Littermates

Chapter Thirty-four
1966, a week later--Discovery

Costas Veridun hunted Clyde down in his office. He found the Malkavian engaged in folding psychiatric reports into paper airplanes and tossing them at a wastebasket. Judging from the low level of paper in the basket and the clutter on the floor, his aim wasn't very good. "Costly!" said Clyde jovially. He sailed a plane at Costas, and scored a hit right between his eyes. "My aim is improving." Costas had caught the airplane, and now he crumpled it in his fist. "Hey, I wanted to save that."

"I want to know why we've had to hire another orderly," said Costas heavily.

Clyde squinted toward the ceiling, as if considering his answer. "We were short handed?"

"We had a full staff last time I went over the employee roster, and then today when I'm going over the monthly expenses I find this."

"Let me think--oh, I remember." His expression hardened. "Landrue was tormenting the patients again, so I fired him."

"If you fired him, why hasn't he filed for unemployment?"

"I fired him for cause--he wouldn't get it."

Costas gestured dismissively. "Oh, come on, Clyde. I know Landrue--the fact that he was in the wrong wouldn't stop him from trying."

Clyde shrugged. "Once they leave here they're not my problem. All I know is that he cursed me out and left. If I hadn't kept hold of my temper I'd have fed him his own eyes."

Costas grunted. "You should have told me. From now on I want you to keep me apprised of any new developements around here. I can't run the place effectively if I don't know what's going on."

The door to the office opened, and Joel Tarnour peeked in. Veridun was standing to the side, and the door obscured Joel's view of him. Clyde tried to give Joel a significant look, but if he jerked his head toward Costas the administrator would catch it, and Joel was so simple and direct himself that he wasn't very good at catching subtleties. "Doctor Clyde, Nareesha want's to know if it's all right if she can have a really true pair of scissors instead of the kiddie kind? She wants to make some Barbie clothes for Kitten, but the scissors we have are too blunt to cut cloth, and..." Costas stepped out from behind the door. "Oh." Joel fell silent for a moment, staring at Costas. He knew what the administrator was. He was usually fairly comfortable with the vampiric members of the staff, but they were Malkavians, like Doctor Clyde. Costas made him nervous.

"Hello, Joel." Costas gave the boy a smile, and Joel took a wary half step back. Unlike many of the sane, the most of the insane were quite good at recognizing a sociopath. That's what Costas, and indeed many of the Giovani, were. One needed to be to get anywhere in the vampire heirarchy.

"Hi," Joel whispered. He looked apologetically at Clyde. "I'm sorry. I should have knocked."

"Yes, you should have," said Clyde quietly. "But everyone makes mistakes. Go tell Nareesha that I'll see what I can do."

Joel turned and fled, and Costas immediately turned accusing eyes on Clyde. "I don't recall any patients named Kitten, much less Nareesha. Those are the kinds of names that stick in one's mind. And don't try to tell me that Joel hallucinated them. He's messed up, but he's not delusional. I know damn good and well that there haven't been any recent new admissions, so what's going on? Who are they?"

Clyde sighed and muttered, "Well, I suppose it couldn't last forever." He glanced up at Costas. "It's not a they, it's a she. Kathleen Bahste."

Costas blinked. "Bahste? But she's..." His expression darkened. "She's not catatonic any more, is she?"

"No." Clyde smiled, showing a hint of fang. "In fact, she's quite lively."

Costas was occasionally unobservant, but he wasn't stupid. "Landrue?"

"It was his own fault. I told you time and again that he was a hazard to the patients, but you wouldn't let me fire him, you cheap bastard. He tried something with her, and she took him out."

"So she's no longer a catatonic, she's a psychotic?"

"Um... I suppose so, technically. Schizophrenic might be another interpretation, but she's VERY high function. Remember, she passed for years on the outside, and I'm sure that all that happened was that occasionally someone thought she was eccentric. You noticed that Joel used two names? She's a fragmented personality."

"What? You mean like...?"

"Yes," said Clyde impatiently, "like Joanne Woodward in that Eve movie. Damn, I wish the media would come up with some other reference point for this type of condition."

Costas took a seat, and Clyde restrained a sigh. This meant that Costas was settling in, and Clyde would have him on his hands for a while longer. "Is the contrast as stark as it was in the movie?"

"I swear. Americans are totally obsessed with movies. I'd say that the contrast is even more pronounced. Eve kept that southern drawl no matter who she was at the moment. With my girls each personality has her own speech patterns and tonal quality. If you listen carefully, and you watch the body language, you can tell when the personalities swap. I guess as long as you know that she's out and about, I might as well brief you."

