There were way too many people in The Hog's Head tonight. Apparently, there had been an arrest almost twenty minutes ago and people were still caught up in the commotion. The authorities had finally left so people were getting back to their drinking ways.
"Drinks on the house!" Someone called amidst the crowd. There was an uproar of cheering as several men rushed to the bar. When Seth went to open the door, the smell of sweat and alcohol was strong. Maybe there was some kind of celebration tonight.
"It's crowded, but its the only place open for a drink this time of night." He called over his shoulder to Alice.
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Axel wasn't here to get drunk, unlike the others. He was here just to chill and get out. To have a little fun and some time to himself. He sipped on a cool butterbeer and wiped his lips on the back of his hand. He was in the back, away from the commotion and the stampede that had just happened when someone offered free drinks. He had a white fedora hat over his shorter crimson red hair, blocking his eyes from anyone else, and a tighter black t-shirt and jeans.
Alice smiled up at Seth and squeezed his cool fingers. She leaned onto her toes to look over his shoulder. Her blue eyes scanned the room and she saw a group of men rush towards the bar like children.
"Oh well. There`ll be a spot or two in the back. And if there isn`t then we can just get a drink and come outside. It`s a beautifull night." She turned her head to look at the sky. In was pitch black except for the moon and the stars, which seemed to have a crystal quality tonight. It was comfortably warm out and there was a soft breeze.
Alice was wearing tight white skinny jeans and black ballet flats. She had a black and white pinstriped jacket over a red tank top. Her thick black hair was pulled up into a messy bun, and her bangs that had fallen out framed her face nicely. Alice had gotten into a dress-up phase. She let Seth think it was just because she was human now and wanted to try different things, but she was actually sort of insecure. She wasn`t perfect anymore, so why would he still want her? Turns out she didn`t have anything to worry about. Her husband wasn`t going anywhere.
"Come on, mon amour." She said, pulling Seth inside and weaving her way towards the back where she could see an empty booth. She slid into one side, her figners still locked around his.
Avalee wandered into The Hogs Head in a mediocre mood. Her roommate had screamed at her for thirty minutes about Avalee accidentally packed one of her roommates jars of potion. It was crazy, but she was trying to forget it. She was going to meet Axel. That always made her happy.
The bar was busy and loud. Crowded and claustrophobic. She was wearing a short black skirt, and a tight red blouse. On her feet were red pumps. She was dressed up, and nicely. Her mother would have made her change her skirt and wear 'more sensible' shoes. Her hair was down in large golden curls. But, her makeup was smeared, and her face flushed. She spotted Axel soon. He was seated, almost hiding, sipping a butterbeer. She decided to sneak up on him.
Avalee came up behind him and whispered in his ear "Did I ever tell you how much I love your new hair?" Then kissed his cheek.
Seth chuckled as he was tugged along by Alice. People must have figured that she "wore the pants in this relationship." He sat down beside her and put his arm around her.
"It's way crowded." He said, looking around. "We probably won't get to get a drink for another ten minutes." I pointed at the ever growing line up front.
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Axel pushed his hat up just a little so he could see Avalee, and grinned. "Hello." He said. "Why, thank you. Did I ever tell you how much I love these beautiful curls of yours?" He played with a curl, twirling it around his finger. Once he let it go, he reached beside him and picked up a newspaper. "Look at this." He said.
On the front was a picture of Sky Mason, running down an ally with a large caption that read:
WANTED FOR ASSOCIATION WITH THE DARK LORD/DEATH EATER'S. DEAD OR ALIVE.
"Didn't she go to Hogwarts recently?" Avalee asked. Both the name and face were familiar. She studied the face. Sky was young and looked scared in the picture. She tilted her head to the side, thinking.
"Do you know her?" She asked.
Alice smiled and nodded. Seth always went along with whatever she wanted, and he was always kind about it, too.
"Yeah, but at least we got a seat to ourselves." She leaned forward and started playing with his fingers. "We need to talk to your parents again, you know." She said softly, running a finger softly over his wrist.
There was a paper folded on the side of the booth with only half of it facing up. There was a black-and white picture of what must have been an alley and Alice could see the words "dead or alive." Curious, she picked it up.
