Vespertine

Chapter Seven

My series of actions caused a chain of reactions across the room.

Everything froze in the room for a second. Everything except the delirious Kane who was still howling and trying to fight the two other frozen men.

Who were they? What was their role, and how were they able to crash their way into this dorm room to subdue a rogue ghost gone demon? All these questions were something that I would only think about until later. At that point in time, I was still... beyond myself.

The shock of the sight I had witnessed in the form of Kane, as well as the mind-numbing pain I was feeling due to the assault at the hand of the same demon — I could only think less and instead entrust myself into the hands of my soulmate. Stick myself onto him as much as I could without a single sense of shame. Adam was there and I was going to be alright.

On a night when Adam once again mysteriously disappeared into his portrait after dinner, I lay on the bed in the master bedroom — lights dim and the air cool — and couldn't help but wonder where he was, what he was doing.

By the end of the night, I suddenly realised that there had never been, in weeks that had passed, a single moment where I had been repulsed by Adam. Despite our differences, despite our different planes of existence, I had easily eased into the concept of family with him. With those in the estate. For the first time, in a long long time, I had finally come close to familial familiarity. And strangely... that didn't feel strange.

Adam was... unlike any werewolf mate I had seen before. He was intimidating and decisive, yes, but there was also an abundance of humour and ease about "life" that felt so alien to me in the picture that I had formed in my mind about soulmates. Sometimes I wondered whether he had been of some other species when he was alive.

However, on other accounts, he was quite werewolf in nature as well. Perhaps even more so. More so than a wolf, sometimes it felt like he was a dragon protecting its virgin sacrifice, or maybe even its gold. His protectiveness and possessiveness, while something that was growing on me, sometimes left me at very uncomfortable junctures in my life. For instance, just today, I had to evade the two bodyguards that were mysteriously placed for my safety (from what I was still unaware — but was sure it had been set up due to his orders).

"A...Adam," I whispered, my fingers tightening around a strap wrapped across his long coat. For a second, I wondered what the straps were for, but then my mind wandered again and I went back to sticking myself as close to the man as possible.

"Mm," His low voice made a sound of acknowledgment.

Amidst the chaotically loud room — a howling demon, a traumatized unresponsive girl above the bed, and my noisy brain — a sigh echoed above my head. Strong steel-like arms slowly but surely wrapped their way around me, almost pulling me up until my cheeks brushed against the roughness of his jaw. The pain of the prickly hair took me by surprise, bringing me quickly back to reality as my head tilted back and wide eyes snapped up to stare directly into two orbs of fire.

Fire. There was fire in his eyes. Swirling, cackling golden red. Sparkles flew in those round orbs and I could only stare back at the unworldly being staring down at me.

I melted into a smile but my vision began to get blurry as tears pooled up in them.

"Save Opal," I choked out pleadingly, grasping onto him as hard as possible, "He was her soulmate... he can't take her..."

I knew I was safe. But Opal surely needed immediate medical attention. We needed to get her to a hospital as soon as possible.

Loud wails burst around the room in depressingly loud booms. Deafening lightning-like cracks boomed throughout the bedroom.