So it was, the next evening came quite fast. We slept soundly in the room next door. Though the floor was covered in filth, we huddled in a corner atop a couple of broken down cardboard boxes.

It was decided that we would leave. That strange vampire could have the entire tavern to himself. And though Lucious claimed he must have been deranged, I still questioned everything he said the previous night.

We left the way we came in, quietly as not to disturb him or the rats that lived in the walls next to him.

Northern was quite interesting. I had assumed that, being somewhat like a suburb to Central, it would be more pleasant. Maybe large, beautiful houses lining the streets. People dressed in suit and fancy dress going out on the town. I was very mistaken.

It wasn't exactly deserted, however it wasn't as elegant as I had imagined. I'm sure it possessed it's own charm in a way I wasn't accustomed to yet. The buildings were old, paint peeling from their outside walls. The wood lining the window seals was cracked. Such charm.

I walked in Northern with Lucious beside me. We didn't know where we were going, all I knew was that there was no one around for blocks.

“I lived here,” I sighed, in hopes it was all a fluke.

Lucious looked out at me. “I found you here. I could only imagine you lived here,” he noted as we walked.

“Tell me...” I found myself choking on my words. “about our blood bond.”

“Deja-vu.” He was quick to answer. “Well, you did lose quite a bit of your memory. I guess it can't be helped.”

I felt a bit ashamed by asking. Should I have immediately known?

“It's just as he said before, a blood bond was once for a master to keep track of their slaves.” He spoke as we walked through the city. “Nothing more. Some of them used their bonds for war, others as a harem. Those emperor's who kept thousands of warriors would hold a chain to their men. He knew if they had died in battle; he also knew where they were at all times. Those who kept a harem, well...” His voice trailed for a second. “It was quite the same. Didn't Serena teach you anything while you were there?”

I stopped in my tracks and just stared at him. “No. She was too involved in that damn luce.”

“Hmph, it would figure. I should have never...” He hesitated once more. “Look. Everything will come back to you in due time. I had hoped Serena could be of some assistance but as I expected, I was wrong.”

I stood, staring at him in wonder. He had started it before 'I should have never...' but he just wouldn't explain. Either we were interrupted or he chose to distract his thoughts himself. I desperately wanted to know... these feelings that crept up inside me felt all too known.

“What do you mean?” I asked him. “You should have never, what? Saying you relinquished me to her. I just—“

“Do you know why you lost your memory, Mikael?” he interrupted.

I thought for a moment. “I was turned. Serena once claimed it was her doing... but... it was you, wasn't it?”

He turned around, his back facing me. “Let's keep going.” He motioned forward.

He began to explain to me everything that I had long lost through that exchange. Those memories that I hadn't yet recovered, maybe because they were buried so deep that without his help, I couldn't recover those on my own.

He told me everything. From when he found me inside that dirty motel room, to his fears of telling me the truth. Finally, the exchange. Our exchange of blood, which made me whole... destroyed that feeling of denial and gave me life again. His account of it all was quite detailed, like it just happened yesterday to him. To me, it very well could have never happened. That is if I hadn't known, deep down somewhere that he was truly my maker.

“Afterwards, you had forgotten me. I was warned... but foolish. So, she proposed a trade, between you and my freedom,” he finally told.

“A trade?”

“Yes. If I abandoned you to her, I could have my freedom,” he said.

I stopped short. “And you... deserted me?”

“Never!” He looked at me in determination. “I had no choice. You... weren't in your head, Mikael. You attacked me. She noticed and took advantage of my weakness.” He lowered his head, eyes traced circles upon the stone below his feet. “During your entire stay at Serena's, I spent most of the time outside. Spying, stalking.. whatever you call it. I wanted to save you from her grasp.”

Suddenly, a wave of nervousness came creeping up my spine. I peered at him through my wandering eyes, yet something told me to turn my head. Soon, his eyes danced back up from staring at the ground.

“Mikael, what is it?”

I turned around, facing an empty alleyway. “I've... been here before.”

I had no memories come to me, no flashbacks. Only that strange prickling feeling throughout my spine and down my entire body. The knowing that this was some place important... or had been at some time.

Lucious had become strangely silent.

I stepped slowly further into the alleyway. I could hear Lucious begin to follow silently behind me. Rats scattered away from the rusty trash cans as I approached. Stains circled the brick where bags had sat next to the walls.

Up ahead, a door. Cracked paint covered the wood.

“Why does this alley seem so... recognizable?” I asked, more to myself.

Lucious remained quiet as I approached the door.

Yet, there were no memories... no rolling train like visions overwhelming my thoughts. I had impatiently waited for them to bombard me like they had before. Each memory I had lost in my turning, I had recovered so suddenly. But if this place was included in one of them, why hadn't it come yet?

“Mikael...” I finally heard Lucious's voice. He mumbled, his voice harboring grief. I immediately turned to face him.

“You know where we are, don't you?”

“I do,” he whispered. “Mikael, not only did you loose your memories after I made you whole again... you lost them the first time as well.” He began to explain. “You wouldn't remember this place no matter how far you dig back.”

“So tell me then,” I demanded.

He was silent again, but only for a short moment. “Fine, I'll tell you. You lived here... it was 1989. I found you while you were coming out of this door. I came up... I attacked you.” He took a deep breath at that moment as if the rest was too much. “I left you... I couldn't finish.”

Right here, on this cold stone path, he had left me to die.

“You left me?” I stepped away from him. “First, I learn you abandoned me, now you're saying you left me?”

He wrapped his arms around his torso and looked back down to the ground. “For almost a century, had I always finished what I started.”

He twisted his body around and looked up towards the sky. “But it was... your eyes. Sparkling with that flash of misery. Never had I cared for my victim in all my years until I caught sight of your sadness.” He sighed out his distress. “It took me years to realize...”

Lucious turned and faced me again. I could see his own weakness just then. His moment of guilt for leaving me helpless that night had bothered him for decades. It was then I figured I could never hate him. Even if he did leave me cold and alone in this very alley, he came back.

“Then why search me out?” I whispered coldly. I needed to know. Even though I could never despise him, a never ending hunger inside me would always want explanations.

Lucious stepped forward, wrapping his arms around my waist. “It's just as he said last night. Chains should mean something more... you're all I've ever wanted, Mikael. I've never felt so close to anyone; never needed someone so badly before that night I almost took your life away. I couldn't live the rest of my eternity knowing I had destroyed this chance.” He hummed as he set his head in the crook of my neck. “It scares me, Mikael. This strange... undying feeling...”

“Like love?” I whispered as I too returned his embrace. I felt his lips turn to a slight smile as they nuzzled on my skin.

“I suppose it could be something like that...” He mumbled before pulling away. “Though I've never felt it before.”

I wanted his arms back, wrapped around me in their cold embrace. Strangely warm, satisfying.

But just as quickly as that moment began, it ended as we heard a woman's screams come from around the corner.

“Did you... hear that?” Lucious turned to face the street. We didn't see anyone close, but the scream was loud and nearby.

We darted out of the alleyway and around the corner.

I recognized that tone... the woman who made that loud screeching noise.

Around the building, Lucious stepped in front of me the entire time. If I hadn't immediately remembered the face, he certainly would.

“CiCi?” I heard Lucious's voice echo from around a corner as I approached.

The woman was curled up in the corner. Her head buried in her hands, a look of fear carved in her face. I knew her... remembered seeing her at Chris's. But there was something strange about her, too.

“Help me,” she whispered as she rocked her body on the ground. “Help...”