Conversations part Two
Title: Conversations pt2
Type: Original
Rating: PGish
Summary: It's taken years but Claudia Verdicchio has finally tracked down the man she thinks can lead her to her father.
The first thing which Claudia did upon waking was empty the contents of her stomach upon her bed. She was altogether too tired to feel more than a passing disgust at the fact that said contents consisted of a rather large quantity of blood, some mucus and several grisly chunks of raw meat. Uncertain of what to do, she took the opportunity to dry heave over the mess and then shoved herself away from it as best should when her arms felt like rubber.
Pain shot up through her knees when she banged them upon the floor and her hip sang with a forming bruise as she rolled. Her dark hair, cut about her chin, decided to make an annoyance of itself and fell into her eyes. Someone clucked their tongue from across the room and Claudia went stiff. A door closed as she lifted her hand to brush the bangs from her eyes and she found herself in a bedroom as lavishly decorated as the piano bar had been.
A fire crackled in an oversized fireplace to her left, the only light the room offered at all, and it caused the silver streaks in Barry’s hair to glitter in a similar fashion to the silver serving set he was carrying into the room. His eyes were for the soiled bedspread and he sighed, the noise louder than the click the tray made as he set it upon an oak desk to her right. “I told Michael he should not have let you gorge yourself so. That one never listens-I do so hope you will not take after him as much as you seem to have.”
“Where am I?” She demanded and found that her throat was raw and ragged-a dull horror slipped into her senses as she remembered the chunks that she had thrown up. It couldn’t have been-?
“You are where you are.” Barry lifted the cover on the dish the tray held and a savory aroma drifted down to her. The smell seemed to envelope everything and her entire attention riveted upon the bowl it came from. A single, warning glance from Barry rooted her to the spot before she’d even begun to scramble to her feet. “Now that you are back to your senses, you will be expected to conduct yourself with a modicum of civility. We will begin that by practicing restraint.”
With one hand he reached for the goblet which accompanied the bowl he’d brought and held it up. Claudia couldn’t help but note that his hand was gloved. “I realize that you are hungry.”
A growl answered his words and Claudia jumped in surprise. It took her a moment to realize that the sound had come from her own throat. Claudia swallowed thickly and glared in distrust at the goblet he was offering her. “What have you done to me?”
That damned, amused smile lit upon Barry’s face. The goblet he held began to rock with his finger tips and whatever was in sloshed gently against its sides. She could hear it as loudly as if it the glass was to her ear. Claudia’s nose twitched as the air wafted the smell towards her-she knew this smell, she knew it like no other smell in the world yet her memory could give it no name. Every nerve within her body longed for what was in this cup, throat screamed for it and her fingers twitched with her efforts not to rip the cup from his hand.
“I have done nothing to you,” Barry replied with an innocence that made her growl further. “You make take your current state up with Michael, when you see him. Though I warn you that he has done nothing you would not have come to eventually.”
“I don’t understand,” her throat grated for her and she coughed specks of blood onto her lip.
“You will in time.” Barry thrust the cup under her nose.
With a feral cry, Claudia grabbed for the goblet and just as suddenly gave a startled, high-pitched yelp which hurt her ears even as it tore at her abused throat. Her hands were on fire. She dropped the goblet, its red-brown contents spilling liberally upon the expensive carpet and the nightgown draped about her. Gasping for air, the woman stared down at her red and blistered skin. The fallen goblet rolled and touched her exposed knee.
Another yelp burst from her mouth and she scrambled backward away from the damned object. The spot it had touched was welted red in kind. Claudia warred for control of her body, her mind gone blank with terror and breath shaking-panting. “What have you done to me,” she repeated and found that her eyes had locked upon the deep brown stain sinking into the burgundy carpet.
Barry stooped to scoop the goblet from the floor and set it back upon the tray. He sighed and shook his head. “This goblet is pure silver. It was given to me by a former enemy of mine… he wished to kill me. As you can see, he did not quite succeed. At least, not in so far as he meant to.”
As intelligence slowly crept its way back into her mind, Claudia’s first act was to attempt to control her shivering. She wrapped her arms about her knees and hugged her legs to her chest-the pain in her hands had not dissipated but it was bearable. Her second act was to force her eyes away from the pleasant reek of the saturated carpet and focus them again upon the deplorable countenance of her host. Once again Barry was ignoring her in favour of an inanimate object. This time it was the soup bowl.
“Tell me, in your own words, why it is that you came to find me, Claudia.”
“Why should I tell you anything?” She growled and licked the blood from her lip. It tasted divine.
