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• 

  D o m i n i c January 10, 2025 at 9:56pm

  The second verse came and went in Italian, uttered more quietly by the Englishman when she pressed her head close to his. His hands settled on her waist comfortably while his feet directed the small movements that turned them around in the empty apartment room. Little did she know, his footsteps matched to the steady cadence of Agnes’ heart in her chest, up until it started to rise again

  Without you, I'm lonely
  My heart wants you only
  I can't get you out of my heart.

  By the final chorus, his voice was only a soft hum. His eyes were half-lidded, and illuminated by the city glow behind Agnes when they had come to a pause. The vampire’s feet stopped, but a slow sway kept them in movement while he pulled her closer for the kiss. 

  His grasp tightened around her once her hands dropped, fingers curling around the folds of her shirt. The vampire’s breaths rose and fell quicker than his usual imitation. The song quieted in replacement of the scratching sound of the record transitioning. The next track entered the room more softly than the first. 

   

  Hello, hello, memory…
  Don't you know me, memory?

  The wistful voice in the background began to sing, without an accompaniment from Dominic.

  I was the one so in love I couldn't see
  Memory, don't you remember me?

  His feet didn’t move while his lips gingerly trailed down along her jawline, toward the crook of her neck. 

  Hello, you there used to be
  Back then you held love for me
  We were the two just happy as can be…
  Memory, don't you remember me?

   

  There was a sudden and sickening snap as canines punctured through the skin between her neck and shoulder. They wouldn’t go through as sharply or as cleanly as one might hope.

  Since then we drifted apart…

  Whatever contingency plan the demoness had thought over in the past years, it didn’t account for the ice that seeped through her veins and the buzzing of startled nerves that left her out of her control. The vampire’s arms, already wrapped around her, pulled her in tighter like a death's embrace to keep the demoness’ knees from fully buckling.

  There was no romantic allure of the modern-day vampire cinema that would draw her in for another bite. It wasn’t the theatrical adrenaline-laced scene in a black-and-white movie, fueled by a crescendo and a sudden scream at spotting bared fangs.

  All it inspired was a stinging sense of helplessness and paralysis, that had snuck into the room like the night through the open windows of the balcony. It snuck in without a conscious thought at all.

  And now I come to you, with a broken heart

  It was simply awful. 

  Hello, memory, just one more time
  Show me, tell me what once was mine...
  Please let me see that sweet love that used to be
  Then, memory, I'll forget you, forget me.
• 

  D o m i n i c January 6, 2025 at 12:15am

  The vampire was strangely absent, other than his weight on the bike. The usual baseline fidgeting had tapered off beside a gentle stroke of his thumb when she touched his hand. When they walked back through the busy aisles of Sundown, he wouldn’t lose connection with her. The doors had closed with a steady inhale and exhale of the vampire. His eyes studied her thumb when it found the vacant spot where the ring once sat. Insult to injury. He didn’t feel any more ‘himself’ with the glamorous binding his appearance, but he didn’t feel any less, either. Red-rimmed eyes had certainly looked clearer on other occasions.

  “You’ll have to refresh my memory,” Dominic hummed. He had already turned toward the machine to make his own selection, stirring the mechanics inside to life. Opening vocals and the quiet hum of string instruments framing the intro painted a gentle uplifting aura, even in the apartment. It was a small shift from the usual Sinatra. Al Martino - I can’t get you out of my heart. Short and sweet. A slow dance, it was.

  Dominic turned around. He went to the center where Agnes waited, holding his hands out with an ever-present smile. “Chiot.” His hand took hers, drawing her in close to put his other hand around her waist.

  I can't get you out my heart
  For you, love, are part of my heart…

   A hum from the vampire’s chest wasn’t mistaken as they settled into the song's cadence. The apartment walls dissolved, as did all worry of covens or footwork as his sway matched hers.

  “It's funny, the first time we met
  I knew you'd be hard to forget…”

  A baritone voice was heard once his lips parted for the second short verse. The velveted sound was heard against Agnes’ ear as Dom leaned closer.

  “I can’t get you out of my dreams
  Whenever you’re near my heart beams…”

  He pulled away just enough to rest his forehead on hers. Crimson hues were fervent when they met hers.
  
