Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 115: The Cold Never Bothered Me, Anyway

The windows, covered completely in thick layers of frost, offered little view of the mountainside the lodge was nestled on. The landscape was a white blur, hammered by an onslaught of heavy snow blanketing it as far as the eye could see. This wasn't a blizzard, but it was close; undoubtedly more snow than anyone watching from inside had ever seen in person. The wind howled, tree branches scraped loudly against the walls outside, and Orion shivered from the nip of the draft blowing through the window. "Wow, I've never seen snow like this," he said, "do you think we'll be able to go do anything in this weather?" 

"Probably not," Skylar, huddled up in more layers than she could count, responded from his side. "We'll have to wait until the weather calms down. It's a good thing we got here just before this all started..."

"I told you guys this vacation was a bad idea," Aurora whined from nearby, having just towed yet another one of her far-too-many suitcases upstairs and into a bedroom. "We're gonna freeze to death. Is the heat on in here? I don't think the heat's on. I can't feel my fingers!"

She only earned an eyeroll from Skylar as the pair stepped away from the window.

"Yeah, heat's on," Amelia said, leaning against the archway that lead into the rest of the lodge from the foyer. "I can go light the fireplace, though, if you're that cold."

"Please do. Before I die over here."

Orion wrapped his arms around himself, rubbing lightly. "It is pretty cold in here."

Skylar shook her head. "Yeah, but not dying or numbness in our extremities cold."

Aurora scoffed, turning to instead pester Alexander, who was caught up in some sort of conversation with Onyx instead of helping to take the luggage upstairs. "Babe, tell them it's cold enough for us to freeze to death."

"It's not cold enough to freeze to death," he stated matter-of-factly, "but I can pretend it is and give you an excuse to use me as a personal heater, if you want?"

"Are you disagreeing with me?"

"I'm stating facts."

"Facts that disagree with me," she insisted.

He grinned. "Yeah, but they're facts."

"I hate you," she grumbled with a smile, but took advantage of his invitation, clinging tightly to him from behind. The slow rubbing of her hands against his torso was absolutely, positively just to warm them up and for no other reason.

"Really?" Alexander couldn't stop himself from smirking. "That's not what you were saying last night."

Amelia audibly gagged. "Get a room!"

"Hey, you can't even complain!" Alexander protested. "Remember Strangerville? When I walked in on you—"

"Do not bring that up!"

"Can you two talk about anything other than making out for just five minutes?" Skylar asked, clearly unimpressed with their antics.

"No," he admitted.

"Go talk about it somewhere else before you give me permanent trauma!" Orion whined.

"You are so dramatic."

"S-Says you!"

"Alright, stop arguing," Onyx sighed. "Let's get the rest of the luggage up to our rooms and get some rest."

"Yeah, good idea," Amelia said. "There's a lot of fun stuff I want to do while we're here. Trust me, you'll need all the rest you can get."

"Fun stuff or dangerous stuff?" Onyx asked.

She smiled sheepishly. "Uh... both?"

"...I'm going to regret this vacation..."

---

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Orion frowned, unsure of how to reassure Skylar that sledding wasn't typically a deadly activity. She'd been worrying ever since he brought up the idea after their arrival yesterday evening, which was funny, considering that they did far more dangerous things on a regular basis. "Sweetheart, we're astronauts. I don't think sledding is going to be what takes us out."

"I guess you have a point," she said, watching with reluctance as he positioned their sled at the top of the small hill they'd climbed to the top of. "...have you ever even been sledding, though?"

"Nope," Orion said, sitting down at the front. "But I think it'll be fun?"

"And if it's not fun, just terrifying?"

"...then we scream on the way down and don't do it again?" Orion laughed. "Come on, I promise I won't let you get hurt. You can hang onto me, okay?"

"Okay," she relented, mustering up a smile as she sat behind him. "Any excuse to hug you."

He beamed at her over his shoulder. "You don't need excuses for that. Ready?"

Skylar leaned forward, wrapping her arms securely around his waist. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"On the count of three. One... two..."

She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself.

"...three!"

The sled took off down the slope and her eyes snapped open. The icy wind rushing through her hair was unexpectedly invigorating, she thought; a sentiment that Orion apparently didn't share, considering his high-pitched shriek as they plummeted toward the bottom of the hill. 

"You were right," she yelled, "this is fun!"

Orion was inconsolable, and she soon realized why. There was no steering past the giant hump in the snow just ahead of them. They were going to hit it straight on. He gripped the sides of the sled for dear life. "I-I—IthinkIchangedmymiiiiind!"

