Dating a Vampire

[kiasusam]

We stared at each other in absolute shock. Warm gratitude flooded my body, but it was instantly drenched with ice-cold panic. My boyfriend had just reached up and snatched a baseball, traveling quite possibly over a hundred miles an hour, with one quick glance, barehanded, like it was no more of an effort than plucking a falling maple leaf. To me, it was a neon sign flashing above his head that he wasn’t entirely human. I wanted to glance around the stadium and search for stake wielding lunatics, but my eyes were locked on his.

Eventually, and in actuality it had only been maybe 5 seconds, he doubled over in his chair and clutched his hand, letting the ball roll onto his lap. I sympathetically laid an arm over his shoulder and took a chance at looking over the crowd. Several people around us were eyeing him with either an awed face or a ‘man that must have hurt’ face, but no one was giving us the ‘he’s a vamp, circle and stake him’ look. I rubbed his back.

“Are you okay?” I whispered in his ear.

Groaning and rubbing out his hand, he mumbled, “Yeah, I’m fine.” He kept up his exaggerated pained noises for a couple more seconds, and then straightened back up and held his hand up to the crowd. There was some applause near us and then everyone relaxed again, seeing that he was okay. My mom and Ashley gushed at what an incredible sight that was and my mom remarked that she’d never seen someone move that fast. Ashley winked at that and reached over me to squeeze his knee. He nodded and smiled at the both of them and then looked at me, sighing softly as he kissed me.



“That was too close,” he whispered, as he kissed me again.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” I said it no more than a faint breeze over my lips, knowing he would hear it.

He leaned in to whisper in my ear, since I didn’t have his perceptibility. “I couldn’t just let it hit you.”

I looked over at him and sighed. “Don’t expose yourself for me.”

He frowned and leaned into my ear again. “I would stake myself to protect you, and there is nothing you can say to make that truth go away, so will you please stop being all noble and self-sacrificing and just thank me already.”

I blinked and pulled away to stare at him grinning crookedly at me. I laughed and then leaned in to kiss him. “Thank you.” I kissed the hand that had saved me from a world of pain. “Did that hurt?”

He shook his hand out a little. “It didn’t feel good.” He flexed the hand. “Nothing is broken, but I’m going to have a pretty decent bruise tomorrow.” He showed me the edge of his palm, where it was redder than the rest. I wondered for a second if he could smell the blood pooling under his skin. I kissed his hand again and leaned back into his shoulder, while he twirled his hard-won ball over and over in his other hand.

“I’ll thank you properly later.” I felt him chuckle and kiss my head and we watched the rest of the game (from our almost too-close seats) in relative peace and quiet.

We ducked out after the game and a few people did stop him, to pat him on the back and tell him that was an amazing catch. Thankfully, the cameras hadn’t been fast enough to record him casually reaching up to snag a ball from in front of my face, or we’d be enduring replay after replay of the event on ESPN. As it was, all they had was a shot of him clutching his hand and then showing it to the crowd. They only played the clip twice and, although it was pretty impressive that someone caught a ball barehanded like that, he looked completely normal and human in the clip, so we watched it with easy grins on our faces. Well, his grin was easy…mine was a little lusty. My vamp looked damn good onscreen. After watching his victorious television debut, we picked up where we left off before leaving for the game, and I thanked him most thoroughly for his superhuman abilities.

Teren seemed in a more upbeat mood when he picked me up the next night, to head over to his parents’ place. I suppose he’d had a great afternoon, telling his impressive catch to his co-workers. Mike especially, since he should have been the one sitting in that seat last night. I wondered how he’d modified the story to make it seem more human. Turned the straight-line fowl into a lofty pop fly maybe? I’d have to ask him in case anyone asked me. Interesting, that dating a vampire had me learning to corroborate stories.

As he walked through my front door and kissed me, before he reached down to pick up my full bags (and yes, I had debated having him pack again, since he was so good at it, but instead decided that I could be a little self-sufficient), I was a surprised that he’d wanted to head up on a Friday night. With all his hemming and hawing, I thought for sure he’d at least postpone it until Saturday morning or maybe even afternoon. But then, as he settled into his car beside me, he started talking about the game, and how excited he was to tell his dad about it and show him the deepening bruise on his palm. He’d even brought the ball to give him. I smiled at the very human response of wanting to make your parent proud of your abilities, even if you are genetically enhanced.

We bounced down their super long driveway and I inhaled a deep breath as the mansion that was the Adams ranch came into view. It was spectacular. My human mind had dulled the memory of it, and now my brain was being scorched with the perfect beauty of it. The late rays of the sun cast a red glow on the already red tiles, making them gleam like bright red drops of blood. The stark whiteness of the stucco walls further emphasised the crimson roof, and I almost expected that roof to start dripping like a fresh wound. I couldn’t help but think how fitting the style of the home was for a group of vampires, what with the bone white and blood red coloring. I swallowed as I remembered that this group of vamps weren’t entirely innocent, and weren’t entirely giant kitty cats, like Jack had assured me. I placed a hand on my stomach. But I had something they wanted – a willing uterus, they would never hurt me. And I had something even more important than that to assure my safety…Teren’s heart. That was most definitely sacred to them.

Teren put the car in park beside the zippy looking sports car, which I could only imagine as being Halina’s. I could easily picture her in a skintight dress, flying down a pitch black highway with her wild black hair streaming behind her. Of course, I then had to picture her streaming into the city, to pick up a cute boy or two… Not relevant, I reminded myself. I wasn’t going to think about that right now.

My eyes shifted to the meticulously inlaid rocks that formed a perfect line, just below midpoint, all the way along the home. As Teren walked around to my door, I marveled at how perfectly each rock had been chosen and twisted into place, so that it seamlessly created a natural looking wall. I laughed inwardly. A wall of stone to protect the vamps sleeping inside…just like a real medieval castle. I was smiling at that thought as Teren pulled me up. His eyes were glowing softly in the darkness of the parking area, in the cleanness of the non-light polluted country air, but I didn’t feel the pull that I had felt the last time we were here. I kissed his cheek and clutched his hand, turning away from those eyes. I was willing to follow him anywhere…no creepy, hypnotic light needed.

