Broken Rules(The Chronicles Of Amber Harris)

by Elle A. Rose

  *

  After our virtual date was over, Dominick and I talked on the phone until he started to fall asleep. He is cute when it is time to get off the phone. He always suggests that we talk for another five minutes, but then he starts to drift back to sleep a few seconds later. Hearing his light breathing is soothing. I would love to listen to it all night. Yet, I worry about the position he is laying in trying to hold the phone to his ear and sleep comfortable all at the same time. I generally have to force him off the phone, still I love the half alert fight he puts up in the process.

  Stepping out of my room and heading down the hallway towards the stairs, I search for Maddie’s mind. I want to make sure she is doing okay. Dominick told me the night before was rough for her. They came close to taking her to the hospital. Thankfully, she now has a round the clock nursing service, and they were able to make her comfortable. Descending the stairs, I find Isaac waiting at the landing. “Hey.”

  “Hey, are you heading out for a late night snack?”

  “Yes, I’m feeling a little tired.”

  “I can imagine so. You used a lot of energy.”

  Giving him a questioning look, he smiles and reaches for my hand as my foot hits the last step.

  “Don’t worry, it didn’t seem like you were projecting. Your wall just slipped a few times and I saw glimpses of what was going on. I have to say, that was pretty remarkable. I didn’t think you were able to do that, at least not this far away. Was it your first time doing it with such a great distance between you?”

  “Yes, it was. I was a little disappointed in the accuracy of the smell and feel of some things, but over all for the first time, it was pretty neat. Draining, yes, but neat.”

  “Hmm, I bet. Do you mind if I join you on your walk?”

  “Sure, I could use the company.”

  12

  Madeline P. Grayson,

  nee Bowing

  Boston Massachusetts: Maddie was called home March 28, at the age of 76. She went peacefully in her home with loved ones at her side. She was preceded in death by her parents, Lucille and Michael Bowing, son, Steven (Genna) Grayson, brother, Mason Bowing, and loving husband, Lance C. Grayson. She leaves behind one daughter, Brenda (Philip) Bronson, Springfield, Ma, one grandson, Dominick Grayson, and a host of caring friends.

  Maddie was born April 12, 1934, in Nashville, Tennessee, at Protestant Hospital. She attended Nashville city schools and graduated from Tennessee State University with her M.S.N. degree by the National League for Nursing Accreditation Commission.

  After finishing school, she and her husband moved to Boston to start a family and open a general health care practice. After Lance was called home on August 22, 1999, Maddie decided to keep the home her husband and she raised their family in. She resided there with her grandson Dominick, until her death.

  Being well known in the community for helping out with the local blood drives, Maddie also spent her time gardening, attending lacrosse games, and taking long walks with her grandson. She looked forward to spending as much time outdoors as possible when weather permitted. She and her grandson enjoyed traveling all over the world, exploring new places together. Twice a year, she would take Dominick to different vacation destinations to give him the chance to see a little bit of the world at a time. During the fall season, Maddie loved to go camping with her grandson and his friends.

  Madeline will be deeply missed. She has left her loved ones with many wonderful memories. Those who knew her know of the hole that has been left in our hearts by her absence. We love you always, Madeline. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the nearest blood bank.

  13

  Vampire Friendly

  Standing impatiently at the door, I try to keep my anxiety down. I have no idea what could be taking so long. I am trying to give Olivia the benefit of the doubt and not track their progress. According to my calculations, they should have been here one hour, nine minutes, and fifty-one seconds ago. I hope nothing is wrong, I mean one of them is a vampire. How many issues could they have run into?

  “Amber, why don’t you just call? I bet they stopped somewhere along the way to get Dominick something to eat. Remember he is human.”

  Glancing over my shoulder at Lisa, I try to smile to show that I am grateful that she cares, but I wager the look on my face is far from a smile. She shakes her head and goes back to watching Fanged. She DVR’d it the other night since her and Christopher went on an early weekend date. She, like the rest of us, wants to keep up with what the new vampire stories and legends are—some as we suspect, are very close to how we live can only come from the source. While others are so far off base, we are truly entertained by the sheer comedy of it all.

