by Emily Bex
She heads up the stairs to their bedroom, temporarily furnished now with all the things from her condo, a room that is far too feminine for Shade. But he has been good natured and tolerant of her removal of the prison cell decor that was here before as they both work around the renovations. As she walks into the room, he teleports in, and she wonders if she will ever get used to that.
***
Shade makes a quick night of training the mercenaries as things are beginning to shape up, but they still have a long way to go for that group to be called warriors. As the nights become longer, the cold settles in and he realizes he will need to break out some heavy-duty leathers soon, including his leather trench and gloves. The nights are becoming far colder than he anticipated, and the thought of her warm body in his arms makes him want to be home even more. Bel has been really working on the renovations, and every morning, she would show him what had been done the previous night. She was excited and pleased with the outcome. She had classic good taste, and an appreciation for beautiful things, and seeing the transformation of the house through her eyes was the greatest pleasure for him. She was happy, and she loved being there and that was all he wanted for her.
Teleporting in, he finds her in the bedroom, surrounded by the things she brought from her condo. Items he is more familiar with than she will ever know, but he knows it won’t be long before she transforms this room as well into a space that reflects them both.
"Damn if it is not cold out there! I need to find better clothes, heavier and something for my head. Is it always this damn cold? Come! I need to be warmed up."
She laughs at him, “Lover, this is not cold, this is just chilly. It will get much colder than this. Wait till we have snow. Come, hold me, I will keep you warm.”
Wrapping her in his arms, he pulls her to his chest. He will never tire of how small she is compared to him, but with such a huge heart.
"You are cold as well. Let me change and I will make us a fire, si?”
Quickly running into the bathroom that is almost older than he is, he washes up a bit and changes into a large bulky sweater with his jeans. Walking back out, he grabs her hand and leads her down to the first floor of the house where they snuggle together on a large rug thrown in front of the fireplace.
"Watch this." With just his thoughts, he ignites a small flame inside the stone fireplace and watches it grow as it licks over the wood stacked there, until it is blazing, and the heat is rolling off, warming the room. He turns to her nonchalantly, "So tell me about your adventures today."
Kate curls up on the rug with him as he starts the fire, and watches in amazement as the flames flicker higher. “How do you do that?”
“I just will it so, mi amore.”
She shakes her head, wondering what other revelations he will reveal over time. She slides her hands under his sweater, across his hard-muscled back and loves the feel of him.
“The workers have almost completed the staff quarters. I'll start furnishing it soon. Once they finish up there, they will focus all their attention on this house. It is moving much quicker than I thought. I'm going to have them look at the heating system, it is probably ancient, and we should go ahead and replace it.”
“Damn woman, I love when I have you all to myself. I want you to do whatever you need to do. This is your home, our home and whatever you do will be fine with me.”
Grinning, he wraps himself around her and lies back on the rug, feeling the heat rolling over them, although he is not so sure all of that heat is from the fire burning in the fireplace. Pushing her hair from her face, he stares at her and smiles.
"Have I told you, this night, how beautiful you are, how much I love you and how much I love what you have done for me, with such an open heart? Many women would never do such for me."
He lays her back on the rug as he leans over her, and she is lost in his eyes.
"Oh, I think there would be a very long line of women waiting to do most anything you want. I can't imagine otherwise." She reaches up and runs her fingers through his hair.
“Perhaps, but it would not be for me, only for their own gain. A prize to be won, bragging rights, I assure you; gold-diggers, or social climbers. In Italy, catching Shade Medici would mean taking a big step up that social ladder for most women. Even among the mortals, there are those who seek us out as mere curiosities, to say they have been with a vamp. Believe me, I have used it to my advantage. But that is not love. It is not the same when someone you love and want to spend eternity with gives you their heart and soul because they love you and they want your life with them to be something special, to build a home together. My home in Florence is my parents’ home. I inherited it, but I’ve never had a true home, a place where I want to come back to every single night, where someone is waiting with love and care for me. I do not take this lightly. It is very meaningful to me. You understand that, si?”
***
She watches him as he speaks to her, the light from the fire reflecting off his skin, turning him into a golden god before her.
“There are social climbers in the mortal world as well. I am well aware! I hate to say this about someone I know, but I always felt Rissa was a social climber. In college, she was very much about hanging out with the right people, and the right people being those who came from old money. She was with this Max guy for a while, we didn't see much of him, but he clearly had money. He took her everywhere, bought her things. Then she set her sights on Alec. Of course, I never knew, until recently, that he was a vampire. I mean, I think she really loves him, but I'm pretty sure if he was a poor starving artist, she would not have given him a second glance. I don't know, lover. It seems a pretty high price to pay. I think you just have to follow your heart, and the rest will come, you know? I mean, I could live with you anywhere and be happy.”
