Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

Hey guys! I bring you another update and on freakin’ time! Oh yeah. Well, I guess this was done so quickly because it’s another one of those chapters that I was really looking forward to doing. Now, I know a few of you have said to me that you’re getting tired of Felix’s story arc and I’m sorry. I meant for this just to be a few chapters and like always things got away from me because I wanted to put so much info in that most likely isn’t needed. I’m working on stopping that. But I promise you that this chapter and the next will be the end of Felix’s memories and then we will return to present time. PROMISE! Okay, so here is the link to my replies to the awesome reviews I got and I hope you really enjoy this chapter.

Replies to reviews: http://darkness80.livejournal.com/1967.html

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Nicoli was perturbed as new surroundings settled around him. Felix had said they were nearing the end. That meant not only were they nearing the end of the story, but also the end of Felix’s life. It left a bitter taste in his mouth. He had seen Felix come from such an awful place, struggling and clawing his way to a good, happy life and soon it was all going to be taken away. It almost made him want to cry just thinking about it.

“You okay?” Felix asked, drawing Nicoli out of his thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” he said, not wanting to bring up his musings. “So, where are we now?”

“We are at the time that was the last, truly wonderful thing to happen to me in my life. Another milestone was reached here and I obtained another form of happiness I never thought I’d have.”

Nicoli looked around to see what this “Wonderful Thing” could be. All the while his chest clenching because he knew the happiness was going to come to an end soon. They were in Felix’s room again and Felix was pacing back and forth across the floor. Nicoli had to do a double take.

It was clear that Felix wasn’t the young boy Nicoli had been used to seeing. He was older now. He had grown several inches, his face and body had filled out more and he had the air of a ripe teenager.

“How old are you?” Nicoli asked. Felix no longer looked like a kid, but it was apparent he still had a bit of growing to do before he reached the age the specter Felix was at.

“I’m fifteen now. I’ve been with the clan for three years.”

Nicoli stared at the pacing Felix, wrestling with a question that demanded to be asked. He relented to it.

“How old were you when you died?”

Felix stared at his counterpart and Nicoli saw a brief flash of grief in his eyes.

“Seventeen,” he whispered.

Seventeen. That meant that Felix only had two years left. His time was running out and the younger Felix had no idea. Only two years to live. Nicoli wanted to tear Meier apart. It was so unfair.

“So,” Nicoli said, clearing his throat. “What about this time made it so wonderful? You don’t seem happy.”

Younger Felix was still pacing, and was worrying his bottom lip with his teeth relentlessly. He looked ready to pop with some kind of internal anxiety.

“Well, around this time I was having a big issue with something. One I thought I could deal with on my own, but couldn’t. So, I knew I had to get help from someone I could trust most with it.”

As if on queue there was a knock on the door, making young Felix jump. With permission Ethan stepped in with a bemused look.

“Hey, Buddy, what’s up? Faith said you wanted to talk to me. You okay?” he asked after getting a look at Felix.

“Yeah, fine, just come in,” Felix said, grabbing Ethan by the arm and pulling him the rest of the way in, closing the door afterwards.

“What’s going on?”

Felix refused to look at Ethan. He stared off blankly as he tapped his fingers against his lips, thinking intensely. Finally he broke out of his thoughts and took Ethan by the arm again, dragging him to the bed.

“Look, I need to test something out and I want you to help me with it,” he said, making Ethan sit down.

“Test what out?”

“No questions,” Felix ordered. “Now all you have to do is sit there, okay? Don’t move, don’t react, just sit there and let me do this. So no moving, promise?” There was a definite jittery twitter in Felix’s voice, making Nicoli wonder what was going on just as much as Ethan.

“Okay, I won’t move,” Ethan agreed, still looking confused.

Felix placed his hands on Ethan’s shoulders. Then, after taking a deep breath, he bent down and pressed his lips against Ethan’s.

Nicoli and Ethan’s eyes widened simultaneously. Ethan, however, looked pleased by the turn of events and closed his eyes, but he kept his promise and didn’t move and didn’t kiss back.

“What the heck is going on?” Nicoli asked, unable to take his eyes off Felix clumsily ravishing Ethan’s mouth.

“You’ll know in a second. This is actually quite embarrassing for me,” Felix told him.

The kissing only lasted a few seconds before Felix ripped himself away with a frustrated howl.

“Damn it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!” he yelled, pulling at his hair as he paced around angrily.