"Hm. Do you know this girl? She just graduated from Hogwarts last year, right?"
Seth nodded, squinting at the photo.
"She taught our classes a lot. She was really cool. She couldn't have been a Death Eater." Seth said. "She was always helping kids and tried to make the lessons fun."
He tried to avoid the topic of his parents. He wasn't in the mood to discuss them now.
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"She was a student teacher." Axel said. "But quit out of nowhere and left. She was a weird girl." He started to scan the article. He read something about her taking some object from the Ministry and how a mark had been found. "I hope they find her and make her suffer." Axel said. "Anyone who followed him should be put to death."
"She must have been very young when she recieved the mark. Sounds like she has been on the run for a while. How does a girl that young get involved in something so dark? So corrupt?" She pondered this as she glanced across the full bar. She saw farmiliar faces and stranger's faces. Happy and sad faces, and angry faces.
Soon she saw two faces, a couple perhaps, that looked farmiliar.
"Axel, do you know them?" She asked inquiring about the cozy couple in the corner.
Alice out the paper down and slowly reached across the table to get Seth`s other hand. Her eyes were cold and serious, all of her laughter from a second ago. Her dark bangs fell into her face, but she made no move to fix it.
"I hope she`s okay. She looks so young and innocent. There was no way that she could be a Death Eater. She`s too soft." Alice looked down at their linked hands and squeezed his fingers. She noticed that he didn`t say anything back to her parent suggestion. He probably didn`t want to talk about that right now, and that was fine, but his parents did need to know that they were married.
Seth looked into Alice's eyes and shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. She'll be okay." He squeezed her hand in return. "Look, I'm just not ready to talk to them right now. They were extremely rude and obnoxious to you. I don't like that." Seth didn't understand how his parents could dislike Alice. He saw so many wonderful things in her.
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Axel looked over at the couple and his mouth nearly dropped. He bit his lip and found his fists clinched underneath the table. What were they doing here? He stared for a short moment, watching Alice speak to Seth and hold his hands. Something was different about her. Nothing bad, but something was certainly different. It annoyed Axel how Alice could be so attached to someone who had left her for those long months. Seth didn't see what she had become. He didn't see her ask for death. But Axel did. He saw a whole other side to her.
"Axel?" Avalee asked worried. He was tense, and seemed angry. She walked around from behind him and sat next to him. She slid her hand down to inertine her fingers with his. His and was hot and tense. Her eyebrows pushed together. What was wrong? Had she done something? Was it the couple that seemed oddly farmiliar to her?
She looked up at him.
((Sky, I didn`t realize how incredibly New Moon that was until just now...))
Alice rubbed the back of Seth`s hand and looked down at the table. They still hadn`t been approached by a bartender, but there were quite a few people up at the bar.
"Look, they were probably just... catious of me because I was a vampire. I`m sure they`ll warm up to me now. I mean, I can`t hurt you like I used to be able to. They were worried about you and they had the right to be. They`re your parents." She paused a moment, looking up into his dark eyes. After a long second she smiled a little.
"I`m going up to the bar. This will be the first butterbeer I`ve had in a very long time where I can enjoy it." She patted his hand and slid out of the booth.
Axel slid out of his seat and looked to Avalee.
"I'll be right back." He kissed the top of her head and walked over to Seth's table, sitting across from him.
"What are you doing here?" Seth asked.
"So she decided to take you back, even after you left her."
Seth's eyes narrowed and his lips pressed together.
"That's none of your business."
Axel leaned forward just a little.
"Did you know she wanted to die? That she wanted me to kill her? While you were back at home enjoying the good life?"
Seth was grasping the edge of the table. Alice wanted to die? He felt his heart sink.
"My Mum was sick!"
"Oh shut up. We both know your Dad could have taken care of her. Face it. You needed time to think about how things would be without her there, always around you. You wanted to make sure she was the one you wanted. But you don't even deserve her."
Seth rose out of his seat and had stood up, his hand suddenly around Axel's neck. Axel smirked as he was pressed against the seat.
"What? Finally realizing its true?" He punched Seth in the jaw, released from his grip and stood up. Seth retaliated with a punch of his own but Axel leaned to the side.
