Cabron left Club X-Tech to walk home. It was only two blocks from the club. He needed the fresh air and to escape the overprotectiveness of his guardians Leon, Louis, and even his own beloved wife Kierstian who was like a pit bull when it came to safeguarding her husband. In order to get past Louis and his clan mates, Cabron had gone to the head as if intending to change his clothes (he had a backpack of clothes with him) and snuck out the window after cutting the screen and bending the bars back. Yes, he needed a moment to breathe that badly. He was not a creature who was accustomed to being couped up. Cabron had told her earlier that Louis was going to give him a ride home. Louis had agreed to do just that. He left a note for the vampire on the sink, telling him to call him in an hour at home, and explaining that he needed a few moment's peace. 'What can happen in two blocks?' he had ended the letter by saying. Murphey jumped on his back big time for that comment.
Cabron was almost home when he was ambushed from all sides. Ten soldiers of TFoG came out of an alley to his left, another seven from a van across the street, six more rushed him from the corner behind, and seven more raced towards him from the corner ahead. Cabron's first instinct was to tear into his werewolf form, a mistake he did not have time to make. He was struck senseless as he was blinded by spot lights. It was not the light which affected his palsey, but the particle beams which the light gave aim to which drained his supernatural and intrinsic energies along with his strength. He felt as weak as a newborn mouse, when in fact he was reduced to a frail human's strength. The contrast between being healthy and suddenly altered staggered him. The moment he was disabled and dropped to his knees he was seized by four men and dragged across the street to the van, where he was placed in a mobile particle bath which resembled a metal coffin. It soaked him constantly with a steady bath of particles which transformed his molecular structure. The moment the particle bath was withdrawn he would begin to recover.
FoG had marked him as an immortal by the readouts on their particle units, and had targeted him for capture because the opportunity was ripe. There had been no witnesses on the streets at three in the morning to observe their seizure of the werewolf. FoG was not the only one tracking Cabron however. Manon, in the guise of Salvo had also followed him from outside the club, cloaked in shadows, and had been just about to grab him himself, when FoG had beaten him to it. When the Van screamed away from the curb, Salvo followed, using haste to keep up. The rest of the soldiers piled into the vehicles they had been waiting in in the alley and around the corners to split off in different directions. By following the van Salvo located not only where they planned to hold Cabron (for now) but had also located one of FoG's facilities. Breaking into one of their compounds was no easy matter as they had quantum, particle bath security systems. Mylar protected from the particle bath, but was delicate and easily torn or damaged to make an immortal vulnerable to the particles. Salvo saw an opportunity in Cabron's capture. If he were to rescue the werewolf, he might not only win Cabron's trust, but the trust of others. A plan began to formulate in his mind.
Cabron was held by FoG for over a year before Salvo and his closest associates (namely Manon and his other ids) were able to formulate a solid plan for retreiving Cabron. They were fortunate that Cabron was not moved, and that they kept him alive as long as they did. The tests and experiments they performed on him were beyond brutal and heartless. Regardless of what horrors they enacted on him, he refused to tell him anything they wanted to know concerning his kind or the vampires he had only recently discovered the existance of himself. No amount of torture would get him to talk. He never even told them his name. He told them his name was Bob. By the time Salvo had extracted Cabron with help from his sindicate cohorts, Cabron was a broken and injured mess. He took him to Manon's place in Kent and between he and Manon (who were never seen together naturally) they nursed the werewolf back to health. His emotional state was not so easily restored, and Mecca, who could not resist corruption, visited the werewolf often. Salvo was the one who bonded the lupus however, and if he discovered that Mecca was trespassing on his property, there would be hell to pay. Manon was unaware of his separate identities, and when one of them crossed the other, he was at war with himself so to speak. Soon however, Salvo intended to release Cabron to return to his friends, his bondage over the werewolf well concealed by powerful magic.
