With my heart breaking more by the minute, I turn and leave her. She said them, she said the magic words that broke all of my determination. 'You're forcing me to endure it, hoping it gets strong enough that I won't be able to resist.' She felt exactly what I worried she would from the very beginning. Forced. How was I any better than the fuckers who raped her if I continued to force this bond on her?
I would have to wait until after the battle to accept her rejection, we couldn't be weakened, especially not her. Her and Amara were the key to this war, I did not care if I died, but they could not. Silas would be coming any day now, Alpha Roman's wolves confirmed he was gathering his troops and was heading to us.
I look at the sky, a new moon. This would be the best time to attack, vampires are strongest on new moons. With the minimal light in the sky, the other species would be at a huge disadvantage. They knew it too, everyone I encountered was on edge tonight-well everyone except my exhausted mate who probably fell back into unconsciousness the second I walked away.
My heart constricts as I realize what an amazing woman I'm losing, never have I ever seen anyone fight so impressively. Not a single warrior got the upper hand on her, not even after she was visibly tired. Even the wolves stood with their mouths hanging open. Aylin and her family always gathered a crowd with their training, but this was different. She used no magic, only her own skill and endurance.
I enter the packhouse, slamming the door shut a little harder than I meant to. Thankfully other than myself and Samirah, the only people who reside here are the Alpha's personnel and family, along with Amara's, so there's no one in the hall to notice. I breathe a sigh of relief at the emptiness I find, the pack house was bursting at the seams earlier.
It was a sight to see today, demons, vampires, fae, and wolves all mingled. It was the first time I've ever seen so many different species gathered, peacefully at that. It was beyond peace actually, I had watched several become friends, and even watched someone find their mate. The world was already changing, species never intermingled like that. The only two who coexisted were the wolves and witches.
"You good?" I hear Samirah call at me from where she's sitting on the couch
I jump, I hadn't even noticed her as I passed through the living room, too lost in my own thoughts.
"Yeah. Just heading to bed" I tell her
She raises a brow at me, knowing I'm bothered by something. She didn't need to listen to me complain, as far as I was concerned there was nothing to talk about anyways. I would accept her rejection and then that story was over. I needed to concentrate on finishing what has been in the makings for over a century.
"Don't lose sight of why we're here, what's at stake" she warns me
I nod in response "I know, I'm not. I haven't forgotten"
She looks at me for a long moment
"You sure you're okay?" she asks again to which I nod
"Yeah, get your nose out of your smut book and get some sleep. We'll need the rest" I tell her, forcing a lighthearted tone into my words and start walking up the stairs to my room.
I stop in my tracks when I hear a door close and immediately Aylin's scent fills the entire room. Its gotten stronger over the last three days, thanks to the bond trying to force us together. And also making it a million times fucking harder to keep my hands off her, especially when I found her laying there in only her sports bra and shorts. I must have a willpower of steel for all the effort it took to not rake my eyes over her perfect body.
That power breaks as soon as she walks into the room, a hand running through her hair that was wet from the rain, her toned abdomen on display, and her thick thighs eating up the shorts she was wearing. I rip my eyes away, not wanting to disrespect her just as her head shoots up and her eyes snap to me. She stiffens, her eyes widening and her lips parting like she genuinely didn't expect to see me here.
I meet her stare and see her eyes are red, like she's been crying. Had she been crying? My back goes rigid as I hold myself back from running across the room and pulling her into my arms, wanting to comfort her. The fucking stupid ass bond also telling me to find whoever made her cry and rip them to pieces, not knowing I'm likely the reason she's crying.
She holds my gaze and it practically electrifies me, the space between us filling with a magnetic force as it tries to bring us together. We both stand still, planted in our spots unable to move. If I move one muscle I won't be able to stop myself from going to her. Does she feel the same? Her face gives away nothing, her wide jade eyes hold no emotion beyond the redness.
"Well, I'm clearly not needed here, goodnight" Samirah says, grabbing her book and almost tripping over herself running past me to get away from us
I don't look away from Aylin or move a muscle, Aylin doesn't even look like she noticed Samirah was here. Neither of us even glance at her.
I force myself to break the silence "Are you...are you okay?"
