Page 51 of Dissension

A scoff. “You know how it is. Do more with less, babe. Oh.Oh!! This part.” They both pause to stare at the scene unfolding on the screen. Bianca grins knowingly, “This was your favorite season in college, wasn’t it? Being the Spike girl that you are.”

“Well, you loved Angel.” Kara teases right back. “Someone has to love Spike, might as well be me.”

“There’s gotta be a vampire for all tastes, am I right?” Bianca replies with a wink. “Dark and handsome. Or enemies to enemies that bang?”

Kara makes an ugly, surprised noise. “Don’t make me feelseen.”

Bianca laughs cheerily.

They sit side by side on the couch with the dinner they cooked together, watching their old college favorite. They decided to start rewatching it from the beginning a few weeks back, making their way through a few episodes at a time.

Kara has finally been able to see Bianca more this week, considering she’s been ignoring Dieter’s requests for in-person meetings these past few days. They’ve been conversing via emailand text, even though he’s tried calling a few times. She’s fuckingmadat him.

The nextBuffyepisode is just starting to roll on up, the iconic opening song playing when the lock clicks on the front door.

Bianca snaps her head to look at the doorway, looking put out. “Are you expecting someone?Bitch. It’s my night!”

Kara turns her head as well, confused and vaguely worried. Her strange stalker wouldn’t be trying to break inright now, would he? Her hand clutches her fork a little tighter while she maintains a calm tone, wondering what action she would take if some evil-doing bastard broke in right now. “Do you think it’s a vampire?”

Briefly, she remembers that night she called Nick and how he turned a fear into a sick desire.

“You know the rules!” Bianca says in a comically hushed voice, eyes wide as she stares at the doorway. “They can only enter if we invite them in-”

The door opens and Dieter walks in as if it’s his own damn home, casually toeing off his fine leather shoes and placing his sportcoat on a hanger in the closet. Everything about him is upscale casual, from his jeans to his expensive button-down. He loosens his tie and unbuttons a bit, in the manner of anabsolutegigolo. He tosses Kara’s spare key into the side table dish; she forgot he damn well stole it weeks ago.

Kara can almost hear her eyeballs rolling in her skull. The nerve of him to come here after what he did…offensive.And so utterly him.

“The Rules of Invitation didn’t work,” Bianca finishes in a dry voice as she stares at him, vaguely ogling, eyes traveling up and down his form. Kara chokes on her own spit. “Must be a myth.”

Dieter glances over at them as if they’re the ones intruding this evening. Dieter’s brow shifts with amusement when hecatches sight of the tv screen. “Slaying vampires tonight, ladies? How very 90s of you.”

Bianca blinks her big round eyes and continues to gape at him, fork slowly making its way to her plate. She knows who he is; she’s seen him before. She also knows the role he plays in Kara’s life now. “That depends. Are you willing to be slayed?”

Laughing faintly as he wanders through Kara’s kitchen, Dieter replies, “Many have tried, all have failed. Disappointing, almost.” He grabs a water bottle from the refrigerator and makes a face as he does so. To Bianca, he quips, “Does she really make you go sober when you’re here, too? Not a drop of alcohol in this place. It’s appalling.”

Kara feels one of her eyes twitch and continues to eat, trying to not pay attention to him. He’s not supposed to be here. He’s not supposed to just show up like he lives here, as if he’s her boyfriend. He’snot. She can see the wheels turning in Bianca’s head already.

He ends up seated on the other side of Kara, pressed against the line of her body. The heat of him makes her think of things that have no business being in her head right now. Inappropriate things that bring shame and make her face feel flushed. The press of his body is a reminder of what a tease he is. He ruins her anger and that grates on her every last nerve.

The fresh scent of him makes her think of his lips and the dangerous things they say and do. Of how she’d like to pin him down and have her way,make him submit to her-

He tried to get you drunk without telling you, she reminds herself hatefully.

“What are you doing here,Lestat?” She asks him with no small hint of annoyance, trying to hide the way he’s completely thrown her off balance.

“Checking in on you,Louis.” The fast quip is stated with a sly grin on his mouth. “All you’ve done is sent me billable hours via email the past few days and I’m beginning to feelneglected.”

“God forbid I behave like a normal professional who bills their client for services rendered.” Kara’s done a few contracts for him and answered one minor lawsuit against his name.

“I needed you present.”

A caustic scoff. “Forwhat?”

“Things,” he replies with arched eyebrows, looking rather superior.

“You two make me gag,” Bianca comments as she stretches. She makes a little wiggling gesture with her fingers. “We can turn onInterview with the Vampireand pretend we’re watching the pair of you chase each other around on screen for centuries, holding various grudges across time and space.”

Shudder. “Please no. Dieter, what are you doing here?” Kara demands to know, giving him a stern look. He’s intruding on her time with Bianca, because she’s been avoiding him? Because she’s been trying to put space between them?

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