Chapter 574: An Affinity
Loh closed her eyes and let the tears run down. The door suddenly closed shut. She turned around and saw Lily standing there. The vampiress held Louise’s ring and examined it with feigned interest.
“Get out,” Loh muttered as she wiped her eyes. “I said get out!”
Lily placed the ring atop the dresser. “You’re in pain.”
“Oh, really?” Loh scoffed and held up her bandaged arm. “Did they teach you that in the harlot academy?”
“I am not a harlot.” She sauntered over with casual steps.
Loh gasped dramatically, “No way? You could have fooled me when I found you in my grandfather’s bed. Or is it normal for young beautiful women to enjoy the company of old bitter men where you’re from?”
“What makes you think I’m not from here?”
“Your accent,” Loh sneered. “It’s faint, you’re good at hiding it, but I hear it sometimes at the end of your words. If you’re from Hollow Shade then I’m a goddamn dragon.”
“Mm. Fair.” Lily ignored the chair at Loh’s bedside and sat at the edge of the bed instead. “Elzri was bitter, but he was not old. He was a little past his prime for a drow, but he wasn’t even a hundred.”
“Still old for a vampire as young as you.”
“Aw, thank you,” Lily covered her mouth and batted her eyes. “That’s always nice to hear. Despite my looks, I was actually the elder in the relationship.”
“You? You’re older than my grandfather?” Loh frowned. “How old are you?”
Lily wiggled her finger. “Tsk. Tsk. You know better than to ask a woman that.”
Loh stared at her flatly. “Got it, not a young harlot, just an old cunt who liked to fuck my grandfather. Much better imagery.”
“If you’re trying to hurt me you will be disappointed.”
“Is that so?” Loh glared.
Lily held up a finger. “For one, you already called me young and beautiful, calling me an old cunt a moment later holds little sting.”
“I— I didn’t— Ugh, that doesn’t count,” Loh grumbled.
Lily raised another finger. “Secondly, when you live as long as I have, you’re bound to have slept with various people throughout the years. This is true for any elder vampire.”
“Sure, but other vampires weren’t my grandfather’s lover, you were,” she said in disgust.
“Not a lover, never that,” Lily said adamantly. “To be a lover implies we were in love, which neither of us were. We enjoyed each other’s company, but Elzri only ever held one woman in his heart, and it wasn’t even his late wife.”
Loh thought of Ismene and the way she and Elzri sometimes looked at each other forlornly, even when their words were cold and detached.
“As for me, well, I never found a worthy— partner. Even Elzri was just one in a long boring line, albeit more interesting than most.” Lily tapped Loh’s leg, “Compared to you though, they all fall short.”
Loh pulled her leg back. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Lily held up a third finger. “Lastly, if you’re trying to hurt me, whether out of spite or for your own satisfaction, I’m afraid you’ll be deeply disappointed.” Her red lips curled in a smug smile, “I like pain.”
Loh rolled her eyes. “Get out, I’ve had enough of your bullshit.”
“You’ve pushed everyone who cares about you away.”
“I said get out.”
“Even now you feel as if you need to punish yourself, that’s why you just broke your lover’s heart.”
“You don’t know anything,” she snarled. “You’re just a little weasel who somehow wormed her way into my House.”
“There it is again. Trying to push others away. That may work on them, but not me.”
“And why the fuck not!?” Loh screamed. “Tell me, what do you really want, huh!? You’re certainly not here because you care about me, you don’t even know me. And don’t tell me some bullshit like ‘to stay by my side’ again! My grandfather is dead. So why the FUCK are you still here!? Is it money? Is that what you want? Land? Power? Tell me so I can finally get rid of you!”
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Lily looked her in the eyes. “You. I want you.”
“I told you no more bullshit,” she seethed.
“I’m not lying to you.”
“You really are something else—”
“You’re angry, but not at me.”
Loh snorted, “Trust me, I hate you the most.”
“No, we both know you hate yourself more than anyone, more than you ever hated Aizel.”
“Don’t say his name,” Loh whispered in a broken voice.
Lily’s scarlet eyes widened. “Ah, I see it now. You’re afraid.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“No, not of me. You believe you deserve to be alone, to be punished for your past, but you don’t want to be alone. Deep down, it’s what you fear most, to be left alone; it’s why you clung to Elzri even when he mistreated you and pushed you beyond your limits, because he was the only one who stayed by your side.”
“Y-You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Loh said dismissively.
“You were just a child, it was your birthday. You had trained so hard to pass Elzri’s test, just so you could make it back to the manor in time for your party. But it wasn’t your party, was it? Your parents had forgotten that it was your birthday, and instead they were celebrating your brother for one useless accomplishment or another, as per usual. Only Elzri remembered your birthday, he was the only one who gave you a gift.”