"What do you want?" Seth asked. "Why are you doing this?"
Axel threw the hat that was on his head to the ground.
"You wouldn't understand with that thick head of yours."
And the fight had started. Nobody knew who struck first after that last word, but punches were flying. And it was too risky to be stopped. Physically, someone would get injured. Magically, it could really hurt someone.
Alice had just recieved her order of two butterbeers and a firewhiskey when she heard Seth`s voice raise. She shivered a little; it was odd not being able to hear him breath from across the room, but she would have to get to human hearing. This was what she wanted, after all. Slowly, it seemed, she turned and her eyes locked on the booth where she had been sitting. There was a flash of red then she saw Axel punching Seth.
"Hey!" She yelled. Later she wouldn`t remember what happened to the drinks, but they were out of her hands now. She rushed back to the booth, but by the time she reached it Seth and Axel were really fighting.
"Axel, what the hell do you think you`re doing?" Alice shouted. She approached the pair and hovered to the side of them. "You wonder why you`re not mon amour." She spit, knowing that that would stop him from punching Seth for the moment. No idea how she would keep them from fighting after that, but even a pause would give Seth and advantage. God how she wished she were invincible now. How did humans ever manage?
Had he really expected to sit there as he got into a fight. That's not who she was, or would ever be. She jumped out of the booth as soon as Axel started talking to another guy. She had that fight-or-flight instinct in the pit of her stomach, rising up with the anxiety she knew well. Avalee opened her mouth to shout after him, but Seth's hand was already around Axel's throat, and punches were flying. She stopped dead in her tracks. Violence. The pub drew a little quieter, or it may have just been her. Scared of what was going to happen. She knew the boys could kill each other. She took a step back, shocked into science. She felt a surge of anger as a stranger lashed out and hurt the man she loved. Sh
"Stop it!" She yelled at them, knowing full well it wouldn't help.
Axel could hear the girls speak, but his actions had blocked them out. His anger had gotten out of control. He couldn't stop himself. He had completely lost control of his senses. But he didn't mean to. There was blood on his face from where a punch had broken the skin. He shoved Seth to the ground, one hand holding him down, the other about to punch him. The hand that was holding him down was extremely hot. Seth yelled out as it burnt his skin.
"You're taking...things out of p-proportion Axel!" Seth said through his teeth. "Let's talk about this." Axel brought the fist to the side of Seth's face.
"Shut up!" Axel yelled. But now Seth had pushed him off and rose off of the ground. As Axel stood, Seth grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall. He lifted his fist, ice forming around it, and went to send a punch into Axel's stomach, but Axel grabbed it with his hand and kicked Seth away. He was released from the grip and held out his hand, palm facing Seth's face. Fire was forming in his hand.
"Axel! Stop! You're going to burn the place down." Seth said. The fire became a spinning wheel, as big as one of the tables. Axel didn't say anything. He merely glared at Seth, preparing to attack him with the spinning wheel.
This wasn't just about Alice anymore. This was about how he was treated by Seth's family all those years. How they treated him worse than dirt. How Seth conformed with his family and helped in making Axel's life worse.
Alice eyes twitched as she watched the fight progress. She had seen countless fights and duels-- plus a few vampire banters-- in her time and she had no problem keeping up with the movement. She wasn`t aware of anything else but the two boys fighting. One thing had been expecting was Axel be the first to use his elemental power. Before she even noticed her hands were raised before her, ready to use her own powers. Then she saw them slow down and she jumped at the chance to get between them.
Alice moved forward and in the next second she was between the two boys. The wheel of fire was less than six inches from her and she could feel the heat rolling off of Axel. Her back was to Seth, and she held out her arms protectively.
"Axel, you have to stop now. People are going to get hurt." Her ice-blue eyes seemed to burn, but not from anger. She was disappointed in Axel. She thought he had really gotten a little better about his anger.
Guess she was wrong.
