She was sitting at her desk, hastily scribbling away at the large paper. Fighting time, though she knew it was a battle she’d already lost.

 

The sun was coming through the window, making her feel warm and secure, but the world was anything but: she would’ve preferred it to be nighttime. He was surely asleep now.

 

She dipped the feather into the ink one last time and did a bad job at writing her signature, but it was complicated enough for him to know that it was really hers. Would she make it in time?

 

She had to try, at least.

 

Her hands were shaky as they sealed the letter with hot wax, stamping it with the ring on her left hand. She would’ve preferred not to follow the regular procedure, but she knew the letter wouldn’t reach him if she did so. And it had to reach him as soon as possible.

 

Her heart was beating fast - she could hear it in her eardrums - as she went over to the balcony, found the pigeon that knew which way it had to go, and as she wrapped the envelope up and tied it around its leg. This pigeon was fast, the fastest one she owned.

 

And though nobody knew about it, since all pigeons looked more or less the same, it was one of the most important gifts she had ever received. And now, perhaps it would save them all. Perhaps it would save his life.

 

“Fly fast, please,” she said desperately as she let the pigeon out into the open space. Her eyes could not see the mansion, but her soul could already see the white pigeon flying over the woods, making a sharp left turn around the big cliff and over the open, golden fields full of wheat not yet ripe, and into the hands of the messengers, which would know what to do and who to take it to.

 

How long would it take for the letter to reach him? Would they decide it wasn’t important enough to wake him up and leave it for the night?

 

Would it be too late by the time he unsealed the envelope?

 

She closed her eyes tightly and put her head in her hands, trying to take a deep breath and failing.

 

He’d always laugh when she turned like this, panicking and unable to function from worrying too much. “You’re thinking too far ahead,” she could almost hear him say playfully. “You’re already grieving for me when I’m still standing here, alive and healthy and…”

 

She couldn’t think about that now. Not when he could be taking his last breaths now, surrounded and afraid and alone.

 

For some reason, she was excluded from the mission. She knew they couldn’t possibly have discovered her game - she’d taken care that all of her deals were as far away as possible from them, so there was no way they could ever reach them following any line she’d created.

 

Her stomach sank even further. She didn’t know whether it would’ve been better, had she been chosen for the mission. She would’ve had to betray one of the sides she belonged to, and she didn’t know what she’d do.

 

Oh, she knew well what she’d do. As soon as they reached him, she’d turn herself into a shield, protecting him from all harm. And then she’d lose everything. Including him, and her own life.

 

She huffed, running a hand through her messy locks, not caring that much about appearance but knowing she looked awful, not having managed to get a minute of sleep since the meeting in the compound lasted for almost the entire night.

 

She’d known this day would come… but it was so soon.

 

Or was it, really?

 

It had been ten years. Ten years since she got attacked in that alley, a freshman at the academy, believing the world was hers and hers alone and that she was the strongest person to ever walk on this earth.

 

But she couldn’t fend him off. He was old, and thirsty, and much, much stronger than her.

 

Her neck started tingling, and all hairs on her neck rose from remembering the moment that his fangs sank into her neck. Silly schoolgirls who watched Twilight always thought it would be something beautiful and meaningful, with endorphins and satisfaction in the game.

 

But it hurt. And she could do nothing to prevent it - almost two years of handling guns, stakes and silver crosses could do nothing to help her. Not her attitude, nor the friends who didn’t even notice she was swallowed by darkness, not the throat that couldn’t scream or the eyes that couldn’t even cry tears properly.

 

But they could see, just like her ears could hear and just like her body could feel the pain that the vampire was inflicting on her. She’d thought her life would be meaningful, that she’d become the best vampire hunter in the whole world and that she’d end the tainted race once and for all, but she would die here, in this alley, alone and cold and in pain, just to feed some unimportant vampire.

 

And then she saw two eyes shining somewhere in the darkness.

 

Help, she mouthed. I don’t want to die.

 

She didn’t know why, but though the eyes were red and she knew that he was just one of them, probably a friend of the unholy being the life out of her… She knew he was different.

 

So yes, of course she’d throw herself in front of him and die protecting him. Of course she’d do anything to prevent him from being harmed.

 

But she’d thought…

 

He’d never asked her, and he didn’t have to, because he knew the answer. She didn’t, and she was always confused, fighting against herself and reasoning with him in her head. He knew that she knew everything he wanted to say, and so he left her alone.

 

But as the years went by, she became more and more uncertain about it all. Not because she was changing, because wrinkles started appearing around her eyes and because the clock was ticking above her head, making her run to try and catch up with it, but always failing.

 

Since that night, she could never catch up with it again.

 

No, it was because she knew how much pain time was inflicting on him - because it was only the beginning, because he would respect whatever she decided even though he didn’t agree with it, because when first grey hair started appearing it would already be too late, because someday, he would be alone again.

 

He never told her, but she knew. How afraid he was to be alone again, though she wasn’t much of a company. Just a correspondence buddy writing him letters every now and then. Leaving the window open on some nights. Venturing out into the woods after midnight, seeking something.

 

Something warm and alive. He’d told her so many times that he would never be that, that he was entirely different, that he would stay frozen in time forever. That he didn’t need to run to catch up with time, because for him, it had no meaning at all.

 

How was it, then, that he knew how much time they’d lost a lot better than she did?

 

Now, they were out of time. And she wouldn’t even be there to see an empire fall down.

 

She never cared about empires, not after that night. Before it, she’d dreamed of being the one to burn it down to ashes, and oh, how glorious did it all look in her head.

 

Now all she cared about was for him to remain cold and unchanged even if the empire started burning. Please, don’t catch fire. You know it can’t be put down once it starts burning.

 

She had a feeling she knew why she was excluded from the mission, though. Yes, she never left a single trail for them to ever be able to connect a single dot - and man, were there many dots to be connected in order for them to understand anything.

 

But one night, she had a dreadful feeling she couldn’t shake.

 

Not even when he kissed her to make it stop.

 

And especially not when she saw him looking at her from the bushes, his mouth wide open from shock.

 

He did not know who Kris was - thankfully, it was too dark for any of his characteristics to be recognized. He’d thought she was just meeting her boyfriend late at night, because they were forbidden from ever having such a thing with anyone outside of their world.

 

And he’d loved her, so in his mind, she was already his to have. Though she’d said No. Though she’d screamed No, I don’t like you, so just let me go already. Though he knew how she felt.

 

But what he didn’t know was that the kiss he’d witnessed was the only one that had ever happened. Kris sensed him. And he would’ve killed him - because those were the rules of his world - had she not interfered.

 

Had she not said that he was to be her husband in her world, and that he had to leave him alive.

 

His eyes were red, and constantly reminding her of how wrong getting tangled up in such a story was. But in that moment, she couldn’t see anything wrong with their color. Everything that was wrong was beyond the redness, somewhere deep inside, in depths she could not fathom or ever understand.

 

The hurt always remained. Even though he’d laughed so, so many times afterwards. Even though it’d been many years since that night. But she could not catch up with time, no matter how hard she tried.