The sled took flight.

Skylar threw her hands in the air, cheering.

"I'M GONNA PUKE! I'M GONNA DIE! I'M GONNA PUKE AND THEN DIE!" Orion wailed.

The sled plowed into the mound of snow at the bottom of the hill, tipping up to fling them into it. With several inches of powder to pad their landing, serious injuries were avoided. Shame and humiliation, however, were not.

"Owww, my body," Orion whined, pushing himself up and shaking off the snow on his head. 

"You're not hurt, we landed in snow." Skylar's eyes rolled. "...but I told you this was a bad idea."

"You were right, it was a terrible idea."

"I agree," she said. "Wanna go again?"

---

"Last one outside's a rotten egg!"

"You're the rotten one," Aurora groaned in response to Alexander's taunting, shivering alongside Amelia as they stepped through the front door, "d-dragging me out here in the freezing cold so you can play in the snow like... like a kindergartener!"

"Aww," he whined, "it's not my fault that you're no fun."

"Well, it's not my fault that you're a manchild!"

Her empty insults held no bite. He brushed them off with an impish grin."Okay, miss grumpy-pants."

"Who are you calling grumpy-pants!?"

"You're both no better than children," Onyx murmured.

"Hey," Amelia said, wandering down the porch steps, "do you think we could build a girl snowman — snow-woman? Snowlady? Snowgal? — and give her snowboobies?"

"Snowboobies?" Aurora wrinkled her nose. 

"Yeah, like stuff a bra with snow. Snowboobies. Maybe she can wear a bikini."

Alexander shrugged. "That's cool with me, but I vote we dub them snowtits."

"Compromise," Amelia began, "snowtitties."

"There probably aren't any bikinis here. But I did bring some lingerie," Aurora said. "Close enough?"

Alexander's eyebrows raised. "Hang on, you brought lingerie?"

"Too much information!"

"...actually, make that all three of you," Onyx sighed. 

"You know, if you want to complain about someone being grumpy, complain about Onyx," Aurora said.

Amelia crossed her arms. "There will be no complaining about Onyx, thank you very much!"

"Oh, yeah? Does that rule apply to you, too?"

"First of all, I would never complain about Onyx. Imagine complaining about Onyx. He's the most tolerable person I know, which isn't saying much, but actually—"

"INCOMING!"

There was no time to react between the shouted warning that interrupted her sentence and the launching of the giant snowball clutched in Alexander's mitted fingers. His aim was, unfortunately, flawless. The weaponized white ball of betrayal hurled straight into its victim's face, leaving her whining and sputtering and furious.

"Bullseye," Alexander snickered.

"T-That was not funny!" Aurora wiped the snow away from her eyes with her coat sleeve, shivering. "You— you could have taken my eye out with that thing!"

Amelia couldn't help laughing. "Really? With a snowball?"

"Don't encourage him being mean to me!"

"I'm not being mean," he said.

"What you're about to be is in trouble," Aurora muttered.

"Hang on, are you threatening to punish me?"

"Yes," Aurora threatened.

He smirked. "I look forward to it, babe..."

"Someone just bury me alive in the snow and leave me to die," Amelia groaned.

Alexander turned to her with the best pouty face he could muster. "Stop complaining about me all the time!"

"Why should I?" she teased.

"One, I have feelings. Two, what would you do without your favorite big brother, huh?"

"You're my only big brother."

"Just answer the question!"

"Well..." Amelia paused, pretending to be thoughtful for a moment before grinning. "I'd finally have some peace and quiet."

"Hey!"

Their bickering created an opportunity for Onyx to go unnoticed in creating a snowball of his own. The moment it connected with the back of Amelia's head, silence befell the group. Certainly the only person who could have thrown the snowball did not throw the snowball. Slowly, she turned to face the culprit, a devilish smirk already spreading across her lips. "Oh, Onyx, you are so going to regret that."

"Regret what?" His seemingly innocent smile didn't show in his eyes. He hadn't thought this through. He'd made a grave mistake. It was over.

In the blink of an eye, she was on him, sending them toppling into the snow and leaving him shuddering at both the freezing cold of the snow that somehow worked its way into his clothes and the warmth of her body pressed against his own. She laughed, pinning him against the frigid white ground. "Are you blushing, or are your cheeks just red from the cold?"

"If being pinned beneath you was supposed to make me regret anything, you don't know me very well, darling."

