• CHAPTER 172 - OVERFLOWING

    The emotions are so overwhelming; how do you express it all at once? The feeling you never want to end is only a portion of possibilities.

    With an exasperated sigh, I landed on my back on the bed and rested my head on a pillow. Panting, I glanced up into Kai's red-brown eyes. My hands locked behind his neck and he leaned down to kiss me softly, signaling that we were finished. My stomach was churning slightly in nausea but I held it back; I caved into the temptation and made love to Kai for the third time.

    As we kissed for a few more moments, Kai embraced me close to his cool body. He was actually a little out of breath; he had been suppressing his pain the whole time. It was becoming more strenuous for him to hold it back any longer. The only damage he did that time was grip me a little too hard on some areas, such as my wrists. His cool body felt great against mine; I was so overheated and dehydrated. It wasn't the greatest idea for me to do such intense activities while I was sick but it was worth it.

    Kai held me tighter and kissed my neck numerous times, "We should attempt different methods," he mumbled.

    My eyebrows furrowed together as I was gradually catching my breath, "What do you mean?"

    Kai pulled back and looked at me with a small humorous smile, "We should try something other than traditional,"

    My face turned red and I looked away, "I-I don't know what you're talking about..." but I did.

    Kai nuzzled my nose while chuckling. He climbed off of me and laid down on his stomach, "I'm going to nap quickly,"

    "Noooooo..." I complained, climbing onto his back and burying my face in his neck. "You promised you would take me to the hot springs."

    "We still have a few days left,"

    "But you said you would today," I kissed his neck. "Please?"

    "May I nap first?" he chuckled, burying his face in the pillow a little further. "As you are probably not aware, I haven't legitimately slept in days."

    "Oh," I furrowed my eyebrows together. "What about last night?"

    "I merely laid next to you; I never closed my eyes."

    Guilt surfaced and I pressed my left cheek against Kai's back between his shoulder blades, "I'm sorry. You may sleep."

    "Could you, perhaps, do me one favor?" Kai mumbled.

    "Anything," I kissed his ear.

    "Lie on me for a little longer," he closed his eyes softly. "You're warm."

    Oddly enough, Kai's cool skin still felt amazing against my heated skin still. I embraced Kai tightly and pressed myself a little harder against his back. I kissed his ear again and buried my face in his hair, "I love you, my prince," I giggled.

    "I love you more, my queen," he smiled faintly, keeping his eyes closed.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~

    "Watch your step," Kai warned as he held my hand to help me climb over a few jagged rocks.

    "What kind of a hike is this?" I frowned. "It's full of death traps."

    "It's well worth the trip," Kai continued to guide me. "The view is astonishing."

    He was right; even though we hadn't reached our destination yet, the view of the mountains were already gorgeous. There were various hills of rocks surrounded by trees with small streams trickling down them. We had spotted a fox at one point and it ran away from us after I tried to coax it over. My legs were about ready to give up on me but I forced myself to continue. I didn't know how long the hike was or even where we were going but I trusted Kai.

    We reached the top of a little rock hill and we paused for a moment. Kai glanced around, "I just need to remember where to go from this point,"

    I closed my eyes for a moment to listen to the sound of a nearby creek. Birds were chirping and trees were rustling; the sound of nature was truly beautiful. It was too bad my moment of peace was ruined; I felt something sharp against my right ankle and then I was pulled down. I hit the ground and started sliding down, but I didn't know where I was sliding to. It took me a moment before I realized what was really happening and I called out to Kai in a panic. I didn't know what it was that caused me to fall, but I knew the result wouldn't be good.

    Before Kai could teleport to save me, there was another poof and somebody grappled my right wrist. I looked up to see who my savior was but, instead, my eyes were greeted with the starving red eyes of another Vampire; not Kai. He grinned at me with pain in his eyes and he leaned down towards me. I looked below me to see myself dangling over the edge of a cliff that dropped down to the stream I could hear earlier.

    "I've been in this mountain for days," the Vampire hissed and chuckled crazily, gripping my bruised wrist tighter. "I'm starving. So thirsty..."

    Instead of trying to pry off the Vampire's grip, I held onto his hand for dear life. If he were to drop me, I'd be doomed. There was another poof and Kai appeared, gripped my wrist, snapped the Vampire's wrist, shoved him off, and pulled me over the cliff and kept me behind him as he was crouched over. He growled angrily at the stray Vampire, bearing his fangs and talons. For a moment, I thought it was my wrist that was snapped; the snapping was so audible and intense. I looked over at the Vampire to see his wrist all jagged and abstract.