 

And now he was paying her back, for rejecting him and having another man. He deserves it, she thought to herself, but he could’ve run to the headquarters and reported her. She would’ve been kicked out of the compound, and in a way, things would’ve been so much easier, had that happened.

 

But even then, when all she’d wanted was to run to him and say, No, I lied, I love you, I swear that’s the truth, she’d seen this day unfolding in her mind.

 

This warm, sunny day when she’d be standing on her balcony, hands crossed over her chest, worrying that her life might end in the next couple of hours. This day when she’d be praising herself for having endured for so long, because though it hurt, though she’d screamed how it was unfair, crying like a little child, it would be worth it all if it would end up saving him.

 

But would it be enough?

 

When she had come back to the academy, wobbling and bloody, her neck was wrapped up in gauze that smelled like blood, death and darkness. And something else.

 

He claimed he was cold, but why did the gauze feel warmer than the warmest day in August? She’d felt so confused, she’d even thought that she’d imagined the whole ordeal.

 

Don’t ever say a single word about me, or your career will be over for good, he’d said to her. And she’d complied, though she didn’t understand why her career would be over if she said a nice vampire saved her.

 

It took her a few years, but she found out exactly why.

 

Because there are no good or bad vampires in this world.

 

They are all the same. Unholy, evil and dangerous.

 

And they all need to be destroyed.

 

It wasn’t anything new - she’d sworn an oath to protect the humanity from vampires and risk her life in order to kill as many as possible when she’d entered the academy, too.

 

But two years later, she felt like she was lying.

 

And she was, because the purpose of her life wouldn’t be destroying the vampires.

 

No, of course not. Because she broke her oath every time she carried the mattress next to the giant coffin, going to sleep during the day in order to have more time during the night. Time was always running, and she could never catch up.

 

She broke the oath every time she even stepped into the mansion, willingly walking into the heart of the enemy’s lair. Waving and smiling at them. Liking them.

 

Loving one of them…

 

His life was so much different than hers. He'd never told her, but she knew he had been around for at least ten centuries, because he spoke about ancient battles as if he had been there - and she knew he actually had.

 

She had no idea how important he was in the empire until many years later. After the kiss, and the lie. When he didn’t let her come into the room where he slept anymore. When her arrivals to the mansion became rare, though her heart became increasingly sorrowful from how much it wanted to be with him.

 

But as expensive a life that he led, as far as she knew, things like these were normal. Having vampire and non-vampire servants living in the mansion, the mansion being big and ancient and lifeless, the arrogance and the strength, they were all common traits of old vampires, and there were still many of them. Young vampires were much easier to be found, because they tended to make a ruckus and they did not scheme deeply or for a long time.

 

Young vampires had no patience. For them, time still had some kind of meaning. Vampires like Kris, though…

 

Time was all they had, and they knew how to exploit that fact.

 

He could remain dormant for almost a century sometimes, he’d told her once. If a hunter was particularly angry at him or very passionate about catching him, he would just wait for the person to become too weak to pursue him any longer. Yes, it would take decades, but what did the numbers mean for him?

 

He would remain young and handsome and unchanged. He had loads of spare blood, and though it did not taste as well as fresh blood, it kept him alive. Acting reckless, though, never proved good for a vampire’s well-being.

 

But he was just a regular vampire, like everyone else, or so the naive version of her thought. She’d never been one to love studying history, but everyone knew about the legendary Wu Yi Fan. The most important vampire of them all.

 

She’d seen images of him, drawn many, many centuries ago, and they all portrayed a tall, cruel-faced person with a long hair in a ponytail. He was last seen in the 1800s, when a legendary vampire hunter swore to hunt him down or die trying - in many of his works, he’d written that he thought killing the mighty Wu Yi Fan would be the most important thing for the whole human kind, because he’d turned the most vampires - most of them were very old, personally trained by him and always smart enough to stay one step ahead of the hunters, never leaving traces, never getting caught in a trap.

 

When Wu Yi Fan died, all of the vampires he’d turned would die, too. It was uncertain who’d turned him, even, since the data about him went as far as the written word, but whoever it was, they would probably never know, because the only way for a vampire to become free of the bonds of their creator would be killing the creator themselves.

 

Lamiya always had a hunch that Wu Yi Fan had been free for a long, long time, and that his creator was now just another pile of dust, like all the other vampires that ever dared to cross him over.

 

The famous vampire hunter died, but the legend of Wu Yi Fan remained. She remembered being taught in class that the hunter almost managed to kill the vampire once, the whole story being shrouded in magic and all kinds of unreal stuff like mind manipulating and such. But he’d failed.

 

She wouldn’t, she always told herself. She would find him and end the plague that the vampire race was, once and for all.

 

Before the kiss, things were easy for the two of them - or perhaps only for her, because she seemed to have been the only one living in blissful ignorance.

 

The kiss…

 

That night, she had dreamed of leaving the window open, like she had so many times before. But she knew it wasn’t real, because the alarm had been set off a couple of days ago and they would be extra cautious, so she couldn’t risk them finding him.

 

Her friend. A vampire. How ironic it all was.

 

That night, she had dreamed of him coming in, but not to talk or play cards. Not to snuggle with her while watching movies. Laugh while watching Twilight. Point out the real details while watching Van Helsing. Telling her she would become so much better than that silly actor or what he represented.

 

She’d always found it weird that he praised her job so much, but it was Kris, the man who’d saved her from that vampire, who’d shredded it to pieces and wrapped her wound up, telling her everything would be okay.

 

He was the man who’d risked being caught by the security guards of the academy when he’d brought her to her dorm - she wouldn’t have been able to do it on her own. Everything hurt, and it hurt too much. She’d felt cold and weak from the blood loss, and she probably would’ve died in that alley even after he’d fended off the other vampire.

 

But he’d wrapped her up while humming, saying consoling words in some unknown language, and he’d calmed her down. He could’ve finished the job, could’ve turned her into a vampire, could’ve done whatever he’d wanted with her body that couldn’t do anything but feel the pain, and hear his words, and watch him.

 

Instead, he’d smiled at her and said, Don’t worry, little one. I’m not here to end your life - I’m here to save it.

 

You’re too important to die in such a pointless way, he’d said as he cradled her in his arms, careful not to make her wound hurt more than it had to.

 

When she sobbed weakly, he shushed her, starting to hum that strangely familiar melody again and calming her down in the process.

 

In that moment, she was not a future vampire hunter. He was not a vampire. Nothing that she’d been taught mattered or made any sense.

 

He was simply the man shushing her as he carried her towards the academy, though she’d never told him where she belonged. He was simply the man whose hand was on her cheek, his face smiling and understanding, as if he already knew everything that would happen in the future.

 

How had he not known what would happen on that night, though? How had he not known that they would be forced to stay apart forever because of the person who’d followed her, that night of all nights?

 

And now she would never get the chance to say that it was all a lie. Now she would never get the chance to close her eyes and kiss him back, without remorse, without morals holding her back, without caring about the fact that he would never be as warm as her own skin.

