Tidal

They’d shared a room on the boat for a week, would it honestly have been that different if him and Cassie had shared a bed here too? Lawrence and Kit would’ve been in with the two of them and Tobi could’ve played chaperone. He’d probably have been the most lenient out of them, disappearing off out for the night to give them some privacy. There was no way Magnus would do the same, even with Hector being the voice of reason. The nights on the boat had been as much as they were gonna get on the trip – probably as much as he’d get for another decade. Magnus was just trying to protect him from the same heartbreak he’d suffered through, but he didn’t have to, Cassie wasn’t like that. She was … incredible.

Had things ever been entirely right with Lawrence since that he’d given him shit about upsetting Cassie that first time? In his lucid moments down in the basement, Linc had wondered about that. Swallowing back his guilt for killing the woman he’d felt shitty over what he’d said to Lawrence too. Accusing him of being nothing more than Hannya’s glove puppet, flipping off his emotions cause he couldn’t handle the shit he’d done. The same sort of mean, petty shit he’d thrown at Magnus, instinctively knowing where to jab at them. Making up for it was a thousand times harder than landing those blows in the first place.

What had felt like all those months in the stone with Hector and he hadn’t come up with a way to apologise. The words stuck like sand in his throat as he looked over his shoulder at Lawrence. He pushed past it, swallowing back that gritty feeling. They could be civil, or, well, what passed for it, even if they didn’t clear the air between the two of them, right? Linc let out a little huff of laughter, lifting his chin towards the blender where there was now an inch of vodka in the bottom. ”Vodka and curaçao. I think even the kids’ drinks here have got a splash of rum in them.” And he wasn’t gonna be sitting here sipping on an orange juice. He might not’ve been near the big 100, but he wasn’t the baby the others made him out to be.

”Unless you’re Hector. You honestly think he looks like that after just five minutes primpin’?” Remzi maybe. He wasn’t exactly the manscaped sort, but women didn’t seem bothered by that. If he hadn’t been with Lawrence, then there was a chance he’d already headed out to get dinner all by himself. At least that meant he didn’t have any witnesses for this – him crawling. Lawrence’s were back on now, but it didn’t mean he was gonna accept them. He’d been a dick on occasion before Hannya had forced him to flip the switch.

Linc dragged his teeth over his lower lip, trying to formulate the apology in his head as the blue sludge slumped out of the blender and into the glasses. I’m sorry was best. He could detail just how big a dick he’d been after he’d got that out. As Lawrence sighed, his brow furrowed, but he still hadn’t expected those words out of his mouth first. Twisting slightly, Linc looked at Lawrence, not the bartender who was setting down the cup. ”You jokin’?” he asked. Snorting out a breath through his nose, Linc shook his head. ”I’m sorry too. You weren’t the only asshole. The virus didn’t exactly turn me into the best version of myself.” Just like Lawrence had practically been a slave to Hannya, he’d been one to the virus. It had stripped away self-control, leaving the worst parts of him exposed. ”I didn’t mean what I said in that alley.”

Unburdening himself to Hector in the stone had been like walking into a confessional. Hector listened to all the shit that was weighing on him, absolving him of a lot of the guilt he’d been carrying around with him. ”Does it get any easier?” he asked after a second, his frown cutting back in as he reached for his cup. ”Dealin’ with what you did after?” For Hector it seemed to, but he’d had seven hundred years to get used to it. Lawrence was closer to his age, far closer to having been human – at least before him and Hector had flipped that way when they’d gone into the stone.

Tagged: LAWRENCE MURPHY * Word Count: 743

Spending what felt like months trapped in a magical stone with a man who had just been intimidating up until then had felt like it was gonna be a nightmare. Maybe Magnus had told Hector enough of his past that he’d have been understanding if he’d had a full on melt down, maybe he knew just how bad it would be and so Hector had dialled back the scary to the point where it’d been a relief to have him there. The fear had still been there, as it always seemed to be. Lurking in its cold little pool deep down in his chest, just waiting to start bubbling up into his throat until it felt like he couldn’t breathe. It still did from time to time, choking off his air, leaving him mentally flailing for anything to hold on to. Magnus’ wise words, Hector’s slick advice, the sweet things Cassie said to him. Lawrence’s reassurances, the ones he’d thrown back in his face along with denials that had just been bullshit.

