I woke to crashing from the kitchen. At first, I panicked, grabbing the closest thing to me, which turned out to be Josep. Either we had fallen asleep on the couch together, or he had remained at my side out of courtesy, because he hadn't moved at all. On his other side, Sanura yawned like a cat, tongue curling out around her teeth, then blinked groggily at the arguing pair in the kitchen.

Isaac was snatching something away from Lidia, who seemed to be in the middle of a breakdown. She stomped her feet and grabbed a butter knife off the counter. She made to stab him with it and was swatted away, but she kept trying.

"Liar!" she shrieked, "You're supposed to keep me forever! You promised!"

The vampire wasn't impressed and quickly twisted the butter knife from her grasp, tossing it on the counter behind him. When she lunged at him, he caught her arm and spun her into his own. Lidia struggled as if she were fighting to survive; all the while Isaac was trying to soothe her. Finally, he got annoyed and jerked her still. She yelped, then melted into sobs, burying her face in his jacket.

"You promised." She murmured pathetically, above her Isaac rolled his eyes.

Josep shifted to get out from under me and pulled himself from the couch with a heavy sigh. "I told you she would figure it out. She was bound to pick it from someone's head."

Lidia lifted her head, narrowing her eyes on Josep with a disgusted look. "Quiet ghost, we do not talk to dead men."

Looking mildly surprised by her rudness, he replied calmly, "Watch your tongue little girl, or you won't make it to the Queen."

To keep the peace, Sanura traced to his side and touched his shoulder gingerly. She said something softly in Italian and the stiffness in Josep's posture slowly disappeared. I hadn't even noticed it was there to begin with, still pulling myself from the bleariness of sleep.

Isaac grabbed the psychic around the shoulders and shook her once for good measure, "No more, you hear me?" She tried to duck her head and hide in her wild white hair, but he grabbed her face around her jaw and forced her to look at him.

"I told you I didn't want this. You know I wanted you all to myself, bit, forever, just like I told you. Unfortunately, word got out." At this, he turned to glare at Sanura, who held up her hands.

"How the hell was I supposed to know? I never thought you were stupid enough to keep something like this from the Queen."

He gave her a scathing look and turned back to the sobbing Lidia.

"Fuck you, Isaac." Sanura cried defensively, "I was just talking to Ryan. He's an affable guy, unlike some men in this room."

"Ryan?" Isaac laughed sharply glancing at me as if it were my doing, "You told one of Colette's little loan-outs? Are you kidding me? He might as well be her spy."

Josep pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, "It isn't her fault, Isaac. The bitch-Queen would have found out sooner or later."

"And now it's sooner." He snapped back.

I groaned into the pillows and buried my head beneath them. This was wonderful to wake up to. And now we would all get to take this glorious mood into the plane together.

Joy.

"She won't kill her Isaac." Josep continued, "The girl is too much of an asset."

"You're right, she'll just use her like a vending fucking vending machine. When she doesn't work, they'll tune her up." He laughed angrily again, "Do you get that I'm using that phrase for the screwdrivers involved?"

I tossed off the pillows, pushing myself up and holding onto the back of the couch. "Well this isn't helping. Why don't you stop bitching at everyone and think instead."

The vampire's black eyes snapped to me and narrowed. I'd never seen him look at me with such hatred and it honestly threw me off.

"Shut your mouth, you little whore. No one was talking to you."

The was a short moment of utter shock, where I couldn't move, just before the rage crashed into my like a tidal wave, filling me up until my knuckles were white from their grip on the couch cushions. I don't know if it was the sound of Lidia's incessant crying that was making everyone tense, but it deffinatly didn't help the situation.

"Excuse me?"

At this, he gave a challenging grin and turned to me, leaving Lidia to sob against the counter. "You want me to repeat it?"

"No." I snapped back. "I want you to explain how sleeping with one man makes me a whore. Or is it that the man wasn't you?"

He laughed, "Get over yourself Mira. You aren't worth it anymore."

I scoffed, "So does this mean you're going to stop chasing me around?"

"You could say that," he shrugged. "Mostly it means you can go live with your god, so I can pretend I was never stupid enough to take you home with me in the first place."

I was thankful then that Sanura stepped in with a string of angry Italian curses because I was left speechless. She shoved him and they began to argue over Lidia's crying while I just deflated. Fatigue made it impossible to conceal my feelings so I know that Josep appeared sudden to help me hide it. He walked me back to the couch and sat me down, squeezing my hand.

"He's only angry, darling. He didn't mean it."

Isaac heard him from the kitchen. "Don't you fucking lie to her," he said, "Hell, she might as well call her god now. What's the point of coming with us?"

"You would just abandon me?" I asked softly, feeling my voice catch.

"You're damn right I would." He called back, "And Little Bit, if you don't shut your fucking mouth I'm going to rip out your lungs."

The girl hiccupped through her tears, but did as he said, whipping at her face like a small child. Meanwhile I felt like he'd just kicked me like a Spartan king in the chest. Sure we'd always fought, and for a long time my thought had been on nothing but escape, so why was it that now I wanted to cry. I'd loved, lusted, and hated him with everything I had and through it all he had wanted me. It had been my one constant that no matter what happened, he would always want me. If I ran, he would always track me down. The idea that he would now throw me aside was painful. Realizing that I was about to lose it all made me wonder why I'd never admitted it before. I wanted to stay with Isaac. Truthfully, I was even beginning to enjoy it, even through the dark parts.

