Our Deathly Love

Wetting my bottom lip I watched worriedly as Chloe and Tristan took their places in the center of the circle. Chloe and Tristan were forced to lay down next to each other, I could tell it was unwilling that their shoulders had to be touching. Slightly nervous I watched as Doris made them put on a black slip of fabric that was going to be used as a blindfold.

Everyone around me shot each other nervous glances, no one was sure what would happen because of this.

"Remember no matter what is said, no one is allowed to say anything, we will need total silence." Doris said giving each of us a serious look as she went back to watching Chloe and Tristan as they laid silent in the center.

Turning my head I gave Jasper an on-edge look, before allowing him to hold my hand. Taking a deep breath, I realized that I really liked this. I liked having someone to hold my hand when I wanted it, and I liked being able to be babied a bit. It was nice for a change, to let someone else be the adult, in the situation. Even though I was worried for Chloe and Tristan, in that moment that Jasper's hand linked with mine, I knew that everything would be okay.

Corny, and sappy, even I wanted to gag as I thought about it, but it was true none the less. And as his warm and large hand wrapped around mine, I allowed myself to calm down, I was safe and it was stupid to worry.

"Who would like to go first?" Doris asked looking at Chloe and Tristan, an odd look upon her face as she studied them. I watched equally her face, and Tristan and Chloe, wondering if there was something I was missing. What was she looking for?

Chloe's hand rose shakiness present as she did so. I even noticed a quiver in her lip as she did so. Next to her I could see Tristan tense up as Doris told Chloe, okay.

"I am guessing that you and Tristan do not get along is that right?" Doris' voice was a little off, somehow I could tell that she already knew this. She had read Ripplye's notes, but it seemed she wanted to hear this from Chloe herself.

"Yes, we h-ate each other, I suppose." Chloe said, stammering a moment on the word hate something I found really odd.

"Why?" Doris said simply her hands folded in her lap as she smiled whimsically.

"Why? I-I... We just do." Chloe's voice wavering at first became sure and shrill at the end. Odd, indeed. I had to wonder if Chloe was trying to hide something because we were all here. Yet, that sounded stupid, Chloe never hid her hate of Tristan around everyone, although she sometimes gave reason, they were stupid in taste, or at least I thought that.

"So the hatred is mutual, and Sweety 'just do' confuses me, that does not explain anything to me." Doris, was now getting at something, I really wanted to laugh at this. Her voice was in a tone that Chloe would appreciate, yet she was asking questions that Chloe did not really know the answer to.

I watched as Chloe's head shifted towards Tristan for a moment as she laid on the ground. I could tell without even seeing her eyes, or knowing what she was thinking, that she was wondering the same questions as Doris.

Sighing, deeply Chloe nodded slightly to herself before continuing, "Yes, I-I think we do, we have for a while now, and it's a long story not to mention complicated." Chloe's voice was totally not sure now, it was easy to tell she was not happy with the way the conversation was going, but I was not going to save her this time. Arya was not going to dash in and help her out of this needed conversation, and Tristan was not going to stomp out. Chloe was going to have to answer the questions.

"I think I have time for long and complicated, and have you even asked Tristan if he hates you?" Doris said a small smile upon her face. I could not help but smile as well at the surprised look on Chloe's face at the comment.

"No.... But, he does, I know he does, he has too." Her voice was now shaky and fearful, at the same time, I think she was more afraid he would answer, a real answer is worse than an assumption.

"Tristan?" Doris' asked, bringing up the question that no one was sure of the answer of except Tristan himself.

Tristan had done what was expected of him, he has listened and kept quiet like Doris had asked, and now that he was able to speak I could tell that he had something to say.

"Yes, sometimes I think I hate you Chloe, you are good at screwing me over and screwing things up, but in reality I don't hate you. I don't think I am able to hate you, Chloe." His voice just as shaky, but unlike Chloe's it was not shaky with unknowing, but with truth.

"See, then if you do not hate her why are you guys fighting all the time? I am guessing you know each other more than as just room-mates?" Doris asking this simple question seemed to make Chloe and Tristan twitch with panic.

Tristan was quick to answer first, "We grew up together, at first we were close..." His voice left doubt to the ending, how close was left to the imagination, although Chloe had said when she was drunk that they were going to get married.