Nothing Avalee did could stop them. Jealousy even ran through her as she hear Alice's comments. Axel had loved Alice? They had something? She felt almost betrayed. She felt anger, and tears in her eyes as her love, her best friend, her only friend, Axel bled. She shook her head sick of it. She hadn't seen him like this. Did she even know him at all? Was this someone knew, or part of the person she loved. She couldn't think straight. She didn't know Seth, but hated violence. Blood was flying and Axel's fire grew large. The fire that had warmed her hands as they walked together on chilly nights. It couldn't ever do something so bad. She was scared of him, and he was about to do something incredibly stupid.
So in turn, she did something incredibly stupid. The fear showed in her eyes as she approached Axel. She took step after step, until she was within reach. Heat flew at her, and made her skin perspire greatly. She laid one hand on his shoulder and took another step. People in the bar must have thought she was an idiot. But she couldn't watch Axel hurt another living being.
"Axel, love, you have to stop!" She said, as calmly as she could. Anxiety, and fear spread through her.She tensed up, ready to be hurt.
Axel pushed Avalee away once her hand touched his shoulder and stepped forward. He brought his hand up and pushed Alice to the ground. ((Sorry if thats a bit of godmodding. =/)) Anger rose up in Seth's body now. How dare he touch his wife? How dare he try to hurt her. Now she and Avalee, and the people here, were at risk.
He changed then and there into the giant white wolf and bared his fangs. He jumped on top of Axel and started to attack him, blood getting onto his fur. He had pressed him onto the ground, on his back, the fire disappearing as Axel was bitten over and over again. Slashed by claws and fangs stabbing into his skin. He yelled out, trying to push him away. Seth didn't even realize how much damage he had done. When he had changed back, huffing and standing over Axel, he was covered in blood. And Axel lay on the ground groaning and gasping for air.
What have I done? Seth thought, eyes wide. But he had no other way. His element wasn't any match against Axel. Seth didn't practice enough. Axel was the stronger person despite the difference in muscle. Changing was the only thing he could do. Axel wasn't prepared for it.
Avalee fell to the ground, eyes wide. Axel had pushed her away. Had pushed her down. And now Seth was killing him. She was so confused. She hadn't believed Axel when he had told her that he could hurt her, that he could lose his temper. She hadn't even considered it.
When her old boyfriends had hit her she could cry, and scream, and they would apologize and she would forgive them. And the cycle would start again. And she would never break the relationship off. She was always dumped, even when she should have been the one mistreated. He hadn't hurt her very bad physically, but mentally it changed a few things, but not all.
But this was different than the others. She didn't care if Axel hit her. She ran to him again. He was on the floor still, right after Seth had jumped off. Blood was everywhere, including all over her hands. She was just trying to clean off his face. "Axel?!" she yelled at him. If Seth tried to hurt him again Avalee, even with her weak magic, would stop him.
"Axel?!" She shouted at him again. She didn't care if he didn't reciprocate the feelings to the same extent as him, she loved him.
((I`m okay with you doing a tad of godmodding there, Sky. =D It`s all good. And by the way, don`t do it yet, please. Alice has something to say.))
Alice had expected Axel to step down, to pause, to do something that would show that he was lsitening. Instead he pushed her roughly to the ground. She landed hard, not expecting the floor to suddenly crash into her and knock her breathe from her lungs. This was the first dangerous situation she had been in since becoming human, and she had absolutely no clue what to do. Before she could just use her supernatural strength to push people apart, or break their bones when they resisted. Fighting had been easy when you were the tougher and couldn`t die. Now she was defenseless.
Before Alice could get up and try once more the get Axel`s attention Seth changed to his wolf form and jumped on Axel. Alice moved-- again-- faster than she thought, and was suddenly standing.
"Seth, no!" She shouted before she could stop herself. What if he got hurt? What if Axel used his fire to burn Seth? There wouldn`t be anything he could do about that. She stood, frozen, until Sethmoved back. He was covered with blood but visibly unharmed. She lurched forward and put her hands against Seth`s chest, looking him over to make sure he really was okay. He didn`t seem to be hurt physically, but there was something in her eyes.
-Axel. What about Axel?-
Alice couldn`t lie to herself, part of her still loved Axel. He had taken her in when she needed someone most and really had kept her alive. He had kept her alive for Seth, and she needed Seth. Seth was her life now, but that didn`t mean Axel deserved to die. Alice looked Seth in the eye, unable to see that her irises were cold black and her skin was pale and about half the temperature of the others in the room.