Clyde gave him a short description of the Bahste sisters, their psychosis, and what had likely caused it. "They won't go into detail, and I can't say I blame them. The memories have to be hellish. Let's just say that they didn't rip him to pieces because he'd been strict about curfew. Each one of the personalities I've talked to repressent a different part of a whole personality." He started ticking off on his fingers. "There's Kitten. She's the girl when she was young and innocent. She's the potential personality that never had a chance to mature. A traumatic experience froze her in time. Next there was Kathleen--she's the one I haven't been able to talk to. Kathleen is the personality that her mother created. Pliant, no trouble, something to be used. Then when The Bastard abused Kathleen, the poor kid gave birth to Acacia." He smiled fondly. "Ah, Acacia. The protector. The avenger. Rage, pain, and attitude. Acacia wouldn't have been able to survive long on her own, though, because society would have taken her down. Thus was born Nareesha--the social animal. Nareesha is all things smooth and manipulative. Nareesha could talk a Christian Scientist into donating a kidney. Nareesha is the one who's dealt most of the time with the outside world, showing up whenever anyone might be looking a little too closely. And finally we come to Milda. I haven't met her yet, but I've learned something about her from the others. She wasn't around when Bernard was abusing the other girls, she didn't come into being till after they'd escaped, but she's had her own tragedies. A man she loved was killed before her eyes, and that sent her into a deep depression, probably only a few steps from the catatonia she exhibited when she came here. Then she came out of it only long enough for Bernard to get his hands on her and try to rape her. Of course," Clyde smiled again sharply. "Acacia wasn't having any of that."

Costas pursed his lips as he considered the new information. "Well, I guess it's an improvement. She won't need as much care, so her upkeep should be less expensive." Clyde saw a minute shift in Costas' lips, and knew that the other vampire was running his tongue over his teeth, so he knew what was coming next. "Maybe it's time to pay her a visit. She's not anemic, is she?"

"No, but she hasn't changed any since she bludgeoned her mother, then ripped two men to bits and ate parts of them."

"If she were properly restrained..."

Clyde played his ace. "She's a lycanthrope."

Costas sat up abruptly, his expression one of distaste, then one of suspicion. "Are you lying to me, Clyde? I'm sure I'd have scented that in the few minutes I saw her when she was admitted." His nose wrinkled. "Those damn wolves are rank, even if they've been recently scrubbed and doused with perfume."

"She's a feline shapeshifter." Costas stared at him. "I'm not making this up. I know they're rare, but just because you've never met one, it doesn't mean they're mythical." Clyde noted with satisfaction that any hint of interest in the girls as a food source had disappeared. He'd been counting on that. Most vampires had no use at all for lycanthropes. In fact, the few vampires who had a talent for shape shifting were often viewed with suspicion by their fellows. The significant fact, though, was that Costas would have to be starving before he'd consider feeding off a lycanthrope.

"Well, just make sure she doesn't kill anyone else, or she'll have to go back in a cell." Costas got up and went to the door. He hesitated, looking thoughtful.

*He only gets that look on his face when he's contemplating something that might be to his advantage.* "What?"

"I was just thinking. You know that she inherited her stepfather's rather sizeable estate."

"I'm aware of that. She wouldn't be here if she wasn't rich."

"It's being controled by executors, since she's considered incompetent."

"Rich on paper, then."

"I checked up on the legal decision in her case. Do you know that if she were certified as cured she could walk right out and take possession of that fortune? Well, if she were of age." He hesitated.

"Go on and say what you're thinking, Costy."

"I was just thinking--it's a shame that all that money is just sitting there, doing no one any good. It could be put to use. Someone with that kind of finances would be a great advantage to any clan."

Clyde leaned forward suddenly, disbelief clear in his voice. "You're not seriously suggesting that she be Embraced? Costas..." It was a measure of how surprised Clyde was that he didn't give one of the administrator's hated nicknames. "Granted that I'm not a scholar, but as far as I know there's never been a lycanthrope Embraced. Drained and disposed of, yeah, sure. You know from experience."

"Once," snapped Costas. "And I'd been stuck in that basement for three days. Anything warm blooded was fair game. Tasted gamey. But if I could bring someone like this Bahste girl into the fold, just think of the status I'd earn in the clan. I could force myself."

"Wonderful way to enter our species," drawled Clyde. "I seriously doubt that she'd be inclined to co-operate."

"She wouldn't have a choice, would she? As her sire I could direct her to do anything I thought best."

"Costas, you know damn good and well that's dependent on the force of will involved. If the mortal was strong enough in life, they're going to be hard to control. And I'm telling you right now, if you try it with Acacia you're going to find yourself in a world of trouble. She already doesn't care for men, and she has a positive ANTIPATHY for men who try to force anything on women."

Costas frowned. "I see your point. In any case, even if she was successfully Embraced, there's the legal matters to deal with. Damn it. If we were the only ones involved in judging her sanity it would be fine, but they INSIST on those outside consultants. Clyde, do you think that you could get her to the point where she could pass muster before the board? We can write up whatever records we need, but she has to be able to hold together for the interview."

Clyde considered this. "I might. But you DO realize that she'd still be insane?"

"So? It isn't as if there aren't a few lunatics running around in all the clans. You people don't have a monopoly on insanity. Work on that for me, would you? I'll be wanting regular reports."

He left, and Clyde stared after him. *Why, you fart. You're already counting the money. And I bet you'd use it to lever yourself up into a higher level of your clan. I bet you're even thinking that you might end up a prince of the city. I knew there was a reason I didn't like you. Well, multiple reasons. I guess that being power hungry is one of them. Oh, I'm going to try to get the girls socialized all right, but not to fit in with your schemes, Costco. I'm going to do it because it's the right thing to do, because I've no doubt they wouldn't co-operate, and I'd love to see your plans frustrated, because Joel likes them, because -I- like them, but mostly,* he smiled, *because it should be damn interesting.*