“Whoa, whoa, Felix, calm down. What did you know? What is all of this about?”

“I’m impotent, Ethan!” he exclaimed, coming to a stop in front of the other. “I can’t get the stupid thing up. No matter what I do, what I fantasize it won’t do anything! I’m fifteen, I should be a hormone crazed wreck that wants to hump everything in sight, but I’m not!”

Nicoli clapped his hands over his mouth as laughter erupted from him. He tried to stop it, but snorts escaped him.

“You-You couldn’t–” He started laughing again.

“Shut up,” Felix hissed. “This was a very difficult time for me.”

“Felix, hey, look at me,” Ethan said, grabbing Felix’s wrists before he could start pacing again. “So, you’re telling me you can’t get aroused? At all?” he asked and Nicoli was surprised by how serious he sounded and he wasn’t trying to make light of the situation at all.

Felix shook his head.

“No. At first it didn’t bother me, but now that I’m getting older I really want to experience, you know, sex and that kind of intimacy, but it won’t react.”

“Do you think you know why you can’t get aroused?” Ethan slid his hands into Felix’s and held them reassuringly.

Felix nodded.

“Yeah…I do. It’s because of my mom,” he said, his voice almost a whisper. “All growing up I would see her with her men. Sex was all about business with her. It wasn’t a tender, moment. It wasn’t about love. It was just an act to get money.” Felix closed his eyes and sniffled a little. “I know its different here. I know you all love each other and from just the kisses I’ve seen you give each other I know everything means something to you, but that doesn’t help me.

“Whenever I try to do something, think of something sexual, all I see is Mom’s face. She never got joy out of it. I think she even hated it and that just douses any arousal in me.” Felix’s eyes became glossy with unshed tears and he sniffled again, but refused to take his hands from Ethan’s. “I thought if I kissed you it would be different. I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long, to feel your lips on mine and your hands on me, but not even that worked.”

“I had had a growing crush on Ethan for the longest time, which was natural given what we had been through together,” present Felix said. “Ethan knew about it, of course, but he was waiting for me to come to him.”

“Felix, hey,” Ethan said, releasing one of Felix’s hands to cup his cheek. “I know why kissing me just now didn’t work.”

“What? You do?” Felix asked, blinking away his tears.

Ethan smiled and laughed.

“Yes, it’s because you’re going about it all wrong. How are you supposed to feel anything if I’m just sitting here? That’s about as effective as kissing a mannequin.” A lecherous, tantalizing smirk spread across his face as the hand on Felix’s face slipped behind his neck. “Let me show you how it’s done.”

Without warning Ethan pulled Felix down and caught him in a fiery kiss. Felix jerked in alarm, but melted against Ethan easily. That allowed Ethan to pull Felix onto his lap so the other was straddling him. A gasp and a whine came from inexperienced Felix as Ethan’s hand was placed on his rear and was used to help grind Felix against him.

A moment later Felix pulled back with another gasp, his face stained red as he looked down at his lap.

Ethan looked too then laughed as he placed his hands on Felix’s hips.

“Well hello there,” he purred.

“It-It worked,” Felix said in amazement.

“Of course, it did,” Ethan said, leaning up to kiss Felix’s neck. “I always know how to get a man’s motor going.”

“Ethan,” Felix whimpered, putting his arms around Ethan’s shoulders as his neck was nibbled on. He then pulled back. “Ethan, I want you to be my first,” he said, soft and shyly.

“Really?” Ethan asked, petting Felix’s hips.

Felix nodded.

“Yes, I’ve always wanted it to be you. I love the others more than anything, but I trust you the most and-well, I’ve always had a thing for you anyways,” he said with a sheepish smile that Ethan was quick to kiss.

“I’d be honored, Felix,” he said. “And I promise that I will show you that making love is such a beautiful act that’s meant to be shared between two people that care about each other,” he said, almost making Nicoli scoff. Who called it “making love” anymore? Ethan gently ran his fingers through Felix’s hair, unaware of Nicoli’s thoughts. “But we won’t do that tonight.”

“What? Why not?” Felix asked, sounding extremely disappointed.

“Because I want to make sure you’re ready to go that far. If you don’t completely enjoy your first time I’ll beat myself up about it for all eternity. We’ll just wait for a little bit.”

Felix was not happy, if his pout was anything to go by.

“So you’re just going to leave me with this?” he asked, pointing at his groin.

