PART 2: MARIELLE – Chapter 51

CONTAINS CONTENT:

Brief language, grief.

{{Unedited}}

Vincent had been silent for a long time with his face in his hands as he rubbed his temples, removed his glasses, and put them onto the desk, and then put his face back into his hands again.

Marielle was laying on her side watching him from the bed; silent tears were streaming from her eyes. “She’s – she was so young,” Marielle finally peeped.

Before they came to their rooms, they were told that they could take an hour, then to come back downstairs, and if no one came, they’d be called.

“Trop jeune pour mourir,” Vincent agreed.

Marielle hugged the pillow and buried her face in it to sob; hating that she wanted Austin’s arms around her. Then she paused, “Who killed her?”

Vincent sighed, straightening his back against the wall, “Austin.”

The wave of confusion that hit her was overwhelming, not to mention strange. “Dark Austin?”

“Or Tundra,” he sighed, smoothing his hands over his knees, and then leaning over them again. Vincent balled his hands into fists, going white knuckled. “I had a chance to kill him today and I didn’t take it,” he said, then he looked off, distantly and rattled off a bunch of curse words in French.

“Why?” She pressed.

He met eyes with her, his own becoming moist, “Because it was the last thing that you made me promise not to do.” She tilted her head, her expression; cogs and wheels grinding against ideas that made no sense. “When you died, your last words to me were- promise me that you won’t kill Austin,” Vincent looked off, tears welling in his deep brown eyes. “Don’t kill Austin, you said…” Vincent swallowed the tears running down his throat, “He’s so lost. He’ll either destroy himself or someone else will. But don’t let it be you.” He shook his head, still looking off distantly. “You made me promise. I did.” He looked at her finally. “And then you took your last breath.”

“Why were my last words to you about Austin?” She cried.

Vicent let out a sigh as if he’d been holding it in for several long minutes, and bent his head down between his knees. She could actually see him start to shake, and this terrified her. She’d never seen him so much as blink if he didn’t need to. She slid off the bed and crawled to him, trying to look up into his face. “Tell me everything,” she whispered.

He shook his head. “Everything? No.” He met eyes with her, “But I will tell you these things. Then I am certain that I lose you forever,” he explained, and at this he forced a soft smile at her through his tears. “Masin, I fell in love with you the instant that we met. It was like lightning hit me; I’d never felt that before. You were broken again because of something that your jerk of a boyfriend did to you,” he looked off, “admittedly, I befriended him because there were times where Austin was not so bad…at first,” he met eyes with her again, and she sat up on her knees, putting her arms around his neck. “But I fell in love with you immediately, and my heart was crushed after I met you, loved you, and lost you to him all in five minutes.” A pregnant pause, she could feel something coming that would change everything. “You married him, Masin.” She felt her heart stop and her eyes go wide, not understanding, grasping, or comprehending. “You married him.” He repeated in a whisper. “He was your first husband.”

“And then?” she breathed.

“He hurt you,” he took her face into his hands firmly, but not hurting her, “Masin, he hit you. He froze your skin to force you to move through him,” she felt sick, and for a moment the next words stuck in his throat, “he raped you… repeatedly.” She gasped; small groans of panic escaping her lips; this was all true. “Dressed you up like his puppet at all times- and he still went out on you. It didn’t get better, it got worse, and worse.” He paused, taking her to him, his big arms surrounding her entire body, and holding her there between his knees like a doll; she was lifeless, in shock. “He hit you and beat you,” he sobbed into her shoulder. “And I wanted to get involved to save you, Masin. You wanted to be with him because of your deep, unyielding connection… and because you loved him, desperately.” She was crying now. “He’s a monster, Masin. He’s a monster,” he whispered shakily. “I can’t tell you how horrible that’s become and what he is now… but, I can tell you that it all ended when you came to me and told me you left him forever. He showed up at my door that night with a gun- we nearly killed one another. He tried to get you back, but you stayed with me and got a restraining order. Then you married me.” He explained. She finally pulled away from him, eyes still wide in terror. “You fell in love with me the way that I loved you from moment one,” he explained. He was still crying, and he took her face into his hands again, and began thumbing away tears from her face, “I was so desperately in love with you, Masin. You were… are my entire world, now literally. I have no home anymore,” he hung his head, “I’m so in love with you, Masin,” he cried, shaking. “Austin is lost, entirely. There is no going back for him. He’s terrifying… but this Austin… the Austin of this world-”

“Is- is he going to be different?” She peeped, a thousand feelings and thoughts rushing through her all at once.

