https://youtu.be/5OIEE09BePs

Levi and I strolled along the sidewalk hand in hand. The night air was crisp and chilly, but the snow had gone. I stepped purposely in the puddles we came across, finding delight in the world I was in. With Levi's grip in mine, I felt as though nothing could darken my mood.

We were on another date. This was how Levi spent his time with me; adorning me with gifts, affection, and taking me out whenever possible to explore nearby sites. When day came for him, I lied in his arms comfortably as if there were no other place I was meant to be. I was happier than I could ever recall, but still I felt unsatisfied. My instinct was building a quiet fire within me, demanding something from me that I didn't quite understand as of yet.

"Where are we going?" I asked Levi curiously, catching his attention.

"You'll see soon, darling," He responded simply. I watched him momentarily.

Levi was still attempting his original quest; to have me fall in love with him. I hadn't found the heart to tell him that his quest was pointless. I liked to spend my free time peeking through his romance novel collection, researching the whole subject extensively. If I was correct in understanding myself, then there was a strong fact that rang within my soul; I was already deeply in love with him.

And if I was correct, Levi wasn't the only man I was in love with.

I boldly stepped away from Levi, hand still in his grip, and leapt onto an adjacent bench as we passed it. I was balancing precariously on its edge when Levi teasingly tugged on his grip, causing me to lose my balance. He swiftly caught me in his embrace before I could fall, twirling me much to my delight.

I laughed with pleasure, my body positively humming. When he stopped, he didn't release me from his grasp. I found my eyes leveled with his and his lips suddenly so close to mine. For a moment he froze as if startled by my propinquity.

"Am I making you nervous?" I taunted him.

"You're quite playful today," Levi ignored my question, releasing me promptly. I stood as he walked a few steps away from me, watching him move away quietly. When he paused and turned back to me, I pulled my hands behind my back and swayed my body back and forth sheepishly.

"Oh, how rude of me," Levi answered my unsaid words. He held out his hand invitingly, causing a responding smile to rise in my features before I stepped forward and was in his grip once again. "What would you like to talk about today, Katia?"

I thought about it for a moment. Of all the vampires, Levi was the most open when it came to conversation. He didn't mind my questions and because of this, I'd come to learn a lot about him and his kind.

Levi used to be a writer as a human. He enjoyed writing poetry and the occasional short story. Since becoming a vampire, he had lost his inspiration and only stuck to reading as a way to recall those human desires he used to have. In this sense, Levi spoke of his respect for Theo because Theo was able to create music despite his vampire condition.

It's hard to create art from nothing.

I still didn't believe his insinuation that he and the others felt nothing.

"Have you ever been in love before, Levi?" I inquired inquisitively.

"As a human, yes," Levi responded swiftly, "Many times with many women." He winked slyly.

I hesitated. "In the novels in your room, they speak of one person being in love with another. Isn't the idea of loving many women considered... wrong?" I asked carefully.

"True love is mysterious and never wrong," Levi answered wisely, "I've always lived by the notion to never fear love, no matter what anyone else will think of you."

"So all of those women were your true love, then?" I asked, a smile tugging on the corners of my lips as I watched him react to the question.

"I might've thought so at the time." He smirked before glancing at me openly. "It was one love that caused me to lose my humanity, you know." I blinked in surprise, my interest piqued.

"I thought you said it was Miles' fault."

"I like to say so, but if I'm honest, no one truly made me take a life," Levi admitted, his voice hallow quite suddenly. He looked around quickly, making a show of it before facing me again. Then he leaned forward and said in a hushed voice, "Miles isn't around. Would you like to know the heartbreaking tale of how I lost my soul?"

I laughed at his dramatics, but then frowned when remembering Miles' determination for me not to know about his origins. I wanted to know. In fact, I wanted to know everything about all of the men in my life. But I didn't like the idea of betraying any of their trust.

I jumped at the warm brush of Levi's finger over the tip of my nose.

