~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bereaved of all, I went abroad,
No less bereaved to be
Upon a new peninsula…
--Emily Dickinson, Collected Poems, Time and Eternity CXI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Sixteen: Twisted Lady Luck
Darien wasn't quite sure if it was the *worst* moment in his whole life, but it definitely ranked up there. Because the feeling in the pit of his stomach when he opened the guest room door and found an empty bed and an open window most certainly did not qualify as remotely pleasant.
When he had managed to gather up enough of his wits through the despair and desperation that briefly overtook him, he sprang into action, muttering silently to himself, It's a damn good thing I love her, or I'd kill her with my bare hands. How could she be so stupid? Running away was a very dangerous game. Hadn't she learned that before? If he hadn't found her that time… But he had. And he must find her again, this time.
It's also a damn good thing I couldn't sleep last night for worrying, or I wouldn't have gotten up so early and there'd be some major explaining to do for Artemis. As it was, it was 4:00 in the morning, no one else was even thinking of leaving dreamland yet, and Darien scrawled a quick, lying and reassuring note and left the house.
He jogged past the neighborhood that he had spent the latter part of his childhood growing up in, cursing with every pound of his feet on the ground. How could she have done this to him? Why, why, *why* wouldn't she trust him? *How* could she not have figured out who he was and why he could never betray her? He had shown her his crystal, just the other night, in fact. His was golden, hers was silver. It wasn't that hard to put two and two together and figure out that as her ancestor had been Serenity, his had been her beloved Endymion. Darien had long ago figured out what the connection between his father's golden crystal and Artemis' story was. And the awakening of Endymion within him had confirmed the then twelve-year-old boy's suspicions. Even now, he felt the presence inside, spurring him on to find the woman they both loved.
So you see, Serena, he thought desperately, as though she might hear him, we are meant to be together. You can't run away from me. You just can't.
~----------~
It began to drizzle, and Serena smugly put up the umbrella over herself and the cat.
"Ha, you see, Luna? No getting soaking wet for us this time!" she said cheerfully, not caring if passing pedestrians thought she was a lunatic. Anyway, false cheerfulness was the only thin barrier she had left between herself and collapse. Artemis' beef stew had faded from her stomach long ago, leaving it very empty, and she had been too afraid of the dark city streets to find a place to lie down and sleep last night. Not to mention the fact that she was hopelessly lost and likely wandering around in circles.
But she cheerfully continued in her circle, not knowing what else to do. Her legs trembled with exhaustion and threatened suddenly to give out beneath her. She quickly steadied herself and re-thank her position. Perhaps circles were not a good thing. Perhaps she should take a chance and ask someone to tell her how to get out of the circle and Somewhere Else where she could start trying to Make It On Her Own.
Her legs shook again and decided her. She chose a nice-looking lady with frizzy hair who was sitting on some stairs and looking down intently at her watch.
Serena approached cautiously and, wondering if she was making a mistake, stammered, "Um, I'm very sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could perhaps tell me how to get…uh, well…how to get…just out of the city, I guess," for Serena had no specific destination in mind.
The woman looked up with wild, shifty eyes. "Out of the city? Out? I've been trying…many years, yes…trying to get away. Trying to get out. You wanna get out, too, girly?"
Luna made a small hissing noise, and Serena realized sickly that she *had* made a mistake, that something was not right with this woman. Something in her eyes…there was something wrong.
"Um, no actually, that's all right, thank you very much, ma'am, I'll just be going now," she stuttered, backing away, but not quickly enough. The woman's eyes turned crafty and fixed on Serena's bag.
"What'cha got in the bag, girly? Hmm? Gots a kitty? Gots a kitty in the bag?" The eyes sharpened and her hand shot out in a quick movement to grab the ragged canvas. "Gots *money* in the bag, girly?" she hissed close in Serena's ear.
Heart pounding, Serena tried to jerk the bag back. "No, no money. I don't have anything!" she insisted fearfully.
But one of the horrible eyes started to twitch, and the grip on the bag was tight and unyielding. "You lie. Give me it! Give me the money! I want to get out more than you, I deserve it more!" With more strength than a tired and hungry Serena could match, the bag was ripped from her. Will no one help me? she thought desperately, and Luna's indignant yowl was the last thing she heard before blacking out under a hard blow to the head.
