A/N: I hope I didn't lose too many of you with that last chapter...I'm sure it seemed irrelevant, but Nebraska HAD to be explained. I forgot to thank Housemate and Sunshine with their contributions...I couldn't have done it without their help. Now, this chapter? It's got some nasty shit in it so if you have a weak stomach then you might not want to read it. Consider yourself warned, and enjoy!
After we got home from our vacation, things fell back into a comfortable pattern between us. I would do everything that I could to get in Char's pants and she would let me succeed more often than not. It was a good time in both of our lives and we were happy. She decided that she wanted to put a small guest house on the back end of the property and I thought that was a great idea. After pouring over references and blueprints she finally hired someone from town to do all of the work.
It should have been a good thing. She'd said that it was so Jasper and his new wife would feel more comfortable with possibly visiting us and she was putting a lot of thought into making sure that this guest house would feel like a home for them. She let me help to a certain extent, asking me to choose between things that she'd already chosen but couldn't decide on. I was happy to put a smile on her face and so I'd pick whenever she asked. She questioned everything about the new building before they'd ever even gotten started with it to the point that it was starting to drive me crazy but this was her olive branch to my brother and I would put up with all of it so that she could do this for him.
"They poured the foundation today," she sighed as she dropped into the rocking chair next to me on the front porch.
"Really," I asked wondering why she seemed irritated by this fact.
"Yeah," was her reply, "I think I chose the wrong direction for the house to face. What if they won't like having sun in the living room area? What if they don't like the area I'm building it in? What if they hate the floor plan?"
"Darlin'," I interrupted her little freak out, turning to her and stilling both of our rockers, "it will be fine."
"I don't want it to just be fine," she admitted to me, "I want it to be perfect for them."
"You want to run over and take a look," I asked her and got a small smile.
"I think so," she answered with a slight nod and stood.
"You want me to come with you," I questioned her already knowing the answer.
"Of course I do," she replied rolling her eyes. "Why did you even ask that?"
"Because I like being difficult," I chuckled out as I followed her off of the porch.
"It shows Sug," she laughed and took off running across the property in the direction of the construction site.
I stayed just behind her as we ran, because the view of her ass was better than any scenery that I might be missing. I was so lost in watching the way it swayed as she ran that I didn't notice that we were slowing down until we'd already stopped. We weren't quite to the area that she'd had cleared earlier in the week yet, but she seemed distressed already. I took the two steps forward that I needed to and rested a hand on her waist to caress her there.
"What is it," I asked.
"I'm not sure yet," she answered me honestly. "but I've got a feeling."
I didn't like this. There was no threat here, but she was shaken and upset and I wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. She was on edge right now, and if I was honest with myself, I noticed that she had been for at least a week, since she'd allowed the general contractor and his crew access to what had always been our private domain and it was only getting worse. I didn't know what was going on with her, but I knew that whatever it was probably wouldn't end well. She was the rock, the steady one of the two of us. Since she'd woken up to this life, she'd always managed to hold it together and I felt like I was watching the fabric that was her unravel before my eyes and there was nothing that I could do to stop it. I really didn't like this.
"You wanna let's go see what they've done," I questioned and gave her waist a little squeeze.
"Yeah," she said and started walking forward.
We walked to the edge of a small clearing and her eyes narrowed as she took in the area and the work that had been done. I was clueless, but she had been reading, studying the processes, the business of building houses and knew exactly what she was looking at. I stood silently next to her just inside the clearing with my arm around her waist and waited on her to explain to me what this mess in front of me meant. She didn't. Instead, she stepped away from me and walked over to the freshly poured concrete slab, avoiding the haphazard piles of lumber and other supplies that were scattered around, and gently touched the top with a fingertip. I hadn't moved and she turned her head to look at me as a low growl rumbled in her chest and she wiped her finger on her pants. This wasn't the sort of growl that I normally heard from her, and it didn't make my dick hard with the anticipation of things to come. My girl was pissed.
