Immortal Love Book #2. Evil

42. "Broken"

Alexander Ericson seemed invincible since the first day I met him. He looked indescribably unreachable and intimidating, but mostly, he looked unbreakable. He looked like the kind of person that didn't let anyone know him on a personal level and liked it that way. His looks were one of the first things I noticed about him. I was head over heels in love with Dennis at the time, but I immediately noticed how incredibly handsome he was. He didn't even look like a real person. He looked like a painting, or like a character that you imagine in your head when you read a book, but you can't quite describe.

His looks were easily clouded by Dennis' warnings about him, so I told myself to never think of him again. I didn't think I'd have to think of him again because I didn't think I'd ever see him again. I thought meeting him was just a weird experience that I would maybe remember once when I was older, but nothing more than that. When Dennis told me that he might want to take me away from him as payback, I got a little bit scared, but I still didn't think I'd see him again.

I was wrong, in so many ways. The first one of them being the most obvious one: I did see him again, a lot. Something else I was wrong about was letting Dennis' opinion about Alexander dictate how I felt about him because I didn't know him, and I already judged him, and at the end of the day he turned out to be a pretty good guy. But the one thing I didn't know I was wrong about Alexander that I learned that night, was that he was unbreakable.

He was broken when I saw him. There was no better word to describe how he looked. The room was possibly one of the most beautiful rooms in the world a few moments prior, but when I walked in all I saw was a never-ending mess. There were books and book pages ripped all over the marble floor, there were also some pieces of wood that I imagined he ripped out of his now destroyed desk and bookcase. I also saw feathers flying around, probably due to the ripped open pillows. But none of that mattered. The only thing I focused on was him.

He was standing in front of a big window in the wall across from me. The window, probably due to some spell, made it seem like we were in Paris. I was mesmerized for a moment, admiring the unbelievable view, but then I saw him again. He was facing the window, which meant he was only showing me his back, and I could still see his brokenness from where I was standing.

I closed the door behind me and even though I knew he heard me, he still didn't do or say anything. Maybe I was an idiot. Maybe it was even dangerous for me to be here with a vampire that had just faced such loss. I didn't know what I was supposed to do or say, so all I did was walk towards him. I walked across the room carefully trying not to step on anything, and as I got closer to him, the more I could see what had just happened. His hands were the first thing I noticed. They were resting to the sides of his body, and they were covered in blood but I couldn't see a wound. He had probably hurt himself breaking everything in the room, and it had soon after healed. I walked with a slow step and with every step I took the more I didn't know what to do once I got to him. I didn't have to think about it for too long because only a few seconds later I was there, in front of him.

His eyes were a little red like he had cried but his body was quickly returning to normal. He was wearing the same thing I'd seen him wear on tv a couple of hours before, when Jacqueline was still alive. He looked at me with a dead expression. He hadn't turned his humanity off, I could tell. He just looked hopeless. I didn't know what to do, so I just hugged him. Because he was taller than me, I had to reach really high to surround him with my arms. Maybe it was crazy of me to hug a vampire that was so on edge, but he really looked like he needed it.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, with his arms still resting to the sides of his body. He didn't hug me back. I took a step back, confused.

"Merissa called me." I said. Alexander didn't change his facial expression. He still looked unaffected, but at the same time very affected. Maybe he didn't want to seem vulnerable in front of me.

"She shouldn't have." he said in a monotonous way. Was he mad at me for coming? I was so confused. Maybe Alexander had never had a friend before. I sighed.

"Do you want me to leave?" I asked. I didn't want to invade his privacy. I wanted to be there for him, but if he wanted to be alone, I would respect that. Alexander looked at me for a second and then he opened his mouth again.

"No." he said. It seemed like it was the first sincere thing he'd said in a while, and like he'd regretted it the second he said it. I nodded. What now?

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked. Talking about something horrible that has happened to you works to heal the wound, but only a while after it's happened. The same day something like that happens the last thing anybody ever wants to do is to talk about it. I should've thought better about what to say. I just really didn't want to say the wrong thing.

"Not really." he said, as I expected. I nodded. He then looked at me up and down. I was supposed to be getting drunk with college friends now, so I was wearing something I wouldn't usually wear, and he noticed it. He didn't say anything about it like he normally would, he was probably too busy thinking about other things. Like the death of the most important person in his life. "I know why you're here." Alexander said, interrupting my ongoing thoughts. I gave him a confused look. "You're here to make sure I don't kill him." he said. He thought I had come here just to convince him not to kill Dennis, and he might've had reasons to believe that, but that wasn't why I was here. I definitely didn't want Alexander to kill Dennis, but I came here because I was worried about Alexander, not Dennis.

"That's not true." I said. Alexander shook his head.

"Then why, Stella? Why would you drop everything you had going on tonight to come here? Why if it wasn't for him?!" he inquired me. His voice got louder as he spoke, and I would respond to him in a similar way.

"It was for you!" I said, loudly. Hopefully, the room was magically sealed so they couldn't hear us screaming from outside. Alexander opened his eyes wider with surprise. I wasn't one to yell a lot, and now I was yelling. "When Merissa called me, I felt awful that you were going through something so difficult, especially because I knew you wouldn't let anybody help you through it. I also felt horrified by the idea that the pain you felt was so massive that you could've ended up hurting yourself or turning your humanity off. I care about what happens to you, why is that so hard to believe?!" I asked, in a loud volume. Alexander, who had been silently watching me for the past seconds, looked surprised. I didn't know if he was surprised by the volume of my voice, or by what I was saying. I was agitated so I tried to calm myself down by taking deep breaths. I would've achieved my goal to make myself calm had Alexander not decided to kiss me in that very moment.

In a matter of seconds, he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled my lips towards his, and I let him. I wouldn't have normally allowed for this to happen, but it was so out of nowhere and he felt so hurt that I let him. He kissed in a completely different way than Dennis, or maybe it was due to the situation. It was like he needed it more than anything, like that kiss was the only shelter he had from the world. So, I kissed him back.

He moved his hands from the back of my neck to my waist and I only then put my hands on his neck. He kissed me passionately and like his life depended on it, and a few seconds later, I pulled his face away from mine. I couldn't explain what had just happened, and I wasn't sure I even wanted to. I tried to reach out for some air. He had left me breathless and speechless.

"I'm sorry." he apologized for the surprising gesture, still looking at my lips. I shook my head trying to say don't worry. I couldn't speak. "I just needed to think about something else for a couple of seconds." he finished his thought. I removed my hands from his neck, and he did the same with his hands on my waist. "Do you still want to stay?" he asked. I nodded. What had just happened was going to be dissected in my head as soon as I left Alexander's place, but for now, I had to forget it. I still wanted to do what I went there to do; be there for him.

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Well, something big happened. What are your opinions? I'd love to read them.

Thank you so much for reading.

Love you all, and stay safe.

Rosie. ❤️