Shades of Red

by T L Christianson

  We switched places, and I found myself on my toes, struggling to get him into the hold. I could feel his chest rumble as he laughed at my attempt.

  “Okay, so first of all, if someone grabs you like this, always lower your chin. Don’t let them have leverage on your neck.” I felt his chin go into my arm. “Then grab their arm with both hands, step out, toward the arm holding you.” He stepped out and broke my grasp.

  “Wow! That looked easy. Let's go again.” We got into position, and I lowered my chin as directed, then sighed.

  “What?”

  “Well, why wouldn’t I just bite them?”

  His grip tightened. “What if they were Moroi?”

  I struggled with the step and felt Owen loosen me.

  “What’s next?” I asked.

  “Next? Make a fist and hit him in the nuts.”

  I shook my head and laughed sarcastically. “Really?”

  He smiled and slid his arms around me for a kiss. “I’m serious.” I felt his chest rumble before he pulled back.

  He used his no-nonsense voice again. “Okay, so I want to teach you another alternative to escape a choke hold.”

  I licked my lips, ready to go again. “All right.”

  “I want to teach you how to escape a choke hold when someone lifts you off your feet.”

  Owen ran his hands up and down my arms. “You’re going to grab my arm like before and swing your legs as high as you can, then slam all of your body weight down and forward. If, for some reason, you don’t break loose right away, I’ll let you down. Ready?”

  I nodded, and he came around behind me, pulling me up into a choke hold. I panicked and let out a sob.

  Owen immediately set me down.

  That was exactly what those rogue vampires did when they kidnapped me. I felt as if the air had been sucked out of the room.

  “Oh, my god! Did I hurt you?” he asked.

  Tears began streaming down my face, and I shook my head, unable to stem the tide.

  His lips parted as understanding filled his eyes. I knelt on the mat and wiped at my face. “I’m fine, this is silly!”

  “It’s okay, take your time. Once you’ve got this down, you’ll be kicking ass.”

  I sucked my bottom lip in and bit it, nodding. “I know. I can do this.” Then I laughed. “We’ve already established that I’m an easy crier.” I needed to toughen up. I needed to learn this.

  He kissed my forehead. “We can take a break if you want.”

  “No. I’m fine. I want to do this.”

  Owen got back into position, and I took a deep breath. “Okay… go ahead.”

  He pulled me up into a headlock, and my heart began to pound. My airway was cut off, but as a vampire, I realized it didn’t matter. I swung my legs up, and we tumbled to the ground. I tucked under and slid out.

  Owen was kneeling beside me. He clapped me on the back. “That was super-fast! You were perfect!”

  “I was scared.”

  He shook his head. “You’re a Moroi! You get some of these skills dialed in, and you’ll never be afraid again.”

  I nodded and caught his gaze. “Thank you.”

  “Yeah, you’ve got to keep your head clear. Just focus on what you’ve got to do and do it.”

  I was happy. This didn't happen very often, and it made me question how long it would last. A day, a week, a month, maybe a year or a couple? I'd been around long enough to know that happiness like this doesn't last very long, so I'd try to hold on for as long as I could.

  Friday started out like every other day until Owen came into the classroom a little after three.

  "I've got costumes for everyone!" He held a large box and set it down on my desk. The kids were excited and swarmed him like honeybees.

  There was a parade in town tonight, and they couldn't be more excited if it were Christmas all over again.

  Looking at me, he explained, "Snowdown is a local establishment. There's a different theme every year. This year's theme is," he looked at the kids, "monsters!"

  He pulled out a witch costume for Becca, and she screamed in delight. "Can I be a princess witch?"

  Owen's chest shook, and he nodded. "You can be whatever you want to be while wearing that costume."

  Then he pulled out a furry wolf getup for Jack. It was a onesie with the wolf snout on top of the hood.

  Jack struggled with the outfit, so I held it open for him to step into, his hand resting on my shoulder. After I zipped him in, he took off running after his sister, growling.

