B007XKEWAE EBOK

by Lawson, Nicola

  Delivering another kick to her head, just to ensure that she remained out cold, Fulton left the dining room and went upstairs. He returned moments later with three pairs of handcuffs he had borrowed out of Francesca's set of toys. He and Persephone had once used them during the early part of their time together.

  He dragged Gabriella to the middle of the room and she had recovered sufficiently to whimper at the pain such movement brought but not enough to complain any more than that. He fixed one pair of the cuffs to bind her ankles together. Then he twisted her arms behind her back and attached a second pair to her wrists. The third set he used to bind the previous two sets of cuffs together bending her backwards. Even as supple as Gabriella was the contortion had to be painful for her.

  The bindings weren't strong enough to hold a vampire indefinitely, Fulton knew. But they would hold a fully fit vampire for a while and Gabriella was far from fully fit at the moment. Fulton looked at the expansive window. She didn't have long in any case.

  Paying her no further attention Fulton left the room and went back to his bedroom.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  His mind was still unable to measure the passage of time. So he was unaware how long he had been sitting there on the end of his bed before Persephone joined him. All he knew was that the cuts and bruises on his knuckles from his punishment of Gabriella had long since healed, and the thick layer of her blood that had covered his hands had dried to an equally thick crust that cracked and flaked off with his every movement.

  Persephone didn't notice, or paid no heed to, his body language as she stretched herself out next to him. She kicked her boots off her feet and curled up next to him.

  Fulton remained where he was looking down at his blood encrusted hands where he held them between his knees. "I've killed Gabriella," he said in a simple monotone.

  He felt Persephone sit up next to him but he remained statuesque.

  "She murdered my family," he continued before she could ask for an explanation.

  Persephone reached up and began kneading his shoulders. He didn't really want her to be doing it but he couldn't be bothered to tell her to stop.

  They stayed in silence for a few more moments before Persephone spoke up for the first time. "Then it is just you, me and Francesca from now on."

  Fulton got to his feet but didn't turn to regard her. "I don't think so," he said.

  How could he go back now? He had already decided to leave Francesca and Persephone and he saw no reason to change that decision. There was nothing to be gained by encumbering himself with those two, especially not needy little Persephone.

  "I'll be leaving on my own."

  Persephone left the bed and walked around him so that he was looking at her. "You can't just abandon me."

  "Watch me." His voice dropped the temperature of the room by several degrees.

  Persephone's whole face slipped before she recovered and tried her best to smile. "All right, we don't have to be with Francesca. It can be just you and me together, forever."

  "You think I would want to spend any longer with you than I have to."

  Her face slipped again beyond any hopes of recovery. Her lower lip trembled and her eyes welled up.

  "No, this isn't right. It wasn't supposed to affect you like this. It wasn't supposed to stop you being able to love me, only her."

  "I never loved you," Fulton said automatically and then the actual meaning of her words got through to him.

  "What does that mean?" He caught her by the throat and forced her back against the bedroom wall. He held her there with her feet dangling above the floor and her nails raking at the skin of his arm.

  "It was Francesca's plan. She knew you and Gabriella were getting close and she wanted to split you apart. It wasn't Gabriella who killed your family it was Francesca. She had me dress up as Gabriella and run around your neighbourhood covered in blood to make you believe it was her but she killed them. When I arrived at the address she had given me I saw them all dead, even the little girls. And then Francesca she . . . she kissed me and I could taste the blood on my lips. She smeared it all over me and then she started screaming and smashing stuff, to attract attention. Then she had me run like I was fleeing the scene but she told me to make sure there were witnesses."

  It was like she was pouring out her soul to him. Fulton cocked his free arm back ready to punch her in the face.

  "Stop."

  Two voices spoke to him. One was Persephone in front of him struggling to speak through the strangle hold he had on her. The other voice came from behind him and was identical to his own.

  "What now?" he said turning his head to look at himself.

  Persephone tried to speak again but he glared at her. "Not you. Not yet."

  She squeezed her lips together and resumed her fight for air. Fulton relaxed his grip slightly, just enough to leave her sufficient breath to remain conscious.

  "You can't punish her for what she did," Pseudo-Fulton said his voice maddeningly reasonable.

  "After what she did I have every right to hurt her."

  "But she isn't the one you are really mad at. It's yourself you want to hurt for what you did to Gabriella. For being so eager to believe that she didn't really love you, and for being so eager to punish her for it."

  "None of that would have happened without this bitch and her games."

  "And who created her. Who made her what she is and planned on leaving her to fend for herself because he never really cared about her."

  Fulton couldn't argue with himself and Persephone plucked up enough courage to try and speak again. "I did what I did because I love you," she managed. "You were going to leave me to be with her and I couldn't face loosing you." Pseudo-Fulton vanished as she spoke.

  Fulton lowered his arm and let her stand on her feet again. "You don't love me, you never did."

