literature

Simon, Rachael: Deadlock ::3/4::

Deviation Actions

KristieConspiracy's avatar
Published:
284 Views

Literature Text

Simon, Rachael: Deadlock
Part 3/4: De Facto
--------------------------------------------------

"...Should outlaw byzantine," Rachael heard the nurse tell her father at some point during the surgery. Julius nodded, apparently taking this suggestion, but in actuality not even considering it. She knew he favoured the use of guards over the use of laws; and it would be unjust to deny the mortals' access to their only dependable weapon against rogue vampires.

All the same, sitting on the edge of her bed in her room, she couldn't help but think how stupid it was that they went to all this trouble to appease the humans, only to be led astray every single time.

She had forced two guards, hers and Leo's, to move Simon. She would have done it herself, if she wasn't terrified of ripping his stitches. Now Simon slept in her bed, after the surgery. This was where they had argued earlier that day.

"Byzantine," she muttered, voice strained. "That filthy human bastard; what a dirty trick." She wanted to cry, but at the same time, she always cried so loudly, having never mastered Valentina's talent for hiding emotions. And she didn't want to wake Simon. If she did, he would be in pain, since he refused pain killers. He didn't want his judgement to be clouded, she knew that. She understood it, she would do the same thing.

But pain clouded the mind much more effectively than any of the drugs that the nurse had access to. And byzantine was a particularly malicious substance. If it didn't kill a vampire immediately, it would kill them slowly and with as much pain as was possible. The surgery had removed all of it that the nurse could find, with Leo's help, and with a surprisingly calm, albeit crying, Vanity keeping watch. Rachael wondered if perhaps it hadn't occurred to Vanity that her brother would be dead by morning.

A lump caught in her throat and she moved from the bed, getting to her feet and quietly padding to the balcony that she had been staring at. Byzantine, she recited mentally, trying to somehow distract herself from crying. Facts usually worked for that. Metal that only ever harms immortals, and of those, vampires, the most. Can be stopped, if all traces of metal are removed. In normal cases, causes some loss of abilities, slowing of the healing process. Takes decades for the previous rate of healing to be restored, and powers almost never return. Has never been injected into the bloodstream before. Could have solidified, didn't, according to the nurse. He's never going to heal again. That's his power, that's what Simon does, what all Corresor's do, they're the only vampires left in Domino with such selfless abilities...

"It's raining," he said softly, apparently having awoken. He spoke quietly, not to set the mood, but because it hurt too much to do anything else. At least, that's what Rachael deduced from his tone.

Rachael didn't look around, drawing her coat tighter around herself. She hadn't realized how cold she already was. Worse than that, she hadn't noticed that she was already crying. If Vanity was the last one left of the Corresors', what could possibly happen? She would be distraught. And if I don't look at him, then the facts can still be disproven.

"Rachael, love, you're soaked," he called, sounding incredibly strained. She wished he'd take the damn pain killers, or sleeping pills. If he couldn't speak, couldn't react to the messages of his nerves, then maybe she could operate under a delusion.

"Rachael, please. Get out from under the rain."

"No," she finally whispered. Her voice was so quiet out of desperation; if she heard the tremor in her own voice, she knew that her sobs would be uncontrollable. She didn't want that, she had to be distinguished and in control. If she lost it, she wouldn't be able to do anything.

"Rachael..."

"Simon, I love you, but I refuse to watch you die!"

When the stitches tore, she knew he moved, and it occurred to her that this was the loudest sound she would hear from him for the rest of her life. The thought broke her, and, when his cold arms closed around her, the sobs tearing from her throat were more painful than the results of the time she had fallen off of a balcony.

"Why?" she cried, furious and emotional and broken, all at once.

"He said he was going after Constantine's," Simon told her, pressing his lips to her forehead and holding her against his chest despite the blood that was starting to blossom. "By letting him get me, by talking him down, I was really protecting you. That makes it worth it."

She didn't know what to say to that. For the first time, Rachael didn't know what to say.

But standing alone with him, rain cascading over the eaves and flooding the wood around their feet, she could almost believe that everything that had happened that day had just been some kind of terrible nightmare. If I close my eyes and I wish hard enough, he won't be dead. He won't be dying, stretching out of reach, so far beyond my grasp. It'll be okay.

The only thing stopping her from succumbing to the lie, was the overwhelming evidence that nothing would ever be okay again.

I blame Cassie for this, largely; but the idea of Simon and Rachael actually developing as a person is technically my fault.

Read part 1 HERE
Read part 2 HERE
Read part 3 HERE
Read part 4 HERE

Text, plot, Simon, Vanity (C) KristieConspiracy
Domino, Rachael (C) Colored-Insanity
© 2014 - 2024 KristieConspiracy
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In