Chapter 26

Trisha’s P.O.V:

“I won’t lie to you, I hate seeing you with Damien.” Lucas said as I closed the door behind me and leaned against it. He was facing his desk, his back to me, but I knew he was aware of the slight hitch in my breath as soon as he mentioned Damien. “It’s like he’s a living, breathing extension of you. He knows all your little movements and as much as I hate to admit it, you know him just as well. You two even have some of the same habits, I’m not sure who picked it up from whom.”

I shook my head. “Lucas-“

“No.” That single word held so much power that I held my breath, afraid of what he might say next. And then he turned to me, his eyes a brilliant topaz that seemed lit from within. “Just say it Trisha, get it out of the way. All this time I’d brought him up, you dismiss any assumptions, any theories I came up with and told me it’s one sided. But I can’t stand it if this comes between us; I won’t stand it. Just tell me how you feel about him, please. Because it’s impossible to believe that you two aren’t together.”

I fisted my hands at my sides. I was done with his assumptions as well, so I let it all out. “You’re right; there is something between Damien and me.” I watched his features harden immediately but I kept going anyway; he’s the one who had asked for it. “But I wouldn’t know what it’s called because I doubt it has a name. I am attracted to him, is that what you want to hear? I was intrigued by him, so much that I wanted to become one of his inner circle members right after meeting him for the first time. Like a little girl wanting to please her first crush, I wanted to do everything only to have him notice me. But it never worked. Damien was always so…other. But in the hundred and seventy years that I’ve known him, Damien has never so much as kissed me and yet, that feeling to stay close to him never dissipated. That was when I realized what he was doing to me, what I was doing to myself. He was someone I could never have and yet I kept ruining my life hoping that one day, things might change. So I stopped being his little puppy and stood up for what’s right.”

“Trisha you don’t-“

“NO!” This time I stopped him. “I didn’t ask for a relationship with you Lucas and neither did I say I’d sleep with you. You’re a nice person, Lucas and I really do like you, but every time I think we’re making progress…”

“Damien comes between us.” Lucas finished for me. “You’ve given him your heart.”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I don’t know anything anymore.”

Turning the knob at my back I opened the door and shut it behind me. Walking as fast as I could, I reached my room, entered, shut the door and locked it behind me. I leaned back against the door with my eyes closed, taking all my frustration out by trying to control my breathing.

Yes, I was desperately fixated on Damien and I knew I needed to get over this stupid one-sided love. But why wouldn’t my heart understand that? Why couldn’t I move on?

“That didn’t go very well.”

I gasped, opening my eyes to find Damien sitting on my bed in his usual dark attire, his gemstone eyes piercing right through to my soul. “I don’t need this right now!” I muttered under my breath but I’m pretty sure he heard me. “What’re you doing eavesdropping on a personal conversation?”

“I didn’t intend to but I was looking for you.” He said and then patted the spot on the bed beside him. “Come sit.”

I did so, not because it was Damien who’d asked, but because I was exhausted both physically and mentally. I sat on the bed next to him and fell back on it with my legs hanging off the sides. I looked up at the wooden ceiling as Damien did the same beside me, our hands touching lightly as they lay next to each other.

“You’re not going to listen to me are you? You’re protecting Vandal…even after everything he did.” I told him, still looking at the ceiling.

“There are things you don’t understand, Trisha.” I felt his eyes on me so I turned my head sideways to gaze at him. Why did he keep repeating the same thing over and over again?

“Then make me understand, what’s so damn important to you that won’t let you take action against someone who’s committed Regicide.” I told him. “Your father, Damien! How could you not stand up to someone who’s killed your father!”

“We don’t know that for sure and I don’t trust those letters.” Damien turned to face the ceiling.

“But they are signed by vandal, it’s even got the Rudolf family seal on it-“

“Trisha.” It was a warning. “Let me deal with this my way”.

“And if I plan to intervene?” I didn’t back away from this fight. I won’t back away from this fight. Not when Neema’s life was on the line.

Damien went to answer but his head turned towards the opposite wall and he sat up in bed. “Lucas is heading to my room.” That was all the explanation I got before he teleported out of sight.

