Caleb heard Orion before he saw him. Caleb was in his office that was across from Caramia's bedroom. He had been pacing back and forth ever since Orion entered his stepsister's bedroom. Crimson coated Orion's mouth and wrist, but his appearance didn't faze him. Instead, there was only relief that flooded him. He had scented blood earlier, but he refused to get his hopes up.
As he stood leaning over his desk with his hands splayed upon the surface, he watched Orion approach him. The crimson haze was slowly fading from those intense emerald eyes. He hadn't realized he had been holding his breath until Orion stood directly in front of him.
"It is done?" he asked Orion nervously.
His eyes flashed as he licked his lips. "It's only the beginning."
Caleb gestured to the left side of his desk. There was two small basins of water, a jug of water, and clean folded face cloths that were perched on the edge of his desk. Orion took the hint and walked over there. As he dipped the cloth into the water, Orion looked into his eyes.
"We'll need to protect her from all of them until she's ready," Orion stated while he wrung out the excess water into the basin. He started cleansing the blood from his face. "The Ton will eat her alive."
Caleb agreed, nodding his head to the grim reality. She was already being flayed by the media. His starry-eyed stepsister lived a different life before this. She wasn't used to be in the spotlight. With Orion gifting her, she would be thrust straight into it and stay in the media forever. He chewed his bottom lip as Orion continued to wash the blood from his wrist.
"You can't leave Crown," he said, knowing Orion couldn't. Orion was a high-ranking politician in their vampire society. He was the representative for his House now that Dimitri stepped down.
Orion sighed as he reached for a dry cloth. "You know that wouldn't be possible." He blotted his wet skin until it dried. "I took my father's place. There is too much at stake to be irresponsible and run from my legacy. It is my responsibility to uphold my House's reputation."
But how would Caramia fit into the equation now? She never fit into Orion's world. She was considered an outsider and ostracized by Orion's own careless hand. If it hadn't been for his best friend's harsh actions, her name wouldn't have been dragged through the mud as wickedly as it had. Yet Caramia's naïveté had forced Orion's hand and he couldn't fault Orion's actions against her.
"She will have to learn how to swim with the sharks," Orion murmured. The concern over the grimness of their circumstances seemed to unsettle him. "She will have to find her inner strength to truly become one of us."
"And if she doesn't? What if she doesn't belong to this world?"
Forever placed in difficult positions, he had watched the best things in life be set on fire, be burned by the flames, and witnessed the devastation from afar. He had chosen to search for Caramia in the wake of losing a dream. It was a needed distraction that almost forced him into another tidal wave of depression. Why must he always lose the ones that meant the most to him? He didn't want to be the only one left in his bloodline.
Then Orion showed up at his doorstep like a vampire prepared for battle and Caleb felt that spark of hope that perhaps some dreams can be attained. That even if the wake of so many shattered dreams that there were some that would break down the walls and break the chains that held them back. There were some that would have the courage to take what they desired.
Even with that courage to step out of the norm and expectations of society, Caleb knew Orion still had to return to the world they both knew. They both knew that he would be faced with opposition and a variety of obstacles. Would it be enough? Would being with his mate be enough to withstand the hardships he would surely face?
Caleb swallowed down seeds of his deepest regrets. He couldn't bear to become the nightmare she regretted and eventually resented. Yet as he eyed his best friend's exhaustion on his face, he wondered if it had been worth chancing it.
"She doesn't belong to this world," Orion chuckled softly. His voice darkened with each word uttered. Caleb caught Orion's eyes as they flicked to him. "She will never belong to this world. She wasn't born into it, but it isn't the first death that we will be concerned with."
Caleb sucked in a breath. "It's the second."
"The death of her humanity," he grumbled. "I never wanted that for her. She was too good for it. I fear I will lose the best thing about her."
"Which was what?"
"Her sweetness and innocence," he confessed as he looked away. "Her gentle touch of kindness. Her body was fragile. Her entirety had a sense of vulnerability and fragility. All traits that our kind rarely show." He took a deep breath. "I still can leave her to decide her own fate. I could've just sired her. In fact, I can still protect her and walk away right now. Nobody would ever know what truly happened behind these walls. She would be able to live her immortal life out here in the country."
Caleb's heart twisted at his best friend's word. Would he truly that? Would Orion just walk away? Was that what he was planning the entire time? Fury burned through his veins and he reached across the desk to grab him by the open collar of his button up shirt. Caramia was ready to die. She didn't need to be given hope to be abandoned.
He squeezed his hands into the collar and yanked him forward harshly. His eyes narrowed into slits. His instinct was to attack him, but he would be nothing more than a hypocrite. To Orion, he did exactly that to Persephone. To Orion, he abandoned her. Was this Orion's way of punishing him?
"Don't punish her for my sins," he hissed at him.
Orion's eyes flashed as his hands covered his and shoved them off of him. "I said I could. I could do that except there is a brutally fatal flaw in that plan." He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not like you. I'm not strong enough to do the honorable thing. I'm too selfish to let her go and be free from the hell I'm forcing her to endure. I tried to be like you. I tried to be honorable to my House, to you, and even to her. Does it make me a monster that I cannot let her go? If you were truly a brother, you would force me to leave and forbid me to return."
Silence passed. It was almost like Orion was begging Caleb to save her from him, but Caleb gave him a weak smile. He shook his head at the predicament they both were in.
"I'd rather be a monster," Caleb blurted out. "If I had a chance knowing what I know now, I would've rather have been a monster."
Orion raised an eyebrow at those statements. "Then be one." Caleb shook his head. It's too late for me. Too much between us now to reach her. Orion's stare was intense burning into him until his best friend took a deep breath. "I haven't completed the mating ceremony, but I shall when we return from the Annual Summit. She should continue to rest and gain strength here before enduring this new life. I promised her I would be here when she wakes up and I shall honor that first before duty calls us away."
Caleb could only nod agreement as Orion turned to walk back to Caramia's bedroom. He watched him until he disappeared into the room and shut the door. All the emotions rising up within him finally erupted and he crumbled, letting his tears fall. At least, Caramia would live an immortal life.
~
Orion made certain when she awoke that he was there. He watched her as she rested and recovered. Her body had gone into a coma-like phase of transformation. She no longer looked so frail. There was even that rosiness back in her cheeks again. Her hair had shine and fullness. The circles underneath her eyes had disappeared. Death was no longer beating down the door and he could actually smell her blood not the disease.
When she finally awoke, her eyes opened, surveying the room until they settled upon him. Their eyes locked and neither one of them broke contact under the intensity of their gaze.
Finally, she spoke. “You stayed.”
He smirked at her statement. He approached the bed and leaned down as he caught her chin between his fingers. He wouldn’t have her shying away from him. No, he needed her to truly understand everything that transpired couldn't be undone.
“Did you know that we are now the only two of our kind?” The question caught her off guard. His blood and hers was coursing through both of their veins. She swallowed at the implication of his words. “Nobody will ever have the same type of blood as us. I don’t think you truly understand. Nobody has ever drank my blood -- only you. If you ever doubt how I feel about you, remember that you are the only one that has my blood flowing through your very veins. Remember that.”