50. Osiris

“Come here, honey,” James cooed lovingly at the toddler before him. His lips were curled into a rare smile.

When she finally managed to waddle over to him, he took her in his arms readily and lifted her.

“Who’s daddy’s little girl? That’s you.”

She totally was.

When Tori approached, James shot her a smile unlike any she had ever seen on him before.

“Wanna hold her for a bit?” he offered.

Tori thought. “I mean, she seems happy in your arms. I don’t wanna take that away from her.”

“Oh come on,” James smiled. “She likes being in your arms just as much.”

Successfully convinced, Tori reached out her hands to take their daughter.

Her attention was spent on shooting James a smile; she didn’t notice the glare the child was now sporting.

Suddenly, within just the blink of an eye, Tori found herself in the graveyard next to their house.

She was facing a very angry-looking young girl.

As Tori bent down to appease the girl, she immediately drew back. Her face looked all but offended, as if Tori had just committed some grave crime.

Tori couldn’t quite hide her surprise.

With the girl’s face continuing to look distorted, Tori’s face fell too.

There was no doubt left about it: her own daughter really didn’t like her. And Tori had no idea why.

That was, until the little girl moved to one of the gravestones near them. And just like that, she started to cry.

For some reason, even though Tori had no idea why she was crying or who she was crying for – or whom, for that matter, the tombstone before them stood for – she still, somehow, knew. It felt like some general notion her brain had full knowledge of, but she just couldn’t access said knowledge.

It didn’t matter much – soon, it became entirely clear what the girl was crying for… and to whom the gravestone belonged.

“I hate Mommy,” the girl cried to no one in particular; or so it initially seemed. “She got you killed… Daddy.”

With those words, the entire setting of Tori’s surroundings changed again. She was now standing in her living room, with the ghost of a man she immediately recognized standing before her.

It was the last person she had hoped to see.

She sat down on the couch, hoping against hope that he wouldn’t acknowledge her.

When he did, he initially looked frightening; stooping his head down low as if to emphasize his deadness to her.

Then he made some wild, ghost-like gestures and she knew for sure that that had been exactly his intention.

When he finally dropped the whole ghost act, Remi’s demeanor changed immediately. Now, he was raging at her.

“So she lives!” he called. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“You let them down,” Remi continued, leaving Tori no room to interject. “Our children. You dropped them… shamelessly.”

“They were doing well–” Tori tried.

Remi didn’t agree, “You dropped them like filth.”

Tori hid her face behind her hand. Her face would have been red had she had any blood flow to rush to it. He was right. She knew he was. Hung her head dejectedly as that realization forcefully drew in. She had let them down; her children. All of them.

Remi went to sit down next to her and for a moment, Tori hoped he would relent.

But he didn’t.

“You failed the one thing you were good for.” Though it was Remi’s voice speaking, the words sounded like her mother’s. “I don’t know how you sleep at night… Victoria.”

With that Tori startled awake, her face falling as the events of her dream still coursed through her mind at full speed.

It took her longer than usual to shake off the feelings her nightmare had arisen in her. She struggled not to linger.

When James found her strolling purposelessly outside their house that evening, he tried to comfort her; although the fact that she wouldn’t divulge any information apart from a careless shrug and a “just a nightmare” muttered so softly under her breath that even James, with his supernatural hearing, barely managed to make out those three words, made it fairly difficult for him to do so.

“That’s the good thing about nightmares, is that they’re just that. A nightmare. Nothing more. Nothing real.”

“Yeah…”

“Come here, then.”

God, how she appreciated him.

***

Apart from those nightmares, life went on as per usual. She had gotten into a new habit of ordering deliveries; there was, after all, not much better than the laziness of ordering in.

When one day she caught one of the delivery guys stealing something of theirs, she felt even less guilty for what she was about to do – not that she ever felt any of that in the first place, mind you.

“Hey James,” she called, beckoning him from the other room. “I think you’re gonna want to hear out whatever excuse this guy comes up with for stealing your shit.”

James flashed over immediately.

“Stealing my shit?”

He shot the guy an angry glare.

“Oh, yes. And before my very eyes. The nerve of that boy…”

“…He deserves to be taught a lesson, don’t you think?”

Yeah, Tori smirked to herself as she watched James drain him. He had chosen the wrong house to practice his kleptomania.

He really had.

“That’s what you get for being such a sinner, baby,” Tori told him. “Sooner or later, you’ll have to pay for it.”

“Great,” the guy muttered out loud as soon as Tori left the – locked – basement. “Way to go, Aadiya.”

***

Tori, meanwhile, found herself bored out of her mind once again. She didn’t know what it was, but god, she had been feeling so restless lately. It was like nothing managed to entertain her.

Forgotten Hollow sure as hell didn’t: for the umpteenth time this month, she found the town appear like a ghost town even during the day…

…Save for one suspicious-looking suit.

So Tori ended up somewhere outside of town again that night. When she spotted Abel at a San Myshuno night club, her smile instantly broadened.

This was going to be good.

