He lay there silently still atop of the bed for at least a day.

After our kiss, my gift to him, I allowed him to doze away into a deep sleep which sometimes comes with the change. I was familiar with this, though I had never done so myself with anyone before Mikael, however I had seen it with others while in Serena's care. There were times when one would sleep and there were times when one would immediately awaken with full vampire abilities. It just so happened, Mikael was a sleeper.

Once he fell into slumber, it allowed the chance for CiCi to wash my clothing, and clean the filth of the previous days away. I relaxed under the steaming spray of the shower, a delicacy I hadn't often partook in for it was a human's way of cleansing themselves. But I had relished in the surprising comfort of it, just as I had quietly admitted to enjoy the warmth of our soft comforter as I lay underneath.

I didn't dare disturb him that morning, so I slept where I was accustomed to: in Chris's murky, unkempt basement, even though I longed to feel that comfort I had the previous day when I lay beside Mikael atop the mattress.

The next evening came and I lingered just inside the room staring at him, pondering when he would awaken. He had shared with me that kiss, that pleasurable embrace of ours, and I had given him what he requested. Would I have not, he would have surely perished under the weight of his denial—his deep depression.

Finally, a movement. He reached his hand out across his face as he shielded his eyes from the invading light from the lamp above. He twisted and turned his body slightly, not moving his hand away from his eyes. Moans escaped from his lips.

The blood that had accrued around his mouth from my allowance had all but dried now, with not a spot left upon his chin.

I stood, watching, waiting for him to look at me, to recognize my face... but he didn't. Instead he laid back his head as if to drift back into sleep once more. However, I felt it was time.

“Mikael,” I whispered softly as I climbed up on the bed and shook his arm.

His muscles twitched, causing his fingers to open from his palm and close again.

“Mikael,” I said once more, louder this time.

He finally moved his arm from his face, his red eyes small and compressed due to the light. I heard a sigh escape his lungs and he glanced at me. He gave me a shrug, confusion on his face.

“Where am I?” he asked.

I sat on my knees allowing him to follow suit. Pulling his legs up and crouching over them like a scared child, that same look of bewilderment now embraced his entire face. This was the moment in which I was afraid of.

“Mikael, you're at Chris's,” I informed him, trying to jog his memory. “It's me, Lucious.”

He only gave a baffled look in my direction before turning his head to examine the room. He looked toward the door, and at the old table which sat in the corner of the room, then finished with a sneer at the window and back at me who still knelt there, nervous of his condition.

“I...” He slide his feet off the bed onto the floor.

Suddenly, he grabbed at his throat and bent down. Groans filled the room, as he choked on his hunger that had built up over the last week in which I, reluctantly, refused him a feast. I held out my arms to help him, but he only waved me aside.

“No!”

I stepped back in confusion. I wanted to help—I understood what it was like—yet what I had feared to happen had started.

“Get away from me!” he hollered before dashing past me and to the door.

“Mikael,” I said turning to face him once more.

“Stop saying that!”

“It is your name--”

“No! It's not. I've never heard it before!”

I choked down the terror easing its way through me. Just as Serena had warned before, that whisper through the door Mikael hadn't heard. And now just as I feared, Mikael had lost all of his previous memories. His name, his fight through denial, even my face... was utter blankness in his clouded thoughts.

“Mikael, it's me.” I held out my arms towards him, trying not to spook him.

“Get away from me!” He lunged for the door and ran out, his new found vampire powers taking heed, allowing him to dash quickly.

I followed as fast as my own abilities allowed, yet he had found his way down the stairs and out the front door without a slightest glance from Chris who stood speaking to one of his friends.

He had noticed Mikael's disappearance act, though.

“Lucious, what the hell?” Chris bolted toward me before I could get outside.

“It's Mikael.”

“You didn't--”

“I had to, Chris, don't you see. He needed to be rid of his denial!” I approached him, to speak reasoning with him, he only stood there with a smile upon his lips.

“You love him.”

I stopped instantly.

“Love. Such a strong word to use among vampires.”

“You cannot lie, Lucious. You force yourself to but you cannot deny that is how you feel. You should have told me before all of this happened.” Chris stomped his foot on the floor in disgust.

“And what if I had?” I folded my arms across my chest.

Silence filled the room now. He still held his smirk, his friend staring at us from his spot close to the wall behind Chris.

“I would have told you to leave it alone,” he said at last.

I wasn't going to hear this from Chris, who had been like a brother to me for fifty years.

I scurried to the door, grabbing for the doorknob, and gave him one last look before I said, “Then I take my leave.”

Outside, I could sense Mikael. We did have our bond, and that gave me all the opportunity in the world to find him without fail unlike when we were not connected. That had been a long journey indeed, the search for him as he moved along from one place to another. A journey I wasn't about to go along again.

Immediately, I felt him, knew where he was... the old downtown district.

I rushed to his presence, and finally found him deep within an old alleyway. His arms wrapped around a woman he had found passing by, his bloody lips just raising from her neck.

“Mikael,” I hollered at him.

He turned his head towards me, his fangs barred as he hissed like a vampire gone insane from his overbearing hunger. His face was pale, shadows embraced his cheeks, and I could see clearly his veins outlined a blue color on his forehead.

He dropped the girl, allowing her to slump over her lifeless body and rushed to me.

He pinned me up against that dirty brick wall with the strength he had now, his vampiric strength all so overwhelming to me as I tried to push him away.

