Writing...
Title: Teardrops for the Damned
Word count: 7 x 100
Characters/pairings: Jean-Claude/Asher
Challenge:Challenge #41: Water
Author's note: After an eternity, I wrote something! Also posted in Pomme de Sang, for Water Challenge.
Team: Vampire
The pinkish drops mixed with the clear yet burning water still running over the skin of the man in his arms-he didn't notice. There was not time for much, lest the humans discover and trap them again.But this, he would do.
With great care, he washed away the remnants of the holy water, so it wouldn't add to the damage already done. Then he wrapped the other man with his cape as best he could.
As they slipped into the shadows towards safety, the heartrending whimpers escaping the other man's throat shattered what was left of his heart.
100
Whimpers; they were the only sound left to him, his throat raw after the hours of unimaginable pain from the holy water torture. Pain amplified by finding the void in his mind, where she should be, by confronting his own failure and the betrayal by Jean-Claude.
He had abandoned them. He hadn't come in time. His hide was more valuable to him than all the promises. He wouldn't risk it until he was sure it was safe to try it.
He found the strength to spit the words into the other man's face with complete finality:
“I hate you.”
100
“Let him go, Jean-Claude. It’s better that way.”
“I can’t.” He shook his head. He knew Augustine meant well, even if his feelings for Asher were less than friendly.
It had been sheer luck that they had found Augustine in their wanderings, a few months before. Now, it was the only safe haven they had.
“Are you ready to pay the price? You know there is only one way to save him.”
“I am.”
“I don’t envy you. Belle will make you two pay dearly.”
“I know,” was his only answer, as pinkish tears ran silently down his face.
100
Augustine lost sight of the carriage, fine drizzle coating it, darkness finally claiming it.
Idly, he wondered if he would ever see Jean-Claude again. Asher, that was another matter. He had seen other vampire victims of the Church, but none that had endured what Asher had, and survived.
If Asher was alive at all, it was only because of Jean-Claude’s willpower and stubbornness.
He couldn’t understand the younger vampire, though. Asher wouldn’t want to live like that. He wouldn’t, certainly.
Nothing would be accomplished prolonging the torture.
Even with Belle’s help, Asher was already lost to Jean-Claude.
100
Augustine had sent two of his lions with Jean-Claude. His friend and his charge would need the food. Jean-Claude could hunt, but Asher was beyond that possibility.
Though he considered Jean-Claude a friend, he didn’t do it out of pure generosity. Actually, he never did anything without more than one reason.
He was gambling. In his long existence he had learned that sometimes, you had to depend on those you least expected to.
There hadn’t been any love lost between Asher and him, though. The blonde had always been afraid of those who he saw as competition.
100
Soaking in the tub, Augustine wondered -- as Asher himself would, once he was fully aware of his surroundings--about Jean-Claude’s motivations.
Was it love? Desperation, fear of losing the only one left to him? Was it guilt? And if it was guilt, was it guilt for not being in time to save Julianna and Asher? Or was it because, as Asher claimed in his semi awake state, he waited too long, to protect his own hide?
It didn’t matter, truly. Julianna had kept them together; now she would keep them forever apart. Had it been fate or Belle’s hand?
100
Things hadn’t happened as she had planned, but the final result was even better. Belle peered through the window discreetly. Defeat clung heavily to the man standing a few feet away, all arrogance washed away.
That was what happened to those who dared to defy her.
Ungrateful ones. She made them hers. Hadn’t she given them everything that could be desired? Then came Julianna! The poisonous influence of the peasant girl had been eradicated, she thought, satisfaction filling her.
Had Requiem’s fate taught them nothing?
One truth mattered: all loved Belle Morte.
Or they paid for their sin with tears.
100
A/N: Many thanks to my wonderful beta, Ruas.