Without hesitating she let go of Seth and moved over Axel, kneeling next to him.
"Excuse me. I know what I`m doing." She said softly to a young girl who was yelling Axel`s name quite loudly, pushing her hands away. The rest of the bar was silent, and everyone in the room was watching them.
Alice moved practiced hands over Axel`s chest. The coppery scent of his blood didn`t bother her, which it would have if she had still been all vamped out. She pressed her right hand over his heart, feeling both his heartbeat and putting pressure on a puncture wound that was bleeding quite a bit. Looking over the rest of him-- his torn clothes and bloody body-- she knew that there was a very small chance of him living if he didn`t get healed and more blood soon. She shook her head and looked at his face.
Somehow, that was the least-injured part of him. There was a long slice along his cheek, but that was it. Blood ran from the cut into his har and ear. Without thinking Alice moved her hands to cup his face, wishing she had healing powers. Where was that one woman who used to work next door that could do almost anything with magic? She could have helped him, but now.... she didn`t want to think about that.
"I`m sorry. I`m so so sorry. I didn`t mean for any of this to happen, I hope you know that," she whispered, running her fingers of one hand through his hair. Her hands were coated in blood, but she hardly noticed.
"I never meant to hurt you," she added as tears filled her eyes.
Axel's eyes were closed tightly as he pressed his teeth together. He tried to get up but he couldn't. When he moved, more blood just leaked from his wound. He lifted his hand to her cheek and wiped the corners of her eyes.
"You're crying." He said softly. "How...how is that...oh." He realized suddenly that she wasn't cold to the touch and she wasnt reacting badly to the blood. His breathing had become a little ragged.
"Tell me...something." He whispered. "Did you...ever think th-that maybe I was better off for you...than him?" His eyes went to Seth, who stood there watching.
Alice lifted her hand so it touched his, lacing their fingers together. What would she tell him? He was dying, the least she could do was tell the truth. Even if Seth didn`t like it.
"I didn`t think that he was going to come back. I thought that he was done with me, maybe I did something, I didn`t know. When he was gone... I thought that you were the best thing that could have happened to me. You brought me out of my depression and saved me from myself." She thought back to the night where she had asked Axel to kill her. She didn`t want to live any more if she couldn`t have Seth, but Axel showed her that there was another way than suicide.
"I loved you, and part of me still loves you, Axel. Don`t you ever forget that," she breathed. Instinctively she had leaned closer to him, and now her bangs were just brushing his forehead. "Are you in pain?" -I can make it stop, if that`s what you want.- Alice sent the second part of the message to him only. The rest of the bar didn`t matter now, not even the crying girl that had been shouting his name mattered. Axel was dying, and it was her fault in part.
Axel put his arm around Alice and pulled her into a hug. He held her there for a moment.
"No." He said into her ear. "I need to speak...to her." He let his arm slide off of Alice's back and hit the ground with a thump. "And Alice, I-I'm sorry. This isn't your...fault. It's mine. Just mine." He closed his eyes again. "Avalee. Please." He called for her. He needed to talk to her. He needed her touch.
Avalee was shaking as Alice worked. Her heart beat faster than normal. Her hands were covered in Axel's blood and all she could smell was the blood. She keeled there stunned as he hugged Alice and they whispered to one another. She felt another small tear at her heart. So easily jealous, Avalee was. Her eyebrows pushed together, anxiety almost overcoming her. Tears slipped out of her eyes and rolled slowly down her cheek. The pub was so silent. People were watching. She hated being stared at.
Finally he asked for her. She wiped most of his blood off of her hands and onto her skirt and shirt. She was sweating and blood was on her skin especially her hands. "Avalee. Please." She heard her own name.
"Axel, love I'm here." She whispered, drawing close. She held both of his hands, and pressed her ear to his chest, needing to hear his heartbeat.
