Deceiving the Lie: Part XI (B)
<<<<<Deceiving the Lie: Part XI (A)
Warnings: Blood, Violence, Profanity, and a smidge of Sap.
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“Mickey, I need to tell you something…,” Aeryn said to herself, pacing back and forth next to the fire pit. She was practicing the best way to tell Mickey what had been going on for the past three nights right under her nose. With her sleeves rolled up and her collar low, she was aiming for full disclosure of her transgressions… but it wasn’t going well.
“Uh… maybe you should sit down. You will never guess who paid me a visit last night. And the night before that. And the night before that.”
Aeryn groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. She didn’t know how she was going to fess up. It would have been easier for her to tell Mickey anything else. That she was a serial murderer. That she set fire to baskets of puppies and rainbows on her spare time. That she had slapped her grandmother. Anything else than tell her that she had been letting Jax into her psyche, her body, and her bed.
She was about to practice another line when she heard a car pull up next to the house. She turned to look, surprised to see Chloe stepping out of an expensive looking vehicle. Even without noticing the way Chloe’s eyes bore into her, Aeryn could tell this was not a friendly visit.
She turned away and mumbled to herself, “Oh, fuck.”
“Chloe,” Aeryn started, turning back around, but the woman raised a hand to stop her.
“I don’t blame you, Aeryn,” Chloe said, walking towards her. Her clothing seemed damp, and her red hair was uncharacteristically mussed. “I don’t blame you at all. No one could have known just how susceptible he’d be to you. Even so, it is unfair to you that this is has gone so far.”
Aeryn gave an apologetic frown. “It’s not going any further. It’s done. It’s over with.”
Chloe smiled. “That’s very charming of you, but you are just as deluded as he is. Outside of your logic, if he returned to you, you’d still indulge him. ”
Aeryn didn’t answer, knowing she couldn’t refute that statement.
“You can’t help it. Your potency was… unexpected. He is bound to you. And it will only get worse. He’ll destroy himself,” she paused, “… over you.”
“I – I don’t know what you mean,” Aeryn stuttered. The woman was closing the gap between them with a jerky, unsettling gate, and Aeryn was suddenly apprehensive. She tried to reason with Chloe. “I understand this is upsetting, and I regret it tremendously, but it is over. He’s not… bound to me. It was a few nights of thoughtless indiscretion. And I’m sorry. I swear, it is done. Let’s go inside and discuss this –”
“You know nothing. You don’t know what we can become. You don’t know the strain of this.” Chloe narrowed her eyes. “And even if you were aware… even if you knew what would become of him if this continued… what would become of you… even if you could possibly understand what he’s done… you’d still let him use you.”
Chloe stopped in front of her and leaned forward menacingly. Despite her passive expression, Aeryn could feel an angry heat in her gaze as Chloe’s eyes drifted over her. Almost instinctively, Aeryn shielded her aura.
“What will that do?” Chloe scoffed, but her mocking smirk quickly fell from her face. “You are weak, and yet, you are our weakness. His weakness.”
Aeryn took a step back and stumbled on the rocks of the fire pit. She realized that she could sense Chloe’s aura slowly ebbing away, the sun’s rays biting at it, slithers of energy escaping Chloe’s psyche. If Chloe was aware of it, she made no attempt to stop it. Instead she took another purposeful step in Aeryn’s direction.
“Chloe,” Aeryn said pleadingly, “if I could take this back – ”
“You can’t,” Chloe cut her off. “You couldn’t have even prevented it. But… I can end it.”
The speed with which Chloe leapt at her did not even leave time for Aeryn to scream. She could only process what was happening to her in the moments after it had already occurred. Her arms were pinned behind her. Her head had been forced roughly to the side. Fangs were sinking mercilessly into her neck.
Chloe did not remunerate her with pleasant tingles or shivers, as Jax had done so many times before. No, her fangs held a pain so excruciating that Aeryn’s strangled breaths caught in her throat. The agony tore through her veins and her heart began palpitating as her blood vessels constricted vainly. She could only manage a choked squeak as she flailed weakly, struggling to fight Chloe off, but the woman’s arms were like stone.
Unlike Jax’s controlled sips, Chloe was drawing massive mouthfuls from Aeryn’s neck, swallowing enormous portions of her blood with each beat of her panicking heart, which was growing slower and weaker by the second. Aeryn was becoming dizzy and weak, her vision morphing into a blurry tunnel.
She had reached the edge of consciousness, and was about to give in to the encroaching darkness, when suddenly she heard the angry buzz of a motorcycle engine.
Chloe dropped Aeryn’s limp form, barely turning before Jax knocked her off her feet.
Aeryn was barely aware of what was going on, only hearing a jumble of angry words and profanities.
“The fuck?! This isn’t her fault!” Jax was yelling.
“No, it’s yours!” Chloe screamed back, sending her foot into his groin.
Jax grunted in pain and fell backward, although he tried to keep his hold on her.
“Get off of me!” Chloe shoved him away violently, the scope of her strength easily comparable with his.
Aeryn heard the door slam open, and Mickey’s alarmed voice. “What is happening?!”
“Mickey, help her!” Jax yelled, scrambling to his feet.
