-The girl looked as though she might object but without even glancing at her he lifted a hand and used four fingers to wave her away. There was no shortage of idiocy in the known universe and in some cosmic jest of fate he seemed to be drawn inexplicably towards the worst of the lot. This new girl was even worse than the last; if such a thing was even possible. Still even Alec could admit in the morose realm of his own mind that it was not the girl he had been reassigned to that made him so infernally bored and cantankerous. Nor was it the fact that being reassigned meant that his former progeny was deceased. He had long ago stopped allowing himself any sense of sorrow for the fallen ones, though Tynan would be missed. It was not Tynan who occupied the witch's mind.-
"Again Alexandra."
-He didn't have to watch her to know that she was doing things wrong. If she ever got something right it would be a bloody miracle. Alec had a way of making her name sound like two words, drawing it out in his structured British accent so that it sounded like 'Alick - San - Dra". Any child whose ever been scolded by their parents would be quite familiar with the way he said her name. It was the sharp harried expression of a parent with a child, only Alexandra was not Alec's child unless some miracle of the heavens had produced for him an heir. A feat which would most likely be hindered by the fact that he hadn't actually been in possession of a body for over a hundred years. Small details like that tended to get in the way of even the most miraculous of events. Which was exactly what he was trying to explain to his progeny, though admittedly Alec's pedagogical skills were somewhat the worse for wear.-
-As she continued her exploration into incompetence Alec let his mind wander. The very proper looking British gentleman was gracefully lounging against one of the cemetaries larger monuments, his back pressed against the thigh of some angel or another, one knee cocked with his foot resting on the stonework while his other leg draped over the side of the statues base. He wore the same blue suit that he'd worn for over a hundred years, no need really to make any adjustments. It was a waste of power and even if his power were limitless (which it certainly was not) he wasn't one to waste. His jet black hair stood in coiffed disarray from prior years of neglect and a penchant for curling his fingers through it when he was deep in thought, but the gentle breeze across the cemetery grounds did nothing to disturb his hair. Alec looked the same regardless of the weather or any other force of nature because he was quite outside of nature. Alec looked the same way he had when he had left his human body for this non-corporeal form.-
-His thoughts of course were on Caine and on New York and on the real tragedy of what had been left behind. The memory of that night, one night that he'd been again so close to the man he loved and how had he spent it? He had dragged the other man all over New York City solving another case. The rush of power, of discovery, it had made him lose all sense of the precious gift that he'd been given. If he had it all to do over again he would have......well Alec didn't really know what he would have done. He had never really been very good at that sort of thing and though his wealth of knowledge was considerable when it came to the human heart (his own especially) he was found quite lacking.-
-For a man who prided himself on his intellectual prowess, he had fallen low indeed. Thoughts had become subordinate to feelings of all things. Well, tonight was a good time to try and come to grips with this formidable impasse. He found his thoughts returning to the contemplation of what in the world he was going to do about his dear companion, Mr. Valmont. If only he could have just one more chance. If only......behind him he heard a rather large explosion and a few chunks of marble actually went straight through his body leaving whirls of myst rolling in their passage. Alec vanished from his spot and reappeared directly beside Alexandra.-
"Oh very nice Alexandra. Now when you want to move something you can just evaporate it instead. That should prove to be very efficient."
-The manner in which he traveled was a bit of a mystery even to himself. For Alec Dresden was not quite a ghost, nor was he exactly what one might consider alive. In truest fact he was a useless spark of power, a presence of ectoplasm material that happened to be willing or able or both to appear to the truly fully living. If not for his body cloistered away in the abbey at Glastonbury then he might come close to believing that he were not a man so much as a figment of his progeny’s rather unstable mind. Fingers were used to tighten the knot of his blue and silver silk cravat where it was tied at his throat, the flat of his palms smoothing down the narrow cinch of his dark blue waistcoat as he moved closer towards the shattered chunks of the demolished grave marker.-
"Next I should take you to work at the childrens hospital. They'll love this trick."
-Voice curt he saw tears threatening to spill from the young woman's eyes. His own eyes narrowed at her and his mouth turned down in a frown. Women were always so sentimental, wasting their energy on emotional frivolity. You'd think that eventually they'd learn to stomach the truth. Lifting a hand he looped fingers through the curl at the front of his hair and gave it a twist. Even if you've been without a physical body for a century or so some habits never left.-
"Damn it woman. Get a hold of yourself."
