Chapter 10. Eyes Kaskade remix
Xavier was seething inside, despite trying to keep a calm façade for Marie. He had heard the conversation between Emil and Malachi. He had also heard him talking to Arazel, the only other human-vampire hybrid known to exist. He was a wild card, an unknown, and it drove Xavier mad to know he had been in the same place as Marie when she had been held hostage. He had a face to go with each name from her mind, and as far as he could tell, this freak had not touched her. His presence could put her fragile mind over the edge, and he did not want to think what could happen if she suffered any further insults on her psyche.
She clung to him for dear life as he sprinted across the lobby, carrying her to the apartment Hannah had moved into several days prior, when they were uncertain if Marie would ever be found. He punched in the key code on the door, and was relieved to see very little had been disturbed in the small space. Hannah had entertained Nathan while the rest of them dealt with some of the more delicate matters having to do with the mission Emil and the others had just returned from. The teenage vampire was a conundrum on his own. He was so eerily mature at times, but occasionally the fifteen year old boy would show his face. The scared boy was still present in the music room, all signs of maturity gone as he had stared in awe at the little girl Evan had delivered. Xavier still was not one hundred percent sure where things went wrong. It was supposed to have just been a reconnaisance mission to try to find out where the Ancient One was, unless the conflict had revolved around their discovery of Marie.
Looking down at the petite woman in his arms, he saw she was shutting down, staring straight ahead at nothing. Her arms lay limply curled around his neck now, no longer clinging tightly. He moved into her bedroom and lay her on the bed. His eyes roamed over her tiny frame, taking in the amount of exposed flesh her garment offered. Shaking his head he reached for a blanket and covered her with it.
"No!" she cried. "I'm dirty! Get it off, I'll ruin everything."
"But you have to be cold, I only want to cover you up," he explained helplessly, not wanting to state the obvious that the blue gauzy material was less effective than underwear would have been at offering coverage.
"I need to wash...please...I have to get clean...I'm dirty, I need to take a shower," she cried, pushing up weakly from the bed and stumbling to her bathroom. He made to follow her to make sure she did not stumble, with the shaking he saw in her legs. "No! Don't touch me! I will be fine. Leave! Just leave...please!"
Her last words were little more than whispers as tears ran freely down her face. He stood back holding his hands to his sides, palm up, signifying he would be hands off. He watched as she leaned heavily against the door frame, and then the door shut loudly behind her. He turned and walked back to the living room, to pick up the few pieces of clothing Hannah had left out when she had changed earlier in the evening for the mission. He thought of the blonde vampire, wondering where she and the others had gone. He was uncomfortable splitting their small group, as they were all that was left of the loyal Guardians. Hannah was not a Guardian, she was not much more than an informant on Romley, one of the masterminds behind the plot to enslave humans one city at a time. She had saved Xavier a few days before when he was serving as a guard in the holding cells for vampire prisoners, where she had been held for questioning about Isaac Romley. The power crazed vampire had come through the headquarters on a rampage with humans he had turned into a vampire army, somehow commanding them as if they were of one mind. He had been accompanied by Ari, and Xavier was taken by surprise when they opened the cell doors to release the few prisoners they were holding. He had lost his arm to Romley's sword, and Hannah had come to his rescue. Hawk had been there also, but had fallen to a masterful swordsman called Rafael. He had been healed by Evan, using her power over energy. Xavier and Evan shared certain traits and he could not wait to learn more about her ability. He had been stunned as she had healed Hawk's destroyed face.
Vampires could heal, but could also scar if struck with a blessed silver blade. Hawk had sported such a scar before he was brutally attacked, and half of his face cut away. Just the memory of it caused Xavier to shiver. Now, the mohawked redhead was more handsome than ever, even the old scar had disappeared under Evan's attention.
Finished with picking up, he had tried to tune out the sounds of Marie in the shower, but he could not ignore her cries of despair getting louder and more distraught. He walked to the bathroom door and knocked. "Marie, are you okay? You've been in there quite a long time."
His only answer was more sobbing, she repeated over and over, "So dirty...get it off...so dirty...get it off."
He waited a moment longer, but when she cried out in what he could only interpret as pain, he tried the knob, finding it locked, he easily broke it and went in. Steam filled the air, making it nearly impossible to see, but the white mist rushed out the open door, clearing quickly. He moved to the shower door, and opened it, as he smelled blood mix with water. There, he found Marie hunched in a tiny ball, scrubbing at her thighs with a loofah, hard enough to break open what appeared to be whip marks. He had tried so hard to avoid staring at her near naked body earlier, he had failed to notice the extent of her injuries. Her back was covered in black and blue marks, bruises that looked like chains wrapped around her shoulders and neck; there were teeth marks on her neck and thighs as well. His presence went unnoticed as she continued to scrub at her lobster red, bleeding flesh. He stepped fully dressed into the water, kneeling down beside her. She jumped as she saw him, cowering into the corner of the large shower.
Xavier said nothing, just reached out for her hands and grasped the loofah. He took it gently from her, doing his best to not be overcome by his hunger being triggered by the freshly spilled blood. He carefully grasped her hands and lifted them away from where she had resumed scrubbing at her thighs and the juncture where they met. He could not tell if tears were still falling, only saw the panic in her eyes.
He placed both her small hands in one of his large ones, bringing the other up to gently cup her chin. "Softly, little one. I will not hurt you, but you must stop hurting yourself. You are clean and pure. I will be sure to rid this world of the two bastards remaining who hurt you."
Marie choked on her sobs, only shaking her head side to side, before she sprang into his arms. She was short enough that while on his knees, she was only a few inches taller. He reached up blindly behind himself to turn off the water, biting his lips in a strain not to sink his own teeth among the scars on her body. He pulled the towel hanging on the hook next to the shower door down and wrapped it completely around the woman in front of him. He lifted her trembling form again and carried her to the bed. She sat there, unmoving when he made to leave.
"Marie, you should get dressed," he called softly. When he got no response, he went to stand in front of her. He waved his hand in front of her staring eyes, but she did not so much as flinch. "Come on Marie, wake up. Just a few more minutes and you can go to sleep."
When he got nothing from her, he looked around, wondering what to do. He desperately needed blood. He had lost so much, had only fed once, then gave what he could to Evan. He was having trouble concentrating on anything other than the pulse fluttering just below Marie's jawline. Forcing his eyes away from the temptation, he looked around, and spotted something sticking out of one of the dresser drawers. Spurred to action, he began to open drawers and pulled together what he figured would be enough clothing to make her feel secure: underwear, sweatpants and a t-shirt. He dressed her as he had the children all those years ago, then tucked her into her bed, with no protest this time. He had noticed the bleeding from the lacerations on her thighs had stopped, and he did not take liberties to examine the rest of her body for other injuries, but catalogued what he saw just from helping her on with her clothes. He would inflict one of the same to each of the remaining two who had tortured her, and then double it, before he killed them. Never had he taken pleasure in such an evil act, but this time, he thought he might just find something like it.
