Twists of Fate chapter 26 (PG-13)
Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 9:38 am
Here's the next chapter for you. Thank you for your patience.
Usual disclaimer still stands. Thanks to RNB for her beta work.
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link from chapter 25:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=6305
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
“So, what now?” I asked as soon as the elevator pinged in the distance.
Mick left his chair and started pacing the room. “There are lots of questions still unanswered.”
I ticked them off: “Is Mattola still alive? I guess he laid the fire and killed the person whose remains you found in the ashes, but we have no proof yet. What’s Morgan’s connection to Mattola, to the fire and to the body? If he’s no longer alive, how did she manage to get his prints onto her door, and what happened to him? And most important of all: What’s her agenda with all of this? Is she really your ex trying to get back at you?”
Mick nodded. “I’m almost sure of that, and if she is, why this way? Why does she want to go to the cemetery with me tonight to check something we could check much easier during the day? It doesn’t really have any importance if his urn is there or isn’t, because you can fake an urn easily, or you can remove it afterwards.”
I pondered these questions, letting my head fall back onto the comfortable red couch. “She clearly was uneasy when it looked as if I would go with you. She wants you alone there.”
“This could be a trap. Maybe she wants to confront me with the truth, show me who she is. There’s a sure way to know that. Coraline had a tattoo on her shoulder. If Morgan has it, she’s Coraline.”
“I’m not sure if she has a tattoo, it was quite dark.” I lied. It was a Fleur-de-Lys. I had assumed it was a reminder of her fondness of Paris and France in general.
Mick whipped his head around. “If she’s really Coraline, how did she do it? She doesn’t smell…” he stopped.
He paced some more. “I need to talk to a friend about this, he knew her too when we were married. I’ll drive to the cemetery with her later and see what happens.”
“Maybe I should visit her before you and try to get it out of her”, I offered. “We didn’t part on the right foot the last time we met, but maybe she will open up.”
“What’s your relationship with her anyway?” Mick asked, staring at me.
I shuffled my feet, crossed my arms. “I’m not sure. It’s complicated.” He continued to watch me. “You know, she’s really beautiful, interesting, and passionate. I liked her when I first met her, I still do. She shouldn’t have to play these games. I want to get behind that, I really want her to close this part of her life and move on. As long as she’s hung up in taking revenge on you for whatever she thinks you did to her, she’s not free for me.”
“She’s dangerous.” Mick stated. “You might get hurt.”
“Well, you know, the first time in my life I don’t care about that.” I surprised myself, but I realized I really meant that.
He sighed. “Yeah, she tends to do that to men. She will get you to do things you don’t normally do, things you regret afterwards. She’ll try to change you, mold you to her will. She has a really cruel streak. Don’t fall into that trap, Josh. You’re a good man.”
He sat down in the chair opposite me and bent forward until our faces were almost touching. “What did she tell you about me, about the past? I really need to know.”
I struggled to find words. “She gave me a hint that she staged the theft of her cameras to get you into the case. I have no idea if she also has her hands in the arson, or if it was just a convenient means to get the story going. She told me that she changed her identity. That she was married to you, and you hurt her. She wants to get back at you, make you see where you went wrong.” I cleared my throat. “I don’t know any details, but she told me that you tried to kill her.”
He watched the wall intently. “I did. I thought I succeeded. I thought she was dead.”
I was taken aback. He told me, the A.D.A., about an attempted murder. Wasn’t that awfully risky?
He looked up. “You’re surprised I tell you that. Well, you don’t have any proof, she never called the police and she’s not dead after all, so there’s no case. Right?”
I nodded slowly. “I have enough riddles to solve without looking into that. Besides, I wouldn’t do that to you. You are a good man, too.”
Mick stood up. “It’s getting late. If you want to talk to her, do it now. I’ll call you tomorrow to tell you how it went, okay?”
I grasped my jacket from a chair and headed for the door. I hesitated. “Mick, if there’s anything else you want to disclose to me, I promise I will keep quiet about it. I just need to get behind this for my own sanity. And please try to keep Beth out of this.”
He smiled. “I’m trying, but she’s not really making it easy.”
