~Ondre
Sleep did not come easily to my lonely-hearted Love. He trembled and rolled about our bed in violent, anguished thrashes. His flailing woke me, a strike to the abdomen from his elbow was more than enough to snap a tree; with a cracked rib I stood at the end of our bed, leaned against the timber post, and watched. His face twisted in his sleep, he wailed and groaned, haunted and tortured. I knew what was happening, to see his progeny jerk and writhe only confirmed my suspicions. With a heavy heart, and a steady hand, I moved to wake Leon.
"Leon, my Leon, you must wake." I petted his head and slowly laid my hand on his shoulder. "Léon, mon Amour, éveiller…" I gave him a shake and he rattled to consciousness with a cleaving swat. "Shh…It's alright, my Love." I caught his hand and touched the side of his face; his eyes searched around the space between us and his mouth dropped open.
"Ondre…" He said in a voice full of panic. "Ondre, something's wrong…" His soft face cracked and his eyes widened. "Something's wrong, Ondre. I feel it, something's wrong…Artemis." Leon shot up from the bed and sped through the room; I followed behind him. He opened the door to her bedroom and fell to the floor upon seeing her struggle.
"Oh, no…How did this happen?" His voice was hardly anything but a whimpering whisper.
"He must have gotten her after she left." Leon sat hunched over on the floor, one hand on the door knob and one over his heart. I knelt down beside him and put an arm over his shoulders. "All we can hope is that she survives until dusk; if she has not perished we shall revive her." I said the words in an attempt to comfort but I knew there was absolutely no chance of Christina becoming one of us. "Leon, you must prepare yourself to break your promise to her. Nikolas will not leave a corpse; he will tear her to pieces…"
"Je sais..." He breathed into my chest.
"When we find him you must keep her away from him, no matter what. She does not need to see her lover in such a state. We'll leave as soon as the sun sets." Leon and I would wake Artemis just before nightfall, but now we needed to dress; we needed to arm ourselves. "We need to prepare, Leon. She'll be fine—"
"I'm not leaving her." He rejected immediately, my Leon; my little warrior, brave-hearted dancer.
"I'll bring you clothes." I kissed his cheek and rose from the floor.
"I want my jacket, the one Annabelle gave me."
This was the final time I would be betrayed. I would no longer suffer at the hands of those I trusted. A great vampire once told me the only immortals one could trust were those he has made, and the one who made him. Artemis, my daughter, and Ondre, my barbarian; they were all I had, and all I would have. Annabelle, Queen Serana, Nikolas, they were all outsiders yet I had mistaken them for friends, family, even…
Not again.
I'm certain it'd be dramatic by any account, but wearing the jacket Annabelle had given me soo long ago made the perfect statement. I suppose I counted it as a trophy, at least now I did; wearing it to collect another misdeed just made sense. Ondre found it laughable, or adorable, or incorrigible; whatever he thought of it, it made him smile and kiss me. My barbarian strapped stakes to his body, several, long, thin stakes with silver tips resting in holsters on his calves. He gave me a number of them, strapped them around my legs as well, but made certain that I knew I was not to engage Nikolas, or let Artemis near him.
"He is older than you, stronger and faster by definition; he would kill you and Artemis before you could react. Leon—"
"Ondre, I know!" I pushed his hand away and went to sit beside my suffering daughter. Her body jerked and twitched. She groaned, her fists clenched around torn lengths of silk from her sheets. It hurt my chest to know she was soo pained, and to know that her heart would soon be shattered only exacerbated it. I touched the side of her face with the back of my hand, making sounds to comfort her. "Shhh…" I pulled the hair off her face and wiped blood from under her eyes.
"Artemis…mon bébé," my baby. "Things cannot always be the way I have promised them to be…" I kissed her forehead, her rigid body relaxing as my lips touched her skin. "I have told you things, wild, extravagant lies all for you own sake, but no more. The world is not as pleasant as I wish, and not as kind as you deserve…" I felt the tears pooling under my eyes but I fought them back and grabbed her hand. "I fear I may have damned you, rather than saved you. Yet the moment I saw you, broken and beaten, face down in the mud, I knew I had been brought to you." Ondre shifted behind me. He kept a few feet away, but stood there all the same; an act of solidarity. Artemis' body jerked again and her face twisted in pain, the blood in Christina's body calling out to her.
"I gave you a life of darkness…and you sought the light." A tear fell and struck the black sheets with their embroidered roses of silver and green. "I don't blame you or hold it against you. I love you and I loved a mortal, once." Ondre made a noise through his nose; I could nearly hear him lowering his head into it. "I don't think she will survive, I'm soo sorry my sweet child." Two more streamed down my face and off my chin. "Forgive me…please, forgive me." My words were mumbles. I touched my lips to hers, loosely holding her hands.
It was the first time I'd ever kissed her, or any woman for that matter. I never had the desire as others do and that's just the way of it. I didn't quite know what to expect of her mouth but it was soft and tense; thin lips, quite unlike Ondre's. I felt nothing but pain in kissing her, I could taste Christina on her mouth, and I could see the pain on her face when I touched my forehead to hers. With a heavy sigh I turned away from her to look back at my barbarian.
"Dusk approaches." He said quietly.
"Yes. I feel it." "Artemis grumbled and rolled in the bed, she was waking.
"Hold her, Love." Ondre respectfully commanded, moving up beside me. He leaned over her, ready to grab and restrain her should she run for the sun.
"Artemis…wake up. You must wake up." My voice grew louder. "Artemis…Artemis! As your maker, I command you, open your eyes and see me." I held the sides of her face and looked into her hazy blue-gray eyes as they burst open; wide and frenzied in terror. She screamed and moved to shove me away; I blocked her hand with my forearm and grabbed her arms at the wrists, holding them against the iron headboard of her bed. "Look at me, I command you!"
"Christina! Leon? Leon, what's wrong?" Her chest heaved high and she scrambled under me, forcing me to sit on her waist, tucking my legs under hers.
"Artemis, before I give you your arms back, I need to know if you're going to listen to me, because if you plan on running for the door—" Her head jerked quickly to her door. Ondre shot across the room and shut it close, standing sentry before it. "—I cannot let that happen. Will you listen to me?" She turned her head back to me and with a slight nod I let her go. She held her hands above her head for a moment then slowly let them fall to her sides. "What you're feeling, I felt it too; it woke me, how it didn't wake you…is irrelevant." I quickly corrected myself. Drawing a breath I stared into her eyes, but looked away when the words escaped me; somehow, she didn't need them.
