His Stoic Mask, Her Bleeding Heart

"Elyria, stop," I called to the girl as I started down the dimly lit stairwell after her. She didn't stop, didn't even look back, simply maintaining her quick and angry pace down the stairs. "Elyria, please," I said, a hint of pleading to my tone. "Stop." Finally, I caught up to her, gently taking her wrist in my hand. It was so small beneath my fingers...

She stopped and spun to face me, having just reached the landing between her floor and the one below it. I stood a step above her, gazing down into her angry purple eyes, and I didn't release her arm. Her hand hung limp and spidery, dangling in the air between us.

"Let me go, Eli," she said in what would have been a level tone but for the heavy edge to her voice. "I don't want to talk right now."

"Why?" I asked, frowning now. "Why don't you want to talk to any of us? And why won't you take any of this seriously?"

"I'm taking this seriously," she snapped. "I just don't want to sit and dwell on it like the rest of you. It's over. It's done. I'm back, and I don't want to think about it anymore." She began to pull her wrist from my grasp, but I tightened my hold.

"I want you to think about it, to talk about it," I told her, an emotion to my voice that was odd even to me. "If you don't, I'm just going to keep dwelling on it, and so is Kyrianna, and so are you."

"I don't need to talk about it. I'm fine." Here, her tone softened, but just barely. "Just let it go, Eli."

"Talk to me," I begged. "Please."

"What do you want me to say?" Her voice cracked, and the ire left her eyes as tears began to well. "That I was trapped inside my own mind for a month? That I couldn't talk or control myself or..." She trailed off for a moment, her gaze dropping to my feet. "I couldn't see you, Eli. I couldn't see Kyrianna. I was all alone." Her body shook once, knocking curly strands of blood-red into her face, but I knew that she was crying. I watched between a pair of tight curls as a tear rolled slowly down her pale cheek. "I was all alone."

I took that final step down to the landing upon which she stood, closing the space between us as I wrapped my arms around her tightly. "It's okay," I whispered, beginning to gently stroke her tangled hair with one hand. "It's all over now."

Her body jerked against mine with a sob. "I told you I didn't want to talk about it. I told you," she murmured into my shoulder. "I told you." I lightly kissed the top of her head but didn't respond. I merely held her more tightly.

Neither of us noticed that Kyrianna stood on the set of stairs above, watching us with a pair of cold, cold pink eyes...

-?-

"You've gotten very tiny," I commented as I handed Elyria a steaming mug of green tea. She was perched upon the edge of the midnight-blue couch that sat in the middle of my small living room, looking exceptionally tiny now that she wore one of my T-shirts instead of her own. The black fabric hung baggily about her emaciated frame, and I couldn't imagine why she'd asked for it. Well, I could imagine, but the answers were all girly teenager things that I barely understood.

"That's what happens when you try and fail to live on blood," she responded, her voice empty of emotion. She took the small green mug from my hands and turned her gaze away from me, instead beginning to watch the steam rolling off of the brownish-green liquid.

I sat down beside her, making sure to keep a decent amount of space between us. She obviously wasn't in the mood to be close to people, even though she'd insisted upon wearing my shirt. "He kept you very pretty," was my next remark, and I hated myself for it the moment the words had left my lips. It made it sound like she'd been nothing more than a doll for James to play with, and while that was essentially the truth, it wasn't something he really needed to be bringing up so soon after the incident. I opened my mouth to offer a hasty apology, but she spoke before I could say a word.

"I know he did," she said with a sigh. Then, with a tug of a bouncy but tangled curl, she added, "I really like what he did with my hair."

"It's cute," I agreed with a nod. "You're cute."

Finally, she turned her gaze to me, and it was just as cold as always. "No, I'm not. I'm a bloody, nasty mess. You don't have to lie to me."

I cupped her chin gently, offering her the barest hint of a smile. "You're always beautiful to me."

She stared into my eyes for a moment, looking almost shocked, then quickly pulled her face from my hand and turned away. "Stop it, Eli. Stop pretending we have something."

Unaccustomed to emotional pain as I was, it took me a moment to register what I'd begun to feel at her words – that deep, gut-wrenching sting was blatant hurt, a slap in the face of feeling. "Oh," I said softly, slowly lowering my rejected hand to my lap. I looked down at my knees, unsure of what else to say or do.

