CLINK.
Our glasses met with a quiet cheers, though we weren’t sure what we could be celebrating. An awkward moment in cherishing the favor that we had escaped the night with our lives...well, in some form, I reminded myself of the living act of 'unlife' that I was. We sat on Isaac’s long midnight blue suede couch, a few spaces apart from each other, in silence.
Isaac put back a big gulp of bourbon and reached for the low center table, a cherry wood of some kind with interconnecting patterns like a grid layered atop, to grab the bottle of high end bourbon that he'd opened a few minutes ago.
He poured another tall glass and sighed, before placing the now half empty bottle back on the table.
I held my glass neatly in the seat of my lap, sitting up straight, somewhat nervously, peering into the amber liquid and taking in its overpowering scent, even from afar. It made me wonder if it felt even more potent for Isaac, or only when he was in his other form?
“Do you want to talk about anything?” I finally spoke up, breaking the silence.
Isaac whetted his lips, still staring at his own drink, but taking no time to process what I was saying, in any form. His mouth opened to utter the word 'no,' but nothing came out. He remained in silence, yet speaking volumes.
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I nodded slowly, to myself. “We’re making progress, ya know?”
“In what way is that?” Isaac coughed, before taking another sip.
“The soul farms have been taken down. There’s further strife between Perrault and Lucretia. Things are dissolving for him.” A thin smile broached my lips. “He’s losing his cool.”
“Why is that something we desire? A madman losing his sensibilities further,” Isaac growled. “We needed to end him when the opportunity had presented itself. This opportunity laid bare before us...and yet mine own brothers let the it slip away. They betrayed blood!” Isaac scowled. “Perrault will not take this lightly. At what price have we sowed such loss?”
I took a swig from my own drink and inched closer to him, the couch groaning as I did, and laid a hand upon his thigh. “This is the perfect time to lay a trap for him,” I stopped, my thoughts wandering to the horrible truth. “I know he wants me. This special thing about me. Lucretia wants it too.”
“That is out of the question,” Isaac snapped, pounding back his drink and slamming it on the table. “We scarcely know anything about this specialty anyway. Perhaps Denaux can—“
“Perhaps you should trust me,” I craned my neck to look into his face, putting my own drink down. Instantly, I felt something come over me and straddled him, clutching his face to look deep inside his glimmering eyes, eyes filled with surprise. “Use me.”
There was barely a moment's hesitation as his eyes locked with my own. He grabbed my neck pulled me in, kissing me passionately, biting my lip and causing a little blood to trickle down the side.
I gasped at the shock of it and pulled back. Not because I didn’t enjoy it though.
Isaac saw my reaction and reeled. “I—I don’t know what came over me. My apologies,” he lifted me off of him gently and rose to leave the room, heading for the bathroom. “Uh, you can stay here tonight, I’ll take the couch, you the bed.” He launched the bathroom door shut behind him.
I sighed, confused at his reaction, and my own. Didn’t he want this? Didn’t we both want this? What scared him so much? Was it me...or his own misgivings? I let my body fall back on the couch and looked up at the ceiling, my finger instinctively reaching for the blood on my lip. Its blackened tones menacing, hideous, all consuming. Maybe all I am...is just...a monster.
