Diedrek

When I open the door, I'm relieved to see just how serious Darius took my warning. The girls are nowhere in sight, and he's standing with both his swords in his hands, standing ready for a fight.

When he sees it's me, he lets out the breath he's been holding, sheaths his weapons and nods in the direction of the hall. Telling me silently the girls are in my bedroom. Good! I need to talk, just the two of us. Need my friend to help me through what I'm about to tell him.

"What's happened?" Darius asks.

Before I answer him, I walk over to my bar and pour us each a shot of tequila. I have a feeling we are going to need it with what I'm about to tell him.

"Shit, it must not be good." He walks over to join me at the bar.

Without a word we both slam down the shots. Once we have that one down, enjoying the burn all the way down our throats I pour us another one. We have five shots total before we decide that's enough and make our way to the couch and chair.

Once we are both sitting, he faces his body my way and waits to hear what happened. I don't know how I am going to get this out. Placing my face in my hands I say the words I never thought I'd say. "I agreed."

He's quiet for quite a few minutes causing me to put my hands down and look at him. He looks at me with his brows slanted, and his head tilted to the side. His eyes hold confusion. We stay like that for a while, until finally his eyes grow wide.

"You wouldn't." He jumps up from the chair and begins pacing in fury. "How could you do that!"

His hands are clenched into such incredibly tight fists they are turning white. "There is no way you can agree to that and keep Kyla. You know that." His hands are in his hair and he's pulling on the strands. "I did it to keep her alive." I say in defeat.

"No, you walked right into your fathers trap is what you did." He stops pacing and looks at me.

His eyes are the color of blood. He's beyond pissed off right now. "You fucked up! If you go through with this, you really think you can make the connection you need to have with Kyla?"

He stares at me in utter horror. "You know I'm right if you do this there is no coming back from it. You think your father is just going to let you keep her here in these living quarters and not have her harmed?" He asks me incredulously.

"I will figure everything out." I tell him.

"How?" His hands are on his hips as he waits for my answer.

"I need your help. If I do this, I need her to stay in your living quarters until I hold up my end of the bargain." Saying the words brings acid up my throat.

He laughs, not his normal easy-going laugh. No, this one is a cackle, built with disbelief. "You think when Kyla finds out she's going to want anything to do with you? You will break the connection you are just starting to build with her."

He begins pacing again, "There will be no connection left. She will be appalled with you. Look at you in disgust and abhor your very presence."

"In the end she will die, and you will turn into the same monsters as your brothers and father." When his tirade has ended, he looks at me with so much sadness in his eyes.

"I'm not saying I'm going to go through with it." At my words he turns to the fire. Giving me his back, I watch as his shoulders rise and fall with his breathing.

"What are you saying?" He finally asks after a few minutes of silence. Where I allow him to stew in his own aggression.

"I'm saying I'm only going to play along," at my words he whips around to face me.

"You really think your father and brothers won't see through that?" A sigh comes from his mouth as he looks at me and lays it all out on the table for me.

"No, he will be sure you wind up going through with it all the way somehow. You won't even know until it's too late and you have no choice but to do as he wishes." He shakes his head with disgust.

"You will end up bound to a female vampire in the end. Having no choice but to feel a pull to that vampire, even if you hate one another. You know how it is once vampires become married." He pauses for a moment to think about the consequences of my actions if I go through with this.

"You will have a vampire child with your new wife because that is what your mind will be telling you needs to be done. That you must see your vampire wife pregnant with a powerful heir."

I can see tears rolling down his cheeks. "You will lose Kyla forever." With that he gives me one last look of disgust before walking to the door.

When his hand is on the handle he says, "Really think about this Diedrek because if you choose to do this, I will not stand by your side any longer."

His words make my head shoot up. He looks at me with anger "I have been by your side our whole lives, and I never thought I'd see the day where I feel just as much disgust for you as I do for them."

"That girl," he points down the hall "doesn't deserve that and you know it. Don't become one of them." With that he walks out and slams the door. Leaving me alone with the dread eating me alive.