Soft, Dying, Trusting

I stood in the doorway, chest heaving. The door clicked behind me with a sound that felt like the end of everything.

Inside, the lights were still the same. My hallway looked unchanged. But everything was different now.

He'd planted something poisonous in my mind: Aiden as prey. A choice I didn't want to make but might have to.

I shut my eyes and pressed my palms to my temples, trying to scrub away the poisonous seed in my head.

He's fragile.

He's ending.

So easy.

No-no, I told myself. Not my Aiden.

Not like this.

But Sebastian's words...

He's the perfect target.

He's fragile. He's... ending.

They carved themselves into me like a brand, searing through my ribs, echoing in the hollows of my chest. Even now, standing alone in the hush of the front porch, I could still feel his presence like a splinter in my skin. Gone-but not really. Not ever.

My breath caught in my throat as I pressed a hand to my sternum, trying to steady the war going on inside me. I felt like I was unraveling. Every inch of me wanted to run, to scream, to sink my teeth into the truth and rip it out before it took root.

Aiden.

Aiden was upstairs.

His scent still clung to my clothes-warm, alive, sweet in a way that shouldn't be tempting, but was. The kind of scent that stirred something old in me. Something that didn't care about tenderness or permission.

But it wasn't just hunger that twisted my gut.

It was fear.

It was guilt.

It was love.

Could I really protect him?

From Sebastian?

From what I am?

I thought I had accepted this life. The thirst. The violence. The half-truths. I told myself I could manage it-that I was stronger than the hunger, smarter than the urges.

But Aiden made me doubt that.

Not because he weakened me.

Because he made me want to be close. Closer than I should ever be.

And now I knew.

He was sick.

Already dying.

How cruel was it that the first human I wanted for more than just his blood was already slipping through time like sand in my hand?

How do you fight your own nature when time is fighting you too?

A cold breeze moved through the trees, brushing against my skin. I felt suddenly, entirely hollow.

I had to go back inside. I had to look him in the eyes and lie again. Smile. Pretend nothing had shifted in the earth beneath us.

But something had shifted. It couldn't be undone.

I turned the doorknob slowly and stepped into the hallway, quietly. The house had that soft hum of stillness again, the kind that's thick with thoughts left unspoken.

Each step up the stairs felt heavier than the last. My hand ran along the banister, grounding me in something real, something still warm from our touch earlier.

I paused outside the door to my room.

Aiden's scent reached me before I even turned the knob-faint, human, beautiful. He was waiting. For me.

I swallowed the ache in my throat, the hunger gnawing like rusted nails in my gut. My fangs didn't push forward this time, but they pulsed beneath the surface-ready. Waiting.

I opened the door.

He was still sitting on the edge of the bed, staring down at his hands like they held the whole world and it was slipping through his fingers.

His head lifted when he heard me. The worry in his face hadn't faded. It just softened at the edges when he saw me. Like I was the answer to a question he didn't know how to ask.

"Hey," he said quietly. His voice was still hoarse from earlier. Raw. "Everything okay?"

Lie.

"Yeah," I said, forcing a soft smile. "Just... got you something to drink. I left it downstairs. I forgot."

He nodded like he believed me. Or like he wanted to.

I crossed the room and sat beside him. My fingers brushed his, and when he leaned into me, it felt like coming home. And yet-deep in my chyet, deep monster chest, the

Still hungry. Still waiting.

But for now, I had him.

And he had me.

And I would fight.

Even if one day I lose.

Because if there was one thing stronger than the hunger... it was this.

His fingers twitched slightly beneath mine. I felt the hesitation in him before I heard it in his voice.

"Noah..."

I turned to face him, already bracing. His tone carried the kind of resolve people put on like armor-right before stepping into something they didn't want to survive, but had to.

"I have to go back."

I blinked. "What?"

He pulled away gently, not cold-but final. His palms rubbed over his jeans like he was trying to wipe something off him that wouldn't go away. Guilt maybe. Fear. Blood.

"I can't hide here. Not when people are asking questions. Not when a body was found in my backyard, and half the town's whispering like they already know who to blame."

"Aiden-"

"I need to prove I didn't do it." His voice cracked slightly, but he kept talking, pushing past it. "They think I did. Carter hasn't said it directly, but I saw it in his eyes. I know how this looks."

I reached for his wrist, but he was already standing.

"You don't owe anyone anything right now," I said, rising to my feet. "You're grieving. You're-confused. It's too soon to go back into that."

He shook his head slowly. "If I don't show up, it makes me look guilty. Hiding here... It's not helping. I need to be there. I need to face this. Head-on."

There was something in his stance-shoulders squared, eyes tired but locked in-that made me realize this wasn't about guilt anymore. This was about control. About grabbing the one thread left in a world that was rapidly coming undone.

He needed this. To move. To act. To feel like he could still shape his fate.

"I'll walk with you to your car," I said, finally. "I'm not letting you do this alone."

Not because I could stop what was coming.

But because I owed him every second of peace I could still offer before the storm returned.

And it would return.

Because Sebastian's words still clung to the corners of my mind, sticky and sharp:

He's already dying.

No. Not yet.

Not if I could help it.

Even if I had to bleed first.

When we finally got outside to his car, he cleared his throat.

"There's something I need to say before I go," he whispered.

My throat constricted. My grip tightened on the hoodie slung over my arm.

"I saw him," Aiden said, voice low and tight. "I really saw Sebastian in the backyard. He wasn't hiding. He was standing there."

I froze mid-step. My chest convulsed. Every instinct screamed to pull him back. Not tonight.

"I didn't tell Carter," he continued, hesitation in his words like he'd said it aloud for the first time. "I..."

He paused, swallowed. "I didn't think it mattered. But now...I'm not sure."

The world shifted. Aiden knew.

I stepped forward, reaching for his hand. My voice shook. "You don't have to say anything-"

But he squeezed my hand hard. "I have to. If someone saw him lurking in my yard after the party-God, maybe he's the one they should be asking about."

I closed my eyes, taking in the night air. My heartbeat thundered against my ribs.

"Then, I'm coming with you."