A Vampire's Marine (boyxboy)

Chapter 35: My Keeper. My Savior. My King.

Chapter 35

~Kaio~

The journey to the wolves’ den was a tense one. My Lord and his brothers sat together in the spacious vehicle speaking of plans and hatching schemes that would make us all successful in the fight against our leader.

From all outward appearances they seemed optimistic, perhaps even cheerful, and to one who had not grown among them, it would be with confidence that such an assumption would be made. However I knew differently. The stiff set of their shoulders, the slight tightening at their mouth corners, the clasping and unclasping of fists that betrayed either anger or nervousness, perhaps both.

 Then there was the way they all spoke. Not loudly by any means, but perhaps a tad louder than I was accustomed. This lot was scared.  I knew that I too would have been a quivering mess had I taken on a task such as this, but Lord Riener’s demeanor grounded me.

Of them all, he was the only one who betrayed no form of anxiety. He sat as he typically did; back straight, face calm and devoid of emotion. He did not fidget. In fact, he did not speak unless he had something meaningful to add to the conversation and of course, even his voice remained level.

I needn’t fear the future if my Lord did not. After all, if any soul could save us from the evil that was his father, I had not a flicker of doubt that he could. He was strong, wise beyond all reason and fearless. He was my keeper, my king and my savior and I had the utmost faith in his success.  It was this strength and honor that he held that grounded me and it was those same characteristics that made me more ashamed of myself with every passing second.

He had looked upon me, a mere servant, a simple doormat for the feet of the worthy, and had trusted me with the enormous task of caring for his love. Many a time he had done so and twice I had failed him miserably. When would I be worthy of this trust? How could I be when every good intention on my part yielded error?

I contemplated this as I sat in the last row of the vehicle, with my own beloved beside me, holding Tony’s head in his lap. My heart ached at the sight of my lord’s fallen warrior. My friend. He was the first human I had allowed myself to trust and I had quickly discovered the reason Lord Riener could love him as he did. It was because Tony was simply a being deserving of anyone’s love. I had seen his soul and it was good. Burning bright with the essence of his humanity.

 And here he lay, a broken bulb in a room that knew no light. I thought of those he would leave behind were he to die. My Lord Riener, his dear friend Noah, the maker of his injury; Lord Christophe and of course, the love of my own life: Mal, whose only wish had always been to live with his brother by his side.

I watched Mal now. I watched the gentle swipe of his hand against Tony’s forehead as he fixed his gaze out the window. I watched the anxiousness in his expression that only grew as time passed. There was love in him, my Mal; A large stream of it that poured out of him in waves whenever he stood in his brother’s presence and I wondered what it was I had done to deserve even a piece of it. I smiled.

 It was a simple answer really; I did not in fact deserve it. He had simply chosen to brandish it upon me because that was the way he was; kind, loving. He could not help this.

When Tony whimpered, two sets of eyes travelled down to his face: One belonged to Lord Riener and the other to Malik and I saw in those eyes an almost identical determination. It was as though they willed him to live, willed him to fight and it was then that I realized that though they did not show it, they too were fighting. They fought for a man who deserved it more than anyone else I knew and it was then that I decided that I too would fight.