chapter eighteen

 Are you mad?” Maria demanded, staring in disbelief at her student, her pupil, her friend, the one person she was sure she knew better than anyone else, now betraying her, and everything she stood for, in the harshest way she could.
 “No,” Alison tried to assure her, knowing this had been a bad idea, but also feeling that it was something she had to do before things went any further.  “He said he wanted to help us, join our cause, and I believe him.”
 “You what?” Maria cried out, not believing the words coming out of her friend’s mouth.  Had she gone mad?  Had she been possess?  Was she so foolish that she believed what this creature of the night was telling her, the poisonous lies he was feeding her?  “You believe he really wants to destroy his own kind?”
 “I thought that’s what the ancient ones did anyway, isn’t it?  They either ignore the young, or fight the old, so what’s so different about this?” she asked, as if she really did not see any difference between the two things.
 “I’ll tell you the difference,” Maria huffed, not believing she was having this conversation.  “The difference is that the two of you are mortal enemies, that’s the difference.  Slayers kill his kind, and his kind kill slayers, that’s how it’s been since the beginning of time, and that is how it will be until the end of time, or until one of our kind is completely destroyed by the other.  That is how it should be.  That is how it is supposed to be.”
 “Well, maybe it’s a time for change,” Alison stated, crossing her arms in front of her to show that she was not going to back down from this, not easily, anyway.
 Maria threw up her hands.  “You’ve been stubborn since I got here, but I have tried to accept that that is just part of who you are.  This…this is stupidity, and I have never known you to be stupid before in my life.”
 “Stupid?” Alison cried, hating this fight and wishing there were some way out of it, but knowing there was not.  She trusted Marius now, and thought that he could be a great asset to them.  Why could Maria not look past her dislikes and see what he could really do for them?  Why did she have to be so blind as to not realize that their way of life might not be the right way after all?  Why could she not try to see things from another’s point of view, even if that point was a vampire?  “I’m not the one being stupid.  You’re caught up in an age old war that hasn’t changed in all that time.  Well, now it’s time for a change, and I honestly believe that.”
 “If you believe that, you’re more of a fool than I ever thought you were.”
 “Well, if that’s how it’s to be,” Alison stated angrily, grabbing her coat and heading out the door, slamming it behind her, and not caring if she ever came back.

 She walked through the darkened streets, not caring where she was going or what was around her.  All she could do was think of the fight she had just had with Maria, and wonder which one of them had been right.  She had been fighting vampires for years before Alison had become a part of her life.  Perhaps she had been right, and it was Alison who had been in the wrong about this.  Then again, perhaps she had spent so much time killing them, that she could not possibly see them as anything but the killers she had been trained to believe they were.  Perhaps, one of them could change.  Perhaps others could do the same.  Perhaps it was time for a change of sorts, and if she was the spear head for that change, so be it.
 “Didn’t go well, did it?”
 She spun about to see Marius, still dressed as he had been the first time she had seen him, leaning against a light post she had just passed.  Smiling, she said,” We really need to do something about your wardrobe if you’re going to be spending a lot of time out from now on.”
 He looked down upon his outfit, and frowned.  “Well, I know it is a bit outdated, but I thought it still looked good.”
 “Aside from the fact it’s so moth ridden I’m surprised it’s not falling off your shoulders.”
 Shrugging, he moved closer to her.  “Didn’t go well, did it?” he asked again, returning to the original subject.  She could have cursed him for his persistence.
 She turned to continue her walk, Marius coming up along side her.  “No, it didn’t,” she finally had to admit to him, wondering why it seemed she now had to chose between her oldest friend and her new ally.  Could letting Marius join them really be that bad?  Could he really be that dangerous to them?
 “You can’t always expect sudden changes in people.  This is something she will just have to get used to,” he said so softly that she believed he honestly meant the words, that it hurt him that she had not accepted him, but that he could understand how she felt, and that he could wait for her to change her mind.
 Alison looked up at him.  “What if she can’t.  What if she can’t bring herself to accept it?  What do I do then?” she wanted to know, no longer sure of herself.  Did she really want to have a wedge driven between her and her mentor?  Did she really want those feelings, all that anger, to be in both their hearts?  Looking up at Marius walking beside her, she felt that staying on his side was the right thing to do, that they could be a team, and she wanted that.  She found herself wanting him, more than she wanted to continue her friendship with Maria.  This thought scared her a bit, but it also had a freeing feeling to it.  She could train with Marius in ways that Maria would have found impossible to duplicate.  Here, she could work with a real, ancient vampire, honing her skills and techniques against one who would be more like what she was fighting then Maria’s punching bag dummies could be.  Perhaps, in the end, her training with Marius would be what saved her life, not Maria’s training. 
 She blushed, feeling angry with herself with these thoughts.  Of course, Marius could help her learn to fight his kind, but Maria had tried her best, and it was only due to the older woman’s training that she was even still alive to this day.  She should have had more respect for the woman, but her mind was in such turmoil right now.  She wasn’t sure what to believe anymore, or who to believe.
 He wrapped an arm around her, drawing her out of her thoughts, and bringing her back to the present, a present he was in.  “Well, then you must accept that, and make your own decision in matters.  You cannot let others run your life, no matter how well intending they are.  You are the only one who knows what you really want, not others.”
 Laying her head against his shoulders, she said, “I just got you.  I don’t want to lose you so soon,” she admitted, realizing that she really meant the words.  She didn’t want him to leave, nor did she want to lose Maria either.
 “Nor I you, but it’s not my choice.  It’s yours, and you need to do what your heart tells you.  Just listen to your heart,” he whispered, his words getting carried away in the slight breeze.
 She nodded, wondering silently what her heart would have to say in the end.