  My head whips towards the door as a car drives down the street. By the sound of the engine, I discern it is Olivia’s vehicle. A few months ago, when I went car shopping, Olivia accompanied me. She had no thought about buying an automobile, yet the both of us fell in love with the same car. Needless to say, we both drove off the lot with identical models, just different colors, and hers is not a convertible. Dominick is not bringing much from his grandparent’s house. The few big items he did bring were delivered yesterday, and I have already moved them into place. He may want to rearrange them later, but I am flexible about these things. I only hope he is okay with the room. The rest of his belongings including him are coming today with Olivia. Jerking the door open, I stand on the front porch and wait for the car to pull into the driveway. As the navy blue car glides into the spot next to Isaac’s car, I lose my battle with waiting and rush to the side of the car. I have the door open before the vehicle comes to a full and complete stop.

  Both Olivia and Dominick begin to laugh. Behind me, I hear a slight snicker and do not need to guess that Christopher is standing in the doorway.

  “Hi, honey. Did you miss me?”

  Unfastening his seatbelt, Dominick pulls his massive frame out of the car. He appears a little tired, but there is a shine in his gray eyes. We talked last night and he told me that he was not going back on his choice to come live with me, yet it was harder than he thought it was going to be to just pack up and walk away from the house. In the beginning, I thought about keeping the house, just in case Dominick decided this was not going to work out for him, nonetheless, he was adamant about it being a one way trip. So he signed the deed to the house over to his Aunt Brenda and put the paper work in the mail before leaving town. I had to hire a private investigator to track down his aunt—I could have found her myself, but I thought it was best for me to keep my distance since we had such bad blood between us. Dominick thought it was only right to let her know of her mother’s passing even if the woman disowned the family twelve years ago. Albeit, we found her before the funeral, she refused to pay her respects. After all of that, he still chose to sign the house over to her. I wonder if she will ever do anything with it.

  Stepping out of the car, he immediately wraps his arms around me and pulls me close.

  “I missed you, too.” Dominick smiles and bends to kiss me. His heart thumps loudly in his chest. He is nervous. I am nervous too. The warmth of his body is slowly engulfing me. His scent makes my mouth ache, but that is the least of my worries right now. His lips which are pulled into a sexy grin are moving closer to mine and…

  “Amber?”

  Opening my eyes, I wonder why Olivia has such a panicked tone in her voice. There is another set of hands on me. Bringing my surroundings in, I find Dominick is still in front of me, but the grin he had on his face before, before kissing me is now gone. A look of worry has replaced it. Olivia has moved from her spot on the driver’s side of the car and is now behind me. Is she holding me up?

  “Are you okay?” Dominick asks as he struggles to right himself.

  I realize I am not standing on my own two feet. “Um, what happened? Yes, I’m fine.” Trying not to harm Dominick, I quickly put my feet back on the ground and feel Domin
ick’s and my mother’s hands let me go. Olivia comes to stand next to Dominick and reaches up to put her hand to my forehead as if to check my temperature.

  “Are you sure you’re feeling well? You almost wiped Dominick and yourself out. You, I don’t know what you just did, but I had to catch the both of you before you fell.”

  Oh, glancing at Dominick, he and I both know this is not the first time that has happened. Thankfully, the last time my mind went completely blank, we were seated so Dominick was not in danger of falling and breaking any bones.

  If it was only the three of us outside, I probably would not feel so embarrassed, yet Isaac and Lisa are laughing. Christopher is still mumbling under his breath, but he went back into the house and is not standing on the porch with everyone else. He and I have not talked much about Dominick coming to live with us. Come to think of it, in the last few months, he has only uttered a few words here and there to me. I have not really pushed the subject. I really hope he is going to be on his best behavior. This is not like some sleepover or something. From here on, Dominick is a part of this family. Trying to ignore the others, I step to the side of the car to get Dominick’s belongings out of the trunk.

  “Let me carry those, Amber.”

