Chapter Ninety Six

Charlotte

I needed to act while Sara was still willing to listen to me, afraid she might withdraw again at any moment if I pressured her too hard. I kept my voice low and tried to sound as calm and gentle as I could.

"Sara, will you come back with us? At least speak to Darius, you owe him that much surely. Especially now you are with us again."

She shook her head biting her lip but I could see in her now open eyes that she wanted to.

"How can I face him now? After all you've shown me I put him through Charlotte? He will hate me, he'll be so angry and I don't blame him. I was selfish, only thinking of running from the pain, saving myself from it."

"I don't think so but in any case you owe him an explanation and I promise to stay with you until you ask me to leave. If you feel you can't go through with it at any point then I promise to respect your decision and bring you back here to Maggie's myself, but you have to try."

She sighed and took my hand with her trembling one,

"You would do that for me Charlotte?"

"Yes and for Darius too of course."

I waited as she thought about this rubbing at the scars on her face.

"Very well I'll come but you stay with me."

Peter and I waited while she packed her few belongings and wrapped herself in the heavy hooded coat making sure it shaded her scarred face. Then she hugged Maggie and thanked her for all her kindness before getting into the car and looking around curiously.

"I saw these in magazines Maggie read to me and on the TV just as flickering pictures but I never understood they were real. I didn't want to, I hated the outside world but it kept trying to intrude on me, on my thoughts. They are really very clever aren't they?"

"I guess you've never flown either?"

"Flown?"

She shook her head.

"No I came by sea with Maggie from Italy I think but I don't really remember. I was too traumatized at the time. I guess it must be very fast. Do we have to fly?"

Peter glanced at me and I shrugged,

"Not if you don't want to, we can drive, it just takes that much longer."

"Longer is good it gives me time to think what to say to him, I take it we are traveling straight to see Darius?"

"Only if its what you want, take your time but I think you should let him know you're back before he rings Maggie and learns for himself."

"Very well but what do I say?"

Peter sighed heavily and I held my breath wondering what he was about to say and hoping it wouldn't be too cruel or crude.

"How about hello, can I see you? God, the guy loves you he's not gonna kick your ass or curse you out. I thought I was a right royal pain in the ass but you're catching me up fast girl."

He didn't push her any further which was a relief but then I think he understood just how difficult this really was.

As we traveled Sara became more and more tense until Peter finally pulled over in a motel lot. He turned to smile reassuringly at her as she looked around nervously.

"Are we here? Is this where Darius lives?"

"Nope, but I thought you might like a break. We wouldn't spring him on you in any case but you might want to think about contacting him."

She shook her head biting her lip in agitation,

"I can't. What if he puts the phone down when he recognizes my voice? I wouldn't blame him but I couldn't handle the rejection."

"Girl, he's not going to reject you but you're gonna have to speak to him sooner or later. How about I ring and arrange for him to meet us somewhere? Neutral territory so to speak."

I thought she was going to refuse and Peter did too so he added,

"I could just tell him someone wants to speak to him. He doesn't need to know it's you until he gets here."

I really thought she might retreat back into herself as she wrapped her arms around her body and started to rock with distress so we both fell silent and waited. Then Peter got out,

"I'm gonna get a room for the night. Give us all a chance to relax a bit. We could hunt later too if you like Sara, it's been a while I understand."

Once Peter was gone Sara turned to me and I could see the distress in her eyes.

"I'm so scared Charlotte."

"Do you still love Darius?"

"Of course, how could I not? Everything I did was to save him from pain but it didn't did it? I got it horribly wrong rejecting him like that."

"No it didn't, he's been suffering as long as you have. He's hurt and confused. He doesn't know why you shut him out like that. You need to explain. Neither of you will get any peace until you do. You owe it to yourself Sara as well as him."

Darius

I left straight after the trial, if that's what it really was, personally I thought it was just a way for Aro to show he was still in control although I agreed our world would be much more stable without The Romanians or that bastard Caius around. I just wished I could have killed that fucker myself but at least he wouldn't hurt anyone else or ruin their lives with his lusts.

Thinking of him led to thoughts of Sara and that just depressed me. I wasn't fit company so I decided on a road trip in the general direction of Maggie's although I knew it was doubtful Sara would know I was there if I visited. It broke my heart to see her sitting there unresponsive, her once shining eyes now dull and unfocused. Didn't she understand that all I wanted was for her to look at me and smile? To put her arms around me and whisper my name has she had so many times before? Sometimes I thought I visited just to torture myself because she appeared to feel nothing anymore.

I blamed myself of course, I knew of Caius reputation but I took Sara anyway. It was like handing a child the keys to the sweet shop, he just couldn't resist. I couldn't bear to think of what the newborns had done to my sweet Sara but again I blamed Caius. I'd killed the newborns and yes, I had gloried in doing so. No one would ever speak of what happened and I had hoped by telling Sara that she would understand and come back to me.

Sulpicia told me about Maggie and what she had done and although I followed Sara she never spoke to me or looked at me again. It was as if I no longer existed in her world yet she was the only important thing in mine. I wondered at first if her retreat from the world would break the mating pull but it stayed just as strong, at least for me, so I had no choice but to wait and hope. Over the years the wait became automatic but the hope was hard to maintain.

I'd spoken to Carlisle Cullen looking for some help but he said there was little he could do or suggest. Vampire minds were just such complex things and there were so few incidences of the kind of thing Sara was trapped in. All he could do was hope for my sake that one day something or someone would be able to reach her and bring her back to the world…..and me.