Second Fate

31

It had been a terrible idea to walk into the forest at night. And of course, I should've expected to come across Vine. I could see now that my new-found impulses for night walks had little to do with the starry sky or a need for fresh air. My body was aching for his presence, and my mind was pulling me towards him. Part of me enjoyed the comparison with a black hole a little too much, even as I kept walking towards its center, helplessly.

His hands flew up as he saw me narrow his eyes at him from out of the dark.

"I didn't follow yo–"

"Of course you're out here", I snapped at him before he could finish his sentence. "Why wouldn't you be? Why would I get a single moment of peace, even after everything that has happened to me because of you."

The words were out before I knew it, but I felt the pain on Vine's face as if someone had wrung out my intestines like a wet towel. Cringing, I looked to the black skies.

Shit. That was not what I had intended to say. I just felt so powerless amidst the mess the mansion had become. In the dark, the ground floor had resembled a maze; it hadn't been easy to avoid the sharp splinters and broken furniture in my way out, even though Isabelle and Tom had begun to clean up.

"You're right", said Vine toneless, "it's my fault."

Not what I wanted to hear at all. It didn't make me feel any better, so I pushed out a half-angry: "No, I didn't mean to –"

"Yes, you did, and you're right. I can't do anything to change that, but I can ask: What do you want me to do about it?"

It wasn't a provocative question. One look in his eyes and I knew that he was serious in asking.

And I was serious in answering him, even though I knew he wouldn't agree. "I want you to stay with me. Protect me."

A sigh escaped his clenched teeth, as if he was still holding much more inside. "I can't do that, Nina. I'm not all-mighty."

"You're one of them. I've seen what you can do with my own eyes. For fuck's sake, you've beaten them in that alley and in there, on the first floor, it was like –"

"Don't delude yourself. That was luck and ... I'm willing to do what it takes, but I won't be as lucky one day", replied Vine abruptly.

He wasn't in the manner of interrupting me, so I felt my gut wrench. He was more emotional than he let one, I knew. I could feel it in the waves of unease radiating from him and making my hair stand.

But he wouldn't let it show. He was too ... proud?

"Sometimes I think you're not even human", I hurled at him and tried not to notice the flinch in his shoulders. "I thought I might be killed by those people, again, and then you just hand me to Freya and wander off. Why didn't you stay with me?"

"Neal called on us..."

"He would've understood that you need a damn second!"

"... and you were in shock, Nina. I told Freya to get you some peace, so you could recover."

"You couldn't even do that yourself? Are you that desperate to get away from me?"

"I shouldn't be around you, not with the fa–"

"You knew I would've wanted you with me, not Freya." Now I was the one who kept interrupting him because I couldn't control the ball of feelings within me anymore. It was travelling from my chest up to my throat, where it burned its way upwards. My eyes were getting singed by hot tears, but I swallowed them down. "Don't you want to be with me? I thought ..."