The vampire paced back and forth, eyes black with anger. The fire place was lit for the first time, the flames giving a warm glow to the dark furniture in the sitting room. It created a sense of false comfort and Astrid despised it. She kept her eyes on her bare feet, rubbing her muddied feet into the lush material, wondering how much longer Maria would pace before speaking.
She hadn't said anything since Major had brought Astrid to the house. He told Maria of Marietta's death and when Maria tore the railing off the stairs, he had led Astrid to the sitting room. The fire had been lit by Maria and Astrid knew what that meant. Death.
How annoying that she thought her last moment would be from scavengers but instead it would be brought by Maria.
Major stood on the wall, arms crossed, eyes a dark red. Astrid nervously looked at him over her shoulder, using more than her emotions let him know how she felt. Was this going to be the end? He returned her gaze stonily.
Maria stopped. Astrid returned to staring at her feet. She felt Maria come close, her granite hands grabbing Astrid's shoulders and squeezing tightly. Astrid lifted her eyes, shamed and scared. Red met black and she thought she could hear her heart beating once again.
"It is a pity that you are so weak, I had such plans for you." Maria murmured, her hands traveling from Astrid's shoulder to clasp around her neck.
Her instincts made her grab Maria's wrist and pull them away before her claws could dig in. She didn't know what made Major appear at her side and push Maria back a few steps. Maria snarled and spat, lunging forward but this time not at Astrid. She landed on Major and he pushed her off, spinning her so her arms were behind her back and her neck was bared. Astrid was stunned at the simplicity of her attack- had she always been so weak?
Her eyes travelled from Maria's panicked ones to Major's furious face. He looked how he did on the battlefield, lips parted and eyes glimmering with the pride of besting another. His scars were enhanced in the firelight, his dominance soaking the room and making her knees go weak with the need to submit. Perhaps it was the domination of his creator that made it different than the times he had taken down another component.
"Think, Maria," Major hissed. His voice was low, deep and warning. Astrid stayed rooted to her spot. "She can hide herself from anyone. Imagine what she could do when she learns to project her gift, she could hide us all. We now know that Benito is in the area and have one his men ready to give us information any second. We need her to attack Benito."
Major's words battled in her head. Maria whined and shook his hands off and he hastily released her. He stepped towards Astrid, their arms brushing. She gladly stepped closer, seeking any comfort that he was giving. Her life hung in his words and Maria's decision.
Maria smacked Astrid across the face, her teeth showing and pupils blown. Astrid kept her head down, taking the hit with gratefulness. A hit was better than her head being torn off her body.
"Get out of my presence before I change my mind," Maria leered into Astrid's face, their noses brushing. She kept herself as still as a statue. "But do not think for a second that I need you to get Benito. I have my monster."
Astrid nodded and was in the yard in the next second, shaking her hands to rid of the nerves that had bubbled in her. She didn't spare a glance at the newborns, didn't even know if they had returned from patrols yet, and headed towards the barn. The doors had seen their last days, merely having been lent against the opening, and she squeezed between the opening.
Robert was on his knees, head bowed. He didn't move at her entry nor did he flinch when her fingers came to grab at his arm and twist it, easily snapping the bone at the wrist. He yowled and shook but not once did he look up. Astrid grabbed at his other wrist, and was about to end his days as a two-handed man, when Major appeared.
"Enough."
Astrid let him go and snarled at him, "You have no right!"
"I have no right telling my lackey to not torture my prisoner," Major raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, getting into his usual position. It annoyed Astrid that he was so calm and she was so jittered. "Do go on. Let's see how far you get."
"No! You have no right changing!" Astrid grabbed at her hair and ran her fingers through it, frustrated and scattered and done. She was done, she realized. She was done with this life, done with the fighting, done with the looks that the seven sent her.
"Changing what?" Major drawled. He sounded bored and looked it. It heightened the pressure in Astrid's chest.
"You! Everything that you've ever been you're suddenly not! Since when did the Major come to another's rescue? The old Major would've let me die. He would've watched Maria tear me piece by piece and laugh about it later. My Major wouldn't stop me from intervening in those newborns lives! What are you doing?" Astrid thought she would be screaming but her voice came out low, almost a secret that she wasn't ready to part with.
"Your major?" Major seemed amused by all this.
Astrid shoved at his chest and he stumbled into the barn, the structure shaking. She didn't get very far before he wrapped his arms around her and kept her restrained, smirking at the way she wiggled against him to be released. She bit on his arm and he hissed, loosening, and she grabbed him by the arm, hauled him over her shoulder, and watched in sick delight as he landed before her. Astrid snarled and placed her foot on his neck, crouching so that he could meet her in the eyes. He was calm, not even mad that she had attacked.
"My Major is the one I've been fighting beside for five years. My Major wouldn't let me make a mistake like I did with Marietta without punishment." She said.
"Do you want me to treat you like I used to, Astrid?" Major grabbed her foot and used it to drag her across his body, rolling them over so she was pinned beneath him. "Do you want me to let you train the newborns with Bethany and Tanner, lose more limbs, gain more scars? Do you want me to let those men rape you and fuck you like the worthless shit they think you are?"
No, she didn't want that. Astrid cringed and kicked at him. He allowed her that and stood to his full height, staring dauntingly down at her. She sat up and crossed her legs, looking away from him. She thought she knew what she wanted but she guessed she really didn't.
Major crouched and gathered her hair into his hand, pulling her close to him. She leaned on her knees to be closer, her eyes wide as they met his dark ones. He had a peculiar look on his face, one that she hadn't seen before, and raised his other hand to caress her cheek. Her skin hummed at the touch, warm where his fingers trailed, but her emotions were getting the best of her.