He tucked his lips in for a moment. “I don’t know,” he explained again thumbing a tear away. “But he wants you, too, and you know that, and I know that… and I know that you want him back, and that you’ve been toying with it.”

She swallowed and closed her eyes, “I’m so sorry,” she breathed, holding his hands against her face.

He nodded, staring into nothing. “I know you, and I know that you are struggling and I know that all that I can do is sit and wait for you to figure yourself out.”

“You did this with me in your dimension.”

“Oui,” he looked distant, in some memory. “You loved him so much, and separating you two was-,” he shook his head, his words and his mind drifting off. “I don’t believe that you were ever truly free of one another.”

She drummed her lip for a moment in thought. “You took me to Turin…”

“Yes,” he whispered. He sighed and looked down. “Because everything that I did, I did to stab him after you were free, to torment him. Because in part, I am as bad as he is…” He grimaced, “I’m a selfish prick, Masin. I’ve done things here to hurt this Austin.” She swallowed hard, realizing how many times he’d kissed her, or- Oh… their encounter in her office that day, against the wall. That was so Austin could hear it all, wasn’t it? “Because I want you. You are mine. You should have always been mine. I treated you so well, and loved you, and you loved me, and none of this is fair,” he broke, leaning into her. He slid off the chair so that he was on his knees with her on the ground, and she was entirely in his arms. “I understand that life is not about what is and isn’t fair… but I am near losing everything, now.”

“Do you think you’re going to lose me?” she asked, her voice trembling.

“I think in many ways, I already have.”

She paused, trying to collect her thoughts and decided that she wasn’t going to confirm or deny any of that at the moment. “What else do you need to tell me?”

He was gently combing her hair behind her left ear over, and over again, and his eyes, although strong, were hiding sadness, and a desperate need for her to love him. “You know some of this already- I was helping them try to open the portals. It was Chamber and I that originally figured out how to travel, but he could only come to me through the door, I couldn’t go to him at first. We helped Cory with the rest until we were stuck. Then I became…” he looked away from her for a moment, “Selfish. I didn’t like how slowly things were going. I was told years, Masin- years before we had an answer. I went to Everette Linde there, in my world, and I stole plans, and technology. I blew the place sky high. I killed Cory’s parents, and another brother that also worked there named Niall… He had powers too. Strangely enough, all three of them are dead in this world, and I have no idea why,” he sighed, and looked down for a moment. “I did this so that I could use Valorant to open up the portals to let me pass to the next world without them. I did this even knowing that they were all going to die, and I was one of the first ones to discover this,” he explained. “I was looking at DNA charts with Kirra-” He shook his head.

Her eyes brimmed with tears. “Ar- are you dying, Vincent?” she asked shakily. She wasn’t sure why she’d never asked this before. To her shock, he shook his head. True. “Why aren’t you dying, Vincent?”

He looked off again, taking in one of the biggest gulps of air that he could and letting it out, slowly. “You’re not going to like the answer.”

“I haven’t liked any of this.”

“Oui… but you’re not going to like this,” he explained. “Klara, Sabine, Kirra, and I all came upon the answer… a cure,” he said with a sigh. “For reasons that I don’t understand- something to do with their reaction to the radianite and their previous illness perhaps… The cure is in Cory,” he said, weakly. “They are the only people on the planet in my world who previously had xeroderma pigmentosum and the radianite healed them. Radianite killed all the others – er, their doubles that is – with the same rare condition. Something about the radianite and in their bodies created the antidote…” He paused, cutting his eyes to her. “I completed the sequence- that is, concocted the cure, took it, destroyed the computer files, and left. I didn’t tell them…” he explained.

“Why?” Marielle pressed, tucking her bottom lip in.

