With Shards of Broken Glass
Mar. 3rd, 2022 11:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladydeathfaerie posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
marysuevirusTitle: With Shards of Broken Glass
Chapter Six: Fragile
Fandom: Anita Blake universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: mature. this one is set in the darkness that is the Beyond Death universe. language, murder, gore, non-con, violence and sex apply as warnings. possibly others. we'll see when we get there
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of LKH. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar. though i do not view this as an actual MSV story, the original characters established in Beyond Death still belong to their creators and i am merely borrowing them for the purpose of this fic
Author's Notes: so... hey. here's a fic that i probably should have just let go. but a dive down the Wikipedia hole a couple months back brought this to life. this fic starts roughly two to three months after the ending of Beyond Death
With Shards of Broken Glass - The Index
"What!?" Her voice was sharp and terse as she spat that single word into the phone. To any normal observer, it might seem that she was angry at having been woken by the incessant chiming of her cell phone and, by extension, the person on the other end of the line.
But he immediately knew better. He'd been on the receiving end of that tone more than once over the years, so he could recognize it for what it was. Fear. And the blatant sound of her distress put him on edge.
"How long have you been having nightmares?" he asked, voice cool and completely empty. If he'd been talking to any other person, he knew they would have missed the faint hint of concern buried deep under the seemingly innocuous question. But he knew she heard it. The faint chuckle she gave, one that lacked warmth and mirth, told him as much. He could just imagine her running her free hand through the mess that was her hair.
"Last night? Last week? Forever? Which nightmare are we talking about?" There was nothing in her voice to give anything away.
Their conversation fell to silence for a short length of time as he processed the meaning of her response. One heartbeat, then two. At the start of the third, he let go a heavy sigh. It was going to be one of those days. "We need to talk. I'm on my way there now. Meet me in the lot in fifteen minutes."
"I've got to shower," she replied. He heard the rustle of sheets as she slid from the bed. There was a faint touch of distaste in her tone. It told him the nightmare had been intense enough to induce night sweats. He grunted, having expected such a response. He imagined she was already on her way to the dresser to dig out clean clothing. Likely something comfortable and relaxed. She was still on leave from work, so there was no need to dress up. He knew from experience that she would take the clothes into the bathroom with her.
"Fifteen minutes. Not a minute longer," he replied in confirmation. In blatant reminder of what would happen if she wasn't there in the allotted time. The line went dead. He could imagine just how disgusted she was with him, could almost hear the clatter of her phone as she tossed it down on some hard surface. Too bad for her. They had things to talk about. New shit and old shit. Some of it was very much past its freshness date.
Traffic was heavier than usual this time of night. He found himself caught behind a semi that moved so slowly, he gave consideration to passing it. But doing so would cut down his travel time, and he knew she needed time to get her head together. Fifteen minutes was no where near what she would need to be capable of talking to him without committing murder. But it was the most she'd get. And it would be even less if he passed the semi. So he stayed where he was and considered everything he'd seen and heard. Everything that would pass between the two of them when he got her alone someplace.
It was almost enough to make him turn around and go back the way he came. But he shoved that feeling aside and continued onward. Whether she was willing to admit it or not, she needed to talk to him. Hell, she should be talking to someone with about a hundred degrees on their wall, but he was all she had at the moment. So he was going to have to do for the time being.
Twenty minutes later saw him pulling into the lot behind the Circus. Aedan waited for him by the door, an empty expression on her face that hid what she was feeling from anyone who didn't know her well. But he could see the touch of tension in her shoulders, in the way she forced herself to look relaxed and at ease. He didn't bother to park the car in an empty space, simply pulled up close to where she leaned against the wall and put a foot on the brake pedal.
Aedan stared at him through the window a moment or two, more than likely wondering how much shit she'd find herself in if she turned and fled down into the bowels of the Circus. It didn't take her long to come to the conclusion that doing so would be a bad idea. Something passed through her eyes, then she sighed and pushed away from the wall. It took three steps for her to cross to the passenger side door. The door swung open easily at her tug on the handle, allowing her to take the empty seat beside him. Cold air swirled into the car's cabin, fighting with the heater for dominance. Then the door shut with a deep thud and Aedan pulled the seat belt across her chest. He studied her a moment before putting the car in gear and steering it toward the lot's exit.
Silence rang loudly between them. It was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. It just was. Aedan volunteered nothing, her gaze locked on the windshield before her. It was highly likely she was mentally preparing herself for what was to come. And she was right to do so. Because he had so much to say to her. And that was before they got around to dealing with her shit.
He kept his focus on the road, navigating them in and out of traffic without incident. It was starting to thin out, allowing him to go a touch faster, to slip around other cars that much easier. As he drove, he considered how to start this party off. Whatever topic of conversation he chose, he knew it wouldn't go over well. Which was why they were heading to a very small, out of the way place where the food was good and privacy was almost guaranteed. No one needed to witness any show of temper Aedan might have. Nor did they need to be privy to the shit that plagued her dreams. Some things, no one should have to see.
The diner was small, located in a neighborhood far from the Circus and the crowds constantly seeking out the freak show. It was quiet and well lit, which were both points in its favor. The interior was a little worn, giving it a well loved appearance. He knew from experience that it had excellent coffee and a huge breakfast platter. If he knew Aedan, she'd barely eaten anything in the past few days. He'd seen a t-shirt in a store somewhere once that he should have gotten for her. The statement on it was a perfect testament to her life. 'I thrive on caffeine, chaos, and curse words.'
Aedan got out of the car without a word and headed for the diner before he could even get the keys out of the ignition. By the time he was climbing from the car, she was pushing her way through the door. A waitress approached, obviously intent on seating her. Aedan ignored the woman. She went straight to a booth in the far corner, away from the half dozen patrons who sat near the windows, and put her back against the wall.
The poor waitress was still standing where Aedan had left her, a faintly confused look on her face, when he stepped inside the diner. Edward offered her a smile meant to placate. "Ignore my friend. She's rude and doesn't even know what manners are. Can I trouble you to bring us a cup of coffee and a Coke?"
"Of course," the woman nodded. She offered him a timid smile, then ambled off to get the requested drinks. Edward's smile disappeared. He headed toward the table Aedan had claimed, intent on giving her a much needed lesson in politeness. Even if she wasn't feeling it, she could damn well fake it.
Her eyes were closed when he neared the table. But he knew without a doubt she was aware of his approach. The circles under her eyes were not prominent, but they attested to the fact that she'd been having a nightmare. Probably more than one. All of the shit in the woman's head... He was surprised she was still sane.
"Aedan," he began, sliding into the seat across from her. He didn't like having his back to the door, but something told him nothing would be able to sneak up on them. He was fully intent on giving her a ration of shit for her already terrible behavior, but her eyes opened and she gave him a look that stopped the words in his throat.
"After I've had the Coke I assume you ordered for me," she responded softly. "Let me have that, then you can chew my ass off. Or do whatever it is you brought me here to do."
Edward stared at her for a single beat of his heart, then a second. He sighed and gave a brisk nod of his head. The waitress, much less shocked than she had been only a minute or two ago, approached with the drinks he'd ordered. She gave them a brief look of speculation, then settled the drinks onto the table. The coffee was placed before him, while the Coke landed in front of Aedan. In the time it took the woman to put menus down on the table, Aedan had swallowed down half of her carbonated beverage and closed her eyes in bliss.
"Another Coke, please," she requested of the server, catching the woman before she stepped away from their table. Aedan's eyes popped open to land directly on the waitress. Said eyes were deep and dark, swimming with the things that plagued her in her sleep. Edward didn't know if the other woman saw it, but her smile became something soft and gentle.
"Of course," she agreed, already starting to turn away.
"Also. Please forgive me for my rudeness. I've had a bad night," she offered, the tiredness evident on her face.
"No worries, miss," the waitress responded. "I've been doing this a long, long time. I've seen a lot in my days. You folks take time to look over the menu while I fetch you a second Coke. And I'll be sure to keep them coming."
He waited until the server was gone before he leveled Aedan with a look. She'd already picked up her menu to look it over, her focus seemingly fixed to the foldout of bright, laminated pages. He knew better. She was keenly aware of him, readying herself for whatever onslaught he chose to unleash upon her.
Edward sighed and considered, yet again, where to start. They needed to talk about the state of her mental health, which was obviously not good. Not if the nightmares were plaguing her with any frequency. And he had no reason to believe they weren't. There was far too much locked up inside of her head for him to think otherwise. And it looked as if she planned on adding a new horror to the fire that fueled her hellish dreams.
To be honest, he had been a little bit surprised when she and Jean-Claude had arrived at the gala the night before. He'd heard rumors that the Master of the City might be in attendance, of course, but he hadn't put any stock in the whispered statements floating around the crowd. His research had told him that the Anubis Foundation was the complete opposite of what Jean-Claude believed. He'd long been the poster boy for the vampire council. Having him out to the public, having his image as part of every last bit of their media blitz, had been a stroke of brilliance on their part. Putting the man's face out there was the best way he could think of for the vampires pulling the strings to say 'See? We're beautiful and we're harmless and we just want to be your friends.'
So seeing Jean-Claude stroll into that event last night like he owned the damn world had been, perhaps, a minor glitch in his plan. To see Aedan on his arm, head held high and every last bit of her 'fuck the world' attitude in place, had been disheartening. Because he'd known immediately that she was there out of some twisted, bizarre sense of duty.
"You had balls being at the gala last night. On Amelia Turner's arm," she said softly, focus still given over to the menu before her. Interesting opening sally.
"I could say the same about you simply showing up at that freak show," he returned pointedly.
Blue-grey eyes peered at him over the top of her menu. "Interesting choice of words," she commented, almost a murmur, then returned to looking at her menu. Edward let go a sigh and counted to ten, then lifted his own menu. He was not going to open that can of worms. All it would bring about was an argument and that wasn't what he'd come here for. Well, at least, not that particular argument.
"Aedan." It was little more than her name, in the mildest tone he could manage. But it made her twitch ever so slightly. He knew because he heard the unique noise that the laminated pages in her hand made when they were shifted suddenly.
"I asked you first." There might have been a touch of defensiveness in her voice.
"Technically, you didn't ask," he pointed out. He could well imagine the frown she wore at that.
"There's something strange going on with the Anubis Foundation." There was nothing in her voice to let him know what she was thinking. And he couldn't see her face to try and judge her emotions based on the look she gave him. "They never should have sent Jean-Claude an invitation. Asked his permission to gather in his city? Yes. Invitation? No way in hell. He's very much in love with being out. Most of the vampires are. It makes it so much easier for them. The members of the Anubis Foundation want to slink back into the shadows and take the entirety of the vampire race with them. They think humans are cattle and beneath them. So they are either seriously off their fucking rockers to think that they could ever get Jean-Claude to agree to their idiotic demands or they honestly think they have something on him that can fucking convince him to join them in their dark crusade to make vampires scary and evil again. Or there's a third, scarier option I haven't even considered yet."
She fell silent and took a few moments to contemplate her menu.
"There's something strange going on there and I plan to find out what it is," she added. Softly. Her voice was almost a whisper, making him think she'd tried to say it without his hearing her.
"Aedan," he sighed, setting his menu down. He glared at her, fairly certain she could feel it through the glossy, laminated pictures she held. "Despite what you might think, it is not your job to investigate those people."
That got her attention. The menu lowered enough that he could see her eyes and the expression that lived in her look. It was a look of disbelief peppered with the ever present anger. "Not my job?" she asked him, as if she couldn't believe he'd actually said that to her.
"No. It is not your job. No matter what you believe, you are not responsible for every little thing that goes on in St. Louis! You're a human being and you have limits. There's no reason to get yourself involved with the Anubis Foundation."
"Says the asshole who showed up on the arm of my biggest nightmare in high school," she said, voice and face empty of any emotion.
"I didn't expect you to be there," he told her steadily. His words brought a snort from her, letting him know exactly what she thought of that statement.
"You shouldn't have been there, either. Not as yourself. And not as Ted Forrester. Not at all!" she admonished, not even bothering to respond to his two previous statements. Her tone told him clearly what she thought of them. "Ted's the name you use on all your official documents. Including your federal documents."
"I wasn't aware you cared," he responded in a light tone, trying to take away some of the heaviness that cloaked the two of them. She didn't go for it, This time, she laid her menu on the table and stared at him openly.
"I'm not even dignifying that one, Edward. What happens if someone at that party starts digging into who you are? You think the vampires won't be able to find any official information on Ted Forrester? You think they can't dig into the government's business as if it was their own? You think I want to rescue you from certain death again?"