-Alec was tempted to reach out and shake her but he hadn't yet used his power to touch this girl. Simply the fact that she could see him had nearly sent Alexandra into a fit of nerves and she had hidden in her closet for days trying to get away from him. The whole thing had been a ridiculous waste of time. There had been Alec in New York City, in Tynan's body riding up an elevator towards a meeting with Valmont and then the next second he was standing in the middle of Alexandra's tenth grade classroom and she was screaming like a lunatic. It was a wonder the child had been allowed to stay in school at all.-
"You've got to concentrate Alexandra. Magic is a gift. But it is squandered and tainted if not used properly. What did I tell you about control?"
-As she began to shakily quote back to him their last lesson he paced across the soggy grass of the cemetery leaving not the smallest blade of grass creased as he passed. For now Alec was staying in this hazy half form, letting his powers collect through the ley lines that connected him to the energy of creation. This progeny would trust him soon and adjust to his unusual state of being and until then he made sure that no one could see him or hear him but Alexandra. The last thing she needed was to have to answer any questions. When she finished her recitation he turned to look at her and saw how tired and bedraggled she looked. Perhaps keeping her up this late had been a mistake? Sometimes he forgot that humans required a certain amount of sleep to be at their best. Even when he'd had a body that was a lesson he'd often forgotten.-
"Alright Alexandra. Go home and straight to bed. We'll continue again tomorrow."
-The little imp didn't even wait for another word. She was already racing across the cemetery and soon enough he would evaporate into nothingness again. If only she were old enough then she could take him back to New York. If only she were powerful enough then she could reinstall him into his body. His life was full of "if only's" and as he began to feel the pull of the ether he saw those amber eyes flash across his mind and an ache settled into his cold tired chest as though a heart was actually beating there. The memory that had been on his mind earlier swept back in and was the last thing he thought about as he was delivered into the purity of the ley lines once again.-
Irritated I paced about the living room of the flat. For the life of me I could not surmise what in the devil had gotten into me to place me in a position where my emotions were running so close to the surface. On the whole I believe that one would say I was a man quite lacking in emotions all together, an almost automaton of inhumanness. Yet here I stood pacing in my dressing gown like someone recently escaped from an asylum. The house maid Mrs Rivers was in a state herself from tending to me, or trying to in her rather infuriating way, and I felt very nearly ready to stifle her with a sofa pillow if she came fluttering in even one more time to see if I would take tea or a meal or some other such nonsense.
“Damn.” I spoke aloud to no one in particular. “Damn, damn, damn.”
My chemistry lab was set up in the far end of the living quarters, much to the dismay of all guests who came to the house for visits. Not that anyone in particular ever visited me, but my roommate Caine did have his fair share of visitations and the smell of my makeshift part time laboratory did seem to be a deterrent to the fairer sex. At the moment however, that was none of my concern since Mr. Valmont had left for an undisclosed amount of time to do god knows what with god knows whom for god only knew how long. Just thinking about that I slammed down a beaker on the table and was rewarded with an angry hiss from the liquid within.
Of course when he had told me that he was leaving I hadn’t said a word about it. Hadn’t really even thought about it. But I was thinking about it now, to be sure. He’d been gone nearly two weeks. Without a word! I couldn’t work, couldn’t sleep, had barely taken food. It began to occur to me that perhaps this distracted state of emotion in which I found myself was not the effect of some case or magical obsession but rather a very simple human emotion. Perhaps I missed Mr. Valmont.
“RIDICULOUS!”
I shouted the word out loud just as Mrs Rivers poked her head in through the swinging door that led from the kitchens to the living room. Just as quickly as I saw her harried face she was ducking back out of the way. Shuffling through the living room in my bare feet I reached for a glass sitting on my laboratory table. It’s contents were a dark rich amber that looked suspiciously similar to something in a nearby beaker but I drank it without hesitation before moving to let my body crash down on one of the couches.
Papers fell about me in a cascade of disorganization that was a pattern throughout the room. Without Valmont there to temper my anger Mrs Rivers had been hesitant to move anything lest I snap at her, and I myself was not given to any fits of desire to clean. There were more pressing matters for my mind to see to than anything so trivial and feminine. Letting out a long sigh and retasteing the liquor that had settled on my lips I gave myself a long moment to think about Valmont and the time he had spent with me. How helpful he was to my work with the supernatural, how understanding he was of my eccentricities, how at the end of the day he was the only person I could be quiet with and feel….anything.
“Ridiculous.”