“Aeryn?!” Mickey cried out. “What happened to her?!”
But she didn’t get an answer. Chloe had found her footing and ran to her car before Jax could get a hold on her again.
“Chloe!” Jax banged on the hood of the car, as his wife began backing out recklessly. But with a squeal of tires she was gone.
He grabbed his bike, which was still running, and sped off after her.
“Aeryn? What the hell?” Mickey murmured incredulously, squatting next to her and beginning a profuse transfusion of energy. “Oh God… honey, just stay with me okay?”
But Aeryn was slipping away, falling back into dark nothingness.
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Chauncey pulled up next to his home, and got out of the car, keen to grab the bag of avocados and pita bread that Layne had somehow managed to collect for him. There was also a letter to Aeryn that held some bad news, but he hadn’t asked for details, only promised to make sure she received it.
But as he began making his way toward the door, he stopped short. He let his senses examine his surroundings, feeling the remnants of what might have been a massive exchange of energy. He looked down at the ground, seeing the clearly defined marks of a scuffle. He smelled blood.
He dropped the bag and rushed up the stairs, nearly ripped the door off its hinges in his haste. His first reaction was relief to see Mickey walking towards him, a cursory glance revealing that she was fine. But her expression plunged him right back into anxiety. Over her shoulder, he could see a frail, shriveled figure slumped on his couch, but his brain was refusing to believe it might be Aeryn.
“What happened?” he asked Mickey.
She bit her lip hesitantly. “I… I don’t really know,” she told him. “Everything kind of just happened all at once, and I…”
He was surprised to hear tears in her voice. Mickey was not a crier, so whatever happened had to have been terrible. He could think of only two people within a hundred mile radius that were capable of inciting enough terribleness to bring Mickey to tears.
“Aeryn was just…” she tried to continue, but her voice trailed off as a single tear escaped her eye.
Reflexively, he reached for her, but at his touch she stiffened. He knew that she wasn’t rebuffing him. She was steeling herself. His arms ached to embrace her, but he realized that if he did, she might lose whatever it was that was holding her together, and there was no time for that.
He sighed and rested his forehead against hers. He cursed himself for dropping his guard, for allowing himself to be distracted, and for giving those demons even the smallest modicum of trust.
“I’m sorry,” she said to him. “I should have been more –”
He cut her off. “Don’t you dare apologize for this.”
He sighed again, and walked around her to go appraise the situation. Aeryn was slumped pathetically on the couch, wilted and pale, taking breaths so sporadic and shallow that Chauncey was unsure if she was even breathing at first glance. While Mickey had restored her aura the best she could, her body was past the point where a dose of healing energy could help her. This was biological.
Mickey looked down with an air of guilt. “Chloe took so much blood from her, I… I gave her as much energy as I could –”
“Stop,” Chauncey said gently.
He knelt beside the couch, and was unable to keep himself from cringing. Aeryn’s neck was a myriad of puncture wounds, new and old, and the gravity of the situation took an alternate perspective. Whatever happened, it didn’t start today.
“She was hiding it from me,” Mickey said quietly, watching as he took her pulse. “I don’t know how… she was wearing turtlenecks and acting strange, but I didn’t even realize… I can’t believe I let this happen.”
“Stop it,” Chauncey repeated, more firmly this time. Despite Mickey’s remorse, she had nothing to do with it. But he knew exactly who did. Aeryn smelled of Chloe, but she smelled even more strongly of Jax.
Just to be sure, he reached down and turned over one of her wrists. It was marked with two identical, almost healed wounds. He reached over and flipped her other hand. It was also marked.
He tried to keep the rage building in his core from bubbling over. “When did Jax bite her?” he asked as calmly as possible.
“I don’t know.” Mickey shook her head. “I just… really don’t know. Her aura told me nothing.”
“Jax isn’t one to leave a calling card.” Chauncey scowled.
He gave Aeryn another once over before reaching under her and lifting her off the couch.
Mickey pinched her knuckles nervously as she watched Chauncey carry Aeryn’s limp figure to his bed. She had to bite her tongue to keep from apologizing again. She knew it was only frustrating Chauncey, and he seemed to be taking pains not to show his anger in front of her.
“What do you think?” she asked softly as he returned to his living area. “Hospital?”
Chauncey blinked. He was thinking of taking Aeryn to a hospital, but the implications of that might be even more dangerous than just leaving her to fate. Hospitals were apart of the non-psychic world, and they would want names and information, things that were unsafe to divulge. Even if they managed to get away with aliases, being out in the open like that… in the real world, where Rowanne had eyes watching everything… it was dangerous. Not to mention that the hospital staff would probably be wondering exactly how Aeryn had managed to misplace half of her blood when her injuries were nothing more than what seemed to be a few pin pricks. There was no believable excuse that they could make for that, and they didn’t need anyone getting ideas.
“Just… watch her,” he said. They would have to figure it out later, as his anger was beginning to cloud his thoughts. He moved to walk past her, but she stepped in front of him, placing her hands on his chest. This time, it was her touch that caused him to stiffen.
“We don’t even know exactly what happened,” she said.
“Does it matter?” he growled. He looked away from her, unable to check his fury.