We walked under the massive overhang in front of the solid looking front doors, and I grinned at the merrily twinkling lights strung up under the eaves of the huge timbers. That was a feminine touch. Alanna’s hand probably; she had exquisite taste. We reached the doors just as they swung open. Alanna embraced her son at human speed, her arms wrapping around him instantly and her head resting on his shoulder. Teren was not surprised in the slightest at her perfect timing, and he wouldn’t be, what with that quaint blood connection that they shared. He would have known exactly where in the house she’d been waiting, where all of them were waiting.
I watched mother and son with a soft smile on my lips that eventually dropped open in shock. Alanna’s face was turned towards me and her pale eyes were shut, as she enjoyed having her son near her again. But what had me gaping at her, was the small river of blood escaping the corner of her inner eye. It wasn’t like the blood that had run down my leg when my knee had been sliced open. It was thinner, pinker, like it was diluted with water or some other substance. It didn’t look like she was injured. It looked like she was crying – tears of blood. I suppose that worked with the whole vampire thing, but it was still pretty shocking to see. Teren didn’t cry a whole lot, but I wondered if that would happen to him, once he changed.



Alanna pulled back to gaze at him. “We’ve missed you, Son.”

Teren sighed and ran a thumb over her tear, wiping it away. “Don’t cry, Mom. Everything’s fine.”

[WaterwayPoint]

Nice update TS, please continue

[kiasusam]

Alanna nodded and retracted from him, straightening herself and brushing away the bloody tears as she turned to face me. With a beaming smile, she embraced me just as tightly. “Thank you for getting him here,” she whispered. I knew Teren had still heard her, but the whispering conveyed her emotion quite clearly, and I warmly returned her squeeze.

Jack was behind Alanna and greeted us congenially after she stepped away. He clapped Teren on the back and they went over to get our bags from the car as Alanna herded me into the house. I could hear Teren already going into the excitement of the game with his father. Here was the only male he could really boast with, without changing one thing about the story. By the look on his face, and the tone of his voice, I could tell it was a relief for him to talk about it, without having to hold anything back. I again wondered why we didn’t visit more often.

As Alanna and I walked past the sun portrait that had so moved me last time I’d been here, I pointed it out to her. “That sunrise painting sure is beautiful.”

She paused and looked at it, almost as if my saying something had reminded her that it was even there. She took her fingers and lightly trailed them down the canvas. She sighed heavily. “It’s a sunset.” Her voice was low and soft and filled with sympathy. She turned to look at me. “Halina painted this. It’s the last sunset she ever saw. The last beautiful thing she ever saw…right before she was changed.”

I stared at it again, in awe. The meticulous brush strokes, the layer upon layer of color, the perfect recapturing of the glorious beauty of light. It could have been painted by any of the Renaissance masters, but it was painted by a forever nineteen vampire. A vampire, who as Teren once told me, longed for the sun daily. I tried to imagine what she had been like as a young, pregnant human wife, watching her final sunset, committing it to memory, not even realising at the time that it would be the last one she ever saw. The picture was so vastly different from the sultry, laughing hunter that I’d met before, that I almost couldn’t envision it. But that human woman was in Halina somewhere, and it had painted this masterpiece, and the longing in it tore my heart.

“It’s alright, dear.” Alanna placed a cool arm around my shoulder and stroked it. I realised I’d started to cry and, embarrassed, brushed aside the few tears. Alanna only smiled at me and led me into the kitchen, where she said Gran was just finishing up dinner, so she hoped I was hungry. I smiled - she’d said almost the exact same thing the last time I’d been here.



Imogen greeted me the moment my feet touched the stone tiles of the kitchen floor. She swept me into a cool embrace and I forcefully blocked the knowledge that I now had of her past hunting experience from my head. She was still the sweet, grandmotherly figure that I remembered from my first encounter, and I just couldn’t see her any other way. She pulled back from her embrace to look at me and regret marked her youthful features.

“I’m so sorry about the last time you were here, dear. That was so unconscionably rude of me. I should never have meddled in your private affairs.” Her pale eyes flicked over to Alanna’s once and I wondered if she’d been…encouraged on what to say to me.

I genuinely smiled back at her, knowing it didn’t matter anymore. Teren and I were trying to give them what they (and me) wanted, and soon, they would all know that. “Thank you, Imogen.”

“Gran, dear…we are all still family, hopefully.”

I hugged her again. “Of course.” She stepped back and ran her cool hands up and down my arms before squeezing them.

“Quite the love fest going on up here.”
I startled from Imogen’s embrace as Halina had soundlessly breezed into the room, which suddenly felt half the size. The sun must have completely set while I’d been reuniting with Alanna and her mother. Halina cocked her young head at me, her thick, black hair following her movement. I couldn’t stop flicking my eyes over her body; she was wearing a skintight, blood red dress with black thigh high boots. She looked vastly out of place at a ranch, more like she should be dancing atop some table at a London hotspot. She was so different in style from Imogen’s skirts and loosely swept up hair, and Alanna’s jeans and button-up work shirts, that I began wondering if her being 100% vampire had altered her behaviour, or if she had just been a repressed wild child in her human youth. It was still so hard to believe that this creature before me, had painted that great beauty behind me.

“I see the human came back.” She leaned back against the counter, grinning crookedly at me. She stared at me with such a calm look of self-assurance that a chill went through me. I may be off-limits to Halina, but she apparently was not on an all-animal diet and that sickened me a bit. I would need to double-check with Teren that my friends and family were also taken off of Halina’s menu. In fact, if she could leave all of San Francisco alone, I would sleep much better at night.



“Good evening, Halina,” I said, as respectfully as I could. Halina was the only one that never tried to alter what I called her. I don’t think the words “Great-Gran” could have escaped my lips in her presence anyway.