The last question was painted thickly with her anger. But not thickly enough to hide the fear that lingered in it. Not thickly enough to hide the worry that lived in it. She was afraid. Afraid for him. Afraid of what losing him would mean to her. What it would do to her. She, who had grown up believing that she belonged nowhere, to no one, was afraid of what would happen to her if she lost the only blood family she recognized.
Edward sighed. He should have expected such a reaction from her. He'd claimed her as his family, and she'd claimed him as hers. And by doing so, by accepting her for who and what she was, he'd made himself a target for emotions she'd long feared having. Emotions she'd long kept bottled up inside, away from even herself. In the course of a few short months, she'd gone from having almost no one in her life to care about to having far too many people that she loved and worried over. That loved and worried over her in return. Knowing that there were people out there who cared about her so intensely scared her in ways that death and violence didn't. And it was very obvious she didn't know how to deal with it.
"I always have a plan, Aedan. Always. You know that. How can you think I wouldn't go into a situation like the one I was in last night without having some kind of plan?" He made sure to ask the question in as soft a tone as he could manage in the hopes that she wouldn't think he was chastising her. There was nothing of emotion in his voice. He knew better than to think she would accept such a thing from him. Their entire relationship had been too unemotional for her to think it anything but a trick at this point in time. But he made sure she heard the honesty. Made sure she knew that he would never intentionally put himself at risk. Not when he had Donna and the kids to go home to. Not when he had her in his life.
He stared at her intently, waiting to see what her answer would be. And he studied her quietly, waiting for the moment she let her guard down and he'd be able to see what she felt. See it, he did. It was only there for a second or two, just a flash of something too terribly human at the back of her eyes. But he saw it. The doubt and the fear and the worry. And the faint flicker of surprise and tenderness. Then she blinked and it was all gone, replaced by that blank stare of hers. The one he'd come to hate so deeply in the past few weeks and months. The one that made her seem cold and untouchable. Almost inhuman.
It was a look that should never have found a home on the face of someone who had so much life to live and so much to offer to the people she loved.
"Your plan didn't keep you from being taken by Vittorio. It didn't keep you from almost getting killed," she reminded him. The comment brought a frown to his face. Because she was right and he hated that she was right. "I don't want to go through that again, Edward."
"I don't want you to go through it, either," he told her. And he didn't. Not only because she was a terribly huge part of his life now. He didn't want to her go through something like that again because he didn't want her to lose any more of her humanity. Didn't want her to give any more of it up. She'd killed a part of herself when she'd gone to Obsidian Butterfly for help. And when she'd torn through Vittorio's people like tissue paper in her attempt to rescue him. He'd seen the aftermath of her rescue mission. She'd destroyed... No, he corrected himself. She'd decimated her enemies in terrible, torturous ways. And then she'd done the same to save Jean-Claude.
"Then why did you give those bastards your name?" she asked softly.
Their waitress arrived then, with a smile on her face and second glass of Coke for Aedan. She dropped the beverage before his companion, then tugged her order pad and pen from a pocket of her apron. The pen hovered over the pad and she shot them a look, one at a time, that said she was ready to take their orders. "What are you having, folks?" she asked, just to make sure they knew she was ready.
Edward glanced at Aedan and motioned that she should go first. She shot him a frown before turning a tired smile on their waitress. "I want the breakfast platter. And an order of onion rings," Aedan told the waitress. The woman's pen moved quickly across the pad of paper in her other hand.
It was only a moment later that she looked up at Edward. He gave her a smile, nodding his head toward Aedan. "Same as she's having. Minus the onion rings." He thought he heard Aedan mutter something under her breath but when his gaze flicked her way, she was staring out into the darkness beyond the plate glass window.
"Very good," the waitress said, scooping the menus up off the table top. "I'll have those onion rings for you in a jiffy, miss." Then she wandered off to put their order in.
"You need to rethink the notion that its your job to investigate the Anubis Foundation. Quit putting your life on the line for every little thing you think is off," Edward told her as soon as they were once more alone. Aedan turned her gaze back to him, the look in her eyes telling him that she not only was she ready for a fight, she was going to pick it.
"And you need to stay away from Amelia Turner. She's a class A cunt and she deserves to die," Aedan spat in a hateful voice, carefully kept low so no one else heard her. For a moment, he was caught up on the crude language she'd used. Not that she didn't use crude language. But it had been a very long time since she'd used that particular kind of crude language. He thought she'd given it up. Apparently, Amelia Turner was still a very sore spot with her.
For a moment, Edward was back under that tree, watching a very young and very frightened version of the woman across from him dealing with a very hateful Amelia Turner. He was, to this day, still curious as to whether or not Aedan would have carried through on her threat to bury Amelia where no one would find her.
"I can't do that, Aedan," he said softly. Regretfully. He couldn't imagine the bad memories seeing her nemesis had brought back to Aedan.
"Sure you can," she shot back, her voice sharp. "You just walk away and don't look back. No doubt Amelia will find someone else to act as her eye candy."
"I can't. I'm working a job. I was hired by a very distraught family in Seattle to discover what happened to their daughter. The only information they had was that she had some how gotten caught up with something called the Anubis Foundation," he explained to her patiently. Aedan stared at him a moment. There was still tension in her posture, but it was starting to lessen. He saw it in the way her eyelids drooped a moment before becoming intent and focused again. "Amelia Turner was a convenient and easy way in. Despite being a mere human with no talents to speak of, she is some how a part of them. I'm using her as a way to find out what happened to this girl."
Aedan was silent a moment or two, simply regarding him with nothing in her eyes for him to read. Then a dark look slid through them and she offered him a smile that was anything but nice. "I can find out what happened to her."
He knew exactly what she was offering. She was willing to waltz into the middle of Gustav's little group of homicidal vampires and use powers she would be better served keeping hidden to get the information for him. He let a deep frown slide across his face and his eyes were ice cold when he caught her stare. "You will not endanger yourself any further than you already have to find out what happened to my clients' daughter!" He was careful to keep the girl's name from touching his lips. Because it was all she'd need to run headlong into the middle of nothing but trouble. "Gustav will be out for blood after you made a fool of him by verbally down dressing Amelia Turner."
He kept to himself the fact that Aedan's old high school nemesis was involved with Gustav in some way. Aedan didn't need anymore fuel for the fire of hatred that blazed inside of her where Amelia was concerned. After watching their interaction the evening before, he was convinced that she would have done permanent harm to the other girl back in high school if he hadn't intervened and gotten her away from the preparatory hell to which her father had consigned her. There was a strong possibility she would yet do it if she was pushed too far.
"Let him. Let him come for me. I'll destroy him the same way I destroyed Vittorio and everyone else who got in my way," she snapped, anger and exhaustion eating away at her control.
"Is that what happened to your brother?" he asked, turning the conversation away from last night and toward the horrors that haunted her dreams. "Is that what would have happened to your father if you'd had the opportunity?"
Aedan blinked at him, then put her shoulders against the bench behind her. Her arms crossed themselves tightly over her chest, as if to prevent him from getting closer. Or to keep something inside. It made Edward wonder if he'd discovered the truth of her half-brother's disappearance. Or if he'd even gotten in the general vicinity of the truth. To this day, Aedan had never told anyone what had happened that night in the darkness. He wished she could see what she'd looked like that night, pale and silent and covered in blood that mostly wasn't hers. How she'd struggled to remain calm and focused while she'd attempted to answer Dolph's questions, while she'd attempted to give him some kind of version of the truth, while she'd slipped into shock.
Since they were speaking of such things...
"Tell me about the dreams," he instructed. His tone saw her body language shifting once more. Tension came back to life in an instant. Her hands tightened their hold on her arms, as if to ensure that protective barrier was still strong. Still standing in the face of questions she didn't want to answer.
Her mouth opened and closed as she searched for the right thing to say. Then her gaze became cold and distant. He heaved a sigh. She was doing exactly what he'd hoped she wouldn't. Stubbornness had taken control and she was clamming up. "Aedan," he began, with perhaps a touch too much concern in his voice.
She frowned at him, eyes dark and filled with bitterness. "There's nothing to tell."
"Damn it, Aedan," he snapped, then had to halt the lecture that he wanted to give. Their waitress showed up with their meals, settling a platter of food before both of them. The onion rings Aedan had ordered came last, along with a faintly sheepish look from their server.
"I'm sorry about the onion rings, hon. They should have been up before now, but there was a misunderstanding with the cook." The woman's apology was soft and gentle, as if she sensed the state Aedan was in. Aedan had told her she'd had a bad night, of course, but the waitress' demeanor went beyond that required for a simple bad night.
"Its okay," Aedan replied, offering the waitress a brief smile meant to suggest that things were fine. It was obvious by looking at her that things were far from fine. The waitress, professional to the core, nodded her head and said nothing more about it.
"Let me top off your Coke, then I'll leave you two to eat in peace," she said. She scooped Aedan's empty glass up and stepped away from the table. Edward stared across the table at his companion. She was ignoring him, her gaze turned to the darkness pressing up against the sheet of glass that made up the wall of their booth. There was so much to talk about, and she knew it. She was doing what she could to avoid a discussion altogether. Maybe, at one time, he would have let her have her privacy in the matter. But not anymore. Not when he could look at her and see that she was coming undone. She was coming undone rapidly. She needed help. She needed it last month. He planned on convincing her to get it. Even if he had to beat her into agreeing.
He waited for the waitress to return and deposit Aedan's glass of Coke before her. "Here you go, hon. Let me know when you're ready for another one." The comment earned their waitress a silent nod from Aedan, her gaze never drifting away from the window. Their server turned to him so that she could top off his coffee, then offered him a faintly hopeful smile and flicked her gaze toward Aedan. She was gone without a word, leaving him alone with a handful of problems bundled up into one frustrating human being.
How the hell was he going to get her to open up to him?
Silence stretched tight between them as he continued to consider ways to broach the subject of her deteriorating mental health and she continued to ignore him. Somehow, she managed to keep her gaze on the window and eat her meal without spilling it all over the place at the same time. How she'd learned to do something like that, he couldn't begin to guess. He might have allowed himself to ponder it if there weren't already so many other things he had to ponder where she was concerned.
After five minutes of absolute silence, he decided that a head on approach was the best way to go. Possibly the only way to go.
"Look, Aedan," Edward said, choosing his words carefully. She didn't respond, didn't look at him, but he saw the way her shoulders pulled slightly with tension. She was definitely listening. He knew that tension would get worse as he went on. It was pretty much a given that she wasn't going to like what he had to say. "I don't know what Carter Solomon did to you. I don't think I want to know because knowing would likely only make me want to kill him again and I can't kill him twice."
She said nothing to that. Not even to comment that she could make it possible for him to kill the man twice. What she did do was close herself off from him even further. Something he hadn't thought she would be capable of accomplishing. She was already pretty damn closed off.
"Whatever that man did... Its still playing in to everything you do today. Here and now. It works its hardest to sabotage your relationships. With everyone." He made sure his tone was as gentle as possible. Because if he even once sounded like he was using his normal tone of speech, he'd lose her. She'd get up and leave and she'd run. Maybe not in the physical sense. But she would definitely run in the emotional sense. "You need to find help, Aedan. Before things spiral so far out of your control that you won't be able to grab hold of them again."
He watched as she set the fork down, the metal of the utensil clinking softly against the stoneware platter her meal had come on. She didn't look at him, simply kept staring out at the darkness. Maybe she thought she could find the answers she needed within the inky black that enveloped them. Or maybe she was so lost she didn't know which way to turn.
"Its already starting, Aedan. I can see it just looking at you. No doubt everyone else you care about can see it, too. And when you add in all of the things you've seen in recent months, the things you've had to do... Aedan, you're going to lose yourself if you don't get all of the horrible, bloody, evil, corrupt things out. None of us, no one you claim as family, wants to see that happen. And it will happen. Sooner rather than later, by the looks of the dark circles under your eyes."
She kept her face toward the glass, but that didn't prevent him from seeing a single tear cling to the bottom edge of her jaw for a moment before it dropped off and disappeared into the abyss that lived between the edge of the table and the bench.
Slowly, carefully, he reached his hand out across the table so that he could rest it on hers. She was shaking, so very slightly that touch was the only way to detect it, and her hand was cold. "It took a long time to find you, to accept that you were blood and that I wanted you in my life. I don't want to lose that, Aedan. I don't want to lose you. I can face down a lot of things that scare most people. I won't bat an eyelash. But I cannot face the possibility of losing you. That scares the living hell out of me."
Two more crystalline droplets fell off her chin.
"Please, Aedan. Please. Get help. Before its too late."
