MY SUGAR MUMMY IS A BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE

Chapter 56: Demon or human?

Blake struggled to find his voice.

"Rose..." he finally managed, the single word seeming to echo in the quiet room. "What are you?"

She flinched slightly at the question, lips twisting in a pained grimace. Her gaze slid away from his, suddenly unable to meet the naked curiosity and fear in his eyes.

"I'm a monster," she whispered, voice laced with self-loathing. "Some say… a creature of darkness, straight from your worst nightmares."

Moving with aching slowness, she sank down onto the edge of the bed, seeming smaller than Blake had ever seen her before. Gone was the confident, controlled woman he knew. In her place was something older and more haunted, the weight of countless lifetimes bowing her shoulders.

"I'm...a vampire," she said at last, forcing the words out like shards of broken glass. "An undead, a demon even. I'm cursed to walk the earth drinking the blood of the living to survive."

Blake inhaled sharply at the confirmation of his worst fears, instinctively recoiling. Rose felt a tremor pass through her as the weight of Blake's curiosity settled over her like a physical force. She drew in a deep, steadying breath, letting it out slowly as she ordered her thoughts.

"You're right to be...fascinated by what I am," she began carefully. "My origins stretch back to the dimmest days of antiquity, an era so ancient it has been lost to the obscuring sands of time."

Blake watched her raptly, hanging on her every word as she began to unspool the threads of her mysterious past.

In a way, it all felt familiar. Like he was watching an anime or reading through the pages of his me of his comics but he knew after all he had seen, none of it was fiction.

"I was born into one of the ruling families of vampires, a dynastic bloodline with power and influence that spanned entire continents, subject to only the king then. We were...the elite, you could say. Undying lords who held dominion over the realms of mortals and night-dwellers alike."

Her eyes slipped out of focus, growing distant as her mind walked the paths of centuries long gone. Blake could only imagine the epochs she had witnessed, the unfathomable changes she'd endured.

"In my youth, I was prized for my lineage," Rose went on, a hint of wistful amusement coloring her tone. "Raised in every discipline from academics to military training. Shaped into a perfect instrument of my family's power, lauded for my fierce skills and quick mind."

Blake found himself leaning in, entirely enthralled. Having her freely share these intimate details of her former life made his head spin, brief glimpses of worlds and cultures now long turned to dust.

"But I was willful," Rose sighed, shaking her head ruefully. "And perhaps too intelligent for my own good. I bristled under the strict rules and expectations, the endless codes of behavior drilled into me since birth. In time I became...rebellious, chafing at the prescribed path my family had set out for me."

A wistful smile ghosted across her lips, quickly extinguished as she seemed to recall some inner anguish.

"I found myself drawn to Damien instead," she murmured. "A vampire warlord from a disgraced and proud family, but one of the most powerfully gifted immortals of his age. Where others saw only threat and danger, I saw a kindred defiance of the establishment, along with an undeniable allure."

Blake frowned slightly, sensing there was more weight to this confession than Rose was letting on. She seemed to struggle for a moment, jaw tensing. When she continued, her voice was lower, rougher with some unnamed pain.

"Damien swept me into a torrid romance far beyond the boundaries of my family's approval. We were...enamored, I suppose you could say. He seduced me fully, spinning tales of the glories and conquests that could be ours if we left behind the stifling yoke of obedience. Of using our combined powers to rule over an empire, unfettered and supreme."

One clawed hand lifted to drift across her chest in an unconscious gesture of remembered longing.

"And like a fool, I fell entirely under his spell," she sighed, fangs glinting. "Intoxicated by his vision, I betrayed everything I'd ever known, turning my back on my dynasty in favor of Damien's silver-tongued dreams."

She paused, seemed to be wrestling with some internal conflict. When she spoke again, the words were clipped, colored with lingering traces of hurt.

"Needless to say, it did not end well. Damien's true designs were not what he'd portrayed. Once he had me, isolated from my family's protection, his abuse and manipulation knew no bounds. I was but a bauble to be kept, a trophy to adorn his arm and eventually discard when my...defiance became too inconvenient."

