Hope for the best.

Kiara had been approached instantly the moment she returned to the mansion. She’d done a very thorough job of de-scenting herself from Quinn’s scent. Her emotions were a mess and she was nursing what promised to be a massive migraine.

One of the servants handed her a letter. She blinked as she turned it over. There was nothing on it except a wax seal. Heading upstairs she noted also that Sophie had been delivered. Judging by the time as it was already quite late in the evening she must be asleep. Once she was in her office she opened the letter, surprised it was from Judith of all people and began to read.

Kiara,
My Brother is a fragile man, he is not one to speak his mind as we both know well. He is not the man that I once knew, he is gone. The man that is my brother is a vampire of few words, but he loves you like he once loved me. Take care of him, protect him, guard his un-dead heart. You’re all he truly has, protect what belongs to you, and revel in the rewards as I once have. You have my blessing.

Judith

Kiara sat down, feeling herself weep. “Dammit Judith…why you…” she whispered. After everything that had happened, the empty ache inside it had taken someone like Judith to remind her that she loved Bill, loved him more than anyone before. Now the guilt of having nearly slept with Quinn hit her even harder. She sighed. She had to come clean with Bill… maybe… maybe then he’d come clean with her.

She placed the letter away in a safe spot and ensured that her new anti-glamour contacts Quinn had given her were in place. They covered her whole eye and were undetectable even at close range. They took some getting used to but with some eye drops they fit comfortably. She stood and took a breath of courage. Either this would be the end… or just another obstacle to strengthen their relationship.

She chuckled darkly. At least right now she had no worries about being brought back if Bill went crazy and killed her. Neither Jessica nor Quinn were around to meddle in that regard. She put some eyedrops on, did one last sniff test to ensure all she smelled like was a faint scent of citrus and new clothes and headed back downstairs. She just assumed Bill would be in his office. It was where he secluded himself for the past few days after all.

Bill had been hauled up in his office ever since Mel had gone, leaving him alone. Only vacating to check on the young child, to make sure that she was safe and well. Only hearing her soft sighs as she slept peacefully tucked away in her bed. He stood and watched her, tossing like a lost puppy, she had not seen him yet and was still wondering where she was. After he left her alone to sleep, he caught the sound of an engine roaring away from his estate.

He descended the stairs as he headed straight into his office, catching his sister Judith's scent strongly around him, he saw an envelope on his desk, curious he began to open the letter, catching another strange scent of her perfume that he had been accustomed to smelling since she returned to his home.

He caught the scent of someone else as he had just begin to read the first few lines of his letter...Kiara.

Stuffing the letter into his pocket, he would finish it later. Poring himself a glass of blood as he waited for Kiara to enter his office.

Kiara knocked on the door of his office before peeking her head in. She mustered a soft smile.

"You have a minute?" she asked, trying to scent out his emotions. On the short walk from her office to his she'd formulated how best to go around this. Bill needed to know her deepest secret.. the real reason she was broken. Maybe then he'd understand... maybe then he'd see why her mind was so fragile.

Bill took a casual sip from his glass, it seemed that his fridge of various bloods had not been re-stocked. He would need to have words with servant staff, they knew there duties and they had failed in them. The door to his office creaked open as he heard Kiara slowly enter.

"You have a minute?"

Turning to meet her gaze, he nodded.

"Sure...Anything for you" he smirked.

She smiled and walked inside. She closed the door and smiled weakly.

"Did I ever tell you what happened after I gained my freedom from Russell?" she began, standing by the wall, staring at a picture of some scenery Bill had hung.

"It turns out... after a year of being glamoured into obedience..I developed a tumor..and I went insane. So insane..that Russel had to glamour enough sanity into me to make me useful" she turned her head and looked at Bill. "I was undone.. I had no personality.. my comforts were killing and fucking... I knew nothing else and craved nothing else. I was so empty.. so broken that I longed for the few fleeting hours I was allowed someone to fuck, for those few fleeting moments where I could feel something other than emptiness"

She smiled sadly. "After I escaped and met up with Taylor and Sawyer...well.. things happened.. but they knew I was sick, they could smell it. I was taken to a doctor who after several delicate surgeries managed to remove most of the tumor. However he warned me.... that should I get glamoured again it could re-trigger its growth.. and force me back to that base creature I once was"

She sighed, placing her hands behind her. "I tell you this because..lately I have not been myself. Maybe I'm getting sick again..." she shook her head "well I am sick.. but maybe I'm getting sicker.." she took a few steps until she was at the window.