~*~*~*~*~
The floor of Danse Macabre was packed with people. There were the regulars, who had a favorite person they liked to dance with. There were the gawkers, visitors from out of town who wanted to get up close and personal with the members of the preternatural. There were vampires and shifters who came because it offered something of a safe haven. There were the thrill seekers and the curious and everyone in between. They laughed and drank and danced and flirted. And they made him a good deal of money.
Jean-Claude leaned against the railing running around the balcony that edged the upper level, staring down at the massed crowed on the first floor of the club. The air was thick with the smell of lust and desire. With blood and hunger. With power. Music pulsed from the speakers, an auditory stimulation that drove people to dance with one another. One didn't need to have a vampire's heightened vision to see the patrons grinding their hips together, an action that was as close to sex as they could have without taking their clothes off.
It was a veritable feast for the senses.
He might have spent more time indulging his senses in the buffet of humanity laid out below him, but his nostrils were assaulted with the heavy, cloying scent of floral perfume. A perfume he recognized immediately, as he'd smelled it just last night. It should have been impossible to catch that scent amidst the sea of bodies awash in deodorants, perfumes, colognes, lust, and blood. But it worked its way into his senses anyway. He straightened from the railing and glanced to his right. Amelia Turner stood only a few feet away, her gaze locked on him. There was a hopeful look on her face that made him thankful for Truth. The other man stood between himself and his eager visitor, keeping her at a distance until he could decide as to whether or not he wished to speak with her.
Jean-Claude considered the woman a moment. He knew she was here because she hadn't had the opportunity to sell him on whatever it was that Gustav had planned for her to try and sell to him last evening. Aedan had put an effective end to that. Her antagonism for the other woman had been thicker than the threads of power that had curled around every individual present at that farce of a gala the night previous. It had been something of a surprise to learn that small bit about Aedan's past. His human servant was ever tight-lipped about her life before she'd come to him. He'd been intrigued and pleased to have learned that much.
Which was more than he'd learned about Aedan's sudden interest in the Anubis Foundation. He was well aware that their presence in his city meant nothing but trouble. He'd considered denying their request for entry into St. Louis because he'd been as sure then as he was now that the group was up to no good. Common sense had risen to the fore to suggest that he allow them entry in order to determine what, exactly, that no good was. It was both fortuitous and terrible that Aedan had decided that she needed to investigate the group. It had saved Jean-Claude finding someone to go and spy for him. But it had put her back in the cross hairs. And he had no doubt that there were cross hairs. If they hadn't already been there to begin with.
His gaze stayed on Amelia Turner as she waited to pass by Truth. He had no desire to speak with the woman. He wanted nothing to do with whatever it was that Gustav had sent her here to talk about. He wasn't so naïve as to believe that there was nothing untoward about the Anubis Foundation. They were after something. And, somehow, he was part of their master plan.
There was some kind of master plan. He wasn't some newly born vampire to think that the group was simply the vampire version of a gentleman's club. He knew well enough that the Anubis Foundation had a long, dubious, dark history. He knew that they believed humans were far inferior to vampires and were little more than cattle. He'd seen it last evening in the way they'd stared at Aedan. Aedan, who had felt it her duty to walk into the middle of that viper's den in an attempt to discover what it was they were after. And he'd allowed that to happen, even though he knew far more about them than he'd dared tell her.
The little he'd told her about the organization the night he'd received their invitation had been the truth. Those were all things he knew about the Anubis Foundation. But he also knew other things about them. Things that were not very nice. He knew that they were responsible for far too many deaths across the globe, that they actively sought to sow discord and distrust between humans and vampires. He also knew that the council publicly decried their activities and had effectively made the group's members outlaws and outcasts, but such views were merely a front. Many members of the council liked the discord and distrust. Many of them secretly encouraged such actions. Many wanted to see humans turned into little more than a handy food supply for them and their friends.
He did not like that Aedan had so easily insinuated herself into the center of whatever it was Gustav had come to St. Louis to accomplish. Of course, it was entirely possible that she would have been involved simply because she was his human servant. He liked that idea less than he did having her do so on her own. They were now both involved and there was little he could do to rectify that beyond seeing how the entire thing played out. For both of them. And the only way for that to happen was for him to take the next step.
"You may allow her to pass, Truth," he said. Very few people would likely have heard him, given the volume of the music that thumped through the speakers and the voices that rose up to be heard over it. He knew, however, that Truth and anyone else with enhanced hearing within a certain range would hear him loud and clear. Truth held his position for a moment longer, then shifted to the side and angled himself so that he could sweep one arm toward Jean-Claude in a gesture that saw Amelia Turner starting forward far too eagerly.
"Thank you so much for seeing me, Jean-Claude!" she beamed as she approached. He made sure to offer her a faint, brief smile. Then he made sure the look on his face was neutral as he waited to hear what she was trying to sell him. "This is my first time coming here. This place is amazing! And so crowded!"
"Thank you. Danse Macabre is quite popular with a certain crowd," he replied. There was no invitation for further conversation. Which she didn't seem to grasp, because she continued on without bothering to take a moment to read the room.
"I came here to see you tonight because I wanted to pick up where we were so rudely interrupted last evening," she began. There was a certain amount of tact in her voice and her choice of words. But not nearly enough for his liking. Her attitude suggested that she found no fault with her behavior, that she believed Aedan had been entirely at fault for the way her attempted sales pitch had gone. As if he needed further reason to dislike the woman.
"I was unaware we were interrupted," he said smoothly, wondering if she'd see the snub and take it or if it would simply fly over her bleached head.
Amelia Turner paused for a moment, blinking at him with owlish eyes that had him wondering if she had missed his not so subtle point, then her faltering smile returned and she plunged forward as if nothing had happened. "I must admit that I was surprised to find my old school friend was your human servant," she began, her voice cheery and bright. Did she honestly believe she could make light of Aedan's words by making their high school relationship sound as if it had been anything but terrible? Did she truly believe he would fall for such obvious lies?
"I am surprised that the two of you know one another," he admitted. He couldn't imagine what circumstances had led to Aedan becoming acquainted with someone like Amelia Turner.
"Oh, yes. Katherine and I attended the same high school until she ran away. I guess living a Christian life was too hard for her to manage," the woman said. It was suggested by her tone that such an event was to be expected with someone like Aedan.
Jean-Claude allowed his eyes to narrow on her, a hint that he was displeased with her blatant lack of respect. "Aedan is one of the strongest people I have ever met," he began, making sure to put emphasis on the correct name. "I am more than certain she had no problems with the rigors of a Christian education. No doubt she felt she had to leave because the people around her made it difficult for her to feel as if she fit in there."
There was a moment where he saw a flash of discomfort on the woman's face, as if his words had perhaps hit closer to home than she'd liked, then it was gone and she was once more smiling the vapid, broad smile that he associated with someone who was too stupid to know when to give up. Gustav must have impressed upon her the importance of convincing Jean-Claude to fall in with his line of thinking. Knowing Gustav as he did, he could well imagine the method or methods used to leave that impression behind.
"Let me get right to the point, Jean-Claude," she said, suddenly sounding much smarter than she had before. He found that interesting, and it made him wonder if this was the real Amelia Turner. "I'm here tonight to inform you that Gustav has decided that vampires have weakened themselves by bowing to the laws of humans. He believes that the council has unjustly saddled vampires with limitations. Vampires are powerful. Unmatched by any of the preternatural community. Yet the council would have you bowing to lowly humans, begging for your bread and butter. And he feels its time for your kind to come out of the closet, as it were."
Her tone was all business, much sharper and clearer than the one she'd used previously. If this was, in fact, the real Amelia Turner, she could see why she'd thrown herself in with Gustav and his lot. And he could also see why Aedan had reacted so sharply to the woman last night. Was this how the girl had acted in school? was this how she'd been when Aedan had been struggling to find herself and her place in the world? Was the vapid, airheaded version of Amelia Turner simply a mask the woman wore to leave people open to her true intentions?
"My kind, as you so eloquently put it, has already come out of the closet," he reminded her, making sure there was a touch more displeasure in his voice. "Vampires are public the world over, and I the face of them."
He paused to let that statement sink in, and watched as she took his words to heart before mentally switching tactics in an effort to convince him to listen to her. He could see it in her expression. He gave her a cool look and spoke before she could try spewing more of her sales pitch at him. "Gustav, and the members of his underground group, wish to plunge the world back into chaos. He wishes to turn vampires back into the horror stories that parents tell their children to make them behave. He wishes to see us once more lunging for bared, fragile, mortal throats from the depths of the shadows."
Jean-Claude made a point of glancing purposefully at Amelia Turner's throat. The expertly applied make-up she wore couldn't hide the bite mark there from him. "You, and your kind, would be little more than food for vampires if such a thing was to come to pass, Miss Turner. Cattle, kept in pens. Bred like stock and then herded toward the highest bidders. Or possibly even simply stolen from your pastures in the dark of night."
His words and his tone were as harsh as he could make them without drawing a scene their way. each statement saw her eyes go just a little wider. And she took an involuntary step back when his hand reached for her. But she couldn't move fast enough, because he followed her. Faster than she could track. So he could put his fingers against the bite mark on her throat and press it. Not gently at all. He saw the fear seep into her eyes then. Saw her panic start to build. "I do not know what Gustav has promised you for trying to convince me to join his lost, weak cause. Or perhaps it is what he threatened you with that sees you trying to desperately to convince me to leave the light and step once more into shadow. I do not care which it is. I do not care what it is that drives you."
Truth moved up behind Amelia Turner without being instructed to do so. When her back hit his chest, fear and panic filled her in equal measure. The flood of adrenaline and emotion was almost enough to entice Jean-Claude to let himself go. Just a little bit. But he was better than Gustav and his mewling crowd of powerless vampires who fed off the man's scraps. He did allow himself to smile, to let his fangs show as he did so.
"You may return to Gustav and tell him you have delivered his offer. Clumsily. And you may tell him that I have no interest in returning to the depths of musty books left mouldering on shelves. I am content with my life as it is and have no wish to change it. You may also tell him that I revoke my permission for he and his people to linger in my city. I expect all of them, and you, to be gone before tomorrow's sunrise. If I find any of you here..." He trailed off and lifted one shoulder in a negligent shrug that suggested any number of things could happen, should such an event take place. "Perhaps, should you chose to linger, Miss Turner, I will allow Aedan to make good on the threat she issued all those years ago when you were 'friends' in high school."
Her face paled, letting him know that Amelia Turner believed that he would let Aedan carry out her threat. And that Aedan would absolutely make good on her word. He recalled Amelia had said Aedan had threatened to bury her. He had to wonder if Aedan had meant it literally.
"Good evening, Miss Turner. Please leave now and know, if you come looking for me again, I will be unavailable," Jean-Claude intoned politely. His gaze shifted to Truth. "Truth, if you would. Please see Miss Turner to the exit."
His implicit instructions to see that she was not allowed access to the club was left hanging in the air. Truth curled a hand around Amelia Turner's arm and gently tugged her away from his master. "You will come with me," Truth said, his tone gruff. Amelia Turner stumbled after him, her eyes wide and the scent of fear trailing behind her. Jean-Claude watched as several heads turned to follow her progression toward the exit. He sent a brief message, as an after thought, to Truth telling the man to ensure she got into her car and left without trouble.
He then focused his attention on the dance floor below him once again, Wicked moving closer to take his brother's place at Jean-Claude's side, and let the tide of lust and blood and hunger wash over him once again.
~*~*~*~*~
Breakfast passed in painful silence. Edward's words kept circling round and round in Aedan's head, not giving her a moment of peace to think. Did he think she didn't know she was fucked up? That she was seriously fucked up in the head? Of course she knew. There was no way for her not to know. Not when she saw other people living their lives seemingly without an ever-present internal struggle about whether or not they had the right to exist. One thing Carter Solomon and his family had done was make her very aware of just how much she didn't belong. How much she only existed because of their kindness.
To be honest, she didn't have much of an appetite anymore. Hadn't really had one when they'd walked in the door, because she'd known that Edward was going to chew on her ass. She'd only ordered the platter because she knew he'd watch every bite she put into her mouth. It wouldn't be the first time and it wouldn't be the last. She also knew she needed to eat, that she hadn't done much of that lately. The honest truth, though, was she was plain-assed tired and just wanted to go to sleep.
Not that sleep brought her any respite. The dreams were getting worse every night. Once upon a time, she'd been able to stuff all the crap down into a dark corner and ignore it. But not anymore. Edward was right. Jean-Claude was right. Everyone was right. She was on a collision course with a nervous breakdown and she needed to find someone who could help her with that. She just didn't know how. She didn't know where to look and she didn't know who to ask for help. How to ask for help.
