It happened 10 years ago on a trip to Italy.
Dante was so excited about showing me where he grew up as a child that each night he took me somewhere different. At first it was only places he used to play with friends or hung out as a kid. Later on he took me to the place where he had his first kiss. He smiled and kissed me while we were there, telling me. "Your kiss is the sweetest of all, Marina."
The next night he showed me where he had lived and though the home has long since disappeared from where it once stood, to Dante it was like it still existed. He walked over the land showing me how big the home was and where this room or that room was located inside. He told me of his room upon the second floor and how he would sneak out late at night to climb up onto the roof and look at the stars.
The smile on my beloved's face was so sweet with memories I felt tears of blood fill my eyes. I could see the sparkle of that boy inside the man as he talked of his mother and father and of his grandmother who he loved so much.
Though he was lost to God because of what he had become it did not stop him from walking to the outside gates of his old church that through some miracle still existed. For a very long time he did not speak as I watched the emotions roll across his face.
Then quietly we walked down the road stopping in front of a centuries old cemetery that turned out to belong to his family. He didn't stop to look at his own headstone, didn't even glace at it as he walked straight to his grandmother's grave. He laid a loving hand over the stone, tracing the weathered marker like he would have his grandmother's cheek.When he kneeled in front of his parent's graves it broke my heart when I heard him whisper, "I'm so sorry that I put you through so much pain and despair. My only regret after all these years of existing is that of hurting you."
"Don't worry, Dante, it won't be much longer before you join them in the cold hard ground." The words came from a voice from behind a large shade tree near his parents grave.
Before I could blink Dante stood up and moved in front of me, blocking me from the owner of the voice. Dante's voice was so cold that I shivered. "What are you doing here Quinton?"
"I heard that my old enemy, I mean old friend, was in town. I'm hurt that you didn't come and visit me, Dante. After all we've been through it was the least you could have done." The sarcasm dripped from his voice.
"If things had of worked out right old friend, you would have been dead a long time ago and I could have enjoyed my last night in town."
"Such bitterness, Dante. I thought for sure you would have been over that little spat by now. Why not let bygones be bygones and introduce me to the lovely lady behind you?"
"You better watch out for this lady, Quinton, she's not as innocent as she looks."
Two underlings came from out of nowhere to stand beside Quinton. "I think I can handle her, Dante. Who knows, I might even let you watch while I show her what a real vampire can do."
My anger rose fast at what his words implied causing my canines to lengthen and my nails to turn into claws. I could tell Dante was already in attack mode by the way that his muscles were contracting underneath his shirt and from the low growl that came from his throat.
Without one word spoken a signal was given and the first underling rushed from Quinton's side. Dante moved in an instant, clashing with the young vampire in an explosion of power between the rows of graves. In one swift move Dante had him by the throat and tossed him through the air to land against the old headstones, causing them to tip over and break against the ground.
I turned my head back in time to see Quinton's other underling start toward Dante. Without thinking I rushed forward, surprising him as I lowered my shoulder into his stomach and drove him off his feet, sending us both crashing into the next row of graves.
I may have been older in vampire years than this underling but I was a bit weaker. We wrestled on the ground with each other, claws scraping and teeth biting. The vicious underling came close to killing me when he pulled back and rammed his fist toward my chest, aiming for my heart. But I was to fast for him and capitalized on his mistake by rolling away from him and coming to my feet, back handing him across the face and hitting him so hard that he flipped over backwards onto his stomach. Only thinking of my survival I pulled him to his knees and dropped down behind him, jerking his head to the side and sinking my teeth in to his neck. His blood spurted out from under my mouth as I tore his jugular. Blood coated my chin and throat as it dripped down to soak into my blouse. Once I drained the underling's body of blood I quickly snapped his neck and broke it, letting his limp and lifeless form drop against the ground.
I turned to see Dante about to finish off the other young vampire when Quinton howled the most frightening sound I had ever heard in my life. Before I knew it I was flat on my back and Quinton was over top of me, his large clawed hand around my throat squeezing so hard that if I had been a mortal it would have killed me. He snarled, dripping saliva onto my face. "Bitch, you will pay for killing my son."
His canines were long and so thick. Even as I struggled underneath him, I had no doubts that I was about to die. He opened his mouth completely and aimed down toward my throat. I closed my eyes waiting for the pain to come when suddenly I felt the weight of his body disappear.
When I got to my feet Dante and Quinton were fighting hard and more headstones were broken as they smashed into them. Tree bark shattered into splinters and leaves fell everywhere when Dante's body was thrown against it.
I looked over to find the first underling that Dante had been fighting struggle to his feet and stagger toward the fighting vampires. I could see that he was a bloody mess from the battle but I didn't show any mercy as I sent a swirling kick to his head, dropping him to the ground.