“No,” she exhaled. “But both of them were involved in this. I’m not protecting anybody, but maybe if we figure this out first before doing anything rash – ”
“We’re past that,” Chauncey said, and pushed her aside with an effortless sweep of his arm.
She stumbled back out of his way and fell quiet, unable to do anything but watch him go.
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Chauncey landed harder than he had meant to and had to grip the ground with his hands to steady himself. The air was very still here. Unnaturally so, and it had affected his own manipulations of it.
He looked up at his parents’ dark home, and realized that something was wrong. Even more wrong than the situation at his own home. He couldn’t sense anyone else in the vicinity, which was odd, given that the place was always flushed with Chloe’s addicts.
He made his way slowly around the house, hackles raised, senses sharp, suspicious of the calm.
Pulling open the door, he immediately understood why everything was eerily still. Strewn across the living room were the corpses of Chloe’s addicts, their blood spilling across the hardwood floor.
He gripped his head and swallowed hard as the smell of blood hit him like a sledgehammer, overwhelming him. Even as he felt bile rise in the back of his throat, a preternatural thirst was tugging on his gut. Even dead blood, void of life energy, sent his senses flailing. He couldn’t tell if he was more disgusted with himself, or the scene before him.
“Breathe through your mouth,” Jax said quietly from the middle of the carnage. He was holding the body of a darkhaired woman, his solemn demeanor affecting the current of air particles around him.
Chauncey scowled at the sound of his voice but said nothing as he closed his eyes and took a minute to compose himself. After the initial shock of it, he was able to refocus himself. Cautiously, he stepped further into the blood stained room, trying to determine if Chloe was still in the house. She wasn’t.
“Jax,” he said callously, although he didn’t bother to question the situation.
“By the time I got here, half of them were already dead.” Jax looked over the pale body that was strewn across his lap. “I couldn’t stop her.”
Chauncey clenched his jaw and his fists, keeping his eyes low. “Where is she now?” he asked.
Jax shrugged mildly. “I don’t know. But she didn’t go in your direction. Otherwise I would have followed her.”
“I would think that you’d have followed her in whatever direction she went, being that she’s homicidal and all.”
Jax shrugged again.
Chauncey shook his head in loathing, but all the violent intentions he had against his father had evaporated in the face of the slaughter. He turned to leave.
“Chauncey,” Jax called him. “Is Aeryn alright?”
Chauncey huffed incredulously, but didn’t turn around. “Whatever state she’s in,” he answered, “you don’t deserve to know. I know this is your fault. All of this. I don’t know exactly how you managed to drive an otherwise mildly crazy woman to murderous lunacy, but I do not put it past you in the least. You made Mickey cry, and that alone warrants your head, but given the situation, I’m inclined to leave you with this warning. If you come near anyone I care about ever again, I will not hesitate to kill you.”
And with that Chauncey was out the door, leaving Jax in a pool of death.
VERON!!!!!! WHAT THE HOLY HELL???!!!?????!!!!
Penelope
June 23, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Hahahahahaha!
I laughed out loud. HA!
Veron
June 23, 2009 at 8:53 pm
OH MY GOD!
OH……MY….GOD!
WHAT IS THIS? LOL
Damon
June 23, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Heeee! The reactions to this one are cracking me up.
Veron
June 23, 2009 at 9:10 pm
…………………ummmmmmm……….
Unbelievable. Unbelievably awesome…..
’nuff said.
Kayvon
June 24, 2009 at 12:08 am
Hehehe, thanks Kayvon!
Veron
June 24, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Finally read your story. Yay
And here I was, thinking Jax was the creepy one. Judging by that last bit, I take it he would’ve never even thought of intentionally killing one of them, let alone all of them? God, Chloe’s jealous is driving her totally batshit.
Really liking the story. Interesting, original premise, and very well thought-out and organized. Also, you’re an absolute genius at posing. I can’t imagine how long it must take you to take these pictures. Makes my lazy, Maxis-reliant head spin in directions I didn’t even think were possible.
Keep it up
Van
June 24, 2009 at 12:41 am
*jealousy
My bad. I’m failing at typing today for some reason.
Van
June 24, 2009 at 12:43 am
Thanks Van!
No, Jax doesn’t really do the whole death and violence thing. Neither does Chloe, so much, but when pushed to the edge she can be frightful… as you can see.
The posing really doesn’t take long at all. At first, when I was just getting used to it, yeah, it was tedious as balls and I wanted to shoot my computer in the face, but once you get the hang of it, I swear it’s the easiest thing. I’m gonna start banging out tutorials again when I get a minute, because I swear I’m gonna make everyone into a posing maniac.
Thanks!
Veron
June 24, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Yes please on the tutorials.
Penelope
June 24, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Very soon, very soon. But I want to put the type of posings up for polling. There are tutorials going up all over the place, I just need to see where the demand lies.
Veron
June 24, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Ummm…can I just say that I really don’t feel bad for anyone but Mickey, Chauncey and all those people that Chloe slaughter? Everyone else can go rot really! I’m just saying!
Awesome update! Also
Mickey plus Chauncey equals ♥! Seriously! His line about Jax having made her cry…made me squee!!
