Elijah and Luca watched the frail little girl wobble into her apartment building, the rain falling on them harder. He barely felt it at all, like he was living in a box of glass. He could see the outside but not feel it, and Luca was staring at him knowingly.
"What's going on?" His nephew asked over the rolling thunder. Elijah just stayed quiet, looking at the dirty brick wall.
"I thought you hate humans."
"I do hate humans." He snapped and bared his teeth at the younger vampire. The raindrops falling around them reflected like crystals as time seemed to slow down. The crystalline rain ran down their faces as the silence pervaded between them.
"You sure have a funny way of showing it to this one."
"I am only being nice to her because you seemed to befriend her." Elijah's heart twinged after those words, and he ignored his nephews piercing gaze.
"You hate any of my human friends. Me liking them actually makes you treat them worse. You are a silent intimidator at best, and a passive aggressive ass at worst." Elijah just remained quiet as the thunder rolled around them, because he couldn't quite understand it himself.
"She reminds me of Sara." Luca's eyes widened just as the thunder and lightning flashed across the sky.
"The last time a woman reminded you of Sara was--" Luca was cut off by screaming happening in front of the apartment. They had drowned it out until then, but something the man who was screaming made them snap to attention.
"You're going to die soon, and I started moving on a long time ago from you. All you've meant to me is a paycheck and food delivery. I mean for fuck sake, we can't even have sex because you're so fragile! I'm a man, I have needs!" Elijah and Luca looked at each other as they realized what was going on.
"I thought you loved me." Suri's voice floated over to them. The two men dashed out of the alley to see a man towering over Suri. He was naked except for the blanket wrapped around his waist, and it did not take a genius to figure out what happened. Elijah went red with rage and stormed over to the man.
"Well you thought wrong." The other man spat and spun around, only to run right into Elijah's broad chest. Elijah could only heart the rolling thunder and the thundering heartbeats of the two humans in front of his. The man's heart had a slight uptick when he saw Elijah's, while Suri's heart was going a mile a minute.
"Get out of the way!" The man spat at him. Elijah gripped his fingers into the palm of his hand so as to not kill the man. He could not help the razor sharp fangs growing rapidly so they protruded from his mouth as he breathed heavily to restrain himself. Lightning flashed across the sky, darkening his face like a monster hiding in the shadows with glowing red eyes. The ginger man took a step back, worry etched in on his face.
"What the hell is your problem?" His voice was wavering like a harp string that was settling.
"What did you do?"
"That's none of your busi--" Elijah reached out and grabbed the blanket surrounding his junk and pulled the man towards him. He then proceeded to lift the man on his tiptoes with the cotton fabric, his eyes opening in fear. Suri had been walking towards the ally shakily, both of their hearts now pounding almost in sync.
"What did you do?" Elijah could not even get his answer before there was a strange thumping noise he heard.
"Suri!" Luca yelped and Elijah turned around, smelling blood in the air. He forgot about the piece of trash in his hands and spun around to see Suri collapsed on the ground like a ragdoll. In a flash Elijah was by her side after he yanked the blanket off her boyfriend and commandeered it, leaving the snowy man naked in the street.
"What the hell man! You're freaks!" The man screamed and ran back inside like a toddler stuck in the sand. Elijah knelt down next to her, and could hear her heartbeat becoming faint and almost nonexistent. Luca turned her over so she was not on her face and turned her face over. Her eyes were glazed over and a trickle of blood flowed from her mouth.
"Hey, hey, hey! What's wrong?" Elijah wrapped the semi-soaked blanket around her quivering body. She seemed frail like a snowflake, fitting with her pale snowy skin and crystalline eyes that were empty. Luca inspected her face as the rain became heavier, as if the sky itself was crying at the tragic scene.
