The moment the plane lifted off the ground and into the air Aurora realized that, between where her brother had been hitting her as hard as he could and from her muscles having been so tensed and locked, she was going to be in terrible pain tomorrow.  As Will collapsed into the seat, she could hear him begin to cry and her father moved to sit beside him and hold the young man as he wept.

No one said a word.  What was there to say?  What could anyone ever say to make their world right again?  Aurora looked out the window as they passed through the blanket of heavy black clouds into the night sky illuminated by a bright full moon and a sea of stars not drown.  Up here you could see for miles, their perfection was not drowned out by the light pollution which lingered beneath the clouds and above the 'City of Brotherly Love.'

We're safe.  For now.

William fell asleep, emotionally exhausted and still there was silence.  Her father, eyes vacant and pained, stared ahead and the only sign that he had not fallen dead of a broken heart was the steady rise and fall of his chest and the occasional movement of his fingers through Will's hair ... the way her mother sometimes did.

Aurora had never felt so utterly bereft, the beating heart of the Byrne family had stopped.  She was gone.  What would they do now?  Where could they go? 

She looked to her father, he'd kept it together to get them out... but he was in the worst state she'd ever seen him.  He'd never looked so old, so tired, and so utterly defeated.  William was broken.  She knew what this pain was, she'd been living with it for weeks now.  Nothing had changed in that she felt a sense of death below her breasts that knew no end.  It was hard to breathe at times, like a crushing weight rested upon her ribs and did not yield. 

She could see that same pain in her brother now. 

If Will had any of the inclinations to follow his bloodline into the life, it certainly would be strengthened now.  And while she hadn't much cared to think about what William would do with his life before... ever since her mother had touched her womb, silently pleading with her not as mother to child - but as mother to mother, to save her son; Aurora had begun to care.  William HAD to get out.  For the memory of their mother, for their father who was hanging by a thread and - of course - so he never faced a day like today ever again.

God?

It's me... Aurora. 

I don't know if I'm doing this right, I can't remember all the stupid things they taught me in church but if you really are there, you know that already.  

Gavin leaned his head back in the seat, a tear escaped his closed eyes and slid down his cheek into the silver scuff on his cheeks that had begun to form. 

Aurora looked back out the window at the massive moon above, whose light seemed to draw her eyes and pull upon the weight resting on her chest, giving her some small moment of succor.  

I can bear this, God.  I can.  I will.  Let me feel this for them.  I already feel Billy, one weight or three, it hardly matters.  Just... don't let them suffer like this.  Please?  If you can just... help... a little.  I'll go to church.  I'll have our son baptized and brought up in the Church.  I'll believe in you but I need something here God.  Just... once let me see something that shows me you're there.  Especially right now.  I've never asked anything of you before, but I need you now.

In the silence Aurora contemplated the women of her life.  Her mother, Aunt Tara, Stella and even old Nonna in Sicily.  Looking at the Byrne men, and what remained of her family she knew then it fell to her to set the course.  Dad had no plan.  Will would be a reckless fool if he was allowed and her father wouldn't have it in him to stop Will... they'd only encourage each other.

She rubbed her belly gently and she knew then just how she'd do it.  Will needed their dad.  He needed him in a way that Will had never needed anyone before.  So Dad would make sure Will went to school, far away from Philly and anything that would remind him of the life they'd all lost.  Dad would want her to go with them, but she couldn't.  She would make a deal with him though, if he spent one year with Will at school, she'd let him come to help her when the baby came.  Until then... his energies needed to be utterly focused upon making sure their mother's last unspoken request was honored - they would save her son.  

As for her, with the past having gone up in smoke behind her, all that remained now was to move forward down a path she'd never imagined herself walking - but she needed help and there was one man in the world who had reasons and ability to help her; provided he had once again managed to outlive his enemies as he notoriously had a habit of doing.

Joseph_Ligambi.

She would move to Michigan & introduce herself to Joe Ligambi in the hopes of pursuing the life of a Made Man.  With his help she'd recover Billy's assets and make sure that her child had something of its father's legacy and if that meant playing into his suspicions she was his daughter... so be it.  There was no way to prove it, one way or another, and what harm was there in letting an old man help you when he wanted it so badly? 

She would live in the house in Port Huron until the home Billy meant for them was done being built.  She'd then move into that home and most likely burn the house in Port Huron to the ground so that the last of her mother's secrets and her joys would leave this world with her.  Of course, she'd let her father have his pick of her things first... but there was no point in keeping such things about when her enemies would only defile them and use them to hurt the family.

After that... she'd be Joe's gun.  All her considerable skills learned in a lifetime would be put to the purpose of making Ligambi the one thing he allegedly loved more than his family: money.  It felt stupid.  She was richer than she ever could dream now.  Her father would have no use for their considerable wealth and between what she'd inherited from Sal and Marie, plus what her parents had put aside for her to split with Will... she had no reason to join the Mafia.  She could get out too.  But Aurora wasn't 'in' the Mafia.  The mafia was 'in' Aurora.  Unlike Will, she could not escape who she was.

Aurora got up from her seat and noted her father open his eyes.  

"It's fine."  She told her father.  "I'm going to talk to the pilot."

"Why?"  Gavin's voice was hoarse from not speaking and his pain.

Aurora turned to her father and began the long process of explaining what the future of their family was going to look like and, what, if fortune was kind she hoped would come as a result.  Gavin took far less time to contemplate and decide upon the validity of her points than she expected.  He simply nodded.

"Have them take us to Tara after you get off in Detroit.  Call us tomorrow?"  He said putting his head back down, relenting to Aurora taking the helm of things, seemingly comfortable with not being the one to make much in the way of decisions right now.

"I will."  Aurora kissed her father on the cheek and made her way up to the pilot.  

Two Days Later - The Chaise Hotel

Aurora sat in a comfortable high backed chair, red in color, watching out the large lobby windows.  As of yet, she'd not heard from the last friend she had in all the world.  If she did not hear from LordAlucard tomorrow, then she'd go to Ligambi with the assumption that he had fallen with her mother.  At least she'd be able to tell Gavin that his Dragon had not stood alone at the end.

