[center]Clara remained on that beach for a long while, thinking about too many things and yet unwilling to think at all. Her lips were pursed into nearly a permanent frown and she pulled her legs tighter to her chest as the breeze picked up. Emotions were such silly things, and she'd told herself she would never get so wrapped up in something ever again. Her plan had only been to find her sire, make him suffer, and be rid of him and all of the pain. However, Clara was coming to find that such a thing was not that easy. Not only did others complicate the situation; Kieran alone had turned the tables. She'd never expected to be met with such disregard; as if he wanted to pawn off that piece of jewelry and be done with her existence entirely. The thought alone troubled her, even though she knew it shouldn't. What did she care, anyway?

Eventually, the girl lifted herself slowly from the sand and dusted off her skirts that had collected bits and pieces of it along the way. She'd stared out into that ocean for a long while before she decided to turn, still deep in thought, and yet she followed that pull once more, mindlessly, as if she were supposed to all along. 

She just didn't understand – in all of her brooding; all of her planning; she'd never been ready to deal with the fact that Kieran showed no remorse let alone no care that she'd even existed. Surely any normal person would feel a twinge of guilt – and if he had, he hadn't showed it. No, she supposed it was easy to forget about the fledgling he'd made so long ago – he had the new one to keep him company, and it was clear that he'd taken such care of him as well. 

She bit her lip carefully as she moved throughout the dark town silently only to come to a quick stop as she'd heard shuffling up ahead. Clara turned to conceal herself behind a corner of a building close by, her fingers carefully tracing the grain of brick beneath her hand while she studied the scene ahead of her. She'd not realized her steps had eventually led her straight to him, and what she could assume was his home, but she wasn't fully prepared to see him carrying his other fledgling along the way. 

Her frown deepened as she studied the two until they disappeared, once more feeling that familiar twang deep in the pit of her stomach that she so desperately wanted to ignore. As the door closed, Clara stepped out from behind her cover, crossing her arms as she approached the house, taking in every detail. Surely he'd made quite the home for himself, and she had wondered if he'd been here all along; if Christian really did do her a favor by keeping her away. He'd told her to drop the past; forget about her sire – no good could come of it. 

Perhaps he was right. 

Her brow furrowed, Clara carefully walked around the house, taking note of the lights that switched on an off. It was within moments that she'd found herself on another balcony opposite of Kieran's home – if only to get a look into what was going on inside. And yet, when she was met with the image of the two of them close in bed, she didn't quite know what to expect. The frown on her lips had deepened in that moment as she watched them, unhappy with the feelings going through her and fighting them all in the same. 

What could she have expected?

Kieran made it painfully obvious that he'd wanted to stay away from her and yet he gave all of his attention to the other so freely. The more time she'd spent around him, the more she was realizing that, perhaps, she had been a mistake all along. All of her suspicions, all of her thoughts that she'd just been a quick lay and a quick meal turned into one big mistake were coming to fruition, and although she expected all of her rage to grow from that realization – it hadn't. 

She'd only felt a sudden emptiness that she was uncomfortable with. [/center]