"The closer we get to the darkness, the more I desire to protect you from everything… even from myself."
– From Kain's Thoughts
✦ Kain's Perspective ✦
In the heart of the forest where life and death intertwine in an eternal dance, Alice was bent over the body of a giant anaconda, pulling the last drops of its golden blood in solemn silence. I stood leaning against a tree trunk, watching the scene that combined savage beauty with the supernatural innocence of nature.
I smiled, cutting the silence,
"Is it that delicious?"
She raised her head, a light smear of blood adorning the corner of her lips like a strange lipstick. Her smile was radiant.
"Very. Do you want to try?"
I waved my hand in a theatrical rejecting motion.
"Thanks, I still prefer my dishes well-cooked."
She burst into a ringing laugh resembling the sound of bells, then jumped lightly to crouch beside me, hugging her knees. Silence reigned for a moment before she spoke in a more serious tone:
"Kain, Bella's birthday is approaching."
I nodded, feeling the passage of time like a light sting.
"Yes… I didn't feel it as it passed. Too fast."
"Why do you always call her 'my little sister'?"
she asked with genuine curiosity.
"As far as I know, you are twins."
A nostalgic smile slipped onto my face as I recalled the past.
"I was born seconds before her. When we were children, my father told me that, and from that moment, I insisted that I was the protective older brother. It seems she loved the idea, or maybe she loved that I was her personal shield. And since then… she's been my spoiled little child."
Alice smiled gently.
"That's sweet… and explains many things."
She suddenly stood up and brushed off non-existent dust from her clothes.
"We must prepare. We don't want to be late… and we still need to choose the gifts."
"Of course, let's start…"
I hadn't finished my sentence when my senses picked up a sound that didn't belong to this forest. Not the sound of an animal, but the sound of fast, stubborn footsteps approaching with hostile intent. In a moment, the joke evaporated from my features and was replaced by ice of focus. I felt danger like a cold prick on my skin, and my power responded to my command before I even thought of it.
🔸 Skill: Marble Flesh 🔸
In less than a blink, my body hardened, and my skin turned into a shiny black armor, solid like obsidian. The transformation had barely completed when a strong fist struck my chest. A blow aimed to pierce my heart, but it suddenly stopped, as if a rock had hit a mountain.
My reaction was faster. Instinctive. Before my opponent could withdraw his fist, my sword was in my hand. One movement, smooth and lethal. A silver arc in the air, and the sound of a heavy fall. The head of an unknown vampire rolled on the damp leaves, his eyes wide with a shock death gave him no time to comprehend.
Alice stood behind me and released a long sigh.
"Again? Their attempts have become annoying… what number is this time?"
I shrugged indifferently while disabling my skill.
"I lost count after the second month."
Alice replied in a tone mixed between complaint and amusement as she came closer and inhaled the air near my neck.
"I don't blame them… your scent grows more tempting each time. It seems your blood becomes tastier as your power increases."
I looked at her, a confident smile forming on my face. "Do you want to taste a little?"
Her playful features stiffened suddenly, and the smile evaporated from her lips. She stepped back as if my words had shocked her.
"What? Kain, you don't understand. We… I don't do this. Carlisle taught us another way… a better way."
I approached her quietly, shrinking the distance she had placed between us.
"I know your principles, and I respect them. But this is different. This isn't innocent blood whose life was taken in a forest, it's my blood. It's an offer… an offer of trust."
Our eyes met, and I saw in them a true storm. A struggle between the instinctive curiosity she could not deny, and the principles she had clung to for decades.
"But what if… what if I hurt you?"
she whispered in a trembling voice, and this time her concern wasn't just fleeting fear, but true terror. "What if I can't stop? The monster inside me…"
I lightly brushed her cold cheek, forcing her to look directly into my eyes. I pressed a light kiss on her lips and whispered in a voice only the two of us heard:
"I trust you completely, Alice." Then I added in a firm tone that accepted no doubt, to reassure her scientifically not only emotionally:
"And your venom doesn't affect me. You won't be able to hurt me even if you lost control for a moment. I am immune."
I extended my wrist to her, and in my movement was a silent invitation.
