"Let me go Alexandre." I said, my voice deadly calm, my eyes were murderous and I knew it. Alexandre snarled, but let my chin go, looking away. He sighed, then ran a hand through his hair.
"Why do you keep putting yourself in danger? Do you have a death wish or something? Why can't you just be happy and live, for me, if nothing else?" He blew out a breath, his posture slumped slightly. The words hurt because somewhere deep inside me I think I recognized there was a spark of truth to what he was saying. Was I trying to die?
"I don't understand why you always have to treat me like a broken vase you've pieced back together. I won't break that easily. I survived on my own without you for over thirty years!" I snapped at him, shocking myself and him.
"Yes, and then you got yourself kidnapped and killed." Alexandre snarled, and immediately stepped back from me like I had slapped him instead of the comment falling from his mouth. I felt angry tears build in my eyes and I clenched my fists so hard I felt my nails puncture the skin and the blood begin to drip on the floor. Alexandre reached out a hand to me, his expression changing to one of pained horror.
"Carys-I'm sorry.. I.." Alexandre stammered.
"Don't." I snarled at him, baring my teeth. "One of us needs to leave this room. NOW. Either move so that I can get by you or go yourself." My voice was a low and threatening growl I had never heard before-deadly serious, terrifying even to me. Alexandre looked hurt, but he backed up another step and bowed his head, then disappeared from the room. I sank into a chair beside the gurney, shaking. I hunched over, head in my hands and let myself cry. I don't know why I was being like this. Alexandre had never done anything but protect me and here I was destroying the one good thing I had found in my life, for what? Because he didn't want me to watch his brother alone? How many times had Luc attacked me? It's not like I had a good record here! I understood his concern, but the whole 'trying to die' thing! I slammed a fist against the wooden arm of the chair and heard it shatter. Was it true? Was that what I was doing?
"Why am I.. here?" Luc's voice croaked. I jerked and stood abruptly. "Is that..you?" Luc whispered, his eyes opening and closing slowly. "Why..aren't I..dead?" He wheezed. I stepped closer, staying out of range. He may be strapped down, but I was taking no chances. "It.. hurts.." He groaned. "So.. thirsty.." I hesitated for a moment before taking another step forward.
"Luc... Can you look at me?" I asked quietly.
"You're that female.." He panted and grimaced. "Can't move.. Why can't I move?" He began to panic. I heard his heartbeat increase.
"Your spine is broken. You tried to kill us, remember?" I said sourly. There was a beat of silence.
"Yes." He sighed. "End it."
"Excuse me?" I exclaimed, stepping next to the bed to look at his face. His eyes tried to focus on mine, but he couldn't hold the lids open. He swallowed dryly.
"End it. Kill me. Don't torture me.. Please. I deserve it, I know, but.. just give me peace." Luc took a shaking breath. "I saw her again. That's... good enough." He whispered. "Please. End it." I growled low in my throat.
"Nope-you don't get out that easy. I'm not going to torture you, but I'm going to bring you back so Alexandre doesn't feel guilty about letting his friend kill his brother. Maybe while your body heals you can sit and stew on what you've done. I'll leave the rest up to Cornelius and Alexandre to decide." I ripped my wrist open with my nails and forced the wound to his mouth. He resisted only a second before greedily drawing at the wound. Then he shut his mouth and refused any more, so I withdrew, turning to leave the room-hungry myself again, after the blood loss.
"Can I.. see her again?" Luc's voice sounded a little stronger. I paused at the door.
"Who?" I asked him.
"My niece-your daughter?" There was a long pause. "May I see her.. At least once more?" He pleaded softly. I turned back to look at him. He had his eyes closed, but his face was pinched as if afraid that I would refuse.
"What guarantees do I have that you won't try to kill her again?" I snapped and Luc's face twitched.
"I won't! I swear it! You can have both males here, holding me back, restrain me! Chain me! Hold her to the window! Break my spine again! I don't care! I just want to see my sister's face one more time." Luc desperately begged.