***
He smiles as she tells him about Rissa, and the things she doesn’t know about Rissa and Alec will remain unsaid for now. She is still mortal and trying to explain Alec and Rissa’s lifestyle as immortals and how their relationship plays out behind closed doors is far more than he wishes her to know just yet, or ever for that matter. It makes him wonder if he should expose her to a bit more of the true reality of immortal life, and what it entails. It is not all money, beauty, and luxury. There is also death and violence and living in a very volatile world.
He likes her as she is for now, her innocence of such matters. She has no clue of the death he wields on a daily basis, that he is the master of teaching those around him how to fight and kill, how to protect in the most gruesome fashion, with speed and efficiency.
"Mi amore, I know Rissa and Alec love each other, but they are nothing like me, in any fashion. So please never judge me or us by them. They live a lifestyle that is not typical for immortals. As immortal, we all must remain hidden and learn to blend in to mortal culture, but they appear very publicly in life as mortals and use their immortal skills to climb and get where they need to go. It is a dangerous line to tread, and they risk exposure. I do no such thing. I will fight and die for you, my familia and my coven, but I would never stoop to some of the deeds those two have. But enough about them, I want you to have all the easiness this life can give you. I want you to be happy. I cannot be with you all the time, so you need to love our home here, to feel safe and protected. I also want to ask you something...."
“Anything, you can ask me anything.”
“Well, I know you are looking through a lot of various fabrics, paint colors, furnishings, everything for this home, so I am thinking we should take a visit to the California house soon, perhaps it will help to save you time once done here. You may come across things that will suit that house there as well, and I just want this to be easy for you. That house is much larger, has more rooms, and is in much better condition, almost new. So, there is much more to decorate to your liking. Would you like to go with me one night and see it? Take a small tour and tell me if you have a vision of how you wish it to be?”
&nbs
p; “Of course! Do you plan on us living there as well? Will you be dividing your time between here and California?”
Leaning over, he kisses her softly. “No, bel, I do not wish to live in California, although it is more coastal and warmer, I think. I have vineyards much larger abroad than those in Virginia and California, and Luciano will oversee the vineyards on all my properties. I wish to establish my wines here, broaden my brands here in the States, with you by my side. So, the California house is someplace we will visit. I like this place in Virginia, it is us, I believe. I feel at home here. I like this property where our house sits, it reminds me of Tuscany. I like the sounds at night. Tell me, is this too overwhelming for you? Two homes on opposite coasts? I can have decorators brought in to do it.”
“No! Let me do it, please. I love the projects, and besides, I need things to do while you are away. I will make sure both homes are not too feminine, I promise. You will be pleased. In the spring, I'll work on landscaping the gardens around the house. It will be beautiful. I already love it here. In the city, all I heard was traffic and sirens at night. Here, I listen to tree frogs and crickets, and the sound of the cicada. I love that sound. I haven't heard it since I moved from South Carolina.”
He loves the sound of the excitement in her voice, the way her eyes sparkle, and her hair moves as she makes gestures with her hands. She entrances him in every aspect and every moment it confirms she is the one he has searched for in his five hundred years of living. She is everything he is not, her small frame and delicate features, her pale skin, and dark eyes, her flaming red hair. Her sexuality is subtle. She does not flaunt it but reserves it for him. She has such innocence and vulnerability about her, and pureness of heart that is rare. She has such a gentle soul he is not sure he can take it to make her immortal, and yet, he can’t live without her, and never wants to. So many women in his life, so many and yet, he traveled so far from home and found her here, among this beautiful place and now they will claim it as their own.
“Si, you miss your home? We can visit there if you wish, unless you feel you do not wish me to be known to your familia. I will understand.”
“I miss my home a little, Charleston is a beautiful city. And I would love to show it to you. You know my family thinks I am living in London. My parents were less than happy about that. But then, they never liked that I lived in D.C. either. I will visit them on occasion, but you know the reality, Shade. You do not age, and I will have to gradually extract myself from their lives as it is. I think the less they know about my real life, the better. I speak to them on the phone. Tell them about my ‘new job’ and getting settled in my new flat in London, the same with Shannon. The only difference being Shannon keeps talking about coming to visit me. One day at a time, Shade. This is all so new to me. And I know there is still much I don't know, like how you start fires in the fireplace without effort.”
“Vampire secret, mi amore.”
He tousles her hair and rolls her to her side, leaning on his elbow as he hears the electric blinds lower for the coming daylight that will intrude and take him to his death slumber. There were many daybreaks he longed for slumber to take him away, but now, he dreads them, for they take away precious time from his bel. Now he has even more reason to curse the sun.
"One day at a time, bel, but I worry desperately you will tire of this life and of me. That you have stepped into something you will one day regret and never wish to see again. That you will grieve for the mortal life you left behind and feel you have lost everything. I will be honest, I can never let you go. I would surely die of a broken heart and shattered soul. We will journey together and see the world, but one step at a time. So soon, we will visit California and our home there. I think you will like it, and it can be a pleasurable place to visit and get away in the long winter that apparently is going to have me shivering in that damn snow."
