by Amber Lynn
“I am sure we will come up with a figure we can both live on, for now let’s just worry about getting you settled,” he says as he directs me to the underground parking garage of my temporary home.
We get out and he quickly grabs my bag and my hand and drags me inside. He steers us through a couple hallways before coming to an elevator. He swipes a card and then hits the penthouse button.
“Really?” I ask. He just turns and smiles. I am guessing we are still within hearing range of Collective ears.
When the elevator opens it is right into a foyer decorated with elegant black marble floors. The walls are painted a rich gold color and there are two statues to greet us. One is of David and the other is the Venus de Milo.
“Even if they are replicas, I imagine those set you back a pretty penny,” I say as the elevator closes behind us.
“Those are originals, I will have you know. The replicas have always been on display for others to see. You will find I have a very extensive art collection. I have always had an eye for talent and I like to surround myself with the finest art,” he says leading me into the penthouse proper.
“Wow,” I say taking in the sleek, modernly decorated place. From the co-Hab to this, one might just have a heart attack.
The space is wide open. In the back corner, I can see a king size bed with gold and purple ruffles and pillows. It has stairs to actually climb up into it because of its size. That area also hosts a couple gorgeous cherry wood colored dressers and a matching armoire.
The living area has black furniture, two sofas and a chair. They are black and sit low to the ground. Not really comfortable looking to me, but when you have a bed the size of Texas in the same room nothing looks all that comfy.
The rest of the space is filled with art to make you feel like you are in a gallery. Everything is really pretty and expensive looking. The ceiling has recessed lighting that highlights each piece perfectly.
I notice there is no kitchen or dining room area and suspect, or hope, that somewhere there is a hidden door revealing a bathroom. Aside from the art, the room’s main feature is the floor to ceiling windows that offer an incredible view of Night Owl City. It is still pretty dark outside, but I can see the sun just starting to rise in the horizon.
“Do you need to retreat to a hiding place?” I ask still studying the view.
“No, love, the sun will not bother me. I should probably leave, so our watchers do not get suspicious. I will return shortly. Make yourself at home. Let me show you where the bathroom is, if you would like to wash up,” he says dragging me away from the window.
He walks towards the bed and moves to the wall about ten feet away from it. I notice then that he hits a button that without knowing it is there, you would never see. The wall slides back to reveal an oasis.
I thought his bathroom at Sins was nice, but this takes the cake. The centerpiece of the room is a huge Jacuzzi tub. I swear at least ten people would fit in that thing. There is a large vanity area to the left of the tub and in the back corner is a beautiful walk-in shower.
“Can I just sleep in here?” I ask noting that it does have a toilet as well.
“That would be rather uncomfortable, I am sure. I will also show you how to find the kitchen. With your genetic makeup, I am not sure if you will still need to eat normal food or not,” he says guiding me to the wall close to where we entered the room. A hidden button later and we are in a chef inspired kitchen.
“Do a lot of entertaining in here?” I ask marveling at the shininess of it all.
“No, other than the workmen who helped move things in, this apartment has been untouched by outsiders. It is one of the reasons why I wanted to bring you here. Now as I said love, I should leave to make this look like something other than me moving my girlfriend into our love nest,” he says taking my hands and kissing my cheek. “I won’t be gone more than a half an hour, make yourself at home. The remote on the coffee table runs everything, in case you get bored.”
With that, he releases me and hurries out of the penthouse. Okay, not sure how he expects to get back in if he is being followed, but it seems he knows what he is doing. I walk to the fridge and open it to see what bounty there may be. Since he doesn’t entertain here, I am guessing there won’t be much. I am correct in that assumption, but upon checking out the freezer, I notice that my options are looking up.
I grab a frozen steak and fling it into the microwave to defrost. I haven’t eaten in a while and I am actually feeling a little bit hungry. This will be a good test to see my diet has dramatically changed in the past couple of hours.
While it is getting all unfrozen, I decide to change into something a little more comfortable. I switch into a black workout outfit similar to the ones I always wear at Sins. Now I need Sebastian to come back, so he can tell me where to discard the rancid smelling clothes I was just wearing. Werewolf guts really do smell bad.
When the steak is done defrosting, I grab a skillet and get to work. I have always enjoyed my steaks on the rare side. I wonder now if those werewolf genes had anything to do with that. After giving it just enough heat to get a nice sear on the outside, I find a plate, fork, and knife and dish it up.
There isn’t really a place to sit and eat, unless there is a hidden dining room I don’t know about, so I take my food to the coffee table and make myself comfortable on one of the sofas, or at least as comfortable as you can while sitting on a rock. They really aren’t that nice to sit on. If I stay here very long, we may need to make some furnishing changes.