  Dominick joins me at the trunk and we both reach for the same bags. I grab the bags first. “It’s not a problem. I can do it in one trip.”

  Sighing, he steps back and allows me to pull the six bags out of the back of the car. “You’re not going to do this all the time are you? I get that you’re stronger than me. I don’t need a constant reminder of it.”

  I stop and stare at him. I am not trying to show him up or make him feel less my equal. “You’re right.” Handing him one of the bags, I turn to walk towards the house. As we head up the steps, Christopher decides to grace us with his presence. Stopping at the top of the stairs, I guess it will be a good time to do formal introductions. “Everyone, well besides Olivia, I would like to introduce you to Dominick, Dominick, this is my father, Isaac; my brother, Christopher; and my sister, soon to be sister-in-law, Lisa.” The last part of my statement brings a smile to Lisa’s face and an eye roll from Christopher.

  “I really hope you don’t go around telling everyone that weird story. I swear you make it sound really creepy.”

  With that, my doting brother turns and walks back into the house. Isaac steps forward to greet Dominick. A strand of Isaac’s long hair falls in front of his face as he slightly bows.

  Dominick gives me a quizzical glance before saying, “It is very nice to meet you, sir.”

  As Isaac steps back, Lisa bounds forward to embrace Dominick in a huge hug. We all cringe hoping that she does not squeeze too tight and break a bone. I will need to remind her later that humans are breakable. I gather Dominick seeing Christopher was all of a greeting he is going to get for now. “Shall we go in? I can show you were everything is.”

  We let the others file in before us, then step back for Dominick to follow them. Walking in last, I set Dominick’s bags down in the foyer. He does the same, and then turns to take my hand. The moment our hands touch, it feels like small sparks are jumping between our fingers. We both look down at our hands. Dominick smiles and pulls my hand to his mouth and kisses it lightly. I bite down on my lip and try to ignore the flames that are coursing up my hand. I give Dominick a lopsided grin before turning my head in the direction that I will begin the tour with—it is still hard to disregard the inferno that is consuming my arm.

  “In here is the family room.” Walking into the green painted room, I stop to let him have a look around, “On the other side of those double doors is Isaac’s study. There’s no computer in there but a lot of old western books if you ever get bored enough to read them.” Isaac and Dominick both chuckle. I am not sure what was so funny about that, I was only being honest. Making our way back towards the foyer, we take a left and head into the back of the house. “To the left, is the kitchen. I’ve stocked up on all the foods you like but let me know if there’s anything else you need.” We pass through the kitchen before I stop and open a beige door. “In here is the pantry and down there,” I point to the stairs at the end of the pantry walkway. “This leads to a walk-in freezer.”

  “Um, what do you need a walk-in freezer for?”

  Laughing, I turn and start to walk back through the pantry into the kitchen. “Until now, we didn’t need it. It came with the house. What the previous owner did with it, I really would rather not know. Lisa refuses to touch it. I think it creeps her out the most.”

  “Huh?”

  “Oh, um, never mind, I’ll explain later.”

  We step back into the hall and then into the other side of the house. “Here’s the dining room.”

  It is Dominick’s turn to laugh. “What do you need a dining room for? You know what, never mind.”

  Shaking his head, he gives my hand a light squeeze and I continue, “Down here,” opening the door that is off in the corner of the dining room. “Is the entertainment room.” I decide to turn on the light for him to see the stairs. I could just as easily guide him, but I want him to fill comfortable with where everything is in the house.

  Entering the room, he gives a soft whistle, lets go of my hand and steps further in the room.

  First Dominick walks over to the ten overstuffed reclining chairs that are set up in front of the two hundred and seventy inch screen. “Cool,” he mumbles under his breath. Turning he gives me a nod of approval as he heads over and brushes his hand on the felt-top pool table. Next, he stops in front of the gaming shelf to check out all one hundred and forty-eight games we have. Nodding again, he glides over and comes to a stop in front of Christopher’s pride and joy.

  “Are those what I think they are?”

  “Yes, it’s Christopher’s mosquito farm.” With a wide-eye stare, he turns to gawk at me.

