Vessel X OC/reader

Chapter 6

Vessel is knocked back, but puts his hand on the wall behind him for support. I don't even respond. I saw it coming a while away.

Vessel calmly wipes the substantial amount of blood from his chin, and sighs.
"That's how you Lockharts seem to communicate. Can't seem to stop your daughter punching me, either."

My dad goes to punch him again, but Vessel catches his fist and throws him to the ground.

"Keep your hands off of me. Grief is no excuse." Vessel says, and the guards start to flood in around us.

Vessel is clearly not happy. This cannot end well.

I hear a gun cocking, and a guard points a revolver straight at my dad's head.
"Vessel, make them stop!" I yell at him, and Vessel looks at me, and my dad, blankly.

I try and wrestle the gun away from the guard, but nothing. Jessa isn't stupid, though. She knows what's going on. She's horrified, and burst into tears, and I see Vessel's mouth twitch slightly.

"Don't shoot. The man's just distressed. I'm sure he didn't mean it." He says, to the guard, and the guard glares at him.

Oh, this will be interesting.

"You're supposed to be a leader. You didn't want to kill that other Lockhart, either. And we know why. Because of the girl. You've always had a thing for her."

Vessel smiles at him.
"Please let me speak with the Lockharts and see how I can help them, and we can discuss all the concerns you have about the quality of my leadership in the hall, later on. Right now, you are about as useful to me as a teapot made of ice, so why don't you run along?"

The guard tuts, and leaves. Holy shit.

I crouch, beside my dad, and kiss his forehead.
"It's okay. Calm down."

My dad gets to his feet, and clutches his chest. He's always been healthy, besides Angina attacks.

"Dad, please. Sit down, breathe. I'm not losing you, too."

My dad attempts to calm down, and eventually speaks.
"They pulled the body of a young man out of the river, by your manor. They positively identified him as Eric. 155 stab wounds. His eyes were carved out." My dad says, while my mom covers Jessa's ears, crying, herself.

Vessel takes off his mask, presumably so he could be sincere.

Or so I thought.

"His eyes were carved out?" He asks, and suddenly, he bursts out laughing.

My dad looks infuriated, but it's soon clear what's so funny.

"Don't give up hope on finding your boy."

"They found his body!" I scream.

"They found a body. A body. A body so badly carved up that there is no way they could have actually positively identified them."

It's true, actually. I was so caught up in grief that I didn't even think about it. Only his family should have been the ones to identify him.

"Eric's fine. As far as I know." Vessel says, and smiles. "He punched me. Hard. More than once. I wasn't too bothered, but it was witnessed by a lot of people. I had advisors all over my ass to kill him, to show authority. But like my guard kindly pointed out, I didn't want to. I liked the Lockhart girl, and wouldn't hurt the family. So I killed an advisor, in secret. One that looked the most like him. One that was so set on me taking the life of a young man. If he was so set on it, I felt I should take his, instead."

I've only been here a day. A conspiracy? Seriously?

"So where is Eric?" I ask, and Vessel shrugs.

"That's the one thing I don't know. I believe he may have been advised to leave the country while it all blew over."

"Can you prove any of this?" My dad asks.

Vessel thinks.
"I'll pull strings and grant you access to see the body, if you so wish. You'll see it's not your son."

I take a few seconds to let everything soak in, and I hug Vessel tightly, and begin to sob again. He's tense, and doesn't appear to know what to do.

"I'm confused. He's alive. Why are you crying?"

"I'm happy." I respond, and he looks at me like I'm crazy.

I let go of him, and my mom is sobbing too. I comfort her, and Vessel decides to pick Jessa up, and smile at her.

"Crybabies, huh?" He says to her, and she looks around at us and nods, smiling.

"Grown ups are silly." She says, quietly. She clearly likes Vessel, a lot more without his mask, too, but she's still nervous around him.

"Sure are." He says. Still carrying her, he gives her back to my mom, and smiles once more at Jessa. I have to say, when he's not got any nasty intentions, he has a nice smile.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." Vessel says, still smiling. "I have a few things to attend to. Actually, I'd appreciate Gaia's company. I'll habe the chef make you something while you're here, please make yourselves comfortable."

He nods for me to follow him, and I follow him through the corridor. I take deep breaths, and wipe my eyes.

"Always had a thing for me, huh?" I say.

"Don't read too much into it, Gaia." He responds, clearly not happy that it was said, and maybe even embarrassed.

"Is that why you were always so nasty to my family? Like a toddler on a playground that pushes his crush over so she'll notice him?"

"I'm not in the mood for this conversation. Please bring it up when my face implies that I have any interest in discussing this." He says, and I can't help but grin.

"I don't think you're as evil as all the rumours. I think underneath that mask is a soft young man."

"I know your type." He says, quietly. "So you think you get caught up in a marriage with a cold hearted man, like in romance novels, and it turns out deep down he's loving, romantic, considerate and kind. You think your beauty, and your own kind heart will melt mine. Well, you're wrong. I have a soft spot for you. I always have done. That doesn't mean a thing. I'm a bad person. I'm a killer, I can be manipulative, I can be violent. I'll treat you poorly, even if I don't want to, even if I try not to, and eventually, I will drive you to my circle of madness. Evil is an umbrella term, and it's subjective. I am not evil, by my own definition, but I promise, I am evil by yours."

I feel sick. Well. At least he's honest. I don't answer him, and he sits in the hall with me.
"What are we doing here?" I ask him, and he nods at the guard entering the hall.

"Remember? The one that tried to kill your father."

"Why am I here?" I ask him.

"It'll be good for you to learn how to manage these situations. What punishment do you think he deserves?" He asks me.

I think, carefully.
"He didn't kill my Father. And he spoke back to you, but he still listened to you. No punishment."

"So close, so far. Questioned my leadership. High treason. Penalty is death."

I stare at him, wide eyed.
"You don't mean it."

He smiles.
"Of course not."

The guard sits opposite us, and glares at me immediately. I'm a little taken aback, to be honest. I didn't do anything wrong.

"Sir." He says to Vessel.

"I'm 'supposed to be a leader', huh?" Vessel asks, quoting the guard.

"I'm sorry. I was just angry. I cannot stand the Lockhart family, and don't understand why we protect them in any way."

"Hey, fuck you." I spit at him, and Vessel glares at me.

"Control yourself, Gaia. It doesn't matter how much you hate them. You listen to me, and you don't question it. You don't shoot an innocent man. You don't shoot an innocent man in front of his innocent baby daughter."

"Nothing innocent about a Lockhart."

Vessel tilts his head, quite a bit, just like a serial killer.
"We're not going to have a further problem, are we? You're going to go back to your job and stop pissing me off. Right?"

"Right." The guard says, gets up, and leaves.