It was a dark and terrifying thought, being alone in the world... well, maybe not totally alone.  She touched her belly again.  Still, the sort of company the little one would afford her soon would be more burden than a blessing and that in and of itself was terrifying.  A baby in the best of times was hard... but while trying to make her bones for some mob boss?  She'd refrain from telling Ligambi about the baby if she could help it.  God she hoped she could manage it.  The fewer people who knew of BillyMastrosimone's child growing in her belly - the better.

The piano player stopped and a few people coming out of the bar applauded.  Aurora looked at them, wishing for not the first time that she could drink.  She'd give anything for just a sip of gin.

Turning her eyes away from the forbidden watering hole, Aurora looked out onto the streets of Detroit and continued her vigil.  

A fucking bee sting?  Who gets stung by a bee in the middle of a gunfight?

He took aim and with fire and thunder, The Jackal attacked, striking the man to slightly off center to his brow. Alucard grinned as he watched the exit wound spray blood, bone, and muscle against the tree behind his victim.  The grin on his face didn't last long, as he still heard gunfire coming from the house.

"Bella..."  Alucard choked in a desperate whisper.

He reloaded his gun and started making his way to the main house, stopping suddenly when he noticed another group of people begin entering the estate.  He ducked behind a tree, and paused for a brief moment to think.  He owed Bella his life, several times over, every fiber of his being wanted to just charge into there to at least try to save Bella and Gavin.  He knew the fight was a losing one, he knew if he charged in he would die right along with them and he couldn't keep the oath he made to both Bella and Aurora. 

I can't win, there is no right choice here. I either let go and not try to help the woman who I owe my life to, or I go to help her and I break an oath I made.  Arthur, "What do I do?"

"What would she tell you to do, son?"

"She'd tell me to get the hell out and make sure her kids were safe."

"Then there's your answer."

In the span of a heartbeat, Alucard's choice was made for him.  As abruptly as the gunfire started, it ceased.   He sank to the base of the tree, all he could do was listen to the car engines start, then the eventual sound of tires on the ground getting quieter and quieter until there was nothing.  It felt like the grounds themselves knew and were mourning the loss of it's family's matriarch.  There wasn't even the sound of wind amongst the leaves, the only sound on the air was that of loud and cold silence.   He sat in shock at what he knew just happened.  It wasn't until the silence broke with the call of a single tree frog that Alucard stood up, and made his way to the house.   His eyes scanned the yard, it looked more like a garden of dead than a lawn.  Finally reaching the door to the residence.  He held his breath, not wanting to go in to see and know what his logical brain was telling him had happened.  He reached his arm out to open the door, and felt an intense burning sensation running up his arm where he felt what the thought was a bee sting. 

I've been shot, well this isn't good, but the wound doesn't look that bad either.  Hurts like a bitch though.

He ripped off the sleeves of his shirt, made a makeshift bandage for himself, then went in to make sure he found Bella and Gavin. The house reminded him of the crypts at Laurel Hill Cemetary.  The irony of him purchasing the cemetery only about a week before the events of today went down made him sick to his stomach.  After a few minutes of searching, he found what he feared what he would find, Godmother Byrne's lifeless body.  

"I am sorry Bella.  I... I..." Alucard once again was finding himself choking on his words as he gently closed her eyes.  There was so much to say, but not much time, he had to find Gavin and get their bodies out of there safe from looters and possible defilers.  People looking to add insult to injury upon the bodies of the dead.  Alucard searched through every room in the house, every closet, under every bed.  He couldn't find Gavin. 

Did they take him?  Did he manage to get away? How do I tell Aurora I couldn't find her father? Oh god. 

The man Gavin Byrne called Wild Card, placed his fingers to his temple.  Afraid of having to break the news to Aurora he couldn't do anything to save her mother, that after it was over he couldn't even find her father. He wasn't sure how he was going to be able to stand telling her that he failed.  

Now is not the time to ponder these things Alucard. You need to take Bella to Laurel Hill, before the vultures come back around.  He grabbed a sheet off a bed from one of the bedrooms and covered his Godmother.  He gently carried her body to one of the cars parked outside, he didn't care it was the car of one of their enemies.  He gingerly laid Bella in the back seat.  Pulled the dead driver out of the front seat, turned the keys that were still in the ignition, and drove off to the cemetery.

The place looked more like a park, or public garden where people would walk and have a picnic than it did a place for the dead to be buried.  There was even a coffee shop and gift shop on the premises, the latter Alucard always found absurd but completely humorous.  He drove the car as far as he could into the cemetery, climbed out and unlocked the door to an unused mausoleum.  He carried Bella, and laid her on one of the marble tables.  He paused for a moment, promising her he'd be back to properly take care of her. 

When he got back to the car he took an actual look inside it, blood all over the seats, there was no way he could take this vehicle across the country.  He made a quiet contemplative drive back to Hallowood, for possibly the last time.   Once again he was feeling completely lost and unsure of where to go,  for a moment at the end he thought he found a place amongst Race Street.  Once again that feeling was taken out from under him.  

When he got back to the estate he took a quick shower, he rebandaged his wounds, gathered what little would fit in his bag and made the long journey back to Detroit on the back of the motorcycle Aurora had bought him.  The travels were long and Alucard rode as long as he dared ride, only when he started losing grip on his handlebars, did he bother stopping and taking a rest at.   He started slipping halfway to Detroit when he forced himself to pull over.  After another 8.5hrs he found himself at the Chaise Hotel. 

Finally, a familiar comfort. 

He made his way inside, he looked around then spotted her.  Sitting in the lobby, at the place he and her had their first real conversation together.   His staff was calling to him, asking him if he was okay, but he just waved them off.  His focus was on her.   He made it up to her, his fingers running through her hair then down along her arms.  

His voice shook with concern, "Aurora,  Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Aurora put her arms around Alucard and held him tight. 

"You came."  She said softly over his shoulder. 

The warmth of another human's contact was a blessed reprieve from the isolation she'd felt for the last two days with little more than just a short call to her father and a slightly longer conversation with Aunt Tara.  Will and her father would be fine, but it was going to take time.  Aunt Tara, of course, was worried about her and the baby... Aurora didn't have it in her to be mad at Will for this one, and in truth, it might have been Gavin who told her secret.  Maybe.

