Act Three: Descent—
Nostalgia overcame him.
"What do you write in that thing?"
"Ways to overthrow your despotism and manipulation should we part ways."
Sebastian realized he had a gift of speaking that which is ironic.
Her presence threw him off balance while she attempted to grab his journal.
Her weight crashed against him and they fell ungracefully to the floor.
Who knew they would come crashing down in a year?
She smelled like vanilla and suddenly he wanted to taste her.
So he did. She gave in before pushing him away.
"Game over. You lose."
He smirked and she rolled her eyes. Game over indeed.
Annette knew something was wrong with him.
He grew more standoffish day by day, his blue eyes no longer exuded with loving warmth but with forced smiles. Even Sebastian's movements were jerky at times, but his words were still the same. That he loved her back, he didn't regret anything, and that he was just tired and he wasn't angry at her.
The longer it took, the more he relaxed and the more he was like his old self again. Sometimes, she had a feeling that it was a false sense of security, there were times when he would get calls on his cell phone and he would talk differently. His replies were in quick, one word responses that sounded like a code... For what exactly?
"What's wrong with you?" she asked him quietly, unable to stand this any longer. He was propped up against the headboard of her bed, muscular torso cut from tanned perfection and eyes far off as he mused quietly. His mouth, that full red orifice she loved kissing, was swollen and enticing even though he didn't mean for it to be. It was slightly pursed while he stared vacantly at the single framed photograph of the two of them taken during their first few months together. He lay motionless save for the occasional twitching of his fingers against her blankets, almost as though he was writing something on the covers.
His curls had grown longer, turning into a darker shade of blond and those intense blue eyes unsurprisingly looking far off. He looked like an overgrown little boy, the angel from the forgotten Eden filled with the remnants of Eve's transgression. She once commented how he was even prettier than her and he had scowled before his eyes twinkled and carried a half heartedly protesting Annette to bed.
How things seemed so easy then…
When he didn't reply, her feeling of dread grew. Annette placed her head on his chest and took his hand, playing with his fingers the way he liked.
"Sebastian?"
Finally, he blinked and focused on her. At the sight of her sad expression, he gave a tired smile and kissed her forehead.
"I'm sorry." He seemed to say that a lot these days.
"For what?"
His fingers gripped the edge of the blankets and uncovered his body, turning from her. "I'm just tired, that's all. I think I'm going to go home."
Annette watched him drive off from her window, an inexplicable heaviness surrounding her as Sebastian grew smaller and smaller from a distance.
---
The sound of pages flipping filled the study as he took the cognac and filled his glass, his spectacles lay askew on the table and the crystal ashtray was filled with half finished cigarettes and another one was lit, emitting gray smoke and the scent mingling with the tangy smell of his drink.
There was a photograph taken three years ago that was placed between pages and he took it out, turning it over to read the inscription.
Even a photograph shows that which we hide.
He remembered that night of course, and it was by no means a masterful picture. It had been one of the many charity events and Tiffany thought it would look charming if Kathryn and her new stepsibling danced.
"Kathryn, you're looking especially lovely tonight."
She smirked, "Shut it, Valmont. You're not going to get any no matter what you say."
He pulled her close, liking how her body pressed against his.
"I'll be thinking about you when I fuck my date." He said mischievously, causing her to give him that infamous smile that he swore would be the end of him someday.
Kathryn, in response, pulled his head while she whispered something in his ear.
"You do that."
One of the photographers covering the event had taken a picture of the two wealthy stepsiblings and had had it published in the society pages. When he saw it, he cut it out and inserted it in his journal, even Kathryn didn't know that he did it. The photograph was like a secret shown for the entire world yet nobody knew what it really stood for. It featured Kathryn smiling secretly in the middle of her whispered teasing message and it featured how his hands were tightened around her waist. It had been a peek into their private relationship and amusingly enough, everybody dismissed it as a close bond between the two stepsiblings.
"Don't you dare treat me like I'm some common slut you can bang and leave!"
He jumped at her screaming voice, instinctively standing up when a man returned her anger equally. They sounded as though they were only a few feet away from the door and even the thick wooden barrier between them didn't inhibit him from hearing at least muffled sounds of what sounded like fighting. His heart rate sped up when there was a loud crash and he heard Kathryn swore viciously, Sebastian's palms started to sweat and he knew she was the recipient of the blow. He longed to stand up, to open the door and beat the shit out of the man but he also remembered the last time he interfered in one of her fights. After he tried to threaten the man to leave, she had turned to him and stared him down angrily, her eyes spewing forth hatred, fire and brimstone.
"Dead people don't come back to protect me."
She'd hissed, brushing past him. He felt like he had been slapped and instead of feeling angry, he had gone inside his room instead. The man she'd been arguing with was forgotten and it was then that he'd learned later that the unfortunate fool met a not so accidental car crash that took out months of his life and the normal use of his right arm.
He should have remembered she could take care of herself, and as though proving him correct, there was the sound of a vase breaking and this time it was the man's pained cry that filled the air. Although by the time he recovered, his scream had filled practically the entire house and it filled the young blond with chills and almost a sense of foreboding. It was that sick bastard Brandon David, he knew there was something about that psycho that differed him from her other loser boyfriends who had been all talk.
