An appreciation of freedom comes from being bound by suffocating restraints. Too blind to know to know any better Tara lost herself in Pam and by a strange twist of fate the fear that prompted fer to run because she didn't want to be released, set her free anyway. She didn't need to wonder who to celebrate this revelation with.
She returned to the hotel intending run up the stairs to her family's suite when she spotted the vampire she was looking for. He sat in the parlor listening to a disheveled pianist who her grandfather might have bribed handsomely to play fo him all night. Godric looked up from the black piano and acknowledged the newcomer with a welcoming nod.
"Will you join me for the sunrise?"
Tara took the seat across from him looking at the horizon and the colors hinting at the days awakening. Momentarily forgetting the outside she spied the blond boy with his gaze on her.
"What?" She shifted self consciously.
He said nothing waiting for her.
Tara for her part didn't know where to begin. She knew he would be happy for her, "I haven't felt like this in a long time," she admitted with a smile.
He answered her with one of his own drinking in the music and Tara's aura of contentment. She was beautiful and it showed and he guessed it more than likely had something to do with his daughter.
"I feel free."
"That's all I ever wanted for you."
That was the easy part of the conversation. There was still much to discuss about her current occupation, but for now that could wait. One victory deserved its due and she couldn't think of a better way to do it than by just taking everything like a huge inhalation of life.
She recognized the tune as a jazz hit from the twenty's but she didn't recall the name. The music brought good memories to him and she loved that she knew that. It made him human and she didn't feel as idiotic or alone to know that she wasn't the only one with a capacity for sentimentality. They sat watching the sunrise listening to the piano in the background creating an odd scene for the random onlooker who most likely wouldn't understand it. They were immortals after all with millions of sunrises behind them and even more ahead.
Godric could deny the pull of sleep at his age. Tara, the youngest addition, could not. And when the sun rose high enough over the horizon to sate his fascination to watch it he thanked the piano player with a more than generous tip that filled the muscian's tip glass. Tara looked at it questioningly then a the huge tired smile it invoked. It reassured her wandering thoughts that they didn't have to exist as predator and prey. Godric was an attest to that fact and she wanted more than anything to emulate that.
"You've given him a memory he won't forget," she shared needlessly when the elevators closed.
"He played wonderfully. Didn't you think so?"
"I'm no expert in that type of thing," she shrugged with very little to compare it to besides the prowess of an afing church organist.
"Didn't you feel?" He asked vaguely omitting the name of any emotion more interested in her perspective.
Tara didn't answer right away admitting she had felt, but she didn't put a name to it. But Godric was satisfied with the answer as if she had given it a name. They rode to the same floor in silence and parted ways to their distinctive suites.
Tara felt the urge to text Maryanne when she was settled rereading her message and smiling to herself. Franklin influenced her in so many ways she rarely noticed until she happened to reread a text that sounded like it would have come from the Britain. Maryanne responded minutes later with a time to meet later that evening and without an address Tara assumed they were meeting at Maryanne's. She confirmed they could meet at that time tossing the phone aside to sink into her bed and dream of nothing.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dressed to kill. Pam mulled over her outfit in the mirror admiring her favorite pink pumps and the outfit that seemed destined to compliment it. This was the final outfit she chose out of a plethora of options discarded on her bed. She wanted to look her best for Tara's human for the satisfaction of seeing Maryanne's eyes drink her in jealousy.
Yes, she'll look like this forever. That human would be crazy not to be jealous she mused self satisfied lining her mouth with a red shade of lipstick. She was gorgeous she knew, as did anyone elae with at least one good eye and taste. And as far as Tara's standards had fallen she was fairly certain her progeny would have at least chosen someone with decent vision. And as far as tastes go the human called an hour after dark to set up a meeting. It was fairly easy to convince her the hotel was as good a place as any to discuss business. If Tara happened by,well, the more the merrier.
She checked her phone for the time. She had thirty minutes to or so before she was fashionably late. Then she thought better of her usual lateness. She wanted to see this human walk in if only to study her unabashedly before Pam and she introduced themselves.
One last look in the mirror to confirm she was perfect and she strode leisurely to the dining area where she was scheduled to meet Tara's human. She spared a look in the direction of her progeny's suite. Beyond the door were more obstacles than she'd like to deal with. With time to spare she knocked on the door. On the other side she heard movement and was less than impressed to be greeted by Franklin in nothing more than black silk boxers.
Looking pointedly at the underwear, "that's more than I ever wanted to know about you," she sighed, "where's Tara."
"I would tell you," he sniffed theatrically, "but you got the distinct smell of 'up to no good' wafting from your person."
"Warning me away from my progeny is getting old."
"And hurting her is in season is it?"
"Let us not forget your reputation for being the poater child for fucked up sadists."
He clucked his teeth, "I enjoy my work, but what I don't do is fuck over the people who tolerate my crazy arse. And those two people have earned what I like to call loyalty."
He began to close the door, but Pam caught it. She was through with playing nice pushing it open startling the pale vampire who underestimated her strength.
"Blondie if you wanted a go no need for all the foreplay," he sped towards her tossing her to the other side of the room.
Pam picked herself up and when she stood her left heel broke under her weight and she only had Franklin to blame.
"These were my favorite pumps," she seethed forgetting why she had worn them at all when it was more pertinent they be avenged.
They launched at each other colliding in mid air over the couch where they fell and began grappling for dominance. Nothing in their path was spared. And the noise alerted everyone on the floor of the struggle.
In Tara's bathroom the vampire brush strokes began fast then gradually slowed when she heard the commotion. She hadn't thought much of the muffled voices outside during her shower dismissing them as Franklin and one of Franklin's distractions. They came in all shapes, sizes, species, and temperments to illustrate how broad her partner's spectrum was for company. She'd accidentally walked into some awkward moments that made her back slowly out the room and curse her immortal memory.
So again, she didn't think much of the muffled voices rising in anger or the sounds of a brawl. Until curiosity got the best of her. Resting her toothbrush at the corner of her mouth she held the handle ready to warn him that he was going to get them kicked out if he didn't carry on a little quieter. It all died on her lips qith her mouth hanging from surprise.
Pam and Franklin were speeding towards eachother landing rapid blows, scratches, and bites.
"What the-" she failed to finish.
They hadn't noticed their audience yet.