  Next, Owen pulled out bright pink fur boots and a little florescent bodysuit. His lips twisted wryly, and he handed it to me, whispering, "I know you don't feel the cold, so your costume is a little sexy."

  I threw my head back and laughed. "So, what am I supposed to be?" I held out the small, thin fabric of the bodysuit, fluffing the tulle skirt with my fingers.

  "A monster… of course." He smiled devilishly. I sighed and raised my eyebrows before leaning in for a quick kiss.

  I examined the getup again, in all its bejeweled, furry, and tutu glory.

  "Fine." Flicking my eyes back to his to smolder a bit, I added, "We may have to test this out before I'm able to wear it in public."

  Raising his eyebrows, he tilted his chin down. "Absolutely… Fifteen minutes? My room or yours?"

  I winked. "Yours." I looked into the box. "So, what are you going to be?"

  He pulled out a giant blue furry monster costume.

  "I see how you play! You've got a full body costume yet bought me this little tutu!"

  Sliding his hands down my arms, he kissed my defiant mouth. "Yes, but I'm human, and it'll be well below freezing out."

  I begrudgingly gave him the excuse and kissed him back, lingering a little.

  "Fine, and you taste like chocolate." I narrowed my eyes and gave him a questioning look.

  "All right, new M&M's in the cabinet." I began to leave the room when he called back, "Leave some for me!"

  Adding some rouge to my cheeks, I gave my reflection a pouty look.

  I regretted not looking older and wished I was at least taller.

  Everyone has something about their body they don't like.

  Mine is that I look like a child, and I will never, ever change.

  I hate it, and the older I get, the more I hate it.

  I've tried many things. I've been attempting to gain weight, but as a vampire, I can't.

  I've tried makeup and hair dye, but they're temporary.

  I stuck my tongue out at my reflection and sighed before applying lipstick.

  I knew that sooner or later, I was going to get hurt. I needed to pluck up the nerve and accept the good while I had it.

  Once I added eyeliner, I blotted my lips with a tissue and put the pink and yellow furry monster hat over my hair. It looked perfect with my coloring, and I felt like a wild fairy. My blond hair was escaping the cap and settled around my shoulders.

  I didn't put the boots on. Instead, I tiptoed down the steps. The feel of the pink fishnet stockings between my feet and the hardwood felt foreign.

  Standing outside the master bedroom, I knocked.

  When he answered, I slipped inside, locking the door behind me.

  I couldn't help but laugh. Owen was sprawled out on the bed, completely decked out in a blue and purple fur onesie. I stepped up beside him and flicked one of the horns on the hood. "What are you?"

  "I'm Sully, from Monsters Inc, it's a movie."

  He bought a monster costume that wouldn't scare the kids. A smile tugged at my lips.

  "Nice." I spun around, showing him my getup. "What do you think? Do you like it?"

  "Yeah." His voice was husky as he helped me up onto the bed. "I do…"

  His golden eyes locked on me, looking into my soul. Hungry.

  Some primal instinct pushed me to bite him. I leaned down and kissed his skin instead.

  Reaching over, I unzipped his costume, running my hands lightly over the spattering of dark ha
ir on his chest.

  He sat and took me into his arms, plundering my mouth with his own before laying me down on my back.

  Pulling myself up onto my elbows, I kissed my lover's tan neck, stubbled face, and soft mouth, before biting his tongue.

  I caught myself and drew back. "I didn't mean to do that." I worried my own lip and gave him a contrite smile.

  His devilish expression warned me that I was in trouble, fun trouble.

  "Fine, but you'll have to have some kind of punishment." He tried to give me a deadpan look, but a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

  I looked up at him, excited. "What type of punishment?"

  He pretended to ponder this, but I knew he'd already come up with something. "I'm going to…"

  "Yeah?"

  "I’ll torment you until you beg me to,” he hesitated, “fuck you."

