The Vampire Diaries
Chapter 21: The Throne of Roses II: The Refuge
Alone, listless. Breakfast table in an otherwise empty room.
Young girl, violence. Center of her own attention.
The mother reads aloud, child tries to understand it.
Tries to make her proud.
The shades go down. It's in her head.
Painted room. Can't deny there's something wrong.
Don't call me daughter. Not fit to.
The picture kept will remind me.
Don't call me daughter. Not fit to.
The picture kept will remind me.
Don't call me...
-Pearl Jam
I couldn't think of a reason why Abel would have known the entrance. The door seemed old, forgotten. Why would he know of it? He wasn't from Albion and I doubt he knew of the palace's secretes. So again, how did he know of it?
I didn't press the question any further. Actually I left it slide. Some things are better left unsaid. That's my rule of thumb. I don't know why people get so bent out of shape with the mentioning of secretes and lies. I mean after living for so long, you'd probably think that they would learn the truth only brings pain.
You either accept the truth or ignore it. There's no middle ground, no gray area. Me, I accept it but I move on and not dwell on it. It'll lie in my mind like a rotting apple till I forget its pain while it dwindles away into a memory. Probably not the best idea, but I never was one of pious virtues. That's Abel's job. Hell even mystery man, Huge had his own set of morals. Me: nada. Makes you wonder why the hell I wound up as a priest. The truth is; it's a secret.
I have no idea why the hell are we running! I mean, isn't this suppose to be an infiltration?! Not an invasion! Jesus! However I feel pretty bad for Mr. Albion. The Professor was dragging himself in the back of the group, wheezing and puffing away like a train. Serves him right for smoking that shit all the time.
I had my own pains to deal with. Abel's god damn hair keeps whipping at me! What's the deal with him and a hair cut for fuck's sake!
William was nearly on his knees to praise God when we finally stopped. The long hallway ended and we were looking at a maze of staircases and corridors of metal. Somewhere within that maze is the Pope. I could only wonder with fear how that kid is coping in there. Is he alone or not? Is he still alive?
"I thank you for bringing us this far. But we can proceed without your assistance from here." We all turned toward the creepy Inquisitor Knight. I rolled my eyes as he continued talking. He's just like Tres.
Well, it seems like we're finally going to have some peace and—
"HOLIENESS!!!!!"
What the fuck?!
That damn Brother Petros was shouting off the top of his lungs as he ran into a corridor. Abel nearly had a heart attack beside me.
"YOUR KNIGHT IS COMING FOR YOU!!!" Will he ever shut up!? The lady however just merely nodded before trailing after his sorry ass. I kinda liked her better than Mr. Slave for God. She was quiet ass kicker unlike her partner. I liked that in a woman.
Anyway!
"Not very subtle, is he?" I finally said while the pair disappeared into a corridor. "Please tell me that we're not going after them."
"Frankly, it's nothing short of a miracle that they've stayed with us this far. Besides, we can probably cover more ground if we split up." Oh, thank you Buddha. Any more wise words from the pipe-smoking-lung-cancer-whack-job priest?
"Right." I said. Even though I secretly hated three W, it was all envy. He's smart and I wasn't. I guess that's where it all starts but I'm not one for pondering such things about my self. I live for the now and the now tells us to split up.
Yah, Will was the now.
"Good hunting gentlemen." I waved over my shoulder as I causally walked down the stairs into the center of the maze. "Watch your backs." I said that especially to Abel. He's not what you call of a fighter. I mean, I can't even see how he's managed to live this far and go on half of the cool missions that Lady Sforza sent him on.
"Be—be careful!" He peeped from behind me. I looked behind me and gave him a reassuring look. Abel was as white as a ghost and wore a petrified look of a too-scared mother. I still stand by my thesis for him: he needs to get laid. Actually when you think about it, pretty much all of AX needs to get laid. Especially Hugh there, though I get the feeling Sister Kate secretly likes him romantically. I don't know why she bothers. I mean not only is she a nun but what does she see in that frigid robot.
Anyway!
