Fallen Mate

9 A hunger like no other (2)

Fallen

From the moment she opened her eyes, Fallen could sense that something bad was about to happen. But the good thing was, she could finally talk to the human soul inside her. It took her half the night, standing in front of the mirror and talking to herself, to finally reach the soul. Fallen stared at the ceiling like she’d learned about a huge part of herself. She never knew that she could communicate with a ghost before. Jesse seemed to be safe inside her too. She didn’t feel like she was trapped inside her but felt safe in some way, though she was confused as to how she got to be inside her.

They were both confused. But Jesse seemed like a cool girl who died so young. Fallen couldn’t imagine her life ending just like that, which made her feel sorry for Jesse in a way. Though she hated that she was Triam’s mate even though she was a ghost. She was getting something she never could have.

Stop it. Triam hates you. It was a good thing that he found his mate. Now, she could bury her feelings for good.

“You only have to come out when he’s here, so I don’t have to deal with him,” Fallen told Jesse. She got off the bed and went to the bathroom. She took a bath, when she was done she got dressed and made her way down to the kitchen. But she stopped at the top of the stairs as she came to the sitting area where her parents, Triam’s parents, Kelani and his parents were gathered. They all looked up at her, making her feel flustered and a little terrified.

What was going on?

Kelani moved away from the others and climbed up the stairs to her. What was he doing here? She was supposed to see him tonight.

“What?...” Fallen began to say, but he took her hand and dragged her back to her room. “What’s going on?” she asked as he closed the door behind him. He turned and pulled her into his arms. Fallen was so startled that she froze for a second before she leaned into him. “What? What’s wrong?”

Before he could say anything, there was a knock at the door.

“f**k,” Kelani said angrily. Fallen stared at him. She’d never seen him so angry before. He was always so calm and rational. He didn’t look like he had it together just then. He wrenched the door open and faced whoever was at the door. “She’s mine too. I won’t let this happen.”

Let what happen?

Her father gave Kelani a silencing look and walked into the room, followed by Triam’s father. The vampire looked from Kelani to her. His eyes roamed over her face searching. Fallen resisted the urge to fidget as he kept on staring at her. His red eyes were unsettling.

“Fallen, we need to talk,” her father said.

“About what? Is everything okay? You’re scaring me,” she said. Her father walked to her and took her hand.

“Its nothing to be scared about. But it is serious. Triam is…”

“This is not right. She’s my mate too. You can’t just hand her over to him,” Kelani said. He looked distraught, on the verge of going crazy.

“Kelani, calm down,” his father said from the doorway. When did he get here? Fallen asked herself as she stared at him.

“We’re not handing her over to him. Triam needs his mate or he’s going to go crazy. With the kind of power he has, we don’t know what might happen. We have to stop this before it becomes bad. If something happened to you and you needed your mate, we would have done the same thing for you. It’s a shame that fate chose this for you two. I don’t even understand how this could happen. It’s a miracle you haven’t killed each other,” her father said to Kelani. He seemed to calm down a little.

“They are cousins. They wouldn’t do that to each other,” Triam’s father said. Fallen stared at them. She didn’t know what they were talking about. Why did they all come here? Was this what she sensed as soon as she woke up? Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. She could see it in Kelani’s eyes.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Fallen,” Kelani said.

Triam’s father stepped close to her. She grew up right in front of the vampire. He was his father’s brother. They were a family. Right then he stared at her as if she was their lifeline. Fallen swallowed. “Triam told me that his mate’s soul is inside you. I wouldn’t be asking you this if it wasn’t important. But could you please let her out so that she can go to him. He needs to feed and the only blood he’ll be able to stomach is that of his mate.”

What? They want him to bite her?

“Don’t look so horrified. Its not as terrifying as it sounds.”

“But he’ll be drinking my blood since his mate is inside me,” Fallen said.

“We know. But we don’t have a choice. We’re hoping her soul’s presence will be enough.”

“But…” Fallen shook her head. It didn’t make any sense at all. Her blood wouldn’t work. She wasn’t his mate. Or would it? Fallen shivered at the thought of being bitten by Triam. She’d heard that a vampire’s bite was the most pleasurable thing a being could experience – it was intoxicating.

But did she want such a bite from Triam? He hated her and she was starting to hate him too. He treated her worse than an animal to get what he wanted.

“No,” Fallen said.

“Fallen,” her father said. “Triam might die because of this. He needs his mate. We help our family.”

Guilt stabbed her at his words. Triam was her cousin.

“Alright,” she said. “I’ll go. But I’ll bring out his mate when we get to his house, or she’ll be confused seeing so many supernatural beings in one place. She’s already confused about what happened to her.”

“Fallen,” Kelani said, taking her hand. She could see the raw emotions inside him. He was trying so hard to keep it together.

“Its alright. He won’t be biting me, don’t worry,” she told him. She turned to her father. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Bring her. I’ll go and make sure he’s calm,” his father said, disappearing. His words sent a stab of fear into her heart. Triam was scary, overwhelming and too much when he was normal. How was he when he was hungry?

It was a good thing she wasn’t going to face him. Fallen hoped that the human soul could handle a hungry vampire, she thought as she walked out of her room following her father. She looked over her shoulder at Kelani. Damn, this was killing him.

“I’ll be right back,” she reassured him.

He gave her a sharp nod. She could tell that he wanted to say something more, but he turned to the window and jumped out.

“Kelani,” his father called. “I’m not going to lose my son because of this shit.” He said before he followed him out.

“Use the damn door, dammit,” her father said, before he turned down the hallway. Fallen followed him. With every step she felt like she was walking on air. Will he leave marks on her body? She prayed not.

“I don’t want to see what he did to his mate,” Fallen internally thought, hating this. I won’t be there when he bites her, she told herself over and over again until she found herself standing in front of his room.

The journey there was all a blur. She couldn’t understand how she got there. But there she was standing in front of Triam’s room. She looked over her shoulder at her father. He gave her an encouraging nod.

Here goes nothing, Fallen thought as she opened the door.