Destructive Embrace

by Robyn M. Pierce

  "You still didn't have to play on her hatred and insecurity," she murmured, sitting down opposite from me. I lowered myself into the chair behind my desk with a sigh.

  "Do you think that she would have left if I had used any other method?" I asked.

  She gave a half shrug. "I don't know. I don't know her very well. Hell," she chuckled. "I don't know her at all. But she was crying when she ran past me. Didn't even notice who I was as she left to the dungeon area. Was that really what you wanted?"

  It was then that I noticed the absence of something very unusual.

  "Why aren't you saying 'I told you so,' Elyssa?"

  She blinked. "Why would I make this any harder on you than it obviously already is?" she questioned, sounding hurt. I frowned.

  "Isn't that what you do best, darling?" I murmured, smirking at her with a tilt of my head. She had the decency to flush and avert her gaze downward. "That's what I thought," I chuckled.

  Even moments after I discovered that I cared for Roxann far more than I'd even led myself to believe, I was able to feel alright again. But it was wrong of me. It was wrong of us.

  We both knew it, and yet we couldn't stay away from each other...

  "What are we going to do when this is all over?" Elyssa asked, breaking me free from my thoughts. I sighed. Of course she knew what I was thinking.

  "There isn't really anything for us to do, my dear," I answered honestly. "You don't want anything to do with me; you've made that quite clear. We will raise this Lanistter as a family and that will be that."

  Of course, we both knew it would never be that simple. There was too much between us for it to be left alone without so much as a struggle.

  The look she sent my way told me that she knew it would never be that easy to just let it go, but we both knew that she would do what was right, not what necessarily felt better.

  "You're a good man, Zeke," she whispered, standing. I snorted, but she continued. "No. You are. You just sent away the one woman who doesn't push you away, in favor of keeping her safe. And you're trying to do right by me in regards to our situation...

  "You are a good man."

  She left before I found my ability to speak again, and I shook my head, chuckling. “You are going to be stuck in my head for a long time, Elyssa Jane Smith…”

  Dmitri

  More wandering. Just when it seemed like the aimless roaming had stopped, I was back at it again.

  But with Elyssa pregnant, she couldn’t very well continue to learn fighting. Fragile state and all that.

  I supposed that I could always find my Mate and spend time with her, but after our last encounter, it wasn’t a very appealing option.

  Sure, we’d made up rather nicely during that time, but the day I’d found out Elyssa was pregnant still lingered in my head.

  The hurt I’d caused my wife…

  I entered my room silently, stunned from the news. Even though I’d been the one to identify all of Elyssa’s symptoms, it was a shock to me. She was pregnant…

  “Dmitri.” I looked up, startled. Olivia sat on the edge of our bed, legs crossed at the knees with her hands perched on top. Her lovely mocha face was smudged with tears, and her eyes were red and puffy.

  “How long have you loved her?” she asked. Her voice was hoarse and it sounded like speaking was difficult for her. If it weren’t for the question she asked me, I would have moved toward her to provide comfort, as a Mate should.

  “What?” I asked dumbly, releasing the doorknob. The door swung shut with a quiet click, and I dropped my arm to my side.

  In love with her? With who? Elyssa? I thought, frantically trying to figure out what was going on in the mind of my Mate. I wasn’t in love with Elyssa…

  Ollie laughed once, shaking her head. “Really? Don’t play dumb with me, Dmitri,” she said scornfully, standing up. “You spend all your time with her. You guys laugh together, have things in common… I’ve seen the way you look at her.”

  I shook my head. “Ollie, I don’t know why you think all that, but I love you. Elyssa…” I trailed off, glancing down. “Elyssa’s pregnant.”

  The stinging sensation barely registered to me over the sound of the slap, but after a moment the pain demanded my attention and I rubbed the cheek she slapped. “What was that for?” I asked. She slapped me again.

  “For having the nerve to tell me you love me before telling me your mistress is pregnant,” Ollie hissed. Her very essence screamed anger and I almost backed away from her in fear. Her words registered to me then, though, and I froze.

  “My mistress?” I asked, laughing. “Ollie. Elyssa’s pregnant by one of my brothers.”