I better shut up right about now. Here comes the part where I need to start running. Okay Leon, keep your ears open for any sounds of a crying girl. They can only be two things: the Pope…or Abel. Hopefully it'll be the Pope. I need a raise. Being a priest pays shit these days. But that's not why I'm a priest. All of us have our own reasons.
Sister Kate and William both joined the normal way. They wanted to be servants to God. Well actually, William was kicked out of University after enduring a tragic incident caused by an explosion, killing a few innocents along with his wife. At least that's what I've heard from Sister Noelle before she died in Barcelona.
I was just as sad as any other AX member when she left us. Noelle was the first friend I made in the AX squad. You see barely anyone warmed up to a former murder. But she saw past all those names which the world had labeled me with and saw the suffering I endured. Probably it was her physic readings that picked up on how nice of a guy I actually was. But now she's dead and we're all here to cry for it in our own ways. I just hope that she left this world in time to tell Abel to truth. Did she ever tell him it?
Now Abel is an enigma that not even I know how to solve. He's the first AX member and also the closet to Lady Caterina. I have no idea where to start with that guy. I mean he's just the average skinny, tall white guy with nerdy looking glasses and long silver hair. Total wimp up to the boot! He's such a sucker to the innocent types. I mean the last mission I was on with him in with those fairies…don't ask…he was all leave-them-alone-they're-good-people. Yah, he said that right after one of them tried to rip out my lungs. He's the craziest out of all of us.
The second craziest was of course the robot of us. Tres Iqus is a battle android. William, being the mad scientist, fixed him up when Lady Caterina saved him from termination. It appears that Tres is the first of the ten 'Killing Doll' series created by some Vatican scientist who wanted to use them for his rebellion. But I guess Lady Caterina fell a little for that face of his and spared him to join the AX. That's all speculation but it makes sense. I mean, even the Lady is a woman—right?!
The Lady is a strong and determined woman. Totally someone who you don't go crossing or she'll bitch slap you right than and there. But I hold her in high regards. She deals with a lot for a woman and she holds everything gracefully, like a true Duchess of Milan. I mean let's weigh out what she has to deal with daily. She commands the AX on her own, she has a vampire killing manic for a brother, a childish sheltered Pope for another brother—whom she and Francesco play tug-a-war over all the time. And she, like all of us, needs to get laid….I mean it! And it's easy for her if you think about it. I don't think Tres would deny sleeping with her, though he may not have the right 'software' to understand what to do with a woman. Yet I think a little trip to Dr. Professor will do the trick.
For Hovel there's really nothing to tell. I mean out of all of us, he's about as easy to read as a street sign. He's been with Caterina for ten years before the AX was created and the second member to join. He's really religious too which can get on both me and Hugh's nerves sometimes, being the only agnostic members. But when you look at him, he pretty much looks like Jesus which is really weird.
Now out of all of them I only have one best friend. The reason why I call him my best friend is because he gets so pissed off at the name. At lot of things seem to piss him off…that's why I like him so much. Hugh's my favorite French man ever. I call him my 'French lover' just so that he'll start threatening me to boil me alive. We have a love hate relationship. But the guy's totally the coolest out of all of us, next to me that is. All of us goes with these specific facades. Abel is the mentally deranged goofy guy high on Disney. Tres is the killing robot. William is the mad scientist. Noelle is the total hottie of the group. Hell, even Hovel went with being the Jesus-look alike of the group. And that only leaves Huge being the silent loner. Sister Kate could write a novel on all the things that he does to make her mad. But I can see she only wants his body. Which I hear it almost all artificial. You see he was from a noble family before being slaughtered by a pack of vampires. The scars he bears are just a reminder of him. But because of that, Hugh is now the most emo member of AX group. Which is all good.
Me. There's nothing much to tell. Came from Hispania and grew up from a total sad story of a childhood. Mother was dead, leaving her son and daughter with an alcoholic father who would beat them daily. I remember the very night when I ran away, abandoning my little sister with him. What a selfish bastard I was and still am.
"Leon!"
"Shut-up, Sophia! He'll hear you!" I was busy throwing my stuff in an empty pillow case while my sister begged for me not to go. Not to leave her.
"Leon, please!" She whispered but I could hear her tears.
