[A few words is all it takes to stop Isaac cold. He goes raw inside, his heart pounding too hard and too fast as he looks on, Hector keeping on the move.]
No!
[Growling, Isaac manages to overtake him, moving to cut him off in the same way Hector had the other night. He whirls on him, wide-eyed. The thought alone that life could come back full circle after everything he's tried to escape, that Hector would have him keep his head down and be inconspicuous, tears old wounds wide open. A savage pain that makes him want to beat Hector senseless until he remembered where and what he came from. What drove him to Dracula in the first place.
For years, I fled those beasts because I hadn't a choice--! [He snarls, despairing.] For years, I drowned in fear and helplessness, having naught but the belief that, perhaps, if only I prayed hard enough, He would listen, and would grant me protection and refuge. That He would make a place for me!
[He supposes God did, though, in a funny, fucked up sort of way. Showed him the path to a castle full of monsters and washed his hands of him.
Isaac's gaze steels over.]
...But that time has long since passed -- and I will hide in the shadows no longer so that the humans might live more comfortably!
[There needed to be something more to life than just surviving - and then, one day, Hector had shown it was possible. Hector stole his dream and made settling in seem so damn effortless that watching him thrive among humans, loving and being loved, had cut him as deeply as watching him in bed through his scrying ball.
In three short years, Hector had proven there could be hope for anyone. But not for him.]
What I am doing now, this running, is for Julia's sake. [He says through his teeth] But the moment, the very instant we are clear of this mountain pass, I will live and go as I please, and any man wanting my head will meet his death.
[A beat.]
If you love them so very much, then go to them. [Making a sweeping gesture.] Go and mingle with their kind, and leave me be.
[Better for the both of them in the short and long run, taking all the complication out of sharing the same spaces, of not knowing what he wants and what's real and what he's winning and losing by letting Hector tear down his defenses stone by stone.]
God knows you would.
[In some other land, at least, if not this one.
With a sharp twist of his heel, a whirl of his cloak, he turns back towards the path, willing Abel to move in.]
no subject
No!
[Growling, Isaac manages to overtake him, moving to cut him off in the same way Hector had the other night. He whirls on him, wide-eyed. The thought alone that life could come back full circle after everything he's tried to escape, that Hector would have him keep his head down and be inconspicuous, tears old wounds wide open. A savage pain that makes him want to beat Hector senseless until he remembered where and what he came from. What drove him to Dracula in the first place.
For years, I fled those beasts because I hadn't a choice--! [He snarls, despairing.] For years, I drowned in fear and helplessness, having naught but the belief that, perhaps, if only I prayed hard enough, He would listen, and would grant me protection and refuge. That He would make a place for me!
[He supposes God did, though, in a funny, fucked up sort of way. Showed him the path to a castle full of monsters and washed his hands of him.
Isaac's gaze steels over.]
...But that time has long since passed -- and I will hide in the shadows no longer so that the humans might live more comfortably!
[There needed to be something more to life than just surviving - and then, one day, Hector had shown it was possible. Hector stole his dream and made settling in seem so damn effortless that watching him thrive among humans, loving and being loved, had cut him as deeply as watching him in bed through his scrying ball.
In three short years, Hector had proven there could be hope for anyone. But not for him.]
What I am doing now, this running, is for Julia's sake. [He says through his teeth] But the moment, the very instant we are clear of this mountain pass, I will live and go as I please, and any man wanting my head will meet his death.
[A beat.]
If you love them so very much, then go to them. [Making a sweeping gesture.] Go and mingle with their kind, and leave me be.
[Better for the both of them in the short and long run, taking all the complication out of sharing the same spaces, of not knowing what he wants and what's real and what he's winning and losing by letting Hector tear down his defenses stone by stone.]
God knows you would.
[In some other land, at least, if not this one.
With a sharp twist of his heel, a whirl of his cloak, he turns back towards the path, willing Abel to move in.]