She felt his eyes on her every so often, as if he had to make sure she hadn't disappeared or something. Maybe he thought she was going to try and slice her wrists with the dull-ass butter knife sitting beside her plate. Or she was going to stab herself with her fork. She had to wonder if he seriously thought she'd do something like that after having survived Carter Solomon's idea of family. She also had to wonder if she truly knew who Edward really was. What he was really thinking. Because the plea he'd made to her to get help felt totally unlike him. And she didn't know what to think anymore.
Their waitress came over, hand reaching out to pick up Aedan's glass. Most likely to fill it with more Coke. Edward shook his head, an action she saw out of the corner of her eye. "No more. Just bring us the check."
"Of course. I'll be right back," the woman replied. Her gaze turned to Aedan. "Did you want a box for your left overs?"
"No, thank you," Aedan replied, offering her a falsely bright smile. The woman nodded her head and left them alone. Aedan scooped up her coat and her purse, already in the process of sliding out of the bench seat. She dropped a twenty on the table as she did so. Edward had no chance to say anything to her because she hurried toward the door while shrugging into her winter coat.
It was cold as balls outside, and she welcomed the bite of the wind because it helped clear her head. By the gods, she hated being so out of sorts. And she knew that things had been getting worse lately. She knew she was worn thin, too many things taking up too much of her energy. Maybe Asher had been right when he'd suggested stepping back from some of her responsibilities. The problem with that was the things she needed to step away from were the ones she couldn't set aside easily.
Her position at Animators was the easiest to leave. It was also the least difficult of the jobs she had. Raising zombies was simple. Almost soothing. It wasn't often that a zombie went crazy and killed people. Especially not one of her zombies. There was comfort in the ritual of drawing a zombie from its grave. And it was the one least likely to leave her feeling lost and confused. It was the one job she should keep, Bert and his tactics not withstanding. And it was the one job, the only job, she could safely give up.
Because she was the local preternatural expert. She had Anita's experience, extensive and varied, to pad out her own. She was the one who could tell the police if it was a vampire. Or a lycanthrope. Or some other flavor of weird. She had to be available to the police. And her status as a Federal marshal... That allowed her to hunt vampires over state lines. Not that she'd gone on a hunt in a while. But still. Those were jobs that she couldn't simply walk away from. People's lives would be impacted if she did. People like the victims in this latest round of murders.
Aedan took a breath, drew the cold air deep into her lungs and held it there and let it burn her from the inside before she let it out slowly. She needed to get her head together. Edward had blindsided her in more ways than one over the past twenty four hours. She knew she wasn't thinking straight. And she needed a clear head on her shoulders if she was going to make such important decisions as cutting back on her responsibilities. Or getting help.
That thought left her frowning. Getting help. That was going to be harder than everyone thought it was. She honestly didn't know how to ask for help. It wasn't something she'd ever been able to do as a child. Carter Solomon, his wife, and his children had made it clear that there would be no help from any of them. Aedan had been forced to do for herself. So while it seemed like such an easy suggestion to everyone else, she didn't know how to go about asking for help. She didn't even know who to go to with such questions. And, stupid as it sounded, it wasn't easy for her to admit to her friends, to the family she'd made for herself, that she needed help.
She supposed she could ask Rhia. Rhia was still seeing a counselor. Maybe Rhia might be able to make some suggestions. Of course, Rhia had gotten the name of her therapist from Constance. And Aedan couldn't see herself going to Constance to ask for help. She got the impression that Constance might not care too much for her. Which kind of left her back at square one. There wasn't anyone else she could ask.
Except... She could try asking Zerbrowski. She thought she heard him mention a therapist or something. Maybe he could make a suggestion to her. Aedan mulled the thought over, barely taking note of the cold wind that blew over her exposed skin. Zerbrowski had been trying to be a better friend. He'd been trying to make up for his big, giant fuck up. And he seemed to care about what happened to her. If anyone would be able to help, she thought it might be him. She made a mental note to ask him about it the next time she spoke to him.
"Get in the car, Aedan," Edward ordered as he came out of the diner. His tone was as bland as it could be, hiding whatever he was feeling and thinking from her. She opened her mouth to respond to him, but her phone chose that moment to chime. The sound was loud in the dark of the night. Muttering a curse under her breath, Aedan pulled the device from her pocket and frowned at the screen.
"Kinkade," she said after she tapped the button to answer the call and then put it to her ear.
"Aedan. I hope this isn't a bad time." Zerbrowski sounded less than thrilled to be calling her. Aedan sighed and shot Edward a look.
"I guess that all depends on what you're about to say to me, Zerbrowski," she replied. Edward was already behind the wheel of his car, the engine idling, when she climbed into the passenger's seat.
"We have a body," he said softly. As if he didn't really want to tell her.
"Where?" she asked. Edward was already pulling out of the parking space.
"I've sent it to your phone. I'm sorry to call you. I'm sure you had other things you wanted to do, Aedan. I appreciate your help," Zerbrowski said quietly.
Aedan glanced at the address he'd given her, then showed it to Edward. Somehow, he managed to type it into the vehicle's GPS while still driving. Aedan thought that was a handy trick. Then she returned her attention to her phone. "Don't sweat it, Zerbrowski. Not that I expect I can tell you and Dolph anything you don't already know. But I'll come and add my two cents to the pig anyway."
"Great," Zerbrowski said. She thought she heard a touch of relief in his voice. She caught movement out of her eye and saw Edward holding up one hand curled into a fist. He uncurled and curled it four times, letting her know he figured they'd be there in twenty minutes. "We'll be looking for you."
"Give me about twenty minutes," she told him, then ended the call. The phone went back into her pocket with a deep sigh. Looked like she was going to get to ask Zerbrowski about that therapist sooner rather than later.
"You okay to do this?" Edward asked, his focus on the windshield before him and what could be seen on the other side of it.
"I'm going to have to be, aren't I?" She made sure he heard nothing in her voice. Then she sat back against the seat and stared out the side window.
There was silence for all of two seconds. It was broken when Edward sighed. Though he didn't turn away from the road before them, she sensed that his attention was divided between the road and her. She wasn't sure she liked that he wasn't completely tuned into his driving. "That isn't an answer, Aedan. In case you've forgotten, we just talked about this. This is the kind of thing that worries me."
"I don't recall you ever being worried about me before." She tried not to make it sound like an accusation, but she must have failed. His jaw tensed at her statement. Before he could chew on her, she shook her head and made a kind of erasing gesture with her hand. "Forget I said it. I'm tired and you know how easy it is for the first thing to touch my tongue to just fall out of my mouth. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it came across."
The car came to a halt as he braked for a light. Edward turned to look at her. The weight of his stare prompted her to turn and look at him in return. There were things in his eyes that left her uncomfortable. Edward wasn't supposed to show emotions. He was supposed to be ice cold and emotionless. Like a mannequin. It was more than a little confusing to see some hint of warmth and concern in his gaze. "You need to get help, Aedan. Before something happens and you snap."
Aedan chuffed out a soft laugh. "That isn't going to happen, Edward."
He said nothing, simply gave his attention back to the road. They drove on in silence. It wasn't anything near comfortable. There was a palpable tension between them, staining the air and leaving her feeling edgy and anxious. She held on to her sigh and watched as lights along the road blurred as they zipped past. She couldn't wait for the entire evening to be over. It had been nothing but a major pain in her ass and it didn't look like it would get better any time soon.
Time blurred like the passing scenery, so she couldn't say how long it was before signs of civilization gave way to an area thick with trees and dense vegetation. It didn't seem like it had been that long, but her mind had been elsewhere so she couldn't be sure. What she was sure of was that there were street lights lining the road. Almost as if to keep the darkness from touching the ribbon of blacktop. It almost felt to her as if the lights were there in an effort to keep anything bad from reaching anyone traveling this way. The faint flashes of blue and red she caught between the trees suggested that idea wasn't working that well.
Aedan tucked her problems away inside of a tiny box at the back of her brain. It was time to turn her focus to work. Her life, her problems, had to take a backseat to the dead, after all. She took a moment or two to breathe deeply, a last effort to settle herself against the coming horror. Because she knew, somehow, that this body would be worse than the last.
The car kept moving ever forward through a tunnel cut into the darkness by the lights of clustered emergency vehicles that were already on scene. The deeper into the trees they got, the brighter that beam of light became. And the more intense her sense of foreboding got. Aedan closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and forced her fears behind walls of steel. She needed to have her game face on when she got out of the car, because she didn't want anyone to think that she wasn't capable of doing her job.
She could fall apart later, when she was alone.
Edward slowed the car, then turned onto a side street that she hadn't even noticed. Which was odd, given that it was where the blue and red lights were coming from. The combined lights of the emergency vehicles and the forensic team's spotlights made the area seem bright as day. As far as Aedan could tell, the press wasn't there yet. Which she counted as a win. RPIT and the police department had managed to keep the press from showing up at all of the crime scenes so far. But their luck would run out. And when it did, this whole thing was going to explode in the worst way possible. The last thing they honestly needed was the press reporting on these murders. She needed to find the killer. And do it damned quick.
Edward pulled the car to a halt a little way from the rest of those that were already there. She felt a moment of gratitude that he was showing a small amount of consideration in doing so. But that little bit of relief was shattered when his hand clamped around her wrist. It happened at the same time she put her other hand on the door's handle with the intent of stepping out of the car and into the middle of hell. His fingers were an unforgiving cuff, curled against her skin tightly enough to grind bones together.
Aedan made sure he saw nothing of her discomfort when she turned a cold stare his way. Edward's gaze was far colder, the ice of the arctic in the midst of a blizzard. His mouth was set in a flat line that spoke with deep eloquence to his emotions. She didn't let him intimidate her, instead tugging sharply at his hold in an effort to force him to release her. He didn't let go. If anything, his fingers tightened until she swore the sound of her bones grinding together filled the silent cabin of the car.
She stared him down until the ice in his gaze thickened. Until she swore she could feel the cold pouring from him as it swirled around her, enveloped her so that she felt like she might never be warm again. When he spoke, his voice was frozen. Empty. Chilling. "Get help, Aedan. Before its too late. You're teetering on the edge. And you're going to fall over. You're going to fall into the abyss. You're going to snap."
Her lips tightened into a thin line and she once more tried to tug her wrist out of his hold.
"Your powers will go wild when you snap. You'll be a danger to yourself. To everyone around you. To the people you love. You'll be a danger to the world." He paused for effect, to let the silence stretch thin and brittle between them. It felt as if taking too deep a breath would see everything shatter. "And when that day comes, Aedan, I will hunt you down. I will put a bullet through your brain without a second thought. I will kill you to save everyone."
A faint pain stabbed her in the heart. She knew it for what it was, knew it without needing to taste the bitter ashes on her tongue. Betrayal. The same betrayal she'd felt when she'd discovered that her family had held her in such low regard. It clogged her senses and left her utterly off-balance. Because she knew he meant every word of it.
"I'll shoot you dead and I'll walk away and I won't regret my actions," he whispered the words to her, his voice more appropriate for a lover making promises of eternal love and devotion. It was a promise, alright. One filled with perverse pleasure. And it chilled her to the bone the way nothing he'd ever said to her before ever had. "I won't shed a tear, Aedan."
She jerked her wrist from his hand. Only because he let her. Her door swung open and she prided herself on the fact that she climbed from the car normally, so that no one saw the turmoil that lived in her head. In her heart. She strode across the road, her face a perfect mask of empty professionalism that hid the growing horror and encroaching tears.
Because he'd meant every word of it. Every word.
Chapter Six: Fragile
Fandom: Anita Blake universe
Rating: 18 and up
Warnings: mature. this one is set in the darkness that is the Beyond Death universe. language, murder, gore, non-con, violence and sex apply as warnings. possibly others. we'll see when we get there
Disclaimer: the recognizable characters and places contained herein are the property of LKH. i'm merely borrowing for the sake of entertainment. no money is being made from this venture. the concept and title of The Mary Sue Virus are used with permission from Dazzledfirestar. though i do not view this as an actual MSV story, the original characters established in Beyond Death still belong to their creators and i am merely borrowing them for the purpose of this fic
Author's Notes: so... hey. here's a fic that i probably should have just let go. but a dive down the Wikipedia hole a couple months back brought this to life. this fic starts roughly two to three months after the ending of Beyond Death
With Shards of Broken Glass - The Index
"What!?" Her voice was sharp and terse as she spat that single word into the phone. To any normal observer, it might seem that she was angry at having been woken by the incessant chiming of her cell phone and, by extension, the person on the other end of the line.
