Hollow Immortal

The Memoirs of Caine

Back at the castle, Lillith found she was rather grateful that Alastair had called ahead to ensure that she wouldn't be bombarded with questions from the Draculesti. She did, however, have to face the questions of the new coven head and the Nosferatu who'd replaced her.

Dmitri stood on the far side of his study, pensive as he stared out the window. She could see the muscles in his jaw were clenched and his hands were balled into fists. He hadn't said anything at all, aside from his initial, surprised exclamation, in ten minutes. Theodore sat across from her, his hand still in the position of holding the pen which had fallen on its side when she'd entered the room. His lips were parted slightly and his eyes were like big, golden saucers.

Alastair leaned on the back of her chair. The soft, lingering smell of his cologne mixed with the faint scent of cigarettes filled her nostrils. For some reason, she found the aroma to be quite pleasing. Calming.

"Dmitri, please say something," Alastair tried.

Dmitri said nothing, just continued to stare out of the window. If she didn't know better, Lillith would have said the real Dmitri was somewhere else while an inanimate, wax model of him stood with them in the study.

Theodore snapped out of his astonishment and shook his head. "I don't think you want him to say anything," he said, "I've no doubt you won't like a word of it."

"It's not about liking what he has to say," Lillith replied, to satisfy her need to exert some of the power she knew she still had, "it's about reaching some or other point of understanding."

"I agree," Dmitri's voice seemed to be the only thing in the room at that moment, it was strong and commanding, like Vlad's used to be. Oh how much he'd changed. "Please," he turned around, "I am quite eager to hear this development."

Lillith raised an eyebrow, "You sound angry, I thought you might be pleased to see me."

Dmitri nodded, "And pleased I am, it's just that the negatives greatly outweigh the positives in this situation."

Lillith raised an eyebrow, "Meaning?"

"The very fact that Alastair is standing here with us right now and not prone in the middle of a road somewhere means that you trusted him the moment you saw him," Dmitri's voice cam out a low growl, "which means you two were working together the whole time."

Lillith shrugged, "Not the whole time, only since I caught him."

Dmitri slammed his first down on the small end table beside a window, shattering a glass and cutting his hand in the process. His eyes flashed orange and his lips curled to reveal his wickedly sharp fangs but it all vanished as fast as it appeared. The purest sign of a lot of pent up stress and anger.

"Do you know how many you could have spared if you'd opened your damned mouths?" he shouted, "If you'd just told Vlad, we would've had an army against him! Caine would be stewing in a silver prison several feet in the ground! We would have no problems!"

Lillith frowned, she didn't particularly like being shouted at. It was something she hadn't experienced in quite a while, "Beg pardon, Dmitri, but what gives you the impression that we didn't think to do that?"

"The fact that we are bloody standing here right now, discussing this bloody matter," he hissed, "the fact that Caine is out there somewhere about to throw the world into literal hell."

She was about to answer but Alastair put a hand on her shoulder.

"Dmitri, Vlad was like a brother to Caine," he said more calmly than she would have managed, "they fought side by side for centuries. They've been thick as thieves since Vlad was eight. You can't expect him to turn away from that."