Death of a Good Man

[Ariadne]

The door to her apartment closed softly behind her. Digo's lifeless body was heavy in her arms as she carried him over to the corner of her main living space. She had nothing to lay him on since her apartment hadn't been decorated yet and she'd be damned if she left him on the floor after what had just happened. If only she had a ta... a table! As loath as she was to leave him now, she propped him up against a wall and ran back to the empty second floor for the table at which the disaster of a meeting had been held. Dragging it back to the room she picked him up again and placed him on it, trying to make sure that his coat and clothes were tidy. She'd have to get some pillows so he woke up comfortably.

She was glad that he had taken his own life. Pratt would get some satisfaction out of it, of course, but at least he didn't get to kill her childe. Pratt with his anti masquerade dealings. Pratt with his love of humans. Pratt with his utter disdain for anyone who stood up to him. The male was a waste of space and whatever energy the universe spent on keeping him in motion. He attacked his own sire, worked against his kind, openly attacked and insulted her, Digo, and others... yet no one in Grigori was willing to step up to the line and tell him to either be a part of the family or leave.

Cowards. That line was worthless. Some members were good, but as a whole it was as pointless and a tail on a cactus.

Still fuming, she walked out to the kitchen and filled a bowl with water. She took off her over shirt and started using her rage to rip it into a few towel sized pieces. Just who did Pratt think he was? Placing the whole responsibility of the blood hunt on Digo? There were many involved, but he put the whole thing on one man and intended to wound him once for each thief killed during the hunt. She and Digo had gone to this meeting with the intention of trying to come to an agreement with Pratt and maybe, just maybe, get him to see the idiocy of his ways. Instead he opened up with demanding Digo's death and a public apology. Thank god Habren and Mircea had told Pratt that was too high a price. Not that it did much good.

The wound was a clean one, at least. Right up under the chin and out the back of the head. Granted,there were some bits of brain about, but shooting oneself in the head was bound to have some side effects. The t shirt towel did wonders for cleaning up the blood, though she would have to find him a clean shirt.

She had meant every word that she's said after Pratt walked out. Mircea was wrong. No matter how he tried to back talk his way out of it, he had agreed to Pratt's terms. If Mircea hadn't wanted blood to be spilled he should have just kicked Pratt out of the bloodline. Couldn't have that though, now could we? Oh no. That would mean that Mircea had taken sides and decided to stop his constant fence sitting. If that man ever stood up and did something instead taking the winning side after it was clear the other had lost, she would eat her hat.

The rage was still there when she finished cleaning off Digo's face. He looked almost like he was lost in the Stillness there on the table. So calm and so very dead. Dead so that a sniveling, worthless, brat could make an empty promise.

He would break that promise. When he did, she would be the first to know. When he broke it, she would be the first to hunt him down and make sure he paid his price for her childe's death.