58. VANYA

I think I’m going to pass out.

After everything that had happened, I never thought that I would be returning to the cabin.

My steps faltered when we reached the front door. Oblivious to my hesitation, Devrim opened the door and entered.

As he turned to close it, his eyes locked on me. “Vanya?”

When he told me that Obsidian was sick, the concern I felt had me agreeing to go with him, but standing outside the house made me second guess myself.

I was about to face the man who had attacked me, the man who haunted my dreams, and not in a good way.

Swallowing, I took a step forward, but my muscles tensed, preventing me from moving.

“What’s wrong?” Devrim asked as he walked over to me. “You’ve gone pale.”

“I…” My words trailed off when movement behind him caught my attention.

My knees weakened when a wave of fear hit me. I wasn’t ready to see him yet!

Panic hit next.

If Devrim hadn’t grabbed hold of my arms, I would have run away.

“Rosebud—”

“I don’t want to see him,” I blurted.

“Please, Vanya,” Devrim pleaded. “I know that this is hard for you. I know that you’re scared, but I need you to do this.”

“W-why?”

He hesitated. “Obsidian keeps asking for you.” Devrim reached up and cupped my cheek. “Maybe having you close will help him get better. It hurts seeing him so weak.”

I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes. A part of me wanted to see Obsidian, but the other part feared that he might attack me again.

“I’ll be with you,” Devrim said. “Will that make you feel better?”

Not really, but instead of answering, I gave him a nod.

Devrim smiled, making my heart crack just a little more. I didn’t want to disappoint him.

With every step we took, my heartbeat increased. My stomach twisted with nerves and my legs grew weaker and weaker.

One of the brothers gave me a nod as we passed him. I couldn’t remember which brother it was, and figuring it out was something I couldn’t do at the moment.

I clung to Devrim’s hand as we entered the basement and walked down the stairs. Outside of Obsidian’s bedroom, he paused and glanced at me over his shoulder.

“Ready?”

I sucked in a breath and slowly blew it out. I can do this. Devrim will be with me. He won’t let Obsidian hurt me again.

“Yes.”

Obsidian looked like hell.

His chest rose and fell rapidly with every breath he took. Sweat coated his skin, making his hair stick to his scalp. His cheeks were flushed with colour, but aside from that, he was deadly pale.

“H-how long has he been sick?” I asked Devrim.

“It started when you woke up,” Devrim answered. “I think that he was sick before, but things got worse after you woke up.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

He shrugged. “We don’t know. This is the first time one of us has gotten so sick, or at least that I know of. Sometimes, we had a bad reaction to the drugs they gave us, but it never lasted so long.”

My eyes slowly trailed over Obsidian.

His hands clutched the damp sheets tightly. Even the shorts he wore were soaked in sweat.

“Can’t you take him to the hospital?”

Devrim growled. “No!”

“But maybe—”

“He’s not going anywhere near fucking humans.”

I flinched and lowered my eyes to the floor. “I’m human.”

Devrim pulled me closer to him and gently gripped my chin to tilt my head back. “Yes, but you’re our little human,” he said softly. “I know that you won’t hurt us like the other humans will.”

Just as I was about to wrap my arms around his waist, Devrim moved away. He walked over to the bed and bent down to pick up the bucket next to the chair before he disappeared into the bathroom.

I bit my lip as I turned to stare at Obsidian again. “D-does he have any medicine that he needs to take?” I called out to Devrim.

“Your human medicine doesn’t work on us, rosebud.” He hovered in the doorway. “We’re searching for records from the facility. Hopefully, there’s something in it that will help us.”

There was so much I still didn’t know about them which was unfair considering the fact that they knew so much about me.

But now wasn’t the time to demand answers to all the questions I had.

We needed to nurse Obsidian back to health before we talked about everything.

My eyes darted back to Obsidian when he whimpered.

He rolled onto his side and reached for something, but it was too late. I stumbled back as I watched him puke all over the floor. My stomach rolled as the smell of vomit drifted over to me. I gagged.

With a hand pressed to my mouth, I hurried out of the room, up the stairs and out of the house.

I breathed in a lungful of fresh air before I slumped against the wall. I could handle a lot of things, but the smell of vomit wasn’t one of them.

***

I wanted Obsidian to get better, just like Devrim, and I was willing to help him, but there were some changes that had to be made. Devrim was reluctant to agree, but after I threatened to go back to my apartment, he gave in.  

With the help of the brothers, we managed to move Obsidian upstairs into Devrim’s bedroom. A room that had a lot of windows. I opened the windows so that the cool breeze could cool down Obsidian’s high temperature.

Surprisingly, there had been less puking, but no matter what we did, his fever only got higher.

I lost track of time as I took care of him.

My mind was only focused on nursing Obsidian, which was great, because it gave me less time to think.

I finally got some good news a few days later when I learned that Obsidian’s temperature dropped a few degrees. I knew that he wasn’t out of danger yet, but it gave me hope that he would be okay.

***

“Surrey made some soup for us,” Devrim said as he entered the room. “The brothers are busy so I’m going to go pick it up.”

Fear filled me as the realization that I would be alone with Obsidian hit me.

“Can’t someone bring it?”

“I’m afraid not.” Devrim crouched in front of me. “I won’t be gone for long. I’m just going to pick up the soup and then check up on Ezra.”

“W-where is he?” I realized I hadn’t seen him at all since I arrived.

“He’s been around.” Sighing, he dropped his forehead to my knee. “Ezra is still mad at Obsidian for what he did.”

I flinched. The last thing I wanted was to be reminded of what had happened. Seeing my reflection in the mirror every day was enough.

“Vanya, I don’t want what happened to ruin us,” Devrim said softly. “I’m trying to understand why you feel the way you do, but what you went through is not even close to what Obsidian had suffered through in his life.”

“I—I…” I swallowed and blinked rapidly as tears filled my eyes.  

“When forced in a similar situation…” he paused. “If you had to choose between life and death, you’ll choose life, won’t you?”

I nodded.

“If things had been the other way around, if you had to kill Obsidian to survive, would you? Would you kill him?”

A tear slowly rolled down my cheek. Devrim caught it with his thumb before it could drop onto my leg.

“I w-wouldn’t be able to k-kill him,” I croaked.

Devrim gave me a small smile. “Just like Obsidian would never be able to kill you… even if he says that he will.” He cupped my cheeks and brushed his thumb underneath my eye, catching another tear. “He had only one choice, Vanya, and he took it, but he made… adjustments to ensure the fact that you got out alive.”

He stood and leaned down to press a kiss to my forehead where his lips lingered for a few seconds before he pulled away.

“Don’t think about what he had done, think about why he had done it.” And with that as his parting words, Devrim walked away, leaving me alone with the man I currently feared.