“Now now, you do not wish to be rude do you, dear? I did not, after all, kill you, though I could have. I merely taught you a lesson.”
Claudia watched as Barry settled himself in an armchair she hadn’t noticed beside the table. Probably because he had been blocking most of it, she rationalized, and the flicker of the firelight was making her dizzy. Though she did not trust him, Claudia could not help but rest her forehead upon her knees. She hissed when her skin brushed against the wounded patch upon her kneecap, then ignored it. A little pain was bearable and she was so very, very dizzy.
“Regardless of whatever preconceived notions you retain about your nature, and mine, I can guarantee you that we both do have quite a lot of time to sit here waiting on your answer. The difference between us, Claudia, is that I will be comfortable during that wait, while your condition, I am afraid, will only worsen. You do wish to get better, do you not?”
“I came to find my father,” Claudia answered before he could prod any further.
“Yes, I do believe that we have addressed this point,” her unwanted audience replied from somewhere in the vicinity of the table. Claudia couldn’t see him but she imagined that he’d rolled his eyes. He seemed the sort to do that.
“What does it matter?” The woman barked.
“Indulge me.” He was absolutely smirking, she could hear it.
Feeling more like the rebellious teenager that she hadn’t been for nearly fifteen years, Claudia huffed and growled and cursed him in her head and under her breath until she’d run out of stamina to argue. In the end, she only came to the conclusion that he was right-he could hurt her, he had proven that point, and she was in no condition to even think about trying to test that strength. With as much scorn and anger as she could muster, she finally spat out the information he wanted.
“I just wanted to know him, ok? He wasn’t around when I was a kid, and-I wanted to know if there were any medical problems or conditions or… or anything! Is that so wrong?”
“And yet you chose me?”
“My mother always mentioned that my father came from money-that’s why he didn’t marry her.”
“Ah, yes, and it had nothing to do with the fact that your mother was the town bicycle.”
She hadn’t thought she’d had the strength, but in a second Claudia was on her feet and lunging herself at the man. There was one blissful moment of shock written upon his gender-less features as she caught him off guard. The armchair toppled backward, her on top of him, and the table joined them all upon the floor. Barry’s foot caught her in the stomach as she jumped him, the kick hard enough to bruise her on impact, and he sent her flying backward into the wall.
There was a moment of all encompassing pain spreading through her back and down her arms and legs, and then… blackness.
Type: Original
Rating: PGish
Summary: It's taken years but Claudia Verdicchio has finally tracked down the man she thinks can lead her to her father.
The first thing which Claudia did upon waking was empty the contents of her stomach upon her bed. She was altogether too tired to feel more than a passing disgust at the fact that said contents consisted of a rather large quantity of blood, some mucus and several grisly chunks of raw meat. Uncertain of what to do, she took the opportunity to dry heave over the mess and then shoved herself away from it as best should when her arms felt like rubber.
Pain shot up through her knees when she banged them upon the floor and her hip sang with a forming bruise as she rolled. Her dark hair, cut about her chin, decided to make an annoyance of itself and fell into her eyes. Someone clucked their tongue from across the room and Claudia went stiff. A door closed as she lifted her hand to brush the bangs from her eyes and she found herself in a bedroom as lavishly decorated as the piano bar had been.
A fire crackled in an oversized fireplace to her left, the only light the room offered at all, and it caused the silver streaks in Barry’s hair to glitter in a similar fashion to the silver serving set he was carrying into the room. His eyes were for the soiled bedspread and he sighed, the noise louder than the click the tray made as he set it upon an oak desk to her right. “I told Michael he should not have let you gorge yourself so. That one never listens-I do so hope you will not take after him as much as you seem to have.”
“Where am I?” She demanded and found that her throat was raw and ragged-a dull horror slipped into her senses as she remembered the chunks that she had thrown up. It couldn’t have been-?
“You are where you are.” Barry lifted the cover on the dish the tray held and a savory aroma drifted down to her. The smell seemed to envelope everything and her entire attention riveted upon the bowl it came from. A single, warning glance from Barry rooted her to the spot before she’d even begun to scramble to her feet. “Now that you are back to your senses, you will be expected to conduct yourself with a modicum of civility. We will begin that by practicing restraint.”
With one hand he reached for the goblet which accompanied the bowl he’d brought and held it up. Claudia couldn’t help but note that his hand was gloved. “I realize that you are hungry.”
A growl answered his words and Claudia jumped in surprise. It took her a moment to realize that the sound had come from her own throat. Claudia swallowed thickly and glared in distrust at the goblet he was offering her. “What have you done to me?”
