Forever No More (Lancaster)

[CharlotteC]

Charlie stood before the bar, she once worked at the backpackers above it, but when she left to deal with things at home, she had lost her job. She didn't blame Elliot for removing her, she had been a waste of money. She had wasted his money, she hadn't even really told him why. When they had last spoke, she had realized something. She needed to man up. And she had.

Now, Charlie needed to man up to the man. The only man in her life (aside from her thralls Wilber and Rhett) that she could ever count on. She could always count on him, but she knew that she had failed him, she knew that he could tell her that he couldn't count on her.

As she opened the door to Lancaster's, Charlie took an unneeded but cleansing breath. She hopped he would be here, he had been for so long. She glanced up, as if praying to whatever god would hear her that the man she saw as her sire, her mentor, would be there so that she could beg his forgiveness.

The moment she stepped in, the familiar scents of leather, wood, felt and alcohol greeted her. She felt almost at home. Charlie made her way over to the fireplace, sitting near it so that the heat flowed over her. The music calmed her, Lancaster's was more a home than either of her homes were. She rested her hand on the arm of the couch, stroking the leather, her chocolate eyes closed as she began to relax.

[Lancaster]

WEARING

Elliot Lancaster had always been a forgiving person. There had been times he’d been upset about how alone he’d felt but more often his grief had nothing to do with the fact people had left him, but more at the fact that he had not followed. Once upon a time he’d been the backpacker bouncing from place to place, leaving behind anyone he might have got a little close to. Harper Rock was the one place he’d stayed the longest – aside from Brisbane, of course, but that didn’t count. He’d grown up there. If one counted from the day he’d set foot on his first plane out of Australia, Harper Rock was virtually home.

Now, he felt like the buoy in the ocean that everyone continued to circle back around to. He was the steady object in the violent storm; when the weather was calm the visitors would leave, but when it was rough they would inevitably come back. He didn’t hold it against anyone. Life was life and sometimes it could not be controlled not manipulated. Its whims needed to be followed.

There remained a phantom sting along his thigh where the Shade’s blade had gouged deep only hours ago; some measure of control and confidence had been regained after the nights Lancaster had spent with the sorcerer who’d been willing to train him. It was cheating, he thought, but it was a requirement. The life he’d lived as a vampire could not be escaped, not completely. This way, however, he was still mostly human. Just with a few tricks up his sleeve. Tricks like healing – now, when he clattered down the stairs from the loft he lived in up above, he felt nothing but that sting that would be gone within minutes. Ducking out the door, he flicked the hair – now speckled with grey – from his eyes and assessed the pub. How busy was it? What would he be in for tonight?

When he witnessed the familiar face by the fire, he had to do a double take. For a second that face belonged to someone else; another woman, around Lancaster’s age. And there was a dog beside her. There were no dogs here, now.

And then the memory was gone, and instead Lancaster was left floundering. He knew the face by the fire. He knew it was a face he had not seen in a long time. And yet, he did not approach until he had a name. This was how it was, these days; he was still playing catch up. Still snatching and memories as they tried to flee his grasp.

It took a minute, but eventually it twigged.

Charlotte. Charlie. Not his – but he’d taken her under his wing. She didn’t owe him anything. He didn’t think so, anyway.

Tentatively, he picked his way through the minimal crowd until his fingers curled around the back of the armchair.

”Charlie?” he said. A lot had changed. He was wary of her reaction.

[CharlotteC]

As Charlie relaxed another recognizable scent filled the air, Elliot. She kept her eyes closed because she was worried to see if he'd be angry at her. As she picked up the fact that his scent was getting closer, things began to confuse her senses. She could hear a heartbeat closing in on her, almost feel the pulse as the hand came to rest on the backrest. She was beginning to think that a human was coming to pick her up. It happened often given that she didn't give off the same off putting feelings other vampires might give off to humans.

When he spoke, her eyes snapped open. She turned, and before she could even think about it, she was up an hugging him. That's when the confusion set in again. He was warm. Not like how she was because she sat by the fire, he radiated the heat. And then she could feel the beat of a heart against her chest, hear a pulse, and he smelled... good. Granted, he had always been a good scented man, but now - hunger rose in her. It was that thought that had her stepping back.

Granted, before they had never been big into hugging or anything along those lines. Pats on the shoulders or back here and there, other friendly gestures, but there had been a respect for him and Pi that had kept her at arms length with him. She looked him over, there were so many differences, but so much of the man she respected. And... he had aged some. Something was wrong. Still, she felt the urge to apologize for the sudden hug attack. "I'm so sorry..." she said, lowering her eyes like a scolded child.

