Chapter 6
Confessions
Talia woke up on Elisa's couch. Cageny was curled up beside her. Elisa walked in. "Hey, kiddo. You feel any better?"
"Sorta. I kinda knew that Xanatos was keeping something from me, but I didn't think it was this big. Roxanne though, that one hurt. We met 4 days ago and Owen told her about my parents." Talia sat up.
"Owen's supposed to come by later today. You don't have to see him." She told her.
"Kay." She nodded. "What's for breakfast?"
"I got eggs and cheese." Elisa said.
A couple of hours later, Owen knocked on Maza's door. He was carrying a few bags filled with Talia's clothes and personal objects, including her stuffed fox.
Elisa answered the door. "Talia's playing with Cageny. I told you last night. She's not going anywhere yet. So, don't even ask."
"I have no intentions of forcing her to go back. I know I...messed up." Owen's mouth formed a thin line. "I didn't mean to hide it from her forever. I didn't want her to suffer."
Elisa took the bag. "Maybe you need to use your own judgment instead of listening to Xanatos all the time."
Owen said nothing. "Thank you for taking care of Talia, detective. I hope that she will want to talk to me and Roxanne again."
"Maybe, this was not a minor thing. Now, get off my doorstep." Elisa shut the door.
Owen didn't react; he remained silent as he observed the shut door for a few moments, before turning and walking down the stairs.
Elisa brought the bag to Talia. "That was Owen." Talia looked through the bag, surprised to see her fox. She hugged it. It smelled like home. Elisa decided to take her out to lunch.
"So...how did it go?" After sunset Roxanne woke up as usual and went to find Owen to know about Talia.
"Elisa was upset with me. Talia didn't come to the door." Owen told her.
"I'm sure that Talia will get over it soon." Roxanne said.
"Hopefully." He agreed.
"Roxanne, would you like to go out with me?" He asked after a minute.
"Are you asking me to go on a date with you?" Roxanne smirked, her eyes twinkling.
"Yes. We'll go in half an hour. Dress casual." He smiled.
The woman giggled and trotted off to get changed; she decided to put on a pair of blue jeans and a nice shirt. Things were going great with Owen...maybe too much. Roxanne looked at herself in the mirror: she had always had fun with men, never having anything serious with any of them, but now... She could've died in a couple of weeks. This time permanently. She didn't want to break Owen's heart...which meant that she had to tell him the truth. Worst case scenario, she could've turned him into a ghoul, or use presence on him.
"I'm ready." Roxie said with a thin smile.
Owen gone back to his apartment and showered quickly. He wanted to look his best for her. Drying off, he took stock of his options. He decided on a long sleeved shirt and jeans. Then he went to go get Roxanne.
"Wow, you look really nice in a pair of jeans." She grinned.
"You look lovely in that shirt. Shall we go?" Owen stepped to her side.
"Sure thing." Roxanne took Owen's arm and got out of the building. Instead of the limo, they took one of the many cars available in the privilege garage. "So what are we going to do tonight?"
"How do you feel about a movie?" Owen backed the car up and drove.
"Good idea. Which genre? I like sci-fi, horror, fantasy...but I'll be fine with anything." Roxanne said.
"I don't mind sci-fi or fantasy. Horror though, it depends on the director. I want to know what to expect." Owen hummed.
"We'll see what the cinema offers." She nodded.
"Yes, we'll see." He answered. "Would you like the radio on?"
"No, it's fine." Roxanne looked out of the window and sighed. "Owen, I..."
"What is it?" He glanced over.
She seemed about to say something, but she closed her mouth and shook her head instead. "Never mind."
Owen slightly frowned. The car was quite. It amplified the sound of New York. Honking, the crunch of tires, people passing by. "You said your family was from England?"
"Yes." Well, she awakened in England about three hundred years ago, so it was mostly true.
"Do you remember which part? Mine was all over the British Isles." He asked.
"In the Wiltshire. My grandparents chose to leave England right before World War two started. I was born here."
"Ah, I see. Someday I'd like to back to England. It's been too long since my last visit." Owen reminisced.
"It must be beautiful to see." She sighed.
"It is." He nodded.
They remained silent until they reached the cinema. Owen parked the car. The theater was a little over half a block away. They got out and started toward it. The crowd was thick. They passed by an alley when someone yanked Owen to them.
"Give us all you got, or I'll make another breathing hole in 'ya." A burly, bald man dressed in a sweat suit whispered with a knife in his hand. A second man was holding a dark plastic bag. "You better hurry sweetheart. Put your money and jewelry in here!"
"I think not." Owen jabbed the man in the chest.
The robber coughed and bent forward, holding his stomach in pain. The other one turned around and tried to punch Burnett. Owen blocked it and shoved him toward the wall. Although it got the man off Owen, it brought the fight toward Roxanne. The man with the knife ignored her and instead launched himself towards Owen, knife ready; Roxanne saw that and before she could reason about the situation, she put herself in between. The knife cut deep into her stomach, but she didn't flinch.
"Roxanne!" Owen shouted as he grappled with second man. Eventually, he got an opening and threw his over his shoulder and onto the ground.
"Wha...What the..." The robber with the knife trembled as he saw Roxanne completely unconcerned with the injury, but she wasn't bleeding either.
"Go away!" She hissed, her eyes becoming as bright as embers. The man let good the knife and ran for his life, screaming. The other one got on his feet and did the same. The woman slowly took out the blade from her body and growled. "Fucking bastards..."
"Roxanne, are you alright?" Owen came up to her.
"Yeah, I'm fine...how are you?" She didn't seem even remotely bothered by the deep cut.
Owen noticed that the knife didn't have any blood on it. "I'm okay. Let's return to castle."
"Owen, listen-"
"Not here, it's too open." He looked around.