His heart was slowing down. His hair stuck to his face with sweat mixed with blood. He felt Avalee take his hands, press her ear to his chest where she could hear the last beats of his heart.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so...so sorry if I hurt you. I-I need you..to know that...while I did love her, I still love you. I can't help..how my heart feels. But its feelings for you are...they're stronger Avalee. Honest." He squeezed her hand as he dealt with a surge of pain. "I'm sorry you had to see that. That...fight. I don't know what happened. I don't...I lost control. Every-thing that I've ever felt. Everything I've...ever...experi-enced and all of the hurt I've been...put through. That was what you witnessed. You saw my pain...through my fire." He kissed the top of her head.
"Do you understand?" He whispered.
"Axel, I understand everything! You are the best thing that has happened to me! You have brought nothing but happiness to my life. If I had only met you years ago! We have to get you to hospital!" She looked around, for help, picking her head up off his chest. "Someone?! Do something!" she screamed at everyone in the bar. She applied more pressure to his wounds. She had to do something.
"Axel, don't leave me." For this last statement she was whispering to how only they could hear. Tears spilled over. She kissed his bloodied cheek.
Axel smiled.
"You were the best thing that happened to me. And...be strong. Okay? I'll always...always...watch over you." He lifted her chin so that he could kiss her, and kissed her as passionately as he could. He looked to Seth. "I'm sorry man." Then he closed his eyes and felt his breathing become slower. It was harder to breathe now.
"Avalee. I love you. Don't...forget."
And that was that. He was gone.
Seth bowed his head, felt the whole pub staring, and put his arm around Alice.
"No." Avalee simply whispered at first. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" She began as a whisper, then started yelling. "NO! Axel please don't" She knew she was yelling at a dead body. She hugged him. A man in the pub, who felt pity towards her, tried to pulled her off. She yelled back at them "Get the hell off of me!" She knew Alice and Seth were standing over them, but in her mind it was just her and Axel. In her mind they were hanging out at the Quittich pitch. They were still at dinner in Hogsmead, they were still out by the lake, they were in love.
"I love you Axel, please don't!" She whispered into his ear.
Everything in front of Alice was blurred by her tears. The room felt hot and stuffy around her, and she could hear people breathe and whisper. Sudden discomfort overtook her when she heard Axel say his last words. It felt like a cloud had exploded in the room, and there was no displacement of particles. Something. It felt heavy. She couldn`t take it anymore.
She pushed away from Seth, not caring what he or anyone else thought of the movement, and pushed her way to the door. Well actually, since she was still covered in blood, people moved for her. When she reached the door she slammed her hands into it, making it fly open. She didn`t go outside, but she didn`t need to. The air around her seemed to sigh in relief, like it had been under pressure too.
Alice stood there for a second, able to see before the tears kicked in and began to flood down her cheeks. Her Axel, her savior and angel was gone. Sure, she had her god in Seth, but she wouldn`t even be here if it wasn`t for Axel.
"Alice wait!" Seth yelled holding his bloodied and burned arm out to reach for her. But it was too late. She had passed the crowd that stood starring and pushed open the door. There were faint bloody handprints on the old wood of the door. But Seth didn't even notice as he ran and grabbed it. Alice was just standing there, tears gliding down her cheeks like tiny rivers. He felt the eyes of the crowd on his back and turned suddenly.
"What the hell are you looking at?! Go home!" He gently eased Alice forward and closed the door behind them. He stood behind her and let his hands stand at his side. "What happened between you and Axel while I was gone?" He said, his voice a little shaky. This day was just too hectic.
Alice felt Seth gently push her forward, then take a step back. Her red hands were clenched together and she could feel her nails digging into her palm. For some reason she felt like she couldn't uncurl her fingers.
"Maybe we should go somewhere with a little more privacy," she replied softly, her voice cracking. She didn`t want to tell Seth what had happened. She didn`t want to talk to him at all. She felt betrayed; he had taken away someone that had changed her life. Sure, he felt bad too, but that didn`t take away the naked feeling.
Seth sighed, frustrated, and grabbed her arm. He apparated them to the woods, just a mile or two away. They sounded roughly onto the cold, moist dirt, where the sun hardly shined due to the mass amount of trees and their large size. He let her go and looked at her.
"Tell me. I need to know." He said in an unfamiliar tone. It was almost sad, pleading. With a mix of anger and a feeling of betrayal.