When I turned back around I saw Quinton had stunned Dante by dropping him belly first across one of his family's headstones. I started over to him when Quinton ran toward me and left his feet, his sharp claws extended and aimed for my chest.
Dante screamed out, "Marina!"
Then everything seemed to go into slow motion. I watched the sharp claws get closer and knew I didn't have time to move, but to my horror Dante stepped in front of me and took the vicious hit.
I heard the sickening sound of Quinton's clawed hand puncture Dante's chest, delivering what I knew would be a deadly blow. The scream of pain that ripped from Dante's mouth echoed in my head as he dropped to the ground before me.
"No!" I screamed as my eyes looked at Quinton's hand dripping my beloved's blood onto the ground.
I howled like an angry animal as my vision turned everything in my sight red. I leaped at Quinton who seemed to be stunned at what had happen and knocked him to the ground. My claws scratched and cut the skin on his face and tore through his shirt to dig into his chest. I curled my hands into fists and punched him over and over as my fury unleashed upon him. I couldn't feel a thing as he tried to defend himself. No matter how hard he hit back, I hit harder. No matter how deep his claws sank, mine sank deeper. With one last move of my hands I broke both of his arms at the elbows. The sound of them cracking fed my rage.
Finally with his arms limp at his sides and unable to defend himself, I reached down and grabbed his neck, ready to break it when a black evilness slid over me. I looked down at him. "There shall be no mercy upon you and your underlings till Dante's death is avenged by my hands. This shall be my quest till my death."
As the final words of my pledge rang out I plunged my claws into Quinton's chest. His screams echoed through the night air as I wrapped my fist around his heart and jerked it from his body. I raised my arm into the air, his heart still in my hand, and turned my head up to the night sky screaming out in rage.
I heard a noise from over my shoulder and seen the other underling scamper away, leaving his master's body behind as he made his escape. I threw Quinton's bloody heart to the ground and rushed over to my beloved's body.
Dante was barely alive as I dropped to my knees beside him. I tore his shirt from his body and gasped at the gapping hole in his chest from Quinton's fist. I jerked my blouse over my head and pushed it into the hole, wanting to stop the bleeding, but I knew he was dying and there was nothing I could do to stop him from bleeding to death.
I lifted him gently into my arms and carried him over to the tree that shaded his parent's grave. I sat behind him and lay his back to my chest, wrapping my arms around him. I heard him gasp in pain and the sound shredded my heart into pieces.
"Marina." He struggled to say.
"Quiet, my love. Don't waste your strength trying to talk," I somehow told him without choking on my words, as his body began to shake in my arms and I held him tighter, pressing my lips to the top of his head.
"I love you, Marina." His broken voice so weak that I could barely make out his words.
"I love you, Dante, with all my heart," I mumbled, unable to stop the sob that burst from my throat.
"If you should ever die Marina, I'll be waiting for you." He choked on his words and began to cough, groaning with pain.
Finally the coughing stopped and he turned his head to where he could look up at me. "Kiss me, Marina."
With red tears on my cheeks I bent my head and placed my lips upon his. His mouth quivered against mine for only a moment before it went slack. My lips were still on his and my arms still held him tight when I felt him slip away into the waiting arms of his final death.
I don't remember how long I held him or how long I rocked with him in my arms before I picked him up and carried him to the empty plot of land where his family's home use to stand. I would have buried him in his family's cemetery but knew the risk was to high of someone spotting a fresh grave there and investigating it.
I used my bare hands to dig his grave. When it was deep enough I climbed out from the bottom and kneeled by Dante's side. I removed the wedding band I had given him years ago and slipped it onto my finger. I left the necklace I gave him from our first year together with him. The necklace held a locket that contained a hand painted portrait of me inside. From the day I gave it to him he never once took it off.I caressed his face with the tips of my fingers, tracing each cheekbone and each eyebrow and along his jaw line to his chin. Gently I lay my fingertips upon his mouth, tracing first the top and then the bottom lip. I remember the first time he kissed me and I started to cry. Tears falling onto his face, I kissed him for the last time and whispered, "Goodbye my love."I placed his body so gentle on the cold ground at the bottom of his grave. With each handful of dirt that I covered him with my tears fell harder. When the last bit of dirt was put over him, I stood there sobbing, kn
I missed them all so much, especially mom and dad. They were so kind to me when really they could have forced me to marry anyone they wanted back in those long ago days, but didn't. Mom and dad didn't care if their oldest daughter was considered a spinster. They respected my wishes to marry someday for love, not because society expected me to marry by a certain age.Imagine everyone's surprise, including my own, when a man finally came along. It happened when I was at my cousin's home for the first dance of the fall season. He was a tall, dark haired man and he asked me to dance. I was shocked really; no one had asked me to dance the entire year. Then out of nowhere this blue eyed man with chiseled features and the most irresistible mouth I ever saw, asked me to dance.Oh it was heaven. I didn't know till then just how much I missed the feel of having a man hold me in his arms and waltz me around a room. He was so handsome, his manners so perfect. He never took his eyes from me not ev
