Elaine's POV
After the outburst between me and Damien, he hadn't said much to me ever since. It was more like we were two strangers living under one roof, and it stayed that way until he brought me back to Raven Hollow.
The journey was one of the longest moments of my life, and as if it was made to punish me even more, Damien didn't try to soften his demeanor since then. He didn't reply to anything I said nor to any of my actions. Well, I couldn't complain much because perhaps I deserved all of what I got from him.
"Thanks for bringing me back," I whispered after carrying my luggage out of his trunk.
He just nodded without bothering to look at me. I watched as he got into the car, and just as I had turned with buried hopes of ever getting to hear a word from him, he spoke, though with so much hesitation.
"Take care of yourself, Elaine."
With that, he drove off faster than I could catch my breath and at least let out a sigh of relief for knowing that he could still speak to me after what had happened.
"Long time no see," I heard Cordelia's voice from behind, making me leave everything on the ground and run to her for an embrace.
"I've missed you so damn much, Mrs. Cordelia," I spoke into the fabric around her shoulder while I hugged her.
"You have no idea, little one," I felt her smile on her end, patting my back to release her, probably so she could get some fresh air. "Here, let's make you feel at home, shall we?" She gestured to my stuff on the floor.
I nodded excitedly and picked everything up at once, aiming for the door and heading straight up to my room.
"How have you been?" I asked her after emptying the glass of water.
"Same as always. I can already tell that you got into so much trouble, isn't it?" She looked at me closely, breaking the tension with a smile.
"Well, you can say that's for sure," I sighed, doing a mental calculation of what my life had been from the point where I got held by Luca to the ethereal moments I spent with Damien—only for me to screw everything up days later.
"Good news, though. Damien already told me that you were going to be back today, so I made a special meal. He also said that you've been going through a lot with your training, so I'll offer you a treat, but it's just for today. Raven Hollow needs her savior back on both feet, and you can't do that in the free comfort of relaxation," she ranted.
Her words got me stunned, as I hadn't expected that Damien would make preparations for my return… It felt as though he was going to forget that I even existed once we returned to Raven Hollow, and this… I really did screw things up.
I replied by wearing a sad smile, as the pang in my heart never really left for hurting him the way that I did.
"Thanks, Mrs. Cordelia."
She left me to unpack and brought in the meal as she promised. Afterwards, she prepared a special bath, with lovely fragrances adorning my skin and hair. Her massage was top-notch, and I wouldn't even lie to myself or anyone—if at all I deserved to get a special treat like this, it shouldn't even be from the person I hurt the most. Damien.
"Poor Elaine," Cordelia sighed after minutes had gone without me saying a word. "Just rest up, and we'll talk about everything on your mind tomorrow, okay?" she asked carefully.
"Okay," I whispered, curling myself up to the side while she helped me turn off the light.
"Wait," I called her back when she was about to leave.
"What's the matter, dear?"
"How is Kai?"
She looked surprised by my question as if she had expected something much more different. She scanned my eyes for something I didn't even want to process, but it didn't stop her from giving me a response either.
"Good," she kept her reply short, closing the door immediately before I would be able to ask her another question.
***
The next day came quite faster than I wanted, and my hopes were all high to see Kai for myself and know how he was doing, even though I still felt guilty for what I did to Damien. I just hoped that he didn't find out because then, I'd have to face the two of them shamefully for the rest of my life.
"Going somewhere?" Cordelia asked when she sighted me from the staircase, already dressed and ready to begin today's adventure.
"Yeah… I'm actually going to check up on Kai and see how he's coping with the full moon," I explained.
"I see," she murmured. "Just so you know, the full moon is exactly one week from now, and you can't be hovering around Raven Hollow unprepared for whatever decides to happen," she advised while putting a cup of tea on the counter. "It'll help you with the stress," she explained, gesturing for me to drink it up already.
I did without arguing and left the premises for Kai's. On getting to his almost abandoned home, I couldn't help but wonder why he chose such a place to call home after so many years of living on earth. Plus, he didn't look poor to me one bit, just that he looked like someone under a lot of restriction.
"Kai?" I called out softly while placing a gentle knock on his door. I got no response, so I opted to do a search around his house, but still got nothing. Just as I was about to leave, I saw him walk in from the small gate with neatly shaved hair and a vibrant aura exuding from him.
I stepped back when he looked in my direction, hiding behind the walls so he wouldn't see me. I hadn't known the gravity of what I had done until now, and I couldn't help but imagine how things would turn out when he learned the truth between me and Kai. This was the first time I had seen Kai so okay without me. Skin perfect, demeanor and energy all so good. I couldn't be the one to ruin it for him, so I sought an exit, vanishing before he could trace what or who had been in his home.
Hot tears of guilt and betrayal rushed down my eyes while I walked into the motel. The only thought that occupied my head was how I had successfully screwed over two innocent men—and still had Luca, who was currently doing anything to make sure that I ended up with him.
I didn't even know that Cordelia was behind me until I felt her pull me in for a hug. I crashed on her shoulder at once, letting out as much anguish as I could until I had no more left to let out.
"You can tell me what's going on," she spoke softly while leading me to my room.
"While I was away," I sniffed, trying hard to explain everything to her without breaking down all over again. "Luca managed to get to me on my way back, but I escaped, and that was how I met Damien in the woods. We got back to my place, though he deceived me at first, telling me that Kai was waiting for me there. We had an outburst, and things got a little intense," my pitch went higher involuntarily as memories of the first night he actually made love to me surfaced in my head.
"Easy, dear," she rubbed my palm when she noticed how hard I struggled to relay the rest of the information.
"He made love to me, not once, and the first time, I knew I didn't even care so much about Kai. Honestly, it felt like Kai was the wrong person for me, and… we did it over and over again. He helped me with my training. In fact, Damien has been nothing but good to me these past days, but what did I do in return?" I asked, feeling so much hate towards myself. "I effortlessly ruined everything!" I cried bitterly, wishing I could go back in time to either unsay what I said to Damien or stop him from making love to me.
Cordelia said nothing but just held me in place. She let me soak her clothes with my tears, and all too soon, I started to feel empty.
"It was bound to happen, Elaine, so don't be too hard on yourself," she tried to soothe me.
"I can't even stand Kai, even though he knows nothing about this."
"Believe me, Elaine, even if you ended up choosing Damien over Kai, both of them were already anticipating a twist, and they know so well that it would come with this price," she whispered when I had calmed down a little.
"Thank you," I mumbled after a while of her patting my back tenderly and making sure that I was recovering from the nightmare in my head.
"Sure. Besides," she cleared her throat. "I think it's time I told you the truth about your bloodline."