I said it aloud again, though this time with noticeably less volume and affront behind it. My friend Valmont has many fine, sterling qualities, but of all of them, the most impressive, I think, is his capacity for compassion and sympathy towards those who are in an unhappy situation; those who need his assistance either physically or emotionally or practically. He has assisted me in all these ways over the many years of our association, and it was therefore with the assured expectation of a soothing touch and sympathetic word that I staggered wearily up from the sofa and through the sets of rooms of our little flat as if searching for him though I knew that he wasn’t there.
One would be forgiven for wondering about the less than usual terms I have chosen to describe my long-term companion and trusted fellow adventurer. One would also be forgiven for thinking that it was perhaps more than obvious all along that the good man and I have an attachment to one another that is - well, more than simply Platonic. For years I had suspected the truth. Gathering my evidence from a hundred little clues, I deduced that my dear friend regarded me as more than just as an intriguing, fascinating, exciting figure. He admired more about me than my great brain and powerful personality. His little unjustified remarks about my 'arrogance' notwithstanding, I became convinced that Valmont harboured a deep and meaningful affection for me; that he wanted nothing less than a romantic liaison.
I was delighted to reach that conclusion. Also for years, I had fantasised about the most amazing possibilities, dreaming time and again of how it would be if we could find a way to express our long-hidden desires. Well, he is a very attractive man. But for him the situation seemed far more simple. After all, he was a renowned ladies man with dalliances coming in and out of our flat at all hours for the entire span of time which I had known him. Yes, I noticed also, that if ever I were in need he would put aside these pass times of the flesh to attend to me. I on the on the hand am not emotionally demonstrative, and in the realm of the softer feelings I find myself rather out of my depth. With great self-understanding I recognised that any attempts to express my intentions, given that we were two middle aged men, would perhaps come across less eloquently than I had visualised. I left it to Valmont; sensitive, empathic, and emotionally well equipped, to come to me instead.
He did not. Impatiently I waited for some sign, some indication, however subtle, that might allow a window of opportunity for all those things I wanted to say. I gave him every possible chance; he missed all my cues, no matter how unsubtle, until I became quite frustrated by his obtuseness and thought that perhaps I had imagined the whole thing. With frustration I had turned to my drugs more and more to sooth the voices in my head and heart and tried to throw myself more into my work which was always a more familiar realm. However, now that I found myself without even his friendship to rely upon I realized that for the first time in my life I felt quite lost indeed.
“Perhaps, perhaps I love him….” I pondered that thought as I sank to the ground at the top of the stairs and sat there drunkenly leaning against the railing. “If that’s it then I must admit it to be a very inconvenient and distracting emotion.”
A small hiccup escaped my mouth as I mumbled to myself on the brink of madness. Just then a key turned in the lock downstairs and my keen ears picked up the sound moments before the door opened and I heard footsteps, voices, and the sound of a womans laughter. Caine came through the entryway at the bottom of the stairs with a woman of Irish heritage hanging on his arm like a piece of cheap baggage. I admit that the glare I sent down at them from the top of the stairs must have been quite haunting when combined with the state of the flat and the smell of my chemistry set sulphorously turning the air into a den of science that hadn’t been aired out in a week.
For a second Valmont seemed to take it all in and then his brightly gleaming amber eyes sought me out as he put a hand over the womans mouth to shut her up, a gesture which I will admit I found most wonderful. We stared at one another across what seemed a vague and shapeless distance for a very long time and then he turned to take his guest back out through the front door. I’ve no idea what excuse he gave her, nor how she took it, I only know that he came back inside minutes later with one cheek a dark scarlet. In those minutes I clutched the banister and managed to pull myself to my feet, pride straightening my spine even in my drunken state so that I could stand regally there at the top of the stairs when again he came inside.
“Do you know that Mrs Rivers has been in an absolute state trying to deduce when you would return.” For of course I could not admit that it was I who had been reduced to madness at his absence.
”I assumed that had she been interested she would have asked me before I left.”
“Well, women can be foolish sometimes. I am sure it simply didn’t occur to her to pry into your personal affairs.” He was fishing for something in that sultry liquid smooth voice of his, I could tell. My chin lifted a scant higher in a prideful way as I sniffed lightly as if in disinterest. “I suppose, now that you are home. You may as well join me for cigars and brandy in the study. I’ve had the damndest time reconciling this latest case and could use a chance to bend your ear about…….”
And I was off. Whatever emotional upheaval had come from the revelation that I was quite in love with Mr Valmont it was swept aside in that moment as I came back down the stairs towards him by the always obsession drenched talk of my work. Caine’s eyes seemed to soften as I walked past him and led the way towards the study, the smile on his face one of great understanding, and I imagined that he did indeed understand both what I was saying and what I could not say.
