Page 59 of A Vampire's Pain
“I love my brother,” she said. “He is all I have ever had.”
“I understand,” I said.
“I’m not sure you do … After … After what happened to me I … I lost myself, for years, and Damon was the only one there to help me. Our father chose to fix the “problem” by ignoring it, and when he died, it was still only Damon I had. I don’t want to leave him, but at the same time, I can’t get you out of my mind.”
I felt both happy and sad at this moment. I was happy to hear my mate wanted me as much as I wanted her, but I felt sad because she felt guilty about her brother. She didn’t want to leave him, as she said, but she also wanted to be with me.
“So?” I asked. “What do you hope to gain here?”
She shrugged.
“I actually wasn’t even expecting to come here, but then Damon left to do something and I … I got in a cab and told it to drive here.”
“You didn’t drive?”
“I can’t drive,” she told me.
“What?!”
“I never learned, okay?! I was a little busy going crazy,” she said.
I chuckled, and she smiled.
“I just … I couldn’t stay away.”
“You know how happy hearing that makes me?”
She blushed a little.
“I hope … very happy?”
I nodded and leaned closer to kiss her, but I moved away quickly because I couldn’t let myself get distracted right now. We still got some things to talk about.
“You do know you have to tell him, right?” I asked.
“Can’t it wait?” she asked.
“Valeri, your brother hates me.”
“No, he just … doesn’t trust you. He thinks … he thinks you’re still …”
“Still what?”
“A bad person,” she said and looked down.
I felt my heart freeze in my chest. I knew I had been … bad in the past. I had never hurt anyone badly, but I had played others in the past because I could. I felt lost back then. After I went against my family and helped Dominic, I felt like scum in some way. My family hadn’t been completely bad. There was love, but the way they led was wrong. People got hurt because of it, and I … I couldn’t live with myself. I felt like Dominic was more fit for the role. Turned out neither of us really wanted to be king. Damon had good reasons not to trust me, but I hoped Valeri wouldn’t judge me for my past. I hoped she would still find it in herself to open her heart and love me in the end.
“I have been … a bad person,” I admitted.
She looked at me shocked, and I reached out, grabbing her hand, not wanting her to run from me.
“I’m not that person anymore,” I said.
She looked at me a little unsure.
“I can’t change the past, Valeri, so please don’t judge me for it. Let me prove that I am not that person. Please,” I said.
She looked at me for a little while and then smiled a little.
