A/N: Sorry it took so long guys! But here's another chapter for you all. I think this is probably the next to last chapter. Enjoy!
"Alexei?"
The man stiffened, his head turning imperceptibly towards the entryway. "Grace, why do you sound so strange?"
"I'm not Grace." Carmen spoke softly, unable to bring herself to walk towards him.
He turned his head towards her, eyes unseeing. "Cailyn?" He grabbed a cane leaning against his chair and stood up, limping towards the entryway with his free hand outstretched.
Carmen swallowed, trying to get rid of the lump in the back of her throat. She'd been searching for him so long, now to finally have him there, right in front of her…she didn't know how to react.
Alexei was to the doorway in record time, stopping when his outstretched hand bumped into her stomach. He slid his hand up to her face, his fingertips softly exploring her features. He dropped his cane and brought his other hand up. "Good god!" He exclaimed softly. "You're real."
Carmen nodded, her lower lip quivering. "You're alive." Her voice trembled with emotion, and silent tears began sliding down her cheeks, unchecked.
He felt one of her tears drop onto his hand. "Are you crying?" He gently rubbed her cheek. "Don't cry, Cailyn, don't cry…" He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers; he enfolded her in his arms, holding her tight.
Chloe stared in open amazement from the top of the stairs. "Who is that? Why she crying?" She whispered to Eric.
"That, is Alexei." He responded quietly, leaning against the wall. "She's been searching for him for several thousand years."
"What?" Chloe could hardly believe her ears. "Several thousand years?"
Eric nodded. "Almost every move she's made since she lost him has been to find him again. It's the kind of love people can only dream about."
Chloe said nothing. She hadn't thought Carmen capable of feeling that kind of affection for anyone, much less have them return the emotion. "What happened to him?" She asked, her eyes taking in his scar streaked face and arms.
"He was a prisoner of war." Grace motioned for them to follow her into the living room.
"What war?" Chloe continued, smiling a little when Kurama took the seat beside her.
"Not a war either of you would know about." She looked at Kurama and Chloe when she said this.
"You might be surprised what all I know." Kurama said pleasantly, his mind running through Yoko's vast knowledge of history.
Eric chuckled. "This was the revolution that marked the separation of the realms. King Enma himself was not even born yet."
Grace nodded. "I wasn't around at that time myself, but he has told me the main points of what's happened to him."
"How did you end up caring for him?" Eric asked.
"I took over when my mum died. My family has been his protector for generations."
"Why does he need so much protecting?" Kurama asked, curious. Being a prisoner of war in a demon war would result in many injuries, if not death, but Alexei was still alive and standing, so…
Grace looked a little sad. "He's blind, for starters. His right leg was…mangled and is hardly functional, can hardly bear weight without buckling. About once a day he has violent seizures thanks to what they did to his eyes and head. His left arm is somewhat paralyzed, so it has a hard time feeling hot or cold, and he can't grip things well with that hand. Need I go on?"
"Poor guy." Chloe breathed out.
All eyes turned on her. "Poor guy is right." Grace spoke, sighing. "He can't take care of himself, which for a demon is a hundred times worse than for a human. He bears it well, but…" She trailed off with a shrug.
"He's lucky his captors let him live." Kurama spoke solemnly.
Grace shook her head. "Not lucky. Living was their last torture for him."
Chloe was horrified. Demons seemed to all be horrifically brutal, with or without good incentive.
Downstairs…
Carmen broke the kiss and pulled back a little. "Let me look at you."
He stood quietly, his eyes staring blankly past her shoulder.
She took in the horrible scars on his face and neck, on his arms the scars running up his arms and disappearing beneath his shirt.
"Well? Still- ugh…" His brows furrowed suddenly in pain, and he brought his hands up to his eyes. "Move me out of the light."
Carmen wrapped her arm around his waist and guided him back into the darkness where the sunlight no longer touched his face. "Light hurts your eyes?"
He nodded, rubbing his temples. "That's why this room has no more than the fire, and even that has a screen in front of it. I get terrible migraines if I'm not careful."
Carmen stepped back to the doorway and picked up his cane, running her hands along its smooth surface, her face sorrowful. "If you- I mean, if I'd know that you…" She willed herself not to cry again. "If I'd had any idea that you might be alive, I never would have left you there."