PhoenixFG
June 24, 2009 at 2:39 am
No, you are definitely right. Chauncey and Mickey are the ones who pulled the short stick. And the slaughter house… just unnecessary. Come on Chloe. Hehe @ everyone can go rot. The way things look, they probably will.
Oh I lurv me some Mickey and Chauncey. I don’t do much on the “love” side of things… mostly illicit scandal and death. So they’re where I go to keep things from being completely black and terrible. Although this is pretty bad.
Veron
June 24, 2009 at 2:02 pm
BTW Veron, I’m still looking for the sap in this chapter. Where is the sap???
Penelope
June 24, 2009 at 11:04 am
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Mickey and Chauncey? No? Ah well.
Veron
June 24, 2009 at 2:03 pm
EH! This chapter is just so shocking, I totally wasn’t expecting Chloe to find Aeryn. She was trying to kill Aeryn, right? But why would she kill off all her addicts too and leave the blood to waste?
I smiled to see Chauncey fussing with Mickey’s food, but saddened to see Mickey cry (Mickey DON’T cry!) and Chauncey pushing her away (Chauncey DON’T push!). lol.
I have to agree with Penelope. VERON!!! WHAT THE HOLY HELL?!?!?!
Ning
June 25, 2009 at 3:23 am
Chloe was definitely, definitely, definitely trying to kill Aeryn. Killing her addicts was probably in anger and frustration. Not at all about blood. Chloe is a tiny waif of a thing, but she had been pushed to her edge, whereever that was, by jealousy or desperation or whatever, and she lost her shit. Had she managed to kill Aeryn, I doubt that slaughter would have happened, but the fact that Jax came and SAVED HER, oh how dare he, now everyone has to die.
I don’t think I have a character that deals with their emotions very well… except for maybe Hadrian and Loris… but we haven’t seen much of them, and they are Empaths. By definition, they should have an excellent hold on their emotions.
Mickey and Chauncey are great at bottling emotions, especially the deeper ones, so when they finally come out, the last people they want to deal with are each other simply because they disarm one another. And when you’re disarmed, your emotions are less easy to suppress. That’s the only reason why they were both so… “don’t touch me please”. Neither of them wanted to completely lose it.
Hehehehehehehe, what the holy hell, indeed.
Veron
June 25, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Normally I’m a lurker, but I felt the need to post.
I just started reading yesterday and finished today, and I’m just sitting here with this reaction I don’t even know how to describe, really, except with “!”.
Your story is awesome.
Sheryl
June 25, 2009 at 7:06 am
YEAH DELURKING! Hi Sheryl! You started this massive frickin’ mass of massiveness yesterday? From the beginning? Wow, thank you! I always feel soooo bad about the first two chapters. Like how dare I inflict that on the population. Thank you so much for sticking through it. It only gets better… well, I hope it only gets better, it might fall into a crap hole and die. I don’t know, I hope not.
Thank you soooo much, just for reading. Seriously, that alone is a big deal to me. And commenting is simply the awesome sauce on top.
Veron
June 25, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Oh my God, I’ve just sat here and read all of this from the beginning today… this has been one of the best-spent days EVER. Thank you so, so much for writing this and sharing it with everyone!
Your character development is stunning, and the amount of work that must have gone into some of those shots is staggering. Plus the story itself is sheer brilliance, original, inventive, and there hasn’t been a single paragraph that I did not really, really enjoy.
I look forward very much to future updates
Dorian
June 25, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Hi Dorian! Thank you for getting through it all, I know those first chapters were like… “pardon?” I wrote it originally just sort of messing around, but other sims stories always interested me, and it just seemed a fun way to go. I really adore parts of the sims 2 community, and so I’m just glad that I have readers!
Thank you so much. Originally, yeah, posing was a pain in the ass, but now I’m pretty excited about just explaining it all to everyone. It’s so fun and easy. Setting and decor are my real problems, actually. Like… I suck.
Thank you! I gotta take a small break, but its doubtful I’ll be able to stay away for very long.
Veron
June 25, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Geeze, I don’t feel bad for anyone but Mickey. Jax needs to fucking die. Which is horrible, but seriously. Sitting around and being mopey doesn’t do shit, dude. You fail. Chauncey, you’re a wee bit too late to the party, man. Not your fault, but still. Aeryn, what the hell? Chloe steamrolled her, for sure. Damn. What next? It’s going to be tough pulling out of this ditch.
I know we have to wait for more, but I really can’t wait to see what’s going on with everyone else. I’m also curious as to WTF is up with Chloe. Homicidal rampage doesn’t seem to be the ideal way to solve this, LOL. xD
Simsecret may be sketchy, but you’ve got more readers. That’s a bonus!
Mao
June 25, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Mao! I was thinking of you when I was editing the pics of the slaughter! … I don’t know if you consider that a compliment, or… consider me a weirdo… but I WAS! And with a big silly grin on my face.
Well, Chauncey was going over there to rip Jax’s face off… if that makes you feel better. But, you know, the situation was delicate. And I’ll admit, I snorted when you said Jax needed to die, because my humor is morbid as hell, but even in its hilarity, he probably won’t be disappearing too soon.
