My Personal Beast

Chapter 17

“Aria, please, you need you understand-”

“Understand what Klaus? That you’re a monster? That you care about nothing but yourself? I’ve already grasp those concepts,” I hissed. Klaus’s face looked torn. He was still covered in blood, and it didn’t really help his situation.

“Aria, you don’t understand how my life has been. My father has been constantly tormenting me because of what I am!” Klaus begged for me to belief him.

“You’ve killed people! You’re a monster!” I screamed. The tears fell down my cheeks freely. I didn’t bother stopping them either.

“Aria,” This time it was a broken whisper. Klaus looked like he was on the verge of snapping. He looked like he was about to break down into unfixable pieces. That was exactly how I felt, although I wouldn’t let him see it.

“Go Klaus. If you stay I’ll have no choice but to kill you,” I muttered. I looked down at the ground, hoping he would leave without causing me more emotional drama.

“Then kill me,” Klaus muttered. I looked up in surprise. Klaus stared at me with blank eyes, unseeing, unfeeling. I felt shut out, cold and thrown away. I wasn’t used to feeling like this when I was around Klaus.

“What?” I whispered.

“Aria, you’re the only thing that’s kept me here. Without you I have nothing to live for. If I have to leave, well, then I’d rather be dead,” He whispered. I could tell he wasn’t used to this kind of emotion. Neither was I. I’d always shut out feelings like this.

“Klaus-” I choked out. My voice broke, making me sound pathetic. In an instant Klaus was standing right in front of me, caressing me face. I shouldn’t have felt calm when he did this. I should have pushed him away when he touched me. But, instead, I sighed at the feeling of warmth spreading throughout my body, leaving calmness in its place.

“I love you,” Klaus whispered. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. He looked so desperate, so lost. The lump rose in my throat again, and I choked back the sobs.

“Klaus, please just go,” I cried softly. I couldn’t deal with this right now. I wasn’t ready to feel all of this.

“Aria, I promise-”

“Don’t make me any promises. If you cared about me, you’d leave,” I sobbed again.

“Alright, but I’m only doing this for you,” Klaus sounded broken. I swallowed again, waiting for the emptiness to take over. Then Klaus gently kissed me. A brief, soft peck, but it was enough to stab me in the heart. The pain overwhelmed me, and I fell to the ground on my knees. Klaus was gone. He wasn’t coming back. I was left with an aching heart and an emptiness inside of me. Then I was overcome with darkness.

That night, my sleep didn’t even give me peace. I kept having dreams about Klaus covered in blood, killing our village, my family. Then he’d change, become the Klaus I knew, the Klaus I loved. Then he’d stab my heart and I’d wake up screaming into my pillow. I’d fall asleep and it would happen all over again. Eventually, after seven times of waking up, I’d grown tired of that dream. I was exhausted, having had about only half an hour of peaceful sleep. It was still dark outside. I decided to go to the only place I felt at ease. The lake. Only, when I got there, I was bombarded with memories of Klaus and I. I rested my head against a tree, and cried. I must have looked pathetic, sitting on the dirt sobbing at my own misfortune. The pain still wouldn’t go away. It kept tugging at the edges of my heart, cutting me deeply. I was so preoccupied with the pain that I hadn’t heard the rustling in the bushes. When it was too late I realized someone was standing in front of me. I looked up to see The Duke Marcus. A family friend.

“Aria, you shouldn’t be out here alone,” Marcus reprimanded me.

“I need to be left alone, Marcus,” I said huskily.

“Aria, please come back-”

“She wants to be left alone,” A voice hissed. My mind begged for that voice to be an illusion. I couldn’t take it if he showed up here now.

“Yes, Klaus,” I heard Marcus say. He walked away and I was left here by the lake with the last person I wanted to be with.

“I thought I told you to leave,” I muttered unemotionally.

“I couldn’t,” His voice sounded broken again. That only made my pain ten times worse.

“You managed to kill more than a handful of innocent people, don’t tell me you’ve grown a heart in that period of time,” Venom seeped into every word.

“No matter how much you deny it, you know I care for you,” Klaus muttered. He started walking towards me. I prayed that it was dark enough that he couldn’t see my tears.

“Well I don’t want you to,” I muttered sourly.

“Well it’s alittle too late for that,” Klaus sighed. He knelt in front of me and I could feel his eyes searching my face.

“What do you want?” I snapped. He hesitated.

“Do you love me?” He asked. I could hear him stop breathing, waiting for my answer.

“I-” I wanted to say no. My brain screamed at me to say no. But my heart screamed at my brain to shut up. Something kept me from saying that word that would have destroyed me.

“Aria please,” Klaus begged, “I need to know the truth.”

“The truth? You want to know the truth?” I snapped. “Well fine. Here’s the truth. I still do love you. Even though I should hate you, even though I should be terrified of you, I’m not. I love you and I hate it,” I hissed. Klaus was silent. I was tempted to look at his expression, but I kept my head down. Then his hand slowly lifted my head up, so that I looked him directly in the eyes.

“Do you still want me to leave?” Klaus asked. I knew now, that by confessing to him, I couldn’t possibly want him to leave. I never did. I sighed, unable to answer his question.

“Aria I love you more than life,” Klaus whispered before kissing me. He was gentle, hesitant. Tears were still falling down my face, out of pain or joy, I didn’t know. He trailed kisses on my cheeks, my eyes my nose. Then he wiped away the tears with his fingers, staring at me all the while.

“I promise I won’t do anything ever again to make you feel this way. Aria, I never wanted to hurt you,” Klaus whispered. I felt a new wave of tears flow down my face and Klaus kissed them away. At that moment I didn’t care that he was a monster. I didn’t care that I should have killed him. I wrapped myarms around his neck, and I didn’t let go.