Sleeping In A Graveyard

Everyone in the Sparks house was silent. All you could hear was Kaeden's shallow breath and Marionette's weeping. Her dreams filled with terrible images of the night before, the blood that seeped from Cain's lips, terrifying red eyes. All of it made her toss and turn, part of her wanted to stay awake forever because she couldn't close her eyes without seeing those images but because every time she woke up she would feel the pain all over her body from the ordeal it just made everything more real.

Every now and then sniffling and wiping her eyes she tried her hardest to stare at the plain blue wall in front of her to try and find some solace in it. Diana was sent to watch over her to make sure she was okay. She was truly worried about Marionette, having always wanted to be her friend. She had hoped that now would be a good time since at the moment Marionette needed all the support she could get.

Lance was the one who didn't know what to do. He was sure of himself that Marionette didn't want anything to do with men, especially after finding out so much jumbled information at once. He felt bad for Kaeden who now had to possibly deal with Marionette being afraid of him even if he had saved her life. Lance was surprised to see how nice Diana and Cordelia were being toward himself. He could tell they cared for Kaeden and Marionette.

***

"Who's the human girl that he saved? She's not of hunter blood or anything is she?" Lamont questioned as he checked Kaeden's vitals.

"A girl named Marionette Spelling. Apparently he has been seeing her for awhile." Sion answered rather coldly, having found this information out from Jesse after confronting them all about it. Lamont nearly missed Kaeden's vein as he tried to draw blood.

Lamont knew that name. It was his girlfriend's little sister. He remembered her telling him briefly after she had gotten back that her little sister was in relations with a vampire. Never had he expected it to be Kaeden, a truly famous vampire for his age.

"Lamont?" Lamont smiled nervously while testing Kaeden's blood for the garlic.

"Forgive me. I thought I knew that name. I should go check on the girl, Kaeden is progressing rather well." Sion nodded his head staring down at Kaeden.

Everyone knew Sion was disappointed in Kaeden. Kaeden was suppose to succeed him in the coven. He had been the first one of his family line since he had turned Cordelia knowing the potential Kaeden had. He expected a lot from Kaeden and this was not it. He had been a fearsome killer and fighter back when he had first been turned. He had never fallen in love with a mortal before and figured he never would. Why Kaeden was going soft he couldn't fathom, although killing Cain did show his old colors.

When Lamont walked into the room he saw Diana sitting there just watching Marionette. Marionette had been in and out of sleep, waking up screaming needing Diana or Cordelia to rush to aid. Lance didn't know what to do in those situations, he wanted to scoop her up into his arms and protect her but he dared not. He feared she would just scream and make her more upset than she already was.

Lamont smiled weakly at Diana and checked on Marionette to make sure that everything was healing properly. She had a lot of bruises and deep bite marks on her breasts and neck. He was appalled that there were still some vampires that would mistreat humans like this.

"How is she?" Lamont looked at the ghost who was oddly attached to Marionette and smiled softly.

"Her physical health has improved greatly but her mental health is something different. It will take much longer for her to come to terms with it perhaps. She may never even get over it." Both Diana and Lance bit the inside of their cheeks terrified of the thought that she would never recover from it.

In all of Diana's immortal life she had never felt such sorrow for a mortal before. Never had she seen Cordelia or Sion even consider taking in a mortal without intent of feeding or turning them. She wondered if it was just because of the circumstance Kaeden had put himself and Marionette in.

***

"Let go of me!" Kaeden screamed as Sion pushed him back down into the bed. Kaeden glared up at him, ripping out the I-V that was feeding him blood and the one that was draining him of his poisonous blood.

"You are not well! Get back into the bed, Kaeden!" Sion yelled as Kaeden still fought. Everyone heard the commotion and ran downstairs.

Lance looked at Kaeden horrified, he was pale and shaky but still fighting Sion off with whatever strength was left. Diana was behind him, gripping his arm afraid of what would happen, she had seen Kaeden angry and desperate before and she was frightened.

Jesse glared at him, he was furious with Kaeden. Jesse didn't like the fact that Kaeden was being taken by a mortal. He knew Kaeden as a strong leader, never one to fall to his knees for anyone.

"Where is she? Lance!" Kaeden called for him and Lance rushed over. Lance was the only one who was there with him and knew he would never truly leave Marionette's side after something like that.

"Is she okay?" Lance looked at Kaeden sadly knowing that Marionette was in better health but her emotional health had been wounded severely.

"She's healing. But she won't talk, she's always crying. She sometimes wakes up screaming, Kaeden, she needs you." Lance knew the only person that could help her through this, help her make sense of it was Kaeden.

Of course he didn't want to give Kaeden the upper hand but none of that mattered right now. They both cared deeply for Marionette and getting her back to her usual dark self is what they both wanted. Sion objected to this completely.

"Kaeden, you are ill and that girl is a mortal! What you have done has already gotten you in enough trouble!" Kaeden glared at Sion and pushed him off. He knew he shouldn't be doing anything like that but he had no choice.

"I don't care. Marionette needs me and I won't leave her alone." With that said, Kaeden removed the blanket that was wrapped around his shoulder and made his way upstairs.

Everyone shied away from him except Lance who followed him to the room where Marionette was being kept. He approached the door slowly not wanting to scare her and then began to question himself. Should he even go in there? "Go." Lance urged him and gave him a small push. Kaeden took a deep breath and then opened the door.

There she lay, quiet, sleeping. Kaeden looked at her intently, seeing the small bruises on her face. Kaeden couldn't remember much from that night but her knew enough that Cain had soiled her. Forcefully took away her innocence and stripped her of her dignity. The bite mark on her neck that Cain had given her was slowly healing. Kaeden closed his eyes not being able to look at it, afraid of what else lay underneath her clothes.