 

“Why had you saved me?” she asked in a low voice, not wanting to let him know how important his answer was to her. “That night, I mean. I was just another lunch for just another vampire… Why me, Kris?”

 

Why now? Now of all times, when things were on a rocky ground, when they hadn’t seen each other for more than three months… Why would she lose him now?

 

No. She had been a fool for far too long.

 

She’d always despised the stories of the coffins in which the vampires slept, without air or any kind of certainty that the person they’d given the task of waking them up would hold true to their promise.

 

But she’d opened the coffin. So many times, and every time she saw his face, she questioned everything that she was taught because he was not dead. Not unholy.

 

He was just a boy frozen in mid-twenties, stricken by some unknown disease and never unable to move on, never able to live a normal life again. And though he never let anyone see it, she saw it in the corners of his eyes every time he opened them for the first time since being woken up.

 

Fear.

 

Technically, she was older than him now, and by almost a third of his lifespan. Before that night, he often joked how he had to listen to his elders, so though he didn’t want to, he’d listen to her.

 

Even when she said Get away from me. Even when she said You disgust me.

 

No, she would not lose him like this. Though he thought she hated him, though her letters were brief and mostly focused on giving him useful information in order for him to be able to save those he cared about, she had so much to tell him. She had so much to show him.

 

They’d lost so much time, and she’d try desperately to catch up, even though she knew it would all be in vain.

 

So she turned around on her balcony that still brought up the image of a grinning boy with wet hair waiting to be let in, and went to find her gown. It’d been a long time since she’d worn it…

 

It’d been a long time since she’d last visited the mansion.

 

Things were strained, and he was visibly holding back from letting his frustrations out in front of her, but he made his point clear - she was unwanted now, though she knew this place by heart. Though she was the only mortal to be let in since many hundreds of years ago, if the guards were telling the truth.

 

His bedroom was just a typical vampire bedroom, deep inside of a murky cave and without any kind of beauty in its walls. There was nothing in the room, apart from the giant coffin that he would soon occupy, because the sun would rise in less than an hour, and a wall full of Chinese letters. She only knew it was Chinese because he’d told her, and she knew better than to question anything.

 

She always tiptoed around him when it came to this room. The room was too important to him, he was too weak and vulnerable here.

 

She knew what the others thought. It was a standard procedure when it came to young vampires - they would find a bride, bring her to the lair and turn her into a vampire after a couple of days, months or years.

 

But Kris was not a young vampire. Old vampires were very different - they all thought of humans as lesser beings, so much younger and less mature than them. There wasn’t a single case of an old vampire finding a human bride recorded in vampire hunters’ history, and they recorded everything, with eyes and ears everywhere.

 

So she always called Kris a friend, and he always called her little one, as if she was a child compared to his knowledge and experience - which was most certainly true. And though the others spoke to her with respect, she knew what they all thought - that she was a plaything, a servant, that she was expendable.

 

But he’d never once forbidden her from coming into his bedroom. He’d only told her that he would wake up as soon as the sun set, and he'd said it only once.

 

When he’d opened his eyes after having been woken up for the first time by her, they were not red.

 

That was before the kiss, though. Everything that had any value happened before the kiss. He should’ve known that it would destroy them both and everything they had.

 

She should’ve turned her head. But instead of rejecting him, she’d accepted him and kissed his cold body back, and then she’d broken him a minute afterwards.

 

In order to save someone she hated.

 

In order to save someone who’d maybe kill him today.

 

Her horse was fresh, and she was glad that it was raining yesterday, because she would’ve taken him out had it been a sunny day. She was in a foul mood these days, and after the whole night of scheming against the vampires…

 

After he’d said that Wu Yi Fan could be there, that this would probably turn the tables around forever…

 

She clutched the reins tightly in her hands and she set off, willing the horse to go as fast as it could, praying it would be fast enough.

 

Today, they would go back to that night.

 

Today, she would not sacrifice her own happiness to save his life.

 

Today, she would not sacrifice Kris’ happiness in order to save him.

 

The laughter resonated off the cave’s walls, and she shushed the person immediately, worrying Kris would wake up sooner than intended if she kept the noise up.

 

It did nothing to stop the laughter. “Oh, it doesn’t work like that with vampires,” the voice spoke in a pitch even higher than the annoying laughter, “It seems you have so much more to learn, servant.”

 

The woman was… beautiful. More beautiful than Lamiya would ever be, because her beauty wasn’t frozen at such a young age - 21 was her wild guess. Her hair was long and red, her makeup perfect, and her clothes Victorian, a long, red cape making the image of a female vampire complete.

 

Oh, and she was old. Lamiya didn’t need to look at her eyes, their color almost as vivid as Kris’, to know that. Her whole being radiated with a certainty and patience that no human or young vampire could ever possess.

 

“Who are you?” Lamiya spoke, unsure of what she was supposed to do. She would keep Kris safe, of course, but she knew that this woman could break her neck with a simple snap of her fingers. She knew that whatever she was, it was what they’d taught her to run from. And she wouldn’t run, because she needed to keep Kris safe from her.

 

“Kris hadn’t told you?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “I think it would be appropriate to call myself his...

 

Mate.”

 

The blood in Lamiya’s veins froze. This was one of the things she paid close attention to during classes, and she knew very well how the whole system worked. Humans had marriage, an institution meant to last forever. And vampires had mates.

 

Mates were possessive, jealous and angry, and it was an irreversible process - once a vampire mated, they were bound forever. And for vampires, forever was a long time indeed.

 

Young vampires didn’t mate. They were reckless and didn’t care about such things, instead only pursuing blood, without even understanding how the higher-ups functioned. A mindless army of soldiers that would do anything for blood.

 

Kris didn’t have an army, though. Or so she thought.

 

But then again, she’d thought he didn’t have a mate either, and there she was, in front of her, the cold water being thrown in her face and making all illusions about her place in Kris’ life disappear.

 

She tried to shake the humiliation off, but the words pretty servant kept echoing in her head.

 

She could’ve killed her, Kris’ mate.

 

But he’d left the person she’d said was her future husband alive. So the vampire let her go while she laughed into the night, saying, Thanks, servant.

 

And now she was going to try to save him.

 

Even though he’d kissed her only a couple of nights later.

 

Even though he’d been lying about her position in his world.

 

Even though she was supposed to be his enemy.

 

She loved him regardless.

 

“You see, I know you’re living in that fancy, unreal world of yours where he falls in love with you and you two end up together forever,” the woman started as she sat next to her on the mattress, “But the truth is, it’s nothing like that, servant. And since I’m nice, I’ll tell you what it’s about before my lovely mate breaks that human heart of yours.”

 

Lamiya closed her eyes as she clutched the reins even more tightly, trying to take a deep breath and once again failing.

 

How could she ever go back to the mansion after what she’d said to her?

 

How could she ever risk meeting that person again, when she was exactly what she vowed to protect her world against?

