A Slave to Love (Vampire Love Story) [Chap. 54, part 2]

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This is the ring Blade gave Eliza; just minus the jangly bits (hehe that sounds dirty) :D
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Chapter 54: Till Death Do Us Part
“Ready?” Father asked me.

I didn’t feel nervous. Or scared. Or even sick. I was ecstatic. Since Prince passed a month ago I had been unable to work up much enthusiasm for anything, except the news that Prancer was expecting, but for this I could.

Today I was marrying Eliza. After today we wouldn’t have to hide, we can be together and no one can say a thing about it. I could get away from all this, away from people who might threaten to hurt someone else I love. Move on.

“As ready as I can be,” I said honestly. Because who knew what would happen? With marriage everything would change; we could be together and not have to hide, we could move away and live together.

“Good,” he patted my shoulder, “Let’s go.”

I took a breath and followed him out. We had decided to get married outside since that’s where we spent most of our time, and fortunately for me today was relatively cloudy.

We were holding it outside our house and just opened the front door I could see the crowd of people sitting, standing and talking. I went up to my spot by Father Jack and twisted my hands as everyone took their seat and fell silent.

Music started, slow but melodic and everyone turned to look back up the aisle. After a moment, Eliza appeared. The top half of her auburn ringlets had been clipped up, the rest of them falling loosely down her back. Her dress was white as snow, snug to her body before falling loosely from her hips to the floor. The train wasn’t long and the dress wasn’t covered in embroidery or millions of unnecessary garments; it was just how she liked it, simple and beautiful.

And right now she was looking just as beautiful as she always did in that dress of snow, her wide smile aimed at me as she held a bouquet of roses in her hand.

She made her way to me finally, standing beside me.

The ceremony started and Eliza and I exchanged glances the whole time; stuffy ceremonies were never really our thing. But I decided to tune in occasionally anyways. We gave our rings, Eliza said her I Do and now it was my turn.

“In sickness and in health…” Father Jack continued in his rough voice. “Till death do you part.” His beady eyes met mine. I frowned at him.

And for the first time in all the years I knew him…he smiled.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” he said, the smile spreading so it was a grin now. It wasn’t a nice one, it was an insane smile, one that made his beady eyes bright and made me feel anxious. “You may now kiss your bride.”

I didn’t want to look away from Father Jack; something about him had me staring and unable to pull away. A deep frown was on my face. Eliza tugged on my arm, also frowning but at me.

“Blade? You alright?” she whispered worriedly.

“I’m fine,” I whispered back, still staring at Father Jack.

He lifted a hand, extended one finger and drew it across his neck, that maniacal smile still in place.

It struck me then. Prince. The smell in his stall, it was hard to pick a scent out. Because there had been so many, different people, different little scents they brought with them.

It was him. He killed Prince.

Before the accusation could even make its way to my mouth I was knocked down, hearing Eliza scream in terror. I looked to see her being restrained by people I didn’t know.

On closer inspection though, I knew one of them.

Linus.

That pompous stable hand was a part of all this. Without a doubt I knew he was the one who sold us out. It wasn’t about us being together before marriage, this was about something bigger.

Vampires.

The one sure thing to have me removed completely from Eliza’s life so he could step in.

I got to my feet, throwing off the men who were pinning me down as easily as rag dolls.

“Get away from her!” I snarled, grabbing Linus by the wrist. With a loud crack I snapped it. With a howl of pain he crumpled to the floor while I kept on, yanking those men off Eliza.

The crowd was in turmoil, screaming and running or gawking in awed horror.

“Blade!” Eliza cried, green eyes wide as they looked over my shoulder.

Before I could even turn around someone drove a stake right through my back. I screamed in pain, knees buckling and the person pushed me to the ground, pulling it out only to thrust it back into my back.

Pain exploded through me, Eliza’s scream of terror echoing in my ears while Father Jack stood, ceasing his stabbing to address the crowd.