"I was sure that you were ..."  Aurora pulled back, her amber eyes reflecting his own, as she mimicked his action of letting her hands slide down his arms until she came across the bulge caused by the make-shift bandage.  

Aurora looked at the bandage with concern, "You were hit?  God... this thing is soaked.  Alucard!  We should go up to my room, clean this up right away.  We need a sewing kit.  Can we get one from the front desk?"

He returned her embrace and held her just as tightly. He was tired mentally, physically, and emotionally, but the closeness and warmth of another person gave him enough to push on.

"Of course I came. I made a promise to you didn't I?"  He gave Aurora a weak smile, letting his eyes lock into hers.   His smile lightened as he read the warmth in her eyes. 

"I'm going to take care of you,"  He spoke softly placing a hand to her abdomen, "both of you."

His smile faded when he noticed the look of concern on Aurora's face.  His mind wandered back briefly to Hollowood and his inability to save Bella, and guilt clutched at his stomach.  He tried to hide his slip, pretending that it was from the burning sensation in his arm. 

"Yeah, I got nicked.  But hell, you've seen me, you know I've had worse.  Still, I suppose it couldn't hurt to have it properly cleaned up."  he gave a small laugh. "I don't think the front desk does, but Wesley can hook us up"

He didn't even think about his actions, he just took her hand in his, and very softly just said, "Come on."

He walked up to the desk, Maggie was still there still looking as friendly and kind to the patrons as ever.  He expected some smart ass comment from her when he walked up but instead was greeted with a friendly and helpful tone.

"Good evening sir!  What can I do for you and  your lady friend here?" Her eyes sparkled with a kindness she's never shown him.

"Hey Maggie, I need to call Wesley," Alucard said reaching over the counter for the desk phone. 

The clerk yanked the phone back, "I am sorry sir, but patrons are not allowed to use this phone.  There is one in your room for your convenience." 

"Maggie! It's me, Alucard!"  Alucard looked the older woman in the eyes, and then she finally recognized her boss.

"You cut your hair!  I didn't recognize you without your lady's hair."  She snapped at him.

Alucard dialed up Wesley.  "Wes, yeah I need you to send a sewing kit up to room..." 

He turns to Aurora, "What room are you?"

"112"

"Right, I need a kit to room 112, please.  Quickly as you can.  Yeah, Wes, I have a huge embarrassing hole in my pants, how'd you know?" Alucard laughed a bit before hanging up with Wesley.

Alucard then looked to Aurora with a joking smirk on his face, "After you, my lady friend."

Alucard followed Aurora to the room and once inside she immediately began the task of removing the bandage on his arm.  As she pulled away the torn remains of his shirt she sucked a breath through her teeth, wincing at the bite the bullet left. 

"Another scar for the collection."  She said softly, giving it a real looking at to be sure nothing was left behind in the wound.

The bloody shirt fluttered to the floor at her feet as she delicately pushed aside a small flap of flesh to get a good look.  Alucard grit his teeth.  She could hear his jaw clamp down for the worst of it.  

"I'm sorry."  She said gently, letting his arm go and wiping his blood off on her pant before going to the phone in the hotel room. 

"This is room 112, yes... that room.  I need to have a bottle of whiskey sent up.  One glass.  No ice needed."  She paused before adding, "Thank you."  

Turning back to Alucard, she gave him a real looking over before offering.  "Will is with my Dad.  We ran into him in the woods & thank God he listened to reason... Will couldn't have functioned if he had lost them both."

"It's okay Aurora...." He looked at his arm, then back to the Aurora wiping his blood off on her pants.  "Thank you, for helping me. I'm sorry about your clothes and such." 

While she was on the phone, Alucard sat on the hard wooden chair for the room's desk.  His eyes stared at the floor, and the patterns in the carpet, as his mind wrapped itself about how to tell her how badly he failed her as his fingers intertwined around the back of his neck.   That thought, of just how badly he felt he failed his twin iris, caused him more pain than what was currently shooting through his arm. Then her voice cut through his self pitty, 

"Will is with my Dad.  We ran into him in the woods & thank God he listened to reason... Will couldn't have functioned if he had lost them both."

His heart immediately felt lighter, and he heavily exhaled as a partial sense of relief flooded over him.

"Gavin's okay?  Thank god.  I couldn't find him.  I searched the whole house for hours trying to find him.  I thought they took him or something. Thank the gods he's okay, and Will too.  I'm more relieved than you know to hear that news.  Bell.."

He was about to tell Aurora about how he failed Bella, how he then made sure to take her someplace safe to rest, that he promised her they'd go back to properly send her off, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door.  Alucard reached for his gun, flipped the barrel to make sure it was loaded, then flipped it shut again.  "Stay out of site Rora."  He thought they should be safe in his own hotel, but he wasn't taking any risks with Aurora and her child with Billy.  He cracked open the door, then saw the blonde hair of his concierge.  he placed the Jackal down on the table next to the door, before fully opening it.

"Wesley, you have the kit and the whiskey! You're a life saver."  Alucard smiled at the young man.

The blonde looked over Alucard, and his eyes fell on the blood coming from Alucard's arm.  The sight caused him to swallow hard, "You don't have a hole in your pants do you sir?"  The young man went to reach out. 

Alucard backed away from Wesley, "No I don't.  Thank you for bringing this stuff to me, but I should get around to cleaning this up."

He shut the door on Wesley, looking at the bottle of whiskey, wanting to take a drink of it. He shook that notion, after what he did to Aurora at that club, he felt too guilty for his action.  So he chose the path of not drinking as long as Aurora couldn't.  He wouldn't make her suffer that alone either. 

Aurora took the whiskey and poured a shot of it into the glass.  Then, taking out the needle, she wet it in the alcohol.  Pulling a bit of thread she shook her head.  

"The needle and thread are thicker than I like to use, it's not going to feel good.  You should start working on that glass now.  Get yourself feeling a little less before I begin."

She put the thread into her mouth and sucked on it to make it precise to get it through the needle's eye.  Trying not to look at him she stated, "I'm glad you didn't throw your life away charging in there... I couldn't tell you it was hopeless.  Will... he would have shut down and I needed him to keep moving."