But he immediately knew better. He'd been on the receiving end of that tone more than once over the years, so he could recognize it for what it was. Fear. And the blatant sound of her distress put him on edge.
"How long have you been having nightmares?" he asked, voice cool and completely empty. If he'd been talking to any other person, he knew they would have missed the faint hint of concern buried deep under the seemingly innocuous question. But he knew she heard it. The faint chuckle she gave, one that lacked warmth and mirth, told him as much. He could just imagine her running her free hand through the mess that was her hair.
"Last night? Last week? Forever? Which nightmare are we talking about?" There was nothing in her voice to give anything away.
Their conversation fell to silence for a short length of time as he processed the meaning of her response. One heartbeat, then two. At the start of the third, he let go a heavy sigh. It was going to be one of those days. "We need to talk. I'm on my way there now. Meet me in the lot in fifteen minutes."
"I've got to shower," she replied. He heard the rustle of sheets as she slid from the bed. There was a faint touch of distaste in her tone. It told him the nightmare had been intense enough to induce night sweats. He grunted, having expected such a response. He imagined she was already on her way to the dresser to dig out clean clothing. Likely something comfortable and relaxed. She was still on leave from work, so there was no need to dress up. He knew from experience that she would take the clothes into the bathroom with her.
"Fifteen minutes. Not a minute longer," he replied in confirmation. In blatant reminder of what would happen if she wasn't there in the allotted time. The line went dead. He could imagine just how disgusted she was with him, could almost hear the clatter of her phone as she tossed it down on some hard surface. Too bad for her. They had things to talk about. New shit and old shit. Some of it was very much past its freshness date.
Traffic was heavier than usual this time of night. He found himself caught behind a semi that moved so slowly, he gave consideration to passing it. But doing so would cut down his travel time, and he knew she needed time to get her head together. Fifteen minutes was no where near what she would need to be capable of talking to him without committing murder. But it was the most she'd get. And it would be even less if he passed the semi. So he stayed where he was and considered everything he'd seen and heard. Everything that would pass between the two of them when he got her alone someplace.
It was almost enough to make him turn around and go back the way he came. But he shoved that feeling aside and continued onward. Whether she was willing to admit it or not, she needed to talk to him. Hell, she should be talking to someone with about a hundred degrees on their wall, but he was all she had at the moment. So he was going to have to do for the time being.
Twenty minutes later saw him pulling into the lot behind the Circus. Aedan waited for him by the door, an empty expression on her face that hid what she was feeling from anyone who didn't know her well. But he could see the touch of tension in her shoulders, in the way she forced herself to look relaxed and at ease. He didn't bother to park the car in an empty space, simply pulled up close to where she leaned against the wall and put a foot on the brake pedal.
Aedan stared at him through the window a moment or two, more than likely wondering how much shit she'd find herself in if she turned and fled down into the bowels of the Circus. It didn't take her long to come to the conclusion that doing so would be a bad idea. Something passed through her eyes, then she sighed and pushed away from the wall. It took three steps for her to cross to the passenger side door. The door swung open easily at her tug on the handle, allowing her to take the empty seat beside him. Cold air swirled into the car's cabin, fighting with the heater for dominance. Then the door shut with a deep thud and Aedan pulled the seat belt across her chest. He studied her a moment before putting the car in gear and steering it toward the lot's exit.
Silence rang loudly between them. It was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. It just was. Aedan volunteered nothing, her gaze locked on the windshield before her. It was highly likely she was mentally preparing herself for what was to come. And she was right to do so. Because he had so much to say to her. And that was before they got around to dealing with her shit.
He kept his focus on the road, navigating them in and out of traffic without incident. It was starting to thin out, allowing him to go a touch faster, to slip around other cars that much easier. As he drove, he considered how to start this party off. Whatever topic of conversation he chose, he knew it wouldn't go over well. Which was why they were heading to a very small, out of the way place where the food was good and privacy was almost guaranteed. No one needed to witness any show of temper Aedan might have. Nor did they need to be privy to the shit that plagued her dreams. Some things, no one should have to see.
The diner was small, located in a neighborhood far from the Circus and the crowds constantly seeking out the freak show. It was quiet and well lit, which were both points in its favor. The interior was a little worn, giving it a well loved appearance. He knew from experience that it had excellent coffee and a huge breakfast platter. If he knew Aedan, she'd barely eaten anything in the past few days. He'd seen a t-shirt in a store somewhere once that he should have gotten for her. The statement on it was a perfect testament to her life. 'I thrive on caffeine, chaos, and curse words.'
Aedan got out of the car without a word and headed for the diner before he could even get the keys out of the ignition. By the time he was climbing from the car, she was pushing her way through the door. A waitress approached, obviously intent on seating her. Aedan ignored the woman. She went straight to a booth in the far corner, away from the half dozen patrons who sat near the windows, and put her back against the wall.
The poor waitress was still standing where Aedan had left her, a faintly confused look on her face, when he stepped inside the diner. Edward offered her a smile meant to placate. "Ignore my friend. She's rude and doesn't even know what manners are. Can I trouble you to bring us a cup of coffee and a Coke?"
"Of course," the woman nodded. She offered him a timid smile, then ambled off to get the requested drinks. Edward's smile disappeared. He headed toward the table Aedan had claimed, intent on giving her a much needed lesson in politeness. Even if she wasn't feeling it, she could damn well fake it.
Her eyes were closed when he neared the table. But he knew without a doubt she was aware of his approach. The circles under her eyes were not prominent, but they attested to the fact that she'd been having a nightmare. Probably more than one. All of the shit in the woman's head... He was surprised she was still sane.
"Aedan," he began, sliding into the seat across from her. He didn't like having his back to the door, but something told him nothing would be able to sneak up on them. He was fully intent on giving her a ration of shit for her already terrible behavior, but her eyes opened and she gave him a look that stopped the words in his throat.
"After I've had the Coke I assume you ordered for me," she responded softly. "Let me have that, then you can chew my ass off. Or do whatever it is you brought me here to do."
Edward stared at her for a single beat of his heart, then a second. He sighed and gave a brisk nod of his head. The waitress, much less shocked than she had been only a minute or two ago, approached with the drinks he'd ordered. She gave them a brief look of speculation, then settled the drinks onto the table. The coffee was placed before him, while the Coke landed in front of Aedan. In the time it took the woman to put menus down on the table, Aedan had swallowed down half of her carbonated beverage and closed her eyes in bliss.
"Another Coke, please," she requested of the server, catching the woman before she stepped away from their table. Aedan's eyes popped open to land directly on the waitress. Said eyes were deep and dark, swimming with the things that plagued her in her sleep. Edward didn't know if the other woman saw it, but her smile became something soft and gentle.
"Of course," she agreed, already starting to turn away.
"Also. Please forgive me for my rudeness. I've had a bad night," she offered, the tiredness evident on her face.
"No worries, miss," the waitress responded. "I've been doing this a long, long time. I've seen a lot in my days. You folks take time to look over the menu while I fetch you a second Coke. And I'll be sure to keep them coming."
He waited until the server was gone before he leveled Aedan with a look. She'd already picked up her menu to look it over, her focus seemingly fixed to the foldout of bright, laminated pages. He knew better. She was keenly aware of him, readying herself for whatever onslaught he chose to unleash upon her.
Edward sighed and considered, yet again, where to start. They needed to talk about the state of her mental health, which was obviously not good. Not if the nightmares were plaguing her with any frequency. And he had no reason to believe they weren't. There was far too much locked up inside of her head for him to think otherwise. And it looked as if she planned on adding a new horror to the fire that fueled her hellish dreams.
To be honest, he had been a little bit surprised when she and Jean-Claude had arrived at the gala the night before. He'd heard rumors that the Master of the City might be in attendance, of course, but he hadn't put any stock in the whispered statements floating around the crowd. His research had told him that the Anubis Foundation was the complete opposite of what Jean-Claude believed. He'd long been the poster boy for the vampire council. Having him out to the public, having his image as part of every last bit of their media blitz, had been a stroke of brilliance on their part. Putting the man's face out there was the best way he could think of for the vampires pulling the strings to say 'See? We're beautiful and we're harmless and we just want to be your friends.'
So seeing Jean-Claude stroll into that event last night like he owned the damn world had been, perhaps, a minor glitch in his plan. To see Aedan on his arm, head held high and every last bit of her 'fuck the world' attitude in place, had been disheartening. Because he'd known immediately that she was there out of some twisted, bizarre sense of duty.
"You had balls being at the gala last night. On Amelia Turner's arm," she said softly, focus still given over to the menu before her. Interesting opening sally.
"I could say the same about you simply showing up at that freak show," he returned pointedly.
Blue-grey eyes peered at him over the top of her menu. "Interesting choice of words," she commented, almost a murmur, then returned to looking at her menu. Edward let go a sigh and counted to ten, then lifted his own menu. He was not going to open that can of worms. All it would bring about was an argument and that wasn't what he'd come here for. Well, at least, not that particular argument.
"Aedan." It was little more than her name, in the mildest tone he could manage. But it made her twitch ever so slightly. He knew because he heard the unique noise that the laminated pages in her hand made when they were shifted suddenly.
"I asked you first." There might have been a touch of defensiveness in her voice.
"Technically, you didn't ask," he pointed out. He could well imagine the frown she wore at that.
"There's something strange going on with the Anubis Foundation." There was nothing in her voice to let him know what she was thinking. And he couldn't see her face to try and judge her emotions based on the look she gave him. "They never should have sent Jean-Claude an invitation. Asked his permission to gather in his city? Yes. Invitation? No way in hell. He's very much in love with being out. Most of the vampires are. It makes it so much easier for them. The members of the Anubis Foundation want to slink back into the shadows and take the entirety of the vampire race with them. They think humans are cattle and beneath them. So they are either seriously off their fucking rockers to think that they could ever get Jean-Claude to agree to their idiotic demands or they honestly think they have something on him that can fucking convince him to join them in their dark crusade to make vampires scary and evil again. Or there's a third, scarier option I haven't even considered yet."
She fell silent and took a few moments to contemplate her menu.
"There's something strange going on there and I plan to find out what it is," she added. Softly. Her voice was almost a whisper, making him think she'd tried to say it without his hearing her.
"Aedan," he sighed, setting his menu down. He glared at her, fairly certain she could feel it through the glossy, laminated pictures she held. "Despite what you might think, it is not your job to investigate those people."
That got her attention. The menu lowered enough that he could see her eyes and the expression that lived in her look. It was a look of disbelief peppered with the ever present anger. "Not my job?" she asked him, as if she couldn't believe he'd actually said that to her.
"No. It is not your job. No matter what you believe, you are not responsible for every little thing that goes on in St. Louis! You're a human being and you have limits. There's no reason to get yourself involved with the Anubis Foundation."
"Says the asshole who showed up on the arm of my biggest nightmare in high school," she said, voice and face empty of any emotion.
"I didn't expect you to be there," he told her steadily. His words brought a snort from her, letting him know exactly what she thought of that statement.
"You shouldn't have been there, either. Not as yourself. And not as Ted Forrester. Not at all!" she admonished, not even bothering to respond to his two previous statements. Her tone told him clearly what she thought of them. "Ted's the name you use on all your official documents. Including your federal documents."
"I wasn't aware you cared," he responded in a light tone, trying to take away some of the heaviness that cloaked the two of them. She didn't go for it, This time, she laid her menu on the table and stared at him openly.
"I'm not even dignifying that one, Edward. What happens if someone at that party starts digging into who you are? You think the vampires won't be able to find any official information on Ted Forrester? You think they can't dig into the government's business as if it was their own? You think I want to rescue you from certain death again?"
The last question was painted thickly with her anger. But not thickly enough to hide the fear that lingered in it. Not thickly enough to hide the worry that lived in it. She was afraid. Afraid for him. Afraid of what losing him would mean to her. What it would do to her. She, who had grown up believing that she belonged nowhere, to no one, was afraid of what would happen to her if she lost the only blood family she recognized.
Edward sighed. He should have expected such a reaction from her. He'd claimed her as his family, and she'd claimed him as hers. And by doing so, by accepting her for who and what she was, he'd made himself a target for emotions she'd long feared having. Emotions she'd long kept bottled up inside, away from even herself. In the course of a few short months, she'd gone from having almost no one in her life to care about to having far too many people that she loved and worried over. That loved and worried over her in return. Knowing that there were people out there who cared about her so intensely scared her in ways that death and violence didn't. And it was very obvious she didn't know how to deal with it.
