Two

The play was over, and Mark insisted they walked halfway home since she enjoyed long walks.

The wind blew, gently caressing Erin's open chest and frolicking with the strands of hair that lay lazily on her forehead. The almost full moon shined down on the Nebramos kingdom, giving light to the walkers who lingered on the streets.

Erin swept her gazes over the stone houses they walked past and noticed how everyone bowed down to greet both of them. Guards trailed behind the two with hard jawlines enough to break through bricks.

"Blood Bag for your thoughts?" His voice drove the silence away, and she looked to the side, taking in his greek-god features.

"I heard shadow emperors are very powerful and capable of reading thoughts. Why don't you tell me what's on my mind?" Erin arched a brow, twitching her lips into a teasing smile that stretched her button nose, making it appear wider.

"Hmm…" Mark glimpsed at her face and returned his eyes forward. "You're just soaking in the moment and… I don't like to read the minds of my women, I dislike invasion of privacy."

Erin frowned, then smiled at the same time with both her eyes narrowed at him.

Who are you? Erin thought.

She blinked and chuckled, a bit astonished at his personality.

"I am Mark Valtimore." He shrugged.

How is a vampire lord like you this sensible? She asked in her head.

"Sensible when it comes to you," He replied shortly. "Plus, you have the wildest thoughts, and I don't want to be in on that."

"Wildest thoughts like?" Erin asked, eyeing her feet, which were graced in a pair of sandals made from gold.

"Like you wondering if I was taking you to a play just to have sex with you." He muttered, and Erin's jaw dropped.

She halted in her tracks, boring her eyes into the side of his head as she said, "I thought you don't read thoughts because it is an invasion of privacy."

"Well, I lied." He returned her gaze, and she could see his eyes dancing in silent laughter. "The same way you lied about being the guardian of the kingdom earlier."

All the air left Erin's lungs as she watched him resume his steps in horror. She swallowed the fear down and pinched her lips into a frown.

"Relax, I don't know what you're hiding." He whistled, clasping his fingers behind him.

Erin walked forward, hastening her steps to catch up with him.

"Stop reading my thoughts." Erin tightened her dental bone, slightly getting irritated by him.

"I didn't mean to irritate you." He chipped in, and she threw a death glare at him.

"Read my thoughts again, and I'll fly home." Erin warned, feeling her stomach bubble up in anger.

"Okay," he said, raising his arms up. "I have something to show you."

His hands found that of Erin and she paused to look at his gigantic hands around her little hand, one he referred to as fragile on their first meeting until she punched him in the nose for trying to hug her from behind.

"Here we are," He announced once they reached a bridge that towered over a blue lake. "Bridge Otewa."

Erin blinked rapidly, nestling a foreign feeling in her heart. Fireflies glowing red breezed past them, and the sound of the lake flowing gently calmed her once irritated nerves.

"Wow!" She watched the city from that height with amazement. "How did you know-"

"Your mother told me." He completed her sentence, and she went closer, resting her palms on the railings.

Erin raised her eyes skywards and stared lengthily at the moon.

That woman would not be the death of me. She thought, referring to her mother.

"I heard there will be an occasion in your kingdom soon." His throaty voice put a hold to her thoughts, and she nodded in agreement.

"A conversion ritual of my right hand woman," Erin responded, breathing in the refreshing air of the night.

"Great," He whispered into her ear and stood behind her. "Did you enjoy the play?"

Erin felt him closing the gap between them as his hard body pressed against hers from behind. She pierced her gaze at the moon, getting a heavy feeling of nostalgia.

"Yes." She struggled to keep her emotions at bay, but it was hard when the memories came flooding in.

Darcy, the one who has my heart forever…

She latched her eyes, letting go of her body as Mark wrapped his arms around her small frame. She leaned back, sinking into his broad chest.

"Why do I perceive a longing aura from you, and it is not for me?" He asked with a voice that was edged with curiosity. "Are you not over him yet?"

Erin peeled her eyes open as his question stirred up an emotion in her.

"What do you mean by yet?" She inquired, pulling away from his embrace and facing him.

"You are still stuck up on your dead lover, am I right?" He asked, staring deep into her soul. "He's dead. Let go and move on."

Erin enlarged her eyes at his nonchalant words. A pang of pain crawled up her chest, and she nursed that area.

"Are you dead serious?" Was the only question that flew out of her Cupid bow lips.

"Yes, he's dead and gone. What's the use of thinking about someone who is probably rotting in hell?" He wrinkled his nose in distaste, eyes never leaving her face.