She looked back to him, ready to begin, but he hadn't touched the glass.  "Alucard?  Did you hear me?  Drink."

Alucard ignored the drink that was put down in front of him.  He was lost in thought about exactly what to say back to Aurora about her mom.

I'm not going to lie, I wanted to charge in... I felt like I needed to, like I owed it to her... But I had a conversation with a dead man, does that make me crazy? No more crazy than hearing your mom yell at me for being an idiot and not protecting her children, and reminding me of that oath I made to both her and you...

"Alucard?  Did you hear me?  Drink."

Aurora's voice shook him out of his thoughts.  

"Drink? No, I won't.  You can't drink, so I won't drink.  I won't make you go that journey alone either... anyways, I'm not exactly a gentleman when I've been drinking...."

Aurora furrowed her brow.

"Alright then," She said picking up the whiskey bottle.  "Suit yourself.  Sit."

She nodded to the chair and he settled into it.  She upended the bottle over the wound and instantly he was out of the seat again cussing, "FUCKING SHIT!"

Aurora gave a genuine chuckle as she watched him dance a bit holding the wound like a child fussing over a scrape too much to get his mother's attention.  Her smile touching her amber eyes, she offered the bottle again.

"Don't be an fool.  You can come along on this 'journey' of mine as you call it, but there's no need for you to suffer.  Do you mean to feel the pains of my womanhood splitting stem to stern when I push out a son or daughter too?"  She shook her head, now laughing as Alucard put himself back into the chair.

"I need you at your best... torturing yourself serves no purpose and if I need to get technical, it makes you less capable of protecting me so, drink the fucking whiskey before I do.  In fact, the more you drink of it the less there will be for me to stare and yearn for so... protect me from making a huge mistake and put it where I can't get to it... in your gut."

Aurora had to pick the needle and thread up and clean it again, then she took his upper arm in one and gingerly felt out the first critical point in his wound where a stitch could safely be put without ripping.  "I'm not as good at this as Doc Hadley used to be, I'm sure, but you'll be able to tell all your friends that the Lioness' first work as a seamstress is right here with you forever." 

The needle slid through the skin with more ease than she expected.  She worked as deftly as she could, pausing when she noticed Alucard feeling the pain keenly.  She hated pulling the flesh together, she knew it caused him some sharp bits of agony, but to his credit he didn't cry out again.  Aurora found herself looking at his face as he weathered the pain and as she tied off the end of it, she surprised herself by bending down to brush her lips over the finished product.

"All better?"

He huffed, frustrated in knowing Aurora was right, him being in agony wasn't going to do her any good if she really did need protection.  Still when he saw her smile he couldn't help but smile back.

Before he downed a good portion of the bottle he softly told her, "You say that, but you know... I would share that pain with you, if it could help you in some way deal with your own pain.  Though, I'd much rather there be a way for me to bear it so you wouldn't have it." 

He let out a heavy sigh, he hated seeing the people he cared about in any sort of pain.  Physical or emotional... now the only person left in the world he gave a damn about was right here with him, stitching him up and there is little he would not do to keep her safe or happy.   He just wished he had some idea how to do the latter.   His eyes watched her work, silently dealing with the pangs of pain that occasionally shot through his arm. 

She's doing pretty damn good for being her first time stitching someone up. A scar I will wear with pride.

Her lips brushed against his recently sewn up wound. "All better?" her voice passed through his ears, the sweet sound of rain on warm summer night.  His eyes looked over her face, and he studied her eyes and lips while his fingertips lightly followed the curves of her face.  His other hand, took the needle from her, setting it down on the desk beside him. Then bent down and picked up his shirt, and he carefully cleaned his blood off her hands before he, placed his palm to hers and entwined their fingers.  Bringing her hand to his lips, he softly kissed each of the fingers that bandaged him up. 

He looked into her eyes, giving her a soft but gentle smile.  "I think I will be, thank you."  he quietly spoke to her, leaning in and placing his lips to her cheek, lingering over her flesh for longer than what was appropriate for a simple thank you.  He felt the heat rise in his cheeks, he wanted to push it off to the alcohol, but he wasn't fully convinced of it. 

Aurora froze letting his lips touch her cheek, feeling the warmth of his breath, knowing distinctly the precipice unto which she'd walked.  In her mind's eye she could see Billy as they glided across the den at Hollowood, she could see her mother's face as she told her she loved her that last time, she could almost smell the salt of her father's tears and hear her brother's voice still burning in her ears as she dragged him away from his innocence forever.

At that moment, she didn't turn towards Alucard seeking sexual gratification, but a balm for her own open wounds for which she saw no real cure.  As their lips crashed into one another, and her body trembled with nervous energy, their lips parted and tongues gliding over, under and around each other.  She gasped for air between the kisses as the pain bloomed in her heart again, but their hands held tight to each other.  Fingers laced together in a desperate attempt to not be swept away by all that had fallen down upon them in recent weeks.

Alucard had lost two families.  So had Aurora in some ways.  Trust was gone.  Philly wasn't home anymore and maybe it never would be again.  With Bella gone, the Byrne family would never be the same.  Whatever hope for the future was left now rest squarely with William and the baby in her womb - but what did that mean for people like she and her father? 

Aurora didn't want to die, but she felt as though she'd been just as dead as Billy for weeks now.  The world carried on and she pushed forward in a stubborn refusal to stop, but that moment Alucard made her laugh, she felt as though she'd emerged from the Delaware River gasping for air that had too long been denied to her.  Living was breath, Alucard was the air, and she wanted to consume him as eagerly as the drowned man she felt so much alike.

She rose up from the place where she'd been working on him and he came up with her.  Their lips came apart and Aurora knew, if she was going to stop it, now was the best time.  A moment when they both could part ways as they had the night she cut his hair - assured of their mutual grief, loneliness and respect for one another... but with their foolish sense of loyalty to the dead still intact.

But it was foolishness, wasn't it?  To feel as though having this, having any joy, was somehow a betrayal?  They'd already told one another the truth: he loved Integra and she loved Billy.  There was no changing that, no undoing the twisted mess of emotions that filled them both to the point of bursting.

