Chapter 81 - Back Together Again (1/2)

Anyone who viewed the two of them staring longingly into each other eyes would have found the whole episode incredibly uncomfortable. Silence reigned supreme within the room for several long minutes, only to be broken by someone clearing their throat from the doorway. Hearing the disturbance, Silus turned his head to see Marissa standing there with an armful of freshly laundered clothes.

"I brought her clothes, they're all clean now." She said, eyeing the progenitor that had created her with a tinge of jealousy.

Releasing Sarah from his grasp, a smirk appeared on Silus's face. "You have nothing to fear, I was merely reconnecting with an old acquaintance."

"You know Sarah?"

Silus took a seat on a plush chair located in the corner of the room. Sarah was still standing where she was in a daze, her ice blue eyes frozen over but quickly thawing.

"Calling this human by her first name? You really have grown attached." He paused, allowing Marissa's face to regain some of its color. "But yes, I knew her in my past life. She was always cordial with me, so I hold no ill feelings towards her."

Marissa nodded her head, she was very curious about her master's past, but it wasn't her place to probe into it. If he wanted to, he would tell her. But she did have a concern. "Won't she recognize you? I mean, I'm sure ya don't look the same, but still…"

"No. She won't. I've altered her memories of me so that..."

"YOU WHAT!" Marissa shouted out, enraged. Her eyes shown crimson red, her teeth growing to fine points. "You can't do that, you have..."

"KNOW YOUR PLACE!" Silus commanded, appearing directly in front of the noble vampire, grabbing her throat, and lifting her feet off the ground.

He could feel what she was feeling, the anger, possessiveness, attraction; everything that she was feeling at the moment he could feel as well due to their proximity. He could also feel that not all of those feelings were directed towards him. Once his child had sufficiently calmed down, he plopped her back onto her feet.

"I only altered her perception of me very slightly, nothing else. That, along with the changes I've gone through since we last met, should be enough so that she only feels a slight DeJa'Vu when looking at me."

"That's it, you swear?" Marissa asked in a raspy voice.

"Of course, I would never harm my children… or their playthings." Silus replied in a cool voice.

By this time, Sarah had almost completely recovered, her slight movements interrupting the heated conversation between the two vampires. Blinking hard, she rubbed her eyes with her free hand before looking around the room in confusion. Spotting Marissa standing there not too far away, overwhelming relief washed over her.

She took a step forward before she noticed the ethereally beautiful man standing next to Marissa. She didn't know how she had missed him before, it seemed that every time she took her eyes off the man he would disappear, even though he was still clearly there. Seeing his striking features, memories flooded into her mind. She remembered the night before, so cold, so terrifying; then how she woke up in a strange bed, in a strange place, with nothing but a blanket covering her. After that, nothing; she furrowed her brows, trying to remember but couldn't.

"Marissa, what's going on?" She looked around the room, at the man, then down at herself covered in a silken sheet. "Where am I?"

Marissa gave her a soft smile before trotting over and handing over the clothes she still held in her hands. "Here, put these on. They're all nice and clean. After you're done, come into the kitchen then we'll talk, ok?"

Sarah took the clothes with her free hand, before Marissa turned around and left the room, taking the man with her. She let out a slow breath, wincing at the pain throbbing in her head.

…..

Ryan's eyes fluttered open, revealing a ghastly sight that made him wish that he had never woken up. Directly in front of him, hanging upside down by their ankles, were the two holy envoys from the Church of the Dawn. His stomach turned as his eyes wondered down to the metal buckets sitting beneath them, catching the blood as it drained from slits in each of their necks. The sickly-looking dog was lapping up the thick blood from one of the buckets, making nauseating slurping noises as it did so. Luckily, he had been tempered somewhat during the massacre in Swayzee, so he managed to keep his breakfast from making an appearance.

"It's about time you're awake." Professor Kal said from somewhere within the dim and drab basement. "Do you have any idea how heavy that big one was? I think I may have pulled something hoisting him up there, I could have really used your help. Useless...."

Professor Kal's voice trailed off into incomprehensible muttering as he returned to whatever he was doing in a corner where Ryan couldn't see him.

"Why did you have to kill them?" Ryan asked, his voice unnaturally calm as compared to his mental state from earlier. "Do you know what's going to happen to us now? To everyone? Did you not take that into consideration? What am I saying, of course you didn't, you never do!"

"Hey now!" Professor Kal interjected as he came into view, wearing a blood-stained leather apron with his sleeves rolled up. "You seen what happened, you were there. That big lout tried to kill me, if anything, it was self-defense!"

"IF YOU WEREN'T SUCH A DICK ALL THE TIME THAT WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED!!" Ryan screamed, losing his calm. He had both hands on his head, nearly pulling chunks of hair out as he cursed like a sailor at the man taking it all in stride.

Once Ryan had screamed himself hoarse, Professor Kal finally retorted. "Are you finished now? I don't think they heard you on the second floor, maybe you should go at it again?" He paused. "No? Good, now sit back down, and shut up."

Following the direct command, Ryan plopped back down into the poorly crafted chair he woke up in. The sickly-looking dog, sulked over to him and sniffed at his hand while he was seated, allowing him to finally get a good look at the four-legged creature. Assuming that it was one of the Professor's summonses, he slowly patted its large head with an outstretched hand, the dog's rotted form not seeming to bother the young man.

Professor Kal watched the two of them bond as he spoke. "Now, as you can see, we do have a slight problem." He gestured to the two bodies strung up from the ceiling. "But it's nothing that can't be corrected."

Ryan froze in place, his hand planted between the dog's ears. "Corrected? How in the FUCK can you correct that!" He yelled, his finger pointing to the two corpses.

"Language, please." Professor Kal chided before continuing. "You are right, we can't 'unkill' them, but we can replace them."

Professor Kal didn't miss the overly skeptical look plastered all over Ryan's face. Even Trist, the zombie-dog, cocked her head, looking as if she was following along with their conversation.

"Just come back down here tonight, after the bodies have had enough time to drain completely, I'm going to impart on you the forbidden 'Transference' spell." Professor Kal said, saying the last part with a theatric air about his voice.

Rising to his feet, Ryan let out a defeated sigh. He was far too involved in everything to refuse, even if he wanted to quit being the madman's apprentice, where would he go? Even if he did run away, the Church would hunt him down to the ends of the earth, he had no chance of surviving by himself. All he could do was grow up, and follow the Professor's lead, although crazy, he did always seem to be reliable when you needed him the most.

"Alright, fine. But can you at least come up and help with the guests, you're the one that bought this place to begin with."

"I'm not really a people person."

"Whatever." Ryan sighed, before remembering something important. "Oh, Professor Treffle never made it back last night!"

"She's a big girl, she can take care of herself." Professor Kal said dismissively as he probed the corpses hanging by their ankles with a long, hooked instrument.

"Do you even care? She went out looking for information about the King's curse, while you were out somewhere, doing gods know what!" Ryan accused.

"I'm sure she's fine, I know she's still alive at least, so you really have nothing to worry about." He rebutted.

"How do you know that?"

"Magic!" Professor Kal said colorfully, holding both hands up and wiggling all of his fingers.

"Why are you like the way you are?" Ryan asked rhetorically, shaking his head while making his way toward the basement door.