Trigger Warnings In The Chapter's End Note On Ao3 - Tumblr Posts

Vamptember, Day 24: "Half in love with an easeful death"

Armand wakes to a therapy session with Chloe - when she asks him a question about his killing methodology, it leads to a heavy conversation, a journey through Amadeo's and Armand's past that explores how his sentiment of choosing his victims might have to do more with the past than he'd wanted to admit. Context for those only reading that chapter: In this, Armand is part of a DID system. And mind the tags and trigger warnings in the author's notes! Rating: Mature Words: ca. 6,86 k Short excerpt under the cut!

This excerpt is probably not the most interesting part, but I don't think I can post the best parts on Tumblr, because of the thousand trigger warnings they would need!

[...] Armand replied immediately, maybe a little too fast. “Grace acts as the opposite of the brutality we are. We need to balance the scale.”

He could feel the muscles in his jaw tensing and twitching, the tension that rose inside him breaking through. Navigating this conversation was like a game of chess, where one player reveals enough of their strategies to their opponent to create a sense of false security, to make the other person think they had the upper hand in seeing the pattern, only to then later turn the table around so drastically, leaving the other player baffled and accidentally giving away their plans. A way to win. But … this was therapy. There was nothing to win, except happiness in the long run, maybe? Insight?

Chloe studied him for a long moment – wrote something down, again. Her hand moved across the paper without urgency. Then, she met his gaze full-on, managing to surprise Armand by putting her notepad and pen down, and discarding it onto the table.

“Armand, it seems like you’re holding something back. Is there any reason you’re so hesitant?”

Was he hesitant? Probably.

“The issue here is not hesitation. Carefulness, yes. Deliberate planning.”

Chloe leaned back in the armchair, and then, she smirked. A twinkle appeared in her eyes, confusing Armand enough to raise his eyebrows. “If I tell you some of the reasons – not all – behind asking certain questions, would that make you feel more secure? Make you take the plunge into revealing more about that topic?”

Oh, now she was the one playing a game? Intriguing. [...]