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[Cosimo Alessi (DELETED 6612)]

Just when it seemed like they were going to make it to the exit, everything went wrong.

A large body barrelled through them, the aftershock breaking Cosimo’s contact with both Elizabeth and Myk. At first Cosimo was brightly optimistic; they would just pick up where they had left off. They would help Elizabeth up, and they would continue on their way. Everything would be fine. He turned away from Myk to find the woman whose hand had been wrenched so unceremoniously from his grasp; he could see her on the ground, and he took a single step toward her to reach out, to help her up. All he could do, however, was watch as her visage flickered and then disappeared. Just like that, into thin air, she was gone.

Cosimo took that extra step, now occupying the space that Elizabeth had taken up. There was no one there. He could see her nowhere. Had she had her tome in her grasp? Did she have her hand in a pocket, saying the words she would, no doubt, know by heart? Had she gone home? Cosimo’s own tome was back at the apartment in one of the bedside drawers. He hadn’t been to the towers in months. Half the bloodline had left the city and, having assumed he was a non-requirement, Cosimo had taken pains to try to break away. Which meant he couldn’t and shouldn’t sit around on that rooftop, pining over what was gone. He’d had to put the temptation out of sight, though he hadn’t yet had the courage to completely destroy the tome.

Expecting Myk to be right behind him, Cosimo turned to ask the questions. Had she used her tome, or was there some other ability he was not aware of? But Myk was gone, too. Had the two of them somehow decided to use their tomes? Were they angry with him, because this earthquake turned out to be his fault? Had it been his fault? He had far too many questions and all the answers had vanished.

The crowd continued to surge, frenzied bodies shoving and pushing at Cosimo as they all headed for the front doors and the street outside. Cosimo was reluctant to move, like a child lost in a mall he was reluctant to leave the spot he’d last seen his friends.

The fresh air kissed Cosimo’s features; lost and aimless he’d been shoved and pushed out onto the street without much of a say in the matter. It was then that he heard Myk’s voice; he frantically searched left and right before he realised the voice was in his head. Telepathy was not an ability that Cosimo had acquired, and so a succinct answer was not one that he could give. At least he knew where the café was. It was just down the road from where he lived with Athena. It wasn’t one that he’d visited much – unable to eat or partake of any human consumption, Cosimo had no reason. The only restaurant that he visited was the Italian restaurant where he’d had his last meal. Sometimes he ordered food, if only for nostalgia’s sake.

By now, the quake had quelled. The ground was still again – the nightclub was the only place affected. Some of the party-goers on the street were questioning the phenomenon. People from other buildings had spilled out onto the street, confused as to what had happened. They all thought something must have exploded within the club.

“YOU!” Someone called out even as Cosimo had his phone in his hand, ready to text Myk – or at least call him.

“You’re one of the vampires!” the voice shrieked. Cosimo realised they were referring to him, and he was forced to look up. If he could get any paler, he would.

“All the other buildings are fine! You did this!” they accused. Cosimo shook his head and took severeal steps backwards. He searched the faces of those around him, looking for Elizabeth. He had to assume that Myk had contacted her, too. If she was going to be anywhere, it was going to be there. It would be their meeting place.

Rather than try to defend or deny, Cosimo just turned and ran. He sprinted down the street and turned a corner, headed for the Moonlight Lotus Café. Whether or not anyone was on his heels he did not know – he just needed to get away, worry knotting his chest and making it hard to breathe.

[Elizabeth]

When the physical world she lived in slowly vanished, Elizabeth half expected to be in an all too familiar place that many of telepath know. Instead, when a different 'place' for lack of a better word appeared, or rather, she appeared in this place...Elizabeth stood there, stunned. The world at her feet was green for what seemed to be miles and miles, with hills a plenty. The sky was a color that was either just before sunrise, or just before sunset. It was difficult to tell because it seemed the early night sky, smashed against the early day sky, with multiple moons and planets high in the skies above her head.

Initially, Elizabeth could see nothing but green, the multitude of colored skies, and the shape of planets. There seemed to be no wind, for she felt nothing upon her cheeks or legs, but the air seemed heavy or thick anyways. Electric, was maybe the best way to describe it, just before a wicked thunderstorm arrived. A slightly ominous feeling that something wasn't right and that there was a change coming. Whether it be the air, or an underlying feeling was yet to be seen or known.