He swallowed hard, and hung his head. “Selfishness… but there were other reasons. The first reason was that they had already begun to suspect me for Everette Linde… Klara was drawing away, and she was one of my only remaining close friends besides Hazal.” He put his face into his hands for a moment, “Marielle, when Hazal was here, he apologized to me- asked me to stay with him,” he sobbed into his knees. “I tried to get him to the lab- I thought that maybe I could use my blood to heal him,” he was shaking his head, “Cory came before I had the chance.” Marielle squeezed his hand, compassionately. “The second reason was for Cory… Not everyone is dying in their world, Marielle… Kirra doesn’t have this cancer, neither does Efia, and we don’t know why.” He paused, “However, easily about eighty five percent of the world’s population is slowly deteriorating, some faster than others.” He paused, remembering to go back to Cory. “Not everyone in my world is dying. But many are. And if the world knew that the answer was in Cory, they would kill him trying to get it.” Marielle let out a ragged breath. That tracked. “I’m not lying to you. I thought that I was protecting him.”

“But you let everyone die.”

He put his head to his right knee, “I know…” he rasped. “I know.” He was silent for a moment, “I wanted to save them all. But I knew my plan- it was to leave them behind, and if I started to save any of them, they would have figured it out, word would have spread… and we’re back at square one.” He raked his hair, “I loved Cory. He was like a brother to me, both him and Hazal and at one point, Austin, too.” Crying softly, Marielle put her temple to her knee, and was still for a long time. “I lied to them, many times. I promised them things. I…” he swallowed, and she looked up at him, not understanding anything that she was feeling. She wanted to hold him, she wanted to kill him, she wanted to promise she’d never leave him, she wanted to vomit and as for her feelings about Austin? She was so lost there that she felt like she was going to be sick. She wondered if he could hear her thoughts, and what that meant for them in any way. “I used Klara to help me.” He put his forehead to hers, “I did all of this to find you.” She was silent. “Please, say anything.”

She couldn’t find the words, they didn’t exist. The first thing that she thought was that she’d rather be hanging from the window with a noose around her neck than try and decipher, decode, or deconstruct any of what he’d just told her. She was dizzy, and that was the only thing that she could get out right now, “I’m dizzy.”

He stood, went to the bathroom, filled a cup with water, and made her slowly drink it as he held her from behind, pulling her between his legs.

She reluctantly did so, knowing that she was probably dehydrated after all the tears that she’d cried.

He hung his wrists over his knees. “Masin, I want to be clear with you,” he said with a sigh. “You know this but I must reiterate it right now. I am a killer. I murder people for hire, and sometimes I’ve done it just as an end to something that I wanted,” he explained. Then he looked up at her, “I killed people at Everette Linde here, too. I did this with Chamber- we did it together,” he stammered. “I killed a lot of people, Masin,” he repeated, hanging his head.

“Wh-Why did you do that?” She rasped.

“They were using teleporters to bring in more doubles,” he whispered. “From other worlds,” he looked lost for a moment, and he pushed his glasses back up his nose. “The others can’t know that, yet. I started all of this,” he explained, sighing, “When I left my world, I created a scar, and they started following me through those scars that I left… and then the Kingdom Corporation got involved, and they began to work against me as well,” he sighed, looking off. “Someone has followed me and is an imposter. I’m not quite sure who, yet.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, inquisitively. “You mean someone on our team?”

He looked at her gravely, and nodded. “I know it’s not Tala, obviously,” Marielle teared up again at the mention of her name, “I know that it’s not Austin, again- obvious.”

“Could it be-” she drummed her lip for a moment thinking about how Liam seemed to be subliminally pushing for her to be with Austin in his office a few weeks ago, “is there any way that it’s Liam?”

“None,” he replied quickly.

“Why?”

“Liam is dead, Marielle. Cory killed him.” She put her fingers over her mouth, and again, tears stung her eyes. “When I left… right in front of me, to teach me a lesson.” He shook his head. “All I can say is- don’t trust anyone.”

“That’s one of the reasons that you trust this Austin, isn’t it? You know he’s not Dark Aus- Tundra?”

Vincent nodded. “He’s not an imposter, he’s from this world,” he said, nodding. “I know that this Austin will do his best to keep you safe. Even to death.” He sighed shaking his head, and looked off in the direction of the hall, “I don’t know about anyone else, here,” he said suspiciously.

They were both silent for a few moments and Vincent as incredibly aware that Marielle might be stolid and deeply in thought for some time. She wiped more tears from her green eyes.  “Can I ask you a question that you are not going to like?”

He hung his head and nodded, “Marielle… I have just told you many things that you do not like. I was expecting more than a question.”

“Like what?” she chuckled silently.

