Inficio Diligo AKA: Tainted Love Ch. 2

Ch. 3

During the entire drive back, Sarlina's mind was racing. She knew that it was a bad idea to not tell them what her and Asher were and knew that eventually they will find out their secret. So as soon as the van made it to the hotel, Sarlina quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out of the car, seeing another employee of theirs walking out to greet them. "Hey James!" she said with a warm smile on her face, as the man walked towards them, James started working for their team around the same time Sarlina has joined, as soon as he found out about how Sarlina and Asher had a soul he immediately wanted to join, since his history of vampires wasn’t very good. James Gideon had dark skin, black hair, and brown eyes, he's known as the muscle for their group, and was always in for a fight.

"Hey Sar, what's happenin?"

Sarlina shrugged leaning against the door with her arms crossed while everyone else was getting out. "Ah nothin, just movin in the new residents in." James then nodded, and looked over at Felicity who was walking around the car. "Hey Felicity!" Felicity grinned at him, as she slung her purse over her shoulder. "Hey James!" James grinned at her and then turned his attention to the two people standing beside the van; James arched his brow at them since yeah you wouldn’t usually see people like them unless you're in a comic book or on an episode of heroes, but hey who was he to judge? After all, he is working for two vampires. "Hello I'm James Gideon." Brooke shyly smiled at him and waved. "Hi I'm Brooke." James nodded and then looked over at David who had his arms crossed with an un-amused look on his face, while he was leaning against the car. Brooke quickly looked over at him and rolled her eyes.

"This is David."

James nodded and then looked back at Sarlina. "So, need help in unloading some of this stuff?" Sarlina smirked at him and nodded. "You know it, if you can get Connell and Jacoby to help you. I need to have a talk with my brother." James smirked over at her, knowing that when she says she needs to have a word with him usually means that she's going to be having a very heated conversation with him. "He's down in the basement." Sarlina nodded and then looked over at Brooke and David. "Guys I'll be back, James will take care of you guys and get you all situated with your new rooms and will help out on placing Archie's things into his room as well." Brooke nodded, while David just stared at her as she walked away.

As soon as Sarlina walked into the hotel, James then chuckled and looked over at Felicity. "I have a feeling that Asher is going to have a nice little conversation with Sar today." Felicity then sighed, "Well you know, maybe it won't be that bad." James then scoffed as he walked to the back of the van and opened it.

"Yeah… Right."

Meanwhile, Asher was down in the basement punching a punching bag and just did a roundhouse kick, when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "So my 35 year old brother, how are things going?" Sarlina asked sarcastically. Asher sighed and stopped the swaying bag. "So I take it you know…" Sarlina sarcastically chuckled and the shook her head. "What the bloody hell were you thinking Asher?" Asher then glared at her as he walked away from the punching bag, un-wrapping the linens around his palms. "Oh I don’t know Sar, maybe I didn’t feel like listening to them freak out after they heard what we are!" Sarlina then sighed.

"Yes, what a wonderful plan! And what the bloody hell do you think they're going to do when they start seeing Animal's blood in the fridge, or how are we going to explain why suddenly our faces change when we're angry or when we're fighting, how do we explain our fangs!? BAD DENTAL!?! Or even better! What are they going to bloody say when they realize why my eyes glow, or why on earth do we come home with our battle axes and bruises. Asher do you know how much we will have to watch ourselves?! Do you even bloody know!"

Asher then sighed, running his hand through his hair and slowly shook his head. "I'm taking care of it; I already moved the animal's blood into the basement fridge, why are you freaking out about this!?" Sarlina frowned and started to pace back and forth, rubbing her temples. "Because I think they're catching on to us, David was questioning Felicity about how you and me have the things we have, and how were we capable of affording a hotel and hiring employees and such." Asher nodded, looking deep in thought. "Well we could always enthrall him, if he get's too curious." Sarlina suddenly stopped pacing and then turned to glare at him. "No… I refuse to do that, nor will I allow you to do it." Asher arched his brow at his sister and then crossed his arms. "Sarlina, you know that if he starts getting to curious as to what we are, we will have to take action on it." Sarlina then clenched her fists furious with him.

"Well excuse me for not wanting to turn him into some brainless minion! I don’t think he bloody deserves it, plus he has every right to know what we are Asher! And if you do enthrall him, so help me brother that I will be bashing yer head in."

Asher then chuckled as he crossed his arms. "Sounds like you are intrigued by him; if you like him Sarlina all you have to do is say so." He said condescendingly, Sarlina gave him a very intimidating glare, clenching her knuckles so tightly that they are turning white.

"It's not that ya git, it's the fact that you'd rather turn him into your bloody spider-eating man-bitch instead of telling him the truth! Excuse me that I don’t agree with that, I think they have as much of a right as Coretta, and Connell, and Felicity and James does. I think they deserve to know that I'm 221 and your 231, and I think it's wrong of us to pull the wool over their eyes."

