Chapter 4 – Cold Hard Jealousy

Vayne wasn't sure how the topic of bathing hadn't come up sooner, but now that it had been brought up she couldn't help but feel dirty. It was like all the sweat on her body and all the dirt and grime from the shadow isles was making itself more pronounced. She ran a hand through her hair and it felt oily.

She couldn't really smell herself due to her cold, but from Elise's comments she wondered if she smelled bad. Part of her, the more immature part mind you, hoped that was the case just so she could annoy Elise in some way. But still that was just a very small part of her. No one actively wants to stink after all, at least no one who was actually sane.

Vayne watched Elise's back as she Spider Queen led her back up the stairs, along the way Elise opened a side closet pulling out a large white towel and an equally white bathrobe. She turned to Vayne and handed the items over. Vayne tried to watch her eyes when she did so. Trying to see if there were any underlying emotion that she could read within Elise's gaze, but she got nothing. She was still worried about not knowing where she stood with Elise now after she'd seen what she had. She hadn't exactly knew where she stood with the woman beforehand either but things hadn't been so damn ambiguous.

She followed Elise until the woman led her to a lavish bathroom. Vayne was sure she had seen this room during her search the days prior but she hadn't really looked much into the room after she'd determined that it was a bathroom. Now that she was standing in it with Elise, she could truly appreciate the largeness of the decorated room. She looked from the showers and stools lining one wall, to the giant communal bath that took up 75% of the room. It made her wonder if Elise often had people over to make use of such a room, or if it was one of the pieces of her house that had been implemented centuries ago.

"Once you finish bathing I'll have clothes waiting in your room."

Elise broke the silence that the two had fallen over since Vayne had found her in the kitchen. The Night Hunter watched the Spider Queen for a few moments her tongue working in her mouth before she finally decided to speak.

"Why are you acting as though nothing happened?"

Elise raised a brow at her and for a moment Vayne thought she was continue to pretend that she didn't know what Vayne was talking about but then she shrugged and Vayne knew she was going to get some answers.

"Because nothing really happened."

Or not. Vayne didn't even know how to voice how incorrect Elise's statement was.

"Well… you saw me naked. That happened." Else said showing her teeth in a grin. Vayne flushed and looked away trying to shake off the heat in her cheeks in favor of not letting the conversation get away from her.

"And the idol?"

Elise sighed "It sustains me, without it I would wither away. I think you could have figured that much with what you've seen."

"If it wasn't such a big deal, why did you try and keep me out of the study?"

Elise smirked. "I didn't want you to see me naked."

Vayne narrowed her eyes and that was how she communicated that this bullshit answer wasn't going to be enough for her.

"It would be easier if you didn't know these things. This information does nothing for you but put questions in your mind that I won't answer for you. The idol sustains me, that's all you really need to know now that part of the cat is out of the bag."

"So this has something to do with the acolytes you take into the shadow isles?"

Vayne asked and Elise gave her a look that made Vayne believe that she wasn't going to get an answer for a moment until Elise spoke again.

"The idol needs its fuel."

Vayne tried not to think too deeply on what that really meant. She thought back to the conversation with Elise about the sacrifices she made within the Shadow Isles. The comparison Elise made between what Vayne did and what she herself did. She didn't like to admit it but Vayne wasn't foolish, she knew that there were similarities there. Elise did what she did to survive and Vayne did them for vengeance. Fundamentally they were different, but they were both working for their own selfish goal. Even still, purchasing ones immortality with the lives of others was the type of thing Vayne was against.

"If it makes you feel better," Elise started "It isn't exactly a painless process for me."

Vayne thought of the noises Elise made as the idol pumped magic into her, the discomfort in the way she moved. Then Vayne's thoughts went to how Elise had been naked, and the shake of her breast and….she felt the flush come to her face and the way Elise smiled at her let her know that the Spider Queen saw it too. "It doesn't." Vayne muttered rubbing at her face trying to play her blush off as a result of her sickness.

"I'm sure. Hmm…" Vayne hated the way Elise hummed at her. "Well I'm sure you'll feel better once you've cleaned off a bit."

Vayne turned towards the wall looking to the row of showers remembering again why they had come here. Vayne took a step towards the closest one to her tugging slightly at the fabric of her skin tight suit before turning back to look at Elise. The Spider Queen stood there scrutinizing Vayne long enough for the Night Hunter to start thinking that Elise was going to watch her undress and bathe, but eventually she spoke up.

"I'll make you a consommé."

And with that Elise turned and gave Vayne her privacy.

The Night Hunter sighed when she was alone starring at the closed door Elise had left behind for a few moments as though expecting the woman to suddenly just pop back and try and catch a peek of her when she was undressing. Perhaps an attempt to get some payback on Vayne for barging in on her while she was…."recuperating"

Vayne flushed again trying to shake those thoughts from her head for what felt like the thousandth time as she started to shed herself of her body suit that at this point was sticking to her like a second skin.