"No…Leon, no…" Her soft voice broke and she pushed me away. "Leon! You promised me she would be okay!" She leaned forward and shoved me off of her waist then pounced on top of me; I rolled myself up tight on her bed as she hit me with heartbroken fists. "No, Leon! You fucking promised me!" She shouted and struck me in the cheek, I deserved it; I promised her the impossible, I promised I could cure the human condition. That was her last blow however. I looked to see Ondre holding her arms down by her sides, one of his curled around her waist. "Leon, you cock sucking vampire! I fucking hate you! Fucking hate you!" She struggled in his grip.
"Enough! Listen to him!" Ondre grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me. I didn't want to get up; I felt something pulling me into the bed, the familiar weight that sat on my chest in these horrible moments. I sighed and forced myself up, pain in my cheek and blood on my tongue. "My Love…" Ondre groaned and reached out to touch the side of my face; it hurt, Artemis had broken several of the bones in my skull with her punch. I turned away from his hand and licked at the bleeding hole inside my mouth.
"That was a good punch." I said with a laugh that was half desperation and half indignation. "Someone has her, we don't know anything, for certain, but that; you'd have actually rested through the day if she made it home, but she did not." Artemis shook Ondre off of her, he only held on tighter, refusing to let her attack me again. "You can find her, she's still alive; she must be, if she was dead you'd know it. You can feel her still, I know you can. Dusk will be on us in minutes, you can lead us to her and we can…we'll find her." Ondre noticed my hesitation and substitution; Artemis must have as well as she kicked at him and clawed his arm.
"Close your eyes." I begged her. "We can find her. Close your eyes and lead us to her." She snorted and turned away from me but shut her eyes, I suppose it was easier to listen to me than to look at me. "Good…good." I made a nod towards Ondre; reluctantly, he let her go but did not move. "There's a piece of your body that is not here in your flesh." I touched her hand and moved off of the bed. Her fingers jerked but let me take them. I clenched them tight and rose to be close to her.
"You feel it calling you, you hear it; I know you can. Take your mind out of your skull, and put it in your blood." Artemis turned to me with rage seething through her bared teeth. She made a growl and shoved me away again.
"That doesn't make any fucking sense!" She brought her arm up again to strike me but Ondre caught her and held her tighter than before, if such a thing was possible.
"Your heart is hurt, we're all aware of that, Artemis." He said to her with his lips at her ear, his arms crossed around her waist holding her immobile. "We're here to help you, both of us. He may be your maker, and he may feel deserving of such treatment, but if you move to hit him again I can promise that you will never do it again." Ondre did not mean the words, only the intention behind them. I knew he wouldn't hurt her, but he had seen enough of my blood; I couldn't imagine standing aside as another struck him.
"Close your eyes, do as I say." I commanded her in a quiet tone that allowed no negotiation. She made a sound and struggled against Ondre.
"Please…If you love me, you'll let me find her!" She begged; realizing she might have better luck escaping from under bands of steel. "Leon!" She choked and began to cry.
"Shh~" I murmured and touched her face. "Close your eyes." With a trembling lip and quivering eyes she looked up at me then shut her eyes. "Good, now, feel your body from within. Don't move, just feel." She made another sound. "Feel, Artemis; feel your feet, your ankles and your toes." This was how Ondre taught me, and how I would teach her. She took a breath and began to feel the magics in her blood. "Good, can feel your hands, your fingers, can you feel them?" I asked her. Artemis tensed and her head turned sharply to the right.
"I…I feel something…it's like one of your calls but quieter…and sharper too, maybe?"
"Where?"
"I…I don't know! Somewhere….somewhere that way…" She wiggled in Ondre's arms, totally restrained; he let her down and she shook herself free as he moved towards me. "That way…" she pointed north. "But kinda that way too…" She pointed east. "Is that her? Is she okay?"
"I doubt it, you need to dress, we have to find…her." Ondre said slowly, she ignored him and turned towards me with a particular kind of uncertainty. Fear, hope, desolation, agitation; too many emotions to interpret, yet they were all as loud and obvious as the last.
"Get dressed, Artemis, we'll find her. I promise."
Son of a bitch, there I go again…
Artemis was new to these abilities of hers, even with my instruction she couldn't pinpoint an exact direction, much less a location. Her heart was crumbling away with each passing moment and her mind fared no better; the thought of her lover bleeding to death in some hovel tucked away from the world sat heavy on her shoulders. It would not be long now, I was as certain of that as Ondre; my sweet, awkward little newborn, however, held on hope. My barbarian had spent nearly the entire night and morning prior searching for his brother. He found evidence of Nikolas' presence, but no body, at least not his. Nikolas would not have taken her somewhere he'd have already soiled; he'd have had one picked out before snatching Christina.
There was a hospital, abandoned years ago when it's funding ran dry, but Ondre had already checked it. The bank by the train station had been checked as well. There, my barbarian found the tattered remains of a human, torn apart by a rage-filled immortal. We kept this from Artemis; as long as I could conceal the horrible truth of our kind, I would. There were other places to search, having lived in this city with its rivers and dead industry for the better part of a decade I knew of a few choice locations. My daughter cried and wept while trying to match the sensations in her blood to the physical world, but every few moments another wave of pain or sorrow would rip through her, and me, and force her to the ground.
"He's killing her…I feel her dying…" She dug her fingers into the concrete, the skin on her fingertips began to shred and blood trickled out of the wounds across the pale man-made stone. Dragging her fingers across the pavement she left ruts in the cement and brought her hands to her knees. Then, in a burst of hopelessness, she smashed the ground with her fists; pounding and banging until a cloud of dust fluttered around her.
"Artemis…" I cooed, moving towards her.
"GET AWAY!" She screamed. "I HATE YOU!" Louder than before, this time she reached out and grabbed a large slab of broken concrete, flinging it into the brick wall across the street. Before I could react she threw herself into a full sprint down the road, running faster than I'd ever seen a vampire of her age move. Ondre took off after her, and with a final look to the broken ground and cracked wall, I too gave chase.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I saw her swat at Ondre, an overhanded claw for his face. He sidestepped her only for another blow to be fired. He dodged again and again until she lunged for him, then he caught her by the waist and flung her to the wall, his hands tight around her arms holding them at her side. "Fuck you, Ondre, let me go!" She struggled.
"As your maker—"
"No...don't say it, please!" She begged.
"As your maker, I command you—"
"Leon, stop it! Stop, please! You don't understand!" She began to sob again, a flowing stream of blood from her beautiful, pale eyes. With a quaking voice, and no more hesitation, I shouted my command at her.
"You shall never again raise a hand to us; as your maker I command this of you!" She whined and fell limp in Ondre's hands. He looked over his shoulder at me with eyes I couldn't quite translate; prideful and thankful, certainly, but something more, something graver. I stepped towards her and waved my hand at Ondre, slowly, he let her down and she slumped to the ground. "Oh, Artemis…"
"I'll find her on my own, get the fuck away from me." She spat.
