{No more hiding. No more mercy.}
The wind howled as if the forest itself had begun to grieve before the blood was even spilled.
Kai had barely stepped onto the porch when he heard the snap of bones, twigs, something wrong breaking in the distance. Adrian was already at his side, eyes glowing crimson, hand pressing Kai protectively back toward the door.
"They're here," he said.
There was no hesitation. No time to prepare.
The vampires came like a goddamn plague cloaked in black, eyes feral, hunger sharp and vengeful. Not for Kai. Not this time. They wanted the one who had made them bleed. The one who had turned his back on them.
They wanted Adrian.
He didn't give them the satisfaction of fear. He stepped forward, shielding Kai with his entire body, fangs out and voice low, a growl rumbling from deep in his chest.
"Run," he told Kai.
"No." Kai grabbed his arm, shaking his head. "I'm not leaving you. I won't."
But Adrian turned, his face... it was calm. Too calm.
"I'll always find my way back to you."
It wasn't a promise.
It was a goodbye.
And then the fight exploded fangs and claws, magic and bone. Adrian was a storm, beautiful and terrible. He moved like death incarnate, cutting through enemies with feral precision. One fell. Then two. Then five. He fought like he had something worth dying for.
Because he did.
Kai screamed his name. Tried to run to him. But a vampire lunged and suddenly, Adrian was there, ripping it apart with a roar so loud it split the sky.
Blood splattered across the porch. Across Kai.
Adrian caught his face with bloodstained hands, panting, eyes wild. "You have to go. Now."
"No. I won't leave you"
But there was no more time.
A blade meant for Kai came flying, silver edge gleaming.
Adrian moved.
Took it.
Straight through the back.
Straight through the heart.
Everything stopped.
The vampires fled in chaos as Adrian collapsed into Kai's arms. The forest seemed to hold its breath.
"No no no....fuck, Adrian don't you dare," Kai sobbed, his fingers clutching at blood soaked fabric, trying to hold him together, trying to will his heart to beat.
Adrian smiled.
"I love you," he whispered.
And then his body went limp.
Gone.
Two months Later...
Those two months felt like hell for kai,
At first he didn't want to believe that Adrian was gone. Countless times he'd try to kill himself but there's this gentle voice that keeps whispering to him to stop
Kai stood before the grave, a bouquet of crushed flowers in one trembling hand.
His belly had grown. Their child still kicked like hell.
He knelt.
"I kept dreaming you'd come back. I still feel you when I sleep. I still..."
He froze.
The earth... disturbed.
The grave was open.
Empty.
No casket. No body.
Just silence.
And a single mark carved into the headstone in a language Kai didn't recognize.
But he knew what it meant.
He's not gone.
Not really.
Not forever.