Chapter 24

The brambles tugged at her shirt, and the weeds clawed at her shorts, but she dared not stop. Her breathing had grown shallow as her body grew weaker, her muscles tightening after barely being used for so long. They were now passed their limits. She had already long ago gotten in second and even third wind. She doubted that there was enough of a miracle for her to have another. Whether she wanted to or not she knew that she would have to stop soon.

Mary-Lynnette kept quiet, never speaking, never calling out for someone. She was terrified to be found by any one other then Ash. Sadly in this world, vampires weren't the only things that were dangerous. But it was daytime, most creatures were hidden in their caves until the shadows came out and beckoned to them. She had hours before that happened.

The sun had already reached its highest point in the sky, starting to decline as its life was at the middle of its span. There was still a good amount of time before the sun would leave. She would have to make the most of it.

By now she was sure that Belladonna had already returned back to the cabin and found that she wasn't there anymore. The fear of her anger made her push on even more. But her thoughts couldn't help but stray to the one confusing thing that she had left behind.

I hope that Balthazar is all right. The last time that Belladonna had witnessed a part of his gentle behavior she had chained the poor thing up to the wall right outside of Mary-Lynnette's room. They had both spent the night fighting their own fears, hoping for the sun to come up. He choked on breath for hours before she unchained him and laughed as he stumbled down the stairs into the woods, they all were left to hear the final scream of a poor animal that had been caught by a dying creature.

If I managed to get out of here alive I'll head back there and get him. He deserves a chance to forget the cruelty of all those years. Maybe being with Lord Thierry he would have his own chance at making amends for his past. Like Ash—

The quick thought made her stomach wrench slightly. It was killing Mare inside to know that he was so close, but not sure how close. The cord that connected them told the other they were cost, but not how far away or how long it would take to be reunited. All the time that Mary-Lynnette and Ash had spent together had made them discover that the cord that connected them grew longer, they could go further distances and still feel one another.

She felt him, their heartbeats already beginning to sync again with one another, but how long would it be before she saw his face again? The girl had no other choice but to push forward.

The birds had already started to midday's calls, beckoning to one another, singing. It was the one small comfort that she allowed herself to have pleasure in. But she dared not rest. Her feet were screaming and the world just didn't seem to move fast enough.

There was no time for her, there was noting but the and she was starting to feel that things weren't going to be ok. There was only a faint reassurance that she was heading in the right direction at all. Even bigger doubts that this was all her mind playing the cruelest prank possible with her, yet she kept on moving.

But she had blown through all the winds her body had possessed and even some that she hadn't. Mare fell against the large rocks that build up a side mountain; the cool stone was relief against her skin, which she was sure, was sticky and stinging from the many cuts that had patched themselves on her. Whether she wanted to or not her body was crashing again. Her eyes wouldn't cooperate, the taste of a safer sleep then she had, had in such a long time had taken over and her eyes shut. Pulling away into someplace that was warm and filled with the one person in the world that could make her feel safe.

What woke her was the unbalanced movement, the small stumbles and the cursing under his breath. Mary-Lynnette groaned as her head began to pound, sleep was already such a wonderful thing that she couldn't keep. I'm really tired of this whole weak act. But her body was in no mood to argue with.

"Can you finally walk or do I have to continue to carry you?"

The poor girl squinted as her eyes burned from the sun, "Balthazar?" She croaked.

The vampire unceremoniously deposited her on a nearby rotted out log. He tossed her a small water bottle, "It seems as though you've given me an opportunity. One little window that I have been looking for and your it."

Mare could barely manage to swallow the small amount of water her throat was so dry. "What?"

"You've been gone for four hours and you have earned Belladonna the opportunity to play cat and mouse in a whole other playing field. I've given us maybe an hour at most before she'll find us—if I hadn't found you then you would have already been dead. So when you can walk again we need to get a move on."

She could only stomach one more sip before they set about walking again. There was no chivalry in his act, he kept ahead of her, looking over his shoulder occasionally and pushing her to keep moving.

Her tired her mind refused to let anything she was thinking be pushed to stay behind her lips.

"You keep helping me." Mary-Lynnette stated.

"You keep playing as the pawn in my game. Do not think that you are anything more. It will get you killed."