 

When she’d claimed Kris was the same kind of monster…

 

“You stink of a vampire hunter,” she said, sniffing like an animal and recoiling in disgust. “Personally, I absolutely hate the taste of a vampire hunter’s blood. Especially if the hunter is from a famous line of hunters, because they stink even worse and their blood tastes like acid.”

 

Lamiya did not move as the woman put a long-nailed hand on her shoulder, instead looking at the coffin as if it was her only anchor. She hoped Kris would wake up on his own and drive this monster away. She hoped she was just having a nightmare and that it would end soon, because she couldn’t take much more of this.

 

“But Kris, on the other hand…”

 

The woman chuckled, shaking her head at Lamiya. “Oh, he always had a special taste for vampire hunters. That’s why we’re so good together - he hunts the hunters, I hunt the others, and we don’t fight over food.”

 

“You’re a pretty lunch,” she whispered enthusiastically, “But a lunch is a lunch regardless of the package it is in. You’re not the first - or the last anyway… So you better start running while you still can, servant.”

 

She hadn’t believed her, of course, and Kris never made a move to hurt her, but the questions always remained. Why was he there that night? Why had he saved her, when she was just another lunch, like his mate had said?

 

“But regardless of what you do, he will still catch you. Yifan never leaves a job half-done.”

 

It didn’t matter. She knew she wasn’t just a snack. He could’ve finished the vampire’s job in that alley. He could’ve bitten her when she’d fallen asleep while they were watching movies. He could’ve arranged for his servants to wake him up so that he could kill her in the heart of his lair. He had so many opportunities, yet he’d never used a single one of them.

 

And she always carried the wooden stake in her pocket, no matter how secure she felt around the vampires.

 

Oh, how she wished she could’ve driven it into the chest of the red-haired menace. His mate.

 

She didn’t know how he’d found her that night, or how he could’ve known she was going to go into the woods and towards the small lake.

 

But she’d dreamed of him coming through the open window. His eyes were red and his intentions clear, and in the dream, she was actually excited about it.

 

She had to go to the lake, as silly as it sounded. She had to check, she had to make sure. Only the lake would give her the answer she needed.

 

In the dream, he’d asked her if she was sure about it, if she knew what it meant, and she’d answered Please, though she had no idea what any of it was about. It was as if she was seeing a scene from a movie whose beginning she’d skipped and now things were too far gone for her to ever understand the situation completely.

 

In the dream, his fangs scrapped her skin and she was afraid, but she held tightly onto his rock-hard hands. She did not know what he was doing, but she trusted him with her whole soul, because it was him, because he understood that she didn’t want to become one of them, because he would never hurt her, because it was Kris and Kris was her friend.

 

I love you, the dream her had whispered, and his hold on her tightened, the fangs still making her afraid and not letting go of her neck.

 

But even in the dream, he could not hurt her.

 

Even in the dream, he laughed and kissed her neck instead of piercing it with his fangs. And in the dream, he’d said I love you too, little one. Don’t worry, I just needed to solve a riddle.

 

And after she woke up, sweaty and out of her mind, she had to solve a riddle of her own.

 

Other people living in the compound knew about the lake, of course. But nobody knew what it meant for her, or why she needed to go there occasionally. She hadn’t told anyone, especially not Kris.

 

Not because he wouldn’t understand - she knew he would. She just didn’t want to keep reminding him of how different they were, because sometimes, she could make herself believe that they weren’t on the opposite sides of the spectrum, that they could continue seeing each other without danger, that someday a day wouldn’t come when she would have to choose between getting killed and killing him, that he wasn’t a vampire and she a human…

 

“You do have a reflection,” a voice behind her said all of a sudden, while she tried to found the courage to get close enough to the water to be able to see her reflection - if there was one.

 

“Oh, it’s you,” she said, bringing a hand to her chest. “You startled me.”

 

The night was dark, but the lake was lit by moonlight and it cast a strange reflection on his whole being - for the first time, he didn’t look like a vampire or a human but just a beautiful, perhaps even angelic being. He looked so out of place next to her. She would soon be getting older than he was when he was turned.

 

Yifan.

 

The woman had called him Yifan, and in a way, she should’ve guessed it already. He was tall and old and Chinese and too capable to be just another vampire, like she’d kept telling herself for such a long time.

 

But Yifan was supposed to be evil. And have an army of vampires murdering people recklessly.

 

He wasn’t supposed to be someone she loved regardless of the fact that he had a mate, and that he’d saved her just because he preferred the taste of her blood.

 

“Why… how… are you here?” Lamiya stumbled the words out, blinking rapidly and trying not to return to the place where her imagination rested. He was a friend, and she respected him.

 

Perhaps someday, she would love him the same way he loved her - like a little girl he’d saved and whose company he liked.

 

“I’ve been waiting for you, actually,” Kris said easily, more confident in himself than any human could ever be. “I’ve been wanting to see you, so I thought maybe you’d wake up and want to go out for a walk. And so here we are.”

 

He seemed awfully cheerful for such a late hour of the night, but then again, this was probably close to noon for him. He looked more handsome than she’d ever seen him, his eyes practically shining from some ancient knowledge he seemed to have discovered today, and it immediately made her feel happy, too.

 

She tried not to, but she remembered the dream. She remembered the way he said I love you too, and how she’d never get to hear it for real.

 

She was happy for him, but she was so tired from feeling this way. What would she do, when the time came to say goodbye? Would she be able to let go of him, or would she hold on like the silly little girl she was?

 

“What’s bothering you, little one?” Kris said in a soothing voice, seemingly softer than it ever was, and she suddenly felt tears in her eyes. Why were there so many things she couldn’t tell him, so many secrets she had to keep from him, and why did he always see beyond all of that and make her love him even more than before?

 

Why couldn’t she just stop loving him like this and let him be happy with the woman who’d said was his mate?

 

“It’s nothing, I just…” Lamiya sighed, knowing he would press further if she didn’t give him a reasonable answer. She turned back towards the lake, where a figure stared back at her, and her heartbeat calmed. “I just needed to remind myself that I’m human, that’s all. You know that the thing I’m scared of the most is- that it’s-”

 

“Being turned into a vampire,” he finished for her when she couldn’t. “I know, little one. And I’ve told you already - as long as there’s a single cell in my body, I will not let that happen to you. I gave you my oath.”

 

She turned towards him, tears now openly streaming down her face. He did not react, and she was thankful for it - at least he wouldn’t humiliate her like that. “But what if someday… Kris, what if…”

 

She couldn’t finish. She felt as if she was going to suffocate, so she sat down on the ground, putting her head in her hands while she sobbed.

 

His arms were around her in an instant, and he began humming that melody once again. She did not want to calm down, but this was Kris, and a kiss on her temples made her stop sobbing, if anything. “If that happens someday, you know what it’ll mean, little one?”

 

She looked up at the too-beautiful face that was smiling at her, always smiling at her, as if they weren’t talking about the very-real possibility that he might die someday.

 

“It’ll mean that you don’t need me anymore,” he breathed after a moment, tucking a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “And when I die, the world will be a much safer place anyway. You will have nothing to be afraid of, so when the time comes, just let me go.”

