Wade

He waded through the crowd like a silver gemstone in a sea of dirt and coal. I didn’t know if it was magic or just him but he was beautiful.

The words and feelings were still foreign in my mind after spending an eternity a prisoner within my own body. The mere thought made me angry. It made me want to punch a wall, shatter some bones, crack some ribs but…

Then he approached and my entire ecosystem was at peace.

This feeling for him might be entirely new but it felt so…liberating.

Maybe it was because a part of me, the one buried deep within my subconscious, recognized Caleb for who he was. My soulmate.

Or maybe this was what it was like to feel love for the first time in my life. Love that wasn’t orchestrated, manipulated or erased. Just pure love. Pure me.

“Hey!” he said and leaned in for a kiss.

I braced myself as if he was about to hurt me when I knew for a fact that wasn’t the case and looked around me, at all the people passing by. Were they staring?

His lips touched my cheek, taking me by surprise—I really thought he’d have gone for my lips—and he pulled back before I even had a moment to embrace the sensations in my body.

He smiled, his gray eyes shining like two stars one could make a wish on.

“Don’t worry,” he said, reaching for me with his gloved hand and giving it a squeeze. “I know this…thing…is still new to you.”

I bit my lip and held him back.

“It’s not…I don’t…” I sighed. “I don’t want to be like that.”

His smile softened.

“It’s okay, Wade. You don’t have to explain. I understand. You had your whole world shaken from its very roots. It will take some adjusting.”

“Yeah.” I took a deep breath. “I just need to get over myself.”

He tugged at me gently making me focus my wandering gaze back on him and his expression turned serious.

“It’s only been four days. This is your first full day as a free person. Don’t do this to yourself.”

I nodded.

“Yeah. You’re right.”

“I know,” he said and flicked his short silver hair back as if they were long and luscious. “I’m always right. Haven’t you learned that by now?”

He slapped my cheek a couple of times for good measure making my body come to life. But not in the way it used to before. I didn’t see red in front of me. I didn’t feel the urge to kill just because I felt a twinge of desire for him like I used to when I was trapped under Christian’s spell.

No. This was…exhilarating. Breathtaking. And it felt so much more dangerous. And yet I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Before I thought too much about it, or got worried about bystanders again, I pulled him onto me by the small of his back and drove my lips to his the way I craved.

It was nothing but a chaste kiss but I’d be damned if it didn’t shake me to my very core like every time he kissed me.

Especially as his power of empathy unleashed on me and I was flooded with passion, desire, longing and sadness that weren’t mine but I felt them as if they were right to my core. Just like he could experience every worry and concern within me and pick apart my very soul.

It should scare me, his power. It did. But when we were like this, in each other’s arms, kissing, it felt like the safest place in the world. As if it was just the two of us and everyone and everything else ceased to exist.

We pushed each other back as if we needed all our strength to separate and I stared at him for a moment before we both broke out in laughter.

“We’re a mess, aren’t we?” he said.

I took a deep breath and shrugged.

“We are. But I like it. I like us,” I said.

He smiled. I offered him my hand and he frowned, glancing around.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

I didn’t respond. Just grabbed his hand and held onto him for dear life.

I might not be able to feel his relief through his gloves that blocked any empathic links, but I could feel it in his posture, in the softness of his face, in his slow breathing.

“So…what are we doing in Camden Lock Market in the middle of the day?” he asked after a moment of just standing there, probably pissing off all the people trying to walk around us.

“I thought we’d do something normal for a change. As a couple.” The word felt alien to my lips. I didn’t want it to but it did. But it didn’t matter. I’d just have to repeat it a few thousand more times to make it feel like home.

“Us and normal don’t go together. Don’t you know that already?” he chuckled.

“We can try. Doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“And this is the place you thought we could be a normal couple?” He glanced around as if in total disbelief.

My stomach clenched and my throat tightened.

“What? Why? What’s wrong with Camden Lock Market?”

Other than the old witch living in the tunnels underneath, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with one of the busiest places in London.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just where all the rich prick witches hang out.”

“They do?”

“Well, it is a stone’s throw from Primrose Hill and what did we say about North London?” he asked, leaning in as if testing me on my maths.

“That’s where all the posh witches live.”

“Shoot. I didn’t think.”