[Lancaster]

The confusion was the first and the only thing that Lancaster could feel radiating from the young vampire at his side; when she hugged him he could feel it tenfold, though he was glad for one thing, at least. He was no longer an allurist. The emotions that he felt – his own and the emotions that radiated from others – were ordinary. They were controllable, bearable. They didn’t cripple him like they once had the ability to. Which didn’t mean he was unfeeling – he was as sympathetic and empathetic as before. He just had an easier time conveying it.

And then Charlie had extracted herself and was apologising. What for? Lancaster couldn’t get any answers out of her confusion – a confusion she had every right to feel. There were no questions. Not yet. Just an apology, and it came out of left field. Lancaster shook his head.

”What for? If you think I’m sick and you’re apologising due to social etiquette, don’t,” he said. He smiled, then. Despite the complexities of the cure and the issues that still plagued him, there was still reason to smile. More and more he was returning to the self he’d lost years ago – that man who lived on silver linings and could always see the light on the horizon. The constant darkness was like a plague he’d finally rid himself of.

”I’m fine, Charlotte. Honestly, you’ve nothing to apologise for. Should we sit?” he asked, gesturing to the armchair she had just vacated and pulling the other closer, so that they could huddle. The conversation they had with each other was not one other people needed to hear. ”How are you?”

[CharlotteC]

His question on her apologie made her stop for a moment, a moment that he took to mention that she thought he might be sick. Granted, she was confused on the heartbeat, the pulse and the warmth, but she hadn't believed sick - that is until he brought it up. Thankfully he was on the ball and was assuring her that he was fine. That was something that did ease her, and she did notice the fact that he seemed almost lighter, as if he was no longer weighed down by his feelings. That also put her at ease. Her brown eyes watched him like he was coding, making sure every dot every bracket was in place before she finally gave him a smile. She still believe she needed to apologize for vanishing the way she had, but first she figured sitting was best.

She nodded and took a seat once more, watching as he pulled a chair up close to hers. "I'm so glad you are ok Elliot, you seem so much..." she glanced at him again before continuing "lighter." Charlie sat forward a little and sighed, "that said, I really do owe you an apology. I left without any explanation or goodbye and to me, that is just, wrong." She looked into his eyes and swore she could see that lightness he was exuding in his eyes. "That's the main reason I came tonight. I wanted to apologize and to explain why and what happened." She stopped and looked around before going on "First though, am I hearing things?" She asked as she brought her fingers to her own heart, tapping her chest before glancing at his.

That was a bit distracting, looking at the man she called her sire and hearing - life. Not only that, but he smelled good, it flaired her hunger, thankfully though, she wasn't as starved as she had been when she returned to Harper. So much had changed while she had been under house arrest back home. She hadn't even been allowed to be on her computer or phone. No electronics that could connect to the net aside from the ankle bracelet she had to wear while 'incarcerated'.

Now, she comes back, zombies and other supernatural beasts are roaming the streets, along with soldiers who were even more trigger happy than the cops were. And there were an epic **** ton of them as well. The moment she hit Harper Rock she had begun to read the net trying to get information but she hadn't got much other than what Rhett and Wilber had told her as well.

[Lancaster]

Lighter. It was strange to be considered lighter, and it bugged Lancaster for a reason he couldn’t immediately put his finger on. Lighter suggested that he was happier, and that he had less weight on his shoulders. Less pulling him down. But that didn’t necessarily mean he was completely happy and that everything was perfect. It just meant that, compared to the way he was now, things before had just been comparatively more fucked up.

And, yes, he supposed that might have had something to do with the way most people in his life left without explanation or goodbye, but given the nature of his mind at the moment… well, maybe that, too, was why he appeared lighter. Until ten minutes ago he hadn’t recalled Charlotte. He hadn’t known that she was someone who’d left without explanation. And the fact that his brain didn’t immediately shut down and try to keep him from her, or from remembering her – he knew that he didn’t hold it against her. It was the past. C’est la vie.

Recalling the French phrase caused the tiniest stab of pain at the front of Lancaster’s skull, one of those ice-pick headaches, gone before the pain could really register. The phrase was forgotten. He smiled.

