Twists of Fate chapter 28 (PG-13)

[francis]

Here's the next chapter. I hope you're still with me. Thank you to my beta RedNightBird.
The usual disclaimer still applies.

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link from chapter 27:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=6429&p=155188#p155188
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Morgan was exhausted. I guided her to her bedroom and sat her down on her bed. I removed the bedspread and took the diary out of the way with it, then removed her shoes.

“Let’s take off your clothes, you’re soaked. We don’t want you to catch a cold, right? Let me take care of you.”

She looked up with tired eyes, probably surprised about my reaction to her breakdown. She nodded slowly, took off her dress, then her camisole. I rubbed her down with a towel and asked her to lie down to tuck her in.

I hesitated to undress because I didn’t want to make this into something sexual. Removing my own shoes, jacket and pants I crawled into bed behind her and embraced her. “Sleep, dear, we can talk in the morning.”

I couldn’t see her face but her shoulders started shivering again. She was weeping. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“You’re so good to me after all I have done.” she sobbed.

I held her close. “Whatever you did, you can always do better tomorrow. Sleep now.”

She sagged into the pillows and lay still. After a while her breathing calmed and I was sure she was asleep.

I couldn’t sleep. There were too many unanswered questions. Where was Henry? I suspected that he and Hank Mattola were one person. How had she gotten him to help, and what were her plans with him? What did she plan to do with Mick and Beth? Could I bring her to open up and let them be?

And why was I helping her anyway, after she had used me like this? Seducing me to keep me from investigating her, taking my photo to have blackmail material, telling me just enough to make me feel miserable about my role in this farce.

Still, she was beautiful, and there were deep layers behind her plans. She was smart and confident, and probably had a wealth of history and knowledge under her belt. I wanted to know her better, wanted to know the person she could be if she wasn’t so obsessed about Mick.

I closed my eyes and finally sleep claimed me, too.

When I woke up it was morning, the bed next to me was cold. I was disappointed for a moment that she hadn’t stayed in my arms; then I heard water running in the bathroom. I dressed and went to the kitchen to make coffee. I contemplated going out to get fresh rolls, but thought I’d better wait to see the tone of Coraline’s mood.

She came out of the bathroom wearing a robe, towelling her hair. Without a word she took a cup from the counter and sat down on a bar stool, she looked tired.

“Maybe I should sue him for harassment,” she murmured. “The guards at the cemetery told me they would testify.”

I scoffed. “And I should probably investigate this case, huh? Don’t you think it would be better not to have the police look into you, into this?”

She looked up. Her eyes were cold and it seemed she didn’t want my sorry ass in her apartment any more. After all I had done for her; she was back into her independent, dispassionate personality. I got the hint, fetched my jacket and took my leave.

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After a short pit stop at my own apartment to get in a bit of grooming, I was off to work. It was Sunday, but I hadn’t gotten a lot done the last week. I decided I needed the distraction from the mystery of Coraline. Paperwork and putting together some notes for a minor case I had to deal with the next week was just what I needed.

I checked my e-mail and read a few files that had accumulated on my desk. Most of it was fluff I had to read and then could pass on. I could have done with a bit of rest but I knew I’d be unable to sleep anyway. Going for routine, digging into a desk full of work always had a calming effect on me. Before I knew it, it was 3 pm, and I was starving.

While I went to the small coffee shop to snag a quick bite I checked my messages. Morgan had sent me one.

“Josh, I’m having a guest tonight, don’t come over. M.”

Gosh, I felt like a fool. She threw me over? Who was that guest, was it Henry, was it Mick, or was it someone else? Was she already looking for a new man to manipulate?

I decided to come by anyway and see what happened, she’d probably be angry, yet I was beyond caring. She hadn’t hurt me yet, even when she was a vampire, if I couldn’t save Coraline from herself, maybe I could save her next victim.

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Standing outside her flat I heard two female voices inside. When I knocked it took some time before. Coraline answered, opening the door widely, I saw a statuesque woman in white eyeing me.

“Hey, is that your new boy toy? So.. ... .. not.. .... . adequate.” The woman emphasized those last three words.

Coraline hurried to close the door and almost pulled me inside. I watched the mysterious ice princess, she was blonde, carefully coiffed and elegantly clothed. Her eyes pierced me even more than Coraline’s had. She took a step back, evaluated me from head to toe and pursed her lips.

Coraline introduced me briefly: “Cynthia, this is Josh”, and then ignored me. She proceeded to babble so fast in a very strange French that I only got a few words. She obviously told her about the cemetery incident.

I knew that I was no longer part of the attention, so I just sat down on the couch and feigned disinterest. Coraline seemed to have forgotten I understood French, or she didn’t care. In reality I listened very carefully.

Cynthia was the woman who had saved Coraline from the fire, who buoyed her time and again, the soul who gave her the compound that returned her mortality. From what I understood she was in town to give her a little bit more of the substance but she also said that there was only very little left in a safe deposit box in Chicago. Coraline said she would have to hurry up to get Mick back if that was the case.

