There is no real excuse that I can give for my absence, only the promise that I intend to stop being so lazy.
Awesome reviewers: Redrachxo, Skeletal Princess, Bruce Ward, and Emily!
Bruce: I started writing this during season four and it is totally unconnected to the fifth season and I'm glad you like it! :D
Emily: Thank you for your 3 reviews! The sequel is not out yet, however it will be coming extremely as there are only two chapters left of Argentalium Bones to write. :D
Her life was splattered across his cheeks. Red, sticky and still hot with the imprints of a pulse. At first this had prompted unbidden hunger in him but now the horror of his actions made his mind barren of the malicious urge to feed.
His father was carefully dragging him by the arm, pulling out of the lobby where Vlad's gaze was fixed on the sprawled body in the centre. Pinned to the ground by the varnished ebony chandelier and displayed like some sort of gruesome trophy.
'Beware: Monsters Live Here' His eyes watered, sapphire milky blue as he stumbled away from… her.
Next he was slumped on the sofa in the throne room as all available vampires gathered to discuss this new development. Vlad tried to scrub some of the red from his face but he was fairly sure he'd only succeeded in smearing it across his cheeks.
"We need to attack back! Fast and with no mercy!" The group had finally found some order and Valtov turned to him, eyes lit with hunger and rage.
Vlad pursed his lips and tried to keep his own clear of guilt and pain. "I need to go." And with that he slunk off the sofa and headed out into the hall.
"It's fine! I can take him,"
Could you also take the metal skeleton that Vlad dropped on you? Instantly Jonno regretted the thought.
Her name was Grace and… that was all Jonno could bear to learn about her. He'd let this girl, this teenager get herself killed, all because he'd underestimated Vlad in his weakened state.
The guild felt like a freezer as he stumbled from the garages to Evans' office, the icy stares of surrounding slayers filling the pit of guilt in Jonno's stomach with more acid.
The bottle of water Jonno had been clutching slipped out of his hands, bouncing across the linoleum floor. Everyone in the corridor turned to stare at him. They started whispering.
"You know this is the third slayer to die around him right?"
"… I heard he and Grace fought beforehand."
"He was friends with the vampire before all this."
"Shut up!" He snarled and at the silence that fell, fled.
He found himself in the bathroom, resting his fingers then his fist and finally his forehead on the glass mirrors.
He'd got her killed, hadn't he? A seventeen year old with no childhood to speak of lay in a vampire's lair, blood leaking from her casket of lifeless skin, because he'd not intervened when he had the chance.
He glanced at the pane.
A brutish young man stared at him out the mirror, hollow. The product of Vladimir Dracula, a slayer with sleepless eyes, dark purple bruises, a puffy lip and no parents. Jonno huffed, lips twisting in a gruesome distortion of an amused smile.
He tried to link eyes with the whiskey irises of his reflection.
The reflective glass displayed an empty room, ignoring the soulful vampire resting a limp hand on the cool surface. For once he was glad. He didn't want to see the spoils of his kill.
With a sigh Vlad trailed his free hand down his cheek and pulled it away crimson. Solid orange-red coated his fingers in a sticky sheen and he didn't even feel hungry. He just bit his lip and stepped into the shower.
Striking scarlet rivets of plasma streaked down his torso and into the plug hole, leaving vein-like rivers of blood in their wake.
His mind flicked back to the… scene, his conscience intent on punishing him for this mistake. Like a ballerina, back arched with a spike through her heart preventing the spine from ever touching the floor.
As these troubling images were conjured by his thoughts he mechanically dried himself and replaced his clothes, gently closing the door to the bathroom behind him. He ignored the ajar door of the throne room and voices leaking out of it, instead Vlad walked to the staircase and took a deep breath.
Her body had not been moved, splayed like the happy victim of a dip kiss – as if time had frozen her and her lover had left.
Ghostly pale his hand hovered over the grey skin of her cheeks, fingers trembling as he contemplated touching her face. He sharply drew it away with a seizing breath and instead ran his finger along the non-bloody area of the chandelier spike.
"This wasn't what I wanted." He murmured to the dead youth. No response was received and he moved to slump against the wall. "I… thought… I thought he wouldn't attack." The panelling was slightly damaged, either by a fist or stake and it dug into his shoulder blades.
"I forgot he knew what I was." Jonno had treated him more like a human than anyone else but he knew that Vlad was a "Predator, a murderer-" who he was speaking to now he had no idea and he gestured at the motionless body. "- and he's a slayer."
"He's meant to kill me." He kicked at an abandoned stake. "And I should want to kill him."
Sapphire eyes flicked back to the corpse. "What is wrong with me?" At the emphasised word Vlad sunk to the floor. He'd never regretted the emotion and conscience he possessed but…
It wasn't supposed to be this hard. She attacked him first! It was self-defence! Yet he wanted to gouge his eyes out in penance. He wondered if Jonno ever felt this way. Counting vampires as people, Jonno had killed far more than he but the slayer had never shown any guilt towards his actions and it made the vampire feel cold.
Would Jonno feel regret if he killed Vlad?
"What the devil is he doing?!" Valtov snarled in outrage after the Chosen One left the room.
"He just walked out!"
Ingrid shrugged. "He killed someone. Knowing my brother he's going to go and cry in a corner."
"Has he no respect for the council?!"
The vampiress smirked, making her way to the front of the room. "So I think now is a great time to finish considering my plan." Flicking non-existent dust off her shoulder she linked eyes with Phaelyss, prompting the vampire to come and stand beside her.
Valtov twitched as a member of the council hesitantly moved to Ingrid's side of the room.
"Very well." He sniffed, watching his supporters leave his side. "Ingrid Dracula, lead the way."
Have a brilliant Christmas everyone!