Chapter 21: All for us

Edwin was woken up by a crash. 

Alone in bed, he had stood up too quickly, gotten tangled up in the blankets, and then ended up falling to the floor.

Damon was looking at him from his place near the broken mirror, blood dripping from a nasty cut on his forehead.

Edwin noted with mute horror that it was cold in the room. Too cold. Seraphin never let the temperature drop too much. The fire demon was a furnace. One unwilling to do anything but live in an oven, most of the time.

Said demon was trying to breathe, encased in ice. Steam was rising off him.

The ice still refused to melt; Edwin realized.

"Ah, good morning, my lady!"

The voice was hoarse. So, as if someone had tried to strangle its owner just seconds prior. Edwin turned around slowly, hoping, and praying, that he was mistaken. That his nightmare was over.

Orion looked like a wreck. 

His clothes, once a luxurious robe, to be sure, were missing its upper half. Edwin could not help but think that the demon looked like a barbarian.

The only thing he was missing was a club…

Orion grinned, a tug of his lips with too much teeth to be seen, as he materialized a club made from ice in his hand. Edwin saw the deep gash on it, could swear that the white thing he was seeing was actually a bone, exposed to the elements.

Without thinking, Edwin started to fight against his restraints. How could he be so stupid as to believe it was all over? How had been so naive?

Orion would never let him go, Edwin realized, as he heard the soft footsteps. For whatever reason, the demon had a bone with him to pick.

He will never give up, Edwin thought, as he finally got a leg out of the blanket, not even when I die.

Orion's breath was on his neck in seconds. The man was sniffing at him, Edwin noted in muted horror. Was the demon going to eat him?

"Oh, what? Nah, if I do, your good old father will kill me," bloody hands took a hold of the blanket and tore at it, freeing Edwin, tugging him closer. "My sweet, I don't like cheaters."

"Unhand me!" Edwin knew that it was useless. He knew that if Damon and Seraphin had not managed to do anything, then there was no hope for him, either.

Yet, he still whirled around, his palm made the journey to Orion's face. The sound of the slap threatened to deafen him.

They stood there, Orion's cheek reddening slightly, and Edwin not being able to remove his hand. Orion… he…

"Oh, my dear," Orion grinned, showed off fangs which Edwin knew that the man wanted to sink into his flesh. "I have so much to tell you."

"Get away from him," Damon's voice was weak, his attempt to get back on his feet tugged at Edwin's heart. Why was the vampire suddenly so concerned over him?

They had lived together for months, and Damon had not shown him even a third of this care. To go up against Orion was suicide.

Edwin did not want to watch Damon die. He did not want to see him reduced to being dust, his brown eyes, eyes colored in amusement most often than not, becoming just a memory.

"Orion," Edwin felt like he had a stone stuck in his throat. What he was about to offer would hurt him. The only thought swimming in his brain being that Damon did not deserve to die.

He did not deserve to be a steppingstone in Orion's quest to destroy them all. He did not deserve to have such a spiteful end to such a colorful life.

Damon should live on, Edwin decided. He should live on and seduce his enemies, have fun, and just be peaceful.

"Orion…"

Edwin told himself all that, and yet, the words did not escape his lips. His dead heart quacked in fear, barring their way to freedom.

Edwin watched as Damon finally got to his feet. He wobbled, one bloody hand leaving a print on the wallpaper. Making it look so, as if the bird painted on it was wounded.

Edwin did not want this. He did not want it. He…

"Oh, Damon," Orion finally let go of Edwin, only to turn towards Damon, who was watching him with narrowed eyes. "Did you not tell me that you would prepare him for me?"

Edwin blinked. Wait… what? Damon had…?

"And did you not say that he will be perfect? Pliant, good, mine?"

Their eyes met, his and Damon's. He could see that the vampire was regretting his words, but did that excuse him?

"And what now?" Orion continued, as he made a couple of steps towards his former friend. "Will you stay in the way of true love?"

Damon barked a laugh, hoarse and a sure sign that his end was near. Edwin did not want to watch it all. He did not…

"You are a demon," Damon spat the words out, as blood trickled from the cut on his forehead, forcing him to close his right eye. "You can only hate."

"Oh, and you are better?" Orion's back was to Edwin, but he could hear the man's smirk in his voice.

How could things end up like this?