If Cynthia was around already when Coraline was burned, then she was a vampire, too. Would they let me get away with listening in to their plans? Would Coraline kill me once she got bored with me? I tried to keep my psyche under control. My thoughts wandered to Mick and Beth, would these two women be a danger to them?

What was Cynthia’s motivation to come here? The way they interacted with each other it seemed that Cynthia was seeing herself as some kind of supportive elder sister, loyal to Coraline in every way.

On the other hand it was very clear in their body language that Coraline called the shots and Cynthia never questioned that. When Coraline expressed her impatience and frustration about the failures in Cynthia’s research, the woman in white almost cowered with contrition.

“I studied biochemistry to help you reproduce the compound, so don’t accuse me of not caring about you!” Cynthia cried out. “It’s not my fault the main ingredient is extinct, maybe we can still find the flower in France, in the valley where we used to harvest it. Maybe there’s a close relative that would work. The peasants I employed are useless; they don’t know what to look for. We have to go back.”

“I won’t go back to France to have my brothers find me. And I don’t have enough time”, Coraline answered, pacing the living room. She eyed me suspiciously. I had picked up a magazine and pretended to read.

Cynthia picked up on Coraline’s unease. “Does he speak French?”

“Only very little”, she said, too quickly. She knew exactly that I was listening in.

“What are your plans with him?” Cynthia asked. “He’s human, and he’s weak. Did you tell him about Mick?”

Coraline smiled. “I told him everything, and yet he stands by me. He’s a D.A. and made sure that the police wouldn’t investigate. Everyone knows that we’re involved, so he couldn’t accuse me or Henry of the fire. I made sure he would be held responsible.”

“What’s in it for him?”

“Why, of course he loves me!” Coraline exclaimed. “Just like Henry.”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Cynthia sighed. “Except for Mick, why do you still think you can win him back?”

Coraline scowled. “Don’t start THAT conversation again.” She paused. “I’m not sure anymore I want him back. I want revenge for what he did to me; and I don’t want Beth to have him.”

Cynthia raised her eyebrows at that. Not stopping for a moment, Coraline continued. “Of all the girls he could have fallen for, he had to fall for the one who was supposed to be our daughter. She’s older than me now! She’s totally not his type. She’s a human! He killed me. . . . . for. . . . . . her, and now she’s captivated him. What does she have that I haven’t?” Out of breath from her rant, Coraline fell silent.

Cynthia gave an indulgent smile. “For starters, she’s not playing games. She doesn’t have other lovers on the back burner just to spite him. She doesn’t try to dominate him, to mold him to her needs.”

Cynthia knew Coraline well, they must have spent a lot of time in each others’ company. I wondered, given the sage advice Cynthia had for her, why she still didn’t see reason.

Coraline surprised me again. She started to cry. “It’s not intentional, it just happens, I lose control.”

Cynthia was clearly uneasy with Coraline’s reaction. She didn’t hug her or comfort her, she turned away. “I’ll go and negotiate the lease on that warehouse on Figueroa. Within a week I could transfer the laboratory from Chicago to L.A. Do you think that’s quick enough?”

Coraline took her purse and gave Cynthia a piece of paper. “Yes, that’s sufficient. I hope the cheque is enough, if not, contact me. Be careful, Laurent might already be in on us. I’ll try to spend some more time with Beth and Mick to find an angle to get to him alone. If I dangle the cure in front of him, he’ll be head over heels for it.”

Cynthia took the door. In the frame she turned around one last time and said with a soft voice: “You know I love you too, Coraline.”

Coraline kissed her cheek and whispered: “I know. Thank you.” Then she closed the door behind her.

With a big sigh Coraline sat down on the couch next to me. She snuggled into my chest. “You heard everything. Did you understand it?”

Baffled by her open invitation to discuss a conversation that I had no right to witness, I answered: “I got most of it. You gave my French quite the workout.”

She giggled. “Contemporary French would have been easier, I guess. So, what do you think of Cynthia?”

“She’s your friend. She must have been for quite a while, and she doesn’t think much of me. Is she a vampire, too?”

“Yeah, she is. She was my chamber maid when I was still human, I turned her.” That surprised me even more. I wondered briefly what kind of bond a turning created. Was it more like mother and daughter, or like teacher and pupil, or master and servant? It explained why Cynthia came to L.A. on the drop of a hat.

She sat up. “Why are you still around? You must be kind of a masochist. Don’t you have a backbone? I’ve admitted that I only used you. I’ve admitted that I want Mick back, that I want to hurt him.”

Spitting mad she continued: “I admitted that I was responsible for the fire, that I played games, why don’t you run?”

I looked down, suddenly insecure if I was right about her. I always thought she would be able to change, given the right incentive. It seemed I wasn’t the one she would change for. “You said that you only used me, but I assumed that was said for Cynthia’s ears.”

“You seem so sure about that. How can you be sure?” Her gaze changed from anger to confusion.

I looked into her eyes, trying to convey that I loved her. “I have a backbone, Coraline; I just decided that it wouldn’t do any good to defy you. I admit that I’m very curious about what you’re doing. Your games don’t frighten me.”