~----------~
Diamond woke up slowly under the grip of his usual morning hangover. Groaning at the throbbing pain in his temples, he reached for the wine on the nightstand, not bothering to pour a glass, just swigging some down. After a little more wine and the coldest shower that he could stand, he felt a bit better.
He got out of the shower and padded into the kitchen with nothing but a small towel wrapped around his waist. He liked his body and felt it was a shame to have to cover it up all the time. Cold pork chops (he paid a woman to keep the refrigerator stocked) and some more wine served as breakfast, and then he reluctantly got dressed.
Once again he admired his own ingenuity in acquiring this place. He loved the feeling of being discreet, of having his doings unknown by the other members of his family. And of course, though the mansion was beautiful and fitting for one as wealthy as he, a man his age required his own space where he could do as he pleased. Perhaps the apartment was no mansion, but it was spacious, well-decorated, and the best his money could buy, and he kept it in good order. Or rather, the maid he had hired kept it in order; a man of Diamond's stature should never have to clean up after his messes.
Feeling happy with last night's success, his own status, and the world in general, Diamond gathered up his coat, locked the door behind him, and descended the stairs to go boss around some people at Darmoon International.
But thanks to glorious Lady Luck, who smiled graciously upon Diamond that day, he never made it to work. For lying at the bottom of his building's front steps, a torn bag and several articles of clothing strewn about her, was the one thing he coveted most.
"Serena," he breathed, hardly daring to believe his fortune. He knelt and touched her cheek with a trembling finger. She was solid. She was real. He grinned the widest grin of his life, full of malicious pleasure.
"Diamond always gets what Diamond wants," he sang softly, something Sapphire had been fond of saying in jest in their youth. But how very, wonderfully true it was! Here was the proof.
Chuckling, he reached down to claim his prize, when a sudden black streak hurtled itself at his face from the shadows under the stairs. He heard an animal shrieking and felt the sharp scratch of claws tearing into his cheek. Howling with rage, he grabbed the furry body and flung it away as hard as he could. The black cat, as he could now see it was, hit the pavement jarringly. The creature valiantly managed to pull itself upright, but did not advance again. It stood braced with all its fur on end, a tiny puffball hissing ferociously for all it was worth. Diamond would have laughed if he had not been so furious about his torn cheek.
He managed to quell his anger enough to carefully gather up the girl and her belongings and gently carry her up the stairs. The cat remained at the bottom, now sending singsong, wailing warnings after him. He ignored it. The stupid cat was not important. Serena was.
He looked down at her unconscious face, resting against his white, collared work shirt. He well remembered how she had resisted his last advance. The thing would have to be done delicately. It would require every ounce of charm and persuasion he had.
Despite the sting in his bloody cheek, Diamond smiled. More than anything, he loved a challenge.
~----------~
Darien reached his apartment building at last, but he had to lean on the stair-post outside a moment to catch his breath before he could manage to climb up. He had jogged the entire way, not daring to waste any more time than was absolutely necessary. It was as though if he could only hurry fast enough, it would cancel out the fact that she had a whole night's lead on him. If only he ran as hard as he could, then she would be there when he opened his apartment door.
But of course, Time does not reward effort and instead obeys only cruel logic, and his apartment was empty. Serena had taken the cat and her belongings and left. The emergency money he kept at the bottom of a dresser drawer was still there, and he cursed that she had not taken it. He would gladly have let her have it. She needed it, needed everything that she could get. He couldn't bear the thought of her wandering through the city, starving and all alone.
The sight of her beautiful party dress draped forlornly over a chair, the lone abandoned remainder of her, was enough to break his heart. He sank to his knees and took up the silky fabric in his hands, inhaling the scent of her that still clung to it. How could she be gone? She had become everything to him in such a short time… It wasn't fair. How could he be allowed just three days with the only woman he had ever loved? Every once of his strength was required to hold back sobs, but nothing could be done about the tears that slipped down his cheeks. He buried them in the soft blue material, the same blue as her beautiful eyes.
Life respectfully let him sit alone with his grief for a moment before it continued with the flow of events. But continue they must at some point, and when the doorbell rang rudely into the silence, he dried his tears and rose to answer it.
The very last person Darien ever expected to see again was standing on his doorstep, looking extremely uncharacteristically fragile, as though she might fall apart at any moment.
"Beryl?!" he gasped, disbelieving.
"Please," she said, choking on humiliation, "I'm sorry, but I didn't have anywhere else to go."