A big, mischievous grin stretched across Ethan’s face, making Felix shrink back.

“Who said anything about that?” he asked. “I just don’t want to rush you into sex. I didn’t say we couldn’t have fun.”

Felix yelped when Ethan flipped them over, pinning Felix on the bed and smothering him with a deep, heated kiss.

“Okay, I know this is a great time for you and everything, but I really don’t want to see you two get it on,” Nicoli said, not looking at the writhing pair and trying to ignore Felix’s mewls of pleasure.

“Awe, why not? Like Ethan said we didn’t have sex that night,” Felix said teasingly.

“Don’t care, still don’t want to see it.”

“Are you jealous?”

Nicoli raised a brow and stared at the other incredulously.

“Why the hell would I be jealous?” he asked.

“Maybe ‘cause you’re boinking Ethan?”

Nicoli’s mouth fell agape and numbing shock flooded him.

“He told you?!” he exclaimed. Next time he saw Ethan he was going to kill the loud mouth vampire.

“Oh, he didn’t tell me diddly squat,” Felix said. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out and it was only a matter of time before you succumbed to his advances.”

“Are you…okay with that?” Nicoli asked, stealing a glance at the pair on the bed, seeing both were shirtless and Ethan’s hand was wondering into Felix’s pants.

“Of course I’m not okay with it,” Felix said, sounding like it should have been obvious. “You think I want my first and only love screwing a guy I don’t even like?” Strangely there was no animosity in Felix’s words. He said them calmly and casually. Stranger still was that Nicoli wasn’t offended in the least.

“It’s not my business, though,” Felix continued with a shrug. “Ethan and I agreed a long time ago that he was free to sleep with whoever he wanted to. As long as that person makes him happy, I don’t care.” The air of melancholy returned around Felix. “I was the one that actually had to really start pushing him to be with other people after I died.”

Nicoli was about to ask why, but Felix waved his hand dismissively.

“But that’s something we won’t get into. What comes next is what’s important.” Felix sighed as he watched his counterpart with Ethan longingly. “We will be together for two wonderful years. Our relationship was the only joyous thing about that time, though. Because the following year is when everything went wrong.”

The words chilled Nicoli to the bone. Darkness fell around them, but soon they were transported to Ethan’s room. It looked the same, but Nicoli noticed the bed was bigger and a few articles of Felix’s clothing were scattered about the room, making it evident Felix and Ethan were sharing it now.

Young Felix was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Even though he was still it was clear he was anxious about something the way his foot jiggled and his fingers kept tapping his stomach.

He jumped when the door opened, but smiled when Ethan entered.

“Ethan, you’re ba…” His words died along with his smile when he got a good look at Ethan. “Oh my God.”

Ethan looked like he got in a fight with a wood chipper and lost. His clothes were bloody and torn, his face bruised and battered and he was clenching his left side. Nicoli had never seen Ethan like that before and he was overcome by a desire to help, but he couldn’t.

Felix leapt off the bed and was at Ethan’s side in an instant.

“Are you okay?” he asked, putting Ethan’s arm around his shoulders for support.

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Every molecule in my body is in pain, but I’m fine,” Ethan said with a strained smile as he was led to the bed.

“What happened?”

“We got ambushed.”

“Again!?”

Felix sat Ethan down on the bed, who hissed from the movement.

“Yeah, they’re getting really good at that.” He groaned and bent over, grabbing his side again.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Felix asked again.

“Yeah, yeah. My ribs just got pulverized and they’re working on healing.” Ethan chuckled weakly and wiped some dried blood from his chin. “That Ira is a freaking tank. She came out of nowhere and clobbered my ass. I got off easier than Evan and Andre, though. They had to deal with Seth. I’d take ten Ira’s any day before I’d go against him.”

“Are they okay?” Felix asked worriedly.

“Yeah, they’ll be fine. Evan’s missing a big piece of scalp, though. Seth ripped a chunk of his hair right out. Weird ass.”

“What about the informant? Did you get your information at least?”

Ethan shook his head.

“Dead. He was cold by the time we got there.”

“Informant?” Nicoli questioned.

“Yeah, they had gone to meet someone that had some information on one of the Hearts. However, Dimitri got to him first,” Felix explained.

“How does this keep happening?” young Felix asked. “That’s the third time this month that they’ve gotten the drop on you guys. Are they spying on us or something? It’s like they know our every move.”