I remove the quilt that I had draped around myself, "Here take this and wrap it around yourself when you're done." I tried hard not to look over at him as I pulled two quilts from my bed and spread them out before the fire making a pallet for him on the floor. Just as I placed the pillows down I felt him step beside me. "Come, Dante and lay before the fire, you need to get warm."He stretched out his long body and rested his head on one of my pillows, and then I spread out the rest of my bed covering over him. While looking down at him I remembered that my little sister stayed out in the cold to long once almost freezing to death and that mom got into bed with her to help warm her. So without hesitation I climbed under the covers with him and pressed myself close. I rubbed my hand over his chest through the quilt he had against his skin as he laid on his back, mumbling under my breath, "I can't have you catching cold and dying on me. Not after I've just found you."He turned on his si
He slid his wet tongue up my body and dipped it into my mouth and I tasted myself on his lips. My legs spread farther apart as he settled once again between my thighs, his cock teasing my pussy lips apart. The head rubbed over my still sensitive clit and I jerked under him, filling his mouth with my moan.His hand slid between us, guiding the head of his cock and then he pushed in. He felt so big, the only thing that has ever penetrated me before had been my own fingers. I cried out when he pressed up against the barrier inside me, making my muscles clamp around him hard."Shush, it's all right, love." He softly whispered. His trembling hands stroked over me, calming me a little. He slowly began to move back and forth inside me, always stopping when he reached the barrier. In and out, over and over he moved a little faster each time, then I felt a change in him. He kissed me hard and when he thrust his tongue inside my mouth he thrust his cock all the way inside, breaking the barrier
The sky had turned lighter in the east when we finally stopped at what looked like an old castle. I was so tired as he carried me inside, not even during past illnesses had I felt this tired.A few moments later my body was laid down and I opened my eyes to see Dante there beside me, closing a coffin lid over us. Fear filled my throat and came out in a frantic cry. "What are you doing Dante? Get me out of here."Instead he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, kissing me softly. "It's all right, my love, really. It's for our protection. You're a vampire now and you have to hide from the sunlight, just like all of our kind has to.""But why did you turn me into, into... Oh god! Why turn me into a vampire Dante? I would have loved you no matter what."He kissed my forehead. "I know you would have, but you would have also come to hate me, Marina. You'll find out soon enough that time has little affect on a vampire. So while we both may grow older it would've been only you who w
"Levi, we need to get you out of here. Can you make it to the opening of the cave?" He didn't answer so I tuned my hearing to Levi's heartbeat and found it was slow and his breathing very shallow.I couldn't pick him up inside the tiny cave structure, so I had to drag him to the opening before I could lift him into my arms. The way back to the cabin took a lot longer then the trip out. I couldn't rush like I wanted for being afraid that I might fall or drop him and cause more injuries.The cabin came into view with the lights inside blazing bright like a welcoming beacon in the night. I called out to Chad with my mental power to open the doors on the deck, that I had an injured man and to tell Rose to get all the blankets she could find. When I reached the deck the doors were standing wide open and Chad rushed over to help me carry the man inside.Quickly we took him over in front of the fireplace and removed his coat, hat, gloves and shoes. We didn't stop to think about modesty when
He was on the sofa with his back against the arm and his legs stretched out under a thick blanket. His long hair gleamed, as it trailed down over his shoulders and his color looked almost normal. I had no trouble picturing him dressed like one of his ancestors that came before him, astride on a horse with the wind pulling his hair away from his face.For the first time in a very long time I felt a tug of desire in my gut, and truthfully, it made me angry. Because, I can see myself as the young maiden, waiting for his return, knowing that when he does great pleasure would be found once again in his arms.I growled low in my throat and thought no one could hear me, but someone did. Levi. As Rose chatted on he turned his head toward me and it was all I could do not to gasp as those piercing dark eyes landed on me. I couldn't help but return his stare; feeling like I was sinking into a black ocean that was filled with knowledge beyond their years."Well there you are, dear, come meet our
I sat down in the chair I had used last night and leaned my head back. All my senses were focused on him and I remembered the vision that came to me earlier that evening of him being an Indian warrior of old.I let myself slip into the fantasy and found myself standing in a village as my warrior rode up on his horse with his black hair blowing behind him in the wind. His dark skin was covered in sweat and glistened in the hot afternoon sun. Just looking at him made my breasts swell and heat pool between my legs.He stopped the horse beside me, leaned down and pulled me up to sit in front of him. He wrapped me in his arms as his hands took hold of the horse's mane and started us off into the forest. His scent was strong and filled my lungs. I turned my head to look at him and found his dark eyes staring at me. Slowly one of his hands slid into my hair and held my head in place as his lips touch mine. His kiss were soft at first, coaxing my lips apart with the tip of his tongue. He bare