That said, I do have to pay attention to everyone else for a bit, especially Roux and Garcia… but stories are going to start intermingling again, so it won’t take so long to tie this back in.
… yeah… :0/
Veron
June 25, 2009 at 10:17 pm
You’re getting back at me for a lack of Christian.
Damn Jax! I have no idea why he rubs me this wrongly, but he does and not in that “bad rubbing that’s SO GOOD” way, either, LOL!
Awww!! Wait, why am I flattered that you think of me while doing slaughters? Oh, right, because I am me. And that is obviously AWESOME.
Mao
June 26, 2009 at 9:30 am
Yes, consider Jax the revenge of Christian. I’m going with that, full throttle.
He rubs you the wrong way because he’s an ASSHOLE! XD
Yeah, I was going through the pics like… more blood, more blood for Mao. Because I’m a loony toon
Veron
June 26, 2009 at 12:02 pm
You definately know how to heat things up! Aeryn is really in for it, especially with that psycho vamp/aura sucker on her a double scribble, Jax well he showed some morality, trying to protect her and all. But still it is seeming evident he is tied to Chloe… Oh dear… He is crossed isnt he?, LOL!
Then for Chauncey and Mickey, Nail biting tension to be sure in this update… Ok I cant wait for you to make it back to this so we can find out what happens next. 80)
Hopefully this all made sense. 80) LOL!
cheripye
June 26, 2009 at 12:10 am
Jax is crossed, yes he is. You would like to think its because he’s feeling the weight of his actions, but I feel like after the initial shock of seeing his wife go apeshit, he’ll get over it. And despite Chauncey’s warning, you can be sure that even after all of this, he isn’t going to leave Aeryn be. Although, I think she’s done with him. For real this time. Angry wives trying to kill her really doesn’t do it for her.
Veron
June 26, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Extremely unsettling. I don’t know what Chloe thinks she’s doing, and if killing everyone was some kind of act of revenge, it seems sort of pathetic.
Poor Mickey. And I never thought I’d say that. And what’s Jax doing? Cleaning up? In a daze? Scared? Of Chauncey yes but of Chloe? Just discombobulated?
Wonderful WONDERFUL!
S.B.
June 26, 2009 at 9:46 am
I don’t think Chloe did it out of revenge. It was moreso just out of rage and frustration. She just snapped. She’ll probably regret it in the future, but right now, she’s outta her mind.
Mickey will deal, she was just caught completely off guard. And the idea that Aeryn might DIE on her watch was not how she planned on finishing the week.
Jax is just sitting, discombobulated, maybe. Remorseful… maybe. Sad… probably. That girl in his lap was the one who offered herself to him when we first met him, and she might have been one of his favorites. He might be greiving her a little bit. I’m gonna leave that open.
But scared, no. He’s not scared, especially not of Chauncey. And that was always the problem. I don’t know what he thought, but the idea of Chauncey throwing him through a wall never fazed him… if it had, none of them would even BE in this situation.
Thanks Beth!
Veron
June 26, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I admit I read this a few days ago. It was sobering and I can honestly say I was dumbfounded. I am not sure what I thought Chloe was going to do but I seriously did not think she was going to attack Aeryn like THAT! What an incredible turn of events here and the shockwaves are not going to stop for awhile.
I still do not feel sorry for Jax. I am extremely surprised that Chauncey didn’t rip his face off. Seeing Jax sitting there feeling “bad” just didn’t do it for me. I do however mourn for the victims here.
But there are bigger problems that need attention (Chloe) before anything else. Everyone is going to feel some form of guilt. Layne for summoning Chauncey over an infatuation, Mickey for not paying closer attention, Chauncey for putting Aeryn in touch with Jax and Chloe, and OMG what if Aeryn dies.
This was powerful. I am blown away. This was huge.
Gayl
June 26, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Chauncey wsa probably as unaffected by Jax’s “feelings” as you were. Just in the face of blood and death, it was no longer even worth it for him. He’s not violent by nature, so it takes a lot for him to keep up enough vehemence to send Jax flying. I have to say Jax got lucky, but know this man, he’ll take it for granted and no doubt try some shit again. Chauncey won’t let it slide twice.
Chloe is a big problem, where she’s going and what she’s doing? Who knows. Layne, Mickey, and Chauncey will all place blame on themselves, despite whoever’s fault it really is, and that will drastically change the group dynamic.
And, yes, OMG what if Aeryn dies. They can’t take her to a hospital without risking their own lives. Without risking HER life.
Thank you, Gayl!
Veron
June 28, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I think I was right there with Chauncey in the face of that blood and death. It was sobering. It felt like a violent shift into something darker and more scary.
Brilliant writing.
Gayl
June 28, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Yeah, and that sort of thing will absolutely snap someone into a different state of mind. Granted, he had gone there with a plan to spill blood, but seeing it in that situation… who wouldn’t think twice, you know?
Thank you! I really appreciate it coming from you. Really really
.
Veron
June 28, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Wow. Talk about your messed up families. How did Chauncey turn out the way he did with parents like that? The blood bath was…stunning. But this may push him over the edge. That and making Mickey cry.
And call me nuts,(and I am alone here but, meh) but I still kind of feel…sorry…for Jax. Him holding that body. His concern, such as it was, for Aryen. Oh, this is going to end badly.
