Violent Delights and Ends

Chapter 11 - Love Bites

After finding out that his venom is what makes people so drawn to him, Barry apologizes to Oliver and tells him that he don't know if he can't be with anyone anymore, not knowing if they really want him. Oliver also opens up about who exactly killed his father.

Barry's POV

"Hey." Oliver's voice suddenly cut through the silence in the abandoned garden where I sat, but I couldn't look up at him after what I just learned so I just kept staring out at the garden. It really showed that the Queen's didn't live here often anymore, the garden hadn't been attended to in a while. The trees and the bushes were overgrown and leaves covered the grass.
  "My mother and sister just left and so did Felicity.  They will contact Kate Kane, the vampire queen who's the ruler of our closest kingdom, Gotham. They call her 'the vampire bat'. I was gonna contact Kara Zorel who's a queen from a different kingdom, Night City instead because she'd probably give you a better deal. She's more friendly, but I can't exactly question my mother's decisions right now." The werewolf said softly with a sigh at the end and I still didn't look up at him. Why was he even out here with me? He should be hating me and avoiding me since I actually had been controlling him without even knowing it myself. And now Iris? Even Snart and Felicity. They were all better off without me and my stupid subconscious mind-control. But I couldn't help but ask where Iris was anyway.
  "Where's Iris?" I wondered and finally tossed a glance at the man who was standing beside the bench next to me. His blue wolf eyes were still filled with compassion for me and a hint of sadness maybe. It just made me feel frustrated because it was probably not even real.
  "She's still inside with Laurel, they haven't left yet." Oliver answered casually while he kept his hands in the pockets of the stylish gray suit he was wearing. Why did he have to be so handsome and perfect? It was making all of this a lot harder.
"In a perfect world that'd just be our lives wouldn't it?" I said with a forced chuckle as I glanced away from him again. "They'd be our wives and they'd be hanging out with each other while we'd hang out like two perfectly normal couples." I sighed deeply while the werewolf sat down on the wooden bench next to me and I tried to leave some space between us. Because he sat down a little too close.
"But we're not normal, Barry. I'm a werewolf alpha and a prince of a doomed kingdom and you're a vampire. But I get it more than you know. I used to spend endless nights wishing that I was normal. That I didn't have to turn into a bloody wolf every full moon and that my family wasn't a bunch of royals with so much responsibility, but yet very little power to actually change anything." he said with a deep sigh and he casually brushed his arm against mine while he spoke. God, he's just doing that because he's drawn to your stupid venom, Barry I had to remind myself. That's probably why Hunter turned me in the first place, he knew that my love and compassion for people would become my vampire curse. And that it would make me question every time someone said something nice to me. And thus I'd be forced to live out eternity alone.
  "I'm sorry, Ollie." I sighed after staying lost in my head for a couple of seconds. His warm hand gently reached for mine and I glanced down at our intertwined fingers. I was too surprised to pull my cold hand away from his very warm touch.
  "It's not your fault, Barry, you didn't know." Oliver spoke softly, but I remembered to snatch my hand away from his.
  "Don't! Your feelings aren't real. First of all you're married and we just met so even without this stupid curse I was a stupid fool to think that you actually like me." I yelled as I got up from the bench to continue my rant while the werewolf remained calm as ever even while I gestured wildly around me. "Hell, I can't even trust that Iris still wants to be with me or if she'll wake up one day, maybe when we've gotten married and realize that she married a fucking vampire who can never give her kids or a normal life and then she'll spend the rest of our lives hating me." My voice cracked at the end when I thought of putting her through something like that. She deserved so much better than that I thought. "And this crappy curse is probably the reason why Snart kissed me too right before I left." The words just poured out of me because I didn't plan to reveal that part to Oliver. This was once again one of those situations where I'd blush if I was still a human. But it made me snap out of my angry state at least.