Alexei stretched out his hand, feeling for her. "Cailyn, don't do this to yourself."
Carmen grabbed his hand and kissed it. "Compared to what you suffer, this is nothing." She smiled wryly, her eyes expressing the guilt he didn't want her to feel.
He slid his hand up her arm to her face and cupped her cheek. "Listen to me. You are in no way to blame for this. We both went in to that suicide mission. If you came out relatively unharmed, so much the better. But that does not make you responsible for what they did to me. They were responsible, no one else."
Carmen looked at him for a moment. Suddenly she flung herself on him and crushed her lips against his with the fierceness of thousands of years of unsatisfied passion. He stumbled back; his right leg buckled and sent them tumbling to the floor. Neither seemed to notice or care. Alexei wrapped his arms around her and held her tight; she held him no less securely.
"God I've missed you." He whispered.
Carmen smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm never going to leave your side again." But she wasn't interested in talking with him. Not right now, at any rate.
The next day…
Chloe lay in her bed, her arms under her head, staring up at the hotel ceiling. She and Kurama hadn't had much of a chance to talk yesterday since before they'd run into Carmen. Then she'd pled jet lag and gone to a hotel to spend the night.
"Yeah, because I got much sleep." She sighed. She'd lain awake the whole night, her mind running through everything that had happened since that first night she'd met Carmen, and running through every detail of her conversation with Kurama yesterday.
'Do I even have a chance with him still?'
She bit her lip fretfully. Kurama had seemed...less than ecstatic at her appearance yesterday. She sighed again and rolled onto her side. She didn't really know what she'd expected when she appeared on his doorstep, but she'd thought… "Presumed, you mean." She corrected herself aloud. Yes, presumed, that he would forgive her and take her back, easy as that.
Carmen lay awake on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Alexei slept soundly, his right arm draped across her stomach. The fire had died down a while ago, but the coals were still smoldering, giving just the barest amount of light to the windowless room. A step on the stairs creaked. Carmen saw a shadow flicker by the door. She saw a crossbow take aim at the bed. The same moment she heard the thwang of the arrow being let loose, she grabbed Alexei's arm and rolled off the bed away from the attacker. The arrow embedded itself in the bed, and Carmen could hear the assassin reloading the bow.
"What's going on?" Alexei whispered.
"Just stay here." Carmen grabbed his shirt laying on the floor and pulled it over her head. She grabbed the edge of the bed and pulled herself up to launch at the door. But the attacker had predicted her move and shot his arrow a split second before. It caught her in the stomach and pinned her to the wall.
"Cailyn!" Alexei heard her yowl of pain.
Carmen looked down at the thick arrow protruding from her stomach, then up at the assassin. "You've just signed your own death warrant." She broke the shaft of the arrow and leapt away, leaving part of it still sticking in the wall. She landed by her things, hurriedly pulling her sword out of the sheath. She whirled around just in time for the assassin's crossbow to finish its swing and clock her in the side of the head, sending her flying across the room. She crashed into the chair by the fire and tumbled to the ground, her head reeling from the blow.
The assassin moved within sight of Alexei, and took aim.
Carmen stood up, blood gushing down the side of her head and part of her face, her eyes glinting dangerously. "Shoot that arrow and I'll send you to a place far worse than hell." She spoke calmly, but there was a deadly tone in her voice.
The assassin didn't even hesitate; they pulled the trigger.
The arrow barely made it out of its cradle before it dropped harmlessly to the ground.
"I warned you what would happen if you shot that arrow." Carmen whispered in their ear, suddenly standing right beside them. The next instant Carmen threw them to the ground and straddled them, slapping their hands aside and placing her own on either side of the masked intruders head. She stared into their widening brown eyes, a blue glow spreading throughout her body. "Nenthe thoth. Gremein cul no."
The intruder's struggles stopped, and their breathing began to grow short and labored.
"Cailyn, no!" Alexei found his way to his feet, walking cautiously towards the sound of Cailyn's voice.
The blue glow slowly dissipated and the intruder's breathing began returning to normal. "Who sent you?" Carmen hissed.
The intruder said nothing, just glared.
Carmen reached down and ripped the mask off, revealing a brown-eyed, blue-skinned demon. "Answer me." She growled.
