As Claire’s and Eliot’s ship moved out of the harbor, dark eyes finally looked away with what almost sounded like a sigh of relief. The man watching their departure was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome. He was in his early thirties, if that, standing at 6′3”, with a chiseled frame and dark black locks above eyes that were nearly as dark.
Casting one more look at the ship departing on that cold winter night, he moved through the brisk air, seemingly as unaffected by the temperature as Claire and her kin. Though, that particular development was relatively new. As he had only been embraced just a few nights earlier. And now, it was the one who made him into this new creation that he made his way back to in the night.
Once he stepped through the door of his new sire’s temporary haven, she was already waiting for him as she had sensed his return moments before he stepped through the door. “It’s only midnight, Lucian. Did I tell you you could have the rest of the night off?” she stated in a purr that was still somehow threatening, her American accent clear as she spoke, those dark eyes greeting him from underneath beautiful raven locks. Her very beauty still affected him each time he laid eyes on her. But he would never forget that that beauty of hers is what had led him to his current, now sunless existence.
He had gone to the local pub to try and drown out his grief barely a week earlier. And upon having one too many drinks that night, he was more than easily pliable to her wiles, which were formidable to even the soberest soul.
He let himself follow her home and made love to her, thinking that just possibly he had found someone to make him forget the loneliness he had been suffering upon losing his wife barely a month earlier. Only, once their lovemaking was nearing its end, those deadly fangs sunk into his neck below where she still sat atop his hips, Lucian still inside her. And within moments, she had drained all of his life away from him as well.
Only, that wasn’t really the end for Lucian that night. The worst part was when he awoke with that terrible hunger, not even realizing what he had done to the two girls she had brought him from the brothel that night, until it was too late to save them, or himself. And that was what he forced back to his mind every time he felt himself being distracted by that beauty of hers now.
“She left” he told her in his crisp British accent, the tone alone speaking his distaste for the girl he had felt such desire for only nights earlier.
“Elaborate” she told him with a slight glare as she moved around to lean against the edge of the table in the small dark room.
“The woman you’ve had me watching all week. She left tonight, on a ship going to America I heard. So, am I done now?”
“Done?” she asked with a derisive laugh, “do you think I gave you eternity, just to let you go off and live it after barely a week?”
“Gave me eternity?” he scoffed, “it seemed more like luring me to your bed and murdering me” he returned bitterly.
“So ungrateful” she told him with another glare.
“So am I done now, or not? She’s long gone” he repeated.
“Did my accent confuse you? Did you not understand what I just said to you?” she returned, as though speaking to a child, which he technically was to her now. Not that she was anything resembling maternal to this new childe of hers.
“I don’t know what else you could possibly expect me to do. She’s gone now, Awsha” he told her firmly.
“I expect you to go after her. I thought I had made it clear that you were to be her shadow now.”
“Go after her?” he scoffed, “she’s on her way to bloody America!”
“Well, she’s likely going back to California. Consider yourself lucky. The weather there’s much less dreary” she stated with boredom as she gestured to the small grime-covered window of the room they now stood in.
“Cali---?” he scoffed again, “you can’t honestly expect me to follow her all the way back to the other side of the new world!′
“That’s exactly what I expect. And you’ll do it.”
Lucian returned her glare, “what do you even want me to do, exactly? I really would love to know. Do you expect me to go all the way there just to try and murder some beautiful woman who you seem to thoroughly hate for some reason? Because I don’t see that happening, Awsha.”
“Beautiful, huh?” her glare deepened, but she moved on, “and of course I don’t expect you to kill her. She’s three hundred years older than you. You wouldn’t stand a chance, even if you are the same generation as little Claire.”
“Generation?” he shook his head, obviously having no idea what that particular statement even meant, “and if you don’t want me to kill her, which I wouldn’t do anyway...”
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“Couldn’t do” she corrected smartly.
Another glare from him, “then what is it exactly that you do expect me to do?” he asked again.
“Easy. You’ll be bait. She loves the pretty men. All you have to do is make her love you and trust you, follow you anywhere. Then those of us who can, will do the rest. Simple as that” she finished with a smile.
“Make her fall.... You’re completely mad, aren’t you? I’m done with this Awsha. Find someone else to play your games” he retorted angrily as he moved to turn back to the door.
“Are you sure about that?” she stopped him with a pointed threat in her voice.
“What are you going to do? Kill me again? Go ahead. I don’t want to be what you are anyway” he told her coolly.
“Kill you? I’m hurt. I’m not planning on killing anyone, right now” she added with a sweet smile, “but if you refuse to be an obedient childe and do this one favor for me, after what I so generously did for you” she repeated, “then I feel I have to remind you that there are things worse than death” she smiled coyly again.