Elizabeth took a few steps forward, and found out instantly that there was more to the endless green than she initially thought. It appeared that the greenery was 'alive' in the sense that it reacted to her footfalls and 'glowed,' when weight was applied to it. Her weight in this scenario. She would stop every so often and watch the glow dissipate while Elizabeth stood in one place. It was a slow, gradual decreasing process, much like lifting a finger off a piano key. The glow, much like the noise of hitting a key, would grow softer and softer until it was gone. What was missed by the telepath was that there was a light plume of 'smoke' or pollen that shot out from the mossy mass each time her foot pressed on the green. This process, unbeknownst to the blonde haired woman, created more green at a further distance to keep the possibility of endlessness there. This would make this reality, truly never end.

Suddenly, from out of no where there was a quick fluttering sound, which had Elizabeth ducking down low, so low that her fingers touched the flora, which made the green glow its neon color, almost as if acting like a beacon to whatever was flying high above her head. Her neck angled left, and then right, then finally she turned around slowly, still crouched and caught sight of the winged....thing. It was an impossible phenomenon, but made Elizabeth smile in curiosity. A flower the colour of an autumn leaf in its peak and the shape of a bell, whipped by, made only possible by a set of ebony coloured bat wings. It possessed no eyes, no mouth or nose, but seemed to 'know' where she was, because it fluttered upwards, missing her head by a mere inches. It was as beautiful as it was impossible, and left Elizabeth with a question that would perhaps never be answered. What place was this?

Just as she stood and wanted to investigate more, Elizabeth was no longer standing upon green, but standing in water that came up to her ankles, with flashing white lights from the emergency sign near the exit she had been close to prior to 'vanishing.' But where Cosimo and Myk once had been, Elizabeth no longer saw. Instead, what she saw was a few stragglers making their way out near the door, and when she turned, she saw a very disgruntled looking woman, who had her narrowed eyes on Elizabeth. "That's the ***** that started this all!" She said, though no one, other than herself seemed to care. Elizabeth took the opportunity to leave the scene, uncertain of where Myk was, or where Cosimo was either. Though hesitant to leave the scene, she remained within the sea of club goers as police cars arrived on the scene, followed by paramedics. Had they made it out? Were they injured? Apparently, wherever she had gone to, Elizabeth didn't get the mind memo from her telepath family member.

[Myk]

When he felt it safe to do so, Myk left his camouflage of unfathomable darkness. He appeared in the vacant alleyway just outside of the aforementioned meeting place, the Moonlight Lotus Cafe. He had a thought to change his clothes or appearance in some way, to strip away some of the guilt or his attachment to it when he reappeared. Myk peeled the leather jacket from his ensemble, the white of his leopard-print cardigan becoming almost fluorescent now that it was fully on display. Without remorse, the Telepath discarded the jacket on a nearby bin, neatly hanging it over the steel cylinder in fact. Should someone find themselves in need of a jacket, they would be lucky to come across it – that was his excuse. Besides, the pockets were empty and he didn’t hold too much sentimental value over any of his possessions, so he was fine to leave it behind. A more paranoid member of society, or perhaps someone who just cared more about their personal safety, might have burned the jacket or done a better job at disposing of it. Myk was not such a person, and he rather doubted that Harper Rock’s finest had the manpower to hunt him down. There were bigger terrors on the streets, creatures who could be accused of a lot more devastation than their loose affiliation to an earthquake after all.

With a deep sigh, Myk left the safety of the alleyway too and slinked into the café. It was natural to meander straight toward the counter and order a beverage – even if he wasn’t in the mood for one. It would be comforting at least to hold something warm between his palms, hoping that it would leach this sudden empty feeling from his soul. Myk ordered a camomile tea and found a seat near enough to the front of the café so he could view and be viewed more easily. He wanted to make sure he could flag down either one of his family members if they were in fact going to arrive. Since he didn’t know how long this would take, however, he quickly set to busying himself. Pewter eyes turned to gaze at the warm, honey-coloured liquid steaming in his mug. In his life, Myk hadn’t really liked the flavour of camomile tea, but, he had always loved the smell. Those soft floral notes with an underlying sweetness were naturally calming aromas. Also, they reminded him of his English grandmother.

The woman had a cottage in the golden lands of Hertfordshire where she would grow the common Roman camomile. The small white and yellow flowers burst from the shrubbery and thick lawn like tiny stars in green space. Myk had found it all rather fascinating as a youth, like watching constellations during the day lit hours, right up until being warded off by the bees that patrolled the area. The bulbous insects weren’t aggressive, not really, but it was the sound that they made which caused the young Myk to duck and run for cover. He hated that sound; that low, rumbling buzz that darted around his ears before his eyes could track the source. Sometimes it made him dizzy and paranoid, and Myk only remembered that troubling relation to camomile flowers too late to change his order. His hands left the comfort of the mug and made for his hair, deciding that he would distract himself by rearranging his locks.