Alice turned around on her heel, her eyes suddenly flashing with anger. Her eyes were still black, like they used to get when she was hungry, and her skin looked pasty. Tears wet her cheeks and eyelashes, but she wasn`t crying any more. Other feelings had replaced her sadness.
"If you worried about what I was doing while you were gone then you shouldn`t have left. You could have at least wrote to me, or something." Her voice was soft but had a sharp edge to it that she couldn`t get out. The anger she had felt towards Seth when he had left hadn`t just gone away when he came back. She still remembered what it felt like to have him gone. Her words were accusing and mean-- Seth didn`t deserve that-- but it had been a hard night, and too many things were still unsolved.
"He comforted me, okay. He reminded me of you, smelled like you. At first I attatched myself to him just because some of your blood was in his veins, and I could sense that. He didn`t mind me being around because he didn`t have anyone else. We were like two stray puppies who had found each other on the streets. We found comfort in having each other there, we couldn`t help it. We pretended that we were actually happy together, like we were a happy couple. We kissed a few times, but there was nothing in it other than the motions. We both wanted other things but we couldn`t have them, so we took each other. Nothing happened, Seth. He was angry at me when you came back because he knew how I felt when you were gone, and that added to his hate for you. I hadn`t talked to him since the bookstore until tonight." By the time she had gotten all of that out her teeth were clenched together and she was crying again. She could feel blood coming from little cuts on her hands from her fingernails, but none of that processed. Right now she just wanted to be angry.
What else could she do? She was human.
Seth stepped back as Alice turned. His heart jumped when he saw her eyes. They were as black as night. He wasn't used to that. But he also wasn't used to her being angry.
"Writing to you would only make it hurt more!" Seth said, clinching his own fists. "I wanted to sever my ties so that we wouldn't hurt more. Do you know how hard it would be for me to receive a letter from you after we broke up? To smell your scent? And...and feel the bumps where you wrote too hard? It would hurt like hell. It would kill me inside." He turned around and started to pace.
"You can't stand there and tell me that there was nothing. I'm not f-ing blind Alice. I saw the way you talked to him. I saw the way he looked at you. Yeah, I know he loved Avalee more than anything, but he had something for you too. And you know you felt the same way towards him."
Alice glared at Seth, her hair haning in her face making her look more savage. She didn`t care about what she said anymore. What she really wanted was some alcohol. Preferably firewhiskey.
"You didn`t have to break up with me, Seth, don`t you get that? I could have gone with you, or something. You didn`t have to leave like you did. Axel was right. You wanted to leave, to get away from me so you could think about our relationship. To make sure I was what you wanted." Alice stood up straight and suddenly her voice was softer, hurt not angry.
"And okay, I loved him. But it was different. I loved him because he listened, he understood what it was like to be alone. You don`t get it. You`re all that I have, Seth. There`s no one else. Everyone who ever cared about me besides you is dead."
"I needed to think. I didn't have two hundred years to decided what I wanted in life. I needed to make sure that even when I wasn't close to you, that you would still be the one my heart called for." Seth brought his hand to his forehead and pushed his hair back as he walked around.
"You know, I don't need this right now. I just killed someone. And not just somebody, but my own blood. I still have his blood on my d**n hands." He pulled the silver band off of his ring finger and flung it down on the ground in front of Alice.
"Come to me when you're not like this. When we're not like this." He looked at her sadly before apparating and disappearing.
Alice watched Seth pulled off his wring, and with that motion it felt as if her heart pulled itself apart. He threw off his wedding ring and threw it on the ground right in front of her. Everything they had for each other was up in the air. A loud sob ripped from her throat the second that he Apparated, and Alice fell to her knees. Her bloody fingers searched through the grass until they found the stained band.
-I`m not coming to you, bastard. You`ll see what it`s like to be left alone.- As soon as the thought ran through her mind she felt guilty, but she didn`t take it back. Seth needed to understand what it felt like to not have anyone, to have taken a life and had to live with yourself. She knew all too well that feeling. Hell, Axel`s own blood still coated her hands. For some reason that didn`t bother her. The coppery scent coated her throat, but she didn`t care. Everything around her seemed sharply in detail and loud. None of this processed.
She stuck the ring in her pocket and stood up gracefully. With tears running down her face she turned and walked deeper into the trees.