Great update.
~Drew
July 1, 2009 at 10:51 am
Chauncey was exposed to some pretty questionable parenting in his childhood, definitely, but he never took their habits. In fact he spent most of his teens with Ryan and her family. I’m going to be doing a massive flashback in a second.
Hehe, yeah I think you’re the only one who feels sorry for Jax. Just because he kind of orchestrated this whole thing, but you are right he did feel remorse. He wasn’t expecting it to go there, at all. At most, he thought he would have to deal with Chauncey who, under different circumstances, would have made a valient attempt to rip his head off. Chloe never really figured much into the picture, which of course was the worst mistake he could have made. Underestimating her, that is.
Thanks Karen!
Veron
July 5, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Well I just started reading this day before yesterday and the entire story is amazing and so creative. You character development is top notch and I love how you take the reader through all the motions of change with them.
I understand I am probably alone in this, but I think jax is one of my favorite characters. This is probably due to several reasons. I love the twist of his personality. On first glance he seems so superficially typical and easy to understand and just when you think you have his whole cliched persona figured out you realize he is not so black and white. There is something sexy about their seduction of each other and yes I said each other. Even though he started it, she carried it on as well… It’s an interesting need for each other they demonstrate beyond just sexual when they have their moments of just “talking” Of course his actions are completely disgusting from a real life view.. but this is fictional fantasy writing! I think the fact I love vampires and always secretly wished Dracula lived happily every after with Mina in Dracula says alot haha. But they are vampires and happily ever after wouldn’t make them so interesting.
I enjoy Chloe’s personality so much too, because she was another one that seemed so easy to read until you pulled control from her. All of the characters are amazing and I love their stories and the way you tie them in with everything. But I am definitely a Chloe and Jax fan and will probably cry a little if/when anything bad happens to them. haha Well you know “permanently” bad
… Plus it takes a special writer to be able to put such a kink in such superficial “meh fuck it” type attitudes as Jax and Chloe. You crumbled their ideal little world right around them. I keep thinking about Chauncey’s fear of placing Aeryn in danger by bringing her to their house in the first place, but as it turns out she was just as much a danger to them in a way.
Sorry for the book of a response. But you just did such an amazing job on this story, with the whole concept of psychics as opposed to a typical vampires and magic, that I had to gush a bit
Galilee
July 6, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Thanks Galilee! I can’t believe you read the whole thing, I always feel bad… one day I’m going to update my first chapters just so I can stop feeling like I’m torturing people
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I’m not a fan of heros, so Jax is one of my favorites too. Just because he’s one person that I can always call on to just mess everything up. And the emotional response to him as a character is always huge. Like he is completely despisable, and yet he’s got a sexual energy that isn’t matched by any of my other characters.
I also tend to focus on character flaws as I think, in real life, a person’s character is molded on their flaws. If you take a situation and wonder how a typically selfish person would react to it, or how a insecure person would react to it, or how a insolent person would react to it, or how a plain old jackass would react to it, it is entirely different situation if you have all of your characters veiwing the situation in the same light.
Jax schemes himself into holes, but you can tell he’s the sort of guy who has never really had to face up to the consequences of his actions until now. Or if he has, it has never been significant enough to matter to him. Even after this, you can’t really be sure how he’ll react, because he can really be a dickhead.
Chloe is a bit of a control freak, but you don’t realize it until she’s no longer in control. Then you see that the whole time she was micromanaging everything in her head. Yeah, she was in an open marriage, but it was still under her terms. Under her control. Jax never got to deep in everything, and he was generally commited to her. Now that it isn’t going her way she is going to have the most massive bitch fit in the history of bitch fits.
Aeryn did have her hand it keeping the whole thing going, and she took a certain level of control which makes you wonder just how much Jax was influencing her. For a moment she seemed in full control of herself, Jax having nothing to do with it.
I found out that there were a serious amount of vampire sim stories way after I started doing this one, and at first I was like, “Oh man, I can’t do this. Everyone and their accountant is doing this.” But after awhile I wasn’t worried because I was focusing more on the psychic side of things. I decided that this story was going to be about psychics, some of which had tendencies that were a bit vampy. Yes, fangs and blood and issues with the sun… but auras and psyches and psychic abilities came first.
I love book responses. I just gave one myself.
Thanks!
Veron
July 6, 2009 at 11:42 pm
pfft.. don’t feel bad. I seriously wouldn’t have kept reading if I wasn’t intrigued to begin with. And I definitely wouldn’t have bothered to comment
Besides beginning chapters are always very detail oriented for background purposes. It made me want to turn one of my fantasy stories I’ve written into a sim type written story in fact.. Making sims out of characters you have created seems immensely fun for some reason.
Oh I hear ya about heroes! They are definitely a required element in fantasy type fictions, but they definitely are never as entertaining.. or as sexy as the non heroes haha They are more fun to not only read but write as well.