It was her turn to blush. She hoped he didn't notice, but judging by the way he grinned up at her, he absolutely did. "I-I should shove a bunch of snow down your shirt."

"There's already snow in my shirt."

"Down your pants, then!"

"You aren't putting anything in his pants in front of me! Just a reminder I'm right here!" Alexander complained.

Aurora's face contorted in disgust. "Okay, since you guys are just being gross now, I'm heading inside. I'm freezing to death, anyway!"

Amelia groaned. "Oh, when we flirt it's being gross, but it's fine for you and Alexander!?"

"Alexander was flirting with me, I wasn't participating and I won't be because he's still in trouble," Aurora corrected.

"Aww," he whined. "C'mon, it was just one little snowball, I'll make it up to you!"

She grinned, turning her back to head inside. "You sure will. Later."

He blushed, left stammering as she disappeared into the doorway.

---

Aurora's first priority was a hot shower. The moment the bathroom door was shut behind her, she was hastily shedding her snow-covered layers to the floor, not even bothering to put them into the laundry basket right now. To her dismay, the shower was taking forever to heat up and the bathroom was way too cold to be standing around naked in. After what seemed like hours of torment — forty-six seconds, more precisely, but what was really the difference? — the shower was finally hot enough for her to get in, the relief washing over her with the water. Maybe this vacation was nice after all. Their rental was at least a little bit luxurious, with a big bathroom and a big shower and, most importantly, right now there was no one around to pester her—

"Hey, babe."

Startled, she turned to look at the intruder so fast she nearly slipped. "Alexander! Don't just sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry, sorry!" He laughed. "I was just coming to ask you if there was room for company."

"No," she deadpanned. "No room. Shower's full."

"That shower is huge, there's definitely room." Alexander shrugged his coat off, grinning as it crumpled to the floor. "Don't tell me you're still mad at me for the snowball."

"Of course I'm not mad," she sighed, "but... if you're joining me, you're gonna have to be useful."

"Useful?" The rest of his clothes began to follow. "I have to be useful to be allowed in the shower?"

She grinned. "What? You can't be useful?"

"Of course I can be useful! I'm very useful. I have lots of uses." He stepped into the shower behind her and immediately hissed at the cascade of water that hit him. "Ow! How are you not being scalded to death!?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's not that hot."

"Women and their stupid shower temperatures," he muttered under his breath. 

"Now you're just generalizing."

"Every woman I've ever bathed with has burned me alive in her shower, but okay," he retorted.

She feigned offense. "You've showered with other women?"

"I've done lots of things in showers with women," he stated matter-of-factly. "Useful things."

"Such as?"

"Why don't I show you?" Alexander purred, stepping closer until their bodies were pressed together underneath the water. 

"You just came in here to seduce me," she teased, running her hands up his torso to rest on his chest. "Why does it always work?"

"Because I'm irresistible."

She smirked. "More like insufferable."

"If I'm insufferable, then why do you wanna kiss me so bad?"

"I wish I knew."

Their lips met between laughter, their taunting banter having no real malice behind it. It was their own kind of love language; long after they'd stopped hating each other, they still had to get on each other's nerves just a little. After all, she'd realized a long time ago Alexander wouldn't be Alexander without being endearingly obnoxious — not that she'd confess to the endearing part. Right now, though, with his hands pushing her against the shower wall and his tongue entangling with hers, he was igniting a spark in very different kinds of nerves. The heat of the shower was suddenly cold in comparison to the heat rushing through her insides as she pulled away to catch her breath, their gazes meeting and burning into each other. 

He smirked, pressing himself closer against her. "Do you still think I'm insufferable, Aurora?"

"You will be until you find something better to do with your stupid mouth than running it so much," she quipped, disguising her aching want as annoyed teasing.

Alexander's lips brushed against her neck, allowing her to feel his smirk widening into a triumphant grin. "I really shouldn't give you what you want, considering your attitude, but..."

"W-Who said I wanted anything?"

"Well, if you don't, I could take me and my stupid mouth somewhere else and leave you alone."

"...don't you dare."

---

Alexander had a reputation for always getting into trouble. His sister, naturally, had a propensity to do the same thing. As he walked across the rickety bridge, swaying with every cautious step, he couldn't help but think that it was almost refreshing not to be the guy with the terrible idea for once; after all, even he, the master of bad ideas, knew when something was a really, really bad idea.

Such as Amelia's current idea: hiking to the top of Mount Komorebi in the dead of night.

"I don't think this bridge is stable," he suggested, testing the next wooden board before bearing all of his weight on it. "Maybe we should call it a day and head back?"