"No." I said calmly and reached for her hand, again she jerked away from but I took it anyway. "Come on, we have to find Christina."
"She's dead, you know it, he knows it…"
"She's not dead, Artemis, but every moment you lay here in the gutter, crying over what you can't change, is another moment that she lays dying." A tremor shot through her and she hid her eyes. "We're here to find her, stop moping and pouting and hitting people—" I made certain to emphasize that one. "—so we can put this insanity to an end. I promised you, on my blood, all that I own and all that I am, we will find her and serve justice to those who have wronged her." Artemis sat quietly, taking a deep breath, calling to her blood.
"I don't know where she is…"
"Neither do we." I stroked the back of her palm with my thumb; her fingers were short but narrow, with wide, long palms. "It'll be okay, I promise you." I kissed her hand and sat down beside her. "Listen for her, you can hear her; you two are bonded. She's speaking to you; all you have to do is listen." She relaxed and slumped down against me, her head on my shoulder, her hands held in mine. I looked up to see Ondre staring back. Seeing us soo close obviously brought him some measure of pain, he loved me and feared losing me.
What a silly waste of emotion. I loved them both, that much was certain, but while I loved Artemis, I was I love with Ondre; one would not, and could not, replace the other.
I smiled up at him and gave a nod. The smile spread to his sharp, angular face and I saw his stomach expand in a breath. With a grin, I laid my head on hers and slowly pawed at her thick, springy, chocolate-brown curls. He grinned back at me and lowered himself to the street in front of us; on one knee he reached out and laid his hand on my leg. Artemis choked on another tear and without thought I reached up and flung it to the ground. She took another breath, then a few more.
"I feel her…I can feel her, Leon! She's alive and…She's alive and I can feel her! She's alive, Leon!" She jumped up from the ground and began to bounce with anxious energy. "She…She's that way! I'm sure of it, that'a'way!" She pointed towards the north again, north-by-northeast, to be exact.
"Are you certain?" Ondre asked her, rising before I could manage to do so.
"Yes! I feel her, Leon! I can feel my blood in her body…I could feel it dripping out of her…"
"We must be quick, then."
With that my little family took off deeper into the night.
She ran through the city, the old city; the dead industrial center from a time now gone. Factories that once pumped pollution into the air from their towering smokestacks were empty. Broken glass and graffiti-marked walls along with obsolete vehicles and outdated machinery marked this place. It was avoided by all but the most desperate humans, had been that way for years. The vagrants that frequently went missing here were never missed. Thugs and thieves, liars and low-lives; it was the perfect place for a sadistic immortal to hide and kill.
I could smell death in the air, blood and fear mingled with the wind of the cold, black night. Particulate clung to the air, smoky and rusted; the massive industrial force that the city once was now lived on in the breeze as ash and oxidized iron. Foundries and warehouses lined the darkened street, a single bulb glowing on a post at the end of the road; there the area became even less reputable. I could smell something else on the breeze, something familiar.
"Christina!" Artemis shouted and took off down the road. She spun around the street light and screamed. Coming on her I saw what caused her to shout; Christina's car. The door had been torn from its hinges, dried blood in the seat, on the dashboard, and covering the steering wheel. Artemis whimpered and staggered to the vehicle, she leaned over and laid her hands on the sticky interior. She groaned and touched the dashboard, then the steering column, and finally the keys; aligned to start the vehicle.
"We're close, Artemis, we are. We must be." I reached over and touched her shoulder, her body static as the pain ripped through me. I felt it through my bond with Artemis, and she through her bond with Christina; it clawed a hole in my gut and I lurched forward, grabbing ahold of the steel frame of the automobile. My daughter doubled over and gagged on a torrent of vomit, bloodied and black. She screamed as it trickled down her chin and she fell to the pavement, landing in her own bile.
Christina's life had been extinguished; she was no more.
~Ondre
I could smell him the moment I opened the rattling steel door to the warehouse. I could smell her as well, and her death. Looking back at Leon I saw that he could too; he held Artemis back from entering, a maker's command keeping her from the door. I would enter alone, and once I had found and restrained Nikolas I would then search for Christina, but with one glance around the building I knew she would be in no less than a thousand pieces. Blood streaked the walls, splattered in the supports overhead, splashed on the dust-caked ground; this girl had suffered greatly at the hands of my maker's failure. I heard him above me, leaping from beam to beam.
"I knew you'd find me…" He said in his growling tongue. He was above me still, leaping through the steel supporting the tattered, rusting roof. "And you brought her too. I knew you would. You did love to watch the pain trickle down their faces." He sniffed the air. "Oh, and he's here too; your whore."
"Are those really what you want your last words to be?" He laughed and continued his climbing.
"You know, when I first saw him I was convinced he was yours; another progeny, how many is it now? Four? Five?"
"Something like that…"
"He's pretty, I'll give you that; maybe we'll have a bit of fun after I kill you, dance in your muck before I add him to it, his infant as well…You know, I could taste the bitch on her, in her blood; sweet and sticky." He cackled and dove through the air; he was fast, but not faster than me. I caught him in the air, and just as I did the king, connected an uppercut to his jaw and threw him to the ground. He hit the concrete with a thud, yet shot up unfazed.
He came with an overhead swipe. I dodged him easily enough then shoved the needle into his neck, injecting him with a solution of silver-nitrate. Paralyzed by the burning metal he fell from the air and slammed to the concrete, looking up at me with eyes that were nothing but disbelief. I slowly lowered myself down from the ceiling, watching the realization streak across his face. His death was closing in, he knew it.
"Now, what was it your said? You were going to dance in my muck; that was it, right?" I set my boot in his chest and retrieved my gloves; pulling them over my hands to chain him in silver. I wrapped a length around his ankles and about around his wrists, then one more tied tight under his chin. "You know, you're right. I do like this. I like watching your arrogance dribble down your cheeks. I like seeing your confidence wither away and die under the heel of my boot. I like it, I like it a lot." I looked down at his face, the blood dripping from the corners of his eyes; yet, all I saw was my maker.
"He is your brother. He is my blood, blood of your blood, Ondre." His words came sprinting to the forefront of my mind; his Sumerian as perfect in memory as it had been in life. "I chose him as I chose you. He is a fighter, he is a warrior; he is mine, he is yours, he is ours. Watch him as I have watched you, teach him as I have taught you, love him as I love you, my son." I could feel his lips on my forehead, soft and plump and wide. It rattled me to the core and resonated in my blood. Then, another memory flashed before my eyes.
