life takes me. Maybe this time I will get it right, not my second chance...but third. The final one with the woman destined to be mine.
Her vampire.
I watch the little walker be carried into the room, my old room. Well, the place I stayed whenever I felt like staying here to scare the council and cause chaos. I knew if I let her walk out that door downstairs, this little blood thirsty woman would have disappeared. I had to keep her close while I figured out why she seemed so important, and why I had been dragged into her circle of power.
So I had made her stay. The people seemed to support the idea of her leading. That won’t always be so, and when it settles, they will question why this outsider is leading, then they will try to kill her. Overthrow her. They will use mind games and verbal trickery. It will be interesting to see how she handles it.
“Tomorrow, the ceremony will be conducted early to settle the power disruption and unrest, be prepared.” I nod and then turn to leave. There is a shuffle, and suddenly a small hand lands on my arm. I look down at the pale, dainty thing and follow it up to those big eyes.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“I did nothing.” I smirk.
“Thank you,” she repeats, searching my eyes until she nods and turns away. I have the strangest urge to grab her and pull her back, to make her look at me again. To make her touch me. But I don’t.
I turn away as well and leave her to her mates, no doubt they have a lot of…making up to do. I ignore the fact that it fills me with jealousy and the fires of hell at the thought and leave the room.
As I shut the door behind me, I feel a tug, a pull in my stomach to go back, but I ignore it and head farther down the corridor to the double doors at the end, pushing them open onto the stone balcony. I ignore the gargoyles and stare out into the night sky. From here you can see the world laid out below. So small and distant.
People have fought battles over less—the view I mean...not Dawn.
Why is she under my skin so?
I am used to doing what I want, when I want, without concern for the consequences, simply living in the moment, spreading death and bloodshed wherever I go. But when I thought about killing her, it didn’t feel right. In fact, it made me sick to my stomach just at the idea.
Fool. She has clearly done something to me, the question is what?
All these years, all these millenniums, kings, queens, and Xaph have tried to get me to take my place, to take my role seriously and care for someone other than myself. They used their bodies, riches, words, and laws, but I still didn’t fall in line. I revolted, I burned the world and walked through battles I started with joy, relishing it.
But now?
As I debate leaving Dawn to the chaos she has sowed, I find myself unable to move from this balcony. I am split in two, my need for blood, for death, wanting to leave this place and seek it out in the world, start another war, anything. But the other half...it wants me to stay, to keep her close.
Why?
To kill her? No, that can’t be it.
Maybe to toy with her?
It’s infuriating to say the least, and putting a damper on my world burning plans. So, I will stay. I will get rid of these pesky feelings and do my duty for once, maybe then Xaph will leave me alone for a couple hundred years and I can go and find a war somewhere. Wash with the blood of my enemies and sleep surrounded by the most beautiful creations this world has to offer.
But even that image feels empty and cold, and the black eyes of the woman sleeping down the hall burns that vision away, mocking me.
Under it all is fear, fear because I know what she is...who she is.
My mate.
She represents change, she represents restriction, and...fondness. That scares me. Change is the ultimate sacrifice. I was made into this creature of darkness, to burn and kill. To cause chaos, but…but if I choose Dawn and turn away from that, who knows what I will become?
Is that what the woman meant all those millennia ago? The choice is mine, to burn or love?