“There was trial and error,” Rowan lifted his hand, waving it about. “He had to learn how to take in her life that she created before him. The children she had, the husband she left, she basically had an affair on the poor bastard, but she knew the bond she felt. It was meant to be.” Rowan smiled, waving at Adaline who blew a kiss his way. Certainly, she was born from a different era, the way she dresses, how she carries herself, and the delicate ways she had placed the tea cups on a sterling silver tray.
Single human women, laid out on the lawn, tanning their skin. Not caring if the sun reeked damage on their bodies. Humans, vampires, and children sat on blankets and ate lunches being held by their biological parent. Everyone was happy, at least the younger ones were.
“That is why I created this place.” Rowan interrupted. “That poor soul put himself to all that trouble, worried because his mate was to be fragile, not feel a bond, but she was far from it. She was strong.” he hummed.
“The entire vampire race owes you then,” I mused. Rowan didn’t say anything, he continued to watch along the horizon of trees. Breathing deeply the deep scents of the forest. This place was certainly secluded, but the paved drive to the west made me realize, that there was civilization was close by.
Giggles filled the air. “What of the young children while their parents get used to their change? Do they go through a blood lust as many vampire adolescents do?” I looked at one child that pointed to his mother’s red eyes. Rowan sighed, leaning back on the bench.
“It takes at least a year for the parents to control their thirst. The night, the moon of Earth makes it worse. The children stay in the dormitory building over there,” Rowan pointed to a large home similar in size to the Plantation House. “Toy rooms, kitchens, nannies of both human and vampires stay there twenty-four seven to take care of them. Blood lust can be difficult for a newly changed parent, and it is our job to keep their children safe. So, they are separated and given supervised time each day with their children.”
Rowan grabbed my shoulder as I stayed slumped over in my seat. “I know your story,” Rowan gave a grim smile. My eyes diverted from him, now staring into the white gravel below us. “I know what happened." I ground my teeth together, feeling the scape of my fangs against my jaw.
“I prefer not to talk about it,” I snapped. Because I failed her, I didn’t get there in time. I didn’t do what a mate was supposed to do, claim her, take her, make her mine. I could have prevented it all instead of doing it some traditional way her coven wanted. They wanted me to take her the next day, prolonging the pull to make the bond supposedly stronger.
“Hey,” Rowan’s hand squeezed my shoulder. I flinched.
“Fate will lead you to her. Even the gods speak of fate and following their ways. With your hunk of junk broken down in the middle of my driveway and no way starting again I’m pretty sure that’s a good sign.” I scoffed, rubbing my hands down my face.
It had been five hundred some years since I lost her. I wasn’t about to get my hopes up now. As much as the lost princess told me that a mate was in my future, I found it hard to believe.
“Fate? This same fate that led you to Adaline after fifteen years of running?” I smirked changing his line of thought. I winked at him. Rowan chuckled, taking his hand from my shoulder. How he let her go, even if she was a human still floored me. Race wasn’t an issue, if the goddess deemed it so, I don’t think I would have had any hesitation.
“Aye, you picked up on that didn’t you?” Shaking my head, I smiled. “Kind of hard not to the way you look at her.” Rowan smiled, his shoulders slumping.
“I was a fool for many years, maybe I was punishing myself. At least she is here now.” Young adults that played with the football earlier, tossed it back and forth on the lawn. Women followed them, ogling them.
My unbeating heart ached, watching how happy everyone was. I wanted that, to be happy. I wanted to protect a mate, no longer be alone, and let my heart beat for the one that was destined for me.
“You know, every human that had children before their beloveds… found a mate either here or there.” I paused my wallowing, my head turning to Rowan. He chuckled like it was some secret. “It’s true. Maybe she’s even here waiting for you. Some humans have stayed, hoping to find their beloved to the vampires that are allowed to come visit in hope…” Rowan trailed, now standing to brush off his suit. “Just a thought to think about,” he muttered.
My body soared. Maybe she could be here, but that would be so easy. “Take your time, Sebastian, I know you are eager. There are some humans that don’t want to have anything to do with it.” His gaze turned hard. “Such as that group over there.” His head tilted to the group of humans with the football.