“You to hit me?”

She shook her head. “Oh, no, I think I gave enough of my full arsenal of fists to those two grunts in the street tonight,” she growled, looking off. “And Austin the night he tried to seduce me,” she added. And Vincent smiled through his disdain and rolled his eyes a little at that. A pregnant pause passed between them. “My question is…” she drummed her lip for a moment in thought. Was she really about to ask him this? “What are you going to do if I choose Austin?”

His eyes pinched shut, and he let out a long sigh before he spoke again, “Nothing,” he whispered. “I’ll finish what I started, love you anyways, and then quietly leave when it’s all done. I won’t say goodbye, and you’ll probably see me again at some point.” He pinched her chin and took her face into his hands again, “And I’ll still love you,” he whispered. “I’ve always loved you, Masin. The depths of my soul have always loved you, and I’m willing to do anything to love you, keep you, and protect you.”

“What is the plan?”

He sighed again, “Give you your tattoo guns… get through this part of life with Valorant, stop the others trying to invade this planet, and leave.” He thumbed her mouth, begging for her to give him entry into her gently parted lips. “Marry you again, take you back to France and to a little village where we are safe, and spend the rest of my life making up for the sins that I’ve committed…” He smiled, more tears filling his dark eyes. She watched him with a soft smile, feeling the warmth in his words, aching for everything that he said, and simultaneously wanting to run from it. “Own or build a cottage, I can do it, love.” He drew her against his beating heart, “Land, grow food; wake up with a beautiful woman every day, laugh, dance, eat amazing food, make love to you whenever I can, make sure you are happy, cared for, and most of all? Safe.” He forced a soft smile, “Maybe children someday. We always wanted children,” he said, softly. “I know that one of your biggest desires is to be a mother. And I am well aware at this point that I deserve no more joys. But I do want them.”

Austin’s words haunted her, then… Because you’ve never needed a man, you’re strong enough on your own, aren’t you? – Vincent’s found your weakness, as have I. Be careful. He’s already used it against you.

She swallowed glancing down and thinking about how weird this conversation would be if Vincent was Austin, he’d be reading a good chunk of these thoughts now…but Vincent could read none of them.

He had been gently touching her, looking deeply into her eyes, pleading for her to want these things too, and she had to admit that an enormous part of her did. She wanted to run away with him, and spend forever there in that little French village, making wonderful meals, and loving this handsome, dangerous man who loved her like no other.

Through the walls, she heard a distant, “Rancor…Yeah.” It was Austin, and he was obviously answering his cell phone. She wanted to know who he was talking to. “Oh…” she didn’t like the sound of that oh. Her heart began to speed up in fear. “When?” Austin’s boxed voice asked. There was a long pause, and the look on his face told Marielle that Vincent was aware that she was listening to the conversation in the next room and that she didn’t like what she was hearing, and he scowled at her, but his features softened and he looked down sadly. “Yeah, I’m sure it can be done,” Austin added. Vincent leaned back, wiping the expression off his face with his hand. “End of the year… got it,” Austin said. That got it sounded sad. She heard no more after that.

Vincent swallowed the lump in his throat and looked away from her. He looked like the full weight of what was happening between her and Austin was hitting him.  

He stood and went to the window where he saw the dark figure below duck away from the lamplight, and Vincent narrowed his eyes at him. She knew this, he’d told her a few minutes before that he’d seen Tundra in the shadows. Vincent wouldn’t be sleeping tonight.

“Did you tell Chamber to tell Austin to keep Tala’s death from me?” she asked.

He crossed his arms, staring at that spot where he’d just seen shoes back away from the circle of light on the ground. He nodded without turning to her. She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, wiping her face again, the pain of Tala’s death settling in around her midsection. “Why?”

“Didn’t want to scare you… Wasn’t sure what you were doing.” He shrugged, his eyes never left those shadows and that circle of light.

The phone on the nightstand next to the bed rang, and Vincent picked it up.

Marielle was hugging herself around the middle with her forehead pressed to her knees in deep thought.

The world was tilting, and whereas a month and a half ago, she would have said that she could have never pictured herself without Vincent, and instead considering allowing herself to love Austin… she had to admit to herself that this was where she was headed.