It was exactly two years after Cabron's disappearance that Salvo drove Cabron to Club X-Tech and dropped him off. To say that Cabron was a nervous wreck would have been a huge understatement. He was not the same confident, fearless, and good hearted creature everyone he had held dear had come to love and respect. He was more animal than man, suffered from paranoid scitzophrenia, and bouts of sever depression, withdrawal, and was anti-social to the extreme. Salvo to him was his savior and adored lover, Mecca a phantom he dreaded, and Manon a rock he could always depend on to understand him when no one else did. He was completely duped by the Avari vampire and all his alternate selves.
When Cabron entered the club, after flashing his ID to one of Louis' progeny at the door, he kept a low profile. His head was bowed, spilling his long locks over his face. The circles beneath his eyes were deep, and he was clad in gothic clothing and makeup which helped to conceal his brooding demeanor and ill health. FoG had done critical inury to him and it would take years for him to recover fully from the constant molecular damage they had done to him. He looked like a cancer patient without the gothic makeup, and he was as pale as ghost, which also complimented the goth style he had adapted almost permanently. He made his way over to a table in the corner of the club by the stage. When he looked up his breath caught. Keirstain was DJing on the stage. His first impulse was to get up and move to a table as far away from her as possible, but his heart broke and swelled all at once to keep him rooted to his chair.
When enough time passes in Club X, everyone gets stir crazy. Willow as well. That was how she discovered that Cabron was gone. Since the intervention with Louis and Leon about Manon and his supposed double life, Willow had been harbored at the club...and it had time to eat away at her mind. Why had Manon never been around when Mecca was torturing her? Each individual moment tore at her brain, turning the absurd idea into quite the possibility. Still, in the meanwhile, she had Anastacia to care for. She had chosen her name carefully..it meant 'resurrected'. The child had been taken away from a home that would destroy her and into her new mother's arms. And Willow, expecting never to touch a child again, was given the task of being that mother. And she simply shone at it. She was patient and at the same time, she somehow connected with her inner child and would spend hours with the small baby, rolling on the floor with her, telling her ridiculous stories, or tickling her and running her fingers over her cheeks, her soft cap of honey brown hair, and gazing into her sea green eyes, telling her that she wasn't allowed to date until she was fourty. This was the one thing that made her regret hiding away from Manon. He had taken this child for her...given the baby to HER. And now, it was helping her to heal from losing her first daughter, Rayne, at the hands of Mecca. But...if Manon was Mecca? It made her skull throb. She just allowed Anastacia to be surrounded by positive influences. Leon and Louis adored the chubby little baby, and she seemed to cheer Cabron up when he was depressed.
That was the reason she went to his room that night. Willow was dressed comfortably in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt that said "Hugs, Not Drugs!" on the front, the baby tucked against her shoulder. She had been teaching Anastacia to crawl and and it was hilarious. She was to the point where she would get her diapered butt up in the air, start wiggling it like she was going to take off, then would fall over on her side and start giggling, usually then distracted by her toes, which she would grab and start gumming on, no longer interested in crawling. "Cabron?" Willow rapped on his door, her other hand occupied by keeping Anastacia where she was. After there was no answer, she would crack the door. Within half a minute, Willow was peering out the window, then closed it before hurrying out of the room and down the hall. "Louis!" She called, finally barging into one of his rooms, where he was sprawled out on a lush leather couch, taking a nap. She had to wake him and relay the information. She even offered to go track Cabron down herself. She had the skills to find him, but Louis immediately told her that he forbid it.
