Vaela walked to me, her feet small and silent, her eyes wide open like she'd seen the devil himself. Crouching down she reached out to touch Claire's deadly cold cheeks. My girl looked down at her tormentor's entire body, looking for any signs of pain or injury. 

I placed my hand on the top of her scalp, pulling her face to my leg, "she overdosed, I found her in the house. No John, " I explained. Vaela nodded, but she did not move. "You are upset?" I asked, needing to know, unable to understand the way her mind ticked. 

She blinked, "I'm angry. Even in death, she chose herself." Her slender fingers reached out to Claire's eyelids, and dropping them down she released a breath. Then she dropped back onto her ass, a laugh left her lips. 

It was watery, filled with disbelief and anguish. 

Moving down behind her, I wrapped my body around her shaky body. She laughed and laughed, her body flushed with warmth as she realized the woman she'd never found closure from lay dead before her. 

The laughter became sobs as tears fell and she wrapped her arms around herself protectively.

"I wanted to see her brain fester with infection, Alaric, wanted to see her pain... Needed to see her suffer," she murmured between whimpers, salty tears dripping onto the plush floor beneath her. "Maybe some relationships are meant to end unfairly, in whole-hearted despair only."

Fuck, sweet girl.

Pressing my lips to her hair I tell her, "her mind was already riddled with disease, Vaela. Nothing is more painful than harbouring hatred, Claire let it consume her and projected it in such vile ways. Do not let it consume you, you're far too fucking good for that."

She stilled in my arms, her streams of tears slowing to a trickle. She lifted her gaze to meet mine, her eyes were glossy and sparkling in pain, a sea of unspoken torment that someone so young should never have known. I held her gaze, allowing the world around us to fade into insignificance.

Turning in my arms, Vaela straddled my thighs, "my skin feels like is crawling, my lungs burning, everything is tearing apart inside me, Alaric... I don't know how to make it stop," she whispered, her voice faint, I was afraid she'd disappear with the gentle breeze drifting around the dark room. 

Hearing her words my chest felt tight, how far gone was she, would I still be able to reach her?

"Make it stop..." She pleaded. 

 Lifting her, I walked her to the bed, the small creases of her body on the sheets filling me with tenderness. "I don't like sharing your mind, Vaela." Dropping her on the edge, I began removing my clothes, until I was left clad in my boxers. 

Then I dropped down on my knees and gripped her thighs, spreading them, causing her white silk gown to lift and expose pretty pink panties. Her eyes drifted behind to where the body rested, then she looked back down at me and smiled. 

And fuck if that didn't feel like holy salvation. 

Her lips parted and she asked sweetly, "what if I want you to infect all my nightmares, Alaric, would you do it?"

I nodded, "within a heartbeat, baby, every single one."

Maybe we were sick, beyond fucked and surely on our descent to hell... but heaven wasn't ready for Vaela's chaos, her beauty, her fucking absolution. So with the body of her dead mother behind me, I ripped her panties from her core and licked up her slit. 

She placed her palms on the bed behind her and rested her legs over my shoulders, my woman enjoyed sitting on her throne. Soft moans filled the room as I sucked and tasted every corner of her pussy. 

A wild shudder rippled through her, clenching at the abdomen she gripped the silk sheets beneath her, crumpling them within her petite fists. I felt the rush of heat spread through her body, enveloping her in a raw sensation that made her pussy flutter and leak. I fucked her with my tongue, enjoying her walls constricted around the intrusion. 

Her hips moved, grinding against my face. She'd never looked sexier, sitting above me, chasing her own pleasure without any moral clarity. 

And when Vaela orgasmed, she did so with such brutal intensity. A stormy display of carnal desire that consumed every breath within her, so beautiful, my sweet Vaela. Her voice was raw and held a raspy tone as she moaned my name with desperate satisfaction. 

Her body slumped back, her chest heaving as I lifted myself from the floor. The taste of her still lingered on my tongue, I rolled the sweetness around my mouth, needing it to touch every inch. I watched her in silence, the rise and fall of her chest, the flush of her cheeks... every shudder and every gasp seemed like an invocation of a divine entity, a pagan goddess of sinful pleasure.

I couldn't shift my gaze even if the world combusted around us, not when she held me in such captivity.

It came like summer rain, unexpected, beautiful, welcomed. The word raced through me in a rush and rippled through my body until I was left weak at the knees, palms braced on either side of her body. 

Love. 

Devoted, unrelenting, mind-consuming love. I loved her, with every part of my being. All these feelings, moments, thoughts, hell the need to consume her finally had a name. I loved Vaela so fucking much that it felt destructive.