She stopped making Balthazar turn back to look at her, "I didn't. You did."

"You are a very stranger human. Do you realize that?"

For a moment she gave the ghost of a real smile on her lips, "I've been told that before. " Then disappeared again just as the ghost it was, " You never finished your story."

There were only the birds to answer her. They kept singing songs, oblivious to the scene that was playing before them. The vampire started walking this time never looking back. For a moment she thought that she would just stay there or walk in another direction. But what he said before, of Belladonna and how she was out for blood.

My best chance is to stay with him. There was something about him, something that reminded her of Ash. Maybe it was that reason she followed him through the remains of the forest. By now the pain had become dull in her feet, the twigs no longer stung or pinched. However she wasn't so sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Where did I leave off last time?" Balthazar said.

"She had become Jealous of you and Amelia."

A dry laugh, "I ended it right before the best part?" He sighed looking ahead, "Amelia wasn't only filled with imagination and dreams; somewhere in all those wants and wishes there was a caring side. That girl was able to show compassion, in those days when everyone was carefree and happy, but they hide themselves with music and drink.

Some were worse then others…myself included. My parents had immigrated to the states in hopes of brighter futures and instead found that there was only destitute. To escape them I found those speakeasies and lost myself in their world. It was a drug, addicting and new. New faces and they all seemed to welcome me. Even then if I hadn't I would have never met her at a place named Forget-Me-Not, a doll among dogs. As we grew closer all she wanted was to make me happy. And she tried, always every night I came to help me. Wanted me clean.

It was my weakness that destroyed everything. I was starting to get cleaned up, I was rarely ever waking up without remembering after I met her. Things were better I didn't care about anything else. Nothing but her mattered and it showed to all others. Other girls stopped flirting with me; court me, all but one. That was Belladonna—there was something about her that I made me wary, a primal animal that was about her. There was no gentleness in her and in that time that was all I wanted. But Belladonna never knew that there was nothing she couldn't have.

For a while I didn't see her, she started to become friends with Amelia, hung out with her more and more. Soon she had spilled all her secrets to that monster and even of me. I just didn't know the real danger truth could have.

Finally one night Belladonna pulled me aside saying that one of the men who pined for Amelia had cornered her at her apartment and had locked them in. I rushed over, never once thought of anything else. "

For the first time in his story he paused, his memories choking him, "When we at Amelia's apartment she attacked me. Began the process and I couldn't tell days from minutes. Somehow I found myself in another room, some place I didn't know. I barely was able to managed anything or think. There were voices, Belladonna saying that I needed help, that she needed Amelia… I remember a warm hand, soft and gentle. I knew that hand.

Amelia watched over me. Never listening to my warnings that I tried to tell her. Belladonna had told her I was relapsing, my body was fighting me but not in the way she thought.

Belladonna kept me from feeding, I craved it and I fought it. But she was there with me, warmth that I couldn't escape. Life I wanted and couldn't have. Until finally a day after I rose—I couldn't last more then that—she was there….I couldn't remember anything and when I did….my shirt had been stained red and the things around me where shattered and broken, but it was those eyes. The ones that hypnotized me had become filled with such betrayal.

I had killed the one person that meant more to me then even my own life. Yet I sacrificed her to stop my pain. Belladonna had turned me into a monster that I had never wanted to become. With all that I did the only thing Belladonna ever gave me was a reason to live."

Balthazar looked back at Mary-Lynnette and for once the storm in his eyes were calming, but perhaps for a brief moment it was only the eye of the storm. "If I lived as a monster then I could keep what was still human in me from the sins that I had done. She had one and in the world of this nightmare you are indebted to the one that turns you. I have been her slave since then. I have been ever since then"

Then he continued his walk. Mary-Lynnette rushed forward, not sure of what to make of his story. What was there to say? Was there anything to say to comfort him, to even understand something like this?

There were others though, like Lord Thierry who could relate. There were old souls, much like Hannah, who had died and been brought back. Did he know that? Perhaps she was here again, waiting for him.

Her hand reached out to get him to turn around, to look at her.

"Oh what a touching heart felt story. But I must say, you perhaps played out the villain a little under par allow me to correct that!" Belladonna burst through the trees and thrust her arm forward.

Mary-Lynnette's screams echoed through the wood.