{Whispers of Peace Part II}
The world was finally quiet.
Gone were the screams, the blood, the frantic nights where Kai clutched Adrian's shirt like it was the only thing keeping him alive. Here, in their small cottage tucked into the forest's edge, the only thing Kai clung to now was warmth and Adrian.
The moon filtered through gauzy white curtains, casting silver over the bed where they lay tangled in nothing but skin and silence. Adrian's arm was thrown lazily around Kai's waist, fingers tracing the slow, rhythmic rise and fall of his stomach.
"You're thinking too loud again," Adrian murmured against Kai's neck, voice still heavy with sleep.
Kai chuckled, soft and shy. "Am not."
"You are," Adrian insisted, pressing a kiss just below his jaw. "Tell me."
Kai hesitated. "It's just... I didn't know peace could feel like this. Like I'm not afraid of tomorrow."
Adrian propped himself up, strands of dark hair falling into his face. "Because tomorrow doesn't get to take you from me," he said. "Not anymore."
Kai looked up at him gorgeous and wild and impossibly tender all at once. "You always say the right thing."
"Of course I do," Adrian grinned, leaning in to steal a kiss. "I'm a vampire. We're good with words."
Kai rolled his eyes but melted into the kiss anyway, sighing as Adrian's hand slipped down his back, possessive even in peace.
Later, they sat in the garden, wrapped in a blanket and each other. Fireflies blinked lazily in the dark. Kai rested his head on Adrian's chest, listening to the steady thrum of a heart that shouldn't beat but did, only for him.
"Do you think... we could stay here?" Kai asked. "Make a life here? With no more fighting, no more running?"
Adrian looked up at the stars, his jaw clenched for only a second before he nodded. "Yeah. We'll plant roots. Build shelves. Argue over paint colors. And you'll laugh, and I'll kiss that pouty little mouth of yours until you forgive me."
Kai snorted softly, pulling the blanket higher. "Deal."
They didn't need to talk about the scars anymore. The ones on Kai's skin, or the deeper ones neither dared name. For now, there were no ghosts.
Just them. The night. And the hush of peace that wrapped around them like the softest promise.