  “Your brother keeps mosquitoes as pets? How is that possible, aren’t you worried about them escaping?”

  It must be a reflex, as he speaks his hand instinctively rubs his other arm as if trying to soothe a bug bite. I saunter over and place my hand on his to stop the movement. “No worries, he has had this, um, farm for over seventy years and so far none have escaped.”

  “How does he feed them?”

  No matter how much I have tried to avoid it, over the years I end up somehow helping take care of the bugs. Bending, I open a small refrigerator that is next to the four hundred gallon tank and remove a plastic bag filled with blood. I stopped asking years ago about where he procured the blood from, I can smell that it is human blood. On the right end of the tank I open the small trapdoor Christopher installed and let the sack of blood fall to the dirt. I will hear an earful about not setting the sack in there gently later. Not that mosquitoes bite vampires, I just do not like the things. I think it is the humming of their wings that bother me the most. I am positive I killed a few that were not smart enough to move out the way as the bag fell.

  “Can they smell the blood through the plastic?”

  I smile at Dominick’s ignorance and say, “If you have a nose for blood, you can smell it no matter what it’s contained in. Only the females ingest the blood. They use it for nutrients for their eggs.” Pointing to the other side of the tank, I continue, “Once they have enough nutrients, they go over to the miniature pond and lay their eggs. Christopher found that since both the male and female feed off of nectar, it was a lot easier to have flowered water-plants in the tank. The other plants are in there for decoration and the mosquitoes seek shelter under them while they sleep.” Stepping back, Dominick’s body slightly shivers. “Christopher wanted a pet for years, but most animals aren’t vampire friendly. He thought that he should have a pet that was in some ways like him.” Shaking my head, I sigh before saying, “We can finish the tour if you like.” Not taking his eyes off the farm Dominick nods in agreement.

  I pull him back up the stairs, and we make a brief stop in the living room. On the
way back out the living room, I point in the direction of the backyard. Heading towards the upstairs, I see Isaac has moved Dominick’s belongings. I take a deep breath and begin to climb the stairs. “The door on the left is a bathroom. The one on your right is Christopher and Lisa’s office. The one next to that is their bedroom.” At the end of the hall we make a left, and move pass two other rooms before I stop at the door on the right. “The door down the hall at the end is Isaac’s and Olivia’s room.” Hesitating for just a second, I reach up and open the door in front of us. “And this is your room, well, um, it’s my room. It’s one of the nicest so I figured you would want it. We can, um, if you want…” Wow, why is this so hard? It is much harder than I would have thought. All right, Amber, just spit it out. “You can either have the room to yourself or we can share it. It’s up to you.” Taking another deep breath, I stare at my feet and wait for the rejection.

  Dominick places his hand under my chin to lift my face towards his, instantly setting my chin on fire.

  “Amber, I would love to share the room with you. I couldn’t think about kicking you out of your room.” His face scrunches with his last statement. He pauses for a moment before he speaks again, “Your parents won’t… never mind. I keep forgetting you aren’t the normal teenager.”

  He chuckles before lightly pressing his lips to my forehead. As he straightens, I place my hand on the burning spot on my brow. Nothing. I keep expecting to see flames or something. I do not need to ask him what he was about to inquire. Letting the breath I was holding out, I step into the room. As I thought, all of Dominick’s bags are neatly set in the corner of the room.

  I go and perch on the edge of the bed to let Dominick wander around the room. “I cleared out half of my closet for your clothes. Let me know if you need any more room. The dresser to your left is new. Put anything you don’t want hung in there. That other door leads to the bathroom. I can set up a desk in here or in another room for you to do your homework on, whatever is easiest. Since I have the bedroom with the balcony, I decided not to make a study, I usually do any work or reading out there.” I point to the sliding door that leads to the upper outdoor balcony. Dominick has not said a word since he walked into the room. I am taking his silence as he needs time. Standing up I say, “I’ll let you get settled. Just call out if you need anything.” Walking by him to leave, he grabs my hand. His touch sends heat shooting up my arm.