He knew… He knew… Months separated from her and still he knew something was wrong.
The door slammed, signaling the Brandon's departure and it was only then that he sat down. A figure passed by in his peripheral vision and his voice, by its own accord, spoke up.
"Kathryn."
He hated how his voice sounded; he hated how it felt like addressing a stranger.
The footsteps stopped and backtracked and he found himself looking at her. She stood calmly in the doorway in her silk kimono robe tied loosely at the waist. It revealed her smooth skin and a hint of her breasts, the color of it a startling contrast to her mussed up brown hair and her green eyes. Her robe was a bit wrinkled and her face a bit red, but other than that, she seemed to have sustained no injuries.
It had been a while since they talked but talking with her again somehow soothed him. He took out a stick and placed it in his mouth, lighting it and offering it to her.
Surprisingly enough, she crossed the room and took the cigarette from him, taking a deep drag before her eyes flickered over to his journal. He knew it would be a bad idea to inquire about her boyfriend, because he knew what had happened the last time he tried to intrude.
"Reminiscing, Valmont?" Kathryn smirked, an eyebrow rising to cover the slightest waver over his assessing stare.
He didn't react to it and instead leaned forward. With rapt interest, Sebastian stared at Kathryn and felt the urge to know something, anything about her. He was hungry for her words, however scathing. He was hungry to hear her thoughts, her opinions, and he wanted to be included in her life again.
"How are you?" he asked quietly, barely blinking.
Did he hurt you?
She shrugged, flicking off the ashes from the burning end gracefully. "I've had better days."
He hesitated, "I heard you earlier."
He cursed her inwardly when she met his inquiry with a blank stare, "Like I said, I've had better days. It's hardly the first time you've heard me arguing."
Sebastian ran a hand through his hair, realizing that he had never been this nervous around anybody, not even Annette. And the fact that it was Kathryn who'd made him like this was a notion he couldn't understand. Had it really been that long since they had gotten along, had it been centuries since they knew each other idiosyncrasies, had eternity disguised itself in a matter of months?
"If he hurts you…"
She laughed like it was the most ludicrous joke he had ever said, "What? I'll let you know? Right. Go play house with Ms. Perfect, I can fend for myself thank you very much."
He flinched at her mocking tone, the knife of her sarcasm cutting through him when he foolishly looked at her.
Somehow, he knew, she'd notice the crumbling down of his newfound feelings for Annette. While she studied him curiously, he despised how she was masterful at hiding any sort of emotion because he wanted to know something real about her. The tip of the cigarette burned red as she took another drag, the smoke fleeing her lips.
"Fine." He said curtly, looking away.
"You miss me, don't you?" she answered, smiling slightly, the mockery forgotten. "You miss how I would fuck with your head or how I would tease you. You miss how I'd try to read that faggot journal of yours. You miss our games."
There it was, the moment of truth. What was he to say?
"At times."
At his admission, her smile left her and she ground the cigarette into the ashtray, standing up. Her face was closed again, returning to its aloof self.
"You don't get another chance." She told him, her eyes narrowing. "I made you understand that before you made your choice. Now you're going to live with it."
He grabbed her arm just as she was about to leave, causing her robe to slip off her shoulder, the sash suddenly becoming undone.
There was a large bruise on her ribs. It was the sort that had been there days before and he felt sick with realization.
"This wasn't the first time."
Kathryn gripped his arm in a vice like hold and the long sleeve dropped back to make her milky wrist visible. There was a rather bluish ring around it and she shoved him back.
"You don't get to play hero again, Valmont."
"Why do you stay with him?"
She looked away, "It pleases Mother for me to be seen with him. His mother is very influential and—"
"Bullshit!" he interrupted, examining her wrist roughly. "You wouldn't let him do this to you."
"I'm not." Kathryn retorted bitingly, the disdain clearly shown. "The one on my ribs was an accident and my wrists… We like it rough. I like it rough. You would know, wouldn't you?"
"You're dead to me."
A gasp.
A moan.
Stay with me.
Fuck me.
So soft… So soft…
Harder. Faster. Deeper.
We screamed at the world at the injustice of the moment.
How wrong… How wrong…
I want to kill you. I need to kiss you. One last… One last…
Everything is released and warm.
Goodbye.
As soon as the door was closed, he placed his hands on his forehead and stared at the shriveled up cigarette as if it had all the answers to the world. His fingers touched the place where her mouth had been…
He had begun his descent back.
A/N: Mkayyy… What shall I say? I'm happy because I ranked 5th out of those who took the qualifying exams for my majors… Yippee! I took the test with students older than me so from that perspective fifth isn't all that bad riiight? The exam concentrated on English and literature soooo yeah. Be proud of me!
Ocfan: Well… 2 more chapters left to pooost… Loved your analysis by the way… I thought I'd keep things simple with this one, you know?
Katie: Well, how does it feel to know what you know? Lol how do I come up with this shit? Well, I don't know either. All I know is that I haven't come up with anything good lately, thus the lack of updates.
Julie: I know I think we all need a break from the twists and turns of K/S fics once in a while. ;-)