“Relax my people. I am doing us all a favour; you want me to rid our town of vampires and I am doing just that. This is just another one,” I felt him nudge my body with his foot. “It played us all and we all fell for it. But rest assured it’ll be taken care of.”

Eliza sobbing and the dead silence of the crowd were the last things I remember until I blacked out.

********

“Blade. Good sir you’d do well to wake up,” a voice taunted me. I smelt the heavy incense, my nose wrinkling and burning at the too strong scent. I was at church. Judging by the underlying scent of rotting bodies I’d assume I was in the church basement, where they brought bodies down for funerals.

“Come on, we have a deal to make with you,” Father Jack’s familiar voice said.

I struggled to sit up by I couldn’t. Something around my arms, legs and neck kept me from doing so.

“Don’t try and get up; you won’t be able to.”

I forced my heavy eyelids open, seeing the cracked ceiling of the church basement. I heard a steady drip, which I supposed explained the wet spots on the stone ceiling.

“What?” I hissed.

“Well Blade, you do realize that I have a job to do. Unfortunately you have become a part of this job. I’ll be nice though, kill you quickly, if you tell us who else is like you,” Father Jack said, leaning over me.

I spat in his face and he yanked himself away, a scowl on his face as he wiped it clean.

I would never let this happen to my parents, or the few other vampires in town. They don’t even do anything wrong.

“I’m a religious man; I can forgive you for your sins. But I want something in return. I want names,” he said roughly.

“Never,” I snarled.

“Linus?”

I heard shuffling and saw steam rising. Before I could even question what it was white hot pain burned into my chest. I screamed. The hot metal pressed even deeper into my chest before it abruptly went away. I gasped, trying to catch my breath, to pull at my restraint but I found out something.

They were made of wood. My wrist cut on a rough edge and it bled, the wood touching the wound and stinging.

“How about now?” Jack asked. He was no longer a father in any of its meanings unless it was the Father of the Devil.

I grit my teeth and didn’t answer. Linus burned my thigh. My stomach. My arms. My throat. When the burning stopped working, exhausting me, they got the knife out. It was almost an exact replica of the one I found in Prince’s stall.

“Blade, does this look familiar?” he taunted cruelly. I opened my eyes, seeing the dagger.

“Hell is waiting for you with open arms,” I snarled.

“You know it’s such a shame that Prince had to die. He was such a beautiful horse. But he was the best person for the job,” he said with some cheer, handing the knife off to Linus.

“Linus…” I gasped, the blade cutting swiftly through my arm. “If you think…” he drew the knife slowly across my stomach, “Eliza will love you…” the knife paused. “You’re wrong. She’ll hate you for this.”

Dead silence.

“Linus,” Jack said warningly. Without warning the knife pulled away and just as quickly came back, abruptly being thrust into my chest where my silent heart was.

And so it began. All sorts of torture. Burning, stabbing, hits and beatings, stakes and threats of fire if I stayed silent.

I told them to let me burn.

I didn’t care if I was provoking them, making this torture worse. As long as it kept them away from Eliza and my parents I didn’t care.

“Wake up Blade, we’re not done yet,” Jack slapped my cheeks as I struggled to keep conscious.

My breathing was shallow; my lungs had been punctured several times. And while I didn’t need to breathe to survive, it was painful not to do so when I’ve been breathing all my life. I had nothing left in me; all my blood was pooling around my body on the coffin I was attached too.

“I…I…” I fought to say this one thing but I could barely keep any thoughts going coherently. “I am,” I breathed, so quietly they no doubt didn’t hear.

And then all the pain I felt leeched away as I fell into darkness.

********

“No,” someone sobbed, the scent of earth and blood and incense and rotting corpses filled my nose, but just barely.

“No Blade, you can’t leave. I need you,” the cries continued, something leaned against my chest.

I struggled to get air in, but whatever it was pushed my weak chest down, rendering me incapable of oxygen and speech.

I gasped.