Suddenly, all of the women smiled and turned as one to the doorway. I frowned, wondering what they were doing, until a second later, when Teren entered the kitchen with his father. He warmly gave his grandmother and great-grandmother a hug. Jack twirled the baseball in his fingers and grinning broadly at his son, relayed the story to his wife. Alanna slung her arm around her husband and listened, engrossed in his story, along with the other women in the room. I watched the multiple sets of pale eyes as Jack was talking, and wondered if they had heard Teren telling this story to him outside, and they were listening purely out of respect. I wasn’t quite sure how incredible their hearing was, but from all I had seen so far, it was very impressive.

Jack finished his story and they all turned to Teren with soft eyes and light chuckles. All except Halina, who still had her arms slung around him. She looked up at him with clear disapproval on her face. “You could have been exposed, Teren.” Her frown deepened as she glanced at me. “Nothing is worth you being shown to the world.” She looked back at his face and, for the first time, I saw true fear in her eyes. It startled me and a tiny flow of compassion trickled into me for her. Halina searched his face as she continued in a near whisper, “Think of what they’d do to you.”

Teren smiled softly down at her and kissed her head. “I’m okay…everything is fine.” He rested his head on hers, as she closed her eyes and clutched him tight, looking for all the world like she was scared that those villagers with pitchforks would burst through the front doors at any moment. Teren laid his eyes on mine and smiled widely. “Everything is just fine.”

After a few more moments of catching up, Alanna ushered everyone into the massive area that they were quaintly calling a dining room, and we all took our respective seats. Jack took his traditional place at the head of the table with Teren and me on one side and Halina and Imogen on the other. Again, Halina sat directly across from me and eyed me with that half-grin that was so disconcerting. The foot of the table was left open for Alanna, who was busy flitting back and forth between the kitchen and the table, bringing in trays of food.

I struggled with wanting to help her, but I knew she viewed me as a guest, and would only forcefully push me back under the table if I even tried to stand. She was very strong…I wasn’t even going to bother trying.

[kiasusam]

She brought out steaks and my mouth watered at the smell. I noticed that one of the larger steaks was extremely rare and very bloody - I almost expected it to moo at any moment. I smiled at how well Alanna and Imogen understood Teren. I hadn’t heard him tell either woman, but they had known that he now liked his steaks much rarer than the last time we were here. I suppose that made sense, since they had both already gone through exactly what Teren was going through. I grabbed his hand under the table as he eyed that bloody steak hungrily.

Alanna swished out the rest of the food: roasted red potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and freshly baked dinner rolls, still steaming with just-from-the-oven goodness. She brought out wine and water and loaded up plates for all the humans. Then the carafe came out, and I felt Teren drop my hand. I looked over at him and watched his fangs extend before he had even tasted a drop of the blood we both knew was in there. His mouth opened a touch wider, and with the steak virtually forgotten, his eyes followed the carafe, like suddenly he was a man dying of thirst and that carafe held his salvation.

Without a word or a look at him, Alanna poured his goblet first and immediately gave it to him, once again knowing her son’s needs. He immediately took it and drank half of it before stopping. Once he had some in his system, he seemed to come back to who he was and where he was and turned to look at me. I grabbed his hand under the table again and smiled. He needed this. It was just a part of who he was now, and I could deal with that. He smiled at me with his fangs still extended, and finished the rest of his drink. His mother poured him another before setting the carafe in front of Halina, having poured glasses for her and Imogen while I had been busy watching Teren. Then she grabbed the one she had poured for herself, and sat at the foot of the table.

After Teren’s second glass, he seemed to relax into his chair, and slowly began to dig into his food. It didn’t seem to hold the appeal to him that the blood had, and I noted that for future reflection. Imogen asked Teren about work. Alanna asked me about my job. Halina seemed to agree with me that Teren should…well, her words were “remove my boss”, but I felt like we were sort of on the same wave length. Jack asked about my family, which led to a lengthy conversation involving my childhood tragedy. I watched Halina’s eyes closely while I relayed the seriousness of my sister’s wounds to the room. Much to my dismay, Halina, while engrossed in the story, didn’t seem touched enough to offer any vampiric help. The thought didn’t seem to even cross her mind as I studied her discreetly. Maybe Teren was right about her refusal to change someone, deserving or not.



I wrapped up my tale just as dinner was wrapping up. Everyone looked full and happy as Alanna flitted to the kitchen to bring out a chocolate cake, for the three of us still on solids. It shocked me a little bit to realise that I hadn’t even noticed the women drinking their blood cocktails. It hadn’t unnerved me at all this time. I was getting immune to it already. I tried to see the positive in that thought.

As we dug into the decadent dessert before us (yeah, this time, for sure I was going to gain ten pounds), I decided now was as good a time as any to break our news. And honestly, I couldn’t contain it any longer. I’d been dying to tell someone for so long and, here I was, sitting in a room full of people who would actually be thrilled over the fact that I was trying to have a baby, out of wedlock, with a man I’d only known for four months.

I cleared my throat and every vamp turned to look at me. Jack noticed and brought his head up from his cake to watch me too. “Um…” Teren grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed it, signaling that he knew what I was going to say and that he’d let me tell it first. Okay, he could have been thinking that he was ready to head upstairs to that luxurious bed awaiting us, but I preferred to think he was throwing supportive thoughts my way. “Teren and I…” I glanced over at him and he smiled warmly and nodded – yeah, probably being supportive. I smiled and laughed once. “Well, we’re trying to have a baby.” I felt so weird telling the room that we were basically having lots and lots of sex.

I felt even weirder at the pin-dropping silence that followed that statement. My ears, noting the absence of sound, made my head start to swivel to take in the faces. I didn’t even make it the fraction of an inch to look at Alanna, before I was coated with black hair and cool arms. 3 women were hugging me, kissing my head and rubbing my stomach (which was really odd, since I was pretty sure nothing was in there yet). Halina and Imogen were the most ecstatic with my news, while Alanna was happy, but more reserved. I was more than a little uncomfortable, but I let it continue. I understood better what this meant to them and I let them have their moment.