"What's wrong," I asked her again as she walked stiffly over to me shaking her head.
"This is all wrong," she answered with a wave of her hand. "They're dicking me around and fucking it all up."
"You're sure," I questioned, already knowing that she was but hoping that my asking would help her calm enough to think more rationally than I knew she was.
"Positive," she said and I noticed that her eyes had gone black as they swept over the clearing.
"You want me to handle it," I asked her and ran my hand up and down her back and hoping that she'd take me up on my offer.
"No," she answered me with a shake of her head. "I'll deal with it when they get here tomorrow morning. Let's go back home."
I nodded, and followed her back to our house. I felt helpless to figure this out, to make this alright for her and the rage that I knew she was feeling right now was something that I'd never seen from her before. Even when she was a newborn and we were surrounded by hell, she appeared to be in better control of her anger than she had been in that clearing. When we made it to the house, she turned to me with her foot on the bottom step, took a deep breath and smiled that gorgeous smile that I loved, she was calmer and her eyes were back to the beautiful pools of red that I was used to seeing on her. She was impossible for me to resist and I leaned in to give her a kiss managing to cop a feel of her ass at the same time.
"Cheeky," she laughed at me with a playful slap at my chest.
"You know it," I answered with a waggle of my eyebrows.
And just like that, we were back to just being us. Her laughter echoed around us; I scooped her into my arms and sat on our porch swing and tried to figure out exactly what it was that I'd seen at the clearing with her. She seemed to melt into me, and I reveled in the feel of her body pressed against mine. This was normal, this was how Char had always been and I gently kicked the swing into motion; she smiled again as she felt us begin to move. She let me keep my hand on her ass as we gently swayed back and forth with the swing and I took that as a good sign that whatever had bothered her at the construction site was forgotten, at least for now.
"I want to put in a flower bed," she broke the comfortable silence between us.
"Where," I asked her.
"Right here," she answered with a nod of her head, "around the porch so that we can enjoy it."
"You're just trying to get me out of my clothes Char," I teased her. "I know your angle."
"Maybe," she laughed, "But I still want the flower bed. Will you go to town tomorrow and get some plants?"
"Sure," I said as I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "What kind do you want?"
"Oh," she exhaled, "I don't know. Stuff that smells nice. You can choose."
"You're trusting me to decide," I chuckled and raised my eyebrows at her.
"I haven't forgotten that God awful apartment," she laughed, "but yeah, I'm trusting you to decide. Surprise me."
"It'll be good," I replied, "Way better than the apartment. I promise."
We passed the night on the swing, with her mentioning different plants from time to time and me feeling her up. She knew what I was doing and didn't stop me so I enjoyed myself even though we didn't have sex. She enjoyed herself too, and I knew that most of that was because I avoided talking anymore about what had happened on the construction site and was just there with her. I didn't need to bring it up; she would come to me when she was ready.
Morning dawned quicker than I would have liked it to and Char climbed out of my lap and ran her fingers through my hair. Her nails lightly grazing my scalp had me closing my eyes to purr and leaning into her touch. I opened my eyes and looked up at her with a smile.
"I love you, you know," she said to me.
"I know," I told her, "I love you too.
"I know," she replied with a beaming smile. "Now go get changed and get to town and buy me some plants."
"Yes ma'am," I laughed and gave her a mock salute before going into the house.
I changed clothes and drove the familiar roads to town all the while fighting a nagging feeling that maybe I should have put this off for another day. It wasn't that I knew that something was about to happen it was more that I knew that Char was going to need me and I just didn't know how or when and leaving her and knowing that was nearly enough to have me turn the truck around two separate times. But I didn't because I knew that this trip to town and the plants that I would be picking up would make a difference to her. They were important to her, and she'd trusted me to pick them out for her. There was no way that I would go back home without them.