”No, you’re not hearing things,” he said. ”You’ve missed a lot, the least of which is the heartbeat in my chest,” he said, his smile softening, less vibrant, a crease forming between his eyes. A lot had happened, not only to him but to the city at large. And if those months many months could have wrought so much change for the allurist turned sorcerer, then they could have done the same for Charlotte, just in different ways. He shook his head.

”I don’t hold it against you. Your absence. You were forgiven before you even apologised. But tell me what happened, anyway. Are you okay? Is there any way I can help?” he asked.

[CharlotteC]

The fact that Charlie wasn't hearing things made her curious, almost to the point of distraction. How? When? She didn't need to know the why so much, she had known him pretty well before when he had been a vampire, could understand to a point how he had felt. Plus, he had to a point, told her he disliked the kiss of the immortal. Though that brought more questions to the front of her mind, that it until he spoke again. He had forgiven her long before she had asked for it, not much had changed at least in that regard.

She took a breath, inhailing his scent without really meaning too. Something about him seemed attention drawing and for a moment her eyes shifted to the vein in his neck. However, with a shake of her head, she turned her attention to his questions.

"Well..." she started, taking another breath before starting her story, "I told you about what had brought me here in the first place, well, a part of me just could no longer sit in another country and hide from what I did. So, I went home, mostly to apologize to my parents, but while I was there I was caught by the police. Thankfully, I was fully fed and able to go though things without incidents. Still, I had been charged and convicted of assault as well as evading arrest." She glanced around and then shifted in her seat a little, "My parents had fairly good lawyers, and the woman was able to get house arrest instead of prison for me. However, I wasn't allowed any tipe of electronic. Part of my 'incarnation' so I couldn't hack my ankle bracelet." She reached down instinctively to scratch at the device that was no longer there.

"They kept a close eye on me and my parents for a long while, now though, I'm no longer under probation so I was able to return here with one concession, I am no longer allowed to return to the USA." She gave a sad smile and crossed her legs before leaning against the arm of the chair a bit more. "My parents still don't really get what's going on with me and they are worried, especially with some of the news we were able to get. But they are glad I'm still 'alive', that I'm for the most part still their daughter, and that I had you to look out for me." She used 'had' because she didn't know if he would, if he could look out for her anymore. With the fact that she had vanished, she had been expecting him to write her off. She hadn't expected coming into the bar to find out that Elliot was alive. It brought so many questions to her mind again.

"When did this happen? How? Where is Pi? Did she take it too?" Charlie glanced around, hoping to see the French woman that Elliot had adored, the woman that for all intents and purposes, was her adopted 'mother'. Though, neither Elliot or Pi were the kind of people to treat progany (sired or adopted) like their children.

[Lancaster]

Elliot didn’t miss the way Charlotte glanced at his neck; it was surprising, honestly, that he hadn’t yet felt the sting of a vampire’s teeth. He was human again. Which only led him to further believe that the vampire ‘scourge’ everyone was so wary of, weren’t so bad after all. If he could get by this long without being bitten. And he’d not had any spells of dazed forgetfulness, either. He’d know if he’d been bitten. He knew what the side-effects were. Though it didn’t stop him from being curious about what it would feel like to be on the other side of that bite, it wasn’t something he’d sought.

The moment passed, and Elliot instead listened to Charlotte’s story. At the end of it, she didn’t wait for Elliot to comment, to ask his own questions. Instead she turned the spotlight back to him, and uttered the name that caused Elliot to flinch – there was that ice-pick headache again. He knew what it was. He fought it. He fought the lurching in his chest and the agony he’d felt for so long. Human, now, he was able to handle it. The allurist emotions didn’t get in the way.

He’d forgotten about Pi for so long. There’d been no other women since, until now – but there’d been a whole lot else. How he’d gotten out of those sewers he couldn’t recall, either. He concluded that perhaps he’d had his time and his mind realised, after a while, that he would be okay again. That h was strong enough, now. After the cure, the memories from the past had slowly started to return to him; and there was no way to avoid Pi in this place.

”Pi is gone. She’s been gone for years,” Elliot said. ”She went to France to deal with something from her past and she only left a note, told me not to follow her. By the time I decided I should – because I hadn’t heard from her – the trail had gone cold,” he said. He felt guilt, still. He should have gone sooner. He should have ignored her wishes. He had no idea how to find her. And how long had he been without his memory for? She was probably dead, for all he knew. He took a deep breath.