I could smell the blood and the rot, the snow and the ice; a Siberian winter, as harsh and unforgiving as nature was ever capable of. Zuriel stood in the doorway looking over the carnage his youngest had created. The home Nikolas shared with his human woman, Iliana, was drenched in blood. It painted the walls and ceiling, strips of flesh strewn about the floor. None but Nikolas could enter and with no one to invite us in, rather than clean the mess we would burn the cottage to the ground and make an escape into the darkness. Ayria, Zuriel's lover and mate, took Nikolas away while my maker and I ensured my brother's mistake would go as unnoticed as possible.
"He is young, he will grow out of it, I am sure of it…" He said as we tore the timber from the outer walls of the shack. "He will mature, he only needs time; time is all he needs and all we have…" This was the very first time I'd seen my maker in such a state, soo flustered, his aura of control broken around him. We destroyed the hovel and set it ablaze then ran after our family. This memory faded as another came to my mind, a darker memory, a more painful memory.
"I cannot do this any longer…" Zuriel said with a swallow. "I denounce the ties of our blood and my dominion over you, Nikolas. As your maker, I release you…" The words broke him, he couldn't stand to see the monster he'd created; the monster he'd nurtured and made excuses for. Nikolas stood there for a moment, then with an indifferent chuckle he took off into the night.
"You should have killed him." Ayria said hanging on to my maker's chest.
"I know…" Solemn in tone he turned to me. "You must leave me. It is time for you to see the world on your own." His words struck me like a dagger to the chest and took me to my knees. His dark hand slid down the side of my face and caught a tear from my eye. He rolled it in his fingers and I saw a smile streak across his face.
"Zuriel, don't do this. Don't send me away, take me with you; show me the stars in the desert, the mountain on the plains…" I begged of him. I loved him in way that cannot be measured; to be cast aside like my brother was too great a pain to be insulting.
"You have a sweet, gentle heart my son. It will serve you well, listen to it, do not betray it."
"Don't send me away, Zuriel, please…let me come with you…"
"Do not beg me, son, you are better than that." He touched the side of my face with the back of his hand and lifted me from my knees; his thick fingers under my chin. "You are immortal, your time on this earth has only begun; but mine is nearing its end." I knew now what he intended to do and I would not stand aside.
"I won't allow it."
"That is not your decision, my child." He was calm in his resolve, and I doubted Ayria was oblivious to our maker's intentions.
"Sister, please…"
"Sweet brother, the capacity of your heart astounds us both, even now; but this is not our decision to make, it is his, and as his blood we are bound to respect it." A damp wind blew through her tight, fiery curls and Zuriel's long, black braids. I choked on my sorrow and avoided his eyes.
"Weep for me, if you must, my child, but know that I love you…" Soon after that, I left him of my own will; I took to the forbidden east while he and his mate met the sun. Escaping my memories I was drawn back to my brother, the silver in his blood had been passed but the chains about his body held firm.
"Where is she?"
"Who?" He laughed, as much as the silver around his neck permitted.
"You know who, your last toy; the one whose blood held the newborn's."
"All over...where isn't she?" Without a second's hesitation I grabbed him by the collar and bashed his face in with my fist, wailing blow after blow until nothing blood and bone remained to be seen. I dropped him, his pulverized face meeting the concrete with a soft, wet sound, and let my senses guide me. There was blood and skin on every surface; in the pre-dawn hours, Nikolas had chased her around the warehouse, playing with her as he did all of his victims. I found a bit of her scalp towards a door leading to the lower levels, her vibrantly red hair attached to the flesh, knotted and matted with blood.
Beyond the sturdy, yet worn door there were other bits of Christina, but the sight at the bottom of the stairs was something beyond description. Her skull was in shards strewn about the concrete, brain matter trampled flat around the pieces of bone. A finger laid by itself in a pool of drying blood, its dismembered hand sitting to the left, a string of muscle connecting it to a chip from her humerus. Her intestines were strung up through the empty steel shelves; dangling, leaking blood and waste. The depravity of the scene was matched only in the repulsiveness of the scent it exuded; blood and shit mingled with terror and rage.
I would not force Artemis to witness this horror; it would permanently stain her psyche. Leon would be spared too, he had seen such monstrosities before, even created them, but he knew this human; he very much enjoyed this human, his daughter had fallen for her. Neither of them should see this sight, no one should have to see these things; yet many create them and many more must live on in the aftermath. I no longer cared to view these sickening tapestries of flesh and emerged from the basement, grabbed the immortal on the concrete and made for the door.
The sliding steel door rolled open and Ondre walked out, dragging his immobile brother behind him. He threw Nikolas out of the warehouse, he landed at my feet on the shoulder of the street and my barbarian stepped out. The door rattled shut and he sent his brother farther into the road with a swift kick to his ribcage; he spun in the air and landed on his side, a fang dropping from his mouth.
"Is she in there!?" Artemis burst out. Ondre lowered his head then looked at me, I caught his eyes and he dropped them to the street. "No…she's in there, she has to be! Save her, Leon, go and turn her. Please! Leon, please!" She grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the door. "Turn her, Leon, go get her and turn her! Leon, you have to! You promised me, Leon!" She pulled harder and her voice began to tremble. "Leon! You promised me you'd do everything you could for her, and you're just gonna stand there! I fucking hate you, Leon!" She threw my hand away from her body and turned towards Ondre.
"Ondre, Ondre please, you can help her right? You can turn her? You can turn her for me, right? Please, I'll never ask anything of you ever again, just..." I believe, at this moment, her mind finally came to the conclusion she'd be forcing away the entire night; Christina was dead and no blood magic could revive her. Artemis began to pant and spin. "Just—Just—Just turn her. Save her, Leon promised me…Just—" Her words became less like language and more like sound birthed in sorrow. She spiraled, her legs twisting and tangling together she fell to the concrete and rocked herself back and forth. Her hands searched the ground in front of her and her eyes glazed over; rocking and mumbling.
"Artemis. Artemis, won't you look at me please?" Ondre knelt down beside her and spoke softly. My daughter, however, was miles away; her mind racing and her heart dying. "Artemis, I cannot give you Christina; she…she is no more." He swallowed his emotions and continued. "I cannot give you her, but I can give you him." He pointed to his brother on the street; Artemis gazed up and followed his arm to the silvered immortal.
"What?" She rocked still but stopped her incoherent rambling.
"He took her from you, Artemis. He did this to you." He tapped her chest twice with the tips of his index and middle finger. "I can't give you Christina, neither can Leon; she is gone, and he is the one to blame. Not me, not your maker, him." His arm tensed with anger and he drew his hand into a fist and brought it to his chest. "Come, sweet child." Ondre opened his hand to her; she took it and stood with him. I watched them, understanding where these actions would end. He took her to his brother and rolled him over. I could see the blood on his clothes and dried on his chin, matted in the hair of his beard and mustache.
Artemis avoided looking at him.