"Do you want to be slapped across the face every night?" She stopped crying and finally listened to the truth. "Do you want to go to sleep with a bloody nose—or how about a broken wrist?! Better yet what about when that time when he—''
"Stop it!" She cried. "Alright I'll go but as long as you promise me to not talk about that!" She was burying her face in her raggedy bunny rabbit toy. It was the only thing Mother left behind for her and every night she would cry into it. I never remembered a time when it wasn't drenched in her tears.
"I'm sorry, Sophia." I dragged her into a hug. "I promise we'll find a new family. One that will love us and not hurt us anymore." I left her and walked over to the window, opening it all the way. "We'll climb down the gutter and jump down from to the street than run till morning. We have to be gone from this village before morning or he'll find us."
"But Leon. I can't jump down from there. It's too far!"
"Don't worry. I'll go down first and than catch you." She smiled.
"Okay!" We threw down our pillow cases and I climbed over the window sill first, noisily climbing down the gutter before falling on my back. We tried to be quiet but for some reason he heard us through his drunken haze.
"Sophia…"
"WHERE IS HE!!!?" Sophia never had the chance to speak. I could hear him slapping her all the way down from where I was. Fear and panic boiled within me. I couldn't move nor speak to stop my father from beating her. Than the thought of him coming after me next flooded my mind.
I ran away without looking back. Running until morning when I knew the village was far away from me along with my father's beatings and my poor sister.
I never saw my sister again. Knowing how ironic fate is, I could have walked by her a million times without knowing that she use to be that same skinny girl with brown ringlets and dark brown eyes. But the truth always finds its way into creeping in. Curiosity got the best of me and I went into a craze of trying to locate my lost sister.
I started tracking down my father who I eventually found out that he died by drinking himself to death. That was in March. No later I found out that my little Sophia died as well. She was found dead in the streets in February of that same year. I knew that he killed her. He was chicken shit of being caught so he dumped her in some alley, but I knew he killed her. She was only seven.
I only mourned for a death within a moment until I moved on; accepting the truth and than forgetting it. I barely remembered her and by the time I found out about her death, she was already dead to me in my dreams. But I still feel awfully sad whenever I hear the name Sophia.
When you run away you have to grow up fast. It's no Peter Pan story where you can find Neverland and stay a kid forever. I was transferred from orphanage to orphanage; had a hard time in playing 'nice' with the kids. I guess some things from my father rubbed off of me. Stupid asshole he was. But I was never a horrible father.
You see, I did find a period in my sad excuse of a life to remember in. Every night I'll dream of those memories and expect to sleep peacefully. I was traveling through the Hispania countryside on a routine sweep with my squad of the Hispanian army. She was a waitress and damn did she know how to dance. We married that very fall and our sweet daughter was born in that next April. I always had a feeling of having a spring time daughter. Nothing is more pure.
Actually there is something more pure than a spring time daughter. Her eyes.
I stopped running through the lone corridors. It seemed like forever since I've last saw Abel and the Professor. I didn't see any harm in taking a break. It won't kill the Pope any faster. I just had to see her eyes again. I leaned against the wall, hidden within the corner, and opened my pendent. There smiling back at me was her little face. How much I wanted to pinch those little cheeks or tap her button nose. She was so small yet I could tell she's going to grow up just like her mother but with a little me in the mix.
I wonder if she even remembers me anymore. Does she still hum that tune which I used to put her to sleep? If I walked up to her would she recognize my smell? What about the sound of my voice? Will she call me daddy when I can finally see her again? What the hell am I saying? I don't even know what she looks like anymore. This picture is too old. By now she would be almost seven and probably look a lot different than this picture.
But I'll soon find out what she'll look like. I'll hold her again and by the time this fucking sentence of mine has run out of years, I'll rescue her from that Vatican orphanage and together we'll start life anew. Just like it should have been for me and Sophia.
"Did you here? We got the Pope!" I suddenly froze and halted my breathing. Their voices weren't far from me.
"Good, now we have to get those Vatican spies! Move out!"
"Yes sir!" A small trample of running footsteps drifted off toward the opposite direction. So they got the kid, huh? Damn! Where the hell is that Brother Petro?! Where is any one? Could this place be that big and if it is, how the hell am I going to get the Pope alone?