  Oliver seemed to blush for my sake since I couldn't, but it was getting darker outside and the only light was from inside the living-room so I was probably just imagining it. "He did? Oh wow... everyone likes you." he said with a chuckle. His werewolf teeth sparkled when he smiled and I could catch a glimpse of the sparkles in his eyes too and the dimples on his face. He was the most beautiful man that I've ever laid my eyes on. And I couldn't help but chuckle nervously too while I pulled a hand through my hair.
  "Anyway...I guess I'm doomed to be alone forever now because I can never trust that anyone would really want to be with me... and not because of some stupid vampire venom." I said and kicked away some dirt on the ground in front of me before I dropped down on the bench next to the werewolf again.
  "I don't think you're cursed, Barry." Oliver said and I threw a quick glance at him that made him chuckle nervously again. "Believe me I'm confused too because I love Laurel and I would never even dream about cheating on her. But then I somehow did last night..." he spoke with a lowered voice as he revealed that last part. His cheeks turned red and it was just adorable. He dreamed about me? Should I tell him that I dreamt about him too earlier during my day sleep? But he only stopped talking for a few seconds and then the look in his eyes seemed to shift and appear more serious. "...the worst part was that I dreamt that I killed you. I scratched you with my claws by accident and you died. I guess that's why I've been trying to protect you all day." His voice became lower and lower as he talked and I just continued to look at him in awe as he told me about his dream. The beautiful night sky made his icy wolf eyes light up even more. They looked like they could be up there among the stars or something.
  "Well, I'm still here... and you're still here." I joked and bumped my arm against his broad shoulder a bit teasingly to light up the gloomy mood which caused him to chuckle a warm laugh that made my heart skip a beat. I didn't think that still happened since it technically doesn't even have to beat. But the werewolf's chuckle ended abruptly and he sighed again.
  "Maybe not for long depending on what the vampires will do to you." Oliver sighed deeply as he pulled a hand across his scruffy chin and then through his dirty blonde hair.
When he didn't look at me I slowly and carefully reached for his free hand that was resting on the bench between us. Despite of the voice in my head that was yelling at me: This is so wrong and crazy and we're deadly to each other and his family hates me and he's married and have a son and a million more reasons why it would never work out between us. But the feeling of his warm hand in my cold one overshadowed all my thoughts and knocked the logic out of me.
  "Hey, Ollie. I'll be fine. I survived two years of torture with Hunter and probably like six months of assault from that Patty vampire until she got bored with me and moved on to her new toys. Nothing can get worse than that." I swore while I carefully intertwined my fingers with his warm ones one at a time. He looked up at me with something furious in his gaze when I mentioned Patty.
  "Do not brush it of as only six months! She raped you and no matter what kind of psychopath she lived with and looked up too... that's not okay!" The tone in the alpha's voice was serious and darker, maybe because of the moon that had appeared on the evening sky, and then he placed his warm free hand against my cheek to turn my face to look at him, directly in the eyes. "Do you hear me, Barry. Don't ever brush that off as something that's normal for vampires to do because it's not." he said and he removed his hand from my face when I nodded.
  "So, what do you think the vampires will do to me? What if they'll send me back to Hunter? I can't go back there." Fear suddenly bubbled up inside of me, but then the werewolf grabbed both my hands in a steady warm grip and looked deep into my eyes.
  "I will not let that happen! Even if the werewolves disowns me for it so be it." he swore and I could read on his face that he really meant every word. But what if it's still my influence on him? It probably is. "And we will free those other poor souls he keeps locked up too. I promise." He continued still hellbent on reassuring me and I assumed that he was that protective because of his werewolf instincts.
  Then I suddenly realized that he had placed one hand under my chin and made me look up into his beautiful blue eyes. "Ollie..." I sighed and managed to gather some of my senses and released the werewolf's hands as my gaze drifted to the window and saw the girls still in deep conversation inside. "We can't..." I sighed before I stood up and took a few steps away from him and the bench.
  "I know that you think none of this is real and I know that I'm married and everything. But I helped you before you had been drinking from me remember? And I accepted the help from a vampire before I knew you..." Oliver said and got up from the bench to stand in front of me.