Even earlier tonight made her head spin; the way that Austin and she worked together to fight, the way that they even smiled and played with one another a little during the intense moments. There was a moment, right before Reyna had attacked where Marielle felt like they were one person… totally mixed up in each other’s adrenaline, and lost in the moments of furious excitement.

She’d known somewhere in there that this was what he wanted. He wanted those moments forever… with her…

Vincent hung up the phone. “Liam wants us downstairs in the lounge,” he explained. She nodded, and got up, her back was aching again.

 

***

 

Austin gently touched Marielle’s back, cooling her as he moved past the arch where she leaned against and to the couch near the fireplace in the lounge.

He didn’t look at her, or Vincent. Instead, he spent the first few moments staring at the flames that were gently lapping at the log and giving off a gold and orange glow.

There were three different faded couches surrounding a coffee table in front of the fireplace. At the back there a small wet bar and a black piano. Austin had already thrown it a glance.

Presently, Sasha was standing at the bar, taking large swallows of alcohol from a bottle of Smirnov, and staring dejectedly at the flames.

There were also three tall, round tables near the bar, and Kirra was sitting at one, alone, and twisting a glass of something amber colored back and forth.

Liam was leaning on a wall nearest to Sasha and by the piano with his big arms crossed over his chest, and staring at the floor in despair.

Barbara was not too far from him, her bottom half mostly obscured by the piano. She stayed quiet. Austin met eyes with her and she nodded at him once.

Many of the rest were silently wiping away tears or staring into nothing.

Sabine and John were sitting side by side on a couch that faced the one that Austin was on, and John was watching him pick at the fire with the poker. Sabine looked like she was quietly contemplating removing Vincent’s spine through his throat as he wandered into the room with Marielle. 

Marielle sat on the opposite end of the couch where Austin was, and the two gave one another a brief glance. She caught Sabine’s disgusted glare at her. Everyone in the room was aware of the emotional affair that she and Austin were in the middle of, and Marielle felt cheap, small, and exposed when their glances all fell on her for a moment. She knew that she had no one to blame except herself.

Vincent stood against the fireplace, eyeing both Marielle and Austin from time to time. They made no attempts to touch or look at one another beyond that.

Chamber looked at Vincent, glanced around the room and shook his head.

“Has anyone called Nathaniel?” Sasha asked, glaring at Vincent. Nathaniel was Tala’s father, and Sasha knew this; he always kept track of things like that.

Sabine sighed and leaned forward, rubbing her temples. “I’ll do it,” she said with a sigh.

Liam shook his head, “No, I’ll do it. The entire thing is my fault, anyways.”

“How is it your fault? I’m the one to blame,” Vincent said, putting his forehead to his fist after resting his elbow on the mantal.

Klara was sobbing as silently as she could from a bench in a window at the back of the room. Tayane was holding her head against her shoulder, and gently stroking her hair, kissing the top of her head, “It’s okay, we’ll get through it,” she whispered.

“No, Vincent, shut up,” Mateo hissed. Wingman was making gestures at Vincent angrily, taking the emotional cues from his master. Mateo dragged his tear-filled gaze up to Vincent’s, and his hazel eyes were alight with venom. “Yeah, you’re at fault, here…but she wanted to fight, she dodged right in there.”

“I should have never let her come!” Vincent barked. He began to pace in front of the fire. “This is one of the reasons that I put you all through the kind of intense training that I did before we left. This shit happens!” He cried, gesturing at the ground.

“Oh, and that makes it okay?” Sabine barked.

“None of this is okay!” Vincent wailed loudly enough for several people in the room to jump, and both of them were up in one another’s faces, eyes threatening to take the first swing.

“Well, that’s convenient for you to say considering the fact that you’re the cause of all of this,” Sabine said with a dry smirk and nose wrinkle at Vincent. “Yeah, I think Erik had the right idea… don’t even give you the time of day,” she taunted.

Austin was up between them, and he gently pushed Vincent away from Sabine. “Hey, hey, step back…” he was saying. “We all have to reassess, here.” Marielle wanted to smile, but knew it was the wrong time… leader.

Both Marielle and Austin were up, separating the two of them and an instant later, some of the others were also on them; Liam from behind, trying to pull Vincent back by his shoulders.  Marielle was gently trying to take hold of Sabine’s arm; Sabine ignored her for a bit before giving her a venom filled glare. Marielle ignored it, and helped her down, as did John.