Teren laughed at their reaction, causing the whole maelstrom to shift to his direction. His mother slung her arms around his neck, while the other two each took a side of his chest. He tried to pat them all at the same time, but it was a near impossibility.

After a moment, they started shifting between the two of us, offering words of advice, encouragement and congratulations, which, still feeling odd about my personal revelation, made me wonder if they were congratulating me on having the tons of sex. The odd thought made me laugh and Teren, who sometimes could pick up on my odd observances, laughed with me.

A calm voice broke through the excited chaos, “Would you three back off…you’ll never get grandkids that way.” Giggling, the women sat back down in their chairs and I looked over to Jack, who was smiling proudly at his son. “Congratulations you two…I know you’ll have time.” He nodded with encouragement and I could feel tears sting my eyes.

I’d nearly forgotten that cursed word in my exuberance. Time. The one thing we battled daily. The other women in the room seemed to remember that dreaded word as well, and a layer of sadness, laced with tension, filled the room. If we were too late… If Teren changed before I could get pregnant…



Nope, no pressure on my uterus at all.

Alanna broke the sudden unease in the air by clearing her throat and placing a hand on Teren’s arm. He sighed while he studied his plate and then looked over to her. She seemed about to speak, her eyes were dreadfully sad, but Teren shook his head and set his lips in a hard line. She removed her hand and said nothing.

Just when I was about to ask what was going on, Alanna stood and started sweeping away our empty plates. I looked back at Teren, going to ask him anyway, but he had engaged himself in a conversation with Halina. He asked her to tell me about the painting in the hall. I realised then, that he had heard me ask Alanna about it and he had heard me cry. Darn those vampire ears.

[kiasusam]

I chuckled at his family’s never-ending, subtle attempt to get their son lucky. I chuckled a little harder at the fact that it never seemed to occur to his family that I’d be on protection from day one, to prevent the very thing they’d been hoping so badly for. Even if Teren and I had…done, what they’d wanted us to do, the last time we were here, I wouldn’t have gotten pregnant. I guess birth control was not something vampires took into consideration. And Teren would have certainly never wanted to tell them about that. They bugged him enough as it was.

I shook my head at the oddity of it all and shucked off my clothes. There was something in this suite that I had really wanted to try last time, but never got a chance to. I was tired, but I wasn’t missing another golden opportunity. I walked into the upscale bathroom and turned on the jetted tub. I smiled as the warm water flowed through my fingertips. Heaven awaited me. Rummaging through the cupboards, I found a bottle of bubble bath and squeezed out a couple gloppy drops. Instantly, the water started foaming and sudsing with filmy half circles in varying sizes, refracting the bathroom lights.

Finding a hair scrunchy, I pulled my long, brown mane into a high ponytail and slipped into the silky smooth water, shutting off the faucet before relaxing back into the contoured tub. I sighed and closed my eyes, listening to the water sloshing with my light movements, and the tiny pop of a bubble now and then, as they began to burst. The scent of fresh lilacs filled my nose and the heated water left a slight dampness to my face and hair. It was the most relaxing thing I had ever experienced.

I was just beginning to be pulled into a satisfying slumber, when a light touch along my cheek brought me around. My water was cooler, although still plenty warm, and a good chunk of the bubbles were gone. I guess I’d already fallen asleep. I looked up at Teren, sitting on the edge of the tub, cupping my cheek in his strong hand.

“Hey, sleepy,” he whispered.

I made a satisfied noise and stretched my limbs in response. His eyes tracked the movement of my muscles under the now, nearly transparent water and I smiled. “Come join me…the water is still warm.” I sloshed my hand through the bath, purposely revealing even more of my body to him.



He smiled with one edge of his lip and I swear my heart sped up – I loved that look. He slipped his shirt off and started working on his jeans and my heart definitely sped up – I really loved that. I scooted over in the tub as he slid in beside me. He shifted me, so I was mostly on top of him and then relaxed back into the warm bubbles (well, what was left of the bubbles anyway) with a sigh. I laced my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek before resting my head on his shoulder. I snuggled into his warm skin, warmer even than the water. One of his hands rubbed my back, while the other stroked my leg, making tiny waves splash across our skin. I was wrong before - this was the most relaxing thing I’d ever experienced.

We stayed silently snuggling in the massive tub, until the water cooled too much for me and I shivered. He noticed immediately and held me tighter. “Ready to get out?” he asked softly.

“No…” I held up my wrinkled fingers. “But I guess I’d better.”

He smiled and shifted me over, so he could stand. I fully appreciated my view while he stepped out of the tub and grabbed us towels. He wrapped one around his waist and then held one open for me. I stood, shivering a little more in the now comparatively chilly air, and stepped into his warm, fluffy embrace. I laughed and kissed him as he wrapped the towel around me.

He started walking me backwards, through the bathroom door to the bedroom. His kiss deepened with every step and every thought but this warm, half naked man before me, fled my brain. He backed me right up to the bed and without ever pausing with his magnificently talented mouth, bent down and picked me up.

With only the slightest pause, he laid me down on the covers and, tossing some of the many decorative pillows out of the way, sank down on top of me. His kiss picked up intensity, his tongue flashing along mine doing wonderful things to my insides. His hands started un-wrapping the lush towel from around my body. My legs twined around his and my hands ran up his bare back to clutch at his hair.



A particularly good moan escaped me, and I instantly remembered where I was. I pushed him back gently. Breathing heavier, he looked down at me, confused. “What’s wrong?”

I looked around the room and struggled to calm my own breathing. “I still can’t do this here.”

He seemed to understand what I meant. He smiled and moved in to kiss my neck. “Emma…” he murmured against my skin. “They’ll be respectful. They like you.”

I pushed him back again. “When I came upstairs…what could you hear?”

He sighed and slumped over to my side. “Well, obviously I heard you run the tub…” I raised my eyebrows, knowing that even his Dad had probably heard the water surging through the pipes. He sighed again. “I heard you sigh contently as you sank in the water…I heard the bubbles popping.”