Amelia scoffed. "No way! We made it this far, we're getting to the top of this mountain."

"In fact, maybe we should just head back home," he continued, "where there's solid ground and no snow, or ice, or potential blizzard forecasts, and lots of cell phone reception..."

"He's right, Amelia," Onyx chimed in. "I'm... feeling a little sick up here... h-homesick, that is..."

"Wow, really? What a coincidence, so am I!"

Her eyes rolled. "Oh, come on, it's not that high up. You two are babies. Also, we've only been on vacation two days, you're not homesick."

A pebble kicked off the side of the bridge beneath Alexander's feet. He froze, looking down over the side into the endless void below them, waiting to hear it hit solid ground.

He didn't.

"...right," he said, "not that high up..."

As their pace picked up, so did the snow. By the time they trekked to the next cliff, the flakes were coming down heavily, turning the once blue sky a gloomy gray. 

"Guess the only way from here is up," Amelia said.

Onyx was skeptical. "Are you sure this is a good idea? The weather's really picking up."

"It's just a little snow, Onyx."

"I don't know, Amelia," Alexander began, squinting to see the top of the peak clearly through the snow. "I think a snowstorm is coming up..."

"Are you a weatherman?"

"No, but I can't exactly get weather updates without cell signal, and there's no way my phone's connecting to anything up here!"

"Look, even if we turn back, we have to climb down. It's not any safer," Amelia frowned. "We're closer to the top of the mountain than we are to the bottom. It's safer to keep going. Besides, the forecast said it would be clear tonight..."

He was growing increasingly anxious. "Forecasts can be wrong. What if there is a blizzard? We could freeze!"

"We'll freeze up or down!"

"Maybe we could beat the blizzard to the bottom!"

"We've been hiking and climbing for three hours! We aren't beating anything! If we make it just a little farther, there are vacation lodges along the upper parts of the mountain. Someone has to be around."

"But—"

"Both of you, stop arguing!" Onyx interrupted. "She's right. There's no point in going back. We won't make it, and there's civilization ahead. We could detour and follow the mountain roads, but they're a pretty long way from the climbing trail. Straight ahead is our better chance."

Alexander sighed. "I don't like this... but I guess there's no other choice..."

"There isn't, so start climbing before we really are in trouble." Amelia stepped forward, gripping the first jutting stone she could locate on the cliffside. In hindsight, she could admit that going this far as a terrible idea for amateur climbers, but the thrill of an adrenaline rush was simply too much for her to resist. With every step up the cliffside she took, the wind and snow only picked up more, causing the first twinge of anxiety to build in her gut. She wasn't very far from the top, but Alexander and Onyx were lagging a fair bit behind her, choosing their steps far more cautiously.

"Maybe you two should pick up the pace," she suggested loudly, hoping they could hear her over the wind.

"I'd rather not fall and die, thanks!" Alexander replied.

"The slower you climb, the worse the weather is going to get," she insisted, testing the grip of another stone's edge before deciding against it and grabbing another. "The cliff's pretty stable, I haven't ran into any problems up here."

"Good, let's keep it that way," Onyx said.

"Can you stop worrying so much? We're going to be fine—"

It happened in an instant. One foot slipped on the slick, icy rock beneath it, and the other followed suit. Her startled cry was swallowed by the howling wind as her fingers struggled for purchase on the ledge she gripped for dear life. Her legs kicked in the air, desperate to find their footing to no avail.

"Amelia!" Onyx froze, trying to mentally calculate the fastest path from his ledge to hers. "H-Hang on! Just don't move, I'll come and help you!"

Crack.

She could feel the rock beneath her right fingers beginning to buckle from the stress of her weight. "N-No, don't! It's not safe! The cliffside's weak here!"

Alexander was already frantically climbing faster. "I'll come up, then! I'm smaller than him!"

Craaaaaack.

The piece broke off from the cliffside, leaving her with only one hand holding on. "I-I've got it under control!"

"You're going to fall!" Onyx yelled. "How is that under control!?"

Slowly, she reached her other hand up, grabbing onto the nearest rock and cursing under her breath as it, too, tumbled down the cliffside. Her left arm ached, a tingling, numb, yet burning kind of ache that grew more unbearable by the second. Her grip was weakening. Her fingers were sliding against the frozen surface of the cliffside. "I-I— I can't—"

Alexander slipped beneath her, nearly losing his own footing completely. "I'm almost... I'm almost to you, just—"

Onyx's interruption came a moment too late. "Bat form! Amelia, use bat form!"

