I'm the kind to sit up in his room. Heart sick and eyes filled up with gloom.

[godofcologne]

When Thomas woke up, the sun was streaming in through the window, and he could see brilliant blue sky through a space in the thin curtains. His mouth felt bone dry, but his head didn't throb, a pleasant surprise. Some part of him had expected the vampire safe tequila to have given him every effect of real alcohol. As it was, Thomas couldn't

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[godofcologne]

It was probably a good thing Alice kept her eyes closed, because with every word about Vlad, Thomas' expression grew blanker, as some things agreed with his suspicions and others teased out other bits of information, as pawns began rearranging themselves on the board. He sidestepped most of her questions, concentrating instead on feeding, on coaxing the Hunger deeper, drawing out all the tripping, racing emotions out of Alice.

"Vincent's a slimy wannabe Armani knockoff model," Thomas said instead, forcing his voice to be light. "But whatever he does, he's warded. I can't read a thing off him, and neither can Edward." The idea that Wolfram & Hart would let Lacci get a letter from her brother when they were doing their damnest to keep everything about him from her seemed unlikely at best, but Thomas didn't say anything. No need to start that argument again.

The beginnings of an idea ran through his mind. The girl enjoys reaching into your mind, speaking to us. Who is to say I cannot whisper back? For the moment, Thomas pushed it away, lest he begin to make plans and give the game away to Alice. "I'll ask later," he said. "Let me think about what I want to know." He smiled and kissed Alice's forehead again.

Mention of his father made a shadow fall over Thomas' face, a mixture of anger and worry, but it passed as quickly as it had come, leaving behind little more than a faint tension around his eyes. "Yeah, you're fine if you're grilling me about that again. I did see dear old Dad. Lacci was having a bad time with all the lights in Vegas, so we went and found a room with Edw--" Thomas stopped his immediate train of thought, switched gears. "Something happened with your brother last night."

[manicpixydream]

There was something seriously relaxing about getting fed off of like this. Probably harder for Thomas and definitely not her everyday preference but every time Alice thought that was it, she wasn't going to get any clearer, the pressure eased some more and she did. Well it wasn't completely news to her that savoring was a good thing, but savoring relief, that was mostly new. At least to this degree it was.

The warding she figured, otherwise Edward would've said something before she'd gotten blacklisted, it was what Vincent did she was interested in, but he would've said by now. She was just going to have to wait, talk to Pandora, try not to get too... explodey, she guessed, and she'd figure it out. She always did. "I never saw him. I mean he's been here a bunch of times and they were blocking before I knew, but I never once saw him, I'm not even totally sure if he falls on my radar, Alucard never did. Wards on them and wards on my head are different, yeah?" Dru had always been a problem too, but that was definitely not for dwelling on.

"I don't think asking you a question I already know the answer to fully qualifies as grilling, but take your shots where you can, yeah?" Alice smiled and listened to the post-mortem with some amount of content until his voice changed, and then she was torn between sighing wearily and shaking the story out of him. Her eyes flew open instead, an inquisitive and tell me right fucking now look in her eye that she liked to think was unique to her serving as a replacement for both.

"What happened with my brother last night? Where is he? What'd he do?" She didn't sound so much worried as she did like she was going to track him down and smack him. Which, distinct possibility.

[godofcologne]

He'd expected Alice's questions but hearing them was different from knowing they were going to be asked, and Thomas frowned a little as he tried to put the story together in a way that Alice would understand, that wasn't all vague feelings and conjecture. "Edward and Dru took on Vegas last night, from what I heard. Feeding, I mean," he said carefully. "And by that I mean a lot of blood. A lot of fear. Enough fear that it sank into their victims' blood, enough that I could feel it from them having drunk it."

He was veering, dancing around the actual happenings with an explanation of how it had happened. "It wasn't needing to feed, I don't think. I think Edward's developing a taste for fear, and he doesn't seem to understand why he can't just go around terrorizing the city." Thomas paused, frowning. It was hard to boil it down to words, when so much of it had been emotion and expression and all the things that got lost in translation. "It's almost like he doesn't know how to deal with humans being something other than prey."

