Bloodmoon: The Hybrid Omega

Damon's Family

I breathed out a long sigh and fell back onto the bed. The murmur of Beta and Damon talking lulled me to sleep. I almost tried to fight it, but eventually gave in. I needed sleep. Months with Damon were the only times I could rest without fear.

Cassyan's look of blank terror flashed in my mind and I opened my eyes.

Could I have stopped Vansius? Is there something I could have said? If I hadn't spoken to him about the loopholes would Cassyan still be alive?

That last thought grabbed onto me and refused to let go. It pounded at me with a dull throb that shook my brain and stabbed icicles into my heart.

This was my fault. I acted recklessly and Cassyan died for it.

Ambrozias Cries echoed in my head. She trusted me and I killed her brother. I turned onto my side and squeezed my eyes shut.

This wasn't true! Reasonably, I told myself that I couldn't have helped what happened. This wasn't my fault.

But the guilt kept gnawing at me. Like a dog with a bone, it would not let go until it consumed me entirely. I was responsible, at least in a roundabout way. I couldn't deny it to myself. I couldn't relieve my despair.

I pressed my face into the pillow and tried not to think. I pushed in vain to keep the feelings at bay.

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until I noticed that I was dreaming. I saw a vampire and a werewolf holding hands. They stood at the edge of a field with a dark treeline behind them.

I didn't recognize them, but they were familiar to me. Their faces were similar to my own. I reached out and tried to get closer to them, but I couldn't move. My heart broke. I knew they were my family, but I couldn't get to them.

The trees behind them became bleach-white and their spindley branches crept out of the woods and formed ghostly hands around the two. The hands were familiar. They belonged to Vansius.

I tried to scream and warn them, but my voice was muffled. Vansius closed his skeletal fingers around them and pulled them into the darkness.

I jolted awake as somebody touched my shoulder.

Damon backed away as I raised my head off of the pillow in fear. He held up his hands, "Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you."

He sat down on the bed beside me and placed his hand on my back, gentler this time, pausing to make sure I was okay with it. I was.

"Diana told me what happened with Cassyan. It sounds like he was a good man, despite..." He trailed off. It was clear he wasn't sure what to think of vampires anymore. Neither was I, to be honest.

I didn't make eye contact. I couldn't think of anything to say. What else could be said about Cassyan's death? What could Damon hear that would make him understand what it meant that this man he never met was now dead?

"Vansius hurts his family." I said finally, "Cassyan is just the most recent."

Damon's hand crept up my spine until it touched my hair. He combed his rough fingers through my thin strands with his special kind of care that I knew he only gave to those he loved, "I swear when this is over I will make him pay. I cannot attack now or else disrupt the laws of magic, but when the time comes... Vansius won't hurt anyone ever again."

I shut my eyes and let his touch become all I could feel, "You don't have to protect me. You don't have to avenge someone you didn't know."

"You don't understand." Damon's voice was hushed, "While you were with him, that made him a part of our pack. Which means that he is beholden to our law. And Cassyan was a member of our pack as well. Nobody kills one of my wolves. I will make him pay."

I looked up at him. His face was serious.

"You... would do this for me?" I asked.

Damon shook his head, "I would do anything for you, but this... I do for my sister."

There was silence between us.

"They spent a lot of time together while I was under his influence, I think..." I wasn't sure how much Beta had told him, "But I know the two of them never... she would never let herself become close to him."

"Diana has trouble with men." Damon said, "She wants someone to challenge her, but nobody ever does. Sure, there are some who can beat her in a fight or a race, but due to her status, no wolf in the pack dares to speak honestly with her. She said that he was open. Even when she asserted her authority, he would speak his mind."

I chuckled, "He did. Nobody can get Cassyan to shut up. Not even her."

Damon took a breath and turned his face away from mine, "I want only the best for her. I want her to find love. This... this was..."

His voice wavered. I sat up and wrapped my arms around him, almost without thinking, "She will be alright." I said, unsure about the truth of my words.

"I feel her pain. I felt it while you were still away. I've always known how she feels. A part of her died with him. A love she never would be brave enough to pursue and now will never have the chance to try. If I had known she would have felt that way for him... I'd never have let her accompany you. Why did they ever have to meet?"

"I think..." I measured my words carefully to be sure that I actually meant them, "I think it is better to meet someone and love them briefly than to never meet them at all. Even if it hurts."

We sat in silence for a bit. Then he spoke.

"What did you want to tell me?"

I froze. I had honestly forgotten the fact that I hadn't told him about my pregnancy. I may have forgotten I was pregnant at all.

"Are you sure you don't want some time to think before I do?"

He turned around to look at me, "I have been sitting on pins and needles all month waiting for you to tell me what your great secret is. I don't need any more time to think."

I nodded slowly, "If you're sure then..."

How could I say this in the best way possible. I didn't want to lie to him. He needed to know that the child may not be his. But to tell him that made my skin crawl. I decided to do the simplest thing possible.

"I'm pregnant and I don't know who the father is."

Damon's eyes widened, but he didn't actually look surprised. I suppose if he was waiting a month to hear this, he may have thought of the possibility of pregnancy before. It probably wasn't so much of a shock.

"I didn't tell you because I was afraid what Vansius would do and I didn't want to get your hopes up. Also..."

"It could be his." He finished. He didn't look angry. He looked sad, but I wasn't sure if that was in response to the news or if he was still thinking about Beta.

"I would never have done anything with him willingly, but he... I wasn't under my own control. I don't know what we did that month. The baby could be either of yours."

"The baby..." Damon looked into my eyes, "The baby is mine. You are my wife and any child of yours is a child of mine. And I will tear Vansius apart if he touches my child."

Damon has one character trait and it is 'Touch my family and I kill you'.

Question: Do you wanna have somebody gently pet your hair or would you rather be the one doing the gentle hair petting? (Alternatively: Are you the 'I love you, but please no touching' one?)