***
She runs her hand across his cheek. Tired of him? Never happen.
25
Shade wakes in the late evening. It is just past sunset, and bel is still sleeping on his chest. He listens to the soft sounds of her breathing as her breath softly caresses his skin. It is time. He wants her to exhale the scent of his own blood. In five hundred years, no female has been allowed to feed from him and he feels he needs to take her to Castello, his family home in Florence, to have her feed from him for the first time. This is the first step in sealing their bond of mating. The blood covenant would bond her to him, she would be his. If she were already immortal, it would be all that is required to make her his mate, but for her, there will be a longer journey. At least with the blood covenant, her scent will change, and other vamps will know she is claimed, she belongs to him. He will still have to turn her, but he will give her more time before that step, for she has much to learn. Slowly moving her off his chest, he hears her soft, enchanting moan as he gently repositions her in the bed.
He grabs his cell phone, texting Tomas and letting him know he will not be joining the warriors at the Dead House tonight, giving him detailed instructions on what he wants accomplished in the training exercises, as well as who he wants assigned out on the streets. Just as he hits send, he sees her stretch out on the bed and that pool of crimson spreads across the pillow.
***
Kate slides her hand out and does not feel him in bed, but she can hear the soft clicking of the buttons on his phone. She opens her eyes to see him standing by the bed, looking better naked than most men look in clothes, his hair tangled from sleep, as he sends a text. She looks up at him through her tangled mass of hair.
"You are barely out of my bed and already planning your night, lover? What can I do to get your undivided attention before you must leave?"
Shade looks down at her and grins, pitching his phone to the side table and sliding back in bed beside her. He kisses her deeply, his beast already on edge with just the feel of her against his body.
"Mi amore, you are so beautiful when you wake in a tangle of crimson, naked and sleepy-eyed. But, for your information, I have been giving orders so I can spend this autumn evening with you, but there is a small catch, si?”
She snuggles against him, so glad to learn he plans to stay with her, and puts her nose on his, "And what would that small catch be?"
He licks the tip of her nose, laughing softly, his hands going straight for her ass and squeezing. "Tonight, we journey to Florence, Italy, to my ancestral home. I would like to show you where I grew up, what belongs to me, where I come from. It is important to me, to make sure you know what being mine entails. Are you agreeable to that?”
***
She sits up in the bed. There is never a ‘normal’ day with Shade. Yesterday, she was working on house renovations and getting some of the rooms decorated, and today, he wants to take her to Florence!
"I... of course, lover! Are you going to need me to decorate that house too?"
***
He loves how her face lights up, how her emotions are always visible on her face. He can already see the wheels spinning inside her head and knows a thousand questions are about to shoot out of that kissable mouth.
"No mi amore, this house was decorated long ago, and I prefer it to remain that way. Now, we will teleport, so you need to move that sweet ass of yours and get dressed, si?”
Kate slides out of bed and grabs a quick shower, puts on some make-up, and dries her hair, brushing it to a high sheen. She is wondering if she will be meeting people there. He is dressing in jeans, so she grabs her own jeans, and pulls on a pair of brown knee-high boots, slipping a cashmere sweater in a soft peach color over her head. She spritzes on her rose scent and he follows her downstairs to the kitchen where she fixes a cup of coffee and toasts a bagel. He sits at the counter and watches her eat, wiping a crumb from her lip with his finger, before he leans in to kiss her.
"Okay... unless I need a suitcase, I'm ready!"
"No suitcase needed. If we decide to stay there a night or two, I will fit you with a wardrobe. N
ow come!" Grabbing his leather jacket, sliding it on, he pulls her into his arms and wraps the jacket around the both of them. “Look me in the eyes, mi amore. Do you trust me?"
"Lover, I always trust you."
"Good. This journey will take a little more time, similar to Paris, si? You may feel dizziness and a bit lightheaded. Do not be frightened of anything. I will protect you, as always. Wrap your legs around my waist, snuggle close and lay your head on my shoulder. We will be there before you know it. Do not let the speed frighten you, close your eyes if it makes you feel dizzy, si?"
Telepathically letting Gi, his manservant in Florence, know they will be arriving, he wishes for all the servants to not be visible this night. Gi has served him many years and knows Shade, his family and all of Castello like the back of his hand. Without him, Castello would not run like clockwork. Still, he knows the staff will be curious. It is not normal for him to arrive with a mortal on his arm, and all would know from her scent before the next sunrise that he is mated to her, and the covenant is sealed.
As her legs wrap tightly around his waist, he lets his hand slide into her hair, and pulls her head to his shoulder as they teleport through the night sky, Florence bound.
***
Kate is remembering when he teleported her to Paris, and then back again because there was some trouble in D.C. She hopes their time together tonight will be uninterrupted. She feels the air getting cooler as it rushes past them, and she keeps her eyes closed tight to minimize the sensation of motion.