She'd listen. Of course she
would – she had to. Brianna would listen to him as she always had,
even if she was a little timid about things.
Or…she would be gone.
Or dead.
His steps were heavy as he took the usual trail to her apartment building, the lackluster brown brick looming above him, empty windows glaring at him disapprovingly. He'd led her on, the magickal princess who lived in the proverbial tower of the seventh floor.
He could feel her breath on his face,
the hesitant drag of her fingertips over his chest…
It's gonna be alright…I promise…
Those silly promises of hers, quiet,
but meaning the world to him. She'd promised something good, something
that wouldn't end in a river of blood, wouldn't end in her dark eyes staring
blankly at the skies…
He'd hold her forever if he could,
but…
Mortality. It was something
– she had. Was.
She'd die.
That…wouldn't stop him.
Didn't stop him as he opened the door to her room, saw her belongings everywhere…
Blood tears stung in his eyes, and
he had to do all he could to keep a low growl from escaping.
She was running away from him.
-*-
Were those footsteps? No, couldn't
be.
There wasn't anyone here, and she'd
be leaving first thing in the morning, and…
Those were definitely footsteps.
Brianna couldn't move, didn't move
until he'd grabbed her arms, whirling her around to face him.
Hurting her.
Terrifying her.
"You were going to leave, weren't you? You can't take this, huh? Because I'm a monster, Brianna? Because I scare you to death? Because I could…"
"LET GO OF ME!" He couldn't
understand how much he was hurting her as he shook her roughly, eyes piercing
into hers, darkened…black…
Soulless.
A killing machine.
"Please…don't…"
He wouldn't. He'd sworn to
himself he'd never hurt her, and even though his id was screaming to tear
every last bit of life out of the girl, he dropped her.
"You…"
"I'm afraid…I can't…hide that."
She tried, desperately, to stand, to at least look him in the eye – since
this had happened, since he'd run out on her the night before…
What had happened?
"But…I thought you loved me."