The last half of 1838 only grew stranger around the estate and tavern; or more unusual, at any rate. The strangeness actually began only a week or so after Claire had taken in yet another stray in the form of Garnet Jacobs. Claire had barely had time to explain to the others around her that the girl was Finn’s long lost daughter whom he had never even known about before his life was taken from him, when someone else stumbled upon the girl.

Claire had given Garnet a home of sorts in the other room that was on the top floor of the tavern which had been used for additional purposes before Sean had purchased the establishment for Claire and she had ended that part of the business. Now that Garnet and Sebastian were both there on a regular basis, Claire had started taking a few nights a week away from the place. It was not that she didn’t enjoy running the place herself, but her nights were now partially claimed by Nicolas, who was indeed bound to her once again; despite how much more powerful his blood could make him than Claire, with the proper training of course.

On this night, Garnet was working the last few hours before closing. During a lull in customers, she headed outside to wipe down some of the windows which were getting just a tad grungy in the heat of Southern California. As she continued her task, another young woman began approaching from the shadows of the nearby dwellings of the port town that night.

“From a distance, I almost thought you were Claire” she greeted Garnet in that permanently sultry tone, “then I realized you weren’t” she added with that sugary smile as she stepped into the dim light of the tavern windows.

Garnet swallowed a bit as she felt that same sort of magnetism that she had first felt upon meeting Claire the previous week. The woman was only slightly taller than Garnet herself, and had the same long raven colored locks. Only her eyes were much darker and her body much more voluptuous than the tiny waist Garnet had been blessed with.

Finally finding her voice through the effect that the woman had on any mortal, Garnet spoke, “you know Claire?”

“Oh we go way back” she nearly purred as her eyes moved over Garnet’s beautiful body beneath the modest black dress she wore that night, “how do you know Claire?”

Garnet managed a smile as she got the distinct feeling of being in the gaze of a predator, but forced that silliness aside. After all, her companion was just a young girl just like her, or so she told herself. She then remembered that the other woman had asked her a question, “Claire actually runs this place. She offered me a job after I had lost my mother, and found out that my father was gone too; he apparently used to work for Claire’s family” Garnet offered, somehow feeling compelled to tell the other woman anything she wanted to know.

“Claire’s family, huh?” the woman returned as she cast another glance at Garnet, seeming to be sizing her up for usefulness.

“You said you go way back; I assume you know them?” Garnet asked hopefully.

“Actually, Claire and I are related, in a way” she offered as she continued to hold the girl in her sights. She then moved on, “so I assume Claire and her family are doing rather well these days?” she questioned as she cast her dark eyes toward the high silver colored walls in the distance for only a moment before centering them on Garnet once more.

“I haven’t met many of her friends or family yet as I’m a rather new addition here; but Claire seems so sweet. She didn’t have to help me but she did anyway” Garnet smiled.

“Yes, how sweet of Claire” the other woman returned with a trace of bitterness as she cast another look toward those high walls.

“I’m Garnet by the way. What relative should I tell Claire I ran into?” she asked as she held her hand out to the other woman to cover who own nervousness.

That was when the woman did reach her cool hand out to close it over Garnet’s tightly as she pulled her in close, “My name’s Awsha, but you won’t remember it” she told her eerily, “but there is something you can do. You can make Claire’s life a little more interesting for me. Anyone who cares about sweet little Claire, you’ll make them care about you instead. I want Claire to know exactly how it feels to lose all that affection that everyone always seems so eager to shower her with. You can do that for me, can’t you Garnet?” she told her in the same compulsory tone as she stared into those beautiful nearly silver eyes.

Garnet swallowed hard, not able to look or pull away, and answered mechanically, “I can do that.”

“Good girl. And you won’t remember anything about us meeting at all, except what I’ve told you to do, of course” Awsha finished in that same tone before disappearing into the shadows again, leaving Garnet behind to startle out of that trance like state a moment later. She then looked around with a bit of confusion at first, but soon wrote it off and returned to her previous task.

