Lost in Demon's Eyes

My first steps this morning were to see my parents’ graves. I didn’t see them ever since I had decided to go and save Icarus. “I’m so sorry, I failed you in so many things…” I whispered while putting a single white lily by their graves. My brother’s grave wasn’t there yet. He needed a proper funeral as well. I put a hand on my belly and gently stroked it. I felt something gently and slowly moving there, even though I wasn’t having much of a bump. “If you were still here, you could maybe meet your grandchildren… Well, it wouldn’t probably even be this early. I would have taken my time.” I tried making it into a joke but my lips were frozen. No smile was coming to my face. “I know that you wanted me to marry into a good family and enjoy a few years before settling down with kids… But things never turn out the way we want them to, do they?” I asked them. It was a chilly foggy morning. The fog was only lazily lifting up around. My body was having goosebumps all over. I felt chilly but the cold was helping me to stay sane. “Please, give our kids your blessings. Mom… Dad… Please, let them be healthy and happy.” I dropped down to my knees and begged them. I didn’t have anyone else to turn to. I stopped believing in god a long time ago. I could only ask my deceased parents if they were even listening. “Let me join you.” A hand gently grasped my shoulder and he kneeled right next to me. “I failed you and your family as well, Ariadne… I should take responsibility for all of this.” He said very apologetically and bowed in front of my parents’ graves. His forehead kept touching the ground for quite a while before he came up again. He grabbed my hand and gave it a soft squeeze. “Please, watch over us. Watch over our kids. We will watch over your resting place well. We won’t forget your kindness.” He bowed again, this time holding my hand. Gabriel… I couldn’t think of anything else. My head was empty. Everything he was doing right now was just taking my thoughts away. His sincerity touched me even deeper than in my heart. And I could feel his heart pounding through his warm hand. “Shall we head back?” Gabriel asked me, the sun was already quite high up and it was getting quite warm. I nodded. We spent nearly the whole morning at my parents’ graves. Talking to each other, talking to them, enjoying the quietness of the whole place. Even though I knew I wasn’t really allowed to relax at this point, I just needed some time to let everything go. To not think about anything. To just turn everything off. And I could do it with him right here, right now. “I don’t think walking would be a good idea… I know Theo got you here by car, but he had some things to do…” Gabriel held my hand again, slowly walking with me through the soft grass in the garden. I used to love walking there barefoot in the morning dew. With each step, we were getting further away from the remains of the house and closer to the forest. Just watching the ruins was still squeezing my stomach as it made me remember what had happened before. How a vampire had decided to get his hands on the Lost Key of Solomon, which my parents were keeping safe, by blowing the house up. My parents died in the explosion. My young brother was wounded and taken hostage with me. I was tortured and saved by Gabriel’s pack. In the end, nothing went as I would have wanted. My younger brother Icarus got turned into a vampire and killed by police while trying to kill me… I didn’t save or protect my family. And I dragged Gabriel and his pack in this as well. “Then what do you suggest?” I asked him after a while, stopping. I still felt like I was ruining his life. He could have been with someone more fortunate than me. “Stop with that face, Ariadne. I know exactly what thoughts are hiding behind it. And I told you so many times that it’s not true. It’s not that way.” He took a step closer to me, gently pinching my cheek and kissing me. His kisses always blew me away. My senses got occupied by his whole being, disregarding anything around us. In fact, if he only did a few moves, I would be willing to take all of my clothes off and be his here and now. And Gabriel knew it. He stopped kissing me, pulling away and softly smiling. “That’s a face I like seeing way more.” His husky voice sent shivers down my spine. My knees gave up on me. But he caught me with his strong arms and kept me up. His smile, eyes, lips… I was getting lost in all of it. “Don’t show it to anyone else. Only I can see this kind of face.” He kissed my forehead. I frowned. I wanted more. He chuckled. He knew exactly what was on my mind right now. “And there I wanted to offer you a ride… Guess you should do the riding for a bit now, how about that?” He came closer