“Blade?”

My eyelids flickered but nothing seemed to be working properly. My whole body seemed to burn in agony, as if someone was skinning me over and over again. Everywhere hurt, even my insides. I felt dead.

“Blade please,” they whispered and the weight moved off my chest. I sucked in a huge breath, eyes popping open to see a woman’s face before they fell shut again.

My breathing was short and choppy but I was still breathing. Not that I wanted to be. I just wanted to die.

I heard jingling metal around my neck, above my head and down by my feet and my body slid off the blood slick coffin to the stone cold, bloody floor.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, falling down next to me. “Are you alright?”

I couldn’t even move. She put a hand on my back and I couldn’t even flinch in pain, I was too exhausted.

“Oh Blade,” the voice said, filled with tears. “Come on, sit up.” But I couldn’t. She had to sit me up like a doll and sat down in front of me.

“I’m going to get you out of here. You’re going to go somewhere safe okay?” she said softly, and I felt her hand touching my hair.

“Heaven?” I croaked. Didn’t people go to Heaven when they died? Jack always talked about how great it was.

A choked back sob. “No,” she whispered, “Somewhere else.”

“I want to go to Heaven,” I said, my voice breaking and cracking and so beyond recognition. I wanted this to be over, to go somewhere peaceful.

“No honey there’s someplace better,”’ she said, taking a firm tone. “Open your eyes.”

It took me a moment but I managed it, the dim lighting making me feel better. My eyes wavered, rolling in their sockets as I struggled to keep focused on the fair face in front of me. Mint green eyes seemed darker than usual, the light so dim there was nearly no green iris left.

“Eliza?” My breath caught. What was she doing here? She’d be killed!

“Yes, shh,” she said quietly, she cradled my face in her hands. “No one knows I’m here.”

“Go,” I rasped, “I’m not like you. Just leave.” If she stayed any longer they would come to check on me and find her.

“Oh I know about you Blade. Everyone does. But I don’t care, I love you. You never once hurt me; you never would have done all the things with me as you did if you were truly that bad,” she smiled weakly, “You always made sure I was safe. Now I’m going to do the same.”

My eyes slipped shut and I forced them open. “No.”

“Yes. You can still live Blade; all you need is some blood and you’ll be good as new, your parents told me. Prancer is already saddled and waiting for you behind the church; when you leave here you are to go straight to her, get on and go. Go to the east and I’ll find you whenever I can,” she explained, rushing through her plan in a quick whisper.

“I’m not…” my eyes struggled to focus on her and my mouth didn’t seem to work properly, “I’m not leaving. They’ll….they’ll kill…kill you.”

“No they won’t. My part in this is simple; marry Linus. But I refuse to be married to that pompous, arrogant man. I want you. I’ll always want you,” she smiled and it was a little more real this time. Her eyes met mine, “I’ll miss your blue eyes but I’ll get used to the red.” She chuckled softly.

My stiff fingers curled into fists painfully at the thought of her with Linus. I was filled with such a white hot hatred for him that well surpassed the burning of the hot metal they put against my skin.

“Now we don’t have much time,” she pulled away, fumbling the buttons of her sleeve. Her hands were shaking. I watched her in silence, not moving as she unbuttoned her white sleeve and pushed it up so I could see her bare arm. She sat down next to me, pulling me across her lap easily, my head against her shoulder. In my empty state I thought maybe I could die just like this, happy and in her arms at least.

But she wouldn’t let me.

“Bite me Blade,” she said quietly.

I pried my heavy eyes open, seeing the smooth skin of her arm in front of my face, my lips. My mouth watered.

“No I’ll kill you!” my panic seemed to make my heavy tongue function properly and I was thankful. I struggled to push her away but I had no energy in me to do so. I collapsed in her arms, breathing hard, breathing in her sweet scent.

“You won’t kill me. I trust you,” she soothed, stroking my sweat dampened hair, “Just do it; we don’t have time.”