In the minutes of silence that followed, Elyria took a sip of her scolding hot tea without complaint and looked about the room, as if she expected to find something of interest. There wasn't much to see, however. A shelf stood against the far wall, holding dozens of books and a snow globe with a penguin standing alone inside, and a couple of pictures of a cityscape at night hung upon the walls. It was unremarkable, really, and she realized that after a moment.

"Is James dead?" she asked suddenly, though she wouldn't tear her eyes from the snow globe.

"Yes," I answered, looking at her, "and you have Bethany to thank for killing him."

"I don't want to thank her for anything," Elyria stated in an offhanded, unemotional tone. "She doesn't deserve it."

I found myself mildly surprised by this. "Why not?"

"I don't like her. I don't respect her. I don't care what she's done for you or for me. Since I've returned, all I've seen in her is a stuck-up bitch, and I won't be able to shake that impression until she shows me some form of respect or kindness." She looked up at me, and I could see stubbornness in her eyes. "You can thank her all you want, but I'll remain the 'ungrateful bitch' she so hastily deemed me to be until she gives me a reason to act in a different manner."

Is she jealous? I wondered, searching her face for any evidence supporting my thoughts. Jealous because she's a young, healthy, pretty female who represents what she used to be? Jealous because she was holding my hand when she first returned? I dismissed the latter almost immediately, but the former sounded likely. Or perhaps she's just displeased because Bethany had the gall to stand up to her. I settled on that idea, though I said nothing of my thoughts.

"All right. I'll let her know that she offended you."

She sighed, rolling her eyes rather uncharacteristically. "No, Eli. Respect and kindness mean nothing if people are told to show them. You should know that."

"All right," I said again. "I won't say a word."

-?-

It wasn't long before she was asleep, slumped against the arm of the couch. Her mug sat on the oak coffee table a foot away from her, emptied of every last drop of tea. I smiled at her for a moment before getting to my feet and picking up the glass, preparing to take it to the kitchen. Before I could make it that far, however, there was a light knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I asked softly as I put the mug back in its place upon the table. Elyria stirred on the couch but didn't wake. She was probably exhausted.

"Kyrianna," came an equally quiet voice from outside the door, muffled by the heavy wood. I opened the door, and the girl outside fixed me with a deceptively sweet stare. "Hale wants you back at the apartment," she told me, a small smile playing across her pale pink lips.

"Why?" I asked, confused. Hale couldn't possibly have any use for me, especially if he had yet to leave Elyria's apartment.

"Something about Bethany, I think." Here, her smile grew the slightest bit, and I didn't like the mocking edge it had attained. Perhaps I was just imagining it...Apparently, I had been staring her expression for too long, as she suddenly said, "He wants you there as soon as possible."

"What about Elyria?" I asked, glancing back at where the girl lay motionless upon the couch.

"I'll take care of her while you're gone," the girl answered, and I turned to find that she was staring past me at Elyria.

A hint of a frown moved my lips. "But won't Hale need you, too?"

"Oh, no," she replied with a dismissive wave of her hand, her eyes finally back on my face. "I can't help him. That's why I was sent for you."

"Why didn't he just call me?" I asked, becoming mildly suspicious.

"He has called you," she answered, and that mocking edge returned to her smile. "You haven't answered. Your phone must be dead."

"Oh," was all I could think of to say for the moment. I began to reach into my pocket to retrieve my cell phone, but she grabbed my wrist to stop me. Her grip was unnecessarily tight for a moment, but it almost immediately loosened, and I began to wonder if I'd imagined that, too.

"You don't have time for that," she told me, still wearing that damn smile. "He needs you. Now. You should hurry before it's too late."

"Too late for what?"

"You should hurry," was all she would say, releasing my wrist. I studied her strangely smiling face for a moment longer, then offered Elyria one last glance before walking past Kyrianna and into the hall. The door closed behind me almost instantly, the lock clicking to trap Elyria with Kyrianna in the apartment. I paused and looked back, halfway down the hall, but realized that turning back would be a useless waste of time.

If Hale really did need me, if Bethany needed me, I had to hurry.

-?-

"Elyria," Kyrianna whispered, gently brushing a strand of blood-red hair from the girl's silver-white, hollow-cheeked face. "Elyria, wake up."

"Mm?" Elyria murmured, slowly turning her head to look up at Kyrianna as her eyes opened. Groggily, she stared up at the girl and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Eli wanted me to watch you for a while," Kyrianna answered, carefully running her fingers through Elyria's tangled mane.

