BotC - Ch.36 - Friend of a Friend (T) (Patreon)

Me and Sam got to the club an hour early. It was closed Sundays and Mondays so the place was locked up tight and completely dark inside. Even the staff entrance was secured with a deadbolt and the keypad was disabled. 

Sam unlocked the door and enabled the keypad, then we went into the office. She turned on the lights in there but left the rest of the place dark. Not that we needed the lights, but Meg and her friend would.

Then we moved the two guest chairs around so they faced the sofa, and finally we sat down and got comfortable as we waited. Me and Sam were in the chairs, we'd have our guests use the sofa.

We were both dressed in our old 'trouble' outfits. Not that either of us expected any trouble, but Sam suggested we should be prepared. After all, this was a stranger who knew we were vampires. We didn't know them, or anything about them. We had enemies back in Toronto, and maybe we had some new enemies here too.

So she was in her beat-up old black denim jacket with the chain looped around her left shoulder, and she had that vampire-hunter dagger tucked into the sheath in the jacket lining. And I was in my shot-up jean jacket, and under that I had my forty-five in its holster. It was loaded with my silver-charged bullets, and I had two more clips in my pocket.

Over the past three years we'd both had a lot more practice and training with our anti-vamp weapons. Sam took some martial-arts classes specializing in knife-fighting, and she trained regularly with Reuben and Zach and me. And I spent a few hours every other week practicing at a gun range. In ideal conditions I could hit a bulls-eye at forty meters now. I was confident in an actual fight I'd be effective to at least twenty meters.

Not that I was expecting a fight today. The whole thing felt like overkill to me. I really couldn't believe Meg would betray us, but I didn't argue. Better to have the weapons and not need them, than need them and not have them.

As we waited, Sam commented "We aren't turning anyone today. We're just meeting this girlfriend of Meg's and getting to know her right? Just getting a feel for her."

She added after a moment, "Even if it goes perfectly and we're a hundred percent on board with both of them, we aren't ready to take on two new turns right away. At best we might look at a calendar and maybe make some plans."

"Ok," I agreed. "When the time comes though, will we do them both together? Like at the same time?"

Samantha shook her head, "No. One at a time, we don't start the second one till the first has fully risen and regained consciousness. And you'll be going first."

"Me?!" I squeaked. "Why do I have to go first?"

Sam explained, "If you run into trouble then the only one that can help you is me, because I'm your Dame. Remember this is going to take a lot out of us, we'll be weak after it's done. If I'm still recovering from turning the other one, I might not be able to help you. So you go first. When yours is complete then I'll do the other."

I wasn't happy about it but she made a good point. "How long do you think it'll take us to recover afterwards?"

"No idea," she replied as she shook her head. "It took me a full year to recover from you, but I was a lot weaker back then. Plus that's when we were drinking that shitty plastic packaged blood. Now we've got the real stuff, and we're both a whole lot stronger than I was back then. Reuben took about four months I think, after Zach? I'm positive it'll take us less than that."

"Right," I nodded. 

After that the two of us just waited quietly. 

It was around five minutes to two when I heard the faint sounds of someone using the keypad outside the staff door. A moment later I heard the door open, along with Meg's voice. 

She sounded calm as she told her friend, "Looks like they're already here. Don't panic, just relax. It'll be fine."

A second later Meg stepped into the office, with her friend a pace or two behind.

This was the first time I'd seen Meg outside of work. When she was working she dressed up for the club, so I'd only ever seen her in dresses and high heels and all that. It was a bit jarring but also a bit refreshing to see her casual relaxed self.

She wasn't quite as tall as I'd thought, without the heels she was only about five-foot-seven. Of course, everyone looked tall compared to me regardless of footwear. She was wearing some faded blue-jeans, she had cowboy boots on her feet, and she was wearing a simple navy-blue fall jacket. The jacket was open, revealing the dark-green t-shirt she had on underneath. 

Her red hair was hanging down in a relaxed style that just stopped short of her shoulders. Either her make-up was super subtle or she wasn't wearing any at all, apart from some red lipstick. Her skin was smooth and fair and unblemished, and her eyes were light blue.

And as curious as I was to see her in casual-mode, I was much more interested in her friend.

It was like some kind of magic mirror showing me myself from seven years ago. Not physically, though there were some similarities there too. But everything else. The way she acted, the way she moved, the way she carried herself. That pain and shyness, uncertainty and fear, of being a closeted trans girl desperate to come out but terrified of the confrontations that might bring.

She looked shy, anxious, and extremely self-conscious. Her body language showed she felt awkward and out-of-place. She was afraid of taking up too much space, afraid of being noticed, afraid of being seen. 

She hadn't even said a word yet and I already felt for her. 

Meg's friend was tall, even taller than I used to be. At a guess I'd say she was six-foot-one, maybe six-two. She was a giant compared to me now. It was hard to get a real feel for her body shape, she was wearing relax-fit slacks and an oversized hoodie. I got the impression though she was a little heavy, and the loose clothes were probably an attempt to hide that. Unfortunately they made her look a bit bigger than she probably was. 

Her clothes were all black while her face was pale. She obviously didn't go out in the sun much. Her hair was dark and cut in a short 'professional' mens style. Her eyes were a dark hazel tone.

While we were all sort of staring at each other, Sam stood up and took charge. "Hi Meg, hi Meg's friend. I'm Samantha, this is my girlfriend Tara."