“Stop!” I yelled.

He ignored my call, ripping my shirt away from my chest and digging his fangs into my collar. He wanted blood, needed blood enough to not care that I was of kinship to him. His fangs pierced deeper into my neck as I tried desperately to push him away, yet he didn't budge.

I was strong enough, I knew this. I held the strength of almost a hundred men—strength that used to bewilder Mikael—yet why I hadn't enough to push him away, I wasn't sure.

Slowly we sunk to the ground as he drank what made my life from my now weakening form. I still tried to push him away. With his arms wrapped around my figure, I couldn't escape his grasp no matter how much I writhed.

Had he wanted more of me on the night of our kiss? Had he wanted this? Or was he simply mad from hunger?

A sudden flashback: I felt my life draining away, an occurrence I hadn't recalled before. I stood in the dark, musty confines of Serena's dungeon drinking from her. The taste of her essence filling my mouth as she gave herself to me on the eve of my turning. I had dropped to the floor immediately, grabbing for my throat and rolling around on the hard concrete like a dying animal. “It lasts but a second, you will awaken like me, Leo,” she had said to me. “And when you do, I will teach you all that you need.” 

The memory faded and a cool breeze suddenly engulfed the dark confines of that dirty alleyway. Frigid and numbing as it passed the end of the corridor, branching off towards the road on both sides of the exit. I hadn't felt such a change in the atmosphere in quite a long time and I questioned then if it was a sign of snow.

Just then, I heard a voice.

“Well, well, well...” Familiarity in that tone caused a wave of terror to run through my weak body. “What do we have here?”

My heart thumped in fear. I was too faint to push Mikael away, too powerless against the likes of her... this feeling I hated.

Immediately Mikael retracted his fangs from my neck, and the pressure ceased. He looked toward her direction, seeing her leaning up against the brick wall. He crooked his neck almost fascinated at the sight of her.

“Oh, what is this?” She smiled with interest.

He moved his weight from my body and stood, keeping his eyes fixated on her.

She waved him over, like coaxing a child whom just learned to walk. “Come on,” Serena said as he stumbled closer to her.

I carefully picked myself up, the blood from my shoulder dripping onto the ground below. “No,” the word escaped my lips, into a whisper.

Nauseated, the world blurred in front of my eyes. I was almost drained of my life from him, yet I couldn't stand to see him go to her as if they were close friends. The more I tried to straighten my body, the worse I felt, almost tumbling back over.

“That's it,” I heard her say to him.

She wrapped her arms around his torso giving him a hug, and he did the same.

“Mikael..” I hollered, loud enough to catch her attention.

Serena smiled atrociously at me as they embraced each other. Eventually, they dropped their arms and he knelt to her, just as I had when I was under her care.

“Say, Lucious,” she said. “This simply isn't working out, is it? I mean, why did you leave my side in the first place?”

“I had wanted...” I hesitated. I never told her why and when I shared my story with Mikael, I had admitted it was because of Sebastian. However, that was only a sliver of the reason. “I wanted to die,” I whispered.

“The same as when I first found you. Why are you still here, then?” she asked.

I lifted my head to gaze at Mikael who still knelt in front of her.

“I see.” She placed her hand upon Mikael's head. “He's so fragile now, Lucious. More so than when his body was overwhelmed with denial.” She motioned for him to stand, and he followed her command as if he was under her spell. “What do you say, I release you from our bond in exchange for him?”

“Never!” I yelled, pulling out any strength I could muster.

“It's just as I warned before, Lucious. He's lost all of his previous memories in your decision to cure his denial. I can teach him these things again. What it is to be vampire and to use his abilities properly. Or I can take you both and lock you in a separate tower. Seeing as you are weak, you're no match for me in your condition.”

I dropped to my knees with her words. To be free of her chains had been something I'd wished for but to be without him... what could I have to live for?

I hated to admit, I knew she was correct though. In her authority, he could learn to be a proper vampire, learn about his powers and how to use them effectively. We wouldn't have to run from her, living wherever she couldn't find us, like a dirty motel, or stirring up trouble at Chris's home.

It was this comfort I found in her care which caused me to stay beside her for so long, this reasoning, as she brought back my own memories from the depths. I knew I could never reach him if he just wanted to destroy me. But I couldn't be sure she would kindly remind him of me, either.

They both stood next to each other now, her arm wrapped around his shoulder with that poisonous smile of hers which bared her fangs.

“If that is what's best for him,” I whispered, reluctantly.

“Of course it is, Lucious.”

“Then, so be it.”

“Well then, you are free. I will treat him fairly.” She embraced Mikael's shoulder tighter and immediately disappeared from my sight.

I stumbled to my feet, weary and cold, and ran to the road to try and catch their leaving.

I stood there in the middle of the street, the cool rain now pouring down on my face. I looked up toward the sky, the dark clouds over the moon caused an ominous glow in the heavens.

There was no trace of them, as if they were never there to begin with. Yet, I knew they had used the swift speed that comes with their vampiric abilities to remove themselves from the area.

She had warned me, however I succeeded to cure him of his corruption anyway with that promise that we would be together forever. What for? My attempts to help him keep his memories, even just a sliver, failed miserably. Should I had waited, despite Mikael's denial possessing him even more? I was too weak in my will, possibly needing him just as much as he needed me.

So I was, drenched in the cold rain that sprinkled down from the dark heavens without him by my side... my reason, my desire, my savior... I had lost him.