...
And I am nothing of a builder
But here I dream I was an architect
And I built this balustrade
To keep you home, to keep you safe
From the outside world
But the angles and the corners
Even though my work is unparalelled
They never seemed to meet
This structure fell about our feet
And we were free to go
[The Decemberists – Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect]
...
They spent almost a week in Eric's house, going on nightly excursions to the surrounding areas – often to the sea. The breeze and scents there always reminded him of the place he had called 'home' as a human boy. He relished those nights, showing Laura nature's beauty around there and she seemed to really enjoy the time too.
He tried hard, not to accidentally call her 'Little One' any more, as Annabelle had told him, she would not be overly fond of this nickname. She also informed him that it sounded, as if he thought she were an infant – which was absolutely not the case. Almost casually his old friend's mate had suggested he should try another one, if he ever intended to 'upgrade' their relationship, because Laura surely would not want to get intimate with some sort of father figure.
He was extremely grateful for Annabelle's advice, as he would never have thought about this particular nickname that way. But he could absolutely understand that Laura possibly might...
"You seem very happy out here", she noted casually. They were sitting on one of the sandbanks of the eastern shore, the waves slapping against the beach one after the other, frothing the water and impregnating the air with it. Both of them had observed this natural event with interest, but as Godric knew she had averted her gaze to instead look expectantly at him, he tried to answer the unasked question.
"This reminds me of the place I grew up in."
She often did that – stating something as a good disguised question. He had the impression she was somehow shy to ask him directly, but as she definitely seemed to be interested in his former life, he had absolutely no idea why she did not just address it directly.
"So you come from what would be northern France nowadays?", she asked curiously and he could not help but smile. She seemed to soak information in like a sponge. Of course his expendable – but in these times unfortunately necessary – last name had given her the hint, but still – not everyone would have concluded his origin so easily.
"This is correct min ljusstråle", he confirmed, still staring at the waves breaking on the shore, "It would be the Normandie nowadays, to be precise."
They both watched the rough waters in silence for a few moments. She seemed to be a bit tense, therefore he knew she would ask him something, even before she did.
"What does 'min ljus-'", she started, but obviously thought she would not be able to pronounce it the right way and stopped mid-sentence, "You know what I mean – is it some sort of nickname?"
Again he could not help but smile and turned his head to finally face her. "Yes, it indeed is a nickname", he told her gently and examined her surprised expression. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear absentmindedly and bit on her lip before she formed the next question.
"What does it mean?"
Her curious eyes almost seemed to glow in the dark, studying his face as if it would give anything away – which was useless, as he had made sure to display a blank expression.
The jacked he had put – above her own – around her petite form about an hour ago, was tightly wrapped around her now, her fingers digging into the fabric and pulling it as close as possible to keep her system warm. It pained him to see her like that, knowing that he was not able to warm her with his own body, as a human would have been.
"It is Swedish and means something like 'my ray of light'", he told her honestly, backing away a bit to not cool her down any further, "I think it fits quite nicely, no?"
Her expression seemed surprised at first, but soon it turned to a rather uncomfortable one and she bit onto her bottom lip again, staring at her pulled up knees in silence.
"You do not like it."
It was a statement, not a question, as it was obvious. He had thought of a fitting nickname for her quite a while, as he felt like he needed to let her know, how important she was to him (and maybe because this stupid lawyer had used one too...). When he had heard someone calling his lover a 'solstråle' at the airport, it had given him the direction – but for obvious reasons, a name related to the sun would not be the best choice in his case, so he opted for light in general. It fit even better, when he took the picture she had drawn of him into consideration, as it was mostly about light and shadows as well.
Needless to mention that he felt somewhat disappointed, that she did not sympathize with his views. He had been quite positive she would be fond of it – so much to having an idea what she liked...
"No it's not that – it's a lovely name. It's just-...", she started to explain, but stopped again, not even trying to elaborate her thoughts. Again her bottom lip became victim to her teeth, as they bit down on it mercilessly. How it did not start to bleed was a miracle to him...
"What?", he inquired and leant forward, to have a better look into her face, which was still directed down to her knees.
"What when I'm gone, Godric?", she whispered almost inaudibly and met his gaze with such a desperate look in her eyes, it almost physically hurt him.
Though unnecessary, he caught himself inhaling sharply at that question and needed a few moments to sort his thoughts. He had tried to ignore the fact she was talking about – the fact that she was terminally ill. Of course he had been aware of her constant pain, the occasional vertigoes and her seizures – even if she tried to conceal it almost virtuously.
Neither Annabelle nor Jaromar needed to tell him what had happened, when he found her sleeping in this separate room she had asked for. It had not even been two o'clock in the morning, still she had slept 'like a dead' – as humans often called it (if they had never seen a vampire rest before, of course...). That his old friend's mate had tried to evade his inquiries, only confirmed his suspicion that Laura had in fact suffered one of her seizures while she had been with her.
The fact that she obviously tried to wall him out on purpose, burned like a blazing fire inside of him. What had he done to her, to deserve such a treatment? Had he not always tried to help her as best as he could? Was he not still trying to find a cure to her illness?
When he had asked Jaromar if his blood had ever healed someone with cancer, he had just laughed sadly, telling him that he himself knew very well, that their blood could not heal anything springing from their own body – only one being would be able to do that.
His old friend had pulled out all the stops to find Her, but as She was a very secretive being, it was questionable if they would find her in time. And even if they did, the fact that she hated vampires remained – no one knew if she would even be willing to help them...
"This is a problem I am already trying to solve, Laura", he told her reassuringly and put a hand on one of her forearms. Both of them were wrapped around her knees, pulling them tighter to her body to keep the heat where it belonged.
