When Scott left, the door clicked shut with a finality that echoed through the empty house. The silence pressed down on Kian, heavier now that the distractions were gone. He collapsed onto the couch, burying his face in his hands, feeling more lost than ever.
His conversation with Scott had been like reaching for a lifeline, only to realize it wasn't tethered to anything.
Scott had tried to help, to be there like a best friend should, but the truth was, Kian was standing on the edge of a cliff, alone.
One step, one choice, and everything he had ever known would fall away. The gap between the life he had known and the one he was about to enter yawned wide in front of him, a chasm he had no idea how to bridge.
His phone buzzed on the coffee table, the small sound cutting through the oppressive quiet.
Kian hesitated before picking it up, knowing who it would be. His heart skipped as Viktor's name appeared on the screen.
"I'm here if you need me. We don't have to make a decision yet, Kian. But I want you to know I'll be with you no matter what you choose."
Kian's hands trembled as he read the words. Viktor was always like this, so careful, so patient. Always trying to protect him, always offering a way out, a path forward. But was there really a way out? Or was that just another illusion, another lie he was telling himself to avoid the truth?
The truth was simple: the moment he let Viktor turn him, he would lose everything, his family, his friends, his humanity.
The people he loved would become memories, fading echoes of a life that would no longer be his. There would be no birthdays, no quiet dinners with his mom, no beers with Scott on a Friday night.
Those parts of him, the pieces of his human life, would be gone forever. He would become something else, someone else, immortal, but hollow.
Yet without Viktor, without that bond, without the protection of being one of them, he was in constant danger. Isolde's threat hung over him like a storm cloud, ready to strike. Viktor had made it clear that the only way to keep him safe was to turn him.
"But what kind of life would that be?"
Kian stood, pacing the room as his thoughts tumbled over each other. He had never imagined immortality. He had never craved it. The thought of living forever seemed more like a curse than a ggift
He would watch everything he loved wither and fade, while he stayed the same, untouched by time but bound by it, locked in an existence he hadn't asked for.
His mind drifted back to the moments that had defined him. The smell of the ocean on a warm summer day, when he and Scott had skipped school and driven to the beach on a wwhim
His mom's laugh at Thanksgiving, the way she would tell embarrassing stories about his childhood. The pain of his heartbreak, the dizzying high of falling in love, even the aching low of losing it.
"Would those things still hold meaning as a vampire?" Or would they fade into insignificance as the centuries passed, just like the humans who had once filled his life?
The house around him felt smaller, suffocating. He had come here to confront his past, to say goodbye to his old life, but now that he was here, he wasn't sure he could let it go. He wasn't sure he was ready to.
But then there was Viktor.
He thought about the way Viktor's eyes softened when he looked at him, the quiet intensity that lingered in his gaze. The unspoken love and devotion that had grown between them, something Kian had never expected, never thought possible.
They hadn't known each other long, but Kian felt as though their souls were bound in some deep, unexplainable way. There was a pull between them, stronger than anything he had ever felt before.
Walking away from Viktor felt impossible, like cutting out a piece of his heart. But staying meant giving up everything else.
The phone buzzed again, and Kian looked down at the screen.
"Come back to me when you're ready. I'll be waiting."
Kian's breath hitched in his throat. He could feel Viktor's presence even in those simple words, could feel the weight of what he was asking without asking.
Viktor was giving him space, giving him time, but they both knew time was running out. Isolde wasn't patient. The world they lived in wasn't kind.
Viktor had warned him that things would only get more dangerous, that the longer he stayed human, the more of a target he would become. Turning wasn't just about love, it was about survival.
Kian's heart clenched. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to his humanity, not yet. But he couldn't walk away from Viktor either.
Across the city, in the darkened halls of his mansion, Viktor stood by the window, staring out at the cold night. His phone was still in his hand, Kian's last message glowing on the screen.
"I need time."
Viktor's chest tightened. He understood, of course he did. He had seen this struggle play out before, watched other humans wrestle with the same decision Kian was facing. But this was different. Kian was different.
It had been long, Viktor had ever cared for someone.
Longtime since he felt this need to protect, this aching fear that he might lose someone again.
But Kian had stirred something that was sleeping inhim, something Viktor had thought long dead. He didn't want to push him, didn't want to rush him. But he was terrified of what might happen if he let Kian go.
When Kian had told him that morning that he needed to visit his old house, Viktor's first instinct had been to tell him no. To keep him here, safe. But he had seen the look in Kian's eyes, the need to confront his past, to say goodbye in his own way.
Viktor had watched him leave, feeling as though a part of him had walked out the door with Kian. Now, hours later, he was still standing there, phone in hand, waiting.
"Please come back to me," Viktor whispered, his voice barely audible in the stillness of the room. He didn't know what he would do if Kian didn't return.
He closed his eyes, pressing the phone to his chest as if the physical connection could somehow bridge the distance between them.
Kian stood in the doorway of the house, staring out into the darkening street. The quiet of the neighborhood felt strange now, almost eerie. Everything had changed, even the things that hadn't.
He glanced down at his phone again, Viktor's message still on the screen.
"I'll be waiting."
Kian took a deep breath. He didn't have to make a decision right now. He didn't have to choose between his old life and a future with Viktor in this moment. But he did have to face one undeniable truth, he loved Viktor.
And if loving Viktor meant stepping into the unknown, then maybe, just maybe, he could find the strength to do it.
Kian slid his phone into his pocket and turned, leaving the house behind.