She was right. We didn’t have time. But not the kind of time she meant. We didn’t have time. We could never be together ever. Something always got in the way, preventing us from being together. We were married but now I had to leave her behind.

“No you’re my wife,” I shook my head dizzily.

“Blade just do it,” she said, starting to panic.

“I can’t control myself,” I nearly shouted. “I never drank human blood!”

I could feel her heart beating and it was pounding out an unsteady rhythm, just making me even more nervous than before.

“There’s a first for everything. Just bite me Blade; I swear everything will be okay,” she dipped her head, kissing me so softly that my body hurt, already seeming to know that this was our last time together.

“I can’t,” I was shaking with the effort. Her wrist in front of my face, her pounding heart reminding me of the blood I’d longed to taste but swore I’d never, her wonderful smell. It was too much.

“Yes you can,” she looked around, her eyes landing on something. She leaned forward and I heard the sound of metal on stone as she dragged it towards herself.

The knife. It was slick with my black blood but she didn’t even hesitate to slash her entire forearm open, red blood gushing out.

I hissed, clamping my mouth shut. My gums felt sore, fangs rushing out to push onto my lip. Her scent filled my head, my whole body feeling better with just the scent, with the anticipation of the taste.

“Come on, just do it,” she coaxed, holding her wrist closer.

My fingers came, trembling as they wrapped around her slim, pale wrist. I looked up at her face, her mint green eyes, her pink full lips.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered before I sank my teeth into her arm. Blood filled my mouth, my whole body seeming to erupt in tiny explosions. Excitement ran through me and I never felt so full of desire as I did when Eliza and I made love by the lake shore.

Her blood was just as sweet as I imagined it to be, making me want more and more of it. I wanted to glutton myself off it, it was so good.

I could hear her murmuring soft things, reminding me in the back of my mind of when I did the same to Prince.

Pain filled my chest at the distant thought.

I pulled more blood into my mouth, trying to get as much as I could. I was a greedy thing, taking and taking and taking only for myself, what would satisfy my insatiable craving.

I sat there for a long while, absorbed in the wondrous feelings blood game me. The murmuring faded to silence and the hand on my back dropped to the ground. I noted this but didn’t really notice it until the blood started becoming harder and harder to pull out.

I pulled away, breathing choppy, my whole body burning in the strangest way, but in a way that made me feel better than I ever had.

I lifted the face that had slumped down by my shoulder, eyes tracing over its familiar lines.

Eliza.

I suddenly smiled. She was here.

“Eliza,” I said softly, kissing her temple, “Why are you sleeping?”

Nothing.

“Come on Eliza. We can leave together right now. What are you doing?” I prodded, starting to frown. “Eliza come on this isn’t funny.”

I shook her limp frame, her auburn hair back in its long braid, the pale complexion of her face seemed even paler and I realized why the room was silent.

I couldn’t hear her heart.

I killed her.

I nearly dropped her from the fright of this idea. I killed my wife, the girl I’ve loved for years. I killed her.

“No Eliza, you can’t just leave me,” I shook her again, her head lolling forward against my healed over chest. “Eliza please.”

Black tears started flowing, spilling down my face. If losing Prince had been bad this was catastrophic. It was like someone just pulled the rug out from my feet and I was falling, but with no floor to catch me.

It was a bottomless pain I felt everywhere in my body, aching and empty feeling, like a chasm that couldn’t be filled.

“Who’s there?” someone asked tentatively before breaking into a shout. “He’s alive!”

Panic shot through me. I sat Eliza up against the coffin, kissing her still warm lips before I stood, grabbing the knife wet with our blood.

I stood in front of her, watching the door of the stairs from the church, waiting for it to open.

A long moment of silence had my senses prickling, waiting anxiously for something to happen. And then the door burst open. I didn’t even waste a minute; I jumped forward, plunging the knife through Linus’ heart since he was first in line. His eyes popped in surprise as I yanked the knife out and tossed his body to the floor. On and on again, they came down the stairs and I killed them all before they even had a chance. Soon they all were running in terror, the ones who had a chance too anyways.

