2. Solace

"To live alone is the fate of all great souls." - Arthur Schopenhauer

"LANDO, ARE YOU HERE?" Luc entered the loft briskly, urgently searching for any signs of his blood-sucking companion. A piling collection of empty whiskey bottles; a young, attractive girl bleeding out on the floor from the puncture wounds on her neck; or sometimes even Orlando himself slumped in a hopeless drunken heap.

As Luc waded further into the open-plan room, a sigh of futility escaped his lips. He had unfailingly recognised Lando's typicality, an attitude that never ceased to amaze him. He wasn't entirely sure as he got closer that this was even Lando's residence, eliciting a cautious and subtle entrance. Upon entering, however, Luc discovered that he had indeed been given the right address. And he could confirm because, as always, Lando's apartment was a mess.

The loft he had occupied was very well lit. The natural morning sunlight streamed in through floor-to-ceiling windows dispersed along the old and worn walls of the room and cast light on the stray clothes and takeaway boxes across the floor. The said walls were lined with old bricks from corner to corner, with cobwebs bundling together at the vertices. Luc moved forward, still making sure he avoided potential danger as his boots graced the ground with uncomfortable custom.

The whole place had the same grungy and urban feel, yet the stark contrast in a few pieces of furniture was unmistakably Lando's doing. Luc did not waste time in admiring the contrast of the room itself with the modern furnishings.

Orlando had always expressed his interest in the changing of the world. He adamantly informed Luc of the benefits of living eternally: it allowed him to really view the progression and, in frequent aspects, regression of humanity. Lando's furniture collection was his perception of two long and lonely centuries.

Just scoping the room was enough to confuse any interior decorator, for the whole living space could never be given a definitive style that wasn't just called Orlando.

In a dark corner to the left of the loft a bed stood unmade with white sheets scattered carelessly across the mattress. The bed was pushed up against the wall, sitting on it would give you a full view of the whole space - from the awkward arrangement of sofas to the open kitchen.

An old armchair was placed facing the kitchen, opposite from a brown leather four-seater stretched across the room, acting as a barrier between the living area and the kitchen. The granite counter tops at the other end of the loft were drawn out along one wall and an island about a couple of metres away from it. To Luc's left was a door, one he assumed led to the bathroom which was hidden behind the only internal wall in Lando's accommodation.

"Morning, Luc."

Luc stared at his friend as he emerged in nothing but a bathrobe from another door leading out of the steamy bathroom. He looked on in a strange mix of awe and resentment at the young boy. The one who still believed that life was easy and carefree. That had gotten in way over his head. The young boy who was all up for a laugh and a joke and a game. The young boy who was now in a whole new world, and acting like he owned it.

However, Lando wasn't a young boy any more and life wasn't a game any more. Life was becoming very serious, very quickly.

What Luc secretly loved about the effervescent soul was that he didn't seem to care. Lando, to Luc, was a latch. A link – a connection to the world Luc once lived in himself. A mirror into the world he would never be able to return to. Luc was trapped on the stone cold side of life while Lando floated in an ocean of freedom and nonentities; the ocean that Luc was dragged out of by the legs, and thrown into reality with not so much as a warm towel to help him through.

Luc stared at his friend. "Good morning, Orlando."

"So how did you find me this time?" Lando smiled, before turning to a tall wardrobe near his bed and pulling out his clothing options for the day. The stretching of his shirt over his head didn't play any part in faltering his sharp grin.

"This place just screams Orlando Dubois, so it was the first place I checked," Luc replied, moving over to the leather sofa and sitting down slowly. The sofa was surprisingly free of lumps and Luc proceeded to throw his feet across the length of the house chair. His eyes closed softly, taking in a deep breath of comfort.

He wasn't looking forward to any more rough nights on Lexington High Street. Despite the street's creepy nature and lifeless structures, it seemed like the safest place to rest his head, just for a few hours until he could find Lando. The residential streets held a suspicious type of atmosphere, with the street lights providing no illusion of safety like they were supposed to.

"Who told you I was here, Luc?"

"Does the name Althea ring any bells?" Luc couldn't help but smirk, knowing what had happened between Lando and the vibrant young witch in near enough detail to find it amusing.

"She told you? I warned her about telling people where I was," said Lando. He marched away from his bed, launching his slightly damp bathrobe onto Luc's face and causing him to jump from the sofa in disgust. He exhaled, quickly releasing his anger towards Althea, "Want some breakfast?"

"It did take some work to get it out of her. I must give her credit," said Luc. He joined Lando on a stool in the kitchen. "Why are you even eating?"