[manicpixydream]

Alice's eyes closed again, 'cause what was she going to do, run out and find him? Anyway it wasn't news, not totally, just not the news she wanted. Alice had thought there'd be more time before this.

"Look, it's just easiest for him when it's like, black or white. Either they're totally untouchable and superior to our unholy monstrousness or whatever, or they're- judgeable, you know? Wheat and chaff and all that and he'd be super pissed if you put it in those exact words so I fully advise it." She covered her face with her hands, rubbing her forehead, trying not to let things spin out of control. She could remember how to think, for fuck's sake.

"The fear thing sounds- I mean, no offense or anything Thomas, but that sounds like a lot of Dru to me, you know? But I wasn't there, for real, I defer to your expertise and that." She chewed her lip, thinking. It was a hell of a lot easier to be five steps ahead of someone when you saw five steps ahead of them, but now...

"I know he's gone wrong, like there is serious wrong and I still haven't figured it out, I can't get close enough. I just didn't think it was this bad yet. How many people did he kill?"

[godofcologne]

"None taken," he said promptly. "The thought had occurred to me." There were things Drusilla did that Thomas wouldn't defend, despite how much he cared. Goddess or no, Drusilla had her flaws and it wasn't up to him to pretend they weren't there. Anything beyond that, he wouldn't think about.

He rolled Alice's words over in his mind. There was something else, at the edge of his mind. "He didn't kill anyone. But Alice..." Thomas paused, teasing out that tiny tendril that was niggling at the back of his mind. "What did Edward mean when he said he didn't know how to care about them? Could they be doing the same thing they're doing to you, but in other parts of his head?"

[manicpixydream]

Alice went very still, listening to the little bit Thomas was willing or able to say out loud, and ok if there wasn't a body count that was something. He didn't need to hear it was a kind of unexpected something either.

"I dunno," she mumbled, staring at the ceiling and trying to concentrate without seeing which was way harder than it looked. "That was never the problem before, I mean he always cared, he did the whole brooding anti-hero thing for awhile before my time, but it was before Carlisle really got his hooks in too. We've talked about it, but he still cared, that's why he bothered sorting them out at all, you know?" This whole thing made her feel sick, and not in the manageable outsourcey way either. It didn't sound like Edward.

"They're doing something, I mean between the two of us you're the magic man, you know? I have no idea how this stuff works and he doesn't really believe me that there's something wrong anyway, or he does but he won't deal with it. How do you make someone not care?" There were lots of threads trying to surface, old stuff and puzzle pieces, not the future, but Alice's attic was still pretty cramped.

"Look, if he's not killing them he's still trying, that's kind of important, but blocking him like they're blocking me, I mean I feel that kinda obviously, yeah? He would too." She guessed. Alice paused, trying to figure out how to shove it all to one side, cause there was stuff she needed to work through and things she wasn't willing to resort to yet. Things Thomas wouldn't just understand about their kind. She patted his head absently.

"I'll figure it out, I always do, I'm his favorite sister, it's my job. Lacci'll help, not that she doesn't have her own deal, and crap I mean I didn't even think of Vegas being the sequined city or whatever. She's ok, yeah?"

[godofcologne]

"Well, he knows something's wrong with him now. He admitted that much. But he also thinks it's always been wrong with him." The chuckle that accompanied the words might have come out a little harsh, but that couldn't be helped.

Thomas frowned. What he knew about magic was minimal, compared to say... Harry. But he also didn't want to bring Harry back into this. Not with Lord Raith under his nose. Harry would flip out and Lord Raith might be tempted to fix his own little problem if both of them were around. Thomas didn't want to contemplate what Wolfram & Hart might do if he got Harry involved. The board was too crowded as it stood, and Thomas' little brother had an irritating tendency to set the board on fire.

"You can make someone not do things," he said slowly. "Try to make them afraid of things that hurt them. If you can make them afraid, why can't you make them unafraid? Make them feel nothing at all?" Could he do it? Use the Hunger to deny itself like that, instead of soothing emotion and coaxing different ones, could a White Court vampire simply... blank them out?

That was a very disconcerting thought.

