AMBROSE had only become aware of his profound loneliness when she spoke. He had died young, denied a wife and marriage, denied any shade of love. Even in the years before, his existence had been so strained that he could not make time for it - could not justify it while his people had starved in squalor. Now, with her in his arms, her professing that she cared for him and claimed possession of him… He found himself speechless.
“If she were to come for you, I will protect you. I will find a way. I vow that she will not take your life.” The last thing he would allow was to have Sally serve his mother in her murderous whims. To imagine Sally, killing for that monster… it ached. She was too pure for that life, too kind. Too sweet. He stroked her cheek with tenderness, staring down into her eyes. “Why do you poison your blood, when it makes you so violently ill? Sweet Sally… I will never let you touch a drop again.”
There was no easy way to explain what he wanted to know, mostly because going sober had never even been part of the plan. Her having to flee Los Angeles like a common thief, running out of dope Sally needed to keep herself going for the declared junkie depended on it… life had taken a turn for the worst and everything she once took for granted had been violently ripped from between her fingers — no matter how hard she tried holding onto her last high that eventually died out, giving place to agony and tears. Exhausted and fearing she might lose her sanity any second now, the trembling woman nuzzled her head between his neck and shoulder to hide from the world around them, as best as she could.
“It wasn’t always like this. Getting high used to be… pure heaven, you know? The one light at the end of my dark tunnel.” It seemed like she had been plucked out of one nightmare just to be set adrift — with no hopes of finding a safe place to rebuild her waste of a life. Human sacrifices, blood-stained floors and spirits waiting for the perfect opportunity to seize her… but at least she had found him, a fellow broken soul. “You should have seen me back in the day… beautiful… you would have fallen in love with me.”