    "Just a drink?" the Vampire pleaded. "A sip?"

    "Leave. Don't touch her again." Kai hissed.

    The Vampire looked back at me and I hid myself behind Kai. After another moment, the Vampire took off into the distance. Kai turned around and cupped my face and I sighed, "Thank you,"

    "Are you hurt?" he looked into my eyes rather than scanning me for wounds. It was probably easier for him to look me in the eye than concentrate on my blood.

    I looked down at my right leg and pulled up my bloody pant leg. I had multifarious amounts of cuts from the rocks cutting into my skin when I fell. I wasn't bleeding too bad, but enough for Kai to stop breathing. Without another word, he scooped me into his arms but immediately put me back down before he could even stand up. He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, facing away from me.

    My heart sunk immediately, "I-I'm sorry..."

    "You'll have to walk on your own," Kai informed regrettably. "I apologize."

    "It's fine," I stood up. "I'm not hurt that bad anyways."

    "It's not much farther away; just about another one hundred meters."

    I glanced over the edge of the canyon and became nauseous again; it was quite a drop from the edge of the canyon into the stream down below. It was probably about fifty feet, but it was unknown as to how deep the water truly was. Either way, the water would have been too cold to stay in for long; I'd either have died from the fall or from hypothermia. I stood up and climbed up the rock slide and made it back to the top, cautious to look at my surroundings. Kai followed behind me and gripped my hand, convincing me to move forward.

    I hated seeing Kai in such pain; it grew worse every day. What was it that kept me from wanting to lunge off of the cliff we were just at? I couldn't stand seeing Kai suffer any longer; ever since I was with him from day one, all I ever saw was his suffering. Whenever he looked at me, he would look into me with eyes of sorrow and pain. And what a fool we were for falling for each other; it would make everything so much more worse. If only we never would have gone so far.

    "It was probably inevitable," Kai barged in, reading my mind and looking down at me as we continued to walk. "We would have ended up living in the same household anyways; there was no way to avoid each other."

    "But I could have fallen for Kira," I mumbled, though I hated to bring that up for some reason. "But, no matter what, you'd suffer."

    "We're here," Kai averted the subject and helped me up another rock pile.

    With his arm around my waist, I wrapped one arm around him as well and looked off into the distance in absolute awe. The sun was wanting to set on us and the sky was turning into a pink-orange hue with very few clouds in the sky. I was almost eye level with the sun from standing on the mountain. The ground down below was difficult to see; it was misty below us and chilly where we were. There were numerous little mountains in the distance, making the view so much more beautiful. I looked over towards the right after catching something at the corner of my eye; it was the vacation home just a couple hundred meters away. It looked stunning from an outside view.

    "Are you sure your leg is okay?" Kai asked as we seated ourselves on the rock hill.

    I nodded, "Just a couple of minor scratches; I'm fine."

    "It's odd for a Vampire to be up here," Kai frowned. "Perhaps he got lost."

    I leaned over towards Kai and kissed him, tangling my fingers in his hair and adding a little tongue into the kiss. I pulled away for a minute and pressed my forehead against his, "We need to set a wedding date,"

    Kai stopped for a moment and sighed deeply. I sighed as well and he caressed me, keeping his forehead against mine, "I..." he sighed again, trying to put his words together. "I don't want to ruin your intentions..."

    I nodded smally, "I understand," I opened my eyes a little. "You don't think we have time."

    "I don't believe so," he sighed once more. "Not with how everything is going so far. We need excessive time to buy a dress, make plans, send invitations, everything else."

    "...You're not just saying that because you really don't want to marry, right?" I bit my lip, causing my heart to leap downwards.

    "No...no, not at all," he kissed me a little frantically. "Don't think that. I never would have proposed to you without the intention to tie the knot."

    I wrapped my arms around his neck and sighed, "I don't know why I'm making a fuss about it," I shrugged. "I'm not completely prepared either. And I've survived this far. And I should just be happy that I've even found somebody to love after all I've been through." I kissed him. "I love you."

    "You're the bravest woman I've known," he kissed my forehead. "I would never change a thing about you except for your fate." He mumbled the last part; I didn't know if he intended me to hear that or not.

    The subject of the contract still made me upset but I was soon getting used to hearing about it. I knew I was going to die and that Kai and me wouldn't be able to marry. But I had to be thankful for all that I had accomplished so far. One thing that bugged me most about the contract, though, was that I had so many nightglares. It would help so much more if I knew exactly how I was going to die, rather than be shown multifarious options.