I stood there, panting hard, knife slipping through my fingertips to clatter to the floor.

“It’ll never end. How many people must die for you to live?”

I turned, seeing Jack standing there in his robes, completely clean of any blood or gore whilst I was covered in it.

I made no move to attack him. “How many of my people have to die for you to live?” I countered.

“You are not to be here; you’re a defect, a mutation. Your kind came like an infestation; I’m simply removing the problem,” he smiled again, that creepy smile.

“Look at your dear Eliza,” he continued, walking up towards her peaceful body.

I lunged forward, blocking his path with a snarl. He wasn’t going anywhere near her.

“You killed her, didn’t you? If you were human this never would have happened,” he said pleasantly, as if talking about weather or livestock and not my murder.

I put my hands on his face, eyes dead on his. “It was an accident that I’ll never forgive myself for. You are so much worse than me.”

“Killing me won’t make you a better person, nor will it excuse your nature,” he said calmly but I heard his heart pounding.

Coward.

“Maybe not, but it’ll make me feel better,” I said grimly and with one sharp movement and a loud crack his neck snapped, his body hitting the ground among the others.

I stared at him for a moment.

How could one night change absolutely everything in a man’s life?

I turned to Eliza, no tears rising now. I picked her up gently, her arm limp over my shoulder and her cheek against my chest.

I carried her up the stairs quietly. She wouldn’t lie with all those bastards. They’d burn in hell. She wouldn’t. She deserved to go to Heaven, or wherever you go after death. Now I wasn’t too sure.

I went outside, inhaling the fresh air deeply.

The town was in chaos; people running, screaming, torches everywhere. I put Eliza down on the grass as far from the church as I could manage. She wouldn’t want to be in that stuffy old building; she’d want to be under the stars.

I freed her hair from her braid before I kissed her cold, still lips.

“I love you Eliza. Now and always,” I whispered, touching her cheek gently with a fingertip.

I had no time for anything else. I stood up, looked her still body over once and looked around. I wasn’t finished yet. I needed something.

I headed back to the church, stealing a rose from the millions of bouquets they had before I went back to Eliza. I lay the rose on her chest, kissed her forehead and left. I got on Prancer, a normal saddle this time and took off at a gallop, never once looking back.

********

Dead silence surrounded us as I struggled to focus back on the present tense. I forced my eyes open seeing Blade watching me, his eyes sad and soft.

My face crumpled. “Blade I’m so sorry,” I embraced him tightly, body burning in pain but soothing when I touched him.

“Don’t be sorry. I got what I deserved,” he said gently.

I pulled away sharply. “Blade that wasn’t your fault,” I wiped my tear damp face. I hadn’t even realized I was crying. “You couldn’t stop yourself; you didn’t know how.”

“I should have died all those years ago. Me, not her. She didn’t deserve that.”

“She loved you and wanted to save you. If she hadn’t wanted to die for you she would have done something to stop you. She didn’t. She loved you Blade, she probably knew she was going to die. But she wanted you to live,” I held his face in my hands. A realization struck me. “That’s why you didn’t want to bite me. And why you got mad when I thought you killed those girls…oh my God Blade I’m so sorry!”

I was completely wrong about him; this was all so wrong.

“You didn’t know, Kiana. I can hardly blame you; I’d have thought the same thing,” he grimaced.

“What…” I licked my dry lips, hesitating. “What happened after?”

“After? Oh I got what I deserved; karma was a bitch and got me.” He said bitterly, “I found Eliza.”

“You found her?” I sputtered, “But she—”

“Died.” He cut in, “I know. That’s what I thought too,” he said, “I found her about two centuries or three after that; imagine my surprise when she walked into Aros’ place.”

