I found my way to the bus stop in which Lucious and I were heading for and boarded the first bus that came in. I didn't know where to go, or where I even wanted to go when the driver asked. I only made my way to the back of the bus, my head down staring at the floor.

How could he?

 The bus drove for hours, making stops along the way, some of them far apart from each other. I hadn't watched where the bus was stopping, I just sat on that seat with my eyes focused on the floor. Shortly before dawn, the driver looked back at me, ordering me to get out.

Where I found myself was back at the old tavern in which I was familiar with. Away from Lucious, away from Serena and that city that was so new to me... back to where I was most comfortable.

I knew, if he wanted to, Lucious could find me here but I just wanted peace away from him. I imagined those piercing eyes, silver and sparkle with that sadness he held as he told of his unrighteous deeds.

Was he showing his true emotions in those eyes?

 But he took everything I was from me, something that could never be retained again. Would it be payment enough if he finished what he started? I could have stayed by his side to ask him for the rest of my gift to be free of this denial but now, for some reason, it really wasn't that important anymore.

I shook those thoughts out of my racing mind and entered into the tavern, immediately spotting the owner sitting at his bar to ask him about my room above.

I approached the owner who jumped straight out of his chair and leaned against the bar. I knew he was slightly nervous around me although I never posed a threat directly to him. Luckily, he was nice and granted me my room.

“Y-you know I wouldn't dare go in there, myself,” he said

I made my way further into the tavern and to the winding stairs that led up to the second floor where my room was when my mind started to wander once more. I shouldn't have left him...

 

***

It had been days since I showered and it sounded pleasant. But my mind wouldn't calm, all the thoughts and memories about Lucious came back to me as I tried to relax under the warm sprinkling water.

He had sought me out, but why... why seek the one you've stolen life from? I knew it wasn't typical of a vampire to go back to the one you had once tried to drain. I had never done so... why would he? What was it about me that intrigued him so? If only I had stayed beside him, I could have found those answers, yet, he never tells of such things unless provoked. I still hated him for that.

I remained in my precious cockroach ridden, dirty motel room. I wanted to get back to how things used to be before Lucious entered my life, however I quickly realized just how much I had changed in that short time while Lucious was around.

I sought out women from the tavern downstairs, something I hadn't done in the past. Drunken women who smelled of vodka were easy pickings for a hungry vampire. I gave it my all in front of them, caressing their bodies, kissing their necks and before draining them... giving just a little bit of myself to them. However, with each passing woman, his voice still echoed in my mind.

His comforting touch, protruding fangs upon my neck, lips dry but affectionate—the past months went through my thoughts each time I held a woman.

Was I trying to imagine him here?

 I couldn't get away from him as much as I tried and I knew it. He owned me, chained together in this eternal bond we called ours. As sick and twisted as it was... I couldn't break it. I hadn't the strength to shatter the chains, mentally, physically, or emotionally.

Two weeks passed by and he had not sought me out although, subconsciously, I wanted him to. I ran out of ideas, plans for trying to calm myself from his chaotic lifestyle had not worked. As I stood up against the outside of the tavern wall staring at the passing strangers I realized I couldn't go alone any longer.

A woman drunk on whiskey wasn't enough, nor was the conflicting silence that surrounded me along with my passing thoughts. It was all just enough to surpass the time... I needed him, not only to awaken the vampire in me... but to hold me in his arms, to caress me tightly... to...

What is this I'm feeling?

This strange feeling consumed me as I thought more about him...

I needed to find him!

 

 

Lucious's perspective

He sat there alone on that cool breezy autumn evening—sat there pondering his reasons for telling the man what truly happened on that night. That night, he took the precious life from his body and left him to die there. He could remember the man's face that night; how those blue eyes peered out at him as his life was being drained. The feeling that overcame him just then, that feeling of guilt pouring through his body as each drop of blood ran down his hungry throat—the man's beauty, the man's innocence as he gasped for air.