Bat form.

She would have wondered why she hadn't thought of it sooner, if not for the fact that her fingers slipped entirely not even a second after his epiphany. She willed herself to move, to think, to just turn into a bat, such an easy power she'd learned decades ago; yet she could only stay frozen in terror, the world around her passing by in slow motion as she plummeted to the ground.

---

The frigid weather wasn't limited to the mountaintop. Back at the lodge, it had been a full-blown blizzard for nearly an hour; one strong enough to take the power out. There was cold, and then there was power outage in the middle of a blizzard on Mount Komorebi cold. The fireplaces did just enough to take the edge off, but otherwise? The group that stayed behind would just have to huddle in their beds and suffer.

"It was a good thing we turned down that mountain excursion, huh?" Skylar sighed, sprawling out across the bed and into Orion's lap.

"Y-Yeah," he halfheartedly laughed, his voice shaky from shivering. "I'm really worried about them, though. Do you think they'll be okay out in this blizzard?"

"They're vampires, they've probably all turned into bats and flown into a warm cave up there somewhere. I'm sure they're fine," she reassured him. "I bet they'll be back once the weather calms down."

"Maybe you're right," Orion nodded, finally managing a smile. "I'm sure they're okay..."

"What about you, though?" Skylar frowned. "You're shivering..."

"I-I'm okay," he said. "J-Just... you know... freezing to death."

"Now you're being dramatic like Aurora," she teased.

"Don't tell me you're not cold!"

"I didn't say I wasn't cold. It is freezing in here, even with the fireplace burning," she said, pausing for a moment to think between sentences. "...but I do have an idea of how to warm you up?"

"Really? What is it?"

"We could share body heat," she suggested.

Orion chuckled, wrapping his arms around her torso. "We're already sharing body heat."

"More," she accentuated slowly, pressing herself closer against him until their faces were inches apart, "body heat."

"...oh," he murmured softly, feeling his cheeks growing hotter already. 

She smiled. "Unless you'd rather me just go find some more blankets?"

He responded with a tender kiss; the kind that left both of them slowly melting into each other's warmth, Skylar's hands gripping the headboard as she leaned further into him. The room felt warmer already when they parted for air, but it grew cold again when she pulled back from him, eliciting a pitiful whine. "Hey, wait, come back..."

She laughed, shifting to straddle his hips and gently push him down onto the pillows beneath them. "I'm not going anywhere, don't worry."

Her hands found his, pinning them beneath her own. Orion smiled up at her through half-lidded eyes as their fingers laced together. The way he looked at her was her personal weakness; he was five-feet-four-inches of pure warmth and love and she had no idea how one little body could contain so much of it, but she was sure it was enough to melt every inch of snow on this mountain and then some. "I love you, sweetheart," she murmured.

"I love you too, beautiful," he softly replied, sending heat rushing to her cheeks.

"Mm, no, I think you're the beautiful one," Skylar said, her hands languidly moving to strip him of his sweater. 

"Not as beautiful as you," he insisted, offering no resistance as it was tossed aside.

"Are you going to argue with me or are you going to help me out here?" she teased, moving to get rid of her own upper layers. 

Blushing, his hands moved to make quicker work of both of their clothes, still shy and fumbling even though they'd done this countless times. "Kiss me," he pleaded, and she happily obliged, her lips finding his again while her warm hands traced his bare skin. He lost track of the clothes, focusing only on the heat of their lips pressing together before she pulled back, moving down to kiss his neck instead. Years ago, he would have flinched beneath her touch, maybe even freaked out entirely the moment she made contact with the sensitive junction of his neck and shoulder, so close to where his veins coursed beneath the skin; but now, he threaded his fingers through her hair and pressed her desperately closer. 

"Someone's impatient tonight," Skylar grinned, her lips moving down his chest.

"J-Just want you close to me," he gasped, squirming a little beneath her. He got worked up so easily.

"Is that still just because you're cold?"

"B-Because I love you," he corrected, his hand loosening in her hair and moving to caress her cheek instead.

Her expression softened as she glanced up to meet his gaze. "...you really are beautiful like this, you know."

He wasn't given a chance to respond before Skylar resumed what she was doing, her hands slowly, deliberately roaming every sensitive inch of skin that she'd long memorized. She knew he hated doing nothing; he could never let himself get too lost in sensation, always more worried about how she felt. This was one of the rare occasions where he let her just focus on him, and those were, admittedly, always her favorite, as much as she complained when he'd try to do the same thing for her — a common habit she could never break him of. She'd never grow tired of watching him come undone beneath her touch, his hair tousled among the pillows in the most perfect way, his eyelashes fluttering, breath coming in soft gasps as his fingers tightened their grip on the sheets...

