Chapter 14
608words
Across London, lights flickered on as darkness fell.
His apartment remained dark.
Vampires didn't need artificial light.
I bent to remove my shoes.
Sebastian followed, placing the pharmacy bag on the entry table.
"Just leave it there. I'll grab it later if I—"
I'd barely started removing my shoes when he lifted me effortlessly, setting me on the entry cabinet.
We were eye-to-eye now.
His dark eyes locked with mine. Without a word, his fingers moved to my blouse buttons.
"Sebastian." Alarm shot through me. I tried to stop him.
Our arms brushed.
In one fluid motion, he captured both my wrists with his other hand, raising them above my head.
The gesture held an authority I'd never seen from him.
Vampire strength made resistance futile. I couldn't budge an inch.
His cool fingers slipped beneath my collar, tracing a deliberate path across my skin.
Until they found the bandages at my wrists and the bruises blooming at my waist.
He applied gentle pressure, confirming his suspicions.
"Ah!" I couldn't suppress a pained gasp.
He raised his eyes to meet mine.
Crimson eyes—vampire eyes detecting blood and experiencing powerful emotion.
His Adam's apple bobbed once.
He stared at me in silence.
Uncomfortable under his scrutiny, I whispered, "You're hurting me."
Immediately, he released my wrists.
His cool palm cradled the back of my head.
He drew me against his chest.
Thump, thump, thump...
In the dark entryway, his heart hammered against my ear.
Vampires had heartbeats—typically slow, steady rhythms. Only extreme emotion made them race like this.
He held me in silence for a long moment before speaking, his voice rough.
"Isabelle, you're a terrible liar."
His fingertips traced the edges of my injuries with impossible gentleness, as if mapping my pain.
The wall clock counted seconds in the silence.
Above me, his Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke, voice hoarse with emotion.
"Stop fighting your family over me."
"Why not?" I pulled back, confused.
"I'm just a vampire. I'm not worth this."
"I come from nothing. I have nothing to offer. I'm a damned creature."
"Loving me will only bring you suffering."
"Isabelle, I don't want you losing everything for my sake."
His throat tightened painfully, but he persisted in finishing every word, syllable by syllable, barely audible.
"That would be… too hard on you."
I'd never heard him speak in such a tone.
Stripping away that gentle exterior to lay bare the most sensitive, humble parts of his heart for me to see.
"I'd rather you treated this casually. Don't care about me. Don't feel responsible for me. I just want you happy every day."
"If not, I don't understand the point of you keeping me."
"Isabelle, I don't want you falling out with everyone over me. It's not worth it."
He slowly spoke each word to completion. Yet in those red eyes, tears began to glisten—
Blood tears.
When vampires cry, they shed blood.
A single crimson tear traced down his pale cheek.
"But you are worth it to me."
I clutched him tighter, defiant.
"I want you."
"Sebastian, I love you. More than anything."
The tips of his ears burned red. His heartbeat accelerated, his breathing loud in the quiet entryway.
He held me for what felt like eternity.
Long enough for night to fully claim the sky, moonlight spilling through the windows.
Finally.
He pulled back slightly, meeting my eyes in the darkness.
Crimson eyes. Filled with love and sorrow.
"Isabelle, when I've made something of myself—then choose me, okay?"
His cool lips pressed against my forehead.
"I can't bear to see you suffer for my sake."