"Why?" She asked weakly, looking for an answer in his eyes. "It's been five years.''
"Can things not change, Astrid? Not even for the better?"
"What's the better in this life?"
Major stood and pulled Astrid up with him, "A lot. You just have to find it."
"You sound like Peter."
"That asshole does say some good shit every once in a while."
Astrid shook his hands off, wanting the tingling sensation to go away. She wanted everything to go away - or so she thought until Major put it so horribly in her face. She had a far better life these past months than she had since her rebirth, there was no denying it.
But they had gotten no where with Astrid's outburst. She had gotten no more from Major than what was already in her mind.
Robert moaned, "Just fuck already. I don't mind watching."
Major took his other hand.
Astrid spent the next two days avoiding Major all over again, except this time it wasn't because he was mad but because he was calm. She stayed in her tree and watched the yard as life continued. A few newborns had mourned Marietta for a few hours, had sat around the fire and laughed over her good times, before they returned to their olds ways of bullying the others. Maria was another reason that Astrid stayed far away; she had taken the attack to heart.
"They're not good enough, my monster," She snapped on the patio the second night. Major stood at the bottom of the stairs, hands in pocket, and nodding to her words. His eyes ran over the crowd before meeting Astrid's in her tree. She scowled. "What have you done with Astrid?"
"She's been keeping to herself. The shame has gotten to her." Major replied, knowing full well she was listening. She crunched the branch under her hands.
"Has she made progress on her gift?" Maria was antsy to end Benito.
"No."
Maria screeched, "Then why are you talking to me? Get her!"
Major walked to the bottom of her tree, bending back to get a look at her. The sunlight danced on his skin, giving it a dusty sparkle. His scars scattered the true glitter affect away. He blinked owlishly before gesturing for her to come down. She did so, but took her time, falling gracefully from one tree branch to the next. She landed on her toes in front of him, holding her hands behind her back and looking at his ear instead of his eyes.
"Let's go the woods so you're not distracted," Major led the way, keeping a casual pace and seeming to be unaffected by her sour mood. "The whole point of projecting is to feel for your gift. I want you to reach inside-"
"This isn't going to work if there's no one else here," She said haughtily, not wanting to listen without a fight. "How are you going to know it's working?"
"We're not working on cloaking people today, Astrid," Ever calm, he continued over her. "I want you to control your gift. Close it on yourself so that you are visible in every sense. Once you have a hold on it, we'll work on reaching out."
Astrid frowned, loosing her attitude and feeling small. Her first months had been full of trying to reign her gift in so that Maria could smell her. It had been agonizing, going from filling up on blood to starvation, to anger to sadness. Maria and Major played with her, made her try every wicked way possible to control her gift. It hadn't worked, it had left Maria beyond mad at the lack of control she had over Astrid.
"I don't want to do this again, Major." She whispered.
Major held his hands up, "We're not going to do it the old way. We're going to try something new. You're older, you're in control of your thirst and power. This time," He sat on a low branch, his feet at her eye level. "I'm going to watch you."
And he did. They spent the rest of the day standing in the woods, Astrid hunched over herself and trying her hardest to find her gift. Major lounged in the tree, not once speaking as she struggled. She bunched her fists, thinking of the feeling in the pit of her stomach that he had told her years ago would be there. She should be able to sense her own gift, it was like another being in her. But she never could find it. Being invisible was just that.
She held her hands out, eyes closed, and focused on the air around her. The oak. The smell of deer walking miles to the West. The smell of Major, smoke and wilderness entangled enticingly together. But what did Astrid smell like? She inhaled, imaging herself standing in the woods, trying to track herself. Her stomach tightened, her fingers tingled with a sense of power that she couldn't put into words, and it was building, building. She could feel it on the tip of her fingers, like it was a ball of air, she knew it was there but it was just so hard to touch.
Then she smelled sage, old rain, smoke. It was overbearing and her eyes flashed open, gasping as she eagerly inhaled. The moon shone, showed that she was in the only one in the woods, and that it was what she smelled like.
"Major! Do you smell it?" She awed, looking for him in the trees.
He was in front of her before she had to try. He grabbed her hands and smirked, "You smell delicious, doll. Now try to hide yourself again."
She felt the air move in her fingers and then the smell disappeared, leaving only Major's husky scent to take over. She closed her eyes, inhaling, appreciating the moment. She had finally controlled her power, had finally smelled herself. She never thought the day would come.
"Wasn't that amazing? I have a smell, Major, I can't believe it. I always thought I would never control it." She looked at her hands as if the power resided there, wishing to see the air that had vibrated with energy with her own eyes. Had it been real or all in her head?
"You just needed to do it on your own. You didn't have the best encouragement to control it when you were first awaken." Major said, shrugging. She thought back to the anger he had surged into her, the pain and power hunger, all these emotions that were meant to bring out her power but had made her weep and beg for death. She had been so full of Major's directed powers that she hadn't been able to focus on anything but the pain.
"Do you see what I mean, sir?" She asked, looking down at his hands in hers. "You've changed."
Major sighed, "Yes, I see. Is it so bad to go along with it?"
"Why?"
"I've been in this life for fifteen years. It's 1878 and we are still living in 1863. Is that what we want?" He brushed her hair behind her ear. "To forever be here?"
Of course not, "What option do we have, Major?" Was there even life outside of Maria? Where would vampires reside in this world? She needed the darkness and death just as she would without Maria. The only thing she could leave happily behind was the fighting and stress over her own life. Was that even an option for her?
"You, Astrid."