  "Barely. Your friend almost killed me with a crossbow if I remember correctly and you would rather die than let me help you." I replied with a chuckle that caused the werewolf alpha's serious expression turn into a soft smile while he took another step towards me. Not even bothering about our women inside if they were to look out the windows that covered the mansion's first floor.
  "Come on." Oliver said and grabbed my hand again and steered me to a graveyard further down the garden. Suddenly the werewolf stopped in front of two graves and let go of my hand as I read the names on the two stones. Robert Queen and Thomas Merlyn. I wrinkled my eyebrows while I looked up at him.
  "I only had prejudices about vampires because your kind killed my father and my best friend Tommy." The werewolf was opening up to me the way he did last night so I offered my ear without interrupting. "The vampire who killed them was my half sister." he said with a sigh and threw me a quick glance when he noticed the clear confusion on my face. Vampires can't have children. That, I am sure of. "My father had an affair with a vampire a few years after I was born and my best friend Tommy's dad, Malcolm Merlyn, he found out and he used his magic to give them a special child. Her name was Emiko, and she was born as a vampire, but she still grew up like a human would until she stopped aging when she was twenty." Oliver explained while he looked fairly distant when thinking about his dead loved ones. I wished I could reach out my hand and comfort him, but he wasn't mine to comfort.
  "Why did she kill her own father?" I asked. Because the worst day of my life, aside from the night I became a vampire, and the other cruel nights with Hunter was the night I lost my parents, so I couldn't imagine why someone would want to get rid of theirs.
  "Revenge. My father abandoned her to stay with us. And the week after she slaughtered my father and his pack when I tried to catch her and bring her to justice, my best friend Tommy was just caught in the crossfire." he said with a deep sigh and I could catch a glimpse of tears in his eyes as he glanced at the grave to the left. "And right before he died I swore that I'd stay away from vampires and despise them forever for what my half sister did." Then Oliver looked up at me again and met my gaze. "But I don't want to stay away from you and I don't think I can." his voice was tender and so was his touch as he placed a warm hand against my cheek again.
  "You're married, Ollie." I sighed and took a step away from him. It pained me to reject him because those beautiful wolf eyes shined anytime he looked at me and I desperately wanted him, if only just for tonight. But with or without some stupid vampire curse I couldn't be the one to split up a happy family. "I'm sorry, I just can't be the one to mess up your life like that. When your son grows up he would hate me the way your half sister hated your father. It's not fair to anyone. I'm sorry." I said and rushed back into the mansion quickly with my vampire speed and entered the living room again.
  Iris and Laurel were still in deep conversation on the couch, the brown-haired werewolf girl even managed to make Iris laugh again. It warmed my heart. "Hi." I said quietly and they both looked up at me. "Can I just talk to Iris for a second?" I wondered very carefully after what happened the last time we were left alone.
  "Yeah... it's okay." Iris said quietly to reassure Oliver's wife who left the room. But she didn't look at me like she hated me though which I would've if I were her. Since I without knowing it had made her husband very drawn to me.
  "I really am sorry for what happened earlier, Iris. And that you had to find out what I've become like that." I sighed and couldn't meet her gaze so I looked down at the red fancy carpet instead.
  "I know... and I get why you guys couldn't tell us the truth. I mean vampires, werewolves and everything... it all exists." Iris said as if she was in awe of it all. I wished I didn't have to be right in the middle of it. Because it wasn't fascinating at all to be a monster who hurt my own friends.
  "You know I really wished I could be with you...but with all this..." I said with a deep sigh and referred to my red eyes, but she didn't back away instead she gently touched my face. Her fingers were warm against my cold skin, not as warm as Oliver's of course, but still warm. "...could you still love me like this? Knowing that just one tiny accident like the one earlier... could kill you and even if I learn how to control myself I can never give you kids or the life that you deserve." My voice nearly broke when I spoke with tears forming in my eyes because I wanted to be with her. But I would never forgive myself if I were to risk her safety and ruin her life. "Because I can't do that to you. I love you too much." I whispered with a quiver in my voice and I could feel the tears streaming down my face now.
