All We Are || #Wattys2015

Chapter 29

Theo crept miles away listening. He knew Stefan and Jay left to sate their hunger. Michael?Probably too scarred to stay. Always too weak to face his adversities head on. This was all his fault but nothing can be done about that now.

When dawn threatened to spread through the sky, he emerged from the ruins of the forest.

"Every one of you only thought of her." He glared at Vladimir's still, slouched figure by the edge of the cliff. All his eminence, broad shoulders, and invincible air washed away. The grey aura of desolation seeped out of him. "That woman will obviously never ascend. No stirs. No beat. Nor circulation. As expected from my sister's capabilities." 

Vladimir gathered himself and stood up. He had too many experiences to know when a vampire was ready to attack. He closed the distance with the wild barbarian who didn't flinch.

"None of you acknowledged what I've lost." Theo forced to even out his voice. His eyes moistened. "Fuck all your losses when I had as well!" 

His fist collided with Vladimir's jaw. Vladimir kicked his leg, putting him off balance and made him land on his back. He recovered instantly and grabbed Vladimir by the neck and tossed him against the ground which left huge chasmic cracks. He was just too quick for Vladimir who was drained and heavy with heart-aching grief. He knew Theo was going to win but he still grabbed his arm to retaliate but he was just too fast.

Vladimir kneeled with Theo's hands wrapped precariously around his neck. "Marie... rie..." He whispered, reaching his arm out helplessly to where she laid unmoving. Tears burst from his eyes. Perhaps, this is better. A death for a death. A long lifetime of mourning for a few. Perhaps, all simply reciprocated my life with hers. How each pain became our own. How each desolation, we shared, we connected, we became one. Perhaps, heaven shall only forever last for short special moments.

Then right when Vladimir felt his life edge away, the familiar jolt of ascension sparked out of Marie.

With one swift force, he threw Theo towards her. Flames blew out of her hands the moment her eyes opened.

All that flew between them were the ashes of what once was Theo. It floated away with the breeze.

Michael stepped out of the woods aghast along with Stefan and Jay. 

"Did fire just shot out of her hand?" Jay marveled to Stefan. He only nodded, unable to look away at the recently turned. "I guess we've found our greatest ally."

Stefan glanced at Jay.

After staring at the intricate details of the cinders, it broke Marie's heart when she spotted Vladimir. She'd never seen him so weak and all his sovereignty gone.

And then she was in his arms. She didn't know how she saw how quick he was. She didn't know how he could hug her so tightly and kissed her over and over again on her left cheek, her right cheek, her upper lip and lower one, her forehead, and down to her lips again. She could follow every swift move he made. She felt strong and invincible and he didn't feel cold to her anymore. 

He pulled away and gazed into her eyes. They were red. Darker than his, he knew. Newborns always did. Yet, somehow, he didn't expect this when what he saw at first glance was still her bright blue gems.

He wrapped her arms around her again, pressing her to his chest. She embraced him back which made him grunt, "newborns are the strongest, dear." In some way, she understood.

She beamed that favourite smile of his. A beautiful thing to see as the sun rose across the horizon behind her, glittering her skin.

Looking past his shoulder, she froze. She knew that if her heart still beat in her chest, it would've dropped. "Michael."

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Marie ambled to her brother and stopped a foot from him, speculating him from head to toe. We all thought you were dead. She observed the brand new Michael. Years of living away from the human world and into a completely different one. 

Michael swallowed. He didn't know what to do. After four years of leaving her on her own... in her own little world in Brackford and where he brought her now. He recalled the urges he suppressed merely to keep her safe from his own instinctive desires. His opposition against the thirsts that drove him mad. In the end, it was still him who led her into this despicable life he had. The life of red eyes and violent hunger of flesh and blood.

The guilt bothered him yet he couldn't help but face her. Marie. 

"Sor--"

"You're alive." She squeezed him.

"Yea." Reluctant, he returned the embrace. After a while, he pulled away and exchanged stares from her then at Vladimir close behind her by the edge of the cliff, watching them.

"What?" She sensed he was keeping something from her, no matter how much he tried to hide. She never thought she'd feel that again.

Michael bored a resenting look. Then, eventually, replaced by a calm one, sighing. "Thank you." He marched to Vladimir with a hand out. "For everything. For taking my life that night. For coming back for Marie." 

Vladimir was suspicious at first, but after glancing at his beloved, he took a firm hold of it and nodded.

"What do you mean?" She approached.

"It was him. He was the one who killed me and turned me into this." The revelation shifted her face. She hung her head down, thinking, then met Vladimir's eyes, which made that one look run her emotions to chaos. Her brother continued, "but he was the one who saved you-- from what I've caused." 

Her gaze hadn't left Vladimir. She couldn't. She saw him in a different light. Much more beautiful, more illustrious. Like angel Gabriel whom God sent to be part of her life no matter what. How everything turned out cause of him, how he was involved years before they met-- a ringing sliced in her ears, her mouth stretched back. Her fangs lengthened as she sniffed the air.

Michael grinned. "Someone's hungry."