Iris

Cain held out his hand for me and I hesitantly took it as I got up from my seat. He led me to a stairwell past the small corridor in the building and we began walking up it. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"And my ball?" I questioned.

"It's up there," he assured me.

I remained quiet and followed his lead for the next couple flights of stairs. We reached the top of the stairs to be met with a large door. Cain pushed it open and we were suddenly welcome with the cool breeze in the night air.

"Here we are," he said as we stepped out into the roof. He suddenly stopped walking and I frowned as he turned to face me. "You need to close your eyes."

"Okay," I nodded. I moved to hold my hands over my eyes, but he moved behind me and held his hands over my eyes. With the lack of sight, I took cautious steps as he led me in a certain direction.

"Walk slower, why don't you?" He asked sarcastically.

"I don't want to fall," I muttered as I continued walking.

"I'll catch you if you fall," he said.

"You can't catch me," I laughed.

"Well I'll try and if for some odd reason I can't, we'll fall together."

"That's so comforting," I mumbled sarcastically.

"Here we are," he said as he stopped me from walking. "Don't judge me, Iris. I'm bad at these things."

"At what things?"

He removed his hands from over my eyes and I blinked as I looked around. There was a blanket on the floor with a basket beside it, and small golden lanterns illuminated the area around us. On top of the blanket was a yellow folder and in front of the blanket, on the edge of the roof, stood a telescope.

"What's all this?" I questioned as I turned back around to face him. My eyes widened as I saw a single rose in his hand and I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Is that for me?"

"Just take it," he groaned as he held it out for me. I did as he said and he looked around nervously before walking to the telescope. "Come here."

I went to his side as he instructed and he bent down to look into it. After a few more moments, he stood up straight and nodded quickly before looking at me. "Okay, I set it up. Just look."

He stepped aside for me to stand in front of it and I took a deep breath before looking inside the telescope. I could see the regular dark sky in Underworld, but it was filled with stars. We had our own galaxy as the earth did, but if you tried to reach it, you'd go into a different realm.

I smiled as I saw a comet pass by, and when it did, my eyes landed on two stars. From this distance, they seemed to be close enough to be touching and I looked at them in awe.

In the Underworld, there were myths about touching stars. Apparently, they represented the soulmates in the universe and the stars stayed together in space as people would stay by their loved ones.

I'd heard plenty of stories about them, but I never actually saw them in person before.

"They say that the stars choose the beings that they latch upon. That their souls will forever be attached to one another if the stars wish it," Cain said.

I stood up straight from the telescope to turn back to him and he held the manilla folder in his hands. "I for one, like to control my own fate. And if the stars don't choose us, I do."

My heart thundered at his words and I looked at him, stunned into silence. What is he trying to say? This felt like some sort of confession if anything. He held out the folder for me and I slowly took hair from his hands.

His eyes remained on mine, but I looked down to look at the contents of the envelope. There was a single piece of paper inside of it, and I held it out to read it.

My eyes widened as I saw a certificate dated from a week ago. In bold letters in the middle of the paper was "Cain & Iris". Below it, we're coordinates and I looked at the telescope before looking back at Cain.

"You named the stars after us?" I asked softly.

"I did," he answers. "So now, no matter how much you try to run, you're stuck with me. Whenever you look at the sky now, you'll be reminded that I'm always with you."

"Cain, what the fuck?" I whispered as I looked around. I was getting overwhelmed by the questions circulating my mind and butterflies flew throughout my body. "What is all-...what are you trying to say?"

He took a step towards me and shook his head before laughing softly. "I have no idea. I didn't think I'd have to spell it out for you."

"This is you saying you like me or something?" I asked nervously.

"Or something," he whispered as he gently lifted my chin to look into his eyes. He leaned down to my lips and I sucked in a nervous breath. His lips gently grazed mine as he slowly pulled away, but I grabbed the collar of his shirt and took his lips against mine.

He seemed surprised at first and I had to admit I was surprised by my actions as well. His hands slowly moved to the nape of my neck and tangled into my hair. I moaned into his lips and was further surprised by my actions.

When did I become so bold?

There was just something about Cain that made me want to let go of all my reservations and get lost in him. We both lowered ourselves to the floor and Cain lifted my legs over to his other side so I could straddle him.

I'd kissed him a couple of times when he was my dom, but it was nothing like this. There were no contracts or rules between the both of us. We were both doing this purely because we felt moved to do so. And I loved every second of it.

I was completely worry-free, until his hands roamed my body, and my anxiety returned. My movements slowed as my heart raced and as if sensing my sudden insecurities come to the surface, he slowly pulled away.

My eyes opened to see his on mine and he pushed the hair away from my face. "You're one of the most beautiful people I've ever laid eyes on, Iris. And we won't be having sex until you see yourself the way I do."

Present

After that, we had dinner and our conversation flowed as if nothing happened. When I left, my thoughts were filled with questions about what would happen next, but nothing did.

He practically moved in with us the next day and didn't say much to me about what happened. I'd catch him staring at me occasionally and "accidentally" touch me, but nothing like what happened last week happed again.

Was it possible that he lost feelings?

Maybe so. I didn't really get the chance to tell him how I was feeling about anything, but I wondered if he thought about it.

"He starts the arguments," Cain said as he smiled in my direction.

"Right," I mumbled. "What's for breakfast?"

"Well," Cain said. "Delicious waffles made in a beautiful waffle maker, or pancakes from your grandad."

"They are not pancakes," my grandfather argued as he slapped Cain's arm. "I'll finish breakfast. I need the both of you to get paper towels from the garage."