”It happened … a few months ago. Four, maybe six. I haven’t kept track of the time. There was a raid on a science facility. A paladin got hold of the cure. I was the first one he tested on. There were… consequences, though, and I don’t think he’s cured anyone since. Which is for the best,” Elliot advised. Whether or not Charlotte would even want the cure, he didn’t know.

”I’m sorry you can’t go home again, Charlie. That’s awful. But, if your family are willing, they can still visit you…?” he said. Though, maybe not in Harper Rock. It might be best if they chose somewhere else, somewhere neutral. Somewhere they would not be in danger.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie noted the flinch nearly the moment it happened, and it made her regret the question. Something had happened to hurt Elliot, she hated the idea that she had added to that by simply putting her foot in her mouth. And when Elliot broke the news, Charlie was floored. Pi had always appeared to love Elliot, to a point that Charlie had often wished for what they had had. Now though, knowing that she had left him, that she was gone. It made her mad and at the same time, she was lost as for what to say to him. She bit down on her lower lip for a moment and then released it as if she was going to say something.

That is when he meantioned when this cure to vampirism had happened. Again shock was clear, a paladin had done this to him? Had he allowed it or had the paladin just used him as a lab rat, she didn't know. She caught the last of what he said and some of her wondered if she would ever want something like that. She had been a vampire only a blink of time in comparison to being human, and she rather preferred vampirism to humanity. She was still human in her mind, had her humanity. She was able to eat and drink, yes, she gained nothing from doing so, but she could appear human. Charlie saw herself as someone who was loyal and trustworthy, weren't those things that also proved she was far from a monster? She had 'saved' a child once, she protected her friend and she adored the male sitting before her. She may drink blood and have a short fuse at times, but she had her heart still. That is what made her, her. At least in her mind. Still, would she take the offer if it were there?

Probably not.

When Elliot asked about her family coming to visit, she was reminded of a conversation she had had long ago not just with him, but with Zodiac. That they come visit her, that others would help her protect them. Granted, when Zo offered the world at large knew nothing of vampires, despite her trying to get the word out. Now, the word was out there, vampires existed, they were just as dangerous as humans, if not more given the powers. But humans were contemplating using their "Trump" card. Bombs. She sighed, running her hand through her hair as she looked at him.

"Truthfully, I don't know if I'd want them near this place with how things are going. The zombies, those freaky fadebeasts that I swear can see right into your soul, and let's not forget our trigger happy soldiers and their want to bomb us off the face of the planet." She said, looking at the man before her, "I don't even know if I like the idea that you are here with those threats, given that you are cured now."

Granted, she knew he could take care of himself, he knew this city better than se did, been here longer, been a vampire longer. But now, now he was human, and his pulse right now, it was distracting her. She was fighting off the fact that she hadn't fed in a few days, but she was hungry.

[Lancaster]

The laughter that crawled from Lancaster’s throat was far from mirthful. He hoped that it would not offend Charlotte, that he found her concern amusing. Truthfully, he was flattered. There weren’t too many close acquaintances left in Lancaster’s life—none that he could properly trust, none that had known him since his inception as one of Harper Rock’s eccentric locals. Less still who cared at all about his wellbeing.

But that was how the world worked, and he was old enough and had lived enough to know that humanity was a selfish race. Most would say that they cared about others but words did not equate to actions. In the end, all they cared about were their own lives, and only how the lives of others affected theirs. In the end, they didn’t care. Not when it really mattered. Lancaster had learned this a long time ago and it was a constant struggle to rise above it, to continue to be himself, and to help others when they needed it.

”You don’t have to be concerned, Charlie. I’m not worried about the soldiers and I have no issues against the beasts. You should know, though, that I have a duplicate. There are plenty who think I’m insane, who think I’ve made him up, but I haven’t, I am sure of it. As a result of the cure – he’s a shade, kinda like a Mr. Hyde who’s been cut out of my core and allowed to roam free. He’s the vampire part of me, full of rage. He’s constantly coming for me, and attacking others at random. If he should come for you, believe that it’s not me. Okay?” he said, holding Charlie’s gaze, leaning forward, his voice heavy and steadfast. He wanted her to be safe, too, and the shade had some of Lancaster’s former strength. Some of the strength he had recently regained. He shook his head.

”I went to see a sorcerer. I spent a good while training. I’m not without some tricks up my sleeve,” he said finally with a wink and a small smile. This close to her, paying such intimate attention to her, Lancaster could feel the waves of emotions that throbbed from Charlie. He could feel her curiosity, could see the way her gaze continued to dart to his neck. ”How long since you’ve fed…?”