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Post by Teja on Mar 27, 2019 19:14:48 GMT -5
A bit short-tempered, she gave him an impatient look.
"We know each other too well, so I won't pretend to be too nice to you. I'm spending Christmas Eve checking in on the well-being of a vampire - in spite of all he's done to me. What do you think my nature is?"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Mar 27, 2019 19:16:55 GMT -5
Johannes looked at her very levelly.
“More changeable than you know.”
The doors opened, and there was a blast of cold air from the darkness beyond.
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Post by Teja on Mar 27, 2019 19:20:27 GMT -5
Teja pulled her scarf more tightly with a shiver.
"Would you rather I despised you?" she asked. In spite of the flat tone of her voice, she meant it sincerely. It puzzled her that he would make declarations like this time and again when all evidence suggested he had liked her and her company because she was, even if only sometimes, kind to him.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Mar 27, 2019 19:22:59 GMT -5
“You will soon enough,” he said as he pulled her toward a kind of broad column in the dim space beyond. There came an even less comforting clanking, hissing sound as a second elevator lowered into position, a disembodied-looking little box operated on a complicated hydraulic array.
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Post by Teja on Mar 27, 2019 19:23:46 GMT -5
Teja dug her heels in.
"Sorry, what?"
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Mar 27, 2019 19:26:00 GMT -5
“I’m not a fool,” he said, taking another step closer. “I’m learning at last how this story always ends.”
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Post by Teja on Mar 27, 2019 19:27:30 GMT -5
Her heart sank. She was flooded with the miserable feeling that came after terror, as well as overpowering shame.
She reached out her hands to take his.
"I'm sorry," she sighed.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Mar 27, 2019 19:29:41 GMT -5
Johannes pulled her into the second elevator.
“Don’t be,” he said softly.
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Post by Teja on Mar 27, 2019 19:31:46 GMT -5
With a gentleness that shocked herself, she lifted one of his hands to her cheek and pressed a soft, chaste kiss against his wrist.
It was so easy to forget - how fragile he was. How much more was at stake for him, personally, than merely his present safety. It was his hope for the future that had been extinguished - his ability to hope at all.
It was too tiresome to continue to place herself in his direct line of sight and expect that one day her blind trust and kindness would outweigh the rest of the world's paranoia. She knew now that would certainly never happen. But perhaps she could lighten the burden for him, one more night. Given what she knew of the rest of his life, she suspected it would be centuries before another woman tried the same.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Mar 27, 2019 19:37:23 GMT -5
Johannes’s fingertips found the roots of her hair, rubbing gently as they were propelled upward.
“There’s a kind of poetry to it. A rhythm, one might say-“
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Post by Teja on Mar 27, 2019 19:37:53 GMT -5
"To what?" she murmured.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Mar 27, 2019 19:39:40 GMT -5
“To things- always ending the same way. To already knowing the ending of the story-“
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Post by Teja on Mar 27, 2019 19:40:09 GMT -5
"Johannes," she whispered, with an unhappy smile.
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Post by Graf von Krolock on Mar 27, 2019 19:41:23 GMT -5
“So you will understand my weariness of resisting it-“
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Post by Teja on Mar 27, 2019 19:42:16 GMT -5
"It was brave of you to try," she managed at the volume of a whisper. She embraced him again quickly, so that he wouldn't have a chance to see her tear up. Stupid, so stupid.
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