"I think she had a heart attack. She's slipping away," Luca looked up at his uncle, both with the same frantic expression. Elijah had to admit it to himself, he had become attached to this little girl and he didn't know if he was ready to let her slip away right now. However, he also did not have the strength to do what was necessary to save her. Luca screwed his mouth into a frown and he said as Suri's life was slipping farther and farther away, while Elijah stood there frozen. His hands were shaking and he felt almost numb. The rain seemed to slow down, and he could see every clear drop fall from the sky.
"You are impossible." Luca pushed him back aggressively, pulling Elijah out of his head as his back hit the metal garbage bin behind him. Luca gently scooped the small girl's dwindling body up, with a gentleness that would make a soft breeze jealous.
"What are you doing?" Elijah asked numbly, feeling drops like tears falling down his cheeks.
"It's easy, I'm saving her life." Luca dashed around the corner and Elijah heard a loud crashing of glass signifying that his nephew had broken the door down. Elijah shot up like a bullet and followed suit, and saw that the glass door was shattered into powder like sand.
"Luca!" Elijah bellowed as he followed the man up the stairs. He caught up to him easily as he was barely using a fraction of his speed up the musty mothball stairs. Luca just ignored his uncle who was hot on his heels and taking deep breaths, as if he was sniffing something out.
"You can't turn her," Elijah hissed and wanted to grab the man but he was afraid of the impact it would have on the girl in his arms.
"I'm not going to, I'm not an idiot." He ran up the last squeaky set of brown steps and turned down the dirty hallway with a dark green carpet. The hallway was long and filled with about half a dozen doors and Luca turned to the first door to his right. Elijah took a deep breath and understood why he was here. He was filled with a spark of hope at the smell of sweets and frakenscene.
"Open up fata! I need your help!" Luca screamed through the door.
"Get out of here, you stupid blood sucker!" The southern voice bellowed on the other side. Elijah quickly grew enraged and was about to kick the door down before it swung open to reveal the small elderly man they all knew too well.
"Romano's, bring her inside." Kevin said and allowed them inside. The inside of the apartment looked like a step back in time, as if it was still the 40s. There were floral draped over the windows, and bookshelves crammed to the max. They had a dusty pink couch under their window, with a mahogany coffee table covered in magazines and mugs. China cabinets filled with old porcelain but even more were the waves of dust dancing in the air.
"Lay her on the couch." Kevin herded Luca towards the dusty and ancient piece of furniture. Holst walked out of the kitchen wearing a floral apron and oven mitts, holding a hot pan of blueberry muffins.
"What are they doing in here!" Holt screamed, with murderous eyes staring at Elijah.
"Honey, Suri needs our help." Holt looked over to the couch where Luca was gently placing her down, and Elijah was surprised that a cloud of dust did not rise when he settled her down on it. Elijah materialized next to Kevin who was checking her vitals, with a soft look on his face. She was growing paler every second, and Elijah could hear her heartbeat becoming almost non existent.
"Holt, can you please get me some yarrow and rosemary to help stabilize her heart, and then some lavender, rose and mugwort so I can make a pillow to sooth her." Holst immediately ran into the bedroom, bringing the muffin pan with him. Elijah was looming over the old witch, circling him like a shark as he whispered incantations that were gibberish to the two vampires. A little bit of colour was going back to her face, but for the most part she remained looking like she was on death's door.
"Zio," Luca called to the man, "Give the man a break." Elijah blinked away the starry dust and lowered his eyes to the ruby and gold Persain rug. Even though every fiber of his being was screaming at him to stay where he was in case the old witch did something funny, he managed to tear himself away and walk towards Luca. He then began to stalk around the dusty room, trailing water on the floor behind him as he fidgeted with his collar. Holt came barrelling out of the room, his tray of muffins replaced with a basket of herbs and cloth. The large man ran red faced over to Kevin and Elijah growled and followed close behind, unable to stop his instincts from lashing out. He was like their shadow, hovering over the duo like a minstrel of death as he watched with a hawk like tendency as the witch handled the herbs.