How long ago had Lawrence found himself in a situation like this? An apology burning a hole in his throat and still unable to spit it out. He’d said he’d made mistakes before, the fact that he was still here probably meant he’d made them to Hector and Magnus at least. Those had been easier. Apologies to his dad and Cassie washing out of him on a wave of regret. Linc eyed the blender and its bright blue tornado whirring around inside. Maybe he could just get Lawrence a couple of drinks and call it a job done – if it had been Remzi that probably would have been enough.

”I don’t think you’ll have a problem with that,” Linc snorted. The resort seemed to have a pool around every corner, every one of them equipped with a bar. All the better to get yourself blind drunk and burn up in the sun, even if you didn’t have to worry about wearing a lapis lazuli ring to avoid it. There was probably enough alcohol on the island for them all to remain drunk for a week straight, Magnus and Hector included.

After all that time in the stone, Hector was probably looking forward to letting his hair down again. Sun, ships and a shed load of alcohol. It was a world away from where they’d been and from the Hector he’d seen in there. Linc made a low sound of disagreement, his grin appearing for a second like the sun peeking out from beind a cloud. ”Silk pyjamas maybe. He wouldn’t wanna wrinkle the suit.” In the stone it had been far more relaxed, expensive wardrobes and designer suits nowhere in sight. By the end of the trip the rest of them would probably be sporting loud shirts or t-shirts with ’one happy island’ written all over them, but not Hector.

In the stone he’d played his conversation with Lawrence over and over in his head. Lawrence had been trying to help him in a way and he’d thrown it back at him, taking digs at him over the emotions he’d sacrificed to save his sister. Linc shot Lawrence a look, gripping onto his glass tight. ”It’s not. You might’ve deserved some of it, but you were tryin’ to help me out and I threw it all back in your face. I’ve done that to too many people.” And not just when the virus was burning its way through his brain. He couldn’t blame it for all the shit he’d thrown at Magnus after he’d first brought him here. Or the things he’d said the first time he’d slipped.

Linc clung to the cocktail like a lifeline at sea, fingers clamped on it as he took a sip to try and wash away the taste of guilt. Lawrence had been through this before, possibly dozens of times, but he didn’t seem to carry that same sort of weight around with him, or at least didn’t show it. He glanced up as he saw Lawrence look at him. ”You’re tellin’ me it takes eighty years to get past it?” he asked, his voice strained. ”You’ve got people at least, yeah? Like I’ve got Cassie and my dad?” Surviving seemed like a stark way of putting it, just managing to handle it, not getting over it. Brows drawing together again, Linc stared down into the blue slush. He wouldn’t have killed her if he hadn’t been infected with the virus, but in that moment, all he’d wanted to do was kill the woman. ”It wasn’t the first time I’d done somethin’ like that,” he admitted tightly. ”I can’t blame the first time on the virus.” He’d promised Magnus then that he’d do better, but the virus had just turned that into a lie.

Taking a deep gulp, Linc pushed the mental image of another alley and another dead body from his mind. It didn’t vanish until Lawrence spoke again though, mentioning Magnus. As he always did, Magnus had somehow found the right words to ease the burden on Lawrence. His lips twitched faintly, his shoulders relaxing from their tense line. ”That sounds like somethin’ he’d say. He’s never tried to bullshit me about how it is. Even after all these years he doesn’t act like it’s easy, or like he was always a saint.” In London Magnus had admitted to some of the worst things he’d ever done, but despite it all, he was still trying to do some good now, including taking care of a son that wasn’t his, not biologically.

”Is that what he threatened to do when you were turned?” Linc asked after a moment, looking fully at Lawrence for the first time in the conversation. ”Some part of me thought my dad might, if I pushed him far enough. Maybe I thought I deserved it after everythin’ I did and said.” It had felt unforgivable, but Magnus and Cassie had forgiven him anyway, both of them better people than he’d ever expected to have in his life.