Stunned, he opened the door wider, and his hated seductress came in, clutching a fur coat protectively about her. She stood awkwardly with him in the tiny foyer, looking so miserable that he actually felt sorry for her.
"What's wrong, Beryl?" he asked, with the most tenderness that he had ever used toward her. It was enough to shatter her fragile supports and cause her to totally break down.
"Darien," she cried, sobbing and falling forward into his chest, "Oh, Darien, I've… I've been raped!" The last was spoken in a horrified whisper.
"Raped?" Darien repeated softly, his stomach sinking. He gently bore her to the green sofa in his living room and set her down. He sat in the recliner across from her and did his best to put Serena and his own trouble from his mind. Darien was a kind person, and here was someone who desperately needed his help. It didn't matter that Beryl had been a generally undeserving person in the past. She was a victim, and she had come to him.
"What happened?" he asked quietly, soothingly.
Beryl took a deep and shaky breath. It was clear that this was not where she wanted to be, and quite painful for her, to open up to a man who had shunned her. But she had nowhere else, as she had said, and so she began, very quietly.
"I… I was at the Darmoon mansion with Emerald. We had been shopping. She bought me this coat," and Beryl pulled the furs tighter around herself. "Diamond came home. He seemed restless. He watched us for a while, or rather, he watched me, prancing about in my new coat like the fool I am. He was smiling."
Beryl paused. "The next part is hard to explain. When I looked into his eyes, with him smiling at me like that, I felt…I felt…well, sort of like a black smoke, curling into my mind. I know it sounds strange; I can't really describe it. Anyway, I began to think in a whole new way about Diamond. I never really had paid attention to him before, but now it was like I couldn't think about anything else. I noticed all these little things about him that I had never seen, like how attractive he seemed then."
Beryl faltered a little. "I…I don't remember exactly how…but I left with him, and he took me to this place…his apartment. He gave me wine…a lot of wine. And…and… we… had sex." She swallowed hard. "But when it was over, the blackness in my mind was jerked back out, and all of a sudden I was myself again. Oh, Darien, I can never explain to you how incredibly awful it was, to suddenly realize what it was that had just happened. What I had been doing, that I did not want to do."
Ah, but Darien did know how she had felt. He supposed it was something akin to how he had felt when he woke up the day after that awful party where he had met Beryl, with a strange girl in his arms and his virginity lost forever.
But Beryl was continuing, "I got out of there as fast as I could. His cruel laughter followed me out the door and haunted me through all the streets. I didn't go home. I didn't go anywhere. I just wandered around, in a kind of numbed daze. And then I found myself outside your apartment building. And I knew I had to come up."
Her gaze fell steadfastly on her fingers, gripped tightly in the fur coat. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Because the worst thing…the worst thing is…I'm no better than he is. Because what I did to you…was the same as what he did to me. And that's why I came. To say that I understand now that it's not a game. Not when you're on the receiving end. And…I'm sorry." She choked on a quiet sob. "More sorry than I've ever been in my life."
Darien stood up and enfolded her in a comforting hug. She clutched at his shirt and shook with sobs of exhaustion and overwrought emotion. "It's okay," he said, and it was. Amazingly, it really was. Grudges were petty things, and forgiveness was something that he found came easily to suffering and true regret.
"I'll make some tea," he said after a moment, and she giggled insanely at the absurdity of it all.
Miraculously, he actually did have some tea bags, and the hot, calming beverage did wonders for Beryl's near-hysterical state.
She sipped at her mug (he didn't have any teacups) and cast about for something to say, embarrassed at having shown such weakness. "So… where's Serena?"
Darien sat down heavily with his own steaming mug, staring glumly into its amber depths as the weight of his own problem thudded down across his shoulders once more. "I don't know," he answered truthfully. "She ran away."
"Ran away? Well, that was really stupid of her," Beryl said, a little of her normal personality resurfacing. "You know, Darien, you ought to be really worried about her."
Darien just looked at her. Wasn't it obvious that he was worried sick about Serena?
"No, I mean *really* worried, because I think she's in real danger if Diamond finds her. He…he wants her. Like he took me, only he wants her much, much more. It's like an obsession. When he was…with me, it was her name he called."
Darien shivered with foreboding, remembering something Diamond had said at the party… 'Such a delicious little thing… Have you fucked her yet, or shall I be the first to ride her when I corner her?'