"There are no paper towels in the garage," I said. "They're in the cabinet next to your head."

"I need the both of you to get something from the garage," he repeated.

"Get what?" Cain asked.

"Something," he exclaimed.

"I can just go by myself if you tell me what it is," I offered.

"Can the both of you just go to the damn garage?!" He snapped. "Get me something...anything."

"Like what?" Cain teased.

"Are you both dense?" He asked as he turned to face us. "I'm giving the both of you a chance to talk about whatever the hell you're thinking about. You both for the past week, have been walking eggshells around one another. Go to the damn garage together, and bring me anything."

"Okay," I said in defense before standing up. I turned on my heel to walk to the garage as he instructed and crossed my arms as I walked down the corridor. I heard Cain following behind me, and I opened the door leading to the garage. He entered in behind me and closed the door and I turned to face him.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" He asked.

"I'm the one avoiding you?" I questioned. "You're the one acting weird."

"Umm no," he disagreed. "I pour my heart out to you, and not only did you not say anything, but you hardly talk to me anymore."

"What do you want me to say?"

"That you feel the same about me...or that you don't feel anything I feel. Anything is better than leaving me with questions. I don't want to be led on, Iris."

"I'm not trying to lead you on," I said.

"Then tell me," he insisted lowly.

"How can I say I feel the same about you when I don't know how you feel?" I questioned.

"I 'or something' you, remember?" He asked. I tried to hold back a smile at the reminder of the words he said last week and I looked down at my feet. "Iris, I bought you a fucking star. Stop letting your mind excuse my feelings for you as something less than what they are."

"And I kissed you," I countered. "Isn't that enough to tell you what MY feelings are?"

"No," he shook his head. "I want to hear it.

"Cain," I groaned.

"Iris, do you like me...or something?" He joked. He tried to play it off as if he was teasing me, but I could hear the seriousness behind his words.

I looked around in thought, and after a few seconds, I looked back at him. "Or something...." I muttered. A bright smile appeared across his face, and at the sight of it, my cheeks flamed.

He stepped towards me and leaned down for a kiss, but a banging at the door snapped our attention back to it. "I said I wanted you all to talk!" my grandfather yelled from the other side of the door.

We both laughed and Cain ignored his words and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. He pulled away before I could fully reciprocate it and he winked at me before going to the door. He opened the door to be met with my grandfather and he raised a brow as he looked between the both of us.

"I hope you two figured it out?" He asked.

"Yup," Cain said and I nodded in agreement.

"Great," he said. "Now let's go eat breakfast...or something."

"You nosey bastard," Cain laughed.

"Grandpa, seriously?" I whined in embarrassment as I covered my face with my hands.

"What?" He asked. "This was better than my TV program."

꧁꧂

I crossed my legs on the bed as I looked through the book of the dead. It was popular among witches, but with the right ingredients, any creature could to the spells. Even humans such as myself.

I was still planning my revenge on Mia and I had a specific spell in mind that I wanted to use. I just wanted to discuss it with Cain considering I'd need his help to go through with it.

My door opened, and Cain walked inside and closed the door behind him. "You called?"

"Yes," I said as I set the book down. "I want to talk."

"Oh no," he said with a grimace. "This is never a good thing."

"It's not bad, I promise," I said. "I just need to talk to you about Mia." He nodded and sat beside me on the bed, and I turned to face him. "Have you ever heard of Vudu dolls?"

"Of course," he nodded.

"I want to make one for her," I said.

"I thought you just wanted to kill her."

"That feels too simple," I sighed. "As bad as it sounds, I want her to suffer. I'll have to live the rest of my short life without the things that made me who I am. That's a pain in and of itself. She deserves just as much pain if not more."

"Rest of your short life," he repeated. "Can't you turn into a vampire, Iris?"

"I'm not sure if I want to," I admitted. "I don't know the first thing about vampirism and I don't like the idea of hurting someone to live."

"They have methods for that now," he offered as he became serious. "There's no need to feed straight from the vein. There are blood bags in almost every store and foods for vamps now."

"And you've heard stories of vampires not being satisfied with that, Cain. They have urges that a lot of them can't resist. I don't know if I could do that."

"You could feed off me," he offered. "I can't die. Meaning that I'm an endless blood supply that's giving you consent."

"I don't know, Cain. I don't like the idea of me using you like that."

"I'm letting you, though," he said.

"I'll think about it, okay?" I asked.

"Please do," he spoke. "I'm not sure I'd be okay if you were gone."

"I will think on it, I swear," I said. He nodded and I picked up the book from the bed. "So, the Vudu doll. That's what I want to do."

"What do we need?"

"We?" I asked.

"Yes, we're doing this together," he said as he nudged my arm. "I'm helping you with this, just as you are helping me rob a bank."

"Don't say I'm helping you," I winced.

"Call it what you want, but it's the truth," he said. "He took the book from me and squinted his eyes as he read the page I was on. He one by one read the things I needed and I confirmed or denied which ones I had.

"I can get them all except one," I said.

"Her hair," he muttered.

"Yup, that's where I need your help."

"How do you expect me to get her hair?" he questioned.

"However you have to," I shrugged. "This is important to me."

He searched my eyes for a long moment before taking a deep breath and nodding. "I'll find a way for you, under one condition."

"What condition?" I asked.

"Be my girlfriend."

꧁꧂

Author's Note
She better say mf yes🧍🏾‍♀️

But ughhh the way I cried when Cain showed her the stars😭 because we know they're not soulmates but-...but😭
Thank you to grandpa again for coming in clutch AGAIN.
Lmk your thoughts ✨