Crossblood - Completed

Chapter 40

~Moon's POV~

Andrews eyes widen at my words, his hand drawn into a fist as he bites into his thumb, shutting his eyes as if to painfully press out the thought of my suggestion.

"You want him to come with us?" The sting on his tongue is absent, his tone bubbling with suppressed concern. I lean back, shoulders resting on a fur coat hanging inside the massive armoire, our conversation sequestered away behind its abandoned mahogany doors and glass knobs.

"He's a lot different than how I remember him." Through the cracks in the splitting wood a small amount of light creeps into the wardrobe, lighting our frames in an eerie glow and casting deep set shadows over the span of Andrew's face. "I think he might want to make up with..." I trail off at the foreign sensation of daggers stabbing the side of my cheeks, face instantly turning away from his glare.

"He's playing you like a fucking fiddle and you can't even see it." I don't allow the shock to show in my eyes at his curses, the flames he spits my way burning even hotter than before. Though my gaze is still to the floor I can imagine his reddened cheeks and angered stance, weight all on one foot ready to lunge. "What in God's name happened in there because I need to know."

With a sigh I push myself away from the wall, picking underneath my nails to avoid his question. "We talked."

"About?"

"My family."

"And...?" The annoyance in his question is thick, any more stalling and he's sure to start strangling me.

"He held me...that's it Andrew nothing more." There's a flash in his eye but the spark dims, his shoulders hunching inwards as he pushes me away from the exit. He stretches a hand my way, motioning for me to reluctantly follow him back into the main room. All eyes seem to be on us, his grip tightening on my wrists as we plop into the cotton couch together, our combined weight sinking our backs into the seat, my indentions spreading farther as I cautiously back away from him.

"Your brother wants Niko to come with us." The silence of the room has me blushing, murmurs and stares all directed my way as I slink back into my seat until I can feel the hard wall pressing into my spine. "He feels he has changed and that there is no threat to come from him, any rejections?"

"I do." My head jerks back to the staircase, Kaiien dripping as he makes his way to the couch, jaw tight as he attempts to compose himself. "That ass isn't coming with us."

"He's chang-"

"You've changed." My mouth hangs open a moment as I recover from his blow, white hot anger clouding my mind as it replays every syllable he spoke. "You've changed." Blood strikes against the roof of my mouth, tongue caught between my grinding teeth as my body starts to twitch, heat coursing the length of my body in seconds. It catches each vein ablaze until it flys to my fingertips, molten fury dripping from each nail, each finger wringing itself before making their hasty move. Slashing against his face, he falls to the floor, eyes wide as they well up with shaky tears. "You struck me...." His hands find the reddening marks across his cheeks cradling it as he rolls into a ball of shock and cries. My own cheek burns along with his, stinging as the air rolls into the small cuts I've left engraved in his flesh.

My eyes find their way to my hand, it's palm reddened from its strict encounter. As a tear falls I clench it in a fist, taking a deep breath before heading back up the stairs, leaving the below crowd in awe. The moment I turn my back blue eyes dig into my soul, screams echoing between my ears as he curses me, my vision wavering between the then and now.

Distracted, I forcefully collide with a dripping Niko, his sharp features bearing into mine before he peeks around my withering frame, seemingly ignoring the scene of Kaiien dissolved on the floor, his cries shaking the foundation of the house.

"Wha-"

"I struck him." The glare he fires has me taking a step back, tripping but never contacting the ground as he catches me. Before I can show any gratitude my arm is twisted around, a yelp of pain escaping between my gritted teeth as I'm backed against the banister, blood rushing to my head as I'm nearly turned upside down. The fire in his eyes hasn't been lit in four hundred years, the flames burning my flesh as I struggle, only managing to further damage my mangled arm. "He said I'd changed and-"

"You have." There's no emotion in his words just blatant facts, a low growl escaping him before I'm tilted further back than before, the only thing keeping me from diving head first into the glass table is slowly slipping from the banister. "You no longer fear me, you no longer fear anything." His words burn as they reach me, my head ducking in shame before I'm pushed farther back, no one coming to the rescue as I slip, eyes closed and teeth chattering at the thought of my coming collision. "You no longer love either." Whether I imagined it or not his voice softened at the mention of Kaiien, grip changing if only for a moment as if to pull me back away from the impending doom of the faltering banister.

