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Church knew something was up when the heads of the other families would whisper and meet alone, but he didn’t mention anything to his father.
He sits with the guilt to this day, because while he was out looking for firewood, the other two families slaughtered both his parents and were in the middle of doing the same to his sisters when he returned.
Church killed them all with his bare hands and this is how I found him - sitting on the steps of a church covered in the blood of the people who killed his family while he was away.
This is why he hates humans so much; he had to live and witness the full brutality of what they can do to each other when they’re pushed to their limits. Hunger and greed are dangerous triggers and they waited until the strongest member of the family was gone before they attacked.
His hatred has not subsided, and it took me decades to teach him to control his anger and bloodlust. I’m still surprised that he doesn’t have black eyes yet, but then again, that means every person he’s killed was not an innocent.
I don’t regret turning him, because he’s come to be one of the two people I trust with my life. Even if he’s lied to me, I have a feeling that it was more out of fear than anything else; fear that his Fated is human and fear of what this could mean for him.
Yes, his hatred for humans is more potent than anything else, but what if what he feels for Xenia is stronger? What if this could be his one chance at happiness, shouldn’t I, as his Maker, allow him to experience what could be once in a lifetime for him?
I sigh and watch as he walks away to grab another bottle of alcohol and wonder what I would do if I were in his position.
KATHERINE
“The poison will still be in your system. Please try not to strain yourself,” I manage to get out, then I rush back into what I now consider my safe space. I close the door and stand with my back against it before sinking to the floor with my heart pounding frantically in my chest.
I hate that this is happening to me. Everything Gabriel does triggers me in some way or another, and there’s nothing I can really do about it. This gravitational pull toward the man I’m supposed to hate is so strong that it feels like I’m losing a little more of myself every time.
With a hand to my chest, I close my eyes and take deep breaths when I hear the roar of a bike speeding away from the mansion. When I run to the large windows, I immediately recognize Gabriel on his Harley and feel a pang in my chest, knowing that he’s gone.
I sigh and place a hand on the window, then my soul leaves my body when I feel something press against my head and hear the unmistakable sound of a hammer being pulled back.
“Your father was right; you have become Priest’s whore,” Xenia’s voice is scathing and devoid of any emotion. I swallow hard and raise my hands palm up before slowly turning around to face her.
I expect to find a pissed-off Xenia standing there with the intent to kill; what I didn’t expect is to see tears in her eyes while she has a modified Beretta pointing right at my head. Her hand trembles, something I’m not used to at all since we’re both trained assassins.
“I’m not his whore–”
“Bullshit! I saw the way you were looking at him and how worried you sounded when you told him to be careful. He got to you, didn’t he? He used his mind control on you like Church used on me, didn’t he?!” she exclaims, shaking her head.
“Calm down, Xen–”
“You should be dead by now! I should have killed you as soon as I saw you, but I can’t!” she cries out and drops to her knees, sobbing. “I can’t kill you and that makes me a failure!”
The gun is still clenched tightly in her hand and I know any second now she can change her mind, but I’d rather risk it than see my friend in such pain.
So I go down on my knees next to her and wrap her tightly in my arms. The gun falls to the floor, and she returns my embrace while sobbing softly.
“Shh, it’s okay. I get it, I get it more than you know,” I say, rubbing circles on her back as she continues to break down in my arms. It takes her a few minutes to compose herself, then she sits back on her ass and slides the gun towards me.
“There’s something seriously fucking wrong with me, Kat,” she says, sitting with her arms braced on her drawn-up knees. “I don’t want to feel like this about him. I don’t want to feel like this about a fucking vamp!”
I clasp a hand over her mouth and shake her head. “You’re going to need to keep quiet or Valentine will hear you,” I warn and walk to the door, grab the key and lock it from the inside. Then I take Xenia’s hand and lead her over to the bed. “Tell me everything.”
Xenia sits cross-legged on the bed and places her hands on her lap while I shove the gun underneath the pillow. When she looks back up at me, it’s with doleful, conflicted eyes.
“Before the baobab left my system, Church used to come into the cellar just to taunt me. I couldn’t take it anymore and just lashed out at him the last time he came and we sparred, where he had me on my ass. He strung me up in chains and promised to drain me as soon as my blood was clean again, then he left me. True to his word, he came back after I was clean.”
I can’t tell what she’s feeling right now because her expression is downright unreadable, especially when her eyes glaze over.
“When he came, I had no energy to fight back. He let me out of the chains and up against the cellar wall, ready to drain me,” she says, frowning. “But as soon as he sank his fangs into the nape of my neck, something weird happened; he threw me to the floor and backed away from me. He looked at me as if I was the most disgusting thing he’s ever seen, then he left and didn’t return.”
She scoffs, then looks at her hands in her lap. “It’s since then that I keep having dreams about him… weird, sex-filled dreams and it’s since then… that I’ve wanted him more than anything else.”
My eyes widen in surprise when she says this, and I notice her red cheeks and ears. Xenia never blushes, she’s the kick ass first, asks questions later type of person, and doesn’t take shit from anyone. Now she’s a mess over Church, the man who’s her Fated and she doesn’t even know what this means for her.