"That is a lie we were closer than just close Tristan, we were going to get married, we were in love, and you destroyed everything." Chloe's voice shattered the non-fighting mood that had been present.

"Chloe we were nine, we could not be in love, I wasn't the one to push you away if you remember, and it is not my fault that I have brown hair and eyes, I did not cheat on you, I did not do anything wrong, I did not make this happen Chloe. If you want to blame anyone blame your father for being such an asshole who can not treat people like human beings and act like a normal person." Tristan's voice was nothing but a hiss of anger now.

I think everyone was lost now, how did Chloe's dad have anything to do with their problems. Sure he had been against Tristan but the hatred Tristan showed Chloe's dad was not normal.

"I-I was in love with you, and it was even past when everyone found out about what you really look like. Keep my father out of this Tristan, he has nothing to do with me." Her voice was cold at the end, she obviously wanted him to drop it, but I could tell Tristan was not going too.

"Face it Chloe, your father tells you how high to jump and if you don't do exactly what he says or even if you do he beats the shit out of you. Face it your father is messed up, and you know it. I have seen his handiwork Chloe, we both know that those broken bones were not from falling off your horse as you said they were." His voice dripped with sadness and anger as he spoke those words.

That was when I understood what was going on. His words hit everyone including, to my surprise, Arya with shock. No one knew what to do, everyone just looked around at each other clueless, even Doris looked unsure what to do next.

"No- That is not true! You just lie, he never-" Chloe's voice dropped off at that moment, I could tell that she was crying deeply.

"If it is not true say, that he never hit you, say it and I will take it back Chloe." Tristan's words sliced through me, the amount of truth in them made me sick. I held little doubt that Chloe's dad was normal anymore. I knew he was speaking nothing but the truth. I just knew.

"He-he... It was my fault, he did it because I needed to be purified, I was sinning, he was helping me." Her voice cracked as she realized the lie in what she was saying.

"Somethings are your fault Chloe, but him hitting you is not. It never will be, I don't care what he says Chloe, he has no excuse for ever touching you." Tristan's words were all it took for Chloe to rip off her blindfold and for her to run out of the room, tears flying in every direction. The moment she was not next to him, Tristan did the same running after her, along with Arya in tow. Leaving the rest of us to stop and stare at their escape.

The room was in an uproar. No one could hold in the words they had on their minds anymore, including Jasper.

"I knew she was hiding something, but I would not have guessed... Did you?" His eyes gave me an odd look as he asked the question.

"I hardly knew Chloe, she did not tell me, Tristan did not tell me either... From the look on Arya's face she did not know either. This is serious though, I could not tell that it was something this big that was troubling her, what do you think?" I asked looking at him a frown now on my face.

"The bruise makes since now." He said almost as if he was talking to me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked giving him an odd look.

"When I helped her do the dishes the first night here, she had a large bruise on her arm. I had asked her what it was from and she had told me that it was from bumping it when putting the luggage on the bus, but now that I think about it, it looked like fingers not a suitcase handle." He said shrugging his shoulders as he looked off into space.

Tilting my head I gave him a worried look. Biting my lip I thought about what he had said. I had once read that OCD could be caused by a need to be in control, something Chloe would want if she had little at home.

What worried me was the fact that Tristan knew but didn't tell. Why didn't he tell before? What were they doing now? I imagine Chloe is still trying to get away from them, but Tristan and Arya run fast, they would get to her before she would do something stupid, if Chloe ever did anything stupid.

I felt the need to also go after her, but that was not my place, Tristan and Arya, no matter what Chloe said, were her best friends. They would give her the needed comfort, and help her in a way that I would make awkward, plus I would only slow them down.

So I stayed in my seat, waiting for what Doris would say next.

"I think it would be best if we continued." Doris said running her fingers through her hair as she shrugged.

"Shouldn't we go get them? Chloe obviously wants to be alone Tristan will only make things worse." Rose said trying to get up, only for Vincent to pull her back down.

"No, Rose, keep up really, he is in love with her, you can tell, let them work it out, right Miss K. ?" Vincent said shaking his head at Rose, a small smile upon his face as he said that.