Tagged: LAWRENCE MURPHY * Word Count: 1010 (soz)

”It’s definitely a relief seeing him back to normal,” Linc agreed. The others probably would’ve thought it had been Hell being trapped in a stone with Hector, especially so soon after he’d plunged his hand into his chest, ready to kill him. If he hadn’t suffered through the virus himself, Linc supposed it would’ve felt a lot worse in there, PTSD definitely keeping him well away from the house and the reassurance of having someone with him. He never would’ve called Hector it to his face, but he’d turned out to be the uncle he’d never expected to have. Full of the sort of ‘modern wisdom’ that wasn’t exactly Magnus’ sort of thing (although he imagined his dad would say some things never went out of style).

The two of them had kept each other sane in there. Making the most of suddenly human lives. Hector probably wished he hadn’t butchered Italian or the piano so much – especially the latter with his ham fisted attempts – but they’d got on well enough, sharing things neither one of them probably would’ve said to each other outside of their little prison. Without saying it out loud really it had ended up ‘what happened in the stone, stayed in the stone’.

Linc guessed it should’ve been what happened in the alley stayed there too, but both him and Lawrence had brought that out with them. The guilt over what had happened sticking to both of them like the stink of the dumpsters. Dragging his teeth over his lower lip, Linc shook his head. ”You could have been Shakespeare with it and I still wouldn’t have heard what I needed to. The virus screws with your head, makes you deaf to things.” Like sense. There’d still been enough of him to feel guilty then, desperate to bring back the woman he killed, but it had just been a lucid moment before the virus had got a grip on him again and he’d thrown himself at Lawrence.

His brows rose as Lawrence frowned and questioned how long it’d been like a grandad who’d only just realised he was old. ”Since the 40s? Yeah. Doesn’t seem that long?” With his humanity off back then, it probably hadn’t felt that way to Lawrence. Why count off the days since you’d last truly fucked up if you honestly didn’t care about it? Linc set his glass down again and nodded. ”Family helps. I know I wouldn’t still be here without my dad and Cassie.” And Hector. Jo too, he guessed. His family had started to grow from just the man who’d dragged him out of the Hell he’d lived in for years. ”It’s not so fucked up,” he assured Lawrence. They might piss each other off and bicker like they were really related, but Linc knew if trouble came knocking at the club, they’d end up standing shoulder to shoulder.

”In a way, I guess,” Linc said quietly. It hadn’t been his first feeding, he couldn’t use that as an excuse. It had been a broken heart instead, the pain of Cassie calling him a monster making him just what she’d accused him of. His brows drew together, his thumb drawing a line through the condensation on his cup. ”I didn’t try to control myself the first time. It wasn’t like it was with you and your dad’s friend. Magnus … he found me at a club in London and turned me to save me. The guy I fed from worked there … he deserved it.” That was the difference between his first and second kills. The people he’d drained in Mystic Falls hadn’t deserved it. They’d just had the shitty luck to cross his path before Magnus had turned up there and rescued him again.

His dad had picked him up and dusted him off again, his quiet guidance slowly getting him far enough back on the right path that he didn’t think he’d be able to react the same way if the same thing happened with Cassie again now. Linc sipped at the cocktail, the sweet flavour slipping down his throat. As a human he’d have spent the majority of this trip hungover but everything had changed on the day Magnus had found him at the club. The same had been true for Lawrence the day he’d been turned. ”He wouldn’t. That’s shitty that yours did. Parents are meant to support their kids, especially when they get into trouble.” Only his real parents hadn’t. It’d been all about them until the end. ”Did you ever forgive them for it?” he asked quietly. At first he hadn’t really forgiven Magnus for turning him, not seeing it as him really saving his life until he’d started to understand Magnus himself. Now he couldn’t have been more grateful for all he had because of that split second decision.

Tagged: LAWRENCE MURPHY * Word Count: 808