Over the last few months of that year is when all the strangeness did begin. Not only was Sebastian almost immediately smitten with Garnet, even before her now forgotten encounter with Awsha, but so were just about anyone else that Claire spoke to in anything more than a casual way. The first and least surprising person who fell victim to Garnet’s wiles, other than Sebastian, was Claire’s own childe when he returned to America to visit his vampiric extended family.

It was nearly the end of August when Aidan did return to the port town that had been his home during various periods of his past. After returning and announcing himself to the new Prince, he was informed that Claire was most likely at the tavern that night. After depositing his belongings in the Toreador haven Aidan got a slightly evasive greeting from Nicolas before the younger, yet still somehow stronger Kindred disappeared to his own quarters. Aidan simply shook his head at his inability to read Nicolas at all and went off in pursuit of his sire instead.

Moments before Aidan stepped through the tavern doors, Claire’s eyes turned toward them in nervous anticipation. She had honestly thought that Sean had found some rare reason to visit her place of business, but then was even more surprised when it was her childe instead.

“Aidan!” Claire greeted him with a huge smile as she moved out from behind the bar to offer him a happy embrace, “I didn’t know you were planning on visiting again” she grinned up at him once the warm hug ended at last.

Right as the they stepped apart was when Garnet stepped out of the privy and turned those nearly silver eyes in the direction of the much friendlier reception Aidan had gotten than the average customer who passed through the doors on a nightly basis.

“Yes, I figured it had been a while. And Daniel and Tasie took the next ship, so they should be here within the month. We all decided to take the land route this time since neither she nor I had seen the eastern part of this lovely country” he then paused a moment as he glanced around the tavern, his eyes lingering an extra moment on Garnet as he graced her with one of those warm smiles of his before continuing with the other subject he wanted to speak to Claire about, “and who is that handsome young man who is to be my new housemate? He seems to have a bit of trouble actually conversing. He’s somehow unaffected by my charms” Aidan teased as he and Claire moved toward a nearby table to take seats.

“Nicolas is a long story” Claire smiled as Garnet approached.

“Did I hear mention of another handsome young man?” Garnet greeted them with a dazzling smile, “how many of those are you hiding, Claire?” she teased as she let her eyes openly move over Aidan, once again feeling that undeniable pull that she felt near Claire as well, despite that strange desire she now had to interject herself into any and all of Claire’s relationships.

Claire smiled with a bit of awkwardness as the young woman’s eyes moved over Aidan, her aura showing exactly how appreciative she was of his own attractiveness, “this would be Aidan. We became close back when I lived in England for a period” she summarized as best she could.

“And I’m apparently not the only beauty that Claire’s been hiding. Who might you be, love?” he asked Garnet.

“I might be Garnet” she responded with that same sultry smile as she invited herself to sit down, as her shift had technically ended when Claire had arrived that night. “And I absolutely adore that accent” she added with another smile as her eyes moved over him, unaware of exactly how clear any desire she had would be to Aidan’s dark eyes as they moved over her and her aura in return.

Claire looked between the desirous looks the two centered on each other and pushed herself up from her only recently claimed seat, “you and I can catch up after I close, Aidan. I’ll let you two get acquainted for now” she offered with a rather forced smile as she moved to reclaim her spot behind the bar as Aidan and Garnet leaned closer to continue speaking to one another.

When it was nearly closing time, Aidan and Garnet had still been sitting close together quietly flirting with one another throughout the entire night. Finally Aidan kissed her hand and pushed himself up from his seat. Claire looked a bit surprised when Aidan seemed to remember her presence and approached the bar.

“My god is she gorgeous” he told Claire furtively as he cast another look back toward where Garnet had remained at the table at the edge of the room wearing what had been a permanent smile since beginning her conversation with Aidan.

“That she is” Claire stated quietly as she kept her eyes on the glasses she was finishing with before closing the doors for the night.

“So what is the story with her?” he added more quietly.