"You will show some respect to the dead." She seethed, and bile rose up her throat. "I loved Darcy with my entire life. Do you know what it feels like to lose a loved one to death?"

"My dad is dead," dry toned Mark with emotionless eyes.

"And you got over him just the way you're asking me to get over him?"

"Yes, it's been twenty-five whole years and-"

"And so freaking what?" Erin maintained her calmness even if her veins were visible on the side of her head.

"Move on." Mark shrugged slightly, acting unmoved.

Erin rolled her palms into fists when his reply rid the air into her ears. She clenched her jaw, feeling a lump in her throat.

"Do you think I'm as heartless as you are?" She inquired, eyeing him from head to toe. "Or do you think I am Mark Valtimore the great that gets over women in less than a month?"

"Look, I-"

"You what?" She cut him short, chest heaving as the images of Darcy's dead body lying in her cold arms and soiling her dress flashed in her head.

"Forget about him. Besides, your relationship was forbidden… He was-"

Erin ticked, body vibrating as everything in her wanted to hit Mark. She interrupted his sentence, shooting stare daggers at him.

"Stop!" She screamed, holding her head.

Birds flew away from trees, screeching.

"I am not you, Mark. We are different vampires with different feelings and ways of reacting to things."

Both their guards rushed in with talons, ready to fight, but Erin and Mark waved slightly at them, gesturing that it was fine. The guards walked back.

"And you're acting a little overboard," Mark pointed out, raking his fingers in his silk hair.

"Damn it!" Erin moved away from him, refraining from becoming violent. "I can't just get over someone I loved so much. He died in my arms for Dracula's sake! I watched them kill him, and I, an immortal, couldn't do shit to save him."

Erin continued, venting about how she had felt empty for the past twenty-five years without Darcy.

Mark sighed, holding her teary gaze with his lips set into a grim line.

"Calm down." Mark reached out to her, but she smacked his hands away.

"Do not tell me to calm down, do not ever!" She shivered, and Mark turned his back against her, staring into the dead of the night.

Erin cradled her chest, taking in deep breaths as tears lingered at the base of her eyes. Pain wracked through her body as she remembered that night. Her heart ached, and her stomach felt sick.

"I've lost a lover too. She was burnt to death for practising necromancy," He let out, his voice ridden of all emotions.

Erin dragged her gaze to his tall figure and instantly felt sorry for transferring aggression on him.

"So I understand how you feel." He added, and she shook her head.

"You don't." She objected, hearing the trees dance to the rhythm of the wind and getting a certain calmness from it. She had always been a lover of nature since she was a wee little child. "Nobody understands me. You don't understand me because you'll never know how I feel or how a part of me died that night."

Mark heaved a sigh, still backing her.

"I hate it when someone tells me to forget about someone who was a huge part of my life, someone who-" she took in a shaky breath. "Don't tell me how to feel!"

Mark turned to face her, and his thin lips, slowly twitched into a smile, and soon he was chuckling.

A tear burnt a path down her cheek as she stared incredulously at him.

"What's funny?" Her nose flared.

"You look very cute when you're upset." His eyes had a gleamer of delight in it, and his demeanour softened. "Your venting is adorable."

"I want to go home," she said through gritted teeth.

"C'mon, don't be mad." He pinched her cheek, and she wiggled it out of his touch.

"Take me home."

"Erin, my queen…"

"Can we just stop all these pretence?" She snapped her eyebrows into a deep frown. "We both know we do not want to be with each other. We are just doing this because of my dad and your mom."

"I want this." Mark clutched her hand and gave it a light squeeze.

Erin pulled it away. She was wrong to think she liked Mark. She didn't. Her heart belonged to one man, and he was dead. Mark was too much for her. Even if he had taken his pride a notch down for her, she just realized she didn't want him.

Could it be a love spell that was cast on her before?

Immediately, Erin jumped in the air, and her fingers shrank into bat wings–she flapped to steady herself in the air. Her human legs were sucked in, and soon, the dress slipped off her bat form to the ground.

"I'm flying away!" She turned.

"Erin!" Mark exclaimed. "Wait, I'll take you home."

When she didn't respond, he yelled again, "What about the family dinner?!"

Erin ignored him, flapping her wings faster, and her heart thrummed in her rib cage; away from Mark and bursting out of clouds with the wind rushing into her nostrils Tears dropped out of her pea-sized eyes as she flew out of the secret passage that led into the human world in search of her favourite cave to crash.