  “You don’t have to leave. I’m sorry. I was just taking everything in. I would like your help, that is, if you want to help me get settled.”

  Meeting his glare, my breath catches in my throat. I am still stunned by the draw that I have to his stormy-gray eyes, which seem to be looking right through me. Wrapping his arms around my waist, he starts to move forward. My body reacts and moves backwards. I stop when I bump into something wooden. It is the dresser. Dominick grins at me and my bewilderment. “Now when I kiss you, I won’t need to worry about you falling backwards.”

  14

  Never

  The last few weeks have been nothing but wonderful. Well, everything but Christopher. I am unsure as why any of it surprised me. Perhaps I was hoping that his attitude would be a little different because of Lisa, yet he has been the same old lights/on lights off Christopher I have known since the very beginning. Dominick’s first night in the house went pretty well. After helping get him settled, we found something for him to eat. He insisted on cooking it himself. I have no problem cooking for him, but I had to admit it has been a few decades since the last time I really cooked. I questioned how the food would come out.

  After dinner Dominick had a chance to get to know everyone more intimately, including Christopher. That part of the night was a little rough. As we sat in the living room, Dominick and I on the loveseat, Isaac and Olivia in recliners and Lisa on the floor, we allowed Dominick to ask us questions about our past lives and other need-to-know things for surviving in a vampire house. Christopher so far that day, besides his rude behavior on the porch when Dominick first arrived, had remained upstairs in Lisa’s and his study. Everyone except Dominick heard him pacing, but for Lisa’s sake he had finally stopped talking out loud to himself. Lisa went up to attempt to talk to him, but he had the door locked. She did not want to force her way in. I refused to read his thoughts, yet, I could tell by the expression on Isaac’s face at times that whatever was going through Christopher’s mind was not pretty.

  Being as thoughtful as he is, Dominick asked Lisa a question about the wedding when Christopher decided to grace us with his presence. Well, it was more like a tornado whipping through the middle of the house. I guess Dominick taking an interest in the wedding was the final straw. Before Dominick finished asking Lisa if they had the location secured, Christopher flung the door open to the study—he ripped it off the hinges—and was in the living room in the blink of a vampire eye. I heard him coming and knew with his movements, his intentions were not good. I intercepted him before he made it to Dominick. Somehow he seemed to be bigger than normal. I did not let that distract me, there was no way I was going to let him touch a hair on Dominick’s head. His lovely green eyes were a crimson red and the gold flecks seemed to dance in a crazy frenzy. The family reacted in the same manner as me. I did not turn around to know they fell in place behind me, as if to form a barrier between Dominick and Christopher.

  “Are you freaking kidding me?! You all are going to go to Amber’s aid? Why should I expect anything less? Once again it is all about Aaaamber and her little boy-toy.” Glaring passed me and meeting Lisa’s stare, Christopher’s eyes flashed an even brighter red. “Wow, even you,” he snarled. “I can’t believe you’re all sitting around trying to play house with Amber’s little pet.” Throwing his hands in the air, I watched every one of his moves carefully. I needed to be ready if he struck. Christopher began to mock the conversation we were having. “Ohhh, tell me, how often do all of you feed? Do you all sleep at night like Amber? Are you sure you don’t mind me being here?” Christopher took a step forward and we bumped chests. It was weird, it seemed like he had forgotten I was standing there. I gave him a low warning hiss to let him know he needed to back up. “Whatever, Amber. You know what, Lance, oh, I mean, Darrin, or whatever your name is? I mind. Yeah, I mind you being here. But then again, no one asked me how I felt about it. What makes you think you can just walk in here and be one of us? What makes you think I won’t rip your thr…” I had enough. It was one thing for him to go off the deep-end with me or any other vampire in the house, but he was not going to threaten Dominick.

  “Enough!”