The warm waters of the large bath seems to have sucked whatever energy Vayne's exhausted body had left, right out of her. Perhaps that was a result of her sitting in the tub for a little too long, but it couldn't be helped. Once her body had entered the water after she'd showered she couldn't help but just lay there. Now she honestly felt kind of dizzy.

She was surprised that Elise hadn't come to check on her, but she supposed for once the Spider Queen was giving her a bit of privacy. She contemplated taking this time to go back to her room and just sleeping, but she didn't feel like having to wake up with a spider in her face. With a sigh she made her way back down the stairs towards the dining room where she expected Elise to be waiting.

As she neared her destination she could hear the sounds of two voices speaking in conversation. One she recognized easily as Elise but the other she couldn't quite place. She knew she had heard it before but the name simply escaped her. When she was really close to the dining room she noted that the voices stopped, it seemed her approach had been noticed. That was to be expected, Elise was as sharp as they came and whoever it was with her must be equally so. Knowing her approach was being monitored didn't slow Vayne down. She couldn't stop now. After all, she was expected.

She didn't peek around the corner when she made it to the dining room door and instead just stepped into the doorway. Fully able to see now who it was that Elise was talking to and the sight of the woman stunned Vayne into silence. Sitting at the head of the table with Elise in a seat to her side was none other than Evaine Leblanc. The leader of the Black Rose, and a woman whom Vayne had some personal business with.

"My my, it seems we have company." Leblanc said. She didn't sound surprised to see her, even if she knew someone had been approaching. Vayne figured the woman would at least be surprised by who it was who appeared, but she wasn't at all. Vayne looked to Elise for a moment, wondering if the Spider Queen had told Leblanc about her. But thinking about it from a different perspective. The Black Rose knew everything, and in turn so would Leblanc.

"It's not good to walk around with wet hair, especially when you're sick." Elise's mock scolded, she had both of her elbows on the table her hands on her cheeks. Vayne spared Elise a glance before looking to her long hair, she had let it out of its tight braid while she bathed. After a moment her gaze went back to Leblanc because her wet hair and even her health seemed unimportant at the moment.

"Looks like she's ignoring you Elise." Leblanc sounded amused.

"It can't be helped, seems she has something she wants from you."

The corner of Leblanc's mouth raised into the sort of smirk that suggested she found this entire situation trivial. "Her and everyone else it seems." Leblanc said before leaning forward. "But very well, might as well give her what she wants since I'm here."

Apparently the situation wasn't too trivial for Leblanc to entertain, she looked at Vayne for a few moments before resting her elbow on the table propping her head up with a hand on her cheek. "Well don't just stand there, you've got something to say don't you?"

Leblanc spoke as though she already knew the questioning that was forming on the tip of Vayne's tongue.

There was a tactful way to ask what Vayne wanted to ask, but Elise and Leblanc talking about her as though she wasn't there was so devoid of tact that Vayne didn't think she needed to bother pretending she had any.

"My parents," She paused, not because she wanted to add some dramatic weight to the situation but because even after all these years she still had trouble talking about what had happened. "Did you kill them?"

She expected something almost comic book like from Leblanc, she expected the woman to give her a large shit eating grin before laughing in Vayne's face before admitting that it had indeed been her. But she got none of that, Leblanc just shook her head.

"No, I didn't."

Vayne's brow furrowed. "Just like that?"

Leblanc raised her free hand in a nonchalant shrug. "Just like that. Think about it this way. If I did kill your parents, it'd give you a real reason to come after me. And if that were the case….well. I'd have to kill you."

Vayne's jaw clenched tightly, she was reminded very quickly that she wasn't armed and hadn't been for some time.

"But you're still alive, so what does that tell you?"

Vayne didn't know what it told her. On one hand she could trust that Leblanc was telling her the truth and accept that she was now not only no closer to finding the witch that had killed her parents but that she was now farther from finding the truth. Or, she could believe that Leblanc was lying to her, and the real reason the woman wasn't trying to kill her was for some sick sense of entertainment.

The latter option seemed farfetched.

And the former hurt too much for her to accept as true.

"If you-"

"You have your answer Night Hunter." Elise spoke up suddenly cutting Vayne off.

Vayne glared at the Spider Queen and opened her mouth to argue but again Elise cut her off. "I rather not sit here watch you two engage in a conversation that will inevitably lead nowhere. Leave us, we have business to discuss."

There was something scalding in the callous way Elise dismissed her, as if her concerns didn't matter at all. In Vayne's mind it was truly pathetic how she let Elise get to her.

As she turned to return to her room, all Vayne could think of was how stupid she felt for allowing the Spider Queen to hurt her feelings, and how she was stupider still for feeling jealous about not being her first choice.