of feathers and fangs • niam

Chapter Fifteen

This chapter is really short but I wanted to give you guys something before I like literally die tomorrow.

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Niall woke with a start, eyes still closed as memories of Josh hurting him flooding his mind. He instantly began to thrash about, afraid that the touch he felt was the vampire trying to have his way with him again. Liam's eyes shot open when he felt Niall thrashing in his arms. He sat up and held the blonde boy, doing his best to calm him.

"Niall, Niall love, it is Liam." He cooed, holding Niall close and smoothing back his hair. Niall thrashed for a bit longer before he stopped and his eyes slowly opened. Liam saw them glisten for a moment before he started sobbing. It killed Liam to see how broken Niall was and he knew it was his fault. "Love, I am sorry. I am so sorry." He murmured.

Niall buried his face in to Liam's chest and just continued to cry. His slender frame shook in the older man's arms and Liam felt anger towards building up stronger than it had ever before. He knew his words wouldn't be able to stop the pain or the fear Niall was feeling right now. Liam wish he knew a way to take it all away from the blonde.

Liam closed his eyes and leaned back against the headboard of the as he rocked Niall side to side. "Niall, I...I have never felt guiltier about anything before in my life and I am truly sorry I let this happen to you. I am so damn sorry that I am never going to forgive myself. I know I could have done something. I could have anticipated this. I could have- hell, I could have told you the truth from the moment I knew." Liam explained, more to himself because he wasn't sure if Niall was even all together there to listen. "I love you."

Niall could barely hear Liam talking to him over the sounds of his sobs. He blinked back a few tears, wondering if he did hear Liam right. "W-What?" He asked, voice frail and quiet as he peeked up to look at Liam.

Liam looked down at Niall, eye soft. "I love you, Niall. And I am not just saying that to you because of what happened. I am saying it because it is true and I should have told you sooner."

"D-Do you mean i-it?"

Liam nodded his head. "With every fiber of my being." He whispered. Niall buried his face back in to Liam's chest, crying again but for a different reason.

"I love you too."

And for the first time since Liam had become the creature that he is, he smiled - a full, genuine smile.

It took about an hour for Liam too get Niall back to sleep. The blonde had stopped crying at that point. Liam laid with him for almost another hour afterwards before he slowly slipped out of bed and left the bedroom. He headed down to Zayn's. He knocked once before letting him in.

"Before you say a thing, I think it is best if you do not go after Josh so soon." Zayn said before Liam even fully walked in to the room.

"You know me well, brother. And as much as I would like to hunt Josh down and rip his head off I know I cannot leave Niall." Liam said as he took a seat in front of the fireplace next to the other vampire.

"You will make him pay, but what matters more is helping Niall heal first." Zayn stated. Liam nodded.

"I feel horrible, Zayn. I have never felt this much remorse about anything in my life ever. I could have stopped this from happening." Liam let out a breath and ran a hand down his face.

"Even I never thought Josh would do this. Do not blame yourself, Liam."

"How can I not?" Liam asked, looking over at Josh. "I left him. That is why Josh advanced, because I left Niall alone."

"He was not even home when we left. We thought he was going to be gone longer than us. Liam, Niall is not going to let you do this to yourself." Zayn insisted.

"I told him I love him. I finally told him, Zayn."

Zayn sat back at that, and then a small smile appeared. "Did you?"

Liam nodded. "I did. And I should have told him sooner. But I do love him. I know you figured it out long before me. But I finally accepted that I gave my heart away."

"Good. Because you need this Liam. Every bit as much as Niall does." Zayn told him. "I know you will be able to help Niall heal. After you do, then things will be better."

"God, I really hope so."

That night Niall was too afraid leave Zayn's bed. So Zayn offered to switch rooms with Liam for the night. The brunette walked in to see the blonde curled up on the bed, staring at the wall. He still felt horrible for what happened - for what he let happened. And he knew he would never be able to take that away.

He walked up to the bed. "Is it alright if I lay with you?" He asked, voice soft. He was cautious. The last thing he wanted to do was to frighten Niall. He knew his baby was fragile at the moment and he was determined not to let him break.

Niall nodded his head slowly. The brunette climbed in to bed next to Niall and wrapped his arms around the small boy, pulling him close. He felt Niall shaking then gradually relax in his embrace.

Liam sighed, hating what Niall was going through. "How are you feeling, love?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Tired," Came the soft and lifeless reply.

"Then sleep, love. I am going to be here the whole time and I will keep you safe." Liam felt Niall relax much more at those words. He gave the boy a gentle squeeze. "I love you," He whispered softly.

Liam couldn't help but smile when he heard Niall reply quietly with, "I love you too."

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Alright, a few things here.

1) Yay, Liam finally told Niall he loved him!
2) I don't know if you guys have noticed, but I never wrote out Liam actually, completely smiling. I would usually type 'smiled lightly' or something like that.
3) I am still really sorry this chapter was so short. Like it was embarrassingly short.
4) Let me explain to you what I mean about me dying. I work at a grocery store as a cashier and it is the holiday week. This week I had three days of overtime. Today was my 7/7 straight day of full shifts, with two days having an hour of overtime each and on day with a half hour. The last seven days I have worked 58 1/2 hours. I am literally quite close to dying of exhaustion.

*I actually wanted to post this earlier. I had it saved as a draft and was going to post it like on my break at work. But then I totally forgot. So here it is now. Leave me some love in forms of comments and votes, please? ❤