Chapter 32

I stayed at the lake until it got dark. I felt much better now, my neck didn’t ache anymore, I felt there was still a scar but it should go away by tomorrow. I could have stayed there much longer but in case Death would be in my house waiting for me I needed to go back… if he wasn’t there… It’s okay… I guess… I was not going to beg him to stay. He knew that he would be the only one for me, he knew that I loved him.

I reached my house and every window was dark inside, I walked up to the door and tried to open it. With every last bit of hope I hoped that doors would be open… they were locked. I rested my head against the door. I now realized that I did care if he showed up. I tried to tell my mind that it wouldn’t affect me, that I don’t expect him to show up. I lied to myself. I wanted him to show up, to be waiting for me. I made sure to come back later so I am sure he will come, but I was just lying to myself.

With a heavy sigh I picked up my door key from under my door mat and unlocked the door with a heavy gut feeling in me. Feeling of accepting rough truth washed over me. I turned my lights on and everything seemed lonely now, I never felt lonely here, now I did. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn’t met Death. He needed to stay away. If he cared so much for me… why did he hurt me with his sudden reappearance and then again vanishing?

There wasn’t much I could do here alone at night. I made my tea and sat down on one couch that was in my living room. I closed my eyes trying to listen to silence around me. Suddenly a knock from my door made me jump in fright, quickly enough that the fright got away with a hope that the one I am waiting for will be there.

I quickly got to the door and opened revealing Xavier standing there. My expression must have said everything. “You okay?” he asked, weirded out because my face dropped from excitement to sadness.

I shook my head out of my trance. “Yes, of course.” How disappointed he made me feel.

“Waiting for someone?” he asked me suspiciously.

“No… maybe… I don’t know,” I said, not being able to make up my mind to what I was expecting. “Come in,” I offered him but he shook his head no.

“I just noticed lights turning on. Wanted to know if you are doing okay. How’s your neck?” he asked.

“Better. A lot better,” I said, forcing a smile at him.

“Are you sure you’re better?” he asked worriedly and I nodded my head. “That’s good to know,” he smiled. “Goodnight Meredith, I’ll check on you tomorrow,” he said.

“Goodnight,” I said with a smile and he walked away at a slow pace. It was good to know that someone cared this much for me. I couldn’t have wished for a better friend than him.

I walked back to my couch and plopped down with a heavy sigh. I heard footsteps behind me and I laughed turning my head. “I promise I am better,” I said but my expression changed when it wasn’t Xavier who stood there.

“That’s good to know,” Death answered with the same words Xavier used.

“Sorry for barging in… Guess I was supposed to knock… at least that’s what normal people do… oh wait,” he joked, smirking at me.

If I looked at Death he was anything but normal… and I mean that in a good way… how walking Death could ever be considered as something normal when only few on the earth could see him.

“You came?” I asked in disbelief.

He walked closer to me and sat on the couch next to me. “I’m here,” he said, avoiding eye contact with me. “I just don’t know if it’s the right thing to do.”

“You don’t want to be here?” I asked, masking my hurt voice with a little chuckle.

He looked at me smiling sweetly. “There isn’t anywhere else I would rather be than here with you…but,” he looked away. “I left you… I noticed that you were hurting from everything that was happening with your family. I wanted to give you time, to get better on your own, I wanted to come back when you are good. I planned that I will find you when you are in a better state of mind, I would ask you to run away with me, of course if you wanted. I hoped that I could be with you like I have always wanted. I hoped that somehow it would make sense… it doesn’t make sense. The only sense that we could be together if I am acting selfish and not thinking about you at all.” He buried his head in his hands. Then he went over to the window and leaned against the wall watching outside. “I made a decision that it’s right to leave you.”

I couldn’t believe him. He was just standing there. Not saying anything more. “Is that why you came? To tell me that?” I asked and stood up nearing him. “Am I a joke to you?”

He turned towards me. But he was smirking. My blood boiled. “Leave!” I told him.

He tilted his head at me still smirking. “You are extremely intimidating when you yell. I find it alluring.”

“Why are you here?” I asked, trying to mask my anger. But I think I failed.

“Because I am selfish.” His face faded to complete seriousness.

“How is that selfish?” I asked.

He quickly leaned away from the window nearing me a little. But cautiously keeping distance.

”I can’t protect you while you are on this earth, I couldn’t protect you from that vampire bite. If we were alone I wouldn’t be able to protect you from things like these. Horrible people will try to get to you when they find out that you are part of the prophecy and that you know about Death,” He tried to explain.

He then reached in his pocket and pulled out a shiny silver dagger. He reached it forward for me to take. I eyed him but carefully took it by the handle. Only the tip was covered in silver, dangerous for werewolves.

“I can protect you in the afterlife.” He said slowly as ever.

He put my other hand on the handle and wrapped his hands around mine. “We can be together forever. And you will be safe with me.”

My voice shut down and my breath stopped. “You want me to…” I couldn’t even finish.

“Like this,” he said and turned my hands so the tip was only an inch apart from my skin. “It will hurt but it will be quick. And then we can be together.”

“You told me you don’t actually kill anyone.”

He slowly let go of his hands leaving me the one holding the blade up my heart. “That’s why you’ll do it.” He told me.

I just kept watching him. Was he really asking me to kill myself? “What’s wrong?” he asked me.

I was frozen. “Do it.” He was encouraging me. “Then we will be together, like you wanted.”

My body swayed and I accidentally touched the tip to my skin burning the silver on my skin. Instantly the blade fell out of my hold and echoed through the room with a clicking sound.

