Darkly and Eternally Yours

Chapter 13

"Look, I'm not letting you do this." I said, panic-stricken as I stood between Patricia's bed and Adrian, shielding her. As expected, he was wearing his cloak, concealing himself, but I could feel his shock and stare, flowing through his demeanor in voluminous waves.

"Kiara, I've said this to you before, this is not my choice, I don't decide these things, and I'm just doing my job. This is nature, you can't interfere with it." He said a stern edge in his deep unrecognizable voice.

It was intimidating, seeing him in this black cloak, talking in that voice, his voice sounded like it weighed a thousand pounds, it was just that heavy. A million emotions rushed past every pore of my body, but fear was definitely not one of them.

"I know, but please, YOU can stop this, just give her one more chance, she still has a reason to live, YOU can give her a reason. And now that I know about this, I'm not gonna let you do it, knowing that I can do something to stop it." I pleaded, gripping the steel handle of her bed, overwhelmed.

"She's not a lost puppy Kiara. She's a human and she had her life. This is how life works. It had been happening for generations, it's happening now, and it will always happen. For everyone who ever existed. You and I don't have the right to change this, this isn't our decision to make." He said, his voice softening just a little, like the tip of a melting butter.

I understood what he was saying, I really did. But I just could not accept it, "I know Adrian, but really, you know how her life has been. Life treated her like trash. If her life could be cheated, why can't her death? She has suffered so much; I know you have a heart in there. Just tell me, don't you feel anything... At all?" I asked, my brows knitting together, the silence in virtue of my words, unfolding.

I continued, "You're not that cold-hearted. I've seen you, the real you. I spent time with the real you. I see what's underneath that cold, mysterious mask you put on skin deep every day. You took so many lives, you're gonna take hers, mine and I know, I see how much it kills you. I see how you've been stripped off of a choice. All I am asking for is just a few more years, maybe even just one for her. She deserves that much." I reasoned, the layers of my voice being peeled off, one at a time, revealing the liquid vulnerability held within.

He just stood there, not moving, not talking, barely breathing. "Death can't be cheated, I know but how about life? Was it fair? Wasn't she cheated of a happy ending? I know very rare people get it, but still. Her life is in your hands. I know it's your responsibility to God up there, but look at her, don't you feel the slightest bit of sympathy?" I asked my voice breaking.

"I'm not allowed to." He finally spoke, his voice returning to the smooth beautiful one that I was accustomed to. He sounded aggrieved, even though I couldn't see his face through the cloak, which was bothering me, but I could hear the torment tinged on the edges of his melancholy voice. Like smooth silk on raging flames.

I took one step closer to him, and another, and then one more, until I could hear his breaths, until his dark cloak brushed against my knuckles. He looked like what you'd call death, maybe he would've looked frightening, he could have raised the hair on my back, goosebumps on my skin, cause plain agonizing terror, but I knew better than that. I knew what was underneath the cloak, I was anything but afraid.

I raised my hands to pull down the hood, anxious to see his face, his beautiful disarrayed brown hair. I gasped, when I saw the expression rendered on his face. He wasn't crying, but he could any moment, if he was capable. His grey eyes glossed, not in a happy way, in a way that you felt like miles of emotions flowed through the gates of his estranged soul, flooding your own. Years of untold secrets, regrets, confessions, and pain were scribbled on his eyeballs.

His gaze on me was so unbelievably powerful, we didn't need to talk, and we had our own language, spoken with our eyes. His, screaming to me, begging me to erase it all, telling volumes, filling buckets full of emotions.

"Adrian," I whispered his name spoken by my lips so softly, brushing him like a feather. "It's okay." I said, placing my palm over his warm cheek. "I'm so sorry Kiara." He whispered brokenly.

A dam broke in him suddenly, as he jerked me to him, his long arms wrapping around me in a skintight embrace, burying his face into my neck. His hold on me was so tight, I could barely breathe, not that it mattered, I wanted nothing more than to blend into him. He was holding me as if I was gonna disappear, when in truth it was him who would disappear. His fingers grasped handfuls of my shirt, clutching it. His face buried so deep, I doubted he could breathe. But, the beautiful part was that none of us cared,this was more important than breathing. We were both scared to let go. The sadness inside him rolled off like a waterfall.

He squeezed me, before pulling away slightly, just to look at me, his hands still around my waist. "If I could cry, I would. But, I don't have that ability." He said, squeezing his eyes shut, his forehead pressed with mine.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do, what I'm going to fix, or what we should do about us. But there's this one thing I'm sure of. And I've never been more sure of anything else, in my dark brooding life." He said.