 

And now it was time.

 

She made the sharp turn hastedly, the cliff tall and the only witness to the stupid thing that she was about to do.

 

But she had to try.

 

The world wouldn’t be a much safer place without him. It would be empty and void of life, just like the eyes of the woman that was his mate.

 

She didn’t want to live in such a place.

 

“I don’t want to let go of you,” she said silently, her hand moving on its own and towards his cheek. She did not recoil from the coldness, or even see it as something unholy and unnatural.

 

His eyes were red and watchful, but she could see nothing but the boy opening his beautiful brown eyes when she’d woken him up for the first time.

 

“You are meant for great things,” he whispered, his hand moving in her hair. “When enough time passes, you won’t even remember me.”

 

“I will always remember you,” she whispered back. “But don’t ever become a memory. Stay, Kris…”

 

With me, she wanted to say.

 

But she didn’t have to.

 

A moment later, his lips were on hers, and she knew that she must’ve fallen asleep again.

 

He was cold and she was warm.

 

He was undead and she was alive.

 

He was old and she was young.

 

He was the most important vampire of them all and she was the most unimportant vampire hunter that had ever been trained.

 

But in that moment, none of it mattered.

 

And she could deceive herself that what he felt for her was love.

 

Not a silly, short-term obsession, one of those that vampires usually had.

 

Not something unimportant, unholy, undead.

 

She could deceive herself that the fire that was burning inside of her was the same in him, making his veins come to life and start pumping the blood that was frozen for so many centuries.

 

He had a mate. He did not love her, not really. And he would probably outlive her for many, many centuries.

 

But she would always love him, and she would never be able to turn back and go back to the way it was before.

 

Though he was cold.

 

For her, if there was such a thing for humans, he would be her vampire equivalent of a husband.

 

Her mate.

 

She arrived to the place which she hadn’t visited in a long, long time. Had the envelope reached him? Did he know that they were coming, and was he already running away?

 

Or had everything ended already, and she would find just a pile of ashes instead of the man she loved and never had the chance to say it to?

 

She quickly dismounted the horse and started running towards the walls of the mansion.

 

She was running to meet her destiny, and though she had no idea what it was, she wasn’t afraid anymore.

 

For the first time in her life, she was really free, and though it was Kris who’d sworn to always protect her, she would keep the same oath, too.

 

It seemed like she’d made it on time, after all - she knew questions would be asked in the compound, people would wonder where she’d went and she wouldn’t be able to find a eligible excuse, but it was a story for another day. She had to save him first, and she’d try to save her career later.

 

If they saw her here, though, it would be over. She would lose her licence and be hunted like one of the sympathizers, and being a sympathizer was even worse than being a vampire. Sympathizers went to special jails where they were tortured. There was no mercy for any of them, because they had joined forces with the enemy and tried to destroy the whole Order of the hunters.

 

She wouldn’t go that far in the accusations, though. She believed in the Order, of course… But the Order hadn’t protected her from that vampire. It hadn’t even cared, and had she trusted the Order, she would’ve died a long time ago, a freshman bleeding out on that pavement.

 

“It’s been an awfully long time, madam,” the human servant said, bowing to her politely. “What brings you here?”

 

“I sent you an urgent letter,” she said impatiently as she went through the gate. “Have you received it?”

 

The servant nodded. “Yes, but since Sir Wu is sleeping, we left it on the table in his bedroom. He will read it when he wakes up, so why don’t you head into the salon and wait until sunset-”

 

She lost her patience. “Listen to me, you fool,” she said through gritted teeth, grabbing the servant by the collar, “This is a matter of life and death, and every second might mean the certain death of Kris. So no, I am not going to go and wait in the salon, I am going to wake him up myself.”

 

“But- but madam, he will be angry-”

 

“Let me handle that,” Lamiya finished, and threw the servant away, running through the courtyard and towards the large castle-like house. There weren’t many people on guard, and though she knew things had to change within seconds, she knew nobody would listen to her unless Kris gave the orders, and Kris would listen to her.

 

She had no idea how they’d found him, but she knew for certain it wasn’t her fault. The letters weren’t intercepted and she communicated with him in no other way, except for an occasional meeting in the darkness - and even that hadn’t happened in more than three months - so there must’ve been a mole somewhere in his organization.

 

He would know how to decypher everything, though, she was sure. She just needed to get to him in time and save him from impending doom. It was a wonder they hadn’t arrived already, but they must’ve been preparing all the intelligence power and choosing the best soldiers, because this was Wu Yi Fan they were trying to catch, not some unimportant vampire.

 

But she wouldn’t let them. So help her, she would fight for him until her last breath. She couldn’t tell him she loved him, but she could show him like this. And that would be enough.

 

As hot as her blood was, as much as she was in a hurry, when she got to his bedroom, she couldn’t just wake him up harshly.

 

She still couldn’t catch up with time. Would it beat her this time too, when it was so important to her to save him?

 

“Kris,” she said gently, breathless from having run so much but trying not to make too many noises because she knew how sensitive he’d be. It was the middle of the day - he would be disoriented and angry, and she didn’t need to give him more reasons to be displeased.

 

“Kris, wake up, please,” she said brokenly, not caring about the consequences but just wanting to get him out of there already. Would she have to carry him? He’d never shown her the underground route, so she had no idea where they would even run towards.

 

But she would rather die trying than let go of him.

 

“Kris, Yifan-” she tried, and his eyes suddenly opened.

 

This was bad. She hadn’t considered the fact that he might be hungry, and fending off a hungry vampire was an impossible task in itself.

 

A woken-up angry hungry vampire, though…

 

He was probably going to kill her.

 

His hand was suddenly on her neck, and the hold he had on her was not playful like usually. It was iron-strong, and she knew immediately that she wouldn’t make it out of this room.

 

Oh, the irony, dying by the hand of the one person she trusted.

 

“Kris,” she tried, while he sniffed at her neck. “Kris, don’t do this. I know you’re hungry but you’ll have to wait for your meal.”

 

She was scared now, because he was tracing his mouth where her carotide rested, and she remembered what his mate had said - that he particularly loved the vampire hunters’ blood.

 

But this was Kris, for God’s sake, and he would never hurt her.

 

Not even when he was mindless, like this.

 

“Kris,” she whispered, her hand tangling in his hair, “This isn’t you. Snap to your senses, please.”

 

He just murmured something indiscernible and clutched her body tighter. She couldn’t breathe now, when one of his hands was baring her neck to him, suffocating her, and when his other hand was holding her frame, immobilizing her and making her dizzy. He would kill her right then and there.

 

And then they’d kill him.

 

“It’s…” she tried to say, knowing it was over. “It’s okay. Do whatever you want to, just… Just get out of here before they catch you.

 

Please.”

 

“You,” he murmured, his mouth now trailing upwards, and she wondered if he’d actually heard anything she’d said. “You are here... I am hungry…”

 

“I understand,” she said, trying to gain at least a little bit of distance in order to be able to breathe. “But we need to go, now. Just… I can’t breathe, Kris. I can’t breathe.”

