They stared at each other through all of people but it felt to Chloe like they weren't even there. She suddenly felt like all of the possibilities she had worked so hard to let go of and forget about were back in the forefront. She felt like her life had meaning beyond revenge again, and she recognized the feeling as hope. Her grin slowly spread across her face as she stood there with bodies gyrating around her.
But then she noticed that his expression was not one of joy and hope, but rather one of anger and confusion. Her joy quickly turned into concern for the man she had loved and still loved. She started to walk towards him and she noticed that he looked at her with a strange intensity. She saw his nose twitch as he sniffed towards her. "Derek?" she said his name and it felt so good to say it. He heard her voice and his eyes seemed to clear and he finally looked at her like he actually recognized her. She saw the love fill his eyes and her heart could have burst with happiness.
"Chloe? Is that you? I've been looking all over for you. I thought maybe you had gone home without me. I'm so happy to see you," he said with an air of desperation.
"I'm so happy to see you, too!" She breathed with feeling. She continued to approach him, but realized that she needed to keep her distance so that she wouldn't raise suspicion with the other members of the Red Guard. She stopped in her place and looked slightly away from him. "A lot has happened since we last saw each other, and I really want to talk to you about it all. But we need to meet in secret. Nobody can know we are talking. Can you meet tomorrow night at our old hotel? In the basement, where we used to share breakfast."
She didn't look at him, but she could tell he had also looked away from her. She could only hope that nobody had noticed their original interaction. "Yes, I will be there," came his voice like music to her ears. "I cannot wait to speak with you, Chloe. I've been missing you so much."
"I've been missing you, too. I thought you were dead. I didn't know you survived," she said. She didn't yell over the music, knowing that his ears would still hear her.
"I heard that you were attacked. I didn't hear much else. I didn't know what became of you, so I've been looking for your face everywhere I go. Every day. Every night.
"Derek," she whispered. She felt emotion starting to take over, "See you tomorrow night, Derek," she said softly. She thought back to the night they were separated and how obsessed she had been about whether or not he had been looking for her. And here he had been searching for her relentlessly day in and day out. It melted her heart.
"I can't wait," he replied.
Chloe swallowed hard. There were so many feelings building up inside of her and she was starting to fear an emotional outburst that she might not recover from. She quickly walked to the washroom as she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. She felt strength from her pain and it kept the flood of emotion that was about to pour out of her at bay. The pain kept her sane.
She slammed the bathroom stall door and sat on the toilet with her head in her hands. She took some deep breaths and thought through her plan. Did she even have a plan? Enough of one to at the very least see Derek tomorrow night. He was the link she needed to figure out what was happening with the vampires.
Her life suddenly had so many possibilities, she could hardly keep up with them as they rushed through her brain. She trusted Derek with everything that she was. At least she had. And when she thought of it, she trusted him with her eternity. They could work together to even the playing field for the rich and poor, this at least as a start. Perhaps they could even have some sort of future together after everything settled down.
Chloe got up from the toilet and took a deep breath. She flushed the toilet as she opened the door and studied her face in the mirror. She could do all these things in her mind and more. She concentrated hard to calm her eyes and reduce the flush in her face.
She went to the door and walked out with some confidence towards her friends. She was glad to see that they were all dancing with the same vigour as before. She searched out Jessica, saw her dancing with abandon with their smaller group of friends and felt a wave of relief wash over her. If Jessica was still dancing like that, Chloe felt reasonably sure that no one had noticed what had just transpired.
Chloe started dancing as she approached Quinn and Felicity. She felt renewed and danced with a new level of joy. And that was how she danced until it was time to go home.
~~
Chloe woke up the next morning thinking about the previous night. It had been jam packed with so many events. She looked forward to what this new day would hold for her. She followed what she could see was going to become her daily routine: snack, shower, dress, weapons training with Jessica, breakfast, training, nap, lunch, training, nap, dinner, followed by who knew what. Maybe another hunt? She knew she was under some scrutiny and there was some weird expectation that she make a kill next. She really hoped the target would not be Derek, because, let's face it, that would be a tough one.
Last night, she set her plan to meet Derek into motion. As they had walked into the fresh air feeling both exhilarated and exhausted, Chloe had linked arms with Felicity. "Wanna go shopping tomorrow night? I think I need my own makeup. And maybe some of those eyelash things that you wear."
"I don't wear fake eyelashes," Felicity had laughed.
Chloe had rolled her eyes, "There is no way your eyelashes naturally look like that."
Felicity had fluttered her eyelashes, lifted her lips in a grin and said, "Oh, but they do... I'll show you how to grow them when we go shopping. But don't tell anyone my little secret. And yes, tomorrow night would work for me."
They had continued on walking hand in hand, their large group unnoticed by the few people they walked by.
Chloe thought now that they would have fun shopping tonight and then she would slip away to see the piece of her heart that had been missing. She couldn't help but wonder if things would still be the same somehow. She really hoped that they would be.
She slowly did up the last buckle on her hunting gear and headed to the door. Quinn had just been about to knock. His face lit up when she opened the door and he said, "Hey!I thought we could go to breakfast together."
She took his proffered arm and looked up at him with a wide grin, "Oh course I'd be happy to. Who wouldn't want breakfast with a man who takes such pleasure in breaking one's neck?"
He let out a hoot a laughter, "I think the feeling is quite mutual then. I don't know if my neck will ever recover from you gusto!"
They shared a giggle together over their silliness as they headed into the banquet hall for what smelled like French toast, bacon, eggs... and possibly hash browns. They sat with the rest of the Red Guards and shared tales from the night before.
"We thought we had her," saidJohnny, running his fingers through his shaggy blond hair. "We saw a figure that was for sure a vampire moving through the streets. It looked like it had just disposed of a body. Right into the river, like it won't be fished out within a day or two. I think it could have done a better job to make it easier for the police to ignore. I mean, really, common courtesy, you know?"
The rest of the Red Guard nodded in agreement. "So the police go out of their way to ignore the deaths if they find the bodies?" asked Chloe.
"It's not so much that they ignore the bodies, they just have other more pressing cases to work. It only takes the murder of one or two more high profile figures to keep them really busy, following leads and such. They don't have time to search for murderers if there isn't any family hounding them. Like yours, for instance. I've heard they are putting up quite a fight," said Johnny. A few of the Red Guards nearby threw Johnny dirty looks and he blushed at his lack of couth.
This took Chloe aback. "They are?" she asked sadly. Her unfortunate family may never know the truth and she wanted them to move on and not worry about her. Chloe knew, though, that she'd be doing the same thing if one of them had gone missing. You couldn't just forget about the people you loved. Not easily, at least.
"Yeah, they're driving the coppers around the bend, as far as I hear," said another Red Guard with some sympathy. "It's not an easy stage to go through, but don't worry, they'll give up soon. It's probably a good idea for you to stay out of sight until they go home."
"They're here?" asked Chloe weakly.
"I think they might even be on their way to the Vatican today. They will look everywhere before they leave. But they will leave, don't worry," consoled Felicity.
"I have to see them," moaned Chloe.
Felicity nodded her head in agreement, surprising everyone including Chloe, "You should. One last time. But it should be from a safe place. You don't want to get their hopes up with a false sighting. You should dress in your habit. I'll go with you."
"Me too," said Quinn in support. The others shot Chloe looks of sympathy and went on eating.
~~
A/N What do you think Chloe should do about her parents? Should she let them see her? Tell them she's okay? Please comment and don't forget to vote :)