Lando pulled open the refrigerator and produced a plate with a stale slice of frozen pizza before throwing it in the microwave. While he waited for the bell, he said, "There's blood in the fridge if you want it."

"It's okay," said Luc. "I prefer it warm."

"You're so picky. Why is that, Verella?" Lando retrieved his pizza early and proceeded to shovelling it down as if he was actually hungry for basic human sustenance. What Luc didn't understand was why Lando was acting so... human. For somebody who lived life so vigorously, Lando seemed to be somebody who didn't use what some see as a gift as often as expected. This proclivity meant that Lando could sometimes be nearly as much human as the next person - when he was so inclined. Luc had simply put it down to naivety in his mind.

"I'm not picky. I was just turned at a time where warm blood from the vein was the only blood you could get." said Luc. In fact, Luc could feel the slight churning building slowly in his stomach since he woke up. He was getting slightly hungry having not fed sufficiently in a few days.

"So was I," Lando laughed, bits of food spurting from his open lips. "Blood banks only came around in the forties."

"Well, I gained a preference over seventy years," said Luc. He stood up and walked around the loft, examining each piece of furniture with a small shake of his head.

"Enough of the small talk," said Lando, throwing his hands up placation. "What do you need?"

Luc looked at Lando. He had his arms tensed atop the island, keeping him from falling face first into the smooth rock surface. He was leaning forward, his dark hair only marginally dishevelled as if he had been up and about for a whole day and not at home all morning. But most importantly, Luc was concerned by his expression: his eyebrows were raised and his lips pursed tightly in expectation. His countenance was one of a guilt-inducing persuasion, as if he was coaxing a break down from the old vampire.

"What makes you think I need anything from you?"

"You can stay here if you want, you know."

"What makes you think I want to stay here?"

Lando shot a wide toothed grin in Luc's direction, despite facing his back. "So you admit you need a place to stay, finally."

"I said nothing of the sort," Luc refused to give in. The corner of his mouth twitched into a smile, amused by the whole interaction and knowing Lando would soon become frustrated by his coy attitude.

"Enough with the back and forth, Verella. You can stay here if you want," said Lando in playful anger, eliciting a hearty laugh from Luc.

"Thank you," he said before throwing himself back onto the sofa.

Lando focused on Luc. He knew that something would soon happen that would make Luc want to leave - or have to leave - in the next few days. In fact, a few weeks was sometimes too long for the great Luc Verella; they would soon split and meet up again in another part of the world, somehow finding each other and staying together again.

Lando didn't know if his friendship with Luc was beneficial for the both of them, just for Luc or totally toxic. Luc always seemed to be in trouble with one person or another, leaving a trail of pissed off supernatural creatures while traversing the globe. Lando knew, however that he could never abandon Luc. An unsung loyalty had manifested itself in Lando throughout the duration of his life with Luc Verella. Although it may seem that the charming vampire was a package deal that included a friend in the lonely world of itinerant supernatural beings looking for purpose, Lando had yet to receive the rest of the package.

In hindsight, Luc could not be to blame for all the times that the pair had to abandon ship. Orlando had also gotten them both into a fair share of difficult confrontations with witches and werewolves. And Luc was always the one to solve the problem.

However, Lando had a feeling that this time, the outcome would not conclude the same way as it had previously. This time, things were worse.

Lando didn't know how but Luc had now gotten himself into the worst trouble of all. He could tell by the way Luc twitched on the leather. His eyes didn't close for long, they would flicker shut before abruptly widening again. His fist remained clenched, and Lando was unsure if it had been tightened as so for as long as he had been here. His foot twitched and tapped, hesitant to relax.

Even in the presence of Orlando, his oldest and most trusted friend, Luc felt unsteady. The face of the man who had tried to shoot him was still in his mind. Every crease and wrinkle on the man's face was etched into his retinas and would remain for a long time into the future. Every time Luc closed his eyes he saw the man. Every time his lids would drop the bullet would whizz passed his face over and over again, as if he was there over and over again.

Luc had been shot many times, although each bullet he faced had not been marked by the worst threat of his life. Each bullet he had taken for many different people seemed almost trivial to the one that had missed him that faithful night. That bullet, soaked in blood and the tears of the undead - an immortal's worst nightmare faced him in the form of that bullet. Yet, he couldn't for the life of him think of anyone who could help him, or any way he could help himself.

"What happened to you, Luc?"

Luc flinched, the voice of his friend dragging him abruptly back into the volatile safety of reality. He released a deep sigh, composing himself before peering over the back of the couch at Lando.

"Nothing much," he drawled, trying to portray as much nonchalance as he could muster with such an haphazard heartbeat. "I just wanted to stop by."

