Forgiveness and Punishment

40

Melissa is playing with Ovilla and watching over the girls, just trying to get to know them all. Once they have their dinner and go off to bed she heads to her own. Just as she goes to lie down a pain in her head hits her, nearly blinding in it's intensity. She cries out even as she collapses.

That's how they find her just seconds later. Tears streaming down her face. "What is it, Melissa? What's wrong?" Timothy asks holding her tight to him. They can all feel the pain that she is broadcasting and Timothy is doing his best along with Tad and TJ to block it from the rest of the seethe. Sweat starts pouring down their faces with their efforts. Travis goes to comfort the girls that they can hear crying.

"It hurts, it hurts so bad."  Melissa tells them with tears streaming down her face. Cliff slips into the room.

"You'll have to get her to accept your blood. It will help with the pain. If you don't she'll hurt the seethe and her children. You and she don't want that, Timothy." Cliff tells the anxious men.

Timothy gives Cliff a nasty look. "Last time I gave her blood she damn near killed me and she was just a newborn. Now she will kill me."

"Not if she takes it willingly," Cliff tells them seriously.

Timothy gives him a hard look, but it now has a thoughtful expression to it. "Baby, I need you to drink my blood. It will help with the pain and if you take it willingly it won't make you sick."

Melissa looks at him through her tears, "Promise?" She begs.

Timothy stokes her head in a soothing manner, "I promise, baby. Drink from me and it will help with the pain." Timothy is putting a whole lot of faith in Cliff about this. He feels Melissa biting his neck and just allows her to take what she wants and does his best to hold back his natural response. She has only bitten him during the ceremony when she marked him and this was far more intense.

Not long after she bites him, he feels the blood leaving him. She takes what couldn't be more than a couple of mouthfuls before she lets go. Then she passes out. Timothy picks her up and sets her comfortably on the bed. 

Turning to Cliff he demands, "What the hell just happened?"

Cliff holds his hands up in surrender, "I think that her mind is ready to let her remember everything she couldn't when she woke up. She wasn't quite ready to wake up, speaking healing wise. Now, hopefully she will be fully healed when she wakes up this time."

Travis takes a deep breath to keep from losing his temper. "What do you mean? I thought she didn't wake up until she was better, then she woke up with amnesia of the last five years. Five years that had some very important things happen. Things that she wouldn't ever want to forget."

"Yes, it's curious that she woke up not remembering some things that should never have been forgotten. For some reason she woke up before the damage was fully  fixed. Perhaps her body couldn't take care of the poison alone. She didn't get sick this time from taking your blood, she very likely needed it. Now give her some time to heal."

Timothy glares at Cliff before turning his back firmly on the other vampire. The other men look at the two at the bed helplessly before they leave to go help Travis with the children.

Cliff gives one last look at the two before leaving, he hides his anger. That bitch died far too easily and if he could he'd go back and cause her death to be far more painful than it was.

"Wh-who are you?" Marissa asks fearfully as the stranger walks up to her in the yard. This place is far worse than where she had gone when she was arrested for attacking Pimpernel. 

The woman smiles darkly, "It doesn't matter what my name is. What matters is that you paid someone to kill a young woman that was pregnant."

Marissa looks at the strange woman in fear. How had she known? "How do you know that?" Marissa hadn't known that the female was pregnant, but it wouldn't have mattered.

"She lost one of her children because of it. You made a mistake, Marissa, you should never have attacked Mrs. McGavity. You should have left well enough alone. Your husband should have had you killed, that would have saved everyone else you've dealt with a life full of heartache. I even volunteered to do it for him, but he was too soft. Even though he saw the torment you put Pimpernel through. Now she was a sweet girl, just like her mother." The woman looks at Marissa with contempt.

"You are nothing but a blight on this world. There is no one that will miss you. Your children hate you, except that mini monster you created, I'll deal with her later." For the first time Marisa knows real fear.

Just then the signal for returning to their cells sounded. Marissa sighs in relief as she makes her way inside once more.

Her relief is short lived as she finds to her horror that the strange female comes into her crowded space. "This is a one person cell, get out."

"I will, but not until I deal with you." The female then allows her nails to grow into sharpened points, like claws. She attacks the terrified female in front of her. "I would drink your blood, but it's too foul to stomach."  For the next hour she plays games with the prisoner, each time cutting her with her fingernails.

"You shouldn't have fucked with Pimpernel." Cliff spits at her before he opens the cell and leaves. He makes sure to clean all video evidence of himself from the security tapes before leaving as himself.

There was a great deal of disbelief from prison officials when her body was found.

But no matter how satisfying finally killing Marissa had been, it wouldn't bring back Melissa's dead son or bring Melissa back to them. It was a hollow satisfaction at best.

Cliff shakes himself out of his memories, sighs and leaves the room. He can just hope that the blood works to bring Melissa back to them fully or the children will be the ones to pay the most.