"I always have a plan, Aedan. Always. You know that. How can you think I wouldn't go into a situation like the one I was in last night without having some kind of plan?" He made sure to ask the question in as soft a tone as he could manage in the hopes that she wouldn't think he was chastising her. There was nothing of emotion in his voice. He knew better than to think she would accept such a thing from him. Their entire relationship had been too unemotional for her to think it anything but a trick at this point in time. But he made sure she heard the honesty. Made sure she knew that he would never intentionally put himself at risk. Not when he had Donna and the kids to go home to. Not when he had her in his life.
He stared at her intently, waiting to see what her answer would be. And he studied her quietly, waiting for the moment she let her guard down and he'd be able to see what she felt. See it, he did. It was only there for a second or two, just a flash of something too terribly human at the back of her eyes. But he saw it. The doubt and the fear and the worry. And the faint flicker of surprise and tenderness. Then she blinked and it was all gone, replaced by that blank stare of hers. The one he'd come to hate so deeply in the past few weeks and months. The one that made her seem cold and untouchable. Almost inhuman.
It was a look that should never have found a home on the face of someone who had so much life to live and so much to offer to the people she loved.
"Your plan didn't keep you from being taken by Vittorio. It didn't keep you from almost getting killed," she reminded him. The comment brought a frown to his face. Because she was right and he hated that she was right. "I don't want to go through that again, Edward."
"I don't want you to go through it, either," he told her. And he didn't. Not only because she was a terribly huge part of his life now. He didn't want to her go through something like that again because he didn't want her to lose any more of her humanity. Didn't want her to give any more of it up. She'd killed a part of herself when she'd gone to Obsidian Butterfly for help. And when she'd torn through Vittorio's people like tissue paper in her attempt to rescue him. He'd seen the aftermath of her rescue mission. She'd destroyed... No, he corrected himself. She'd decimated her enemies in terrible, torturous ways. And then she'd done the same to save Jean-Claude.
"Then why did you give those bastards your name?" she asked softly.
Their waitress arrived then, with a smile on her face and second glass of Coke for Aedan. She dropped the beverage before his companion, then tugged her order pad and pen from a pocket of her apron. The pen hovered over the pad and she shot them a look, one at a time, that said she was ready to take their orders. "What are you having, folks?" she asked, just to make sure they knew she was ready.
Edward glanced at Aedan and motioned that she should go first. She shot him a frown before turning a tired smile on their waitress. "I want the breakfast platter. And an order of onion rings," Aedan told the waitress. The woman's pen moved quickly across the pad of paper in her other hand.
It was only a moment later that she looked up at Edward. He gave her a smile, nodding his head toward Aedan. "Same as she's having. Minus the onion rings." He thought he heard Aedan mutter something under her breath but when his gaze flicked her way, she was staring out into the darkness beyond the plate glass window.
"Very good," the waitress said, scooping the menus up off the table top. "I'll have those onion rings for you in a jiffy, miss." Then she wandered off to put their order in.
"You need to rethink the notion that its your job to investigate the Anubis Foundation. Quit putting your life on the line for every little thing you think is off," Edward told her as soon as they were once more alone. Aedan turned her gaze back to him, the look in her eyes telling him that she not only was she ready for a fight, she was going to pick it.
"And you need to stay away from Amelia Turner. She's a class A cunt and she deserves to die," Aedan spat in a hateful voice, carefully kept low so no one else heard her. For a moment, he was caught up on the crude language she'd used. Not that she didn't use crude language. But it had been a very long time since she'd used that particular kind of crude language. He thought she'd given it up. Apparently, Amelia Turner was still a very sore spot with her.
For a moment, Edward was back under that tree, watching a very young and very frightened version of the woman across from him dealing with a very hateful Amelia Turner. He was, to this day, still curious as to whether or not Aedan would have carried through on her threat to bury Amelia where no one would find her.
"I can't do that, Aedan," he said softly. Regretfully. He couldn't imagine the bad memories seeing her nemesis had brought back to Aedan.
"Sure you can," she shot back, her voice sharp. "You just walk away and don't look back. No doubt Amelia will find someone else to act as her eye candy."
"I can't. I'm working a job. I was hired by a very distraught family in Seattle to discover what happened to their daughter. The only information they had was that she had some how gotten caught up with something called the Anubis Foundation," he explained to her patiently. Aedan stared at him a moment. There was still tension in her posture, but it was starting to lessen. He saw it in the way her eyelids drooped a moment before becoming intent and focused again. "Amelia Turner was a convenient and easy way in. Despite being a mere human with no talents to speak of, she is some how a part of them. I'm using her as a way to find out what happened to this girl."
Aedan was silent a moment or two, simply regarding him with nothing in her eyes for him to read. Then a dark look slid through them and she offered him a smile that was anything but nice. "I can find out what happened to her."
He knew exactly what she was offering. She was willing to waltz into the middle of Gustav's little group of homicidal vampires and use powers she would be better served keeping hidden to get the information for him. He let a deep frown slide across his face and his eyes were ice cold when he caught her stare. "You will not endanger yourself any further than you already have to find out what happened to my clients' daughter!" He was careful to keep the girl's name from touching his lips. Because it was all she'd need to run headlong into the middle of nothing but trouble. "Gustav will be out for blood after you made a fool of him by verbally down dressing Amelia Turner."
He kept to himself the fact that Aedan's old high school nemesis was involved with Gustav in some way. Aedan didn't need anymore fuel for the fire of hatred that blazed inside of her where Amelia was concerned. After watching their interaction the evening before, he was convinced that she would have done permanent harm to the other girl back in high school if he hadn't intervened and gotten her away from the preparatory hell to which her father had consigned her. There was a strong possibility she would yet do it if she was pushed too far.
"Let him. Let him come for me. I'll destroy him the same way I destroyed Vittorio and everyone else who got in my way," she snapped, anger and exhaustion eating away at her control.
"Is that what happened to your brother?" he asked, turning the conversation away from last night and toward the horrors that haunted her dreams. "Is that what would have happened to your father if you'd had the opportunity?"
Aedan blinked at him, then put her shoulders against the bench behind her. Her arms crossed themselves tightly over her chest, as if to prevent him from getting closer. Or to keep something inside. It made Edward wonder if he'd discovered the truth of her half-brother's disappearance. Or if he'd even gotten in the general vicinity of the truth. To this day, Aedan had never told anyone what had happened that night in the darkness. He wished she could see what she'd looked like that night, pale and silent and covered in blood that mostly wasn't hers. How she'd struggled to remain calm and focused while she'd attempted to answer Dolph's questions, while she'd attempted to give him some kind of version of the truth, while she'd slipped into shock.
Since they were speaking of such things...
"Tell me about the dreams," he instructed. His tone saw her body language shifting once more. Tension came back to life in an instant. Her hands tightened their hold on her arms, as if to ensure that protective barrier was still strong. Still standing in the face of questions she didn't want to answer.
Her mouth opened and closed as she searched for the right thing to say. Then her gaze became cold and distant. He heaved a sigh. She was doing exactly what he'd hoped she wouldn't. Stubbornness had taken control and she was clamming up. "Aedan," he began, with perhaps a touch too much concern in his voice.
She frowned at him, eyes dark and filled with bitterness. "There's nothing to tell."
"Damn it, Aedan," he snapped, then had to halt the lecture that he wanted to give. Their waitress showed up with their meals, settling a platter of food before both of them. The onion rings Aedan had ordered came last, along with a faintly sheepish look from their server.
"I'm sorry about the onion rings, hon. They should have been up before now, but there was a misunderstanding with the cook." The woman's apology was soft and gentle, as if she sensed the state Aedan was in. Aedan had told her she'd had a bad night, of course, but the waitress' demeanor went beyond that required for a simple bad night.
"Its okay," Aedan replied, offering the waitress a brief smile meant to suggest that things were fine. It was obvious by looking at her that things were far from fine. The waitress, professional to the core, nodded her head and said nothing more about it.
"Let me top off your Coke, then I'll leave you two to eat in peace," she said. She scooped Aedan's empty glass up and stepped away from the table. Edward stared across the table at his companion. She was ignoring him, her gaze turned to the darkness pressing up against the sheet of glass that made up the wall of their booth. There was so much to talk about, and she knew it. She was doing what she could to avoid a discussion altogether. Maybe, at one time, he would have let her have her privacy in the matter. But not anymore. Not when he could look at her and see that she was coming undone. She was coming undone rapidly. She needed help. She needed it last month. He planned on convincing her to get it. Even if he had to beat her into agreeing.
He waited for the waitress to return and deposit Aedan's glass of Coke before her. "Here you go, hon. Let me know when you're ready for another one." The comment earned their waitress a silent nod from Aedan, her gaze never drifting away from the window. Their server turned to him so that she could top off his coffee, then offered him a faintly hopeful smile and flicked her gaze toward Aedan. She was gone without a word, leaving him alone with a handful of problems bundled up into one frustrating human being.
How the hell was he going to get her to open up to him?
Silence stretched tight between them as he continued to consider ways to broach the subject of her deteriorating mental health and she continued to ignore him. Somehow, she managed to keep her gaze on the window and eat her meal without spilling it all over the place at the same time. How she'd learned to do something like that, he couldn't begin to guess. He might have allowed himself to ponder it if there weren't already so many other things he had to ponder where she was concerned.
After five minutes of absolute silence, he decided that a head on approach was the best way to go. Possibly the only way to go.
"Look, Aedan," Edward said, choosing his words carefully. She didn't respond, didn't look at him, but he saw the way her shoulders pulled slightly with tension. She was definitely listening. He knew that tension would get worse as he went on. It was pretty much a given that she wasn't going to like what he had to say. "I don't know what Carter Solomon did to you. I don't think I want to know because knowing would likely only make me want to kill him again and I can't kill him twice."
She said nothing to that. Not even to comment that she could make it possible for him to kill the man twice. What she did do was close herself off from him even further. Something he hadn't thought she would be capable of accomplishing. She was already pretty damn closed off.
"Whatever that man did... Its still playing in to everything you do today. Here and now. It works its hardest to sabotage your relationships. With everyone." He made sure his tone was as gentle as possible. Because if he even once sounded like he was using his normal tone of speech, he'd lose her. She'd get up and leave and she'd run. Maybe not in the physical sense. But she would definitely run in the emotional sense. "You need to find help, Aedan. Before things spiral so far out of your control that you won't be able to grab hold of them again."
He watched as she set the fork down, the metal of the utensil clinking softly against the stoneware platter her meal had come on. She didn't look at him, simply kept staring out at the darkness. Maybe she thought she could find the answers she needed within the inky black that enveloped them. Or maybe she was so lost she didn't know which way to turn.
"Its already starting, Aedan. I can see it just looking at you. No doubt everyone else you care about can see it, too. And when you add in all of the things you've seen in recent months, the things you've had to do... Aedan, you're going to lose yourself if you don't get all of the horrible, bloody, evil, corrupt things out. None of us, no one you claim as family, wants to see that happen. And it will happen. Sooner rather than later, by the looks of the dark circles under your eyes."
She kept her face toward the glass, but that didn't prevent him from seeing a single tear cling to the bottom edge of her jaw for a moment before it dropped off and disappeared into the abyss that lived between the edge of the table and the bench.
Slowly, carefully, he reached his hand out across the table so that he could rest it on hers. She was shaking, so very slightly that touch was the only way to detect it, and her hand was cold. "It took a long time to find you, to accept that you were blood and that I wanted you in my life. I don't want to lose that, Aedan. I don't want to lose you. I can face down a lot of things that scare most people. I won't bat an eyelash. But I cannot face the possibility of losing you. That scares the living hell out of me."
Two more crystalline droplets fell off her chin.
"Please, Aedan. Please. Get help. Before its too late."
~*~*~*~*~
The floor of Danse Macabre was packed with people. There were the regulars, who had a favorite person they liked to dance with. There were the gawkers, visitors from out of town who wanted to get up close and personal with the members of the preternatural. There were vampires and shifters who came because it offered something of a safe haven. There were the thrill seekers and the curious and everyone in between. They laughed and drank and danced and flirted. And they made him a good deal of money.
Jean-Claude leaned against the railing running around the balcony that edged the upper level, staring down at the massed crowed on the first floor of the club. The air was thick with the smell of lust and desire. With blood and hunger. With power. Music pulsed from the speakers, an auditory stimulation that drove people to dance with one another. One didn't need to have a vampire's heightened vision to see the patrons grinding their hips together, an action that was as close to sex as they could have without taking their clothes off.
It was a veritable feast for the senses.