She stared at my hand, at the veins pulsing beneath the skin, then raised her gaze back to me. Her eyes begged me to withdraw the offer, to save her from this test. But I remained firm, granting her the full choice. I saw the struggle reach its peak inside her, then I saw a decision slowly forming.
"I trust you,"
she whispered as if swearing an oath to herself, then bent over my hand with deadly caution. I felt a sharp sting as her teeth pierced my skin, then she began to drink… very slowly at first, as if tasting something forbidden. Then she closed her eyes and surrendered to instinct. Her passion increased, and I saw her golden eyes beneath her trembling lids gradually ignite, transforming into the deep crimson red of ruby. As if the curtains of principles she had held for decades were tearing apart, revealing her true nature within.
And when she finally raised her head, her breaths were broken, and her lips sparkled with my blood. She looked at me with widened eyes, not only with ecstasy, but with shock and amazement. I passed my thumb over her lower lip, wiping away a remaining drop of blood.
"Amazing…"
she whispered in a hoarse voice.
"I didn't know… I feel… as if I have been completed."
I smiled at her.
"I know."
I returned my hand to my side.
"Well… it's time to go now. We don't want to be late for the party."
✦ Bella's Perspective ✦
Three months. Ninety days. Two thousand one hundred and sixty hours. The numbers spun in my head without stopping.
Three months in which I did not see his face, nor hear his voice. Three months in which my heart beat every morning with hope, and extinguished every evening with disappointment. And today is our birthday. Will he remember? Will he come? Or have I become just a distant memory in his life full of adventures?
I sat on the edge of my bed, contemplating the small velvet box in my hand. Kain's gift. I had bought it weeks ago, with a foolish hope that he would be here to take it.
The hours passed heavy, until evening came and we all gathered in the Cullens' house. The lights were warm, the music calm, and everyone smiled. Everything was perfect, everything except the emptiness settled in my heart. I received the gifts with a pale smile:
an elegant necklace from Rosalie, expensive headphones from Emmett, travel tickets from Carlisle and Esme, and a photo album full of our memories from Edward.
"Happy birthday, Bella," said Eliana with her calm smile as she handed me a carefully wrapped gift. I thanked her, and as I was about to open it, everything froze.
A wide and sudden smile appeared on Edward's face.
"It seems we have guests who decided to join at last."
My heart turned before my body did. I raised my eyes eagerly towards the entrance… and there they stood as if they had stepped out of a dream. Alice, with her radiant smile, and Kain, with the calm aura I missed to the point of pain.
I didn't think. I ran to him and threw myself into his arms, clinging to him as if my life depended on it. Then I hit his chest with my small fist.
"You idiot! Three months?! Do you know what three months without even a single message means?!"
He laughed gently, burying his face in my hair. "I missed you too, Bella."
He pulled back slightly and took a small box from his pocket, identical to the one I was holding.
"Happy birthday, my little sister."
I opened it with trembling hands. Inside was a silver necklace, from which hung a polished gem in the shape of a small shield, its color shimmering between sky blue and deep indigo.
"This isn't just a necklace,"
he said with a warm smile.
"If you ever feel danger and I am not beside you… all you have to do is think of me strongly, and break the gem. I promise I will be at your side immediately."
I looked at him stunned, tears welling in my eyes. I hugged him again.
"Thank you… Kain." Then I handed him my gift. A simple leather bracelet, engraved with elegant writing: "You'll always have me."
"I wanted to remind you… that you will always find me by your side, no matter what."
He took the bracelet from me and put it around his wrist without speaking a word, but the look in his eyes was enough.
And while I was opening another gift, the box slipped from my hands, and in trying to catch it, my finger was cut by the sharp edge of the paper. One single drop of blood, crimson and shiny, fell onto the white carpet.
In less than a blink, Jasper and Eliana's eyes ignited with thirsty fire, and they lunged at me like released beasts. But before they reached me, Kain appeared between us like a flash from nothingness. He held each of them by the neck with an unbreakable grip, and seemed to control them effortlessly.
"Come on, guys…"
he said in a frighteningly calm tone.
"Let's go get some fresh air outside."
And he dragged them with him out of the room with ease unmatched to his strength.
A terrible silence prevailed, before they returned after minutes. The blood had been cleaned, and Jasper and Eliana had regained their control, their faces pale with shame.