I don't answer him, just grit my teeth as he drops me off the the side of the banister in one swift move, body colliding with the glass beneath me, trembling as the fragments impale my flesh, dying it's muted peachy tones in a vibrant and clashing red. He flashes me a bleak smile, eyes dark as he disappears back into the confinements of the shadow hidden hall.

I know who it is before he screams, his light footsteps pattering against the creaking wood before he plops next to me, tears washing my blood away as he hugs me. "Moon!" The swelling in his cheek has already gone down as he presses his face to mine, wiping my hair upwards as the blood drips from my temple.

"I'm sorry..." Blood soaked and dripping, his hands cover my lips, dressing them in a rosy and speckled tone. "I struck you and I..." He only presses his fingers against me harder, taking a shaky breath before releasing a smile.

"He isn't coming with us."

Kaiien assists in sitting me upright, brushing the excess glass from my torn top. We exchange a glance, a lowly sigh escaping me as I nod.


•••


"Do you think he'll follow us?"

Kaiien's growing weaker, body barely upright as we pass through the frozen thicket, slipping on a rock and falling into my burning body. I blaze a path through the woods, the ice melting away and dampened grass burning beneath my feet. If he wanted to follow us it wouldn't be hard. My eyes fall to my bandaged wrist, the blood soaking through the bandage already. If anyone wanted to follow us it wouldn't be hard.

"Yes."

Pausing he looks over at me, face contorting in pain as he glances away, hand seemingly wiping away a fallen tear before it freezes. "For me or for you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean..."

Stumbling over another rock I scoop his frail body into my arms, tucking his head into the safety of my chest as the winds begin to blow, loose snow flying around us and violently whipping our skin. "I'm afraid I don't."

"He's always loved you more than me."

"I'd hardly call what we had love."

Peeking out of my chest he burns holes into the underside of my chin, his judging eyes ablaze. "Even the servants cared for you more."

"Is that what this is about? You think they loved me more than you?"

"Yes! Yes, Moon!" Only Andrew turns to look back at us, Kaiien's tears falling faster with each quickened breath. "They always have and apparently always will." Raising his brow Andrew turns back, shrugging his shoulder and heading to the front of the pack. We fall behind, Kaiien kicking his legs as his frustration grows. "Father didn't want you dead, he didn't try to kill you, he didn't beat you yet somehow you're the one who gets all the sympathy. Nobody cares about me! It's as if I had some miracle childhood I didn't know about because nobody sympathizes with me."

"I'm not going to stand here and say that isn't true," Crossing his arms he tilts upward, brow cocked waiting for my next move. "but I think why they sympathize with me is because I'm not as strong as you are."

He seems shocked, blue eyes widening until they're drowned out by white. It's as if he can no longer look at me, eyes refusing to focus on anything other than the moving ground below us. "That isn't-"

"It is true. I know you may not believe it but it is." Before his smile can show he pinches his lips together, his smile starts pushing through but he covers his lips with a skeletal clasp. "They know you can handle it better than I can so they don't worry as much."

"Never thought I'd be stronger than Moon Hiroshi."

There's warmth in his smile, the sun radiating through his words and traveling over his skin into mine. It's a warmth that hasn't been there for centuries, I hold him closer to me, close enough that his heartbeat bleeds into mine and our breaths sync into one steady rhythm. It's the feeling that has always been there, that sensation that we're connected, the same soul with different bodies.

As his gentle snores disrupt our pattern I lay him in the burnt grass, rubbing my wrists and covering him in dried shrubs for warmth. Curling my body into his I brush back his lightening hair, hugging his back into my torso and burying my face into the back of his neck. Across the clearing I can sense Julius staring, his gaze only causing me to hold him tighter. Kaiien moves the slightest, muttering something unintelligent and turning so we're face to face. Gently I pull back his hair, dragging my lips to his ear to whisper the last words he hears for the night.

"I love you Kaiien, mon âme forte."