A Billion Secrets: Vampire Romance Novel
Page 16
“Do I need another mirror?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “That’s how it is for us. If it’s any help, I think you’re at your most beautiful.”
“Isaac?” she began.
Gabriel looked away for a moment and made a conscious sigh. “This might take some time. Would you get back on the bed? You haven’t completely healed.”
She complied and slipped back on the bed. Gabriel grabbed a chair and leaned forward, looking at her eyes. “Isla, Isaac is dead.”
“You killed him?”
He shook his head. “The sun killed him. He was too weak from the silver, and the sun rose before he could finish me off.”
“Just the way you want it?” she began, feeling some sense of sadness. She hadn’t wanted for anyone to die, not even a nightwalker as cruel and terrifying as him. “I’m sorry you lost the only family you had left.”
Gabriel looked down and clasped his hands. “I’m not sorry I fought to keep you. I thought I almost lost you. I thought you wouldn’t pull through.”
Her hand reached out for his. She could no longer feel the soft chill as she touched him. “You did what you had to do. And I asked you to do it. I told you I would never leave you. No matter what.”
“Isla, at what cost? There are things you can’t ever do anymore.”
Isla looked down and saw the red diamond on her hand. “I have the stone…”
Gabriel gave a faint smile. “I had it made into a ring as soon as we got back and I saw you were stable. James has been a great help, although his friend at the blood bank isn’t liking how the blood bags are flying off the cold shelves.”
His face turned serious once more. “Isla, this ring, it will keep you safe from most things that can harm us, but we still have our mortality if we aren’t careful.”
“Well, I have a good amount of time to learn the ropes, right?”
He nodded. “You’ve got a good amount of time in your hands.”
“Isaac could have taken the stone.”
“He did. But it failed him in the end. It’s what I wanted to ask you. How did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“The stone worked only for you. The moment you were turned, you didn’t burn at all…”
Isla looked at her hands on her lap. “I don’t know. I’m not a Hunter, nor do I know magic. I just knew I was ready to die, I was ready to die for you and for myself.”
“I had been long dead when I got the stone…” Gabriel’s voice trailed off, unable to comprehend the full complexity of the red diamond. “I just assumed it owed its allegiance to you, after you being its guardian for so long.”
“Could Lily have been-?” Isla stopped.
Gabriel shook his head. “I wouldn’t know. But that is the past. You are the present and the future for me.”
“So by some inexplicable force, I’ve become the stone’s master?”
Gabriel nodded. “It would seem so.”
“I’m… I don’t know what to say. I had no idea that was how it worked…”
“I think that was what your father was trying to retrieve. He had wanted to study it, along with your mother. I believe it was to keep you safer.”
“And they didn’t even know what it truly did. They only acted on hearsay.”
“I acted on hearsay. Look where I am now.”
“Where will I be now?” she suddenly asked, remembering she had a life prior to all this.
“Beside me.”
She stared and tried to sigh, and sighing suddenly become uncomfortable, like she didn’t really need it. “I dreamed of Lily.”
Gabriel’s eyes lit up.
“I dreamed of my parents too. They approved of you in my dream. And Lily, she told me to trust you.”
“What else did she say?”
“Turn. She told me to turn. I don’t remember much, but I remember I asked you to take my blood to keep you alive, and turn me…”
He nodded. “I almost didn’t want to do it, to be honest.”
“Why did you?” she asked him.
“I didn’t want to see you leave me. I couldn’t live with myself. I promised to keep you safe. I am sorry my selfish actions caused you pain.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to be sorry about anything. I wanted it.”
“Because Lily told you to?”
“Because I knew it was what I wanted all along. Lily just reminded me,” she almost laughed, “I saw her, the voice I heard from the watch...it was her voice.”
Gabriel looked down and stared at his shoes. “I saw Lily too. When I was waiting for you to wake up, when I was waiting for the faintest heartbeat.”
“Her ghost?”
He nodded. “I guess it was. I had never seen her ghost before, no matter how much I wanted to. But her face, it said it all. She wanted us to be together. I feel, I feel at peace.”
He reached out for her hand and grasped it. “Isla, I’m still not too pleased I took away your mortality. In effect, I took away your shot at a normal life.”
“I don’t want a normal life, not after what I’ve been through,” she said with a grin. “Think of all the stuff we can do.”