"That's enough Carmen, let her be."
Carmen and Alexei both turned towards the doorway. "Kali." Carmen's voice was calm and unsurprised.
"Will you let him up now? I'm the one that sent him, he's just a mercenary for hire." Kali walked over to the fireplace and began stirring the coals and adding some small pieces of wood to build the fire up again.
Carmen stood up and the demon disappeared out the doorway.
"Who is that Cailyn? Why did she call you Carmen?" Alexei asked, stopping walking once his hands had found her.
Carmen placed a hand over the wound in her abdomen, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her head. "Her name is Kali. She's a goddess I created. Carmen is the name I've been going by the last few thousand years." She answered his questions mechanically, her mind churning, trying to sort out this latest puzzle. "Why did you send an assassin here?" She demanded.
Kali stirred the coals again, her face suddenly lighting up when the wood burst into flames. "It was in your best interest." She put the poker aside and leaned against the bricks. "You've taken on a huge responsibility. I wanted to be sure you could handle it."
Carmen's eyes narrowed. "So you send someone to try and kill Alexei? That's the most boneheaded thing I've ever heard. You know all I've gone through to find him, everything that I've done to get here. Did you really think that was going to earn you any favor from me?"
Kali smiled wryly. "I wasn't trying to earn your favor. I was trying to open your eyes to what you were bringing to him."
Alexei put an arm reassuringly around Carmen's waist. "I already know what to expect. I know Cailyn, er, Carmen has enemies."
Kali raised an eyebrow. "You have no idea all that Carmen has done since she lost you. The trouble that follows her is astonishing at times."
Carmen raised her head defiantly. "With Alexander dead, much of that trouble is gone. In any case, you aren't seriously suggesting that I'm incapable of fending off something that a mortal, whether human or demon, can throw at me, are you?"
Kali shrugged. "Now that you have access to all your goddess powers, of course you are highly capable. However, your emotions cloud your judgment. Are you sure you can defend both yourself and Alexei? You won't be able to run away from a fight – he can't run."
Carmen stalked over to Kali, seeming to tower over her friend, despite being shorter. "Thank you for your concern, but it is unnecessary. I am more than capable of protecting him as far as my help is required. As for my emotions, you are misinformed. They do not cloud my judgment – they spur me to fight harder, to fight longer, to fight fiercer."
Kali began to realize she may have made a fatal mistake threatening Alexei.
"If you ever send an assassin after him again, I will end you." Carmen's voice was cold. "Leave. My. Sight."
Kali bowed her head in acquiescence and went up the stairs.
"Cailyn? I mean, Carmen? I'll have to get used to that." Alexei stretched out his hand, waiting for her to take it.
"Don't. I prefer Cailyn." She squeezed his arm as she walked past, then pulled the arrow out of the wall, her eyes looking down at the blood-soaked weapon.
"Are you hurt Cailyn? I smell blood." He limped to the bed, using it as support to get him to the side where she stood.
"No. I mean, yes, but I've had worse."
"Let me take a look."
"You're funny." She smiled wryly, but brought his hand first to her stomach, then to her head. She stood still as his fingers carefully explored the wound on her head, then trailed down to the worse injury on her abdomen. "You need stitches. Where's my cane?"
Carmen smiled and handed it to him. "Is this one of your superpowers?" She asked playfully.
He laughed. "Nope. But you know your way around a needle." He limped over to a wardrobe and began searching through some of the inner drawers.
Carmen sat down on the edge of the bed, still holding the arrow. She pulled off his ruined shirt and began wiping away what blood hadn't dried yet.
Alexei came back holding a med box, sitting down next to her and dropping his cane.
"You know I could just heal this up, right?"
"Yeah I know." He poured alcohol on some gauze. Using one hand he felt for both the wound and the blood, and with the other he used the gauze to wipe and clean. "But that's the easy way. Besides, what's the point in using your powers when you don't have to?"
Carmen smiled ever so slightly. "You still believe that?
He nodded, his blind grey eyes seeming to look both at her and through her. "Of course. You don't?"
"I don't know anymore. Not using my powers hasn't been an option for…a while."
Alexei paused his ministrations, bringing one hand up to her face to read her expression. "I think when we finish this you should tell everything that's happened to you since we lost each other. I'll share with you as well, but it will be very boring compared to your story." He spoke softly, knowing from her expression and voice that her past was not pleasant.