The garden shop was a small building surrounded on three sides by row after row of different types of shrubs, trees, and flowers and the old lady that ran it was batshit crazy. She seemed to find it adorable that I was here buying plants for my young wife and she spent a good bit of time walking me through everything that she had available and telling me all about the plants. She asked me questions about planting conditions and soil types that I had to guess at and from the wink that she gave me, I was pretty sure she knew that I didn't have a clue. It didn't slow her down, or stop her from trying to help me out as best as she could given my limited knowledge.
"These are gardenias," she said waving at a small dark leafed shrub, "They smell lovely, but it can be a heavy scent if you plant too many of them. I have some Mexican Lavender around here. That would be perfect for you. It's very romantic."
I followed behind her, sniffing everything that she showed me and trying to decide what combination of scents wouldn't over-power us while we were sitting on the porch enjoying the view. When I'd find something that I knew would look perfect or that had a smell that I couldn't resist, I'd pull a couple of the pots out into the row. The lady would smile and nod at me each time I did, sometimes directing me to pull a different pot that had a better specimen. I was more than thankful for her help and hoped that by taking advantage of it, I wasn't going to fuck up the flower bed as badly as I had the apartment. We were walking up the last row, back towards the small shop that housed the indoor plants when it hit me. I had to go home, immediately.
"I'm sorry," I turned to the old lady and pulled out my wallet. "I have to get home. I've just remembered something."
"That's alright," she said with a smile and I emptied all of my cash into her hand much to her surprise.
"Can you just deliver it next week," I asked her as I started to feel my panic rising, "Or I'll call you this afternoon to set something up."
I didn't even wait to hear what her answer was. It really didn't matter to me. What mattered was that two minutes had already passed since I got the feeling that it was past time for me to go back home and I was just now getting back into the truck. I could come back and pick out more flowers. Not knowing what was going on at home when this knowledge kept screaming at me to get my ass home was threatening my sanity with the images that initially kept flashing before my eyes. I waited on the idea that Charlotte was safe to solidify into more than just a hope as I drove like a bat out of hell back to our house. It took me half the time that the drive to the garden shop had taken and I jumped out of the truck as soon as I'd thrown it into park in front of the house.
"Charlotte," I yelled at the house and even I could hear the panic in my voice, but a quick inhale told me that she wasn't here. "Fuck."
I started running towards the construction site, following her scent and hoping like hell that I'd find her there mad as hell and ripping the contractor a new asshole. The closer that I got to the clearing, the less likely I thought that was going to be the case. I had no idea what had happened but her trail was tainted by the scent of old blood and I let out a heavy breath as I stepped into the same clearing that we'd been to yesterday.
"Jesus Christ," I breathed out.
It had been a long time since I'd seen anything that could even come close to the scene that was in front of me and even then, it would be hard to say which was worse. There were puddles of blood scattered throughout the clearing. Bits and pieces of human flesh littered the ground and covered all of the supplies that were here. It looked as if nothing was untouched by violence and death. The concrete slab that had been so smooth yesterday evening was the centerpiece; there were dismembered human bodies carelessly tossed into it. Every square inch of it was tinged with blood or human entrails. This was what rage looked like and my heart sank because I knew exactly whose rage had caused this.
"Charlotte," I called but I didn't expect an answer.
I could clean this mess up later. It was hidden from the prying eyes of humans and I needed to find my woman and make sure that she was alright. You couldn't just cause this much destruction and then turn it off, it was like a leak in a sinking ship you had to let it play out and hope that when it was all over that your head was still above water. I had to find her and make sure to keep her afloat. I ran around the perimeter of the clearing and found Char's scent trail.
"Shit," I said as I followed the trail deeper into the tract of land.
She was headed towards our closest neighbor's small farm and I was pretty sure that we weren't going to have to worry about sending them a Christmas card this year. The trail was a little fresher than the one leading to the construction site had been, but it wasn't fresh enough that I had any delusions of being able to save the neighbors.
