"Checkmate." I grin as I stare at the chess board.

Gabe frowns. "Neither of us has made a move yet."

I shrug. "Checkmate."

Gabe looks deeply perplexed. "That's not what checkmate means."

"I'm just warning you that you're going to lose," I laugh.

Gabe's face scrunches up as he looks at the board. "I've never lost a game of chess."

"This will be a humbling experience for you then," I tease.

Gabe focuses on the board, picking up a pawn and is about to set it down when he mutters to himself under his breath and puts it back in place, his eyebrows pulled tightly together.

He stares at the board a few minutes longer, and I see his mouth moving, like he's talking through every possible outcome. He probably knew all of them, but my Sight is too strong now, he doesn't stand a chance.

I sigh. "I'd like to finish this game sometime today, Gabe."

Gabe scowls and moves a pawn.

I shake my head sadly. "You really shouldn't have done that."

"I just moved one piece! There's no way you could possibly already know how this ends!" He yells in frustration, and I laugh harder.

We continue playing, and he gets more and more unraveled as the game goes on.

"This sucks," He groans when I take a rook.

"I warned you," I laugh. "Don't worry, you don't have to count this against your winning streak."

He sighs, sweeping his hand over the board and knocking the pieces over. "I forfeit," He grumbles.

"Wise decision," I nod.

"Someday, I'll beat you," He warns, but he's chuckling. "Even if it takes decades to figure out how."

I laugh with him. I don't mean it.

****

Blood, blood, and more blood.

It's in my lungs, and I'm drowning in myself.

I'm calm when I wake up, despite the gruesome dream. I felt at more at peace with my death now. There's a certain kind of serenity around it, of knowing it's coming regardless of anything else.

I didn't feel scared anymore.

If anything, I was just patiently waiting for it to happen.

At least with inevitable events, there's no choices, no decisions to be made. It just is.

I start coughing up blood, and the fits last longer every time they happen. If Gabe was here, he would have been able to tell me exactly how long I hacked up blood into my handkerchief.

I reach for my glass of water, but frown when I realize that I already drank all of it before going to bed.

Sighing, I get out of bed, wrapping a blanket around me. Even blankets aren't enough to warm the deep chill I feel in my body with my impending death.

It's not bad, or even sad. It just is.

And I'm okay with that. Happy, even. Relieved it'll be all over soon.

I've been dying since the day I was born. My life was always an hourglass, sand slipping through too fast to stop.

I quietly go downstairs to the kitchen, and see Killian sitting on a stool, a steaming mug and a book in front of him.

Seeing him doesn't make me mad or upset anymore. Five days had gone by since Layla & Co. Parent-Trapped us and forced us to work out our issues, and things were okay between us.

There was no more heat, no more anger or tension between us. We made small talk when running into each other, talked during circulus meetings.

Everything was okay.

"What're you reading?" I ask, filling up my cup with water and sitting across from him.

He holds up the book so I can read the cover. The History of the Immortal Ones.

"I really think the vampires are a dead end," I tell him.

"I know," He sighs. "I just don't what else I can do."

None of us do. Especially me.

Killian rubs his eyes and yawns. I frown at him.

"Why are you up right now?" I ask, and look at the clock. It's almost 4 in the morning.

"You're not the only one with nightmares," He says wryly.

"I don't have many of those," I lie. Reassuring people has become one of the only things I do anymore.

That, and bleed.

Killian shuts the book, staring at me intensely. "Liar. You've screamed throughout the whole night since I first brought you here."

I wince. "Sorry if I made you lose sleep."

"You do." His expression is unreadable.

I wince again. "I'm sorry. Really." I really am. At least I only had a few more weeks left in Crimson Shadow, and he would be able to sleep again peacefully soon.

"Did you ever wonder why I kept teleporting into your bed during the night?" Killian asks suddenly.

I smile slightly. "You were honing your skill of annoying me?"

"No. Your nightmares stopped when I did."

My breath catches in my throat. "You... You could have just dumped a pitcher of cold water on me. That would have stopped the screaming so you could get some sleep," I joke, trying to break the tense atmosphere.

"It was never about making sure I could sleep," Killian says, staring into my eyes so deeply I squirm in my seat uncomfortably. "It was making sure that you could."

I swallow thickly. "You didn't have to do that."

"I know."

His short, direct responses are even worse than his roundabout teasing and sarcastic comments. I couldn't even fake ignorance now.

"Thank you," I whisper, looking down, breaking out of his gaze.

"You're welcome."

Another clipped response.

I hate this.

"What are your nightmares about?" I ask, trying to prod more words out of him.

"My mate."

My eyes shoot up to his in surprise. I already knew the story of how she died from when he told Ares and I in Blood Lake. But hearing him mention it again, after I had spent so much time with him, made me feel sorry for him all over again.

"I'm sorry," I say finally. I don't know what else to say.

"You say that a lot."

"I have a lot to be sorry for."

"You don't." His tone is resolute, firm.

The room is silent.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask hesitantly.

"Do you want to talk about your mate?"

My heart twists. "Not really."

"Okay then."

More silence.

For once, it's suffocating. It's wrong.

"I'm going to go back to bed," I mutter, and as I scurry out of the kitchen, Killian doesn't look up from his book.

I close the door behind me, breathing hard for some reason. My chest felt hollow by that interaction.

It was disturbing.

I get back into bed, shivering slightly as I toss and turn, unable to go back to sleep.

"I can hear your teeth chattering from downstairs," Killian says, suddenly laying next to me on the bed, his face impassive.

I swallow. "It's cold."

"I'm not."

"You don't have to do this."

"I know."

Killian doesn't attempt to touch me. He just lays on my bed, completely still as he stares at the ceiling, his arms up behind his head.

I can feel his warmth like a radiator from the proximity. The atmosphere of the room is thick with tension.

I lay my head on his chest.

Killian relaxes immediately, and removes his arms from behind his head and wraps them around me.

"Thank you," I whisper, my throat feeling hoarse, despite all of the water I just drank.

He kisses the top of my head, tightening his arms around me. "You're welcome, darling."

And for a moment, things begin to feel better than just okay.

Gonna answer a few frequently asked questions about my Patreon:

Q: Where can I find it?
A: www.patreon.com/vviticus or the link is in my bio

Q: How much does it cost?
A: The $5 tier will get you all content

Q: What content is included?
A: The completed Dimensions book, the next completed book in the series about Ares' daughter Drakon, 23 chapters of another book in the series, tons of bonus chapters about Cain/ Ares and Killian/Katrina (epilogue chapters/ chaps from alternate POVs), and a few chapters of the Thane x Ares book. Yeah, it's a lot.

Q: I've subscribed to your patreon. How can I read Dimensions?
A: Go to my posts, and scroll near the bottom to find the Dimension chapter you want to read. It's much easier on a mobile device, on the Patreon app.

Q: Do you have a Wattpad uploading schedule?
A: No. I update every week or two.

Q: Can you please just finish Dimensions on here now?
A: No.