“I’m trying to get them to see we are not monsters, but they huddle themselves together like glue. Keeping them to themselves. Not willing to see. At least the newest girl isn’t there. She’s been too busy hanging out in the front lawn of her mother’s new home.” His eyes softened. “I feel bad for her, thrown into all this without warning. Her mother lived a lonely life and has grasped the bond tightly, which is great for her mate, but not so much for her daughter to adjust.”
Rowan shook off his thought, now leading me back to the plantation-style home. “Come, I’ll show you your room. You will stay with us, only couples get the houses while visitors get to deal with me every day.” He patted my back, as he led me back down the walkway. A girl sat on the porch of the light blue house, her long blonde hair back to me, drawing in a notebook.
“That’s the girl?” I muttered watching her. My body stopped on its own accord watching her intently. How sad and lonely she must have felt to be thrown into all of this. Rowan only nodded. The breeze blowing her hair in the opposite direction had me jealous that some other vampires could smell her smell. Deep inside me, something stirred but Rowan grabbed my arm.
“She doesn’t take kindly to vampires right now; she needs some time. You will get your chance to meet all the women.” Forcing myself to step away, I stepped up the plantation steps, my head still turning to the blonde that was now leaving the front porch of the home. Her long blonde hair covered her face as she scurried away.
Rowan only smirked, showing me to my room.
Christine:"I'm sorry, Chrissy. You can't come into today." I ground my teeth together, wanting to stomp around like an adolescent child. This was insane. Less than two days after moving here, mom was bitten, and I haven't seen her since.A whole week had gone by, and I could only stare at them through the window if I was lucky. Apparently, my human blood reeked, and it could make her unmanageable. Justin said she was fighting it, that the thought of drinking blood was grotesque. Who can blame her? It sounded gross, but that is who she was now. She had to drink, but the human part of her mind was still there."Can I just give her a hug?" I almost pleaded. He stood at the door, blocking the way for me to catch a glimpse of her. On occasion, she slipped by the window, and I saw changes in her appearance. She looked… good. Her hair had more bounce, her wrinkles had gone, hell, she looked almost just like me. Except I was a darker blonde and had some of my sperm donor's height.My pleadi
"Now, now, I know you are afraid." My head perked up, my heart racing. "Yeah, I know about your problem." "Can you read my mind?" I squinted my eyes at him. He threw his head back and laughed, patting me on the shoulder. I was given a crash course on vampires on the drive up here, and I know Justin couldn't tell me everything. Maybe some could read minds? "Oh no, but I can read people really well." Right, so he doesn't really know about my problem then. "I got these amazing eyes, you see, I can notice when people are in distress. Every time I mention the word, 'blood," he gave the word a creepy ghostly feel like Dracula said it himself, "you wince." "Oh," I shrung my shoulders. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about," Sauron scoffed, leading me into the cafeteria. "Plus, it is kinda my job to help you out. Elder Rowan usually puts me in charge of the kids, but now he has me watching you." Great, a babysitter. "I'm an awesome babysitter," he mentioned. I swear if he can read mind
ChristineAfter some gentle coaxing, Suron left and went on with his other 'duties.' I had to promise, cross my heart and hope to die, pinky swear, and do some obscene booty shake to let me go on my own. Suron wasn't kidding when he said he was supposed to watch me. Justin wanted me far away from mom, and sitting on the front lawn wasn't even to be tolerated.I guess it was kind of lame that I would sit there, staring at the picturesque light blue 1950's style house, but it wasn't like I had tons of friends to talk to. I uprooted my life because I was worried for my mom, but Justin thought it would be an excellent idea for me to move here. In fact, he insisted. This makes me wonder if this is because mates, soulmates, and beloveds were all genetic.The problem was, I didn't believe in it. I thought Wyatt was my soul mate. I thought he was the one I was to spend my life with. I was head over heels in love with him, or so I thought. It was all one-sided, I painted him to be the perfect
