Just another picture...

I smiled as I finally arrived back to Quinn's place. The limo driver helped me out and I giggled since I'd had a bit of the royal blend blood wine from the back. Hey, it was a long journey. Romania was....amazing! I'd never seen so many vampires and of such high ranks interested in Quinn's business. I'd like to think I remained casual, professional and landed the things I was supposed to. The meetings were boring and I tried to pay attention and put on my best smile, but I missed my tiger. "Miss Hamby are you okay?" Vincent asked me as he greeted me at the door. I just giggled again, "A-course I'm fine Vinny! It was a great flight and I'm just glad to be home. Where's Quinn?"

"Oh, I'm afraid he isn't in just yet?"

My smile faded. "Well, did you tell him my flight would be in tonight?"

"I'm sure he regrets not being here to greet you, perhaps I can call him for you?"

"No, no that won't be necessary. I'll just go unpack and get things ready for him when he does get back." Vincent nodded and watched the driver carry in the two luggage bags I'd taken with me. Draining the remaining blood wine, I handed the glass to Vincent and walked down the hall to his office. The driver set the bags down on the bed and left, I could hear his footsteps and soft speaking to Vincent. I inhaled deeply in his office and closed my eyes at his smell. Sandalwood and musk mixed with the spice of his blood and that hint of wood smell from his natural scent. I sensed another smell, a strong pungent smell but assumed it was just a client as usual. He did meet clients here on occasion.

Opening the small closet where he hung his nice suit jackets and some shirts for quick changes I smiled and ran my index finger over the fabric. Biting my lower lip I contemplated surprising him with the new lingerie I had purchased in Romania. Romanian women had NO shame....at all. I'd have blushed if I could at the thought of the things I'd bought. Instead I went back into the office just as Vincent brought in a glass of warmed blood with a hint of lemon scent. Mmm, fresh from a donor who ate lemons. Strange as it was, the blood wasn't tart like you'd think...it was sweet like biting into fresh fruit from a ripe tree. "Thanks Vinny."

"Will there be anything else?"

"Nah, I think I'm just gonna head for a long bath and wait for him to get back."

Vincent nodded and left me alone again. I took a sip from the glass and set it at the corner of his desk, bringing my hands up to my hair to remove the pins holding it up tight in a bun. Letting my hair fall loosely around my shoulders, I shook it out and let out a moan of relief. Running my fingers through my hair and shaking it out, I walked around his desk and sat down. Grabbing the glass of blood I logged in on my own account, I had special access after all to check on things he told me to check on when returning and he wasn't home. Sitting back I watched surveillance video from the several premises and easily got bored. The maid who cleaned his shreveport office picked her nose a lot, not that it was bad but...well...yeah.

I chuckled at the thought and shook my head, taking a sip. That's when someone I recognized caught my eye on the screen. Kiara. Tilting my head to the side I tried to find the volume but there was no volume to this video. It had six small screens of the same room but at different angles. She came into the shreveport office and they spoke for a while, I wondered about what but it seemed all business. Shrugging, I sat back and closed my eyes and took another sip of blood.

When my eyes opened again after a while, she looked like she was yelling at him, she seemed angry. He was calm and collected then took something from his pocket and tossed it on the desk. With vampire sight it looked like a necklace with a familiar emblem but I couldn't make it out. They talked more and I was starting to get bored. I took another sip and stopped just as the blood hit my lips.

He stepped closer to her...and KISSED HER! Stepping back calmly with a smile on his face like nothing had happen I just stared at the monitor. She just talked, Kiara looked just as shocked as I was. Then...he placed his hands on her hips and then Kiara stepped closer to him. My jaw clenched shut and I wiped the blood from my top lip slowly.

I sat there and watched, my heart sinking so low in my gut it felt like a jolt of electricity. I saw red, and I saw fire. The way that bitch just placed her head on his chest and looked up at him with the saddest eyes. Was Bill not enough? Why would she do this? HOW could she do this to me? How could HE??

