Ghosts. | Erebus & Grace.
Old habits died hard. But new ones were just as fierce.
Erebus had taken to walking, leaving the house for hours at a time in order to pace away his ever-persistent and constantly agonising thoughts. He was tired of his own weakness; and indeed, though he knew his current pitiful state of being was due to changing species and was therefore out of his control, he still regarded it as precisely that - weakness. He had always loathed being without control. He abhorred failure even more.
The presence of his kin - summoned from his old clan to assist until he had regained his strength - reminded him of both faults. His escort was an equally painful prompt. The two women did not get along; the vampiress was hostility embodied, making her disgust of humanity impeccably clear, and Erebus was growing both increasingly impatient with her treatment of Natalie and with the fact that, clearly, he did not agree with her distaste. He should have agreed, for that was the teaching he had known from old. But he didn’t, and that weighed most irritatingly on his shoulders.
So here he was, walking and bemoaning his existence, stubbornly ignoring the headache spreading behind his eyes. He only stopped once he reached the book shop, and picking up any old publication, he sat in a quiet corner and attempted to blend sourly into the wallpaper.
Little joys she used to adore were so rare now, even something that used to be daily, like a trip to the bookshop. He always said she read too much, but knowledge was one thing they couldn’t take from her, so she’d never stop. Today, she found her way back to that familiar place, between shelves of crisp, clean paper and leather-bound spines that enticed her with their golden lettering. Perhaps one of those little things could take her mind away for a long while, make her forget.
Grace plucked a few from the shelves and paid, the small stack of books balanced carefully in her arm, a warm cup of tea in the other hand. Just as she was about to head out, his familiar face caught her eyes. For a brief moment, she hesitated - Erebus looked irritated and bothered, like he preferred his solitude. But perhaps, like her, that irritation was really an itch for relief, for stimulation beyond the mundane loop of every day. Approaching him, the brunette gently placed her purchases on the table, “Do you mind if I sit with you?”
