It was several hours, and several drinks, later when Eliot drunkenly made his way out of the dining car. He had spent the greater part of the evening imbibing one drink after another while his increasingly foggy brain tried to come up with any way he could even try to properly apologize for the harsh things he had said to Claire that evening. Of course, his attempts to find those words were an utter failure, and ended only by the bartender gently suggesting he should head back to his quarters while he could still walk at all.

Eliot simply rolled his eyes at the man’s request, but did as he was bid. He was at least still cognizant enough to know that the last thing he needed was to be found in this state by Lucian, considering the last time he had been in the man’s presence without his full mental acuity.

As he moved down the hallway through the passenger car, he tried to make his eyes focus on the cabin numbers as he passed them. Thanks to his current inebriation, a fold in the carpeting below easily tripped him up, as what little concentration he still retained was being spent on trying to determine which of the many doors even led to the proper cabin. He stumbled against the wall, somehow managing to catch himself before toppling to the floor. Though the sound of his body colliding with that cool metal wall did draw a bit of attention from at least one of the passengers who he had hoped were all sleeping soundly as the time was now just past four am.

As Eliot’s luck would have it, it was of course Lucian who poked his head out of his own cabin at the sound. Though it wasn’t that shocking, considering Lucian and Claire were the only passengers sure to still be awake at such a late, or rather, early, hour.

Lucian shook his head as Eliot’s expression made his reaction to Lucian being the one to come upon him in his current state more than clear, “don’t tell me you’ve been drinking this entire time” was Lucian’s greeting as his dark eyes took in the young man’s more than obvious state.

“Bien sûr que ce serait toi” Eliot slurred his sarcastic response as he leaned heavily against the wall, eyes cast down.

Lucian raised a brow then, “I suppose that answers that. You’re so inebriated you’ve apparently forgotten the English language” he returned wryly.

Eliot scoffed as he closed his eyes against the sound of Lucian’s voice. Though he still hadn’t managed to push himself away from the wall, suffering more than a bit of dizziness at the moment.

“You’re a mess” Lucian returned with what almost sounded like gentleness rather than sarcasm.

“So glad you noticed” Eliot returned sarcastically after having to take a long moment to even translate his words into the proper language in his alcohol-fogged brain.

“I assume this is because of the row you had with Claire earlier tonight?” Lucian offered as he took a step into the hallway.

That particular statement did seem to at least poke through the first layer of alcohol as Eliot turned his eyes quickly to the other man at the sound of the words. “Pardon me?” he shot back, immediate suspicion in his tone.

“I spoke to her briefly tonight” Lucian surprisingly offered, “it was alluded to.”

“Alluded?” was all Eliot could manage, finally forcing himself to attempt to stand up straightly again.

“You’re honestly the last person I should be inviting into my quarters this close to dawn. But returning you to Claire in this state? I doubt that would help you with any attempt at begging for her forgiveness” Lucian informed as he moved to reach for Eliot’s arm, gesturing for the young man to follow him through the still open door behind him.

“You expect me to...” Eliot began.

“Save it, Eliot. You wanted answers and you have less than two hours to get them. Final offer” he added plainly.

It was hard to tell what it was. Eliot’s current mental state? Or just the charisma all the members of clan Toreador inherently possessed? Or perhaps the lasting effects of the other man’s blood that still ran through his veins? But Eliot somehow allowed Lucian to lead him inside, despite all of his very real misgivings about being alone with the good doctor. Let alone when he was lacking much of his usual clarity of thought, just as he was that night.

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It was less than ten minutes until dawn when Claire was more than a bit startled by a knock upon her cabin door. She swallowed warily before making herself open the door to her visitor. When she looked up at Lucian’s smiling face, her whole body tensed as usual.

“I believe I have something that belongs to you” he greeted her as he stepped back to gesture to where Eliot’s unconscious body had been dropped into a heap on the floor, against the wall of the hallway just outside their door.

“What did you do to him?” Claire asked with panic as she pushed past Lucian to immediately kneel down to check on Eliot’s current state.

“So much for giving me another chance” Lucian mumbled, “and you’re welcome.”

Only slightly relieved as she confirmed that Eliot was still quite alive, she stood and looked up at him defiantly, “explain” she growled.

“I would love to, darling, but...” he began as he gestured to his watch. “Suffice it to say this very drunk pet of yours desperately wanted answers about why I’ve made so many futile attempts at gaining your trust. And he then proceeded to quite ungracefully pass out in my cabin. And I’m not keen on having him there once the sun rises, so I figured I would be neighborly and return him to his owner” he told her plainly, “now, if you’ll excuse me, we can continue this conversation in about twelve to fifteen hours. Sleep well” and with that he gave her another slight bow before heading back in the direction of his own quarters without a further word.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

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When Claire woke from her deathly slumber that evening and pushed herself to a seat at the edge of the bed, her eyes immediately moved to Eliot. He was once again somberly stretched across his own bed in deep thought, just as he had been when she had returned to consciousness the previous evening.

As he made no attempt to speak up or even look her way, Claire was the one to speak first, “what were you thinking last night, Eliot?” she asked, though her voice was more sad and worried than angry.

