1x1 Silent Symphony & Of the Falls

[Veins Of Opal]

Lucien frowned, giving an irritated sigh. "Not about him. I'm sure he is quite capable of doing his job, and if he isn't, then isn't that his own fault? He knows full well the risks that come with this, as do I," Lucien replied hotly. "I doubt Vicente worries about me, he has no reason to. So, I don't worry about him, either. Frankly, I don't care about him. It can't be that much of a shock to you," he growled, glowering at her for a moment before his angered expression fell. "I don't mean to be harsh," he added in a cooler voice, folding his arms once again.

[Falls]

Tessa seemed to be striking a sour note in Lucien's heart repeatedly, for her question launched him into a mini speech about not caring for Vicente's well-being. Sure, they both seemed very capable, but Tessa worried anyway. To have either man never return home would be, well, crippling. With a scowl she crinkled up the napkin by the bacon plate and weakly tossed it at Lucien in a show of tired, half-hearted anger. "You're a jerk," she mumbled, wrapping her arms back around her legs. "Fine, I won't ask you about him anymore. But I'll have you know that he's a much better answerer when I ask about you." She reached out for her last piece of bacon and shoved it in her mouth, chewing it sullenly.

[Veins Of Opal]

Lucien lifted a hand and swatted the crinkled napkin away and at the counter, giving a dry laugh. "I thought you would have learned that by now, sweetheart," he said sarcastically with a sneer. "He and I aren't the same person, you can't treat us the same. You can't go around kissing both of us and act like it's alright," he continued, getting straight to the point as he narrowed his eyes, watching Tessa closely, a somewhat angry expression on his face as he held her foggy blue gaze.

[Falls]

Tessa's hand went down on the table with a loud slam and she stood, shock and fury lighting together in her silvery eyes. "How...? Never mind, I don't even care," she snapped, her posture tense now. Before she had been half-heartedly disliking Lucien for his blunt heartlessness towards Vicente. Now that it had been turned towards her, she just about wanted to shoot the guy. "You bastard. You think I'm enjoying this don't you? Like I'm some kind of whore doing this for fun."

[Veins Of Opal]

Lucien snarled, "No, I didn't say that, now did I? I don't know why you're doing it, but it's infuriating. I know I may seem heartless, but I've got feelings, too, idiot," he took a moment, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists. "I'm not going to share with him, so either you talk it out with the vampire, or just decide. He'll be back eventually," he finished, and it was quite obvious he was very mad. His brow was furrowed into a glare, his lip twitching in a snarl and his fists clenched very tightly as he stood there, his eyes upon Tessa. But then, as somebody would take a needle and poke a hole in a balloon, his anger deflated, and his shoulders slumped. Lucien leaned back against the counter, the anger leaving his expression to a mere emotionless face. It was better than getting angry and snapping, and he didn't want to lose control of himself... So, emotionless was better than infuriated.

[Falls]

Tessa's fists clenched too, her nails leaving red marks in the palm of her hands as Lucien spoke. He wanted her to chose, to pick someone and get on with life as if it were that simple. Gosh darnnit, she would've done that already if it were so easy! "Yeah, let me go ahead and pick a man. We can go off and be in love and pretend the heart broken third wheel doesn't exist. Let me just--" She stopped herself there before she could really rant, her glare boring into Lucien's emotionless outer shell in the loud silence before she looked away and walked towards the door. "I'm going to bed," she snapped. Throughout the whole conversation, the same word had been ringing in her brain: hate, hate, hate, hate.

I hate you.

But she couldn't bring herself to say it.

[Veins Of Opal]

Lucien frowned as she spoke, his syrup-brown eyes following her as she turned and left to go to bed. When she left the room, Lucien left the Fort. However, he made sure that no one could get in, or out, before he continued on his way. He honestly didn't really trust Tessa to stay put, and it wasn't as if she hadn't been kept against her will, before. Lucien was very, very furious, and he wanted someone to take his anger out on. So, he fumbled for his phone to contact Ungolim, requesting a nearby contract, soon. It took a moment, but Ungolim was able to find one. The Listener inquired why Lucien was in such a hurry for a contract, but the Speaker just hung up on him. Lucien went in the direction he was told, an abandoned shack a few miles. He was assigned to kill a middle-aged man, and he didn't listen to why he had a contract against him. He just wanted to kill something. To inflict pain, and get his anger out. He arrived at his destination about an hour later, having not taken Shadowmere. He wasn't wearing proper attire, but he didn't care. All he had was a pocket knife, but he didn't care about that, either. Lucien crept into the building, to find the man sitting at a table, with a beer in his hand and a newspaper. Lucien lunged forward, slapping a hand over the man's mouth and sliding the dagger between his ribcage.

He didn't care who this was, but he was going to take his time with this one.

---

About two hours later, he returned to the Fort. He was blood splattered, tired, but satisfied with his work. He wasn't as neat and precise with his work, he was sloppy and furious, this time. But, oh well. He didn't care if Tessa was awake or not, either, he just needed to shower and change. So, he unlocked the back door of the Fort, and walked inside with the silent stealth of an assassin, as he had been trained.

[Falls]

Tessa found that she was not above door slamming or pillow punching at a time like this, as she had done both as soon as she entered her room. Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate! "Bastard," she growled. "I hate--" Nope. Still couldn't say it. She collapsed down onto her bed with a grunt and curled up, glaring intently at the wall as her mind reeled. Lucien was so easy to argue with and get angry with. Didn't it happen every time they were alone? But this argument was different. It had weight to it, unlike their other petty tiffs in the past. And this time he was right, Tessa admitted to herself deep down. What she was doing to Vicente and Lucien wasn't fair, and the truth of it hurt worse than anything. She didn't get all the way to crying that night, too tired now to be anything but angry and bitter.

In the middle of the night a few hours later, a throb in her gut gave her a rude awakening. Ugh, she felt sick. A trip to the bathroom lead to the discovery of her period's arrival. A frantic ransack of the bathroom turned up nothing helpful, so she left and stagger tiredly down to the kitchen looking rather ill. Maybe one of these cabinets would have some pain killers.

Nope. She didn't make it. Halfway down the hall she doubled over at the pain in her gut, forgetting her mission and curling up right there on the floor. Maybe she'd try getting back in bed when the pain left. Ha! 'When the pain left'? As if!

[Veins Of Opal]

As Lucien entered, he heard somebody frantically moving around, and he thought that maybe somebody did get into his Fort. His bloodied expression turned murderous once again as he swiftly and silently moved across the corner, and into the hallway. The sight that he saw mildly frightened him, and the expression fell from his face. He was still filthy and bloody, but that wasn't his top priority, right now. "What happened?" Lucien demanded worriedly, crouching down to the curled-up Tessa. She looked unpleasantly ill as she lay there, clutching her stomach. He couldn't think of anything that could be doing this to her, but he hoped it wasn't life-threatening, if she knew what it was, herself.

[Falls]

Tessa was tense all over and Lucien's arrival certainly didn't help. She still considered herself angry with him, though she hadn't the energy to keep it up at the moment. "I'm fine," she mumbled, curling into a tighter ball and freezing for a moment under a renewed wave of cramps. "Where are your pain killers?" The cramps subsided and she sat up, turning her gaze up to Lucien. The circles under her eyes made her face look paler than usual. Normally it didn't get this bad. By now she usually would've had three advils and a bar of chocolate in her to make the pain non-existent. "Whose blood is that?" Lucien looked pretty gruesome right now, what with the blood on his hands and clothes. Where had he been?