He might have spent more time indulging his senses in the buffet of humanity laid out below him, but his nostrils were assaulted with the heavy, cloying scent of floral perfume. A perfume he recognized immediately, as he'd smelled it just last night. It should have been impossible to catch that scent amidst the sea of bodies awash in deodorants, perfumes, colognes, lust, and blood. But it worked its way into his senses anyway. He straightened from the railing and glanced to his right. Amelia Turner stood only a few feet away, her gaze locked on him. There was a hopeful look on her face that made him thankful for Truth. The other man stood between himself and his eager visitor, keeping her at a distance until he could decide as to whether or not he wished to speak with her.
Jean-Claude considered the woman a moment. He knew she was here because she hadn't had the opportunity to sell him on whatever it was that Gustav had planned for her to try and sell to him last evening. Aedan had put an effective end to that. Her antagonism for the other woman had been thicker than the threads of power that had curled around every individual present at that farce of a gala the night previous. It had been something of a surprise to learn that small bit about Aedan's past. His human servant was ever tight-lipped about her life before she'd come to him. He'd been intrigued and pleased to have learned that much.
Which was more than he'd learned about Aedan's sudden interest in the Anubis Foundation. He was well aware that their presence in his city meant nothing but trouble. He'd considered denying their request for entry into St. Louis because he'd been as sure then as he was now that the group was up to no good. Common sense had risen to the fore to suggest that he allow them entry in order to determine what, exactly, that no good was. It was both fortuitous and terrible that Aedan had decided that she needed to investigate the group. It had saved Jean-Claude finding someone to go and spy for him. But it had put her back in the cross hairs. And he had no doubt that there were cross hairs. If they hadn't already been there to begin with.
His gaze stayed on Amelia Turner as she waited to pass by Truth. He had no desire to speak with the woman. He wanted nothing to do with whatever it was that Gustav had sent her here to talk about. He wasn't so naïve as to believe that there was nothing untoward about the Anubis Foundation. They were after something. And, somehow, he was part of their master plan.
There was some kind of master plan. He wasn't some newly born vampire to think that the group was simply the vampire version of a gentleman's club. He knew well enough that the Anubis Foundation had a long, dubious, dark history. He knew that they believed humans were far inferior to vampires and were little more than cattle. He'd seen it last evening in the way they'd stared at Aedan. Aedan, who had felt it her duty to walk into the middle of that viper's den in an attempt to discover what it was they were after. And he'd allowed that to happen, even though he knew far more about them than he'd dared tell her.
The little he'd told her about the organization the night he'd received their invitation had been the truth. Those were all things he knew about the Anubis Foundation. But he also knew other things about them. Things that were not very nice. He knew that they were responsible for far too many deaths across the globe, that they actively sought to sow discord and distrust between humans and vampires. He also knew that the council publicly decried their activities and had effectively made the group's members outlaws and outcasts, but such views were merely a front. Many members of the council liked the discord and distrust. Many of them secretly encouraged such actions. Many wanted to see humans turned into little more than a handy food supply for them and their friends.
He did not like that Aedan had so easily insinuated herself into the center of whatever it was Gustav had come to St. Louis to accomplish. Of course, it was entirely possible that she would have been involved simply because she was his human servant. He liked that idea less than he did having her do so on her own. They were now both involved and there was little he could do to rectify that beyond seeing how the entire thing played out. For both of them. And the only way for that to happen was for him to take the next step.
"You may allow her to pass, Truth," he said. Very few people would likely have heard him, given the volume of the music that thumped through the speakers and the voices that rose up to be heard over it. He knew, however, that Truth and anyone else with enhanced hearing within a certain range would hear him loud and clear. Truth held his position for a moment longer, then shifted to the side and angled himself so that he could sweep one arm toward Jean-Claude in a gesture that saw Amelia Turner starting forward far too eagerly.
"Thank you so much for seeing me, Jean-Claude!" she beamed as she approached. He made sure to offer her a faint, brief smile. Then he made sure the look on his face was neutral as he waited to hear what she was trying to sell him. "This is my first time coming here. This place is amazing! And so crowded!"
"Thank you. Danse Macabre is quite popular with a certain crowd," he replied. There was no invitation for further conversation. Which she didn't seem to grasp, because she continued on without bothering to take a moment to read the room.
"I came here to see you tonight because I wanted to pick up where we were so rudely interrupted last evening," she began. There was a certain amount of tact in her voice and her choice of words. But not nearly enough for his liking. Her attitude suggested that she found no fault with her behavior, that she believed Aedan had been entirely at fault for the way her attempted sales pitch had gone. As if he needed further reason to dislike the woman.
"I was unaware we were interrupted," he said smoothly, wondering if she'd see the snub and take it or if it would simply fly over her bleached head.
Amelia Turner paused for a moment, blinking at him with owlish eyes that had him wondering if she had missed his not so subtle point, then her faltering smile returned and she plunged forward as if nothing had happened. "I must admit that I was surprised to find my old school friend was your human servant," she began, her voice cheery and bright. Did she honestly believe she could make light of Aedan's words by making their high school relationship sound as if it had been anything but terrible? Did she truly believe he would fall for such obvious lies?
"I am surprised that the two of you know one another," he admitted. He couldn't imagine what circumstances had led to Aedan becoming acquainted with someone like Amelia Turner.
"Oh, yes. Katherine and I attended the same high school until she ran away. I guess living a Christian life was too hard for her to manage," the woman said. It was suggested by her tone that such an event was to be expected with someone like Aedan.
Jean-Claude allowed his eyes to narrow on her, a hint that he was displeased with her blatant lack of respect. "Aedan is one of the strongest people I have ever met," he began, making sure to put emphasis on the correct name. "I am more than certain she had no problems with the rigors of a Christian education. No doubt she felt she had to leave because the people around her made it difficult for her to feel as if she fit in there."
There was a moment where he saw a flash of discomfort on the woman's face, as if his words had perhaps hit closer to home than she'd liked, then it was gone and she was once more smiling the vapid, broad smile that he associated with someone who was too stupid to know when to give up. Gustav must have impressed upon her the importance of convincing Jean-Claude to fall in with his line of thinking. Knowing Gustav as he did, he could well imagine the method or methods used to leave that impression behind.
"Let me get right to the point, Jean-Claude," she said, suddenly sounding much smarter than she had before. He found that interesting, and it made him wonder if this was the real Amelia Turner. "I'm here tonight to inform you that Gustav has decided that vampires have weakened themselves by bowing to the laws of humans. He believes that the council has unjustly saddled vampires with limitations. Vampires are powerful. Unmatched by any of the preternatural community. Yet the council would have you bowing to lowly humans, begging for your bread and butter. And he feels its time for your kind to come out of the closet, as it were."
Her tone was all business, much sharper and clearer than the one she'd used previously. If this was, in fact, the real Amelia Turner, she could see why she'd thrown herself in with Gustav and his lot. And he could also see why Aedan had reacted so sharply to the woman last night. Was this how the girl had acted in school? was this how she'd been when Aedan had been struggling to find herself and her place in the world? Was the vapid, airheaded version of Amelia Turner simply a mask the woman wore to leave people open to her true intentions?
"My kind, as you so eloquently put it, has already come out of the closet," he reminded her, making sure there was a touch more displeasure in his voice. "Vampires are public the world over, and I the face of them."
He paused to let that statement sink in, and watched as she took his words to heart before mentally switching tactics in an effort to convince him to listen to her. He could see it in her expression. He gave her a cool look and spoke before she could try spewing more of her sales pitch at him. "Gustav, and the members of his underground group, wish to plunge the world back into chaos. He wishes to turn vampires back into the horror stories that parents tell their children to make them behave. He wishes to see us once more lunging for bared, fragile, mortal throats from the depths of the shadows."
Jean-Claude made a point of glancing purposefully at Amelia Turner's throat. The expertly applied make-up she wore couldn't hide the bite mark there from him. "You, and your kind, would be little more than food for vampires if such a thing was to come to pass, Miss Turner. Cattle, kept in pens. Bred like stock and then herded toward the highest bidders. Or possibly even simply stolen from your pastures in the dark of night."
His words and his tone were as harsh as he could make them without drawing a scene their way. each statement saw her eyes go just a little wider. And she took an involuntary step back when his hand reached for her. But she couldn't move fast enough, because he followed her. Faster than she could track. So he could put his fingers against the bite mark on her throat and press it. Not gently at all. He saw the fear seep into her eyes then. Saw her panic start to build. "I do not know what Gustav has promised you for trying to convince me to join his lost, weak cause. Or perhaps it is what he threatened you with that sees you trying to desperately to convince me to leave the light and step once more into shadow. I do not care which it is. I do not care what it is that drives you."
Truth moved up behind Amelia Turner without being instructed to do so. When her back hit his chest, fear and panic filled her in equal measure. The flood of adrenaline and emotion was almost enough to entice Jean-Claude to let himself go. Just a little bit. But he was better than Gustav and his mewling crowd of powerless vampires who fed off the man's scraps. He did allow himself to smile, to let his fangs show as he did so.
"You may return to Gustav and tell him you have delivered his offer. Clumsily. And you may tell him that I have no interest in returning to the depths of musty books left mouldering on shelves. I am content with my life as it is and have no wish to change it. You may also tell him that I revoke my permission for he and his people to linger in my city. I expect all of them, and you, to be gone before tomorrow's sunrise. If I find any of you here..." He trailed off and lifted one shoulder in a negligent shrug that suggested any number of things could happen, should such an event take place. "Perhaps, should you chose to linger, Miss Turner, I will allow Aedan to make good on the threat she issued all those years ago when you were 'friends' in high school."
Her face paled, letting him know that Amelia Turner believed that he would let Aedan carry out her threat. And that Aedan would absolutely make good on her word. He recalled Amelia had said Aedan had threatened to bury her. He had to wonder if Aedan had meant it literally.
"Good evening, Miss Turner. Please leave now and know, if you come looking for me again, I will be unavailable," Jean-Claude intoned politely. His gaze shifted to Truth. "Truth, if you would. Please see Miss Turner to the exit."
His implicit instructions to see that she was not allowed access to the club was left hanging in the air. Truth curled a hand around Amelia Turner's arm and gently tugged her away from his master. "You will come with me," Truth said, his tone gruff. Amelia Turner stumbled after him, her eyes wide and the scent of fear trailing behind her. Jean-Claude watched as several heads turned to follow her progression toward the exit. He sent a brief message, as an after thought, to Truth telling the man to ensure she got into her car and left without trouble.
He then focused his attention on the dance floor below him once again, Wicked moving closer to take his brother's place at Jean-Claude's side, and let the tide of lust and blood and hunger wash over him once again.
~*~*~*~*~
Breakfast passed in painful silence. Edward's words kept circling round and round in Aedan's head, not giving her a moment of peace to think. Did he think she didn't know she was fucked up? That she was seriously fucked up in the head? Of course she knew. There was no way for her not to know. Not when she saw other people living their lives seemingly without an ever-present internal struggle about whether or not they had the right to exist. One thing Carter Solomon and his family had done was make her very aware of just how much she didn't belong. How much she only existed because of their kindness.
To be honest, she didn't have much of an appetite anymore. Hadn't really had one when they'd walked in the door, because she'd known that Edward was going to chew on her ass. She'd only ordered the platter because she knew he'd watch every bite she put into her mouth. It wouldn't be the first time and it wouldn't be the last. She also knew she needed to eat, that she hadn't done much of that lately. The honest truth, though, was she was plain-assed tired and just wanted to go to sleep.
Not that sleep brought her any respite. The dreams were getting worse every night. Once upon a time, she'd been able to stuff all the crap down into a dark corner and ignore it. But not anymore. Edward was right. Jean-Claude was right. Everyone was right. She was on a collision course with a nervous breakdown and she needed to find someone who could help her with that. She just didn't know how. She didn't know where to look and she didn't know who to ask for help. How to ask for help.
She felt his eyes on her every so often, as if he had to make sure she hadn't disappeared or something. Maybe he thought she was going to try and slice her wrists with the dull-ass butter knife sitting beside her plate. Or she was going to stab herself with her fork. She had to wonder if he seriously thought she'd do something like that after having survived Carter Solomon's idea of family. She also had to wonder if she truly knew who Edward really was. What he was really thinking. Because the plea he'd made to her to get help felt totally unlike him. And she didn't know what to think anymore.
Their waitress came over, hand reaching out to pick up Aedan's glass. Most likely to fill it with more Coke. Edward shook his head, an action she saw out of the corner of her eye. "No more. Just bring us the check."
"Of course. I'll be right back," the woman replied. Her gaze turned to Aedan. "Did you want a box for your left overs?"