to me, touching his nose on mine, still seductively smiling. “You know I can’t resist anything about you, don’t you!” I protested a bit, pushing him away, but he only grasped my hands that ended up on his muscular chest and didn’t move an inch. “I know. And I know it’s driving you crazy.” He whispered with that smile of his. “Hey!” I got mad now. He was teasing me way too much! Gabriel let go of my hands and took a few steps back, laughing. I could only stand there dumbfounded and mad. He definitely screwed up the mood! “Let’s do things at a better place than here. You have to be careful about our twins… I don’t think here would be a good idea considering these two bean pods.” Gabriel came back, kissing my belly after calling them bean pods. “Fine… Promise?!” I gave him a mistrustful look. “I wouldn’t be joking about something like this… You know I love being one with you. It makes me feel like I’m actually touching the heaven.” He held me close, talking to me in that husky voice of his again. “Then stop driving me crazy here, will you?” I looked at Gabriel with puppy eyes. “Understood, babe.” He quickly kissed my forehead. Then he grabbed my hand in his and started softly pulling me closer to the forest. “A ride?” Gabriel smiled after we got to the border of the forest. I nodded. I loved seeing his wolf. “Don’t take this the wrong way now!” He chuckled as he started taking off his clothes. “Pfff… As if I would! Seeing you naked is always candy to my eyes!” I stuck my tongue out at him. “That’s good then! You’re gonna see a lot of it after we get home!” He handed me his folded clothes. I put them in a bag, which I had with me just in case something like this happened. Learning to live with werewolf shifters had me prepared nearly for anything. “Looking forward to it.” I smiled at him after he kissed my cheek and started walking backward, while still looking at me. “Enjoying the view?” He jokingly asked, making sure the distance between us would be safe enough for him to shift. “How about the back side as well?” I teasingly bit my finger. Gabriel laughed as he turned around and ran away a bit. “Don’t get scared now!” He called out to me when I nearly didn’t see him anymore. Then a mighty growl echoed throughout the forest. The alpha Gabriel shifted into his beautiful silver wolf. A furry big wolf came running downhill to me. His head gently brushed against me, as if a cat was marking things with its scent. “Don’t I smell enough like you already?” I asked him while he was still making sure to leave his scent on me in his wolf form. He unhappily grunted. “Fine, fine, I get it.” I giggled, patting and stroking his neck. After a while, he laid down for me to be able to mount on top of him. “Holding tight.” I hugged his neck. Gabriel then slowly got up and started slowly running, making sure I wasn’t going to fall down. After a while he was running at nearly full speed, jumping over brooks, fallen trees, and other things blocking the road. The village was about two hours by car. On wolf back it wasn’t even half an hour. We arrived at the village. Gabriel let me get off of his back. I gave him the bag with clothes as he slowly walked away to shift back to human, to not be seen naked by others. He wouldn’t care, but he knew I hated it. I didn’t want anyone else seeing him naked. If he was supposed to be my mate, he had to respect it in every single way I understood it. In a human way. “Oh, you’re back?” Sam came running as soon as Gabriel was gone. “Yeah, is everything fine? Did you bring the old shaman her lunch?” I asked him, making sure everything was running smoothly in the village. “Yes, everything is fine, Luna! No need to be worried about a single thing!” He was grinning at me. “You know I hate being called like that!” I told him off, but he didn’t care. “Hate or not, you are one, so accept it.” The only voice, which always made my knees weak, appeared again, kissing my cheek from behind. “At ease, Sam.” Gabriel smiled right next to my ear, resting his head on my shoulder. Sam seemed to have relaxed a bit after getting tense again. “Shall we head back? I’m hun-” I held my belly with both of my hands. “What’s wrong?!” Gabriel quickly came in front of me, his face in utter worry. “I don’t know... It feels like they are moving too much!” I kept holding my belly. In fact, I felt it growing in my hands! Gabriel’s eyes widened in shock. “Doctor!” Sam reacted quickly and ran inside the village to get me a doctor. “Gabriel?” I asked him, getting scared. He put a hand on my belly and hugged me with the other one. “It will be fine, Ariadne. I’m here. We can get through this. Together.” His whispers were the last thing I heard before black and silence engulfed everything around me.