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When Keelin opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the underside of the velvet canopy held up above her by the four-poster bed. On her left, she felt the body heat radiating off of Wilko who was sleeping soundly. On her right, the bedsheets lay discarded with Vlad nowhere to be seen.
Keelin, however, was able to hear the faint sound of crackling firewood burning in the fireplace in the next room. Aside from that, it was almost eerie how silent the space was. No wind or rain hitting the window panes, nobody moving around in the corridors. Just the three of them and this whole castle to themselves. And to imagine that tomorrow this castle would be bustling with all kinds of vampires coming from all over the realm to celebrate the vampire ball.
As she sat up, she was deliberately slow with her movements in order to not disturb her boyfriend from his dreams. The trek to get to the castle belonging to Vlad’s uncle, that lay on the top of a hill, had been an unpleasant walk to say the least, so Wilko’s resting was more than deserved. Though that made Keelin wonder: what was Vlad doing up?
Of course, he is a creature of the night and this is far from the first night that Keelin or Wilko have woken up to Vlad missing from their shared bed. Still, something inside of her urged Keelin to get out of bed instead of laying back down and snuggling up to Wilko.
Keelin abandoned the warm th of the bed in ex change for the cold, wooden floors. With her socked feet she tip-toed over to the door opening behind which she caught sight of the burning logs of wood meant to warm the room, though with quarters this large, one fireplace could only do so much. There, in the middle of the sitting room she found her other boyfriend: Vladimir. He was standing over a desk with his back turned towards her, seemingly lost in thought.
If the air in the bedroom felt safe and cozy, this room was contrary. Crossing the threshold, Keelin felt an overwhelming amount of tension as a chill seeped into her bones, al l while this room was the one with a fire burning in the hea rth. The fire seemed to be about to burn out, making Keelin wonder for how long Vlad had been here.
Quietly, she approached him from behind. Vlad’s shoulders hitched as she folded her arms around his upper arms in a hug. Vlad’s rigid posture did not go unnoticed, and rather than letting it go, Keelin filed that information away as a question that required answering in the future. She could take the easy route and chalk it up to nerves, but Vlad was nothing if not a deep well of unsolved mystery.
With one hand, Vlad fiddled with one of the papers laid out on the desk, which Keelin recognized as tomorrow night’s guest list. Finally, Keelin spoke up. Her voice was soft, holding no judgement, yet curious in a way only she could be. “Everything alright?” she asked.
Vlad turned his head to look over his shoulder at her and gave her a small smile meant for reassurance. He held her gaze for a second before dropping his eyes to the floor, the smile vanishing along. “Just nervous.”
Similar to Keelin, his voice was soft, as if afraid to break the quiet. Yet there was also a rasp in his words, baring traces he had been crying. Keelin hummed, yet she said nothing about the matter. She knew Vlad wouldn’t tell her what’s bothering him at this hour. If something is bothering him, she added in her head, because trust meant to rely on Vlad’s own words and when he said nothing was wrong, she chose to believe that.
Keelin’s eyes returned to the guest list and the names scribbled down onto it. The longer she stared, the more she understood Vlad’s nervousness. The pressure of a long line of relatives and high-standing vampires would put anybody out of their doing. Especially if all those family members are depending on one member for it to go well, unlike last year’s attempt that got ruined by a creature mulling the castle grounds.
“You can go back to bed. I will be there soon.”
Keelin tore her gaze away from the papers and instead focused on Vlad’s face, which had remained the same. Still passive and avoidan t of her eyes.
Keelin looked up at him with playful eyes, “Promise?”
“I promise.” Vlad replied, making Keelin smile at him. She pressed a feather-light kiss on the back of his shoulder before retreating to the other room. The double doors were left slightly ajar, signaling that Vlad was welcome to join them at any time under the big canopy.
Vlad turned around just enough to be able to see between the crack of the doors. Silently, he watched as Keelin crawled back into bed and shifted closer to Wilko. Vlad could only imagine the feeling of Wilko’s heat on his skin the way he had felt it for almost every night since the start of their relationship.
Even though he promised Keelin he would come back to bed soon, hesitancy to lay down next to his lovers remained. The imminent betrayal the both of them would face the next day wouldn’t leave his mind.
Vlad’s gaze drifted back to the guest list he’d been staring at for what felt like hours. Every single attendee on the list knew this ball was unlike the previous editions. This time it was not just a celebration of the vampire’s immortality, but also a ceremony in honor of Keelin and Wilko’s newly gained immortality.
It dawned upon him that the last time Vlad kept such a big secret from his lovers had been when he failed to inform them about the command of 77 years and his forced dismissal from the Night Watch. Once more, he had left the unveiling of the truth to the very end. All because he didn’t want to lose what they had right now. It was these days of his lifetime Vlad wished could last forever. Just the three of them being together and fighting the occasional creature from the Underworld while residing in the village that has become like a home for him.
A place that would never be home to him again after tomorrow. Their necks would forever be tarnished by his fangs and their trust would be like a mirror shattering into hundreds of pieces. Nothing could be the same again. Sure, they could return to Schemermeer but it wouldn’t be home without their unwavering trust in each other. That same trust Vlad was about to violate in a gruesome way, ruining their bond built upon the thousands of memories they had made these last years.
The undeniable sinking feeling of dread took hold of Vlad, like narrow fingers tightening around his neck. He knew there is no justifying the selfishness of being the only one of the three who was aware of what was about to happen, and that it was selfish of him to leave them unknowing. But then he turned around and saw Keelin and Wilko laying together with space left for Vlad, and he just wanted to preserve this moment. The eye of the hurricane where the world continued spinning yet none of them would notice because all they need is each other.
And just like that, the perfect moment that resembled everything Vlad ever wanted, got torn to shreds when Vlad’s mind reeled him back to the real world. The real world, where trying to sleep seems futile because Vlad wouldn’t be falling asleep to the sounds of his lovers’ hearts beating and calm breathing as they rest, but where he would spend the night wrapped in a nightmare where he could hear their screams of agony like phantoms in his mind.
Vlad told himself he would make it up to Keelin in the morning, that he will tell her he couldn’t fall asleep and had more preparations to manage because laying down at the reserved spot next to them meant being close to those he was about to condemn to a fate that had tormented him so many times.