Chapter 262 - Bend, Not Break

And so it was decided. I and JJ were going to meet with another femme fatale of his past, with hopes that this one won't be murderous. If she was, though, a nasty surprise was waiting for her. I learnt much since the first time someone almost killed me, and now was ready to assist JJ in fights with more than moral support.

It wasn't necessary this time, though.

Maria chose to meet in a fancy cafe where baristas would draw you pictures on your lattes. A thin veil of glamour simmered around her in aura-vision, and a full cup of coffee was standing in front of her. Dressed in stylish, but modern and not flashy clothing that fit the weather, she looked almost like any other of the few late customers that sat at the tables.

Really, her being a vampire was the most outstanding thing I could see about her. A part of me, a part that was afraid to find another bombshell like Christina was, relaxed at the sight. Maria looked pretty, with her round face and long eyelashes, but not that pretty. I'd even say she was so-so—her nose didn't really fit the rest of her features.

Still, she was a centuries—maybe even over a millennium—year old vampire, and not to be underestimated.

At our approach, her blank features flashed with satisfaction for a moment, before she schooled them back. The only trace of it was a pleasant smile that graced Maria's lips when she stood to greet us.

"Osier, I'm glad you came, after all. I'm happy to see that you are here as well, Diana."

"Are you? I wasn't sure you were actually familiar with the concept of genuine joy, but it's amazing if you do!" I smiled sweetly at Maria in response. For all she put JJ through in the past, I had no desire to hold off my shots until later. She didn't raise to the bait, though, and her pleasant smile didn't falter.

Meanwhile, JJ pointedly ignored the fact that he was addressed at all, as well as Maria. "Is there someone else with us, ma chèrie?" He asked me with a pretend confusion.

Maria let out a short breath. "I don't understand why you would always play these games, Osier, when I call you by the name that is rightfully yours. But fine. I didn't come to waste time on competing with you about which of us is more headstrong. Diana, Dragonslayer," Maria spoke the last word with force, "please, sit, so we could talk."

"Ah, so you meant me, after all? And here I was wondering whom you were so persistently addressing," JJ grinned and sat on the opposite side of the table from Maria. "After all, I don't remember being called Osier or anything like it. So what it was that you wanted to talk about?"

I sat next to JJ and as far from Maria as I could manage in limited space, and stared at her, waiting for the answer. In response, she stared right back at me with flat, scrutinising eyes.

"Hm… To begin with, I have to say that I'm glad that you found someone who equals you in the sharpness of the tongue, Dragonslayer, to accompany you in life," the gleam in Maria's eyes told me she didn't forget my earlier quip, nope, she didn't.

"I always prided myself on having a superb taste," JJ said, flashing me a small smile before glancing at Maria again. "But surely you didn't make all that way just to congratulate us."

"I was congratulating you. In fact, I believe it was foolish for you to abandon my teaching and attach yourself to anyone the way you did. Don't even try to deny it—you are in love with Diana like a boy… It's in your eyes. And no matter what magic is on your side," she addressed me, "time will crush anything, and you will grief eternally for what you lost. But you are old enough to make your own choices, Dragonslayer, and suffer for them. I didn't come to nag at you."

And good for that, because even these words alone hit right at my most vulnerable spots. No matter what, we couldn't look into the future. I liked to imagine a good future for myself and JJ. Lately it was the easiest thing to think up. But when Maria told what she did in that tone of complete assurance, some of the old doubts crept in.

Time could erode mountains and destroy kings. Could love prevail over it?

'Yes, it could,' I told myself sternly and forced the thought away. Screw it, and screw Maria.

Meanwhile, Maria took in a breath and a part of the coldness in her expression changed to something softer, almost melancholy. "The world changed a lot in the last few centuries. Some of these changes feel like a personal victory to me, even though I did nothing to facilitate them. But they also made me reminisce about some decision of my past and how right or wrong they were."

JJ leaned back with a look so sharp and deadly it could be used as a sword. "If you will say now that you wanted to apologise, or worse, make amends, I won't believe you, Maria."

The woman smiled, just like when she smiled to meet us the first time—with nothing but politeness in the expression. "I didn't say I wanted to do anything so pointless. I didn't even say what conclusion I came to by the end of my thinking."

JJ relaxed a little, enough to incline his head to the side and arch a brow. "And what, pray tell, was it?"

"Oh, I decided it was wrong to treat men and women as unequally as I did… Instead, it would be better to use all humans without regard to their gender. I'm too stuck in my ways to change more," Maria said airily, before turning a suddenly intense stare at JJ. "But you… I thought I changed you. You made such a fine fledgling, I didn't even regret that I lost you as a consort. When you first left, I always thought that it was a natural course of things, but now I realise that you have started to change even back then. When I saw you again, you were so much like the first time I met you… It was like all my work was undone by magic. How did that happen, I wonder?"

The question sounded like a rhetorical one, and though Maria paused for a moment, no one filled the silence. She soon continued, in the same airy tone. "When I gave you your name, osier, or willow, I wanted it to reflect how hard it was to bend your to my vision. But it turned out to be more fitting than that. Even after I weaved you into a basket, you still eventually returned your original shape. This marvel… I need it, too. Tell me, Dragonslayer, what is your secret?"

"Why would you want to know? You said yourself how unrepentant you are." JJ looked at Maria incredulously.

"Simple. The world changes faster and faster. Catastrophically, sometimes." Maria gestured around. "Soon, I will have to bend or break with it, before hunters will come after my skin because I broke some of the new laws the governments spit out faster and faster. And I would much prefer bending to breaking."

"You know that this kind of thing is never so easy, are you?" I spoke, giving Maria a sceptical look. "Or do you think there's a magic spell for it?"

"Of course not." She cast me a sharp glance, then looked at JJ again with a smile dancing on her lips. "Ironic, isn't it? A teacher asks for advice from their former pupil."

"It would've been more ironic if this all didn't feel like a made-up cause to come to us and stir up chaos." JJ huffed through nostrils. "There's no 'secret', Maria. Everyone has a choice on how to live their lives, and we keep doing it every day. I made mine, and you made yours, but that doesn't stop you from making another choice today or tomorrow. I'd like to hear that you chose to grow an actual heart instead of the piece of rock you use instead, but alas," he spread his hands in a shrug, "some things are simply impossible."

Just like before, Maria didn't even blink at the insult. She was a really nasty opponent in the game of spitting venom, and I was relieved that she didn't spit (much) of it back. What she did spit, hurt.

"I see," she said simply. "Indeed, you are so much like how you were when we just met… And you fit him well, Diana. I don't think I will like the changes you will keep bringing into the world, but neither I think it is in my power to stop you."

She stood up. "It was nice to see you again… Osier. Maybe I will come to visit again, in a couple centuries."

I hoped not.