"Can you back off?" Holt stood up, showing that they were almost similar heights even though Elijah was still taller. Elijah growled again, fangs growing and body stiffening.
"Zio," Luca called out with a warning, looking ragged and tired. Whether it was from worry or from dealing with his older and aggressive uncle he did not know. Kevin crushed the rosemary and yarrow flowers in his hands, releasing a musty smell into the air. His hands glowed yellow as he chanted, the dust around the room gathering around his hand like a nebula. Tiny lights began to shine and Suri like fireflies dancing in the air, and the room seemed to sarken except for the lights. His rage subsided in awe as Kevin released his hands and the dust in his hands turned into little balls of yellow and green balls of fluffy light. It spilled over her body and began to dissipate like drops of water falling into a sea. She had an uptick in her heartbeat as it began to pick up and normalize, her face becoming more relaxed and regain colour. Elijah and Luca sighed collectively as they felt like a collective weight was taken off their shoulders.
"She needs to rest, she suffered from a severe heart attack. I will get her some new clothes so we can send her back downstairs to Conner." Both the vampires let out an aggressive hiss at the man's name.
"What happened?" Kevin sighed and asked as he began folding the rest of the dried herbs in the dried linen and tying it together. He placed it on the table and then walked to the grandfather armchair next to the china cabinet.
"All I can say is that he was naked, well I mean after I took that blanket from him." Kevin and Holt shared a knowing look with each other.
"You guys knew he was cheating, didn't you?" There was a darkness that spread through the room as the two men stayed silent.
"We had a suspicion." Holt muttered as he went to go retrieve his muffins from the bedroom. Kevin looked over to the girl, who was blissfully asleep but still soaked and soaking the couch.
"So why didn't you say anything?" Kevin looked guilty at Luca's question.
"I'm old, and not as powerful as I used to be. Holt and I have been trying to cure her in our spare time, and I have been able to push back a lot of the physical restrictions but no matter what we do I cannot stop her heart from weakening. I was so lucky that I was able to heal her today, and it just proves she doesn't have much time left. We thought that it was better to die amongst loved ones than alone and pitied." The guilt weighing on Kevin came crashing down amongst the other three as Holt came out from the bedroom.
"That sort of backfired on you. You almost became the death of her," Elijah growled, grabbing his shirt so hard he tore holes into it. The two supernatural beings grew both guilty and agitated, but they knew he was right more than anything.
"Is there anyone you know of that could heal her Kevin?" Luca looked towards the man trying to push past his uncle's rudeness. The air was heavy as he had a dark look on his face.
"If you could find a coven in America that would be your best bet, but it would have to be a high tier coven of Wiccan's or white witches for their healing magic. You two could also do it, but knowing Elijah that would be your last option." The two men had a stare down with each other, their eyes piercing daggers and lightning.
"How long has it been, five hundred years? Six? I've lost count since that fateful day."
"Shut up old man."
"Says the almost two and a half thousand year old man to the eight hundred year old one." Kevin chuckled and sunk into his chair.
"So, where would be our best bet to find any Wiccan's or white witches?" Holst placed the muffin tray on the ancient table and grumbled under his breath.
"Probably Maine, Alaska, or Wyoming. They avoid cities and Massachusetts has become unholy ground for most of my kind. You also could try New Orleans, but you may find more dark users than light." Kevin turned to the girl who had started shivering.
"Aren't you going to change her?" Luca and Elijah barked at the same time. Kevin and Holst shared a sad and knowing look.
"Aren't you taking her with you?" There was a horrible silence in the air as the revelations came crashing them down around them.
"Listen Elijah, we may have fallen out of contact but I know you. And I know exactly who she reminds you of," Elijah flinched at Kevin's soft words, "I trust that you'll do what you think is right." Elijah felt a pang in his chest as he stared at his old friend, realizing why he was older now than he should have looked. Even more, he felt grateful as well as sad as he nodded his head towards him.
"I'll make you proud, little lupo."