"I went to Quinn's today... I needed his shipment of the contacts so I could destroy them... but with him... I slipped" she turned her head to look directly at Bill. She took a deep breath, knowing these could very well be her last words.

"....we got caught up in our own memories... and I nearly slept with him" she smiled in a sad way "had Quinn not had the presence of mind to stop...who knows what could have happened."

Bill listened to Kiara's words of what happened whilst she was under Russell Edgington's command and capture. He was aware of her past as he received emails from Taylor about what occurred between them, and he had forgiven her for what happened between them.

"It turns out... after a year of being glamoured into obedience..I developed a tumor..and I went insane"

"I don't understand? How is that even possible?" he interrupted her.

How was it possible to develop a tumor from a vampire glamouring? Was it even possible?

"....we got caught up in our own memories...and I nearly slept with
him"

That was when he felt his breath stop, although he did not need to breath, his whole body tensed. Turning from her, he refused to look at her.

"You.......and Quinn" was all he was able to string together.

She nodded. "It seems... with wolves it is. But you must remember I was glamoured several times a day... the mind can only take so much" she said before she saw him blank at her confession about Quinn.

Well she was still breathing so she might as well dig the hole a little deeper while she was at it. "Yes...Quinn and I. We got to talking, even had a few drinks... nothing serious happen but it is a slip nontheless. Maybe a side effect from what I've been feeling the past few days...so empty...so broken even I did not understand why I let it get so far."

She wrapped her arms around herself. "I felt so... strange, like I was back in that dark cell I used to be kept...waiting...counting the seconds until someone would walk through the door and sate the hollow ache inside me...even for a few minutes"

Bill refused to look at her, he couldn't. Not now he knew about what had happened with Kiara and Quinn...Did Jessica know? Was she keeping it to herself, sparing Kiara of his wrath of what he would do if he ever found out?

"What. Do. You. Want. Me. To. Say. Kiara!.....That you want me to forgive you?" he spat.

His hands clenching together in tight fists as he leaned down onto a small table next to him.

"Where is the Tiger?" he hissed.

Kiara shook her head, that sad, pleasant smile on her face.

"Quinn isn't at fault here...I am. He was a gentleman and stopped us both from making a huge mistake. What ever anger you have towards him, channel it towards me"

"No...I don't want forgiveness...hell I don't expect to live in the next few minutes" she said bluntly.

"I just wanted to be honest with you... I rather you hear this from me, and be angry at me, than find out from someone else"

"Hear it from someone else? Who do you expect that I would hear this from? Quinn!" he spat at her.

He drained his glass of blood, the only thing that was keeping his from lashing out at her at this very moment, knowing that he would regret it, but in this particular moment he did not care about anything.

"I will deal with you later...I don't even want to look at you. You disgust me" he hissed at her.

His fists slammed hard against the wooden surface as he felt it splinter and shudder beneath his strength.

"And what about Jessica? Did you think of her when you were trying to sleep with her fiance!" he spat as he finally turned to look at her.

She shook her head. It was almost cathartic to be telling it all. She didn't hold her hopes out for Bill being honest with her, but by hell she would be honest if it killed her.

"No...I thought of no one but myself. Ever since a few nights ago I can't bring myself to think of anyone else... it is as if I walk in a fog...doing things without thinking, yet knowing I have to do them"

"It's alright if I disgust you.. I disgust myself every day.. " she said calmly. "But I know that should I die in the next few moments... I would have died with a clean conscience.. knowing I told you everything, even my worse secrets, my shameful past and flaws"

Bill didn't know what to say to that, he had never trusted anyone fully to divest his most darkest hidden secrets and desires...and now he never would. He felt truly alone, that he could trust no one, not even himself.