With Lidia silenced, the grating tension in the room seemed to lesson and Isaac stopped yelling. Sanura grumbled that she was taking her things down to the car and Josep moved to the arm chair, closing his eyes to enjoy the temporary peace. I just sat there, starring at the floor. Isaac must have gotten irritated again because he moved behind the couch.

"Aren't you going to pack your things?" he asked, snidely.

"What things?" I replied, but my voice was soft. I didn't even try to argue and I think that troubled him. The vampire watched me, frowning, until I stood and left for my room, making sure not to look at him. I was suddenly exhausted again and couldn't wait to get on the plane and go back to sleep.

I pulled together the spare clothes I'd worn on this trip and tossed them all in a bag, then returned to the living room to sit back on the couch. Isaac had gathered his own things and was fussing over Lidia, who was insisting that she didn't need shoes. When I walked passed him, he watched me a moment, frowning again, but I didn't care to figure out why. Instead I turned my back on him and waited for the others.

Things went quickly after that. With no one talking to one another, we all gathered our belonging and traveled down to the lobby of the hotel. Isaac went to check us out while Sanura led the mumbling Lidia out to our waiting limo. It seemed that Colette was paying again, now that we were headed back to the states with her prisoners. The drive to the private airport was mostly quiet, save a strange conversation here and there started by Lidia. Throughout it, I made a point of ignoring Isaac, which gratifyingly seemed to irritate him. Whether it was because he was still pissed, or felt guilty, I wasn't sure. Either way, I wasn't ready to forgive him for being such an asshole.

Lidia threw another fit when we got to the plane, forcing Isaac to throw her over his shoulder to get her inside. Once inside the plane, I took a seat next to the right wing and stared out the window at the runway. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, but I didn't get to watch it. Sanura closed all the windows on the plane with the push of a button and then took her place at the small fold-out table near the cockpit. Josep placed himself away from everyone, like me, leaning back his seat and closing his eyes as if in sleep. I watched him a long time, while the jet was readied for takeoff. I'd never really noticed, but when a vampire sat still like that, he looked dead. I would have continued to stare, but Josep's eyes snapped open suddenly and he looked at me, somehow feeling my attention.

I offered a weak smile as Lidia finally settled in a seat and was belted in. Isaac sighed heavily, throwing himself down in the seat beside hers. Conveniently, they were across from me and Isaac's gaze settled heavily onto me as the jet took flight.

I don't know why he was doing it, maybe to get me to yell at him as I usually did. Perhaps he was just as thrown by my lack of sniping, as I was by his douche bag comment. Regardless, I didn't even bother shooting him an arched look, simply continued to ignore him. It remained this way for a good hour. Lidia fell asleep with the occasional murmured words, Sanura began to paint her nails in intricate designs and Josep went back to resting.

And Isaac continued to stare.

I'd been content to ignore him, but after so long, the irritation had begun to grow again. At the back of the plane was a heavy plastic patrician that served as bedroom door. While the room inside was small, it held a twin bed, bolted to the floor and tiny closet. When I couldn't stand it anymore, I surged to my feet and walked right passed the vampire to enter it. On my way, however, he grabbed my wrist.

"Let go of me." I said this very calmly and he narrowed his eyes to search my expression like he was trying to solve a puzzle.

"You're mad at me."

"Generally speaking, yes."

Isaac titled his head, "He was right you know. I was angry."

"That's great, but I don't forgive you." I snatched my hand away from him and returned to my escaping. Isaac unfortunately followed me.

"I wasn't apologizing." He said as I opened to door and stepped inside. I turned to close it on him with a scowl, but he shoved me back and I fell onto the bed, only two feet away. He shut the door behind him, and I caught the interest in Sanura's expression before he did.

"I didn't come in here to talk to you privately, you know."

Isaac shrugged, leaning back against the door and crossing his arms. "They can hear us perfectly well, even if you did. What's your point?"

I pushed myself back up to my feet, clenching my fists. "My point is that I'm tired of looking at you and I wanted to get away. Now you're just complicating things."

"It's cute that you're trying to hurt me, Mira, but you aren't very good at it."

"Sure I am." I replied softly, finally looking him directly in the eyes. He paused, his smile falling only a fraction before he pulled it back into place.

"That wasn't hurtful," he said, "just infuriating. You are infuriating and I can't handle it anymore."

There it was again, that sharp pain in my chest. I looked down, but not before Isaac caught whatever tiny facial tell I had that told him he'd hurt me. The vampire moved closer, ducking down his head to catch my eyes. I turned away and his hand shot out, gripped my chin and turned me back. Intent on my defiance, I looked down, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Stop it." He said it softly, but there was the smallest slash behind his words. Quiet anger. It got my attention, and I finally raised my eyes to meet his.