Aurora pressed herself to him so tight he might feel the beat of her heart against his chest, and like Billy, she found herself needing to stand on tiptoes to kiss him with any true passion - at least until he bent down to her level.  She noted this in particular as it was different than Billy who brought her up to him.  Alucard came down to meet her.  Her feet still locked on firm ground, her head swimming in the torrent of memories of all the pleasures she could ever remember Billy giving to her.

She tried to keep her eyes open so she could remember it was Alucard she was kissing but it wasn't long before her eyes were closed and Billy was there.  His hands gliding over her body in a strange new way, wanting to think of him she made up stories for why he hesitated to touch her in ways he'd done dozens of times before.

Her Billy.

The light of her eyes.

Her first.

Her only.

She opened her eyes and met her twin Iris looking back at her as if maybe he'd somehow felt it too.  As if maybe he'd also realized it wasn't Integra he was kissing.  It wasn't his blonde Angel in his hands... but a lusty, heart-broken Italian who lacked all the finery and grace of a noble-born woman.  She was a princess of criminals at best, at worst... a monster.

His amber eyes burned with passion, even as his lips slowed and stopped.  Their foreheads pressed against each other, clothes opened but not yet removed.  Nothing had happened.  Not yet, but there was no denial of what was within their grasp. He'd said it that night she'd cut his hair.  She could hear his words over and over until she found herself restating them in a fashion.

"They're gone."  She reassured him in a whisper so that he would know she knew.  So he would not think he was taking advantage.  "But... we can help each other sleep well one night.  Just one."

Her smile was sad but her eyes spoke of hunger and need burning into her very soul.

"Tell me how.  Show me what you need."  

Aurora rarely feared the truth.  A few times on one hand maybe she could count the instances in her life.  Several with Billy, but she wondered now if the truth would hurt more than a lie.  Was he still too raw to admit what this was? She kissed him softly and between kisses, her eyes closed so she did not have to see his reaction to her next words.

"It doesn't have to me, not this time."

Her hand ran over his scars lovingly.

"I promise it's okay."

Eyes still closed she kissed his chest above his heart and spoke against his skin.

"This once... it's okay."  

Her tongue lashed across him, tasting him, yearning for it to be the man she could see behind her closed eyes.  The last two words said in a guttural tone, almost a purr.  Pleading, because if he would take what she offered it meant that she could do the same without shame.  That with eyes shut and his blessing, Billy might be with her in a way, just one more time.  

"Use me."

"Use me." 

The moment she uttered those words time itself froze for Alucard.  If she would have been the one who would be at his side on this brave new journey, the one he'd call his love... oh the things he would have done to her, hearing those words, in that tone, uttered to him in a moment of passion.  The noises that came from their room would have left the entire hotel floor jealous of what was going on in their room.  She wasn't that person though. 

"It doesn't have to me, not this time."

He knew what those words meant, she wanted him to say it was okay for them to see each other as their lost loves.  She wanted permission to use Alucard as a vessel to imagine her Billy.  She wanted him to use her as a vessel for him to make love to... a ghost.  That realization triggered something in him. 

Do I really want to be with a ghost? I can't make love to a ghost, I can't hold a ghost.   I can only feel its presence in my life until I either accept it as part of my life, or I exorcise it from my life.  If I did, would she be heartbroken when we wake up? Because, I'm not Billy.  Would I be doing more harm than good? What about me, what if I don't want to be with a ghost? What if I want to be with a person? with her?

"This once... it's okay." 

Her words swirled around his head, as his fingertips lightly trailed down the curves of her body. He lightly pressed his lips to hers, lingering for a short moment before telling her,  "It's not okay.  Think about what you're asking of me.  I don't know if I could bear the pain in your eyes when you wake up and realize I'm not him."

He wanted to tell her how he can't be a ghost, how he doesn't want to lay with a ghost.  To tell her, show her, things he'd do if... if things were only different. Instead, he took the pencil on the desk and wrote on the pad the phone number to his office. 

"I understand, you know I understand. So please, just take tonight to think about it.."  He kissed her yet again. Unsure on if it was to convince her, or as a means to change his own decision, he wasn't sure. "I... I should go.  That's the number to my office, it's where I'll be." 

He closed his eyes as he turned around, he didn't want to see her reaction to him.  He slowly walked to the door, opened the door, stepped out, then shut the door. He stood there for a few moments before rebuttoning his trousers.  Then, slowly making his way down to this office. People would gawk at the man walking through the halls without a shirt, or maybe they were gawking at how disfigured he appeared. 

If only they knew the body matches the soul...

He sat down at his desk, and it wasn't until he was alone in the quiet of his office.  The only sound was the ticking of the antique wall clock.

Tick. 
Tick.
Tick.

 I was willing to trade the memory of Tegs for a live person. I.. I...

Tick. 
Tick.
Tick.

He took off the ring he wore, he removed the necklace with her wedding ring on it.  Quietly, he went to the personal vault he had in his office, and quietly placed the rings beneath the paperwork that identified him as an official British lord.  He closed the safe door.  The loud, sharp clicking of the door shutting felt to him like he put the final nail her coffin.   He collapsed to the floor, beneath the vault, and wept.

I let her go.  

Aurora stared at the door unable to move.  The number held tight in her grip, but never once looked at, as she waited for him to come back.  He would.  Wouldn't he?  He felt like she did.  He was the only one in the world who knew... who could understand her and now?  

The minutes slipped by and Alucard did not return and with each passing moment, her shame deepened.  The depth of her failure to bond with another person seemed to grow and the rift between her and the only other human on the planet she felt she could share any of this with widened until once again, Aurora felt utterly alone.

The paper slipped from her hand and fluttered to the floor at her feet.  

She'd been wrong and she'd failed so badly that she was sure there was no coming back from it.  Think about it?  Think about what?  That she'd wanted to be kissed, needed to be held, to forget the pain for just a few hours and she'd chosen him in all the world to do that with because he alone knew what she was capable of giving.  She dared not share herself with someone who might want more, need more, or with a stranger.  She couldn't, but Alucard was like her.  He understood her.  Didn't he?

