Immortal Devotion [18+]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎

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"G-Get off of me... get off." Aurora mumbled squirming in Dimitri's arms. Still, he refused to let her go. He refused to let her go because he knew that once he did, he'd never see her again. He wanted so desperately to explain himself, he wanted to see if she'd understand or even forgive him. 

"You need to understand." He spoke, his words muffled as he kissed the top of her head. She was hurt, understandably, and deeply disturbed. After a while, she momentarily stopped shaking, and he let her pull herself off of him. She gave him a disgusted look as she noticed the dried up blood staining his chin, and the crazed, dark look in his eyes. 

"What... What are you? Wh- What's wrong with you?" She stammered, hugging her arms around herself in a weak attempt at preserving what little safety she has left. 

Written on his face was a look of pure uncertainty and guilt. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to word it in a way that wouldn't scare her further. "I'm a vampire."

He certainly could've put more effort in the way he said it. She laughed sarcastically and shook her head. "You're not a vampire. Vampires aren't real." 

"Why do you think I look like this? Why do you think I drank the blood of that fox, Aurora? I'm not normal. You've never seen someone who looks like me and acts the way I do." He urged. 

"H-How is that possible?" She froze up. All the realizations finally came flooding to her. He was right, he did look like a vampire. He did act in an obscure way that she'd never noticed in anyone before. And for God's sake, he did kill a fox and drink its blood. 

"I was born like this. I can't- I didn't choose to be this way." He slumped his shoulders in defeat, and her gaze softened. She understood him, even if she still felt scared and even if she still felt disgusted, she understood where he was coming from. She knew it wasn't his fault. 

"Are there more?" She asked quietly, looking at him. 

He looked down at her and nodded. He knew he was doing the wrong thing by revealing his brothers' identities to her, but he had to do right by her. 

"Come with me." He gripped her hand softly and began walking, and she trailed hesitantly behind him. 

They walked and walked in silence until finally reaching the gates of the castle. She let go of his hand and looked around, confused. "What are we doing here?" 

He didn't respond, and instead, silently opened the gates. The castle was magnificent, truly haunting in a beautiful way. She'd never seen the castle up close, let alone wander within the premises. There were stone statues of various figures and people decorating the front lawn, there was a large, rusted fountain, right in between two statues of creepy looking ghouls. It was eerily quiet, no sound to be heard aside from Aurora's sniffling and Dimitri's boots stepping over the grass. 

Finally, they made it to the front. There were two doors, both equipped with intricate looking iron decorations. The oak was partially scratched, and the aging was obvious, but it was still scenic and picturesque. The whole castle looked like something out of a fantasy book. Dimitri opened the doors, and Aurora hesitated to enter. Part of her thought she was going to get killed. 

The inside of the castle was as enchanting as the outside, even moreso. There was deep red, velvety carpet covering most of the oak flooring, and the hallway was decorated with various paintings and pictures. Notably, there were pictures of three young boys. One of them, Aurora could tell was Dimitri, but the others, she couldn't quite put her finger on it. There were also pictures of two mature looking figures. One of them was a woman, tall and slender, adorned in extravagant jewelry, a dark green, chiffon, ballgown dress, and a black, lacey shawl draped over her narrow shoulders.

Her hair was dark, and pinned up, accentuating more of her features. Though her lips were in a permanent scowl, she looked beautiful. The other figure was a man, wearing a long, black, gothic looking cossack, with a standing white collar and various silver buttons. He had thick, bushy eyebrows, and a defined jawline. He looked very similar to Dimitri, with almost identical faces and the same long dark hair. 

"Those were our parents." Dimitri piped up as he noticed Aurora inspecting the pictures on the wall. 

"They were beautiful." She smiled softly and ripped her gaze from them, continuing to walk down the hall behind Dimitri. 

They made it to a large room, presumably the living room, which had a few dark red velvet couches and sofas, and a large wooden coffee table. Sitting on one of the couches, was a bewildered Valerian who rose to his feet almost immediately upon catching sight of Aurora. 

"What the hell." He grumbled as he stood up, and Stefan, who was walking down the stairs, froze in his tracks. Aurora's eyes widened. 

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