The moment I did, I regretted it. His gaze was far too heavy, intense and frightening. I felt as if he could see right into me. A chill passed down my spine and he chuckled at the tremor then released my chin.

"You don't like that do you?" he asked slowly, "It hurts to think that I wouldn't want you."

I scowled and began to look away from him, but he grabbed my throat and suddenly we were slamming against the wall. I yelped, but the sound was cut off by his grip. When I proved I wasn't fighting back, however, he loosened his fingers.

"I don't understand you." He said suddenly, angry and flustered, something I'd never seen on him. His patchwork eyes were shining harshly under the florescent bulb lights above us. They turned his expression wild and almost frightening. I told myself however that the others could hear this, and would help me if he really tried anything.

"I'm an open book."

"Then you're written in a language I don't know. The point is I'm tired of trying to translate it." He pulled away from me, releasing my throat, and beginning to pace the tiny room. "I get why you wanted to stay with me at first. You were frightened of the god, and I was at least familiar, but that's not the case anymore. You know him now, and you've made your choice." He stopped to turn back to me, still against the wall. "I'm going to respect that choice, Mira and in return you're going to get the hell out of my life."

"Isaac I-"

But he cut me off, "Here's what we're going to do. You'll come with us to the trial, you can stay until everything is finished and then you're going to call your god and disappear the way you did that night. But this time," he looked me in the eyes so I knew he was serious, "you aren't going to come back."

My eyes were burning, and when I blinked, I felt hot tears spilling down over my cheek. Strangely, I didn't care about them, or the fact that they proved Isaac was hurting me. All I could think was that he didn't want me. After all he'd put me through, everything he did to me, it would all end with abandonment. He was going to throw me away just like he did all his playthings when he got tired of them.

I was too upset for rage, though I felt it, churning deep in my chest. It boiled and hissed at this rejection, but by the time it made its way to the surface, was nothing more than impotent anguish. I never knew the vampire could make me feel like this, and it was sobering to realize how much I really did care. Funny that I hadn't known until he was leaving me.

"Jesus woman, I'm trying to give you what you want." Isaac exclaimed when I began to sniffle down my tears. At this, however, I glared up at him and shook my head.

"You're trying to get back at me, you lying son of a bitch. Don't try to paint it any other way."

The vampire sighed, looking down a moment and nodded, "It's working, isn't it?"

I straightened, jaw clenched and ready to give him a piece of my mind when something outside the room started ringing. We both paused, listening as Sanura answered the plane's built-in phone, and as the muffled conversation went on, Isaac's expression hardened even more. He cursed hotly under his breath and then traced from the room, leaving the partition door swinging open. I made it out there just as she hung up the phone and began to massage her temple. Josep laughed to himself from his seat, eyes still closed and Sanura turned to the angry Isaac.

"This is going to cost us another couple of days, but they're taking them both when we hit ground." Her voice was strained, so Isaac touched her shoulder.

"Colette won't hold the trial until we get there. The bitch won't let us miss it. They'll be fine."

"What about Mira?" Sanura asked, glancing my way and frowning at the tears I had yet to wipe from my face.

Isaac looked to me briefly and turned back to her. "She'll come with us and you can look after her."

"I'm not going to let you walk into a pack of-"

"Would you rather bring her with us?" he asked pointedly. Sanura thought a moment, then looked at me, eyes going wide just a moment. She looked down at her hands and began to fidget.

"I forgot." She murmured, then cursed, "I still don't like it."

"I'll be fine, Nura, we just get it done and get out. They won't start anything unless they're geared for war and if that's the case…" he sighed, "We're fucked anyway."

"What's going on?" I asked. Isaac didn't even look at me to respond.

"It doesn't concern you Mira."

"Well if I'm going to be there I think you could at least-"

"No." he snapped, turning to fix me with an expression so cold it chilled my heart, "You won't. You're going to sit in a hotel room with Sanura and keep to yourself and then we can get right back to the original plan. This changes nothing."

"Isaac there's no reason to be cruel." Josep interjected, finally opening his eyes to frown at his friend.

"There are several, but if you don't like it, you can comfort her. That isn't my job anymore."

"It never was." I spat and turned on my heel to slam the partition door behind me.

Thankfully no one followed and I was free to curl up on the bed and bury my face in the mattress. I could hear them talking outside, but didn't understand them because they switched to another language. What that meant was they were most likely talking about me, so I did my best not to drive myself crazy wondering what they were saying. I took comfort in the anger that grew in Sanura's voice as she argued with Isaac. I imagined that she was cursing him for being such an idiot, and to this thought, I finally drifted into sleep.

Originally, I wanted to go right into the next bit of action in here, but I think that would have dulled the effect of this conversation. I want it to really sink in that Isaac, who might as well be a spurned woman at this point, has thrown in the towel.

And then there's this new task set by the Queen. What could she possibly have them doing that Isaac, even in his anger, would wish to keep from Mira?

Dun Dun Duuuuuuuun

Let me know what you think. Tee hee, I suppose there might be a few angry words thrown my way, but i can't help but let you stew a little. So please, throw your verbal stones and let's get to it! WHOOT WHOOT! And I will be posting the next bit as soon as I can flesh it out. Oh my, I'm excited.