Feeling barely suppressed panic rising within him, he asked anxiously, "Beryl, do you remember where exactly Diamond's apartment is?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bereaved of all, I went abroad,
No less bereaved to be
Upon a new peninsula…
--Emily Dickinson, Collected Poems, Time and Eternity CXI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Sixteen: Twisted Lady Luck
Darien wasn't quite sure if it was the *worst* moment in his whole life, but it definitely ranked up there. Because the feeling in the pit of his stomach when he opened the guest room door and found an empty bed and an open window most certainly did not qualify as remotely pleasant.
When he had managed to gather up enough of his wits through the despair and desperation that briefly overtook him, he sprang into action, muttering silently to himself, It's a damn good thing I love her, or I'd kill her with my bare hands. How could she be so stupid? Running away was a very dangerous game. Hadn't she learned that before? If he hadn't found her that time… But he had. And he must find her again, this time.
It's also a damn good thing I couldn't sleep last night for worrying, or I wouldn't have gotten up so early and there'd be some major explaining to do for Artemis. As it was, it was 4:00 in the morning, no one else was even thinking of leaving dreamland yet, and Darien scrawled a quick, lying and reassuring note and left the house.
He jogged past the neighborhood that he had spent the latter part of his childhood growing up in, cursing with every pound of his feet on the ground. How could she have done this to him? Why, why, *why* wouldn't she trust him? *How* could she not have figured out who he was and why he could never betray her? He had shown her his crystal, just the other night, in fact. His was golden, hers was silver. It wasn't that hard to put two and two together and figure out that as her ancestor had been Serenity, his had been her beloved Endymion. Darien had long ago figured out what the connection between his father's golden crystal and Artemis' story was. And the awakening of Endymion within him had confirmed the then twelve-year-old boy's suspicions. Even now, he felt the presence inside, spurring him on to find the woman they both loved.
So you see, Serena, he thought desperately, as though she might hear him, we are meant to be together. You can't run away from me. You just can't.
~----------~
It began to drizzle, and Serena smugly put up the umbrella over herself and the cat.
"Ha, you see, Luna? No getting soaking wet for us this time!" she said cheerfully, not caring if passing pedestrians thought she was a lunatic. Anyway, false cheerfulness was the only thin barrier she had left between herself and collapse. Artemis' beef stew had faded from her stomach long ago, leaving it very empty, and she had been too afraid of the dark city streets to find a place to lie down and sleep last night. Not to mention the fact that she was hopelessly lost and likely wandering around in circles.
But she cheerfully continued in her circle, not knowing what else to do. Her legs trembled with exhaustion and threatened suddenly to give out beneath her. She quickly steadied herself and re-thank her position. Perhaps circles were not a good thing. Perhaps she should take a chance and ask someone to tell her how to get out of the circle and Somewhere Else where she could start trying to Make It On Her Own.
Her legs shook again and decided her. She chose a nice-looking lady with frizzy hair who was sitting on some stairs and looking down intently at her watch.
Serena approached cautiously and, wondering if she was making a mistake, stammered, "Um, I'm very sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could perhaps tell me how to get…uh, well…how to get…just out of the city, I guess," for Serena had no specific destination in mind.
The woman looked up with wild, shifty eyes. "Out of the city? Out? I've been trying…many years, yes…trying to get away. Trying to get out. You wanna get out, too, girly?"
Luna made a small hissing noise, and Serena realized sickly that she *had* made a mistake, that something was not right with this woman. Something in her eyes…there was something wrong.
"Um, no actually, that's all right, thank you very much, ma'am, I'll just be going now," she stuttered, backing away, but not quickly enough. The woman's eyes turned crafty and fixed on Serena's bag.
"What'cha got in the bag, girly? Hmm? Gots a kitty? Gots a kitty in the bag?" The eyes sharpened and her hand shot out in a quick movement to grab the ragged canvas. "Gots *money* in the bag, girly?" she hissed close in Serena's ear.
Heart pounding, Serena tried to jerk the bag back. "No, no money. I don't have anything!" she insisted fearfully.
But one of the horrible eyes started to twitch, and the grip on the bag was tight and unyielding. "You lie. Give me it! Give me the money! I want to get out more than you, I deserve it more!" With more strength than a tired and hungry Serena could match, the bag was ripped from her. Will no one help me? she thought desperately, and Luna's indignant yowl was the last thing she heard before blacking out under a hard blow to the head.