"No. Look at him. If you're going to kill a man, the least you can do is look at him." I recall a similar lesson from my infancy. "It has to be in the heart." He pulled up a leg of his pants and removed a polished, silver-tipped stake from the holster around his calf. Artemis looked from Nikolas to Ondre, then to me. I wanted to hold her, pull her to me and stroke her hair and tell her the sweetest lies I could imagine. I didn't want to teach her to deal with her pain through murder, but she deserved her revenge; the lesson would come later.
I nodded, or I believe I nodded, as she turned away from me and wiped a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand. She took the stake from Ondre and turned it in her hands, they trembled and she walked alongside Nikolas' body. I could hear her draw a breath and she stepped over him, lowering herself down to the pavement. She gripped the wood in her hands and brought it above her head; quaking, she dropped it to her side and let go of her breath.
We didn't speak, we didn't move, we watched.
Artemis held it above her head once more, her movements slower and steadier. This time, however, she was ready. With a shriek she drove the lance directly into Nikolas' chest. It tore through his coat and he jerked under her as his body melted and burst into a fountain of crimson. It shot up her stomach and painted her face, covering her in stingy goo and thick, black blood. She hissed through her fangs and sat there in the mess for a moment, throwing the stake aside as she rose.
I reached out for her hand but she ignored me and began down the street; she plucked bits of vampire from her body and threw them to the road, her eyes vacant and cold. Ondre touched my shoulder and kissed the side of my face. He held me soo tenderly and gently, too gently for a man with soo much strength. I turned and kissed his lips, touching my forehead to his before moving away.
"Get her home." I nodded and began after her; my fingers tangled with Ondre's, they unwound as we separated.
She was silent for a time, walking through the dark and dismal streets with her eyes to the pavement. I followed her until she stopped before a lamppost, its bulb broken and its socket long since rusted. She held herself together as best she could, sniffling and crying, she leaned back against the steel and shut her eyes. I had no words for her, they didn't exist; instead I came up to her and took her in my arms as she cried. My daughter was broken once more, as she had been before, and I didn't know if she could be repaired.
"So, all of this blood, it falls at your feet?"
"Yes, my Queen."
"And just how might that be?" Serana hissed, her nails clicking on the wooden tabletop.
"Nikolas appeared on our doorstep while Ondre was out in the area. He told of what he had done, and that he needed some help if he was to survive the repercussions of his actions."
"Why would you help him? This strange immortal?"
"He is…was Ondre's brother. I knew if I went to anyone with the news of his misdeeds he'd have been put to the stake." The Queen sat as quiet and unreadable as ever, observing and learning. She may have been unintelligent, but she was no fool. "I gave him money and told him to leave the country, he said he would but—" Her fingers were tight like iron around my neck; she had me on the floor before I could react.
"Who are you to deny justice?" She squeezed harder and I knew she had crushed my windpipe. I gasped for air but her hand only clenched tighter. "You, the bed slave of a turncoat; a whore and an assassin…how poetic." She was an inch from my face, her fangs unfurled as I scrambled for breath. "Do you have any idea what you've done!?" She shouted and her nails broke the flesh of my neck; sharp and painful, she dug them in deeper. "Six humans have been murdered in my area, miles from my home! You know what that means? Yes, of course you do; investigations, humans with their need for answers, what should I tell them?" She let me go and I turned over, reaching for my neck, blood leaking out of the tiny slits in my skin.
"Oh, detective Johnson, I had no idea soo many humans had been killed, I'll be sure to keep an eye out from now on…Is that what you want me to say? Is it?!" She spun around and threw her fists in the air. "Well, that doesn't work! They want answers! I could lose everything because of you, everything I have worked for centuries to attain; since before you were even conceived! But I will not allow that, I will not make your mistake." I felt the burning silver in my chest, its handle in the Queen's hand. "I'll kill you before I let you ruin me! I'll kill you myself, your turncoat I'll have hauled off; the humans would love to broadcast his burning…would you like that?" I couldn't leave them to her, I had to fight it; struggling for air I pleaded with her.
"Puh-Pless..don't…" I had never begged for my life before; it was beneath me. If I could not escape death I deserved it, but I could not leave Artemis and Ondre alone in this world, at the mercy of this maniacal immortal. "Don't, pl—"
"YOU DON'T GET A SAY ANY LONGER!" Her fingers were on my tongue, her eyes wide and furious above me. She grabbed my jaw hard and held my mouth open, reaching in with her other hand she began to pull me apart. I felt my jaw break and my skull split, my skin tore apart and the blood pooled in my throat.
"NO!" I shot up in the bed and raced to catch my breath, reaching up and touching my neck to feel my skin unopened. "A dream…" I swallowed the fear and shook my head, holding my hands before my eyes. "Just a dream…" Ondre moved beside me and I felt his hand on my thigh.
"Everything alright?" His fingers pawed at my skin.
"Yeah. I'm…I'm fine." I shook off the dream and lay back in the bed, without hesitation he stretched out and took me in his arms.
"It's just a dream. Let it go." He petted my forearm with the back of his hand and kissed the base of my skull, sifting through my hair with his lips.
"You know how impossible that is."
It was only this morning when Ondre, Artemis, and I found the remains of her love, Christina. I had promised her to turn her should she perish but there was nothing to save. Her body was in shreds, torn to ribbons by the unstoppable bloodlust of a vampire. I did not see what was left of her corpse, only Ondre did and he spared us the sight. It would not have been the first dismembered body I have seen, but I knew this human. Worse still, Artemis loved her; I would never be able to communicate my thanks for his prevention in the exaggeration of her agony.
Artemis walked home in a morbid silence; unresponsive, detached, and cold. Her heart was broken into a thousand unrecoverable pieces. There was a hole in her chest, a whirling vortex of emptiness sucking her soul into oblivion. She was numb to the world around her, her fingertips unfeeling, her feet unwilling to hold her. There were no gentle words to whisper, no sweet embrace with which to hold her. I was useless in soothing her suffering, and I felt it. I rolled over to face Ondre; his quiet, sage-green eyes managing to distract me from the storm in my chest.
"What do I do?"
"There's nothing you can do, you know that." He laid his arm over my waist and pulled me in tight. "All you can do, all either of us can do is be there when she needs us, and leave her alone when she wants to be alone…Right now, I'd say she wants to be alone." He kissed me again.
"I feel soo powerless, Ondre…"
"Welcome to parenthood, my Love." A tear pooled in the corner of my eye and streamed down off my nose. His hand began to scrawl shapeless forms on my back and we laid there in silence. We stayed there as long as possible, but the Queen wanted answers; after doing away with Nikolas Ondre called her and informed her the problem had been taken care of, then he hurried us from the scene. However, our Queen was an impatient one and the moment the sun had set, his phone sounded off.
"What are you going to tell her?" I asked as he dressed in our closet.