She only nods once, then closes her eyes. I can hear her heart racing from here, I swear I can feel my dead heart try to sputter to life just to sync up with hers. I tap into that willpower of steel, although right now it feels like its made out of paper, as I slowly allow myself to walk back down the steps toward her.
She moves too, just as slow and stiffly as I do, like if we allowed ourselves to move any quicker we would sprint for each other and collide in the middle of this room. It wasn't this strong fifteen minutes ago, why is it so strong now? As we stop in front of each other, I cup her face.
She closes her eyes, and for a split second she looks almost vulnerable, well as vulnerable as a predator can be. She puts her hands over mine, lingering for a split second before she removes them and steps around me, making my heart sink.
"This will only make it harder for us in the end." she says coldly and starts to walk up the steps
"Why? Why not give this a chance?" I ask after a second, making her pause
Maybe some part of me was clinging onto a final thread of hope, today was the first day she showed any hint of wanting me. When I saw her jealousy of Samirah earlier, I had to stop myself from jumping for joy, at Samirah's expense of course.
Aylin turns to look at me, her stone cold exterior that was now back in place unwavering
"You came into my realm, leading troops that killed and hurt my people. Maybe it was you doing what you had to do, but my people suffered in expense. I suffered," she pauses for a minute, like she's conflicted, but doesn't say anything else.
Am I even going to argue? It feels pretty fucking pointless, her mind is made up. I force myself to nod once, and she hesitates, one of her fingers twitching on the stairs' railing before turning and walking up. I stand there for a moment, waiting until I hear the click of her door before walking to my own room.
Sleep doesn't find me.
***
I avoided her like the plague all day today, and considering that's what she wanted from the beginning she made it easy to do. I trained with the vampires and she trained with Amara, neither of us ever getting close. With Silas on the move towards us now, Samirah and I decided to cut training short. It would be best for us to conserve our energy, rather than depleting it in the sunlight. Silas wouldn't attack until night anyways.
We had our battle strategy planned out with everyone else, we were ready. It felt surreal, I had dreamed of this day for the last century and a half. Part of me was unable to enjoy it because of the gaping wound in my chest, but I forced it away as I walked into Samirah's room and sat across from her.
Her head shoots up as I sit, and she smirks before getting out of bed and pulling a bottle of wine out from her nightstand
"Don't you think thats a tad premature?" I ask her with a raised brow
She only shrugs as she opens it and takes a sip straight out of the bottle before passing it to me
"You do realize we will likely die tonight? Once the army sees that we've betrayed them, they'll want our heads on a silver platter, and I will not miss the opportunity to drink to our victory. The wolves and demons won't let Silas or his men get away alive," she says
I think for a moment before shrugging and taking a sip
"Well, I can't argue that. We'll be lucky if they kill us instead of bringing us to the dungeons" I say before taking another sip and passing it back
"They won't make it back to the dungeons. Also, speaking of dying, did you explain to your woman that I've never laid a finger on your scrawny ass? I did not survive countless exposures to blood, illness, and death as a human, turning into a vampire, traveling to America on foot, and then the last hundred and fifty years of betraying the vampire king just to die by the hand of a jealous sociopath who thinks I fucked her man" she scolds me
I let out a low growl at her disrespect of Aylin, to which she levels me with a bored look
"Don't give me that, you know I admire her strength and skill, but I did not appreciate the look she gave me that promised death, " she scolds me with an eyeroll
I let loose a bitter laugh, yeah the look she got from Aylin was not one I ever hoped to be on the receiving end of. I couldn't deny that my heart and hopes had soared to the sky when I realized she was jealous. Was that selfish of me to be happy that she was obviously unhappy with that idea? Sure. But, I don't claim to be righteous. Besides, I cleared the air as soon as I was able to.
If I was being honest, I couldn't even tell you the last time I got laid. It would have been almost forty years ago, when you spend your days watching women get defiled and then helping them pick up the pieces after you bring them back from the brink of death, sex is rather unappealing. And Gods, the idea of me and Samirah? No thanks, she was like my cranky aunt and I would rather cut off my right foot than think about that.