“Why not?” Coraline posed, not disappointed just curious as a child studying a butterfly.

I thought hard for a while and then I opted to tell her the whole truth.

“You said that I love you, and you’re right, and because of that I’m trying hard not to judge you. I won’t let your games come between us. Once you stop running after what you can’t have, I’ll be there for you.”

She turned towards me and kissed me, so long and hard it was breathtaking. It took me by surprise. Soon I returned the warmth that intensified our touch, running my hands along her back. It was gratifying that I had elicited an emotional response, and that she seemed to warm to my words.

She sat back again and smiled. “I never met a man like you, Josh. How can you not judge someone who does so many things you don’t approve of?”

“When I’m prosecuting someone in court, I have to take sides, yet I try not to judge a person, just what they did. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t, but it helps to think about what made a person do it. There was this arms dealer who killed a witness and tried to kill another witness. That was pure self-defense in his eyes.”

Her head fell back on the couch and she watched the ceiling, and then pursed her lips to look at me, giving me a sign to continue.

Hunched over with my elbows on my knees I tried to make her understand about the fine line my work asked me to walk while dealing with criminals. “Of course I had to protect her and get him behind bars, and still, I could understand him. I had a harder time not to judge how he even got into that situation. Once he started to succumb to greed, he set himself up for more and more crimes.”

She nodded. “It’s a downward spiral.”

She settled in further, scooping closer and rolling herself into a ball on my lap. “I was just a woman back then, when I was human, with a family and friends and a future ahead of me. Then the king of France fell for me, yet he couldn’t marry me because of my lowly station in life, so he made me his concubine. I had no choice in the matter. He hurt me, repeatedly. I lost a child. He gave me to other nobles for their games. Then when he no longer desired me, I was discarded, locked up in a chateau outside of Paris. No-one would marry me then. That’s when Laurent came to me and told me about a way out. He could bring me to his sire and they would turn me, it would be a gift. I became a powerful woman, using the power of attraction and deception to bring down nobles all over Europe.”

She shifted, as if to draw more breath to continue.

“But they used me, too.. I realized that I still wasn’t free. So I fled to the Americas. Laurent repeatedly found me and would return me to France for punishment. Each time I managed to get away. Cynthia was always loyal to me; she’s helping me to find a way to make more of the compound that makes me human. Perhaps I could stay human and get away from it all. Or I could give it to Mick, to return what I took from him, his humanity.”

She watched me for a reaction. I took her into my arms. “I do love you, Coraline. Thank you for being open with me, for telling me so much. I know that it’s a risk you’re not used to taking, but it’s important that you learn to trust. Trust me, Cora. I didn’t tell Mick your secret, or get in your way. I just don’t want you to hurt my friends anymore.”

“I won’t hurt Mick and Beth, not permanently. I’m just so wounded because he doesn’t want me, because he killed me. After all those years, I expected him to honour what we had.”

“But you didn’t either, did you? You moved on, you got involved with me, with others.”

“I guess I’m just so used to turning the tables on the ones who hurt me.”

“But you don’t. You don’t hurt the ones who hurt and used you, you hurt innocents. I would want you to be free.”

She stood up. “Let’s stop talking. It’s too much to think about, I can’t take it anymore. Come to bed with me.”

Oh crap, I vacillated, was that a victory or a failure? She still wanted me around, she had been incredibly open about her past and her feelings, yet she wasn’t ready to face the fact that her whole life was focused on revenge and violence. I decided to leave it at that, for now.

She snuggled into me again when we lay in bed together, she fell asleep almost immediately and I followed her soon.

That next morning when I woke, she was really gone.

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link to chapter 29:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=6616

[Lucy]

“You’re so good to me after all I have done.” she sobbed.

I held her close. “Whatever you did, you can always do better tomorrow. Sleep now.”

This is the essence of Josh's character, and you let him explain his rationale later on. This gesture of tenderness between them is what differentiates Josh from other men.

I'll hang on while your mind weaves the next episode!

[francis]

Thank you, Lucy, especially for understanding what I wanted to convey about Josh. He's just good.

[NocturneInCMoll]

Intriguing...

Will Josh be able to pull off the impossible? Or is Coraline still playing a deep game?

[francis]

Hmm, let's see. Thank you for reading.
I just remembered I haven't sent out PMs yet.

[mitzie]

I'm so happy to see this new chapter here!!! Coraline is opening herself up to Josh about her past, but will she really make any changes within herself??!! I love this story and can't wait for the next chapter...


mitzie

[francis]

Thank you, Mitzie!
Glad you like. We'll see.

[VampFan5]

Francis I loved this chapter. I think the brief moments when Coraline was in his arms being taken care of after the cemetary are probably the real Coraline or at least the woman she used to be. You can really see why Josh loves that about her. He's a decent man but I think she's just going to drag him down. I wondered how much of her backstory was the truth and how much of it was just more manipulation.

VF5

[francis]

Thank you, VampFan. Coraline has been someone else way back, before she was twisted into the one she is now. Maybe Josh can find a way to get her back, at least once in a while.
But I hope she will never be like the guilt-trapped Mick.