Chapter III

<b><u>Chapter III</u>

1928

 

She watched as Aedan poured another glass of wine, slowly, although some splashed over the sides at his bad coordination. She watched him calmly with low-set eyes from the other side of the table, although she was really concentrating on the ticking of the clock close by. He lifted the glass to his lips as his eyes raised to her.

 

“Why so silent?” He said, lowering the glass. “It’s New Years!” The slurred words escaped his lips before sipping more wine. It was common for him to get drunk for celebration. Or when he was upset. Tonight, it was hard for her to tell which one it was. Her eyes drifted from him towards the clock, seeing it read 11:15. She sighed and looked away, her eyes now watching the table. “Are you sure you don’t want any wine, Chrissie?”

 

She shook her head and looked up at Aedan without moving. He only smiled.

 

“Tell me, has another year passing brought you misery? You should be happy. We both have a home,” He gestured around the room. “And we both have food.” He paused, watching her for a moment.Then he lifted the glass to his lips, smiling. He brought his teeth over the rim of the glass, the two canines revealed the most; sharp and white. She was almost afraid he’d break the glass. There was a smug look on his face as he drank more from the glass and said, “You’re upset.”

 

“Perhaps.” She responded absently, cool eyes watching him.

 

“Why?” He placed down the glass and she looked at the glass, searching for scratches from his teeth.

 

“I want to leave.”

 

“Ah…” He snorted, chuckling afterwards. “I’ve taken care of you more than anyone ever could have, my lovely,” He drawled, still slurring. “Including more than those things that you would have called ‘mommy and daddy’.” He leaned back in his chair, sipping more wine.

 

Her eyes widened and she stared at him.

 

“What? You wouldn’t know anything about them.” He leaned forward, his elbows supporting him as he looking at her intently, although his eyes had wicked intentions hidden in them.

 

“I wouldn’t know <i>anything</i> about them?” He questioned her as another grin came onto his face. “Oh, my dearest, I knew plenty. They lived in the north of New York,” He paused, thinking. “And they used to keep you in this bedroom…With white walls and hardwood floors! And beside your cradle was a <i>big window</i>…” The grin widened along with his eyes as he finished off the wine. He set the glass on the table as he whispered, “And you loved me anyway. So what does it matter?”

 

She stared at him and she stood up, trembling all over. She had believed for more than a hundred years that Aedan had adopted her; not stolen her! She glared at him as she felt tears gather in her eyes.

 

No words were said as she shoved the chair into the table and left the room, in tears now. Aedan just watched, a lazy smile on his face, and he began to laugh, finding her misery humorous through his drunken eyes.

 

“Goodnight, My Lovely!” He called to her as there was a sound of a door shutting in the other room. </b>

 

Christelle watched through the dirtied window of the house, seeing the quiet road. It was late in the morning and she hadn’t eaten yet. She closed her eyes, thinking for the moment under the sunlight that streamed through the window. When the thoughts passed, she opened her eyes once again and turned, going downstairs.

 

She went down the steps of the stairs and their old splinters creaked, crying out in pain as she stepped on them in her boots. The hem of her dress was lifted by her hand so it wasn’t to get caught on the stairs. She went to the kitchen and made herself some bread and cheese, eating it humbly. At the moment she was too lazy to make anything that would be decent enough to be called breakfast. As she ate, she listened to the ticking of the ancient clock against the wall. It read quarter after eleven.

 

She now wondered why that clock was still even there. In some way, that incessant ticking somehow brought her comfort; comfort in knowing there was still time and reality in her grasp. Although that comfort could somehow be translated into disappointment; disappointment in also knowing that that ticking meant time was still going for her and another second of the hour was passing. Knowing she was still alive.

 

Suicide had been an option, although she never really wanted to endure causing her own death. In some twisted way, she had always wanted her death to be interesting and surprising. She didn’t want to expect it. And she had always questioned that if she committed suicide whether or not she’d go to hell. She didn’t know whether or not she believed in god anymore. It just wasn’t something she thought about.

 

She didn’t have immortality, as most vampires didn’t. It she was stabbed, she would probably die if hit in the right place and not attended to. But it was believed that vampires heal faster than humans would; A simple cut from a knife would probably heal in two days compared to a week.

 

She went to her room after finishing her food and opened a drawer to the old dresser that had originally held clothing. She took out a pack of cards and went to the large mirror that leaned against the wall and sat down in front of it. She shuffled the cards as she stared into her own eyes. Her reflection was faint; something that happened when becoming a vampire. Aedan had told her that it represented her soul slowly disappearing from her view, but she believed that what he had told her was only something that was meant to scare her. She concentrated as she shuffled the cards and she asked herself the question, What is my future?  Then she asked the reflection, What is your future?

 

She laid out the Tarot cards in the traditional Celtic Cross after she believed they were shuffled enough and turned them over, one by one. The three cards that stood out the most were the ones that represented her inner emotions, her distant past, and her future influence.

 

First, her inner emotions looked back to her as a knight on a dark horse, holding up a Pentacle in his right hand; except the card was turned upside down. The Knight of Pentacles. Her brows furrowed, knowing the meaning: Inertia, idleness, repose, discouragement. She knew this was true, she had been in this house for months, not leaving for anything but food. She shoved the card back into the deck before looking at the next.

 

Her distant past was obvious. An angel played a trumpet to men and woman who hailed it, their arms reaching up in welcoming. Judgement. It meant renewal, change of position, a new outcome. It represented her leaving Aedan. Once again, she took the card and put it back into the deck.

