Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

OTF Chapter 15 - Friends. . .Forever

    Chapter 15

Allison stood up and brought Vivienne the paring knife she had been using earlier that morning. "I want to see you carve your name on his flesh. You will do this because I want to know you're not too weak to stand up to him. Do it, Vivienne or I'll make you use the Segais on him. He'll heal from this much faster."

Vivienne dug her nails into her palms as she contemplated Allison's words. "Is this your test or Maglania's?" Vivienne asked. When Allison didn't answer, Vivienne reached out and took the paring knife. Allison nodded steadily at her.

"He's just a vampire. If you can't see that, you're not fit to command or to rule. This city is more important than all of us, more important than your love for him. There must be nothing, no one, you will hold above it."

Vivienne sighed as she walked to the doorway. Somehow, she felt as though she heard those words before. In the caves of Remin there had been so many who held the singular act of survival over all bounds of love and friendship. Could it be that in life there was no other way to live than to constantly sacrifice everything one held dear? And what happens, when the sacrifice of everything and everyone simply wasn't enough? For Zissa in Remin, the sacrifice of everything still wasn't enough. Vivienne wondered if that was the true endgame for everyone, to come to that final point where a lonely watery grave was all that was left to face. But for the likes of Maglania, at least the city would still stand, this magnificent cursed city of dreams.

"It's not free, Vivienne," Allison said. "All this has a price. The price is your heart and soul. Back home, perhaps there was a simpler way of life. Here, this is the only way. Love is not something the likes of us can afford. Dresses and jewels, yes, but not love."

Vivienne stuck her head out the door and called out Blake's name. She saw him approach. She could tell he was at work today, doing whatever it was that he did that brought all this money because he was wearing a white shirt instead of a black one. He also had a tie around his neck, one of those black ones, tied in the Eldridge style, that he wore when he was trying to look older than his twenty-two years of age.

"Dismiss the servants," Vivienne said with coldness in her voice. "Then come in here. We have company."

He met her eyes and gave her a curt nod. An understanding passed between them that occurred far too quickly and naturally for her comfort. Unlike Asher in Remin, Blake always understood the price. He chose this life too. The most painful realization in life was not that one must sacrifice everything for a goal but to ask one's loved ones to make the same choice. As the butler, footmen and maids all hurried out of the rooms around them, Vivienne wondered if the ones who served them could ever have any inkling of what it took to live the lives of the masters they served. They just saw the money, the excess and the happiness. They would never see the unbearable pain and the sacrifice. Poor little rich boy, indeed.

Vivienne sat down and placed the paring knife on the table. She poured herself a glass from the champagne bottle and drank it in one gulp. Allison sat down and poured herself a glass as well but nursed it slowly, twirling the glass in her fingers.

"You'll learn to enjoy this," Allison said. "You have to. Or you'll never be able to live with yourself. Sometimes, for people like us, the biggest threat is the desire to fall on your own sword. You need to numb yourself, feel nothing."

Vivienne wondered if she was speaking to Maglania or Allison or both of them.

Blake appeared in the door and locked it securely behind him. He studied the scene before him, and looked at Allison. "What is your command?" He asked softly and calmly.

"Why don't you ask your would-be queen what her command is?" Allison asked.

"Take off your shirt," Vivienne said, quietly.