When Night Falls

xi

"She died at the hands of a wolf too consumed by his own bloodlust to realize that he was just as much human as he was an animal." The mechanical way he spoke let on how much he'd said it to himself.

"She died because you," She pressed a finger against his chest. "Weren't there. Because you were never there." She turned to leave, afraid he'd see her pain behind her façade of empty eyes and cruel words.

"Callista, listen to me." He grabbed at her arm but she twisted out of reach. Always out of reach.

"I hate you." Her gray eyes were alight with flames and the embers that slumbered in her veins burst alive with the rage coursing through her. She could feel her nails digging into the palms of her hands and soon enough the distinct smell of iron assailed her now amplified sense of smell.

"It was for your own good." Stone faced and controlled, Lucius stood in front of a fuming Callista out in the foyer.

"Bullshit! I am tired of hearing those same six words from you ever since my mother died. My mother, whom you married, widowed from the death of your brother!"

"You've lied to me my entire life. How do you expect me to believe anything you say to me now?"

Lucius had no words. Cali knew only their half of the story. He debated on pleading she listen to him; tell her from his perspective. But his hesitation cost him.

Callista was suddenly tired. Not the one where her muscles ached physically but the kind of tired when everything had finally finished sinking in and all you could feel is the weight of a thousand worlds resting on your weary bones.

She sighed and Lucius was aware of the defeat in her otherwise blank eyes. Sometimes he cursed that particular trait in their family. How, no matter what he was willing to give, he couldn't read her emotions and what she was thinking.

Sometimes he wished she had her mother's eyes instead; expressive and bright as the morning sky. Not sharp and cold thunder clouds.

"Please just leave." She resumed her defensive stance, but this time less confident as her shoulders caved in and head bowed down to the ground.

Lucius knew he might never be able to talk to her again. And for the first time, he found a reason to be afraid of what would come next. He wouldn't survive if he lost her too.

"I love your mother." He started slowly in a low voice as his hand itched to grab hers. "The first time I saw her, I thought to myself how she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen." He heard Cali's breathing hitch and he gently lowered himself to sit on the cold tiled floor.

He watched her from the ground, leaning his head on the wall. The sight of silver trailing down her cheek made his heart ache. Callista only cried twice in his presence; when he found her crouched over her mothers' lifeless form, staring blankly at the forest with her gray eyes broken and crying, and when he first left her screaming and sobbing in that therapist's office to make a stranger lie for him.

"We were young, only about twelve years of age." Her ears perked at the revelation though she didn't dare interrupt.

"My family was on a trip up North. I was exploring the forest when I saw her." A hint of a smile blessed his face. "She looked like an angel. With the sun on her light blonde hair, and blue eyes were so bright and she looked so carefree in the clearing that I couldn't do anything but watch her. And every day I came back to watch her playing with the flowers and I left only after she did. I was growing more and more curious that one day I decided to follow her. I never thought that she knew I was there but she confessed that she did. One thing led to another and we both decided to become friends. To meet whenever the sun came down so our families wouldn't suspect anything. When the trip was over two months later, we had both gotten very close with one another. I promised her that I would be back next summer and she said that she would be waiting."