I slowed as I approached their house and the first thing that I noticed was the bloody smear on the back door that was hanging on by a single hinge. I ran my hand down my face as I stepped into the house. I took a deep breath, and Char wasn't here. The scent of blood was on the air but it wasn't as strong as it had been on our property. This was a good thing. I walked through the simple kitchen and saw nothing out of place. In the living room, the main wall was painted with what looked like an arterial spray that led down the hallway. There were bloody drag marks in the carpet that screamed of a painful death and I followed them to the first body. It was broken so badly that it was nearly unrecognizable as human.
This was going to upset Char, when she realized what she'd done. I looked down at the man that used to be our neighbor; his head had nearly been severed from his body from the ferocity of her bite. My poor girl. I turned my head from the man, and saw his wife in an unnatural position at the end of the hallway in nearly the same condition as her husband. I searched the rest of the house and found no other bodies. The broken window in the front bedroom gave me a good idea of which direction Char had headed. I wanted to just leave this place and go find her, but I wouldn't yet. I needed to clean this mess up so that I could keep her safe. I walked into the kitchen and looked around. My eyes locked on the range and I went to it and set the oven timer. The pilot light would ignite in forty-five minutes. I pulled the range from the wall and with a snap of my fingers, severed the gas line. I pushed the range back into place, opened the oven door and quickly left the house.
I walked around to the front window that Char had jumped through and headed off after her as soon as I found her scent. The next house wasn't very far away and I stopped when it came into view. She was still in there. I could hear her snarling and growling like a newborn from here. I could also hear one slowing heartbeat and another that was sputtering to keep pumping blood. I started slowly walking towards the house when the heartbeats faded to just one.
"Char," I called out as I opened the door to the house, "Darlin', it's me."
I honestly wasn't sure if it would matter to her or not just who it was coming to her when she was in this state of mind. Rage affects every person differently, and vampires are no different. I had never seen Char be more than a steady presence. Sure, I've seen her pissed off a lot of times but this went so far beyond that. I knew that I wouldn't be able to console her if she, in this fit of rage, hurt me so I was gonna keep on talking and hope like hell that some part of her mind would let me in without hurting me.
There was a body in the kitchen, messy, but not tortured and the sight brought me some relief. I kept slowly walking through the house. There was another body in the living room, still messy, but still not tortured. It looked like she might just be winding down. I hoped so anyway.
"Darlin'," I called to her from the hallway. I knew that she was in the bathroom and I really didn't want to scare her or spook her by suddenly invading her space. "I'm close Darlin'."
I stopped at the bathroom door and she quickly turned to look at me. The sight just about broke my heart. Char was filthy and wild looking; her clothes were ripped and she was covered in blood and bits of flesh. Her hair ranged from a deep burgundy to a light pink and, where the blood had begun to dry, stuck to her head. Her eyes were still black, but she wasn't growling at me and that was a damn good sign. She pulled the woman tighter against her own body and I heard bones snapping as Char continued to draw from the dying woman's neck.
"I'm not gonna take it away Darlin,'" I said to her and leaned against the wall across from the doorway. "You take your time and finish up."
The woman's heartbeat began to fade, and Char's eyes started darting around most likely looking for an escape. I couldn't let that happen because she was already going to be tore up over the things that she'd done. There was no way that I would let her cause more of this sort of damage.
"You're almost done," I said quietly, "I'm here to help you Darlin', but you've got to come back to me."
The woman's heart stopped, Char took another deep pull from her neck then dropped her on the bathroom floor.
"Come here," I called to her and she took a tentative step over the body. "That's right, come on. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm here to help you."
I took a chance and took a small step towards Char, opening my arms for her. She stared at me, but made no move forward. I knew that this wouldn't be a quick process, but I needed to speed it up just a little because I had to get her settled and clean this mess up then get her home and make sure that she was alright. And I had to do all of that without anyone seeing us.
"Darlin'," I pleaded with her, "please let me help."