She turned her head and looked in the mirror on the wall.  She stared at her amber eyes and realized then her father and brother weren't the only ones who looked like they'd been through hell.  Dark circles under her unusal eyes told the tale of her lack of sleep - of the nightmares, the imagined ways that Bella had died alone, the memory of Will begging her to go back, wanting to do what he asked, and then not doing it.  Worst of all, of the hate her father might feel towards her for selfishly urging him to come with them when she would have given anything to have been with Billy in his final moments.

The rage within her built, at herself, at the stupid way she'd run Alucard off, at how she'd failed Will, her father, her Uncle William, Aunt Tara, but mostly her mom.  She'd been cold to the woman in recent years.  Hurtful.  Cruel at times.  Bella had loved her all her life and how had she repaid her for almost giving up the ability to bear children for her, for taking her in and giving her a loving home?  

Memories, good and terrible, flashed through Aurora's mind.  Her heart racing she found herself wanting to punch the mirror, but refrained.  Instead, she stood up from the seat and knew she had to get away from this room, this place where the stink of her shame all but choked her.  Grabbing up her things, putting on her shoes and righting her clothing, she left the hotel room.

"Ms. DiCaprio?"  Maggie said as Aurora stormed up to the desk.  Aurora had used the founder of the Ivory Tower's name as her alias.  No one knew that name anymore, so what did it matter if she called herself by it.  Sonny would have been amused that she'd used his mother's name as an alias when on jobs and trying to lay low... if he hadn't died like everyone else she ever fucking cared about.

"I'm checking out."  She said putting the key down and grabbing the small pad of paper with the hotel's logo on the top from behind the counter.  Quickly she jotted down a note.

"See that Alucard gets this."  She passed the note to the bitchy old woman.
 

Wildcard,

My track record with keeping friends hasn't been so good.  For what it's worth, I'm sorry for fucking up so profoundly. 

I need to go clear my head, but I'll be back at some point tomorrow.  Then, if you would, I'd like you to take me to her.  I need to make all the final arrangements.  No one is left but me to do it now, and I can't put this off.  

I really hope you do understand like you say you do because maybe, if you do, we can still be friends? 

~A

The old woman took the key and the note and nodded.  Aurora didn't wait for any questions or follow up, instead she speed-walked out into the dark streets of the Motor City and hailed the first cab she saw.

One by one Aurora visited places she knew Billy had owned, that Billy used to go to, as if searching for some ghost of him and time and again she found owners and managers who claimed that their businesses had been given, via a will, into the care of others.  And what had begun as a quest to capture some memory of him soon became a mystery she felt compelled to solve.

Minutes passed by like seconds as he sat on the floor, coming to terms with the realization that he had put Integra behind him. He had no idea that realization would hit him as hard as the moment he realized she was never going to walk back through that front door again.  

Breathe Alucard.  You need to breathe.

He stood up, walked over to where he kept an extra change of clothes and put on the extra shirt.   He took a deep breath as he decided he needed to get back to Aurora, she'd been through so much that he didn't want her feeling alone or that he'd abandoned her.  As he exhaled he realized that maybe, just maybe, he would be fine again. 

Maybe, if I decide to stay in one place, I'll get a dog.   At least then I won't have to be alone.

As he passed the front desk, the older desk clerk called out to him.  "Alucard!  Miss DiCaprio left this note for you!"

Confusion passed over Alucard's face, he didn't know any DiCaprio.  He just hoped it wasn't some patron trying to leave him their number or something.  He read the note and his heart dropped. 

"How long ago did she give you this? How long ago did she leave?"

Maggie shrugged, "Hour or two maybe?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU BRING THIS TO ME IMMEDIATELY?!"  Alucard nearly screamed at the woman.

She just rolled her eyes, then went back to filing her nails.

He gritted his teeth, and his eyes glowed with the anger of the deepest pits of hell.  "This isn't over woman. You will pay for this."  There wasn't emotionally driven anger to his voice, just ice cold certainty.

He didn't wait for the clerk to reply to him, he just walked out the door then hopped on his bike, turned the key and felt the engine come to life beneath him.  He wondered for a while, where Aurora would have gone.   

Up in the room, she wanted Billy.  It would make sense she would go someplace that was his.  The HQ, his apartment maybe?  Start there, then his businesses. Start with what seems the most significant to her, then go backward. What if she isn't there Alucard?  What do we do?   I don't know... but it's a worry for another time.  Right now, we just stick to the plan.

As he made the ride to Billy's old apartment, he was beating himself up.  Not even the freedom he usually felt on his bike helped break him of the horrible guilt and anger he felt at himself for leaving.

You're a fucking idiot Alucard.  What kind of asshole leaves a woman who was opening up, and showing herself as vulnerable as she was?  I didn't want her to be in pain later, I was trying to prevent her from being hurt.   You fucking moron, she wanted you to be the man she loved, a man who is dead... where you really so stupid to leave her when she's in THAT state of mind.   Apparently, I am.  How many times can I tell her I'm sorry before she stops believing it?

Alucard got off the bike, and make the slow walk up to the apartment building.  The night air left a chill on his cheeks and neck, something he found matched the fear in his heart.  The fear of finding her,  or worse, the fear of not finding her here. 

Aurora sat down at the table numbly and looked at the letters in disbelief.  The whimpers of the slowly dying man on the floor beside her did not distract her from what she held tight in her grip - letters, or rather transcriptions of them.  They were supposed to be private messages, letters from her beloved to the people he loved most in all the world: her family.

Tovias M. Liss Esquire, Billy's lawyer, was a smart man.  He knew the value of anything a Mafia Don would leave behind to someone and so, he did the prudent thing and had his secretary transcribe copies for his own personal vault.  Who knew when a crime boss' words from beyond the grave might be of value to you?  Unfortunately for Mr. Liss, he didn't have the ties necessary to have made good use of the notes.  Instead, upon learning that Liss had broken Billy's trust so utterly, Aurora had opened his windpipe and left him to drown in his own blood... but not before getting him to open the safe and give her what she wanted most of all: Billy's words to her family.

Of course, the objects that went along with those words were still at Hollowpoint, a fact revealed by Mr. Liss.  They'd been signed for by her mother, her signature on the papers proved she got the box of items.  However, she had never mentioned it.  Aurora could only presume that was because her mother thought it in her best interest to not see something here... but what?