"Has your way of 'solving the problem' to do with the woman you're looking for?"
He was a bit taken aback by that question and only able to nod momentarily. How did she even know about that? Had Annabelle spilled something?
"Jaromar told me. You could have mentioned it yourself though", she stated dryly and lifted her head to stare reproachfully at him, "It doesn't feel nice to be the only one not knowing what's going on!"
He had to grit his teeth at this statement, thinking of the not exactly unimportant event she had withheld and still had not told him about. But as he feared this would turn into a serious argument if he addressed it, he preferred to keep silent for a little while longer.
"I apologize for not filling you in, Laura. But as I am not sure if it will be successful or not, I thought it was better not to tell you", he tried to explain the matter to her as gentle as possible, "I do not intend to cause you to hope, only to possibly dash those hopes in the end..."
All he received as an answer was a nod, before she rested her chin on her knees and stared into the surge of waves again.
"I'm sorry if I was harsh", she muttered quietly, "I just don't like to be patronized by you. My parents did that my whole life and in the end I ran away from home..."
Immediately his body tensed and he closed up to her again. He had not missed the hint and he would do everything in his power to keep her at his side – willingly of course. If she indeed decided to leave him, he would not hold her back. He could not be so cruel...
What would the use of it be anyway? He would not be able to enjoy her company, if it was forced on her... He wanted her – at least – as a friend, not as a prisoner!
"Laura, please", he almost begged and leant forward to have a better look at her face again, "I am sorry I did that! I will try to inform you about my plans in the future!"
She lifted her head up from her knees and looked at him in surprise. The puzzled expression on her face slowly turned into one of understanding, before she clapped her hand with a faint 'oh' over her mouth.
"Godric – I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it that way", she told him as soon as she had obviously realized, what had caused him to act in such a desperate way and reached forward to cup his cheek with her much too cold hand, "I just wanted to say, that it's a way of ruling over someone else's life, I don't approve of. It didn't mean I'd leave you if you continued to act that way – I won't! You hear me? I. Will. Not. Leave. You."
All he was able to do was stare at her in silence for a few moments. Her lovely blue-grey eyes fixating him with a firm expression, soothing this emotional turmoil her former words had caused.
In his eyes, she was absolutely perfect in this moment. How her scent blended into those familiar ones of 'home' was so very seductive, he had to muster all his self-control to keep from approaching her in an inappropriate way.
Instead, his own hand reached up to his face to touch hers, carefully peeling it off his cheek to plant a careful kiss inside her palm.
"Thank you, Laura."
Their next destination was Norway, where they left Mr. and Mrs. White behind in Oslo to travel north by train. He had never really taken this means of transportation on this route before, but some of his underlings had and all had been rather impressed by the view.
As he knew how much Laura had enjoyed their stay in Sweden's rather unpopulated regions, how she had relished the fresh and unpolluted air almost as much as he had, soaking in every little detail nature could offer her in the mornings and evenings – while the sun still provided enough light to help her see, but not enough to hurt him – he knew she would like this way of observing the Norwegian fjords as well. And if the way she sometimes almost sticked to the window was any indication, he had been right – she did like it.
The train they went by was a very comfortable one, but they only traveled in the small timeframe, when Laura was able to enjoy the view. They made three stops on their way, to visit the little seaports Åndalsnes, Namsos and Bodø and spend their day-rests there.
On their first night in Odessa It had been a little shock for him to hear, that Laura wished to sleep in separate rooms again. He had always had the impression that she liked the closeness between them – even if not as much as he did – and enjoyed those moments before dropping off in the morning and after waking up in the evening. Sometimes he had even heard her heart-rate speed up, which had already caused him to hope for more...
But obviously he had misinterpreted those signs – she had not been excited about their closeness, but apparently feared he would go further than she would have liked him to. It was hard to realize, that she did not trust him, but he complied to her wishes nonetheless and rested in a separate room ever since.
Even if there was only one wall between them – as he always made sure, that their sleeping quarters were beside each other – it still felt as if she were in a totally different universe. He could hear her – her words, when she talked to her parents, or her friend Patrick and her moves, when she walked through the room. Even the faint noise, her bath sponge sounded reached his ears, when she soaped her immaculate skin – and it always made him livid, that he was not the one caressing her that way, making him even more aware of the coolness of his bed...
Some mornings he had even caught himself wishing to be this very sponge only for once – it was pathetic what a lovesick puppy he had become, merely because they slept indifferent rooms.
He had to accept already, that she did not wish to have him close – and better soon, or he would loose his mind. That was, if he had not already...
What else could he have done anyway? Beg her to reconsider? Promise her he would not touch her in an inappropriate way?
Probably this fear was also the reason why she did not seem overly enthusiastic to accomplish her nude bathing score sometime soon. But if he was being totally honest to himself, she had every right to doubt his self-control – he doubted about it as well, at times...
When they reached Bodø on their fifth night, Mr. And Mrs. White where already waiting for them at the airport, ready to fly them to their next destination – which was London. As promised, they informed Pam about their plans, who told them in a – for her – almost excited tone, she would catch up with them soon.
He showed Laura the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Covent Garden, but what she seemed to enjoy the most, was the Tate Modern museum. Apparently she could have stayed there the whole night, but when her stomach started to grumble, he insisted to go to a restaurant and get her something to eat.
She begged him to at least go to a restaurant she really wanted to see and named a place called 'Sticky Fingers'. He had absolutely no idea why she wanted to go there specifically, but when they arrived she took a photograph of the entrance with her cell phone.
"It's Bill Wyman's, you know – the former bassist of The Rolling Stones. My Mom always wanted to eat here one day, as she was a huge fan of the band", she told him with a wide smile.
