Part 2: Glow
I waited there for hours, watching him sleep. The occaisional twitch in his features was the only hint as to how he felt for now. I had already made advance reservations for the flight to Hong Kong, a good ten hours from Budapest. Edward was there. He had gone to establish a coven in the east. I continued to comb the blood out of my hair for now, occaisionally ripping a few pieces out.
I turned the telivision back to an international news channel, the time here was now eight o'clock and sundown had been a half hour ago. Our plane took off from the local airport within the hour.
"Get up, we're leaving." I said to him, kicking his feet which were dangling off the side of the chairs. He work with a hazy start, confused.
"Ugh, alright. What is it with you and all this abuse?" He asked, getting up and following me out of the room. We proceeded from the central terminal into the side streets.
I raised my hand to flag down a taxi, which nearly ran me down. He looked at me, questioningly. He doesn't trust me, I would not trust myself either, but out of the two of us I am the only one with the experience to make sure we survive for the time being.
He opened the door for me, curteous, and let me slide in first.
"Where do need to go now?" Asked the driver, the car smelled of old cigarrettes and cheap beer, the seats torn and plastic like.
"Airport, please hurry." I said, he closed the door next to me, sliding next to it to avoid physical contact between he and I.
I stared out of the window, a thick fog spread over the city, obscuring my view. The window next to him became fogged with his warm breath, a forlorn look crossed his face.
"I'm sorry." He said, turning towards me.
"For what?" I asked, stupid appologies. "Don't appologize for something you have no control over."
"I
came here, endangering you and everyone else; I'm sorry okay?"
He said, sincerity ringing clear in his voice.
"Oh cut it
out." I practically laughed, hiding that emotion with a smirk,
"Don't embarrass yourself further."
"I was trying to be nice." He said, "You don't have to act like such a cold hard ." Practically pouting and mixing that sound with a hint of anger, he got out of the car in front of the gate. I handed the driver a few bills including the tip and followed after him. Ignoring his insults, of which I had heard worse from both lycans and vampires alike, we proceeded into the terminal.
The smell of melted plastic mixed with fresh upholstry filled the area, taking a quick glance around the area, I saw no distinct markers of vampire or lycan activity. I went into the nearest packaging area.
"Can I help you miss?" Asked a lady in the shop, wearing a navy uniform with her hair pulled into a tight bun behind her head.
"Yes, do you have any secure packaging for airmail? I have a package that I cannot bring on board, I need it to arrive when I do at my destination."
"Surely, ma'am. Here", she handed me a package marked for airmail. I took it to a counter, he was still behind me, and I undid my holsters and placed them within the box, along with whatever guns I had, and secured them with wrapping material.
"This is to go on the 8:50 flight to Hong Kong, make sure it gets there." I told her, handing her the box and the shipping cost.
"And your name miss?" She said...I could not use Selene or Corvin, too obvious.
"Adriana; Adriana Caprice." I told her, she wrote down the name as we left. I stopped in a tourist shop and grabbed a change of clothes for the flight, black leather was once again too obvious for civilian wear. He followed behind me as always, we came to the gate then.
"I need your passports." Said the balding man behind the counter, blocking our way towards the plane. He held out his hand for our passports. I could sprint onto the plane and...
"This is my wife, she left hers back in Hong Kong. Here is my passport and work Visa, I've been relocated." He said, smiling in the fakest way possible.
"Fine, you can board." The man said, gesturing towards where the plane was boarding. What a relief, we could board. The jet engines were lound, blasting in my sensitive ears as we got into buisness class, second row, with sleeper seats the reclined. I sat down beside the window and watched the airfield below us.
"Hey, can I have window seat?" He asked beside me.
"Fine." I said, and sat in the aisle.
"The plane is now preparing for takeoff, please fasten your seat belts and turn off all cellphones and or pagers. Cabin doors are locking, please proceed to your seats." The stewardess said over then intercom in English, French and Hungarian as everyone became settled. He was already half dozing beside me, his face pressed against the glass. The plane began down the run way and I felt myself pushed back in my seat. I felt very lightheaded for a moment, then dizzy as we took off. I closed my eyes as we came to a steady incline.
"You can now unfasten seatbelts, feel free to walk around the cabin. Attendants will be serving dinner now." The same lady as before said, she came down the aisle with a cart. "Drink or food ma'am?" She said. I glanced at him, he was now awake.
"A glass of cognac, just that." I told her, I needed something to help me sleep.
"Do you have any kind of beef?" He asked. She nodded, and placed a small bottle of cognac on my tray, and a plate with a burger on his and she left towards the next seat. He and I ate in silence. Another stewardess came around in a few minutes and collected our dishes. I got up.
"I'm going to take a shower." I said to him, he was staring out the window at the night sky, not even glancing at me as I got up. The small shower stall had just a towel outside of it, I took my clothes in with me.
The warm water went onto my hair, letting the congealed blood and dirt that had accumulated in my hair, drop out with the water. A layer of film almost seemed to fall off of my skin as I scrubbed it off with a wash cloth. Closing my eyes, I thought of the events that had taken place. Trying to make sense of our predicament.
Viktor is dead, he decieved you for over a hundred years, he is out of the picture. True, for now I cannot focus on the past. Deathdealers and Lycans alike witnessed you slaying Viktor. Too many witnesses, trust no one who was there. Anyone more then eight hundred years old know knows about the past enough to know of the Old War and how it started. Go to them. Perfect...I can go to Edward. He was close to nine hundred years old, maybe he could help me. Then again, he had responsibility for his coven which I know was the closest thing he had to family.
I brought my hands to my neck as I searched for any lingering grim upon my flesh. The bite of Viktor, a phantom pain came across as I remembered that night. A sharp stinging in that area, I brought my hand to my shoulder. The flesh was still slightly discolored from all those years ago. The edges of my burns still seemed to be on the brink of fading.
I got out of the shower and dried off, slipping on my jeans, camisole, black turtleneck sweater, socks and my boots. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror.
"Selene, what have you gotten yourself into..." I said aloud, followed by a startling knock at the door.
"How long are you going to be in there? I'm not exactly the cleanest person here either." It was him again...He has to stay around. Silly little puppy, clinging to his master for guidence. I thought to myself, opening the door and going back to my seat.
I tilted both of them back fully and layed down beside the window, facing the night sky, the clouds below and the stars above, the moon hanging in the sky like a mother watches over her children, hanging there and keeping still. My eyes became drowsy as I drifted to sleep, my face in my hands as I leaned on the edge of the seat.
And then...there is Him...he's nothing, nothing at all to you, remember that Selene. This is not what you want.
Companionship? Not to be so...so lonely?
Don't think of that Selene.