She took another step towards me, and I closed the distance between us and wrapped her in my arms. She smelled terrible, but she was right where I needed her to be and I ran my hands up and down her back and whispered quiet reassurances to her until she raised her face to look at me with bright red eyes.
"Welcome back," I told her through my smile. "You had me worried for a minute there."
"What the hell did I do," she breathed out in horror.
"Shh," I said, "It's alright now. I've got you."
She buried her face in my chest and I held her for a little while longer. The relief that I felt that she was here and not still lost in that rage had me holding her a little tighter than I normally did. I pressed a kiss to her head and took a deep breath. I was running the risk of having her fall apart again, but we really needed to get back home soon.
"Char," I asked her and she raised her face to look at me, "I gotta get this place sorted."
She nodded at me and pulled a lighter out of her pocket. I gave her a smile and a nod and she seemed to move on automatic as she went from room to room lighting fabric on fire. I stayed with her, but let her do this because the familiarity of methodically setting a house on fire seemed to be keeping her calm for now. Most likely, she was in some sort of shock but it was working in our favor and she could fall apart again just as soon as I got her home. She dropped the lighter as we left the house and I pulled her to me again. I could feel her body shaking and I knew that she was crying.
"Shh," I whispered into her hair, "I've got you."
I scooped her up in my arms just as the boom from the other house sounded and began running the two of us home. She cried the whole way and I just kept telling her that I was there. When we got to our house, I went straight to the bathroom and turned on the shower. She clung to me when I tried to sit her down on her feet.
"Darlin'," I said quietly, "I just need to get us undressed. I'm not leaving you."
She nodded and let me put her down, but she couldn't seem to not be touching me so I didn't waste time with things like buttons and zippers. Her clothes weren't salvageable, and she was far more important than anything that I had on. I picked her back up when we were both naked and stepped into the shower. She laid her head against my chest and I made sure that the spray stayed out of her face. Eventually, she let me put her down so that I could begin to wash away the visible reminders of what had happened today. I had to wash her hair three times before the water it was rinsed with changed from crimson to pink and then ran clear.
This whole process took me back to Maria's camp and days of rewards when bathing in blood was something to strive for. I'd never had to deal with the consequences of those days on such a personal level. They ended with fires and ash, not with me wrapping my sobbing girl in a towel and promising her over and over that she'd not done the terrible things that she was afraid of. I carried her to our bed and curled her into me so that I could stroke her hair and tell her I loved her as many times as she needed to hear it. Eventually, she wasn't crying but I stayed there with her still. Just before the sun came up, she was calm enough to let me leave her side long briefly to deal with the construction site but as soon as I came back home and showered I was right back beside her.
She stayed at my side for weeks after that day but I didn't mind. I managed to buy the burned properties and we expanded our own borders a bit. We worked on the flower bed that she'd wanted and I even got her to smile after it was all planted. I was sitting in the swing watching the sun go down and breathing deeply the comforting scent of all of the plants that we'd just put in when she walked out of the house. She stopped just in front of me and smiled.
"You like it," she asked me still smiling.
"I do," I answered her as I pulled her into my lap. "It's soothing."
"You know what you've done don't you," she questioned me.
"What are you talking about," I replied only slightly nervous that I had no idea what she was talking about.
"The flowers," she said and leaned back to look up at me.
"I thought you were happy with them," I said.
"They smell like me," she laughed quietly in response.
I inhaled and damn if she wasn't right. I was engulfed in the smell of Char. I chuckled and took another deep breath.
"I told you it would be better than the apartment," was the only defense I offered up.
E/N: Thank you to everyone that reviews, to those of you that have me on alerts, and those of you that have favorited me or the story. I grin every time I get an email about any of those things. I'm still taking suggestions/requests for outtakes and sideshots for this story...so far, I have a request for Garret's story and a request to see what happened during Jasper and Peter's bank robbery. Keep them coming, I love hearing what you'd like to see!