Ethan’s expression lost its pained humor.

“I overheard Conrad and Gavin talking when we got back.” He sighed, absently still petting his side. “Conrad is starting to think that someone is leaking information to Dimitri.”

“Leaking info? Who could possibly do…” Felix trailed off and his eyes slowly widened. “He thinks someone from the family is giving Dimitri information?” he asked then shook his head. “No, that’s impossible. No one would do that.”

“I don’t like the idea anymore than you do, Love.”

The pet name struck Nicoli as peculiar. He had never heard Ethan call Felix that before. It hit an odd chord in him that he didn’t understand.

“Who do they think it is?” Felix asked, getting Nicoli back into the conversation.

“No idea,” Ethan said, grimacing as he turned to lie down. “They went to go talk privately before they spoke about any suspicions.” He released a relived sigh when he was fully settled. “I don’t think he actually believes there’s a mole in the clan. He’s just getting really ticked at everything that’s been going on.” He chuckled. “Can’t say that I blame him,” he said, gesturing to his current state.

“I hope you’re right,” Felix said, sitting beside Ethan. He leaned over to kiss Ethan’s chin then turned his head to bare his neck. “Now bite me.”

“What?”

“You’re hurt and you’re having trouble healing. You need to eat and I’m the only blood bank that’s open. So bite.”

Ethan laughed as he placed his hand on the back of Felix’s neck.

“I love you, Love. You’re always looking out for me.” He then gently pulled Felix down to lay on top of him and sank his fangs into the offered throat.

“Well, at least you can help him out without having my side effect,” Nicoli said as he watched Ethan feed.

“Yeah, something tells me Ethan wouldn’t have the strength to do anything if I did get all hot and bothered,” Felix said. He then frowned and shook his head. “This was just the beginning to a multitude of attacks. Dimitri’s clan seemed to anticipate our every move and Ethan and the others got hurt far more often than I liked.”

“How did anyone not realize it was Meier that was leaking the information?” Nicoli asked, the question driving him insane.

Felix shrugged.

“Because he just wasn’t acting any different. Sure, he seemed to be getting a bit moodier than he had been, but then again so was everyone because of these attacks. But it’s not like he was sneaking away at odd times, or seemed to be buddy buddy with Dimitri’s clan when everyone ran into each other. In fact, they seemed to try and tear Evan apart more than anyone else, especially Seth. Maybe that should have been a clue, but how do you connect being harmfully targeted to being a traitor?”

Nicoli shook his head, not knowing.

“Conrad got so desperate that he even went so far as to put everyone under mental scrutiny, forcibly going through everyone’s minds and memories to see if there was any hint that someone had been working with Dimitri. When it was Meier’s turn, Conrad found nothing.”

“How is that even possible?” Nicoli asked in disbelief. “He had to of been meeting up with Dimitri, or at least be speaking to him telepathically. How would Meier be able to hide that from Conrad?”

“I don’t know. To this day we still don’t know how Meier was able to do it. Gavin believes that Meier was somehow able to cloak his memories, making them seem like nothing so Conrad would pass right over them. But that is a very advanced ability for someone of Meier’s age. He’s following close after Faith in the mental department, but it seems unthinkable that he could master something like that already.”

Nicoli ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. All of this was making his head hurt. How was Meier able to keep his involvement with Dimitri secret for a whole year? With Conrad and Gavin around that seemed impossible, especially with Gavin’s sight. Felix didn’t let him ponder on it long as the story was continued.

“Those kinds of attacks persisted for many months, escalating as time went on,” he said, the surroundings disappearing. “None of us knew what to do, or how to protect ourselves. It was as if Dimitri could be anywhere and strike at anytime, knowing our exact movements.” Such pain twisted Felix’s face that Nicoli thought the other was about to burst into tears. “Then came one of the worst nights of our lives.”

Nicoli held his breath, thinking they had finally come to Felix’s death, but Felix proved him wrong by saying,

“Sometimes I think its worse than my own death. It was such a travesty for everyone.”