Eliot allowed a a tiny scoff before responding, “I was thinking that I really needed a drink after I said such horrible things to you. Then I was thinking I needed another, and another, and another...” he just shook his head, his eyes still refusing to meet hers.

“And then you somehow thought it was a good idea to go into Lucian’s quarters with him, when you were in that state?” she reprimanded, though with continued sadness.

“I think that question answers itself” he mumbled.

“He could have so easily given you his blood again! You knew how big of a risk that was!”

Eliot then looked down with a louder scoff, “I think it’s pretty obvious by now that Lucian has no desire to make me into his slave. He doesn’t much want me around at all, let alone following him everywhere and worshiping him for however many years, or decades, or whatever” he added more quietly.

“Which means he could have just killed you instead!” she retorted.

“I don’t think I need to be falling down drunk for him to do that” he stated more to himself, “And to kill me after saving my life? That’s a bit counter-productive” he answered in the continued mumble, then tinged with a weak sarcasm.

It was then Claire who let a small sound of disbelief pass her lips, “so through your drunken haze you somehow reached an epiphany and now actually trust him?” she retorted with disbelief.

Eliot just shook his head, finally casting her the briefest glance, “believe me Claire, I’m not the one he’s interested in.”

Claire was silenced a moment by that particular comment. Now she was very curious about exactly what sort of conversation the two had shared the previous night. “He told you that?” was all she managed, deep in thought herself then.

Eliot shook his head again, “for someone so perceptive, I’d think you would have suspected his interest in you long before I mentioned it.”

“Well he definitely has a strange way of showing said interest” Claire returned, “I can’t say I’ve ever met a man that thought the way to my heart was by feeding his blood to my best friend in the world.”

Eliot couldn’t help the shadow of a smile at her comment, and then turned his eyes to her, the sadness in them matching her own, “so we’re still best friends? Even after... what I said?” he whispered.

Claire then closed her eyes a moment before responding, “Eliot, you only said, out loud, what I’ve said to myself a hundred times since my death. I think that just proves exactly how deeply you can see inside me.”

Though her words touched his heart, another part of Eliot was still being quite strongly affected by that vampiric blood running through his veins. And that was the part that compelled his response, “how deeply I can see inside you, hmm?” he smirked and licked his lips slightly as his eyes openly moved over that thin, translucent dressing gown she was clad in once more that night.

Claire couldn’t help a tiny smile at his words as she stood to move across the cabin, where he reached up to wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her close, “you do realize this is also a side effect?” she had to make herself ask.

Eliot narrowed his eyes as he looked up at her, still holding her against him, “this?” he asked for clarification.

“Your now seemingly insatiable lust for me... and all my girl parts” she added with another little smile.

Eliot chuckled, “I think I got rather well acquainted with all those parts long before we even met the lovely doctor” he reminded, slowly pulling the top of her dressing gown downward to expose one of her nipples for a kiss from his lips.

Though she always reveled in the touch of his lips upon her skin, Claire had to speak up once more, “you must admit you’ve definitely been much more... intense, since the blood.”

Eliot dragged his attention from her breast to finally look back up at her again, “all right, true... and strange” he admitted, “but are you complaining?” he had to add, already completely aroused, as he was nearly all the time now, he had to admit.

Claire just shook her head through another smile. She then moved to crawl into the tiny bed with him, giving into that heightened desire of his once more, despite any of the actual reasons behind it right then. It was still the one side effect that helped her to keep her mind off of all the other worries in her life, at least temporarily.

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It was just over a week later, nearly July, when their train pulled into its final stop in the ‘great’ city of Los Angeles, which had now grown to a rather daunting population of approximately five thousand citizens. Thankfully their arrival was after sunset that night, so they at least didn’t have to worry about hiding their continued presence on an empty train as they waited on the sun to go down.

But that was only one less worry for Claire. She just then realized how many more she was sure to be greeted with upon returning to her life as the wife of the Kindred Prince of that entire territory. She loved and missed Sean dearly, but she had no such nostalgia for the machinations of politics that would be sure to greet her once she stepped back through her own front door.

Before she could think on what awaited her upon her return to her old life, she heard not one but two sets of feet stepping down onto California soil behind where she had been standing, looking out at the city nervously.

She turned to see as Eliot simply rolled his eyes over at where Lucian wore yet another of those annoyingly charming grins. Claire sighed as she looked up at him, “you’re seriously going to be living here now too? Permanently?”

“I’ve heard the weather is lovely” Lucian returned, causing Eliot to roll his eyes once more. Ignoring that reaction, Lucian just had to add, “and I was hoping you would be key in helping me to make a positive impression here. Put in a good word for me with the Prince and all” he told her pointedly.

Claire narrowed her eyes at that particular statement, though Eliot was the one to speak up, “America has princes?”

“Our people do” Claire admitted quietly.

“And Claire’s married to the one who runs this entire city” Lucian couldn’t help adding to the rather brief explanation Claire had given. And his words did indeed have the expected effect of causing a look of surprise to appear on both Claire’s and Eliot’s faces, though for very different reasons.