"What?" Elyria asked, frowning in confusion. She sat up, her back cracking loudly in the silence of the room. She ignored it, though, and set about scanning the room as if she would suddenly spot Eli hiding in a corner. "Where did he go?"

"To see Bethany," Kyrianna answered, a small smile curving her lips. The expression struck Elyria as...off somehow, but she couldn't quite figure out why.

"Bethany?" she asked, still a bit groggy. "The bitchy Were girl?"

Kyrianna nodded, now wearing a facade of innocence. "Yeah. They've been hanging out a lot lately, actually. It's no surprise that he left you to go be with her."

Elyria could only stare at her friend for a moment. Her words had struck an odd chord within the amethyst-eyed woman, and she wasn't quite sure how to react. "Oh. Well, I'm sure he has his reasons," she finally responded, making sure to keep her tone completely stoic.

Kyrianna's smile returned. "Right. I'm sure he does."

-?-

I made my way into the apartment quietly, surprised to find it completely dark within. I shut the door and stood still for a moment, listening intently for any signs of life within the small space. I waited nearly a full minute but heard nothing, not even from down the hall. I took a step further into the apartment, now searching the darkness of the living room for any bodies, sleeping or otherwise. Of course, there was no one, and I couldn't help a frown.

"Hale?" I called quietly, my voice deep and heavy in the silence. I flipped the light switch, only to illuminate an empty room. "Bethany?" I crept down the hall, checking each room carefully. They all offered the same results. "Hello?" I tried one more time.

Where are they? I wondered, heading back to the living room. Kyrianna said they would be waiting for me here.

I pulled my cell phone out of the right front pocket of my jeans and flipped it open, but Kyrianna had been right. It was dead. My frown deepening, I flicked the useless thing shut and slipped it back into my pocket, already on my way out the front door.

I would have to make a quick run to Hale's house to see what had happened.

-?-

"How are you feeling?" Kyrianna asked, gently petting Elyria's cheek. The girl's head rested upon her lap now, purple eyes closing periodically but remaining open and trained upon Kyrianna's serenely smiling face most of the time.

"Not too badly, surprisingly," Elyria answered quietly. "I'm starting to feel almost..." She paused and directed her gaze to the ceiling, brow furrowing the slightest bit as she searched for the proper word. "Normal," she finished, turning her attention to Kyrianna once more.

"That's good," Kyrianna responded, her smile transforming from peaceful to truly joyous. She stared down at Elyria for a moment, and her smile slowly faded to something more serious. Something new shone in her glowing pink eyes, and she whispered, "I missed you. I missed you so much."

Elyria's stoic expression softened into something like a sad smile, and she said in a whisper of her own, "I missed you, too. You have no idea how much."

Barely a second passed before Kyrianna pulled Elyria into a sitting position and brought her closer, their lips meeting in what began as a soft, sweet, loving kiss. It soon became something more, however, as lips parted and tongues began to meet. Kyrianna's slender fingers gripped Elyria's small arms so tightly that it almost hurt, and Elyria's hands tangled in the girl's dark hair.

It wasn't long before clothes littered the floor, a trail of blue and pink and black fabric leading to the half-open bedroom door. And it wasn't long before Elyria gave in completely to Kyrianna's advances, right there on Eli's bed...

-?-

I frowned as I made my way up the stairs to my apartment. I'd gone to Hale's, and both he and Bethany had said that they'd had no need of me. When I said that Kyrianna had sent me, they both gave me a confused look and told me that they hadn't said more than a goodbye to Kyrianna since I'd gone after Elyria.

But why would Kyrianna lie?

The answer became apparent to me once I'd opened the door to my apartment and took a step inside. Clothes were scattered about the living room, and Elyria's empty mug lay on the floor, right beside a pair of hot pink panties. Through the half-open bedroom door, I could see Elyria lying upon my messy bed, her body barely covered by a navy-blue sheet. Only her torso was really hidden; the silver-white of her long, slender legs and the bottom half of her ass peeked out at me, and I could just make out the beginnings of her right breast above the blanket. She appeared to be asleep, her blood-red curls a tangled mess upon my pillow.