  Cutting him off, I physically pushed him backwards. He stumbled but recovered before he fell. I saw in his eyes then that it was game on. Giving his head a slight shake, he began to charge me. Instead of bracing myself for the impact, I straighten my shoulders and let my mind wrap around his body. Grabbing him, I lifted Christopher with no hands and slammed him to the hardwood floor. He let out a loud hiss as his body hit the ground, a few floor boards cracked under the pressure. Not giving him a chance to move, I pounced. As our bodies connected and he wrapped his hands around my neck and he flipped me onto my back. Before he got to comfortable with choking me, I once again wrapped my mind around his hands and pulled them back. He fought with all of his might, but I pushed up leaving him on his knees with his back straight and his hands spread apart. Sitting up and leaning forward, I head-butted him breaking his nose. We then rolled again. As we rolled, Christopher elbowed me and instead of twisting backwards, we reeled to the side and out the French doors into the backyard. There was enough force to knock the doors off the frame, huge wood splinters fell all around us.

  Coming to a stop on the grass, I put my leg out and kicked him swiftly in the ribs. I heard a few ribs crack as he was propelled back about forty feet. No words were spoken, but if someone was passing the house, they may have thought there were two rattlesnakes battling with all of the hissing that went on between us. Standing and getting ready to charge at
him, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Isaac. At the same time, Lisa appeared in front of Christopher. It was a very brave move on her part. Most of the time, the family stands back to let Christopher and I duke it out. Christopher too was on his feet and mid charge when Lisa slid in front of him.

  I could tell by her posture she did not want to come off as defensive.

  “Stop it, Christopher,” her voice was barely audible. Glowering at her wide-eyed like the crazed man he was, it was hard to see the resemblances of the Christopher we all love.

  “You need to tell me now. Do you love me? Is this going to work?”

  I could tell by the tone in Lisa’s voice that if she was still human, she would be crying.

  “Until now, I haven’t said anything about your feelings for Amber. Maybe that’s my fault, but no more. If you love me, if you want to be with me, to marry me, then this has got to stop right here and now. Amber has made her choice. It’s time for you to make yours. You should be as happy for her as she has been for us. If you can’t see that, then you need to take this ring back.”

  With that, she pulled the ring off her finger, grabbed Christopher’s hand, and placed the ring in it. She then jogged off into the woods behind the house. Gazing down at the ring and then in the direction Lisa exited, Christopher then stared back up at me. I had no words for him. His face, though it looked sad and hurt, held no bearing on me. Isaac still had a grip on my shoulder which at any time I could have broken away from. Instead, I wrapped my mind back around Christopher’s body, lifted him about sixty feet in the air and then dropped him. He came down with a hard crunch. I had already turned my head so I did not see how he landed. I felt Isaac cringe with the impact of the fall and heard Olivia scold me as I zipped by her into the house where Dominick was left to watch the whole scene play out.

  Dominick had a look of terror on his face. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” I had no idea what else to say. He did not seem as if he had anything to say either, so I walked upstairs to the room to clear my head. As I settled on the bed, I could hear Olivia talking softly to Isaac and Dominick. She was trying to explain that Christopher was just concerned about my wellbeing and he meant no harm. I found all of it a little hard to swallow. But I was in no mood to defend myself either. I did not hear Christopher come back into the house so I assumed that he went to find Lisa. I felt bad for my sister. Over the years, she had turned a blind eye to the feelings Christopher had for me. With the pending wedding, she questioned if she was fooling herself this whole time.

  Dominick did not talk to my parents for long. He excused himself from the conversation twenty-two minutes after the altercation outside. Heading up the stairs, he stopped and knocked at the door. “Come in,” I called. As he opened the door, his eyes met mine and I could see all the questions that he was waiting to ask me. “You don’t need to knock, this is your room too.”

  “I wanted to make sure you weren’t changing or something.”

  With that I watched the blood rush to his cheeks and heard his heartbeat pick up. “I heard you coming. If I was changing, I’m quick enough to have been dressed before you made it to the foot of the stairs.” Patting the side of the bed, he came to sit next to me. “Tell me what’s on your mind. I wager you have a lot of questions.”

  “What’s the deal with you and Christopher? Olivia tried to pass it off as him being worried but there was something more than that.”

  I knew this conversation was coming, nonetheless, I hoped it would not be on the first night. “It’s a long complicated story.”