"I gave up everything for you. I put my life on the line for you. For us. I almost started a war because of what you are. Because of who you are. I put Jessica's life in danger because i wanted you! Do you know what that does to me? Knowing i would have lost Jessica because of you! All because you wanted a plain and simple fuck!" he cursed at her.

He turned to face her, walking up to stand in front of her.

"You will call Quinn..And you will get him over here. He shall be the one to break Jessica's heart. Not I. Do i make myself clear?" he grunted at her.

She smiled and shook her head. "He already has... I assure you. Her wrath, like yours will fall on me as expected" she said calmly, touching his cheek.

She then took a few steps towards the bookcase "I will die Bill. All that is left to be determined is by whose hand... yours...or hers"

"It's only a pity I couldn't save you like Judith asked me to... " she shrugged. "Oh well.. just another person in a long list that wishes me dead"

'Pity I couldn't save you like Judith asked me to'

Judith had spoken to Kiara...About saving him? Saving him from what? He would deal with his interfering sister later. Even though Bill was furious, his behavior becoming erratic, images of him tearing into Quinn's flesh flashing through his mind.

"GUARDS!" he called.

Moments later three guards appeared in Bill's office.

"I want a full protection detail for Miss Griffen. Do not leave her side. No one is allowed to visit her. Keep my progeny and Mr Quinn away from her. And if i hear otherwise. I shall have your heads displayed on my front lawn. Do you understand!" he instructed.

"Yes, your Majesty"

"Now, I want a full search of the premises. Look for small camera's, bug any of the sort. And report back within two hours" he commanded them.

"Yes, your Majesty" they spoke in unison.

They bowed out and vacated his office, Bill still refusing to turn to face her.

Kiara shook her head. She didn't worry about cameras. Quinn didn't have a reputation for being sloppy so the chances of any of these guards finding any cameras of his were astronomically low.

"protection eh? from who? others or myself?" she asked as she turned her head. "Because I will die Bill... you told one one night there is no world without me... well to me there is no world without you."

She narrowed a look at him "I lost you once... and now I'm losing you again. I am not going through this again..."

She crossed her arms. Bill seemed lost to her and there was nothing more she could do. At least she'd managed to come clean in her last moments, maybe that thought would comfort her in the grave.

"I lost you once... and now I'm losing you again. I am not going through this again..."

Bill did not respond to her last comment, he knew that he had been unstable in these last few weeks. He walked across to a large painting behind his desk, as he made sure that Kiara could see his every movement. Shifting the large painting out of the way, he revealed a small safe flush with the wall. As he began to enter the combination, he opened the safe as he searched out a small black box.

"This is what you want? Then take it. Destroy it. I do not care"

He tossed the small black box at her.

"This is what you and Quinn have been searching for isn't it. Well do with it what you wish" he instructed.

Inside the small black box was a vial...a vial of Lilith blood.

Kiara looked at the vial. Gods she wanted to jump on it and burn it but she caught herself. Bill had glamoured her into forgetting... he'd slipped...

She looked at the vial, a look of utter confusion in her eyes "Looking? Bill I know theres no vial... just.. don't ask me how I know but I know.. Why would I be looking for something I know doesn't exist?" she asked, as if seeing the vial there did nothing to undo the glamour he'd put in her before.

Kiara looked at him, wondering if he'd catch what he'd done, that he himself had glamoured ignorance into Kiara.

"Do not lie to me Kiara. I know you have been searching for the vial. After all why would you talk about glamour and that Russell had you well schooled in the effect of glamour. I know you better that you know yourself....But if you want an admission, I glamoured you into forgetting an entire conversation that we had about this very vial...So now you have what you want. I do not care" he hissed.

He turned from her as he headed to sit down in his chair behind his desk. His fingers pinching the bridge of his noes, his eyes closed as he tried to fight himself to remain calm.

"So now you have everything that you want. I am no longer of use to you. You can go back to your precious Tiger and give him what you have both been searching for" he whispered.

Oh...that was it..

"You think I WANT to go back to Quinn? Fuck Bill you don't know a thing about me. Quinn wasn't there to protect me at all. He took my virginity at his convenience and left me there at the mercy of Russell's wolves!"