Asher then rolled his eyes.

"What do you want me to say Sarlina!?! It's better this way and you know it!"

Sarlina then groaned out of frustration and started to walk back towards the stairs. "No it's taking the bloody coward's way out and it's ridiculous that is what it is!" Asher then gritted his teeth, furious with the way his sister was reacting to this. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?!" he yelled, Sarlina then quickly turned around, her eyes full of rage. "Out! Oh and by the way you're going to pick up Archie from the theatre and also just so you know I said that the reason why we have the money we have is because our Uncle owns a shipyard and when he passed away he gave us his royalties." She said hotly as she stormed up the stairs. "Thank you!" her brother yelled, but all he heard from her response was "Sod Off."

As Sarlina yanked open the door of the basement, everyone could tell she wasn’t in a good mood. She then stalked over towards the counter and grabbed the leather jacket she left earlier that morning. "Sar, is everything ok?" Coretta asked, but then noticed when Sarlina looked up at her that her sapphire eyes were glowing. "Oh…" Sarlina then nodded as she pulled on her leather jacket. "Yeah oh." She said hotly, as she stormed towards the garage. "Sar, where are you going?!" Felicity asked, noticing that the vampire is suddenly in a very sour mood. Sarlina quickly turned around to face felicity not caring what the others thought since her eyes were literally glowing out of anger. "Out, don’t wait up I won't be back till later." She said in a very dark tone as she adjusted her jacket and then stormed into the garage.

Just then, everyone heard the motorcycle start and heard it sped off, Coretta sighed as she looked over at the confused looks that Brooke and David were wearing on their faces. "Don’t worry about her, whenever she and Asher argue she has a tendency to storm off." Brooke then looked over at Coretta worriedly and slowly nodded.

"I see…"

Meanwhile Sarlina drove her bike towards her friend Marley's apartment. Once she got there, she parked her bike, climbed up the steps, walked directly to Marley's place, and knocked on the door. Marley answered and looked surprised to see Sarlina there. "Sar what's going on?" Sarlina shrugged and walked inside the apartment. "My brother is being an idiot." Marley then arched her brow, looking back at Sarlina. "Again?" Sarlina nodded as she plopped herself down onto the couch. "Marley we've known each other since we were 16 and have been friends since right?" Marley then slowly nodded her head, confused as to what she was getting at.

"…yeah?"

Sarlina then sighed and started to fiddle with her hands. "And when you found out what me and Ash turned into, did you look at us differently?" Marley then scrunched up her eyebrows and then walked over to her chair and sat down facing Sarlina. "No! Sar, I know you two can't help what happened to you, and I know you can't erase the past, it's completely understandable." Sarlina slowly nodded, as she fiddled with her hands.

"You never thought I was a monster did you?"

Marley then now then looked completely concerned and edged closer to her friend. "No! Sarlina, what's going on here? You're usually not like this." Sarlina sighed and then looked up at Marley "Asher doesn’t want the new residents to know what we are, and one of them is questioning about us. So when I talked to Asher about it, his only response to it was that we'll just enthrall him." Marley then frowned, knowing that it was very odd of Asher to even mention something like that. "Sar, are you sure he wasn’t kidding. I mean Asher would never do something like that." Sarlina then looked up at her and slowly shook her head. "No he was dead serious. However, he has been acting very weird lately, and I know part of it is because the death of Jacoby's mother's anniversary is coming up. But I just wish I could understand his reasoning, I mean it's not like David will cause any harm, and it's not like we're evil. Bugger after all that is what we fight against." Marley then shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe, Ash is worried that he'll loose his soul." Sarlina then looked up at her, her eyes glowing once again.

"Then don’t you think it's a good idea to let them know what could possibly happen? I mean from what Felicity has told me about them, they have already been through a lot why put them through more."

Marley then slowly nodded, clasping her hands together. "You do have a point. You mentioned that David is the one who's getting suspicious?" Sarlina then nodded. "Yeah…" Marley then arched her brow. "Is he the one with the wild black and red hair, and the unique eyes?" Sarlina then nodded once again. "Yeah, he's not very talkative, and yet all I ever hear from Brooke is how much of an attitude problem he has." Marley then suddenly smirked at her. "Maybe you deem him speechless, with your undeniable beauty." Sarlina then rolled her eyes, and allowed a little smirk to form on her face. "Doubtful, but I did manage to stump him on his accusation of me and Ash being members of a Cartel." Marley then started to laugh. "What did you say?" Sarlina then grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well he was harassing Felicity on how me and Ash had the things we had, how did we come up with the money we had, so I sort of lied and said that our uncle owned a ship yard and when he passed away he gave us his royals."

