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Vashti was in. She had squealed with excitement when Kayla had made her decision, and even the former President of the United States coming in armed with reptiles couldn’t quelch her high for so long—especially after Herik had heroically saved them. The new recruits had hardly any time to relax as they were ferried along to a meeting with someone rich guy named Blake Schmidt. She knew him in name only, both from general osmosis and from her father. What a real estate guy like her dad had to do with a whatever-he-did guy like Blake Schmidt was a mystery to Vashti. The wealthy generally liked to keep tabs on one another, golfing together or swooping around in social circles like vultures,  just in case one stumbled and there was an opening to pick all of their meaty assets from their corpse. 

The meet and greet with the other members when they arrived at the lobby of a luxury resort was quick, rough, and overwhelming. She tried her best to remember names and faces, but when she erroneously assumed she had misheard one of them say her name was “Sin” she was pretty certain she had botched it entirely. Still, Vashti smiled and nodded and tried to ignore the occasional frowns, ritualistic hazing, and running her own mouth. She even kept quiet about how all of this seemed less like a business meeting and more like they were about to attend some kind of slimy party. Rich guy calls on a lot of young women to an invite-only rooftop resort? Yeah, nobody ever came back with any trauma or regrets from something like that. 

The elevator dinged and the group crowded into it. Well, most of the group. Vashti gave one skeptical look at it, cracked a smile, and said, [color=darkcyan]“I think I’ll take the next one!”[/color]

The doors closed, and she let out a heavy sigh. She had been so happy about becoming part of the Coven that she had completely forgotten to mention the one very frightening aspect of her curse. Rather, she hadn’t forgotten. She had kept it hidden. The longer she kept the Leviathan from the other girls, the worse it would be when it came out. Vashti could feel it inside of her. It was still satiated and likely would be for the day. Still, she couldn’t get the image out of her head of the Leviathan taking control inside the elevator. She saw the doors opening up at the top floor with a wave of blood and limbs rushing out to baptize Mr. Schmidt before his head was separated from his torso. She’d tell them after the meeting...just, Kayla was too intense. Maybe Lyss or Herik could help her find a way to word it.

The elevator opened again and she walked in it with whatever other stragglers were lagging behind. At the top floor, Vashti was greeted with the beautiful sight of an artificial oasis. A private little man-made beach that was pristine and clean, towering above the actual beach where fish and tourists pissed in the water and the sand was full of shells and needles. Business was already being conducted between Kayla and Schmidt. Vashti felt a wave of relief. So, it was an actual meeting. She siddled over to Ashley and Taylor simply because she didn’t know where else to stand as one of the Coven vets (Maya, right?) asked what it was that Schmidt wanted. 

[color=darkcyan]“He can have mine,”[/color] said Vashti under her breath, a rueful smile on her face. If only she could give the bad parts of her curse away. 

Vashti heard a whistle and saw that Kayla was looking at them. How had she heard her? It had been a bad joke, not an actual offering. Vashti was about to offer an apology when she realized that Kayla was discretely motioning to the girl who had shown up drunk to a business meeting. Vashti lifted an eyebrow. Herik was on the job with a bottle of water, why would they need to also—Madison violently chucked the bottle over the rooftop. Oh. Vashti gave an apprehensive look to her fellow freshmen and then trotted over to the girl. She had expected to be asked to do some kind of grunt work, but hadn’t anticipated it to be drunk duty. Why hadn’t they just left the girl behind to sober up? 

[color=darkcyan]“So this must be where the party is! Thank god, what they’re talking about is [i]so[/i] boring I was about to jump off the roof. Seriously, I’m starting to worry my time in the Coven will be nothing more than meetings and interviews,”[/color] said Vashti. In actuality, she wanted to listen to what Kayla and Schmidt had to say. She’d have to be filled in later. [color=darkcyan]“Is this an open bar?”[/color]

Vashti pretended to scan the bar for a drink she wasn’t going to order, wrinkled her nose, and gave Madison a disgusted look. [color=darkcyan]“Dude, I’ve been to resorts like these before. Everything’s watered down it’s a total fucking sham. We should go somewhere cooler! Surely there’s a club on the beach that’s better than this tourist trap. Drinking...dancing…”[/color] She tried, and failed, not to glance over at Herik. [color=darkcyan]“Hot guys…”[/color]

[color=darkcyan]“I was told you were a founder. Well, we’re new and we haven’t even had a welcome party yet. We should have an initiation through inebriation, right?”[/color] said Vashti. If Herik's attempt to sober her up had failed, then maybe her attempt to take her somewhere else would work. She glanced towards Ashley and Taylor. Hopefully they’d play along by showing some approval. She snapped a finger at Madison. [color=darkcyan]“C’mon, let’s get out of here and have some real fun. I’m buying.”[/color]