He sat next to her on the bed and watched as her eyes twitched underneath her eyelids and her heart race.

"Marionette..." he whispered hoping that maybe somehow he could calm her. Almost instantly her eyes opened up and she looked directly at him. Kaeden smiled feebly at her, looking into her bright blue eyes. They had lost some of their shine and it frightened him. What shocked him more though was the glare he was receiving from her.

"You..." She whispered, tears falling from her eyes. Kaeden clenched his jaw and went to wipe away her tears when she looked away.

"Why didn't you tell me? Were you just waiting for the right time to bite?" She yelled at him, sitting up straight. Kaeden backed away horrified shaking his head desperately.

"Marionette, never! I-I care about you, I never planned on hurting you. You know that, I know you do." Kaeden grabbed her hands as she cried even harder. She started to pull away and Kaeden just pulled her closer.

"No...you're...you're a vampire!" Kaeden looked down at her, hurt. He was afraid of that, it was one of the reasons why he didn't want to tell her but now he had to but he wasn't going to let her think they were all like that.

"I am, but I am nothing like Cain. Marionette...my family is all vampires, we exist everywhere. I most of all, never want to hurt you. Of I did I could have a long time ago." Marionette looked up at him shocked, seeing the seriousness in his face. She brought up her hand and touched his face.

"So that story about Woodstock was true?" Kaeden chuckled and nodded his head. She gave him a small smile and then hugged him.

"I know you would never hurt me...I'm just so scared all the others would. That...he would." Kaeden made Marionette look up at him, holding her fragile face in his large hand.

"I can promise you, that he can't ever hurt you again. He's...gone." Marionette looked up at him shocked and thought about his words. She saw Lance's profile from the hallway and called out for him. Almost instantly he came in and gave her a small smile.

"Hi." He said quietly. She smiled at him and then threw a pillow at him. Kaeden backed away a bit shocked.

"What was that for?" Lance asked picking up the pillow from the floor.

"For not telling me about Kaeden." She wiped the tears away from her face and both men could almost see the blue in her eyes started to brighten. Diana then walked in and smiled at Marionette, handing her some clothes.

"When you're ready to come out, the shower is over there and you can wear these." Diana smiled brightly at Marionette who just stared at her shocked. Marionette smiled shyly as Diana walked out of the room again. Marionette looked down at the clothes surprised that it was something very much to her liking.

"We'll leave you alone now." Lance announced smiling at Marionette. Kaeden nodded his head standing up as well, almost losing his balance feeling just how drained he was.

"Yeah, I need to get back to something." Kaeden remarked so Marionette nodded her head.

"I think I'd like to be alone for awhile." Both of them nodded their heads and left the room closing the door behind them. Sion and Cordelia outside waiting for the two of them.

"She wants to be alone, but she seems better." Kaeden looked up at Sion who was extremely pissed and knew he was in trouble. He knew it he had caused trouble the moment he had killed Cain, what he had forgotten was how much Sion would be unhappy too.

"Kaeden, they will be coming, and very soon. Go back downstairs and finish your treatment with Lamont." Kaeden nodded his head and headed downstairs, Lance holding him up because he was so drained.

Cordelia watched them go down and then looked at her husband. Sion was frustrated and ran his fingers through his hair. She walked behind him and began to massage his shoulders.

"Love please," he tried to brush her off but she insisted. Slowly guiding him to their bedroom where they could speak in private. She sat him down on a rather large one-seater couch and continued to massage him.

"Sion, you really shouldn't be so harsh with him. You were a mortal once too, and in love." Sion glared up at her.

"That was a long time ago, Cordi. We were given orders to adapt with humans not, love them. A handful of us don't even follow those rules, look at Cain. Him and his family have been full of blood lust since they were turned. It's not our job to protect humans, we simply need them to--"

"To help give us life! Sion can't you see humans are not under us, but in a way above us. We need them, they help remind us that we aren't completely dead! Sion, that girl in there has changed Kaeden. He smiles more, has this brightness in his eyes...that you used to have when you looked at me." Sion looked at Cordelia shocked. What was she saying?

"Love, when I look at you--"

"You barely look at me anymore. Sion, you're so worked up about Kaeden becoming the head of the clan, while you're still considering the offer of the Varcoli. But have I seen that look you used to give me? You used to sweep me off my feet at any given moment to just dance. You've taken that away from, don't take it away from Kaeden." Cordelia glared at him and quickly left the room. Sion sat there in shock, he didn't know what to say or do. He knew where she was going, she would always go to the same place when she was upset but should he follow?

He had never known that all the business he had been helping with among his kind had been taking a toll on her. She had certainly never mentioned it before but he knew it was only because she knew him. He would get his mind started on something and wouldn't give up until it was done. Sion indeed loved Cordelia, with all his heart. That had been together for nearly a thousand years, but maybe that's why she felt this way. A thousand years their love was there but his wasn't so forthcoming. Sion looked at his open bedroom door and thought about it. Quickly he stood up and walked across the hallway, to the stairs to where his beloved was.

"Is Cordelia alright?" Diana asked as he passed her. He looked down at Diana for a moment and gave her a soft smile.

"I'll take care of her. Oh, and...tell Kaeden...I will be with him when they come." Diana was shocked. She watched him leave the room to where Cordelia had stormed off to and a small click. She thought that Sion wouldn't be with Kaeden when they would arrive. Sion had hinted out otherwise to Kaeden and wondered what the big change was. But she didn't think on it too much after she heard the click from the door, signifying that he had locked it and they were not to be disturbed. Shaking her head, she walked upstairs to take a sneak peak at Marionette. However when she opened the door, Marionette was nowhere to be found.