"Only what I must, nothing more." He shook his arms through the sleeves of his simple yet stylish black shirt; he wore it soo elegantly, my barbarian. He buttoned it up leaving the top two unlatched, a bit of alabaster flesh and black hair peeking out from behind the fabric.
"What of me? And Artemis? And what we did?"
"I'll think of something." Nonchalant, as always, he threw the long trench coat over his shoulder and began to pull an arm through. Coming to his side I held the other half up and helped him in, buttoning it as he fixed his collar. "You really shouldn't worry soo much; I've been lying for centuries, I'm fairly good at it." He grinned and I handed him his hat; a bowler cap with militaristic styling, soft angles made of dark green wool with black, matte-finished metal.
"Not as good as you like to think." He grinned and set the cap atop his head.
"Is that so? I've fooled you once or twice before." This was, obviously, not the right thing to say. He read the expression on my face and immediately retracted his statement. "I'm sorry, that was wrong of me; I've not lied to you in a very, very long time, and I regret all the times I have before. I'm soo sorry." I watched him with crossed arms until he finished, then I smiled and leaned in to kiss him.
"Good." Our lips met and I had no choice but to forgive him; I would always forgive him. He sighed and pulled me to his chest, laying his cheek on the side of my head.
"I love you, Leon."
"I love you." I kissed his chest and tickled at his obliques. He snickered and did the same to me; it continued for a brief moment until the severity of our situation set back in on us. However short our exchange was, it distracted us from the harshness of reality, and for that I was grateful. We let go of each other and he moved towards the doorway.
"I'll be back soon, okay?"
"Okay." He smiled at me and took off out of our house, the front door shutting behind him. With a sigh I moved through our bedroom and sat down on the grindstone coffee table in the center of our amber-patterned sectional sofa. I leaned back against the stone and laid a hand over my eyes in an act of exasperation, unsure of what to do next. Some time passed and I decided that lounging on the furniture would serve no purpose so I stood, brushed myself off, and then made my way for Artemis' room; knocking on her door elicited no response.
"Artemis?" I asked yet was met by silence. "May I come in?" Still no answer.
I truly did not want to invade her privacy. For a moment I considered turning away and crawling back to my room, but I loved her too much to abandon her so I went in without her permission. She was lying in her bed, a pillow tucked under head, against her chest; blood crusted in the corners of her eyes and dried on the pillowcase. Watching her I noticed she wasn't breathing, holding her breath would be uncomfortable but not fatal; with a single inhale I knew why she did so. Christina's scent was thick in the air, clinging to ever fiber in the room.
She was surrounded by unmistakable beauty; heavy, wrought iron twisted into headboards and benches and tables with glass tops. Dark fabrics with patterns of interlocking diamonds and bookshelves of rich cherry, her computer on her desk sat open with a darkened screen. I looked at my daughter; her vacant, emotionless stare a stark contrast to the room around her. She seemed lost within her own mind, unresponsive, or perhaps indifferent.
"I know it hurts." I kept my head down and began to move about the space. "When I banished Tungsten from my life I knew I would never see him again; wiping a person's memory tends to have that effect on a relationship…" I flashed my eyes up to see her unchanged, I don't mean to say I expected her to laugh, but I suppose I expected something. "Our worlds are not meant to mesh, when they collide…I knew we weren't meant for failure, I believe we both did; but I was able to force the truth from my mind, for a time. I hoped my denial of the truth would lead us to happiness, but…" I exhaled and let my words hang in the air.
"How?" Her words were quiet, hardly louder than a thought; asking of her own heartbreak, not mine.
"Because we are, by definition, fiendish and wicked."
"Why?"
"It's our nature to destroy life; we are death and we sustain our existence with the blood of the living…But I need you to understand that Nikolas was a monster among our kind, he had been killing humans and playing with their corpses since before I was born." I saw a fresh tear begin its descent down her face. "He was unfeeling; he gained a pleasure from murder that I am ashamed to have known myself."
"Are we all soo hellish?" Her voice was louder now and she shifted around in her bed.
"The capacity for good and evil exists in all of us, Artemis; it's the ability to choose between them that separates us from the demons who walk alongside us." Artemis was in my face before I even knew she had stood; her eyes were furious with rage and she bared her teeth, leaning over to shout at me.
"Don't you dare act like you're better than him! You gorged yourself on the blood of innocents for decades before you found yourself—" I'd never seen air quotes used in an actual conversation before now, yet I didn't find them anywhere near comical. "You're an evil disgusting abomination and I rue the day you gave me this life; I wish you had left me in that ditch where you found me, the disgrace I suffered in death is nothing compared to the agony of knowing that I am like you and Nikolas and Ondre!" I would have stood there all night and listened to her shouting, I knew she didn't mean these things, but I'd be damned before I would stand aside and let her speak about him that way. As his name rolled off of her tongue I struck her across the cheek with the back of my hand, she stumbled back and held her face, staring at me with an open mouth.
"Hold your tongue, child." My voice was harsher than it had ever been when dealing with her but just as she couldn't stop herself, I too was powerless and let the words spill out. "Say whatever you damn well please about me but keep his name off your lips! He has given you everything you now call your own; without him you'd have never met Christina, without him you'd be in a hole in the dirt with your murderer's seed planted deep in your rotting guts! I am nothing if not forgiving, but say his name like that again, and God help you, you will see a side of me that you will not believe could exist."
"You gonna hit me again? Hit me like your father used to hit you? Does it make you feel good?" Her words were more painful than the silver Jacqueline drove into my lungs; she could see them slash my face, yet she continued. "You're piece of shit, Leon! What kind of monster would hit their own daughter! I'm no daughter of yours, I fucking hate you, I'll never love you and you know it!" I felt her words swell in my eyes and stream down my cheeks. "Fucking hit me, Leon!" She shoved me, incapable of hitting me after her last command. "Hit me! I know you want to!" She pushed me again, knocking me into one of her chairs.
"As your maker—" She screamed and turned away, holding her hands over her ears. "As your maker, I command you, sit the fuck down and don't fucking move until I fetch you! Don't touch a goddamn thing!" She fell to the floor and screamed louder, pulling at her hair. With tears in my eyes I left her room and closed the door behind me. Falling against it I tucked my head between my knees and waited for Ondre to come home.
~Ondre
I left Leon and Artemis alone and raced through the night. I stopped once, for no more than five minutes to feed, and continued on towards the queen's home. This mansion had housed two monarchs; the former King, Jackson Smith, who met his end at my own hand, and now Queen Serana Torllona. Its current occupant had spent immense sums of money to alter it to match the Mediterranean styling she had known for centuries. Landing on the sprawling yard before her home I was greeted, once again, by a small number of her brood; Kira included.