“Yeah, I know.” I grinned and left.
On my way to the car I tried to find words to ask Morgan/Coraline what her plans were. I really hoped she didn’t plan on killing Mick. As she was human for now, I doubted she could take his life easily anyway. How did one kill a vampire? A wooden stake probably. I would watch out for those kinds of things when I was with her.
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I wasn’t sure if I should have called before I knocked at her door, but maybe it would be good to surprise her. I steeled myself for whatever she would haul at me - anger, insult, seduction. She had seen me work with Mick on the case, and probably felt betrayed. Her plan to confuse and hurt Mick didn’t work the way she wanted it, he was confused but still in control. What her plans were with me I had no idea, but with all that had happened it seemed to me that she just tagged me along to keep me from persecuting her. Was I falling out of love for her? Had I been in love before? I wasn’t sure. She sure as hell had me all confused.
I knocked and she opened. “Oh, Josh! What do you want?” She was polite and waved me in, but it seemed to me that she was uneasy and that my visit didn’t fit into her plans.
I followed her to the kitchen where I saw the remains of a dinner. She busied herself packing things away into the fridge.
“So you’re still not a vampire yet.” I casually remarked to get the conversation going.
“It’s none of your business,” she spat. “You probably told Mick everything about me, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t tell him that you’re a vampire. You don’t trust me at all, do you?”
“Should I trust you when you go to Mick and tell on me? What was your business getting into this case? Why are you two suddenly so cozy with each other?”
I sat down on the couch. “Cora, Morgan, calm down, please. I don’t want to hurt you. I just don’t understand why you’re doing this, all of this. Mick is close to a nervous breakdown, thinking you might be his ex-wife, thinking you might have risen from the dead. He didn’t tell me that you’re a vampire, but he came close to losing it.”
She stood at the window, deep in thought, playing with the curtain. She smiled. “So he still doesn’t know. Good.”
I stood up. “Coraline, this is madness. What good can come out of this? Why don’t you just disclose yourself now, tell him the truth and get on with life?”
She whipped around. “What life should I get on with? He thought he killed me and never even looked back. He was the one I loved, the one I married, the one I wanted to spend eternity with. He threw it all away because he didn’t want me. He wanted a human wife, kids, whatever. I wasn’t good enough for him the way I was. Can’t you understand? I want him to love me. If I need to be human for that to happen, so be it. I try to draw it out as long as I can until I revert again.”
I took her arms into my hands and looked into her eyes. Tears were brimming on her long black lashes. “Coraline, why? He found another life, he moved on. Why can’t you?”
“Because, he’s all that I have left.”
I wanted to embrace her, comfort her and show her that I would be there for her. She didn’t need to play this game. She hesitated and didn’t reciprocate, but let me hug her.
A horn honked outside, and immediately she wiggled out of my arms and fetched her purse from the vanity. Suddenly her whole demeanour changed, she was animated, the anger and sadness were gone. “It’s Mick. Wait for me here if you like, okay?”
She dabbed her eyes with a tissue in front of the mirror and straightened her dark dress, then she was out of the door.
I let myself fall back onto the couch; I felt like a train just rammed me. Maybe I should catch some sleep while she was away, but I was far too upset to get rest now. I fetched myself a glass of water and started pacing her apartment. Watching the pictures on her walls, the knick knacks, the book shelf, I made my way into her bedroom. I had been here before, but it was dark then and we were distracted. I tried to concentrate on picking up things about her from the things she surrounded herself with. It felt odd, like I was violating her space, on the other hand she had done very intimate things to me in this bed already. I stroked my finger along the books on her bedside table, along the elegant throw on her bed, along the mirror and the lamp. A small leather bound note book was lying on the bed. It looked like a diary, and it was open.
Should I? She didn’t trust me anyway, so why not act out on it? Maybe she left it for me. Maybe it would help me understand her better.
I sat down on her bed and turned it over to read it where it was open. It was written in delicate hand writing, in French. I turned the pages backwards and skimmed over the sides. What I found made my throat constrict and my skin crawl.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
link to chapter 27:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=6429&p=155188#p155188
Usual disclaimer still stands. Thanks to RNB for her beta work.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
link from chapter 25:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=6305
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
“So, what now?” I asked as soon as the elevator pinged in the distance.