  “Without you, I'm lonely
  My heart wants you only
  I can't get you out of my heart.”
• 

  D o m i n i c January 5, 2025 at 12:17pm

  He found himself coming back down, from it all. No matter where Lucienne was that night, she was slipping out of his thoughts for the time being, destined to be tomorrow’s problem. Lord knew he had enough to think about. If there was any debate on how vampires felt pain or discomfort, overstimulation was on the list.

  His focus on Agnes was combatting that. Dominic listened quietly as a more at-ease smile spread. He didn’t deserve this. It was a kinder thought than it could have been. Patience. Understanding. Immortality; he never thought it could be a shared thing outside his kind. “One step at a time. I won’t jeopardize a second of our peace over being hasty, Chiot... my request with you and the coven still stands. Please.”

  The manor. He had forgotten about it for the past week, and the date was likely fast approaching. The move would put him back into the woods he ran from when he came to the city, but circumstances were different now. When she asked her simple question, Dominic looked back at her pensively. 

  “I will.” No matter how much he wanted to run and disappear earlier, no matter the discomfort, he couldn’t be left alone with his thoughts. 

  -/-

  The ride back felt quicker than their departure from the West. The vampire was quiet behind her, buried in his thoughts and the rhythm of the demoness’ heartbeat over the bike’s engine. He perked up only once Sundown’s now-busier street appeared, and shook himself to life when the bike was parked in its spot. The helmet was left behind without a worry. Nightlife was friendly to vampires in the form of red lights, and cold streets. The city hosted an amalgam of characters that made people like themselves blend in no differently than the humans, at times. 

  He kept his eyes averted through the bar’s main entrance, should his normally stoic expression be telling. Dom was on Agnes’ heels while they moved through the hectic space. When the elevator started to make its way up, his posture eased.

  Lombardi’s felt like it was more than just a few hours ago.

  Let’s try this again.

  His shoes came off, and the lights were not bothered this time. The vampire approached the living room and promptly slid the balcony door shut. The latch was deformed from Luci’s arrival. “You know…” His eyes drifted past the glass and out into the city for a moment and then he turned around, clearing his throat. He leaned a hip against the jukebox with his arms crossed loosely. Red eyes held a certain glint to them. “We haven’t truly gotten to dance since I taught you. I didn’t quite get to enjoy the chance that evening.”
• 

  D o m i n i c December 30, 2024 at 11:30pm

  The vampire’s smile spread when she teased, and he raised a brow. “I’ve developed a bit of a knack for the wrong place wrong time,” He admitted quietly, glancing at her before turning back to the waters. A moment of quiet passed that was far more peaceful than those before it had been. His chin tipped back toward Agnes when she spoke. As he listened, Dom’s arm tightened around her a tad. Reddened hues remained on her thereafter.

  “I've found my favorite version of myself in you, Agnes. I could stand to lose everything, and I have in times before, but... not you. Not in this lifetime, nor the next… nor the next…” He whispered. His voice drifted off longingly like it was thought to continue from there on. He rested back against her and continued in a whisper. “...not by my hand. There isn't any closing the door once it is opened. I can’t promise you that things will always be easy.”

  His stare drifted along the water while he thought. “Abram might be one of the better tracking vampires in the UK. That night in London, Lucienne slipped away with ease… as she has managed to consistently for the last few decades. Luci has always been Abram’s problem that he's sought to solve. I wouldn’t expect the same treatment—not twice in a century with the coven, not even if it were Aasir’s judgement.”

  They would have taken your tongue out for this.
  ...Don’t you care?

  The vampire withdrew his thoughts from the matter and huffed. “I know how you hate these words, Chiot, but… I need a little time to think.” He leaned close and pressed a kiss against her temple. “Thank you for tonight. For… this.”
• 

  D o m i n i c December 29, 2024 at 2:43am

  Dominic leaned back into her without hesitation when her arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders. She could have walked him up and down the boardwalk without so much of a word if it meant having that familiar source of stability beside him. He couldn’t make sense of it all, only the parts that he couldn’t. How could he have memories he was so certain of with nothing to tether them to? Something about the vampiress’ words had begun to creep through his thoughts. 

  You’re not there anymore, you’re here. Dominic’s hand gave hers a halfhearted squeeze in acknowledgment. Where was there? He had to get a hold of himself. Red-rimmed eyes lacked confidence on the matter, but they also lacked the hysteria shown in the apartment.

  When her voice shifted, so did his attention back to her. The walls were ready to come up; more than anything he feared the threat of a push into that unknown. “Luci and I were close. Even after she left, we had always been close. From the moment we met she was a perpetual source of trouble, pushing the envelope, but… she was also a spot of light in that dark.” 