Another room came into focus. Nicoli hadn’t seen it before, but recognized it as some kind of family room. There were many figures around a gigantic fireplace. Conrad was standing beside it, looking into the fire intently, like Nicoli had seen him do so many times before. Felix, Faith and Cora were sitting on the floor in a circle, playing some sort of card game, possibly War – The irony did not escape Nicoli – but every so often someone would turn their heads to look at the door then go back to what they were doing. The tension was so thick Nicoli could almost choke on it.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Earlier in the evening Conrad received a distress call from a clan that we’re allies with. A few of their members had disappeared quite suddenly and they had no idea what had happened or where they had gone, but they suspected foul play from a different rival clan of theirs. So they asked if Conrad would send some people to help them. He did this warily. With all of the recent attacks he was on the fence about helping, but if he refused he knew that that could mean the end of our alliance with the other clan. Something that could be disastrous to us all. Finally he sent out a bulk of our members to help, thinking that is was such a sudden occurrence that there was no way Dimitri could strike in such a short time.”

“Couldn’t that other clan be working with Dimitri to set something up?” Nicoli asked.

Felix shook his head.

“The rival of our ally’s clan and Dimitri’s clan were not friends. You could go so far to say that they were rivals too. Where we are now, it has been hours since Conrad had sent the others out and we were all anxiously awaiting their return. The last we heard our clan had split up to help the search go faster. There was Ethan, Gavin and Andre in one group and in the other was Aria, Stephen…and Meier.”

Nicoli gasped. Now he knew what event this was. He knew what great travesty was about to happen. Before he could say anything, though, all the vampires in the room perked up and stared at the door.

“What’s wrong?” Felix asked in bewilderment.

Cora smiled as she stood up and clapped her hands.

“They’re back!” she said and sounded greatly relieved.

Faith did not share her smile as she also rose to her feet.

“Something’s wrong.”

The door burst open and Ethan nearly ran inside. There were horrified gasps from the others when they saw what was in his arms. It was Evan. His clothes were torn to shreds and he was caked in what must have been his own blood. He was limp in Ethan’s arms, his eyes half-open and vacant with soft groans coming from his lips. What struck Nicoli was that Evan was deathly pale, even for a vampire. His skin was nearly white and his lips matched the lifeless color.

“Evan!” Faith cried out in horror as Ethan laid him on a nearby couch.

“What happened?” Conrad demanded when Evan was settled.

“What do you think happened!? They were attacked!” Ethan snarled, but immediately looked away, ashamed for yelling at his sire.

“You mean by…”

“Yes, Dimitri,” Ethan said and stroked his brothers hair when Evan whimpered from the name. Faith also took Evan’s hand and caressed it comfortingly. “Gavin, Andre and I had just located the missing clan members when Evan called out to me for help.” Ethan covered his face with his hand and shook his head. “We didn’t get there in time.”

“What do you–”

Conrad was cut off when Cora screamed. Everyone turned to see Andre, equipped with his eye patch, walk into the room. His face was expressionless, but a red river of tears trailed down from his intact eye. What had made Cora scream was what Andre was carrying. Aria lay limply in his arms. She was the same stark white that Evan had been, but there was a great difference between the two. Aria was dead.

Her eyes were glassy with the vacancy of life, her head lolled back from the motion of Andre’s steps. Blood seemed to seep from every orifice. It trickled from her mouth, her nose, her eyes and even her ears. There was also a hole in her chest where her heart was, as if she had been stabbed.

Everyone stared as Andre went to the fireplace and gently laid his Blood Sister down on the floor in front of it. He then took up her hand and pressed it to his lips as he began to cry harder.

“No,” Conrad whispered, gazing upon his fallen niece. “This can’t be.”

“Oh, Aria,” Faith murmured, before burrowing her face in Evan’s chest, who weakly placed his hand on her head in comfort.

Young Felix still sat on the floor, staring at Aria with wide, unbelieving eyes. Then great tears welled up and he began to cry with Andre. Ethan was quick to crouch down beside him and wrap Felix in his arms.

“How could Aria…” Cora whispered, her own tears starting to flow. “She was so strong.” She then gasped and grabbed Andre’s arm. “Andre, where’s Stephen?”

He looked up at her, great pain now showing in his face, as he released Aria’s hand and stood.

“Cora.”

“Where is he, Andre?” she asked again more forcefully. Her tears then flowed heavier. “Where is he?” This time her voice cracked and she fought not to fall to her knees with the gravity of what she surely already knew.

“Cora, Stephen is–” Andre’s eye widened when he focused on something behind Cora. “Gavin, no!”

Cora spun around. A second scream filled the air, more bloodcurdling than the last. Gavin had come in and he was carrying the body of Stephen. His body held one great distinction from the other two victims, however. He was missing his head. It had been cut clean off. It was the only wound on his entire body.