Mick left his chair and started pacing the room. “There are lots of questions still unanswered.”
I ticked them off: “Is Mattola still alive? I guess he laid the fire and killed the person whose remains you found in the ashes, but we have no proof yet. What’s Morgan’s connection to Mattola, to the fire and to the body? If he’s no longer alive, how did she manage to get his prints onto her door, and what happened to him? And most important of all: What’s her agenda with all of this? Is she really your ex trying to get back at you?”
Mick nodded. “I’m almost sure of that, and if she is, why this way? Why does she want to go to the cemetery with me tonight to check something we could check much easier during the day? It doesn’t really have any importance if his urn is there or isn’t, because you can fake an urn easily, or you can remove it afterwards.”
I pondered these questions, letting my head fall back onto the comfortable red couch. “She clearly was uneasy when it looked as if I would go with you. She wants you alone there.”
“This could be a trap. Maybe she wants to confront me with the truth, show me who she is. There’s a sure way to know that. Coraline had a tattoo on her shoulder. If Morgan has it, she’s Coraline.”
“I’m not sure if she has a tattoo, it was quite dark.” I lied. It was a Fleur-de-Lys. I had assumed it was a reminder of her fondness of Paris and France in general.
Mick whipped his head around. “If she’s really Coraline, how did she do it? She doesn’t smell…” he stopped.
He paced some more. “I need to talk to a friend about this, he knew her too when we were married. I’ll drive to the cemetery with her later and see what happens.”
“Maybe I should visit her before you and try to get it out of her”, I offered. “We didn’t part on the right foot the last time we met, but maybe she will open up.”
“What’s your relationship with her anyway?” Mick asked, staring at me.
I shuffled my feet, crossed my arms. “I’m not sure. It’s complicated.” He continued to watch me. “You know, she’s really beautiful, interesting, and passionate. I liked her when I first met her, I still do. She shouldn’t have to play these games. I want to get behind that, I really want her to close this part of her life and move on. As long as she’s hung up in taking revenge on you for whatever she thinks you did to her, she’s not free for me.”
“She’s dangerous.” Mick stated. “You might get hurt.”
“Well, you know, the first time in my life I don’t care about that.” I surprised myself, but I realized I really meant that.
He sighed. “Yeah, she tends to do that to men. She will get you to do things you don’t normally do, things you regret afterwards. She’ll try to change you, mold you to her will. She has a really cruel streak. Don’t fall into that trap, Josh. You’re a good man.”
He sat down in the chair opposite me and bent forward until our faces were almost touching. “What did she tell you about me, about the past? I really need to know.”
I struggled to find words. “She gave me a hint that she staged the theft of her cameras to get you into the case. I have no idea if she also has her hands in the arson, or if it was just a convenient means to get the story going. She told me that she changed her identity. That she was married to you, and you hurt her. She wants to get back at you, make you see where you went wrong.” I cleared my throat. “I don’t know any details, but she told me that you tried to kill her.”
He watched the wall intently. “I did. I thought I succeeded. I thought she was dead.”
I was taken aback. He told me, the A.D.A., about an attempted murder. Wasn’t that awfully risky?
He looked up. “You’re surprised I tell you that. Well, you don’t have any proof, she never called the police and she’s not dead after all, so there’s no case. Right?”
I nodded slowly. “I have enough riddles to solve without looking into that. Besides, I wouldn’t do that to you. You are a good man, too.”
Mick stood up. “It’s getting late. If you want to talk to her, do it now. I’ll call you tomorrow to tell you how it went, okay?”
I grasped my jacket from a chair and headed for the door. I hesitated. “Mick, if there’s anything else you want to disclose to me, I promise I will keep quiet about it. I just need to get behind this for my own sanity. And please try to keep Beth out of this.”
He smiled. “I’m trying, but she’s not really making it easy.”
“Yeah, I know.” I grinned and left.
