Heart of Fire

🔥Epilogue🔥

"I love you too, but I think there's something you should know." He paused shifting nervously. "Something I kept hidden since the beginning."

"What do you mean?"

Theo sighed again and stood, dragging me up with him. "I'm not just a regular vampire, princess. I'm a mind deceiver too."

For a second, all I could do was stare at him, but then I busted into laughter. I laughed so hard, my stomach ached, and all the while, Theo watched me with bewilderment. When I finally calmed down, I patted his shoulder and shook my head.

"That was a good joke, baby." I giggled. "I've never laughed so hard in my life."

"I'm being serious, babe."

"Yeah, and I'm Wonder Woman."

"Princess--"

I let out a sigh, wrapping my arms around his waist. "Look, Theo. I know you're trying to make me feel better about being the only mind deceiver in the world, but I'm okay with it. I mean--" My words were cut off when Theo stepped out of my arms, took a deep breath, and slowly changed into his vampire form. I watched as his fangs popped out of his gums, and his eyes morphed to their crimson red. I shot him a confused look, and he let out another sigh. Watching in complete and utter shock, I watched as he took two red contacts out of his eyes and threw them to the ground, but that wasn't what shocked me the most-- it was the pure gold eyes gazing deeply into mine.

"Y-You weren't kidding..." I said breathlessly, and he nodded, shooting me a smile of fangs. I walked closer, staring into his golden eyes, and it was only then I saw the amber around his iris-- ironically, his eyes were a lot like his human eyes. The only difference was the brown and the gold. I held his face in my hands, gazing into his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Theo let out another sigh, wrapping his strong arms around my waist, causing my head to crash into his chest. "I couldn't. The only way I could protect you was by pretending I was a normal vampire. I couldn't risk losing you, princess."

"But you hated me when I came to Noctis." I reminded him, and his chest rumbled as he chuckled. The feeling was warm, and it made me smile, but when our eyes met again, all went serious.

"On the contrary. What you didn't know was I knew you since you were born. I knew I was going to save you, and I could have left you to die, but when I touched you, I knew I had to save you."

"How did you know me?"

Theo shrugged, smiling down at me. "One of our rare powers-- the ability to see things before they happen. I knew so much, princess. I knew what Blake was going to force you to do, but he erased my memory which is why I didn't remember until he showed me again. I knew you were going to be attacked and I was supposed to save you. When I brought you to the house, I was afraid of falling in love again after Willow, so my only defense was to put up a wall and pretend I hated you, but I knew you would break it down. We were meant for each other, princess, and I'm so happy I was the one who got to save you and fall in love with you."

Tears escaped my eyes as he spoke, and I buried my head in his chest. His arms tightened around me, and mine clutched the leather jacket he wore over his white v-neck. His other hand caressed my hair as I cried, and I swore I had never felt so safe in anyone's arms.

"Why are you crying, princess?" He asked, gently wiping away my tears with the pad of his thumb, and I gazed into his eyes.

"You didn't have to save me, but you did. Why?"

Theo took a minute to think, but then a slow, genuine grin grew on his face, and I swore I had never seen something so breathtaking in all of my life. "I knew I loved you the moment I held you in my arms."