Forever (Fallen 3)

“But you suspected,” I glared at him. “So, you should have told me. You can’t keep me in the dark. It’s not fair. I’m your wife, your soul mate, I deserve to know.”

He kissed my hands. “I only wanted to protect you. And selfishly I thought that if I didn’t tell you then I would be wrong. That it wouldn’t happen. But it is. And we’re the key to everything.” He put his hand against my stomach. “You, me, and the baby.”

“How?” I choked out. “How can I be important?”

“I don’t want to say. Not yet. I may still be wrong. And it’s not good to know the future.”

“But you know,” I accused.

“Yes, and look at all the trouble it has caused me. The only one who is ever supposed to know the future is the seer. Unfortunately, we haven’t had a seer since Simone.”

“Fine,” I growled. “Don’t tell me. You’re right. I shouldn’t know,” I crossed my arms over my chest.

He sighed. “I’m only-” he began before I cut him off.

“Protecting me. I know.”

He pulled me against him and kissed the top of my head. “I’m sorry for all that I’ve done. But you are everything to me. I will do anything to keep you safe.”

I closed my eyes. Worry and fear rang clearly in his voice. He knew that the prophecy was about us but he wanted to deny it. He knew there would be a war. There would be more casualties. Far more than the battle with Selena. And he knew that there were two outcomes. One where we would win and one where we would all die. I looked around at my family. Would we all survive? Or only some? Or none at all? Suddenly the child growing inside me was not a joyous moment to be celebrated, no, it was a ticking time bomb. The baby signaled the end of life as we know it. Tick, tock, tick, tock. There was no turning back now. I had wanted a baby and now I was going to get one and with it we may all lose our lives. It was my fault. Everything was always my fault.

I began to hyperventilate.

“Kylie, what’s wrong?” Jonathon asked stroking my face. There was no trace of the angry vampire from two hours ago.

I clutched my chest. “It’s my fault. It’s always my fault. I’m like the plague!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Jonathon.

I stood abruptly. “I am talking about the fact that if you hadn’t met me none of your lives would have been messed up. I’ve done nothing but bring grief to all of you! First, Selena and now this!” I cried. “You would be better off without me! Kill me! Please just kill me so I can’t hurt any of you anymore!”

“Kylie!” Jonathon yelled, pulling my hands from my face where I had been clawing myself. “Don’t talk like that! None of this is your fault! It’s called destiny! You’re not God you can’t control it no better than I can! Never talk about yourself that way! Never!”

“You’re family,” said Patrick, “and we protect our family.”

“No, no.” I shook my head, sobbing. “You can’t risk you’re lives for me.”

“Kylie,” Jonathon said my name sternly. “Kylie!” He took my face in his hands so that I was forced to look into his startling silver gray eyes. “The prophecy isn’t just about us dying.”

“What?” I asked my heart rate slowing down.

“If… we fail… the fate of all vampires is… well, it doesn’t look good. According to the prophecy, if we fail The Originals will hunt down every vampire out there and kill them. The Originals are old, very old, and therefore weak. They’re protected by all the strongest vampires out there, the Guarde, because of that.”

“There’s two that they don’t have,” Patrick said.

Jonathon quirked his brow. “What do you mean? Isn’t there only one they don’t have?”

Patrick held up two fingers. “There’s Gabriel, there’s you-” Patrick was interrupted by Jonathon.

“Me?” he asked.

“Yes, you,” said Patrick.

“But there are plenty of vampires who can control fire.”

“Not like you. Your flames are different. No other vampire has your blue flames and no other vampire can control it like you can. You’re special. But the Originals don’t know that. You give us an advantage that they won’t see coming. And there may be two more but I can’t be sure yet,” he said with a significant look at me.

“The baby?” I asked.