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I am not a vampire. I am far more, and far worse, than that. Within me beats the black heart of all that would splinter bone and pick their teeth with the remains. I am the river spring from which flows all cruelty on this Earth. And it was cruelty that made me.
The past is only ever lesser. What may come is all that will ever give us hope.
America simply lacked the age, and was more interested in growing quickly than growing correctly.
“I have no other choice. I know you do not see it yet. But you will.” He crooked a finger beneath her chin and tilted her head up. “I love you. And I will have you love me in return. All of me. Walk the streets of my pain, my darling. And when you find me at the end of it, I will accept your judgement on my knees. I will bow to you like a slave and take your forgiveness or wrath with a joyful heart.” He leaned down, ghosting his lips over hers. “But not until I have decided you have suffered enough.”
“Simple. I am a woman.” The false Bella smiled. “No one notices a woman’s moods, and if they do, they explain it away to her nature. She is an accessory to them, nothing more. Even Bella.”
“Is this love, Master?” “Perhaps.” Vlad shook his head and looked back out the window. “It’s terrible. It’s frightening and putrid. It hurts me in my heart when I think about her rejecting me. I despise it so very much. I think I can’t live without it.” Vlad shut his eyes. “Yes. You are in love.” Mordecai grunted. “Damn it.”
“Because it is so rare that others care for creatures such as I. That anyone might dare love us, let alone him. You are a rare thing, meant to be treasured, not dragged through the muck and mire as you are now.” Before she could react, Zadok’s illusion pulled her into a hug. He tucked her head under his and held her tightly to him. He smelled of cologne. “You show such compassion for others. I wish to show some to you. Accept it, stubborn girl. Do not bring yourself suffering merely because you are under the bullheaded opinion that you somehow deserve it.”
You poor mortal women are supposed to keep your bodies locked in a cage, but your heart is free to the first person who asks for it. And if you don’t grant it to them, it is you who are supposed to feel grief?
“Promise me one thing, Vlad?” “If I can, of course.” “I find myself oddly jealous of her. If I must die in all this, please let me not die a virgin.”
“I…forgive me, I do not usually swear in English, but I feel I must in this moment. Holy shit.”
“Humanity is its own downfall. No one else is to blame for their plight. Ignorance is their greatest sin.”
Bella was there now, standing a few feet away, angelic wings a mockery of what he knew she really was. Or perhaps, just perhaps, all that he knew of what demons and angels were meant to be was all a lie. Maybe there was no line between them after all.
And every day he defied her. Until the day he did not.