I should have never told him, Lucious thought to himself. I should have never revealed that I was the one. But I had no choice, he would eventually have to know if I was to cure him of his anguish.

He knew it was true. Mikael needed to know. But as Lucious sat there he could feel a crushing sense of loneliness run through his body, that feeling he hadn't felt in a century.

Soon, a woman came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his dead body.

“Come on, Lucious, it's terrible sitting out here alone. Don't you want to play?” She drawled.

Her hair parted across her shoulders and fell around Lucious's face as she knelt down, her arms still wrapped around his chest.

“Leave me, Nadia.”

“Hmph, you're no fun anymore.” She pouted before leaving him to himself.

It had been months since he had last been here. A once frequented party house where almost everyone knew him and wanted him around now seemed worthless and barren. Nothing was the same anymore, not since he found Mikael, not since he created that bond.

Then, he heard the door open and the sound of footsteps behind him, he knew all too well who it was, the owner of the home. “Lucious, what the hell's the matter with you? Nadia said you're outside here sulking about something.”

“It's nothing, really.” Lucious sighed.

“Bullshit, look at you. Moping around like a damn mortal, you used to be the life of the party!”

“I'm fine, Chris.” Lucious claimed, his eyes still focused on the stairs below him.

“Stand up!”

Lucious looked up at Chris who wore a dastardly grin and stood as commanded. His body still flush with anguish as he tried to straighten his spine.

“So, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Chris asked.

Lucious looked down at the deck and then back up at Chris who spoke with slight concern on his lips. “What would you say if I told you I have a chain?”

“Like a blood bond? I say so what, big deal. I have a chain with Nadia and a couple of other chicks in there.” Chris chuckled, pointing towards his home.

“That's not what I meant.” Lucious cleared his throat. “Well, it is but...”

Chris gave a slight look of concern then it turned pleasant. Lucious wiped a stray hair away from his face, trying not to look so damned thwarted.

“I know you have a bond, with Serena,” Chris said.

“But do you ever feel like there's something... more to the bond?” Lucious wondered.

“More? Oh, are you saying your screwing Serena now?”

“Hell no! That's not what I meant!”

“The fuck you mean then, man? You're confusing the shit out of me!” Chris ordered. That pleasant look went sour.

“Twenty years ago, I met someone.. well, I fed off of someone--”

“Twenty years,” Chris interrupted. “On that night we were ditching Serena?”

“You remember that?”

“Shit yeah, I do. Serena was chasing us through Northern city with her damn dog Sebastian. Crazy bitch she is... so what of it?”

“You remember the man I fed off that night?” Lucious wondered.

Chris paused and placed his forefinger to his lips, pondering in his thoughts.

“Him?” Chris' eyes widened. “Long brown hair, blue eyes, about this tall? You took off out of there like you saw a ghost or something.”

Lucious smiled shyly. “I did.”

“So what's so important about him to make a chain with?” Chris pondered.

Lucious froze in place. Should he admit these strange feelings overwhelming him to Chris? Could he possibly understand?

“I don't know... it was just important.”

Chris studied him, then said, “Well in any case, I won't have you moping around here. You either get inside and join us, or you get the hell off my lot!”

Lucious paused again. He was being kicked out of the one place that Serena wouldn't look for him. Yet, he wanted to find Mikael and knew all too well the one place he would have gone. All he had to do was follow those invisible chains.

Chris shook his head and pointed in the direction of the gate. “What are you still doing here? If you want to go, then go!”

Without a word, Lucious started down the stairs and across the backyard. Desperately, he wanted to seek Mikael out and apologize for his devious actions. To help him cure his denial in time, yet he felt something more calling out from inside him.

This confusing feeling inside... what was this he felt that sent shivers down his spine, and a strange sensation in his dead heart as he made his way out into the street?

Is this why he couldn't finish what he had started all along, was that something more he felt... a feeling of affection for this man... this vampire that he had wrapped his chains around?