The next night (Joshua) - Henri's Penthouse

He hadn't been allowed to leave the penthouse after she had put his drunken self down on the couch.  But there was plenty to eat and drink.  And a television.  Shortly after sunset, she came out of the bedroom in a robe, to find where he had gotten himself to.  Hopefully, he was feeling better.

He was an old hand at this. He felt like shit when waking up, but plenty of fluids, and hearty food left him feeling more or less normal.

Of course he was happy to see Henri walk in and smiled when he saw her "Gonna chew my ass now ain't ya Henri? Or worse?"

She smiled and moved to sit in one of the chairs.

"Oh, Joshua. Why did you think going drunk to the Regency was a good idea? I'm going to have to replace the carpets, now."

He sighed "I'll pay for that. Why? Dunno. It's all a mind fuck you know. I go on a bender once, twice a year. Went there, figured to see what it was..."

She sighed and brushed back her hair with one hand.

"Joshua, you are less than nothing to those people. They will kill you, and pay me for the trouble. I do not want that to happen. You must be careful."

He nodded. "Fucked up world Henri... now more than it was a couple weeks ago. I'm a boat bum, not a vampire's slave... well guess I am now."

She smiled.

"You are still a boat bum. You are just my boat bum. And I will take good care of you. But others just won't care. You are lucky it was Teddy you ran into, and not one of the others."

He winced... "I told her she reminded me of a hooker I knew..."

Her hand tangled in her hair again as she looked at the floor.

"I'll handle it. But it would be best if you didn't go there drunk again. I'm the one who runs it, but I don't get to make all the decisions."

He nodded. "I'm sorry Henri, I won't go there drunk again. Did I really piss on the rug?"

She nodded.

"Yes, yes you did. And puked on it. You really were quite gone."

"Skull fuck Henri. And... I get angrier easier. That's not cool."

She stood and walked to him.

"Joshua, I'm sorry. We will work on your control."

"What I want to work on" he said with a sigh "Is getting back onto an even keel. Shit... and this celerity you call it? Another mind fuck. I need to find purpose in this world of yours Henri."

He looked her in the eyes "You gonna make me a vampire someday too?"

She cupped his face.

"Is that what you want? And I will help you find an even keel and a place in my household."

He smiled at her touch

"Dunno. Seems to take all the fun out of life not having daytime. I just didn't know what you were going to do to me. Staying alive is probably the best for me right now, I don't even want to consider something else."

"So whatcha want me to smuggle? I suspect Cuban rum and cigars just ain't your thing. Not a big fan of coke either. It's fun, but people have ruined it."

Clearly, somebody remembered the glory days of the 80's.

She leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"For now you will live. And we will get you used to your life now before we put you to work."

That brought another smile. "Well I gotta keep active just to stay sane. Got a customer wants me to run a powerboat up to Jacksonville for 'em, but that's a milk run. Why don't you tell me about what you want me to do for you and I can at least start thinking on it and planning for it? I got close buds in the coasties and in the harbor. I've done enough good things for them both where nobody tends to ask me too many questions."

She smiled.

"How do you feel about blood diamonds? And other less than legal gems."

He shrugged "Warlords is gonna do their thing. Not my problem that continent can't get their shit together. Might help them if the white man would just leave them alone, but even so... meh. Their problems aren't my problems, and their mindset can't rise above killing each other anyway. I'm good"

She nodded.

"Then I will move my man with less morals than you to that run, and put you on the gems. Someone else gets them to Cuba, you get them here."

"You got someone who can bring them to me offshore? Can't just sail into Havana you know, not on a US flagged yacht, and not with US ID papers Usually I got guys I meet offshore for shit."

She nodded.

"I'll put you in touch, and you can work out the details."

"Good, good. So.... now what? I got like what? Eternity or some shit like that? What do you vampires do all the time anyway?"

She sat next to him.

"Well, I run this club, make sure the place of safety for vampires is secure, and run my other businesses."