"Sheriff, greetings." She purred. Without an answer I pushed past her and went to the front door, another small group met me there and allowed me entry.
"The Queen will be with you shortly; please, have a seat." One of her newborns waved his arm across the massive entryway.
"No, thank you." He bowed to me, but stayed all the same. I could hear the queen, her Italian absolutely impeccable as she spoke, rolling and flicking off her tongue as she made her way through the upper levels of the executive mansion.
"Sheriff Ondre!" She called to me from the apex of her marbled staircase, throwing her hands out in a dramatic way. "What a glorious evening this is, wouldn't you agree?" A grin on her emaciated face as she began down the stairs; her long, white dress trailing behind her.
"Certainly." She made a sound, something between a chuckle and grumble, and continued down the staircase. Near the bottom she stopped and put her hand on the wooden railing.
"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak with you, in private." She stepped down to my level and crossed before me, heading towards one of the several doors along the sides of the massive room. I followed behind her, the fur-lined hem of her dress fluttering as she moved along. "Artic fox, from Greenland. Beautiful, isn't it?" She asked and began to pull at the collar resting high along her neck. "I'm sure I could have a piece made for Leon, if he wanted."
"A gracious offer, but he prefers his synthetics."
"So I've heard." Another of her laughing sounds. She opened the doors and stood aside, holding her arm out before her waist. "Please, have a seat." She dipped her head and allowed me into one of her studies. It was a small room lined with bookshelves, a desk sat before a pair of wingback chairs with a fainting couch against a bare wall. I sat in one of her chairs as she moved around the desk and sat across from me. "Lovely hat, I never understood the reason humans felt the need to remove them upon entering a home…anyway, down to business. How exactly did you find him?"
"His last victim had been close with Artemis; they shared blood before he was able to take her, she led me to him."
"You and her? Alone? What of her maker, where was Leon during this?"
"Against his wishes, he stayed back; he stayed home at my behest."
"Interesting…" She touched a lithe finger to her narrow lips. "You hold an incredible power over that one."
"I have no power over him." I said curtly.
"I meant nothing by it, Sheriff; it's truly beautiful, what you and he share." I stared silently ahead; no response was needed to tell her to tread carefully. She chuckled and plucked at her lip, apparently amused at my attitude.
"The girl found in the basement, she was the one with whom Artemis bonded?" I gave her a nod. "Did you know her, did she have a name?"
"Her name was Christina, and I'd say I knew her well enough."
"Local?"
"Yes."
"What of her parents? They must miss her terribly."
"I'm sure they do, what are you planning on doing about it?" There was the first actual grin I'd ever seen on her face; it was wide and open but unfriendly, as always.
"I'm not going to do a goddamn thing about it, you are." I should have expected that; no rest for the wicked.
"And what, exactly, do you expect me to do?"
"If I have to tell you that, you're not the vampire I think you to be." With that she clapped her hands together and stood. "Well, Sheriff Ondre, I do believe that is all. Would you like an escort?"
"I need you…please…" Leon's voice sounded loud in my ears, it came from my blood; the first time since our time in the bunker in West Virginia. The queen came to my side and put her hand on my shoulder.
"Sheriff? Is everything alright?"
"Yes, good evening, my Queen." I bowed to her and blew through her house, taking to the sky the moment I reached the night air. Once I was a few hundred feet above the earth I retrieved my phone and dialed Leon's number; he answered my call after the first ring.
"Ondre…" He cried my name, his voice heavy with pain. It drove a dagger directly into my heart.
"My Love, what's wrong?"
"I…Artemis…I was in her room." He whimpered. "I was trying to talk to her, I know I shouldn't have, I know you told me to leave her alone but I couldn't just leave her alone…I should have just waited for you…she told me I'm no better than Nikolas; that I'm a monster, an abomination, said she hated me for turning her, that she would rather be in some unmarked grave than here with us." I could hear him weeping through the phone; I, too, was crying now, but did a better job of hiding it.
"You're not a monster, Leon."
"Yes I am, Ondre! You don't know…I did something I shouldn't have…" There it was; my Leon was stronger than crying over the words of a heartbroken immortal, they certainly affected him but he was crying because of what he did in response.
"What is it? What happened?" He drew a few sharp breaths and sniffled before beginning.
"I hit her…" He scrambled for his breath, his regret and remorse quickly consuming him. "I hit her…I shouldn't. I know I shouldn't have, I know I shouldn't have; even when I did it I knew I shouldn't have, but I did it...She said you were no better than Nikolas and I just…I'm a goddamned monster." Nothing I could say would make this any better, I knew that, but I also knew that saying nothing would make it worse; he needed me, they both needed me.
"Leon, you are not a monster." I made sure to emphasize this. "You're not. You're not perfect, but you're not a monster." His crying continued; sobbing, wailing, and choking on his own breath. "I'm coming home."
"S'il te plait." He ended the call before I could respond. I dropped the phone in my coat pocket and shot through the darkness, the hat I wore catching the wind and blowing away.
Leon was curled up like a child on the floor, his head between his knees, his hands down by his feet. He sat next to the door to Artemis' room, crying still has he had been on the phone. I saw him moving from side to side, completely oblivious.
"Leon…" He looked up at me and wiped away a tear with the back of his hand, he didn't say a word, only stared with damaged eyes. "My Love." I knelt down beside him and scooped him up in my arms; he wrapped his around my neck and buried his face in my chest. His sobbing began again in earnest.
"I'm a monster, Ondre. I'm no better than him." He mumbled through his tears. "What kind of man strikes their child?" The man his mother had married was not his father, Leon was the product of rape and the people he was forced to live with made certain he knew he was unwanted. He was beaten daily; his mother would shut the door behind her husband, refusing to acknowledge his screams for mercy. The thoughts left a mark on my soul, and it took all I had not to weep with him.
"Leon." I touched my head to his and laid him on our bed. "You are nothing like that man, that man hated you for no other reason that you existed. You love her, she knows you love her and she knows you didn't mean to hurt her."
"I still did it, Ondre. I hit her, my own blood. I deserve everything she called me and more…" His voice trailed off. I touched the side of his face and kissed his forehead.
"Shh~" The sound came naturally. "No more of that, okay?" He furrowed his brow and wiped away another tear on the back of his hand. "No tears." I patted his head and moved the hair from his eyes. "I'll be right back."
"Wait!" He grabbed my wrist; sticky, dried blood thick on his palm. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to speak with Artemis, I'll be right back."
"Is that smart?"
"Probably not, but it has be done. Stay here and stop with that, you're not a monster." I kissed him once more and he squeezed my hand, revealing the first smile I'd seen on his face since before I left.
"Je t'aime, Ondre." He pulled my hand to his mouth and planted a kiss on my thumb.