“UGH!” I banged my fists on the spot he’d occupied not too long ago. “Stupid! Arrogant! Stubborn! Vampire!”

Lucas’s P.O.V:

I knocked on Damien’s door harder than I’d wanted to. I don’t know what I was expecting to get out of this, but I had to find out.

“Come in.” He called out.

I entered and shut the door behind me, turning the lock on in the process.

“That doesn’t help much.”

“What?” I frowned when he pointed towards the door.

“It doesn’t help when you have hearing like mine.” He touched his ear for emphasis.

My eyes widened at the implication but I controlled my reaction immediately. “It’s not polite to eavesdrop, especially when you’re a guest.”

“I’m wasn’t. Maybe next time, try and keep your voices down?”Damien suggested.

“You’re having fun with this, aren’t you?” I asked, my wolf seeping into my voice. “You think that now that she’s confessed to having feelings for you, she’ll go back to being your little bitch!” I spat.

Damien was in front of me in the next instant, his green eyes lit from within. “Be careful of what comes out of your mouth, mutt!” He was a few feet shorter than me, but that threat made my wolf howl inside me.

I smirked. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen the Vampire King show some reaction. “Really? So you want me to discuss how she melted in my arms instead? How it felt being with her. How her soft skin-”

“LUCAS!” Damien roared as his hand wrapped around my neck and I found my back being slammed against the door, hard enough to loosen it from its hinges and my feet were dangling in the air.

“What’s the matter Vampire? If you can’t stand me touching her then why make her suffer?” I spat out. “If you hadn’t hurt her, maybe she wouldn’t have been in my arms.”

“Do not tell me what I should and shouldn’t do wolf.” He didn’t raise his voice but the power in them made my bones vibrate.

“Too bad, ain’t it? Unlike her, I’m not your bitch-“

This time, the door broke from the force with which he pushed me but before I went flying back, I made sure to kick the fucker in the face; felt an ounce of satisfaction when my feet connected with skin and bones and I heard a cracking sound…and the sound of my own bones cracking as it hit the opposite wall.

I sprang back up on my feet and saw blood trickle down Damien’s chin, but before we could pounce on each other, Trisha’s voice stopped us.

“Damien! Lucas!”

Damien’s head whipped towards her as she came into view, and just as I expected, her eyes went to him right away. “Damien!”

She rushed to his side while I turned my head in the other direction, my hands curled into fists.

“What is wrong with you two?” She snapped. “Both of you are centuries old, start acting like descent adults for once! We don’t want to start another war!”

“Trisha, stay out of it.” Damien told her coldly and I wanted yet again to punch the sucker hard enough to knock his fangs out, but I held my wolf in check with sheer strength of will. No one treated women like that! And I was starting to consider Trisha mine.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” She snapped back at him.

“Trisha,” he tried again. “This is between me and Lucas. Stay out of this.” Trisha stayed quiet for a while as Damien bore holes through my skull with his eyes.

“Fine!” Trisha said angrily before she left us alone in the hallway.

No one else was allowed to come here. I’d already given out a telepathic signal to my soldiers who were in this area to stay clear and not to intervene unless told to. I knew Damien would react and I had been wanting to get exactly this reaction out of him. But now, I was starting to see things in a different light.

“You knew how Trisha felt about you, didn’t you?” I asked. “Answer me truthfully, Damien. Just man to man, nothing else.”

Damien gave a humorless smile. “You want us to talk about feelings now?”

“Yes.” I told him. “Because I’m not the giving-up type, Damien. But I also don’t steal from others. You care about her, deeply. And yet you never show her what you truly feel…who you really are.” I hadn’t expected a reply, but what he said surprised me.

“Because Trisha isn’t going to like what she sees, Lucas. And I just don’t mean my dark side. I have secrets; secrets that just might end up killing her.”

I stared at him in shock. What was he hiding that could get Trisha killed? And if so, why hadn’t he been frank with her right from the start rather than playing with her heart?

But before I could say anything else, it was Damien who spoke. “I’ll be leaving right away. Staying this close to each other isn’t good for us and we can’t afford a war. I’ll let you know about our next meeting shortly. But for now, let your men escort me out and don’t tell Trisha until I’ve left. And don’t worry, you’re secret’s safe with me.”