Chapter 300: Too late
Everyone... Everything went dead quiet and remained so as more vampires arrived.
Even Remus’ cries ceased once he saw the look on Silas.
The glare his demeanor harbored was unlike any other his features ever donned.
Knelt down by Arabella’s unconscious body, his diamonds lingered on the white dress covering her.
The same one she was supposed to wear on what should have been the best day of her life...
It was no longer immaculate. It no longer had that sheen it once returned with the light that reflected against its surface.
Tainted red it was with some splatters being of a deeper shade than others.
Then the brooch came into view... That was yet another blow. Another dagger driven right through his heart.
Very slowly, his right hand rose and took her face. It was so small in comparison which was a detail he never truly dwelled on before then.
Her body was still warm, but no life beat in it. No heartbeat, no pulse, no coursing of blood through her veins. Some of it still dripped from the gaping wounds both the dagger and Katherine’s teeth left on her, but that was all.
"My dear Lord...," the whisper came from Persephone who finally weaved through the gathered crowds around them.
Silas had no reaction, showed no emotion and merely kept cradling Arabella’s body in his arms.
All of the sudden something seemed to have rekindled the spark of life in him when he bit down on his own hand before bringing it to her mouth, attempting to make her drink his blood.
Absolutely nothing happened as she still lay lifeless... Silas gave up in the end, his face and eyes void of any warmth.
Although, it wasn’t the usual coldness emanating from him.
Five, ten, twenty minutes went by but it was as though time had completely stopped. No one dared breathe a word after Persephone.
What was there left to say?
More seconds and minutes slipped by until he eventually made a move. With a lot of care, Silas lifted her off the ground and started walking away from the scene without a single word.
No one tried to stop him.
His feet led him through the hallways, eyes soldered on her lifeless face.
That visage that once exhibited so many emotions, so many expressions was rendered silent.
Arabella still looked so peaceful... So beautiful, looking like her eyes could open at any moment and she would flash him one of her signature smiles.
That never happened, of course, deepening that sinking feeling he carried in his chest. That sensation of falling freely into nothingness the more his eyes lingered on her.
His... Well, their room was his destination. After walking through the curtains he gently laid her body on the bed, making sure to place her hands together over her chest.
From then on, nothing truly mattered. Not the rising racket outside in the halls, not the screaming and wailing boy he left behind, nothing...
She was human. She was frail and Silas knew he would need to protect her more than a woman of his own kind but he believed Arabella had at least a good few more decades to breathe.
To depart so soon and so suddenly... At the hands of someone whom she considered a friend no less.
Without putting any thoughts into it, his lips parted as his vocal cords got ready to work, "Arabella," he whispered.
No response. Not a flicker. Not the sliver of a twitch or anything at all...
"Arabella," for the first time since he could ever remember, his voice quivered.
Silas stared down at her figure for Lord knew how long before stepping around the bed and laying down beside her.
Barely blinking, as he kept on gaping at her like it would actually change a thing.
His hand ventured closer to hers and took it for his thumb to rub little circles on it.
It’d gotten significantly colder and stiffer since the last time he’d touched her body.
Why was such a thing happening? It wasn’t supposed to go that way? It didn’t have to be that way, did it?
Deep down, Silas wanted nothing but to stay home with her, but against his better judgement he succumbed to the pressure of his peers.
His whole life, all he truly wanted was to blend in because standing out brought him nothing but pain and isolation.
For once, he’d found someone to call home, to cling to and he just let her go in the worst possible of ways.
No, it sure didn’t have to be that way. He could have stayed. He could have protected her, but he didn’t...
His fingers trailed up to her face, caressing the once warm surface. That demeanor that almost always smiled in the face of others, that blushed so intensely he believed she’d faint because of it.
It took him three hundred years to find her. The one person he wanted to be and stick around with. It took him a month to completely fall for her and less than one night to lose it all.
There was a knock on the door, but Silas ignored it, tuned the world out to make space for the voice he’d never hear again.
It lived in his head, rang so loud it’d blocked everything else.
It was all too new, all too unreal to feel real...
Knowing that no matter how much he’d shake her body, she would never wake up again.
As the minutes trickled by, the edges of his vision grew blurrier, tugging him down a new realm.
One so dark, cold and unfamiliar. He felt like a child again, lost and vulnerable.
There was no hand to hold his or soul to guide him through that new labyrinth of... Nothing.
He was all alone, once again.
The scenery was unlike anything he’d ever witnessed before. There was a sky or at least, Silas believed it was one.
He ambled that foreign land aimlessly until humanoid figures materialized in the distance.