Aurora began to read through the notes.

Mom

If you are reading this the worst has happened and I am gone before you. No mother should have to bury her son, but lucky for you, you never gave birth to me, so you may say goodbye as a friend. I am leaving you with your set of keys that you gave me to watch over your things in Detroit. I made a single addition to that sizable trove. I left my father's broken watch on the kitchen counter next to the sink. I thought you should have it just in case.

I also would like you to do me a favor and take everything from Aurora's box as well if it so happens that she went with me. Just know that I was always proud to call you mom, even though I never got to call Hollowood home.

Yours always,

Billy 

Gavin

First let me say, if I'm gone then the only reason is I did what I promise you that night. I hope you can do me the favor of drinking the bottle I have enclosed here for you in our memory and mutual respect. I learned more from you than I did anyone in my life, and I have no way to say thank you. I have also left you my father's journal, which i know you read already, but I am hoping that one day, if Aurora ever asks you about me, you can give it to her and explain who I was. In the velvet box you will find many sets of keys. One of them is attached to a large G, those are yours, they belong to your new cigar factory in Detroit, provided nobody has ransacked the place yet.

Enjoy them,

Billy

Will

Hey kid. Sorry I didn't get to finish up that to-do list with you. I know if you ask your dad e'll be happy to help you out, but I also know that you're gonna need to get there somehow. Don't tell you parents I left you the car. The good one, I took your sister out in on our first date. It's sitting in a garage in West Point New York, I'm sure you can manage to find it.

Happy Hunting,

Billy

Depth of My Soul

If you are managing to read this, that means I left you and for that I am more sorry than for anything. I pray to all the gods that you don't believe in that it wasn't because of a fight my dumb ass caused because I could never let you feel like any of it was your fault. None of this was, or ever will be, your fault. We both picked this for us, and I did my best. I'm sorry my best wasn't good enough. I will still always love you.

I am leaving you everything. Well, everything except the money. I donated all of the cash, or people stole it if they could. But the orphanage, the keys are there. The train, the warehouse, the shipyard, the florist, the candy factory, it's all yours. Everything except the cigars, I gave that to your dad. I'm also leaving you the first gift you gave to me, my journal. I am sorry I didn't write much in it. I was too busy trying to live my life with you than remember it. It was worth it.

I will always love your Roar, and I hope, in time, you can let yourself forget me, and use this stuff to do good things. Don't let the boys hurt Brigitte.

Love always,

Billy 

By the time she finished reading, the lawyer had given up his fight for air and had gone silent.  She stared at the words on the paper, imagine how much more impactful seeing it in Billy's own hand it would have been.  They were his words though.  She could tell.  She could hear him speaking them to her and it ripped her heart out.

... let yourself forget me ...

She folded up the notes and rose from the seat smoothly, stepping over the body without hesitation or looking back.  After all, a lioness pause to say grace when she takes down her mark.

Weariness began to claim her mind and so she knew it was time to find a place to think on Billy's words and lay her head to rest.  In her mind, he knew there was only one place she would sleep well tonight.  So it was that she got out of the cab and paid the driver for taking her to Billy's apartment.

Turning to the empty parking lot she found only one vehicle... Alucard's bike.  Aurora sighed.  He'd gotten her note obviously and had correctly assumed she'd come back to a place that she had so many happy memories.  She thought about leaving, she was nervous about seeing his face right now but... no.  It was only right she face the music sooner rather than later.  If they ripped off the bandaid now about how horrible a person she'd been, maybe their friendship could be salvaged.

Up the stairs she went, trying not to think about walking up the stairs with Billy not many weeks ago - or down them after making love to him that first time.  She knocked on the door before turning the knob and calling out, "It's me.  Don't shoot.  Or do... I probably deserve it."  She chuckled, but she almost meant it.

"Aurora!"  Alucard gasped out.  "I'm glad I found you." 

He let out a long sigh of relief, setting his gun down on the closest surface to him.  He walked up to Aurora and wrapped in his arms.   He whispered to her, "I could never shoot you."

"Anyway," he said as he let her go and smiled at her "You're the one who's meant to shoot me.  Remember?"

He said it as a joke, but he did feel like he deserved it.  Or at least her punching him in his stitches.  He was having a difficult time forgiving himself for being so blind and stupid.

He took a deep breath and sighed heavily. He looked her in her eyes and like their eyes mirroring one another, so did his eyes mirror the pain in his voice. "Aurora.  I am so incredibly sorry.  How many more times am I going to have to tell you this? How many more times can I fuck up before you start thinking that maybe I'm not actually sorry for my actions?" 

Aurora stiffened in Alucard's arms, uncertain of how to react to his embrace after all that had occurred tonight.  When it ended she glanced down to the floor, "Well... it wasn't you who suggested I use you..."

She looked back up to meet his eyes and produced the papers from her jacket, but did not pass them into his hands.  "Turns out Billy had a last will and testament, his lawyers had brought it to my mother.  Which means," She drew a deep breath and exhaled as she said, "I need to go home at least one more time.  I need to get some things from there - namely the business deeds and items he left for us.  They'll be the only parts of Billy I have to give his child.  Also, there are some personal items I don't want to be without."

She shook her head and stifled a yawn.  

"I'd suggest leaving tonight for Philly tonight, but I do need to sleep.  I suspect we'll need our wits about us when going back.  Who knows what we might find waiting for us there." 

She glanced to the back bedroom.  "If you want to stay here with me, you can sleep in the guest room?  I guess it was Teg's old room.  Anyway I was just going to sleep in Billy's bed."

She put the notes from the will away.

"If you'd rather go back to the hotel, I understand, but after everything that happened earlier I'd rather not stay there."

She averted her eyes from his.

"I'm glad you've chosen to forgive me for it, but my words and actions earlier... it's not one of my proudest moments."

Closing his eyes, he inhaled slowly letting the cool air sit in his lungs for a few moments before he exhaled. He put his fingers to her chin, gently turning her eyes back to his.  His voice was a mixture of firm, but gentle and understanding.