  Instead of appearing relieved, Ollie’s stance shifted so that her arms were folded across her chest. Sadness entered her eyes and the humor in the situation faded from me. “What is it?” I asked softly, touching her arm cautiously. Ollie immediately pulled away from me.

  “Is that why you looked so lost coming in here? The woman you love is pregnant by one of your brothers?” she asked. My body went cold as she continued. “Or is it because you love a whore?”

  I lifted my hand to slap her but stopped myself quickly; I was no woman beater. She looked at me warily and I sighed. “I do not love a whore. Not unless you’re one, Olivia,” I said coldly, leaving the room.

  As I withdrew from the memory, I realized that I was in Zeke’s portion of the castle again.

  It wasn't like I could go visit Elyssa. I wanted nothing to do with her at that moment in time. She was someone who had betrayed my brother after he was dead. Betrayed him with the one person she shouldn't have done anything with.

  How could you do that to Reid? I thought, clenching my fists at my sides. There was nothing she would be able to do to fix my opinion of her after that. Every time I looked at her, I knew I would see her in Zeke's embrace, holding onto him as she whispered his name...

  And maybe Olivia was right. Maybe, just maybe, I was hurt about it. After all, why would she choose Zeke, when he had done nothing but hurt her since her arrival?

  "Shut up," I whispered to myself, angrily thrusting my hands into my hair. "She never would have chosen you, and you shouldn’t be wishing that she had, either." I was near her room now, and I froze before I passed it by. I listened for noises behind the wooden door, but nothing came from the other side, so I cautiously entered.

  She wasn't there. The bathroom door was wide open, and her bed was empty.

  "Where have you gone," I mumbled to myself, looking around her room for the first time since she'd moved in.

  A notebook caught my attention and I wandered over to it. It sat on the desk, its worn cover standing out against the new wood of the desk. The cover read 'Reid' and I gasped.

  "What?" I tried to remember the first time I had seen Elyssa after Reid's death. She had been carrying a worn book... "Was this what she was coming to see me about?" I asked no one in particular, brushing my fingertips over the surface of the book.

  My eyes stung a little as my tear ducts struggled to not produce tears as I lifted the journal from the desk with one hand. It was lightweight, something that would be easy to carry around without it getting in the way. I tucked it into my pocket and chuckled.

  "Leave it to Reid to have a notebook that can easily roll up to be put somewhere private." I paused and nearly fell as I realized what the rolled-up journal would look like to anyone else. "Reid, you damn pervert."

  I removed the journal with a shudder and plopped down on Elyssa's bed, reclining. Slowly I opened the worn little book and began to flip through the entries. A few pages here and there were marked by the corner of the page being turned down, so I read a few of those passages, trying to figure out why they had been bookmarked.

  Soon I realized that these entries weren't made by Reid...

  "Damned bastard," I growled, fighting the temptation to crumple the small book in my hands. Instead I loosened my grip one finger at a time until I held the book by only my forefingers and
thumbs. I was certain that if anyone walked in, they would think I was weird, but that was the only way I could guarantee that I wouldn't hurt the only known, truly personal possession of my dead brother.

  I scanned through the rest of the pages that weren't marked and came across the final entry.

  That entry pissed me off more than all of Tywin’s combined, and brought my thoughts back to the woman who seemed to capture the hearts of nearly all of the Lanistter brothers.

  "How could she sleep with Zeke when she had just promised Reid that she would marry him?" I snarled, closing the book angrily and setting it back on the desk.

  I tore from the room and began the short walk to Zeke's dungeons. I opened the door a crack, just enough for me to listen in on anything that was going on down there without being affected by the heavy presence of silver that was in Zeke’s dungeon. I was startled to hear the screaming of a woman.

  "I thought he was done with all that," I muttered, frowning. I stood at the door, unable to move into the dungeon area to find out what was going on, but also frozen to the spot where I could hear the woman's pleading, her frightened cries.

  The cracking sound of a whip also met my ears and I clenched my jaw, my mind returning to the time when Zeke had beaten me.

