her nearly reaching for the gun that she kept next to her bed. It was a habit that had saved her life on more than one occasion.

“Blake speaking, what do you want?” She asked crankily

“Anita, we have another body.” The voice on the other end replied.

TBC



AN: Don’t worry Xander will be appearing in the next chapter.