Hanging my head, realizing how much my silences and aloofness had put her through, I began to cry. The blood ran down my cheeks, falling on the crimson sheets to blossom out, tone on tone stains.

“Nerissa… listen to me.” I made her sit up, took her by the shoulders, and stared into her eyes. “You are enough. You are perfect the way you are. You are the woman I want. If I wanted to be with another vampire, I would already have found someone before I met you. I love playing with Roman, but at the end of the day? He doesn’t make my heart skip a beat. And he can’t make me cry.”

And with that, I pulled her into my arms, and drew the sheets up over us. Life was harsh. War was an ever-present reality. And sometimes the battles landed squarely in our laps. But there were some battles that talking could resolve. And sometimes what we thought was a solid defense ended up being a wedge.

As I kissed her, the warmth of her body pressing against the coldness of my own, I knew that those walls had to come down. It was time to let someone fully into my heart. Because there were too many wars, too many battles, waiting ahead. And even when it meant taking a risk, we couldn’t deny our feelings. Because life was all too short to throw away the love offered up to us.