We are trying to explain the Haze to Vlad. I know that it isn't easy to accept that our bodies take over. “This is insane!” he exclaims.
I give him a soft smile, “Sorry.”
“So you have no control over this?” he asks.
I nod in defeat, “All I can do is port you or myself away, but there's a problem with that.”
“What?” he inquires.
My guys take over explaining. “You'd find her no matter what obstacles got in your way,” Vincent tells him.
“Every sense and ability you have you will use to get to her at all costs!” Sam emphasizes.
“What happens if you don't?” Vlad asks them.
Eric shakes his head, “That's not an option!”
Sam explains, “Mates always find each other. When a wolf loses their mate, there's a chance they'll die as well. The longing and the pull is so great.”
“But with Eva it seems more so and even death won't stop the pull,” Eric adds.
I sigh, “Again I'm sorry.”
Vincent looks at me as he sternly says, “Would you stop! You are who you are! No one forced us to love you! We chose it before the Haze! We will always choose you!”
A tear leaves my eye, “But Vlad didn't! He's a victim of circumstance! He's married and even sired her! Love could still be there too! I can’t!”
Eric takes my hand, “I was married to Vicky, but I regret nothing. I wanted you despite Vicki. You saw that as she turned to ash. I chose you the moment I felt you and I was even choosing you before that!”
Vlad puts a hand on my shoulder, “It's ok I'll find a…” He trails off as we are pulled into the past. It's in the mid fifteenth century.
***Flashback***
There's a woman, she's in mourning.
I hear Vlad tell me what we are witnessing. “Her name is Cadence. She was my wife. I had just become a vampire several months before. I hadn't told her yet,” he says solemnly yet fondly.
We watch the scene before us. She's pacing as if trying to decide something. She puts the blade she was holding down. She goes and sits by the window saying out loud to herself that she'd wait forever if need be.
But something odd happened like what I did to Katie when I commanded her before we met Vlad. We see Cadence’s eyes glaze over. She gets up very jerkily. She takes the blade and slits her wrists vertically before driving the blade into her heart.
As life leaves her, her eyes return to normal. We hear laughing. I grab Vlad’s hand and pull us through the vision. I tell him, “Someone’s here!”
“Use your senses!” I urge him.
After a few, we picked up a trace. We follow it and the laughter gets louder and louder until we see it.
“F*ck, that's, Merdon, the guy that has Elena!”
******End of Vision****
We were pulled back to the present.
Vincent asks, “Eva you both left us for a bit. What did you see?”
I told them all everything.
“He's a deadman!” Vlad growled.
I yell, “Oh, he's more than dead. I'll make sure he can never return!” I know that Merdon bewitched Cadence because she wasn't going to kill herself until he forced her hand.
The power goes out. The fire pulses in the fireplace. The windows fly open. The night air swirls. Animals howl.
Vincent yells, “Shit!” as he runs to me and hugs me. The others join him and I begin to regain myself.
Vincent strokes my face, “Please Eva calm, please calm.”
Sam kisses my other cheek, “Everything is fine.”
Eric holds me close, “All will be done, please Eva. Please calm.”
The castle shakes. We hear screams. Vlad looks into my eyes, “Eva, I want the same as you, but now isn't the time. Please, please calm.”
My hands touch both Vincent's and Vlad's faces. The shaking stops. I sigh, “I'm sorry.”
Vincent kisses me, “My love, you feel too much. Please stay with me, don't give in to it not yet. It's not the time.”
I bet he can feel everything as I do. I know he's right, “Shit, ugh!”
Vincent strokes my hair, “You lost a bit of control, it's ok.”
I shake my head, “It's not I have to be better.”
Eric kisses my cheek, “And you will be, we all will be!”
Vlad looks at me with complete sincerity in his eyes, “Eva, I'm to blame. I sought power at all costs. It's cost me most everyone I've ever cared about. Merdon took Cadence and now he's taken Elena. We can't allow him a chance at you!”
Cared about? Does he already value me enough to care about me? Could he grow to love me too?
Vincent puts his hand on Vlad’s shoulder, “Why I left it all behind, brother. That type of power isn't worth it!” As he stroked my face he continued, “But this…she's worth it! She's worth everything!”
I shake my head, “I can't do this!”
Vincent holds my face in his hands, “We aren't real brothers, Eva. You can do this since he is one of your mates.”
I sigh, “But you have the same sire. That makes you family just the same, bound by blood.”
Vincent nods, “Yes, but there's plenty that don't even know or have ever lived with their sires. We only act as a family because that's how we choose to live. If our kind cared about that, do you think they'd have let Vlad marry Elena given that he's her sire?”
“But…”
“Stop fighting who you are, accept it as we have!” Vincent says before he kisses me passionately.
Vlad asks Vincent, “You truly love her, don't you?”
Vincent beams, “I do!”
Sam grins, “We all do!”
Eric nods, “First sight was all it took to confirm what we already felt.”
Vincent explains,You're fighting it, Vlad. I did a bit as well in the very beginning too.”
I smile, “Until you showed me, Vin.”
Vincent smirks, “Seeing is believing!”
I blush as Vincent says, “Go with Vlad, we will be here. If I am needed, I will find you both.”
“But…”
Vincent sighs, “I was trying to give you both privacy, but since you won't accept it come on.”
Vincent takes my hand and has Vlad follow us. We exit the living room area of my suite and go to the bedroom. I am nervous and I know that they both can sense it. There has to be a way to lessen Vlad’s Haze and still respect boundaries. I know that Vlad says that Elena wasn't his mate, but I need to hear it from her too. I feel that I owe her that and I also feel a kinship to her. Is it because she knew my mates or is it more?