Marley then started to burst out into laughter. "Bugger, I wish I was there to see the look on his face when you said that." Sarlina then shrugged. "He didn’t really react; he was fascinated about your club though. And I have noticed that he plays guitar as well." Marley then smirked once again and then leaned back into her chair. "You know Sar, he is cute in an eerie sense." Sarlina then rolled her eyes "Yeah he does have a way about him, the eyes are really what get's me but I'm not going to go there." Marley then shrugged her shoulders. "Why not? I saw the way he was staring at you when I was at the hotel that one night." Sarlina then shook her head. "He's probably trying to figure me out, like I said he's very suspicious as to what me and Ash are up to, and what we're hiding. But in a way I don’t blame him, if I was in that position I'd be curious too." Marley then nodded "Yeah I suppose, well… I'm sure it won't be so bad, after all you've been in tighter niches before." Sarlina then nodded, clasping her hands "Yeah, it's just I'd rather be honest and being called a monster in the beginning instead of being told by them finding out the hard way, and end up loosing their friendship." Marley then gave her a sad smile, knowing that it has happened to Sarlina before, and knew what sort of impact it puts on her.

"I know Sar, and I promise it'll be alright whatever happens, will happen, I know how you are as well too. You care more about other people then yourself and maybe right now they don’t need to know, I know it sounds insane but I'm sure that when the time is right you can break the news to them. Heck who knows maybe I'll be able to tell them that I'm a 222 year old Sorcerer and we've known each other for years." Sarlina then slowly nodded.

"Yeah I suppose so."

She then looked up at Marley's clock and then sighed. "I better get going, baddies are lerkin about and they all have a meeting with Sarlina O'Riley." Marley then nodded and smiled over at her friend. "I'm sure they do, have a nice night Sar." Sarlina then nodded. "Will do Cromwell, will do." Sarlina then gave her friend a hug and headed out into the night.

As Sarlina drove around the allies, she thought about her past and how things came to be the way they were, sure she was never one to believe in self-pity and yes things aren’t the same as when she and Asher were human but she couldn’t complain on the life she lived, it has given her some good memories. However, along with good memories there's always the bad.

Once Sarlina's patrolling was finished, and 10 vamps were dusted, she decided that at 2 am in the morning that it would be best to head home. So after she staked her last vamp and helped the victim get a cab, she then jumped up onto her bike and drove back to the hotel. As soon as Sarlina made it back to the hotel, she noticed that all the lights were turned off, knowing that probably everyone is asleep other than Asher. She then drove her bike into the garage and parked it. Sarlina then hopped off her bike and then walked inside the hotel.

As she strolled further inside seeing the dark lobby, she then looked over at her music room and saw the light showing from underneath the doors. Sarlina arched her brows knowing that no-one would go in there during this time of night but her, so her curiosity drove its peek and she decided to check it out. As she walked closer to the doors, she suddenly heard someone playing on a guitar, and what surprised her even more is that it was a song that she had written. Sarlina couldn’t help but feel surprised, yet a little intruded by the fact that someone was in there playing her music, but at the same standpoint she was very flattered.

So then, Sarlina then opened the doors and walked in to see David sitting near the piano playing and tuning the song. Sarlina slowly walked towards the dark part of the room and hid into the shadows as he continued to play, Sarlina never saw someone so deep in thought when it came to music, but David was a different story. Sarlina couldn’t help but smile to herself as she slowly walked closer, making sure she was still in the shadows as she listened to him sing the lyrics.

As David finished tweaking more with the lyrics, he then suddenly heard a voice come from behind him.

"You sing beautifully."

David quickly jumped and then turned around to see Sarlina emerging out of the shadows. "Is it a thing or yours that you enjoy coming out of the shadows and scaring the shit out someone?" he said hotly, Sarlina couldn’t help but smile at this as she continued to walk towards him. "Well is it a thing of yours to take someone's music and tweak it as your own without permission?" David then frowned and then looked back at the paper. "I was fixing it." Sarlina then nodded as she pulled up a chair and sat right next across from him, David slowly rose his head up and saw those sapphire eyes stare into his icy blue ones. "You're doing a very good job, that song was very hard for me to write and maintain a proper melody for it." David gave her a ghost of a smile and then picked up the sheet and gave it to her. "The lyrics are a little indecisive for me, what is it you're actually trying to say?" Sarlina sighed as she stared down at the piece of paper; remembering when she first wrote this.

"It's about a woman who has been hurt over and over... she is trying to change that her heart has been destroyed so many times that it is hard to give and believe in love. Finally, she meets someone and she's singing to this new person. Don't tear me down again, now that you are in my life and you seem different please be who you seem to be. She's on the edge because she's not sure about this new love she's afraid and wants to run and turn around because she thinks that maybe history will repeat itself. She knows that all her agony fades away when he holds her, all the past... all the pain all the disillusion... So basically it is a song to a new love... hoping this time will be for real... and her heart not to be broken all over again."

