The Watchmaker

22 - a home

The house was the same. Eighty years had passed, but everything was the same. I felt a pang of sadness hit me as I entered my old bedroom. The fabrics were different, the furniture had been upgraded to a more modern style, but the depressing mood was still lingering in the shadows.

"Ah, the watchmaker has returned," a voice snickered from a dark corner. "Did you have fun, playing around as one of the little humans?"

I braced myself before I turned to meet my husband's eyes. "I needed a break," I said calmly and to my surprise he sighed exasperatedly.

"Don't we all! Anthony keeps pushing us around and making decisions I don't agree upon." I kept my eyes on him as he walked towards me. He looked the same, same haircut, red painted lips and black eyeliner – he was beautiful.

I offered him a hand, and when he took it I pulled his body close to me. God I'd missed being close to someone. Solitude had done wonders for my mental health, but my body craved something else. He accepted my embrace, he even leaned into it.

"I've missed you, husband," he whispered in my ear.

"I thought you hated me," I chuckled in his ear and kissed his temple.

"No, I don't hate you. I despise you for falling in love with my brother. I hate the fact that he weakened you so much you felt the need to leave us," his arms held me tighter as he rested his head on my shoulder, "I hate him, not you."

I shook my head and sighed, those were serious words coming from his lips. "What has he done Luis?"

"That my dear husband is a very long and gruesome tale, are you sure you want to hear it?"

I leaned my head back and placed my hands on each side of his head, raising one eyebrow as I peered into his eyes, "Luis, you need to tell me everything. I need to know what I'm getting myself into."

"I thought you knew, Anthony paid you a visit after all."

"He gave me the order."

Luis tilted his head to the side and looked deeply into my eyes, "so he forced you to come back. That's interesting, don't you think?"

"Why is that interesting?"

"Because he wasn't sure that you would come back if he merely asked you to, and usually Anthony never shows insecurity like that."

I grabbed his hand and led him towards our bed– or his bed. "What's going on with the blood bags?"

"It was my idea," Luis giggled happily, "Lumiere's toxin makes them crave more and more and they go mad for it. So we came up with this idea that drinking blood from humans is filthy, and we are modern creatures now."

I sighed and rubbed my face with my palms, "so you create addicts."

"And we're filthy rich because of it!" he giggled.

I rose from the bed and stared at him, "you can't be serious, you think this is funny? I've seen the vampires on the streets of London, they hide in the dark and get the shakes if they don't get their fix. I've even heard stories about them turning into monsters if they drink too much."

"Yes, well Lumiere is dealing with the side effects."

"You actually agree with all this?"

"Of course I do," he said with a wide smile– showing his sharp fangs, "It was all my idea."

I crossed my arms before my chest and stared at him. "Explain!"

"Well, you see, my brother wanted to use it as an elixir to make his house stronger. Your precious daughter Marienne was quite the accomplishment, and he wanted to try it out on others."

"So he's still experimenting on vampires?"

"No, not anymore. There were some successes and some less fortunate endings, but they're all alive. A bunch of misfits living in our basement."

"Wonderful," I muttered sarcastically.

"Lumiere made some changes to the drops, and the effect of it ebs out after a few hours, but as it does their body will cave a new fill."

"You've created a deadly drug," I sighed, "you know that vampires will kill each other for this."

"Does it really matter?" he said with a wicked grin, "we used to be powerful, then it was all taken from us. And now we have a chance to be reborn again. We are the du Sallient's, the two remaining vampire princes and now drug lords." He raised to his feet and caressed my cheek with his thumb, "Doesn't it sound marvelous my love?"

I shook my head and met his eyes, "so this was all your idea?"

"Yes, are you proud of me?"Luis whispered as his lips moved closer to mine.

"You are experimenting with people's lives," I mumbled, "I can't believe you are doing all of this for power. You haven't changed at all."

I watched my husband laugh bitterly before he turned from me, "you alway had such a strong sense of honor in you, Love, give it a hundred years or so, I promise your heart will turn numb like mine has."

"I hope not," I whispered and opened the bedroom door and bumped into an eavesdropping Marie – as I was about to walk out and leave Luis to his madness.

"Clockie!" she chirped and threw her arms around my neck, ignoring the fact that I might be cross with her. "I'm so happy to see you back here!"

I sighed deeply and hugged the slender body tight to my chest, "I missed you too."

"And Lu-Lu's missed you, and the big Boss too."

"I'm sure," I chuckled bitterly, "now, tell me, is the spare room empty? I need somewhere to sleep."

She peered at me and then at Luis, bit her lower lip and gave me a nod. "Come, I'll show you."

As we walked down the corridor I felt her hand in mine, "do they treat you well?" I asked her and peered down at the small face.

She ignored my question completely and asked me one instead. "Was Prince Luis mean to you?"

"We had a discussion, that's all."

"You need to tell me if he is," she muttered, "he can't be trusted."

"Says who?" I asked curiously.

"Lumiere," she told me and shrugged her shoulders. "He asked me to keep an eye on him, and I have."

"And?"

She gave me a huge smile and stopped at the door to the spare room, "here it is, your new room. Enjoy!" she exclaimed and vanished as abruptly as she had appeared.

I was going to get some rest and straighten out my thoughts, and then I had to speak to Anthony.