“How are you?” Thallon asks me as I sit on the bed at his side, taking his hand in mine. I’m so happy he is awake and talking, and Henry said his leg is healing really well. It hurts my heart to see him like this and know there isn’t much I can do about it. Like Thallon can read my thoughts, he shakes his head. “I made my choice not to be a dark or light angel, and if I was, I would be healed. Maybe I made the wrong choice. I can’t protect you like this.”
I tightly smile. “Thallon, you can’t make a decision like that for me. It has to be for you, and you don’t want to be either. Do you?”
“I used to say no...but then I never wanted an eternal life with anyone.” He pauses, searching my eyes. “Things have changed now.”
My heart could do a dance with how fast it beats. I lean closer to Thallon, gently stroking the side of his cheek with the tips of my fingers. Gods, Thallon is so handsome. His sun-kissed brown hair hasn’t lost the shine it always had, and locks frame his face, bringing out the glow to his unusual white and blue eyes. I lean closer and press my lips to his, the instant connection between us rocketing in my heart, and I almost gasp. His hands grip my waist, pulling me closer as we kiss like nothing has changed.
Like we are two normal young adults falling in love. And I’m kidding myself if I say it isn’t love. The door is knocked two times, and we break apart as I sense who is behind the door without opening it. Ren. Dammit, the dinner I promised.
“I will be back later,” I tell Thallon, climbing off the bed. He sits up as I open the door, and Ren walks in before I can stop him.
“You must be Thallon.” Ren then introduces himself, his arms crossed tightly as he stares down at Thallon. “I’m Ren, but you know that.”
“Yeah. You’re the fucking moron who hurt Kaitlyn,” Thallon replies. “And then took over the academy.”
“I made a mistake,” he grits out and closes his eyes, gathering some composure. “But I have offered Kaitlyn your protection in the academy and for you to go back to your gardening. The academy is looking a mess, and you will be helping us.”
“I don’t do shit for you,” Thallon growls out.
Ren looks ready to fight him as I step in the middle, looking up at Ren. “Don’t we have dinner to go to?”
“Yes,” he replies, taking my hand, and I don’t fight him on it though I want to. I hate that his large hand fits mine so perfectly and feels so comforting. Why do I love the touch of a monster? What is wrong with me?
We walk to the door, but Ren pauses and looks back, meeting Thallon’s gaze. “Have you ever royally fucked up? Have you ever regretted something so much that you wanted to end your life? That’s how I felt the second after I lost control with Kaitlyn, and I will forever regret what I did. I don’t deserve to have her here, and I am under no illusion that Kaitlyn will ever forgive me, but she is my mate. We are bonded for life, and we need to be close together. I will be in her life...even if it’s just to protect her.”
“That isn’t up to you or me,” Thallon warns, his eyes drifting to me as I stare at Ren, struggling with what he just admitted to. I want so badly to see him as a heartless monster, because I know it’s the only way I will be able to kill him. If I, even for a second, let him close to me again...I won’t be able to trust him not to hurt me. Ren nods once, his eyes flickering over to me before tugging my hand and leading me out into the corridor. A tense silence meets us as Ren leads me to a set of stairs, and we head up to a door at the top. The cold night breeze greets us as we step out onto a small rooftop of one of the towers. I hope we aren’t flying to dinner. Crap on a cracker, I don’t want to crash into anything today.
Ren writes something in the air before uttering one word. “Lumito.” A burning light bursts into existence in front of me, making a rectangle shape before it stops spreading. I step closer and run my fingers across the light, and it feels like touching cold silk.
“Vampires have old magic, like none the world has ever seen. With training, we can travel anywhere we want and even stop death,” he whispers to me, stepping to my side. “Vampires are magic like nothing the world has ever had.”
“Can I do this?” I question, lowering my hand and meeting Ren’s gaze.
“I am unsure.” His brow furrows. “You are not like anyone I’ve met. You come from a vampire bloodline, even diluted with human blood, you are so powerful, and you can see ghosts. It is very possible your powers will be stronger than mine.” He smiles and shakes his head. “But this is a date, come on.”
“Wait, I never said it was a—” I gasp on the end of my sentence as Ren tugs me through the portal, which wraps around all of my body before vanishing, leaving me in the street with Ren. The street is nearly empty, only a few couples walking around, and I can hear waves crashing in the distance. In front of us is a row of small shops, all selling fast food, and the one in the middle sells just ice cream by the looks of it.
“I’ve missed ice cream,” Ren tells me as he leads me across the quiet road. “Being dead makes you realise you should have eaten ice cream more, or anything you like, more often. I was always so busy, so focused on the coven, that I didn’t stop to enjoy the little things.”
“Is it hard to be the leader of the vampires?” I question as we get to the window of the shop. Ren doesn’t answer me as we head inside and the shop assistant smiles at us. I pick a chocolate ice cream, and Ren gets a vanilla before paying, and we head outside. Walking down the street, we eat our ice creams in pace, and it feels so normal. We stop outside an antique store, and I look in at the old chair they are selling and the birdbath, which is pretty. I end up watching Ren’s reflection in the glass, the wave of emotions and answers that flicker over his eyes. “My mother died in labour with me, like most female vampires do. Our death rates in childbirth are very high, and my father brought me up. He was cold, impassive and ruled the coven with an iron fist. He told me it was the only way to ensure the coven would be safe and under complete control...and it did work. Everyone feared him, especially me, and then his mistress killed him. It was unexpected, and she killed herself straight afterwards. Then the angels attacked and killed everyone I ever knew. I watched vampire children murdered, and all I did was run away, terrified.”
“That is horrifying,” I whisper. “You had no choice but to run. It’s an instinct.”
He humourlessly laughs. “Now I look back, I wonder if it would have been better if I never ruled at all. That I died then and there instead of running. I became the king of what was left of the coven overnight, at only eighteen, and I was clueless. I became obsessed with a way to free my people, to give them a chance to live a real life, not hidden away in the mountains, never seeing the world around us. You know what happened when I went to the angels and tried to make peace.”
“Instead, you became a monster just like the angels, Ren,” I sadly say, wishing it wasn’t the truth, but it is. “Angels are in chains, trapped and locked up under your rule. The angels above can’t attack the academy because you will kill the angels they are sworn to protect. There isn’t peace. You have their young. Many of their children, like Henry.”