Blake couldn't hold back a pained sound at her stark phrasing, the gravity of what she'd endured lancing straight through him. Rose shook her head sharply, forever pragmatic.

"In the end, I realized I'd been a fool, enraptured by romantic notions of freedom that were merely a facade for slavery of another kind. And so, when the slimmest opportunity arose, I took it and ran, fleeing from Damien's grasp and severing my final ties to that life."

She lifted her eyes to meet Blake's, and he felt his breath catch at the storm of emotion he glimpsed in their ruby depths - anger, shame, sorrow, and finally, a spark of defiance.

"Since that day centuries ago, I have been alone," she told him simply. "Carving my own path, beholden to no one. Building my fortune and influence through sheer force of will and my own power, all to ensure I'll never be bound or trapped again. I am my own master now, and I answer only to myself."

She drew herself up, squaring her shoulders proudly as if physically reinforcing her words. Blake was struck by the image of strength she projected, the raw power barely contained under her deceptively lithe frame. This was no sheltered, meek immortal to be pitied - this was a being of near-limitless potential, whose force of will had bent the very tides of time and destiny to her desires.

"So you see," she said simply, pinning him with the full weight of her ancient gaze. "I am no mere minion or underling as Elena and the others would have you believe. I am Rose of the Shelley Dynasty, forged from dynasties that spanned entire ages of your world's history, tempered by betrayal and hard lessons."

It was a daunting proclamation, dripping with centuries of power and gravitas that stole Blake's breath from his lungs. He'd thought he was prepared to know her truths, but not fully had he grasped the enormity of who...and what...this woman truly was.

Scarlet eyes lifted, finally meeting Blake's stunned gaze with such heart-wrenching sorrow that he felt his throat constrict.

"Please believe me when I say I never wanted this for you," she breathed, voice cracking with emotion. "I never intended to bring the darkness of my world crashing into your light. I tried so hard to shield you from the truth."

Blake stared at her, mind whirling as he struggled to process everything she was revealing. The woman he loved, a vampire? An ancient demon so powerful. And yet...she had chosen to hide her true nature from him out of fear of his reaction, terrified he would recoil from her in revulsion.

The anguish searing through him told him all he needed to know. No matter what Rose was, no matter what horrors might lurk in her past, he still loved her with every fiber of his being. Whatever she had once been, it didn't change the person she was in this moment - tender, protective, achingly vulnerable.

Slowly, Blake lowered himself to kneel in front of Rose, reaching out to gently take her clawed hands in his. She stiffened as his fingers brushed her demonic flesh, clearly expecting him to flinch away. But his grip only tightened, holding her hands with a careful reverence that made her throat grow tight.

"You're not a monster, Rose," he said quietly, intense eyes locked on hers. "Everything you've done...all of this has been to protect me. And I love you for it."

Rose stared at him, uncomprehending, chest constricting with a riot of emotion. She had expected hate and revulsion from this extraordinary human when he finally saw her true face. The depths of his compassion robbed her of speech for long moments.

"You..." she eventually managed, the words little more than air on her lips. "You don't fear me? Even after everything you've seen...everything I've told you about the horrors in my past..."

Blake squeezed her hands tighter, marveling at the satin softness of the mottled skin under his fingertips, so at odds with the sinewy strength lying beneath.

"I was terrified when I first saw this," he admitted honestly, lifting one hand to ghost along the line on her pale skin. She froze at the gentle, unafraid contact and his heart clenched in his chest. "And hearing what you were...what you did...it's a lot to take in, I won't lie."

She flinched, clearly bracing herself for his rejection, for the door to slam shut on this glimpse of understanding. But his next words were like a powerful ray of light piercing through the eons of darkness that shrouded her soul.

"But I also know the woman you are now," he said fervently, shifting forward to cup her face, ignoring the way her sharp teeth gnashed reflexively. "You've sacrificed everything to keep me safe. You've fought like hell to protect the people you care about. You've shown me a loyalty and love that I've never dreamed possible."

His other hand stroked her jawline almost reverently, callused thumb caressing the silken skin under her burning eyes. "Your past may be stained, my love, but your present is one of the bravest, most selfless people I've ever met. And it's that woman that I love with every part of me - demon or not."