A Game Of Chess With A Vampire

"What do you even want from me?!" Avelina lifted her trembling hands, covering her face.

Draven took a step closer to her. He slowly went down on his knees in front of her, holding her hips and raising his head to look at her. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"I am sorry...for everything that I’ve ever done to you. For the times I’ve hurt you, knowing and without knowing, please forgive me for all that. I didn’t mean to...I really didn’t." He shook his head at her.

Avelina removed her hands from her face and looked down at him, her eyes flickering in perplexity and speechlessness. "Draven, what are you—"

"I love you!" Draven said to her, looking softly into her hazel eyes.

Avelina blinked, taken aback. "What?" She was wordless and shaken.

"I love you, Avelina," Draven repeated. "More than you can ever imagine. More than I can even measure or think. I thought—I thought I was not capable of loving someone, but that was not true at all. I just never knew how."

"But you..." He took a sharp breath, tightening his grip on her hips. "I’ve always loved you, I just never realized it because I had no idea what it meant to love someone. It took me to see you die to realize what it actually was."

"I can’t lose you, I can’t breathe, and I can’t live without you. Avelina, I cannot even imagine what it would be like to exist without you in my world. You were the closest to heaven that I’ve ever been and will ever be. And..."

He paused, taking a moment to breathe heavily. "That night I met you...I began to forget—to forget a life without you. The life I’ve always had and now, I do not know how to move on. I can’t let you go, and that is why I had to turn you."

"Listen." He squeezed her hands into his grips, his eyes brimming with sincerity. "I don’t mind if you hate me, that is fine with me. All I want is to see you alive and well. It doesn’t matter if it’s not with me. I can’t stand you leaving me, but if that is perhaps what you want to do considering you must really despise me for what I’ve done to you, I will not make things difficult for you."

"I’ve been selfish enough, and I want to fix what I messed up. I want to atone for the times I’ve hurt you, so if you could, give me a chance. You don’t have to stay with me and—"

"Draven!" Avelina called his name, stopping him.

Draven looked into her eyes, breathing with his shoulders heaving up and down.

"A-are you crying?" Avelina questioned, concern written all over her face. She extended her hand, touching his eyes gently with her finger. "How are you crying?"

Draven shook his head at her, answering, "I don’t know. I’ve been this way since today. It just flows out when it seems like I have gotten too—"

"You’re crying." Avelina chuckled softly, searching his face with her pupils.

She traced his wet eyes with her thumb and cupped his cheeks with her palm, staring into his eyes.

"You love me?"

Draven responded, "I love you."

"Like I love you?" Avelina asked.

"More than you do." Draven nodded. "I love you as far as the earth stretches to heaven. I would do anything for you. I would go far beyond my limit for you. I would even...die for you."

"Avelina," he called her softly. "I would do so much more than kill for you. I’d walk through hell back and forth for you if it meant I’d be with you if it’d guaranteed you’d always be by my side. I’d turn the world upside down for you, and I would even sell myself to the highest bidder for you."

"I will never hurt you again, I promise." He blinked, his eyes burning into hers. His grip on her hips was tender.

Avelina’s lips slowly curled up into a smile at the sound of those words before switching to a grin. "Then tell me, do you belong to me?"

"I am all yours, no one else’s," Draven replied, helplessly dropping his arms to his side. "I belong to you in different universes, no matter where we are. In death, in heaven, and on earth, no matter where, I’m all yours, at your mercy. I’m infinitely yours."

Avelina grinned, tilting her head to her side. "Then, I suppose, I forgive you. I can’t be mad forever, can I?"

"I wouldn’t mind." Draven smiled, his eyes twinkling. He stood up to his feet, pulling her into his arms and hugging her. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling her scent.

"Your scent is still the same." He sighed in relief, tangling his fingers in her hair. "You really are my heaven."

A smile tugged at his lips, and he pulled back to stare at her face. Avelina’s eyes met his, and her gaze softened, her heart pounding in her ears.

The way he was gazing at her, he’d never looked at her in such a way before. It was the sort of stare that she couldn’t seem to make out or understand.

Draven palmed her cheek, grazing her earlobe with his thumb. "Do you know that if you see your face...it is nothing compared to what you do to me?"

Avelina didn’t have the time to comprehend what his words meant because he’d pressed his lips against her soft, reddish plumps, kissing her.

"Let me show you...Let me show you what you are made of. Let me show you what you do to me." The pad of his thumb ran across her lips, raising a shiver of delight on her skin. Never had she been touched that sensually before.

"Do you want me to? Will you allow me?" Draven spoke against her lips, his gentle eyes gazing into hers.

Avelina subconsciously nodded, completely giving in to him. She licked her lips, their faces, and their mouths, just an inch apart. Yes, was the only possible answer she could give him. There was nothing more than that.