“Why were you with Aros?” I asked, completely lost now. How did any of this make sense? I saw her die. Her heart wasn’t beating anymore. He drained her dry…so how could she be alive?

His eyes flicked up to my face. “I got my second chance.”

I shook my head, not getting it at all.

He sighed, “After I…after Eliza was gone I changed. I became cruel, lashing out, feeding on humans without a care. I was much like Alek, only much, much worse,” he said grimly. “They caught me and sentenced me to death. Aros decided to give me a second chance; if I didn’t get my act together they were going to kill me. I had gone almost two centuries without her by then and I was tired of being a monster. Aros gave me a job, trained me properly and I grew up.”

A broken look crossed his face. “Then Eliza came in one day. She looked exactly the same, only more modern. She’d lost her accent entirely, she was so different then when I knew her. But I didn’t care; I was so happy she was alive.”

“How was she alive?”

“Someone found her and turned her. She was dead…in a way. All she needed was a little vamp blood to get her going; she was just missing a little bit to keep alive and it had only been a few minutes that she was dead. He kept her alive long enough to turn her and keep her,” he explained, shaking his head slowly. “She never tried to find me. Nothing. But when she saw me it was like when we were together before that mess; we spent weeks together.”

“So where is she now?” I frowned, realizing too late that maybe she died, for good, and that’s why it was a touchy subject.

“Probably with her husband or one of her little fuck buddies,” he said in disgust but I saw the hurt in his face.

“What?” I sputtered in shock. This was just getting more and more confusing with every minute.

“Eliza got married,” he looked down at his hands, his voice quiet. “I only found this out when I asked her to marry me again and she said she couldn’t because she already was.”

“You didn’t know she was married?” I gaped.

“How could I? I was so blinded by the fact that I could have her, that she was alive, that I neglected to ask if she was married, especially considering I was her husband.” He rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t even see it coming. I can’t believe I didn’t notice how different she was.” He inhaled deeply, looking like he was trying to keep himself in check. “And I told her that I didn’t want this to continue if she was with someone else…but she didn’t care. She just said I needed to get over it. And when I didn’t she left me. Again.”

He looked up at me, face creasing. “I couldn’t believe it after all that happened. But she just…” he trailed off, wringing his hands.

“It’s not a topic you like to discuss,” I swallowed hard, “Its okay. We don’t have to talk about it anymore.”

I guess this explains why he’s so afraid of people leaving him. Who could really be that cruel to do what she did?

“But I want to talk about it. I want you to know all these things that I never told you. Things that are important,” he said helplessly.

“Blade,” I sighed, moving under his arm, my arm going around his waist as I leaned my head against his warm shoulder. “You don’t have to let it all out now; we’ve got all the time in the world to talk and you can tell me when you’re ready too, not when you feel you should.”

He stiffened. “I thought you wanted to get rid of me,” he said quietly.

“I can’t do it,” I whispered, “I need you too much.”

“So you’re not leaving?” he asked softly, sounding just the slightest bit hopeful.

I took a breath. “No. I’m not going anywhere. If I do it’s against my will,” I pulled away, biting my lip.

“There’s a ‘but’, isn’t there?” he grimaced.

“Yes,” I smiled wryly but it soon faded. “Look I understand why Friday night happened. I get it,” I fidgeted awkwardly, sitting in front of him now. I needed a clear head, as clear as I could get it considering it was pounding painfully in time to my unsteady heart. And touching him made me a little foggy. “But I can’t…I can’t just forget about it or pretend it never happened because it did. And that really hurt Blade. Of everyone I know I thought you’d be one of the last people to do something like that to me.”

“I know,” he winced.

I took his hand. “I can’t just forgive you for this. I need more time, but we don’t have any. And I really hate this stupid fight. I don’t…I don’t exactly trust you,” I made a face, “But I still…I still love you. I don’t want to lose you. So I’ll get over what happened, just not right away.”

He wrapped his arms around me, face in my neck as he breathed deeply. My whole body started to tingle, like the feeling you get when your arm or leg falls asleep but all over.

