Hi everyone! Are you having (or going to have, or had) a good Saturday night? Or did you spend it just like me, working on your computers? (Who else hates writing thesis? Couldn't they just sign something that attests that we have studied and passed our exams? No, eh? Too easy…)
This is the last chapter in which we have the usual four POVs. From chapter 27 till the epilogue, the POVs will be just one or two (in a few cases we will switch back and forth from the same two POVs). Don't hate me. Back in 2007/08, when I was actually writing the story, I had come to a point where I couldn't go on and write the chapters with the same structure, both because I simply couldn't/wouldn't write certain POVs at that moment, and some POVs were going to be so long that they would have been single chapters on their own. So, I decided to write whatever POV came to my mind at the moment. (Next chapter, for example, will be only Alex)
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but Laguna and Alex.
P.S.: do you remember that I'm not a native speaker, right? If there are any spelling/grammar/language mistakes, point them out! You'll be doing me a favor! 3
26
Laguna
I had to put the drawing block away, Alex had started staring too intently at his portrait. He had gave up and sat on the windowsill, inviting me to sit on his knees. We weren't sitting comfortably, but nothing could have made me move from there.
We had stopped playing humans, and our hearts stopped. The room was silent, the only sounds were the rain against the window and our breaths, useless actions that we were so used to do that we couldn't stop.
I was sitting with my back against his chest, my arms on his. We were so still that we looked like statues. With my eyes closed, I listened to the rain.
Footsteps in our general direction froze me, and Alex noticed it.
"What's wrong?" he asked, caressing my hair.
"Nothing. Footsteps. It was just Edward going to his room". I relaxed, and Alex laughed. "What's so funny?" I asked, without moving. It felt too good. And it had been a long time since it had felt so good. Speaking of time…
I moved away from Alex, just that little bit of space that I needed to turn around.
"What's wrong?" he asked again. "Do you hear someone else's footsteps?" he wanted to make a joke, but I wasn't in the mood anymore.
"How is it that you took six hundred years to find me? If you were with Claude…" I started thinking, stepping down from the windowsill. "If you were with Claude, you should have found me right away. He knew where I went every time I moved". With my arms crossed, I started pacing the room. I heard Alex move down from the windowsill and lean against the wall.
"I… left De la Croix", he said, using Claude's last name, emphasizing how the fact that I used his name annoyed him. "I left. You know I don't like it when someone gives me orders".
"His are not orders but advices", I remarked. Claude was like… over one thousand years old? "If you had stayed with him, you would have found me sooner", I repeated, shrugging.
I saw something in his eyes. Claude was an artist, like me. And, like me, tended to avoid violence, if not strictly necessary. He was different from Alex. And I was, too.
"What, now? You don't get along with my Master?" how many times, before, had I asked him that same question? How many times he had been on the point of fighting with Claude? Of course, Claude didn't help, with his habit of calling me doll or flower. The hate he felt against the French vampire surely hadn't vanished with time.
"No", he replied, dry. "You know I hate him. I'd rip his head off, if I could". He wasn't talking, he was growling. And I was on the point of laughing in his face.
"And… how did you manage to find me, without him?" I asked, getting closer to him.
"The Moons. They still work for him", he replied, his voice still dry.
I stiffened. "You… you went to the Moons? After… after all they did to you?" I was incredulous. The Moons had tried to kill him at least two times, that I knew of, and he had gone asking them my whereabouts!
"Lagu… it was my last resort", he admitted. "I didn't know where to go… how to find you…" he moved away from the wall, gripping my shoulders.
"You had at least another one. Claude De la Croix. My Master. And yours", I said, harsh. "He wouldn't have lied to you". I got free from his grip.
It was absurd.
Completely absurd.
Bella
Right after dinner, I went to my room.
I had said to Edward that he could explain what that night with Laguna had meant to him, but I was second-guessing my choice. I was losing control over things. God only knew how had I managed to have that control. If I let him stay in my room to explain everything, I knew I would have asked him to spend the night. I couldn't afford any mistake. Why things had to be this hard?
Edward
I was utterly nervous. What was I going to say to Bella? How would she react? What would happen?
I had spent the afternoon in my room, involuntarily eavesdropping on Laguna and Alex. They were happy. Or, at least, so it seemed.
Knowing Charlie's schedule, I decided it was time to go.
I didn't even know what I was going to do. I was clueless, totally in the dark.
Alex
Without giving me the least opportunity to stop her, Laguna got dressed and left, without saying a word.
It was absurd.
How could she think that I would have stayed with him? With De la Croix? Ok, he would have helped me find her, but I didn't trust him. Maybe I was wrong. I had never been a saint, either.
It was hard to admit it, but the Master terrified me. And the reason was simple: he was too friendly with her. Add to that the fact that they were both artists… she spent too much time with him, in my opinion. But who was I to stop her? To stop her from learning, from doing the only thing that she liked? No one. I loved her, and the only thing I wanted was for her to be happy. Drawing and De la Croix's lessons made her happy, and I was screwed.
Some times I had "permission" to sit in a corner and watch. I gave up after the second or maybe the third lesson. I couldn't stand it. I didn't mind the naked model, I knew that Laguna considered the model just as something to draw and not as a man, but De la Croix's interest in her was unnerving. He justified it with her talent. I didn't buy it. It wasn't her talent. It wasn't her hand. It was her body, that he wanted. I was sure of it. The fact that he ordered her transformation just confirmed my suspicions. Why not make the object of your lust a vampire just like you, so you can have her forever! Her beloved would die, sooner or later, she would not have the heart to damn him, no… let's bet on it! He thought he could take her away from me. But that kiss I asked on my deathbed ruined his plans.
I took a deep breath, I had to stay calm. Why Laguna should have preferred him, a French artist, a nobleman, to me? To someone that took job after job as an assassin? I had nothing to give to her, if I didn't want her to be the Black Rose again. De la Croix could give her everything. Safety.
The safety that the eyes of a fifteen years old girl begged, when I met her. The safety I tried to give to her, but that I destroyed when I left her. Too many sleepless night, too much fear, for both of us. The long nights and the long days waiting for the other to come back, fear eating us from the inside. The pain in leaving her, the pain in finding her with someone else. Leaving her again, and coming back, finding her alone, this time, and finding out she was waiting for me. Hearing her say that she wanted only me was compensation enough for those two years of hell without her.
Then, Claude De la Croix came.
She talked about him all the time. And with enthusiasm. I felt like I was the third wheel. She had my ring on her finger, and I felt like the third wheel. It felt like she wasn't mine anymore.
When I found out about her change, I knew for certain. She wasn't mine anymore. As absurd as it could seem, Laguna belonged to Claude De la Croix. And he knew it.