She placed a hand over his, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "It's going to pain you." She whispered softly. "A lot."
He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I can take it. I'm in pain every moment, I'm not afraid of it anymore. Now let's get you stitched up."
Carmen ripped open a sterile needle and thread, looking at it for a moment before beginning to close up her wound. The physical pain was pleasant, because it distracted her for a moments from her churning thoughts.
Chloe drummed her fingers on the café table. She glanced at the clock, nervously shifted her hat, straightened her shirt, and began drumming again. Kurama had agreed to meet her for breakfast at eight. It was now seven fifty-eight. The bell over the door jingled and she turned around expectantly. A young couple, hand-in-hand, came in, looking very happy. With a sigh she turned back around and slouched down in her seat. "Why are you so nervous? It's just breakfast."
"You're nervous?"
She yelped and looked up into her emerald eyes. "N-no, I was just…um, sit. Please." She sat up, blushing.
He sat down across from her, raising her hand to gain the attention of the waitress.
"What can I get you two?" The waitress asked, smiling brightly at both of them.
"Coffee and a blueberry bagel, no cream cheese. Chloe?"
Chloe glanced at him then at the waitress. "I'll have the same, except with cream cheese."
"Sure thing, coming right up."
Kurama shed his coat and scarf onto the back of his seat. "How did you sleep last night?"
Chloe took a deep breath. "Hardly at all, actually. You?"
"Just fine, thank you." He smiled as the waitress set down two steaming cups of coffee in front of them.
Chloe stirred some sugar into hers, frowning thoughtfully. "I'm sorry, I need to ask: have you thought about what I told you yesterday?"
Kurama nodded, turning his eyes onto his coffee as he poured a little bit of milk in his. "I've thought of little else." He spoke quietly.
Her heart leapt. "And?"
"I don't know." He sighed. "I tried to sort out when I first began caring about you, but I couldn't. I think I first started acting that way towards you because Carmen seemed so frivolous about your safety, and you were so helpless that I..." He shrugged. "Then at some point it wasn't just acting anymore."
She sipped her coffee, her heart in her mouth at what he was telling her. "But…?" She knew there was a 'but' from the tone of his voice.
"But I can't separate what was actually me caring about you, and what was…let's face it, you were helpless, nearly friendless, and very innocent. I would have hardly been a man if that hadn't been alluring."
Chloe's heart sank to her toes. "So you don't love me." She didn't dare look at him when she said this.
"Love? No, I don't think I do. I care about you deeply though Chloe, you must believe me."
Chloe's eyes welled up with tears and she drank some coffee to try and get control of herself. Yesterday she'd thought…that was to say, it had seemed like…but no, he'd just said it – he didn't love her. So that was that. She took the bagel from the waitress and quickly choked it down, suddenly feeling very claustrophobic. "I'll leave then." She started to stand up.
"Wait Chloe, please don't leave." He reached across the table and grabbed her arm.
She looked down at his hand, and slowly sank back into her seat. "But if you don't love me, then there's no point in my staying here anymore." Her voice cracked. "That's why I came back here."
"Chloe, love is not something that can possibly come out of as short a time as we were together. To really love someone requires a lot of time and hard work. We were thrown together for a short while under extremely dangerous circumstances. A real relationship can't be based upon that."
Chloe looked down at her hands, knowing deep down that he was right.
"But I care about you, a lot. If I didn't, it wouldn't have hurt so much when you ran away from me."
She looked up, comprehension beginning to dawn on her.
"Mine is not a nature that forgives easily. But if you stay, then, in time, I think-
"Hey guys, what's up?" Eric pulled up a chair and sat down at their table, smiling cheerfully.
Chloe could have stabbed him with her butter knife. "What are you doing here Eric?"
"Waiting for Carmen and Alexei. We're supposed to get breakfast. What are you guys doing here?"
"They're coming here?" Chloe sighed. Couldn't she go one day without seeing Carmen?
"You really should try to be more understanding of her. She's lived a rough life."
"That's no excuse." Chloe frowned. "Besides, how rough could the life of a goddess be?"