"Over this way, sir!" I nearly had a heart attack when an unexpected voice whispered from across the hallway. I turned toward my right and found two familiar faces that I thought I'd never see again.
"Peter?"
"Hello Father Leon." Wendy smiled next to him. They were just the same as I last saw them. Little Wendy still dressed as a fourteen year old girl and Peter seemed to have grown taller.
"Follow us, sir."
"Stop calling me, sir." I said before running across the hallway and ducking under the door which they've opened. They led me through what seemed a broom closet with a second door. It led us into another hallway which looked exactly like the one I've been running through.
"The rebels are held up in a security control room. Block 2-B." I nodded while also checking out the hallway for any intruders. Oh, yah. I am the intruder. "Now we're even." Wendy boasted. "We always pay our debts."
"So you did alright here?" I asked. I haven't seen them in three months and how much they've seemed to change.
"Oh yes!" Wendy responded. "Everyone accepted us like we were family."
"I thought we were going to be alright in this place and than this all had to happen." Peter stared at the floor with a grave face. "They're not really bad people! But when they saw everybody suffer they had to stand up fro what was right! So please, please sir. Don't hurt them. Okay—''
"I told you don't call me, Sir! This is too big to handle alone. I'm just one man with a gun. There's a limit to what I can do on my own." I answered.
"But sir…" That damn Peter. He always seems to find the perfect face for me to go on a guilt trip.
"First I have to get the Pope back safely. After that I can see if I can think of a way to set things straight." It seemed that promise was good enough. Peter nodded and allowed me to go quietly. "Thanks for everything, you've been a big help. See yah!"
I bolted down the hallway while also contacting Sister Kate of the news I finally received. Its better that the whole team knew of the Pope's location. Just in case something happened to me.
"Kate, you copy? I got the location of the rebel nest. It's likely the Pope is there too. Tell Professor and have him—'' I was cut off short by the sound of Wendy's screaming voice. They weren't too far from me.
"Shit!" I cursed while running back up the stairs and retracing my footsteps. We're they caught by the rebels?! No. I soon learned that when I found what they were up against. A group of black hooded figures wearing death masks of some short were charging toward Peter. But I soon sliced his arm off with one of my blades.
"Look out!" Peter called and I soon learned why. Another three were charging straight at me with axes. It didn't take long for them to fall to the ground, bleeding. But these weren't humans. They were vampires but they've seemed to die too quickly. It was as if with one cut they fell to the ground dead.
"My God, what are they!" I called out to myself. It seems that their numbers were growing rapidly. On and on they were gathering on top of me.
"Sir, watch out!"
"I told you before, don't call me Sir!" I yelled at Peter. For some reason he began to run towards me as if trying to help.
"Peter!" Wendy stopped him just in time. Damn boy doesn't know his limits. Even I was on the verge of my own.
"Stay back!" I ordered Peter while the black figures were closing in on me. "You kids keep quiet and let me handle this!" There is too many for me. I have been off duty for so long that I can feel how rusty I was. But just because I was out numbered doesn't me I'm dead yet. I'm still here, still breathing.
"I can't do that much but I'll be never able to face my daughter again." I'll be never able to face her if I don't get out of her alive. I promised to myself when they cuffed me that I'll hold her again. That day when I rescue her from that orphanage will come and we'll find our own lives. We'll start anew. I promise Sophia.
REVIEW!!!!!!
I really think that the song fits perfectly with this chapter. I wasn't too crazy about writing up this chapter. Maybe I should have done Virgil again or probably his sister Vanessa. But Leon is cool and I did do a chapter on Huge. I'm sorry if I ended up spelling his name wrong! No matter how many times I've tried to type it in, my computer keeps on telling me its incorrect.
Next chapter is going to be based on Dietrich's POV. Knowing me it's going to be a long one. Probably I'll stick with memories than actions and thoughts. This chapter went by pretty fast and I hope that's a good change for me. Lately my chapters are like reading sagas. They're too darn long!
Anyway please comment me and tell me what you think of my Leon chapter. This Vampire Diaries is almost coming to a close!!! I think three more chapters is all I have left. Ahhh!