”I missed you too Dresden.”
It was spoken soft, low beneath his breath, so that I could pretend I hadn’t heard it if I wished. Just after he said it Mrs Rivers entered the study where we had gone to take our repast and she carried with her a tray with the brandy and cigars that we liked so well in he evening. She set the tray down and then practically threw her arms around Valmonts neck to whisper how glad she was that he had returned. No doubt now she would feel it safe to tidy p without a chance of me coming in in a temper and accusing her of moving important items. Life, could get back to normal. Except that the whole while Caine and I watched one another, our eyes locked after the words that he had spoken, and when she left us alone again we stared silently for a moment longer before I broke the stillness.
“I’ve been utterly lost without you. My work has suffered for it. I don’t think that I could do it again.” And for me that was as close to a sonnet as could ever have been written. My work suffered from nothing, but it had suffered from the lack of him. But no sooner had I said it than I was in my chair, brandy in hand, laying out the details of my latest paranormal investigation to him. And bless him, he was lighting my pipe and taking a seat himself to curl up like a cat and listen to my ramblings as the night grew late and the fire beside us crackled. And I knew on some level that though life could go back to normal, that wasn’t what I wanted, and some things were about to change forever.
-- Edited by ALEC DRESDEN on Thursday 23rd of June 2011 01:41:25 AM
-- Edited by ALEC DRESDEN on Thursday 23rd of June 2011 01:57:53 AM
His words echoed as she ran off, ran home, fighting the tears that were still threatening. He didn't get it, no one ever got it. She wasn't upset dammit. She was furious. Furious with him for showing up and making a bad year worse.
"Again Alexandra."
Her teeth gnashed together as she ran, even an echo of memory and the words had that crisp edge. She didn't want him here, he obvious did not want to be here, teaching her this... insanity... but still there he was, showing up with only that brief flash of warning before he appeared.
"Agan Alexandra."
Over and over he drilled her, making her parrot words back to him, every inch of him bored, disgusted, so obviously not wanting to be here teaching her. She ran, fingers curled tightly in whiteknuckled fists barely noticing the throb of what she now knew was a leyline, until she raced through it, unheeding of her roiled emotions, of what she was thinking, of wishing she'd never ever seen HIM.
*KEERRRRRRRRAAAAACCCCCCKKKKKKK*
The snapping explosion had her skidding to a half even as she saw the glimmer flash brightly around her. "Dammit!!" She stared at the small tree that now lay in her path, a small section of the trunk burst into splinters. She looked around furtively, "please let him be gone... to whereever he goes..... please." The words mumbled under her breath, watching the faint gleam of power around the splintered wood slowly fading. She moved slowly around the broken tree, another furtive look around before she stumbled back on her path towards home, exhaustion from that inadvertant draw of power sapping what little strength she had left after the nights' training.
Mental note: don't wish bad thoughts about anyone when moving near a leyline.
"About time you got home." Marcie was in the kitchen when Andi stumbled in, bleary from the practice, from her accidental pruning, from the run home. Nothing like getting caught by the big sister when you were getting in after curfew.
"Don't you have your own place?" It was all she could do not to slur tiredly, "Oh wait, that's right. You'd rather stay here and pretend you're mom or something. Get laid, have your own kids and boss them around" Eldest and youngest had their issues obviously and it was well known how much they sniped back and forth.
Marcie's eyes narrowed at the littlest Ambrose, "At least I could if I wanted to. Unlike the little freak that would rather stare at hallucinations then deal with the real world."
"That's enough Marcie," Maeve had entered the kitchen then, the matriarch of the family looking from one daughter to the next before moving to Andi's side, wrapping an arm around her youngest. "Andi, you've been studying too hard I think." There was something in the way she said, something more to the soft words.
Marcie rolled her eyes, snorting softly, "She'll always be a freak if you keep spoiling her."
A familiar argument, one that Maeve simply ignored as she guided Andi from the kitchen and towards the stairs. "Go to bed sweetie. Don't let her get to you."
Maeve's presense always dulled the pain of Marcie's words, making them bearable. A faint smile touched her lips as she gave her mom a quick hug, "Alright mom. G'night." Normally she'd bounce her way up, today it was her grip on the rail that allowed her to pull herself upwards and to her room. Clothes were skinned out of, leaving them in a trailing pile before she crawled into bed.
"Again Alexandra."
His words echoed in her head on last time, too tired not to get angry. Too tired to do anything but sigh before falling asleep, barely noticing the shimmers of light brightening the room around her, glimmers only she could see.