He kissed her again after lifting her to the desk, he'd never been this way with me. The look in his eyes...it was different. It was like he felt familiar with her, natural. My chest tightened at the thought and when his lips found hers again, my heart shattered. I thought I'd truly found happiness and here it was...gone.

Again.

I was half expecting her to slap him, come to her senses. But...she didn't. Instead she kissed him back and I closed my eyes. A single tear fell from my eye and down my cheek. The warmth making my cheek flame, reluctantly I opened my eyes praying I was seeing things. He kissed her neck, put his hands under her shirt, his hands moving against her skin as he kissed her over and over. I watched her take off her engagement ring and set it down to the side, my soul crumbling within myself. He kissed her hard and removed her shirt then his own. I covered my mouth and tried to hold back the urge to scream at the pain I was experiencing.

I watched her trace his tattoo, something I always did. Touching his skin and leaving her own scent behind. Was it wrong to view him as mine? After all we'd been through, after all the promises we made one another? He swore he'd never hurt me and here he was...he was better off staking me. I wanted to stop watching, but I couldn't. He removed her bra and kissed, licked and sucked his way around her familiar breasts. My face contorted with pain as the grip I had on the glass tightened. Soon the glass broke from the pressure, feeling the small pricks of the glass embedded in my hand and palm having no affect on the pain I felt right this moment in my heart.

His tongue trailed lower on her stomach to her belly button and I stopped breathing. Not that I had to breathe, but I couldn't find the air to go to my lungs. The way she arched her back and threw her head back with her mouth opened enjoying every minute of this. Did she think of my feelings? Of Bills? Did he?

Blood dripped from my palm as it fought to heal pushing the shards of glass from my flesh. The smell of my own blood filling the room. I only allowed myself one tear. One single tear. She laid out on his desk and I pressed my lips together for fear I might lose it and scream, the screen went dark. It shut off and I sat there staring at my own reflection in the monitor. My thoughts racing, my heart broken, my soul aching, I felt...completely and utterly broken.

"Miss Hamby would you care for anything before I retire for the evening?" I slowly looked up at Vincent who stood in the doorway and shook my head very slowly. Standing, my face blank and void of all emotion I watched him. "Do me a favor? Don't tell Quinn I came by. It'll ruin the surprise I have for him." I forced a sweet smile and he returned it.

"Of course Miss Hamby, I won't say a thing."

I watched him leave the room and I looked down at my hand and watched the remaining blood drip to the floor.



I closed my palm and my eyes slowly came up and rested on the photo of Quinn and I, happy...smiling....it was one of his business functions we had to dress up for around the holidays. I remembered that night like it was yesterday. I reached out and grabbed the photo from the desk and slipped it from the frame, dropping the frame and letting the glass shatter against the floor. Casually I stepped over it and stared down at the picture. My mind asking over and over "WHY!! WHY??" But my heart just saying because I'm not worth it, because I deserve it. I refused to let my tears fall, I refused to cry.

Holding the picture in my hand I grabbed the lighter from his desk that he kept for when he had a cigar on a very rare occasion and flicked the roll. The flame emerged from the hole of the lighter and I watched the blue, orange, white and unknown color dance softly. There really was an eighth color in this spectrum, it reflected in my eyes as I watched it. Putting the picture above the flame I watched it catch the paper on fire and burn slowly around the edges. The charred surroundings of our relationship now covering the picture. It was almost picturesque. I opened my fingers and let the picture fall to the empty trash can as it wilted and melted together to burn. I didn't stay to watch it burn into nothing, as far as I was concerned, we'd already burned to nothing.

I stepped around the desk and grabbed the few things I'd left, walked into the bedroom and grabbed my bags. Without any sign of emotion on my face I walked out of his house and vowed to myself it would probably be the last time I did. Throwing my luggage in the trunk, I closed it and went to the driver seat. Opening the door, I took one last look at the estate where I'd spent so many happy times in his arms, in his bed, wrapped up and tangled with him in the sheets. Closing my eyes at the painful memories I slipped into the seat and closed the door. My Taylor Swift CD began to play after I turned the ignition on and I smiled softly. With just a whisper, barely moving my lips all I could say was, "Just like all the rest."