Two years passed. Nothing came from any searching. Louis had sent trained individuals out to try and find him, and came up with nothing. Cabron's wife disappeared as well, but only to try and track down her husband. When he returned to Club X after all of that time, he was an absolute mess. Since then, Willow STILL remained at Club X, concentrating on raising her daughter. Anastacia was two and a half now, and a gorgeous child. She had thick, honey colored hair, those sea green eyes, and dimples that made anyone give up pretty much anything. But she was a pistol. She tried to learn to play cards with Leon, but she would get bored, toss down the handful of boring cards and ask, "Wee-on, can we go to da park?" And she would bat those thick lashes and give him the saddest pout ever. She was a sneaky little thing, that was for sure. That evening, Willow had just tucked her into bed and read her three stories before finally getting her to sleep. It was Louis that came to tell her, with a stricken look, that Cabron was back. He then swept away, downstairs, going to calmly slide into a chair across from him. At first, he just studied his friend. He looked like a wreck. "Perhaps you would like to come try out the VIP room?" He asked with a friendly smile. Really, he just wanted to get him away from the crowd and find out what the hell was going on. Willow watched from the wings to the bathrooms, icy blue eyes cutting through the crowd to study the werewolf.
Cabron stared at the girl his tangled mind mistook for Kierstain. She looked nothing like her, and yet the werewolf's eyes transformed her as his wife. After tossing back drinks back to back to empty half a bottle of vodka he had ordered, he stood suddenly and rushed to the stage. In an inhuman leap he sprung onto the stage to land in the DJ's space, and she had no sooner registered him there when he grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. He had intended to kiss her...but reality crashed down on him. He blinked his eyes as he saw not Kierstain, but the new girl Louis had hired to replace his wife. The girl looked scared for a moment, but as Cabron's face melted into a mortified and dumstruck expression, and his hands dropped from her shoulders as he staggered back a pace, she saw that agonized look in his eyes and all her fear dissolved.
Cabron barely felt the firm hand which gripped his upper arm and tugged on it to motivate his strides off the stage. His feet stumbled along with the long strides leading him off the stage and across the crowded dance floor, and not until he would have had to turn his head around backwards like an owl, did he take his eyes off the girl who stared back at him sympathetically. When his gaze did swing away from her his eyes settled on the tall figure escorting him towards the office. It was Leon Namwroth. Cabron's gaze hardened and he jerked his arm away from him then backed away. It was not until Willow clasped his arm and turned him to face her that he came visably undone. He flung himself at her to embrace her (despite the fact that were only loose acquaintences) and clung to her as he sobbed against her shoulder. "She is gone isn't she? They have taken her and killed her!" His worst fear gripped him. His wife could have been anywhere. At home with the children, shopping, in the office of the club, on another floor of the club, at the library, Hell, she could have left him and remarried by now, she could be anywhere, but he knew her...remembered her. She would have gone looking for him...His instincts told him she was gone.
After Willow spoke to him Leon clasped his arm again and addressed them both. "Bring him upstairs, Willow. He is not well." Anyone could see that. "We should call his comrade, Mic and inform him of his return."
"No!" Cabron howled, and would attempt to liberate himself of their hold on him again. "I have to find her...I have to find her!"
Leon did not release him but pulled him along instead, with Willow's help, for Cabron was one strong son of a bitch. Leon alone could overpower him, but it would have created more of a scene. With both of them on either side of him they had more control. "Calm down, Cabron...We need to speak to you and you need to calm the Hell down," he imposed his presence on the werewolf to aid in pacifying him.
The werewolf gained more control of himself but his muscles were still tightly strung. By the time they reached the upstairs lounge he seemed to have given himself into defeat nevertheless, and plopped down on the leather couch like a prisoner who had decided to confess. His eyes stared off into empty space and the slump of his shoulders bowed his head forward, while his legs were loosely bent. He did not notice when Louis slipped into the room with them. "I...cannot tell you what kept me away...I just cannot go through that again," he rubbed his face fitfully as he said this. "All you need to know, is that Manon is not the evil **** you think he is. Nor is Salvo...the vampire who raped me. Yeah, it was wrong...a terrible thing to do to another, and it messed me up...but he has made up for that...He and Manon...If not for them...I never would have made it. I would be dead now, or worse."
"Manon?" Leon repeated.
"Yes, and Salvo. Salvo was the one who got me out..."
"Out of where?"
Cabron shook his head.