  I hurried into the attic with Mother. The only sound I could hear aside from her frantic whispers telling me to be quiet were our shuffling footsteps. She stowed me away in a dark, dusty corner.

  "Please stay here, baby," she whispered to me, pushing my hair from my face with both hands. "Mommy loves you, so don't come out for a while, okay?" I nodded.

  "Okay, mother. I love you," I told her quietly, wrapping my arms around her in a quick hug.

  I was old enough to know what we were hiding from, but I couldn't figure out why she was hiding me instead of having me help her.

  As soon as she turned away from me in search of a weapon, Tywin burst into the attic, the door hitting the wall with a loud bang. I bit down on my tongue to keep from revealing myself – whatever reason my mother had was good enough for me, even if she wasn't telling me what it was.

  "Tywin," Rose Lanistter said with a smile. Her voice shook and I wondered what was going through her mind as she faced my father.

  "Bitch," Tywin replied with a nod of his head. "What are you doing up here at this time of night?" the way he spoke was casual enough, but I could see through that to the anger boiling just beneath the surface of his calm facade.

  Mother laughed airily and shrugged one shoulder. She motioned around her with one hand and I imagined a smile rising to her lips. "I couldn't sleep, dear. I was just heading up here so I could inventory what we had for when I begin to clean up tomorrow." Her voice was steadier than before, but I knew that Tywin would see right through it, and my blood ran cold in my veins.

  "Don’t lie to me, woman," he barked, adjusting his stance so that his feet were shoulder-width apart, and so his arms were crossed over his chest. It didn't get past me that he was blocking the only way out and that my mother was no match for him even if she tried to force her way past him. Suddenly I was fearful for my mother's life.

  "Why ever would I lie to you, darling husband?" she asked sweetly. From my hiding spot behind her, I could see her adjust herself so that one arm was folded across her torso while the other was propped up on top of it, her hand tucked under her chin.

  Tywin chuckled. "I know you're trying to leave with my children, Rose," he said, shaking his head. "Maybe I would have let you stay here without a problem if you had at least had the nerve to tell me the truth."

  I wondered how he'd found out; Mother had always made sure we knew not to tell anyone what her plans were. We weren't stupid boys, after all. She knew she could trust us. Which could only mean one thing: somehow Tywin had been listening in to every conversation we'd had about her taking us away.

  My bad feeling multiplied tenfold.

  "Well then you also know that your two eldest boys have agreed to it without a problem," Rose said. "And that as their mother, I can take Dmitri and Reid with me if I think they are in danger here," she finished, stammering as she spoke about us being in danger.

  I couldn't understand how we were in danger at the castle with them, but I trusted my mother...

  "And you also know that without me, you're just the wife of a Lanistter. That your maiden name means nothing in our world," he retorted, expression smug as he stared down at my mother. His dark eyes – almost black in color altogether – were cold as they peered at her, like she wasn't the woman he'd married and Mated, the woman who had carried his four children. "Which means that you also know that if I were to say anything, the outside world would believe me over you, right?" At this, he took a few steps toward my mother, smirking. "This means, if you vanish with my boys, and I tell the world... Oh, I don't know, that you're a whore and you're taking my children off to live with whatever bastard slept with my wife. That the world would think you're a lump of flesh that's good for nothing more than sucking cock."

  I wrapped my arms around myself in order to not defy my mother's request that I remain hidden, so that I wouldn't get up and throttle the lowlife bastard who dared to speak to my mother with such disrespect.

  "Tywin, you are a spiteful bastard who doesn't care for anyone but himself. And sometimes, I even doubt that you care about yourself," she told him, shaking her head. The pity in her voice was evident, and I could only imagine what her expression looked like from where I hid.

  I saw something snap in my father, but wasn't fast enough.

  By the time I revealed myself, my mother's body was already on the floor of the attic, blood pooling out around her from the hole in her chest. In Tywin’s hand was my mother's heart. He stared at me with a disgusting grin on his face.

  "What, boy? What can you do now? You certainly can't go anywhere, you were always such a needy little brat, needing your mother to coddle you for every little thing," Tywin taunted. My eyes were frozen on my mother's face. I was unable to move, to think about anything at all, until Tywin threw her heart down on the floor.