Eric opened his mouth, shut it, then thought a moment before responding. "No, but if you know more of the particulars, it might help you understand some of why she is the way she is."
"You've always said her story is hers to tell." Kurama pointed out calmly, not thrilled either at the prospect of seeing Carmen, though somewhat curious about Alexei and his effects on Carmen's behavior.
Eric held up one finger. "Wrong. I said the Alexander story was not mine to tell. Besides, Carmen mostly doesn't tell people anything about her past because she doesn't want to burden them with her tale of woe."
Chloe snorted. "She's hardly concerned about others."
Eric shrugged. "I understand why you say that, but-" he looked at her, his eyes very serious "-understand me when I say you're very wrong. But this will be easier if I show you." He tapped one finger thoughtfully. "You may or may not have figured this out, but Carmen is a little crazy."
"A lot, you mean." Chloe snapped.
Eric ignored her tone. "No, I mean actually a little bit insane. Not quite all there."
Kurama's eyebrows rose a little. He wasn't exactly surprised though, considering Carmen's behavior.
"She hasn't escaped her life unscathed. For one, the vast knowledge of the gods is more than mortal bodies are meant to contain. For two…well, I'll show you, it'll be easier than trying to explain. First, her father." He swirled his hand in the air.
Chloe's eyes widened as the room began spinning slowly around them, fading first to black, then brightening into a green hilltop surrounded by trees.
"Cailyn!"
Cailyn laughed as she ran up the hill, her longs skirt caught up in her arms so as not to trip. A blonde young man gave one giant leap and tackled her halfway up the hill, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Cailyn rolled over under him, breathing heavily. "You're legs are longer." She pouted playfully.
He grinned down at her. "Don't be a poor sport." He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, gathering her up in his arms.
"That's not Alexei." Chloe whispered to Eric.
"Shhh."
Finally Cailyn pulled away and pushed him off. She stood up and straightened her skirts. "Alright Nick, what did you want to tell me? And why did we come all the way out here?"
He walked over to her and took her hand in his. "You remember everything I was telling you about your father last week?"
Her smile faded. "I thought I told you never to speak of that again." Her voice had a dangerous edge to it.
"Yes. But I have proof this time. Just trust me." He held her hand tightly so she couldn't withdraw it to leave. "Up here."
He was gripping her hand to tight, she had no choice but to grab her skirt with her other hand and follow after him. Once they reached the top he laid down on the ground so only his head peeked over the top, looking down at a quiet village. "Come on Cailyn."
She laid down beside him, tight-lipped. "This had better be good." She spoke tersely.
He put a finger to his lips. "It will be."
For a few minutes nothing happened. The village was quiet just now as all the men had returned home from work and so families were now eating. Suddenly soldiers swarmed in from all around. Within seconds the air was full of the sounds of screaming and mayhem.
"Those are my father's personal guard!" Cailyn exclaimed, beginning to stand up.
Nick pulled her back down. "What are you doing?!" He hissed.
"I'm the princess, I can stop them!" Cailyn could hardly bear the sounds of the women and children's screams moments before they died.
"And then you're father will know you're on to him! Stay down!"
Cailyn couldn't escape from his grasp. She was forced to watch and listen to the slaughter of the village. All too soon the air grew strangely silent. She watched, helpless, as the soldiers lined up and marched off away from the village. It wasn't till several minutes later that Nick let go of her arm. She was up and running down the hill, half running and half sliding in her haste. She tripped over a rock and tumbled the last several feet to the bottom, leaping to her feet and sprinting into the village. She stopped dead in her tracks at the edge, the tears that had been gathering in her green eyes beginning to fall.
She could smell the blood, taste the blood in the air. But it didn't prepare her for the carnage she now saw all around her. She walked slowly across the village, the tears falling unchecked down her cheeks. Men, women…even the babies. No one had been spared. People had been slaughtered as they ran, as they lay bleeding on the ground, as they leapt from windows to escape.
She stopped in front of one little girl, who lay on her back, her blue eyes staring unseeingly up at the sky. The little girl had come to the castle just yesterday with a basket of flowers for Cailyn from her village. "Why?" Cailyn choked out, fighting down sobs. "Why?" She repeated, sinking to her knees.
"A rumor reached your father's ear that there were, perhaps, a villager or two here that didn't entirely agree with him."
