When Alaric gets home an incredibly short while after, the first thing he sees is Lucas standing there covered in blood.
“I swear I had no idea, he jumped on me from behind and while I was trying to get free that twat fixed himself up and ran.”
“The other guy?”
Lucas shakes his head. “Didn’t get a look.” They sit and talk, Alaric annoyed that the vampire somehow got away.
Meanwhile at the café, Olivia gives up waiting to see if he comes back and starts her walk home. It was nice knowing her? That isn’t what normal people say to someone. She arrives home and drops straight onto the sofa, letting her head fall back against the cushions. She likes Alaric, she isn’t sure why, but for some reason, she just does.
“Now I understand what was so important. She just doesn’t give up, does she?”Olivia nods, not finding it very funny.“My mum doesn’t care, as long as I’m alive. It’s Mel who can’t leave things alone.”Alaric nods. “She’s just worried – overly worried, yes – but at least you have someone to worry about you.”Olivia laughs. “Trust me, it’s overrated. Sometimes I think it would be better to not have a family.” She looks at Alaric guiltily, realising what she had just said. It was inconsiderate of her; he had lost his family decades ago.“Sorry, I didn’t think. I doubt not having a family for so long is much of a good thing.”He laughs, shaking his head.“As I said, Olivia, it runs in my bloodline, so my family are there, just none from when I was born. I do see family from time to time. Most stop shifting after a
The week passes by quickly and Olivia finds herself giving up on trying to find Dan. She gathers all the newspapers and cut-out articles from the floor and stuffs them in the bin where they should have been for a long time. She takes the opportunity to tidy the rest of the house, too; all of Dan’s stuff goes into a cupboard where she doesn’t have to look at it every day, watching her go about her life and constantly confronting her with what now seem like distant memories. She forces herself to work as much as possible, spending any free time she has finding friends and, in a way, trying to forget Alaric. Since he left, she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him.Something inside her craves him, craves to be near him, and she can’t seem to work out why. Sure, she likes him. She’d even go as far to say he’s hot, but there’s something else there; something else
Glancing back at the empty, moon-lit street behind her she continues to run, but as she turns to look forwards again she comes face-to-face with a figure, running straight into the person. She screams and jumps back, her eyes glancing up to see Alaric holding his hands up.“Hey, don’t worry, it’s me. You okay?” He looks worried at her frightened reaction. What happened to her?“Was that you back there?” She stares at him, her body trembling violently.“No, I walked my cousin home and I was just on my way back to the club. Here.” He shrugs his jacket off and wraps it around her. “I’ll walk you home, Olivia. What happened?”She shakes her head as she steps forward, offering a small grateful smile for the jacket draped over her shoulders.
Alaric follows, staying at a distance so she doesn’t notice him in the shadows. It’s clear she isn’t in control, but what – or who – is making her go there?Vampires can manipulate if that’s their power, but they never leave the victim alive. The problem is that he doesn’t know what else it could be. He stops, as he sees Olivia come to a halt; watches as she sits down, his eyes widening as he sees a man walking to her. Olivia stands up and hugs the man, who the moonlight reveals to be… Dan? She must have been right earlier, it was Dan she saw, but the fact just renders Alaric more uncomfortable. He watches knowing he can’t do anything even though he wants to: there’s a reason Dan keeps pulling her in and Alaric needs to know it. Why would he taunt her by getting her to come here every night then making her forget she saw him? He’s fascinated by Dan’s behaviour. It isn’t exactly typical. He watches
“Why do I see Dan and I together?” Olivia demands. “What the hell is going on? And who the hell is this guy, how did he do that?” She remembers nothing from her nights for days and suddenly with his help she remembers so much: Dan is alive! Or at least, he’s kind of alive. She’s seen him every night this week, every night. Her hand moves to her shoulder and neck, tugging on her collar to run her fingers over the raised marks from him feeding off her like she’s some kind of thing.“I’m Gwenael,” he says. “My mother was French.” Olivia nods a response and Gwenael continues, this time to Alaric. “I’ll grab a drink, she needs one.”He walks out, Alaric sitting down on a chair not too far from Olivia’s. She looks puzzled as she realises Alaric’s size compared to the chair.
Alaric walks through his front door and sits down at the table, his head falling forward in sorrow. Why did he have to kiss her back? Why did she have to kiss him?“Well?”He doesn’t even bother to look at Gwenael. He already knows he’s in trouble, even though Gwenael’s only said one word.“You saw it for yourself, her parents were Depraysie. No-one has seen any of that bloodline since Celestia and Elwin were turned. They weren’t even from this country. Do you understand what this means?”He does. If she is indeed their daughter, he dreads to think what would happen. If anyone knew she was a Depraysie it would create an all-out war.“You should have walked away once she was safely at home, not pushed and poked her into wanting to know her family. She’s right, Alaric, no good can come from her knowing. Yes, she could unlock her powers and be one of the strongest witches around, but at what
Walking to the counter, she sees the guy sat back with his flat cap tilted to cover his face. Olivia clears her throat.“It’s about time,” he huffs, clearly not happy to have been kept late. He scans the items, a methodical beep as each one passes through the red light, and Olivia pays then walks out. Glancing at her watch she realises that, okay, he’d been right to be annoyed with her: her five minutes buying paint had turned into an hour, and she wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d just given up and thrown her out. Then again, she’d probably bought more than most of his other customers had today. Choosing a colour apparently wasn’t as easy as she had hoped. Had she really spent a whole hour there?Walking home she smiles, bags swinging from her hands. She will find a place she fits. She doesn’t fit in with her mum and siste
A light tapping on the door prompts her to walk over to it, her head staying down as she now realizes she can’t just pretend she doesn’t know about her parents, her hand opens the door. Slowly her eyes peer up and see Alaric.“Sorry, I just thought I should come back and apologise for been an idiot. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.”Olivia nods, fighting back the tears that threaten to escape her chest. She moves to the side, giving him space to enter.“I’m sorry for how I reacted. I shouldn’t have laughed or ridiculed you.” Olivia smiles slightly; if he knew her parents she shouldn’t be running from him or pushing him away. “Can I get you a drink and we talk?” She needs to know the truth, and then she can move on.“Sure. I’ll just take a coffee.”Olivia walks to the kitchen while Alaric moves around the living room, finally deciding to sit on the cha