“Now that it isn’t going her way she is going to have the most massive bitch fit in the history of bitch fits.” That made me lol
Oh I hear you about the vampire subject. As it’s probably one of the reasons I avoided ever putting my stories into sim form. Not entirely just a vampire story, they are involved. Not to say I won’t read a traditional vampire type story, but I realize all fantasy races and genre is really just a template I look at like plain ole tomato soup. You start with it as a base and then you add all the spices to make it more then just plain soup.. if that made any sense.. Being creative is making it your own and I really get excited when I find the stories that yes may have vampires but they made it their own and stepped out of the cookie cutter fantasy… In other words your tomato soup is awesome sauce haha
Maybe I shouldn’t have drank that coffee this morning
Galilee
July 7, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Thanks, I just feel that my beginning flow was like… meh, and completely disconnected from what I’m doing now. And then I have those super massive parts that are so long… oh man. Yeah, well, what can you do
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Oh sims to characters? FUN! And I’m a dork and like to have sims whose personality points match the character they’re playing… yeah. Although it doesn’t always work. Like Rowanne… she’s got something crazy like 9 nice points, and it’s like… not accurate at all. But yeah, just looking through sims, especially my older ones that were born in game, and casting them is really fun. But some people, like Loris and Kensee, they were toggled instead of born. I wasn’t playing the game anymore, just making babies. And it was frustrated having sims make 4 and 5 babies just to find one that looked half-way decent. Most of my sims are so gross. Like noses on their forheads and eyes next to their ears. All these characters are just the small percentage that came out looking human-esque.
Some sims are just clones. Aeryn is Hadrian’s girl clone, with like a smidge of tweaking around her chin and lips. I had to make her again actually, because her original file corrupted and died, and just remaking her was like revisiting the character again.
The non-hero has so much more fun in my opinion. I’m a villain sympathizer HA! And I just don’t believe in the hero. When I see a fluffy main character, all I see is an author trying to like, make their ideal person, or they’re creating someone who not only couldn’t exist, but is just completely unbelievable even with suspension of belief. I just try to force my stories into realism, even though they are completely unreal. Like how would a real individual react to an event that could never happen? Now how would a real individual react to something unreal if they see it everyday of their life? That sort of thing.
LOVE vampires, but to an extent. Like the original lore, I can totally get with. Dracula and that sort? Please and thank you. But the the newer, more modern takes on vampires that are kind of running rampant lately, I can’t really follow. I don’t know, I see the vampire as the evil demon or the tortured soul, with that sexual energy, who is ruled by this uncontrollable need, yaddee yaddah, vampy vamp vamp. It’s like literary necessity for me. You can change up the story or the lore, make it your own, but once you start trying to make an ice cream version of the vampire, you lose me completely. I agree with you absolutely, STEP OUT OF THE COOKIE CUTTER OMG, but don’t step out so far that you’re not even talking about vampires anymore. Or if you’re gonna do it, please don’t stab me in the heart by calling your completely unrelated creature a vampire… oh how it hurts me…
RANT!
But yeah, writers and authors who make the vamp genre their own without commiting sacrilege.. LOVE.
You can ask anyone, “awesome sauce” is my favorite term in the world… next to “poo” and “monkey balls”.
So saying that my tomato soup is awesome sauce, is like the best compliment ever XD
…oh wow… and I didn’t even have coffee today…
Veron
July 7, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Yeah it definitely takes a bit to get in the groove. I go back and re-read my writings and find I change stuff to coincide better with development etc. It’s like being on a kill streak in halo or something haha
I admit I started downloading stuff that will work for story characters to make into sims now lol. I am not sure if I will write it all out, as it would take alot of editing to make them mesh I am sure, but who knows. At the very least I want to take pics and make them.. see what their babies will look like lol
You are entirely right. The hero is always the ideal in a persons mind. I like flaws though. I don’t know if you ever read RA Salvatore books (DnD geek shit lol) But the hero Drizzt is awesome, because who doesn’t love a smexy ass dark elf, but his rival Artemis Entreri *dream* I love his persona, he is so full of jack assery but lets face it, thats what makes us girls all tingly! I watch Smallville and the guy that plays Clark Kent is sooooo goodie goodie.. Now he is some serious eye candy, but I always liked Lex with his bad ass attitude lol
” But the the newer, more modern takes on vampires that are kind of running rampant lately, I can’t really follow. I don’t know, I see the vampire as the evil demon or the tortured soul, with that sexual energy, who is ruled by this uncontrollable need, yaddee yaddah, vampy vamp vamp. It’s like literary necessity for me. You can change up the story or the lore, make it your own, but once you start trying to make an ice cream version of the vampire, you lose me completely.” I couldn’t agree more. There are just basic elements you need when creating Vampires. I mean they don’t all have to be able to turn into green mist, bats and shit but they should all need to in some way feed off the life force of the living lol. And magical capabilities should be well reasonable.. what kind of vampire is going to be casting holy spells lol I like to take the vampire race in one of my stories and make like little sub races off of them to give them a pretty intricate society, but if they are considered a vampire you can bet your ass they are gonna be biting some necks and pretty sexually charged lol I think I may have issues?
HAHA I like poo (well the word not the real kind of poo).. monkey balls is new for me. I enjoy fuckelator and hiney hole haha
Galilee
July 8, 2009 at 5:56 pm
RA Salvatore and “fuckelator”.