A shudder runs through me before I answer her
"Yes, I told her. You only have to worry about dying at the hand of the thousands of vampires tomorrow instead of the one single demon" I tease her before frowning "It doesn't matter anyways, I told her I would accept her rejection after the battle. I can't force this on her anymore" I sigh and then extend my hand for the bottle
I take a long chug of the wine, not that it would do anything to take this pain or even make my mind hazy enough to momentarily forget about it, but it was nice to dream. When I look at Samirah, she's only looking at me with a frown before she lets out a long sigh
"I wish I had advice for you, or even something to make you feel better, but its too sensitive of a situation and there's no right answer. I can see she feels something for you, I could see the change in her eyes when she realized you weren't a monster like the rest of us, but, I guess it wasn't enough" she says
She was always brutally honest, sometimes to a fault, and I know she means well but hearing her tell me it wasn't enough cuts deep.
"Let's drop this subject and focus on what matters here. Not only do we get our revenge tonight, but so do our girls. That's enough to be happy about, regardless of who lives or dies" I say
I want to ask her about her mate, but its too raw, even as I realize I may not get another chance to talk about it with her. If I knew my closest companion at all, I could see that things were going better for her and Lake than they were for me and Aylin, and as much as I wanted to be happy for her, I was too bitter to feel it like a real friend should.
Samirah opens her mouth to respond, but is cut off by three pounds on her door
"Get up and gather your people; its time" a male's voice calls through the door
Instantly, both of us are on our feet. We both were already donned in our fighting leathers, courtesy of the Demon King. We grab our weapons before Azrael materalizes in front of us, making both of us jump in surprise.
"You ready?" he says, his usual playful demeanor gone
Samirah gives him a nod before he grabs both of us by the elbow and we're sucked away into darkness before landing in the section of the territory where the rest of our people are. They're all wide awake, their excitement barely contained as we gather them up and Azrael transports us to the border Silas' men will breach.
We wait in tense silence, the majority of the vampires we brought with us buzzing with excitement that this was finally happening, and as soon as we receive the signal to move forth, we dive in. Samirah and I stick close to each other, killing several vampires before they even know they died by our hands. As we fight and slash through the army, the yells of alarm begin as they recognize us. Before the warning cries reach him, Amon stops dead in his tracks when he sees us, relief filling his eyes.
"Fuck! You guys esca-" he's cut off as Samirah flies past me and buries her sword in his chest, not hesitating for even a moment
Only shock and confusion contort his face as he falls to his knees.
"A favor, to the brother I used to know" she says to him as she pulls her sword from his chest before she takes a deep breath and slices his head off.
Samirah's only request was that she be the one to end her brother's life, a final mercy to him. I had only known him to be ruthless, and one of the most brutal in the army, but Samirah insisted that he was a completely different person as a human, and would be horrified at himself in the present day.
I walk up to her and grasp her shoulder for a quick second as she stares at his dead body. She releases a breath before she meets my eyes and nods her head, telling me to move on. I do, and she follows. We continue to fight side by side, our presence as well as our new loyalty now no longer a secret.
The army that was under my command has their sights set on us, a few individuals come for us but we take them down easily. But when I spot a group of at least ten coming at us from the corner of my eye, I groan, knowing this is it.
"Samirah, ten o'clock" I call to her, and she's by my side in an instant
I watch as the crowd splits down the middle, coming at us from our sides and forcing us to fight back to back. Right before they meet us, we're met with the hisses coming from their mouths
"TRAITORS"
"TRAITOROUS FILTH"
"DIE SNAKES"
We had expected this, and we dive right into battle. We had both trained these men, and we knew their fighting styles, their moves, and their weaknesses. I smile as I take them down, sweet revenge making me crave their deaths. The luck of the stars is not on our sides however, as more and more join into the fight against us.
I have no idea how many I've killed and how many surround us, but we fight tooth and nail, unrelenting. I refuse to accept my death without fighting back, even though I've known for quite awhile this is how I die.
I'm knocked to my knees as I'm hit with a blow from behind and my weapon is dislodged. I watch as the man in front of me coils up to lunge for my throat, and close my eyes, ready for the killing blow. It never comes, instead I'm met with a sudden sense of unnatural stillness and a terrifying growl. I open my eyes, finding Aylin's back as she shields my body with hers and every single vampire who was just attacking us is frozen against their will, their eyes wide with fear
""He's mine." she hisses at them as she's met with several growls "Now you die" she says sweetly to them before they all fall to the ground writhing in pain, and they combust into ash right before us.