 

That seemed to work, because he blinked rapidly and let go of her in shock, as if only now realizing he wasn’t dreaming. He shook his head once, and looked at her, seeing her for the first time since she entered the room. “Lamiya?” he said in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Are you crazy? For God’s sake, I could’ve killed you, I had no idea it was even you-” he began rambling, something very uncharacteristic for him, but he’d been woken up in the middle of the day, after all, so he was bound to act differently.

 

She cut him off swiftly, with a finger on his lips. “We don’t have time. They’re coming, and we need to go. Now.”

 

He stopped himself before uttering a word, his mouth wide open and an eyebrow raised. “That’s- that can’t be possible. They have no idea that I’m even alive, how could they be-”

 

Lamiya cut him off again, because they didn’t have time for this, and if the human at the front gate had bothered to wake him up to give him an urgent message from her, she wouldn’t have had to explain anything. “I was hoping you’d know the answer to that, but we don’t have time. We need to go.”

 

He seemed to still be sobering up, because he put a hand over his eyes before shaking his head. “No,” he said firmly.

 

She waited for an elaboration, but there was none.

 

“What do you mean, No?” she said in disbelief. “Do you understand what I’m saying, Kris? Vampire hunters are coming here as we speak, with the specific orders to kill you. You. We don’t have time for whatever it is you’re thinking right now, we need to go and we’ll figure everything else afterwards.”

 

He took his hand away after a second, and started laughing. The expression on his face looked as if he was out of his mind, and she wondered if waking him up was a good decision after all.

 

“I mean, No, we can’t run away because there is nowhere to run to. The emergency exit, it collapsed a couple of days ago. What a good coincidence.” It was dark in the room, the only light being the candle she’d brought and put on his desk, where two envelopes stood, but she could see the brown-eyed boy anyway.

 

No painting ever did him justice. She imagined how he’d look with a long hair tied in a ponytail, like in those images. She imagined anything and everything but him becoming dust. She could handle everything, him having a mate, even him hating her, if it meant he would stay alive and well.

 

Stay with me…

 

“Then let’s run the old-fashioned way-” she started but stopped herself, realizing how impossible that would be. He would have to travel in his coffin, with lead protecting him from sunlight, and preparing that would take too much time. Plus, if they were caught, he would be vulnerable and wouldn’t have anywhere to run to. No, he was safer in the darkness. At least he could defend himself here, and die with dignity.

 

Die…

 

“Then we fight,” she concluded while he watched her intently. “I don’t know how long we have - they said they would have to wrap everything up before sunset, so that must mean they will attack before 4 PM-”

 

His voice was stern, cutting her off mid-sentence. “Go home, Lamiya. Forget about all of this. If they see you here, they will kill you, too, or send you to one of those jails, and there is no reason for you to risk it. Go.”

 

She knew this attitude. It was his usual posture, probably a consequence of having lived for so long and being the head vampire of everything. He always barked out orders, never taking no for an answer, and it always had to be the way he wanted, no matter how stupid his plan was, no matter how much she didn’t agree with everything.

 

But she was too tired of acting, too tired of having to do what he said even though it hurt and she didn’t want to live such a life.

 

Plus, she was maybe, kind of madly in love with him and all. Though he would never know, and for him, it made no difference.

 

For her, it made a world of difference.

 

So the only thing she could do was say, “I am not leaving,” and cross her arms over her chest while his eyebrows slowly raised.

 

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said, rolling her eyes at him while he sighed, probably about to give her some speech about letting go and being young and whatever was in that vampire head of his. “But this is my choice. I have my reasons and I am not going to leave this place without you. So if we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down together. I don’t care how much you disagree - I’ve made my choice by coming here myself to see if you’d received the message.”

 

Kris began smiling once again halfway through her speech, and she became increasingly annoyed with him. She barely gave herself a moment to take a breath before pointing a finger at him, warning him of his impending doom. “Don’t you dare smile at me, Kris! I don’t care how old and mature and wise you are, I am not letting you win this tim-”

 

“It’s been 97 days since I’ve last seen you,” he interrupted in a very cheerful voice. “97 long days since I’ve heard you talk. And even then, you weren’t nearly as pleasant as this.” She could barely see him, but she knew his presence in front of her was solid, and it became increasingly hard to breathe because the cave suddenly seemed too small to contain them both.

 

Well, pleasant was a compliment, considering what had happened the last time they’d seen each other. After the whole mate-and-future-husband thing took place, Lamiya tried to act normally, as if nothing changed between the two of them - she really did.

 

But sometimes he confused her. Sometimes he acted as if he was as old as she was, and as if there was no shady past or a freaking mate waiting for him somewhere - plus, the mate was a very scary, unpleasant woman she didn’t want to see in her life ever again.

 

But sometimes his laughter reached a place deep inside of her and opened doors she didn’t even know existed. Sometimes he looked at her with those red eyes and she could swear she could see a little brown in them. Because he was smiling. Always smiling around her, as if she was doing him a great honor just by existing next to him.

 

Three months ago, he’d sent her a letter about how he wanted to take her on a trip. It wouldn’t be anywhere far, he’d explained, but he wanted to keep the exact place a secret.

 

And though she was confused, she showed up at the arranged place. And wondered if his mate knew about it. If she was lurking in the shadows, because she was the kind of person that would definitely be a jealous and possessive mate.

 

And she was just his friend, or a pupil, or perhaps an intriguing lunch, like the woman had suggested.

 

The trip really did turn out to be nothing too special, though the meadow behind his mansion was a very beautiful place indeed.

 

Then he’d shown her a grave, and things took a turn she hadn’t expected. After all, she was a vampire hunter, and he knew how important this information could be to them - he knew that if she wanted to betray him, now she had a very important thing to gain from it.

 

“This is the vampire who turned me,” he said emotionally, though she knew better than to be convinced by his act. “And I was the one who ended his life.”

 

Lamiya’s skin started crawling immediately - so the hunters were right, and Yifan really was free. That meant he was the head of the vampire society now, not whoever’s name was written in the Chinese letters she couldn’t read.

 

“But it’s not what you think it is,” he continued, the wind ruffling his hair and distracting her from his words. “I didn’t hunt him down and kill him. We’d lived together for a long, long time - I don’t even remember how long. He was my first and only teacher, and I respected him deeply.”

 

The duo stood, watching the grave in silence, and Lamiya noticed how it wasn’t freshly made. It had been many years since whatever plagued Kris’ heart happened… yet she could feel the sadness radiating off him as if it was a fresh wound.

 

It seemed that for him, time really had no meaning.

 

“What happened?” she urged softly when he didn’t elaborate.

 

“He got tired… of this life. I am old, but he was much, much older than me. He said he had nothing left to teach me, and that it was time for me to give him the last present - to honor his wishes and carry on in his place.” Kris paused for a moment, seemingly taken over by the story and in some other time. Lamiya’s heart hurt seeing him this way. He was always so cheerful, so understanding… She’d forgotten that vampires had emotions, too, as much as they taught them that it wasn’t the case at the academy.

