VIOLET DAWN

Chapter 34

 "We've arrived," Ismail announced as Patrick felt the carriage come to a stop. He did not move. Everything hurt; his head, his whole body, but mostly his heart. It wasn't betrayal that caused the most pain. It was that damn emptiness he felt in his chest. His heart felt hollow as surely as if Violet had managed to stick her dagger in it, instead of beside it. He touched his fingers to his coat, beneath which new skin had healed the scar.

"It is your jurisdiction here Highlander, but I can ask the questions if you like."

Patrick grimaced knowing why Ismail was worried. Asking questions was easy enough, but if Violet did not answer them, he would have to force her mind and if she resisted...he could damage her mind permanently, leaving her as good as dead.

Patrick did not know if he could do it, did not know if he could allow his friend to do it...yet he would have to. 

"Highlander?" Ismail questioned again.

Patrick stepped out of the carriage without a word and made his way through fresh snow towards the cottage. He steeled himself against the sight of her. She had tried to kill him. It didn't matter that he hadn't come to grips with the fact. He was the leader of his clan. His people's safety would come first and Violet was very possibly a slayer.

The guards nodded as he passed through the cottage door, Ismail close behind him.

"Patrick?" Violet was in the corner of the empty room, her hands bound in front of her. She still wore her ball gown which was smeared with blood.

His blood.

"Disappointed that you didn't succeed?" he tried to keep his tone level, but the sarcasm was still easy to detect.

"No, I..." she was moving rapidly towards him.

"Don't come closer," Patrick commanded.

Violet froze, looking stricken. That look brought forth a raw anger. What right did she have to look hurt? How dare she still pretend she cared? The pain in his chest was brutal. How had she made him love her?

"The punishment for what you have done is death." The words were out before he could recall them. But then, the declaration didn't have the impact he had expected. Violet simply squared her shoulders, looking for all the world like a martyr instead of the would be killer she was.

"Leader, perhaps you should question her?"

Ismail's quiet usage of his title reminded him that he was letting his emotions take over. He was the Leader of his clan, damn it! He had to forget everything else. Controlling the need to pace, he stood still. "Let us start at the beginning then, how did you find out about us?"

Violet moved back to the corner of the room she had been standing in when they arrived. Patrick waited for her to speak, but she said nothing.

His temper began to boil, and he couldn't even think why.

"Who told you about us? Are there other slayers? Answer me damn it!" Patrick's voice rose, but again she said nothing. She admitted nothing, but neither did she defend herself. Is that what he wanted? For her to proclaim that this had all just been a big misunderstanding?

Looking at her pale, cold and disheveled self, he knew with certainty that his feelings had not changed. He loved her still and he would forgive her, if only she would defend herself, he would forgive her... would try to believe her.

But she was silent.

Violet leant against the wall and shut her eyes as if this was all a great joke she could ignore.

Was that what he had been for her; a joke? Had she laughed at him behind his back, laughed at how easy it had been to fool him?

"What I don't understand, slayer, is why you waited for the ball to try and kill Patrick when you must have had so many opportunities before that moment," Ismail said from beside him. Before Patrick could consider the importance of the statement, Violet spoke.

"I never meant to hurt him! It was you who were supposed to die, Ismail."

Silence reigned in the room as Violet tried to push back the emotions coursing through her.

She had failed her father and almost killed the man she loved. Not for the first time that morning she could feel bile rising up in her throat.

Until this moment, she had thought nothing would ever compare to the night she lay in the woods, cold and dying and so very afraid, but this...this was so much worse. No fear compared to the regret that was making her hands shake. She wanted to run.

Run from Patrick who now hated her, from Ismail who she would never be able to punish and from herself.

"Why?" Ismail was coming towards her, his scent becoming more and more clear. Her body tensed, her fingers clenching with anger. She had no weapon, if only she had a weapon!

"Why me?" Ismail asked as he came to stand in front of her. His voice was level. He was unafraid. Of course he didn't fear her. He was a blood drinker, a bastard who could kill a human with a flick of his hand, without remorse, and without having to pay for it. Her jaw was locked so tight her teeth hurt. She could do nothing now. They had taken her freedom, they were going to take her life...the only thing she could do was keep the answers to their questions to herself. Maybe that would annoy them a little.

Was there ever a more pathetic revenge?

"Answer his question, Violet," Patrick said from near the door. He sounded odd, his voice missing all the bitter rage he had been flinging at her earlier.

He had every right to be bitter, Violet reminded herself. She had used him even as she had loved him.

When she continued to say nothing, she felt a tingling at the back of her mind and a dull head ache. Which one of them was trying to read her mind? It didn't matter. Violet slowed her breathing and cleared her mind just like she had practiced hundreds of times.

She thought of the darkness, focused on what her eyes told her every second of everyday. Blank. Nothing. No colours, no shapes, just an endless void.

The pain in her head receded.

Ismail moved away from her, "She knows how to clear her mind."

"Let her go hungry for a few days and then we will see how she feels." Patrick said and moments later they were gone, leaving her alone with the scent of the man she longed to kill and the man she longed to love.