Caleb laughed.

“It’s okay. We’ll just stay away from that side of the market. There’s still plenty to see.”

“Are you sure? We can go somewhere else.”

Caleb nodded.

“Wherever we go, there’s going to be something ‘wrong’ with it. So we might as well enjoy ourselves.”

“Okay. Let’s do this,” I said and walked down the path with Caleb browsing the stores, stopping to check the restaurant menus or to orientate ourselves in the maze that was the Camden Lock Market.

It felt nauseatingly mundane. Almost like a dream. Being normal. Doing normal things. Not hunting witches or planning their demise. Not chasing after evil vampires and putting an end to their rein. It was human. Just being in the world.

And yet, I longed for more of it. So much more. I’d had enough pain and death in my life. Could anyone blame me for just wanting to be?

“How about ice cream?” I asked after loading up on Korean burgers and feeling all the heavier and sated for it.

“Ooh yes. Ice cream! I could murder an ice cream right now,” Caleb said then stopped on his tracks and bit his lip. “What an unfortunate choice of words.”

I chuckled.

“Hey! That’s what normal people say. It’s not our fault our lives are literally surrounded by blood and schemes.”

Caleb considered my words for a moment before he nodded.

“You’re right. Let’s go kill some ice cream instead of people for a change!” he exclaimed, making more than a few heads turn our way.

We casually ignored them and approached Charm Café, a small shop sandwiched between a charity shop and a fish and chip shop.

The bell above the door jingled as we walked in and its ringing reverberated through my very bones with a sense of awe and familiarity that made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

I turned to Caleb who narrowed his eyes as if he too had felt it.

Before we could say anything or get the hell out of dodge, a young man greeted us from behind the counter and his smile…it put me at ease for some reason.

“Welcome to Charm Café! How can I help you?”

We both turned to the man and approached him with caution even if he didn’t seem to pose an immediate threat.

He did feel magical though. I had no idea how I knew, but I did.

“We…we were after some ice cream,” Caleb asked with caution.

“Of course,” the man exclaimed and side stepped to the other side of the counter where the ice cream display fridge was situated and he leaned two very hairy arms on top of the fridge shelf where the cones, bones, spoons and napkins were kept and put his head on top smiling wide.

“I’ve got every flavor you can imagine. What will it be? Some Truth Tiramisu for you?” he asked Caleb, who raised his eyebrow in response. “Or some Liberation Lychee for you, perhaps?” He turned to me.

“Wh-what?” I asked him.

Could it be a coincidence? Or was this guy a magical threat?

“I said I have chocolate brownie, passion fruit and everything in between,” the man said but when I looked at Caleb he was equally confused which meant we’d both heard something different.

Caleb frowned and with some hesitation looked down at the fridge. He cocked his head to the side and bit his lip.

“I guess I’ll go for Apple Pie,” he said and the man got immediately to work.

“Will that be one or two scoops of Apple Pie Passion?”

“What?” Caleb asked.

“I said will that be one or two scoops of Apple Pie flavor?”

Caleb frowned again as if he’d heard different the first time around but told the man he wanted two scoops and then it was my turn to pick a flavor but when I looked down at the fridge I couldn’t find any apple pie whatsoever.

Instead it was filled with chocolate, vanilla variations and right at the corner was some lemon sorbet.

“One chocolate brownie, one lemon, please,” I said and as the guy served my ice cream I turned to Caleb and grimaced.

I was beyond confused.

“One chocolate comfort and one lemon luck for you,” he said as he handed me my cone.

I had no idea what that meant but I wasn’t about to ask him to clarify since it seemed whenever we did he just changed what he said anyway.

Instead we focused on paying him and getting the hell out of there.

“It’s two pounds,” he said. “Or whatever you can spare.”

“That…that seems awfully cheap for ice cream. In London. In Camden,” Caleb said.

The man shrugged.

“I don’t need much to get by. I prefer bringing love and fortune to people.”

“Fortune?” I asked, putting two pounds and some change in the man’s hand and his smile deepened.

“There’s life for you beyond your cage, my friend,” he said and without missing a beat turned to Caleb. “And you need to stop worrying and let yourself love again.”

“What?” Caleb asked.