It was only when Willow asked him where he had been that Cabron answered, although he did so reluctantly. "A FoG Warehouse," he whispered. "I was there for a year and four months," it was clear that he would rather chew on nails than talk about it.
Leon found it odd that he would answer Willow, respond to her, but not himself. He glanced over at Louis wondering if he would respond to him any better. It was like he had some connection to Willow...But what? Was he bonded in a way by Manon that tied him to the entire clan? "What about Mecca...Did you meet him?" Leon had to ask.
Cabron shot his eyes on Leon with a feral seer. "Do not mention that name to me again," he snarled.
Leon could see that Cabron was far more dangerous than he used to be. "But I must," Leon insisted. "You obviously have met him. Have you ever seen him in Manon's presence? Or Salvo, have you seen he and Manon together?"
Leon was sure that he had not and he was right. Cabron stared at him hard and cold then a thought could be seen passing over his eyes as his gaze drifted away from him. Manon...Salvo, Mecca, as far as Cabron could tell, all lived together. They came and went in the same house, and yet...he never had seen them in company. It was very strange. Why had he never thought of it before?
"Cabron?" Leon prompted.
"I...I am really tired...I don't even know if I have a home anymore...or if I belong there if I do. I thought I wanted to come back...but that was before Kierstain...I am so tired," he spoke quietly.
Leon scowled faintly. For all the energy it took for Cabron to say all that he could have easily answered him. Leon was not the sensitive sort. "Answer me and you can rest here," Leon mandated.
"No, I have not," just saying it made him feel like his energy drained out of him all at once. Too tired to do anything else, he laid down where he sat and stretched out on the couch and closed his eyes. If anyone spoke another word to them, he would ignore them. If they talked circles around him, he would ignore them, only listening and shelving it for later. His depression took his strength and heart from him every bit as much as his physical frailty. He would regain his health in time, but the molecular damage done to him had seriously hurt him and set him back.
Leon sighed and led the way out, huddling with Willow and Louis in the hall some distance from the lounge. "What would Manon want with Cabron, and why the ruse for his benefit? This Salvo fellow is clearly one of his personalities. Our wolf friend obviously hates Mecca...why present him at all? Can he not help himself? Is it possible that Manon is trying to gain sympathy from us through Cabron?" Leon was too intuitive for his own good sometimes. His gaze cut on Willow. "Do you feel a bond with Cabron now, Willow?" Leon had a lot of questions and the frail werewolf who might have many of the answers was not cooperating. He knew that Willow was not convinced that Manon had multiple identities, but he addressed her as though she was as sure as he and Louis were all the same. "If you do...perhaps you can get him to talk," he smiled.
Willow and Leon really made an impressive tag team...and even more impressive bouncers. But Willow was a sucker for hardened faces in situations like this, and Cabron was falling apart...and fell right into her arms when she pulled him away from the DJ. She had no clue what to do, but the moment his head fell to her chest, she felt her gut twist in strange ways. What in the f uck was that? Her arms encircled him and she gently lead him down the stage steps and into the side hallway, trying to calm him with quiet words. "We cannot know what happened to her. She disappeared...looking for you." She murmured, but with a firm voice, then she grabbed onto the werewolf as he tried to lash out at Leon's suggestion. Minutes later, they managed to get him into the upstairs lounge, and Willow took a seat in a chair near his head, her blue eyes watching him curiously. Why did she know feel closer to the werewolf? She barely knew him... But as Leon asked the questions and he began to answer her, she started to understand, and she looked grimly up at Leon before reaching out to touch Cabron's brow. "Rest here, friend. We shall keep you safe, I swear it." And now she felt responsibility for him. What in the hell was going on? Rising from her chair, Willow raked her fingers through her dark curls and stepped out with Leon, Louis on their heels, who had said nothing thusfar. He seemed to be soaking it in. Willow looked deadpan, but inside, she was raging with odd feelings. Care for Cabron and his current state...and the mention of the ids of Manon, once more. Another confirmed report. Never in the same room at the same time. She folded her arms loosely across her chest and nodded, glancing up at the two men from her curtain of black, unruly curls. "I felt it. We are connected now, and I have a feeling it is Manon. He has to bring me out somehow, and he feels that may be one way." Her voice was flat, as well as her expression. "And now, the horrible things that were done to me by Mecca were done to Cabron." It would be strange, to ever think of Willow as a quivering, emotional mess as Cabron was now. "When he awakens, I can talk to him. Just tell me what you want to know and give me plenty of time alone with him to keep him comfortable. It's not easy digging the **** out of his soul that I know has been put there." It sucked speaking from experience. She touched Leon's arm, then fell back against the wall, rubbing her temples. She wanted a drink. And a footrub. But she could not exactly hop down to the local massage parlor, and she really didn't need to drink at a time like this. She needed a clear head for her messed up friend behind the door.