~----------~
Diamond woke up slowly under the grip of his usual morning hangover. Groaning at the throbbing pain in his temples, he reached for the wine on the nightstand, not bothering to pour a glass, just swigging some down. After a little more wine and the coldest shower that he could stand, he felt a bit better.
He got out of the shower and padded into the kitchen with nothing but a small towel wrapped around his waist. He liked his body and felt it was a shame to have to cover it up all the time. Cold pork chops (he paid a woman to keep the refrigerator stocked) and some more wine served as breakfast, and then he reluctantly got dressed.
Once again he admired his own ingenuity in acquiring this place. He loved the feeling of being discreet, of having his doings unknown by the other members of his family. And of course, though the mansion was beautiful and fitting for one as wealthy as he, a man his age required his own space where he could do as he pleased. Perhaps the apartment was no mansion, but it was spacious, well-decorated, and the best his money could buy, and he kept it in good order. Or rather, the maid he had hired kept it in order; a man of Diamond's stature should never have to clean up after his messes.
Feeling happy with last night's success, his own status, and the world in general, Diamond gathered up his coat, locked the door behind him, and descended the stairs to go boss around some people at Darmoon International.
But thanks to glorious Lady Luck, who smiled graciously upon Diamond that day, he never made it to work. For lying at the bottom of his building's front steps, a torn bag and several articles of clothing strewn about her, was the one thing he coveted most.
"Serena," he breathed, hardly daring to believe his fortune. He knelt and touched her cheek with a trembling finger. She was solid. She was real. He grinned the widest grin of his life, full of malicious pleasure.
"Diamond always gets what Diamond wants," he sang softly, something Sapphire had been fond of saying in jest in their youth. But how very, wonderfully true it was! Here was the proof.
Chuckling, he reached down to claim his prize, when a sudden black streak hurtled itself at his face from the shadows under the stairs. He heard an animal shrieking and felt the sharp scratch of claws tearing into his cheek. Howling with rage, he grabbed the furry body and flung it away as hard as he could. The black cat, as he could now see it was, hit the pavement jarringly. The creature valiantly managed to pull itself upright, but did not advance again. It stood braced with all its fur on end, a tiny puffball hissing ferociously for all it was worth. Diamond would have laughed if he had not been so furious about his torn cheek.
He managed to quell his anger enough to carefully gather up the girl and her belongings and gently carry her up the stairs. The cat remained at the bottom, now sending singsong, wailing warnings after him. He ignored it. The stupid cat was not important. Serena was.
He looked down at her unconscious face, resting against his white, collared work shirt. He well remembered how she had resisted his last advance. The thing would have to be done delicately. It would require every ounce of charm and persuasion he had.
Despite the sting in his bloody cheek, Diamond smiled. More than anything, he loved a challenge.
~----------~
Darien reached his apartment building at last, but he had to lean on the stair-post outside a moment to catch his breath before he could manage to climb up. He had jogged the entire way, not daring to waste any more time than was absolutely necessary. It was as though if he could only hurry fast enough, it would cancel out the fact that she had a whole night's lead on him. If only he ran as hard as he could, then she would be there when he opened his apartment door.
But of course, Time does not reward effort and instead obeys only cruel logic, and his apartment was empty. Serena had taken the cat and her belongings and left. The emergency money he kept at the bottom of a dresser drawer was still there, and he cursed that she had not taken it. He would gladly have let her have it. She needed it, needed everything that she could get. He couldn't bear the thought of her wandering through the city, starving and all alone.
The sight of her beautiful party dress draped forlornly over a chair, the lone abandoned remainder of her, was enough to break his heart. He sank to his knees and took up the silky fabric in his hands, inhaling the scent of her that still clung to it. How could she be gone? She had become everything to him in such a short time… It wasn't fair. How could he be allowed just three days with the only woman he had ever loved? Every once of his strength was required to hold back sobs, but nothing could be done about the tears that slipped down his cheeks. He buried them in the soft blue material, the same blue as her beautiful eyes.
Life respectfully let him sit alone with his grief for a moment before it continued with the flow of events. But continue they must at some point, and when the doorbell rang rudely into the silence, he dried his tears and rose to answer it.
The very last person Darien ever expected to see again was standing on his doorstep, looking extremely uncharacteristically fragile, as though she might fall apart at any moment.
"Beryl?!" he gasped, disbelieving.
"Please," she said, choking on humiliation, "I'm sorry, but I didn't have anywhere else to go."