He was glad that she seemed to eat without a discussion this time, as her painkillers made her feel sick, or at least lessened her hunger, he had to almost force her to eat sometimes. This state she was in worried him immensely and it had prompted him to offered her his blood once more – which she stubbornly refused. Again.
It was as if she was disgusted by the thought alone, which caused him to mirthlessly drop the idea altogether. The fact that she had rejected his offer again, hurt more than he could have expressed in words, but he tried to conceal it as best as he could.
More than two thousand years he had not felt the need to offer his blood to anyone, but now the second human he really wanted to have a connection with, detested the mere idea of doing so.
He was glad when Pam finally arrived to take Laura with her to Harrods – or wherever it was, she wanted to go shopping. Not only because it was hard to maintain an unaffected appearance despite her rejection, but also because she had gotten her period.
Some vampires had a preference for this kind of blood, but though he was not one of those, he had to admit that it was tempting in her special case. But apart from the lust her divine scent raised – to slowly graze his fangs over the tender skin of her inner thigh to finally sink them into her femoral artery – it also made him painfully aware again how human she was.
How her options in live differed so much of his, because of that. How much more meaning her live and its finiteness had, because of that. And that she had the chance to create a new life, because of that.
That was what life was about after all – procreation.
In this sense – and many others – his kind did not belong, was an abomination of nature. He was not and would never be able to create a new life – all he had been good at, was taking them...
The mere thought of anyone planting his seed inside his Laura sickened him, but he had to accept that she was human and would probably want to be a mother someday. How much he wished to be human again in these few days was almost pathetic...
"I think it's time to leave this city behind – we've been everywhere interesting anyway", Pamela approached him after she had been with them for four nights, "We should head to Paris next."
His human companion had gone to her room already. He could hear her talking to her parents at the moment and next she would probably call her friend Patrick. Usually he plugged his ears with in-ear headphones and listened to some random music on his music device, to keep himself from listening in on her private conversations, but right now this would probably have been sort of impolite...
"What does Laura think of this idea?"
"She's ready to leave London as well – and quite excited to see the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre", his grand-progeny informed him in a bored tone, rolling her eyes simultaniously, "She has obviously never been to Paris before..."
Godric felt one of his eyebrows twitch upwards and just shook his head in slight disbelieve. Ever since he had heard from his grand-progeny's turning, he had been very proud of her – but she was way too materialistic.
"It would not hurt you to educate yourself culturally every once in a while...", he stated dryly, which just conjured a smirk on her lips.
"It wouldn't hurt you to spend more time shopping – those clothes you wear are more than outdated, they're antique...", she countered matter-of-factly and put her hands on her hips, "Promise me to wear something more appropriate when you go under the Pont Marie!"
"Why would I do that? – I did not intend to visit this bridge, there are much more interesting places to see in Paris", he stated confused, but only earned a dark glare from his grand-child.
"You will go there – and if I have to paddle you there myself", she informed him rather resolutely now, "It's the perfect chance to kiss her – it's almost a must, as it is said a wish would come true then. I've already mentioned it to Laura – you wouldn't even have to explain anything! If she doesn't like it, it's no big deal, because it was just for this idiotic wish anyway, right?"
He was baffled for a moment and stared at his child's progeny in disbelieve.
This was the perfect plan – and there was absolutely nothing at risk. If she would respond to the kiss, he would know there was something more between them, if she did not, he would at least know for sure that she indeed saw him merely as a friend.
"This is an excellent plan, Pamela", he admitted ungrudgingly, but narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her nonetheless after a moment, "Was it yours?"
Her self-satisfied smirk immediately dropped from her face and she huffed, before she slumped down on the armchair in his hotel room with a grumpy attitude. "No, Eric's – he's apparently pulled that stunt on some of his conquests... But it could've been mine!"
"This is amazing", Laura exclaimed in awe and took a few steps left again, "She's really looking at you from every angle!"
They were currently standing in front of the 'Mona Lisa' and his young companion tried to find a position in the room, she would not feel stared at by the woman in the painting. But as he knew for sure: she would find none.
It was well past midnight already, otherwise there would probably have been many others observing the picture like Laura just did. But fortunately, there weren't many vampire tourists in Paris at the moment and they had the Louvre almost completely to themselves.
They had visited the churches Sacré Cœur and Notre Dame the night before – Pamela had been thrilled, to say the least – and as it had been raining when they went to see the latter, he had even had the opportunity to show Laura the gargoyles in action.
But as she seemed to be more interested in the cemeteries than the churches, they had gone to the Père Lachaise Cemetery, where she looked for the graves of Jim Morrison, Frédéric Chopin and Oscar Wild. He remembered the awestruck look when she finally stood in front of the great composer's grave stone – but it was nothing compared to the expression she displayed now.
"I don't get what's so very special about it", Pamela stated in a bored tone, inspecting her manicured nails with more interest than she had shown in any painting so far, "And if we're honest, she's no beauty either!"
As this was the second museum they had visited that night, his grand-progeny was already a little bit irritated. She had not been as excited to go to the Musée d'Orsay as his Laura had been, but he had to admit that he was not overly interested in impressionistic paintings as well.
"Pam!", she exclaimed in a shocked tone and put her hands reproachfully on her hips, "You can't really mean that?!"
"Well – open your eyes Laura!", his grand-progeny suggested and gestured towards the painting in front of them, "She doesn't even have real eyebrows!"
"That's not what I mean", the petite human sighed and shook her head in slight disbelief, "She may not fit in with today's beauty standards, but the eyes! – Have you ever seen something like that before?"
