Chapter 10
"We have a plan now."
"We do, Vladimir."
"Now we need help."
"Of course. We should probably start with the Cullens."
"So let's pay them a visit."
There was a pause before Stefan responded, "It might be too soon for that."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, as anxious as we are to destroy those Volturi swine, we can't just drop in on the Cullens so soon," Stefan smiled jokingly. "Give them some time to wind down from all the excitement."
"You're right. Afterall, we only left there about three hours ago."
"Are you sure, Vladimir? What time is-?" Stefan stopped himself from finishing the sentence, as he knew that both he and his friend wished to ignore the thought of their precious clock, destroyed and downtrodden, in that lonely corner of the parlor room.
They wished to think of the clock as unimportant. They desperately, desperately wanted to focus on their plan, which was already exhilarating just to think about.
However, that clock… it bothered them. It was an insignificant thing, but it chewed away at their minds. If the past fifteen hundred years of revenge-swearing had been proof of anything, it would be that the two ancient souls had a difficult time letting go, of moving on, of forgetting, of forgiving. Above all, Vladimir and Stefan refused to ever take the blame for anything; either by choice or by some delusion that they were never in the wrong. Even as they lamented over their fallen clock, they refused to admit (at least to each other) that it was their doing.
They were somewhat aware of these flaws of theirs; however, they were completely unaware of the harm it did to them, of the time it wasted, of the consequences it might bring.
Now their expressions were anxious, almost disturbed, as they sat motionless at the kitchen table, pestered by what lied in the parlor room beyond their peripheral vision.
With some difficulty, Vladimir finally spoke up, "That pesky old clock."
"It stopped working."
"I suppose, if it's too early to go back to the Cullens' house-"
"We could look for a new clock in the meantime," Stefan finished.
"But Stefan, I think it's approximately two o'clock in the morning."
"…You're right. The sun isn't even up!" Stefan let out a light-hearted laugh, which Vladimir returned, temporarily breaking the stressful mood. "It seems like such a long night, doesn't it?"
"Yes, it does," Vladimir agreed. "So how shall we pass the time, my friend?"
"I suppose we could play a few games of chess. We haven't played in a while."
"Yes, it's been two weeks or so."
They quickly moved into the adjacent room. The chess pieces were already set up, so they started as soon as they sat down. Their chess games usually did not last more than ten minutes. However, even that was a long time, for vampires; they were both almost equally matched, and it was difficult for one to win over the other.
However, they did not finish this game. Instead, they stood up and moved restlessly around the cabin, idly chatting about nothing, mindlessly playing with cabinets and books, doing anything to avoid the parlor room.
Eventually they did move into the parlor room, but just so that they could use the piano, and not face the clock. Vladimir played a very jittery version of Bach's Solfeggietto in C Minor (a piece both he and Stefan had memorized long ago), while Stefan leaned on the piano and obsessively read a dusty old book.
As soon as Vladimir stopped playing, Stefan looked up slowly from his book to see the clock. Vladimir had turned around too, and stared at it, as though shocked.
They stared at it for hours in silence, until the sun rose.
This was a difficult chapter to write… I really hope it wasn't too boring to read.
This was an unplanned break from the action, but I got to reveal a bit more about these two.
Yes, there will be action. Soon. The Cullens will also make an appearance. Even sooner.