While the others talked outside the lounge, Cabron contemplated many things and came upon several resolutions. Something had happened to Kierstain without a doubt. She would never have abandoned the children, never. They were his sole responsibility for now, and he would not ditch that duty. It did not matter that he was a mess. He had been a mess before and taken care of a small pack of pups all by his lonesome at a young age. He was still young. He was twenty-six when FoG had taken him. They had stolen a year and four months of his life, and Salvo and Manon had looked after him for eight months. He had turned twenty-eight in October and it was November now. His next determination was that he owed Manon and Salvo nothing now. They were the same person...He had been deceived, they had intended to use him, so they were even. He was sharp enough to know exactly what Leon had been getting at and he knew Leon was right. It all made things fit together, explained why he never saw them together. Some werewolves could assume other forms, even human ones, so why not vampires? Problem was; he did not know how commanding a vampiric bond could be. The Avari could turn him against his decision not to have anything to do with Manon and his other faces again. Louis he could trust, he knew that, and maybe Leon. He was not sure. He felt an uncanny connection to Willow he did not trust. He hardly knew her, and yet he felt like she was...what? Like family to him. It was not her fault though. Salvo had done something to him. He could not remember what, but nothing else could explain why he would feel so connected to Willow...Manon's progeny. Manon had asked him to tell Willow in secret that he wanted to meet with her, alone, and he had wanted Cabron to guard her, make sure she made it to the meeting place on the docks alone. Yes...It all began to make sense now.
Leon told Willow to find out whatever she could about his determent with Fog and anything he knew about Manon, Salvo and Mecca. "If he balks, skip to some other subject and maybe he will come around to the rest on his own," he suggested. His gaze then fell on Louis. "I am going to give Mick a call."
When Willow returned to speak to Cabron he was perfectly calm. It was as if he had flipped a breaker in himself and turned off his pain. Everything he had thought while they were in the corridor, he confided to her. If she queried about Mecca, all he would say was, "Phuck Mecca. That is all you have to know, and if Manon and Salvo are the same person as Mecca? Phuck them too." Other than his previous thoughts, and telling her where they resided in Kent, that was all he would say about them. He also told her the location of the FoG facility where he was held. "It won't be there anymore though. Not after Salvo and his buddies broke in." He had a few names, mostly doctors and a few agents, but they had only told him their code names. "I have to go home now," he ended by saying. "Tell Louis that I will come back to work Monday if I still have a job. I will call before then to see if he still wants me working here." It was Thursday presently. "I have to talk to Mick if he is still around...Find out where the children are and start being a father to them again. Kierstain and I sired Dan and Jerry as well. I need to connect with them again. Thanks for everything, Willow." He managed a smile, though it was weak, embraced her because he could not stop himself, and then stood to leave. If Louis tried to stop him, he would explain why he had to leave, and then give him pure animal hell if he persisted in detaining him.
Leon had called Mick in the meantime. He told him that Cabron had returned and where he had been. He also reported that he suspected that Cabron had been bonded by a cunning and very dangerous vampire on the sly. Leon would follow Cabron home unseen and unsensed, cloaked in shadows. He informed Louis of this, but if Willow had chosen to shadow the werewolf as well, he would have two guards at his back incidentally.