Stunned, he opened the door wider, and his hated seductress came in, clutching a fur coat protectively about her. She stood awkwardly with him in the tiny foyer, looking so miserable that he actually felt sorry for her.
"What's wrong, Beryl?" he asked, with the most tenderness that he had ever used toward her. It was enough to shatter her fragile supports and cause her to totally break down.
"Darien," she cried, sobbing and falling forward into his chest, "Oh, Darien, I've… I've been raped!" The last was spoken in a horrified whisper.
"Raped?" Darien repeated softly, his stomach sinking. He gently bore her to the green sofa in his living room and set her down. He sat in the recliner across from her and did his best to put Serena and his own trouble from his mind. Darien was a kind person, and here was someone who desperately needed his help. It didn't matter that Beryl had been a generally undeserving person in the past. She was a victim, and she had come to him.
"What happened?" he asked quietly, soothingly.
Beryl took a deep and shaky breath. It was clear that this was not where she wanted to be, and quite painful for her, to open up to a man who had shunned her. But she had nowhere else, as she had said, and so she began, very quietly.
"I… I was at the Darmoon mansion with Emerald. We had been shopping. She bought me this coat," and Beryl pulled the furs tighter around herself. "Diamond came home. He seemed restless. He watched us for a while, or rather, he watched me, prancing about in my new coat like the fool I am. He was smiling."
Beryl paused. "The next part is hard to explain. When I looked into his eyes, with him smiling at me like that, I felt…I felt…well, sort of like a black smoke, curling into my mind. I know it sounds strange; I can't really describe it. Anyway, I began to think in a whole new way about Diamond. I never really had paid attention to him before, but now it was like I couldn't think about anything else. I noticed all these little things about him that I had never seen, like how attractive he seemed then."
Beryl faltered a little. "I…I don't remember exactly how…but I left with him, and he took me to this place…his apartment. He gave me wine…a lot of wine. And…and… we… had sex." She swallowed hard. "But when it was over, the blackness in my mind was jerked back out, and all of a sudden I was myself again. Oh, Darien, I can never explain to you how incredibly awful it was, to suddenly realize what it was that had just happened. What I had been doing, that I did not want to do."
Ah, but Darien did know how she had felt. He supposed it was something akin to how he had felt when he woke up the day after that awful party where he had met Beryl, with a strange girl in his arms and his virginity lost forever.
But Beryl was continuing, "I got out of there as fast as I could. His cruel laughter followed me out the door and haunted me through all the streets. I didn't go home. I didn't go anywhere. I just wandered around, in a kind of numbed daze. And then I found myself outside your apartment building. And I knew I had to come up."
Her gaze fell steadfastly on her fingers, gripped tightly in the fur coat. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Because the worst thing…the worst thing is…I'm no better than he is. Because what I did to you…was the same as what he did to me. And that's why I came. To say that I understand now that it's not a game. Not when you're on the receiving end. And…I'm sorry." She choked on a quiet sob. "More sorry than I've ever been in my life."
Darien stood up and enfolded her in a comforting hug. She clutched at his shirt and shook with sobs of exhaustion and overwrought emotion. "It's okay," he said, and it was. Amazingly, it really was. Grudges were petty things, and forgiveness was something that he found came easily to suffering and true regret.
"I'll make some tea," he said after a moment, and she giggled insanely at the absurdity of it all.
Miraculously, he actually did have some tea bags, and the hot, calming beverage did wonders for Beryl's near-hysterical state.
She sipped at her mug (he didn't have any teacups) and cast about for something to say, embarrassed at having shown such weakness. "So… where's Serena?"
Darien sat down heavily with his own steaming mug, staring glumly into its amber depths as the weight of his own problem thudded down across his shoulders once more. "I don't know," he answered truthfully. "She ran away."
"Ran away? Well, that was really stupid of her," Beryl said, a little of her normal personality resurfacing. "You know, Darien, you ought to be really worried about her."
Darien just looked at her. Wasn't it obvious that he was worried sick about Serena?
"No, I mean *really* worried, because I think she's in real danger if Diamond finds her. He…he wants her. Like he took me, only he wants her much, much more. It's like an obsession. When he was…with me, it was her name he called."
Darien shivered with foreboding, remembering something Diamond had said at the party… 'Such a delicious little thing… Have you fucked her yet, or shall I be the first to ride her when I corner her?'
Feeling barely suppressed panic rising within him, he asked anxiously, "Beryl, do you remember where exactly Diamond's apartment is?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
