Illiana paid the young delivery boy many times more than she should have, perhaps because she was so touched by the gesture he'd carried to her. The evening was fresh and young, and while the chill of winter still permeated and caused the glass panes of the windows to feel brisk even to a bloodless touch, it seemed there was new clarity in the air. She gazed thoughtfully at the note, turned the bottle 'round in her hands, examined it. Gently, she blew the dust from its dark glass, contemplated the shadow which allowed the grapes to ferment and ripen into the liquid held inside. And the note. At last, Illy moved toward the kitchen, snapping the small card from the bottle and leaving the wine on the countertop. Carrying the note, she walked through the great living space and arrived at Gideon's door. Unsure whether he was yet awake, she knocked quietly enough to keep from interrupting slumber.
Gideon was up, and just out of the shower. He wrapped a towel hastily about his waist and stepped through the doorway of the bathroom into the bedroom.
"Yes?"
Speaking through the door, she seemed hesitant in her words. "Something's arrived that you might like to see..." And then a flush, as she gazed down at the note in her hands.
"From Cassie."
His brow darkened slightly and, one hand holding the towel in place, he paced over to the door and opened it, meeting Illy's gaze skeptically. "What is it, a self help book? How to tell if you're a Vampire? No, no...I know... Chicken Soup for the Undead Soul."
Oh, she tried desperately not to, but the laughter poured from her despite her best efforts. She shook her head.
"No, no... She's sent us wine, actually, and this." She extended the note, taking great care not to be swept away by the heat of him from the shower, by the scent of his soap, the curves of his shoulders. Averting her eyes from his body subtlely, she stared down at the offered card.
"I think she feels awful, Gideon."
He reached foward and took the card from her, turned it over and read it through slowly before handing it back.
"Not awful enough. She still thinks she's right." He rubbed a hand thoughtfully across his mouth and nodded slowly.
"We'll see how this plays out. If someone told Cass they also told others."
There was the flicker of a faraway place in her eyes as she received the note from him. Folding it reverently, she slid the paper into the back pocket of loose-fitting jeans.
"Perhaps we shouldn't.." Illy lowered her eyes, suddenly very interested in her own bare feet against the hard wood. "Perhaps I shouldn't feed her so much wine and then expect memories to die completely. I've felt half in love with her, Gideon. Have we been irresponsible?"
He nodded in agreement as he took several steps backwards into his room and sank down upon the corner of his bed, hitching his towel carefully.
"Perhaps we have. There haven't been many other vampires around lately, it's easy to get lazy. Be wary of that man Grem, the tall one with the mismatched eyes. He's a lycanthrope... he can smell us the same as we can smell him. If It's not Sebastian spreading rumors again then most likely it's that man."
"I'm not sure I've ever spoken to him." She watched his retreat, sliding her hands into her pockets.
"And Sebastian..." Her expression changed, then, turned to some strange mix of wistfulness and disdain.
"I don't wish any harm upon him, I can't. But I'm afraid that he threatens us in more ways than by thinking you're a vampire." Sighing, she removed one hand, sliding her fingers through half-tangled curls, eyes closed briefly. "I only wish we might have some peace."
"As do I, but this is our life. Lies, deception." He reached out a hand to her. "He was here last night... Sebastain. He took issue with something that happened between myself and Erin. The kid is an idiot."
Her hand fell from the sanguine locks at her shoulder, and taking a step forward, she allowed her fingers to be swallowed by his outstretched palm.
"I heard you with Erin," Quietly, she gazed down at their joined hands, her mouth settling into a half-frown. "She needs to be saved, and yet I think she is the only one who can do it."
"Once again you see to the heart of the situation." He sighed as he took her hand and drew her close with it, pressing a kiss against her fingers.
"Leave Erin to her own devices. When she's ready to have help picking up the peices she'll come around... until then just let her be, Illy. That woman's poison."
Her eyes followed his lips, the shape of them as they parted and released sound, as they pressed themselves to her fingertips. Something swelled within her and she found herself incapable of drawing away, although if she had been master of her own body in that moment, she would have extricated herself if only for salvation's sake.
"Poison more to herself than anyone else." She paused, drawing a long breath. "When you first brought me to Cassandra, when you introduced me to such things, what was your intent?"
"To teach you that not all your hungers need to be filled in death...and that there is an incredable sweetness to the taste of blood taken in passion. It's a flavor I favor myself." He pressed his cheek to her hand before letting it go. "I find it more satisfying to take just a taste of blood that is so full of life, than to fill myself on the flat blood of someone aching for death."
Her hand, once released, rested uneasily at her side. The smallest of her fingers brushed against her hip, palm faced outward, the curve of her spine a throaty whisper of restless confusion. His words at once gutted and soothed her, drawing from her eyes a pale, secret look. So he was not all shadows. It was a long moment before she spoke to him again.
"If you don't forgive her, it only brands you with guilt. Your righteous indignation can only convince for so long." Her warning was spoken matter-of-factly, with none of the timid, self-conscious waver that her voice often adopted when she made suggestions. "Surely this is not the first time you've been accused?"
"No, it's not. And don't worry, she'll be forgiven eventually." He smiled up at her, fox-sly. "I've got far too many other grudges and arguments going on at the moment."
His smile sent a mild shiver through her. Regarding him wholly, she allowed her eyes to travel unshielded the length of his torso. Lingering at the hollow of his throat, her head seemed to bow marginally, as if accepting his remark.
"If you have no argument against it, I will send word to her that she is not thought of unkindly. I won't mention your name."
"Whatever you wish, luv". He shifted and rose from the bed, pausing just long enough to give her forehead the brush of a breif kiss before he walked into the sanctuary of his closet.
He could not have seen the shape of her eyebrows as his kiss left her and his back turned, nor the squeezing together of her eyelids, nor could he have heard the bells in the labyrinth of her inner ears cracking, creaking with their own weight, shifting into each other at his push. Their gravity, and her grimace. Drawing herself up, Illy turned and left the room without sound.
