CHAPTER 77:

Seconds passed, turning to minutes and nothing happened.

I was no longer falling.

Was I dead?

Did Cyrus catch me?

Shyly I opened my eyes to see what awaits me and what caused the sudden pause.

I was under the canopy of trees that one thing but I wasn't fully on the ground yet.

Cyrus was in front of me with a shocked look on his face.

"what?" I looked behind me and a gasp left my mouth.

My wings!

After trying for so long; they were finally out.

I let myself gently sit on the grass.

They were the reasons why my back always hurt; because they were trying to tear through my skin.

Though it hurts currently but I'll be alright.

"they look just as beautiful as their owner" Cyrus smiled, squatting to my level and I couldn't help but blush slightly.

They were big enough to wrap around me and act like a shield but not all that big.

As for the color, mother said it was coated with my aura so they were purple but a lighter shade and the feathers were huge at the tips.

"I never thought I would ever be able to see them" I couldn't stop smiling.

"are you ready to give them a try?" Cyrus stood and extended his hand to me.

My back was still hurting but it was endurable and with that, I took his hands and stood on my feet.

"your wings partially have a mind of their own and you have to control them. Relax, feel the breeze around you. Let them stretch themselves out" he stood in front of me, giving me some demonstrations.

I watch his wings stretch till the very end and though they were black, they were still quite beautiful.

Taking a deep breath, I followed his instructions and stretched my wings, feeling the wind against my feathers.

It felt nice and refreshing; almost making me forget about my back pain.

"now try to flap them so you can lift yourself off the ground, you don't have to do it so hard, just hover" I watched as his wings began moving back and forth, causing him to leave the ground.

"let me help you" he extended his hand again, but this time he was above me, so I had to hover to his level.

Reluctantly, I let my small hands dissolve into his huge ones.

It was painful for my wings to move from the base because of the wounds but I slowly willed them to move.

My feet were no longer touching the grass anymore and I began to ascend.

"good" he smiled, slightly squeezing my hands, never taking his eyes off mine.

I hadn't noticed on time but we were slowly going higher and we were above the canopy.

"now, try to push your body towards were you want to fly to; lean right, fly right" he let go of my hands and I would be lying if I said I didn't miss his touch.

Following his instructions, I gently pushed myself from side to side.

This is honestly easier than I thought.

"should we go for a fly? A really fast one?" he grinned impishly and my lips twisted into a smirk.

"why not?" he looked like he wanted to say something but then he vanished, then I noticed he flew really fast up into the skies and vanished amongst the clouds.

I flapped my wings really hard so to enable me catch up with him.

The higher I flew, the more the feeling of freedom washed over me.

This was unlike anything I had ever felt before and I'd forgotten I was competing with Cyrus.

The feeling was…unnatural and just something words couldn't explain; at least not properly.

"I see you're enjoying yourself" Cyrus was suddenly beside me.

"this feeling is amazing" the view from here was unbeatable.

The clouds looked a beautiful shade of orange as it was dusk and the sun was setting.

"yes; yes, you are" he flew a little closer.

"try doing some tricks" he did a backflip and other things that made him seem quite young.

How he was acting made it quite difficult to believe he was a feared and ruthless vampire king.

I was still new to this but there was no harm in trying am I right?

The first thing that came to my mind was a quick skin and the sound of his laughter filled my ears.

These days we've been spending more time together; asides flying lessons.

Whenever I feel down or sad about not being able to fly, he always finds a way to cheer me up.

Cyrus has really changed from when I first met him.

I think I might have feelings for him; but it could just be that I see him as a friend.

He seemed less atrocious and I'm thankful that I was able to forgive him if not I wouldn't have been able to see this part of him.

As we kept on flying, I found myself staring at him; how his hair flew in the wind and his shirt was a bit torn since that's where his wings came from.

I don't think I'm entirely sure on how I feel about him but I do care and appreciate everything he has done for me.

............…

We had flown for hours before deciding to settle down somewhere in the forest, on a hill coated with soft grass as we looked at the stars in the skies.

"and that one looks like a bunny; see the fluffy tail?" I pointed upwards hoping he would connect the dots and see what I saw.

"you're right" he acknowledged trying to see if he could make out any other shape amongst the stars.

"it's been quite a while since I had done this. When I was younger; me-maw and I would do this almost every night" memories of my simple life before now hit me.

"you seemed to have enjoyed your childhood"

I do admit it was fun while it lasted and though we had nothing to us except our names, we lived life to the best that we could.

"well it wasn't so hard; we only tried not to starve to death and avoid being captured by vampires-" my hand slapped across my mouth as I had realized what I had just said.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean that; I just-" I sat up and began apologizing.

It wasn't right for me to bring up things like that.

"no it's alright; what's done is done" he laughed nervously, sitting up as well before speaking again.

"at least you got to play around when you were younger; all I've ever known are responsibilities and hard work"

"well at least after all the work your father would make time to play with you or something like that"

"actually, when he was done teaching me, he would shut himself away in his room and barely spoke to any of his children" he sounded so emotionless while speaking.

"well your mother must have shown you quite some love before-" I cut myself off not knowing how to structure my next sentence so I cleared my throat.

"she only fulfilled her duties to my father and made us; other than that, all she wanted was power. She never loved him or any of us for that matter but my father did love her. There were times that she would leave us to starve or fend for ourselves"

My heart broke as I listened.

I know that his mother was like Hellen but I never knew it was this bad.

"y-you've never had someone to love you?" I looked up at him, my eyes glossy with tears.

I felt genuinely sorry for him.

And here I was thinking he was a monster.

"that's basically it. I don't know what it feels like to me loved" he turned and his eyes met mine.

Though he was trying to hide it, he was quite sad about everything that had happened.

I don't know what had happened but the next thing I knew was that our lips were against each other.

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