She then looked up at David and gave him a small smile. "Unfortunately, she does end up alone again." David frowned and slowly nodded. "Is that person you?" Sarlina then smirked at him as she placed the paper on top of the piano. "I can't give that away, it's supposed to remain a mystery." David then arched his brow. "Why's that?" Sarlina then shrugged as she rose up from her seat and started to walk around the piano. "Because if you have people knowing that the song is about you, it's harder to relate to it because it's something that someone else is feeling, but if you can just listen to it, literally hear it's lyrics then in a way that song becomes yours, it's like the song was written for only you." David then slowly nodded, taking in what she just said and then looked up to see her standing in front of the windows staring out at the city below. "What are you hiding from us?" he asked, as he rose up and started to walk towards her, Sarlina didn’t bother to look back at him, all she did was chuckle as she crossed her arms. "If I could only tell you…" she whispered, she then looked back at him and saw him standing there staring at her.

"David there is more to me than meets the eye, and I don’t know if I could ever tell you what it is. But just know that I'm not involved with any gangs or anything that is bad, just know that I am who I am and I wear all my emotions on my sleeves, I'll never send you on the wrong path."

David then nodded as he placed his hands in his pockets. "Then why is it so hard for you to tell me what you're hiding?" Sarlina then sighed, as she started to walk away from the window. "Because you could never understand, none of you could. It's something that I have to live with and it's something I will have to deal with for the rest of my life, and I'm sorry but I have no interest in involving you or anyone else for that matter into this." David then suddenly glared at her ticked off with the fact that she is being so stubborn. So he then stormed right up to her and grabbed her arm and yanked her to face him, pulling her very close to his body, Sarlina saw the anger in his eyes and if she wasn’t so sure that she could little beat him to the ground, that look would have terrified her.

"Whatever it is I will find out…" he said in a very grim tone.

Sarlina then suddenly had a matching glare in her eyes and ripped her arm away from him. "Don’t be so sure about that boyo. You have no idea what you're dealing with." She said in a dark tone, David only stared at her and then lets out a sarcastic chuckle.

"Is that right? A little 25 year old singer slash songwriter who likes to play pretend cop for a living?"

On a usual basis, this would have really ticked Sarlina off, but in some weird aspect she was very amused by this, it was sort of like a game to her. "Oh really, so that is your assumption of me…" she then starts to laugh. "Bugger mate if you only knew, but I suppose that a git like yourself knows it all don’t you, you know all about how the world works." David then sneered at her, as he once again stormed back up to her and grabbed her by both arms, pulling her tightly against him, their faces only inches apart from each other.

"You try living a life of people being intimidated and fearful of you, you try living your life knowing that when people look at you in the face they literally want to run away in terror because they can't stand to stare into your eyes. Imagine being called a freak your whole life, and never knowing where you belong. Imagine that Sarlina, you have the world at your fingertips while me the world only sees me as a monster."

Sarlina's eyes widened after she heard his words, and in a way, a sympathetic pang shot through her heart. She did know what it felt like to be ridiculed for being different and she did know what it felt like to not belong, and most of all she knew what it was like to be considered a monster, but never in her life has she seen a human being with such great potential be considered these things as well. Sarlina was completely speechless, and David noticed this because he then allowed a very grim smirk to appear on his lips.

"Don’t worry princess, I wont harm you. You have nothing to fear from the freak I promise." He said condescendingly as he released her.

Sarlina slowly moved back a bit wrapping her arms around herself, a look of utter confusion morphing on her face. As she looked back up at him, she then noticed that he then walked back to the piano and sat down on the bench his elbows on his thighs and his fingerless gloved hands clasped together, as he stared out into nowhere. "David…" she said softly, noticing his icy glare move back up to her, Sarlina then allowed out a soft sigh and started to fidget with her hands, something she has never done before with anyone she has ever spoken to. "For what it's worth, I never thought of you as a freak. In some way you actually intrigue me." David stared at her, but never said a word; instead, he just looked at her unemotionally and then moved his head back down to stare at his hands. Sarlina sighed at this and then bowed her head as she started to walk towards the grand doors. "Oh and David?" she said softly as she turned around to face him, she then noticed that he was now looking back up at her.

"You can have free reign in here, I know how it is when you just want to get away and if you have anything in common with me, it's that music seems to always take me away from the world. So if you want, you're allowed to use what ever is in this room, just think of it as… your sanctuary."

David then slowly nodded, and then looked back down finding the floor to be a very entertaining site. "Thank you…" he whispered, Sarlina then slowly nodded giving him a small smile. "Your welcome." And with that Sarlina then slowly walked out of the room. Once she closed the doors, she then leaned her back against it, tears starting to roll down her cheeks as she slid down onto the ground and just began to cry.