I cut into my steak and pretty much start to drool. I take it as a good sign and put a big bite into my mouth. As I chew, my mouth explodes with flavor. Yum, a steak has never tasted so good. In fact, it is so good that before I know it, I am left staring at an empty plate.
I glare at it pouting slightly that there isn’t more. “I thought you saved those noises only for my feeding times,” Sebby says his arms folded across his chest leaning against the wall opposite me.
“Please tell me I wasn’t moaning,” I say slightly embarrassed.
“Not really, but I could tell you were enjoying it. So, food still is important to you, that is good to see. I didn’t want my little mistake to totally change your life,” he says crossing the room to sit next to me.
“I am pretty sure it was I who bit you, so I would say it was my mistake. I am not really sure it should be classified as a mistake, though. I mean, I found out I can actually have a significant other that isn’t going to find a mate and leave me someday. To me that is basically my dreams come true. That is what everyone is taught to aspire to at the Collective,” I tell him.
“Yes, I know what hogwash they teach at the Collective. They want all the paranorms to pair off and make new little paranorms they can corrupt for their own goals. Me and them have never seen eye to eye and to find out that you have been lied to all these years, doesn’t make me want to kill them any less,” he says tensely.
“Hey, for now let’s not think about them. I am thinking after one more mission I should probably cut ties with them anyway. Eventually, they would see my baby fangs and that wouldn’t be good in a place mostly run by werewolves. I am sure the vampires there would get a kick out of it, but probably only for a couple minutes. Then they would perceive me as a threat and issue an execution order on me,” I say grabbing his hand and curling my fingers around it.
“An execution order on their perfect assassin that would be kind of funny. We have a lot to talk about, but as the sun gets higher in the sky, I am getting a bit sleepy. Come, let’s sleep our first day together in hopes that there are many more to follow,” he says lifting me bridal style from the couch in one quick motion.
“You sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable sleeping on the couch?” I ask. “I haven’t ever actually slept in the same bed as another person.”
“Those couches are like rocks, so no I wouldn’t be more comfortable there. If you want space, the bed is surely big enough for the two of us. I h
ave had plenty of time to think of us as a couple, but I know this is all new to you, so I won’t push. Everything is your choice.”
“Sebby, I wouldn’t allow myself to think of us as a couple because I was sure it would never happen. Now that it has out of the blue, it is going to take me a little time to wrap my mind around the fact that I am not actually dreaming,” I tell him as he lays me in the bed.
“No worries, love. We have eternity to figure everything out, in case you hadn’t noticed. It seems I have a lot to teach you in the coming days because the Collective’s curriculum doesn’t seem up to snuff from what I have heard,” he says relaxing on the bed next to me, but keeping a respectable distance.
I guess he likes to sleep in his clothes because he makes no move to change. Fine by me. The second my head hit the pillow the enormity of the things that happened today hits me and I find myself exhausted by the lot of it. Within minutes, my eyes shut and I am fast asleep.
Chapter 7
Relationships are trouble
I wake up the next evening to wonderful smells coming from the kitchen and an empty bed. A girl could get used to this, I think rolling out of bed and heading towards the kitchen. I can make out the smells of eggs, bacon and something cinnamony. The cinnamon smell is making me very happy and seems to be on top of all the other scents.
“What ya making?” I ask as I peruse the bounty.
“I ran out and got some perishable items since you may be here a while. I haven’t had to cook anything for a very long time, and back then we didn’t have fancy stoves, so I thought I would try my hand at it. I also wanted to do a little experiment,” he replies as he turns to kiss the end of my nose.
“I am not seeing anything with cinnamon. Why am I getting that scent really strong and why am I finding it so appealing?” I ask breathing in deeply.
“My guess is that would be me, love. It seems your sense of smell has kicked up a few notches to go along with the fangs. Eventually, you will get used to it, but for a while it might be overwhelming,” he says smiling and turning to start putting food on plates.
“What do I smell like?” I ask curious, not really picking up anything, as I smell my own skin.
“We each may smell like something different to other people, but to me you smell like coconuts. Whenever you are around I picture us on a sunny beach watching the waves roll in,” he says in a dreamlike voice.
“Interesting,” I say thinking of how funny it is for a vampire to be thinking about sitting on a sunny beach. “You are going to have to fill me in on all the rules of being a vampire. I have a feeling, like you mentioned last night, that my teachings have been wrong.”
“More than likely. We are a very secretive species, so we like to leak half-truths to confuse people on what we are really like,” he says walking me to the table with plates in his hands.
I settle down on the rocky couch and take the plate he offers. “What is the second plate for?”
“Me,” he says bringing his plate to his face and taking a deep breath. “After watching you eat that steak last night, I got to thinking that maybe your part human and werewolf blood has given me the ability to actually digest this stuff. For some reason, I woke up hungry this morning and it wasn’t for you.”