He hesitated for only a moment before gathering his courage once again, “so you’re going to torture me instead? Is that the new threat?” he stated, trying to keep his voice even.
“No, you’re far too stubborn for that” she smiled once again, “but...” she added as she turned her eyes to the door leading out of the room, “come here, would you, darling?” she called sweetly to someone on the other side of the door.
That was when a pretty dark haired girl of only about thirteen years of age slowly exited the room. Trying to hide the immediate wave of terror that took up residence in him, Lucian spoke to the young girl as calmly as he could, “Lenore... what are you doing here, love?” he asked her as he painfully bit back the red tears to keep her from seeing them.
“I was visiting with the pretty lady” she said innocently, “she’s been nice to me, father. You should be nice to her too. I’ll be fine here with her” she assured as she moved her arms to wrap around Awsha’s waist, causing Lucian to grow even more tense, as well as filled with pure despair, and rage.
“What did you do to her?” he asked Awsha through gritted teeth.
“Just gave her all the sweetened cider and other treats she wanted... these past few nights” she added pointedly, “she seems quite fond of me now, somehow” she said sweetly.
“I will kill you for this” he growled, still forcing back those tears, only to be shaken by the dark look his own daughter gave him at the sound of the threat, moving forward as if to protect Awsha from her own father just then.
“It’s ok sweetie. Your daddy was just teasing. Weren’t you, Lucian?” Awsha added pointedly.
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It was nearing two hours into their voyage that night, when Claire and Eliot had since made their way to the deck of the westward bound ship. They had both been out there to take in the sight of the sea and stars at night, at least before it got too cold for Eliot to remain above deck, at any rate. Claire finally moved her eyes away from the beauty of that endless ocean to glance up at Eliot where she found that he had been watching her through the cloud of his breath before him. As her eyes moved to his, he averted his gaze once more.
“Yes?” she had to ask.
“I said nothing” he smiled as he looked down slightly again.
“But I’m sure you’re thinking a million things. Can’t help wondering what those things really are right now” she smiled as she took his hand in hers, where it was not nearly as warm to her touch as it was when they were inside, away from the cold night air.
“Maybe it was Nicolas we should have brought with us then?” he smirked.
Claire shook her head, still rather unhappy about Nicolas having gained that new skill, despite the very valid reasons he had done so. “Well, I doubt Nicolas would at least expect to share our bed, unlike my childe” she told him wryly.
“Child?”
“Childe, with and E” she corrected, “it’s what we call those we’ve created” she allowed him that tiniest bit of knowledge.
Eliot took another breath as he looked away before returning to another part of her statement, “and why wouldn’t we have to worry about Nicolas crawling under the covers with us?” he bit back the slightest smile as his baser instincts couldn’t help making him envision that possibility. “Wasn’t he one of your infamous ten, too?” he had to make himself add as he looked back down at her.
“Yes, but it took me a very, very long time to even gain his trust enough to ever make that so” she said softly, her eyes on the waves once more. “He had a lot of trouble trusting, literally anyone, when he first washed up on our shore.”
Eliot looked down then, “he mentioned something about the Marquis de Sade, and how had known him... and even had nightmares about the man?” Eliot dared.
Claire allowed a shaky sigh despite her surprise that Nicolas had even shared that much with a complete stranger. Then again, when you could read any mortal’s thoughts, who was really a stranger to you, anymore, she thought wryly before remembering to respond, “that is the extremely short version. But yes.”
Eliot was quiet for another long moment before he spoke again, “you really want to know my thoughts on... all of this?” he settled on, which caused her to look up at his face where he towered above her at nearly the same height as her husband.
“If you really want to share them” she smiled.
Eliot almost blushed again before making his eyes meet her, “my thoughts, in most of the time since our departure, is that you must be very cross with me by now” he stated, though smiled down at her as he did.
“How so?” she asked as she gave him a questioning look, sure that she had not been giving that impression.
“Because, in the time since we’ve met, you’ve made me...” he looked down with a deeper blush then, “extremely physically happy, on at least two occasions, yourself; even more if you count what you let Aidan and I enjoy many times, just last night” he smiled again, “and I have yet to do anything of that nature for you. How could you not be cross about that?” he asked as she tried to bite back another chuckle at his words.
She then appeared to look down as though to blush, though she never did, “if you want to be honest about it, I’m sure Aidan would have found a moment to seduce you even without me being in the room. So you can’t really give me the credit for that one. Plus, I believe he paid that tab of yours with me, only moments later, if you recall” she smiled playfully. “And as for that night that I... drank from you...” she dropped her voice on that, “when we do that to someone... it feels just as good for us too. I promise.”
He smiled as he digested that further knowledge she supplied, “that still leaves that first time you... made me happy” he settled on, as he glanced downward pointedly. “I still do owe you for that one. And I hate owing any debts, of any kind.”