I sat there with CiCi just until the lapses within her mind began to cease and she felt secure enough to fall to sleep. We hadn't spoke another word to each other after her confessions of those dreams to me. I only sat with my hand upon her cheek, her fingers grasping my wrist until she felt weak and laid her arm upon the bed and closed her eyes.

I stood up, taking one last look at her. Her blonde hair drifted down her shoulders and folded up over the pillows as she lay in silently peaceful sleep.

I hadn't a clue as to what Chris had in store for her, or for anyone in which his drug came in contact with. I was furious as to what he let occur here, to allow CiCi to be attacked without a care for her. However, he hadn't shown much care for those he let in save Nadia and I who had followed him for decades. Well, I had followed him... Nadia tagged along just behind me.

I walked out into the hallway where Chris stood, his eyes focused on the floor. I positioned myself in front of him. “You cannot treat them like animals!” I spouted loudly as if I had wanted the entire house to hear me.

He stared coldly at me through his shaded glasses and chuckled. “We are all animals, Lucious. Just some of us more hostile than others.”

“You sicken me,” I whispered before turning to take my leave down the hall towards the staircase.

“Lucious,” I heard him call. “Just tell me, what is it?”

I turned around to face him, interested in his question.

“What is it that Mikael possesses that we do not?”

I was interested indeed as I slowly stepped towards him, almost in a playful dance to where he stood with his hands out in question. He didn't hesitate to move when I faced him again, this time I was at his side and I leaned my lips closer towards his ear.

“Is this jealousy I sense in you, Christopher?” I inquired softly in his ear, his full title I hadn't used in decades.

I noted his flinch, and lack to withdraw from me, as I slowly pulled his sunglasses from their spot on the bridge of his nose.

“I-it is not.” His throat bobbed.

“Then, why so much concern?” I held his glasses in my hand now, my lips still close to his listening ear. “We have no connection, no chain wrapped around us... ”

I heard his breath short and labored and thought for a moment that I could see a drop of sweat pool from his brow.

“You're a friend.” His jaw tensed. Clearly he was reluctant to retrieve his glasses from my hand. “We've been together for half a century!”

“Half a century,” I repeated. “And you have not once felt more concern for me till now?”

“I do not want to lose you. If anything were to happen...” That was all I needed to know before I began backing up from him to stop my interrogations.

“I didn't know you had it in you, Christopher.” I held his glasses up to my mouth and slid the ear piece between my fangs. “Jealousy, that is.”

He didn't move from his spot yet I could sense his fear at last. He hadn't exactly confessed anything, yet he stood in shame with that one drop of sweat running down the side of his temple, stripped of his sunglasses.

I slid the glasses up the bridge of my nose, noting their perfect fit and turned around to leave the scene. Before reaching the railing that made up the beginning of the staircase I stopped suddenly, but didn't turn to face him.

“Essence,” I heard myself say.

“Hmm...” Chris's voice came from behind.

“That is what he possesses.” I informed, “Avidity... allure... energy...” I continued as I walked down the stairs.

Outside, it was calm as the air remained laced with the scent of fresh rain yet the sprinkles had stopped. It grew cold as I wandered out onto the deck and I could feel the onset of winter. It was a delicacy to see snow in this city though, most likely the rain would freeze and cause a slick trap between nature and the air above. Leaves, grass, and even the pond would become a victim of Jack Frost's ice storm. I paid no attention to the cold, as the temperature couldn't bite at my skin since I was but a vampire.

Suddenly, a break in the calm as I stood. A breeze came, whipping the tree branches aside then dying down. It wasn't a quick change in nature. I could sense a vampire near. A familiar scent came to me and before I could look to spot the intruder, Sebastian stood face to face with me.

“Come, get your boy!” He adjusted his hair from his eyes.

“Why? Don't like sharing the house with another?” I questioned, a smirk came across my lips.

“That's not it, but I know you want him.” He now motioned towards the glasses I had on my brow, “Take those damn things off. They're not you.”

I placed my forefinger up to the glasses I had stolen from Chris, pointing at them, and slid my finger up the bridge to secure them tighter.

“You don't think?”

“Nope.” He motioned again. “Come on, I'll help you out even.”

“Just like you assisted Mikael in breaking me out of there before.” I slipped the glasses from my nose and folded them up to set them inside the pocket of the coat. “What are you up to?”

“I just want to help out. Is there anything wrong with that?” Sebastian shrugged.

It seemed implausible to me that Sebastian would assist in this matter just to be friendly. We certainly did not get along most of the time we were trapped in Serena's care, and at times would get into bouts over such details as who would escort her for the evening. It all seemed quite petty now that I was indefinitely away from the turmoils of her mansion, but I knew that Sebastian was up to something wretched.

“You have a plan?” I asked, tossing all doubt out of the way in spite of his unpleasant nature.

“Of course, I do,” he said before leaving my sight. “Come.” I heard his voice echo.

With my vampire gift, I departed the deck and to Serena's mansion, hardly a minute to think to myself of any trouble to come when I arrived. Sebastian had already stood on the second floor balcony when I appeared.

It was dark, cool up here. I could hear a slight breeze wisp through the trees on the other side of the street and a cat's cry for dinner as its owner consoled him. I listened carefully for movement inside the mansion. Immediately, I could sense Mikael inside. However, I couldn't hear a thing as if a barrier was put about the outside wall deteriorating any sound for a vampire's keen ears to note.

Sebastian stood before me, unusually quiet and motionless, yet I was aware he could see my nervousness at being here.

“Your plan, then?” My voice cracked.

“Ah, right..” He broke off, placing his finger up to his lips in thought. “Nah, don't have one. But hey, can't you hear it?”

