Chapter 4

Daciana and Valentine perched on one of our chairs with more relaxation than we had seen in months. Her fingers ran slowly through his hair, messing up the carefully contrived strands. I simply smiled, "So, you'll do it then?"

"Of course," she purred, "And with me here, our little friend won't get out of line like he did last time."

Valentine rolled his eyes scornfully. I smiled, taking a sip of the warmly mixed bloodwine, "Good. I don't want any incidents with my friends this time."

Daciana laughed, "You must be joking. Those freaks are your friends? Whatever happened to Gory Fangtell? The most powerful woman who was here only to conquer?"

I glanced to Bram and shrugged, "I got married."

She rolled her eyes but remained blissfully quiet for my sake. As much as Rose and Blanche adored her, there were times when I simply couldn't stand Daciana; but for now, that was beside the point. She was the woman I needed for the job. "Just scare them," I said, "Don't kill anyone."

"Because you did that so well before," she replied. Her voice was full of acid; her voice made me want to skin her. I nearly rose, but Bram gently grasped my hand. Valentine shot us a look of exasperation before looking after her, "Shall we go, Di?"

She turned on her heel with a vivid smile. Her mocking eyes had been examining my things, giving me the urge to give her a bitingly insincere compliment. Somehow I still managed to hold my tongue as I rose, giving her a polite kiss on either cheek. She smiled a bit too warmly at Bram, his forced little smile her only reply. I kissed Val's cheek sympathetically before he followed her out like a dog.

"She almost makes me want to avoid this," I murmured as he shut the door and left the both of us alone.

"Nonsense," Bram replied. He picked up his hat and tossed mine over to me, an action that I found myself sighing at. I placed it on, tucking my hair behind my ears with one hand while my eyes sought for my purse. I found it on the corner sofa and produced the bottle of sunscreen from inside. I placed a little coating on my fingers to touch up my exposed skin. "She's going to make this much worse than it needs to be."

"Exactly." He crossed the room, taking the bottle from beside me and placing a little on his skin, "Which is exactly why we need her, cara mia."

I sighed and placed it back in my purse, "Shall we, mon cher? I need to occupy myself before I can think up a pleasant way out of this."

He offered his arm with a small smile, "Don't think of it as badly as you do. It's just a little scare tactic to make sure it never happens again. You heard her. Even if the scare tactic is a little scarring, she doesn't intend to kill anyone, lest you kill her."

I scoffed, linking my arm with his. "Well isn't that an idea."

...

He hadn't been kidding when he said he intended to occupy me. With Val settling in, we decided to have him over for dinner for the third time this week, and I bought a cookbook on vampire-friendly Italian food to grocery shop with. We had settled on pumpkin and sage pasta primavera, a new concept to the both of us to say the very least.

"How about I grab a basket and get food supplies and you grab some storage things?" I asked him while browsing the page, "It's not particularly hard, I just need to get enough for all of us."

"Are you sure?" he asked with furrowed brows, "I don't want you pulling your shoulder like last time."

I blushed and swatted his arm, "Off with you, we'll never renovate properly if we can't pack."

He smirked and shook his head, "I'll meet you."

I nodded. The freezer section sent gooseflesh up the skin of my ankles as I passed each case. Once I was safely set in the isles absent of all cold but air conditioning, I paused. It was a strange thing, seeing the people I had just put a metaphorical hit on acting like normal people, but Romulus Moon was in the pasta isle with a gaggle of children under the age of graduating primary school. He held a little boy on his side while one little girl perched on the end and another sat in the basket, and a baby of no more than eight months sat in the belted section for them. He looked at a loss. Wordlessly, I picked up a box of chocolate rolls and set them down between the little girls, making them coo with delight. It attracted his attention, his bushy brows rising in surprise. "Gory?"

I nodded, "Need a hand?"

"Not...particularly."

He was right by the pasta I needed anyway, so I nodded toward it. He grabbed a box and passed it to me, making my smile a little more grateful. He pushed them forward, "So...do vampires eat?"

I tried not to laugh. "Yes, we do. I'm actually making dinner for my stepbrother, he's moved into town. Eros's old house."

"Yeah," he murmured, "I'm sorry to see Cupid go, but she'll have fun where she's needed."

The little pup on his side pulled his hair to get leverage and made him wince. It was a reflex, but I reached out and adjusted his arm to prop the little one up. He stared at me, the questioning where my knowledge had come from obvious. "It's not the first kid I've come across," I teased, "You're not that special."

The little boy looked at me with a mixture of shyness and gratitude that could only be described properly as reverence. I ruffled his hair, making him blush.

"You need help or anything?" Romulus asked. "I gotta meet up with my parents in a little bit, but..."

I shook my head. "No, thank you. I hope I didn't put off your friends any at the shop, I just...I've been feeling guilty. A lot guiltier than usual. I just wanted to apologize profusely for Halloween-"

He rolled his eyes, breaking into one of his characteristically charismatic smiles. "Don't worry about it. It's been a long time, there's nothing any of us can do now."

I tried to smile anyway, "I'd still like to try."

He shifted the little boy a bit closer to him and shrugged, "We'll see some other time. Thanks. And I hope whatever it is you're making turns out good."

I wanted to correct him, but somehow the improper grammar made me smile. "Thanks," I replied. I watched him go for no other reason than the comfort apologizing had brought me, even though my thoughts lingered on the knowledge I would continue apologizing profusely for a long while. Bram had too much pride to admit defeat the way I had. As I gathered the necessary ingredients bit by bit, I thought over calling off the plan entirely. There was no conquest to be brought in cruelty.

"I think I have everything," he said as he finally met me outside the refrigerated cases, picking up some extra berries for a snack. I could tell he was about to list off what he had, but he paused and looked at me intensely. "Are you alright? You don't look well."

"I'm guilt ridden," I murmured, "I'm tainted by grief. I'm horrified with myself. I think I'm making myself sick."

He reached out, prying the basket from my fingers and setting it gently in a plastic bin. "I can tell." He stepped away from our supplies and rubbed my upper arms, warming my skin and dispersing the guilt eating away at me bit by bit. "If you really don't want to go through with this, we don't have to."

I shook my head, "I saw Romulus with his family. That's going to be us one day. And I physically can't live with Daciana if she hurts one of them."

He slid his hands down to my own and laced them together, "Alright, I'll call Valentine when we get home. I want you to calm down. The freezer section is not the place for a Telltale Heart breakdown."

I laughed, pressing my lips to the inside of his uncovered elbow, "You're so cruel."

He kept me close until I'd calmed, then he kissed me lightly, "Only not to you."

Meh, a shorty today. Sorry guys. Today was a really nice day for doing things physically so I spent a bit of time on that. The next one shall be longer.