Forever

A Missing Piece

     With all she had been through in the last month, Hazel could have been certain nothing else could surprise her. Nothing else could make her question her already fragile existence. 

     Yet as she sat there, slowly her muddled mind pieced the words together. One more insane truth they expected her to accept. But her walls were rising as the seconds ticked on, the feeling of mistrust desperately trying to take hold over the tug that yanked at her very soul.

     "Soulmate?" The word felt foreign on her tongue, more of a fairy tale than what she was. "I don't understand."

     He looked as though he would rip his hair out with the way he violently raked through it with his hands, eyes suddenly staring at anything but her. "It has a much stronger meaning in my world than it does in yours."

     Her mind flashed back to her vision in the field, sharp vangs piercing her neck as someone screamed her name. The pain felt so real in that moment. Gingerly, she touched the spot on her neck with light fingers. She didn't understand why fear had suddenly consumed her heart at his words, she'd chosen to trust him. Maybe she hadn't pieced together the full vision of what happened.

     "Why," she swallowed, torn between the fear and the tug that filled her mind with the boy in the rain, "why are you just now telling me something like this? What do you mean a different meaning?"

     He went to reach for her hand, then hesitated, finally meeting her eyes. "I was scared."

     The silence began to stretch between them, his shaking fingers hovering lightly over hers. A lump had formed in her throat as her eyes refused to leave his. Neither accepting nor pushing him away. The small room felt so much colder in that moment.

     In the short time since all this had begun, she had never felt the tug pulling at her so strongly. She'd never been so aware of every detail of the boy before her. His pale hands trembling so horribly over hers as his blue eyes stared at her with such a fear. Every imperfection on his face. If she focused hard enough she believed she could have counted every eye lash that brushed his cheek. Long, curling ever so slightly at the ends. 

     "How do you know?" The voice was small, barely recognized as her own as the words tumbled out unbidden.

     The smallest of smiles danced across his lips. "Vampires are all born bonded to another soul. Some go their entire lives without finding them, but once we do we know. It's hard to describe," he hesitated, a far away look etched on his face, "something in my heart clicked. I felt like a missing piece finally fit in a hole that's been there for years."

     Her own heart thudded hard in her chest, uncertain how to feel about the confession. "But you didn't even know me."

     "No, not on the basic level," he finally drew his hand back to his body, "but my soul knew you."

     Hazel stared at her hands, which had begun to tremble. But from fear or something else she could no longer tell. "I..."

     His blue eyes met her expectantly as she hesitated.

     The truth burned on her tongue as she struggled with the words. Her wet hair had begun to chill her, the cold room seeping into her. 

     "I've had visions about you," she admitted, shifting her weight on the bed, "and something else, that's hard to describe." 

     Slowly, his hand reached for hers again, as if approaching a wild animal. "Try."

     A shiver went up her spine at his touch, the tug forcing the image to stay burned across her eyes. "It's complicated. One of the visions was...", She touched her neck, "kind of bad."