"She's not your sister. Your sister is dead." I replied cruelly. A tear slipped from the corner of Luc's eye.
"I know." He whispered. "But your daughter could be her twin, and I could never do anything to harm her, not after seeing her. It's like having her back again. I wonder what her laughter will sound like. Will it sound like hers?" Luc's voice hitched and I softened slightly. Either he was a damn good actor or he actually meant what he was saying.
"We'll see." I said quietly and left the room to the sound of Luc openly sobbing.
As dawn broke, more people started to drift away in groups of two or threes. The last group to leave worried audibly about Rory, who had chosen to stay.
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" A woman's voice asked him. Rory laughed lightly.
"I'm confident, vampires don't really like me much, I still have my cell, and I can get out of here whenever I need on my bike." Rory assured her.
"I don't know, those two seemed to like you plenty." A man's deep voice answered. It sounded like the chocolate smelling man from before.
"I know! Isn't it intriguing!?" Rory laughed again.
"But doesn't that put you in danger?" The man asked with concern.
"You know, I really don't think so." Rory replied thoughtfully. There was a noise of concern from the humans. "Look, I'll keep in contact, and I'm still going to be working and accompanying you guys to events and things. There's another one scheduled tomorrow, right? Not with your group-but you can check in with the other group if you're worried. Honestly though, I'll be fine." After a few more complaints and worries, the group finally left and Rory came sauntering through the kitchen from the ballroom to find me sitting on the grand staircase.
"You heard?" He asked rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously.
"Yeah. Maybe your friends are right. I wouldn't blame you if you chose not to stay." I responded flatly, cradling my chin in my hand, my elbow on my knee.
"What? No I want to. I mean.... if you'll still have me." He blushed. I sighed, letting my gaze look beyond him at the front door.
"The injured vampire-he's dangerous. He's tried to kill us twice now, and Alexandre more than that in the past. He nearly succeeded in killing me. In this very room." I could see Rory flinch out of the corner of my eye as I said this. I looked him dead in the eye. "He's woken up." I said. Rory blanched.
"I don't understand. Are you holding him hostage? Why did he try to kill you? Why is he still alive?" Rory tripped over his questions. I blinked. I had expected fear, but not this.
"He's Alexandre's brother. He bears a grudge for an incident that happened between them a century ago, but that's not my story to tell. We do currently have him restrained out of necessity, since he keeps attacking, and there is some difficulty with ending his life due to their tie." I explained and Rory nodded.
"I understand." Rory said thoughtfully. "It's his brother after all." I looked at him strangely.
"You mean you're not going to ask me any more questions about what's going on, and just take it on faith?" I asked him with shock.
"Nah, vampire politics and all that." Rory rubbed the back of his head. "Besides, I'm too curious about you guys to leave at this point. If it helps though-there's one way we can be sure there's no danger from the other vampire. Most vampires do find me repulsive after all..." Rory offered. My eyes lit up.
"Follow me." I told him and led him to the medical room.
"Luc." I called from the doorway. "You have a visitor." I motioned fro Rory to proceed, then followed him in. "This is Rory, he's going to be staying with us for a while. He wanted to introduce himself." Rory walked forward. "He's still mostly paralyzed." I told Rory, so he moved within Luc's line of sight and grinned softly. The grin increased as Luc's nose scrunched.
"What are you? You reek! Get away from me." Luc complained and Rory turned to me with a smile.
"I don't think we'll have a problem." Rory said.
"Nope." I agreed.
"Just, get away from me already! You're polluting my air!" Luc wheezed and Rory sauntered away, hips swaying.
"Well I guess that settles that. Now, which room can I have?" Rory asked, rubbing his hands together. I sighed.
"Let me go find Alexandre." I replied, then grimaced. That's right, we'd just been fighting. Rory grabbed my hand.
"Wait-Carys! Was it? Your...daughter? May I see her?" Rory asked eagerly. I sighed again.
"Yes I suppose I promised, didn't I? Follow me." I led the way to the nursery.