A quiet conversation

[arrantdemon.livejournal.com]

The lights were low as she slept in the room, pillow wet with tears. He stared at her for a time. Even though his bond had been broken years ago he still hated to see tears in her eyes.

She stirred slightly, the presence beside the bed waking her from her dreams. She saw Nev sitting beside her bed watching her. "What are you doing here?" Her words were harsh and angry. Nev had brutally savaged her friend, beating him near to death, maybe even killing him.

Nev smiled at her. There was a sadness in his eyes that was an unfamiliar characteristic in his normally cold gaze. He reached into a pocket and pulled a picture out, showing it to Elle.

"Her name is Sofia. We met when I first started to run with Francois." The tone of his voice was wistful, as if remembering fond memories long since gone. "It was love at first sight, though we thought it was just lust."

"Francois and I were out clubbing after one of our attacks. It was a Fey bar, mostly, so I stuck out like a sore thumb. She "bumped" into me on the dance floor. Turned out she was a Hunter in training. Her cousins were spotting for her."

"We would spar together all the time, anytime. Any excuse to be touching each other." He laughed lightly, "I proposed to her in the middle of a fight. You should have seen the look on her face. Priceless."

"We told her father. She took care of him since he was injured by Angel troops and couldn't get around. Nice guy. He tried to get us to stop hunting. Took a few weeks but he finally convinced us that we would never live to be old and gray together with the life style." Nev paused for a moment." He never once brought up what would happen to him. Smart man. I respected him a lot."

"We made arrangements to drop out of sight. Had a house ready. Went out one last time for a hard-party night. I tried to get her to come to my place afterwards, but she wanted a "wedding night". We weren't going to have a ceremony or anything but she wanted that one last night before we made it official. A "groom can't see the bride before the wedding" night."

Nev shook his head slightly, and the tone of his voice dropped. "Something was wrong. I felt it. I was sure she shouldn't be at home, but.... she had me wrapped around her finger. One last night before forever. I dropped her at home and crashed at Francois' for the last night.... Last peaceful nights sleep I ever had."

His posure didn't change but Nev inhaled sharply and his voice tightened. The light from the hall glinted of the thin film of tears forming in his eyes. "I got there after the troops had left. I found her in the living room. They had beaten her, tortured her and then executed her. Doubletap, back of the head." Nev wiped his eyes and cleared his throat." Francois found her father in his room. They broke every bone in his body. They let him die slowly."

A hint of anger crept back into his voice, the memories heating the fires, "I carried her body out of the city. Francois brought her father. We buried them.... "He scoffed," I hunted down and killed every trooper that was there and you know what I found out?" He glared at Elle, his stare passing through her. "They were looking for her cousins. Wrong place, wrong time." His final words growled out of his teeth. Elle recoiled slightly at his ferocity and he paused, passing his hands through his hair and breathing heavily.

He didn't look back up when he began again, "I made her a promise Elle. When I buried her, I made Sofia a promise." He looked up and the tears had begun to roll down his cheeks. "I promised her that I would never ignore the feeling in my gut."

He moved the chair closer to her bed, "That's why I didn't kill him Elle. I never trusted him. He'd hide what he knew from us when it coulda helped. But my gut.... wouldn't let me pull the trigger."

"Why did you beat him Nev? How could you be that vicious?"

Nev smiled sorrowfully as he wiped a tear off her cheek with his thumb, "Pain is all I know Elle. Violence and death have followed me all my life. Maybe it's better that she died then learn what a monster I am." He held her eyes for a moment. "I'm no good Elle. Rotten to the core." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I won't apologize for attacking Ettienne, but I am sorry I hurt you."

And with that he was gone.