Wrapping my arm around her waist I lifted her up the bed until her hair hit the pillow. She blinked up at me lazily, her thoughts clear and her eyes completely mine. Turning she snuggled into the covers, her back pressing into my chest. I nudged her thighs apart and my swollen cock fit perfectly in her wet slit. 

She shifted around with little moans, working her body until she invited the thick head of my cock inside her heat. A growl of approval left me as she took her time riding my shaft, adjusting to the size until she sat right back on it. 

I pulsed inside her, wrapping my arms around her soft form, "such a good girl." I complimented, feeling her seduction intoxicate me. She pushed back with a mewl, her inner muscles clenching at my words. 

I took her slowly, gently as she drifted to sleep at peace with my cock and then my cum inside her sweet little body. My eyes closed shortly after and I followed her into the slumber, chasing away all our demons. 

* * 

I woke a few hours later, Vaela still tangled in my arms and my softened cock resting between her pussy lips. 

For a moment I simply ingested the moment. It was peaceful, right, and so goddam fragile. Then I carefully moved out from behind her. Standing to my full height, I walked to the door where Claire's lifeless body remained. 

Grabbing her by the wrist, I dragged her through the living space and down to the basement. Leaving her there I messaged one of our men to have her cremated. Then I walked back my wing, using the main bathroom, I showered the night from my body. 

There was little gratification with the events of the night prior.  

John seemed to have some self-preservation in him at last it seemed. He'd not been at that fucking house, only Claire's limp form on a stained sofa, smelling of pure fucking revolution. My men had scaled the area, street to street and then all his known locations. 

Silas had seemed equally pissed, he'd been ready to draw some blood. Placing my hands on the tiles I let the warm water slice down my back, loosening the tension and clearing my mind. The fucker couldn't get far, we had one of our best trackers hunting him. There were perks to being one of the most sought-after assassinations slash security companies in the world, we had the best of the best. 

Hunter would find John, there was no doubt in my mind. 

Wrapping a towel around my waist, I walked out to the kitchen. Picking up my phone I texted my lawyer, removing any existence of my marriage with Claire from the very soil of the earth. Making a cup of coffee, I lean against the island and wait for a response. 

The sound of small bare feet on the floor has my full attention, looking up I watch as Vaela moves to the fridge. She seems lost in one of her moments, her eyes dull and flickering here and there. She mutters to herself while grabbing the pitcher of orange juice. 

Wrapping my arm around her waist, I bring her flush to my chest while gripping the bottom of the jug. Her fingers release it and she focuses on me. "Hi," Vaela breathed as if she'd completely missed me standing here. 

"Hi, sweetheart," I reply, smiling softly and greeting her with my lips to her forehead. "Where do you go?" I asked. 

She shakes her head, "just away for a bit,"

Something in her voice tells me that it's more than "a bit." I know her well enough and that's not the voice of my Vaela. That's the voice of someone fading away, someone struggling against a tide of darkness. The fear inside me is a living thing, but I keep it caged, locked

away behind a carefully composed expression.

Pouring her a glass of juice, I lift her to the benchtop, standing in front of her, "don't go away too long, I'll get lonely."

She relaxes and cups my cheeks between her palms, "you're different, Alaric."

I lean into her hold, "no baby, I just lost myself for a bit there, but with you I can breathe again."

Vaela licked her lips before pressing them to mine, I bit the bottom one until she tugged away with a wicked little smile. "I'm sore," she blushed. 

"You look most beautiful stretched and tender from my cock, Vaela." I reply, the muscles in my jaw tense as the urge to follow through with those words almost unmans me. 

Her palm slaps my chest lightly, "stop being a tease!" Then she sobers, "I don't feel like going to graduation, don't feel like leaving this place for a long time."

I move out of her hold and kiss each open palm, "you need to grieve, sweetheart. Even if she isn't worth a second of your time, you still love her or at least the idea of what she should've been. But you also need to go through the motions, you need to experience things people your age experience."

She raised an eyebrow, "did you go to graduation," the vixen asked with a challenge as if the thought of me attending a high school function was preposterous. She was right, of course, but this wasn't about me. 

"Don't try to change the subject, Vaela."

Vaela dropped her eyes, "I don't want to go back to Cedar Creek, Alaric."

I take her chin and lift her eyes, "then you don't have to, Vaela. You're an adult, your mother does not hold any control over you anymore..." I saw the understanding wash over her, "the cabin is in your name, you can sell it, rent it out, whatever you like, baby."

A small gasp leaves her parted lips, "I thought you bought it?" Her eyebrows furrow. 

So sweet... 

I needed her to choose though, needed her to choose me. Rubbing my thumb between the crease I replied, "I did, for you. it's yours, your freedom however you choose it... But if I have any influence, I'd like you to move here, with me, Vaela?"