She fixed her gaze on the shy awkward trans girl and said, "Just so you know, I don't want to hear any deadnames. When you're ready to introduce yourself, use your real name. Not what your family calls you, not what they call you at work."

Meg's friend's eyes widened slightly, her cheeks turned pink, but she nodded. It reminded me of when Sam and I first met. She was specific about names back then too. 

Sam meanwhile motioned for Meg and her friend to sit down on the sofa. "Have a seat. Can I get you two something to drink? I'm not going to open up the bar for mixed drinks but I can get you anything that comes in a bottle."

Our two guests sat down together on the sofa, they were almost close enough to cuddle but didn't actually touch each other. 

Meg suggested, "How about a couple beers? Thanks Sam."

It only took a half minute for Sam to grab a couple bottles of one of the local craft brews from the big fridge in the store-room next door. She handed them over then took her seat again.

I was still watching our new guest, and I'd already made my mind up. If we were going ahead with this, I'd offer to turn her. I wanted to help her, to get her out of that shell she was trapped in so she'd be free to be herself and really shine.

After both of them had a gulp of beer, I finally spoke up and addressed her. 

"Like Samantha said, my name is Tara. I know you're nervous and maybe feeling awkward and self-conscious, but you're safe here. Both Sam and I understand the sort of things you're going through. When you're ready, we'd like to know your real name."

She had another gulp of beer, and I could already tell she didn't like it and didn't actually want it. She was drinking it because she didn't want to seem rude, and perhaps she needed a little liquid courage. She took a deep breath, then half-whispered "My name is Phoebe."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Phoebe," I replied with a friendly smile. "And that's a beautiful name."

Phoebe's face went bright red but she smiled and mumbled "Thank you."

Her voice matched her looks, and I knew what that felt like too. She probably never spoke up, I wouldn't be surprised if she was perpetually quiet and soft-spoken.

Meg finally joined the conversation, "So uh, how does this work? What do we do? Is this like an interview or something?"

"Or something," I replied. I was still focused on Phoebe though, and asked "Hey Phoebe? If beer's not your thing, you don't have to drink that. We can get you something else if you like? We've got wine, there should be some coolers, or even soda or water."

The look on Phoebe's face was like a mix of gratitude and fear. Like she was grateful I'd noticed she didn't like the beer, but scared of being a bother or annoying us. It took her a few seconds but she asked "If it's not too much trouble, a cooler would be... I'd like that?"

Sam smiled as she got to her feet again, "I'll get it."

I knew why my girlfriend was smiling. She'd expected to take the lead on this meeting, but I'd usurped her and taken charge. She probably already realized I saw some of myself in Phoebe, and she wasn't going to interfere.

While Sam stepped out of the office to get the cooler, Meg asked me "You mentioned knowing what it's like to be self-conscious. Forgive the question but was that about your height?"

She probably meant about me being so short, and of course I was very self-conscious about that for the first three or four years after I was turned. I was mostly used to it nowadays. I knew that regardless of my stature I was a kick-ass vampire chick with a hot vampire girlfriend.

I smiled slightly and nodded to Meg, "Yes, but maybe not the way you're thinking."

My attention returned to Phoebe and I said, "Seven and a half years ago I stood just under six feet tall. I was stuck in a college program I hated, in preparation for a career I never wanted. My family were transmisic bigoted assholes who threw me out of the house when I tried to come out to them. I was lucky enough to encounter a friendly vampire, and the rest is history."

Sam was back with a vodka cooler just as I finished speaking. Meanwhile both Meg and Phoebe were staring at me in surprise. Sam handed the cooler to Phoebe then took the unwanted beer and set it on the desk for now, before she finally sat back down.

There was a bit of an awkward silence, which Sam broke by asking "Phoebe? What can you tell us about yourself?"

She blushed then took a deep gulp of the cooler. Meg shifted a little closer to Phoebe, and put an arm around her girlfriend's waist. The shy nervous trans girl shifted her focus to stare at a point somewhere between my and Sam's knees, then finally replied in a quiet voice.

"I'm twenty-two years old, I graduated from a college marketting program last year but I haven't found any decent work in that field. I'm working right now in human resources at a large company. I hate the work though. It's a job that involves confrontation and dealing with people and I'm uh, I'm not comfortable with any of that. Outside of work, I enjoy photography and music."

Her blush got a little brighter as she continued, "I uh, only figured out I was trans last year. I haven't had the courage to come out or to start transitioning yet. Megan's the only one who knows, she's been uh, really supportive and everything."

Samantha gave me a questioning look, and I responded with a confident nodd. I already wanted to help Phoebe and I hadn't heard anything to change my mind. So we both got down to the logistics of the whole thing. We told Phoebe the same sorts of things we told Meg, the pros and cons, warnings and caveats and all that stuff.

Phoebe was a little freaked out by all of it, but neither she or Meg questioned anything we said. 

Meg asked if they'd both be turned together, I told them no. I said that if they both accepted the offer, I'd turn Phoebe first then after she was done Sam would do Meg. 

They both asked when, and Sam told them we weren't ready to pick a date or anything like that yet. She explained this was just a preliminary meeting.

In the end, Phoebe accepted my offer, and Meg accepted Sam's. Me and Sam explained that we'd discuss all the remaining details next time we met, and reminded them both not to breath a word of any of this stuff to anyone. We also got some contact information from Phoebe, incase we needed to get in touch with her.

After all that, Meg and Phoebe left together, while Sam and I tidied up then locked everything up again.