  "I-"

  Fulton raised a hand and she quieted. "You never loved me. I just seemed to want you when nobody else did. I was a convenient plug to fill an empty hole. Nothing more than that."

  "It feels real to me. It feels like my heart would stop beating if you ever left me."

  Fulton could no longer bear to look upon her. "I am so sorry for doing this to you. It would have been better if I had drained you completely that night instead of making you like this."

  "I like what I am," Persephone replied.

  "If that is truly so then I pity you," Fulton retorted. "But I cannot kill you for being what I twisted you into. If you feel like you can go on as you are I will let you live. But it would be better if you left here now."

  Tears ran freely down her face, she looked like the frightened little girl he had scared off when they had met that first time. How he wished he had had the strength to turn her away a second time.

  "I want to be with you," she said starting towards him.

  Fulton kept her at a distance. "No you don't, when you have been apart from me for a while you will come to realise that." His voice took on a wistful aspect. "You might even find real love one day and that will illustrate just how hollow what you feel now is. I hope it goes better for you if you do than it has for me.

  "Now get out of here before I decide to rectify my mistake of turning you by killing you instead."

  She stayed staring at him sobbing, Fulton jerked his body as though to move toward her and then she fled the room, leaving Fulton alone to his thoughts. What he had done to Gabriella wasn't really excusable even if she had killed his family, two wrongs don't make a right, but now he knew she hadn't done any such thing.

  He heard Persephone rush out of the house and Francesca's voice calling out to her to stop. When Persephone apparently ignored her she called out randomly, "Is anyone at home?"

  The sound of her voice stoked the fire of hate that burned still inside him and fuelled his anger. This was the creature who had slaughtered his family. This was the monster that had severed the last links he felt to his humanity and turned him into the beast that could do
what he had done to Gabriella. With a renewed purpose he strode down to meet her. She was standing just inside the living room her eyes surveying the destruction he had wrought. The smashed or overturned furniture, the blood spatters on the walls and ceiling, and lastly the thick trail of Gabriella's blood leading towards the empty dining room.

  "What happened here? What have you done to her?" Francesca's fear for what had become of Gabriella overcame any concern she had about Fulton discovering her machinations.

  "You don't need to worry about her," Fulton said speaking to her back. "You should worry more about what I'm going to do to you."

  Francesca turned to face him with smouldering eyes and Fulton continued, "Persephone told me all about your plans to split me and Gabriella apart. You killed my family for that. Well congratulations you succeeded. But you should know that Gabriella had already decided that she couldn't bear to hurt you by leaving you for me. I hope you enjoy your success for the three seconds you have left to live."

  Francesca actually had the audacity to laugh in his face at this threat. "You know you can't kill me, how could you possibly manage to do so with nothing but your bare hands?"

  "I feel nothing but hatred for you. You stole my life from me. I wish you had killed me instead of turning me into this. But making me a monster wasn't enough for you. You had to slaughter my family, the only person I had left in my life, other than Gabriella, that I could love." He gave her an open-handed slap that knocked the smile off her face.

  "I beat the woman I love close to death and then left her to let the sun finish the job," Fulton spat. "I destroyed the one person who could have been my redemption. I think I have the strength of will to dispatch a manipulative whore like you."

  Francesca realised that Fulton was in a murderous rage and that he was capable of carrying out his threat to her life. But her pride wouldn't let her retreat from the confrontation. With a snarl she seized the initiative and launched herself at him. Fulton stepped aside like an expert matador deftly avoiding her charge. He pushed her in the back as she blurred passed him giving her extra momentum and making it harder for her to stop herself. She hit the wall sideways and pushed several bricks out a few centimetres.

  Fulton was at her side before she could recover. He placed his hands on either side of her head as he had with Gabriella.

  "I didn't want to be alone," Francesca said quietly. "You were going to take Gabriella away from me and leave me with nothing and I couldn't bear that. It was bad enough that you managed to drift away from me but then to draw Gabriella with you . . . I even tried to get Persephone to love me, but I could only make her want me when I was near. The hold you had over her was too strong for me to break."

  Francesca looked into his eyes. "I couldn't bear the thought of spending eternity lonely. Is that so hard to understand? So hard to forgive?"

  Whatever hold she had once held over him was long since destroyed. Looking into Francesca's eyes he saw nothing to make him hesitate further. With a sharp twist he snapped her neck. Muscle and ligaments that struggled against the motion snapped under his force. Bone grated against bone and cracked wetly.

  Expressionless Fulton dropped the corpse of his sire onto the floor at his feet. He understood that she didn't want to spend forever alone. But that didn't mean he was in any mood to forgive her what she had done to him. She had started his transformation into a monster that New Years Eve that felt so long ago. Tonight she had finally made his transformation complete.

  Chapter Forty

  Fulton didn't give Francesca's body a second glance. Steeling himself against the sight that he knew would greet him Fulton left the living room and entered the dining/training room. He staggered back as though assaulted with a physical blow. Now that he was thinking straight the sight of Gabriella laying there after what he had done to her was worse than he remembered. It was worse than he could imagine. And he had done that to her.

