Post Chapter Five - Belladonna

Reese had never kept the cleanest of houses. There was always more clutter than Belladonna knew what to do with. Yet, the amount of items that littered the cottage now, felt almost like a slap to the face. An on purpose kind of degradation that he instigated to fill the ones who left him with guilt. Picking up an old wine bottle, Belladonna ran her fingers across the layers of dust.  Maybe she was projecting. Then again, she would never doubt Reese to be that petty.

“What are you looking for, kiddo?”

She had heard him of course. Most of the night he had been pacing. Tossing and turning. Checking on Gabriel. It was a true testament to how tired her dear heart was. They still remained asleep on the couch, arm tucked under their head, blanket pulled up and under their chin.

Belladonna wanted to take them away and lock them in the cathedral with her forever.

“A sign,” she said, setting the bottle aside. “Thought I would try and read it in the dust motes.”

“Prophecies aren’t in things like that. That’s for tea leaves or some shit.”  He walked next to her, reaching over his shoulder to grab a bottle of whisky. Pulling the cork, he spat it somewhere towards the direction of his sink.

“How drunk are you?”

“Not enough.” He took a swig of the bottle before offering it to her. Her nose wrinkled as she shook her head. Reese just shrugged before kicking open his kitchen door, letting in a gust of the cool night air. Belladonna listened for a moment, expecting to hear the fireflies singing.  She supposed there wasn’t a lot to sing about now. 

Following him outside, she found him in the old gazebo. The one he had begrudgingly built for Elias. He was sitting on the old swing, leaving just enough room for Belladonna to join him.  With a sigh, she lowered herself down, holding her hand out for the whisky.

He smiled at her as he handed it over. “Knew you’d come around.”

She then upturned it and tipped it into the rose bushes.

Reese’s answering glare was far sharper than he normally turned on her. But this was clearly a man who wanted to forget. All his typical vices were not doing the job.  Keeping eye contact with her, he reached into his leather jacket, pulling a small flask out.  It didn’t sound that full.

“You going to tell me why you are so attached to that being in there.”

Belladonna rolled her eyes. “That ‘being’ has a name.”

“Don’t want to learn it.”

Belladonna rolled her eyes.  “You better. They are my heart mate.”

“Heart mate? Bullshit they are. You don’t even know what that is.”

“Why?” she raised a brow. “Because I wasn’t here constantly, listening to you and Elias speak of your bond? I didn’t see what it did when you two were separated? Please, Reese. I am far more intelligent than you seem to be giving me credit for. I recognized the signs a while ago and then when they were obliterated, it felt like my spine was being ripped through my eyes.”

Reese side eyed her. “Which would be why you burned part of the market?”

“Probably. Or it was just time.”

Reese didn’t seem all that surprised as he took another drink from his flask.  Who hadn’t, in this world, killed or burned part of it.  It was becoming much more of a rarity to find a pure soul these days. “I would have done worse. I have done worse.”

“I wanted to,” Belladonna confessed.  “But let’s face it. I knew they were going to come back eventually. They’re the Night Market. And as stupid as I think that Gatekeeper's entire existence is, he did save the Night Market.  I just didn’t think they would come back incorporeal. That’s been inconvenient.”

“Elias is still alive and I would burn the world for him. Even now.”

A pang of guilt hit her. She should tell him. Let him know that this was all a ruse. That the reason they separated was nothing more than another lie. But she couldn’t make the words come. “Elias would enjoy you causing destruction. My dearest Night would not.”

“You never know what someone enjoys when it’s done in the name of love. People can get pretty sick and twisted.”

The smell of whisky made Bella’s stomach roll. She really wished it would settle. She would love nothing more than to drink herself into oblivion and slip away for a while. “I burned down three districts. Killed twenty seven people. And took down the church of the Knowing.”

“That was you?” Bella couldn’t tell if he was impressed or the slightest bit saddened by the entire ordeal..

“That was me. No one was allowed to infer with what was to come. Especially if it meant that my love would be delayed in their return.”

“Next time you go after anything that has to do with the Knowing, you tell me. Stop taking on that shit alone.”

“If they become much more of a problem I might just send you after them.”

The two of them sat in compatible silence for a long moment, listening to the sound of the creek and the way the water rushed over rocks. Long nights used to be spent here.  Though, Elias and Gabriel had been by their sides then too.

“Did it have to be the Night Market?” Reese asked.

Leaning her head on the man's shoulder, she sighed a little, looking back at the house. “The heart wants what the heart wants. You know that.”

Another long drink from his flask. This time until it was empty. “I know, kiddo. I know.”