 

Vampires could feel, too. They could love and feel happiness, sadness, anger… The ycould hate, be surprised, or be hurt, just like humans.

 

As heretic as it was, she didn’t understand the war that was being fought. She didn’t understand why all vampires had to die just because some were evil. Why the Order was the same towards everyone…

 

“He said that in return, he would give me a present as well - freedom. If I were the one to kill him, I wouldn’t die together with all the other vampires he’d turned. I would live on, free to do as I wished, not having to worry about dying together with my teacher ever again. I would have nobody to protect, nobody to fear, nobody to fear for…”

 

Kris turned towards her, his eyes suddenly bright again, though there was an intensity in them she couldn’t decipher. “But he was very wrong… It seems I can never be free like he’d imagined.”

 

Had Lamiya been in a good mood that day, she would’ve laughed it off or nodded along, deep in thought. But her emotions were conflicted and she did not need another round of confusion in her life, so she just scoffed, saying, “Yeah, it must be so hard for you. I don’t know why I even agreed to come here, you’re just wasting my time.”

 

The truth was, she didn’t feel that way - she wanted to know more about it all, about how he felt and what happened after he ended his teacher’s life, but she couldn’t risk him implying anything about that red-headed witch that belonged in a Dracula movie. She didn’t want to be reminded of how happy and in love the two of them were.

 

“What’s wrong?” he said, quickly following her when she turned around, scoffing once again. “I thought this would be interesting to you - you must’ve wanted to know about-”

 

“No, I don’t want to know, Kris!” she shouted, turning around and losing her temper in the process. “I know you’re the happiest person in the world, but could you stop rubbing it into my nose already, okay?”

 

Kris stared at her in disbelief. “What? Rubbing it into your-”

 

“You should’ve just told me that today was going to be all about this, and then I would’ve said No, I don’t want to go and we could’ve avoided having to fight again!” Now she was fuming, not quite understanding why she was acting this way, but doubting it was because the word mate kept repeating itself inside of her head.

 

When would she stop caring?

 

“But what did I do?” Kris tried again, only annoying her further. She turned around again, closing her eyes while she let all tension seep out of her body.

 

“I don’t want to fight with you, Lamiya,” he said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder.

 

She shook it off and hurried to get away from him, and her feelings, and the mess she’d made out of everything.

 

So yes, saying their encounter wasn’t pleasant was a huge understatement.

 

“Well, I had my reasons,” she muttered, while Kris laughed softly. She avoided his gaze, but she couldn’t escape from him, since he put a hand under her chin and turned her face towards him.

 

“Will you tell me what those reasons are now?”he said gently, his other hand tangling in her locks.

 

What could she say? That she was jealous of his mate and that she’d thrown a fit? Or better even, that she didn’t understand why he kept telling all of this stuff to her when she was his comrade?

 

“Will you at least tell me if those reasons still exist, little one?” he questioned further, his tone getting softer and softer by the second.

 

She just nodded slightly, still refusing to meet his eyes and feeling like a small child. “They always will, Kris, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

 

“Tell me,” he urged. “If we’re both going to die, I want to know why you’ve distanced yourself from me, little one. Your silence hurts more than whatever words you’re going to say, so don’t worry about hurting me.”

 

She closed her eyes.

 

They were both going to die. Or worse, they would kill him and keep her alive in order to prolong her torture.

 

She had nothing to lose.

 

“Why do you think I’m here, Yifan?” she whispered.

 

“Because you want to save me, and like always, that little head of yours doesn’t think about your own well-being,” Kris immediately answered, bringing her closer to him but not questioning further. He was a patient man.

 

“No,” she whispered brokenly. “No, I thought about my well-being before I arrived here. I knew perfectly well what would happen to me, and yet I got onto that horse and came here as fast as I could.”

 

“Why, then?” he asked quietly, his fingertips now tracing patterns on her cheek. He was distracting her, yet at the same time, she never felt more focused than in this moment.

 

They had no time.

 

And they’d wasted it all in such a stupid, meaningless way.

 

Perhaps he should’ve left her in that alley on that day. Perhaps it would’ve been better for both of them.

 

“Because I don’t want to live without you,” she whispered. She couldn’t open her eyes, couldn’t see his eyes change from understanding to disgusted. “And I shouldn’t feel that way.”

 

“No, you shouldn’t,” he echoed immediately, both of them not moving an inch. Even breathing seemed as if it would shatter some bubble they were both in, and she did not want it to. “Of course you shouldn’t, little one. Your life has only begun, and you have so many more things to experience, so much more to accomplish, and you can do all of it without me.”

 

Ten years.

 

Ninety-seven days.

 

What difference did it make? In the end, they would have to say goodbye anyway.

 

But why couldn’t she forget the way his lips felt on hers, then? Why was it haunting her every day and night, threatening to make her burn out from the desire to feel it again?

 

“There is something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” she whispered again, not opening her eyes to see the shadow of him lightened by the candle at the desk, but feeling his closeness because they seemed to be wrapped up in each other, their hands and knees touching, as if seeking comfort in closeness.

 

“Anything,” he whispered back, the only person that could make her heart skip a beat.

 

She tried not to think about her next words. They would be there soon, and if they were going to die, she wanted - no, she needed to know. “Why, Kris? Why are you like this to me?”

 

He stayed silent, probably waiting for her to elaborate. “This…” she then traced his arms with her hands, until she found his own, resting on her cheeks comfortably. “Why do you touch me like this, Kris? What does it even mean?”

 

“Do you not like it?” he said in a low voice void of emotion. He was deliberately hiding his thoughts from her, which couldn’t be a good thing. “Do you want me not to touch you anymore?”

 

He started to take his hands away, but she clutched them tightly in her own and sobbed. “That’s exactly what the problem is. I do like it, though it makes me suffocate and I can’t think when you’re like this, but it’s not right.”

 

Kris was silent for a moment. “Because you are promised to that man?”

 

Oh, for God’s sake. “Because you have a mate, Kris, and I know fully well what that means. How can you be like this and then go to her? Mates aren’t supposed to be unfaithful.”

 

Silence.

 

Lamiya tried to take a deep breath, but failws. His hands were as cold as the South Pole’s winter on her cheeks. He would start taking them away any second now, and she would not stop him.

 

And she would die knowing the answer.

 

Then he started laughing hysterically. She waited for him to stop and tell her the truth.

 

A minute passed, and he was still laughing. She did not understand what the joke was about.

 

“Oh, little one,” he said through laughter a couple of minutes later, bringing her even closer to himself, “What kind of nonsense is that? Where did you even hear such a thing?”

 

Why was he still keeping up this act? What difference would it make if he convinced her, when the truth remained the same?

 

She’d never heard of a vampire cheating on their mate. Once mated, vampires considered their counterpart as a part of themselves and would never even think of seeking someone else.

 

She did not understand anything.

 

“Lamiya,” he said loudly, making her open her eyes. “Look at me.”