“Hear what?”

“They are right inside Serena's bedroom. I don't know what the hell they are doing, but the door is over there.” He pointed as if I wasn't familiar with the mansion, yet I was. “I say go in there, pull him away, and split.”

“Wonderful plan,” I sighed in disbelief.

“Can you come up with a better one?”

I didn't have enough time to think of one. True I wanted to break Mikael out of his prison, steal him away, and disappear into the darkness of the night. But without a true plan, this spontaneous movement suggested by Sebastian was just preposterous.

Curiosity peaked in me now with the overbearing sense that I knew he was just beyond that thick stone wall. Why couldn't I hear them inside?

I knelt against the wall and slowly crept along the side of the balcony, leaving Sebastian to watch my actions. I was quiet in my descent, being caught now would prove disastrous. I made my way silently to the glass door that lead to Serena's bedroom and remained knelt to focus closely on the actions inside.

The room was dim, almost too dark for any normal mortal's eyes to bare. However, I focused closely on the movements and listened carefully to any sound I could make out.

I caught a glimpse of two silhouettes maneuvering on the large Victorian style bed in the middle of Serena's room. One body sat atop of the other, stripped of clothing were the both of them.

Immediately, I made out their voices as I could now clearly hear lustful moans towards one another. Serena with her silent, begging tone while Mikael owned a deeper pitch in his hungry cries.  A catastrophic sense of distraught came over me as to what I was witnessing.

She leaned over him, straddling his body and began to kiss him gently, ending with a nip on his ear lobe and a scrape to his neck with her sharp fangs yet she hadn't drawn any blood.

This behavior was remarkable. Never had Serena attempted any passionate act such as this with me while I was in her possession. A kiss, perhaps, and a tight hug before she bit onto my neck, yet, contact between us would never go this far.

I almost began to wonder what hideous plan she had. Was she to seduce Mikael so he would never care for me again?

My eyes drifted and I spotted a small bottle sitting a top of the table next to the bed.

It was soiled, the label ripped, and covered in dirt. I had seen this before, the empty bottle such as the one next to Mikael as I rescue him from the city park. As well, it resembled several of the bottles in which Chris had scattered across his attic.

I quickly dashed back over to where Sebastian stood. I grabbed a hold of his hair and bent him back until he was straight with the wall.

“Why didn't you tell me?” I clenched my fist, preparing to swing.

“What?”

“They're getting that shit from Chris!” I paused for a moment. “They are...”

I stumbled upon my thoughts. I couldn't finish the sentence, and even though I gathered all my anger and was ready to hit Sebastian, I let go of his hair and stood staring at the walkway under my feet.

“Man, I really don't know what's going on,” Sebastian said.

“They are... busy,” I sighed. “I can't do it.”

Suddenly, Sebastian looked up at me in disbelief. At that moment, he must have caught what I heard and realized just what was taking place inside her room.

“Oh, shit! Damn it! I don't even get that much fucking attention!”

I could not stand to hear his ramblings. I dashed up to the quiet of the deck just above the outside gate.

I found the railing and perched there overlooking the grass and street below me, the images of what I had seen still outlined in my memory. I wanted to tear at them, rip them apart like photographs and light them on fire to burn. Outraged, upset, and now more eager to rescue Mikael from his position, yet I had no plan of action.

Sebastian had followed me, and poised himself behind me.

“Seriously, I didn't know what was going on, man.” he admitted. “And what the hell are you talking about?”

“Don't claim you had no idea what was going on.”

“It's no lie.” He stepped closer. “Serena treats me like shit ever since you took off. I've been kicked out time and time again. Now that Mikael is in her possession, I'll never get my mansion to myself!”

“So that's your plan? You want the house to yourself.” I gazed up at the stars that were sprinkled about in the night sky. “Does that include having her to yourself as well?”

His lack of an answer told me that, indeed, was his plan. I hadn't known Sebastian before he was turned, yet I imagined he was the same greedy, conceded person who stood behind me... the opposite as I. Yet, I didn't care to compete with him, if he wanted the mansion and Serena's love to himself, I needed to find a way to rescue Mikael before the situation got worse.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked.

“I don't know. I'm thinking of sitting up here until the sun comes and I begin to burn, turning my lifeless form into a pile of ash like a concrete statue poised on this rail.” I found myself blurt out as I looked down at the ground once more.

“That would be a hell of a sight to see, but no fun at all. I need to excuse myself for the night.” He chuckled before he left me.

I looked up again, the stars began to dim as the moon reached it's cycle around the night sky to signal the beginning of the day to come. What Sebastian might have thought was a joke, I embraced as a final farewell.

I had no magical plan to save Mikael. I had no explanation as to why or how Serena came into possession of Chris's drug in the first place. However, I knew that most likely both of them were high on this strange potion, causing them both the powerful urge to embrace each other in such ways.

So as I sat there perched up on that railing, the thought of death as the new day sun made its way from behind the neighbors trees sounded all so tempting to me. It was, after all, what I had wished for all this time.

Never so much as a consoling smile from the nuns at the orphanage in which I grew up at, nor from anyone when I found a way to escape and slept on the hard ground. Never had I been told I was welcome, or I was appreciated, so in turn I only wished for my death.

Mikael was the only one whoever shown any affection for me, and the only one I had ever deeply wanted around me. How was I to save him now if Serena was drugging him?

Suddenly, I remembered CiCi and her admittance to the dreams she was beginning to have. I couldn't sit here and suffer from my own bouts of denial, this disturbing pain wrenching in my stomach at the impossibilities of rescuing Mikael.

If it was possible for CiCi to regain her previous memories, could Mikael have that chance as well?