Part 3 Opener: A New Idea

"Congratulations are in order, I think." Gus said as he walked into the house.

"I know." Marge said with a smile. "She said yes. I only saw it moments before it happened."

"Your gift isn't as good as it should be. You should've known long beforehand." Gus accused with his arms folded.

"It's not from not trying. At least I proved to you the spell would work. He didn't hear you, did he? Even with you as close as you were." Marge quickly defended herself, hating that she had to do something in Gus's favor.

"Yes." Gus said as he stood there and stared at her in a contemplative manner. "You did well. Good to know you're good for more than just one thing."

In a fit of sudden anger, she flew at him. She hated herself for letting him get to her, but she was aggravated that she couldn't get her psychic ability stronger by forcing it. He easily batted her away like one would an annoying fly. She landed with a hard thud on the floor.

"Aw, come on, Marge! Surely you can do better than that. Your daughter, as a human could knock me flat on my ass! C'mon, impress me! Show me why I should stop going after that power by letting me know you have it too!" Gus irritatingly taunted her, smiling with sadistic mirth as he watched her slowly stand.

"She has it in both bloodlines. I have it in one." Marge offered as an explanation.

"So you've said. Besides, it's meant to be that I go after that power. That's why we're here, isn't it?" he said with his arms thrown wide. Then his voice got nastier as he continued, "Oh, that's right... you don't know. You can't give me an exact when."

She angrily turned around. Her attempts at getting him to believe that the fateful moment was a long time from now had failed miserably. He seemed to think that because he wanted it sooner rather than later must mean that it was destined to happen sooner rather than later.

He smiled wickedly as an idea occurred to him. He snapped over to where she stood and pulled her against him as he said, "You know, Marge, I'd hate to keep you from your own daughter's wedding. Perhaps we should crash the party and make our own 'when'." He laughed. "And he won't know we're coming! And she refuses to use her gift so she won't know either!" He chuckled softly to himself now as he said, "You know, your daughter is more gifted as a human than you are as a vampire. It makes me wonder what dark gift will be bestowed upon her as well, if any. Maybe she's already too gifted. That or she could get something worthless like yours is."

Marge looked up at him with sheer loathing in her eyes. She'd lost control, and he knew it. He'd turned the tables on her. Lately, he had a 'I'll have my cake and eat it too' attitude. She knew casting that spell would only hold him at bay for a short time, but she failed to consider that it would actually aid in helping along future events. That knowledge tore at her.

Guessing her thoughts lay along the lines of her involvement in upcoming events, he said, "Come, come now, my Marge, you and I both know we're merely players in this whole scheme of life. It's one of the things I like best about you. What will happen will happen."

"August, you have existed for over two millennium, and you were just fine before you came across someone like my daughter. Why can't you just continue to be satisfied with what you had before?" she asked pleadingly.

"Because I was not satisfied! I was bored! And in this existence I have made many enemies!" he growled down at her.

"No big surprise there." Marge muttered spitefully. Then she cried out as he spun her around and acted like he wanted to break her arm behind her back.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," he spat into her ear, "I have many enemies that I could use a little aid in exacting a little revenge."

"Then why not just use me?" she asked.

"Oh, I intend to, but why only use a rifle when I have an atom bomb? I can only imagine how fascinatingly powerful she'll be once she's turned." A look of surprise came over him suddenly. "Why ... Who's to say I'm not the one that does the turning? What if what Nathaniel ends up doing is only a last ditch effort to wind up being the one to turn her when I've already done it! Why was this idea not revealed to me sooner?"

"August, please!" Marge begged him to release her arm.

"Of course!"

He spun her back around to face him once more so he wasn't hurting her, but he didn't actually let go of her either. He reached up and ran the back of his fingers against her cheek adoringly. He hated that every time he hurt Marge it only made him want to be lovingly affectionate towards her in reaction to that gift of hers. However, not even that defensive mechanism of hers could stop his elation with this idea of his.

"Let's celebrate my revelation!" he exclaimed with a grin before crashing his lips upon hers.