  Then, I snapped. I snarled at Tywin, bearing my fangs dangerously as I stood over my mother's body protectively. The bastard laughed at me, arching one eyebrow. He was clearly amused by my actions.

  "What can you do, Dmitri?" he asked, shaking his head.

  He took a hand towel out of the waist of his trousers and began to clean up his hands. Then he tossed the rag at my face. By the time I got the stupid cloth out of my face, Tywin was directly in front of me, his own fangs showing as he hissed at me.

  Acting on reflex – combined with the instinct that told me I was going to die if I didn't move – I thrust my hand out, carving into his chest with my fingers. When I reached his heart, I wrapped my hand around it and squeezed.

  "How do you like it?" I asked, grinning at the shocked expression on Tywin’s face.

  Then, I ripped the organ from his chest and thrust his body away from me; his blood was not worthy of mixing with my mother's. As I tossed his heart aside, a creaking noise met my ears and I glanced up to the door.

  Zeke stood there, eyes wide and full of hatred as he stared at me. "You killed our parents," he whispered. The shock was evident, but it was shadowed by the pain in his voice. "You killed our mother." before I could deny that or defend myself, Zeke was on me, grabbing me by my throat and throwing me directly out the door. I rolled about a third of the way down the stairs before catching myself. Nothing was broken, but I was a little stunned from it.

  "What... No!" I insisted as Zeke rushed down the stairs after me.

  In his hand was a silver dagger – our father's dagger – that he pressed to my throat. The sharp edge barely touched my skin, but the burning was excruciating, so I backed away from it. Thankfully it was shallow enough so that I didn't scar, but my brother grabbed me by my hair and began dragging me down the stairs.

  "You will pay for this act of patricide," he growled as we reached the main hall. I didn't know whe
re we were going, but soon found out that all of Zeke's time to himself was spent honing his skills, if you could even call them skills.

  I had no choice in the matter: if I fought against my older, stronger brother, then I would be wounded by the silver blade in his hand, but if I didn't, I would be strung up so that I could be flayed for a crime I’d only half committed.

  "Zeke," I said. "I didn't kill our mother," I tried to explain.

  "I saw you rip the heart out of our father's chest, you little worm!" he spat at me, shoving me up against the wall of one of the small cells in the large room. "And I saw the hole in Mother's chest, which means she died in the same way."

  I realized then that I had killed Tywin in the same way that he'd murdered his wife. It looked very condemning. But I knew I was innocent. "Brother, stop. I loved our mother more than anything else in this hellish world! What reason would I have to hurt her, let alone kill her!?"

  By this point, Zeke had gotten shackles around my wrists. I was bound to a wall. He’d chained me so that I was facing the wall. For a moment, I thought it would be as easy as tearing free, but after a few minutes of struggling, I realized that the chains would hold.

  "What the hell!" I looked over my shoulder at my demented brother.

  Zeke laughed. "These are reinforced with silver. The outer part isn't silver, so it doesn't burn the skin of vampires, but they are strong enough to hold even a vampire here for as long as I need them to. Now, shut up and repent for your sins!"

  Before I could speak, Zeke hit me across the face and I saw stars. Next, I felt an unimaginable pain as he cracked a whip across my back. The feeling shouldn't have been as bad as it was, but the burning sensation at the wounds told me that he'd used silver on me.

  "What is this?" I growled, clenching my hands into fists as I tried to not cry out from the pain. I was trapped in Zeke's clutches, and he was beating me with –

  "Silver tipped whip. Nothing is quite like it, I'd say. This makes my hobby more interesting, you see. Human women will get boring after time, so I’ve managed to attach these tiny silver claws to the ends of a few of my whips. Now, I can beat a vampire woman – or man – to my heart's content. I suppose that I could have before, but a vampire would heal quickly after a few measly whip lashes. So I had to come up with something that would allow my prey to fall to me over time. These small claws," he paused so that he could show me the tip of his weapon, "are just the right size to create a lot of pain without making too big of a wound so that they don't bleed out too fast. Fun, don't you agree?"