Chapter Forty

Gwen went around Paris, blocking the world out and only focusing on the mysterious retreating body as he went further away from her house.

"Gwen?" Paris gripped her shoulder, but she was numb to his touch as her senses walked away with his broad shoulders. "Who is he?"

"Mi-Mi-" Gwen stammered with a clogged-up throat and her heart turned itself inside out. "Mihai!" She finally exclaimed with tears brimming in her eyes and clouding her vision.

"Mihai?" Paris followed the direction of her eyes and paled at the sight. "H-he came?" Paris stuttered in surprise and tilted his head to the side.

"Mihai!" She yelled and sprinted towards him. "Mihai, please!" Her voice broke as she stretched her hand to him, longing to feel his body. "Wait, please!"

Her voice sounded loud and clear, causing the neighbors to take a peek from their windows.

"What are you doing, child?" A man with a country accent asked, frowning in confusion as he watched her run after her dark lord.

"Go back inside, it's not safe!" A middle-aged woman with a thick Romanian accent yelled, gesturing with her hands.

Gwen gave the deaf ears as she felt lingering wetness at the base of her lashes, waiting for a blink or two to push it down her cheek.

"Mihai!" She screamed when she finally caught up to him.

Suddenly, he halted and balled his palms into fists. She stretched her hand and grasped his coat in her weak palm. She hugged him from behind, resting her cheek on his back and using her palms to feel his breasts.

"I can see you discarded me so soon." His muscles were taut, and he took her hands away from his body and spun to face her. She weakened when she saw the sorrow that his very eyes, one she had drowned in months ago burnt with.

"What?" She scrunched up her face and Mihai jutted his chin towards Paris who was seated on her porch. "No, no," she shook her head profusely. "He's a good friend."

She reached for his face, but he looked away, avoiding her touch, and she felt the pain like a thousand needles, picking her heart.

"But you were hugging him and receiving head kisses from Paris, the one I despise." A low growl rumbled from the back of his throat and the neighbors left their windows, returning to their various positions.

"No, he-"

"Don't." He held a hand to her face and cut her off as he clenched his jaw and reddened at the ears before they spread to his entire face.

"Mihai, why are you doing this to me?" She swallowed, feeling heavy in the throat as she stared at him from over her wet lashes. "What did I do to deserve this from you?"

"How could you be going out with Paris?" Mihai asked with a spasm of his muscles as he threw a death glare at her. "How?"

"You left me for weeks, Mihai," she said breathlessly, feeling the tears burn their trails down her cheeks. "I waited for you..." She drawled through gritted teeth as she poked his chest. "You chose to make me suffer, you abandoned me for weeks, I felt lonely, unloved."

His face hardened each time she poked at his chest and her knees felt like jelly as he refused to meet her gaze.

"Why are you punishing me?" She asked with wobbly lips and the tears didn't stop, they cascaded down her cheeks as her heart constricted in her chest.

"I have to leave." He croaked, hiding his emotions the best he could from her. "I'm sorry but we can't be together."

Gwen's lips parted in disbelief and her chest heaved as she slowly shook her head, housing a frog in her throat. She felt sick in the gut and for a minute, she stopped breathing till he extended his hand and handed a plastic bag to her.

"Here, you left it in my place." He stated then attempted to turn but Gwen threw the bag on the floor and clutched his wrist with a banging heart. The words were clogged in her throat as he met her gaze and instantly averted it to the space between them. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out except sobs.

"I have to go," he said sternly, unlatching her grip and taking a step backward.

"No!" She finally found her voice as she launched at him and gripped his coat. "I'm not letting you leave, not this time."

"You have to. You'll only get hurt, you looked so at peace with Paris and when it's me, all I do is make you cry." He explained and the pain his voice carried could be felt like a sting of a scorpion.

"No, I don't love Paris, I swear!" Her eyes shimmered with a fresh set of tears as she breathed loudly, shaking her head furiously. "I promise. It's you I want, just you."

"No, we can't be together." He tamed his anger, trying to break up in the most subtle way he could but deep down he bled, his heart shredded into many pieces.

"Why?!" She screamed, shaking with anger and everything negative. "Look me in the eye and say you don't love me anymore and you want me to leave your life."

"Gwen, I don't love you anymore." He chanced a minute glance at her. She felt all the air leave her lungs and she gasped for air with her fingers splayed over her chest.

"No!" She screamed breathlessly and banged his chest with her fists. "You love me, you fucking love me!" She screamed like a banshee, punching harder into his chest and shoving him backward. "Is this about some girl, you found another bitch?!"

"Gwen," he called out to her, feeling the slow rise of bile in his throat.

"Fuck you! You're wicked, how could you, you love me, you-"

"Gwendolyn!" He yelled, gripping both her shoulders and shaking her back to her senses. She widened her eyes, feeling dizzy as tresses of her hair scattered around her face. "You can't love me!"

He steadied her on the ground, and she froze, unable to move even a finger.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked but her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth in shock. "You can't be with me, I am a-" he paused and swallowed his anger, finding it hard to tell her the truth. "I am-" he sucked in a sharp breath and blurted it out, "I am a vampire."

Lines of confusion folded the skin of her forehead and she blinked once then twice before throwing her head back and laughing at what she considered to be a joke.

