Page 84 of The Sins That Bleed
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” I hurl the questions at her.
“I’m okay. Don’t get up, you need to rest, V.”
I scan her for signs of injury, but she looks the same as always; my beautiful best friend is in one piece and my panic for her subsides. I sit back in the chair, tucking my legs underneath me beneath the fluffy black blanket. I’m buying time before I ask the question I already know the answer to.
“Is he—are they okay? Nico and R—” I cut myself off and fiddle with the blanket.
I can’t say his name, the pain lancing through me worse than any bullet or dagger that has ever pierced my cold, pale flesh. I stare into the fire, the flames dancing and fighting each other as I let the inferno under my skin consume me.
“They’re okay, V, both of them are safe. Alaric’s men have been locked away, well the human ones anyway, and it’s keeping Nico and Rai busy. Our team took care of the bodies of Alaric and the other vampires; his entire empire is being unravelled and the numbers of those trafficked is worse than we thought.” She blows out a breath. “He’s been doing this for over a decade, taking over from his father, well, I guess your ex-husband. They’d set up a blood bank den, taking their blood and distributing it among the few vampires remaining. We’ve saved so many lives, V. Zyon found plans to turn people into vampires, but it turns out they needed you to complete the process, something about the records being destroyed and you’re the only vampire left with the full knowledge…”
She trails off but I don’t fill in the blanks, that’s a story for another day. One I can’t bring myself to share right now.
I should feel happy that we did it, we won, but all I feel is grief. I’ve lost the one person destined to be by my side, someone who loved me. I force a small smile but it’s fake, unable tocelebrate the one thing that drove me all these years, not when we can’t celebrate with the people that were starting to feel a lot like family.
I’m no hero, and villains don’t get a happy ending.
“Sunny, I’m so sorry,” I whisper.
She stands and comes over to me, sitting next to me on the sofa and taking my hand in hers. She’s looking at me, truly looking at me, but I can’t face her.
“Don’t do this to yourself, V. I can see you beating yourself up over it and whatever you’re thinking is wrong. You saved my life, you protected me and made all of my dreams come true. You gave me you, you’re so much more to me than just my best friend. You’ve dedicated your life to saving those who have been through everything I have and so what if there was a little murder along the way?” She chuckles, trying to lighten the mood but the beast within grins.
See, everyone thinks you’re the monster.
“They would only go on to hurt others, you did the world a favour. I know what went down in the restaurant has hurt you and you’re so fucking unbelievably stupid for stepping in front of the bullet for me, but damn do I love you for it. We made it, we’ve still got each other, and you deserve to be here.” She wipes at her eyes. I look at her and see the tears tracking down her face while she smiles at me.
“Don’t cry, please.” I swipe at her tears with my free hand. “I’m so sorry for pushing them away, I will never forgive myself for being the reason Nico betrayed you and walked away from you. You deserve to be happy, you deserve a better life than to be stuck here with a monster like me.”
Sunny rears back as if I’ve struck her.
“Look at me,” she demands, so I do. “You’re not a monster, I regret ever calling you that and I hope you can forgive me for that one day. And about Nico, he hasn’t walked away fromme, Valeska, and neither has Rai. I know you won’t believe me, but they’re tied up with the case. I know, because I called Nico earlier and he gave me the update. Plus, they wanted to know how you were doing.”
My mind reels, I don’t believe her. I saw the look on Rai’s face when my betrayal collided with him. The space between us hadn’t changed physically but I felt the distance all the same.
“Did he say so himself?” I hate that I care.
“Who, Rai?” she asks, and I nod. “Well, not exactly, but Nico was passing it on. He has no reason to lie, not anymore.”
“Okay.” It’s all I can muster because I know I’ve lost him. “What about Nico? I can’t believe he was the leak.”
Sunny winces and I hate that I reminded her. “Yeah, well, he had his reasons, I guess. I don’t know, things are tense right now between me and him on that, even though we’re closer than ever. It doesn’t make sense, but I know he and Rai are struggling too. I don’t know how to forgive him for doing this to you. I’m conflicted.”
I squeeze her hand. There’s nothing I can say to make it any better, but I try anyway. “If you can forgive me, maybe with time you can do the same for him. It sounds like he thought he was doing the right thing, and he stabbed that motherfucker Alaric in the back in the end anyway.”
Goddess knows I can’t hold it against him when I’ve practically done the same thing.
She nods, but I’m not convinced as she tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear before standing. She looks at me for a moment and I feel pathetic.
I am curled up on a couch, desperate for a man that doesn’t want me, while trying to convince her to not give up on hers.
“I’ve got to go, there’s lots of paperwork to do and Zyon is due back in an hour so I want to make sure he can get settled straightaway. I’ll come back and check on you later, but you should rest more, and feed. If you need anything, call me.”
“Okay. Are Zyon and Lorelai okay?” I hadn’t heard from him when I fired off a text before confronting Alaric.
“Yeah, they’re good, they’ll give you the run-down when you’re up for it, but everything went according to plan. He went dark after discovering there were vampires there, and they managed to link with the reinforcements you sent to avoid the worst-case scenario.” She smiles and I relax a little knowing they’re alright. That death didn’t come to claim more people I cared about. I am going to have to give them a pay rise and a massive bonus for risking themselves like that.
“That’s good.” I sink back into the sofa and pull the blanket over myself.