On my way to the car I tried to find words to ask Morgan/Coraline what her plans were. I really hoped she didn’t plan on killing Mick. As she was human for now, I doubted she could take his life easily anyway. How did one kill a vampire? A wooden stake probably. I would watch out for those kinds of things when I was with her.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I wasn’t sure if I should have called before I knocked at her door, but maybe it would be good to surprise her. I steeled myself for whatever she would haul at me - anger, insult, seduction. She had seen me work with Mick on the case, and probably felt betrayed. Her plan to confuse and hurt Mick didn’t work the way she wanted it, he was confused but still in control. What her plans were with me I had no idea, but with all that had happened it seemed to me that she just tagged me along to keep me from persecuting her. Was I falling out of love for her? Had I been in love before? I wasn’t sure. She sure as hell had me all confused.
I knocked and she opened. “Oh, Josh! What do you want?” She was polite and waved me in, but it seemed to me that she was uneasy and that my visit didn’t fit into her plans.
I followed her to the kitchen where I saw the remains of a dinner. She busied herself packing things away into the fridge.
“So you’re still not a vampire yet.” I casually remarked to get the conversation going.
“It’s none of your business,” she spat. “You probably told Mick everything about me, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t tell him that you’re a vampire. You don’t trust me at all, do you?”
“Should I trust you when you go to Mick and tell on me? What was your business getting into this case? Why are you two suddenly so cozy with each other?”
I sat down on the couch. “Cora, Morgan, calm down, please. I don’t want to hurt you. I just don’t understand why you’re doing this, all of this. Mick is close to a nervous breakdown, thinking you might be his ex-wife, thinking you might have risen from the dead. He didn’t tell me that you’re a vampire, but he came close to losing it.”
She stood at the window, deep in thought, playing with the curtain. She smiled. “So he still doesn’t know. Good.”
I stood up. “Coraline, this is madness. What good can come out of this? Why don’t you just disclose yourself now, tell him the truth and get on with life?”
She whipped around. “What life should I get on with? He thought he killed me and never even looked back. He was the one I loved, the one I married, the one I wanted to spend eternity with. He threw it all away because he didn’t want me. He wanted a human wife, kids, whatever. I wasn’t good enough for him the way I was. Can’t you understand? I want him to love me. If I need to be human for that to happen, so be it. I try to draw it out as long as I can until I revert again.”
I took her arms into my hands and looked into her eyes. Tears were brimming on her long black lashes. “Coraline, why? He found another life, he moved on. Why can’t you?”
“Because, he’s all that I have left.”
I wanted to embrace her, comfort her and show her that I would be there for her. She didn’t need to play this game. She hesitated and didn’t reciprocate, but let me hug her.
A horn honked outside, and immediately she wiggled out of my arms and fetched her purse from the vanity. Suddenly her whole demeanour changed, she was animated, the anger and sadness were gone. “It’s Mick. Wait for me here if you like, okay?”
She dabbed her eyes with a tissue in front of the mirror and straightened her dark dress, then she was out of the door.
I let myself fall back onto the couch; I felt like a train just rammed me. Maybe I should catch some sleep while she was away, but I was far too upset to get rest now. I fetched myself a glass of water and started pacing her apartment. Watching the pictures on her walls, the knick knacks, the book shelf, I made my way into her bedroom. I had been here before, but it was dark then and we were distracted. I tried to concentrate on picking up things about her from the things she surrounded herself with. It felt odd, like I was violating her space, on the other hand she had done very intimate things to me in this bed already. I stroked my finger along the books on her bedside table, along the elegant throw on her bed, along the mirror and the lamp. A small leather bound note book was lying on the bed. It looked like a diary, and it was open.
Should I? She didn’t trust me anyway, so why not act out on it? Maybe she left it for me. Maybe it would help me understand her better.
I sat down on her bed and turned it over to read it where it was open. It was written in delicate hand writing, in French. I turned the pages backwards and skimmed over the sides. What I found made my throat constrict and my skin crawl.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
link to chapter 27:
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=6429&p=155188#p155188
I loved that last line!!! 
I love this story and can't wait to see what happens next... 
He's such a romantic... 
