Conquering His Cold Heart

“Of course.” Everard gave a nod and followed his friend.

Alexander stopped when he reached in front of his chamber. However, before entering, he looked behind him. The corridor was empty except for a few maids who were running around. He was glad that his vampire guards decided not to show themselves.

‘I guess they didn’t see Eve as a threat.’ He took a sigh of relief and then gestured for Everard to enter the chamber.

Upon entering the chamber, Everard looked around at the furniture and decoration which hadn’t changed much from his last visit.

“It still looks the same!” he said while darting his eyes around the room and smiling.

Alexander also looked around the room and mumbled, “I guess it does. I am barely home and I don’t see why I should change the things around here.”

Both of them made themselves comfortable on the sofa, opposite each other.

It was now Everard’s turn to wait patiently for Alexander to speak.

.....

After thinking for some time, Alexander broke the silence in the room by saying, “I heard from Anna’s husband that your kind and their kind made some kind of pact… So…”

Everard’s brows slightly twitched when he heard that. He pressed his lips into a thin line and thought to himself, ‘I can’t believe he actually mentioned it to Alex.’ But then again, he wasn’t grateful towards the Caspian. ‘I’m sure he didn’t reveal it for my benefit.’

Alexander cleared his throat and then continued, “So, I won’t ask you to reveal what kind of hu– what you are. But I would like to ask something.”

His heart began to ache a little when he recalled what he had witnessed. He took a deep breath and asked while digging his nails into his palms, “Do you also eat humans?”

“What?” Everard scoffed at the absurdity of that question and defended himself, “We don’t eat humans! Why would we even do that? We aren’t like your…” He clenched his teeth and mumbled, “…new relative.”

Alexander instantly frowned because he felt attacked by what Everard just said. He indignantly grabbed the armrest of the sofa and immediately defended Caspian and his kind, “They just borrow blood from humans!” He further emphasized in a rather loud voice, “WITHOUT KILLING THEM!”

“Borrow blood?” Everard let out a grim chuckle when he saw that rage looming in those kind eyes of his friend. And he hated how Alexander was defending the bloodsuckers.

“There’s no such thing as borrowing blood!” He rolled his eyes and said with utmost hatred towards Caspian, “Who said that nonsense to you? The very man who kills humans for food?”

Alexander got even angrier by Everard’s demeanor. “You are in no position to say that when your kind tears humans’ flesh as if they are nothing but mere vegetables!” he screamed at Everard while glaring at his friend.

“My kind isn’t as cruel as–”

“Just shut up and listen first!” Alexander didn’t let Everard finish what he was saying. Just now, he was barely able to stop himself from throwing a fist or two at Everard for what those monsters did back then.

He kept on glaring at Everard and also shouted while clenching his fists, “I witnessed everything with my own eyes, for lord’s sake! And it was horrible. Everything was so horrible that I was shaken to the core! I would have been dismembered into pieces like my guards if it wasn’t for King Caspian’s cousin who stayed behind and protected me.”

This time, Everard didn’t try to defend his kind because he hadn’t witnessed what had happened during the attack, Alexander had.

‘Maybe things were as bad as he is saying…’ he thought to himself when he saw tears accumulating in the rims of his friend’s eyes. ‘Those eyes aren’t lying.’ He felt a pang in his heart after seeing the face Alexander was making.

Alexander was feeling as though something was clogging his throat. He kept on taking deep breaths and tried to control the rage that was boiling inside his heart.

‘This isn’t like me,’ he covered his eyes with his palm and thought to himself. ‘Why do I feel like crying all of a sudden?’ he was trying to figure out what he was feeling at the moment. Was it rage? Was it grief towards his fallen guards? Or was it something else entirely?

Alexander lowered the pitch of his voice a little when he asked, “Now tell me why I shouldn’t be afraid of you, Eve? The first encounter I had with your kind and their kind made me believe that they are good while you are not. Tell me why I should believe anything that you are saying to me right now?”

He rolled his eyes and also said in a passing whisper, “I bet you can also grow fangs and claws like them. Of course, you would talk in favor of them.”

Everard felt deeply hurt by his best friend’s words. However, he couldn’t blame Alexander for what he thought about the werewolves.

After taking a deep sigh, he bend forward and finally spoke, “I understand why you don’t trust me at the moment. I mean, if I was in your shoes, maybe I would also think the same. My kind tried to… take your life while they saved you.”

He looked deep into his friend’s eyes and said softly, “But Alex, you cannot judge all of us by what happened that night. I assure you that not all of us act like those fools. Take humans for example. You cannot develop a wrong impression about all of the humans just because you encountered a handful of murderers and thieves.”

Alex looked away and kept quiet. He could see the logic in Everard’s words. But he couldn’t just forget everything that he saw that night.

Everard came and sat beside Alexander. “Alex.” He grabbed his friend’s attention before he turned his head again.

“I am not asking you to forgive those who tried to kill you and everyone else who traveled with you. I have already apologized on their behalf and I will keep on apologizing as many times as you ask me to.”

He placed his palm on Alexander’s knee and asked as politely as he could, “I am just asking you to be more open towards my kind. We aren’t as bad as you think. We go around like normal humans, doing normal things. It’s just that we can’t control our trans–”

He took a deep breath before he revealed what he would turn into during the full moon. He scratched his forehead and mumbled, “Sure, we may look frightening with our fangs and claws but…”

Everard looked down and asked, “Don’t they also look frightening? They also have those things. And they look like dead people walking amongst the living.”

He looked up at Alexander again and asked, “You can accept them but not us?”

Alexander understood what Everard was trying to say to him. He looked ahead at the empty sofa and said, “I am being a hypocrite, aren’t I?”

Everard also looked ahead and asked casually, “Would you punch me if I said yes?”