Post by CHRISTIAN CALLAWAY on Mar 17, 2022 19:29:44 GMT
━ let death fear you ━
THERE WAS BLOOD EVERYWHERE. Christian wasn’t sure when it’d gotten on his hands, and didn’t totally remember each action that could’ve put it there, all he knew was that he was shaking.
He’d come through the front door after a long day at work━there was a troublesome kid who kept filtering into Christian’s office; he reminded Christian of his little brother, Dylan, except this student was too young to be labelled as a lost cause just yet. Christian hoped he could change the outcome; he couldn’t do much, he’d failed as a protector and perhaps as a husband, too, but he━God, he just wanted to help people. It was his only instinct when he saw the first body.
A man, tall and broad, and not to be confused for Sofia. Immediately, his training kicked in, and Christian took slow, calculated steps back to the front door, hazel eyes ticking in every direction. Bending to peel the pistol from where it was secured underneath the narrow table, he cocked it and started forward again.
He took mental notes. One body, male, between the front hallway and the kitchen. Dead, pale, but not how vampires were after they’d been killed━he hadn’t seen it for himself, but Alix had explained. Two: woman, pale; same bite mark on the neck that the man had. He didn’t need to check their pulses to be sure they couldn’t be saved. Christian looped the living room, through the dining area and doorless threshold to the kitchen. After a quick check through the back door’s window, he flipped the lock closed and focused on the alarm system mounted to the wall.
Disarmed.
Maybe Sofia forgot to set it before she left for work. Christian attempted to soothe himself, but it did little for his nerves. He armed the system and continued through the kitchen, passing the third body. Female. At the kitchen’s second open entryway, parallel to the front door, he had two options: check the upper level or the two lower levels. Whatever it was should’ve been alerted to his arrival as soon as he opened the door, but now he’d have to clunk up or down either staircase, and Christian decided being one flight from the front door was better than two.
Slowly climbing the steps, he eyed the bloody smear on the wall at the top of the stairs, and froze as soon as he heard it. Snarling, like an animal, a small pop, and a muffled thump. It came from the bedroom at the top right, their main guestroom, the one they wanted to put the nursery in. Rushing up the rest of the way, he turned towards the open door and…
Sofia.
Not the woman on the floor, but the one perched on the bottom of the bed, blood stained all over her body━the only few inches clean were her forehead and scalp. Fuck. Fuck. He’d never used profanity to describe how he was feeling, but what else could describe this? Sofia, his wife, was a vampire. She looked up at him with that face━darkness in the whites of her eyes, black veins protruding like spiders down her cheeks.
“Christian,” Her voice, once comforting, loving, the only thing he wanted to hear every day, now struck disgust through him. He couldn’t fucking believe this. This had to be new; that was the only explanation that made sense. “Christian. Put the gun down.” Her voice was stronger now, demanding, and it was only then that he realized he hadn’t lowered his guard. This was his wife, the woman he’d met when he was twenty-three. And still, his hands stiffened their grip, keeping the barrel trained on her.
“You killed those people.” Stating the obvious, perhaps, but Christian was surprised his voice worked at all. “You killed those innocent people.”
“I’m sorry.” She started crying then, face shifting back to the woman he’d married, and Christian almost softened because of it. It was real, he knew that, he could tell, but it didn’t matter. Sorry wouldn’t change the fact that all these people were dead, that their families would suffer because of it. His family had already suffered; he’d set out to kill… God, his life was full of little ironies, wasn’t it? He’d started this to protect her, and she’d become one of them. At what point, though? How could this have gone under his nose for so long?
But how could the rest of the world’s secret?
“Stop.” The worst part was she didn’t argue the word ‘innocent.’ “Stop, Sofia. When… How long?”
He knew the answer as soon as the question left his lips. “The night I was attacked, that I lost our baby. I…” For more than two years, she’d lied. For more than two years, he’d put unfathomable time and energy into trying for another baby, thinking something was wrong with him. He’d changed their whole diets to fit what their bodies needed to produce and carry a healthy baby, spent thousands of dollars on fertility treatments, and she’d gone along without saying a word. The monster in front of him━his significant other for more than a decade━had lied. She’d watched him suffer and hadn’t intervened.
“If you only would’ve told me.” He wouldn’t be in so deep, wouldn’t have murdered supernatural creatures in the hopes of making his family’s life a little safer. “If you said something I wouldn’t━maybe we could’ve worked through this! You didn’t have to kill people, Sofia!” Christian couldn’t remember the last time he yelled━especially at his wife. Even when he was angry, he barely raised his voice; he was taught to work things out in a calm and collected manner, but what use was it now? His wife was a vampire who left four of her victim’s dead bodies strewn across their home. He knew there were levels to this now, not everything was black and white, but this? This was clearly wrong. She knew it, too.
“I didn’t mean to!”
“You didn’t mean to kill four people?! How many have you killed, Sofia? How many lives have you taken in two years and three months?”
The answer was on her face: immeasurable. Her guilt was obvious, and the only thing that came from her mouth were little sputters of attempted deflecting. His heart ached for the woman he once knew, the woman he’d fallen in love with, who was a little rough around the edges and had a sharp tongue, who’d kick his ass when he needed it, but wouldn’t hurt a fly. She’d died two years and three months ago, and Christian had no idea he hadn’t mourned her.
“This needs to end. Right now. I won’t help you get out of this.” The only outcome, more permanent than a divorce, dawned on them slowly.
In the end, Christian supposed she didn’t want to be a vampire anymore. Sofia knew what had to be done, and she was willing to let him help her through it. His gun changed for a wooden stake, one he’d kept in the house for the sole reason of protecting her. On the bed in the guest room, Sofia sat between his legs and leaned back into Christian’s chest, tears stinging both of their eyes. He’d loved her for so long, almost all his memories had her in them. Christian couldn’t remember moments of his life without thinking of Sofia or their six-year marriage he thought would last until his deathbed, and he supposed that wouldn’t change. His anger and resentment didn’t alter the fact that this was his wife, and she was dying in his arms.
After an exchange of whispered I love you’s, Christian pushed the stake into her heart with a swiftness he’d spent so long training for. In an instant, she was gone━cold, grey, and a shell of the woman he’d given his life to.
hope to see you in the discord! 