“What do you want from me, Sabine?” Vincent growled through gritted teeth.

“Right about now?” She stood again, back in his face, “I want you to drop dead!” She seethed baring teeth. Marielle touched Sabine’s arm again, trying to calm her.

Sasha was stepping into the circle, “Now, wait a minute, wait a minute…” he was saying, hand up, “Don’t be daft, here, Sabine. We all decided to do this,” he reminded.

“We all knew that these kinds of things could happen,” Liam added from Sasha’s side. “I take the brunt of the responsibility.”

“Not to be morbid but-” Kirra broke in from the back, wiping her tear-streaked face with the palm of her hand, “what’s happening with her body?”

Liam hung his head, “she is currently at rest on my bed.” The very words at rest sent the room into a state of eerie silence again, and tears and sniffles were heard. “I have laid her respectfully, treated her wounds and kept watch so that she is safe until I came down here,” he said with a nod, biting back tears. “She looks beautiful; at peace, and if anyone wants to go and say their goodbyes, I’ll allow it. Efia wasn’t too far from us; she is coming in the morning to take her back home.”

Marielle was wiping away tears again. Han slid in and grabbed her hand, squeezing it, then put her arms around her, and she squeezed her back.

Jamie – who’d been silent – came from the other side and held onto her as well, noting Marielle’s discomfort. “From the other side, too,” he whispered into Marielle’s ear. Both Han and Jamie held her tightly as Han also sobbed into Marielle’s shoulder.

Liam continued, “the question is who is willing to stay knowing how hard this has become?” He asked looking around at the rest of them.

“Let’s take a moment, and think,” Austin said, lifting his hands.

“Think about what, huh?” Mateo growled. His hate filled eyes met Austin’s. “I just lost maybe the only girl that I have ever really liked. What do you want me to think about?” He added, turning away from everyone angrily. Jamie went back to him, as did Han and they both sat on either side of him, rubbing his shoulders as he winced the tears back in agony. Wingman stood at his ankles, holding him around the left one, and looking off. Maybe he was confused. Marielle had heard Mateo once say that Wingman mostly took his cues; he might have sensed Mateo’s distress, but not fully comprehended it.

Liam nodded, “Mateo, I’m going to ask that you go home at this point,” Mateo scratched at the fish tattoos on his neck, and put his face into his hands dejectedly. “It’s nothing against you or your abilities, you’re a fine asset to this team. But this has hurt you. I want you to go back to your mother in L.A. and rest.” A pause. “Be with friends and family for a week or two.” John’s hand reached over, and found Sabine’s, signaling to her that he couldn’t imagine losing her. “You can leave with Efia.”

Mateo lifted his eyes to Liam and nodded, slowly.

“If only we’d had Wei Ling here,” Han whispered.

“It might not have mattered,” Kirra said, her knuckle curled to her lips. “There was nothing left when I got to her. It was a clean shot. Straight through the heart,” she added, caging her face.

“Who killed her?” Klara asked, looking from one to the other.

“Austin did,” Mateo hissed, and while the room understood that he meant Dark Austin, or Tundra, everyone turned to glare at Austin, who was leaning against the fireplace mantel behind Vincent. Chamber swallowed hard and looked down.

“Wait, other Austin?”

“Yeah, he’s here,” Chamber said under his breath.

Vincent was walking around to behind the bar, and he took a glass and poured himself a shot of bourbon.

“Oh, man…You two have history, don’t you?” Jamie asked, throwing Marielle a glance.

Vincent made a sound that was somewhere between a scoff and a chuckle, “I have history with all Austins,” he growled, throwing the shot back. “Including this one,” he gestured to Austin with the glass.

“Ha, ha, very funny, would you like to step outside, Vincent, or?”

Vincent gestured to the door, “Be my guest, go first… you’re already outside, Austin.”

Han looked around, fearfully, “Wait, he’s here? Like, actually here?”

Vincent was pouring another shot, and he nodded; not looking at her, and threw that one back as well.

“I’m a little uncomfortable with how much I’m about to be blamed for something that I didn’t do,” Austin said flatly, eyes glued to Chamber, then flicking to Vincent. “I’m not exactly the most liked guy in the room.”

Vincent pursed his lips, and threw back a third shot and shook his head, grinning ironically, “No, Austin… that’s me.” He dragged his gaze up to Austin’s handsome face, hatefully.