 

She did, for the first time since they started talking about it all, and once again, his stance started calming her immediately. She did not need a lullaby now to keep her sane: his smile, the wrinkles around his eyes, the steady red of his irises…

 

They were familiar, and she suddenly felt the urge to cry.

 

They’d lost so much time, and now they couldn’t bring it back.

 

They would have to say goodbye.

 

“For a long time, I…” he stopped mid-sentence, shaking his head at himself, and it was one of the rare times that Lamiya saw him not completely focused and composed. She waited patiently, though.

 

Kris cleared his throat, bringing his mouth to her forehead and kissing it lightly, just for his head to remain there while he whispered the words to her. “I dreamed of… mating with someone. She is beautiful and fierce and the most passionate person I know. Always trying to judge fairly, thinking both with her head and heart, and accepting even of someone as unholy as me.

 

I was greedy for a long time, wanting to have her all for myself, in that most sacred of ways, and I thought it would come to us naturally, the mating.”

 

Kris made a pause, and she struggled to breathe - she couldn’t remember how to. Who was he talking about? Was that girl the red-haired woman she’d met? It must’ve been her…

 

Kris chuckled, his hand once again tangling in her hair. “But after a while, I realized that mating with her wouldn’t bring me happiness. I realized that I could only be happy if she was happy, so I let her make her choice.”

 

She could hear his breaths - he was panting, clutching her frame tightly while his head seemed to be sinking lower and lower from her forehead with an unknown goal. She was frozen, unable to process anything that was going on, unable to do anything but watch the situation unfold.

 

“She has the most beautiful reflection… And I want it to stay that way,” he concluded, and Lamiya burst into tears.

 

She began sobbing loudly - she couldn’t take any of it anymore, couldn’t handle the possibility that maybe it was her, that maybe it had all been a lie, that maybe…

 

“But she has promised herself to another,” he breathed, and started moving away from her, “So I must keep my distance. Watch her be happy with another, when all I want is to make her smile and tell her how beautiful she is every day of her life.”

 

Lamiya sobbed again and didn’t let him move away, her hands firmly settling on his neck and pushing him closer to her, where she wanted him to be.

 

“I am not…” she tried, and failed, but she would try and try again and again until she made him understand. “He is not my… I am not going to marry him. I can’t stand him.”

 

Now Kris was the one not breathing.

 

She couldn’t stop the river of words finally getting out of , after so many years of self-torture. “I just said that because I didn’t want you to kill him - but my heart does not love him. It is…

 

It is in a seemingly cold place, making it warmer. Reminding someone that he is still human, though he is quite different than normal people. Reminding someone that he is allowed to love…”

 

“And that he deserves to be loved, too,” she concluded, her voice shaky and her hands tangling in his hair while she stared into his eyes.

 

Red… and brown…

 

And then she was complete again, for the second time in her life, because his lips were on hers like on that night when everything had fallen apart.

 

She did not want to let go of him ever again. He wasn’t cold anymore; even if he was, she did not mind.

 

She did not mind the darkness, or the fangs, or the frozen beauty. She could only think of the man that would give up on a mate in order to let her live the life she’d wanted. And for her, that was enough.

 

“Well, well,” a very familiar voice piped up from the distance, “Isn’t it the traitor caught with her hands in the bag.”

 

“What? Is that really her?” a new voice popped up, filled with disbelief and disgust. “Is she actually kissing that thing?”

 

Lamiya and Kris broke the kiss, but he did not let go of her, instead shielding her with his body. She realized that she was too caught up in their love story to see that the candle had burned out, that someone was shining flashlights into their faces, that they were exposed, that they had come, that it was over it was over and she had no way to protect him.

 

“I told you so, didn’t I?” the woman who’d almost ruined her and Kris’ relationship continued in a very self-content voice.

 

“You?” Kris asked in disbelief, his voice nothing like the soft velvet that it had been merely a minute ago. “Guess I don’t have to wonder who the mole is anymore.”

 

“Guess you don’t,” she answered, smirking wickedly, “But it’s not like it matters, when soon you won’t have the ability to wonder anyway.”

 

The flashlights were blinding, but Lamiya thought she could recognize him, and the red-haired woman, and a couple of dozen of other agents at the entrance.

 

They should’ve run first and reconciled later. Perhaps they would’ve managed to accomplish something, instead of being caught like rats on a sinking ship.

 

“When I say Now, start running,” Kris said, their hands tightly intertwined. “There is a way out, and it is small enough for you to pass through.”

 

“No,” she answered immediately. “Kris, no, I’m not going to leave you-”

 

“Do you know that you’ll die when they kill me?” Kris asked in a loud voice, his eyes on his fake mate. He was ignoring her, but no matter what he said, she wouldn’t listen. She would stay with him no matter what.

 

“Oh, no, honey,” the monster woman replied, giggling, “I won’t if I am the one to kill you.”

 

Then Kris jumped, pushing her further into the room in the process, and screamed, “Now! Don’t look back, little one!”

 

Her feet moved at their own accord.

 

They started shooting.

 

Someone screamed.

 

She found a patch of light deep in the darkness, lost and afraid and having no idea who she was or where she was going.

 

She started crawling into the hole and towards the light, knowing nothing but what he’d told her.

 

Don’t look back, little one.

 

Why would she look back if she was the one to save him?

 

She climbed out of the hole, ending up somewhere in the deep forest, the sun shining onto her skin. It did not make her feel warm.

 

She started running again, shaking and cold and disoriented.

 

She didn’t look back.

 

And that was the worst decision she’d ever made.

 

But it was his will, and his last present to her.

 

If she killed him, she would become free forever.

 

She didn’t want freedom. Freedom had no joy without him. The sun had no warmth, the time no meaning. Everything was meaningless and empty.

 

He was everywhere: in the roar of the spring creeks, in the rustle of the summer leaves, in the rumble of the autumn rain and in the whiteness of the winter snow.

 

He was everywhere, yet she couldn’t find the brown of his eyes anywhere.

 

The mansion was just a burned-down pile of rubbles now.

 

She wasn’t a hunter anymore. She’d always hated that job anyway.

 

But sometimes, if she slept out in the open, after she lay down and the fire slowly burned out, right before sleep overtook her, she could hear the sound of a forgotten lullaby…

 

It was a soft voice saying Chinese words she would never understand.

 

And if she opened her eyes, only halfway through and lazily, she could see a tall image of a boy frozen in his twenties…

 

Laughing at her softly, and saying, It’s okay, little one. You can let go now.

 

As long as there’s a cell left in my body, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.

 

Carry on in peace…

 

And if she looked closely, she could see that he was free now, too. Forever.

 

Because there was no redness in his eyes anymore. Only brown, peaceful and calm and watching her with eternal love.

 

Her love.

 

Her mate.

 

And she knew that he could see the same feelings reflected in her own eyes.

 

Now, if they went over to the lake’s surface in a moonlit night…

 

 

She knew that there wouldn’t be just a single reflection.

 

But two.

 

Both of them warm, and alive…

 

And free.

 

Forever.

 

Until the day they meet again.