"Pretty, isn't she?" Kyrianna commented as she stopped beside me. I looked down to find her wrapped in the black comforter that had once been neatly situated atop my bed, a mug of what smelled like freshly brewed green tea in her tiny hands. Her eyes were on the naked woman, and her smile held that same mocking edge it had possessed earlier.

"Hale said that he didn't need me for anything," I said stoically, though it took everything I had to keep hints of jealousy and accusation from coloring my tone.

"Did he now?" she asked as she turned her eyes to my face, that mocking smile wider now. "How odd."

"You tricked me." My voice was still void of emotion, but I could feel just the slightest bit of bitterness trickling into my eyes. She must've noticed, because her expression brightened even more all of a sudden.

"Why would I need to trick you?" she asked, not even bothering to tone down her obvious pleasure at my pain. "It's not like I wanted to have sex with her on your bed," she said, though her expression told an entirely different story. "I guess I got Hale's message confused, and things just went from there."

"There was no message." How in the hell was my voice still emotionless? "Hale said so himself. You just lied to me. To trick me."

She shrugged, and I wanted to slap that cocky, triumphant smile right off of her pretty little face. "If that's how you want to think of it, go ahead. But it doesn't change what actually happened." With that, she began to walk forward, toward the bedroom, but I grabbed her arm to stop her. I didn't realize how tightly I was holding her forearm until her smile vanished and she said, "Eli, you're hurting me." I ignored her words.

"I want you to leave," I hissed, a hint of rage finally seeping into my tone and my narrowed eyes.

Her expression darkened, and she jerked her arm from my grasp. "Fine. Let me just wake Elyria up, and-"

"No," I interrupted, my voice a low snarl. "Leave. Now. She stays with me."

Her jaw dropped, her face shifting as if I'd just slapped her. "No. I'm taking her home. With me." I opened my mouth to argue, and the glow of her eyes increased, a telltale sign of attempted necromantic possession. She wasn't nearly as skilled as Elyria, however, so I managed to backhand her before she could work any of her magic on my mind. Her half-full mug of tea fell to the floor with a loud splash and a shatter.

Tears welled in her angry eyes, Elyria stirred and sat up in the bedroom, but I wasn't about to back off now. "Go," I growled. "Put your fucking clothes on and leave." This time, she listened, gathering her clothes from the living room floor and beginning to get dressed. I didn't waste my time looking at her when she let the blanket drop. I had eyes only for Elyria, who appeared in the bedroom doorway at that very moment.

"What happened?" she asked, the navy-blue sheet wrapped around her emaciated frame. Her eyes held a hint of confusion as she looked from me to the broken mug on the floor and, finally, to Kyrianna, pissed off with a single tear making its way down her cheek. "Are you all right, Kyrianna?" she questioned, frowning.

"She's fine," I answered for the girl, unable to force the growl from my voice. Elyria turned her eyes to me, obviously suspicious.

"He hit me," Kyrianna said once she'd tugged her shirt on, leaving her fully clothed. "He hit me because I wanted to take you back home with me." She turned her sad, hurt gaze to Elyria, and I felt my stomach drop.

When she phrased it like that...

Elyria glared at me, taking a step forward to put an arm around Kyrianna, who was watching me with a barely noticeable hint of satisfaction to her eyes. "Why would you hit her, Eli? She was just trying to help me."

"Like she helped you into my bed while I was gone?" I snapped, only seconds from punching Kyrianna in the mouth and eating them both. Elyria looked mildly shocked by that bold statement and all that it insinuated, but when she opened her mouth to speak, I held a hand up to stop her. With my temper in check, I gestured toward the door and said stoically, "There's the door. If you want to leave with her, go ahead."

"Are you sure you're not going to hit me this time?" Kyrianna spat, bitterness adding a hard edge to her tone.

At that, I couldn't help a psychotic smile. Coldly, I told her, "I make no promises."

Elyria's glare faded into emotionlessness, but I could tell that she was slightly taken aback by the chill in my demeanor. She wouldn't have dropped her anger so easily otherwise. "Come on, Kyrianna," she said as she began to gather her clothes. "We're going home. And he won't be hitting you again."

Kyrianna's arrogant, taunting smile had returned, and I was forced to stare at it without reacting for a full minute before Elyria was finally dressed and ready to go, wearing her own clothes in lieu of the shirt that I'd given to her. Without another word to me or to each other, they slipped by me, and I could almost hear Kyrianna's victorious laughter even though no one made a sound...