No one countered this.

“Wait, if he’s out there, why don’t we just go get him?”

“He’d be gone long before that,” Vincent said quietly.

“I could teleport to him,” John said in his deep, resonating tone, then he shrugged a little.

“Well, you’d have to know where he was, first. Otherwise, you’d just be bouncing around out there in the dark. It doesn’t matter, he’s waiting, he’s not going to attack us tonight. He’s obviously been ordered not to.”

“Ordered?” Tayane broke in. “By who?”

“Cory? Someone at Kingdom? It doesn’t matter,” Vincent walked back to the fireplace, throwing Austin a look, “He’s just lurking. There’s no reason to go hunting.”

Austin shuddered and threw the kind of glance at the door as if he was wondering if it was his job to go out into the dark, find himself, and kill himself; and that specific train of thought seemed so odd to him, that he had to put it aside for now.

“Why didn’t someone kill him?” Klara asked.

“He’s not exactly easy to kill,” Chamber interjected.

“Yeah, but you had him,” Mateo growled. The room went quiet, the tension becoming palpable beyond belief. “You had him,” he repeated in a whisper, glaring at Chamber.

Liam shook his head, “Why didn’t you kill him?”

“It’s complicated,” Vincent answered for Chamber.

Sasha gestured to the middle of the room, back at the bar, “Un-complicate it… please,” he urged.

Vincent swallowed and looked back at Marielle, who was sitting on the couch, near Austin, who was still standing at the fireplace. “My wife’s dying command was for me not to kill Austin.” He shook his head. “I just couldn’t do it.” He stared into the fire for a moment, “We were all friends at one point, and Marielle loved Austin, deeply…” He admitted. Austin turned and narrowed his eyes at Vincent trying to understand this, or anything that had occurred in the last five hours. “Killing him would be like killing the last thing that she truly loved,” Vincent chuckled humorlessly. “I guess I will have to go against my promise, now,” he whispered looking off shamefully.

“You should have gone against it, then,” Mateo growled, hatefully.

“Listen,” Austin said, lifting a hand, “Saying things like should have, and could have– not only are they not useful right now, they are not going to help you, or me, or anyone else in this room at any time.” He shook his head, “We can what if all day. That’s not going to get us through tomorrow.”

Chamber raised a glass to him from the back of the room, and took the shot in one large swallow.

And the room fell silent for a few moments, as if everyone was taking in what Austin had just said.

“You’re awfully silent back there, Chamber,” Sabine threw him a glare.

“Just admiring the view.”

Sabine gestured with her head at him, “John, go kill him.” Everyone knew this was a joke, and there was a small laugh. This was followed by a pregnant pause, on Sabine’s behalf.  “You want to tell us about Everette Linde?” Vincent sighed and looked down. Of course, if anyone was going to know what he’d done, it would have been her. She was keeping tabs on him.

“What, besides that I killed a lot of people? Which is where you’re going with this, isn’t it?”

“You mean we?” Sabine asked gesturing in between he and Chamber.

“I…” Vincent insisted, something behind his tone making it clear that he thought of both himself and Chamber as the same person.

“Well, that’s my cue,” Chamber tried to leave.

Liam put a hand up. “I don’t think so, soldier.”

Chamber shook his head, “When are you going to learn, mon ami?” he asked, and he snapped… gone. Liam sighed and shrugged at everyone else.

“Simple solution,” Sabine hissed. “Kill him next time.”

Vincent shook his head, “Heh, don’t engage my double,” he warned. “I wouldn’t let him shoot you… you will die.”

“Are we meeting adjourned?” Marielle finally peeped from having kept quiet for a long while now. She’d been sitting on the couch, arms wrapped around her midsection in pain from her back, and pain from the unease of the conversation. Austin turned to her, sat, and gently touched her relieving at least one of the problems.

Liam nodded, sadly, “Yeah… yeah, everyone try to rest. I know this is hard. But do the best you can,” he explained. “I’ll be up for the next hour, welcoming anyone who wants to say their goodbyes to Tala.” He turned to Austin, “Can you sit here, and offer yourself to help anyone who might want to talk?” he asked. Austin gave him one strong nod. He turned to Marielle, “Can you, as well?”

Marielle sighed, exchanging looks with Austin, but nodded. “Yes.”