Until now, the Telepath had allowed his elbow-length tresses to fall in a natural manner. He hadn’t bothered to style it as he might ordinarily do, into some creative mane nodding its head to Tim Burton. The most he had done was to take a pair of straighteners to it, ensuring that those bone-white locks fell evenly around his shoulders and down his back. With time on his hands, however, those idle hands reached to braid fine tracks along the contours of his skull. He decided to start on his right side, his more dominant hand leading the way as dexterous fingers twisted and grabbed and wrapped by feeling alone. He would only make it four inches across the side of his skull, starting from just off the central parting, before starting another line of neat braiding. In twenty minutes or so, the whole right side of Myk’s head would be styled in four even braids.

[Cosimo Alessi (DELETED 6612)]

A human would have made it to the café in a sweating mess, puffed and out of breath, skin tinged red with exertion. Cosimo, however, was smooth as wealthy criminal, long fingers pushing through unruly locks of hair to push them out of his vision. Inside the café it did not take long to find Myk; he stood out, bright in a world of dullness. Myk sat alone. Cursing inwardly, Cosimo’s sharp eyes darted around the inside of the establishment, to the counter, to the back – maybe Elizabeth was just ordering some tea.

But he could not see her.

”…no,” the sound was dismissive, it was denial. The quaking had slowed and was stilled by the time they had left. The building was not collapsing entirely. The people were panicked, but Elizabeth was a vampire. Not any vampire, an elder. She would be okay. And yet, if they had somehow left her behind – Cosimo could not accept that.

Myk, in all his brightness, was sitting there waiting, cool as a cucumber. In fact, the kid looked bored. It calmed Cosimo, somewhat. He approached Myk but did not sit. Fingers curled around the back of the chair as he licked his lips and gathered his wits. He felt like he should be out of breath. It felt odd to feel so unruffled, even though he’d run straight here.

”She is not here? You have not heard from her?” he asked Myk. Cosimo cursed the path that he led; he wished he were like his sire. If he were, he could contact her himself. She could contact them, if needs be. Surely she would, wouldn’t she? From what he knew of his sire, she was a caring individual, and she would at least want to be assured of their safety. Unless she had changed in her time away; a change that he had not yet seen, nor witnessed.

”She was there, and then she disappeared. Like she was an image on a television screen, and she just…” his hands lifted, making the universal gesture for poof! Gone. ”Do you know what happened? Do you think she is still there? Should we go back…?” he asked, the questions coming thick and fast. If she was not here by now, had she even got the same message Cosimo had? Whether she did or not, Cosimo didn’t think he’d be able to just stand idly by to wait.

[Elizabeth]

Chaos was the best way to describe the scene before Elizabeth. Sirens encroached upon the building as she stood there, searching for a sign of Cosimo or Myk, while people finished piling out of the building. There were moans and sounds of annoyance and complaints from the people in the club, and the employees of the club. Anywhere from how some vampires ruined the night for them, to someone better be paying for the clothing, shoes or other personal items that got destroyed due to the random earthquake.

Very slowly, Elizabeth's mind wandered to the outer depths of Myk, because Elizabeth knew very well that Cosimo did not share the path in which either of the two were reborn upon. Hello?' Her invasion just barely above a whisper as the woman took some small steps backwards, eyes bouncing from head to head in search of the stark white hair that was Myk's or the darker complexion her childe, Cozi possessed. Yet again, the woman failed to find any sign of the two males.

Had something unfortunate happened to them? Were they...dead? They would not just leave her here, right? Elizabeth knew that thought to be a silly one. So, where were they? Her mind wandered again, this time using her telepath abilities to search through the memories of both men; but failing to find anything of major importance or anything horrendous befalling either male. At least she knew them to both be alive. Cozimo? Are you still within? Elizabeth searched for him this time around. Between everyone involved, she was positive they could figure out how to meet up again.