Willow's blue eyes watched Cabron in his unrest as she was left alone with him. She felt deep concern...for someone she hardly knew. Her slender arms folded across her chest and she leaned back against the far wall, giving him his space, her lips curling into a grim look as he told her to forget about Mecca...Manon...all of them. The grim look turned into mild shock as the werewolf decided, very quickly, that he would be leaving. Her gut churned and she knew for certain, at that moment, that Manon had bound Cabron to the line, most likely, to bait her outside. She could not keep him here, but she said nothing to disagree. She did not hug him back as he gave her a quick embrace, and could only watch as he left. She waited for a moment, then raked her fingers through her inky curls. "Dammit." She grumbled, launching herself off of the wall. But instead of following her new clan brother, she shoved the door open with her forearm and went to find Leon and Louis. Leon was gone, but she did find Louis in his own silence. She relayed the information she had found out from Cabron, what little it was, and sucked in a slow, unnecessary breath through her teeth. "Manon laced him into our bloodline. Why. He wants me to leave, Louis. If I am in the streets, he knows he can get to me. And here I am with urges to leave and chase down this man that I hardly know. It is no coincidence." Turning on heel, the woman left to return to her room, closing out the world on the other side.
Willow's presence was still felt in the club for the next two or three days, but no one saw her leave her room. Finally, Louis decided to intervene and go check on her. What he found was not pretty. Knocking first and receiving no answer, he pushed the door open and stuck his head in, frowning at what he had discovered. Willow's child seemed well cared for... clean, content and sleeping in her crib. Willow, however, was a different story. She looked as if she had been locked in a dungeon with her own demons for the days he had not seen her. She was curled up in bed, amongst a nest of tangled blankets, her pallor of a sickly color, her inky hair a mess. Frowning, he stepped slowly inside the dim room and went to the bed to lay a hand on her head. This forced her blue eyes open, flitting up to him. When she spoke, her voice croaked out weakly, "The bond...he has created... I cannot go after Cabron, but he wants to. And now...nightmares..." Her voice trailed off and she closed her eyes again. She had been having horrible nightmares, not even just about Cabron, but about her daughter and the man...the blue eyed man... the one her daughter had told her about... the man that she felt tucked away in her insides somewhere. Suddenly his absence was making her sick, and it was driving her mad that his face could not form in her head.
Louis said nothing, but reached up to untangle her carefully from her blankets. He helped her undress in silence, then assisted her from bed and into the bathroom, her head slumped on his shoulder. In a few moments, he would be practically holding her up in the shower, helping her bathe and wash herself. She looked like a zombie, her eyes blank and distant, staring at the tiles as the water ran down her hair and shoulders. Louis would call for Leon, in his mind. Something needed to be done.
Cabron came to work on schedual and did an all too excellent job of pretending nothing had happened. Mic had attempted to break the bonds but had come across damaging protective forces he had been unable to counter. He had not given up, not by a long shot, but rather dug in to research such arcane knowledge as he might find a safe way to exhume Cabron from the bonds Manon's three ids had placed over the werewolf. The main problem was; vampiric powers and werewolf powers were not of the same ilk, and vampires tended to be exceptionally secretive about their clan arcanum.
Leon was at the bar when Louis called on him. He rose immediately and went upstairs to meet his friend and the lovely vampire lady whose health had declined so rapidly for lack of care. Leon frowned when he approached the room to be met by Astle who was in a state of anguished disrest owed to Willow refusing to answer her door and permit him entry over the past few days. Three factors nagged at him; his love and concern for his future sire, the intense bond he shared with her, and his need for her blood as her thrall. As planned; Willow had thralled him only days after he had consented to the process over two years ago. Astle had proved himself as excellent a thrall as Willow was a mistress, up until now. Astle was not concerned for himself however, but for Willow. Leon paused before the man and shook his head. He had never liked the idea of Astle being linked to Manon through Willow, but it had been Astle's decision. He had been made aware of the dangers and chose Willow over Louis or Leon. He was desperate to protect her.
