(no subject)

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

Santino entered Milliways, with a flair developed over an extended period of gluttony.

He smiled warmly, happy to have returned (and now quite certain which door led where) and placed himself in an empty seat at an empty table. There was more than enough room for company.

Comments

[lethe-forgets.livejournal.com]

Oh - and here is something she's been needing. Because Salvatore is where Lethe knows she can fall apart and still be safe.

And so he just might blink and find himself with a lapful of a miserable, broken little nymph - head ducked and fingers tugging into the material of his shirt.

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

"Lethe?" He could tell she was upset, the signs were far too numerous. (body language aside.)

Santino placed his arms around her, tried to soothe and comfort with this gesture. He'd had some practice.

[lethe-forgets.livejournal.com]

"H-hello," her voice is tiny, quiet and tentative - so much closer to the skittish little thing he'd found on her first night here.

She pulls herself the slightest bit closer trying to keep the horrible feeling back, "Have you been well?"

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

"I have, yes. I see you haven't." Lips against her forehead, a caressing touch.

[lethe-forgets.livejournal.com]

"No," the word echoes, completely and terribly honest. "Not very well."

"What do you do when your heart is broken?" she takes his hand and presses it lightly over the place where it should be.

"Do you feel it?" she asks and her voice is a million shattered pieces and even if she picked them all up – one by one – she's not entirely certain they would fit back together again. "Because I cannot."

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

"I can hear it." The steady lub-dub.

"What do you do?" Santino paused. His heart had been broken more than once in his long life. "Try to gather what is left. Eventually, the peices adhere to each other once again and you can function."

[lethe-forgets.livejournal.com]

She tilts her head up to him and her bright blue eyes are dark and so very lost.

"I think that I did it wrong," Lethe whispers. "I took everything, but there are pieces of me missing. I think that I left too much of me behind."

"It should not be like this. Love is supposed to be beautiful - wonderful."

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

"If it ends, it always ends painfully."

[lethe-forgets.livejournal.com]

"But it did not even start," she lets out a tiny whimper. "A-and then I had to take it away."

A sudden, intense wave of misery before she can tug it back - keep in inside. "He asked me to take it away."

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

Santino was silent, for the moment. "Don't restrain yourself, Lethe. I have had enough experience with sadness to withstand it."

[lethe-forgets.livejournal.com]

"It should not hurt so much," she sobs, shoulders shaking and face pressed into his shoulder. "I am always forgotten."

Sorrow - intense and deep - falling, tangled and drowning.

"Always."

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

It's an inescapable pain. "I will always remember you."

[lethe-forgets.livejournal.com]

She shakes her head with a choking, bitter laugh.

"Not if I take it," she murmurs. "I am always easiest to take."

[not-one-drop.livejournal.com]

Vampires are attracted to one another.

That may be why the girl over by the fire is watching him thoughtfully.

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

It would be impossible for him to miss her gaze. A vampire of his age tends to see the thoughts of mortals around him. If his eyes, ears or nose missed her, he would see her reflected in the eyes of others.

Her gaze is met, a grin is offered. He looks genuinely pleased to see her, though Santino and she are perfect strangers.

[not-one-drop.livejournal.com]

The grin returned, flashing fangs, smaller then one might expect.

"Hey."

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

Santino rose, made his way over with deliberate mortal speed.

"Good evening." His i-teeth were slightly larger and far more pointed than most. Certainly, however, still within proportion with his other teeth. "You must be Maladict."

Vampires are naturally alluring, but his was the rare beauty that went beyond this. Some culmination of his features, beautiful as a mortal and as a vampire, this beauty increased.

"My name is Salvatore."

[not-one-drop.livejournal.com]

"It is good to meet you."

Not quite hiding the interested look as she observes his beauty.

"I'm afraid I go by Mal, most of the time. Has someone pointed me out to you?"

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

"Lethe spoke of another blood-drinker." There was that metallic, copper and iron, smell on his breath. Santino had fed recently.

Mal, on the other hand, smelt of coffee. Very strongly. Especially on her breath. It was point of curiousity and confusion for Santino.

[not-one-drop.livejournal.com]

"Ah, I see. Quite an enchanting girl."

A soft smile. The coffee cup near her elbow might help him connect the dots.

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

A Vampire consuming coffee? Mal must have been a different breed.

"She is, indeed." Santino had already pulled a veil over his thoughts. It was hard to tell how powerful a Vampire was simply by appearance.

"Are you able to consume substances other than blood?" He asked, indicating her coffee. "I am afraid Vampires of my make cannot."

[not-one-drop.livejournal.com]

"Really?"

A raised eyebrow.

"No, I need to eat, to survive. And I don't drink blood anymore, which can get tricky."

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

He lookd quite suprised. Santino missed food terribly.

"I'm sure it is." Mal needed to eat, so blood played a less critical role for her than Santino. It was all he could consume, and if he went without it for an extended period he suffered.

"I don't think I could ever be free from it, even if I had the choice."

[not-one-drop.livejournal.com]

"I rather thought the same, once."

Shakes her head, takes a sip of coffee.

"Now, I am free. Still bound by longings, but better."

[oldromansaint.livejournal.com]

Santino smiled well-naturedly. "It's certainly easier to hide the loss of coffee." Dead bodies have a bad habit of being found. And if they've been Santino, they have a bad habit of being bled to death without any visible wounds, with the help of an old Vampire's trick.