Chapter 66 - Whispers In the Fog

Just as Damon broke free from the men restraining him, the vampire abruptly released me, as if touching me was the most repulsive thing he'd ever done. He stared at me with wide eyes, though my vision remained blurry.
Did it work?
I might have lost too much blood. I felt faint.

I could hear the vampire choking now, but my sight had faded completely. The sounds of cheering filled the background. I celebrated inwardly, but sleep was pulling me under. I fell, but never hit the floor.
Sunlight streamed through silk curtains, marking the most peaceful awakening I’d had in a long time. Maria was there, holding a tray with coffee and medicine.

"Good, you're awake," she greeted me with a warm smile. "Lunch will be ready in twenty minutes. Mason and the others are already downstairs."
Was I dreaming?

"Where's Damon?" I felt the return of the pain from my body and most painful of all, the fresh bites on my neck.

"He left early this morning. They have a lot of work to do, ever since last night."

"So it worked?" I flinched at a thudding migraine.

"Yes, it worked."

I nodded and glanced at the clock, which showed it was 2:15 PM.
"I'll be down soon."

Maria hesitated at the door, holding the empty tray. She turned back to face me.
"When you were in the cave... with the vampires, did you see her? Tessa, I mean."

I looked into her hopeful eyes. How could I tell her that her daughter had fully transformed into a vampire?

"I did," I said, "but she was unconscious." I couldn't bring myself to reveal the truth, not now, with everything else happening.

"Was she alive?"

"It was hard to tell," I mumbled, feeling a wave of shame. "We tried to go back for her, but there wasn't enough time."
Tears welled up in Maria's large eyes.

"I understand," she said, before quickly leaving the room.

I lost my appetite and had no energy to face anyone. I hoped Maria would return soon with food. Instead, I decided to take a bath, filling the tub with hot water and sinking in. My thoughts began to swirl, and I couldn't escape the labyrinth of my mind.
Now that I had everything, I could only reflect on what it had cost me.
Damon had walked in sometime later. I hadn't realized that I had fallen asleep inside of the tub until he stirred my arms.

"You're back," I whispered. I could not help the tightness of my chest. I missed him. Even when he was by my side, I still missed him.

"How are you feeling," he crouched so that he was at my level.

"Tired," I responded.

"Maria says you missed lunch."

"What time is it?"

"It's almost three."
Shit. I was in the bath for longer than I had thought.
I looked at Damon.

"What happened after the meeting?"
He clenched his jaw.

"The council agreed to everything. So did the other Alphas in the six other continents. We've begun establishing blood banks, for wolves all over the world to donate their blood for the cause. The first one will take place where Akbur Hills was once the bodies have been cleared."
I felt a slither of pain like a dagger to the heart.

"Why now?" I whispered, although I meant to just think it," so many people could have still lived if you had just listened to me the first time."

"I'm not sure when it happened, but sometime a while back, I fell in love with you. I was afraid of surrendering to my vulnerability, so I refused you."
It was honest and fair and perhaps the same applied to me.

"What now?" I blinked back tears, struggling to find a way forward.

"I don't know," Damon replied, "but I don't care, as long as you're by my side."

I would have been overjoyed if not for the guilt weighing heavily on my heart. Damon stood up, leaned down to kiss my forehead, and whispered words that seemed too good to be true: "I love you."
Only after he left the bathroom and I heard the door close with a thud did I whisper to myself, "I love you too."
I couldn't bring myself to leave the bath, feeling paralyzed by a whirlwind of emotions that I couldn't untangle. I hoped, naively, that the water might somehow wash them away.

Suddenly, I noticed movement in the window across from me. The steam from the hot water had blurred the glass, but I could now see long, dark fingers tracing something I couldn't make out.
Panicked, I stumbled out of the bath and rushed to the other side of the bathroom, my heart pounding so loudly that it drowned out all other sounds.
Now, just a foot away from the window, I could finally read the words written in the fog:

*"I'm coming to take what's mine,
Tessa." *

I leaned against the counter, wiping the window with my arm to clear the view. In the distance, the trees of the woods behind the house were stirring.