"Now is not the time, Astle. I sympathize with your worries, but we shall call on you if and when you are needed," he dismissed the man then entered the room to close the door in Astle's face. Astle growled beneath his breath and sat himself down stubbornly outside the door with his back against the wall to peel his ears for anything he could hear from the otherside of the wall.
When Leon entered the room another frown darkened his handsome facial features. "You look like Hell twice recycled, Willow. Why have you allowed yourself to fall so low?" His gaze bent towards Louis as he explained what the trouble was and Leon grimaced slightly. "You know as well as I that such a connection is hard to break, my friend. Need I remind you that we suffered such a dark connection with Valaeros which his death alone exhiled? I think it is time we called Manon to a meeting and confronted him face to face with his evils and the truth about him. I have been giving all of this a lot of thought. Manon seems to be the more reasonable personality, and it is possible that he is not even consciously aware of his other ids. It has been known to happen with Avari vampires, thought it is extremely rare. I think we should approach him, not as our enemy, but as someone we are cautious of. We shall arrange a meeting on neutral ground with promise on both sides for no harm. I believe it also imperitive that Cabron, Willow, and Astle attend this gathering with you and I, Louis. Manon will be allowed an equal number of guards. What say you two to my proposal?" If Willow and Louis agreed, Leon would take his leave to make the arrangements, only as he stepped outside the door, Astle met him again by stepping in his path.
"Allow me to make the arrangements," he volunteered.
Leon shook his head. "You overheard?"
"Everything."
No, Astle, that is a very bad idea," he refused.
Astle's gaze locked on Willow as she peered outside the door. "You know he shall never trust such a request unless it is made by blood. He cannot take advantage of me. You know the strength of my will and that you own what I do not. Let me be your messenger."
Leon heaved a breath. "The fact that you are so sure of that leaves me to wonder, Astle. How can you know Manon's mind so well?"
"Because I have dealt with him before. He trusted me then, why should he not now?"
"And he betrayed your trust if you remember, Astle," Leon reminded him.
"It is not my trust we seek now, is it, but his," Astle pointed out.
Leon shook his head and panned the others with his eyes. "You all know I am against this. His fate is for Willow to decide, though isn't it?" Astle was her thrall after all and she knew Manon better than any of them.
Willow had been prided, for quite some time, on her sound mind and steadfast heart. It was only when Manon meddled in things that the girl unraveled at an alarming rate, shocking everyone who knew her as a rock. Her icy eyes slipped to Leon as he entered and she gave an exhausted, haunted shadow of a smile at his comment. "I believe that Hell is much easier to handle than what we deal with now." She said softly. She appreciated Leon's honesty. The gods knew that it brought out good in her. She did not answer his second question as she grabbed for a quilt on her bed and dragged it around her shoulders, slumping down low into it. Even now the sweet scent from the man in her dreams haunted her. She could still smell it... still could feel his hand on her arm. Shuddering, she rolled her eyes closed and tightened the blanket around her. It was easier to deal with ghosts that you could see... or knew, for that matter.
Her blue eyes opened again as the proposal was laid on the table. A meeting with Manon. There could be no other answer. A direct, hostile confrontation would do no good and would put them all in danger. And when Leon looked to her and Louis, they both exchanged glances and then turned their gazes back to Leon. Louis spoke first.
"I believe that it is an excellent plan. I am not certain on which neutral ground would be sufficient... but I am sure we could find one."
Willow remained silent for a short minute, then heaved a sigh. "We have reached a solemn hour, I believe, and it must be reckoned with... it is a fine idea." Of course, she was completely shoving down the old feelings that Manon presented to her. Flashes of memory came back to her... being curled up with the large beast of a man in their bed, her clinging to him, trusting each bit of what he said as truth... It had all come undone so quickly. What would happen when she saw him again?