"He still cares about some things, some people. Dru and Lacci." Empty night, it took more than apathy to keep Alice at arm's length like Edward had been doing. It took genuine emotion and caring to do that. "You know you've got backup if you ever want it. Even when you don't think you need it." He swatted half-heartedly at Alice's forehead pat.

"She was fine. A little distracted by the sparkling showgirls. And slot machines. And signs." And everything. A self-satisfied little smile played at Thomas' lips at the memory of the elevator. "Just needed distracting." The smile became a full-fledged smirk. "I'm pretty good at distracting people with my good looks, you know."

[manicpixydream]

She could point out that he made her feel nothing at all, but feeding from her wasn't the same and besides it would only freak him out. Besides, the whys and hows were just going to give her another headache, and that she did not need, not now that things were so nice.

"He cares about you too, you giant idiot, say it out loud and you'd think you'll get struck by lightning or something." Alice grinned a grin that she made sure said 'yeah I know exactly how close to true all of that stuff was, and what of it'. "You know how totally capable I am of taking care of myself and everyone around me but I might just call you in on that one, not that I can't take him but seriously, this mood swing garbage is more than I can figure out from four doors down, you know? Just same goes for you, I mean you'd never know you spend as much usually naked time with him as you do the way you talk about him, but if he needs ganging up on- whatever. Forget Edward, yeah? He's my problem."

Which wouldn't do anything like stop Thomas but it was the best she could do for now, and besides she didn't really want to stop Thomas, only stop talking about it.

Seemed ok with him. "Lookit you and your little everyone needs my hot distracting action face. Not that I'm disagreeing or anything, I'm on board 100 percent, trust me." There was a faint little bell ringing in her head when she kissed him, and irritatingly it didn't seem to want to go away. She pulled back an inch or so, looking sheepish.

"So uh, scale of one to ten, how personally does your dad take insults? Long-term grudge holder? Not that I couldn't completely kick his ass."

[godofcologne]

The more Alice brought up his father, the more Thomas' mind went to the Desert Eagle on his dresser, and the silver amulet hiding inside one of the drawers. He didn't plan on leaving the room without either of them again. Not as long as Lord Raith haunted their halls.

But then Alice was kissing him and everything seemed a little better, reminded Thomas that this time he faced Lord Raith with more than his baby brother the wizard and his half-assed plans at his back. This time Thomas had three women in a goddess, two indestructible vampires, and one newborn shadow manipulator. All he needed was a partridge in a pear tree and it would be Christmas.

"It's about time you're on board with what I do," he complained good-naturedly, just before Alice's question made some of that confidence fade away.

"On a scale of one to ten? Thirteen. And I'm pretty sure he's held grudges longer than even you've been alive." Thomas ran a hand through his hair. "Empty night, what did you say to him, Alice?"

[manicpixydream]

Kissing him before telling him anything else'd probably help. Couldn't hurt, anyway. "Nothing, he probably didn't even hear me, I mean I was mostly talking to Isaac and he was leaving and I might have said something about not killing anyone with his magic wang..." And can you please just shut me up before I tell you things I really shouldn't? Of course that stayed in her head, of all things.

But fuck that. Alice was getting all nervous just 'cause there were new people she didn't totally get and Thomas had the paternal wobbles and she'd spent at least an hour crouched in an airplane bathroom was all. She was still Alice. She could still do anything.

"And there was a Viagra crack that in retrospect might have sounded insulting but he had just shot down my totally fake come on so you know, fair's fair." Let him howl, this'd be a good litmus for how far she should go next time, 'cause King Nathan had a date with her fist.

[godofcologne]

He was losing his mind. No, better yet, he was still asleep on the plane. Or maybe he was dead. Because Thomas was pretty sure that whatever was running the universe wouldn't let it be real, that Alice had told Lord Raith not to kill anyone with his magic wang.

Thomas stared at Alice in pure shock for a good half minute before he burst into laughter. "Pinch me, please. Because this sounds too good to be true," he gasped out, offering Alice his arm for the aforementioned pinching. "You told my father--" He shook his head in disbelief. "Would Jasper take it the wrong way if I asked you to marry me right now?"

No doubt Lord Raith had taken it as an insult, but Thomas had no doubt Alice could hold her own on that front. Indestructible vampire. Punched trucks. Etc etc. And really, it was too good to be true not to enjoy it for the moment.

