The Cost of Obsession

Alexander catches Nore in the act of covering the red puffiness that wouldn't quite go away after even an hour after hanging up on Matthew. She doesn't think of him as a gentle man, and she knows he knows why, so she's caught by surprise when he he brushes his fingers lightly over her cheek. It makes her think of the things the old Vor, Grigori had told her, and she feels almost guilty letting herself take comfort in the touch. Would it be so wrong if he cared too much for her? Maybe he was actually capable of love, and maybe it would help her too. The fantasy lasts all of a moment before she kills it with bloody visions of the reality.

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Momentum [Fic]

Elenore watches dangerous men argue in a language she doesn't understand in little more than a sheet with a certain amount of remove. The calm on her face becomes a wall between them, like she isn't the one who took out the man they're accusing Alexander of killing. Grigori may have accused her of being an assassin, but to the other Vor she was simply the American fiancee and a chemist, too well loved, maybe, but not a potential threat to anyone. Not a murderer, and certainly not covered in blood. Arguing becomes concerned conversation that moves over her in vague waves she only pays enough attention to to get a sense of things. She only really pays attentions when Alec tells her to get dress, they're going back to Grigori's home to meet with the other Vor.

She gets dressed again with a certain degree of mechanical action, choosing for simple comfort and convenience over something to impress the other people in the room. There's no need now that she would be removed from this particular picture, and Elenore finds it difficult to sustain the energy that had carried through to this point. After all, she'd already managed to retain her resolve from a round of keeping her head clear of her heart. Going through it again with a stable comfort so near to the first time, leaves her wrapping her emotional core up in layers of apparent cold and distance.

By the time they arrive, she's already thousands of miles away, trying to plan other matters. Her expression is flat when Alexander kisses her briefly before going off to talk with the others about what happened. Who put a hit out or why they'd do it. More dominoes falling along the way to propelling Alec into greater circles of power. She's left to sit in the room with other wives and girlfriends consolidated into groups for a kind of protection and blackmail all wrapped up together. Playing with her phone lets her know the rat is back in their luggage, waiting for the appropriate time. She's comforted by that when Grigori stands at the door and calls her to come to the meeting.

For the second time, she walks down the hall alone with the man. He's excited, she can feel it this time, but his face is a match for hers. A person is dead, power structures are changing, and they don't talk about it. She simply hands him her ring at the end of the hall with the knowledge he'll give it back to Alexander in a display of power before handing him the next title. Outside another limo waits with her bags and a plane ticket that will take her back to the states. She walks out and lets momentum carry her the rest of the way through.