I stepped back from him. “Meredith?” he questioned me.

I shook my head at him. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I… how can you ask me to kill myself?!” Was he actually going mad? What has gotten into him? “I have my whole life ahead of me and you want me to cut it short? I know I may not have much but I don’t know what’s waiting for me there.”

“I’m there.” He said.

“It’s not enough!” I surprised myself. How could I ever say that to him?

But the expression on him was entirely something else than I expected.

“We would need to go in the dark of the night where no one sees you. To a place where no one knows you. We could stay there. No one can know you are a nymph. You would need to hide it. The ones that will be looking for the prophecy will be looking for a nymph, if you are only a werewolf they won’t suspect anything.”

I couldn’t understand what was going on. He just told me to kill myself. “We will need to find a way to hide that you are a nymph. You would never be able to come back. You would spend the rest of your life in secret. You could never trust a friend. You see your family here, but you would never be able to mention them, or see them again. You hated to live in obedience here. The rest of your life would be strictly following our rules. You would be caged.”

He quieted watching me. “Have you gone mad?” I questioned. He squinted his eyes confused.

I pointed my hand down to the dagger. “Oh... that!” he exclaimed. “I wanted to see if you are not mad.”

My mouth hanged open. “You told me to kill myself!”

“I wanted to see if you would be dumb enough.”

“What if I…” I started but he interrupted.

“I wouldn’t have let you. It would make you look incredibly stupid, but I wouldn’t let you actually do it.”

“You are actually crazy!” I freaked at him.

He raised up his chin. “This plan of you leaving with me is crazier. One wrong move and you are dead.”

“How long have you thought of it?” I asked.

“Since I figured I felt dead without you.” He said. “Which is for quite some time. I just didn’t think I would say that to you, ever.”

He was waiting for my answer. In a dimly lit room I still saw how his eyes roamed all over me.

“Do you really want me to?” I whispered, afraid that he was joking. “To go with you?”

“I just want you to be happy Meredith” he said, with his voice quiet as ever.

“Then make me happy, be with me,” I said and I took his face in my hands, “I will never want anything more that I want you.” For a moment he closed his eyes, relaxing in my touch.

“You won’t be able to ever return here,” he said. “Even if you change your mind you can’t return here. They will be looking for a nymph and when you return they will capture you.”

“I won’t want to return. I loved you when you weren’t even with me. What makes you think I will stop loving you when you’re with me?” I questioned.

Death looked ahead of himself, I watched him as he was thinking something. He focused his stare back on me and leaned a little closer. “Okay,” he said with his eyes closed while my eyes widened.

“We will leave tomorrow night, no one can know you are leaving, you can’t take anything with you. Even Jasmin won’t know we are leaving. We both need to leave every life we had behind us. We just need to vanish away with no trace.”

“Jasmin was your friend!”

“She is… but she already knows too much. I want to believe in her that she will keep quiet.”

“You’ll lose her.” I didn’t want him to. There were so few people who saw Death.

“She is immortal. I can find her when you…” his words got cut.

“when I die?” I asked. Somehow that didn’t hurt me, but made me glad he could go back.

He cupped my face in his hands while mine tangled in his wrists. “I love you” he said, whispering out of nowhere. .

His thumbs slowly caressed my lover lip, he stared on my lips closely not blinking. I parted my lips from the heavy breath that was caused by my rapid heartbeat and his eyes shot up at mine.

He smashed his lips onto mine holding me as gently as ever. His lips were passionately against mine, his one hand tangled in my hair and other slowly as a feather slid down to my waist. My hand was on his neck feeling his pulse going wilder. He removed his lips from mine leaving a tingly hot feeling not just on my lips. I was feeling dizzy, intoxicated from his touch.

He looked at me, his jaw clenched with my hand feeling his neck tense. Like he just let himself loose he grabbed me passionately. His arm harshly grabbed my side. As if afraid I would leave. His tongue got wilder and it wasn’t sweet and romantic anymore. But it was lustful and passionate.

We clumsily stumbled back without him ever leaving my lips. His heavy coat got in the way. I needed to feel his body. I almost ripped it off and in half a second he left his hands from me to leave the coat.

He laid me down on the couch as he put his lips on my neck trailing wet kisses from my neck down the upper half of my chest. His one hand dug in my thigh and the other right under my breast on my side.

I subconsciously managed to pull his hair which made him growl and suck on my exposed skin which was fighting to be undone from the top that was suffocating me.

This wasn’t a very comfortable couch, I had something poking from the couch in my back “Death… I’m not very comfortable.” I said and he shot away from me, removing his hands from me, staying on top of me but with a terrified look on his face.

“I’m sorry... I’m…” He panicked and only then I realized the wrong saying of my sentence, he got off of me still breathing heavily, “I’m sorry…”he said, washing his face with his hands and looking away from me.

I got up and ran after him.

“No!” I said quickly trying to fix what I said. “I don’t mean like that…” I said and his eyes narrowed. “The couch… it’s not comfortable for that kind of position…” I explained. He seemed to calm down now, he closed his eyes in relief…

“I thought…” he tried to explain he thought he did something I didn’t like but… it was the complete opposite.

I put my hands around his neck and kissed him hard but then I let go of him leaving him standing in confusion, I turned and walked to my bedroom’s direction. I looked back and he wasn’t following me, he was so worried to do the right thing… I stopped around the corner and looked at him smirking with my head leaned against the wall. “That means I want you to follow me” I said and entered my bedroom… not a second passed when I heard him following…