Nicoli began to shake and tears pricked at his eyes as Cora howled out her agony. It was such a gut wrenching sound. She tried to desperately get to Stephen, but Andre grabbed her from behind and held her back. She clawed at his arms and reached out for Stephen, releasing great sobs and shrieks as she did.

“Stephen! No! Stephen, please! Dear God, no! Stephen!!!”

“Get him out of here!” Andre roared.

Gavin bowed his head and silently withdrew from the room, taking Stephens beheaded body with him. Even with him gone Cora’s cries would not ease and she continued to struggle against Andre’s hold. Finally she collapsed under the weight of her grief and Andre went with her, never letting her go. He stayed on his knees holding her, as she twisted around and began beating on his chest.

“Why!? Why, Stephen!? Why?” Her energy soon ran out and she gave Andre’s chest one more hit before burrowing her face into it and continuing to cry.

Andre rocked her back and forth, shushing her as if she were a child. He then lifted her up, cradling her to him.

“I’m taking her to my room,” he said lowly and left the room with Cora in tow before anyone could respond.

A deafening silence filled the room once Cora’s cries faded away. It wasn’t to last as a deafening roar came from Conrad. He grabbed a nearby lamp and threw it across the room, shattering it against the far wall. He then began hitting the nearest wall, making it crack and fracture.

“That bastard! That spineless, cowardly bastard!” he yelled. He would have kept up his raging until the house collapsed, but a soft, weak voice stopped him.

“F-Father…” It was Evan.

Conrad’s fist stopped in mid-swing and he rushed over to his battered child.

“Evan,” Conrad said, his voice hushed and tender. “What is it, my child?” He stroked Evan’s forehead, smoothing away his matted hair from his face. Great tears welled in Evan’s eyes as he spoke.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. They came out of nowhere. It all happened so fast. I couldn’t-I couldn’t help them. They screamed and they cried, but I couldn’t get to them.” He released a heaving sob. “Those bastards…they took my sword from me. They killed them with my own sword.”

“Hush, Child, hush. It’s not your fault,” Conrad told him, still stroking his head. “I’m sure you did everything you could. I’m just glad you’re safe,” he said and kissed Evan’s forehead.

Nicoli was shaking again, but not from grief. This time he was shaking from anger.

“That bastard,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “That no good, lying, rotten bastard. How could he lie there, pretending to be a victim, when he was the one that killed Aria and Stephen in cold blood? How could he pretend he had nothing to do with it when Cora was screaming like that? That heartless bastard.”

“He had us all fooled,” Felix said quietly.

Nicoli whirled on him.

“How could you guys not know he’s the traitor from this?” he demanded. “Aria and Stephen are dead and he just gets away with some blood loss. Shouldn’t that had clued you in since he was the only one in one piece?”

“That’s the thing, though. He wasn’t in one piece when they found him,” Felix said calmly.

Nicoli blinked as confusion set in.

“What?”

“When Ethan got to him almost all of Meier’s limbs had been ripped off and his entrails had been taken out, still intact, and spread all along the ground around him.”

Nicoli felt sick just picturing that. He then looked to Evan, who was still whole.

“But then how?”

“Vampires can heal if a body part is ripped off, save for the head. If you still have the part that was taken away it can be reattached and made whole. Meier nearly died from the blood loss, though. Given what he had gone through, what Dimitri’s clan did to him, him being the traitor was the furthest from anyone’s minds. That’s how they planned it.”

“So Dimitri’s clan really was there that night,” Nicoli said.

“Yes, but from what I know Dimitri himself wasn’t. It was only Seth, Ira and Lillian. By what we were able to piece together Meier killed Aria and Stephen first then he had Seth and the others tear him apart so all suspicion would be taken from him. It was twisted, but ingenious.”

Nicoli shook his head. Twisted was right. The lengths Meier had gone through to go undetected was sick and it made Nicoli loathe him more. He looked around at the others. Ethan was still on the floor, holding Felix, who had reached out to take Aria’s hand and held it tightly as his tears fell. Conrad had moved to Aria’s other side, stroking her head like he had been doing to Evan, and he was whispering something to her, too soft for Nicoli to hear.

He had known that the clan had suffered great tragedy and he thought he had understood it, but he hadn’t. Not until he had seen their raw grief with his own eyes. The sorrow was consuming and made his heart ache. They had been through so much and were still going through more. If he had suffered something similar, he wasn’t sure if he would want to live.