"No, thank you," Aedan replied, offering her a falsely bright smile. The woman nodded her head and left them alone. Aedan scooped up her coat and her purse, already in the process of sliding out of the bench seat. She dropped a twenty on the table as she did so. Edward had no chance to say anything to her because she hurried toward the door while shrugging into her winter coat.
It was cold as balls outside, and she welcomed the bite of the wind because it helped clear her head. By the gods, she hated being so out of sorts. And she knew that things had been getting worse lately. She knew she was worn thin, too many things taking up too much of her energy. Maybe Asher had been right when he'd suggested stepping back from some of her responsibilities. The problem with that was the things she needed to step away from were the ones she couldn't set aside easily.
Her position at Animators was the easiest to leave. It was also the least difficult of the jobs she had. Raising zombies was simple. Almost soothing. It wasn't often that a zombie went crazy and killed people. Especially not one of her zombies. There was comfort in the ritual of drawing a zombie from its grave. And it was the one least likely to leave her feeling lost and confused. It was the one job she should keep, Bert and his tactics not withstanding. And it was the one job, the only job, she could safely give up.
Because she was the local preternatural expert. She had Anita's experience, extensive and varied, to pad out her own. She was the one who could tell the police if it was a vampire. Or a lycanthrope. Or some other flavor of weird. She had to be available to the police. And her status as a Federal marshal... That allowed her to hunt vampires over state lines. Not that she'd gone on a hunt in a while. But still. Those were jobs that she couldn't simply walk away from. People's lives would be impacted if she did. People like the victims in this latest round of murders.
Aedan took a breath, drew the cold air deep into her lungs and held it there and let it burn her from the inside before she let it out slowly. She needed to get her head together. Edward had blindsided her in more ways than one over the past twenty four hours. She knew she wasn't thinking straight. And she needed a clear head on her shoulders if she was going to make such important decisions as cutting back on her responsibilities. Or getting help.
That thought left her frowning. Getting help. That was going to be harder than everyone thought it was. She honestly didn't know how to ask for help. It wasn't something she'd ever been able to do as a child. Carter Solomon, his wife, and his children had made it clear that there would be no help from any of them. Aedan had been forced to do for herself. So while it seemed like such an easy suggestion to everyone else, she didn't know how to go about asking for help. She didn't even know who to go to with such questions. And, stupid as it sounded, it wasn't easy for her to admit to her friends, to the family she'd made for herself, that she needed help.
She supposed she could ask Rhia. Rhia was still seeing a counselor. Maybe Rhia might be able to make some suggestions. Of course, Rhia had gotten the name of her therapist from Constance. And Aedan couldn't see herself going to Constance to ask for help. She got the impression that Constance might not care too much for her. Which kind of left her back at square one. There wasn't anyone else she could ask.
Except... She could try asking Zerbrowski. She thought she heard him mention a therapist or something. Maybe he could make a suggestion to her. Aedan mulled the thought over, barely taking note of the cold wind that blew over her exposed skin. Zerbrowski had been trying to be a better friend. He'd been trying to make up for his big, giant fuck up. And he seemed to care about what happened to her. If anyone would be able to help, she thought it might be him. She made a mental note to ask him about it the next time she spoke to him.
"Get in the car, Aedan," Edward ordered as he came out of the diner. His tone was as bland as it could be, hiding whatever he was feeling and thinking from her. She opened her mouth to respond to him, but her phone chose that moment to chime. The sound was loud in the dark of the night. Muttering a curse under her breath, Aedan pulled the device from her pocket and frowned at the screen.
"Kinkade," she said after she tapped the button to answer the call and then put it to her ear.
"Aedan. I hope this isn't a bad time." Zerbrowski sounded less than thrilled to be calling her. Aedan sighed and shot Edward a look.
"I guess that all depends on what you're about to say to me, Zerbrowski," she replied. Edward was already behind the wheel of his car, the engine idling, when she climbed into the passenger's seat.
"We have a body," he said softly. As if he didn't really want to tell her.
"Where?" she asked. Edward was already pulling out of the parking space.
"I've sent it to your phone. I'm sorry to call you. I'm sure you had other things you wanted to do, Aedan. I appreciate your help," Zerbrowski said quietly.
Aedan glanced at the address he'd given her, then showed it to Edward. Somehow, he managed to type it into the vehicle's GPS while still driving. Aedan thought that was a handy trick. Then she returned her attention to her phone. "Don't sweat it, Zerbrowski. Not that I expect I can tell you and Dolph anything you don't already know. But I'll come and add my two cents to the pig anyway."
"Great," Zerbrowski said. She thought she heard a touch of relief in his voice. She caught movement out of her eye and saw Edward holding up one hand curled into a fist. He uncurled and curled it four times, letting her know he figured they'd be there in twenty minutes. "We'll be looking for you."
"Give me about twenty minutes," she told him, then ended the call. The phone went back into her pocket with a deep sigh. Looked like she was going to get to ask Zerbrowski about that therapist sooner rather than later.
"You okay to do this?" Edward asked, his focus on the windshield before him and what could be seen on the other side of it.
"I'm going to have to be, aren't I?" She made sure he heard nothing in her voice. Then she sat back against the seat and stared out the side window.
There was silence for all of two seconds. It was broken when Edward sighed. Though he didn't turn away from the road before them, she sensed that his attention was divided between the road and her. She wasn't sure she liked that he wasn't completely tuned into his driving. "That isn't an answer, Aedan. In case you've forgotten, we just talked about this. This is the kind of thing that worries me."
"I don't recall you ever being worried about me before." She tried not to make it sound like an accusation, but she must have failed. His jaw tensed at her statement. Before he could chew on her, she shook her head and made a kind of erasing gesture with her hand. "Forget I said it. I'm tired and you know how easy it is for the first thing to touch my tongue to just fall out of my mouth. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it came across."
The car came to a halt as he braked for a light. Edward turned to look at her. The weight of his stare prompted her to turn and look at him in return. There were things in his eyes that left her uncomfortable. Edward wasn't supposed to show emotions. He was supposed to be ice cold and emotionless. Like a mannequin. It was more than a little confusing to see some hint of warmth and concern in his gaze. "You need to get help, Aedan. Before something happens and you snap."
Aedan chuffed out a soft laugh. "That isn't going to happen, Edward."
He said nothing, simply gave his attention back to the road. They drove on in silence. It wasn't anything near comfortable. There was a palpable tension between them, staining the air and leaving her feeling edgy and anxious. She held on to her sigh and watched as lights along the road blurred as they zipped past. She couldn't wait for the entire evening to be over. It had been nothing but a major pain in her ass and it didn't look like it would get better any time soon.
Time blurred like the passing scenery, so she couldn't say how long it was before signs of civilization gave way to an area thick with trees and dense vegetation. It didn't seem like it had been that long, but her mind had been elsewhere so she couldn't be sure. What she was sure of was that there were street lights lining the road. Almost as if to keep the darkness from touching the ribbon of blacktop. It almost felt to her as if the lights were there in an effort to keep anything bad from reaching anyone traveling this way. The faint flashes of blue and red she caught between the trees suggested that idea wasn't working that well.
Aedan tucked her problems away inside of a tiny box at the back of her brain. It was time to turn her focus to work. Her life, her problems, had to take a backseat to the dead, after all. She took a moment or two to breathe deeply, a last effort to settle herself against the coming horror. Because she knew, somehow, that this body would be worse than the last.
The car kept moving ever forward through a tunnel cut into the darkness by the lights of clustered emergency vehicles that were already on scene. The deeper into the trees they got, the brighter that beam of light became. And the more intense her sense of foreboding got. Aedan closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and forced her fears behind walls of steel. She needed to have her game face on when she got out of the car, because she didn't want anyone to think that she wasn't capable of doing her job.
She could fall apart later, when she was alone.
Edward slowed the car, then turned onto a side street that she hadn't even noticed. Which was odd, given that it was where the blue and red lights were coming from. The combined lights of the emergency vehicles and the forensic team's spotlights made the area seem bright as day. As far as Aedan could tell, the press wasn't there yet. Which she counted as a win. RPIT and the police department had managed to keep the press from showing up at all of the crime scenes so far. But their luck would run out. And when it did, this whole thing was going to explode in the worst way possible. The last thing they honestly needed was the press reporting on these murders. She needed to find the killer. And do it damned quick.
Edward pulled the car to a halt a little way from the rest of those that were already there. She felt a moment of gratitude that he was showing a small amount of consideration in doing so. But that little bit of relief was shattered when his hand clamped around her wrist. It happened at the same time she put her other hand on the door's handle with the intent of stepping out of the car and into the middle of hell. His fingers were an unforgiving cuff, curled against her skin tightly enough to grind bones together.
Aedan made sure he saw nothing of her discomfort when she turned a cold stare his way. Edward's gaze was far colder, the ice of the arctic in the midst of a blizzard. His mouth was set in a flat line that spoke with deep eloquence to his emotions. She didn't let him intimidate her, instead tugging sharply at his hold in an effort to force him to release her. He didn't let go. If anything, his fingers tightened until she swore the sound of her bones grinding together filled the silent cabin of the car.
She stared him down until the ice in his gaze thickened. Until she swore she could feel the cold pouring from him as it swirled around her, enveloped her so that she felt like she might never be warm again. When he spoke, his voice was frozen. Empty. Chilling. "Get help, Aedan. Before its too late. You're teetering on the edge. And you're going to fall over. You're going to fall into the abyss. You're going to snap."
Her lips tightened into a thin line and she once more tried to tug her wrist out of his hold.
"Your powers will go wild when you snap. You'll be a danger to yourself. To everyone around you. To the people you love. You'll be a danger to the world." He paused for effect, to let the silence stretch thin and brittle between them. It felt as if taking too deep a breath would see everything shatter. "And when that day comes, Aedan, I will hunt you down. I will put a bullet through your brain without a second thought. I will kill you to save everyone."
A faint pain stabbed her in the heart. She knew it for what it was, knew it without needing to taste the bitter ashes on her tongue. Betrayal. The same betrayal she'd felt when she'd discovered that her family had held her in such low regard. It clogged her senses and left her utterly off-balance. Because she knew he meant every word of it.
"I'll shoot you dead and I'll walk away and I won't regret my actions," he whispered the words to her, his voice more appropriate for a lover making promises of eternal love and devotion. It was a promise, alright. One filled with perverse pleasure. And it chilled her to the bone the way nothing he'd ever said to her before ever had. "I won't shed a tear, Aedan."
She jerked her wrist from his hand. Only because he let her. Her door swung open and she prided herself on the fact that she climbed from the car normally, so that no one saw the turmoil that lived in her head. In her heart. She strode across the road, her face a perfect mask of empty professionalism that hid the growing horror and encroaching tears.
Because he'd meant every word of it. Every word.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-03 09:40 pm (UTC)Gee, where have I seen that before? And, yes, very Aedan.
I mean, yes, but also no. lol It's a bit more complicated than that.
Very much true, that. Poor Aedan. She's going to have to learn to trust it at some point....
About damn time someone did. I only hope that Aedan actually goes along with it.
*sigh* You write the emotional stuff so well, bb. It just ... *bows down*
Let me add Rhai's "please" to Edward's.
Amelia Turner. Amelia Turner. I do not like that Amelia Turner. I do not like her talking to Jean-Claude. I do not like her in Danse Macabre. I do not like her stupid face. I do not like her any place. I do not like her Mr. Death. You should have let Aedan stop her breath.
Of course Rhia would be one possibility. I'm sure she could suggest a starting point at least. But I think Zerbrowski is better choice. Yes.
Ah, there's the Edward we all know and love. Possibly not the *best* thing to say to Aedan right then, but maybe it will finally get through that thick skull of hers?
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-04 01:33 am (UTC)have i mentioned that i love writing Aedan and Edward? because i really, really do. i think, in another universe, they might have been one hell of a couple. isn't that a scary thought?
i don't know if i'm that great at the emotional stuff but i'm glad you found it emotional. Rhia's please has been duly noted and written down.
and holy shit! you went full on Dr. Seuss on me there! i fucking love it! i literally started giggling when i realized what you'd done there! bravo, honey! its amazing! (also. i totally agree. Amelia Turner doesn't need to be anywhere near Jean-Claude. not at all)
yep. there's the Edward we know and love. it probably wasn't the best thing to say to her, but yeah. he's gotta do what needs done to make her understand.
glad you liked it, bb. thanks so much for reading. sorry it took me so long to get it completed.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-03 11:24 pm (UTC)xxoo
(no subject)
Date: 2022-03-04 01:35 am (UTC)and we'll see what happens to Amelia Turner. there's still more story to go.
thanks for reading and commenting, sweets!