“So…” she started, seating herself down next to him. “How’s that newfound fame treating ya?”

“It’ll blow over soon,” Abel muttered in response.

“You sure about that? You made quite some headlines, baby. The whole Tika scandal… man, I can’t even imagine being in your position, there. How you must hate the guy. Hey, tell you what. Given the fact that I know just how much of an asshole the guy really is… I’ll do you a grand favor: I’ll kill him for you. You can finally be sure your face remains attached to your head and yours alone.”

“I mean,” Tori chuckled to herself, “I can’t promise the same for him.”

Although the woman seemed no more than some random madman, Abel nevertheless contorted his face into one of suspicion. There was something about the way she talked, that made him at least half doubtful about the truthfulness of the words she was uttering. For some reason, it felt as though she were, in fact, intending to do the very acts she described… and it daunted Abel.

“Screw off,” he finally told her.

Tori held up her hands. “What? You realize what I’m offering, here?”

“I do, and I don’t want it. Now please… just go.”

“Sure thing.”

Abel’s stare pricked into her back as she left.

He didn’t trust her one bit.

And he wasn’t the only one who didn’t.

***

Walking home that morning, Tori ran into a woman he hadn’t seen in decades; she hadn’t been sure she was even alive.

At first, she hated the fact that she was. A stab of rage coursed through her as she watched the woman stroll around her town. She couldn’t believe the nerve of the woman, showing her face here after what she’d done. How she had betrayed her own kind… Tori’s own kind. Forcing aside the brief sadness that went through Tori when memories of Calo’s defeat and what it had done to him flowed through her, she focused on the woman instead, her eyes following her every move.

But then, when the realization struck that this at least called for some much-needed excitement in her life, a grin formed on Tori’s face nevertheless.

Maybe it was only good that she was.

Now she could have her fun.

Though she had greeted her kindly, it did not take long for Tori’s demeanor to change.

“You have some nerve coming here after the way you screwed over a powerful vampire like my son.”

Despite Bella’s fear, she couldn’t suppress a snort. “Your son? Powerful?”

“You’re done,” Tori went on, forcefully ignoring Bella’s comment. “You don’t deserve this life. Not after what you’ve done.”

Bella tried to walk away, and Tori let her. She would catch up with her.

Besides, she always loved the chase.

“Boo.”

But just as Tori was about to lunge at Bella, she found herself interrupted.

Turned to shoot Lilith, who was looking at Bella with a hard-to-read expression on her face, an angry glare.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing…” Tori started…

But Lilith left her no room to speak.

“Oh, you wanna do this?!” Tori called at her. “That’s your mistake.”

Ignoring Tori’s words, Lilith began their fight. She wasn’t about to waste any of her own words on this monster, anyway.

Bella stared at the duel in wonder; finding herself just as bewildered by the thought that this absolute stranger had, for some reason, decided to risk her life for her.

Tori, meanwhile, had been entirely ensured of the fact that she’d win….

…Only she didn’t.

Bella’s amazement increased; not only had this vampire faced one of the most deadliest vampires Bella knew…. she had also managed to defeat her.

“You stay away from these people, you hear me?” Lilith called, waving her hand. “No more terrorizing. We’re done with it. This town is done with it.”

Tori couldn’t quite hide her own amazement. It had been a long, long time since she had been defeated. That, and, as she looked at the vampire’s face, she realized she may well be screwed. She recognized it.

“You’re that Vatore girl, aren’t you?” Tori said.

She thought back about the… events, that had transpired between her and the other Vatore she had known…

“Oh, yeah,” Lilith spoke, watching Tori’s face twitch. “That’s right. You remember him. Good. I remember you too. You can change your face but you can’t fool me. Now… you’re going down, you bitch.”

Uh-oh.

***

It was OK. Tori had nothing to fear. Lilith may be able to face Tori in a fight… but she still had James.

And when she told him about the… situation at hand, he responded exactly the way she wanted him to.

“Sure, we’ll kick her ass…” he started.

“…Right after we’ve kicked that Madden boy’s.”

Tori couldn’t believe him. “Are you kidding me?! She just attacked me. My life is in danger, James!”

“Well, then maybe you shouldn’t have made so many fucking enemies!” he called back. “It’s not my concern, none of it. You can make it mine, that’s fine… I don’t care. But first, I have matters of my own to attend to.”

“You’ll regret it,” Tori seethed. “Once you’ve found me six feet deep, you’ll…”

“Oh, please, Tori. You’ll be just fine.”

Fine, Tori thought, her insides felt hot with rage. She would just have to deal with this herself, then.

---

A/N: In case you were wondering about the toddler… I played these gals, went back to play some other Sim only to suddenly get this screen of “there’s a new family member coming!” or whatever it fucking says. Turns out, Tori had got pregnant from the last time I played her and I missed their entire fucking 12-day pregnancy. I wasn’t about to let that happen, so I had to delete the kid. Did feel a bit sad about it, so I figured why not make use of her? So I came up with this dream. Thanks for that, Risky Woohoo!