Blind Love( Completed, Kings Series, Book 4)

The Promise

(Diana's POV)

His huge body had fallen like a boulder torn off from the cliff. Fast. Hard. I bit my lip, hoping it hadn't hurt. Had his hard rock muscles shielded him from some of the pain? He lay like that, like a statue, like someone who no longer breathed among the living. But, he was not dead. I knew that. The letter of colors spoke to me. The shades of greens in the forest canopy I had woven around him had all evaporated. He was no longer hidden, blended in nature. That was okay. The shadows in vampire bodies were long gone. But, I had a bigger issue now. Samuel was surrounded by a palette of sickly colors with a circle of black in their middle.

The awakening night was slowly bathing the forest in darkness. The moon was strolling along its surface, its orangish buff was casting fearless shadows on the rugged ground. These shadows I didn't fear. They were a lighter black. And colors touched and bounced back off their surface. The moon's light brought no taint of evil upon their souls. Yes, they had souls. Everything around me was alive. Nothing was colorless. Even the shadows that would disappear upon the touch of the first morning light were moving and dancing around the trees with a purpose. Everything around me had a breath of life, a breath of energy, they were a piece of the whole.The air was rich with the fragrance of a heavy dew like the tears of a crying mother. The scent of earth drifted through my nostrils. Wet, musty.

In the silence of the night, the forest was coming alive, from the drone of humming insects to night birds and squirrels dashing up in the blink of an eye. Animals and plants in colorful night dresses lit up the darkness like a fluorescent light. But, what use were they? Birds wouldn't peck at his chest, squirrels wouldn't claw the poison out, I was helpless. I was desperate. I was angry.

What had happened to Samuel? He was bitten when he was fighting the shadows. But, so was I. Was I immune to the poison or..... was this about the number of times he was bitten? Maybe, the poison didn't work in shadow form. Maybe, the poison worked only when the shadow had snatched a solid body. Was Samuel bitten when he was trying to save Cian? Possibly. I didn't have any answers.

I was scared. He had a pallid skin, sweat piled on his forehead despite the chill in the air. But, it was the black sitting like a damn king on its throne, in the middle of all other colors, permeating them, dominating them that put the seed of fear in me. What if? I didn't even want to think about it. I didn't want to voice it.

What if Samuel was possessed by a dark shadow? Damn it! I had gone and done it.

I had voiced it. Why had I done that? The forbidden always planted seeds of temptation in one's mind. I had catered to its lure like a weak soul. I hoped I had not cursed him or myself to this fate by vocalizing my worries.

Nope, I didn't mean that.... I said out loud. He will not be possessed. He will be fine. I'm letting you know that he will be up soon to nag me and exasperate me to no end. I said it louder, with conviction, to outdo my former words.

There, I had corrected my mistake. I had just reversed the curse. The Universe had my amendment. I felt better. Now, how was I going to cure that black circle?

I could not carry him to the car. The stubborn vampire had gotten out. He was pounds of heavy muscle. I doubted I could lift his one thigh up in the air. Besides, driving half blind with my guidance of colors was really not an option. It had to be back to the wisdom of our ancestors. Unfortunately, I had no knowledge of herbs or plants that could cure a poison. I doubted I could see and find anything anyway even if I did.

I needed some water to cool him off. I would check the car first. I looked at the front and the back seats, on the floor, tapping my hands to make sure I'd not missed it. I didn't find it. I was really not a survivalist. Walking deeper into the forest to find some river was not my thing. Besides, how would I bring the water even if I found it? There was no cup, no bottle, no container. I checked water off the list. Besides, the cold air would bring down any fever.

Next? I had to see whether I could get the poison out or not. That was not going to be easy. I would have to find a sharp object to make a small cut and then squeeze it. But, where would I get the object? I wish I had fangs likes him. I would just bite and be done. I got up, trying to detect thorns. A cactus, a rose...what else? This place surely did not resemble a desert or a somebody's well-manicured garden. I touched the trees stripped of bark and outer layers, searching for something hard, strong enough to puncture. They mocked me with their soft, damp, smooth moss-like trunks. Had they blunted their sharpness to make my task impossible?

This could be our prison. Bodies possessed forever didn't sound merry to my ears. I knelt on the ground, used my hands to feel anything sharp, hidden in the mysteries of the forest ground. A sharp stick, a pine needle? My hands came across a driftwood, not too blunt, not too spiked. I would have to sharpen it. My hands grasped a rock. It was small. It wouldn't do. I needed something that would help me sharpen this. I moved my hands over the ground sequentially, fast in search of a larger rock. I yelped in pain when I found it. The sharp edge of the rock had cut my skin. That would work. I tried to grind the driftwood by rubbing it over and over on its surface.

I heard him stir. When I looked at him, I saw the blackness winking at me again. Had it become double its original size? Or was I just too worried to be objective? I rubbed the wood harder, I thought I would lit my hands on fire with the friction. Then I heard the twig snap and I cried out in frustration.

I went to his side. The blackness was winking. Awakening. Samuel moaned, struggling to silence the power of the venom. His words were incomprehensible. He went back to unconsciousness. Screw this. Screw the delicacies of the job. He was the Vampire King. He could survive what I was about to do. He would heal. But, he would not survive the venom. I grabbed the rock, turned it such that the sharp side would be sticking out at the bottom and brought it down in the center of the blackness. His eyes opened immediately. He grabbed my wrist, his eyes delirious. He didn't know who I was. He was acting on impulse. He slammed me on the floor, his blood, blackish red wet me in ferocious waves. Apparently, I had managed to open a deep puncture. Shit, nothing was working as planned. He opened his lips to greet me with the razor sharp fangs. He was going to drink from me. Would he drain me in his state of mind and need? Or poison me? I felt the touch of his fangs at my throat. But then he stopped. His eyes held confusion.

"Promised. No blood. Not unless you want it, Belle." He closed his eyes again

Belle? He thought I was Belle. I didn't like hearing another name from his lips. The promise was made to me. Or had he drunk from Belle, too? He could find his sweet Belle and drain her instead!

I wasn't here to feed him, but to cure him. I would do only that! Unfortunately, the blackness was not seeping out of the wound, and now I'd made him bleed badly. I took off my top, crumpled it, pressured the wound. The shirt was wet within seconds. Was he now bleeding to death, and all because of me?

******************

"I'm done with these dimwits," the Moon Goddess said. "They will bring all the shadows to Earth."

"What are you going to do? You can't intervene!" her twin replied.

"Yes, I can. Not directly. I tried it with her eyesight. Twice now. Wanted her to see, be aware. It was reversed each time. I can do nothing that is permanent. Nothing that's real. Nothing that's tangible. But that doesn't mean....." She smiled. "C'mon help me. Hold my hand. I need all the power I can muster."

******************