"You bitch, you're cut off. Don't expect a damn dime from me in your account," he yelled again. I'm sure his phone was swimming in his spittle as he spoke. I never had the balls to talk to dad like this before, and I must say, it was pretty invigorating. Maybe it was because I was surrounded by a bunch of vampires that now hold a picture of my father's face to ensure he would never be let in.Not that he would find us, anyway."You hear me?! Not a damn dime!" I cut the call and tossed the phone on the bed. Little did he know I moved all my money to a new bank account. Justin was pretty savvy in that department. It was like he had everything planned out before I even arrived. He forced mom to not take one single dime from her now ex-husband. Justin was supposedly rich anyway and said he would take care of us.I mean, who ever heard of a poor vampire anyway? They were all rich. If I met a poor vampire, I think I might choke on my own spit. This place was oozing with money. Many of them
SebastianI wasn’t expecting to find her this quickly, far from it. I thought I had a few more decades at least before I saw her but I didn’t. The smell of her O-negative blood had the wind shift around me. If the whisps of Bergarian dared to come to the Earth realm I swear they would have led me to her. My body moved with its own motivation to wander off the gravel path to get closer to the hooded figure that at on the bench by the lake.I had taken it upon myself to go explore on my own. As much as Rowan was being a great host, showing my room, giving me this thing called a cell phone, it was all too much. Too much electronics, televisions all the fancy stuff that humans had come up with since the last time I had been here some one hundred and fifty years ago.That was all behind me, however, as I stared at the dark hooded figure that overlooked the lake. She was in deep thought, her hand going over the screen of bright colors. A picture, a picture of a girl and a boy smashed agains
“Want to hear my last name?” she purred. Dear goddess almighty. When she isn’t talking like I’m going to eat her she had the most captivating deep, feminine voice. Luckily my hands were in my pockets.“S-sure,” I stuttered.“Business,” she winked throwing her hair over her shoulder, and continued the graveled path.“Nunya Business? Nunya Business.” I repeated over and over. I smiled widely, my fangs overshadowing my lower lip as I barked out a laugh. Slapping my knee my laughter roared over the lake, echoing into the not-to-distant woods. Vampires from afar watched me in amusement, some snorting at my ridiculousness. I don’t remember if I have ever laughed that hard in my life, it felt surprisingly refreshing, it felt right. My heart did summersaults, feeling the soaring eagles run through me.I was too busy laughing to pay attention where my beloved was going until the smell of her intoxicating scent filled my lungs. Different, her blood was different than any other human’s that I ha
Sebastian"And there is also this donkey," Suron began laughing, shaking his head. I paid him no attention. My mind was elsewhere. The urge to follow Christine back to her home and watch what bedroom she went into by the windows was so damn strong. I had to ensure she was alright, especially since she went into the house with many racist bastards. She was here, though. She was here in this coven. I found her the same day I arrived. What were the odds of that? I grinned slightly, looking over my shoulder. Gods, wouldn't it be great if she popped right back out of the house and walked down the cafeteria? She has to eat sometime.The phone buzzed in my pocket. Rowan had gifted me this contraption, and I spent most of my time in my room trying to work it. It was 'the latest craze,' the humans had created. Having seen a few from when I was on the road, I had questions about how they gazed into the window, falling into a mindless trance watching cat videos.It vibrated again. Pulling it
ChristineMy hand glid up the rail, trying to force myself up the stairs and into my room. For a reason unknown to me, my body wanted to walk out the door and find that handsome vampire. Which could not happen. Today had been too much and way embarrassing. Not only did I let someone sneak up on me while I let my walls down, but on top of it all, it was some handsome vampire with danger written all over him. He had fangs, ashen skin, nails that could lengthen into claws, and worst of all, I was damn attracted to him. Holy hell.He was completely different from Suron. I didn't find that goofball as a threat. Suron had this child-like innocence to him, which could be a ploy to get close to me, be the best of buddies to keep me away from mom. The way children seemed so keen on the vampire made me doubt that. Maybe he did want to be friends. Sebastian, though, was something else. There had to be an ulterior motive. No one that good-looking ever talks to me. The ruffled dark hair, the sl