  I giggled. "Wow!" My nerdy scientist boyfriend seriously just said that. I was kind of shocked but really turned on. "You said fuck!" I laughed in surprise.

  He nodded and kissed my chest. My breath coming out shakily, I teased him, "It doesn't sound like a punishment."

  "No talking."

  "Right… any more rules?"

  He pulled me down off my elbows and took one breast into his mouth. His stroking and sucking were bringing me to the edge, when he abruptly stopped and sat up.

  Unzipping his fur costume, Owen pulled it off and threw it to the floor.

  I watched, admiring his naturally tan skin and the way his muscles moved beneath it.

  "What…?" I began to ask, when he smothered my question with a deep kiss, his fingers lightly tugging my hair.

  When he sat up, he reminded me, "No talking." A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

  I sighed and relaxed back into the pillows. I arched my hips toward him, pleading with my eyes for him to continue.

  Leaning over, he pushed against me.

  "Come on," I whispered, but he held my hips still before moving against me in a slow, careful cadence. Gasping, I felt my climax begin to build again, but when I neared the finish line, he stopped.

  I opened my eyes and could tell that this was just as hard for him as it had been for me.

  "Thinking of England?" I laughed breathily, before wrapping my legs around his waist.

  Perspiration dewed his face. "I'm trying to remember why I was supposed to tease you… because I'm torturing myself more… I think."

  "If you want, I can remind you, and bite you again," I teased and flipped him over so that I was now on top.

  "Oh, I definitely think that was against the rules," he told me, squeezing my bum.

  I smirked in defiance, before he slapped my rear end, twice.

  "I'll get you back for that," I gasped and laughed.

  I scrambled up onto my knees and pushed him back before standing on the bed. I pulled the bodysuit off and stood over him, adorned with only the fishnet thigh highs.

  "Right, I thought someone needed a punishment?" I put a finger to my lips and pretended to think about this.

  "Yes…" he hissed and reached out to me.

  I settled carefully over him. "Do you want me to fuck you?" Unlike him, I could actually pull this off with a straight face.

  "Yes…" he growled.

  I couldn't help but laugh because he was so sweet and so innocent, and I knew it killed him to say ‘fuck,' but I could tell it turned him on.

  I lowered myself and felt him impale me. It was time to stop messing around. We had a parade to go to.

  When we were spent, I collapsed onto the bed, listening to Owen's racing heart as it began to slow.

  "What time is it?" I asked.

  He picked up his phone from the nightstand and looked at it. "Almost five." Then he turned to me. "Are you mad that I spanked you?"

  My mouth turned up into a smile. "No… it was weirdly erotic, but I'm not into any of that crazy stuff."

  His laugh filled the room and took away the little tension there was. I snuggled into his arms.

  Later on, dressed in our costumes, we all headed into town. Owen dropped us off near Main Street and went off in search of a parking place.

  I kept hold of both kids, and we walked toward the crowds that filled both sides of the street.

  The sun was going down, and even though Becca and Jack were bundled up, the low temperature concerned me.

  "Do you guys want hot chocolate before the parade begins?" I asked them, pulling them toward a coffee shop. Once inside, we stepped to the end of the queue, and I pulled out my mobile to text our location to Owen.

  "I want a cookie." Jack had wandered close to the glass display case, and his red cheeks contrasted with his cornflower blue eyes and white-blond hair.

  "Ohhhh, can I have a cookie, too?" Becca stayed beside me but pressed her lips together and looked disapprovingly at her brother.

  I was in a good mood and agreed. After paying, we found a little round table near the back.

  "Next year, I want to be Frankenstein!" Jack sipped at the chocolate and seemed to make more crumbs with his cookie than he ate.

  "No, dummy, every year's different. Next year everyone's going to be something different!"

  "Hey," I warned, "no name calling." I looked pointedly at Becca, who sported a chocolate mustache now. Her witch hat had been bedazzled with pink sequins and paint.

  "Did your dad say you could paint on your costume?"

  She looked at me from under her eyelashes. "I came to ask Daddy, but you guys were playing in his room again."