Pamela merely rolled her own eyes and strolled to the next painting to plainly show her how much she thought of it. Laura just silently followed her with her gaze, a disbelieving expression on her face.
"It is impressing", Godric assured her calmly and approached her, coming to a halt behind her petite frame, "Unfortunately Pamela is rather narrow minded when it comes to arts..."
"You now I can hear you", his grand-child immediately noted from afar, loud enough that even Laura could hear her. She chuckled at Pamela's reaction and he couldn't help but smile as well, while his eyes slowly wandered from Leonardo's painting, to the lovely human in front of him.
"He painted me once."
His words had the estimated effect, as she immediately wheeled around to eye him in shock. Her beautiful, luscious lips were slightly parted, when she inhaled sharply.
"DaVinci painted you? You knew him?!"
"Yes, Leonardo was quite fond of my markings", he told her casually, but could not suppress a smile spreading on his face, when he took her baffled appearance in, "He even gave me the painting as a gift – it is currently hanging in my residence in Tuscany."
"You were on first name basis?!", she asked bewildered, her voice sounding almost a bit shrill and he had to chuckle about her expression now. Her upper lip was slightly pulled up at one side and as it pushed her cheek up a bit, the eye above it was slightly narrowed. It was an expression of utter disbelief he had not seen on her so far, but despite this unladylike appearance he had to admit she looked kind of cute.
"Yes we were – he was a very intelligent man", he informed her honestly and his gaze roamed back to the picture in front of them again, "Some vampires would have loved to turn him, but he had no wish to extend his human life."
"So he knew what you are when he painted you?"
Her voice sounded surprised, but positively so. The curious gaze she eyed him with, almost forced him to answer her immediately.
"Yes indeed. As I said: he was an intelligent man..."
"Is the view as you had imagined it?", Godric asked carefully, when they had reached the top level of the Tour Eiffel. Laura's glance was directed at the city beneath them, her face unusually emotionless when she stared into the distance – and he knew something was wrong.
"Almost", she admitted quietly and her voice cracked a few times when she continued, "The only thing that's missing is my Gran..."
It was as if something inside him commanded him to comfort her, a primal urge to hold her close becoming more and more prominent and before he knew what he did, he had put his arm around her waist to pull her into his body. She immediately hid her face in the fabric of his jacket and he felt her fingers digging into it desperately.
The next moment he could already smell her tears, but she did not sob or make any other sounds. She just cried silently into his chest, her shoulders shaking whenever she took one of her ragged breaths.
All he could do, was holding her in his arms and waiting for her to calm down in her own time. He felt so pathetically helpless in that moment he would have liked to growl and if he had not feared to upset her further with this action, he probably would have done exactly that...
"I am so sorry Laura...", he whispered into her ear, gently running his fingers through her soft hair. But as soon as he felt her shiver at his touch, he retrieved his hand again. He did not mean to freeze her – she was the 'warm and cozy' type after all. How he wished he could give her that – a warm touch in this cold night...
"You don't have to be!", she assured him after she had calmed down enough, her voice sounding as fragile as her whole appearance looked. She hastily cleaned her face with the back of her hand before she looked up at him.
"I'm happy to be here with you! Thank you so much Godric – for all of this", she told him with a genuine smile. She seemed to feel a bit embarrassed, but the smile remained on her face nonetheless. "I don't know what I'd have done without you – I'd probably still be lingering in Dallas..."
"I am happy that you are here with me as well", he admitted with a faint smile and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear absentmindedly. His gaze lingered on her eyes for a few moments, but although he tried to suppress the urge, it slowly trailed down to her attractive lips.
He was glad when the grumbling of her stomach distracted him for a moment, otherwise he would have probably dropped the idea of waiting for the perfect moment – when they were under the Pont Marie – altogether and had kissed her then and there.
Her mesmerizing eyes had been looking at him curiously, before she directed them to the ground in embarrassment. Though she had tried to get rid of her tears, there were still traces of them on her face and if he had not stopped himself in the last moment, he would probably have leant forward to lick them away.
It was a very intimate gesture of comfort for a vampire and only performed with very close persons, as the bloody tears of his kind entailed their side-effects. The only people he had shown his compassion in such a way were Eric and Nora, though he probably would have done it for Viola as well, if she had ever been in a situation like that.
But Laura would probably be startled by his actions, if he suddenly licked her cheeks clean. Maybe she would not even realize what his intention was and pull away from him in fear.
No, he would not taste those tears or her beautiful skin now.
"I reserved a table for us at the restaurant", he told her gently and immediately straightened himself when he became aware of his bent position, his nose almost touching her warm cheek. She just examined him with big eyes, obviously as bewildered by his behavior as he himself was.
"That sounds great", she muttered and without another word he grabbed her hand and ushered her to the elevators. He pointedly avoided to look at her or inhale her increasingly attractive scent, as he felt that he had acted strange enough for one night...
A level lower, one of the waiters showed them to their table and they ordered their meals rather stiffly. They both did not dare to speak until Laura's first course was served and even then they only talked about her food and if it was to her liking (it fortunately was).
"I'm glad I don't have to beg you anymore", Laura stated after a long silence and gestured to the True Blood he had just sipped at. She smiled honestly at him and leant onto her elbow before she rested her chin in the palm of her hand. Her blue-grey eyes lingered on him curiously, expectantly.
"I suppose it is just fair to drink, as long as you eat, no?", he explained with a rhetorical question and returned a hopefully equally charming smile. One side of her mouth twitched upwards at that statement, and her eyes got an even warmer expression.
"I guess", she just muttered and stared a few moments at the bottle of synthetic blood in his hand, before she inhaled as if she wanted to say something else. But instead she ended up biting on her lip. He found himself staring at her in confusion, which fortunately had the expected impact and prompted her to elaborate her thoughts.