Gods above, if my heart wasn't soaring right now as I stare at her back with my mouth open in shock I would jump and pull her into my arms. I don't even give a fuck about the blow to my pride that she just saved me like a damsel in distress, I only hear her declaring me as hers.
That only lasts for a second before I'm by her side as more come for us. She doesn't use her magic, she only lunges for them and rips their heads off or smashes their skulls with her own hands or kicks, like she needs to physically feel them die by her hand. She's fucking magnificent. Occasionally one will fall to their knees before us as she turns them into a pile of ash or sets them alight, but for the most part we fight them side by side by hand.
Fighting alongside her feels like the most natural thing I've ever done, we move in sync, our moves only complimenting the other's. Samirah and I fight so well together because we've done so for the last hundred and fifty years, but me and Aylin? Our moves flow together like a song.
We fight until all the vampires, including Samirah and I, are brought to our knees by a tremor in the Earth that seems to only effect us. Complete and utter joy runs through me as I realize its the result of our tie to our King severing. I'm blinded by pain for a second before Samirah lets out a shout of victory and those we brought to battle follow along. My own hands fist the grass beneath me, still unable to rise from my knees. I feel Aylin's gaze boring into me, and despite wanting to meet her eyes, I allow myself to join in on the victory cries.
Not only had both Samirah and I survived, but it was over. Silas' reign of terror was over. We had finally done it, we'd succeeded. I open my eyes and meet Samirah's tear filled eyes instantly as the tremor in the Earth finally dissipates and we're allowed to stand up. I never imagined living to experience this moment, but here I was.
Still feeling Aylin's eyes burning a hole in my back, I finally turn to meet her gaze. When she meets my eyes, I notice her fists clenching, but she only offers me a smirk before turning away. Unable to watch her walk away from me again, I catch her elbow
"Hey. Thank you," I tell her as she turns back around
She stares at me for a long moment, part of me is hoping she'll stake her claim on me again but she only nods before she walks away, magically binding several vampires who remained on their knees.
The rest of us join in, immobilizing, killing, or binding the remaining vampires. I'm met with several venomous glares, but what surprises me is the amount of vampires who give me a nod before putting their hands behind their backs and allowing us to restrain them. I had known that the majority of soldiers were only participating so their families didn't starve, or so they could have a shot at a decent life, but I didn't prepare myself for just how many that was.
"Damon!" I hear the familiar voice of a solider yell
I turn towards the voice, knowing it was one of the men in my infantry, but I'm met with a blade to the chest.
"Die traitor" the voice hisses
I fall to my knees, shock being the only emotion I feel as pain erupts from my chest. Fuck, I trained these men too well apparently because he struck me right in my cold dead heart. It wouldn't be an instant death, it would be slow and painful as my body refused to heal a wound to the heart.
As soon as the pain hits me, I'm met with a scream that makes my ears want to bleed and everything happens in slow motion around me. I watch as Azrael snarls, jumping at the vampire who struck me and melts his eyes out of their sockets before cold hands are cupping my face and emerald green eyes filled with tears are staring into my own as Aylin yanks the blade from me, causing blood to pour from the wound.
She's yelling no at me, like I would be able to follow her command and not die as she tries to stem the black blood that's pouring from my open chest. I have to accept her rejection now, I can't die with her still bound to me. I bring my hand to her face, making her still her frantic movements.
"I, Damon Marcellus Basso, accept your re-"
"NO!" she snarls at me before her hand tangles in my hair and rips my head to the side, exposing my neck to her
I barely even comprehend what happens next as she sinks her fangs into my neck. Instantly, my arms lock around her waist and pull her flush against me. I jolt when her teeth hit my bone before I'm overcome with the most euphoric feeling I've ever felt in my life. Aylin only lets out a soft moan as her fangs hit their mark and her venom shoots through my veins, claiming me as hers and hers only.
As the blood loss takes over by body, I only feel complete and utter joy, realizing that she finally wants me and won't let me go.