31. The Loving End

Chapter 31

The Loving End

T he moment Victor collapsed on top of me, he gathered me up in his arms and held me as I shook against him. He cooed down at me, endearments of sweet praise and comforting words, as he pulled me close.

My body was spent but my mind was in total turmoil. I had gone too far, and I had no one to blame but myself. I knew this, yet I didn't have it in me to speak. Knowing that if I did, I would only burst into tears and try and confess everything.

Would they kill me if they knew the truth? Would they toss me out of here if they decided not to end my life? I didn't know which would end up being worse in this moment because just the idea of living without them was too cruel to contemplate.

Which was why I allowed them to hold me in their arms and tuck me in between them, before pulling the sheets over us all.

"No more running, baby," Victor told me tenderly, his lips at my forehead, kissing me there. Then Tal made me do the unthinkable…

"Promise us."

I couldn't speak, I could only nod my head. But this clearly wasn't good enough because I heard Tal demand,

"Want your words, beautiful."

Something that I wished I could have responded, that no, they didn't. They didn't want me to add to the list of my offenses. The only solace I held on to was that they may hate me come morning but by the time night came, they wouldn't remember me at all. Which was why, in the end, I broke my own heart and told them,

"I promise."

It was a promise that I wouldn't just run from, but I would disappear altogether.

I didn't fall asleep like I wished I would. No, instead, I waited until I felt them both relax next enough next to me and…

Only then did I silently cry myself to sleep.

When I woke, I wasn't surprised to find myself chained to the bed. Thick shackles around my wrists, with both lengths attached to the headboard. Making me wonder at what point last night they had woken up and decided they didn't believe in my promise. The thought saddened me because, just once, I would like to have been someone they could have trusted enough to stay.

And for the first time, I would have given anything to do just that.

But as they still slept, heavily this time, I whispered the words of my escape.

"Release the shackles."

They instantly snapped open, despite not seeing a way that they did, making question what type they were. Tal's arm was across my chest and Victor's was across my hips. Both of them sleeping as if they feared for the worst. The worst that was about to happen, just not for them.

"Don't let them wake while I get up," I said, making it easier to slip out from underneath them. Deciding that I need more of reassurance in case they did wake, I took the shackles and snapped one on each of their wrists. Then I said,

"Each one stay strong enough until I am long gone from this place."

I hoped this wish was enough to keep them in place and to give me the head start I would need. Well, I couldn't go back now, so I got up, gathered up my clothes, and after finding a bathroom to use, I got dressed.

The problem with this was that I was gone from them for long enough that the moment I walked back inside, they started to wake.

"Not exactly what we had in mind for morning foreplay, Peaches," Tal said, while Victor gritted his teeth because he knew exactly what this was. The both of them were now sitting up, and very alert to what was happening.

"It was a good plan, but these won't hold us," Victor warned, making me say,

"I'm sorry."

It was enough to have him frowning when he then started to tug on the restraints, amazed to find the chains holding. Tal looked shocked and quickly did the same, the sounds of the chains thrashing made me wince with my eyes closed. Because I gathered that they had wanted to make a show of getting free once I was back in the room.

But they hadn't expected to stay shackled.

"What have you done… is this magic?" Victor demanded, his voice hard and sharp as a knife's edge.

"I don't know. I just know it works," I admitted in a strained voice, one full of deep regret.

"So, this is how you have been escaping us? You simply wish for something to open, and it does?"

I nodded, telling Victor yes. Tal looked to his brother, the disbelieving look easy to see, all trace of humor long gone.

"And now, what is your plan? Because you know if you run you will only find us again, so what is the point?" Tal asked, making me release a deep sigh before telling them both,

"That won't happen again, not after today."

Both of them narrowed their eyes at me, but it was Victor who was the first to ask,

"What do you mean by that?"

I couldn't cope any longer as the first of my tears escaped.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for any of it to happen. You have to know that."

"Didn't mean for what to happen?" Tal asked, his voice now as hard and strained as his brother's.

"I know you won't remember any of this, but you have to know… it was… it was real for me," I told them, wiping at my cheeks, trying to take away the pain with them but it was pointless. No amount of washing away my tears would save me from this agony.

"What was real for you?" Victor asked, making me admit my biggest fear come true because now there was no point in hiding anymore. Besides, I would always regret not telling them how I felt, even if I was the only one who would ever remember it.

"The way I fell in love with you both," I said though a fresh wave of tears. The sounds of the chains being tugged violently made me jump.

"Release us!" Victor demanded, even more desperate to get to me once I had made my confession.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I hope that you can forgive me, even if soon you won't need to."

"What does that mean? Why do you keep saying we won't remember?" Tal asked, and that furious pulse was back in Victor's jaw as he guessed it.

"You made a deal with a witch."

I let out a little sob before covering my mouth with my hands, trying to hold the in next one.

"A deal… what deal?" Tal asked, now looking just as furious.

"She wishes to be rid of us, Brother," Victor said bitterly, making me take a step closer to the bed as I cried out,

"No! No, I don't, and I won't, not ever. I couldn't, not even if I wanted to."

Victor narrowed his eyes at that before he started laughing, an evil, dark sound that was void of all humor.

