The Bond Between Us
1711 Words
The storm had passed, but the air still trembled with its memory. Rainwater dripped from the porch roof, tracing soft paths down the old wood before falling onto the earth below. Candice sat there again knees drawn close, blanket around her shoulders her eyes fixed on nothing and everything all at once. The night had become her confidant, silent but knowing.
Her world had ended twice. The first was the night her parents died. The second was the moment she found out who killed them.
Kai Parker. The man she had loved. The man who had saved her. The man who had destroyed everything.
His name felt heavy now like something cursed. Every time she thought it, it echoed in her chest, pulsing with equal parts grief and longing.
She had tried to hate him. God, she had tried. But hate was loud and short-lived. What she felt for Kai was quiet, stubborn, and unkillable.
And that made it worse.
From the woods beyond her house, a shadow moved. She didn’t need to see his face to know it was him. She felt him like an ache in her soul, a pull she couldn’t resist.
“Don’t,” she said softly, without turning. “Don’t come closer.”
Kai stopped a few feet away, drenched from the rain. His hair clung to his forehead, and his coat dripped water onto the ground. He looked tired older than he should’ve been, even for someone who’d lived centuries.
“I had to see you,” he said quietly. “After what happened”
“After what?” she cut in, voice shaking. “After you confessed you killed my parents? After you told me I’m cursed to you by blood and magic? Or after I realized I’ve been falling for the monster who ruined my life?”
Kai’s eyes darkened, but not with anger. With pain. “I never wanted you to find out like that.”
Candice rose to her feet, the blanket falling to the ground. “How was I supposed to find out, Kai? A letter? A nightmare? Or maybe through one of your brother’s sick games?”
He flinched at Enzo’s name. “Enzo twisted everything. He always does.”
Her laugh came out broken. “Did he twist the part where you drank their blood?”
The silence that followed was deafening.
Kai’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t drink it. I took it to save you.”
Candice froze. “What?”
He took a step closer, desperate now. “Your parents… they weren’t just victims. They were protectors. Hunters. When Enzo came for me that night, they tried to kill him and me. I fought back. It was chaos. I” He swallowed hard. “I didn’t mean to. But once the curse bound us, their blood became the only way to keep you alive.”
Her heart pounded painfully. “You’re lying.”
“I wish I was.”
For a long moment, the only sound was the rain sliding off the roof. Candice’s tears mixed with it, falling freely now. “You should’ve let me die,” she whispered. “You should’ve let the curse take me.”
Kai stepped closer, voice trembling. “Candice, I couldn’t. I’ve already lost everything once. I wasn’t going to lose you too.”
She shook her head, backing away. “Stop saying that! Stop acting like this is love!”
“But it is,” he said, almost pleading. “You think I don’t feel the same torment you do? Every night I see their faces. Every time I close my eyes, I hear your mother’s last breath. But I can’t undo it. I can only protect what’s left of them of you.”
Candice’s breath hitched, torn between fury and heartbreak. “You think protecting me fixes anything? You think I want your guilt disguised as love?”
“No,” he said softly. “But it’s all I have left to give.”
Lightning flared again, and the wind howled through the trees. The power flickered. Somewhere in the darkness, a branch snapped.
Candice turned her gaze toward the woods, her instincts prickling. “He’s here, isn’t he?” she whispered.
Kai’s eyes shifted. “Enzo?”
“Yes.”
Kai’s muscles tensed. “Stay behind me.”
Before she could respond, a voice slithered through the night. “Well, this is heartbreaking.”
Enzo stepped from the shadows, elegant as ever, his smile sharp enough to cut glass. His eyes glowed faintly red in the dim light. “Brother dearest, always ruining the happy endings.”
Kai moved quickly, positioning himself in front of Candice. “Leave her out of this, Enzo.”
Enzo chuckled. “Oh, I’m afraid that’s no longer possible. You tied her fate to yours, remember? That means her life and death belong to both of us now.”
Candice’s stomach dropped. “What is he talking about?”
Kai’s silence was answer enough.
Enzo stepped closer, his voice smooth and cruel. “The bond you share, my sweet girl it’s not just emotional. It’s ancient. If Kai dies, you die. And if you die…” he smiled, “he lives cursed forever, trapped in his own grief.”