I’ve got two new things to add to my repertoire this week.
Veron
July 9, 2009 at 2:22 pm
haha indeed
Salvatore has a lot of good series, but if you read his series about Drizzt the Drow I dare you not to fall in love with the Artemis Character when he appears in like the third book lol
Galilee
July 9, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Hi. Another long-term lurker here. *waves*
I’ve been re-reading this entire story today, and decided that I should really comment on its awesomeness this time, instead of just lurking around… yeah. Anyway.
This is honestly one of the best sim stories, possibly even better than most novels, that I’ve ever read. The amount of detail and the complexity of the plot is incredible, as well as the poses, obviously, which are more imaginitive and original than any others I’ve seen.
Aeryn and Toby don’t really seem like they’re gonna last – they’ve both cheated, so if/when they finally meet up again they’re both gonna be all shifty and nervous and guilty and probably more obvious than an orange octopus in a funeral parlour. Layne seems pretty much completely out of Aeryn’s mind now, though he still obsesses over her and Toby knows that they’ve looked at each other with smitten eyes, so even if he doens’t find out about Jax, which is unlikely considering the fact that if nothing else he’ll probably find out about her almost being, y’know, KILLED by Chloe which would lead to the reasons behind that unearthing themselves, Toby would still think that she’s lusting over Layne and… well, they’d get A*s easily in screwing-up-your-fucking-relationship class.
Oh, and I completely agree with your rant about vampires. These days, the trend seems to be turning murderous, sexy bloodsuckers into pathetic, whiny emo kids who can never be happy with what they are because *gasp* they need to kill to survive which must make them all horrible monsters. Cue eye rolling. So many idiotic humans can’t accept being lower down on some else’s food chain, that’s what the problem is. Never mind the fact that we’ve been killing and eating animals since the dawn of time, and justifying that as necessity, if anyone actually needs to kill US to keep themself alive, it’s ZOMG SO EVIL. Hypocrites. And it leads to, as I said, a new breed of self-hating, uninteresting creatures, who don’t deserve to be created, let alone stars of a bestselling book series. [die, Twilight. The most painful death possible.]
Hmm, this evidently turned out a lot longer than I planned, and it’s nearly one am so I’m supposed to be in bed now. Though considering the fact that I woke up at 4pm, I’m not actually tired.
Katty
August 9, 2009 at 7:44 pm
THAAAAANK YOU!!!! I love it when readers delurk! Oh Aeryn and Toby… I have some plans for them. And I can’t wait until I can get back into my original storyline so that I can finish them up. You guys might be soooo pissed with me. Or thrilled. I can’t wait to see. I mean Ten Years Prior is going pretty well, and it is helping not just you guys, but me too, in terms of seeing just where everything started and what is a likely place for it to go. BUT I MISS MY MAIN STORY!!!
I LOVE YOUR SYNOPSIS of the Toby-Aeryn-Layne-Jax… love square? Aeryn has too many men in her life. But you’re right. Jax has kind of pushed Layne… and maybe even Toby out of her brain. Which is strange being that if you asked her… she probably would tell you she hated him… in a strange, still wanting to sleep with him, sort of way.
Oh the whiny emo vamp. I too have vamps who consider themselves monsters, in fact TYP Part IV is sort of all about that. But oh man, some of these popular vampire themes are just… unreasonable. There is an extent to which you can take it, and they just toss it off a frickin’ cliff. I won’t get into my feelings on Twilight, because then I won’t shut up, but I just try to keep a certain realism. If my characters feel shitty about themselves, they’re gonna have to have a better reason outside of being too pretty.
Hehehehehe, SLEEEEEEEP! Thanks again!
Veron
August 9, 2009 at 10:12 pm
The sleep thing hasn’t actually happened yet. It’s now 8am, and I gave up two hours ago.
Katty
August 10, 2009 at 3:01 am
As for the synopsis… I over analyse everything. It’s a fun habit of mine.
Katty
August 10, 2009 at 3:04 am
this is where i leave off for the night… still reading to catch myself up (also letting you know I’m still here hah) and my parting thoughts before I go to bed?
HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WHAT THE HELL?!
And also i really almost LOL’ed at Jax; “The fuck?!” at Chloe hahah.
the_mctavishams
August 18, 2009 at 1:40 am
Hehehehe. The fuck?
Veron
August 19, 2009 at 1:14 pm
holly cow!!!!
WTF!!!
Chloe, i knew she was creepy… but this is way toooo much to take at first sight!!!
that scene with all the corpses is just out of this world… scary…so sad.. and so freaking insane!!!!
Poor Chauncey….
Awesome chapter!!!
I really hate I have to stop in this chapter!!!! I don’t want to.. but there are some chores I need to do… I don’t want to stop reading.!!!!!
ok… I’m just so addicted to this story… once I start reading, I just don’t want to stop….
anyway great chapter!!!
I will back later!!
s@ndy
August 19, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Hehehe, Chloe is a creeper, but this turn wasn’t really expected by anyone. I’m sure Jax knew she was capable of this, but that she’d actually react in this manner? He would have never guessed. Especially not over something that he had done.
Thanks S@ndy!
Veron
August 22, 2009 at 8:51 pm