  Gabriella was situated exactly where he had left her, trussed up and contorted with the bindings he had forced upon her. She was mumbling incoherently which meant that she was just starting to come around. The majority of her wounds had closed but the multitude and magnitude of the injuries meant that her body had been hard pressed to heal her and some deep lacerations remained spilling her blood slowly to join the congealing pool that had spread around her. Blood still leaked from her mouth. Angry purple bruises mottled her pale flesh and her nose had yet to regain its proper shape.

  Fulton was actually relieved that her eyes had swollen because it made her less eager to try and open them even as she struggled to come fully around. He knew for a certainty that he could never look her in the eyes knowing what he had done to her.

  Gabriella struggled to breathe. Fulton listened intently with every shallow breath she took. It didn't sound like there was any blood in her lungs but she had certainly sustained several broken ribs. Her recovery wasn't being helped by the uncomfortable position in which Fulton had bound her.

  Forcing himself to approach her, Fulton knelt on the edge of the puddle of her blood. He reached out gingerly but had to pull back and look away as his hands got close. It took him three more attempts before he could force himself to keep his eyes on her and move his hands close enough to release the cuffs that secured her wrists to her ankles.

  Gabriella moaned as the pressure, keeping her held with her back bent and her chest and front stretched taut, was released. Fulton jumped away like he had been scalded and fled the room. He rested his back against a wall supporting himself as he breathed heavily. He had planned on freeing her from the restraints which tied her ankles together and her hands together but he could not face returning to that room. There was no excuse for the savagery he had unleashed on her. Even if she had been guilty of the betrayal he had been so ready to believe she had been a part of, there could be no condoning his treatment of her.

  But if he didn't return to that room and remove her from it his destruction of her would be completed by his inaction. The sun would finish the job he had just begun. He wanted to return, to save her from that fate at least but he simply could not muster the strength of will to see her like that again. His cowardice would compound his evil. He couldn't even force himself to go back into that room to die with her when the sun's light found her.

  But perhaps that wasn't necessary.

  Fulton left the house through the front door and turned back to walk down the side of the house and into the back garden. The sky had just started to brighten, grey encroaching onto the black expanse, and the scent of the air had begun to shift towards dawn. He emerged beside the wide patio-style windows and looked away before his eyes fell upon Gabriella inside.

  Mechanically Fulton went to the boundary between this houses' garden and the neighbouring one. Using his vampiric strength he tore down panel after panel of the high solid fence. When he had removed six of the panels, just under half the length of the garden, he dragged them over the unkempt grass and down to the side of the house covered by the expansive windows. Ignoring as much as he could the glimpses of Gabriella inside he started piling the panels of fencing back up. He erected a barrier overlapping three of the panels along the bottom of the window and then placing the other panels on top of them he covered the top of the window. Just as he was lifting the final panel into position Gabriella blinked her swollen eyes open just a crack and saw what he was doing.

  Fulton blocked her from his sight with the fence and then sat himself down next to the shelter waiting for the sun to claim him. He heard more mumbling coming from inside the room and then he caught a word he could understand, "Why?"

  He sat there ignoring her pleas for an explanation for as long as he could take it. But eventually the plaintive sound of her voice as she struggled to understand why he had turned on her forced him to give her an explanation. So Fulton explained to her Francesca's plan to drive them apart and the role Persephone had played in it. But he offered her no excuse for the extreme nature of his reaction.

&n
bsp; "I doubt that even Francesca expected me to react like this," he said staring out to the miniature houses on the horizon. "She wanted to split us apart so that we wouldn't both go and leave her lonely. But you were then one she wanted out of both of us. If she had known how close I would come to . . ." His voice faltered but Fulton forced himself to continue. "If she had known how close I would come to killing you she would have killed me herself instead. How I wish she had!"

  For a long time the only sound to emerge from inside the house was Gabriella's laboured breathing. The sky on the horizon continued to grow brighter.

  "Come back inside and help me up," she said at last. "I can smell the dawn coming."

  "I'm waiting for the dawn," Fulton replied. "I can never make it better, what I did to you. But I can make sure that it will never happen again."

  "No! Not like that. I don't care what you did to me I love you!"

  "And I love you, but that is simply not enough."

  "But it is." Fulton could hear her shuffling inside rattling her cuffs as she struggled to move. They would hold her for a few hours yet restricting her movement. Keeping her confined to the middle of the room away from him where she would be safe.

  "My love for you has caused me to revaluate my entire existence. I'm a better person because of it."

  Fulton hung his head looking down between his knees. "But I am not."

  "You are, I know you are," Gabriella pleaded, The emotion in her voice painted Fulton a vivid picture of her with tears in her eyes, her whole face quivering.

  "You might still believe in the power of love but I don't. How can I when I am capable of doing that to you?"