Her Freezing Heart novel Chapter 40

The day went by quite slowly with cooking and eating with our parents at Alec’s apartment. Mom and dad decided to lounge at the meeting house. That made Steven and I to go to the cabin as the meeting room had only two bedrooms as going to the Knights was not an option with the lurking danger. Mom said I would be safer near the pack. It was Christmas eve after all so we had to wake up early in the morning the next day. Cassidy had cast a spell around the cabin for better precautions. Mom had sneakily told me that it was not needed. She doesn’t seem to be really fond of Cassidy.

Steven on the other hand was too quiet the entire time. Austin had recovered a little till the evening. As the time to go to the cabin came, Steven pulled me over his back and started running towards the cabin as I gave him the directions. He put me down and entered the cabin. That’s it. This is so not happening.

“Steven.” I called him after entering the cabin behind him. “Why are you not talking to me? Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me?”

Steven stopped in tracks with his back towards me. He didn’t turn around. Is he regretting marking me? I should have waited. I shouldn’t have jumped into things. What have I done? I pulled him into the same shit his mother was trying to save him from. But where would I go now? I can’t kick him out of the cabin. More like I won’t. Ryder. Yes. I will go where Ryder is. No not there. Ryder will get worried about me. I will figure it out. I just need to get out of here.

“Where are you going?” Steven asked as I turned around to get out of the cabin.

“I don’t know. I will figure something out.” I replied moving towards the door. “I am sorry for everything.”

“Are you leaving me?” He choked out.

“Is that not what you want?” I asked confused.

I turned around to look at him.

“Why would I want that?” he asked.

“You weren’t yourself the whole day since you heard about your family and coven. I thought you were mad at me for it. I mean I am pulling you into the same thing your mother tried to save you from and your mother died because of mine. I thought you might be regretting marking me and wanted to keep distance so I was giving it to you. I can understand if you hate me.” I replied looking at my arms.

Next thing I knew, I was pushed against the cabin door with a very angry Steven glaring at me.

“Don’t you ever say that ever again. You are mine and I am not letting you go. Not even if I have to die doing that. I don’t hate you love. I am scared that I won’t be able to protect you. Besides I get to murder the monster that killed our covens. I lost my parents, my coven and my mate at his hands. I am not losing you too.” He said cupping my face in his palms.

He looked so vulnerable. Oh my god! What was I thinking? Why was I going to leave him? I don’t think I would live without him. Nope. Never. I am so stupid. Wait! His mate?

“Your mate?” I asked confused.

He pulled me to the couch and sat on it with me on his lap. This guy has a serious case of separation anxiety.

“Yeah. I found my mate after I moved in with Cassidy in 1885. I met her in 1917. Austin was with me when I found her. We had went to a local bar in Alabama to chill out. She was there with him. We were rouge vampires and he was a vampire lord. We didn’t knew then that he was the one that destroyed our people. He hadn’t marked her yet but he was cunning as always. She was young like us and power hungry. Her name was Carrina. She was a beauty. I was happy. We got together and started working on our relationship. Vincent didn’t show any objection at first but Carrina wanted more. She was sleeping with Vincent behind my back and I was slowly succumbing to the darkness. I didn’t knew what was happening to me but Cassidy caught on. I didn’t believe her and went to find her in the main house of the coven. I found her sucking him off while he was ruthlessly pulling her hair. She was actually enjoying it.” He sighed.

He looked to be in so much pain. I rubbed his back slowly.

“Vincent looked at me and smirked.” He continued. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. He pulled himself out of her mouth and laid her on the bed facing me. She looked uncomfortable for a moment but then it was gone just like that. I stood there in shock, watching them indulge in pleasure. She was enjoying my pain. The only thing I can think about was ‘Why?’. The pain in my heart was immense. I fled from there and started whoring around. I was angry. A year later I felt her die. He killed her because he was bored of her. In 1950’s I found out he was the one that killed our families. I wanted blood but Cassidy stopped me from destroying myself. Austin was going through his own mate problems and I wasn’t any better. Those were the darkest hours of my life.” He smiled at me. “Now I found you. My second chance. I am not giving up on you ever. Believe me when I say that we all want his blood. He has done everyone wrong and want to make it right by removing his existence from this planet so no one will go through the same pain he put us and many others through. This will be his end.”

I can’t put in words how proud I felt about him. He has been through a lot but he still stands strong. I pecked his forehead and hugged him close.

“Let’s go to bed.” I told him.

“Sure.” He replied carrying me to bed.

As I snuggled into him, I wondered about something. Should I ask him? I am going to be like him now so why not.

“Steven.”

“Hmm.”

“I wanted to ask you this for ages. How can you sleep? I mean aren’t you a vampire?”

“Yeah but I am a born vampire not a bitten one. The bitten vampires wither with time and live a less longer life than us. They are like frozen in time. Their strength and abilities gets deteriorated with time. They grow weaker and they perish. The born vampires on the other hand are basically like humans. We grow old and die. It’s like fifteen human years to one vampire year. We function like a human but we don’t need that much sleep like humans. We can go without resting for a year or more. We can eat human food but it does us very less. We need blood to survive. The bitten vampires can not eat human food. It upsets their system. You can say the born vampires are a more durable and stronger version of humans.” He explained.

“Okay.” I nodded. “I always wondered how Austin used to eat food with us after I found out about him being a vampire. Well now I know. What about witches and shifters?”

“Well a witch grows like eight human years to one and werewolves go with two years to one.”

“Werewolves have a short life span then.” I said glumly thinking about my pack.

It’s sad to think that I will out live my pack and my brother.

“Love everyone has to go at some point. That is the very reason we vampires don’t engage much with other creatures. We live the longest and we also lose more people than others.” He said kissing my head. I nodded. “Let’s sleep for now. It’s Christmas tomorrow. We will be busy all day.”

“Good night.” I said pecking him on the lips.

“Good night love.” He said against my lips.