"Truth is, I need you like air, I need you like human's need a heart. To keep them alive. You made me alive, you're keeping me alive. I have no idea how you do it, but you have me completely under your spell. Chained." He smirked, making me smile.

"You are my heart, as sleazy as it sounds, I love you so much. I would never hurt you. I'd always protect you for as long as I exist." He said, so honestly, with no secrets, hidden meanings. He said it simply. I was stunned; my heart did a strange... Flutter? There was a warm feeling in my stomach and then it hit me, Is this what love feels like? I remembered reading in books, how you would feel butterflies, sparks, fireworks. Was I feeling that way?

My brain was still processing his words, soaking them up. They were simple, yet not at all. He was still staring at me, waiting. Waiting for my too-slow brain to catch up, to register. My mouth broke into a huge grin. I pulled his neck down to tell him, to show him as I moved my mouth against his. He was a bit stunned at first, but nevertheless, he reciprocated. I pulled him down more, but instead he lifted me up, solving the issue. "Easier access." He whispered, crashing his lips with mine, kissing, savoring. Until it hit us that we were in a hospital room.

"I love you too." I said, placing a concluding kiss on his lips, making him smile, a genuine smile. The one that brightened you, no matter what mood you were in.

"I could hear that forever." He said.

"But..." I looked over at Patricia's bed.

He shook his head, as he walked towards the bed. "I can't, I'm not. There most definitely are consequences but..." He sighed, looking at me, his lips forming into a soft smile.

"You're a dangerous creature, Kiara Winters. You're the death of death." He said, reaching out a hand towards me, which I took.

"Thank you." I said, looking at Patricia. She looked sickly, but at least it was better than death. I heard Adrian let out a heavy sigh.

"You do know that I can't keep doing this. I will eventually have to do my job. Despite both of our wishes." He said, placing his cheek on top of my head, both of us looking at Patricia.

"I know." I said, biting my lip as I squeezed his hand, in reassurance.

He placed a kiss on top of my head. "Let's get outta here." He said, interlacing his fingers with mine.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Where the hell were you?" I heard Dianna screech, her voice extremely high which meant she was furious. I shut the door and saw her sitting at the dining table, in an uncomfortably tense manner.

"Around." I answered, hanging my coat in the hanger.

"What do you mean 'around'? I was worried sick for you!" She said, standing up like an uncoiled snake ready to strike.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize how late it is, and my phone's dead." I said, waving my phone at her. It was true, after we left the hospital, Adrian dropped me off home, he said he had some stuff to take care of, to which I reluctantly let him go. He promised that he would call me and that we would meet up the next day.

"Dead? Why were you out in the first place? In this condition? How would I have known that you weren't lying in a ditch somewhere?!" She exclaimed dramatically, hands on her hips.

"God Di, I'm sorry. And what condition are you talking about? I'm not a mental patient for God's sake!" I exclaimed. I was too tired for this right now.

"You're going through a break up! You're a mess! You're emotionally unstable! What am I supposed to think when it's 2 a.m. and you still haven't returned? That's pretty darn late for a girl who told me that she would just stay in bed all day and do NOTHING. I returned early to check on you, but WOW!" She yelled.

"Come on Dianna, you're not my mother, I'm a grown ass person, I don't need to tell you everything I do. And I already said I'm sorry, stop overreacting." I said, exhausted.

"You were with him weren't you? That's where you were the entire time, Ha! How funny." She laughed, in bitter amusement.

I rolled my eyes, "You know what? I'm just gonna go to sleep. I'm tired." I grumbled, starting to walk towards my bedroom.

"Stay away from him." Dianna said, in an icy tone that I've never heard her use before. I turned around in surprise, What the hell does she mean?

She realized how queer she sounded, and backed herself up. "He hurt you so much; I've never seen you THAT heartbroken before. I feel like he's toxic." She said, not meeting my eyes.

"You didn't think so before." I remarked, cautiously.

"Things changed, if he could hurt you that much, imagine what else he could do? I don't want you getting hurt. He's shady and I just... don't know, I can't trust him." She said.

"You don't have to; he needs my trust, not yours." I said firmly.

"Less than five hours ago you were crying because of him, and now you're defending him against me?" She asked, incredulous.

"I don't wanna fight either, but I see how the tables have turned. You better be careful this time, because I'm not going to hold you up." She said, eyeing me in a bitchy way. Telling me I was making a bad choice.

But for once, I didn't care.