Astle's voice piped up from the doorway and Willow frowned in thought. As Leon argued with him and Louis rose to agree with Leon, she mulled over the option. "Come here." She said softly, motioning to Astle who was all too happy to comply. Pulling him into bed, the woman laid her cheek on his chest and curled up against him, closing her eyes, her fingertips stroking his arm. "Let us consider the alternative. I cannot go. As strong as I think my will is at times, we can see what Manon does to me without even being in the same room. Both you Leon, and Louis, have not dealt with Manon to a massive degree... yet." Falling quiet for another moment, she nuzzled her face up into Astle's neck for a moment, then sat up and spoke to them in a tired voice. "Astle can go. However, the moment I feel him begin to grow uneasy with Manon, as if he might strike against him, I will pull him back faster than he can blink."
It was decided, just like that. Astle would go to meet the desert scorpion and arrange for the meeting. Astle strode back through doorway to meet Willow in long, sure strides as she called him to her side and inhaled a deep breath then shivered slightly as Willow pulled him against her. Love, it was a powerful emotion, one her blood seemed to amplify to heights that were almost painful in the way her presence tugged at his chest. He barely heard Louis and Leon when they agreed that her notion of jerking him back to her side was the best idea they had heard yet. His fingers trailed over her figure as if brushing against heaven itself then locking his gaze with hers he laughed. "I have the perfect place in mind for your lot of blood lusting vampires and the werewolf to meet him," he teased, knowing full well he was on his way to becoming one of their blood lusting lot. "I shall suggest we meet at the Covenant Theatre in Hammersmith. It is just for such occasions as these after all," he proposed then nibbled seductively at Willow's throat. Her scent made him feel high as a kite and more thirsty than he would admit aloud.
He did not notice the look of surprise if not suspicion on Leon's face at Astle knowing about the Covenent Theatre. "How do you know of that place?" he asked the thrall.
"I have known about it for years, but do not worry, I never told a soul about it," he vowed.
Leon still had trouble trusting Astle completely. Trusting anyone from FoG was a stretch for the vampire. "I will just have to take your word for it," he stated with a grunt. "Now get up from there and go about your duty," he urged the man. Oo the look he got from Willow when he ordered her thrall around cut through him like a knife. He laughed. "Very well, you tell him," he said and planted his hands on his hips.
"After I feed," Astle told him. He was used to commanding himself, and that had been part of the deal, that his will remain his own, albeit Willow did make it difficult for him not to cave to her every desire.
Leon scoffed. "Yeah yeah, after you feed and phuck."
"French men make love and that we shall before I part from her," Astle snickered.
"Poor Willow." Leon taunted in return. "Come on Louis, it shall be awhile before he hear the results of our well laid plans," he joshed albeit in a surly tone. "Let's get ripped shall we?" he added and tossed an arm around Louis' shoulder.
While Leon and Louis got wasted on their choice booze, Astle combined sex and blood with his beloved Sire. the avid French Lover refusing to leave her until he had saturated Willow thoroughly with pleasure. Afterwards he spent an hour with she and the baby then left her reluctantly to dress for the occasion. He took Cabron with him to show him the way to Manon's place. Yes, he was going in person. He felt it was the only way to insure trust. Fact was, Manon was perfectly pleasant towards Astle and treated Cabron as a long standing friend. Cabron kept his cool, despite everything, and since he knew nothing for Manon to syphon from him, there was no foul play to suspect. Inasmuch as they treated Manon with the same courtesy as he showed them, he agreed to attend the meeting. And just like that; it was done. Astle was aware that the meeting would not go as smoothly. He only hoped it did not explode in all their faces. When he returned to the club, Cabron went back to work. He was so numb that he really did not care what it was all about. In fact, he did not want to know. He was just glad to be out of that deceptive vampire's treacherous presence. Astle left him and went to the office where he informed a pair of very drunk vampire that Manon had agreed to meet them tomarrow night at the theatre at the witching hour. The stage was set to expose Manon to himself.