[Myk]

The Telepath was just finishing up the final braid by the time Cosimo had arrived. Between the triangles of two elbows, Myk twisted to look up at the taller Italian with a soft smile. He couldn’t help but notice that he had come alone, however, just as Cosimo had seemed disappointed that Elizabeth was not yet seated with Myk. Still, there was little need to panic. The Lady had been around far longer than the two of them combined, and it wasn’t as if all those years of experience had left her lacking in physical and intellectual capacities. Perhaps culturally she was a little odd, but then Myk was more than a little odd himself. It didn’t mean either one of them were so prone to helplessness that they couldn’t survive something like a building falling on top of them. Myk simply sighed when he noticed the Mystic behaving rather sullenly, and talking himself into a state of despair as if he couldn’t cope without the blonde. Why, if Myk were so dependent on his sire he would be shaken to the bone by now, a veritable skeleton. It must have been two or three years since Myk had even heard from Temperance, and maybe a few years on top of that when they had physically come into contact.

“Relax,” Myk purred. He moved all three pieces of his hair into his left hand so that he could pass the tea across the table to Cosimo. “This is camomile. It’ll make you feel less…” He wanted to say distraught, but, he was only assuming that was what the Mystic was feeling. “Less like you lost your mother in the mall.” That was probably a bit more underwhelming and a tad more insulting than just using the word ‘distraught’ now that Myk was considering it in hindsight. Oh well, too late to take it back!

Myk decided to finish what he had started on his hair then, pewter eyes watching the door however subtly. Of course, he spared a glance at Cosimo’s face now and again, watching the worry age him in a way time no longer could. While Myk thought it was a strange reaction for the other male to have, somewhat overblown, he did also wonder if he in fact wasn’t under-reacting to the situation. Was it somehow foolish or callous to believe that Elizabeth couldn’t make it on her own? Was Myk supposed to run back and crawl amongst the rubble, try to dig out whatever trace he could of her, maybe spend every waking moment in search? The white-haired man wasn’t sure whether that was something the Lady would even want. Surely it made much more logical sense for the three to retreat to a safe heaven and wait on word of the other. That had been Myk’s plan and it had seemed to work perfectly fine on the Italian. Perhaps something had interfered with the communication on Elizabeth’s end then. Cosimo had mentioned that the woman had flickered from existence, so it could be to blame.

“The Lady will be fine, you know,” Myk said, trying for soothing. His voice came out in a soft rumble of a sound, like the Jazzy humming of a bass guitar. “She has survived much worse. Maybe I will—”

The Telepath found his words dying in his throat when a small voice entered his head. He had no doubt as to whom the originator was, and while the idea that Elizabeth was indeed alright was a great relief, he questioned the briefness of their connection. Myk’s features moved from reassuring to delighted and to dubious within the snap of a few fingers.

“Hmm. Seems she tried to contact me. Hold that thought, Signor. I will try to message her back.”

“Lady? Did you not get my message?” he relayed telepathically to the blonde. “We are waiting at the Moonlight Lotus Café for you.”

[Cosimo Alessi (DELETED 6612)]

Cosimo was not offended by Myk’s words. Nor was he angered. Instead, all he could feel was a deep and sorrowful pity.

The Italian did not think that he was overreacting. He knew that Elizabeth had come this far without them, down a long and treacherous road, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t worry about her. This didn’t mean that he shouldn’t care. Suddenly, he wondered what Myk’s path had been that he couldn’t feel that kind of concern for someone he cared about. Or maybe it was just that Myk had known Elizabeth for longer than Cosimo, and he had cause to relax.

Any rebuttal that Cosimo might have had died in his chest. Whatever emotion that Myk’s observation inspired were eclipsed by the arrival of Elizabeth’s voice in Cosimo’s head – a question that filled him with guilt. He should have stayed. Assuming that she had somehow used her abilities to get herself out of the situation, Cosimo did not think that she could still be there, amongst the rubble.

Just as he was thinking how much he would love to be able to reply to her in the same way she had spoken to him, he remembered that he himself was capable of much. There were abilities that he had which he barely used, ones that he forgot he was capable of. Even as Myk told Cosimo to hold his thoughts, even as the Italian assumed Myk was communicating with Elizabeth in a way that he himself could not, his brow furrowed as his concentration focused. Mental fingers reached out to his sire; as his eyes closed he imagined her face, he remembered the clothes she wore. There bloomed within every opinion and memory of the woman, a connection so deep that he could use it to bring her to him.

Why he had not done this before, he did not know. It would have solved his panic.

So long as Elizabeth still regarded Cosimo with trust, she would instantly appear at his side. For a moment Cosimo entertained the fear that things had irrevocably changed between them, that the connection was now flawed and broken. He feared that she would not appear – but did his best to quell it, to force confidence into the power.