 

The last card that represented her future influence interested her the most. A man held up a wand, looking it over. He had a hat with a feather, and a cloak draped over him, matching his yellow boots. The page of wands. It meant a man was to influence her. She lifted the card and looked closer. He looked as if he was traveling. She bit her lip. Aedan wasn’t returning, was he? She hoped not. She put the cards away, looking at herself in the mirror. Blue, worn out eyes stared back at her. She remembered when they had been a bright blue long ago. Many had commented then on how pretty she was. The

 

She stood up and went downstairs to leave and go to town. It was time to stop her sluggishness and go to Boston.

 

* * *

 

Lyle arrived in Boston, went to a motel, slept, then went out to explore the next day. He had gathered plenty of money for the motel before leaving New York. He strolled down the sidewalk, looking around curiously. The city was bustling alive with people, shopping and working. He smiled knowing that Boston hadn’t changed much with that trait. It had always been alive.

 

The changes he could see in Boston was that the traffic in the city was much better than he had last seen it. He had known about this already since in the early 1990’s, they had reconstructed on the highway since traffic in Boston had been horrible since the beginning of the 20^th century. Lyle was happy about that since when he had come to trade in Boston, it was a problem with the carriages and railcars congesting the roads. He remembered many saying that walking was faster than traveling by carriage.

 

Lyle had always thought of visiting Luke again, but he couldn’t bring up the courage. He didn’t want to see how much his hometown had changed over the years. It would be too hard with all the memories; the painful ones and the happy ones. He had always wondered if France had had children, or if Libby had ever gotten married again. He had always wondered that with difficulty. If they had ever moved on without Marcus or Lyle. Speculating on things that he’d never know was something he found to be a very bad habit that was difficult to get rid of.

 

He went through some stores in Boston (Especially the book stores; he loved to read), although he bought nothing. He found himself looking at the restaurants of Boston, and he passed one, looking into it. It seemed nice and he thought of eating there. He pushed the door open and went in, talking with one of the waiters before being led to his table. He looked around the restaurant as everyone, reading some of their minds. It was the same as it was at the bar; they said something to the other patron but were usually thinking something totally different.

 

His eyes moved to a young looking girl with blonde hair. Her head was turned to the side, but when he looked at her, she looked at him. Her eyes locked with his and for a moment, everything around Lyle seemed to go still. Blue eyes stared at him, widening after a moment. He knew who she was right away and just to check, he went into her mind. As he had predicted, her mental blocks went up immediately. He stood up quick, glaring at her. She stood up, too, and left the table, leaving the menu on the table idle. He went after her without even glancing back.

 

These moments were such a blur for Lyle. His reaction only seemed to be instinctive. He went down the sidewalk as fast as he could without getting responses from the people around him. She did the same thing, going down the sidewalk at a fast pace. She turned into an alley and waited. She had decided that he would catch up at one point or another, and to at least speak with him.

 

He saw her turn and went up to her after going into the alley. He glared at her and moved close to her, asking quietly,

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know you…” She trailed off as she moved from him slowly towards the sidewalk.

 

“Then why did you run?” Lyle blocked her path, not letting her move any further. “You do know me. And you’re well aware of it.”

 

Christelle did not respond for a moment, as she was thinking of what to say. She now knew that this man was her ‘page of wands’; her future influence. She stared at him, but not at his eyes. She had seen them before, not only at the restaurant, but long ago, when she had been with Aedan.

 

“Christelle.” She answered him. “That’s my name.” She added quietly and she looked at the ground.

 

“You know Aedan.”

 

“I do.”

 

“Where is he…?”

 

She sighed softly and looked up at him.

 

“You really want to actually <i>find</i> him?” she questioned. “Anyway, I wouldn’t know. He left over seventy years ago.”

 

A silence came between them and some people were beginning to look into the alley as they went by, silently questioning why an intimidating man was hanging over that girl. But none of them stopped walking to question it aloud. As this silence went through both Lyle and Christelle, she read his mind so swiftly he wasn’t able to notice.

 

“Why were you with him?”

 

“He was my father of sorts.” She answered calmly as her eyes now met his. She dug deeper into his mind, looking for how old he was, about his family…On the way, she found useless information of what he had gone through recently. Before she could get any more information, he threw up invisible barriers, cutting her off. She smiled at him and said quietly, “If you’d excuse me…” She moved from him, finally, and moved out of the alley. But he followed her.

 

“Your father? Related?”

 

“No.” She walked down the sidewalk as he caught up to her.

 

“Then how was he your father?”

 

“None of your business.” She looked at him and smiled. “Isn’t that what you said to that girl?”

 

His brows came together in frustration, stopping on the sidewalk and grabbing her arm.

 

“Please just talk to me. I’m not going to hurt you or anything…”

 

“And what would you like to know?” She asked. “What would I be able to tell you? Why Aedan changed your brother? I wouldn’t know. How he became a vampire? He never told me anything of his past.” She said all this in a hushed voice, aware of the people around them walking past. Lyle, in response to her answer, stayed silent. He knew she wasn’t lying. She watched him and she let out a long breath, then said quietly, “You don’t live here, do you? Are you traveling?”

 

“Yes… I live in New York now.” Lyle was well aware she knew that he used to live in Luke. They had first seen each other there.

 

“Then go back home after sight-seeing.” She began walking away, moving her arm from his grip. “You’re not going to find any information from me.”

 

Lyle followed in vain, staying beside her.

 

“Please, just talk to me a little…Tell me how you met.” He was desperate to know more about Aedan and Christelle.

 

She let out a sigh and looked up at him.

 

“Only if you promise to go back to New York afterwards. You can come to my house and we’ll talk.”