Enlightenment

Part 43

 Hello! sorry it has taken me so long to upload but I'm really busy with exams at the moment! :S but after next week I should be back to uploading much more frequently :) hope you like the next part and feel free to let me know what you think! :) x

              After uttering his last revelation Felix tried to melt away into the crowd but my hand wrapped around his arm in an iron grip, effectively stopping him from going anywhere. At nearly two hundred years older than him I had the advantages of both strength and power and he knew it. He couldn’t try to escape without causing a scene and I wasn’t letting him out of my sight in case he tried to warn Beatrice of my presence.

              To hide his discomfort he leaned into me instead, the familiar sly grin back on his face.

“So it’s like that is it? Just couldn’t bear for me to leave?”

My face twisted in disgust, “in your dreams.”

“I don’t need dreams; my memories work quite well actually… although there’s always time to… update them a bit.”

My eyes involuntarily flicked to Jamie for a second, just in time to see him shudder slightly. His jaw was getting tenser by the moment. Felix tracked the little movement as I chose to ignore his comment.

              I surveyed our surroundings before leading them both to a more secluded area, we slipped into a small booth where I had a good view of the entrance but it would be difficult for anyone coming in to spot me immediately. I would not let her escape again.

              After only a few moments the booth quickly began to feel claustrophobic. I had pushed Felix in ahead of me to stop him from escaping, leaving Jamie to awkwardly slip in opposite us. I didn’t even attempt to make conversation, instead settling for staring intently at the people entering the room.

              Unfortunately Felix didn’t seem to share my mindset; “Well, isn’t this cozy?” I didn’t bother to look at him so I was surprised when he tried to sling an arm over my shoulders. Without hesitating I turned and punched him hard in the jaw, feeling satisfied when I heard something crack. My movement had pushed him as far away from me as the small space would allow and after watching him swear for a moment I was satisfied he wouldn’t retaliate. Silently I turned back to my surveillance. Absently my fingers picked at the edge of the red leather seat.

              When she finally appeared at first I thought I was hallucinating, that she was some visit brought about by days of hoping and expectation. Her hair as blonde as mine was dark cascaded down her back and around her face in loose ringlets; red lipstick coated her lips looking shocking against her pale features. With chagrin I realized that she was dressed very similarly to me, apart from her outfit was mostly in shades of blood red as opposed to black.

              Her eyes scanned the crowd, that same icy blue as mine. There was no doubt in my mind; it was definitely her. The couple of years after I had left had given her time to catch up to me in terms of her body’s physical age; we could have been twins. She hadn’t spotted me yet.

              Without a second thought I was out of the booth and running, taking no heed of the people in my way. If they were in front of me, they moved. It took her a few moments to notice the disturbance heading towards her but once she did her eyes widened in horror. She stood frozen in shock for a second before suddenly turning and running, a frustrated growl ripped from my throat and I sped up; She. Would. Not. Escape. Again.

              We burst from the club drawing frightened shouts from the crowd outside. I caught up to her across the road, roughly grabbing her arm and yanking her to a sudden stop.

              All at once I didn’t know what to do, I tried and failed to speak for a moment before I managed to utter one word; “Beatrice?” my voice came out small and broken.

              She was silent for a long time before she finally spoke, “Hello Jadeine.” Her voice carried the velvety smoothness of vampirism but was still clearly hers.

Panic flitted across her face when I moved but I couldn’t stop myself, my arms were around her before I had consciously realized what I was doing, and with some alarm I realized that I was sobbing. For a second she just stood there stiffly but when I didn’t move she hugged me back.

“Oh Bee, you’re alive!” I choked, automatically using my old nickname for her. “I thought you were dead!” suddenly it occurred to me what I was doing and when I spoke again my voice came out cold and emotionless.  “I thought you were dead.” I abruptly pushed her away, barely keeping the sudden fury contained, “where the hell have you been?”

              She stood staring at me as she watched the emotions warring in my eyes, suddenly her face crumpled and she sank to the ground sobbing uncontrollably. I glanced around suddenly realizing that we were still attracting the curious stares of the people from the club. Jamie had just left and was heading towards us followed by an intrigued looking Felix.

              Desperately I grabbed her hands, “Come on, let’s not do this here.” She just stared at me mutely until Jamie reached us. I gave him a weak half smile in an attempt to reassure him, he looked extremely worried. My expression rapidly changed to a glare as Felix arrived, “Felix! Turn around and go back inside. Now.”

“But-“

“No! Just go!” he looked about to argue, “I’ll talk to you later, just go!”

His eyes narrowed, “I’ll hold you to that.”

“Whatever.”

              Slowly he backed away and left, leaving me to turn my attention back to the situation on hand. I hesitated, “Shall we go back to the hotel?”

 Beatrice didn’t respond so I looked at Jamie who nodded, “Sure.”

              The walk back was silent aside from Beatrice’s continued dry sobbing. After we had gone a few streets Jamie slipped a warm comforting hand into mine.

              When we entered the lobby the receptionist looked slightly alarmed but I just sent her a reassuring smile and kept walking. On entering the room I led her over to the small desk seat which she sank into gratefully. Jamie offered to leave to give us some privacy, but I shook my head;

“You’re welcome to stay, I trust you.”

Beatrice drew in a shocked breath, momentarily distracted, “But he’s human!”

 I frowned already anticipating some problems, I answered carefully; “So?”

“So? He- he’s… not… ahh…”

“He’s not just lunch.” My voice left no room for argument so although she still looked confused she dropped it. “Now, back to business.”

Her face instantly dropped, falling back into the tearful remorse she was in before. I took a deep breath to calm myself before asking; “So, what happened?”

She took a long time to answer, seeming to struggle for words. In the end she simply moaned; “Oh Jadeine, I’ve done some terrible things!”