Xeranthemum (Discontinued)

Chapter 15

Purple Hyacinth- Regret from me to you

~Luna~

Unwilling. That was what I was. I suppose most would call it denial, but the unwillingness to accept that Adrian could be better then what the Institute made us think was... A strange taste to my prideful self.

It was with great unwillingness that I allowed myself to be guided towards the daunting mansion. 

"Don't even think about running away again!" Kira growled at me.

I sighed in lament. "Can't I just stay outside until it gets dark." I whined.

"Luna..." It was a threatening implication. Kira seemed to adapt better when it came to accepting the vampire.

I couldn't stop the pang of guilt. I knew what would happen but I still went out of my way to leave the mansion. I stood in front of the door, hesitating. My way of coping was running away but with Kira behind me I knew that wouldn't be possible. 

I slowly raised my hand to push open the large front door, but before I could it was flung wide open and my wrist was grabbed tightly. Adrian.

He pulled me inside and engulfed me in his tight grip. His face buried itself in my neck and I could feel his panting breaths sending shivers down my spine. I was powerless to resist being sweept away.

Adrian walked through the mansion without hesitation. He had no need to look where he was going. He walked with his gaze fixed hungrily to my neck. A fact that made me feel even more nervous.

Finally he entered a room I was familiar with. It was the bedroom with the pale blue walls and the midnight curtains. It seemed Adrian managed to grasp a little sanity as he flung me away.

He didn't speak, rather he stared at me with his haunting blue eyes.

I swallowed nervously. "Adrian?" My voice was a reproachful whisper.

"What were you thinking?" He finally managed to spit out. "You knew what would happen, so why did you still leave?"

I sighed at the questions I was hoping he would forget to ask.

"Do you know why I hate your kind?" I asked rhetorically. "About eleven years ago I didn't know anything about vampires or werewolves or anything supernatural. I had a mother and lived in a tight knit community. I was a very happy child with everything I ever needed or wanted. Can you imagine what happened to bring me here today?"

I broke my gaze and lowered my head. My voice was clouded with grief as I remembered the details of what had happened.

"The day my world ended... It was a beautiful day. The sunshine, the blue skies the fresh green grass. A perfect spring day full of budding flowers. I was out in the fields playing with the other kids. We stayed out a bit to late. When we finally got back the town was in flames. All I could think about was how my mother told me not to play for to long. I'll admit I became irrational. I abandoned the other children and immediately ran home. Do you know what I found, Adrian?"

I looked back up. Our eyes connected once more. I was extremely uncomfortable with how familiar his feline like eyes had become.

"I found my mother being torn apart by a vampire as the town was burnt to the ground. I found dead bodies strewn like abandoned dolls. I'm lucky the Institute found me..."

Adrian reached out to grasp my hand.

"Why would a vampire destroy your home? It doesn't make sense." His voice was a whisper. I almost thought he hadn't said anything at all.

"He destroyed everything because he was a monster, just like you and all the rest of them."

"No, Luna, you don't understand. Vampires adhere to very strict laws. Destroying a town like that, its not something a sane vampire would do."

"What do you mean?"

"You know I am a royal? Well there are the normal vampires, the common ones that live in dens, then there are royals. The royals, like me, are determined by strength and age. The strongest royal would be the King. In order to protect ourselves the King created laws. I mean do you really think we want to be hunted down at the stake? No one violates these laws unless by direct order of the King."

I blinked slowly trying to processes all the new information.

"I don't get it... You're monsters! You're all monsters!" My voice sounded shrill and hysterical even to myself. Adrian's words were tearing apart my understanding of what I had always thought of as monsters.

"Luna, is a cat a monster because it eats the mouse?"

I hesitatingly shook my head for no.

"Well we are the same as the cat. It is instinct to go after people for their blood. It is not that we enjoy killing people. In fact I haven't killed a human in nearly five hundred years."

"What about that girl when I first came here?"

I still felt some guilt over what had happened to that girl. I had believed I would have been able to help her after I had killed the target. I had never expected Adrian to over power me or for it to end like this.

"You mean Rosslyn? I pay her to give me blood once every three months. She was picked up shortly after our fight. I have a few that donate their blood for money. I haven't killed any of them yet." He gave me an amused look as he spoke.

"But, but..."

"Stop over thinking everything. Just admit that I'm not the monster you were expecting." He leaned forward so that his breath was caressing my cheek. "But still, you were rather misbehaved today..."

He pulled me into his embrace and buried his head into my shoulder. I could feel his mouth twisting into a smile. "Promise you'll never do that again." He demanded.

"And what if I can't?"

"Well I'll just have to lock you up again."

It was those words that made me realise the last peice of resistance in me had finally faded into acceptance.

Sorry for the super late update, I guess I had writers block. I personally hate this chapter but a promise is a promise and I kept it.