  My eyes went wide, and I held my breath, sitting frozen with embarrassment.

  "I want to play with you and Daddy! I want to play, but nobody lets me!" Jack interjected. "Becca doesn't let me play with her, and Flor doesn't ever want to play with me! I don't have anyone to play with! I want to go to school!"

  I took the lifeline given me. "Jack, why do you want to go to school?"

  "Because when you go to school, you get to ride the school bus. I want to ride the bus."

  "I have to go to the bathroom," Becca interrupted.

  I looked to the ladies’ room. "Okay, go by yourself. I'll stay with Jack."

  I would need to talk to Owen about the when and where of our playdates.

  When I looked up, a pleasant older lady was walking up to me. "Aren't you the sweetest little mama I ever saw!" Her Southern drawl made her words sound almost musical.

  I smiled at her, and she placed a warm hand on my shoulder. "I had to come by and let you know how well behaved your children are." She shook her head and smiled again. "They look just like you. What angels." Then she left.

  Her comment touched me so much so that I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them back up, they were filled with tears.

  I’d wanted children for so long. So many times, I'd been told that I was doing something wrong, that my childlessness was deserved.

  That woman's comments seemed to quiet all those terrible thoughts, like a healing balm.

  I looked up at the copper-tiled ceiling and sniffed in contentment.

  I knew I wasn't Becca and Jack's mother. I knew I would never have my own kids, but at that moment, they were mine. I felt like they were mine.

  I know, I know, I'm not some crazy person, but I tasted what it felt like to be a mother.

  I didn't know it at the time, but Owen had seen the entire thing. Instead of saying anything, he sat and kissed me before taking his hot chocolate.

  Standing next to the barrier, we heard the single firework and knew that the parade was beginning. Watching as the brightly glowing floats started to make their way down the street, we cheered.

  I held Jack as he waved and called for candy or beads from each set of people who walked around the floats, handing things out to the crowd that stood behind the barricade.

  The evening got colder as time passed, but it didn't bother me. I opened a package of hand warmers and gave one to each child. It worried me, keeping them out in the cold this long.
<
br />   Jack's red face and frosty breath were set in a smile as he pointed out the next float. I kissed his sweet chubby cheek, and I knew that this moment was a gift. I would remember it for as long as I lived.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Sam was still here come February, but Martin had gone back to New York. I hadn’t heard of anyone else replacing him, so we’re down to just one guard.

  The sickness made me nervous, and I’d stayed far away from the lab.

  Questions seemed to chase each other across my mind lately. Would the other Clan try to attack again? Were they getting sick with the plague? Was I even on the right side of all this? What if Chronos really did make the disease? Should Owen be helping them?

  Either way, his work had slowed down quite a bit. After testing several vaccines for vampires, none of them seemed to work.

  And on top of that, he’d been summoned to Chronos' headquarters. Owen would have to present his recent failed vaccine strains and admit to all the failures he’d had lately. I could see the worry in the way he creased his brow, even though he said everything was all right.

  We would leave in a little over a week. I was a bit apprehensive for myself as well, but Sam reassured me that I had no reason to worry about registering with the Global Council. Still, it was hard not to worry.

  I don’t think I’ve felt this satisfied with life since Isa was alive.

  Owen and the kids felt like family. We just seemed to fit. I’d been sleeping more nights in Owen’s room with him than on my own.

  I’d found that Jackabo slept with his daddy several nights a week and the first time the little creature crawled into bed, I thought he was a dog. Now that little beast flips and flops between Owen and me.

  Owen has been training me in Jujitsu for about three weeks. He’s never seen anyone progress like I have, and so I work even harder to make him proud of me. I love when I’m able to master a new move and bring it into sparring.

  I’ve still been giving Owen my blood, just a little now to maintain his stamina.

  I’ve had a little niggle in the back of my mind, wondering if there could be any consequences, but seeing him so healthy and full of life squashed that worry.