Chapter Text
Mary came awake slowly, and then all at once as she registered voices. They both bore rough, London accents.They were accents Mary had hardly ever heard, and on top of that, the woman’s was shrill enough to instantly wake her. Though, it could have been, and likely was, more because of what she was saying, and less how she was saying it.
“There's a baby!”
“Leave the damn baby, woman! It's the jewels we're after!”
“Dario Brando, how horrible!” The woman gasped, a sentiment Mary couldn’t help but to agree with even before she registered it was her baby they were talking about.
“I ain't caring for no damn infant! The thing’s parents are dead, just leave it to join ‘em! Now help me get everything off this rich bloke!”
Righteous fury flooded Mary the moment she was conscious enough to realize he meant to leave her son to die, and it was only Jonathan crying in her arms that stopped her from darting over and tearing them both to pieces. Though, with the way the man was going on about stealing her husband's teeth even, had they come anywhere near her she would have done so anyway. Luckily for them, however, they didn't try to approach where she laid. Or, truly, the woman convinced her companion not to as he made his way towards where Mary laid.
“Now, time for the lady’s jewels!”
“Dario, no! The baby!”
“What about it? It's gonna die anyway, didn’ ya hear me?!”
“But I don't want to disturb it even more. Please? We got a lot already.” The woman’s voice pleaded.
He huffed and made a disgusted noise. “Fine, fine. But not cus of you! Just don't want the damn thing making even more of a racket!”
“Okay!”
Mary grit her teeth and then gently and as subtly as she could, rocked Jonathan to try and soothe him. The audacity of that bastard! He deserved for her to tear him apart like a roast. Deserved to have her spill his blood like a fine wine! She had become a monster, and he was a worse evil than she could ever grow to be. Greedy, selfish and vile.
He, thank heaven, was also leaving. Likely with every valuable looking thing he could find. She just really, really hoped that it didn't include the stone mask. The last thing the world needed was something like that in the hands of someone like him. He was already enough of a monster, he didn’t need to become a vampire on top of it.
Mary would worry about that later, though. As soon as their voices faded in the distance, she sat up and gathered Jonathan close against her, rocking him more firmly.
“It's alright, my star. It's alright.” She whispered, pressing him as close to her as she possibly could in order to focus on his warmth and his fast heartbeat. A soothing comfort, and to her horror truly the only heartbeat she could hear.
Not even a few hours ago, she had been terrified of the fact that she could hear George’s heartbeat. Now, with it permanently silenced, she wished desperately to hear it again. She had never, and would never, love him the way a wife should. But he was her friend. And now he was gone .
A broken sob burst its way from her chest and she leaned down to press her face gently into Jonathan’s blue hair. “I'm sorry my sweet boy, your father is gone. It's just us now. He should be here, you should be able to know him. But he’s not, and I’m so sorry. I promise, though, I will never leave you. Not for anything. We’ll be okay. We will.”
She had no idea how long she sat in debris and blood, crying with her infant son pressed to her chest. Long enough for his cries to subsided as he fell asleep against her. Long enough for her tears to dry and her body to shop shaking. Long enough that she knew, were she still human, her legs would have fallen asleep and she would have been shivering.
Mary realized then that for the first time ever, she was actually lucky that something she hadn't asked for had been thrust onto her. Had she still been human, she would no doubt have died alongside her husband. And her son with them. That vile man would have been right, and proving a bastard like that wrong was more than enough reason to be thankful for being undead. Although, the greatest reason was, and would always be, Jonathan.
Jonathan, her darling star who was not in mortal peril but who still shouldn't be in this rain for much longer, no matter how well she wrapped him up and guarded him with her own body. A realization that had the remainder of her sobs subsiding so she could properly secure him, bundled, covered and protected against her chest. Only once he was as safe as he could be did she push herself to her feet to take in the wreckage around them.
Everything was destroyed. The carriage, the new furniture pieces they had bought, their luggage. Everything. And strewn throughout it all was blood and death. The driver, the nanny, George . Just as she knew it would be, yet the visual confirmation had both hunger and pain striking her. Had she not devoured that man at the market, she no doubt would have been unable to stop herself from sinking into the first. She would have been lost to the hunger and dove at the body of her husband like he was no more than a glass of cool water on a hot summer day. For the first and only time ever, Mary was glad that pain and turmoil won the war over her heart.
“Oh, George.” She whispered softly, brushing his wet hair away from closed eyes that were exactly like their sons. A comparison that had her all too glad they were shut and not staring at her lifelessly. “I am so sorry. You deserved to live, to see our son grow.”
She dropped her hand down to his, glaring when she felt the bare skin where his ring should have been. That vile man truly had stripped everything of value off of him, leaving him down to his undershirt . Fury tried to bubble its way up her throat again and she had to shove it back into a small, rumbling box in her chest. Now was not the time.
With wet eyes, she bent forward and pressed her lips to his cold forehead. “Rest well, George. I hope whatever you get to see from Heaven will not disgust you too much. Just, know that I love our son more than life itself. And that I will never, ever let any harm come to him.”
She pushed herself to her feet once again and turned away from his body in search of the mask and the parasole she had purchased that afternoon. Thankfully, she found both, and found them intact, even. Mary knew that she had a long walk ahead of her in order to find someone who could help her, and had no way of knowing if the sun would come up before she came to a safe place. Dying before getting her son to safety was out of the question, so knowing she still had a way to protect herself was a relief.
Finding the mask still in her possession was even more of one. Someone like that monster who has been so callous towards her son and dead husband with a power like she possessed was abhorrent to think of. She couldn't help but silently thank the universe, because she was sure God had stopped listening, that the mask was not covered in jewels. The greedy bastard would have no doubt taken it if it was.
Having secured cover and the mask, she turned to leave. Nothing else in the wreckage mattered to her. The possessions that weren't stolen meant nothing, and there wasn't a single thing that she could do for George or the other two poor souls. She had her protection, the mask, and most of all her son. Everything else was insignificant.
So, with more resolution and determination then she had thought possible at that moment, Mary began to climb up and away from the second disaster of the day to change her life. Every steadfast step she took was made with the thought that she did it, that she did everything, for Jonathan. She would get them to safety. Send someone for the deceased and then take every single moment as they came. The only thing she knew for sure was she had a son to cherish. And a thief to find.