This Is My Town

Chapter Twenty Four ~ Enzo

At Pandora's words, Enzo had given up on his ears. They had just... stopped working. What Pandora had been talking about; it was all too much for him. He couldn't handle all of that at once, and he couldn't even begin to imagine what Kiara was thinking. To from being a simple, lowly orphan Vampire one minute to being the creation, or the mere thought of an evil, evil woman the next, to discovering that she never really existed at all; that was something Enzo couldn't compete with, not even by bringing up the neglecting parents he had been with his whole life. Having parents that hate you would be much, much better than being the spawn of Pandora's mind, all for one simple purpose.

To die.

"Kiara, no," Rye muttered, his hand tightly clutching Kiara's arm. "Kiara, she is lying. Tell her that she is lying!"

But Kiara said nothing; she did nothing. She simply stood where she was and stared at the ground at Pandora's feet.

"Do you not see now, Kiara?" Pandora mused gently. "You have been brought to this world for a reason; it is compulsory that you do not stray for your true destiny."

"To die?" Enzo snapped, his ears clearing as his eyes focused on Pandora's pure black irises. "You are an imbecilic woman, Pandora, to even think for a moment that we are letting you get away with this."

"Oh, but my Prince," Pandora murmured, a smirk forming on her face. "I already have."

"I will not let her die!" Rye shouted, stepping venomously for Pandora, but he didn't reach her because Enzo had slipped behind Kiara and had grabbed Rye's arm, holding him firmly back from doing something stupid.

"Rye," Enzo muttered in his ear. "Do you not see?"

Rye narrowed his eyes, but they never left Pandora, no matter how many sly smirks she shot his way as she began to wander the floor in front of the three friends. "See what?" he hissed, and Enzo's heart ached.

"My friend," he managed, "you are so harshly blinded by love that you cannot see how doomed she really is."

Rye turned his head at this point, his mask of rage fading. He looked Enzo in the eyes, then looked at Kiara, who had not said a word. She was simply staring down at the floor as if it were the only thing keeping her sane.

Enzo wasn't surprised.

"I am doomed to die," Kiara murmured finally, her voice barely audible as Enzo saw the shining tears falling down her face. "It is inevitable. You are clever, Pandora."

Rye shook his head, now desperate as he turned himself to face Kiara, both hands holding hers tightly as if he feared she would be lost forever if he even thought about letting go. "No," he muttered almost immediately. "No, you will not die. There has to be another way; we can get Pandora to go with Nikolas, alright? That is what he wants, and you will be free to do as you please."

"It is not that simple, blacksmith boy," Pandora called over her shoulder in a sing-song tone, but Rye showed no sign that he had heard her at all. He was looking into Kiara's eyes; those black eyes of hers that seemed lost to Enzo, but apparently not so for Rye. Rye, in his position, was seeing through to Kiara's soul; the purpose behind her being.

And Enzo knew that he was seeing nothing.

"Kiara, we can convince her," he said hurriedly, nodding his head. He sounded so sure of himself that it made Enzo's heart sink even further into the pit of his stomach that he was afraid it would be impossible to fish it back out again. "We can convince her to follow her son's wish. If she defies her duty to the God Maklon, she can go with Nikolas and your soul will not be on the line."