"You glamoured me... you broke the fragile health of my mind and I reverted to the only thing I know to do. I was so undone when I'd learned you had glamoured me. I felt so betrayed, so used...it was like being one of russel's fuck slaves again"

She rolled her eyes. "But NOOOOO....I'm the one who betrayed you. I'm the one who fucks everything up. Forget me trying to save you from all this Lillith crap...I'm the one at fault! Always am!" she spun around. "Look at me! Kiara the great fuck up! Oh but don't get to close... she's a whore" she said in a shrill voice.

"Yes I glamoured you! I had no fucking choice. You left me with none! You went behind my back...AGAIN! KIARA! HOW ELSE DO YOU EXPECT ME TO REACT?!" he spat at her.

He turned from her again, he couldn't bare to look at her.

"I KILLED MY PROGENY TO KEEP YOU SAFE! DID YOU KNOW THAT I HAVE BEEN OFFERED A VAST AMOUNT OF WEALTH TO TURN YOU IN? ANOTHER AREA? TO BECOME KING OF ANOTHER STATE? AND ALL I HAD TO DO WAS TURN YOU IN! BUT I DIDN'T! AND YOU KNOW WHY? I LOST SOOKIE TO ERIC BECAUSE I SCREWED UP! I TURNED HER AGAINST ME! AND I THOUGHT I WAS GETTING A SECOND CHANCE WITH YOU! BUT I AM A VAMPIRE, I HAVE NEVER HAD TO ANSWER TO ANYONE BUT MYSELF, NOT YOU NOR JESSICA! I GAVE UP MY CHANCE TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT WITH CHRISTIAN BECAUSE I LOVED YOU! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?" he finished his shouting match with her.

She smirked. "Fine...turn me in Bill. It's what you want isn't it? With me gone ALL your problems go away. Everyones problems go away"

She grabbed the phone and handed it to him. "Hell I'll even slap a bow on myself for Zafrina. Tell her I'm her wedding gift. I'm sure you two would enjoy drinking my blood on your wedding night."

By now she was shaking with anger, frustration and a deep sorrow. "Go! Go be King in another state! Go fuck Lillith and your vampire queen! I'm sure they'll both keep your bed warmer than I ever could!"

Bill could not believe that he was hearing these words coming from Kiara, he had never heard her speak to him in such a way. He opened his drawer and pulled out a wooden box as he pulled out a stake with a silver tip that he had once wished he had used on Eric Northman.

Storming over to Kiara, he gripped her hand and forced the stake into her hand as he collapsed to his knees in front of her, opening his shirt as it exposed his chest.

"Do it!....If you think i am sure a threat to everyone. To you. Then end me. Here and now! Do it! DO IT!" he bellowed at her.

She held the stake and looked at him. How often had she craved death only to be denied it. It seemed almost appropriate that she do this.

"The only person you're a threat to...is yourself"

She flung the stake. It grazed Bill's shoulder enough to hurt but not enough to do real damage and embedded itself into the floorboards.

"How can you ask me to kill the man I love Bill?" she fell to her knees before him. "I know you are cruel but to ask me that... is just low" she said before she wept bitterly before him. Her head hung low as her tears fell in cascades down her cheeks and unto her knees. Her whole body shook and her breathing was ragged as her sobs filled the otherwise silent room.

Bill watched as Kiara fell to her knees crying her eyes out. He remained on his knees as he felt the sting of the graze that she had caused him heal itself almost instantly. He reached down to grab her hand as he placed it over his un-beating heart.

"The man you love is still here. He is inside here. Lost. Blinded by Lilith. Save him......Save me. Make the man that you fell in love with. Don't loose him" he whispered.

He then placed his own hands over her hand that covered his own heart.

She shook her head. "I cannot save you Bill... only you have that power"

She took a breath for strength. "The moment you chose that vial over me... that was the moment I could no longer save you"

She looked down at the engagement ring of his she still wore. "I hold...no more meaning in your world Bill" she whispered sadly. "I failed Judith....I failed you...and for that...I am truly sorry"