"Annabelle told me about the other effects of vampire blood...", she stated matter-of-factly. As her words did not make much sense for him – after all he had told her about the effects anyway – he just raised his eyebrows and hoped she would continue.
"I mean the effects it would have on my libido", she explained and he noticed how her cheeks suddenly turned a lovely shade of red, "And the dreams..."
He felt his mouth open when the realization hit him – he had forgotten to tell her about these effects, or more precisely: he had refrained from doing so, in fear it would put her off.
"Is this why you refused my blood again?", he asked her and could not help hope flaring up in his chest. If this was indeed her reason, he would at least know, it was not the fact that they would be connected in some way.
"No."
And the hope was gone as fast as it had appeared, giving place to disappointment almost immediately.
"Why then?", he found himself asking, before he could have stopped himself. Did he even want to know the answer?
She seemed to hesitate for a moment, before she responded in a firm tone. "It's unfair. You would be able to feel my every emotion and I would still be forced to only guess what's going on inside of you!", she told him bluntly.
Totally taken aback by that statement he leant back in his seat and just eyed her in surprise for a few moments. He definitely had not seen that coming. So this was, what this was about? Just the fact that they would not be equals?! She could have told him that sooner!
"If that is your only concern, we could also bond", he suggested, but when he spotted the confused look on her face he patiently explained, "If we were to exchange blood, this would form a bond between us – a constant one if we were to do it at least three times – allowing you to feel my emotions as well. It is similar to a maker-progeny bond, only without the power a maker has over his progeny. We would be able to equally feel each others emotions."
Laura sat – obviously stunned – in front of him, her eyes wide in surprise. She seemed at a loss of words for a few moments, but finally coughed slightly, before she started to form her next question.
"Is such a bond common?", she asked carefully and he could not help a smile forming around his lips at that question. This was a good sign, was it not? She showed interest and did not immediately decline!
"No, absolutely not. Especially not between a vampire and a human. As I said: it would make you equal – also in front of our laws."
"And you would be willing to form such a bond?", she asked confused and when he just nodded she continued to clarify, "With me?"
He had to chuckle about her disbelieving expression and nodded once more. "Yes, with you", he told her, to make it plainly clear to her. But other than he had expected, her lips did not turn into a happy smile, nor did her cheeks turn red in slight embarrassment – she rather had a thoughtful or even disbelieving look on her face.
"Why are you willed to share your blood with me – possibly even three times! – but have punished your progeny for trying to save a child from death the same way?", she asked with a low voice, before she bit on her lip. The worried expression appearing on her face the next moment betrayed, that she obviously regretted her words.
But it was too late – he had already heard them. His whole body went rigid and he caught himself staring at her in shock, before he managed to put his usual, emotionless mask in place.
How did she know about that? Had Jaromar told her? Probably not – but his mate was not as secretive as him...
"Did Annabelle tell you about that?", he asked concerned, his eyebrows furrowing in worry.
"It's not important who told me!", she informed him in an almost angry voice and straightened in her seat, putting her hand on the table again while she stared firmly at him, "You should better answer my question, Godric!"
He averted his gaze, not able to meet hers at the moment. The emotions this new information caused, the fact that she knew about this event of his past – even if it was just a small fraction of it – tormented him.
How much did she know? Had Annabelle told her how he had punished Nora as well?
And then it hit him: she knew about Nora. She had told him she did not like to be uninformed and he had omitted to tell her about his second progeny...
"You know about Nora."
His voice sounded as defeated as he felt in that moment. This was it. She would stand up, rush back to the hotel to get her luggage and leave him for good. It was a miracle that she had not done this immediately after she learned about this happenings...
"Yes, I do Sherlock", she answered dryly, "You have no idea how surprised I was to hear about your second progeny. Surprise is actually quite an understatement, but that's not important now. Now I would very much like to hear why you acted how you did and why Nora's actions then obviously are different from what you intend to do with me now."
He could not suppress a low growl escaping his throat. How could she even compare those situations?
"This is not the same! You are not just any child", he exclaimed roughly and caught himself slamming his fist down – fortunately not with too much strength – only shaking the table, not ruining it, "You are important to me! I may not be able to heal you, but my blood would at least take your pain away and dim the other symptoms!"
Her eyebrows had furrowed during his speech and she folded her arms in front of her chest. "No need to get angry now", she told him in a rather cool tone, "I am the one who had been left in the dark about this! I didn't even know about Nora – I still wouldn't, had Belle not accidentally told me about her!"
"Did she tell you how I punished her?", he found himself asking rashly, his voice quite rough and almost challenging. But when she only nodded pointedly he could not help but wince and averted his gaze again.
How was she even able to look into his face when she knew about that? How had she been able to stay with him so long? – Even if their relationship had not been as close as it was before Odessa...
"Is this why you do not wish to sleep beside me anymore?", he asked with an agonized tone, but when he dared to lift his eyes again he only caught her still staring intently at him.
"No, this has nothing to do with it", she finally told him with a sigh and put her hands in the table once more, obviously relaxing again, "And there is absolutely no need to give me such a pained look. I don't judge you, Godric. And your answer won't chase me away so easily. But I need to know why you took such measures – it seems disproportionate to my eyes."
He hesitated for a moment and just took her appearance in. She seemed to really mean it, but she should not have said, his words would not chase her away – she could not know that. Torn by his conflicting emotions, he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
He should be glad that she even wanted to hear what his intentions had been, but how would he be able to tell her about them, without revealing too much about his past? And would it really change anything if he told her? The fact remained that he commanded his daughter to kill the child – a child that had not even seen seven winters!
