The Hunt For Immortal Love
Chapter 96 An Act Of Revenge

I might have said this before, and I shall say it once again. Life is defined by a series of moments; whether they are good in nature or bad in kind, these shall define you as the person you are or the outcome of your life. Now, what have these four weeks brought to my life that can possibly make it better in any way, for they should indeed be one of the most awful times that I have known in my Vampire life, and I shall even go as far as in saying my human one too? Yes, I have seen great beauty and treasures that I have never known there to be, and I can truly say if she did not drag me to the ends of the world, I would have never even thought to come to know of them. The best part, the part that brings great pleasure to my heart, is that I have grown so incredibly close to my beloved.

This, though, is not the only thing that has captured my heart, but that three people, especially our Vampire Hunter, has gone to incredible lengths to replace me, such an old fool with nothing but sweet words and tricks up his sleeve, does leave me to appreciate things far deeper than I have done before.

So it was with great pleasure as we returned home for one long final stretch. To say that I do not wish to see another plane or a train in quite some time would be a slight understatement. And to not see Elloise's face for this lifetime would be such a pleasure, for the spell was cast, and she is much to her own annoyance living a human life between all of those of her fairy kind. Well, she did lose her title of queen and is, much to her own disgust is now a mere simple worker. This once again proves you should put great thought into it if you wish to take on the Vampire Master or, should I add, his beloved.

And it is with my beloved that I am sharing one of the very rare moments we have in the confines of our room. I know that somehow this moment is short-lived and that there is bound to be another problem that will be surfacing its ugly head soon. But do I even wish to tempt fate, for we have not had time yet to spend our wedding night or even celebrated our union in peace? Therefore I shall savor these few blissful moments with her to as much extent as the heart can. With one of these very moments in mind, while I have been scrubbing myself ten times over, she sits next to the tub on the floor, reading the letters that I have written her back to me. I can say that even listening to my own words does bring tears to my eyes. I was always left to believe that men and the crueler of the species, but what Elloise did, was far beyond cruel and unkind; though I could thank her for also bringing this part to the surface where I found a new meaning in the feelings I held in my heart.

Then she reads part from a letter that I never managed to finish writing, "My beloved,

They say that life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!"

You have taken me on this ride, and I can say with all certainty in my heart that my life feels fulfilled. I am grateful for this; I am grateful that you have shown me that there is a far better way to spend my eternity. This has unfortunately become an eternity that I fear that I am going to spend alone.

But I would rather have had the few moments I had with you by my side than not having them at all. Life is a cruel thing when it rips two lovers apart. One never realizes that one last touch might be the last one that you will ever have. I have come to learn that in all my eternity that not even for an immortal, tomorrow is not a guarantee.

Though I wish that tomorrow lasted just a little longer for us, I honestly do not want to share my tomorrow with anyone other than you. I do not want anyone else by my side. There will never be another for me, and I know that no other can take my place in your life.

Is it selfish?

Frankly, I do not care for what everybody else thinks. Our bond will last forever, beyond now and beyond the grave. The day you perish, I shall know, and so when I, you will feel that hole that my existence has left behind.

I want to belong to you and only you.

For a Vampire until eternity, is in fact, eternity.

And an eternity is what it is going to take to heal this broken heart. But god, how I wish that we could have healed our hearts together. I do not know, and between you and me, I feel that you are never going to replace me. You feel so far away. I wish that you can prove me wrong. I wish that I could have one more chance. Just one more chance.

My beloved, perhaps I thought that love would come so easy. That I did not have to work at it. And perhaps, I did not appreciate what we had. I was foolish, and I took the beauty you brought to my life for granted. I took you for granted. I was wrong. I see that now.

But we have an eternal bond and that nobody can take away from us. So no matter what has gone wrong, as long as you are still out there, my heart will beat strong. I will wait for you even if it takes you forever because forever is all we have. I love you.

Yours, Sebastian."

I look at her and tears are building in her eyes. "Sebastian?"

"Yes, my beloved?"

"Are these the only ones you wrote?"

"I am afraid that you might have missed a few places; there are indeed a few more out there."

"Do you think that we can go replace them, you know when you feel up to traveling again?"

"Of course, my beloved."

She studies my hand for a while as she is holding onto it where it is floating just above the water, then her eye reflects back to me, "Did you enjoy it?"

"The time apart was agonizing; I did see so many things and went to so many places, it was incredible. But it held no meaning, for I was not there to share it with you."

"But, she showed you something that I can never show you."

"My beloved, it is not that she showed me parts of the world that matter; it is that behind me every step of the way, you were there, and you, too, saw all these things. You were not afforded the luxury to stop and notice it. Don't you ever think that Elloise's gave me anything but torture. She is evil; evil cannot give joy."

"Do you think that we are rid of her?"

"Well, I think that we are, for there is not much that she can do as a human."

"Oh, Sebastian, I don't think we should say that out loud so soon. She has a good fifty years still left in her. It is enough time to build up an act of revenge in her heart."

I foolishly brush of her comment and feel that we have done enough. Then, once I am satisfied that there is no inch of fairy near my body, my beloved hands me a towel and collects her letters from the floor. She slowly makes her way past my cupboard, grabs one of my oversized shirts, and slips it over her naked body.

Back in the comfort of our bed, we lay in each other's arms, staring at the ceiling in absolute silence. I close my eyes, and all I can hear is her soft breathing. The scent of her perfume fills my senses, and for the first time in weeks, I feel at peace. But there is something wrong.

"Sebastian, something is wrong."

"Yes, there...do you hear that?"

"That crackling noise?"

"Yes, there, there...something is burning my beloved. Stay here while I go investigate. Might just be Stefan that accidentally set something on fire."

With absolute haste, I slip on a pair of pants and make my way out the door. I make my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. There is nobody here. They must be all in their rooms. Stefan must have set something alight in Lilith's room. I dash upstairs again to make my way to Lilith's room. It is on the far side opposite side from my room. There I get Edward that is frantically trying to free Lilith and Stefan from the room that is filled with flames. But as I look past him, back further down the hall, I see that everything is engulfed in flames. I am shocked to horror.

"Edward, what happened?"

"Sebastian, I don't know; the flames came from the back of the house and started to overrun each room."

"What? You mean that Stefan did not do this?"

"No, where is Anastasia?"

"She is back..."

I immediately stop dead and turn to run to get Anastasia, but as I approach our room, I can see the fire starting to crawl up to me at a rapid pace. It has overrun the entire left-wing and is leaving destruction behind every flare that it makes. It is consuming the wooden doors and soft features like a hungry animal, devouring everything in its wake.

My body goes numb, and I am trembling beyond restraint as I realize there is no way that I can get into our room. There is no clear way past the fire. I cannot get to Anastasia.

My mind goes blank, and my body freezes; I have no idea what to do, how do I get through to her. I should have told her to come with me. How could I have been so stupid and asked her to wait in the room if I knew there was danger.