Roxanne nodded and covered herself better with the jacket. They quickly returned to the car and then to the castle. Owen led her to the nearest available room. She sat on the bed. Owen locked the door. "Is it healed?"
"One minute." The woman focused, letting the blood hear the wound almost instantly.
"Roxanne, what are you? I'm not mad, but I have to ask. Do you actually care about Talia? She does not need her feelings exploited right now." He sighed.
Roxanne remain silent for several minutes, looking at the stone floor. Only a small lamp on the bedside table was providing light in the room.
"I do. I do care about her." She stood up. "But I shouldn't have. For now she's in danger, simply for knowing me. And now I'm worried that the same will happen to you..." A short, empty laughter. "What am I? A very good question...am I a monster that crawled out of anyone's worst nightmares, or am I a human, cursed and trapped between life and death?" Her fangs came out, slowly. "What am I, Owen? You tell me."
"Ah, vampire. I suspect that you have drank from me before, yes? In the elevator." He watched her, unflinching.
"Yesss, I...I was hungry. I'm sorry if I did that, but that wasn't so bad after all, now, was it?" She smirked.
"No, I suppose it wasn't. Is it always like that?" He asked.
"Yes. We call it 'kiss'. "
"Don't drink from Talia. She can't handle the strain." He quietly thought for a moment. "You said Talia was in danger because of what you are. Let me help. If I can help in any way, I will do it."
"My, aren't you protective? And yet I thought that you were only looking after your boss's daughter..." Roxanne made a few steps forward. "If we want to collaborate, then maybe it's time take off our masks. No more lying." She then looked at him better. "Also, I can't stop noticing that you aren't even remotely surprised at the fact that a vampire is standing in front of you...like, you now know that vampires exist and you're barely surprised...what are you, Owen?"
"I've encountered the paranormal before." He paused a minute before turning into Puck. "I'm Puck." He smiled.
Roxanne lowered her glasses and gaped at him. "...Puck? As in 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' Puck? THAT Puck?!"
"Yes, that Puck." His grin widened. "You'll get the full story another day. Now, I know the basics of vampire society, but it's a bit foggy. Mind refreshing me, my dear?"
"Let's just say that other vampires will get pissed if they find out that I told someone what I really am. But the point is, I don't care." She paced around Puck and smiled. "A fairy...I can't believe it. Wait, does that mean that Owen is an illusion? Aww, I really liked him!"
"No, Owen's real. 100% human. He likes you too." Puck told her. "I don't want this situation escalating to Big Daddy Oberon. That'd be a mess."
Before Roxanne spoke, Puck muttered softly. "You're not the only one who broke the law."
"Okay, so...we're both outlaws and traitors to our kind. Great." Roxanne sighed and sat back on the bed. "Talia is in danger because of me. Anyone who is around me could risk their life...I still don't understand why the Sabbat is so obsessed in wanting me to join them. The Camarilla asked me the same thing, but didn't take it that bad!"
"Maybe they know something you don't." He shrugged.
She took off her glasses and rubbed her face. "I...I'm honestly not sure of what will happen when I'll challenge the Archbishop of New York...Mendes is powerful. And a Lasombra." The Lasombra clan: vampires that were so in touch with the Abyss, that could manipulate the shadows around them, fill an entire room in complete darkness, even disappear in it... They weren't enemies to underestimate. She was just a Brujah and brute force wouldn't have been enough.
"Lasombra, Lasombra... They're shadow ones, right?" Puck hummed.
"Exactly. I could use a flamethrower, but...the thing is, no matter how powerful a vampire can be: fire and sunlight are ALWAYS effective. And if I brought a flamethrower, I'm not sure if I could use it, because..."
"You don't you'd have the time?" Puck frowned.
"No. Because I would be so terrified, that I'd feel the urge to run away. My Beast takes control sometimes. Especially in case of danger. Imagine you have to live with an animal inside of you, who doesn't care about anything else except feeding, killing and surviving. For us Brujah it's even worse. We get angry very easily. I'm blessed with a good self-control, but I've seen others going postal for stupid things."
"That does sound like a problem. We'll think of something though." Puck thought.
"Why do you want to help me? I brought nothing but problems since I came here..."
"Talia likes you, Owen likes you. We'd hate to see you die so soon."
Roxanne smiled softly. "I feel very lucky and honored that someone actually likes me just...for being me." She stood up and paced towards the window. "I lied to Owen...to you. I don't know where I am from. All I know is that I woke up in England in 1768. Then I went to America. I helped with the Boston Tea Party, you know?" She said smugly.
"I wasn't entirely truthfully either. The other fairies and I aren't cousins and we live on Avalon." He said.
"Well, since we're here together...let's not lie to each other anymore. Especially to Talia...she deserves to know the truth."
"Does she know?" Puck asked.
"That I'm a vampire? Yes. Does she know about you?" Roxanne questioned.
"Yes, she knows about me. " He confirmed. "What's our relationship? Do you want to continue as we were? I don't want to confuse the poor girl."
"He knows that you are Owen too?" Roxanne rubbed her neck. "I'd like to continue our relationship, but I don't want you to get hurt. Why are you even so attracted by- okay, no, I know why you are attracted by me, but...why? I'm a corpse. I'll never be able to give you children. I can't even stay with you during the day."
"Talia... doesn't know about Owen. Just let me break the news. She was already upset about you knowing first about her parents. You think that I wouldn't make accommodations for my lover? There are other ways to have children." He reminded her.
"We'll see. Let's stay here tonight, we can watch some TV while we cuddle in bed... And tomorrow we'll go see Talia."
"Actually, I should check on Talia first." His ears stiffened.
Roxanne nodded. "Right. Of course, honey."
"I'll be back as soon as I can, Roxie." He kissed her hand.