“That’s definitely more than I deserve,” he mumbled.

“No. It’s exactly what you deserve.” I pushed him away. “And if this is ever going to work you need to break up with Mona. I’m sick and tired of waiting for you to dump her.”

“I already did,” he said simply, blinking at me. “Didn’t you read Aidan’s note? She's gone.”

“You…you broke up with her?” I echoed, not entirely grasping this concept.

He nodded, giving me a weird look. “Last night. I thought you would have heard; she was screaming quite a lot. Or maybe that was my imagination,” his brow furrowed, face creasing.

“Well. That changes things,” I said, scratching my head for a second before I burst out laughing.

His eyes popped open, giving me the weirdest look ever. “Why are you laughing?”

“Cause this is all so weird!” I fell on my back, giggling still. I tried to control myself but I couldn’t. I figure maybe I was still a little insane today.

He rolled his eyes at me, falling down next to me, eyes falling shut as he got comfortable. My giggles quieted after a moment and I scooted closer to him, feeling than I had in a long time.

“Blade?” I whispered.

“Yeah?” his eyes opened slowly and I realized that he probably needed sleep. I think both needed more than that but right now sleep was the best thing.

“So what now?” I bit my lip, sitting up as I looked down on him.

He rolled onto his back, staring up at me as he shrugged. “It’s up to you Kiana. I really doubt I should be the one making decisions in any relationship considering the track record I have.”

I cracked a smile. “No but seriously. About us and those vampires…”

He scowled. “I stand by what I said the other day. We don’t need Aros. He won’t help at all.”

“And us?”

“That’s a little more complicated,” he admitted,ruffling his hair as he yawned. “I don’t know Kiana. I really don’t. All I want is you, in any way I can have you.”

I chewed my lip thoughtfully for a moment before I leaned down and kissed him gently. He kissed me back just as softly and I pulled away before lying down next to him. I curled up against him, my head on his chest. He knew what I meant. Back to the way it used to be, minus Mona.

“Sleep?” he asked, yawning again.

“Yup,” I nodded. “We can talk more when I don’t feel like I’m going through menopause.”

He chuckled. “God help me if you are old enough to be going through menopause.”

“Harsh, so if I’m old and grey you won’t want me?” I pouted, hitting his stomach lightly.

He let out a sharp hiss of pain, body jerking.

My eyes flew open. “Oh my gosh! Sorry!” I said apologetically, wincing as I looked up at him.

He looked a little green, teeth grinding together with his whole body tense.

“I forgot,” I said, giggling a bit.

“Are you laughing at me?” he glared, eyes narrowed to slits.

I grinned. “Maybe.” I ran a hand lightly over his stomach and he flinched. “Relax I’m not going to hit you again.” I rolled my eyes. “But I do think I can help.”

There was a very long pause. “No.”

“Blade come on, you don’t go hunting and you don’t have enough blood in you. Just let me help a little; it’ll make you feel better,” I rested a hand over his stomach, feeling the bandages through his shirt.

“Not…not today, okay? Tomorrow. When I’m not thinking about…” he trailed off but I knew what he meant. I could hardly argue that point.

I bent my head back a bit and kissed his jaw, not saying anything because I had no idea what to say to that. But it seemed like enough because we both settled down, his arms around me, and slept perfectly for the first time in two weeks, despite that prickly feeling on the back of my neck that made me feel like I was being watched.
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ALRIGHT. EVERYONE HAPPY NOW? :D
MONA=GONE.
THEM=NOTFIGHTING.
ELIZA=A MEMORY.
EVERYTHING=A-OKAY!
Now....next chapter will be in a while from now. Sorry guys; but anyways it'll be a nice, happy, fluffy chapter :)
Enjoy the next little bit; it'll be the happy part before the hell.
You know what's sad? I cried when i wrote about prince dying. I didn't even shed a tear nor get teary eyed when Eliza died XD