"He wiped out an entire village based a rumor?" She was horrified.
"This isn't the worst he's done." Nick knelt beside her.
She stared down at the little girl, Nesa, unable to take her eyes off the lifeless face. "So it's true. It's all true. My father's a monster." She whispered, taking Nesa's hand in her own. It was still warm.
"I'm sorry."
The image faded to black. Tears rolled down Chloe's cheeks. "Why did she believe so readily?"
"Those soldiers were her father's personal guard, which meant that they responded only to direct orders from him. As in, face-to-face orders."
Chloe's mouth formed a silent 'o'.
"Now, onto the next chapter. Because of that day, Nick, who turned out to be the leader of the rebels, convinced Cailyn to join the cause against her father. Many years later there was a war that involved every kind of mortal creature. Cailyn tried to fight her father herself, but she lost. It took the combined strength of the strongest demon, human, and spirit being to seal him away in the medallion you saw Carmen destroy. This is years after the battle. Alexei has been trying to convince Cailyn for months that Nick has become corrupt and is seeking to take control of everything. She still believes in Nick, though her doubts have been growing."
The darkness began to grow lighter again, revealing a lavishly decorated room.
Cailyn looked at herself in the mirror, her hands expertly twisting and pinning her hair onto her head.
"Cailyn?"
She turned around at the sound of Nick coming through the door. "What do you think? I had this made up for your party tonight."
He looked her up and down. The green dress hugged her in all the right places. "It's lovely." He came up and put his hands, running his fingers along her curves. "I hear you've been spending a good amount of time with a demon named Alexei. Is that true?"
She felt her heart beat just a little faster. "Y-yes, I have. He's been teaching me about herbs and medicine. Why?"
Nick shook his head. "No reason. Come out for a ride with me." He kissed her shoulder.
She turned around and pressed her lips against his and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Why don't we stay in and you can help me get out of this dress?" She whispered.
He detangled himself from her arms. "I would but I have a meeting to get to. Be ready in half an hour for our ride." He smiled and started to leave the room. He paused at the doorway, turning and saying over his shoulder. "I wouldn't object if you wore something a little more…casual for our ride."
Carmen smiled as the door shut and instantly began unlacing the side of her dress. "Casual." She snorted. "Who does he think he's fooling? I know what he wants." She slipped out of the dress, pausing in front of the mirror for a few moments. "Alexei has to be wrong. Nick isn't going mad with power. I would know if he was." Reassured she went to her wardrobe and began pulling out some clothes.
She pulled on some skin tight black pants and boots, then on top she put on a shirt that was loose and flowy, but very see-through. She grabbed her cloak and pulled it around herself to cover up. She winked at the mirror then headed out of the room to the stables.
Nick met her promptly, raising an eye at her complete coverage thanks to the cloak, but saying nothing. They mounted their horses and took off at a canter. Once out of sight of the castle Cailyn stopped and stuffed the cloak into her saddlebag.
Nick looked her over appreciatively. "Come on." He spurred his horse into a run, Cailyn following close on his heels.
They ran for a long while before Nick stopped in a small clearing with a stream running through it. He leapt off his horse and pulled Cailyn off hers almost before her horse had stopped. "Come here you!"
"Nick!" She exclaimed, laughing.
He pulled her down onto the ground, his lips kissing every piece of exposed skin, his hands working at getting her shirt off as fast as possible.
"Do we really have to watch this part?" Chloe asked Eric, her face turned away, her cheeks pink.
"Of course we're not watching that part. You just needed to understand how much of a bastard Nick was." He waved his hand and the scene changed a little.
Cailyn walked back in from the trees, straightening her clothes as she walked. "I think you might have torn my shirt." She scolded Nick playfully.
Nick was also dressed again and was standing by the stream, staring into it. "No matter. Let's get riding again."
Cailyn folled Nick on horseback for a half hour, growing a little uneasy due to the fact they were riding hard and still moving away from the castle. If she was right about where they were, this was a dangerous part of the land. They came very suddenly upon a large camp.
Nick hopped off his horse and held out his hands for Cailyn.
She looked around uneasily at the large group of men congregating in front of them. She recognized the tattoos – these men were bandits, slave traders- you name it, they did it. "Why are we here?" She whispered, not getting off her horse.
