It All Leads to You
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine. I’m just borrowing them for a while and will return them when I am finished.
Author’s Notes- This is the first of my May Soulmates challenge! Adrian x MC got the second most votes, so gets to be the first one I do (also because Liam/MC has to wait). This is set in a soulmates universe where people are born with the age they will be when they meet their soulmate and the age their soulmate will be.
Rating- PG
Pairing- Adrian/MC
Summary- The numbers on Isobel’s skin always made her wonder, hinting at a mysterious world that she couldn’t possibly understand until she stumbled into it.
Words- 887
When Isobel is old enough to read the numbers on her skin, she’s convinced that there must be some mistake. One set, in a feminine curvy writing she is too assume will be hers one day, says 23, but the other in a masculine but very elaborate, almost old-fashioned script says 265.
Which should be impossible and yet it’s there, on her skin, clear as day.
“Don’t ever show anyone your mark,” her mother instructs her repeatedly over the years, a hint of fear in her voice. Isobel’s not sure if it’s fear of exposure and what that might mean for Isobel or fear of what the numbers mean. After all, Ruth MacKenzie is a good church-going woman and Isobel knows that her mother secretly wonders if her daughter’s mark is the work of the devil.
Since they are on her hip, that’s fairly easy to accomplish, though she has to be careful to make sure her bathing suit covers it. It might have been a problem in college if she’d wanted to sow some wild oats, but Isobel has no interest. She knows that a lot of people have fun before they met their soulmates, but she isn’t going to be one of them.
The universe has someone picked out for her and she’s going to wait for them. Isobel repeats that mantra all through college and her year abroad. She has to admit that sometimes she’s tempted and maybe if the numbers on her skin weren’t so unusual she might, but in the end, she never meets anyone worth taking the risk.
The days after her 23rd birthday are filled with anticipation, this is it, this is the year she met her soulmate. But she tries to push that out of her mind as she applies for a job with Adrian Raines, after all, before she meets her soulmate she has to make sure she can pay her rent.
Yet it’s never far from her mind, those numbers, and when she walks in on Adrian feeding off Nicole, her first response is shock and then ohhhh.
As Adrian gently explains to her that vampires are real, all Isobel can think about are the numbers on her skin. This is what they mean, what they have always meant.
“How old are you?” Isobel asks him curiously.
“I was born in 1753, so the math is a little tricky,” he replies with a smile, “but under 300.”
Isobel freezes, doing the math in her head. “265,” she breathes, “you’re 265.”
It can’t be Adrian, can it? Is it that simple? Has fate introduced her to this new world and her soulmate at the same time?
It’s Adrian’s turn to go still. “Does that particular number have significance to you?” He asks her, his eyes studying her face carefully.
Instead of answering, Isobel eases down the band of her skirt and exposed her hip, letting Adrian see the numbers marked on her skin. She knows it isn’t a particularly professional move, but if her suspicions are right, and they have to be, then this relationship has already moved passed professional boundaries.
Adrian stares at her mark, transfixed by the sight. “May I?” He asks her almost hesitantly.
She assumes he wants to touch and nods but instead he reaches for his belt, quickly undoing it. Isobel sucks in her breath as Adrian exposes his own hip, giving her a tantalizing glimpse of his hard stomach in the process. There on his hip, in the same spot as hers, are the same numbers that have been there all her life.
“They appeared after I changed,” Adrian explains, “I… I had different numbers before.”
Isobel nods, that makes sense since in that different life Adrian would have died long before she was born and thus couldn’t be her soulmate. And soulmarks weren’t oracles, they couldn’t predict the path your life would take, so of course, his original mark hadn’t referenced his rebirth.
“This complicates things,” Adrian says after a moment, running a hand through his hair, “I’m not sure of the procedure.”
“What do you mean?” Isobel asks curiously.
“Normally I would take you to have your memories wiped,” Adrian tells her gently, “let you forget this entire night, but it’s not that simple.”
“No, it’s not,” Isobel replies, disliking the sound of that, “and I don’t want that. I’ve spent my whole life wondering what those numbers meant and now I know and you can’t… You can’t take that away from me.”
“I won’t,” Adrian assures her, stepping closer to her, “and selfishly, I’ve waited too long waiting for you to let you go.” He hesitates. “However… You may wish you had chosen to go, this life, my world can be quite dangerous and being my soulmate won’t protect you from that, in fact, it may make you more of a target.”
“I don’t care,” Isobel says boldly, though she wonders what just kind of dangers he is talking about, “I want this.”
She wants to say that she wants him, but it felt too soon. He’s her soulmate, but he’s also her boss and a vampire and she has a feeling that this may be a little more complicated than most soul bonds.
Adrian nods, “then, I guess we have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”
- End
Yay so good!
Thank you so much!
I love this AU Misha! I love that Isobel waited to find her soulmate, and how much she must have wondered about her soulmate with that age on her. I also love her telling Adrian that she wants this, and how much she wants to tell him she wants him.
Thank you! I love the dynamic between Adrian and Isobel and I had fun with this one and imagining how Isobel would react to having a soulmate and how that knowledge would shape her.