He sighed in defeat before he lowered his hand to the bottle of true blood again, to take a sip of the vile tasting fake-blood before he started his explanation.
"You already know, that giving someone our blood, makes us feel the person's emotions. There are only so many connections a vampire can take, before it becomes a weakness for him and if he still does not stop to form new connections it is even possible that he looses his mind because of it.
"Nora had always had this urge to help others – even when she was still human. She would have died on the Black Death because of her altruism, had I not turned her. If I had not punished her that particular night, she would probably have fallen a victim to her selflessness again and this time I would not have been able to save her."
Laura's dessert was being served then, and he interrupted his explanation for a few moments, until the waiter had left their table again. She did not seem to have the intention to eat her last course anytime soon, so he continued his elaborations.
"You have to know, it was not the first time she had given her blood to someone like that and I had warned her not to do it again the first and punished her physically the second time – but she would not listen. I had to take such measures when she disobeyed me the third time, to finally make her understand..."
He waited for any form of reaction from her side, but she simply stared at him for a few moments. "I suppose you had already made the acquaintance with a vampire who overdid it with those bonds at that time?", she asked carefully, before she lifted her spoon to savor the first bite of her Mousse au Chocolat.
"I did – and I took advantage of his weakness, which was much easier, that I had suspected", he told her absentmindedly, while he watched her close her eyes in obvious pleasure. It was odd that even if he sometimes almost had to force her to eat something – sweet dishes, especially one's with chocolate in it – were always consumed without a word of complain.
"I understand then. You merely tried to make Nora realize how dangerous sharing her blood could be", she stated casually, when she had gulped her first bite down. She did not seem to be fazed at all – in fact she almost appeared to be happy, or at least at ease. It was odd – this was definitely not the way he had expected her to react.
"No arguing? No reproaches?", he asked baffled when he watched her move the next spoon laden with mousse to her already half opened mouth. She stopped a few inches from her lips and lowered her hand to the table again, examining him with a confused expression on her face.
"Why would I do that?", she asked baffled, "I asked you to explain and you did – which I am by the way grateful for. I know you don't like to talk about some aspects of your past and I suppose this was one of those. So thank you for telling me nonetheless. Now I know what your motive has been and am actually able to understand your reaction – you simply feared for the safety of your progeny. Why would I rebuke you because of that?"
He averted his gaze before he reminded her of the most important impact his actions had had.
"I killed a child, Laura."
He heard the spoon being placed on the plate, before her chair scratched over the tiled floor. Laura's steps were firm when she approached him, but he still kept his eyes directed to the ground.
Why Annabelle must have told her about this whole ordeal? Could she not have kept this specific information to herself?!
"Look at me, Godric", he heard his young companion demand softly and he reluctantly lifted his gaze to face her. Her warm eyes did not seem frightened, or disgusted by him. They rather held a worried expression, while her lips were curved into a sad smile. "I didn't mean to remind you of things you had obviously tried to forget. I'm sorry Godric – please forgive me..."
She crouched down in front if him then, supposedly to make looking at her easier for him and caressed his cheek with her gentle fingers. All he could do was stare at her in disbelief.
No word of reproach.
No reaction of fear.
No display of disgust.
"I do not understand, what I did to deserve your kindness", he muttered disbelievingly, but leant into her touch nevertheless, savoring the moment. Situations like that were rather rare since Odessa. She had tried to avoid skin contact as much as possible, only allowing it in especially emotional moments.
She merely chuckled before she got to her feet and returned to her seat without a word of warning. The skin she had just caressed, feeling oddly vacant and cold suddenly.
"This dessert alone is reason enough to show you kindness, Godric", she told him with a wink, "If you only knew how delicious it tastes..."
She did not waste much time before the next bite of her dish had disappeared into her mouth, causing her to moan with relish. His body immediately responded to that particular sound and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat before he was able to repress this bodily reaction again. When he spotted an expression of pure bliss on her face at the next bite, he had to close his eyes.
Never before had he been so tempted to simply take her then and there. He could have brought them back to their hotel within a few seconds, or they could have gone to the restaurant's surely meticulously clean rest rooms – hell they could have done it on this very table!
But he had to remind himself once more, that he should not – no, could not allow his instincts to ever influence his actions again. He would only hurt her and surely she would not be able to forgive him if he ravished her...
When Laura had finally finished her last course, he was relieved that this torture was over. Even with his eyes closed, he had still been able to hear her and even if he tried hard to concentrate on something else, it was not possible for him to tune her sighs and moans completely out.
But this obviously very delighted response to her dish made him curious how her dessert had really tasted. Just before the waiter wanted to clear her plate away, he reached forward to take her spoon and deliberately licked it.
Of course, there was some of Laura's delicious salvia still sticking to it, but there were traces of the mousse left as well – just enough to taste it. Over the years he had sometimes tried to digest tiny amounts of newly invented dishes. He knew how chocolate tasted, but not how a mousse of it would. Positively surprised by the not overly sweet flavor, he put the spoon back onto the plate, before the waiter hurriedly cleared the table and left.
When his gaze returned to his young companion, she eyed him with lifted eyebrows. As she seemed to expect an explanation he grinned mischievously at her before he formed the answer to her unspoken question.
"What? After all of those delighted sounds you made I just had to try it!"
As Pamela had demanded to finally have their first 'women-only' night ("How the hell is Laura able to spend four entire nights in Paris without feeling the need to buy clothes even once?!"), he was currently sitting in a cafe in hearing distance to the shop they had vanished in. He was glad that Laura's inability to walk at vampire speed slowed them down, otherwise they would probably already have bought half paris empty. Eric would probably be quite grateful for her humanity too, as he had not limited Pamela's credit cards, as he had threatened to...