My mouth dropped wide open. His hearing was better than I thought. “Oh my god! That’s why, Teren.”

He shook his head. “But I was really listening for you. They’ll tune us out. Lord knows I’ve had to…”

I ignored that comment, that I didn’t want to think about, and shook my head. “I can’t, I’m sorry…it’s just too weird. It’s like they’re all in the room with me.” I shrugged my shoulders, hoping he understood. I smiled and ran a hand down his cheek. “It’s not like I can just ask them to all take a long walk, so I can have sex with their son.”

He cocked his head as he listened to something I couldn’t hear, and then he started laughing. I was confused for half a second, until I understood exactly what I had just done…what I had just said. I covered my face with both hands, completely embarrassed. “Oh god…did I just…”

Still laughing, he uncovered my face. “Yeah…you just cleared the house. I wouldn’t have been quite so blunt, but that worked pretty well.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “That super hearing is really annoying.”

He cringed. “You’re telling me. Great-Gran is very…friendly to some of her guests. You have no idea what I have had to make myself NOT listen to.”

I laughed at the look on his face and for the first time, relaxed completely into his arms in his parents’ house. He finished un-wrapping my towel and shrugged off his own. I watched the glow of candlelight dance across his skin and stared into his pale eyes, that were just faintly, faintly glowing.



“Are you still hungry?” I asked, almost timidly.

He pulled back and looked at me with burning, passionate eyes. “No, I’m fine.”

I found that I wasn’t. I surprised both him, and myself, by what I said next. “Will you bite me anyway…?”

He exhaled and his fangs slid out with his breath. His eyes roamed up and down my body, perhaps looking for the best spot. I didn’t care where he did it, just as long as he did. It still surprised me how much I got from the experience. I guess you’ve never felt real intimacy, until your partner has ingested you.

He seemed unsure where to take it from. I brushed the hair off my neck and exposed it to him. He held his breath and locked eyes with me. He’d never taken it from such an exposed spot before. His eyes clearly asked ‘are you sure’? And I was. I wanted that depth. I wanted that intimacy. I wanted his teeth in me. I also started to wonder if something was quite possibly wrong with me.

“Go ahead…I love you.”

He looked at me, his eyes overflowing with love and tenderness. “I love you too.”



Then he bit me.

To Be Continued on Next Chapter....

[Conmebol]

Wish the clips come with sound

[luckystrike8888]

Thanks for sharing!

[firepost]

nice sharing bro!

[RitaOra]

Please continue TS

[JinWanDaLaoHu]

Originally Posted by kiasusam

Charlie's Angels?

[kiasusam]

CHAPTER TEN

I woke up to a strange warmth on my neck. Strange…but pleasant. Then the familiar stubbly sensation of Teren’s jaw brushed my sensitive skin, and I realised the warmth I was feeling was his mouth. I opened my eyes and shifted to look at the black head nibbling at me. He pulled back and smiled down on me and for the briefest moment, I wondered if he’d been feeding on me while I slept. I didn’t like that thought, so I pushed it out of my head. He wouldn’t do that. His teeth weren’t out anyway, so he had probably just been reminiscing. Last night had been pretty darn incredible – even for us.



“Sorry if I woke you.”

I smiled and laced my arms around him. “It’s alright. I think I prefer that to my alarm clock.”

I felt the small wounds in my skin and flushed, realising how incredibly visible those were going to be to the entire world. Worse than a hickey even. He had been extremely gentle (as gentle as one can be, piercing through flesh) and the wounds were very small; they’d probably be nearly healed by Monday. I’d only have to make it through the weekend with the neon flashing sign upon my neck that screamed – ‘yes, your son bit me’…and I enjoyed every darn minute of it. I flushed again, thinking about how I’d unintentionally cleared the house last night.

Teren noticed my changing skin tone, maybe he even smelled it. He ran a finger over the puncture marks, sweeping my fingers away in the process. “You don’t have to be embarrassed.” He kissed my neck again. “You’re beautiful…these are beautiful.”

I smiled and rolled my eyes. “They pretty much brand me as yours, don’t they?”

He smiled and brought his fingers to my cheek. “I love how much you trust me. I love you so much, Emma…I’d never hurt you.”



I cocked my head at the sudden seriousness in his voice, and the sudden glistening in his eyes. I gently cupped his cheek. “I know that, Teren. I love you too.”

After a few soft kisses, we peeled ourselves away from the bed (that was bigger than two of my kitchen tables pushed together) and got dressed for the day. I didn’t have any clothes that even came close to approaching my neck, so I didn’t even bother trying to hide it. I threw on a v-neck shirt and my jeans and boots and brushed out my hair, which I decided to leave down. I may not be able to hide it, but no need to flaunt it. Teren came up behind me, after dressing in jeans and long-sleeve shirt, and brushed aside the hair from my neck to kiss me again. He was sure enjoying the memory. I added that to my growing list of things to reflect on.

Eventually, I was groomed well enough to face his family, and we left the little sanctuary we’d discovered last night. A moment’s embarrassment flashed through me, a second before my foot stepped into the dining room, but it left me the second my foot actually did enter the dining room. I finally felt at peace here, and I wasn’t about to let a little modesty ruin that for me. Besides, the women weren’t going to tease me about what happened last night. They had all given birth to children and were all well aware how one was created. Well, most of them wouldn’t tease me…I wasn’t entirely sure about Halina. She would probably get a kick out of making me squirm, but I didn’t have to worry about her. She was secreted underground, hiding out the sunlight for the next several hours.

I smiled as Alanna and Jack gave us a cursory glance when we entered the room.

“Good morning you two…hungry?” Alanna smiled warmly as she asked us about breakfast. Jack nodded a greeting and then went back to his coffee. Nope…not a big deal at all.

We sat at the table while Alanna brought out ham and eggs, toast and coffee. Teren, Jack and I, filled up our plates and ate while Alanna sat beside her husband. They talked with each other for a few minutes, voices low and loving, and then brought Teren and me into their conversation, asking me more about my mother and sister. Teren had almost as much to say about my sister as I did, and just like me, he didn’t mention her scars again. We both viewed it as irrelevant to her personality, and I loved that he felt the same way about her.