Lando leaned forward again, maintaining his accusing position behind the kitchen island. "As flattered as I am, I don't believe that's the only reason you're here."

For a moment, Lucius deliberated whether he should tell Orlando of his predicament. Lando knew of the secret society out to kill his dear friend but he believed that the danger had been taken care of many years ago.

Truthfully, Luc still felt a strong sense of responsibility for the young vampire. Even though he was no longer a 21-year-old fledgling, in Luc's eyes, Orlando was still a boy who wasn't able to handle the change in state. To Luc, Lando was juvenile, immature and needed constant attention. However, as Luc looked on at Lando, he realised that Lando was very much capable. He had found a place to stay in a quiet town without causing too much of a disturbance. In fact, it was Luc who had brought his troubles to Lexington and possibly ruined a life for Orlando. If there was any way that Luc could not avoid death in this situation, he had no right to keep it from him.

"Something's happened," Luc began. "Something bad."

Lando pulled his arms up and tangled them before his torso. "Tell me. I might be able to help you."

"I may have killed someone. A few weeks, maybe months after I left you in Venice."

"Are you sure you did?" said Lando.

"I'm pretty sure," Luc confirmed. "I'm also very sure that I've made a few people extremely angry with me."

"Stop being so evasive."

"Okay, fine," Luc sat up on the sofa and looked over at Lando. His brows were furrowed tightly in concern and confusion. He turned around again, for he could not stare him in the face and possibly ruin his life. Lando wouldn't be prepared for what Luc was about to tell him and for that Luc was truly dejected.

"There was a girl, about eight or nine. Her parents were vampires - two very important vampires - and she was human. She couldn't have known that she was being raised by two freaks. It would never have crossed her innocent little mind."

"How important were these vampires exactly? Hold on..." Lando asked, walking around the island and leaning against it, slightly fearful of the answer he was about to receive. "Oh Luc... don't tell me. You didn't hurt the girl, did you?"

"No, no! This pair were strange. The girl should have never been involved. She should have been able to live her life as a human, but I'd never seen anything like it. Their house stunk of dead bodies; they were all over the basement and buried in the garden. It was a terrible smell for me, it must have been fainter to the little girl but there was no way she couldn't smell it. Sometimes I still wonder how she couldn't smell anything - how she wasn't suspicious." Luc dragged his hands ruggedly through his deep brown curls. The images of the emotionless eyes, the scattered limbs, the splashes of deep crimson blood plagued him.

"I killed them, Orlando. I drank their tainted blood and I ripped off their heads."

"You didn't answer my first question. How important were they?"

"The man's name was James Auberon-"

"You killed an Auberon?!" Lando flitted towards Luc and he jumped up from the sofa in defence. Lando was known to be more then erratic at times, so Luc was on his guard throughout the whole story.

"Lando, I didn't know I swear!"

"You've led them here, haven't you? I'm going to die, aren't I?" said Lando. His eyes were wide with panic, his irises faded into a swirling red. His veins grew black, pushing through the skin on his forehead and in his neck. He gritted his teeth, sharp white fangs poking into his lips.

"Orlando, calm down." Luc placated, with his arms waving in soothing motions as he backed away slowly. "I'm sure we can figure something out."

Lando snarled, following Luc around the living area. "I don't want to have to kill you, Luc, but you've gone and messed everything up."

"If I have to, I will snap your neck."

"I dare you."

Luc looked on at his friend. He had transformed to an angry, bloodthirsty, undead beast in a matter of seconds: his skin was almost translucent and his eyes blood red, the life slowly draining from his face.

"Look, Lando I can fix this, just calm the hell down!" Luc growled back, baring his sharp fangs in an attempt to fearfully pacify the vampire.

"How are you going to do that, Luc? How in the world are you going to save us from a fucking Auberon?!" said Lando.

"I don't know!" Luc roared, and with that, Lando's eyes faded slowly back to brown. His fangs retracted and his breathing slowed, the veins under his eyes disappeared from plain sight.

"Lando, I promise I will find a way to keep you alive. I will never let anything happen to you because of me. The Auberon's are dangerous, I get it, but we're smart and we've been through a lot," He placed his palms on his shoulders firmly. "We can fight this together."

Lando stared into Luc's pleading eyes. As he did, he realised something, "You have a habit of not answering my questions in full."

"Which question did I not answer?" said Luc.

"Are we going to die?" Lando spoke calmly this time around, but the urgency still remained.

"I hope not. Do you by any chance know a witch that doesn't want to kill you?" Luc enquired.

"I do, but how is that relevant?" Lando walked over to the leather sofa and picked up the leather jacket draped over the back.

"We need a spell that can buy us some time."