Though they were a few streets away, he could hear their every word and thanks to the late hour (it was almost midnight) it was not overly crowded either, so he did not have to concentrate overly much on them – he could hear them easily over the background noise.
As soon as he realized that they were finally leaving the fabric store they had been in, he prepared to move as well. But when he heard them talking about visiting a beauty salon down the street next, he leant back in his seat again. He would be able to hear them if they were just going down the street, there was no need to look for another, closer place to stay in.
The paper he was reading in bored him almost to final death, when he suddenly heard Laura's slightly embarrassed voice asking for a 'bikini waxing'. Immediately he sat in an upright position – the paper thoughtlessly tossed to the side – and concentrated on his two temporary companions. He was not overly interested in nowadays' jargon, but he knew what a 'bikini' was. And he had an idea what 'waxing' meant...
A few moments later, after he had listened to them walking to another room and removing their clothes, he suddenly heard a ripping sound and a shortly following dimmed scream. Laura was obviously being waxed in the way he had supposed...
Being forced to listen to her screams, was hard and the fact that he was not able to do anything about it, nagged even more on him. But he was sure there was no danger he could have saved her from, as this was something she had chosen to suffer willingly.
Why women voluntarily did this to themselves, just to meet the current beauty standard, was beyond him. In his times, no one had cared about body hair. On the contrary – its absence would have raised questions and caused suspicious looks.
Why she needed someone else to wax her was another question he worried about. Did she have an excessive growth of back hair? As far as he knew bikinis showed quite a lot of bare skin – a lot of the back as well – was this why it was named like that? It seemed odd...
He was glad when her cries of pain finally subsided and thought he had heard them paying and leaveing the establishment. But when another of her screams reached his sensitive ears, he sank back in his seat again. Obviously he had misinterpreted someone else's voice for hers. The painful cry had sounded different from her former ones – obviously she had thought it had already been over as well – but it had definitely been hers...
Only when he sensed a sudden pang of fear surging through his bond with Eric, he knew there was something entirely wrong. The emotion changed over to him immediately and he left the place without even paying for his untouched True Blood. Within seconds he was at Laura's side – but it was already seconds too late.
She had been dragged into a blind end and pinned to a wall there. The creature doing this was obviously a vampire, as he was deliberately sucking her precious blood from her neck.
Only subconsciously he registered the ringing of a phone. Seeing this scene caused something in his mind to flip over, as if someone had turned a switch – all he could think about was making this scum suffer...
Without wasting any more time he grabbed this damnable creature at his neck and slammed him into the brick wall at the ally's end. Godric's fangs had clicked down long ago, indicating that he had dropped every ounce of self control he had mustered up to that point as well.
Within an instant he was at the scum's side again, slamming him down into the pavement with so much force, that he could hear his scull crack. He did not allow him to regenerate, before he repeated the process on the wall beside them and had it not ruptured from the impact, he would have continued doing so for several times.
He could not think clearly anymore, he just saw red.
"You don't know who you're dealing with", this abominable creature rasped, when Godric just hauled off to punch into his face with such a force, that his knuckles stuck halfway inside of it.
"I think you do not know who you are dealing with!", he growled and struck him again, his fist boring itself into his scull again before the scum's body was slammed to the ground, "What gives you the right to feed on a marked human?!"
When this abominable piece of shit even had the audacity to snort in an almost amused tone, he boxed into his stomach, hearing his spine crack from the strike.
"You will pay for this", the vampire under him spit out, "She wasn't even claimed! No one treats the King's Son like that!"
"You know exactly well that she is marked – which should have made her off limits for you – but you chose to ignore it", Godric spit out with an eerily low voice and grabbed his throat then, pinning the scum to the ground, "As I choose to ignore that you are the 'King's Son'!"
He saw the vampire's hands scurrying to the little bag he wore on his hip and the next moment something suspiciously feeling like silver, stuck in his abdomen. Growling in rage, Godric just grabbed the long piece of metal – which was some sort of nail obviously – and pinned the vampire to the ground with it the next instant, piercing his hand. Reaching into his bag, he found more of them and used one on his other hand, causing the pathetic creature to cry out in pain as if he were to be murdered – which was in fact possible...
"I am still not entirely sure, if I will allow you to learn from this experience, or simply end your pathetic life right here!", he grit out between his teeth and gabbed the filth at his throat again, applying so much pressure that he heard his larynx being crashed, ending his pathetic screams for a few moments.
"Don't do it Godric!", he suddenly heard the voice of his grand-progeny pleading to him, "They will severely punish you for killing the King's progeny!"
Suddenly reminded of her presence, his heart sank immediately. He had completely forgotten about her – and much more importantly: he had forgotten about Laura.
Shocked about his mindless actions, he took a hesitant glance over his shoulder to finally take a fearful look at his Little One. She kneeled at the floor, leaning against the wall for support and pressed her hand against the wound on her neck, obviously to stop the blood-flow.
He should have immediately tended to her wound, but no – instead he had preferred to punch this scum into a pulp in front of her eyes!
Within an instant he was at her side, crouching down beside her and peeling her fingers off her neck carefully to examine the bite. He had to gulp at the sight of the huge gash there, maybe even caused by him himself, when he had torn the filthy bastard away from her.
How could he have ignored her, just thinking about revenge, about torturing, about murdering this despicable creature? How could he have punished him in front of her?
Now she had seen him in 'action' for the first time and surely she would never be able to look into his eyes without fear again...
Without a word he immediately bit into his wrist and remorsefully offered it to her – it was the least he could have done for what he had caused. But when she merely shook her head tiredly, he just sighed before he let his blood drip onto her neck instead.
