Forgiveness and Punishment

12

Timothy looks at Mel with blank eyes, "Be prepared to take over this seethe, Mel. With all that I've done, I doubt that she will give oath to me. Even should she accept this life and bond with another seethe leader, I will still be required to pay the price of breaking this law."

"She wouldn't really do that to you would she?" Mel asks shocked at the idea. Most of the seethe see Timothy as an incredible leader. He built the seethe slowly over the years, bringing his own made children and bonding those that wished to join him. Now, he is the second most powerful leader among the vampires. The only seethe leader that is also on the council.

The council is chosen by the oldest of the vampires. They choose the most intelligent, strongest and wisest of the vampires. Most of those prefer not having the duties of a seethe leader, although all of them have ties to at least one seethe. All vampires have desire for power and seethe leaders more than most.

Timothy sighs, "I don't know. I hardly had a chance to talk to her while she was human. Like she throws in my face, I don't know her. I have no idea if she will be likely to take her revenge on me like that or if she will forgive me and give me a chance. 

"If she would give me a chance, I think that she might forgive me. But, I think the main reason she won't is because of how bad her human life was. She didn't want to live. She had means to live a much nicer life than she did. She was consistently overlooked when it came time for promotions, although she deserved it far more than many that received them. She had only casual work friends and her family was so bad that she cut all contact with them. Even her lawyer warned me about them once he found out they learned of where she lived."

Timothy laughs bitterly, "And he was right. I was there when her bitch of a sister came and tried to get into the apartment to steal whatever she could. Although, I don't think that she would have found the valuables that Melissa had hidden. I almost missed them."

Mel is intrigued, but neither had realized that Melissa was just outside the door listening. Melissa frowns at what she heard. Has she been too harsh on Timothy? True, he had changed her without her permission, but he hadn't had much time to present his case before she died and he had to make a snap decision.

A decision that could get him killed now.

Could she be so cold hearted to not give him and this life a chance? At least to listen to him present his case?

Melissa decides to give him a real chance this week as they go to her home town. Although, she doubts that she will be there the whole week. She only needs to visit her lawyer there and the cemetery to place her or rather Pimpernel's ashes with her father.

She turns and walks away to the breakfast room. She eats absently as she thinks over her options.

"Are you ready, Miss Heath?" Timothy says coming into the room.

Broken out of her thoughts, Melissa startles a bit. "What? Oh, yeah. Just finished, sorry, I was lost in my thoughts.

"You don't need to be so formal, you can call me Melissa." Melissa says sliding out of her chair and going over to Timothy. She offers him an unsure smile.

Timothy is startled but smiles at her. He takes the olive branch and holds hard to it. "I've messed up pretty bad, I didn't want to continue insulting you. Thank you, I would be honored if you would call me by name as well." Is she going to give him a real chance?

Timothy doesn't dare hope too much at this time as he escorts her outside.

"Normally newborn vampires are too harmed by the sun to be able to do this. I believe, though, that you will be able to tolerate the sun nearly as well as a human since you will be able to constantly feed to help you heal and feel no ill effects."

Melissa hadn't even thought of that. She really never paid much attention to the supernatural stories or movies. She just didn't have the time for them. She paid more attention to her various business stocks and charities.

Going out into the sun she immediately starts feeling the drain as her body starts healing her as soon as she gets burned.

"It's very draining, I can feel that, but there is no pain." Melissa assures him as she gets in the car. She lets out a sigh of relief as the sun is blocked once the door is shut.

Timothy is pleased, "Once you get used to it, it shouldn't be so draining for you. You will be able to learn how to control your body's reaction to the sun so you are healing from the sun damage, but not so fast that it drains you. If you do accept this life, then whoever you choose as your seethe leader will help you with that if you need it." Timothy isn't going to make any assumptions at this point.

Melissa frowns at his wording. Then she realizes that he isn't rejecting her, he's just allowing her to decide if she wants to stay here, like he told her earlier. She relaxes a bit at that realization.

"I have cars here that you will be able to use if you decide to stay here. If you choose to live elsewhere you will need to talk to the seethe leader about transportation options. Many disdain cars and prefer just to run. In many instances it is more time efficient to do it that way, but there are even more where it's better to use conventional means of transportation."

"I don't drive." Melissa says softly when Timothy stops speaking.

Timothy frowns and looks at Melissa quickly before turning back to the road. "I will teach you if you stay here. Even if you never decide to drive it's a useful skill to have." Timothy says and Melissa nods. For the rest of the drive it is silent, each lost in their own thoughts.