"You're very loyal, darling," Levi stated, his voice warm with affection. "You don't need to be so concerned. Miles doesn't feel guilty about our past and it isn't anything personal to him. He just doesn't want me to tell you about him because he's fighting the imprint."

"The imprint?" I asked, confused.

"Seb said when we touched you we'd build a type of attachment to you. It's nothing really, but Miles doesn't quite like feeling out of control of his own choices," Levi's smile was comforting, despite his next words, "He wants to make sure he can kill you if he wants to, if only to prove he can. And he thinks the less you know him and him of you, the better."

I swallowed uncertainly. "Do you feel the same way?"

Levi lifted my hand to his lips, brushing that sunglow over my fingers carefully. "I already told you, Katia. I don't fear love, so it stands to reason that I don't fear mystical attachment. As for killing you..." Levi seemed to seriously think over the subject, pausing while he thought of the possibility within his mind, "I like to think I could, if I wanted to. As time passes, I'm not so sure."

I wasn't sure how to respond to his words and so I opted to quietly think about it. Something stirred within me when I thought about him or any of the others wanting to kill me. A part of me wanted the horror, which made no sense to me. Another part of me wanted to survive. And a third part of me demanded something unexplainable, a desire that was beginning to feel like a budding pressure in my veins.

"We're here," Levi announced, gaining my attention once again. We were entering what appeared to be an empty building, as if it were closed. I frowned, confused momentarily. Levi was quick to explain. "I didn't want any other company so I made sure to buy it out for the night."

It was an ice-skating rink. Besides a few staff, we were the only people within the building. Levi, being the gentleman he was, helped me get suited into my skates before leading me onto the solid ice with ease.

I, of course, had never done such a thing. But even as I slid onto the ice uneasily, something whispered in that closed part of my subconscious. It was similar to how I felt when sitting in front of Theo's piano. It was as if I had ice-skated before and I just couldn't exactly remember it. Still, I fumbled like a newborn and laughed as I clung to Levi for support until I could figure out the proper way to balance myself.

When I was less shaky on my feet, I decided to strike up the conversation again.

"Levi," I hesitated before I even could say anything more, "Can you tell me your 'heartbreaking tale'?" Levi appeared pleased, finally able to tell a story he had wanted to tell for quite some time now.

"Of course, love," He responded, lightly pulling on my wrists so that I slid over the ice with him easily. It felt exciting and at the same time familiar. "As I said before, Miles and I were of the newer generation in the Genesis coven. Our father died before we had learned to walk. And our mother wasn't so used to being within a coven, so she preferred a solidary life.

"When we got older, Miles and I had two different ideas of what was important when it came to our goals. Miles aimed to gain power. He was greedy, studied the magic and practiced constantly. Witchcraft was his love, though he wasn't anything more than average."

I stumbled momentarily, but Levi caught me in his arms swiftly. He smiled at me.

"I preferred women; many of them. In the end, I particularly preferred the affection of one woman who had caught my eye. She, as is necessary in any epic romance, had no desire to be with me," Levi sighed sullenly, though something told me he was only pretending. I would've been amused, but something made me frown instead.

"What was her name?" I asked curiously, a familiar heat of what I could now identify as jealousy licking unwelcomely at my soul. It did no good to feel envious of what was probably a long dead love, but emotions weren't always rational.

"I don't recall," Levi mused thoughtfully, finally invoking laughter from me.

"That's terrible, Levi," I told him, smacking at his arm teasingly before moving to skate without support. "How do you not remember your true love?"

"They get mixed up in my memories, I'm afraid," Levi shrugged, but smiled comfortably, "Miles had learned of a way to gain power and he didn't want to do it alone. He told me of a ritual which would involve each of us taking a life and in exchange we'd be given immeasurable power. I naturally mentioned vampirism. But to us, it was a myth told to frighten witch children from breaking rules. We had never seen a vampire or any victims killed by vampires.

"Miles suggested the woman I desired would prefer someone of great power. I guess you could say the idea of killing someone bothered me, but I was hopeless. The idea that something would make this woman fall for me swayed me. So I agreed to do it. We performed the ritual and we got our power in the form of a curse. Miles lost his magic and I lost my ability to love."