[manicpixydream]

"Oh, Jasper's gotten pretty understanding about marriage proposals, he's kinda had to, plus you know, special circumstances. And I'm not pinching you, you'd get all huffy if I accidentally took some flesh." Plus it was too good seeing him laugh like this, having made him laugh like this.

"Anyway magic wang applies to him only, right? With his cigars and his gross and his checking out everything in a D cup, speaking of which, I dunno how long my little tricks for immunity are gonna last with him around. I mean if he does get his kingly panties in a bunch it's probably gonna be over something I say, and I got certain mental defenses, yeah, but they're worn. I'll just stay out of his way if it's easier." But if it's not I could rip out the major organ of your choice. Alice's tricks still worked pretty good she thought, even if she hadn't ever tried them on Thomas, since it was usually the opposite of what they were going for.

"But yeah, he seemed to find me about as tasty as a bowl of cardboard, still, not liking the whole taking my chances on becoming a zombie date, you know?" She said it lightly, she kissed him with laughter still bubbling, and hopefully that'd be enough to keep him from getting broody.

[godofcologne]

"Glad you're not reducing me to magic wang-dom. I'd like to think I have much more going for me. Boyish charm and wide-eyed youthful innocence and all that." The laugh was easy, and for the moment Thomas could just enjoy it and not think about the fact that somewhere in the house, the man that had been an omnipresent shadowy hand manipulating him for his entire life was lurking.

Alice's kiss, holding nothing but bubbling laughter, helped. "I'm not surprised. My father's got terrible taste. And we'll both stay away from him," he answered. "Think they'll replace the windows if I accidentally on purpose shot him in the head and broke a window?"

[manicpixydream]

Alice's giggles were totally sincere, and ok it wasn't like she was a child, but there was something hilarious about Thomas saying 'wang'. Isaac'd get it.

"You're sunshine on a sparkle filter, you're honey on tongues, all the ladies want to be with you and all the men want to be you, right before the figure out they want to be with you too." She kissed his nose and waggled her eyebrows suggestively, which was the opposite of sexy, but you could pull off a lot of things when you were basically a half-naked pixie. Alice slipped a hand just under his towel and grinned.

"I think they'd replace the window but the producers might get grumpy, firearms are tricky, yeah? Much more believable if he falls down some stairs really hard, I mean who knows what White Court vamps can do, no reason to think he wouldn't make a hole in the floor with his head. Or!" Alice brightened and pointed a finger. "Could I interest you in my wide range of throwing a person as far as you can contests? Emmett always wins but trust me, I place."

[godofcologne]

"Now Miss Cullen, flattery will get you nowhere new," Thomas answered, wrapping an arm around Alice's waist. He returned her kiss to the nose by catching the tip of her finger with his mouth and nibbling lightly. His grin was innocent. Completely. "And I am fully interested in your throwing people contest as long as I can be on the judges' panel. I'll judge according to style and range. And how deep of an indentation Lord Nathaniel Raith makes in the hardwood floor."

Thomas grinned, running a warm hand up Alice's back. "So, Vegas was a failure this time around, all things considered?"

[manicpixydream]

"The floor? Aw, Thomas, you're like, wounding me. Me 'n Emmett went by acres, but it's your ball in the game so to speak, and hey maybe I can get one of those cartoony silhouettes going on if I really work my style." Hell, once they got Vlad back - or Lacci now once she blinked and remembered - they could just take him up high as they liked and drop him. Then her finger was in Thomas' mouth and maybe violence and happy thoughts weren't supposed to go together quite that close.

"All around? I liked our Vegas better. More pirate ships, less surprise slimeballs please." She tugged her finger away, running it down his neck, and caught him in the kind of kiss she liked best with Thomas. All fast and surprising at first, catching his lips with hers like they were a trap, easing into a kind of simmering that spread slow and twisty.

"There were a couple of good points," she smiled, tugging the towel. "I mean ok I maybe went a little insane before I could enjoy them properly or whatever, but Pandora's kind of my new favorite." Sigh. To say the least. "That you can tell Edward, and you know, take pictures of his face if you think of it."