If not, he would turn around and he would return to the scene. Even if it did mean he was a child who’d lost his mother in the mall, he really did not care.

[Elizabeth]

The cafe! One that Elizabeth knew well enough, too. She had seen it a few times while walking the streets to one of her husband's many shops. However, she had not seen that cafe in some time. Months, if not closer to a year, due to the lack of presence of her husband. Once again, the shadows had claimed him and kept him occupied, and the subject was a sensitive one for the blonde haired woman. It was not something she spoke of, and it seemed those close to her understood such a thing and never spoke of him either.

The woman was about to confirm the location's exact street block, when Elizabeth felt the call of another beckoning her to them. Once upon a time the technique brought a more welcomed and upbeat response from the woman, but since the primary person that often did that to her was gone, Elizabeth saw it as nothing more than a lazy traveling technique (on her behalf). No more used to be whisked away for some secretive and exciting rendezvous, it was just how most used it as. A quick mode of transportation. Though, still family and both pleased and adored when someone in her family used the technique, the woman longed for the fact to be Shamus one night, when pulled to various locations within the city.

When the woman appeared, the first face she saw was Cosimo's. The Telepath never believed Cozi to be a threat, so if called, she would come without a shred of hesitation, unless unable to. The same could be said about five or six other people-all members of her now smaller family. "Cozi." Elizabeth said before her eyes bounced to Myk. "Forgive me for being late." Elizabeth mused aloud as her eyes returned to Cozi. "Better late than never, yes?" Her arms opened as she moved to embrace the male. "I had thought...that-" She moved to Myk next, and hugged him as well. "That a horrible fate befell the pair of you when I had seen you not." She stepped back, but remained close to Myk's side as her eyes dropped down to the floor. "I lost her." She admitted as her fingers reached out for Myk's and squeezed them. While they did not speak often, Elizabeth often felt a kinship with the male due to his personality, and his path. The squeeze only lasted three or four seconds before her fingers came to rest at the side of her dark blue skirt. "I apologize if I ruined either of your evenings. I--am trying..." Her chin lifted so that she could look at the both of them and not at the ground, or Myk's hands. "I thought I was ready." She murmured quietly.

[Myk]

It was probably not common knowledge – little was where the enigmatic Telepath was concerned – but Myk enjoyed watching a lot of movies. He enjoyed the dramatic storytelling, the reflection of human behaviour in isolated events, and the incredible skills of those who worked behind the scenes to pull the whole thing together. The set designers worked their magic to create life out of fiction, actors and actresses would rely on their deep-seated experiences to make the events feel real, the costume designers would dress said actors for their parts, the music was deliberately added to be just so, and the directors would choreograph it all into their magnum opus! Myk always appreciated it when the cumulative efforts of individuals created something beautiful. That feeling wasn’t reserved for movies, however. Whole communities and cultures were built upon this effort of accumulation, of trade – even Vampire communities (despite their endless grievances with each other). While the Telepaths used their psychic gifts to seek out people and communicate with them, the Mystics could use their magical gifts to summon those targets to them. Only, Cosimo and Myk didn’t really work like a team in that instance…

Each man did what they thought was right and somewhat disregarded the other, all in the effort to bring about what they both wanted.

It was probably because they were so different – right down to the soul. Myk wasn’t disappointed in that so much as he was intrigued by it. So many times differences between people can cause conflict because each person believes that they are right, and worst of all, that there is only one right answer. That philosophy had always puzzled the white-haired Vampire, because it was absurd to believe that in a world made up of endless possibilities, of chance, of circumstance, and coincidence, that there could only ever be one right answer. That was probably why the subject of religion was another bone of contention for him. With each religion working off the belief that their God was the true God, dismissing all others as false, it was only ever going to lead to problems. Myk questioned a deity that demanded unconditional love, praise, and loyalty, and yet had never shown himself to actually exist. Besides, Myk did not believe in altruism or that people (or even Gods) were capable of perfection. If a God existed, he was likely not as Humans had made him out to be. Maybe God was once a Vampire – wouldn’t that be ironic!

