Shock

Shock
Kaelar POV

My body felt like it was free falling, and one wrong move would send me toppling over like a poorly built tower of blocks.
The cool, fall air felt as though it had been injected with the heat from coals that have been burning for twelve years. It was suffocating and all-consuming.
“It is an absolute delight to have the four of you join us,” Johnston stepped closer to them, offering a white satin gloved hand.
Mikko was exactly how I remembered him. Darkness clung to him like a second skin, seeping into the air surrounding his body. I watched as he stepped forward, shaking Johnston’s hand. Then Gideon, and Devin…. And finally, Corabelle.
She stepped forward, a wicked grin on her face, “I’ve heard so much about you, sir.” The oxygen was sucked from my lungs. She sounds nearly identical to how she sounded all those years ago. Her skin is a few shades paler than I recall, but everything else feels like I’ve stepped into the past.
Corabelle’s golden blonde hair blew in the wind, and the memory of her sitting on that rock watching the eclipse spilled into my mind unwelcomed. As if she wanted to drive the nail in further, as she shook Johnston’s hand, her blue eyes locked on mine, and a slow smirk pulling on her lips.
Aribella stood at Rhory’s side, but the straightening of her spine reminded me that she knew. She knew of my past with Corabelle. She knew her name and how she crushed my heart years ago.
How she called me a disgusting monster, and yet, here she was, her soul tied to a real monster.
“That’s her, isn’t it?” Rhys’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Yes.”
“Are you good?”
Was I? I didn’t love Corabelle any longer. I’m not sure that I ever truly did. Not now that I know what it feels like. I believe it was a form of love, but more of the idea of love. I was touch starved. My mother was long gone, and my father? Never around.
The feeling in my chest feels more like betrayal. Her words played on repeat in my mind.
She’d called me a disgusting monster that day, and I proved her right. I wanted to make sure that I was the man she thought I was. That rampage took the lives of her friends, but I left her alive to suffer the consequences of her actions.
Shocked? Yes. Fine? Maybe?
I was desperate for Aribella to turn around. I needed to see her eyes. A reminder that I’m loved. That I’m cherished by someone…
As if fate herself stepped in, Aribella stole a glance over her shoulder, and my entire body relaxed as our eyes locked. She dropped her right arm, toying with the tiny beads that clung to her wrist. Beads that resembled my eyes.
“I’m good,” I smiled beneath my mask.
The group turned around, and the three of us parted for them to move through, “We’ll do proper introductions once we sit down for lunch. I’ve had the staff prepare each of you a proper meal.”
Mikko chuckled, “That was awfully accommodating of you. We weren’t expecting more than a simple meeting.”
As they passed us, Mikko’s dangerous, red eyes flicked to mine, and a knowing grin spread on his face, “Brother.”
I didn’t bother responding. Mikko may have raised me, but I’ll never forget the horrible things he subjected me to.
He chuckled, the sound laced with condescension, “Nice to see you too.”
“How’s the gut old pal?” Gideon cackled. At least he didn’t try to act as though he were normal.
Corabelle and the man named Devin were silent, but something about Devin was off. I’ve never seen him before, and his eyes were shifty, nose flaring with every breath. He oozed danger from every pore, and as I followed behind the group, I noticed his sight seemed to be drawn towards Aribella.
Make a single move and I’ll rip your head clean from your shoulders….
“Where is Mrs. Whitehall?” Mikko smiled. It was truly impressive how skilled he was in deception. With his clean-cut look and formal way of speaking, you’d never know he used to carve my skin up in a basement dungeon.
“She’s feeling under the weather this morning,” Johnston’s calm and collected demeanor dropped for a fraction of a second. “She sends her regards.”
“How unfortunate,” Mikko muttered. “I was looking forward to finally meeting her. She’s an elusive little thing.”
Everyone was led into the dining hall, where they assumed their normal seating positions. Mikko sat opposite of the King in Marielle’s seat. Corabelle sat to his left and Gideon to his right.
Much to my dismay, Devin was sat just a seat away from Aribella.
Johnston went through each person at the table, saving her for last. His smile grew impossibly wide, “And this would be our newest addition, Rhory’s fiancée Aribella Voss.”
Mikko stood, moving around the table, and a ground my teeth with enough force to crack a molar as he approached Aribella’s seat, “I have heard so much about you Miss Voss.”
He outstretched his hand, but Aribella didn’t take it, nodding as politely as possible, “And I’ve heard plenty about you,” she plastered on a fake smile, and my god, her defiance was attractive.
Her ability to stare into the face of a monster and bite back in a way that made him very aware of her thoughts on him had me stiffening in my pants.
Mikko grinned, but I saw the tension in his jaw.
He returned to his seat without putting up a fuss, and shockingly, Johnston had nothing to add, brimming my curiosity.
“Aribella here has a soft spot for your kind,” Mael finally added his unwelcomed two cents in, trying to stir the pot, and I wanted to strangle him. “She graciously allowed Mr. Lowell to heal with her blood solely out of the kindness of her heart. Isn’t that just lovely?”
Mikko’s eyes flicked back to Aribella, “That is quite interesting. What purpose did you have to save the life of someone beneath you?”
She tilted her head, clearing her throat to cover a scoff. “That’s rich coming from you, Mr. Itsuki, as Mr. Lowell is a vampire, just like you. Rhys has a kind heart and protected Mr. Whitehall from a very dangerous attack initiated by you yourself. His life is equally as valuable as Mr. Whitehall himself.”
“Now now, Miss Voss,” Johnston finally interjected, his calm demeanor cracking ever so slightly. “We do not know who was involved in the most recent attack. Pointing fingers isn’t something we do here in Sacaris.”
“I’m not offended in the slightest,” Mikko waved him off. “I asked for her opinion and received it. No harm, no foul. But I do have to ask,” he leaned forward. “What makes his life valuable as a blood sucker?”