I was no longer moving. I had paused to listen to Levi's story avidly, images crossing over my mind as I tried to imagine his life before he became a vampire.

"How about it, Katia?" Levi asked me carefully, "Can you see the monster I am, yet?"

I frowned. "Don't you want me to love you?" Levi moved closer to me, running his finger over my cheek slowly.

"Can I tell you something?" Levi asked me, his eyes uncertain. I nodded mutely, hypnotized by his intoxicating touch. "Ever since I became a vampire, I could hear the echo of my last human wish; to love and be loved. I've been targeting women that I knew would have interested me as a human. I drew them in, mimicked and seduced them, and linked them to me so efficiently. But every time they confessed their love to me, I felt empty and uninterested. Do you know what I did to each of them?"

I shook my head slightly, my breath shallow under his intense gaze.

"I destroyed them." Levi's words were muddled within my mind, my thoughts unable to connect myself with his confession. "I intend to do the same with you, Katia. If you fall in love with me, I will tear away everything that you are. That is why you will love no one else... because you will be nothing."

His words didn't frighten me. To me, they were empty and only served to deepen the frown on my face. I pulled away from Levi, gliding carefully over the ice until I was only just out of reach. I paused.

"Before I met you... before I met any of you, I was nothing," I confessed slowly, watching the ice in front of me before turning to look back at Levi. "I can't help but feel safe around you and I always will, Levi. Every day I spend with you, I find out new things about myself. I'm not afraid; not of love, not of the unknown, and not of you." I looked at the ice below me again, letting the memory of my subconscious guide me.

I moved in a wide arc, only momentarily wondering if I could allow myself to blindly attempt something I couldn't recall trying before. And then I turned, pulling my arms tight to my chest, before spinning sharply on the ice. My muscles were tense and my heart pulsed wildly in my chest as the world blurred around me. The ice sliced under me, otherwise leaving my world in silence. And then I extended my arms and twirled lightly out of my spin as if I had done it every day of my life.

Levi had watched me quietly. I glided over the ice with ease, moving towards him carefully. As I approached the host of those intense eyes, my nerves suddenly got to me and when I turned slightly, my ankle twisted sharply and I yelped before losing my balance completely. Levi caught me before I could land roughly on the ice, but still he laughed.

"Not the amazing figure skater you thought you were, are you, darling?" He teased me, his tone suddenly lifted. I swatted at him with a pretense of irritation.

"Shut up," I winced when I tried to gain my balance back. My ankle burned with pain. I knew it wouldn't last for too long, with my healing being accelerated, but it didn't prevent the pain from coming at the moment.

"Well seeing as you're so fearless and tough, I'm sure you'll be fine on your own," Levi baited me with a chuckle, releasing me and turning as if to leave me.

"Levi," I yelped, wincing again at my pained ankle. When he didn't move to come back, I gritted my teeth and launched myself forward to tackle him. I leaped onto his back, causing him to stumble and almost fall onto the ice. Unlike me, Levi had great balance though.

"Alright, I deserved that," Levi admitted with amusement, gripping my thighs and lifting me so that he could carry me on his back. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He moved to carry me from the rink with ease. I watched his face from my angle as he focused on our path and warmth flooded through my chest quite suddenly. I leaned forward, brushing my lips over his ear affectionately, causing him to hesitate.

"I love you, Levi," I whispered in his ear, the confession dangerously leaving my lips. Levi stopped altogether, his form suddenly tense and his hands like iron chains on my legs. He seemed so frozen that I wondered if he would ever move again. I watched him and just to make sure he knew I was sincere, I said it again. "I love you."

Levi turned his head towards my words, his gaze seeking me out from the corner of his eyes. An anger was there... or something equally dark. I thought he might demand me to take it back, but he only looked ahead once more and continued to take me away without a word.

-------------------------------------------

Music: I Think We're Alone Now cover by Hidden Citizens