Still, all side-tracking aside, any feuding that should exist between the Telepath and the Mystic was either non-existent or one-sided. Myk did not really want to waste his emotional strength on disliking anyone, especially not when they were working for the same effort. When Elizabeth had arrived in the café then, having been dragged across time and space to be remade before them in a blink of an eye, Myk stood to happily greet her. It remained as a distance thought, wedged in a crack of the back of his mind that, once again, Cosimo had done something so outwardly supernatural before a large swell of witnesses. If he were not so ridiculously happy to see the Lady safe and otherwise sound, he might have reflected on it further. Instead, Myk cooed as the blonde wrapped her arms around him, smothering him in a comforting hug. He managed to close his pewter eyes in that moment, content as a cat fat on fresh cream. It was only when she released him and took his hand tenderly in her own that the look of complete pleasure washed from his features. He saw sadness in her expressions and when Elizabeth mentioned that she had lost her, the Telepath’s vacant face moved to blink twice at her.

“Her?” he parroted. His eyes instinctively glanced at her hands, and as those purring words left his lips, the memory resurfaced. “Oh, that’s right… the Queen.”

Since the Lady was not carrying it with her, Myk assumed she must have dropped the piece before her vanishing act. Cosimo had described her disappearance as the flickering bands on a television set before the lights just go out completely, and Myk had let that picture stir in his mind, mix with his recollection of the chaos in that nightclub, and imprint an image of Elizabeth leaving behind her prized chess piece before flickering out of existence. While Myk had never received an explanation as to just why the figure of a Queen was so important to the blonde, he understood that it was and that the knowledge was enough. The Lady appeared just so miserable in that moment, scolding herself for not being amply prepared to be out in public, and – oh heavens – for ruining Myk’s and Cosimo’s night. The Telepath squeezed on her hand and used the other to rub the woman’s shoulder reassuringly. He had to convince her that it was alright, even if it wasn’t quite alright, because they probably both needed to believe it in that moment.

“Don’t put yourself down so much, Lady,” Myk purred, his accent growing thick with the lilts of Parisian romance. “You did the best you could tonight, and tomorrow, you’ll be able to do better.” He gave her the advice he always gave himself whenever he knew he had been the one to **** up. “It always gets better, Cherie. In time. With practice. You’ll see.” And because Myk was overly intimate with just about everyone on the planet, he placed a delicate kiss on Elizabeth’s cheek, squeezed her hand once more, and grinned at her. “Now. What shall we do about the time we have tonight? And what shall we do about the Queen?”

Pewter eyes looked from Elizabeth to Cosimo, and back again. He wished for both of their reactions, after all, for both of their inputs. Before they had appeared tonight, Myk’s night was fairly tame and fairly boring, so now that they were here, he happily agreed that his time was better spent with family. He could only hope that the feeling was mutual else he might have to actually think up new plans…

[Cosimo Alessi (DELETED 6612)]

The way Myk melted into Elizabeth’s embrace, as if it were the balm to some deep and dark hurt, was something that Cosimo recognised. Although he himself had experienced a sense of relief when his sire’s arms wrapped around him, it wasn’t the same as it had once been. Where once she had been the cure to all itches, now she was purely a woman whose face he was glad to see, and whose safety brought him calm. Whether or not he could say he was ‘cured’ of his obsession was yet to be decided. Could it be called a cure if it was something that was missed?

Watching Myk and Elizabeth interact, the Italian knew that there was a whole lot else that he missed, too. There was a connection between the two that Cosimo had never had. There hadn’t been the time. Myk and Elizabeth had known each other long before Cosimo had entered the scene. And yet, faultlessly optimistic – at least, he had regained his optimism, where for a few months he had lost it entirely – Cosimo knew that there was still eternity ahead of them. Elizabeth herself was testament to survival. Eternal survival was not beyond their grasp.

Although Cosimo was not aware of the importance of the chess piece, it was clear that it was important to his sire. It seemed clear also to Myk, who cooed and purred at the elder to try to comfort and reassure her. The dimples in Cosimo’s cheeks deepened as his lips curled into a smile. He laid a hand behind Elizabeth’s neck, fingers lightly massaging her shoulder.

”The night was not ruined. In fact, it has been made better, in the company of you both,” he said, that smile still radiant. He glanced down at Elizabeth’s hand, pondering the issue of the lost chess piece.

”We will go find her,” he suggested, though the thought of going back to the club made him nervous. Though, if they waited a while they may be able to pick through the rubble uninterrupted. It would be like finding a needle in a haystack, but he was confidence that, with their efforts combined, they would find it.

”Or we can go back to the tower. I can make you a new one,” he said. The latter suggestion might have been met with despair or incredulity – as he did not know the meaning of the piece, he did not know whether that specific piece had sentimental weight, or whether a new one would do just as well. It had also been a very long time since he had been to the tower – but he assumed it was still there, and that it was still accessible.