  Then Iris slowly pressed her lips against mine in a very gentle way and I carefully returned the kiss but I pulled away quickly so the misstep from earlier wouldn't repeat itself. I shouldn't be afraid of touching and kissing the woman I love.
  "Any life with you would be a good one, Barry. Because I can see that you're still the man I love, even if you're a vampire." She said and a sob got stuck in her throat as the tears streamed down her face. I pulled her in for a tight hug when she broke into tears and held her tight for a few minutes while I whispered soothingly in her ear.
  "I love you so much and that's why I can't be with you... or anyone." I sniffed into her black curls before I eased the loving embrace and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I really truly love you so much." I said once more.
  "I'll wait for you if you ever change your mind because I love you. Goodbye, Barry." Iris whispered with tears streaming down her face as she took a step back.
  Then I followed her out in the lobby with tears in my eyes, but dried them when I saw that Oliver had returned to the house and was waiting with Laurel.
  "I can drive her back to Central City, John have dropped Detective West off at my mother's place in Central where they can stay tonight so I can keep an eye on them. And William is staying with Rene and Zoe tonight like you planned." Laurel said more to her husband than anyone else while she squeezed his hand.
  Then she opened the door and Oliver nodded before he gave his wife a quick kiss and then she and Iris headed out the door. Iris threw one last look at me and I waved slightly and managed a smile before the door closed. "Goodbye, Iris." I whispered against the wooden door with silent tears running down my face again.
  Once the door had shut close I leaned against it with a deep sigh and dried my stupid tears with the back of my sleeve. Or technically, Oliver's sleeve since it was his shirt.
  Then I felt a warm hand brush against my cheek to catch a remaining tear. "Are you okay?" Oliver asked softly while not taking his hand of my face before I noticed how his gaze drop to my lips so I instantly broke the eye contact again.
"Not really no... I just had to break up with the love of my life because I'm a danger to her." I said with frustration in my voice while I stepped away from the door which caused the handsome werewolf's arm to drop lazily to his side. "And I'm starting to get rather nervous about the outcome of the whole vampire court thing..." I sighed as I paced back and fourth in the hallway of the big mansion. A red carpet covered the floor in the lobby too and paintings of the Queen family covered the walls.
"Don't be. I'll be there with you...if you let me." A comforting voice said and a warm hand reached for mine again to stop me from pacing.
"Ollie... this situation still hasn't changed. We can't be together. First of all we just met last night, and you're still married and a father, and then there's the whole venom thing." I said as I pulled my hand out of his warm one and leaned against the wall next to a drawer with another sigh.
  "Barry...I don't care about the venom thing." Oliver said with a smile as he came up to me way closer than necessary. "And Laurel and I love each other very much, but we are werewolves and we get horny pretty easily which has led to her sleeping with our friend Dinah a few times. She would forgive me for sleeping with you." The alpha continued with a seductive tone in his voice as he leaned even closer. I really wanted to kiss him and just forget about everything for one night. But I tried to muster logic again.
"But we still don't know how the whole bloody venom thing works. How do you know you want me and not my venom?" I asked as if I was a broken record since I found out about that.
  "You're right. We don't, but we also don't know what's going to happen next? The vampires will for sure part us tonight and I might never get to see you again. Vampires and werewolves doesn't exactly hang out." Oliver said and brushed his warm fingertips gently against my cold pale cheek. The soft gesture mixed with his words caused me to toss my worries out the window and wrap my arms around his neck before I hungrily pressed my lips against his.
  His mouth against mine was warm just like his skin. His hand that wasn't resting against my cheek slipped into my dark hair. And I slipped my fingers into his dirty blonde hair in return and tugged at the hair around the back of his neck. He slowly traced a finger down the back of my neck while he forced my lips to part more.
  A slight gasp escaped my mouth when his warm tongue entered my mouth, even though I technically didn't have to breathe anymore, but he still managed to take my breath away. And for a few seconds after our lips parted he was just gazing into my eyes. His beautiful blue wolf eyes were glowing in the dark lobby of the Queen mansion as he stared at me. But he didn't have to say anything else. I knew what he wanted and I wanted the exact same thing.