As with her injured lip almost a month ago, this action would heal her without any of the side effects. She had lost a lot of blood and digesting his, would have made her feel better in an instant. But obviously it was still not an option for her – now probably even less than before...
While he watched her tender skin close over the gash within seconds, he repeated the events that had just taken place in his mind over and over again.
Why had he reacted this way? Why had he not immediately tended to Laura's injuries as he should have done? How could he have forgotten about her for even a second?
"Thank you, Godric", he heard her whisper with a cracked voice and watched somberly as tears built in her eyes. Before he could have reached forward to brush them out of her beautiful face, she had fallen forward into his chest. Her arms clung desperately to his jacket as they had been a night ago, but this time he could hear her sobbing.
Without hesitation he embraced her in a tight hug and ran his fingers soothingly through her honey-colored hair. How she was still able to trust him was beyond him, but to say he felt 'relieved' in that moment, would have been a colossal understatement...
But she definitely had absolutely no reason to thank him – he had been the cause why all of this had happened after all. Had he just burned in Dallas, as he should have, she would not have been in Paris and had therefore not fallen victim to this monster...
"I am so sorry!", he suddenly heard his grand-progeny's voice again and turned his head to its source. Only now he realized, that she kneeled about ten feet beside them, her hands pinned to the ground by huge silver nails – just like he had pinned the scum down, he noticed – immobilizing her in place. Dried, bloody tears stuck to her face, while she looked ashamed up to him. "I was useless! I couldn't do anything!"
He did not need to ask his Little One if she would let go of him for a few moments, as she had wound herself out of his grasp as soon as she had become aware of his grand-progenies state. He watched her inspecting Pamela's hands in shock, before she immediately tried to pull one of the nails out. But as it obviously stuck deep in the pavement, she could not even move it an inch.
Godric was at their side the next instant, not willing to let his poor grand-progeny suffer any longer and carefully peeled Laura's fingers off the nail, before he firmly gripped both of them himself and pulled them out with a fast movement. His grand-child hissed in pain but her wound immediately healed again.
"How are you able to do that?", she asked baffled, her eyes awestruck directed at him, while she absentmindedly rubbed the spot on her hand, that had been pierced by the nail.
He still held the metal in his hand, his fingers wrapped tightly around it, as if his skin would not be affected by it like Pamela's had.
"Age and training", he stated casually before he turned to the ally's end, where this poor excuse of a vampire still cried in pain, "Take care of Laura for a moment, I still have a score to settle..."
He was at the blind end within an instant, looking down at the despicable creature in disgust. The vampire was obviously only a few centuries old, but how he managed to act in such a dishonorable way was beyond him – surely his maker could not be overly proud of him.
Eric would never even shed a single tear if someone merely pierced his hands...
He could hear Pamela talk to his son that very moment. Certainly he had been the one who had constantly tried to reach them – one after the other – as he had doubtlessly felt not only Pamela's fear and probably shame, but also his hot fury, regret, relief...
"You will pay for this!"
The vampire's brown eyes were narrowed to slits, which should probably have intimidated Godric, but without much success, as he soon noted. He approached the scum with deliberately slow steps, smelling his increasing fear and enjoying every second of it.
"Do you know who I am?", he asked, when he crouched down beside his head, leaning over him to stare directly into his eyes. The abominable boy just gulped and shook his head reluctantly causing a smirk to emerge on Godric's face.
"I am the one who will wear you fangs as necklace", he told him casually, before he had already reached forward to force his mouth open. With skilled moves – practiced more often than he would have liked over the last few decades – he parted this poor excuse of a vampire from his fangs and deliberately put them in his pocket while the filthy bastard howled in agony.
He should have been happy, that he merely removed his fangs and not his entire head...
After he had attached the two silver nails he had briefly laid to the ground for a few moments, to the one's already piercing this dishonorable creature, he turned to his waiting companions without batting an eye.
Laura seemed to be half asleep already, her head resting against Pamela's shoulder while both sat on the pavement, leaning their backs against the wall. His grand-progeny had obviously already finished her talk with Eric and looked pointedly at him.
"Won't you claim her already?!", she asked in a slightly demanding tone, causing one of his eyebrows to quirk, "This wouldn't have happened if you had already done it!"
"I will not claim her", he stated firmly, meeting her glance with an equally challenging one, "And this is nothing we will talk about ever again – have I made myself clear, Pamela?"
She merely nodded reluctantly, obviously as displeased about his decision as he himself was, if he was being honest...
He did not want to see Laura being treated like a pet by other vampires – if anything, he would bond with her. But as she had not shown overly much interest in the idea, when he had suggested it, it was probably not an option...
If he really wanted to do her a favor, he should not think about giving her his blood or bonding with anyway – he should better leave her alone. Sooner rather than later...
AN: Hey there :) sooo... this was a Godric-POV again - I hope you liked it, as it's not exactly my strength ^^' but I think it was necessary to know how he feels about these changes (sleeping arrangements etc...) ;)
I hope you didn't think I jumped too much from scene to scene here, but if I linger too long on one place this story might become a few 100k long (and I did not intend to write a screed ^^')
thanks to the wonderful people WinchesterGirl2975, Reina434, Anabel, Arenola, galwidanatitud, JamesNorthman96, Royal Ember and Pelawen Night for their lovely reviews! Your kind words really motivate me to write - as you can see ;)
at Anabel: Oh - thank you! :) I'm afraid this chapter wasn't much of a tease, huh? Hope you still liked it though - even if there wasn't really any 'hands on quality time' :/
Thanks for reading to everyone who took the time and came this far! ;)
Till the next chapter! :)