19__How to heal a Vampire King

Kamilla gulped as Viktor’s head lowered painfully slow, his eyes a swirl of seduction and his smile a devilish lure.
At that moment, it rose up within her. That damn bond, that link between them. It made her want him so bad she could hardly breathe. Kamilla wanted to curse, but released nothing more than a sigh when Viktor’s mouth touched her jaw, sending a ripple of shivers through her.

His teeth nipped at her cheek and Kamilla’s fingernails dug into her palms. She bit her lip when his hard body pressed down on her, struggling to hold onto her self-control. She would not lose to him. No way!

“What’s wrong, little one?” he murmured against her cheek. Kamilla trembled. “Scared?”

Kamilla opened her mouth to curse at him but then Viktor lifted his head and gazed down at her, she froze. He stared at her, his eyes filled with desire and amusement. But that’s not all they were filled with.
Kamilla watched in awe as Viktor’s blue eyes swirled right before her sight. The blue became lighter, then stronger, then suddenly swirled about in his iris as though it was actual water.

“Viktor—”
He flinched. Kamilla frowned. Viktor’s grip tightened on her wrists and Kamilla watched in slowly rising fear as he violently flinched again. His eyes fell closed and she watched him shut them tight.
“Ahh… fuck!” Viktor growled.
Kamilla gasped. “Viktor? What’s wrong?”
“My...” His hand came up to clutch at his head and Kamilla stared up at him. “My fucking head…”

Immediately memories of the dark garden flooded Kamilla’s mind. She gasped. Charming. Charming was coming out!
“Oh, no,” Kamilla whispered. Pulling her hands free from his grasp, she brought them to his face. “Viktor? Look at me! Viktor.”

Viktor could barely hear her. The pain, it was too loud. It blocked out everything else and Viktor heard nothing at all. His teeth clenched against it, trying to overcome the searing pain.
It was like someone was slowly pushing a sharp, red-hot tool through his skull. It was agony. A ragged scream was torn from his throat.

“Viktor?” Kamilla’s panicked voice reached him from somewhere far away, her cool hands framing his hot face. “Hang in there,” he heard her say. “The pain will be gone soon.”
Viktor’s face fell into the crook of her neck and he allowed himself to soak in her warmth and her scent, to bask in all of her. He hung onto her, in that moment realizing something. This wasn’t strange to him. Viktor didn’t know when, but he knew this pain had happened before. And he also strangely knew that before Kamilla, he’d never had anyone to share it with.
“It’ll be over soon…” she whispered, stroking his hair with a trembling hand.

Viktor couldn’t respond anymore. The pain was finally gone and he felt nothing. Saw nothing. Only darkness.
Kamilla was trembling. Her arms were wrapped around him, holding him to her where they lay on the floor. His body slowly relaxed, every bit of tension easing out. She knew he was gone for now.
Kamilla couldn’t move. She couldn’t even see past the blur of tears in her eyes, but she didn’t even dare blink.
The torture. God, the torture in his eyes. She didn’t know if it was because she was holding him or looking directly into his eyes, but Kamilla had felt every inch of what he’d just gone through.
And although that had terrified her, the thought that Viktor had gone through the exact same thing, all alone, for the past few hundred years… that broke her heart even more.
Her hands clutched him tighter as she stared blankly at the ceiling, tears rolling down her face.
“It’s okay,” she said, softly stroking his hair.
They lay like that for minutes, surrounded by silence and a flow of tears, hearts filling with sadness, and a desire to heal.

Kamilla gasped when he slowly lifted his head and looked down at her. She stared wide-eyed up at the sparkling blue eyes and sighed.

“We always seem to end up in this position, don’t we?” said Charming.

Kamilla gulped her tears down and slowly nodded. “Yeah.”

Charming studied her face and pursed his lips. “I apologize, it appears I interrupted something. Uhm… did you watch it? Me… waking up?”
Kamilla swallowed again when her chin trembled. She nodded. “Y-yeah. Front row seat.”
Charming looked pain. “I’m sorry, Kamilla. I’m deeply sorry, my lady.”
She looked at him for a second and sighed.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Charming.” He said nothing, only looked sadly at her, and Kamilla sighed again. “Could you like, help me up? Please.”
“Oh, of course!” Charming pushed himself up and got to his feet, stretching a hand out to assist her. “Forgive me, I must have forgotten my manners.”

Kamilla shook her head as she brushed off her clothes. “I said it’s okay! Don’t worry.”
Charming again stopped to look at her.
Kamilla stopped her movement and closed her eyes for a second. “Damn. I’m sorry, Charming, I shouldn’t be talking to you like that—”

He held up a hand. “It’s okay. Please do not apologize. You’ve just watched Viktor go through torturous pain and considering your link, you might have even have felt a bit of it. A cheerful smile would be the last thing I’d want to see on your face right now.”

Kamilla pursed her lips and ran a hand through her hair. Slowly walking over to an armchair, she lowered herself onto it, pulling her knees up to wrap her arms around them.
Charming sat on Viktor’s bed as Kamilla settled her chin on her knees. He waited patiently for her to speak. He knew she had plenty to ask. Before, she was only curious, but now, she wanted to know more than why Viktor was the way he was.
She wanted to know how to take away his pain.

“Why…” began Kamilla quietly. “Why does it have to be so painful for him? Why does he have to suffer so much?”
Her gaze focused on him and Charming saw her sadness. He sighed. “I don’t really know. But when I think of it, it’s basically a total transformation of his mind, so… it probably couldn’t occur without pain.”
Kamilla bit her lip. “Why? I’m sorry, Charming, I know it’s not your fault, but… why? Why must you exist?”
She saw him swallow hard and felt horrible for asking him that, but she had to know! Charming’s existence was Viktor’s biggest weakness.
He looked at her. “I hold all the memories. Everything Viktor forgot… it’s all in my head. I deal with all his pain, all his self-hatred. I make it void.”
Kamilla shook her head. “I’m so confused right now, I don’t understand a thing you’re saying.”
A sad smile curved his mouth. “I know. I’ll explain in terms which you can understand. You see… I’m human.”

Kamilla blinked. She’d suspected as much, but Kamilla always thought Charming’s existence in Viktor made him at least half. He couldn’t be fully human because Viktor was a Vamp. Although they had separate minds, they still shared a body. She swallowed. That actually also made
Viktor somehow half. Like her.

She studied Charming. “Not fully human.”

Charming laughed and nodded. “Yes, I am. I couldn’t even entertain the insanity of putting blood upon my tongue. The very thought of it makes me shudder.”
Kamilla felt like she was currently solving an impossible mathematic equation. Damned X just refused to be solved for.

“But… Viktor… he’s the Vampire King. You’re in his body.”

“Indeed,” agreed Charming with a nod. “But he, Viktor, is the Vampire. I, Prince Charming, am the human. And together, we exist. Without Viktor, I cannot be. And without me… Viktor could be broken beyond repair.”

Kamilla released a shuddering breath of frustration. “But why?!”

“Because,” said Charming. “Viktor desired it with all his soul. He desired it so much, he made me real.”
“He desired what?”

“Viktor… desired to be me.”