"Just trust me." Nick helped her down off her horse, putting an arm around her waist and walking forward. "Where is Geb?"
"That'd be me." One of the men stepped forward. His body was covered in tattoos and his orange eyes looked Cailyn over lustily.
"You remember what was discussed?"
"Aye, I do. I must say, we're getting the better bargain." The men all laughed.
Nick smiled wryly. "That you are. But desperate times. Have fun." He suddenly shoved Cailyn at the man.
She screamed as Geb's hands grabbed her arms and held her tightly. "Nick! What are you doing?!" She yelled, trying to pull away, but Geb's grip was like iron.
"I cannot have people around me that I can't trust." Nick said coldly, climbing up onto his horse.
Cailyn managed to turn around to look at him. "You can trust me! Why would you think you can't?!"
Nick looked into her eyes. "Alexei is believed to be a part of the rebels. You've been spending so much time around him lately. You're tainted. I can't trust you anymore." He turned his horse and galloped away.
"NICK!" Cailyn screamed, thrashing as Geb half pulled half carried her into the camp. He took her to one of the stone structures and shoved her through the open door. He shut it and locked it behind himself, handing the key through one of the barred windows to one of the men outside. A crowd had congregated around all the openings.
Cailyn had tripped and fallen when he pushed her in, and she looked up at him now from the floor. "What are you going to do to me?" Her eyes were blazing, but her body was shaking.
Geb smiled cruelly. "We-"
The scene suddenly disappeared and the café returned. Carmen stood behind Eric's chair, her blue eyes blazing furiously. "You have got some nerve."
Eric leaned back in his chair. "I was helping them to understand you."
"If they needed to know the tragic tale that is my life, I would have told them. You just want them to pity me because you think that's better than hate."
"Don't worry. Pity will never replace my feelings about you." Kurama spoke calmly, his green eyes looking at her, and at Alexei standing silently beside her.
Carmen turned her venomous eyes on the red-head. She stared at him a moment and then chuckled. "Of course not. Yoko Kurama doesn't have compassion or pity in his vocabulary, so how could you ever feel it?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. Kurama and Carmen would probably eternally be two cats hissing at each other.
Carmen turned her attention back on Eric. "And you, Eric, I don't even know what to say to you. Who gave you the right to share the intimate details of my past? That's my past and I'll share when and with whom I choose."
"But you never share anything." Chloe piped up.
"Don't you think there's a reason for that? Besides, do you really want to know how I was persuaded into joining two revolutions by two different guys, how one of those guys sold me as a slave, how I was raped multiple times a day for years, how I massacred that camp and many others before Eric found me?"
Chloe looked down at the table uncomfortably.
"Does that make you uncomfortable? It's the truth, it's what happened. I don't shy away from the truth. But I don't flaunt it either. It's enough for it to live on in my nightmares, it doesn't need to invade your happy little world."
"My happy little world?" Chloe's head shot up. "My brother and parents were massacred, slaughtered! In what twisted universe does that make my world 'happy'?"
"Yes, you lost your family. But as time goes on that memory will fade. The details of their deaths will fade. You can become happier than you were before. That's the blessing of being human. Time will heal your wounds."
Alexei tugged gently at Carmen's elbow. "Come on Cailyn, let's go."
Carmen stared at Chloe for a moment, an indescribable emotion being expressed in her eyes. Then she walked past their table. "Eric, if you so much as utter one more word about my past to them I will saw off your legs with a butter knife. Now come on."
Eric watched the pair walk away and leaned towards Chloe and Kurama. "Sorry to cut it short, but maybe you understand a little bit more now, eh?" He stood and followed after his friends.
The air was silent for a moment after Eric left. Kurama looked at Chloe, Chloe peeked over her shoulder at Carmen. "No matter what happened to her in the past, it does not excuse her behavior now." Kurama spoke firmly.
Chloe looked at him, then back at Carmen. "Of course it doesn't. But it does…explain some things…"
Kurama almost sighed. Eric's trick had worked. There was pity he was hearing in Chloe's voice, and something else – forgiveness.
A/N: Please leave a review and let me know what you think! (Also, I'm sorry if there's any confusion about when it switches scenes. It keeps losing my formatting, so I have no idea if it will keep the liene breaks in the right places or not.)