The power outage, the blizzard, their friends potentially-but-probably-not stranded and freezing to death on top of a mountain — everything was quickly forgotten, and neither of them had any trouble staying warm for the rest of the night. 

---

"...injuries... were luckily not severe..."

"...do you think... she'll wake up soon?"

The first thing that Amelia was aware of was the sound of unfamiliar voices. The second thing was the deep, dull ache in her body. The latter elicited a quiet groan as she came to her senses, and the room around her went quiet. Her brows furrowed, then she opened her eyes, pushing herself up with a start and hissing at the pain it caused.

"Calm down, don't overexert yourself. You took quite the fall," the dark-haired man said with a frown.

"W-Who are you?" Amelia stammered. "And where's—"

"They're here, don't worry," the young woman beside him interrupted. "Over there, on the other couch. How do you feel?"

"...kinda bad, but surprisingly alive, considering I fell off the side of a mountain...? Unless that was a weird nightmare."

"Good! That means the magic must have worked well enough," she continued.

"M-Magic? Hold on, slow down—"

"Amelia," Alexander interrupted, turning her attention to his direction, "never do that again!"

Amelia frowned. "...never do what? Accidentally almost die?"

"You scared me!" His eyes were puffy and red, like he'd been crying. "Y-You scared both of us! We thought you were..."

"I'm so glad you're okay," Onyx sighed, choosing not to scold her. "I don't know what I would have done if you weren't."

"R-Right, I'm glad I'm okay too, but what's this about magic? And who are these people?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Li Xiulin, but you can call me Lin, if you'd like," the woman from before said, "and sitting over there is my wife, Yamamoto Tsuki. This is her father—"

"Doctor Yamamoto," the man interjected, "is how you can refer to me, because you're under my care and strict supervision for the rest of the night. You are a very lucky woman, Amelia. You could have been killed."

Amelia's guilty gaze fell to the floor. "It's nice to meet you all. What exactly happened...? After I fell?"

"We freaked out," Alexander said. "Onyx went down after you, and I went to the top of the cliff. I-I saw this cabin in the distance, so... we went for help, and turns out, there's a doctor that lives here who also happens to be a spellcaster."

"A well-practiced spellcaster can use the Repairio spell on human bodies, not just inanimate objects," Doctor Yamamoto explained. "There was no reception in this blizzard, and there certainly wasn't any getting you to the hospital ourselves, either. I used magic to mend you as much as possible, but you're by no means fully healed. You broke several ribs and your forearm, and your ankle seems pretty badly sprained. They're properly splinted and bandaged, so they should heal up just fine. The ribs are mostly put back together, thanks to my Repairio spell. I assume you hit your head, so you likely have a concussion. I used the spell on your head, too, just in case it would help."

"Thank you," Amelia sighed. "I really appreciate everything... is there some way I can repay you?"

"Yes," he said. "Don't do anything that reckless again and get yourself killed after I went to all the trouble of fixing you. That would be excellent repayment."

She smiled sheepishly. "R-Right."

"You all must be freezing," Tsuki finally spoke. "How does a warm meal sound? It's the least we could do for you while you're here."

"You really don't have to," Amelia said.

"I want to." Tsuki rose from her seat. "Besides, you need to get your strength up."

Onyx stood. "Do you want some help cooking? I'd be more than happy to."

"Well—"

"It's the least we could do, considering you saved Amelia," he added. 

"We?" Alexander asked.

"Yes, we."

"I'll just set their kitchen on fire. You know how my cooking is."

"Somehow worse than mine," Amelia chimed in.

"...I could use the help," Tsuki relented with a smile, glancing at Alexander. "If you can't cook, you could help me make some tea. And if you can't do that... I guess I'll find something you can do."

"I'm great at providing entertainment," Alexander suggested, earning himself a dramatic eyeroll from Onyx.

"...right, well, the kitchen is this way..."

As the three headed off, the doctor trailed behind them -- probably to treat the inevitable injuries that would happen with Alexander in the kitchen, Amelia assumed. Finally mustering enough strength to fully sit up, she leaned back against the couch with a heavy sigh.

"Do you mind some company? Or do you just want to rest?" Xiulin asked, moving to perch atop the coffee table in front of her.

