-Valentine- I walk away from her with every intention of turning back but ignoring my selfish thoughts. I can’t be invading her space like this just because she saved my life, and she’s a human, damn it! Reaching the SUV, I drive out of the parking lot before I can change my mind and head back to the mansion. If there’s one way to get her out of my head, it’s through torture, and I still have Amara waiting for me at the estate. I wasn’t angry enough to face her earlier on, but seeing Gabe torn up and broken after what happened, I’m feeling murderous. Of course, I had to check on Autumn first before I could really get into it. Removing the key from my back pocket, I walk towards the cell where she’s kept in and the second she sees me at the door, her eyes widen. “Oh, my god!” she cries out and runs over to me, throwing her hands around my neck and sobbing. “I thought you died! I thought he killed you!” I listen to her racing heartbeat, that sweet scent I used to find so alluring
-Autumn- When I woke up this morning, I expected another usual day; I didn’t expect to end it off with Valentine asking me to drink his blood. Then again, I didn’t expect my husband to come here and beat me within an inch of my life either. It’s been close to two weeks since I last saw Valentine, I actually thought he’s forgotten about me by now. But then he showed up here at my weakest moment like some vampire knight in shining armor, eyes blazing red, and yet I have never felt safer. He strokes my cheek, then holds up his wrist to his mouth and pierces a vein. “Drink; I promise nothing will happen,” he says, holding his wrist out to me, the blood slipping out of two perfectly spaced holes. “Preferably before I heal.” I blink, then realize what he’s saying and raise his wrist to my mouth. To be honest, I expected to be grossed out by the average iron taste of blood… I did not expect it to taste sweet at all. Like something similar to cherry wine. Not only that, but the dull thr
-Valentine-I’m driving with Autumn and taking her back home when her cell phone suddenly rings. I gesture with my head that she can answer, and she does.“Doctor Hayes,” she answers in her professional tone and I hear the police officer introduce himself over the line. I don’t have to guess what this is about since I saw the accident before 5 am this morning; I didn’t even have to intervene because the fucker crashed all on his own.“Oh, my gosh! No, I can be right over; thank you for the call!” she says, dropping her phone into her lap and breathing out a sigh.“Everything okay?” I ask, about to turn into her street, but she shakes her head.“That was the police; apparently they found my husband's car wrapped around a tree and they pronounced him dead on sight. They suspect drunk driving, which I really wouldn’t put past him,” she says, sounding more shocked than hurt. “Do you mind taking me down to the morgue? They need me to identify his body.”I place my hand over hers and nod. “
-Autumn-For ten years I’ve suffered under the hand of Marcus Hayes and yet every eulogy spoken about him mentions what a great guy he was. For years I’ve had to grin and bear it, so I’ll do it for another few hours before I get to put it all behind me forever.His parents wanted to plan the funeral pyre themselves, so I let them. They were all cut up about it, sobbing in church and screaming as the pyre burned. But not me. His mother called me heartless for not even shedding a tear and I gave her nothing but a smile. I have nothing to prove to them; today I washed my hands of them for good.It’s early evening and everyone has left my house now, so now I’m busy cleaning up after them. Five different casseroles will go to a soup kitchen later, and the leftover sodas and finger food platters will go along with them. I fall down on my sofa and look around the living room; I don’t feel attached to anything here. Nothing in here remotely feels like home. Everything reminds me of violence
-Valentine- “Take me to your bed and make me yours.” The words that can bring any sane man to their knees. While we drive to the estate, my eyes skim over her body and I smirk, knowing she’s not wearing anything under that long coat. I want to ravish her here and now, but I know someone like her needs the utmost care. Tonight proved something… she feels the same way about me. I try not to appear as if I’m rushing to get home, even though everything in me is telling me to put some speed into my driving. I want to take my time with her, but I am way too impatient, especially after she allowed me to have a taste. There’s some anxiety coming from her as well, but that’s to be expected since she’s never had a man dote on her as I do. And I will do more than simply dote on her; I will worship her. We arrive at the estate and I lead her inside the mansion, desperate for more than just the taste I had before. I want to drown in everything that is Autumn and not come up for air until I’m
-Xenia-It’s 4 am and I’m sitting in the passenger seat of this SUV, glaring at the disgustingly sexy man driving. We took a plane over, now we’re driving towards the mansion Kat is holed up in; not that I needed him to come with me, anyway.“You know that I could’ve come here alone, right?”“So you keep on telling me, but there’s no fucking way I would have let you come alone,” he says, repeating his possessive words and pissing me off more.I cross my arms and turn away from him in a huff, but he only chuckles at this. “You’re such a fucking brat,” he comments, and as much as I want to argue with him about how much I’m not a brat, that would just prove his point.So I shut up.For the last few weeks, I’ve been worried sick about Kat. She didn’t contact me as promised and to say I’m going crazy is an understatement. Gabriel also found that she got rid of her cell phone, so there was no way for us to track her either - she wanted to completely disappear and she succeeded. I see the m
-Church- I shouldn’t have come back here. The estate just takes me back to a time when I lied to Pres about Xenia and how she rather wanted to sever our bond before even giving it a chance. The last four months I spent here was the worst time of my life… I felt just as empty as I did after I killed the people responsible for butchering my family. No glory, just…. nothing. Sighing, I get up from my old bed and walk towards the bathroom to have a shower and clean up. Maybe I’ll go to Void later, drink some Fae blood, forget about this fucked up place, whatever. It’s not like anyone here needs me, anyway. I grab my leather jacket and keys to the SUV before running downstairs; I can hear Xenia’s heartbeat somewhere in the mansion, Katherine’s is beating in time with another faint heartbeat. The second she stepped out of the mansion to greet us, I could hear the baby’s heart beating. I’m sure she has her reasons for hiding this from Pres, so I won’t ask her about it, nor will I tell h
-Xenia-It’s 4 pm. I know I should get up and go to my own room, that staying here next to Church is a mistake… but how can a mistake feel so right? I thought our fight would be the end of us, that our words would cut so deep that there would be no turning back. Misunderstandings can lead to the worst of endings, but somehow Church pulled us back from the edge. My face heats up when I remember how I offered myself to him last night, telling him I would gladly have let him drink from me if he had asked. Ugh, that was so cringe of me! Now I probably seem like a super jealous person who will wait outside the house until he gets home.Damn, Xenia; could you be needier?I brace myself up on my elbow and look down at his handsome sleeping face, realizing how much of his stress and worry disappear when he’s asleep. When I lay my head on his chest, I don’t hear a heartbeat, but his skin is so warm and he feels human. At first, it confused the hell out of me when he fell asleep, only for me t