"I would not go that far, but he did go after her, I think Arya and him will help her work things out, although that proves that I need to keep coming back." Doris said smiling at Vincent, I watched as Ripplye mouthed 'shit' to herself before looking back down at her paper writing more notes down.

"I would like to continue though Mikey, Rose, would you please do me the honor of coming the center of the circle?" Doris asked politely.

As Mikey and Rose complied I realized that Tristan had yet to stay to the end of a house meeting yet, without stomping out. Strange, and slightly funny, if you ask me.

This would be more laid back, in my opinion Rose and Mikey only had one reason they disliked each other and it was because Mikey was jealous of Rose getting to be with Vincent.

Their questions went quickly it was an open and close case like I had thought. Rose wanted Mikey to leave her alone, Mikey wanted Rose to stop dating Vincent.

It only took five minutes of them talking and arguing over something so stupid after what we had all heard about Chloe and Tristan, for Doris to ask them to go back to their spots, and Vincent and I to come forward.

When I took my place on the floor I was worried. I had not expected Chloe to reveal so much, and now that I was the one with the blindfold on and the room of listeners I was scared.

Scared crap-less in fact. I was so scared I was worried that I would puke, all over the living room floor like I had in the bushes outside of the church. I was not full of energy like before, but that most likely was because Jasper had been touching me. Maybe, holding his hand was more than comforting, it was healthy.

I knew if it wasn't from holding his hand it had to have been from kissing him. I'm sure he would have loved to know that he was helping me right now simply because he had gotten me to forgive him in a very, nice way.

Not, that I would tell him that. Well... Unless I really wanted to kiss him and for some reason he was holding out, I was not above using that.

Yet, I had to remind myself that Jasper was not here to hold my hand as I laid there with the blindfold on. Jasper was sitting on a beanbag chair in the circle like everyone else.

Frowning slightly I folded my arms over my chest as I laid on the short carpeted floor, I was not ready to do this yet. Taking a breath though, I made myself ready.

As Doris asked the question that I knew she would I hesitated, before lifting my hand up and starting first.

"I hate Vincent, and it is not like Chloe's scared hate, I really hate him. He is evil and a monster, and you know what, he is so a child molester now that I think about it." the words rang out of my mouth before I could stop them the truth felt sweet and bitter upon my lips as they flew out of them.

"I am not! I do not like children, this is a Witch-hunt I won't stand for this!" His voice interrupted the silence before what should have been Doris' comment.

"Calm down, calm down. I think everyone would like to know what you are talking about, Emelia, because that is a very strong allegation." Doris' voice demanded attention and respect.

Sighing I told her exactly what had happened as well as everyone else seven years ago. The quiet of the room was almost too much to bare as everyone let out sounds of disgust.

"I didn't intend to kill her, it was her fault that she was snooping around in the first place, I could not have killed her she was a Witch after all that would have been against the rules and I would have been killed for it." Vincent said his voice sounding insulted.

"What about the threats you have been making since I got here? Were those harmless as well?" I asked sounding as upbraiding as I could.

I could hear a long sigh on his part before words formed and came out of his mouth, "None of it was harmless, but could you blame me, you had me embarrassed as you do now, I was just protecting my honor." He said, annoyance pooling in his voice.

"Honor, that is not honor, how dare you! That is just sick, no wonder Emmy hates you, I hate you and you never touched me." Jasper's voice rang out defensive and violent in nature.

"Jasper, shut the hell up, it's not like I molested her I just took a little sip, she is the one that assaulted me. Plus, you are not even suppose to be in this conversation, it is between Doris, Emmy, and I. So butt the hell out." Vincent's voice sounded violent and loud, making me want to scoot away.

"Although, I am not allowed to do anything about what has happened in the past, Vincent you are in trouble, feeding on magical creatures is prohibited, so I will be turning in a form to the Witch and Vampire courts, although you may get special leave with Natasha being a Bloodlett, the Witches no doubt will have a hay-day at this, and as for the threats on school grounds, I have no choice but to give you detentions for each threat, and if they continue Pandora will talk about if you being here is the best option for the student body." Doris' voice rang out anger adding only a flame to the fire that was this conversation.

Pulling off my mask I pulled away from Vincent, going back to my seat I waited for what Doris would say next. I had said all I wanted to, and yet even though he was going to be in trouble I did not feel satisfied, not at all.