  When the ‘push’ never came, Dominic leaned into her side and put his arm around to draw her in closer. He looked out into the water. “I often go back to that cottage in Dover in my mind. The one where we let our troubles be human for the evening…” He hummed quietly. “The one where I’m certain our hosts thought us to be a young married couple.”  The unsteadiness of his voice had slipped away, bringing forth a calmness to the vampire. His voice whispered just above her ear.  “Are you so sure you could simply uproot your life..?”
• 

  D o m i n i c December 28, 2024 at 11:16am

  The vampire studied her face after the question. His hand took hers while he waited and listened. A somewhat lost expression went back to the cityscape. He studied the lights off in the distance while his thoughts were thousands of miles off, still. “I couldn’t remember a thing about where I was. I… can’t place it. I know I've felt that feeling before. It wasn’t in this city, nor London even…” Dominic’s voice trailed off. 

  “I think it was when I was young.” He studied the bricks at their feet, lines forming above his brow as he thought. His hand curled tighter in hers. “I remember I was terrified. I was recently changed. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t see a thing, and all my other senses were wildfire, but-… now and again, I still knew someone was there. I was starving. It felt all-consuming. I didn’t have a name for the feeling yet, but…” 

  Careful. You need to stop, he thought. Lucienne’s surprise presence alone put him in a mode that warranted a hunt. Dom exhaled a breath, clearing his thoughts. Ripping the vampire away from the city was a blessing in disguise. “I remember the day I met Aasir, and the others. I remember it all fairly clearly, but… before then?”

  Christ. For once, he spoke as fast as he could process his thoughts. “I… remember being told their creed and their doctrines. It might have been the only sound I heard for god knows how long. I don’t have a face to connect it to, name, or place… but I’ve recited it a hundred thousand times. It felt like I had an entire existence alone with those words… To this day Agnes, I couldn’t force it out of my head. I don’t think any of us could. We were hand-selected. The path they put in front of us is one of absolution. The lesser punishment for crossing that absolution would be death.”

  What of Niko then… and now, Lucienne?

  You’re losing it. Bloody hell, you’re losing it.

   

  He forced himself to sit upright beside her and cleared his throat. Dominic’s demeanor seemed to lighten along with the passing of the centuries, back to a far closer time. “The morning Lucienne disappeared from our hunt, she left me alone in the trees. When I went back to the coven grounds, Vittoria wanted answers. Abram wanted my head. Neither got what they wanted, but not without lack of trying.” He muttered bitterly. 

  Dominic looked over to her finally. “I never meant to explode like I did tonight, but I just… saw red. She changed everything, Agnes, and then left me to hang when she did it. Time is one of the more precious things in this world.” There was a long pause where his stare went to their hands. Cool fingers traced along the back of hers repeatedly. “I’ve thought over a thousand times what could happen.” His voice softened. “I meant what I said, Chiot. As terrifying as it is, I don’t see a future where I can leave you behind.”
• 

  D o m i n i c December 26, 2024 at 2:15am

  Her reassurance was putting out the fires in his thoughts by the minute. He wasn’t sure what he would have done otherwise, or where he would be now if Agnes wasn’t there at all. With enough coaxing, Dominic rose back onto his feet with her. He stood there momentarily, gathering himself while she headed the door to find her boots. His eyes passed over the glimmer of silver on the floor where he once stood, before turning away. The man pulled his shoes back on where they had been left, not long before. 

  Tonight he would push his luck in the dark and settle on simply being a vampire. Come morning, he had made more work for himself than the intemperate conversation was worth.

  Once they were in the hallway, he took Agnes’ hand promptly. He was silent even as they made their way through the bar and met up with Spencer, to whom Dominic’s gaze was avoidant at best. He followed her out into the open air, where the glow of the streets did him a slight favor in the dark. He watched as the bike presented itself in its hiding place, and without a fuss, the helmet was taken once she offered it with a quiet ‘thank you’ under his breath. 

  Soon enough, they were off. Dominic’s arms wrapped around her closely from the back seat. Through all the twists and turns of the city, they seldom moved besides to loosen at the occasional stop light. The brief flashes of signs and the eventual wafting of the bay’s saltwater in the air hinted how far they had gone. He had been lost enough in thought that when the bike’s engine stopped, it took a moment to register. He was the first to get off after a pause, pulling the helmet off to let it rest on the bike’s handlebar. 