“In moderation,” he reminded her.
She nodded. “Right, in moderation. Although… working at the museum will raise suspicions since I won’t age anymore.”
“That’s when you’ll get creative.”
“You mean that’s when I can practice lying?”
“I’d like to say it’s for your own good. It’s how we survive and move along with the world. Time won’t stop for us, but we can do a lot of things with it.”
“I still want to finish my masters.”
“By all means. I would love to accompany you, though.”
“As what? My benefactor?”
“We could start with that,” he said, “although that won’t occur without controversy. Although, will you be going back to the United States afterward?”
“Why? Are you allergic to the States?”
He smiled and shook his head. “I’ve never stepped foot in the United States, if you remember. I don’t have property there, not much of the old world left for my tastes, too.”
“Homebody, I see.”
“You could say that.”
“I can still drink coffee, right?”
“If you want,” Gabriel laughed, but then he stopped himself. “Isla, I hope you know the ramifications of turning into a nightwalker.”
“Aside from being unable to have any children, silver, or being unable to eat human food, what else is there?”
“You really will need to feed on human blood. I’ll do my best to help you satiate the need to attack humans. Human blood is always best when it’s from someone living and breathing, and because you’re new, you’ll look for it.”
There was fear in her eyes. “I don’t want to kill anyone. I work at the museum. So many people will be there. It might drive me crazy.”
He held one hand tightly in his. “I’ll help you. Don’t worry about it.”
Isla looked at the bedsheets and her hands smoothed over them, feeling the smooth cotton. She didn’t even need bedsheets, now did she?
“Will we be sleeping in coffins?”
“What movies have you been watching?” he asked in mock horror. “If you like, I can have someone make a coffin to your specifications.”
“I like beds, thanks very much,” she said with a laugh. Then she grew serious. “Gabriel, I think I was meant to meet you all along.”
He smiled. “I think I was meant to save you to meet you again. Funny how things work out. I had thought I’d live until I’m 500 or something and then decide to die by my own hands. I couldn’t see anything beyond my day to day life. Sure, there was something to do, but it never really had purpose. There were only three instances in my life where I thought my existence had purpose. One was when I found the red diamond, two was when I met Lily, and three was when I found out I loved you. You could say
third time’s a charm.”
“You love me, huh?”
He huffed. “Would you want me to repeat that?”
She laughed. “I was diffusing the seriousness. But you love me. Even if we’ve met a mere three months ago.”
“Three months and twelve days to be exact,” he corrected. “Which brings me to my proposal.”
“Proposal? I just woke up, you don’t need to propose,” she said with a laugh.
“Very funny. But it borders on something close to that,” he began. “I propose we live together.”
“Where?”
“Here. I have a lot of rooms that need some warmth.”
“Did you just say a joke? A green joke?” she laughed.
“I’m ready to do just about anything to ease your changing,” he replied, “but in all seriousness, I would like it best if you were close to me.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to come up with some excuse to move out and stay in the museum benefactor’s home.”
“Excellent.”
“Seriously? Can’t I just pretend we’re still dating and stuff? And how I’m still working my butt off for a master’s degree?”
“We’re still dating, of course. But I think it’s high time I make your life even more comfortable. I’m not being an arse or anything, but I will give you everything I can to see you happy.”
“Even if you didn’t have any money, I’d be happy with you,” she said with a frown, and she knew her body would instinctively blush, but she barely felt any warmth on her cheeks.
“I know you’re trying to blush.”
“I’m not trying,” she protested, “I just forgot I couldn’t.”
He smiled. “Something else I should get used to, I guess. I did enjoy seeing you blush. So, have you thought about it already?”
She nodded. “Why would I say no? I already died for this.”
He found himself laughing and so did she. “There isn’t much warmth as a nightwalker.”
“We have the red diamond. Even if it’s something so tiny, I think I just might appreciate it even more. And… I also have you.”
He looked at her as she sat on the bed, her pale face had begun to suit her already, and she was beautiful inside and out, despite the fact that she was half-dead. But the other half was still alive, wasn’t it? With Isla, there was hope, with Isla, there was life. Impulsively, he leaned over to give her a kiss. All those empty years had come to an end.
Isla gently kissed him back.
THE END
Message From The Author:
Hiii
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Angela x
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