  “I have time and I like stories. Just please tell me that you two weren’t lovers many years ago, and I most likely will be able to handle whatever else you have to say.”

  My mouth hung open. Downstairs I heard Isaac chuckle and Olivia smack him for it. “I, well, um.” Taking a deep breath, I shifted my sight to the sliding door and gazed at the night sky. “No, we aren’t past lovers. Christopher, Christopher has always had feelings for me. I’m sure if I shared the feelings he has for me, we would have been lovers. But I don’t. Never will. He and I will always be brother and sister. Nothing more.” Bringing my gaze back to Dominick, I stared into his captivating gray eyes. I could see an understanding settling within his eyes. I could see that although I may never see Christopher that way, Dominick was reading between the lines. He was realizing that Christopher and I have a past, yet it would never be something that will stand in the way of what I feel for him.

  “All right,” was all he said before leaning forward to kiss me. I brought my hand up to stop him.

  “There’s one more thing I should say now before I lose my nerve.” He sat up, and gave me a serious look, like he was waiting for me to give him harsh news. “As for being with anyone, well, I haven’t been, with anyone.” The room became quiet. I gathered he needed time to let it all sink it.

  “You mean, wait, I think I’m lost.” Staring at me, I watched what I was trying to say finally dawned on him. “Oh. Never?”

  “No.”

  “Oh. All right.”

  We sat in silence for a while before he leaned over and kissed me softly on my cheek. My face automatically felt like it was on fire.

  I was looking at the bed spread the whole time, when I finally glanced his way, he smiled and said, “You let me know when you’re ready.”

  With that he got up grabbed a pair of shorts and walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. I have to say it went a lot smoother than I expected. I was a little surprised that the whole sex talk went over so well. I had no idea why I thought it would be such a hard thing to talk about. Since I had never brought it up before then, I always thought it would not be an easy subject to approach.

  As Dominick finished up in the shower, I slipped into the new pajamas I bought. I realized that I normally slept in tee-shirts and decided that that may not be the best thing, at least not the first few nights after Dominick moved in. Not that it was a full moon and I would not be sleeping. I wanted him to feel at home and decided to get in the bed every night with him. The same time the water stopped, Christopher and Lisa walk back into the house. I was stunned they were back so soon, but then again, it was Lisa. She did not get mad often and she did not stay mad for long either. After drying off, Dominick stepped out of the bathroom in his shorts. I think my heart stopped beating at the sight of him standing there with towel dried hair and a pair of shorts on. He had missed a few spots while toweling off and I could see the small beads of water still gliding smoothly down his body. His gray eyes glistened when they met mine. It took me a minute to compose myself. It was like I had my own personal semi-wet god standing in my room.

  Clearing his throat, I blinked a few times before I could focus on more than his well sculptured body.

  “Amber, what are you doing?” pointing at what I assumed was my outfit, I smiled and stood. Doing a slow turn, I demonstrated my new nightwear.

  “Yes, I like it. I like it a lot. But first, why does it look like you’re ready for bed? The lunar cycle isn’t for another ten days.”

  “I know, but I didn’t want you to feel awkward going to bed by yourself so I figured I would join you.”

  Sighing, he shook his head. “This is what I didn’t want. Amber, I don’t want you to change because of me. What would you do any other night if I wasn’t here?” Not giving me a chance to respond he went on. “Do those things. On the night of the full moon, we can be together. I expect it. I’m looking forward to you being in my arms, but any other night, go and do vampire stuff.”

  That brought a smile to my face. “What do you know about vampire stuff? For all you know this could be vampire stuff.” Spreading my arms out, I displayed my nightwear again.

  “And that brings me to number two. Damnit, Amber. Are you trying to drive me crazy? First, you bring up the fact that you’ve never slept with anyone. Which I may add, I just took the coldest shower in my life, only to come back out and you’re wearing this!
”

  Flapping his hand in my direction, I took a step back and looked down at my attire. I had on a dark purple silk night gown with spaghetti straps and a deep-plunge v-neck. It stopped above my knees and had a slit that went to my thigh. I was not sure what was wrong with it. It covered more than any of my tee-shirts would have.

