The Vampire's Luna
Chapter 191: Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

Chapter 191: Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

Damien smiled then, wry and knowing, a teasing glint barely hiding the fear behind it. "I have given Lady Sharona the order to leave Blood City at first light with her maid."

"Damien!!!" Her eyes flared.

"I mean, it’s only reasonable to put temptation at a certain distance, isn’t it?" he said, trying to add a hint of levity to ease the blow. But it didn’t help.

Luna clenched her fists and took a slow, shaking breath. "Don’t do this, Damien."

"It’s already done," he said softly, but his voice lacked conviction. It wasn’t a decision he made easily. It was desperate.

Luna’s shoulders sagged, exhaustion suddenly overtaking her. "Get some rest."

Damien watched her closely. The set of her jaw. The tight coil of her stance. The way her eyes refused to meet his. "You are not thinking about sneaking out in the middle of the night, are you?"

He tried to tease, tried to breathe some laughter into the space between them, but his voice was tight. Because he knew her. Knew she would. And deep down, maybe he wanted her to.

"I hate that you know me so well."

Luna snapped. She turned away from him and shuffled into bed, dragging the thick duvet over her legs with more force than necessary. Her jaw clenched tightly, and she stared ahead at the moonlight spilling through the glass balcony doors. Damien was the one dying, yet she felt like the one slowly unraveling.

"Morvakar will find another way." Damien said, but even as the words left his lips, they felt hollow. Hopeful, yes—but hollow.

"When?" Luna asked, turning to face him now, her voice trembling. Her eyes now brimmed with raw emotion. "Damien, we don’t even know how long you have left. We don’t know if you’ll be alive to see our child. We don’t know if you’ll wake up tomorrow..."

He quickly leaned in and cupped her face with both hands, his thumbs brushing against the tears that had begun to fall. "Hey..." he said gently, "You are the strongest, most determined, stubborn woman I have known all my life—and that’s about three centuries, Luna. Imagine that."

Luna gave a weak chuckle, a small bubble of sound. The sound of it stabbed into Damien’s chest.

"You can do amazing things," he continued. "You can raise this baby..."

"I don’t want to do it by myself," she interrupted, her voice shaking. "Please don’t make me." She crumpled then, folding into herself as the sob finally broke free. It shook her shoulders. "Don’t make me," she repeated.

Damien pulled her into a hug, one arm around her back, the other behind her head, pressing her against his chest. "Shhh," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "You can do it. You will do it. For me."

He pulled away enough to look into her eyes, so close their breath mingled in warm, slow exhales. His gaze locked on hers with a fierce, tender desperation. "I love you like you wouldn’t believe. You make me happy, Luna. You are the one thing in this world that makes sense, which is ironic as your entire existence makes no sense."

He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingertips lingering as if memorizing her.

"And what greater gift can a vampire have," he said with a sad smile, "than to die happy?"

Luna choked on another sob, burying her face against his neck.

"Da..."

Luna barely whispered his name before Damien silenced her with a kiss. His lips pressed to hers softly. He tasted the salt of her tears immediately. If he could take her pain and carry it for her, he would. But the cruel irony was that he was the cause of her pain. Loving her meant giving her the worst goodbye.

She melted into him with a soft sigh, her breath catching between his kisses. The ache in her chest didn’t disappear, but it dulled. Her body knew him. Trusted him. Even now. Especially now.

"I’m going to mark you again, my love. Don’t say no."

"No...we don’t know what that will do to you again." Her voice trembled as her body betrayed her. Heat pooled low in her belly.

Damien let out a soft chuckle. "What’s the worst that could happen? I’ll die all over again?" He gave a crooked smile, but his fingers tightened briefly against her waist as if anchoring himself to the moment—to her.

"Damien..." she began again, her tone desperate and full of warning.

"Shhhh..."

"Stop shshing me." She tried to sound annoyed, tried to push him away with tone alone, but her voice cracked and the fight drained from her as he lowered his head.

His lips found the faded mark on her neck. The scarred evidence of their bond. The place where his fangs had once anchored her soul to his. She felt a rush of heat surge through her limbs the moment his tongue brushed the old wound. Her back arched instinctively as her senses snapped into sharp focus. Her pulse pounded in her ears.

He laid her gently back against the sheets of their bed, never breaking eye contact, never rushing.

Damien’s mouth continued its worshipful path along her collarbone, his lips mapping the familiar terrain of her body.

His fingers brushed the soft fabric of her robe aside, revealing more of her skin inch by inch. When he paused, his brows lifted slightly in surprise. "You’re getting bigger," he murmured, the awe in his voice unmistakable.

She followed his gaze to the curve of her belly, now gently rounded with the life they’d created together. For a moment, all other emotions were eclipsed by the raw wonder in his eyes. He dropped to his knees at the side of the bed and kissed the swell reverently, his palm spreading over the warmth of her skin as if to promise their child protection, even from death itself.

He looked up at her, eyes burning in the dim light, but filled with tenderness. "That’s my legacy. You and this child. That’s everything."

(Who stood out today? Damien’s commitment to staying true to Luna alone? Or Luna willing to share him just so he can live?)