That damned, amused smile lit upon Barry’s face. The goblet he held began to rock with his finger tips and whatever was in sloshed gently against its sides. She could hear it as loudly as if it the glass was to her ear. Claudia’s nose twitched as the air wafted the smell towards her-she knew this smell, she knew it like no other smell in the world yet her memory could give it no name. Every nerve within her body longed for what was in this cup, throat screamed for it and her fingers twitched with her efforts not to rip the cup from his hand.
“I have done nothing to you,” Barry replied with an innocence that made her growl further. “You make take your current state up with Michael, when you see him. Though I warn you that he has done nothing you would not have come to eventually.”
“I don’t understand,” her throat grated for her and she coughed specks of blood onto her lip.
“You will in time.” Barry thrust the cup under her nose.
With a feral cry, Claudia grabbed for the goblet and just as suddenly gave a startled, high-pitched yelp which hurt her ears even as it tore at her abused throat. Her hands were on fire. She dropped the goblet, its red-brown contents spilling liberally upon the expensive carpet and the nightgown draped about her. Gasping for air, the woman stared down at her red and blistered skin. The fallen goblet rolled and touched her exposed knee.
Another yelp burst from her mouth and she scrambled backward away from the damned object. The spot it had touched was welted red in kind. Claudia warred for control of her body, her mind gone blank with terror and breath shaking-panting. “What have you done to me,” she repeated and found that her eyes had locked upon the deep brown stain sinking into the burgundy carpet.
Barry stooped to scoop the goblet from the floor and set it back upon the tray. He sighed and shook his head. “This goblet is pure silver. It was given to me by a former enemy of mine… he wished to kill me. As you can see, he did not quite succeed. At least, not in so far as he meant to.”
As intelligence slowly crept its way back into her mind, Claudia’s first act was to attempt to control her shivering. She wrapped her arms about her knees and hugged her legs to her chest-the pain in her hands had not dissipated but it was bearable. Her second act was to force her eyes away from the pleasant reek of the saturated carpet and focus them again upon the deplorable countenance of her host. Once again Barry was ignoring her in favour of an inanimate object. This time it was the soup bowl.
“Tell me, in your own words, why it is that you came to find me, Claudia.”
“Why should I tell you anything?” She growled and licked the blood from her lip. It tasted divine.
“Now now, you do not wish to be rude do you, dear? I did not, after all, kill you, though I could have. I merely taught you a lesson.”
Claudia watched as Barry settled himself in an armchair she hadn’t noticed beside the table. Probably because he had been blocking most of it, she rationalized, and the flicker of the firelight was making her dizzy. Though she did not trust him, Claudia could not help but rest her forehead upon her knees. She hissed when her skin brushed against the wounded patch upon her kneecap, then ignored it. A little pain was bearable and she was so very, very dizzy.
“Regardless of whatever preconceived notions you retain about your nature, and mine, I can guarantee you that we both do have quite a lot of time to sit here waiting on your answer. The difference between us, Claudia, is that I will be comfortable during that wait, while your condition, I am afraid, will only worsen. You do wish to get better, do you not?”
“I came to find my father,” Claudia answered before he could prod any further.
“Yes, I do believe that we have addressed this point,” her unwanted audience replied from somewhere in the vicinity of the table. Claudia couldn’t see him but she imagined that he’d rolled his eyes. He seemed the sort to do that.
“What does it matter?” The woman barked.
“Indulge me.” He was absolutely smirking, she could hear it.
Feeling more like the rebellious teenager that she hadn’t been for nearly fifteen years, Claudia huffed and growled and cursed him in her head and under her breath until she’d run out of stamina to argue. In the end, she only came to the conclusion that he was right-he could hurt her, he had proven that point, and she was in no condition to even think about trying to test that strength. With as much scorn and anger as she could muster, she finally spat out the information he wanted.
“I just wanted to know him, ok? He wasn’t around when I was a kid, and-I wanted to know if there were any medical problems or conditions or… or anything! Is that so wrong?”
“And yet you chose me?”
“My mother always mentioned that my father came from money-that’s why he didn’t marry her.”
“Ah, yes, and it had nothing to do with the fact that your mother was the town bicycle.”
She hadn’t thought she’d had the strength, but in a second Claudia was on her feet and lunging herself at the man. There was one blissful moment of shock written upon his gender-less features as she caught him off guard. The armchair toppled backward, her on top of him, and the table joined them all upon the floor. Barry’s foot caught her in the stomach as she jumped him, the kick hard enough to bruise her on impact, and he sent her flying backward into the wall.
There was a moment of all encompassing pain spreading through her back and down her arms and legs, and then… blackness.