"Foolish girl, our Fated believes she can make us forget."

Tal laughed bitterly and agreed.

"Oh little Peach, you have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?"

I started shaking my head, knowing they needed the truth.

"I'm not the one who has been fooled, but you two have been. You think all of this was real when it only ever real was for me. That's the cruel part. We have all been played the fool, but you're right, no more foolish than me, because I believed… fuck, how badly I wished for it to be real," I told them, looking up at the ceiling and trying to hold back the next wave of tears.

"It was real!" Victor stated angrily, and his brother followed suit.

"Very fucking real and if you would release us, we will kindly prove it again!"

"I am sorry," I said again, wondering how many more times I would say it before I finally got the courage to leave.

"You keep saying that, little one, but your words are rather empty when you don't do anything to rectify your mistakes," Victor said harshly, making me flinch at the dangerous tone.

"Oh trust me, the only reason I am about to rectify them is because I love you both."

"Another empty sentiment when you stand there and refuse us our right to touch you," Victor added, his anger mounting by the second.

"Believe what you want because pretty soon it won't matter anyway," I told him, making Tal growl,

"Whatever you have planned, it is a mistake. I don't know who has gotten to you, but if you think for one second that there is anything or anyone powerful enough for a Vampire to forget his Fated after tasting her, then you are the only one mistaken."

"I am not your Fated," I said heatedly, swiping at my tears and hating the way it looked as if I had just struck both of them as they flinched.

"Your punishment just keeps mounting, Sweetheart, so I suggest you stop now and listen to me when I tell you, this is your last chance to rectify all of this. Release us, and do it now!" Victor demanded, making me remind him,

"I am afraid that my time for following orders is at an end because it is daylight. Which means I am no longer under your control. And it may be hard for you to believe but I wish it wasn't the case, because that way I may not feel the immeasurable amount of guilt that I do." Victor shook his head and told me,

"Oh, sweet girl, you speak of this like it is the end."

"It soon will be," I stated firmly.

"NO! No, it fucking won't, and it never will be, do you understand me?!" he snapped, his roar of anger making me take a few quick steps back in fear. Fuck, he was frightening when he did that, with the way his eyes flashed demonically and his fangs extended.

"Listen to him, Nessa, for he speaks the truth," Tal tried as if he was currently playing good cop.

"I wish it didn't have to play out this way. But please know that I am sorry I let it get this far. That I allowed myself to get so carried away and we… that I allowed last night to happen."

"Save your regrets!" Victor snarled angrily, making me flinch.

"My only regret is taking advantage of the situation. Of the lie you have been made to believe!" I argued, wondering why I still here. It was like I couldn't seem to just make myself walk away.

"The only lies are the ones you tell yourself by thinking you can just walk away. The lie you believe in thinking you can ever run from us, that there is a single place on this planet you believe you can hide… for I make you this vow, girl… we will fucking find you!"

"Victor, easy, Brother," Tal tried to get him to calm down, only he snarled and continued regardless.

I took a few small steps back, as if he had the power to burst free any second,

"We will find you, Nessa, and make no mistake, we will not be so trusting the next time we make you our prisoner!"

I gasped at this, knowing it was most definitely my time to leave.

"Then I am truly sorry, and even more so for what I have to do next," I said, knowing that if Victor hated me right now, then the next time he found me he wouldn't just want to make me his prisoner… no, next time he found me he would want to kill me. My only hope of surviving his wrath was if their memories were truly taken.

So with little choice but to hope for the memories being wiped, I walked toward the dagger making Victor gasp, warning me dangerously,

"No, Nessa, don't you dare fucking do it!"

I closed my eyes against the pain ripping me apart, only able to tell him,

"I'm sorry, I have no choice."

"Who is making you do this!? We will find them. We will make them pay for this but please, baby, don't fucking do this," Tal tried, making Victor snarl,

"You have no fucking idea what would happen if that got into the wrong hands… it… fuck, girl, but it would destroy everything!"

I flinched at that, hating that he was right. But what other choice did I have? Perhaps after this was all over, I would have a way of making this all right. But for now, I really didn't have a choice.

"I will make this right, I swear it… open the case," I stated, making them suck in an astonished breath as the dagger's case opened. I then reached for it, unable to stop the shiver I felt when coming into contact with it. Like it was trying to communicate something to me. Connecting to a deeper part of my soul and recognizing something within me.

"What is it… you feel something, don't you?" Victor asked, his voice slightly panicked now as the realization of what was about to happen was getting closer.

Making me tell him on a shuddered breath,

"I wished more than anything I was what you wanted me to be. That I could have been what you both hoped for, and for that I am truly sorry. But I hope you find her one day. That you find your Fated, because only then I will know that I did the right thing. Only then will I know that my heart was the only one I sacrificed… goodbye, Talon, goodbye, Victor," I said, now leaving them and telling the room,

"No one will hear them until I am long gone from this place, nor will anyone stop me from leaving. My freedom will be granted by everyone on this estate."

Then I was forced with tears of utter heartbreak to walk away. Doing so to the sounds of two furious Vampires who pretty soon, I knew would forget this day.

They would forget me entirely.

And worst of all, they would…

Forget the heart that I gave them freely.