Candice stared at Kai, horror dawning. “You didn’t tell me that.”
Kai’s eyes closed briefly. “I couldn’t. I didn’t want you to feel trapped.”
“Trapped?” Her voice broke. “Kai, I already am!”
Enzo clapped mockingly. “Beautiful. Truly touching. But I didn’t come here for romance.” He extended a hand, dark veins spreading across his skin. “I came to finish what you started centuries ago.”
Before Kai could move, Enzo launched forward. The air cracked like thunder as the two vampires collided, their movements too fast for human eyes. Candice stumbled back, heart pounding, as they crashed through the porch railing.
“Stop it!” she screamed. “You’ll kill each other!”
But neither listened. The fight was brutal centuries of hatred unleashed in a single night. Kai’s fangs flashed; Enzo’s laughter filled the darkness. Lightning illuminated their faces two brothers, two monsters bound by blood and vengeance.
Candice’s eyes darted to the ground. A broken piece of wood from the railing sharp, jagged, deadly. Her fingers trembled as she picked it up.
“Stop!” she cried again, tears streaming down her face. “Please!”
Enzo turned, his hand gripping Kai’s throat. “Do you see now, little human? This is what love does to your kind. It destroys everything it touches.”
“Let him go!”
Enzo smirked. “Why? So he can keep pretending he’s the hero in this story?”
Without thinking, Candice raised the stake. “Because you’re not!”
She drove it forward straight into Enzo’s chest.
He gasped, eyes wide with shock, before laughter bubbled up, wet and dark. “Oh, clever girl…” he whispered. “But wrong heart.”
Candice froze. The stake had pierced through him but the curse’s backlash was instant. The same wound appeared on Kai’s chest.
He staggered back, eyes wide in agony.
“No,” Candice breathed, dropping the stake. “No, no, no!”
Kai fell to his knees, blood staining his shirt. “Candice…”
She rushed to him, catching him before he hit the ground. “Kai, stay with me! Please, stay with me!”
Enzo pulled the stake from his chest, grinning even as his body began to crumble. “You see, darling? Bound by blood… and death.” Then, like smoke, he vanished into the wind.
Candice’s hands pressed against Kai’s wound, trying to stop the bleeding. “I didn’t mean to I didn’t know!”
He coughed weakly, a faint smile forming. “You saved me… even when you shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t talk like that,” she cried. “You’re not dying. You can heal. You have to heal!”
His eyes softened. “Not from this. The curse won’t let me.”
She shook her head violently. “No. There has to be a way.”
“Candice…” He lifted a trembling hand to her cheek. “Do you remember what I told you? That when you hurt, I hurt?”
She nodded, sobbing.
“Then… let me take it away.”
“What?”
His thumb brushed her tears. “The bond it ties our pain together. But it can be undone, only if one of us chooses to end it willingly.”
Her heart clenched. “You mean if you die.”
He smiled faintly. “If I die free.”
“No!” she screamed, clutching him tighter. “I won’t let you!”
He leaned closer, his breath shallow. “You already did, Candice. The moment you loved me.”
Lightning flashed again. The rain began to fall harder, soaking them both.
Kai’s gaze lingered on her face, memorizing every line, every tear, every heartbeat. “You were the light I was never meant to have,” he whispered. “But thank you… for letting me feel human again.”
Then, with the last of his strength, he kissed her. It was soft, fragile, desperate, eternal. A promise and a goodbye all at once.
As his lips left hers, his body began to fade. The curse unravelled itself, threads of crimson light wrapping around him like fireflies before bursting into the air.
Candice screamed, clutching the space where he’d been. But her hands found only rain.
The night fell silent again. The storm had passed, but something colder remained.
She stayed there for hours, kneeling in the rain, her heart hollow and heavy. When dawn finally crept across Mystic Falls, she rose to her feet. The bond was gone but so was the man she loved.
Candice turned toward the forest, where the mist curled like ghosts around the trees. Somewhere in the distance, she thought she heard his voice soft, fading, eternal.
“I’d burn every century I have left if it meant keeping you alive.”
And as the sun broke through the clouds, Candice whispered back, her voice trembling with love and loss:
“You did.”
- Writer