At the end of the evening, while the atmosphere was calm and everyone was gathering the remaining things, Carlisle's eyes fell on Alice. He stopped for a moment, his eyes narrowing with the focus of a doctor noticing a troubling symptom. Her eyes were still glaringly red, a deep ruby color he hadn't seen in her for decades.
He approached her quietly, his tone combining parental concern and caution.
"Alice… your eyes. I haven't seen them this color for a very long time. Is everything alright? Did something happen?"
Before Alice could reply, with a mix of challenge and embarrassment on her face, Kain, who was quietly putting on his jacket, intervened. He wrapped his arm around Alice's shoulder in a clear possessive gesture, and said in a cold and direct tone that left no room for doubt: "Nothing happened that she didn't want. I offered her my blood… and she accepted."
A silence heavier than lead fell on the room. Esme's eyes widened with shock and horror, while Edward's features hardened, clearly having seen the truth in Kain's thoughts all along. As for Jasper, his whole body tensed, and he looked at Alice with a complicated, unreadable gaze.
Carlisle was the first to break the silence, trying to maintain his calm.
"Kain, you don't understand what you've done. Our way of life… the principles we live by… we restrain this instinct, we don't feed it."
Kain replied with icy calm, looking directly into Carlisle's eyes.
"I understand your principles perfectly. And they are your principles. Alice did not break any rule. She didn't harm a human, and she didn't lose control."
Then he added with a side smile that didn't reach his eyes:
"It was blood given with full consent. Is there a problem with that?"
Here Edward intervened, his tone sharp as a blade.
"The problem isn't consent, Kain! The problem is that you're returning her to a nature we all fought to escape from. You remind her of the taste of the real thing, and make our daily struggle harder. This is recklessness and selfishness."
Kain didn't flinch. He slowly turned his head toward Edward, and his gaze alone was enough to freeze hell.
"I am giving her strength. I am giving her a choice she never had before. As for your struggle, it's your own matter."
Then he turned his gaze back to Carlisle and added words that were a final declaration:
"And if she wants more in the future… I will gladly give it to her. My relationship with her is not subject to your rules."
His words were decisive and final. He had put them in a corner they could not respond from. She hadn't harmed anyone, and he had offered his blood willingly, which made their moral objection baseless. The resentment and anger were clear on their faces, but no one dared say more. Kain… always walks his own path, forcing the whole world to adapt to him, not the other way around.
✦ Kain's Perspective ✦
I woke up in my old bed, in my home. The smell of old wood and childhood memories still clung to the air. Beside me, Alice lay quietly, staring at the ceiling with her glowing red eyes. She doesn't sleep, but she looked relaxed.
"Good morning… Alice," I murmured in a sleepy voice.
She turned toward me and smiled. "Good morning, lazy sleeper."
I sighed as I remembered last night's fight with Charlie. The man was on the verge of collapse because of my sudden disappearance and sudden reappearance. And that was… entirely my fault. After hours of apologies and fabricated excuses, he finally relented and calmed down.
I decided to stay for a week at most. The system doesn't count the days as long as I don't use my powers in hunting, which means I wouldn't lose anything of the remaining year. A deserved rest, even if short.
But the more important question kept pressing on me: how would I convince him of my next travel? I found no solution but disguised bribery. I would pay a large sum to a famous doctor abroad to issue me a fake medical report proving I had a rare disease requiring treatment in a remote place. I wasn't worried about money. A thousand dollars equaled only one SP point, and I had enough of them.
I rose from bed.
"We must pass by the school."
"Oh, yes… the new school year is about to begin."
We went to the school, and after much discussion… and a little generous donations, the matter was done. Simply, we were registered as students in the homeschooling system, only to attend for the final exams. Does this sound impossible? Well, money solves most impossible problems.
I spent the week in relative calm. Dates with Alice under the cloudy Forks sky, long talks with Charlie in an attempt to mend our relationship, and cautious suggestions about the idea of my travel "for treatment".
The week passed like a short dream. And on a new morning, I stood at the door, my bag on my back, and my heart carrying the weight of a decision with no return. I knew for sure that I would not return here until I completed my mission.
I cast one last look at the house, at all the memories I left behind… then turned and went on my way.
🌀[End of Chapter Eighteen]🌀
✦ Next Chapter: "Threads of Fate" ✦