A Bastard's Allure-Chapter 72: Vampiress

"I’ll gather some dry wood to light the fire," Gabriel said, throwing a furtive glance at a concerned Vathin. "Take care of her." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Vathin nodded, swallowing the lump that settled on his throat from the moment they left the cabin at the lakeside. The strife between the two had taken a toll on his emotions too.

Gabriel disappeared in a nearby bush, leaving Vathin and Elena at the clearing. She was leaning on a tree, holding her knees close to her chest to fight the cold. Her thin fabric was dump, worsening the situation.

"Do you need something?" Vathin asked to break the awkward silence. She lifted her eyes in defiance and gave a curt reply.

"I’m okay." But judging from the way she was fighting to keep her voice still, Vathin could tell she was not okay.

He raised his hands and let them fall to the sides. "You’re gonna sit there and freeze to death simply because you had a misunderstanding with your husband?" His jaws clenched at the thought of it.

Elena looked at him, her blue eyes boring into his dark ones. ’Yes!’ She wanted to scream the word but something inside held her. Maybe she was just acting foolish.

Vathin took her silence as a cue. He approached her, taking off his coat and wrapping it around her drenched body.

"Thank you," was all she managed to say, hiding her embarrassment all the while. The drizzle was slowly coming to a stop.

"I know it doesn’t concern me but you two should talk things out," Vathin added.

Elena looked at him again, "He’s mad at me!" She said, and as if she had remembered something, "and so am I." Her shoulders slouched in defiance, resuming her earlier hunched position.

"Apologize to each other then!" Vathin said, clearly losing his patience.

"He should be the one to apologize," Elena pointed, being the stubborn wife she usually was.

"It doesn’t work that way," Vathin intoned, pinching the skin between his brows. "One of you must make the first move, and it must be you."

"Why me..."

"For heaven’s sake, My Lady. Swallow your pride for once. Go, show him that he’s the one in the wrong."

She stared at the canopy for a fleeting couple of seconds. "I can work with that."

"Good!" Vathin said, a spark of hope lighting in his dark eyes. "Go look for him now." He saw the frown on her face. "Don’t tell me you believed when he said he was looking for firewood."

____ _____ _____ _____

Gabriel halted in front of a tree, his thoughts drifting away with the wind. His fist landed on it’s bark, suddenly the urge to hit it taking the better of him. He landed a blow on the tree, peeling a portion of the bark and the skin of his knuckles in the process.

But the pain was nothing compared to what he felt inside. He felt like he’d scream yet his lungs couldn’t contain the kind of scream he yearned to produce. Everything he had strived to build; a name, was suddenly fading like the setting sun.

He landed another blow on the bark of the tree with his other fist, the pain coursing through his body. For some odd reason, he wanted it, he embraced it as the bark of the tree became destroyed, revealing the flesh of the plant.

"Gabriel?" He heard someone call him, his fists resting midair. Blood dripped from his knuckles, his teeth tightly clenched. Slowly, he turned to look at her direction, his breath coming out in shallow pants. She appeared concerned, how ridiculous!

"You’re hurting yourself," she stated the obvious. "Is it because of me?" She asked, her voice drowned to a pained whisper.

He would have pinned the blame on her but he was at fault here. He looked at the wounds on his knuckles, his shoulders dropping in defeat.

"It was necessary," he said, his eyes darting on the ground. "I had to... let it out."

"By hurting yourself?" She asked, now more angry at him than before. And he had every right to be. She walked closer, her eyes falling at the pool of blood that had formed around him. The leaves had a shade of scarlet.

"I’m afraid I might not be the person you want me to be, El," he admitted, flashing a sad smile. "Hard as I might try."

Elena held his hands. She could see his bones in place of where his flesh was previously. "I don’t want you to hurt yourself again," her voice cracked. "I want you to be happy." She clasped his hands into hers.

"I was selfish to think that we can live a normal life by escaping what we were meant to be." A sniff escaped from her nose. She had caught a cold! "I was wrong."

"I am the one at fault..."

"No. I wanted you for myself. I forgot you had dreams and aspirations too. And I did this to you." A stiffled cry escaped from her lips when she saw his knuckles again.

Gabriel was quick to wipe the tears away with his thumb. This act however acted to activate the crying machine in her. She broke down into tears, resting on his chest.

She was so cold, completely drenched by the rain. Gabriel stroked her back gently until she mellowed down.

"You’re cold Bunny. We need to get you warm," Gabriel said, tearing her from his embrace. Her knees suddenly felt week but Gabriel held her firmly.

"We need to get to my brother," she said when Gabriel hoisted her up. "He’ll give you an army to defeat Brandon."

"You’re freezing!" Gabriel commented. He run with her all the way back to where their horses were resting, catching the attention of Vathin who had already started a fire.

"What happened?" He asked, already clearing the space close to the fire.

"I thought demons were not dumb," Gabriel cursed under his breath.

"She’s freezing," Vathin stated the obvious. Gabriel gently placed her on the ground and started rubbing her feet. And now that he looked her up close, he realized how pale she was. He’d have mistaken her for a vampiress if not for the fact that she was his wife!