  
  They found a bench along the waterside that was far more tranquil than the other side of the state line.

  There was home, just across the mirrored glow of the water. 

  “If she wanted to find you first, she would find you,” Dominic stated quietly. He sat hunched forward still. His forearms rest on either knee, with his hands clasped loosely between them. He glanced at Agnes without any hint of blame and then trained his attention on the sights across the water. He went still as a statue while he thought. The bench was silent for a couple of minutes before his hands laced together. They stopped right about where the missing band on his ring finger once sat. 

  “Do… you think you remember every memory of your upbringing, Chiot? From that house in the woods, or the city… or from when they trained you?” He tipped his chin to focus his eyes on her. “Have you any moments that surface and you wonder... How could they ever have slipped through the cracks?”

  Dom’s eyes studied the stone at their feet. “I even felt it in your mind, the night of the gala. I had lost track of everythin’, I was wandering in the dark, trying to find you. I didn’t know for how long. I’ve wondered ever since what it had to do with a time that you weren’t even remotely alive for.”
• 

  D o m i n i c December 25, 2024 at 1:23pm

  The vampire couldn’t settle his senses down. He could still loudly hear the breeze of the open balcony, and the subtle whine of a distressed Louie somewhere in the apartment. Most importantly was his lover’s heartbeat which was coming back down after the incident. He could hear his voice in his head, the way it shouted. What did her face look like, then? How had she reacted? There were things said that he knew he wouldn’t be able to put back in their box. Dominic ejected Lucienne from his thoughts for the time being while worrying about Agnes’ presence in the whole matter.

  Then came her footsteps; his fingertips curled to tighten the hold on his hair. His eyes opened when she knelt to his level and pulled him close to her. Dominic’s hands loosened only when prompted to, only to find a home tightly around her. His face buried itself in the crook of her shoulder while the thoughts and the sounds quieted. In its place was the sound of Agnes’ voice in his ear, all for the better. Minutes passed. Perhaps the tension had passed when his hold on the back of her sweatshirt wasn’t a death grip.

  It took her hand against his cheek for the vampire to finally look up. The lines on his face were distraughtly present. Now unnatural hues peered back hesitantly and were rimmed with a glossy redness. Even then, they were searching for any hint of what he feared on her face. The expression smoothed over when he focused on the touch of her lips, the warmth of her skin balancing off his cold.

  “...yes,” Dominic murmured. “Please.”
• 

  D o m i n i c December 24, 2024 at 5:10pm

  Dominic’s hand swept through his hair once in frustration, pulling it back from his face. "What are you planning to do… rally the coven? Convince Abram after all this time? Better yet, how much longer until she forces him to take you? And when she does-"

  "-You know what, you're right, Dom... you're right." Lucienne snapped. "When I left that night, I thought I had nothing left to lose. I can't change the past, but you have a future here. You have a life! You know what it's like to live on your own two feet, and people that care about you! How can you even question why I left?" Lucienne's furrowed brow gaze bore down on the man. "Are you going to throw that all away because of what Vittoria wants? What about what you want?” 

  Lucienne’s arms stretched to either side of herself, shooting the man a sharp look. “You made this- this version of you! They don’t owe this to you. You could keep this, Dom. All of this. Everything could stay the same, all you need to do is want it.” Her gaze swept up and down the other vampire. “You were a scared little boy when I left! One that could never raise his voice, because that’s how they liked you…”

  “What you’re asking for is a suicide mission, Lucienne! Do you know what they would do to you!? To us!? You know damned well-”

  "They put us all through their ritual. They tried to tell us we were reincarnated! -But when was the last time you felt alive since you woke up!? She took us from our families! You left a wife and kid behind! She never had any right to interfere with our lives, and for what!? Some empty eternity!?" The woman’s voice raised back immediately, teeth-baring. 

  "Answer me. Do you know what they would do to us? Say it! Tell me." Dominic demanded loudly.

  A growl of frustration awoke from her chest. "Do you realize what they have already done to us!? Will you use your head?"

  "Luci-"

  "It wasn't right Dominic! It was torture! They kept us hulled up in there starving and for what!? You couldn't even stand the dark when you came out, I watched you! -How is that going for yo-"

  “That’s enough,” Dominic barked suddenly. His hands were balled into fists, shaking.

