Karizma

Ryleigh jumped out of bed and pulled her shirt over her head. Kristopher had been damn near catatonic for the last few minutes since she confessed the existence of her sister. He did not even try to stop her from getting out of bed. His eyes, however, remained fixated on her silence. She pulled on a pair of jeans and shook her head. “This was a mistake,” she whispered.

“It can’t be possible,” Kristopher said. “No Karizma ever had a sibling.”

“My mother took the secret to her grave, as I planned on doing,” Ryleigh said as she tossed her hair in a ponytail. “And I should have stuck to that plan. It doesn’t look like anything good came of telling you the truth.”

“I would have known if there were two of you,” Kristopher muttered, more to himself than to her. “I’ve been killing you for centuries.”

Ryleigh glared at him as frustration rose in her chest. “What the hell do you think is happening here?” She snapped. “I have been honest with you since the night that I revealed myself to you. Do you think that I created an imaginary sister so you wouldn’t investigate a fuck boy on the side? Between working for you, falling in love with you, and trying to hide myself every minute of every day, sure, I have time for a booty call.”

“Don’t,” Kristopher growled, his auburn eyes locked on to her emerald ones.

“You forget that a Karizma’s entire existence is to hide. You’re dating a Karizma, hell, you’re in love with one, and you still don’t trust her. And she has done everything possible to prove that she trusts you. Even after knowing you are the one that killed her people,” Ryleigh added. She sat in a chair and pulled her boots on. “Is it really that hard to believe that there is another, just like me, and you weren’t told?” She zipped both of her boots and stood up.

“What are you doing?” Kristopher asked suddenly. Ryleigh looked at him in disbelief, as if it was not obvious enough that she was going to leave. The look of hurt and surprise on his face, however, revealed to her that he had been watching her, but not really paying attention to her. He had been so consumed by her truth that he did not actually see her. Her zipping her boots seemed to have torn him from his mind and forced him into reality. Ryleigh sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. “Kristopher, I need to leave. I can’t continue to involve you in all of this. I already worry about what will happen to you when other vampires discover that you know who I am and let me live. My sister is another matter. No one can ever know about her, which means that no one can ever know about me. I need to disappear, from you, from the world. The best way to keep her safe is if I don’t exist.”

Kristopher’s jaw ticked. He stood up and approached her, his naked body mere inches away from hers. She felt the rage that radiated off him, the hurt that she had caused him. She closed her eyes and turned her head. She knew that the omission of a secret so large would damage whatever was happening between them, but she had hoped that he would understand. No one knew of her sister; Ryleigh had claimed for years that she was an only child, that her sister was just her friend. He hasn’t figured out who she is yet, she thought. But it is only a matter of time before he starts guessing, and I can’t lie to him. I need to be gone before he starts asking questions.

Ryleigh’s eyes shot open as Kristopher’s hand laced around the back of her neck and wrapped into her ponytail. His other arm encircled her waist and harshly pulled her body into his. His grip in her hair tightened, forcing her face to stare into his. “Kristopher?” she whispered.

“I am sorry for all of the second guessing,” he responded quietly. “You must understand that my entire life, all of these centuries, has been lies. Even your truths, I question, because no one has been honest with me in a very long time.”

“If I haven’t made it perfectly clear, I am not everyone else,” Ryleigh snapped.

“Which is why I cannot let you leave,” Kristopher growled. His grip tightened on her hair again, and Ryleigh flinched as it pulled. He dropped his face to hers, his lips brushing hers. His breath coated her lips as he spoke. “The thought of anything happening to the goddess in my arms terrifies me beyond belief.”

Ryleigh’s breath hitched. “I thought vampires didn’t feel fear, with the whole immortality thing.”

“I don’t give a shit about my own life. I don’t fear what may happen to me. But to you,” he whispered. His lips grazed against hers. “It’s paralyzing. And knowing that you have a relative out there…” His breath faltered as he tightened his grip on her waist, as if trying to meld her body into hers for eternity. “You are like me, in that regard. You’ve expressed that you don’t care what happens to you, but what happens to me. We’ve only been this for a short time, but a sibling is a life commitment. I can only imagine what you will do to protect her.”

“I would die for her,” Ryleigh answered immediately.

“And that knowledge scares the shit out of me,” Kristopher replied. He pressed his forehead against hers and sighed. “I don’t think I can live without you.”

Ryleigh pulled her face back and studied the vampire before her. His face was a mask of pain and stress, his brown eyes so dimmed by it all that they appeared transparent. “You would have rathered the fuck boy,” Ryleigh said softly.

“After the pain of it, yes,” Kristopher whispered. “Because at least it would not be another factor of your life. Your sister is another factor. She is the only factor that matters.”

“I will welcome the hunt on my life if it diverts attention from her,” Ryleigh said. “I will drop my shield, and every vampire in the vicinity will know of me. My sister is the best parts of me. I will not let them find her. She has been practicing with her magic, how to hide herself. By the time she ascends, she will have had more time to master it than I did. She could hide and live somewhere with no vampires, grow old in her solitude. She needs to survive, which means that I cannot. This will end with me.”

Ryleigh bit her lip suddenly as she stared at the dead brown eyes before her. “When…I decide to invite death, I would like it to be you who accepts.”

“No,” Kristopher snapped. “Don’t ask that of me.”

“It would be better coming from you. Any other vampire would tear me apart.”

“I will protect you, Ryleigh. I will kill my own kind to keep you alive—”

“But Karizma threat to your people will remain if you do,” Ryleigh whispered. “I need to die, for my sister to live. Let everyone think that Karizma threat is gone. If you do it, no harm will come to you from your kin because you will have fulfilled your mission.” She smiled gently and placed a hand on his face. “I would be at peace, Kristopher, knowing that you and my sister are safe and unharmed. That’s all that I want.”

Kristopher’s lips crashed against hers. Ryleigh gasped in surprise as she succumbed to the kiss. The kiss was desperate, panicked. Kristopher’s body began to tremble violently, and Ryleigh opened her eyes. His grip tightened even further on her body, as if terrified that she would pull away from his embrace entirely. His eyes were closed, and the pain on his face ripped through her. He was fighting his emotions, physical pain apparent in his restraint to prevent his emotions from breaking through the surface. He is trying to hard to be strong through it all, she thought bitterly. I have had a lifetime of preparation, but he was blindsided by it. She slowly withdrew from the kiss, but the windows to his soul remained sealed. “Kristopher, look at me,” she whispered.

“I don’t trust my eyes enough to answer you,” Kristopher whispered painfully.

“Kristopher…”

“I will do it. I will kill you, my love. I will not let anyone else kill you before I do,” he said. Before Ryleigh could speak, Kristopher’s lips ravaged hers again. Tears fell against Ryleigh’s cheeks at his confession, and she kissed him back passionately. His hands released her and roamed her body, as if committing her body to memory. She wanted to thank him, but she knew that would further fuel the pain growing between them. Whenever she was ready, whenever it was time, the only man that she had ever loved would be the one to end her life.