"You, who would spread your legs to pretty much everyone who asked," Orion kept on making his way towards Damon, his wounds healing right in front of Edwin's eyes.

No… he could not just watch. He simply could not!

Edwin gathered all of his mana in a ball. It manifested on the tip of his finger. A small thing, practically no better than a toy marble. Like something a child would get for Yule, as soon as his parents deemed him old enough not to swallow it.

Edwin aimed; Orion whipped around to stare at him.

"Edwin, my love," the words were poison. Edwin just wanted to silence the bastard once and for all. "Would you really kill your own soulmate?"

The glint in Orion's eyes spoke volumes. It was the truth, then, Edwin told himself. His heart clenched; Edwin's eyes widened.

Wait… his heart had clenched!

He stood there, the ball at the tip of his finger, as his heart finally started to move. One beat, the ball became bigger, another, the ball changed its color from black to white.

"Oh," was the only thing Orion said, as he eyed the ball. White, like Death's mana. White, for Edwin had really been ready to end it all. "Let us talk, ok?"

Edwin shook his head, sending the ball flying. He luxuriated in the soft pitter-patter of his own heart, thinking about how Damon would get to live another day.

Only for a barrier to appear around Orion, and for another demon, for a red-eyed man could be nothing else, to shake his head at him.

"We have a mission from Death himself," the man hissed, as he turned his back to Edwin. "And you need anger management classes, my lord Orion."

Orion rolled his snowstorm eyes, sighing, snapping his fingers with narrowed eyes.

Edwin watched as Damon was put back together, the nasty gash on his forehead healing. Heard the crackle of ice from behind him.

A mission given by Death himself?

"Edwin, love," Edwin did not know when Orion would give up the mocking. Wished to create another ball, sure that the demon with the bored expression did not have another barrier in him. "You are adopted!"

The new demon shook his head, made a couple of steps towards Edwin, his steps calm and measured. Edwin did not know what to think about the man.

"Lord Edwin, what my Lord Orion wants to say, if he could take his foot out of his mouth for just a second, is that you are the son of Death and Gorgon. Your father wants us to bring your mother back to him," the demon bowed his head.

 Silence stretched between them all.

Edwin did not care about a mission, or even about the fact that Orion was in the room. His feet took him to Damon, who was staring at his feet. His bottom lip between his teeth.

"You wanted to deliver me to Orion on a silver platter?" Edwin asked, as he placed a hand under Damon's chin, forcing the man to look him in the eyes.

"Yes," Damon was not willing to bullshit him, then? Edwin did not know whether that was a good thing, or not.

"And what made you change your mind?" Edwin asked, for he had to know. Orion could have killed Damon. Had wanted to do it, Edwin knew the ice demon well enough by now, to know that much.

Damon's finger reached out, tracing the earring which made Edwin lifelike. Noting that it had no mana left in it. Took in a deep breath to admire Edwin's rosy cheeks, his full red lips, his sparkling blue eyes.

"I am a selfish bastard," Damon admitted, as his finger left the earring, brushing across the lips, which made him want to sink his fangs into soft flesh.

He could hear Edwin's heart, as it beat for the first time in months. Could sense the man's blood moving and warming him up. The spark of life the earring had given Edwin was now a flame. 

Warm and comforting.

Everything that Damon had always wanted from the one who would tame him, make him stick to one bed.

Swear his love to, his loyalty, his soul.

"That is not very comforting," even Edwin's voice had shaken itself free of Death's grip.

 Damon chuckled.

"If you want perfection, Edwin, then you will die alone," Damon leaned in, trying to replace his finger with his lips.

Only for Edwin to take a step back, his blue eyes colder than the room they were in. Sending the chill of remorse through Damon's being.

"Maybe that will be for the best," Edwin countered, as he looked at Seraphin, who was glaring daggers at Orion's back. "Perhaps that is just my lot in life."

He heard as Seraphin roared, the ice exploding around him. Orion was silent, for once, but he, too, did not look pleased about these words.

Damon was not ready to give up, though. He had been a human, once. He knew how these wonderful beings thought.

"Yes, well, too bad," the vampire whispered, as he took Edwin's hand without his permission, and pressed his lips on the man's knuckles. "I am bad at giving up."

It was a promise to someone who did not want to hear it, Damon knew. Yet, it was their promise. He always kept his promises. No matter what it cost him.