“Interesting,” I say taking a bite from my own food. There is no seasoning on the scrambled eggs, which is fine with me, but it does seem to have some cheese melted in with them and it is really tasty.
I look up and watch him slowly put the fork in his mouth and remove it. He gradually starts to chew and then swallows the food. Not really knowing what vampires do with normal food, I am not sure if the experiment is a success or not.
“I think I like cheddar cheese,” he says and proceeds to annihilate the food on his plate. That, I am guessing, isn’t a vampire response, so it seems I do bring a little something to this partnership. I quickly finish my own food and clear the plates, so I can do the dishes.
“You don’t have to do that,” he says joining me.
“You cooked, I clean. Those be the rules,” I say making quick work of the dishes.
“I can have a maid come in here to clean up after us. When it is just me, I don’t make much mess, but the two of us, actually eating, might,” he says.
“It isn’t a bother, so I wouldn’t worry about it,” I tell him. “Do you have plans to go into work today?”
“Nope, I am taking a vacation. Although, if anyone asks for me at the club, I am in an important meeting,” he says picking me up and carrying me back to the comfy bed.
I situate myself so I am sitting leaning against the headboard and he joins me. “How have you been able to come and go without raising the alarm?”
“Tunnels. All my places have secret tunnels into them. It gives me a needed sense of freedom because more than likely my movements are usually watched, even without riding in to your rescue,” he explains.
“I could see why the Collective would want to keep tabs on you. You are a very resourceful person,” I say.
“That I am,” he says linking our hands together. “So where should we start your reeducation?”
“You have already mentioned that you personally only had to drink once a week before meeting me, can you go into more detail about vampires’ eating habits in general?” I ask. “I had always thought it was an everyday thing.”
“More than likely meant to keep you away from potentially hungry vampires. As babies, yes, vampires eat usually three or four times a day. They cannot really help it. It is just something their body needs. Around the century mark, they can usually start to limit it to once a day. As they get older, more time can pass, but most still seem to enjoy once a day feedings. My goal has always been survival of the fittest, so I have been working for years to go longer. By myself, I was able to make it to a full week. With your help who knows how long I can wait now,” he says.
“Interesting, and the fact that I haven’t had to feed once since baby fangs appeared is because I am not purely vampire?” I query.
“Probably, or the fact that you have had my blood. I haven’t done a lot of studies on vampire mates because they are really rare, so it may just be we are able to nourish each other over for longer periods.”
“See I don’t understand that. The Collective teaches that every paranorm has a mate and acts like they are just standing outside the door waiting to be introduced, but you are saying for your species that is rare,” I say.
“You can probably change the your in that statement to our. You are part vampire. Werewolves are the easiest to find mates with and since that place is pretty much run by them, I believe they are teaching their own ways. For the most part, vampires don’t have ‘mates’, per se. We have a person that we connect on a deep level with and decide to spend the rest of our lives with them. We have a choice in the matter, they do not. Their chemical makeup physically binds them to the other person once they find them. One can reject their chosen mate, but they rarely ever do because it is painful. For us, we make the decision and say a few words and voila we are bonded,” he says waving his hand.
“Say a few words? I haven’t said a few words and I don’t remember you ever saying them, but yet you called me your mate,” I say trying to make sense of things.
“Yeah about that, as long as your vamp gene was still recessive there wasn’t anything for you really to do. I knew I wanted to bind with you, so I said the words three years ago when we first spoke about our business agreement, it is the reason that the feedings are more than just me taking blood. Therefore, technically we have had a one sided bond for that long, which I was totally fine living with. It made it so I found all other blood gross and I was great with that. I think you taking a nibble though closed the circuit. Like I have been saying, this is my mistake and I am sorry. I imagine, if I hadn’t done the binding, then you wouldn’t have probably turned.”
“If none of this would have happened, I would never have found out I wasn’t human, so I cannot see it a
s totally a bad thing, but I am pissed you bonded with me and neglected to tell me about it. What if I would have been killed at some point on a mission? Would you have been able to start drinking from someone else?” I ask.
“No, chances are I would have probably died with you,” he says with his head cast down.
“Then it was really moronic. I was just a rookie when you did it, as a weakish human fighting paranorms odds were not on my side,” I scream.
“I know, but it couldn’t be stopped. Your unique genetic makeup drew me to you. I thought after our first meeting that it was just a fluke and I was picking up something that didn’t exist, but when you came back I could still sense you were different and I knew I had to be tied to you. Since then, I have stepped back and let you make all your own decisions. Thankfully, I have agreed with most of them, so I didn’t drive myself insane,” he explains.