Halfway through breakfast, Alanna started fidgeting in her chair and then she politely excused herself and flitted away. I wondered what life would be like, if the sun made you uncomfortable. She had been sitting with her back to a bright patch of sunlight, her hair shining beautifully, but even that light being filtered through the window had eventually been unpleasant enough that she’d had to leave the room. Teren had his face directly in the sun, and seemed as oblivious of its rays as I usually was. I put a hand on my stomach, grateful that any child we had, would be more like Teren and I in that respect. They’d still have a mostly normal life.

As we finished our last piece of toast and took our last sip of coffee, Jack Palance walked into the room. I swear that’s who it was. The dead actor had just stridden into the room. Same height, same build, same leathery face, same don’t mess with me look, and same ‘I was born a cowboy, and I’ll die a cowboy’ demeanor. If he hadn’t been standing in a bright shaft of sunlight, I’d have assumed some vamp had turned the famous man, his death faked for the media.

Teren’s Dad stood up and shook the man’s hand. Alanna walked normally into the room (one of the few times I’d seen her walk into a room at regular speed) and gave the man a brief hug, friendly, but professional. I realized that this man must work for them, right before they introduced him.

“Teren, you remember Peter?” His dad indicated the man beside him.

Teren stood and nodding, walked over to shake the man’s hand. “Yes. Good to see you again.”

Teren stretched his arm back to where I had stood up at the table, and was starting to approach them. “Peter, this is my girlfriend, Emma. Emma, this is Peter Alton. He runs the crew that helps my dad out a few times a year.”

I nodded, said hello, and stretched my arm up to the intimidating man; he was a good half-foot taller than Teren and half again as wide. I inwardly smiled, remembering that Teren was still probably stronger than this man. Heck, tiny little Halina was probably stronger than this man.

“Hello, Miss, nice to meet you.” His voice had the rough, raspy quality of a lifelong smoker and his hands were the rough, calloused hands of a man who worked hard for his living. All he needed was a stallion to sit upon, and he’d be the Marlboro Man.

Jack clapped the rough looking man on the back. “Peter and I have to head into town this morning. Some of the cows have gotten foot rot, and their medicine finally came in.” He pointed at his son. “Come with us, Teren

[kiasusam]

Originally Posted by JinWanDaLaoHu

Charlie's Angels?

Want to play 4P with them? Can recommend only if you are here in either HK/CN.

[kiasusam]

Teren glanced over at me and frowned as he met Jack’s eye again. “Dad…Emma.”

Jack brushed off his concern with his hand. “She’ll be fine with Alanna and the girls. Come with us.”

As Teren looked back at me again, I noticed Jack and Alanna giving each other conspiratorial glances, and I suddenly wondered if Jack stayed out of vampire affairs as much as I thought he did. Teren was still frowning at me, so I squeezed his hand and smiled. “I’ll be fine. Go spend time with your dad.”

Whatever was going on, better to just get it over with.

Teren sighed, perhaps thinking the same thought. “All right.” He tossed a sharp look at his mother, before focusing on his dad and Peter. “Let’s make this quick though.”

He kissed me goodbye softly and then followed his dad down the hall. I could hear Peter’s deep, gravelly voice as he started relaying the cows’ condition to Teren. A lot of technical words were spoken that I didn’t understand, and I could faintly hear Teren ask interested questions in response, before the distance between us finally became too great and I could no longer hear him. I had no need to hear him leave, to know when he did however. I knew the very second that Teren Adams had driven off the property.




Alanna made that quite apparent.

She materialized by my side in the dining room, where I had picked up Teren’s and my dishes, thinking I could help clean up in some small way. At first, I thought she had just zoomed out to collect the plates, and was going to tell me that I was a guest and shouldn’t be doing any work, like somehow, helping out would break some huge rule of etiquette. Or maybe she was just afraid my arms would fall off, being just a fragile human and all. And while she did pull the plates away from me and started slowly walking to the kitchen with them, her tone and her voice were quiet and serious, and her comment had nothing to do with me cleaning.

“We need to talk, Emma.” She spoke quickly, like she was afraid Teren would be back at any second. My heart spiked a little.

“Okay…what is it?”

She set the plates down in the deep, basin sink built into the center island. She leaned against the counter and seemed to collect her thoughts for just a fraction of a second. Then she looked up at me with an intenseness in her eyes that rivaled Halina’s. “I need you to convince Teren to stay here.”

I blinked, not expecting that at all. “Here…me…why?”

She stepped back from the counter and wrung her hands, just like a woman in a silent movie, who was deeply distressed about something. “He needs to be here where it’s safe. You need to make him see that.”

“Safe?” I shook my head. “He wants to stay in San Francisco.” I wasn’t sure what exactly he was in danger from, but I had heard him tell her that before.

She shook her head and stepped towards me. “You must convince him that he’d be better off here. You must, Emma…he won’t listen to me.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “What’s going on? I thought I knew everything. Is he hiding more from me?”

Alanna looked down, seeming to not want to be the one to have to tell me, but knowing it was important for me to know – the old rock and the hard place. Finally, she sighed. “You do know everything…at the very basic level. What he doesn’t want to tell you… What we keep fighting about…” She looked up at me and her eyes were brimming with pink, unshed tears. “Is the seriousness of his conversion.”

My heart stopped at the look of panic, fear and sorrow on her face. Whatever made a mother look like that…had to be bad. “What do you mean?”

She came over to me and rested a hand on my arm; a slight shiver went up my skin, and not entirely from her cool touch. “When his body dies, the vampire in him will take over.”

I knew this much…my body tensed, waiting for the horrid punch line.

She stroked my arm with her thumb as she continued. “When he awakes…he will be hungry.” I relaxed, that didn’t sound so bad. Of course he’d be hungry. I’d be hungry too after dying. “He’ll be deathly hungry,” she finished quietly.