Cora’s cries still rang within him and he wondered how she had managed to survive losing her love in such a violent way. He then began to think of the other clan members and realized almost all of them had suffered a similar pain.

“Doesn’t anyone get to love happily in the clan?” he asked.

“What?”

“It seems that everyone in the clan has suffered some kind of tragic end with the people they loved. You and Ethan, Andre and Omen, and now Cora and Stephen. It’s like every relationship was doomed,” Nicoli said, shaking his head at the revelation.

“I know, some say vampires can’t love because it will always end in tragedy. It’s like a curse for what they’ve become. But if you think all of those are sad, there’s one love story here that is more tragic than all of our stories combined.”

“What? Who’s that?” Nicoli asked.

Felix didn’t reply, but motioned in a direction with his head. Nicoli looked to where Felix was gesturing and his eyes widened. Felix had pointed out Faith and Evan. Evan was still lying down, too weak to move. Faith stood beside him, her head leaned against his. Her small hand caressed his face over and over and his hand was placed on her upper arm, the closest form of embrace he could manage. The scene was too intimate for it to mean anything else and it filled Nicoli with horror.

“No…Faith and Meier?” he asked and Felix nodded. “Oh God, those two…were in love?”

Felix nodded again.

“More in love than you can possibly imagine. They were the type of love that I believed could last for eternity.”

“And he still betrayed the clan? Betrayed her?” It was monstrous. It was too much for Nicoli to take. Faith had loved Evan so much and he had turned on her, destroying their happiness completely. Evan was more of a monster than Dimitri.

“I know, I could hardly believe it myself,” Felix said. “I never thought Meier would do anything to hurt Faith, but Dimitri must have offered him something that Meier wanted so badly that he would turn a blind eye to the suffering he put Faith through.” He clenched his fists and his teeth. “What makes it all the more unbearable is that Faith still loves him.”

“What? You have got to be kidding me.”

“No, she does. She tries to hide it, but I know she still loves him. Even after everything he did I’m sure if he renounced his loyalties to Dimitri and asked for forgiveness Faith would take him back in a heartbeat. That’s why their love is the most painful.”

Nicoli wanted to just curl up on the floor and cry. It was too much. The pain everyone had gone through was just too much. A jolt went through him when the room disappeared and another one took its place.

It was a small room, maybe just a bit smaller than his own. It was plainly furnished, just a couple of chairs, a table and a bookshelf. Felix sat in one of the chairs, reading a book. He was older again, looking exactly like the Felix that stood beside Nicoli. It was raining outside, the drops pelting the large window that was behind Felix’s chair.

“Where are we?” Nicoli asked. He was quite sure this wasn’t part of the clan’s mansion.

“We’re at a small safe house far from the family’s house.”

“Safe house?”

“Yes, it’s been a few months since Aria and Stephen’s deaths and things have only escalated. The threat from Dimitri and the tension in the house was so great that Ethan was afraid for my safety. So, he found this safe house for me to live in until everything died down. He took me away early one morning when everyone was sleeping and stashed me here, that way no one knew where I was except the people he confided in.”

Both Nicoli and the living Felix jumped when a door creaked somewhere in the house.

“E-Ethan?” Felix called out, but his only reply was the sound of footsteps coming towards the room. Felix scrambled for something on the table next to his chair and pointed it at the door when he had it in hand. It was a gun.

“There were only three people who knew where I was,” Felix said lowly, his eyes fixed on the door. “Ethan, Conrad, and the one person Ethan trusted more than anyone.”

“No,” Nicoli said, his heart hammering as the footsteps grew louder and louder. “Felix, don’t tell me–”

“Yes, Nicoli.”

The door opened and a man walked in with long, wavy blond hair and searing, icy teal eyes. Meier.

“This is the night that I died.”

======================================Ch. 66 End

God, you guys have no idea how much I love the ending to the chapter, just the dialogue and how it played out. Of course, you all know what this means. Felix’s death is at hand and I’m sure I’m gonna cry while writing it. I just know it. But I’m also strangely looking forward to it, because then you guys get to know exactly what happened that night Meier revealed himself as the traitor and took Felix’s life (though I’m sure some of you don’t want to know). And like I promised the next one will be the final chapter in Felix’s saga. Until next time guys, be good! *huggies and lickies*