Under the heavy rain, shattered glass clinked as fleshy droplets of water splashed onto it. He pried open her lips with gentle violence, feeling the warmth when his tongue began to explore within. She wriggled around whilst her heart simultaneously started to crash out in her chest. Under the trangerine tree, he let himself melt away into her scent, kissing every corner, gliding from her lower lip to the upper. Like waves crashing against each other, his breathing hitched, and his mouth followed natural desire, sucking and kissing her lips with great desperation and persistent gentleness.
Odette remembered this yearning... from that fateful night. She raised her free hand and clutched onto his chest, holding his shirt tight and pushing him away. Caius held her by the back of her head, and while he was deepening the kiss, he began to suck on her upper lip, loosening it all.
They were trapped within the trance of passion – one putting all her efforts to resist the beating heart and his numbing kiss, while the other refused to let her go. With a lick and a nibble on her, he backed away, leaving a few inches of distance between them. Odette stared up at him with eyes wide open, lips parted and swollen. Truly seeing this, Caius could not help but dive in for another.
"Caius!" he almost had her. "Stop." She shook her head and pleaded with her gaze. He could see how much desperation weighed upon her. It was a mess. Instinctively, his body towered closer to her, and he spoke gently,
"I love you, Odette."
His nose rested on her cheek, taking a long breath. "I can't let you go." His voice shattered, "I can't lose you, too." His thin lips trailed upon her jawline, leaving short kisses along the skin.
"I-...I don't know how.."
She was in a completely different world. Her mind was not focused on a single thought. Every memory she had with him, every feeling that her body felt when they spent time together, all rained upon her. She gulped hard when he moved onto the side of her neck, burying his face into the crook.
"I'll treat you better." He hummed. "I'll never hurt you like this, I'm so sorry." His lips firmly engulfed her skin, kissing it and pulling on it very, very carefully. It was as if he were handling a thin, jaded glass.
"You know that I don't belong here."
Odette shook her head and nudged her neck away from his touch. Her eyes fixated on something far away. Caius held her chin and turned her to face him. He watched how she was reddened and breathing fast. All these emotions must have overwhelmed her. He grabbed both of her arms and rested his forehead upon hers.
"I'm sorry, Odette, " he said, closing his eyes. "I can't even bear to look at you. I know that night I shouldn't have done that."
Hearing this, tears fell on her cheeks. She could remember how panicked she was when it happened.
"I'm sorry I hurt the only friend you had." Listening to his apology, she could feel that she was not going to be harmed anymore, lethally at least. A strange sense of fatigue seemed to swell up within her.
Caius could feel how cold her body was. "Odette?" he raised his head and looked. She was staring at him, confused, suspicion filling her round pupils.
"Can you say something?" he urged, "You belong in here, you know."
Almost in a daze, she shook her head, chuckling sarcastically. "You..." her eyes seemed to be weighed down. "We are from two different worlds, Caius." She held him by his shoulders, patting him gently.
"It cannot collide."
From all the days that he had been with her, today, those words made him feel like he was a sour, tragic dud. She watched as his empty eyes filled with tears. They were brimming up to his skin, silently falling down his face.
"I know." He cupped her face. "I know because I was born into this family of blood." He gulped down a large sob. Seeing this saddening state, Odette could not hold it in and broke down into painful tears as well. Caius smiled, completely disregarding his aching chest, and assured, "I will break my world and destroy it..." he nodded, "if it means that I will be able to be one with yours."
Under the thick rain, her eyes shimmered and reflected the evening sky. The dark orange rays of the dying sun seemed to witness all of this and had decided to remain impartial, drowning under the mountains to make way for the night. Her lips moved; Caius wondered whether it was because of the cold or whether she wanted to speak.
"You..." she breathed in and shook visibly, "You shouldn't."
Her body lost all its energy and slowly fell upon his chest. As her eyes closed, she could only remember the way he shot out to grab her.
"Odette!"
* * * *
Echoes of her name being called filled the room. The four men who stood outside were drenched. From within the conservatory, they could finally see his tall figure appear. Their master was haggard. The blood on his face and shirt had dried up; however, under the fresh rain that he was soon exposed to brought them back to life. Daniel stood there. Head wrapped in gauze, hastily. The wound Nathaniel gave him throbbed under the heavy rain.
Caius walked out of the building with Odette in his arms. He had taken off his outer layer and had covered her. The four men looked into the state of the young miss. She was burning with a high fever, her lips chapped and eyes closed.
"Get the doctor soon." They heard his command and instantly jumped into action.
The rain did not stop. Under its heavy veil of mist and water, they made way for him to carry her across the field, passing the chicken coop, entering the gates to his residence, where one of them went in advance to call upon the butlers and maids.
Behind the residence of the main bedroom, a group of workers heated up a large furnace unit. It was made out of stone, with a large cave-like lower body that elongated its neck up to the sky. Under the storming rain, which did not falter, they wore safety gear and lit it up.
"There are signs of physical shock as well as emotional overwhelming." The doctor, who was fondly referred to as the 'quack' by Caius whenever he visited for checkups, turned away from the woman lying on the bed. He took a good look at the master of this household and let out a disappointing chain of expressions.
"If you have checked the news, you would know that this rain is a result of a hurricane," he sorted out certain pills. "This rain and sickness cannot be paired well."
Bringing out four brown papers the size of his palm, he wrote down which medicine it was and at what time of the day that it must be taken.
Caius seated himself on the other side of the bed, tightly holding her hand and adjusting the bed sheets, "How can I make her feel at ease, doctor?"
The man who was initially occupied with his pills widened his eyes, shooting daggers at Caius and then looking back at the two guards and butler who had the same expressions written on their faces. With a clear of his throat, he handed the brown pouches of medicine to Caius and observed the woman who was in deep sleep.
So desperate, he called me by my graduated name...
"When I was examining her body, it was very apparent that she had been skipping meals." He gestured for the other to take a look at her collarbone. "Moreover, there was a sudden chain of events that had caused her to take an action of flight or fight, which ended in her being fatigued, drenched in rain, and finally falling sick."
This is all because of me.
Stroking her hair lightly, Caius lifted her hand and placed it on his face. The days when she would freely walk around this place, tend to the flowers, and laugh while she made pastries were her best moments of life inside this mansion. Without protecting her smile, he had actually made it worse. Truly, he was not worthy of her love. Still, the thought of her leaving this place was too much for him to bear.
"Give these medicines after her meals." The doctor sighed. "If I may overstep my boundaries, Mr. Constantine, I would advise humbly to make her feel at home and never let this happen again."
He pondered his next line of words,
"I know you would want to protect her this time and never let something like that happen again."
"I indeed killed my way up this ladder, Doctor," voice as stern as a tree unwavering, Caius stared back at the other. "I will not let that happen again."
This earned a nod and a smile from the doctor. As he bowed and packed up, the guards were ordered to see him off. He could feel Caius leaning over, slowly and gently whispering to her –
"I treasure you too much to let it happen to you."