"Deathly?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

She nodded solemnly. “If he doesn’t eat right away…he’ll die. The vampire side will die…right along with the human side. We all felt it during the changeover. It’s basic and primal and the most urgent thing your body has every felt. He will never again be as hungry as he is in that moment. It’s his body’s instinct, screaming at him to eat or perish. And he will. He’ll do what he has to…to survive.” She whispered that last part.



I thought about that for a moment. My entire body went cold with the realisation. He was going to die and reawaken monstrously hungry…in the middle of the city. In his office…or his car…or…in my bed. My eyes snapped up to Alanna’s cool, pale ones, the pink tears now dripping down her cheeks.

"He’ll attack someone? He’ll attack…me?”

[kiasusam]

Alanna nodded. “And he won’t stop. He will need so much blood…or he won’t survive the change. More than you can safely give him, more than anyone can safely give him. Probably a few cows worth.” She shrugged her shoulders as more pink tears dropped. “Where is he going to find that in the city? At work? In his backyard? In yours? He should be here…”

I ran my hands through my hair, trying to absorb all of this. He’d never mentioned thirst like that. He’d never mentioned that he’d be near death, and starving so much that he’d lash out at anything with a pulse…even me. I couldn’t comprehend it. “No…Teren wouldn’t…no.”

Alanna sighed. “Halina did…”

I froze and felt pieces of my heart cracking. “What?”

Alanna sighed again. She was about to answer when Imogen swept into the room. We both turned to face her and I startled a bit that she was downstairs when it was warm and cheery with sunshine. She cringed back to a dark corner of the room, but she still looked to be in physical discomfort, if not outright pain. Alanna began lightning-quick closing drapes. When the room was as dark as she could get it, she turned to face her mom.



“Mother, you should be upstairs, where you’ll be more comfortable.”

Imogen blinked her faintly glowing eyes repeatedly in the hazily lit room. It was pretty dark, but streams of sunlight still showed through. “No, dear…I should be here for this.” She sighed and looked away from her daughter’s eyes. “Oh, Alanna…can you ever forgive me?” I blinked, wondering what she meant. Alanna went to her mother’s side.

"There’s nothing to forgive.”

Imogen looked back up at her. “I was so concerned about keeping the line, that I nearly forgot what he’d soon be facing…and his stubbornness.” Imogen turned to face me. “My daughter is right…you need to convince him to be here, where he won’t hurt anyone, where he won’t expose himself.”

My mind was on other things however… “What do you mean Halina did?”

They both sighed as one and looked at the floor, where I’m assuming Halina was sleeping. Finally Imogen spoke, “She really had no choice…and it destroys her still…the memory…”

“The memory of what?” The words barely croaked out of me.

Alanna met my gaze. “The conversion is much the same for new vampires, as it is for us. She was so hungry when she woke…she attacked her husband. She didn’t even realise what she was doing, until he was gone.”

Alanna grabbed Imogen’s hand while they spoke of her father’s death, at her mother’s hand…or teeth. The cracks in my heart from earlier shattered, and fear surged straight through me, followed immediately by anger. “He didn’t feel the need to mention this to me? That he might kill me, before he even realises it! That wasn’t worth mentioning!” My tone was getting louder and more heated with each sentence. Alanna released her mother and walked over to me.

“That’s why we wanted to tell you. I would have told you ages ago, but he made me promise. He’s going to be very upset with me…”

“Not nearly as upset as I am! How could he not tell me? How can he play with my life like that – with everyone’s in San Francisco! You may all be fine with Halina chomping on people, but-”

I immediately stopped talking as soon as I realised what I’d inadvertently spouted. Imogen and Alanna both stared at me, stunned. Apparently they didn’t think Teren would mention that to me. Sometimes I was surprised he had as well. Imogen looked down, and red, thin tears dropped to her cheeks. Then I remembered that Halina wasn’t the only one that slipped up.

“Imogen…I’m sorry…”

She nodded and fled back up to her room. I sighed and slumped against the counter, dropping my head into my hands. Me and my big mouth. Alanna came up and put her hands on my shoulders.

“We’re not perfect, Emma…but we try.” She rubbed my back comfortingly as she spoke. “Please, try and convince Teren.” She kissed my cheek as I nodded. As she made to leave, she looked back over her shoulder. “I’m going to go talk with Mother. Don’t feel bad about this. It’s her burden to bear, and she does…daily. She has only taken two lives and it was when she was a very new vampire. As for Halina…” She looked down at where the eldest vampire slept, then back up to me. “You should ask Teren again about Halina. I think he may have over-simplified things for you. There are always shades of gray in this world…try and remember that.”

I watched her, speechless, as she left to go comfort her mother.

I spent several minutes in the kitchen, collecting my thoughts. Just when I thought Teren was being completely honest with me, something would sideswipe me, and I’d feel dazed and confused and angry. Why did he never willingly confess these secrets to me? Did he still think I was going to bolt on him? He should know better by now. If I was going to have his child, then I was obviously in it for the long haul. Someday, the big jerk was going to have to trust me.

When staring at the dirty dishes, which Alanna had surprisingly left alone in the sink, did nothing to calm my body, I headed outside to the sunshine. It was mid-August and the morning sky was cloudless and a perfect, azure blue. Back home, near the bay, the morning fog that rolled in almost like clockwork during the summer mornings, would just be beginning to burn off. Here, farther inland, the temperature was a bit warmer than home, and no trace of the thick, misting comfort laced the hillsides.

I took off my shoes and socks and rolled my pant legs up to my knees, then sat at the edge of the pool, dipping my calves in. The water was cool and refreshing; I considered splashing my face with it, something to snap reality back to me. I felt like a rubber band that had been stretched too far, and had finally broken apart, one half flutteringly uselessly behind the rest. Would life with him ever have some semblance of normalcy?



I bounced my legs along the back wall of the pool and watched the ripples expand away from me. Near my body, the ripples were huge, splashing up to wet my jeans, but the further away from me they got, the calmer they became, stretching longer and staying lower to the surface of the sparkling water. I felt some metaphoric significance in that.

