Gabriel/Bella (Patreon)

A/N: How I imagine the V poly sometimes goes between all of them.

“You are amazingly irritating, Gabriel. Did you know that? I really have not met anyone quite like you, so thick headed and naive. I used to be a courtesan and I still think you may be one of the most inept men I have ever met.”

Gabriel sat across from Belladonna, an expanse of desk between them littered with papers. It wasn’t quite a jail cell but it may as well have been. After all, Gabriel had gotten it into his head that he shouldn’t take the main office as a Warden and instead renovate the smelly old hole in the cavern to be his place of work. That was not what the issue at hand was, however. The issue was that Belladonna had been brought to him, in cuffs, and was now furious with him for not letting her go immediately.

Leaning forward, he sighed. It wasn’t like he wanted this situation. Who would want to have Belladonna Malady in cuffs? His brow furrowed. Quite a lot of people, probably, which made him sick.

“You just have to sign the waver,” Gabriel explained yet again. “If you sign the waiver and pay your fines, you can leave.”

“I am not signing a waiver that I do not agree with,” she hissed. “The Pleasure District is not within Velvet Guard jurisdiction. It never will be.”

“We can offer protection if it is.”

She laughed. A loud bark of amusement left her and echoed throughout the room. “We have our own protection. Protection, dare I say, that is canonically better than what you can offer.”

Teeth grinding, he tried hard not to clench the edge of his desk. He didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of breaking. He was the Warden. By law, she should be listening. “Ms. Malady–” She rolled her eyes at the formal title. Gabriel could only sigh in concession. “Belladonna, I want you to take a moment and think of this in a logical manner. Your girls–”

“And boys. Don’t be sexist.”

“Your employees,” he said through gritted teeth. “Put themselves in dangerous situations every night. While we pride ourselves within the Night Market, of keeping crime down, if we have no jurisdiction there, I cannot help them. Individuals are going to get hurt.”

“The only ones who are going to get hurt are the ones who deserve it,” Belladonna countered.

Outside the office, there was the clank of keys as cell doors were opened and meals were served to the inmates. Gabriel was supposed to be on rounds, checking in with his officers and getting an update on how everyone was behaving, but instead, he was trying to explain to Belladonna that she didn’t have a choice in the matter of the Pleasure District. They were breaking at least a half a dozen laws daily and now had an entire filing cabinet dedicated to incidents that they were linked to. While it should have been a black and white situation, Belladonna was not a push over. This was an uphill battle that Gabriel was quickly losing ground in.

He opened a file in front of him, taking out a piece of parchment. He didn’t understand what was written on it necessarily, the scribbles looked like a series of ancient runic designs that were supposed to translate into something more. Understanding it was thankfully not his job. He had been briefed on the contents of this paper and then had to call Belladonna in.

“Do you know what this is?”

Belladonna leaned forward, eyes only briefly scanning the paper. “The chemical compound for a drug that I am releasing within the air and lacing the drinks with. It specifically targets the hormonal make-up of estrogen and testosterone and will release a noxious remedy within the blood system if there is a spike that indicates that the individual is going far past the points of pleasure and is instead responding to harm receptors. You can tell whoever wrote out that formula for you that they got line three wrong. Education is important.”

Gabriel glanced down at the paper, having no way of knowing if it was inaccurate. “So you admit then that you are drugging people.”

“Yes.”

He hadn’t expected her to so easily confess and could only stare at her in horror. “That is illegal, Bella.”

“No it is not. Anyone who passes the barrier into the Pleasure District signs a copy of consent. The signage is clear outside of the arches, stating that by walking into the district, the proprietors will and can use any means necessary to remove individuals deemed a threat to a worker or a patron. By crossing through those arches, they give up the right to contest this or sue based on anything that might happen to their person during an act of violence. That violence also includes verbal.”

“That is not a binding contract.”

“Tell that to the team of lawyers who drew up the contract. And filed it with your precinct.”

Gabriel blinked. He should have known Belladonna had all her ducks in a row. Who she bribed to get the papers filed was beyond him but they would be fired at the end  of the day if he ever found out.

“Now,” she said thinly. “Uncuff me. You have nothing to stand on. The Velvet Guard does not and will not have jurisdiction within the Pleasure District. My priority is making sure that everyone who walks through those arches enters a safe space. The racists, homophobic, and sexist members of your precinct, are not welcome there. In fact, most of them have been examples of this so-called neurotoxin that your scientists have deemed reprehensible. They are all on the banned list, which is why I’m assuming this has come across your desk.”

“Bella–”

“Furthermore, I am a Baron. You insult me with this display of power. Gain back your authority, Gabriel, and continue to try and make this precinct a better place, but you will not do it by stepping on my back. Now, release me.”

Belladonna was the one in iron but Gabriel’s hands were far more tied than hers. The power Barons still held was hard to shake despite concessions to their positions having recently been made. Detaining her would be a dangerous game.

Sighing, Gabriel rose and walked around the desk and unlocked the cuffs. She stood, nearly knocking him out of the way as she straightened her skirt. He could see the anger still smoldering in her eyes.

“Now,” she said, her voice a touch softer. “Tonight, our dear heart is planning dinner for us. I suggest that you and I don’t bring this to the table and put them in the middle of it.”

“Of course we won’t.” Never had he wanted to put Night in the middle of the arguments between him and Belladonna. Since they had all agreed to their form of relationships, he had tried even harder to keep his anger over Bella’s actions out of their home.

“Do you think you can contain your irritation?” she asked with a raised brow.

“Can you?”

She breathed harshly through her nose. Belladonna’s temper was always far more volatile than his. Gabriel was always the one to stew. Belladonna usually yelled.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, trying to gain control of herself. “I want to see you spoil dear heart tonight,” she said. “I want you to pamper them like none other. And my kind of pampering, Gabriel, not yours.”

Gabriel looked at her confused. “I– I have already bought flowers for this evening.”

“That’s a good start.”

“I have also bought flowers for you.”

“No,” she snapped. “I want the focus on our lover. Not me.”

“Why?” Ever since entering into this relationship, Gabriel felt unsteady. Never on the right foot. It wasn’t that his focus was ever fully on Bella’s, but he felt weird not bringing her something during their date nights with all three of them. The gentlemen in him told him it was simply the right thing to do.

“Because,” she said. “Nothing makes me happier than to see the one I love melt after being taken care of. You loving them warms me, Gabriel. And right now, considering that I want to snap your neck and throw you down a ravine, I need you to do something to warm me to you.”

Gabriel nodded, not full understanding, but also knowing he didn’t need to. “Then their bouquet will be bigger than intended and I will stop off to get that hideous trinket they wanted for their night stand.”

Belladonna sneered. “Damn you for that. But thank you.” Turning, she walked to the door, her head held high. No doubt, she would cause havoc on the way out. She paused though, looking over her shoulder. “You are very lucky that the one I love loves you as well. Otherwise, Gabriel, we would have a problem.”

Gabriel ignored her, turning back to his desk and the chemical compound he now wasn’t so sure was correct. The door clicked shut at Belladonna left.