  “…”

  “…”

  The vampiress paused, staring at him wide-eyed. Her head shook incredulously. “I can’t believe it… I’m giving you a way to jump out of this hell-hold of a contract and you won’t even think about taking it?”

  ”Luci you don’t have an answer when you don’t have a plan! You have an idea! You have a prayer! And you’re asking me to give up what I have worked for what little that I have outside of-”

  ”You’re going to lose it anyway! Do you think they’ll be patient with you? Do you think it stops at me, or you- or whoever is next? Do you honestly think-”

  "That's fucking ENOUGH!" 

  The explosive shout reverberated through the apartment and likely through the hallway outside. In its wake, a sterile silence overtook the room. 

  In the moment of impact, Lucienne instinctively took a step back.

  Dominic’s teeth were bared behind his lips, and his jaw tightened. He had the piercing stare of a wild animal that had been cornered.

   

  “I’m… sorry,” Lucienne whispered after several long seconds. "I’m sorry that I left. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, but…” She took steps back toward the balcony door without taking her eyes off the man. “I came here because I care about you. We both deserve more than what they did to us. I need your help, but,” The door was pushed open. She walked backwards until the balcony edge touched her back. “I need you to care about yourself first."

  Lucienne cast a final wounded glance at Agnes and leapt up to sit on the balcony railing. She let her balance tilt back and with a quick acrobatic flip over the edge, the vampiress disappeared. 

   

  The longer Dominic stood there, the tension settled throughout his body. His stare toward the balcony hadn’t relaxed, but there was a film of glossiness that brimmed his eyes. They were slowly shifting back to their crimson color. The life was draining from his complexion, all the while. Through the shouting and tension, he felt the snap of the glamoured ring on his hand. When he finally registered what it was, he loosened his fists just enough to let the crumbled pieces of platinum fall on the floor like an insult to injury.

  When the anger and anxiety subsided enough, he finally registered the silence. Dominic felt a creeping, vulnerable chill sink in when he remembered that Agnes’ heartbeat was among it. The vampire’s chin dropped to the floor, studying the fallen pieces. He was afraid to turn around. When the silence had gone for too long, he walked toward the couch and the vampire sat on the edge of it. Dominic’s face fell into his hands as he hunched forward. He wanted to shrink and disappear from the room if only he could.

  “She found you first… didn’t she?” He whispered weakly. “Tonight, did you know that she was…” Dom trailed off. What did it matter now?

  “I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to… -You shouldn’t have to…” For once, he couldn’t keep the air in his chest. "I'm sorry."
• 

  D o m i n i c December 23, 2024 at 10:00pm

  The elevator ride was short-lived, but spent with Dominic’s eyes half-lidded and his senses following her fingertips. His hand framed her cheek as he leaned in for one more tender kiss before the door opened. Compared to their last visit to Lombardi’s, it was day and night. Gone was that subtle sense of distance he kept from her, not so long ago. Once that wall inside himself had fallen... the closeness felt like something he couldn't do without. The elevator made one final chime. As the doors opened, reluctantly so did his eyes. He let his forehead rest against hers until the moment the door would think to close again. He took her hand in his as they approached the apartment door. 

  -/-

  Following her inside, he slipped his shoes off once the door was closed and reached for the light switch nearby. The vampire’s hand froze underneath it—his whole body went still. 

  “Agnes–” Dominic started to speak, but his words also froze. He felt a breeze from the balcony the moment he walked in. Beside the cracked-open sliding door was a silhouette waiting, leaning against the glass. 

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Lucienne prompted, crossing her arms. There was a momentary nod to Agnes. “-Karma.” She was dressed in street attire; denim, a leather jacket, and combat boots that proved more… sturdy for their reunion and however it might go. Her red-tinted hues reflected off what little light came into the room.

   “-What are you doing here?” Dom uttered in an accusing tone.

  “Thirty years, not even so much as hello…” Lucienne’s feet shifted where they were crossed and all jokingness was cast aside. “We need to talk,” she stated. “I think you know about what.”

  Dominic’s attention was glued to the vampiress. He left the light switch untouched and took a few slow steps into the living room. “-Thirty years since you left me out there. You left me. You left me with your bloody consequences- and without a single answer to give them when I returned. -What do you think happened!?”

  “You know, I’ve got to hand it to you…” Lucienne’s voice lowered. “You feel different now. ” Luci took her own careful steps forward. “I never wanted to leave, but… I couldn’t stay there a minute longer. Not after what they did to me, to all of us. That’s why I need your help.”