"No, I don't mind at all," she replied. "So, um... you live here with your wife's family?"

"Only sometimes," Xiulin said. "We live further from the mountain, but this is our second home. A vacation home, I guess. We come down a few times a year and bring her family along with us when they want to tag along. Especially when there are sporting events going on. I'm a mountaineer. I ski in the tournaments they have here occasionally, too. Tsuki's a tattoo artist."

"Wow, cool." Amelia grinned. "That must be fun. I'd love to do something like that."

"Clearly," she laughed. "It's not as easy as it looks. I'm surprised you all managed to get that far."

"Well, it helps that we're not..." Amelia paused. "...um..."

"Human?" Xiulin raised an eyebrow. "Tsuki's family aren't the only spellcasters here. I won't judge, don't worry. I became one years ago. She and I have been together a really, really long time." 

"Thanks," she said. "We're all vampires."

"...you didn't think to use bat form to avoid falling to your death?"

"I-I did!" Amelia frowned. "I just... it's not so easy when you're falling and freaking out."

"I get that," Xiulin said. "Tsuki's going to be disappointed to learn you don't actually need dinner, though."

Amelia managed a laugh. "Don't worry about it. I still like food."

The conversation died down to an uncomfortable silence. Amelia took the opportunity to take in her cozy surroundings, eyes scanning over the room and finally landing on a frame hanging on a wall. The photo inside was very visibly aged, cracked and yellowing and nearly coming apart at the corners, but the image was still relatively intact: two men standing side by side, no older than their earlier twenties, if that, with short black hair and deep brown eyes that held a sense of familiarity. She squinted, analyzing the details as closely as she could from this far, and then the realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Wondering about the photo?" Xiulin asked, interrupting her revelation. "It's as old as it looks. The man to the left is my father, Li Tao, and next to him is my uncle; his brother, Li Sheng. I never really knew my uncle, though. He moved away not long after this photo was taken, out of Komorebi, and adopted a more... western name. Sebastian. But... after that, he... um, let's just say he wasn't a very good person."

"...I know," Amelia said quietly.

"What?"

"Y-You're not going to believe this," she continued, "and... honestly, I hardly can, either... but your uncle is my biological father."

Xiulin's eyes widened. She sat there, mouth agape, trying her best to calculate a response. "I— no, that's impossible. My uncle didn't have any children."

"You're right, he didn't. I wasn't his daughter," Amelia said. "But... he, unfortunately, was responsible for my conception."

"H-How can you be so sure?"

Amelia averted her gaze. "A long time ago, I was having these... nightmares," she explained, "terrible nightmares. I didn't know what they meant for a while, but one day, Onyx and I wandered into this creepy necromancer's shop in the magic realm."

"Creepy necromancer? Do you mean... Macha?" Xiulin asked, her voice lowering just above a whisper.

"You know him?"

"Every spellcaster knows him."

"He told me I was being haunted, basically, by my mother's restless spirit... and my father's bitter one. I realized they were who I was seeing in the nightmares, so I took his advice and went on a trip to Selvadorada. You know, a journey of self-discovery and all that. That's where my mom was from, and where I was born. I... saw her there, on Dia de los Muertos. It know this all sounds crazy, but—"

"No, no, not at all, I just..." Xiulin's voice trailed off. "...I can't believe I have a cousin..."

Amelia managed a smile. "I'm the only one?"

"Yeah." She smiled back. "My father had no other siblings, so..."

A shout from the kitchen interrupted her sentence. "Food's ready!"

"...and I guess this conversation will have to wait until after I'm force-fed by your wife," Amelia joked.

"Are you kidding?" Xiulin was grinning from ear to ear. "This is going to be the best dinner table topic I've had in years! Welcome to the family, Amelia. You're gonna love it."

---

"Onyx, I can walk just fine," Amelia protested as he carried her into their lodge's bedroom. The journey back had thankfully been much easier than the failed mountain excursion; the truly difficult part was everyone doting on her the moment she got there. It hadn't stopped for a second since, and she was sick of it. "Alexander already shoved enough painkillers to kill a horse down my throat, and then there was the... what, five mugs full of herbal tea Orion and Skylar forced me to drink? And now you're insisting on carrying me everywhere!"

"You like it when I carry you," he retorted, kicking his shoes off by the door and trudging over to the bed. 

"Yeah, but not like this!"

"How do you prefer it, darling? Bridal?"

"You know what I mean," she whined.