"And I love you." He took a deep breath and let my hand go. I gave him a grin then left our bedroom and made for Artemis'. "Artemis, I'm coming in." I did not need her permission to enter a room in my house; I went in without allowing her the time to ignore me. She was in the floor a few feet from the doorway, drawing circles on the floor with her fingertip. Without looking up at me she groaned and put her fist under his chin, her elbow on her knee.
"Did he send you?"
"No, and I'd recommend you lose your attitude, it will not serve you with me." I sat down in the floor before her and crossed my legs, same as her. She made a sound and rolled her eyes. "See, that right there. I am not your maker and I will feel no remorse from adjusting your demeanor myself if you cannot."
"You gonna hit me too?"
"I mght." She did not like this, but put aside her animosity. "You and I both know that Leon did not mean to hit you."
"But he did it."
"Yes, he did, and there are no words for how much it hurts him to know that he did it."
"That doesn't matter, you can't say sorry and make it all better."
"You're right, words can't change the past. But they can change the future." Her face twisted and I knew she did not understand what I meant. "What you said hurt him, more than you can even know. He loves you, Artemis, he gave you life and you spat in his face. You're hurting, he knows you're hurt. He feels the hole in your chest and what you said to him ripped one in his. You broke his heart."
"He tried to say he was better than Nikolas, like I don't know what he did, what you and he did." A sound came from my chest, low and grumbling; she recoiled.
"If he was anything like the monster you said he was, would he have sat outside your door, crying uncontrollably?" Her eyes flicked to the floor and she lowered her head. "I know you heard him."
"He said he knew what I was feeling, like…like someone did to him what they did to me."
"How do you what he feels? What he's gone through?"
"I don't…I guess, but that doesn't mean he knows what I feel!"
"Oh? Your maker, the man whose blood sits beneath your skin couldn't possibly know what you're feeling. He gave you life, he saved you from an unmarked grave behind your killer's house."
"I know what he did, Ondre!"
"Then you also know that he loves you, regardless of what he did or said; you know he loves you. And he knows that you love him, no one will love you more than he does Artemis, and in your heart you know that to be true." She still avoided my gaze. "He did not mean to hit you, just as you didn't mean to scream at him."
"I miss her soo much…I didn't even get to tell her how I feel…"
"No one is guaranteed anything, even the immortals. Tomorrow isn't a promise, it's a gift; you and he need to reconcile this. You're his very best friend, you and I are all he has, Artemis. You don't want him to meet his end knowing you see him as nothing but a monster, do you?" She was quiet for a time, struggling to control the emotions swarming her heart. My final image swirled around her mind as she sat in silence.
"Can you—" She began, but needed not to finish.
"I'd be glad to." I stood and touched the top of her head.
"Ondre…" She called to me when I reached for her doorknob. I stopped and turned. "Thank you, for everything."
"Of course." Perhaps there was hope for her yet.
My Love was rolled into a ball on our bed, a pillow gripped tight to his chest. He sang to himself quietly a song from his childhood, he taught me it once but the exact translation escaped me; listening to him I could hear his sorrow in the way he warbled the lyrics.
"Singing to me?" He chuckled and shook his head, pulling at my hand as I neared him.
"Would you like me to?"
"Perhaps later, someone would like to speak with you." He narrowed his eyes and propped himself up with his elbow.
"Really?"
"Really." He swallowed whatever had been in his throat and sat up.
"Thank you, Ondre."
"There's no need." I pulled him to his feet; touching my thumb to my tongue I swept it under his eyes and cleared them as best I could. "Go on, take your time. I'll be here when you get back, ça va?" He giggled and kissed my hands.
"You'd think your accent would have improved."
"Yeah, you'd think." He lingered in my arms for a moment, I held him tightly until he shifted in my grasp. "Go, I'll be here."
"Okay." With another kiss he left our room. I sighed and blocked out what I could hear coming from Artemis' room, my part in it was done; now, it was up to them. Removing my coat I hung it up in our closet and went to the washroom to bathe. Before turning the faucets on I laid out two towels, one extra for my Love, and undressed. The water was steaming hot, perfect for soaking; I lay back in the porcelain basin, throwing a rolled up rag around my neck as a compress. The house was quiet, there were whispers and sobs coming through the walls but I did my best to ignore them; I waited in the tub for him to return to me.
"Room for one more?" He asked me after some time. I looked up to see him pulling the blood-stained sweater over his head, his pale flesh marked with crimson as well.
"Always." He threw the article to the floor and kicked it behind him then unbuttoned his pants and peeled himself out of them. I sat back in the bathtub and spread my legs apart; he stepped in and slid back against me, his sweet, floral scent lapping at my nostrils. His chest expanded in a deep breath and on his exhale he grabbed my wrists, laying them over his stomach.
"We just talked…and cried." He let out a laugh. "She forgave me, can you believe it? Just like that…I hit her and she forgave me."
"I knew she would."
"I didn't." He shifted his legs and nuzzled the side of his face to my chest. "She says she wants to do on a diet, True Blood from here on out." I snickered, but he wasn't having it. "Don't laugh at her, it's very respectable. I think she's doing it out of fear, though; she doesn't want to end up like Nikolas."
"That's impossible; he was demented even in his infancy. You wouldn't let that happen to her, I know you wouldn't."
"I worry, though."
"I know you do; it's natural, just don't tear yourself up over it. She's a strong, young vampire, she'll pull through. All either of us can do is hope that this is the last time she'll suffer so. You warned her against it, and regardless of her decision you stood by her; you did everything right, my Love."
"Until I hit her."
"Let that be a lesson to you, then. I know you didn't mean to, as does she."
"I know…I know. But when she said your name like that it was like I couldn't control myself."
"Don't do it again, she's entitled to her opinion, no matter how her heart twists her perception."
"Yes, you're right."
"No matter what she says, you must keep a level head."
"I will."
"And I'll be here when you can't." He was quiet for a moment after this, closing his eyes and letting loose a deep breath. I ran my fingers along his abdomen and kissed the top of his head.
"Merci."
"Of course, my Love."
Author's notes:
So, this chapter was very hard for me two write; it really drained me, soo much emotion! I'm sorry if you guys were digging Christina, I was too but she had to go. :/ I really tried to explore maker-progeny relationships in this chapter, particularly how even though they're strong, they're nothing compared to true romantic love. I loved writing these scenes with Ondre and Zuriel; Ayria is one of my favorite characters, she's soo brave and loyal! So, I hope you guys like it! Leave a review if you'd like! :D
There are four more chapters coming up, expect them along the same time-frame as the past few that have been posted.
Thanks for reading!
ALSO: If you're the idiot who keeps asking me why I'm reposting my story; I'm not reposting a goddamn thing, if you actually read the damn story you'd see I add new chapters. Maybe if you came off of anon I could tell you that. -_-