#thread.petra

He must've seen too many bottoms of glasses, he must've been imagining it, he must've been hit on the head. For the image conjured up was in no way real, but either this was his guilt made manifest or her ghost had come back to haunt him.

For Nasser Chandra knew one thing with absolutely certainty, as he knew his own name, his parents' names and why he'd married his ex-wife: Petra Weiss was dead.

Long dead.

There wasn't a day that went by where he didn't find reminders of that. Where he didn't think about her. It was as natural as breathing.

He'd never reached the acceptance phase of grief.

Yet, he would recognise her anywhere, and his feet carried him to follow her despite his mind trying to convince him he was following a ghost. He was so close, almost there.

Almost able to touch her.

To find out if she was real or not.

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Benny thought power was everything, after a life of feeling powerless, being turned into a Vampire had felt like being suffocated. His sire - long gone now - hadn't really given him a good idea of being a Vampire. And after betraying her and her two lackeys to some hunters, and being let go - to his great surprise - Benny had tried to stay away from any group that was all-Vampire. Hadn't worked out that long, after joining the Cats, but he'd rectified that and joined the Weiss family instead.

With the dream of climbing up the ranks and securing a spot for himself that would ensure solid income.

That dream was easily swayed.

"You have a familiar face," Benny said, as he regarded the stranger opposite of him. He knew she was a Vampire, but he wasn't sure if she wanted something, something else, or something something. He'd settle for anything really.

There had been a time, when Nass woke in the middle of the night believing Petra Weiss was still alive. That he would call into work the next day, give her some advice on her outfit that she wouldn't take, and spend hour upon hour making sure nothing happened to her. When he was younger, he'd never thought that he would get joy out of watching someone's back. But maybe, to a point, he'd always loved and idolised Petra.

She was his first and his only bodyguard job, because in the end, he'd failed to protect her body.

It was only right that he lost his mind after.

So while he now knew she was dead, he had started to see her in the waking world instead.

He never approached her, he simply waved a hand, thinking: if she is real - which she cannot be - she will wave back.

After the whole event, it was back to normal for most people. Not including overworked homicide detectives. Especially not after bodies had been found, at said event. They hadn't been the one to find them, but that didn't matter.

There was too much going on, and that was just what life was on the regular. Which was already hard, but felt even harder for Bez when they weren't on their medication.

They'd left home early, dropping their ward off at out-of-school daycare, and were waiting for the medication to kick in, while on their fourth cup of coffee. They worried that their warnings couldn't get through to Mac and Alice on searching for answers. Meaning it would lead them to another visit to the corroner. They'd promised information in return for their silence, but was that enough?

Gritting their teeth together as they moved away from the scene, they spotted a familiar face. Familiar in how infamous she was. They stopped dead in their tracks and frowned. Why was she here?

Behrooz took another step forward, worried she might spot him and run off. The red tape was still there, but no cops on the scene. No cops aside from them. "Hold it there!" they called.