He chuckled as he set her down on the bed, finally leaving her alone long enough to shrug off the unnecessary remainder of his outerwear onto the floor nearby. "You have no idea how worried I was, Amelia. Just let me spoil you a little."

"But—"

"Please?"

Amelia sighed. She was strong in a lot of ways, but when it came Onyx? She was pathetically weak. It was a mutual thing, really; he was the same way for her, and she loved using it to her advantage at every opportunity.

Of course, it was different when he did it.

"Fine," she relented, leaning forward against him as his hand found its way into her hair. 

"How are you feeling?" Onyx asked. "Honestly. No lying."

She hesitated. "Overwhelmed."

"Want to talk about it?"

"I just never expected the trip to turn out like this, I guess? Near-death experiences, long-lost family members... it's a lot to process. And... honestly, I am kind of sore, so that doesn't help."

"It would be a lot for anyone to process," he said softly, stooping down to her level. "You don't have to hide your feelings from me. If you're hurting... mentally or physically, you can talk to me about it."

"I know that. It's just hard sometimes... I hate worrying or upsetting you."

"Well, I'm worried and upset regardless, so you're not making a difference." Onyx sighed. "I can't help you feel less overwhelmed by all of this, but I do know what would make you feel better otherwise."

She sighed. "Yeah? What's that?"

He grinned. "Getting out of these clothes, into some comfortable pajamas, and cuddling until you fall asleep."

"That does sound tempting," she said. "But only if you help me. Not sure I can get out of these on my own..."

"I thought you didn't need help?"

"I changed my mind."

He raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but said nothing further as he helped her out of her clothes; quickly and methodically, deliberately not entertaining her clear intentions of riling him up.

She shivered when the room's cold air hit her exposed skin. Onyx glanced up at her, rubbing her thighs with his comparably warm hands. "Sorry, honey, let me grab you some pajamas—"

"Actually," she interrupted, "I think I have an idea of how you could help me feel better... but it doesn't involve clothes."

He stared in disbelief. "Amelia, you have multiple recently-broken bones."

"Yeah."

"You actually admitted you're in pain, for once."

"Right."

"And somehow," he continued, shaking his head, "your mind is still in the gutter?"

"It's not the gutter! I just thought that you could make me forget all about the pain..."

She had him right where she wanted him. How was he supposed to argue with that? With a sigh, he stood and pushed her down beneath him on the mattress, trying his best to ignore her smug, satisfied smile. He didn't need any more reminders of how wrapped around her finger he was. "I can try," he said softly, taking her hand in his and pressing light kisses to back of it. 

She reached up with her free hand, slipping it beneath the hem of his shirt. "I'll feel much better once this is off of you."

"Is that so?" Onyx cracked a smile, indulging her request and pulling it over his head before tossing it aside into the growing pile of clothes. "Better?"

"Mm... no, everything still hurts," she said. "I think your pants have to go, too."

"You have a really strange idea of pain relief," he sighed, hastily discarding his pants. 

Amelia looked him up and down, grinning. "You say that, but it's working."

He laughed softly, climbing into bed next to her. "What am I going to do with you?"

Her grin widened and she opened her mouth to respond.

"—don't answer that," he added exasperatedly.

"I was just going to suggest that you kiss me."

Her innocent smile wasn't fooling him, but regardless, he obliged her request, their lips meeting in a clashing kiss. As a lover, he was always slow but passionate, never wanting to rush things. Amelia, on the other hand, was like a fire, burning hotter with each passing moment, intense. He wanted to savor every second; she didn't want to waste a single one. But their opposing ways only made things more fun, never truly settling on fast or slow, rough or gentle; they were both neither and all at once. 

When the kiss ended, he didn't stray very far, his face still pressed against hers, leaving a trail of soft kisses on her cheek. "You have no idea how much you mean to me," he murmured, tilting her chin up so he could nuzzle his face into her neck instead. "If anything ever happened to you... if I ever lost you, I..."

"Hey," she interrupted quietly, "I'm okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

His fangs prodded her pulse point and her breath hitched. "Promise?" he repeated, a mixture of kisses and gentle nips peppering the sensitive skin. 

Her hand found his cheek, forcing him to meet her gaze. "I promise," she said, smiling reassuringly. "You'll never lose me, Onyx."

Her arms wrapped around his torso, holding him close to her as she kissed him again; soft and slow, for once, the way he always kissed her. Onyx had a way of making her heart melt, and despite everything that had happened, today was no exception. How could she hurt when she was with him? Fear, doubt, pain — none of it mattered when she knew that everything would always be okay, as long as they had each other.