“Story?" Claire asked before offering a response, “her father worked for us; she had no one after he and her mother both died. So I offered her a job” she stated plainly.

“But you never gave her… another sort of job?” he asked as he cast a glance toward window nearest the high walls of the estate that sat a ways off from the tavern.

“I’m trying to limit the number of people filling that particular position” Claire returned with a slight sigh, not wanting to go into the fear she had of her blood costing another innocent their life if Sebastian’s people ever cursed the town with their presence again.

“I’ll have to ask you more about that later” Aidan smirked, “but not tonight. Tonight I think the lovely gem would like to see my new home away from home” he stated as he smiled back at Garnet as she was now getting to her feet as well.

“You’re taking her back there with you tonight?” Claire asked with a bit of shock.

“You can’t possibly tell me that you're jealous. I believe I just announced my presence to the man who you’ll have in your bed tonight, right before I came here to find you” he reminded her with another smirk.

“Not jealous, just surprised” Claire denied, “I mean you did just meet her. And we did have that chat about expiration dates quite some time ago” she reminded. She then added, “plus I thought that she was seeing someone else already” she stated in a whisper as her eyes turned toward the stairs where Sebastian was most likely still awaiting Garnet’s return to his side; as they had become rather close in the month since Garnet’s arrival.

“Apparently I’m the one she wants to see tonight” Aidan teased, “don’t worry mum, I’m sure I can protect myself from the pretty little girl if I need to” he chided in a whisper as he then turned away to meet Garnet as she approached. He then took her hand in his and led her out the door with him, leaving Claire behind to sigh apprehensively as she watched the two depart.

Garnet did finally return to The Loft at an hour slightly past dawn, after having been compelled to leave the rather lavish Toreador haven before sleep overtook her new lover; which of course left him a bit vulnerable to the presence of any unbound mortal, be they lovers or not. She took a deep breath and unlocked the doors as it was still way too early for them to open the tavern for the day. As she had feared, Sebastian was waiting inside at one of the tables for her.

He immediately stood as she stepped through the doors, swallowing hard as she locked them behind her again. He then asked “where on earth have you been all night? I was scared to death that something happened to you!” he exclaimed in greeting to the girl he had fallen so hard for over the last month.

Taking another deep breath, Garnet turned toward him but refused to let her eyes come up to meet his much darker ones just yet, “I was invited back to the estate” she settled on with a small smile, as it wasn’t exactly a lie.

“The estate?” Sebastian repeated with a shake of his head, “as in Claire and her husband’s estate?” he asked for clarification despite his correct assumption.

“Is there any other place that counts as an estate around here?” she attempted another small smile.

Sebastian shook his head, “why didn’t you tell me? I was so worried” he repeated.

“I didn’t know I had to check in with you before leaving” Garnet bravely returned, though tried to keep her voice gentle.

Sebastian scoffed, “it’s not like that; but something terrible could have happened to you. And I wouldn’t have even known where you were.”

Garnet just allowed her own nervous scoff, “I never knew you were so paranoid.”

“Paranoid?” Sebastian returned with disbelief, “I know a lot more about the things that…” he just shook his head and tried to rework his original statement to fulfill that compulsion to keep the things he did indeed know about a secret, “you know that your father was killed right under this very roof. It’s not paranoia. Terrible things do happen, Garnet.”

She scoffed again, “I went to visit one of Claire’s friends. Nothing terrible happened. You can calm down now” she told him with another shake of her head as she suppressed a yawn and began moving toward the stairs.

“What friend?” Sebastian asked as he moved to follow her. He knew how his words must have sounded, but he couldn’t stop the question from leaving his lips, considering he did know a lot more about Claire and many of her particular friends than Garnet did just yet.

“What friend?” Garnet repeated with another sound of disbelief as she cast a darker look back at him, “if I wanted to be owned; I would have stayed at the brothel” she shot back as she shook her head and angrily moved up the stairs, leaving him with that final comment.