Chapter 104.

Chapter 104.
Andria.

I hear loud voices. My head heavy. I turn my head and moan. Something covers my mouth and I find it irritating. I bring my hand to my mouth and remove the object.

“Adrian…” I mutter quietly.

The loud voices stop. I try to pry my eyes open, but they feel heavy. “Adrian…” 

“My love…My love, I’m here…” 

Adrian. That’s Adrian’s voice. But he calls me ‘my love.’ He’s never called me  that before. I finally open my eyes and everything spins for a few seconds. I shut them again. The voices, fading.

Sleep. There’s something about sleep. They say it’s the thin line between the conscious  and unconscious state. One minute you’re aware and the next, awareness vanishes. There’s no feeling. No voices. Not a memory. Only absolute nothingness. I find it odd that right now I can’t hear a single voice.

But I know I’m alive. I can feel myself floating in that nothing m. I’m I in limbo? Or hell?
I’m just floating. 

The next time my eyes open, they open effortlessly. The room is dark, except for the soft light. I observe my surroundings, silently. I’m in a room in a hospital. The entire room is warm. I hear beep, beep of machines beside me. I’m alone in the room. 

“How did I get here?” I mutter, inaudibly.

I look around puzzled. My right hand stings from the IV line inserted in my arm. I try to recollect how I got here, but nothing. I only remember running from Adrian and falling into the river.

I shut my eyes, trying to banish those memories, only for the door to  open and Adrian walks in. Our gazes lock, with me trying to push back the fear that threatens to invade me. He isn’t a monster standing before me this time. He’s Adrian, the man I love. 

Adrian eyes me guardedly as he closes the gap between us. Tears burn the back of my eyes, as I see him. I recall the words he said to me; how he was changed into a vampire. I recall his confession about killing the woman he loved, about killing his clan. 

“How was I found?” I manage, when he sits beside me.

I should find him revolting. The way he looked that night was grotesque. Rather I wonder how possible it is to be two people at once.

“I found you. I…I sensed you were in danger. I saw you fall into the river.” He simply admits.

His tone is quiet. 

“You can do that? Sense when I’m in danger?” I ask.

He looks at me and nods quietly. 

“The bond we share, which I had been denying since I first bit you, allows me that leverage.” He confesses. 

“Bond?” I ask, perplexed. 

“The mate bond. When a vampire chooses a mate, and the mate responds, the bond is activated. I was denying that.” He confesses.

A bond? I never knew we had any bond. I'm confused.

“It’s mysterious. It’s not something understandable even for vampires.” He shrugs.

I nod, absently. I’m curious. There’s no longer fear, now that I see him like this. Rather there’s this childish curiousity.

“So this is your skin and the other…” 

“Our skins are cloaks. The real us is what lies beneath.” He smiles, humorlessly.

I chew on my bottom lip. 

“Perhaps the you that lies beneath isn’t a monster. It’s kind.” I let slip, impulsively.

His eyes raise sharply to mine. And I hold his gaze for a little while. 

“I’m very sorry that I hurt you in the past. I’m sorry I ran from this bond. I should have told you the instant you…I regret a lot. I regret everything. But I don’t regret finding you.” His voice cracks.

I gasp, looking into his eyes. There’s this emotion that lurks deep. I listen to him. Hanging onto his every word.

“The night I took you became the best day of my life. I found someone I could call a gem. I found a life. I found a connection with the human world again. Something I had once lost. Call me selfish but I had missed that. Loving a woman's heart beat. Not like ours, which has no connection to the living. Feeling the pulse of a desired human beneath my tongue, in my arms. Not just any human, a human  I can call my own.” He slips his fingers into his jacket and brings out a set of papers.

I frown. 

“I have come to love you, Andria Peterson Trinidad. I’ve come to cherish you. I should have understood the feelings…” He releases a humorless chuckle.

I open my mouth in shock.

“I ran from the feelings. But now I’m done running. I’ve fallen in love with you. And I don’t care that loving you would cost me everything. I don’t care getting snubbed by the conclave. I don’t care having babies with you and doing the forbidden. All I care about is my love for you.” As he spreads the papers in the air, I recognize them as our signed contract.

I look at him, unconvinced. Is this truly happening? I’m I still in my unconscious state. 

Slowly, he begins to rip the papers. “These few days without you has being agony. I don’t want that again. I want only you. I give you my heart, Andria. I give you everything. And I don’t care that my love for you is a thorn to us both, but it’s worth it. You’re worth it. I love you.” He finishes ripping the contract and lays the pieces on the bed between us.

I  stare in disbelief at the papers, tears blurring my vision. I’ve waited to hear him say these words for days. I’ve yearned for this moment. I shudder inwardly from the depth of emotion inside me. And before I can question myself, I fall into Adrian’s arms and kiss him, passionately. 

“I love you too, Adrian. I love you very much.”