I don’t know how long I sat with my legs in the water, mesmerised by the rhythmic motion, but eventually I felt a body standing beside me, their shadow partially blocking the reflected sunshine on the tiny waves around my shins.

[kiasusam]

I looked over my shoulder at Teren, who was smiling at me warmly, apparently oblivious to my mood. He wouldn’t be for much longer. He held out his hand and stiffly, I let him pull me up to standing. He slipped his arms around my waist and I let him, but did nothing to return any of the warmness in the gesture. He still didn’t seem to notice.



“Miss me? We got the cows taken care of.” He nodded his head to the direction of the barn. “Dad, Peter and the guys are seeing to them now…I should probably lend a hand. Cleaning the feet and giving them medicine, it’s a lot of work.” He sighed and shook his head. “Life on a ranch…” He grinned and I frowned. That seemed to clue him in that things weren’t as hunky-dory as he thought.

“Are you okay?”

I grabbed his arms and pushed them off my waist. “Halina killed her husband.” I hadn’t planned on what to say…and that’s the kind of stuff I say when I don’t think it through.

He blinked and glanced back at the house. “Wow…I didn’t think they’d tell you about that.” When his eyes returned to mine, they were definitely tight, he was definitely nervous. That irritated me even more. Grabbing my hands on his arms, he tried to lace our fingers as he smiled a wide, fake smile. “Want to go watch Dad with the cows? It’s actually pretty interesting, and I could show you the ranch hand’s house. There’s a half dozen people staying there now and they’ve got this-”

He was starting to pull me away from the pool, away from the conversation that he could probably feel coming. I know I felt it. The anticipation of it was making the hairs stick up on the back of my neck. How could he not tell me…?

I jerked my hands away from him and held my ground. I cut off his pointless, distracting chatter. “Halina killed her husband, because she was so hungry after the change, she couldn’t stop herself. A change that you’re about to go through. A hunger that you’re about to face. A hunger that your family thinks will end in my death.”

He closed his eyes and for a second, I thought steam might come out his ears. When he reopened them, he turned his body to the wall of windows that led back into the house. “I cannot believe you. After I specifically told you last night to NOT tell her, you go and tell her anyway?” He was speaking to his mother, his mother tucked away in the house somewhere, quite possibly still on the second story with Imogen. He was speaking to her with the exact same volume that he’d used when speaking to me, right beside him. She apparently heard and responded, because after a brief pause, he added, “We’ll discuss this later.”

He turned back to me and his face seemed to age by years. My face was a tight fixture of irritation…if not pure anger. His eyes took in my stance - hands on hips, feet braced for a fight - not a picture of pleasantness at all. He sighed. “That won’t happen, Emma. I promise.” He looked back at the house again and sullenly muttered, “Unbelievable. They never listen to me.”

He promises…? That was his heartfelt assurance that he wouldn’t rip out my throat and swim in the pleasure that was my blood…a promise? Well, I felt better already. As long as there was a “promise” in place, then I’m practically drenched in a silver suit of impenetrability. But, oh yeah, silver didn’t affect him, and promises meant nothing when put up against raw, animal instinct.

“Teren.”

He ignored me, still staring back at the house. “It’s like talking to a wall…three pious, ‘we know what’s best for you’ walls.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s like I’m invisible.”

“Teren…” My tone clearly indicated that I wanted his attention, but now I was invisible – he was completely ignoring me in his little pity party.

“It’s like I don’t even-”

He wasn’t able to finish whatever sulking thought he’d been absorbed in. I pushed him, fully clothed, into the massive swimming pool. I half expected him to bounce off the water and start walking on top of it. He didn’t. Shocked, he sputtered and flailed around in the water, until he realised we were near the shallow end and he could stand. He stood in the waist deep water, beads of it running down his hair and face. He gaped at me with his mouth wide open.

“What the hell?”

He was rather adorable, angry and soaking wet, staring at me like I’d just slapped him for no apparent reason, but the cuteness of it instantly dissolved in the heat of my own anger. “Is there ever going to be a time when I hear these monumental events from you first, and not your family? Do you not trust me?”



He walked to the edge of the pool, his shirt clinging to him and droplets flying off of him as he spoke. “Of course I trust you…more than anyone.” He shook his wet head and furrowed his brow. “I don’t want to scare you with things that aren’t important.”

Now I gaped at him. I sort of wished we were upstairs, and I had some pillows to chuck at him. I didn’t, so I clenched my fists instead. “Aren’t important? That you may kill me isn’t…important? Seriously?”

He raised his sopping hands. “I won’t. I have a plan…”

I cut him off before he could break out his (I’m sure) brilliant plan. “Tell me things first! Important or not! Let me decide what I should or shouldn’t be worried about! Stop keeping me in the dark!”

He gaped at me, still looking to be in absolute shock. Then, slowly, he closed his mouth and nodded his head. “All right…yes, my mother is right. I’ll be thirsty, extremely thirsty…but I’d never hurt you.” He shook his head, like he could simply shake away my concern. “There will be time anyway…time to get me here.”

I furrowed my brow and relaxed my stance. “What do you mean?”

He hopped up on the edge of the pool, his jeans clinging to him as much as his shirt. I cringed at the soggy boots I could see below the water; they were probably ruined. I carefully sat beside him, dipping my legs back in the coolness. He leaned his hands over the sides of the pool and looked over at me. “It’s not instantaneous. I’ll know it’s happening. I’ll tell you it’s happening. Instead of driving the man having a heart attack to a hospital…” he shrugged, “you’ll drive me here. Then I’ll be out of the city and around lots of food…and everything will be fine.”



I absorbed that for a second, and then smacked him across the chest, solidly, making him grunt. “That’s your plan?” I smacked him again across the chest. “Good Lord, Teren – were you ever going to fill me in on this little scenario of yours? One that I play a rather huge part in!”

He cringed back when I smacked him again. “Yes…eventually, when I felt it getting closer.”