"What, you think I'm five?" She pulled her lips into a grim line and laced her brows into a frown. "Is this a way of lying to me so I could break up with you?" She rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Whoever gave you this idea is foolish."

Mihai eyed her, raking his fingers in his hair as he paced around, muttering words underneath his breath, looking like he was having an argument in his head and her eyes followed him till he stood still then shut his eyes for a split second.

"I am a vampire," she mimicked and chuckled into her palms.

"Gwen," he tugged on the string of her attention and earned her gaze. Suddenly, he bared his teeth and his fangs extended to his bottom lip. He mirrored the demon that almost bit her.

Gwen gasped, staggering back with jelly legs till they gave up on her, and she tripped on nothing, landing harshly on the floor as her heart raced and beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She tensed up, wheezing as she struggled to breathe.

"Yes and killing another vampire for your sake got me banished from my kingdom." He explained, shaking with fury he tried to subdue. "I am Mihai Romanescu, the prince of Sapphire Kingdom."

Mihai elongated his white fangs again to scare her off and it worked. She gripped her chest, pulling her mouth open into a silent scream that paled her face, and she crawled back, glancing over her shoulder for Paris but he was nowhere to be found. Fear rendered her cripple and she quivered as dread twisted in her gut.

He inched closer to her frame on the ground, but she crawled backward on her buttocks with a terror stabbed heart and Mihai enlarged his eyes with fallen shoulders.

"Let me help you up," he said with an outstretched arm to her, but she was frightened down to the foundations of her feet and her stomach cramped as she crawled back again, using her cold and clammy palms to support her weight on the floor.

He took a step closer to her again, "I'm not going to hurt-"

Anxiety eclipsed her thoughts and she shuddered with wobbly lips, fear overtaking the pain that spider-webbed her coccyx. She moved back again, and he sighed in defeat, not taking any steps further.

"This is exactly what I was scared of." He held his head in his hands and crouched before rising again to massage his temples. "I feared you'd see me as a monster, and you'd never accept me the way I am."

Her pupils dilated with the inability to get her eyes off him. Her mouth ran dry and the phenomenon of being choked wrapped her neck, trailing goosebumps over her entire body with a heavy tongue that held back a deafening scream.

"I feared I'd lose you because a good soul like you wouldn't want to do anything with a bad immortal like me..." Mihai's demeanor softened into self-pity with a grievance as he continued, "...or with what kills your kind and taunts this street. I dreaded this day with my whole existence because it breaks my heart to see that you're scared of me."

Mihai threw his gaze to the floor and rammed his fist into the street light that loomed over both of them, and she flinched, sharply inhaling with her thoughts spiraling out of control. The lamp bent out of shape and flickered.

"Well, I guess you hate me now." He croaked, avoiding her gaze. "But this is best for us because it'll help us get over each other and move on since we are two different beings that can't be together."

Gwen gulped, parting her lips to speak but nothing came out except for a whimper.

"Goodbye, I never meant to bring such pain to you." He turned and began to walk away from her.

"Mihai!" Gwen managed to exclaim but it was weak. She sprang up from the floor and ran after him with legs that felt like water then she gripped his hand the moment she caught up to him. He glanced down over his shoulder at her white knuckles and shivering hand before trailing his gaze up to her face. "Wait," her lips wobbled as she took in shaky breaths. "We-we can talk things out."

"How?" He quirked up his brow and stole a glance at her knees that buckled visibly. "You're scared of the monster I am."

"No," she sounded shrill as she tried to compose herself. "I mean, yes and no. You don't expect me to hear something as shocking as this and just digest it like it's normal." She spun him to face her with her free hand. "You can't just drop a bomb on me and leave without explaining things."

Mihai watched her, counting how many times she blinked in a minute. The desire to steady her heartbeat filled his eyes, he could hear the loud thumping of her heart.

"We can't."

"We can." Her voice shook with clouds of uncertainty in her eyes, and she cleared her throat to speak again, "We can." Her grip grew a little firm and sweaty.

"Okay, do you still love me?" He asked, locking gazes with her and she looked away like she was arguing with her inner woman. She withdrew her hand from his and gulped, feeling nausea in the pit of her stomach. "Do you?"

He inched closer to her but the moment he noticed her sharp intake of breath, accompanied by the opening and closing of her fists his face twisted with pain and he stood rigid with agony. He saw uncertainty, sitting buoyantly in her eyes and he whitened when she disconnected her lips, but nothing came out once again.

"This is what I feared, I knew you wouldn't want me anymore." He spoke haltingly from the pain. "But it's good for you, at least you wouldn't die."

"What-what do you mean?" She stammered.

"I lost a hundred and something wives to death." He glanced away, looking at nothing in particular as he heard a low gasp escape from her lips. "I am cursed and can't have a wife because they all die on our wedding night."

Gwen gripped her head in her hand and paced around with her heart in her mouth. She took deep breaths in with a heaving chest as she felt her chest closing up and suffocating her heart. It was all too much to take in.

"And now we can't be together. I wish I was human like you. I'm so sorry." His voice broke and it caused a certain cold to envelop Gwen and it lifted the hairs on her nape as her heart ached. "Goodbye."

Gwen stilled and said this, but it came out like a whimper, "I do..." She tried not to shake as she managed to form these words. Gwen swallowed and spoke again but with more confidence this time, "I do love you."