Rose
'Rose? Breathe. It's no big deal.' Theo takes my hand and smiles at me.
'But it is...' I manage to whisper while tears gather in my eyes. I can feel my entire world falling apart.
'No, Rose. Don't go there! You love eachother.' Ivy interrupts us.
'Do we? I mean, I love Theo, yes. But does he love me? Truly love me?' Once again, my heart breaks. When does this stop? I am tired of all these things, of all this pain.
'What the fuck are you talking about? I'm right here, you know!' Theo snaps at us.
'Theo... the Iele.. one of their powers is to seduce men, make them lose their mind, fall in love with them to the point of taking their own lives if they couldn't be with them.' I lower my head and start sobbing. You don't love me Theo...
'What are you saying?' He asks me confused.
'She's saying that there is a chance you fell in love with her because she is what she is.' Ivy fills in the gap for everybody else.
'That's bullshit.' Dorian snaps.
'What if it's not?' Bella asks while she gets up from her chair, pacing around. The twins woke up and are crying loudly. Alex goes to see them and Bella follows him.
'Why does it matter?' Theo pushes his chair back while standing up angry.
'It matters for me. I don't want you to love me because I charmed you or something.' I shout between my tears.
'But you didn't...' he clenches his teeth to contain his anger. Selena is now holding Dorian's hand while tears run down her cheeks as well.
'Fine, Theo. Tell me...How did you wake up so soon? How did you hear me? How come you heard even my thoughts?' I raise my voice feeling disappointed.
'I heard you. I heard even the fuckin' story. Your voice was pulling me out of the darkness.' Theo runs his hand through his hair nervously.
His words stung deep in my heart. He doesn't love me. It's just the magic speaking. He's enchanted by me and I don't even know how I did it. How can I be with someone that doesn't love me for real? How can I be such a monster to rob somebody of his choice of loving whoever their heart truly desires?
'Stop thinking about these stupid things.' Selena cuts in again. 'Sweetheart... Theo has loved you ever since he first met you. Yes, at the beginning there was no sexual thing about it, but he fell hard when he returned home.'
'But...'
'No buts, Rose. Mom is right. Why do you think I joined the army? And if the sparkly mojo bullshit was to be true, I refused you so many times, for months. I didn't even knew how I felt about you until I left for those three weeks. And I don't even care why I love you. I'm a fucking vampire, for fuck's sake. That magic bullshit doesn't work on me for sure!' He says while making me stand up and face him. He looks so desperate, so scared. His palms capture my face and force me to look into his eyes.
My face goes void of any emotion. Everything is swirling in my mind in complete chaos. This is too much. I need this pain to go away. I start shaking while I feel all colour draining from my face. Now I'm the one scaring everybody.
'Please, Theo.' I lower my head again.
'Please what, Rose? What do you want me to do? Stop loving you?' Theo asks me, desperation visible in his voice. His hands are shaking and his voice sounds lost.
'I don't know, Theo. I need to think about all of this.' I cover my face with my palms. This is too much.
'Don't do this, Rose.' Selena begs me.
'I... I have to go.' I tell everybody and I run to my room.
I pack some clothes in a bag and wait for everybody to return to their room. I get in my car, drive to the airport and get a ticket to Romania. I need to find out more about this whole story.
Theo
She left. This time she left me. Today is the last day of the year and she ran away from me. We were supposed to have a nice party to celebrate the passing of this year, instead of that, here I am, all alone, with bourbon to keep me company. Dad traced her credit card to Romania. The last place she checked in was a city named Buzau.
'She will come back.' My mom says.
'I don't know, mom.'
'Theo, don't be silly. She is probably looking for answers.' Ivy says while standing in the doorway of my office.
'Now, why don't you come to Palermo with us.'
'No, mom. I'll stay here. Have a safe flight.'
It's almost midnight and I am drunk out of my mind. I take out my phone and call her. It goes straight to voicemail.
I fall asleep with the glass of bourbon in my hand and thinking about her.