Loh stared at her warily. “How do you know that?” she whispered.
“Your fear of being left alone is what drove you to kill Aizel in the first place. If he was gone, then the others would see you.”
“Shut up!” Loh slapped her across the face.
Lily touched the corner of her lip and pulled her hand back, fingertips stained red. She held Loh’s gaze and licked the blood off her fingers. “I told you, if you want to hurt me, you will be disappointed.”
“Just get out… please.” Loh fell back in bed and turned her back to Lily.
“You don’t have to push me away… You don’t have to be afraid. I see you, Elohnoir. All the ugly parts you wish to hide. And it makes you all the more— interesting.”
“Interesting?” Loh furrowed her brow and glanced back at her.
Lily licked her lips hungrily and narrowed her eyes in a smile. “Is that so wrong?”
“You’re fucking weird.”
“And yet I’m perfect for you.”
Loh groaned. “And why is that, huh?”
“Because you’re a contradiction. You don’t want to be alone and you worry that others will reject you for who you truly are. Yet at the same, you know what you are, a monster. You want to be reminded of your faults, because you feel like you deserve it. You deserve to be despised. And you hate it when someone like your mother comes along and tries to say it’s not your fault, because you know it is. Dolores trying to say it’s not only makes you feel worse about yourself.” Lily’s smile widened, “The truth is, you want to feel the pain, it’s the only way to make up for the pain you caused others. And that’s where I come in.”
“You…?” Loh muttered hoarsely, refusing to look at her.
“Me.”
“Why?”
Lily lay down next to her in bed. “Because I’m not going to tell you it isn’t your fault, it is. You let Aizel die. You let all those students and the caravan die at Widow’s Crag. You led your colleagues and fellow mages to their deaths against Caligo. You’ve lied, manipulated, and hurt so many with your actions. You deserve your pain, I won’t say you don’t. But unlike everyone else, I won’t reject you for it. I see you, Loh, and I accept you with all your faults. I’m not running away.”
“I don’t want you here,” she muttered.
“Are you sure about that?”
“I have literally told you to get out several times.”
“You’re a powerful mage. If you wanted to throw me out all you have to do is cast a spell, but you haven’t.”
“I’m injured.”
Lily traced a finger over Loh’s arm. “Not as injured as when you fought Marek and still, you defeated him.”
Loh tensed at the touch, though she didn’t pull away. “I’m tired.”
“Then rest, I’ll be right here.” She gently placed an arm around Loh’s waist and drew closer, her breasts pushing into Loh’s back.
“...What are you doing?”
Lily inhaled deeply and sighed, satisfied. “Feeding.”
“Is that supposed to be some sexual innuendo?”
Lily slipped her leg between Loh’s. “If you want it to.”
“No… I just want to sleep.”
Lily pulled her leg back but stayed close. “I’ll wake you if the need arises.”
“...If you’re still here when I wake up I’m throwing you out the window.” Loh closed her eyes and relaxed her body.
“I look forward to proving you wrong.”
~~~
Marek woke in darkness, as he had the last few days. Or weeks. Maybe hours? Time had blurred for him inside the dungeon. There was no light down here, only damp air and the occasional sound of water dripping from the ceiling.
A pair of men, or were they women, Marek wasn’t certain, had come in at some point and treated his wounds, though they did not heal them fully. Marek could still feel the pain whenever he shifted in his chains. There had been something else. Some sort of elixir the healers had forced him to drink; he was too weak to stop them and whatever they were feeding him kept him weak.
He tried to channel magic to break through the chains, but it was pointless. Marek could feel the sigils around his shackles. No doubt enchantments to reinforce the steel. Who knew what else they had prepared to stop him from breaking free.
Not that it mattered. Even if he did escape this place, what good would it do? He had failed to kill all the Helenes. That human girl had killed Nokti. He didn’t want to believe it, but he knew it was true from the satisfied look in her eyes.
Even worse, Caligo had promised to kill every adult in the Cairn Tribe by sunrise for his defiance against the god. By now, they were dead, and it was Marek’s fault. He had lost everything and everyone he had fought for. And for what?
He chuckled bitterly to himself. “Is this what you wanted, Caligo? Is this my punishment?”
“No.”
Marek jerked his head up, the chains rattling at the motion. “Who’s there?”
A pair of faintly glowing eyes stared at him from the corner of the cell, a pale lavender. Marek knew those eyes, he had never forgotten them since that night. His lips curled in a half-hearted, wry smile. “Hello, Stryg.”