The man shook his head and I was fully prepared for him to change his monologue, but all he said was: “you’ll see. Fate has great, beautiful things in store for you both.”

And before we could pick apart that statement we were back outside as if in the blink of an eye.

“What the f—” Caleb started but he turned to look back at the Charm Café at the same time as me and he paused.

I couldn’t blame him. Where there had been a café moments ago, there were only bricks and a blackboard sign that directed people to the nearest bar in white chalk.

“What just happened?” I asked.

“Beats me,” Caleb said and took a cautious lick of his apple pie. “But that’s some killer ice cream.”

“You’re going to eat that?” I raised an eyebrow and he shrugged.

“Why not?”

“It could be poisoned?” I said as if he didn’t know that already.

“Meh, there are worse ways to die than by ice cream.”

He did have a point, but still.

“Is it…true? What he said? Are you worried about falling in love again?”

Caleb stopped licking and looked at the ground.

“It’s hard not to. After everything that’s happened to me.”

I reached for his hand and he let me take it after a moment’s hesitation.

“Hey. I know you’ve been through hell and back,” I said. “But…I really…I want to be with you.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he said, shaking his head and looking up at me. “I know you do. I can feel it, remember? It’s the after I’m worried about. Things have a way of going…wrong for me.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said, remembering what had happened to his ex and how it had set him on a path of revenge. “What happened to Jin was truly awful. But it won’t happen to me.”

He laughed but it was a sad laugh. It was a sarcastic laugh.

“You don’t know that. You probably won’t have the choice.”

He had a point there, but even so…

“Sweetheart, choice is all I have from now on. And I choose to be with you. And I choose to promise you that I’ll do everything in my power to protect this. To protect you. What we have. I know I don’t remember the relationship we had before but when I’m with you, it feels right. It feels…good. I know I’m terrible at putting these things to words but I mean it. I want you, Caleb and I want to spend the rest of my days being with you, looking after you, showing you that love doesn’t have to end in heartbreak.

“This is all new to me but I know that we are meant to be together. I mean, why else would we have fallen for each other twice? It’s fate. But also, our choice to accept it and make it our destiny. Because I know we’re meant to be together forever. If we choose to be.”

A tear formed in the edge of Caleb’s left eye and it ran down his cheek but I caught it before it dropped to the ground.

Immediately I was inundated by pain, and sorrow but also something more. Something better. Passion and love and something that made me want to burst at the seams. Something that filled my lungs and head with happiness.

It was hope. Caleb’s hope.

“If you want this silly man standing in front of you asking you to help him navigate this new feeling called love, then…hello! I’m here. Ready to love you with all my being. Again.”

“Oh Wade!” Caleb chuckled but it turned to crying and soon he was a blobbering mess all over my chest.

But I didn’t mind.

I had him with me and that was all that mattered.

“It’s okay,” I rubbed his back with my free hand and soothed him for a moment, staring passersby be damned, until he came up for air and wiped his face.

“Why can’t we have a normal date?” he asked, half laughing, half crying.

“What?” I said. “You mean normal couples don’t have their memories wiped and bodies puppeteered by evil vampires before they can be together?”

“Not exactly, no,” Caleb shook his head with pressed lips that almost looked like a smile.

I wiped his eyes again and kissed the tip of his nose before I joined him by his side and we walked down the market in pursuit of our next adventure.

Which probably included a bar and a lot of alcohol that was followed by more food and somehow we ended up at the cinema, stuffing ourselves silly with popcorn and Coke and holding hands, like normal couples did.

And later, we made out in the dark theatre, like normal couples did.

And we went home where we made love to each other, like normal couples did.

And we woke up next to each other and shared a coffee, like normal couples did.

“See? We can be normal,” I told him when we took a shower together.

He sighed and got lost in my embrace as he shared more of his hope and comfort with me, like normal couples did.

Well, mostly normal couples.

And by the time we were ready to go our separate ways and get on with work and life and responsibilities I still had his hope like a shielding layer underneath my skin, strengthened by my own. And I knew that somehow, even though we still had hell to get through and make it out of, we somehow would be okay.

Maybe have a happily-ever-after like they do in movies, even.

And if not…

Well, if not, I’d fight tooth and nail to make it so as I lived and breathed. Because Caleb deserved to be loved. And so did I.