Love Bites

Falling Forever

The whole journey his head was a tangle of thoughts; though not one single strand seemed to connect together to another, they all stopped short leaving him more and more frustrated. The harder he tugged the more everything threatened to come down and bury him under its weight. By the time he reached Marcus' house his resentment and anger were ready to boil over.

He didn't knock nor wait to be invited in. Fuck that! He knew where Marcus would be, so he burst straight through the door and headed right for him. As he ploughed through the door his one thought was making Marcus pay. Pay for turning his girl and pay for shagging her in the process. It was only when he actually got into the room did he stop. Marcus sat on a battered leather sofa beneath a large shuttered window, the black beginning to fade and tear. The look on his face and the memory of his temper turned him cold. Next to him sat Tasha, her pretty eyes cast down and she was shaking; Cal no longer had the ability to read people and couldn't work out though the mess of his own emotions whether she was in physical or emotional pain. A form shifted in the corner chair and only now did Cal take it in.

"Cal, you remember Elliana, yes?" Marcus asked faking geniality. 

He knew damn well Cal remembered her, and his heart began pounding in his chest, a flush of colour rising up his neck, he nodded.

"Sorry, I...I mean, we, didn't catch that."

Cal balled his hands into fists at his sides, and Marcus seeing the action only laughed. "Not really a fair fight anymore is it? Now, answer the question."

"Yes."

"Good. Now Cal, Is Elliana a vampire?"

"Yes."

"Was she always a vampire?"

Cal's heart was beginning to break. He knew exactly what Marcus was doing and he could do nothing except be a pawn in a game he didn't know how to win. "No."

"Who turned Elliana?" Marcus asked, looking from Cal to Elliana and then to Tasha."

"Me. I turned her," he sighed. That was it, he'd just signed his own death warrant.

"Tasha, why don't you tell Cal who this woman is," Marcus pushed. She didn't need to say it. He'd know it since the day he saw her clutching a framed family photograph all those months ago.

"My mum," Tasha said softly and Cal's heart broke wide open. 

Marcus sat back a smug smile on his lips, he'd won and he knew it. He got off on playing with humans and their feelings, Cal just never thought he'd be on the receiving end of so much blatant animosity and wickedness.

"I'm sorry, Tasha." He whispered, still rooted to the spot in the centre of the room. "I'm so sorry baby."

"You let me talk about her. About how much I missed her, how much I wished she was still alive," Her voice was rising as she flung her words at him like missiles. "You knew she was still alive, but you let me go on hurting. You let me believe I was all alone in this world. You let me get to the point of suicide! You could have stopped it all but you didn't!"

"By the time I realised who she was, it was too late. I was in love with you." Cal pleaded, hoping she could see how much pain he was in too, how sorry he was. "Look into my mind. You'll see what..."

"I don't understand," Elliana suddenly cut in, she looked at the three faces in the room a frown creasing her brow. "Why does she keep calling me mum?"

Tasha choked back a sob and Cal died a little more inside. He closed his eyes and rocked back on his heels. He'd fucked this up royally.

"Why doesn't she remember me?" Tasha demanded looking from Marcus to Cal. "I remember her. I remember everything about my old life!" There was a childish whine to her voice that Cal could not blame her for. Her life had just completely imploded for the fourth time in nearly as many months. He was not sure how she was still standing; come to think of it he wasn't sure how he still was either.

Marcus sat back, placed his right ankle on his left knee and rubbed his hands gleefully before spreading them and saying, "Cal, care to explain." He was enjoying this and Cal hated him for it. He wanted to rip his head off, tear his heart out but his pathetic human body would be no match for Marcus now, and he knew it.

Cal looked down for a long time, trying to decide how to word this story so that he wouldn't have his throat torn out by the woman he loved. Finally he looked up, "Back when I turned her, I was in a pretty bad place," Marcus snorted and rolled his eyes. Cal ignored him, "I was a pretty bad person too. I'd...We'd," he indicated Marcus, "been on a bender. We'd killed and drained half a dozen people out in the park and the woods. I'd snatched girls from bars too. We would 'use' them and then drain them. Selena found out. Told me father would be furious and that the elders would give me the chair." 

"The chair?" Tasha asked in spite of not wanting to speak to him.

"A place, like a chamber, that they sit you in when they make you human." Cal explained. "At the time I could think of nothing worse than being human." He huffed and shook his head, "what a difference one person can make. I'd just snatched Elliana, decided my best bet would be to turn her. Cassandra reminded me that humans that are forced to turn are subjected to memory modification by the elders, to ensure there are no repercussions. But I couldn't ask the council so Cassie fudged together a memory charm. I'm so sorry Tasha. When I took her I didn't know you. I didn't love you yet!" he began to cry and the guilt built inside him.

"Did you kill my father too?" Tasha's voice was ice.

"Ooh, guilty." Marcus raised his hand like a school boy. "Yeah, err, sorry or whatever."

Tasha was trying desperately to restrain herself as emotion so raw and more powerful than she'd ever experienced ripped through her veins. She turned on Marcus, and snarling, lunged at him. Easily Marcus caught her wrists and then effortlessly threw her away from him. She landed in a heap beside Cal, but she sprang back to her feet and glared at him.

"Tut, tut, baby vamp. We don't act like that with our own." He pulled his t-shirt straight and eyed her disdainfully. She stood panting, tensed and ready to strike once more when Elliana spoke.

"Marcus baby. I'm bored of this now," she waved her hand in the vague direction of Cal and Tasha.

"You two are an item?" Cal gaped. He knew Marcus was low but he hadn't realised how low.

"Yep, and now I'm bored too. I think it's time for you both to leave." Marcus stood and Cal found himself shrinking back slightly. "And I think babe," he gestured for Elliana and she ran girlishly into his arms. "That it's time for us to move on."

Tasha rushed forward and grabbed Elliana's hand, "Mum, please don't go," she cried, her face the picture of pure anguish.

Elliana gave her a disgusted look and twisted her hand out of Tasha's, "Listen girl. I have no idea who you are and if you grab me like that again I'll snap your neck. Now get a fucking grip of yourself. Your mum is gone." Then her and Marcus were gone.

Tasha let the tears fall and she let out an anguished cry that sliced Cal down to the bone. His heart ripped in two as he watched Tasha crumble before him. He closed his eyes unable to stand the sight of her pain. When he opened them again she was gone and Cal was completely alone.