"Aurora.  I don't want you to simply listen to me, I want you to hear me. Really hear me.   We did nothing wrong.  YOU," He made sure to put particular emphasis on the word you. "did nothing wrong. It is not your fault that I am a bellend who can't see what is right in front of him. It is not your fault that I was too caught up in my own revelations on how I feel, that I was blind to you showing yourself at your most vulnerable, your most raw.  Instead of being a good, understanding friend... I quite literally shut the door on you.  That is nothing on you need to feel shame or ask forgiveness for, it is my response that should garner shame and ask forgiveness. So,  I hope, you will able to forgive me."

A weak smile passed over his lips.

"Now that I've rambled long enough about how much of a fool I am.  Go on, get some rest. Sleep as well as you are able.  I am going, only for a moment to get food. I don't really remember the last time I've eaten. But I will be back, I promise.  In the morning, we eat and take off to Philadelphia." 

Alucard stuck around a while, his need to make sure Aurora was okay was stronger than the hunger that was fiercely growing inside him. 

"Maybe we both could have done better?"  Aurora shrugged.  "I just know that I didn't listen to some good advice I got about mourning.  I'm glad it didn't cost me your friendship."

She ran a hand up into her hair and pushed it over her shoulder.  

"When you get back, I'll be asleep.  So... I'll see you in the morning.  So, good night, Wildcard."  She smirked, amused to be calling her friend by the nickname her father had chosen for him.

Turning from him she reached out and turned the handle on the door to Billy's bedroom and stepped inside.  Everything was just where it should be.  Billy was far neater than she was, everything he owned seemed to have its place.  She wandered over to his dresser and looked through piles of blue shirts and chuckled.  She opened his underwear drawer and laughed... who folded their underwear anyway?  

Finding his cologne she sprayed it into the air and inhaled it.  Almost immediately she felt closer to him and she smiled.  One piece at a time she pulled off her clothes and put on one of Billy's t-shirts to sleep in.  Taking down her hair and putting her guns on the table on the nightstand at her side of the bed, she slid down under the heavy blanket and between the sheets.

Pulling Billy's pillow tight to her, she settled in to think about her beloved and wait for the sandman to carry her off to whatever lay beyond the waking world.

---

Charlie watched one of the targets ride off on a new looking motorcycle.  They didn't appear to have taken anything with them and from this distance and in the dark, he couldn't recognize the individual.  Now, however, there was just one person in the apartment and one on one he would bet on himself any day of the week - especially with surprise on his side.

Gun out, Charlie slipped silently through the door, he swept each room until he was certain the target had to be in Billy's bedroom.  Nothing seemed to have been disrupted but in the bedroom was his safe.  That was the only possible reason someone would come here now.  Holding his breath he reached for the handle and turned the knob.  

The room was silent, empty, were it not for the unmade bed he might have thought he'd made a mistake.  No, the target was here, somewhere. He got one step in before the pain in the back of his head exploded sending him to the ground in a heap - his gun skittering away.  The metallic taste of fear rose in the back of his throat as his vision swam.  

"Don't move."  Aurora snarled.

In utter shock and confusion, Charlie held up his hands in submission asking meekly, "Miss Byrne?  Is that you?"

Aurora lowered her gun.  "Charlie?"

The guard nodded and turned back to look at her, catching sight of her illuminated in the light of a full moon.  He could see the outline of her dancer's physique through the cotton t-shirt and her lower half, bare as the day she was born, caused him to startle and look away abruptly.  A knee-jerk reaction to seeing his boss' woman in a state of undress, a part of him still rightly feared Billy Mastrosimone's possessive streak and what the man would do to any other man who had accidentally or purposefully indulged in admiring what belonged to him.

"I'm staying downstairs, I heard voices up here... I saw the other guy leave, is he a friend of yours?  Are you okay... and can you put on some pants on, PLEASE?!?"

"I'm sorry."  Aurora said flipping on a light and walking over to put her pants on.  Only once Charlie stopped hearing her clothing rustle did he turn back to look at her.

"I thought maybe... after what they say happened to your mother and her crew..."  Charlie could clearly see a change in her expression as he added, "I'm so sorry for your loss, Miss Byrne."

Aurora nodded.  "What are you doing here, Charlie?  Billy's dead.  You don't have a job anymore and... how the fuck did you even survive what they did to Billy's crew?"

"Your mother didn't tell you?  I assumed it was her."

"Tell me what?"

"I was kidnapped.  Hours before the strike on city.  I and Oscar spent a couple of days locked in the basement by a few goons.  Pros.  Figured we were dead men.  A week later they dropped us off in the countryside and told us which way Detroit was."

"No, my mother wou-"  Aurora paused.  Her mother had killed Louis.  She would have told anyone that her mother never would have done that prior to a week ago.  Her mother had done a lot, at the end, that left Aurora realizing that she'd not truly known what her mother would (or wouldn't do) for her family when push came to shove and in her mind Billy had always been... family.

Aurora swallowed and nodded.  "Yeah... okay.  I see.  But why are you here?  Billy's not coming home Charlie, you know this, Billy's dead."

Charlie pulled himself up to his feet.  "Boss had some business that wasn't done yet, so Oscar and I figured we'd see it through.  It felt like the right thing to do.  That and this is where I live so... I came home."

"Business?"  Aurora asked.

"Oscar has those orphan kids..."

"But you... you're his body guy.  That ends when there isn't a body to guard anymore, right?"  

Charlie smiled at her and reached a hand up to check the wound on the back of his head from Aurora's vicious pistol whipping. "Well, whether I have a body to guard or not was up in the air... until about five minutes ago."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Hire me."  He said flatly. 

"You want to be my bodyguard?"

"We both know what he would have wanted me to do."

"Why do you care?"  Aurora asked, a hint of pain in her tone.

"Because, in life, he gave a damn about me and I owe him."

Aurora considered his words and nodded.  Outside she could hear Alucard's bike pulling up.  "Go back to your apartment and pack a bag.  I'm traveling with Alucard to Philly first thing in the AM.  I need to get some things from my home and bury my mother."

Charlie nodded.  "I'll be ready."

"We could die."  She admitted.

"Then it's best I get a good night's sleep."  Charlie smiled.  "See you in a few hours, Boss."