  Before I could respond there was a light rap on the door. I was closest, so I went to open it. With my back to him, Dominick drop to the bed. I knew it was Christopher and Lisa. I figured I did not need to read Christopher’s mind since he brought what would be my back-up—Lisa—if things went wrong. If he was alone, I would have been worried he was ready for round two. Swinging the door open, Christopher quickly adverted his eyes from me.

  Staring over my head at Dominick, Christopher cleared his throat before saying, “May we come in?”

  I stepped back and they walked in holding hands.

  My brother still was not making eye contact with me. “Amber, could you put something on?”

  I marched into my closet and found the only thing that would cover me the best—a sweat suit. On my way out of the closet, Lisa shook her head and giggled. I knew what she was thinking but I rolled my eyes and went to sit on the bed next to Dominick. Finally able to make eye contact with Dominick and me, Christopher began to address us.

  “Look, Dom-in-ick, I want to tell you I’m sorry. This whole thing started off on the wrong foot. If you are who my lovely sister has chosen to be with, then I respect that. I hope that my actions earlier won’t impede us from getting to know each other and hopefully becoming good friends.” Not stopping to give Dominick a chance to respond, Christopher bowed his head slightly and said to me, “Amber, I’m sorry to you, too. Lisa is right.” He turned and gave her an affectionate glance. “You and I have both made our choices, and we are both lucky in those choices.”

  Releasing Lisa’s hand, he reached out for me. I looked into his eyes before stepping forward, and saw that he meant me no harm. My brother’s arms encased me in a tight hug.

  “I love you and I’m as happy for you as you are for me.”

  Christopher let me go and kissed me lightly on the forehead before he reached out for Dominick’s hand. Standing, Dominick took his hand and they shook in what I presume was an unspoken agreement. When they were done, Lisa pulled Dominick and me into a huge hug, and then they left. They did not give either of us a chance to speak, but it was better that way.

  Once they left and Dominick finished getting ready for bed, he decided it was okay for me to stay in the room with him even if I was not going to sleep. His only rule was I had to keep the sweat suit on. I enjoyed that evening. It was like before he moved in and we would talk on the phone until he fell asleep. As he laid there trying to sleep, we talked a little more. One of his questions pertained to: how well does Isaac read minds? How good was everyone’s hearing? I wanted to read his thoughts to have a better understanding of what he meant, but I promised myself I would not. After a few rounds of questions, I finally got out of him why he was worried about Isaac reading his mind. Well, he was more worried about some of the thoughts that had run through his mind. He was concerned Isaac would maybe think less of him. I assured him that Isaac kept the best secrets in the world. Since Isaac hears others’ thoughts at all times as well as he heard us talking at that moment—which was in a very quiet tone—nothing was new to him. I have come to learn most things do not surprise Isaac. He told me once that nothing people do is on instinct or a whim, maybe not in that moment of action, but at least sometime in their lives the thought has crossed their minds. But acting on the thought is just a matter of that person. I realized then that I should try to give Dominick some of the privacy I have. I was not certain if it would work long term or long distance, but I placed the same sort of mental mind block I use for Dominick. It was weird when the block first went up. I felt like a part of my mind was sectioned off—if looking at that section of my brain, I wager it will read ‘Dominick Only’. It feels like a constant reminder that he is in my life.

  The next day we went school shopping, well, that was the excuse I gave him. I was unsure if he had become like most guys when it came to shopping. I still remember clearly the first time I took him to the mall. Thankfully, he had no problem with going to the stores. What he did not like was me buying clothes and other school items for him. He complained that he had everything he needed for school. I have to say his choice of clothing and the way he dresses now has improved a lot, but it still needs a girl’s touch. I was able to talk him into letting me buy him a few new pairs of jeans. Most of his jeans had grass stains from working in his customers’ yards. He claimed he preferred his jeans that way. Still, he allowed me to buy him a few pairs. I also attempted to sneak a few shirts in there too. I did not get in trouble for that until we got back to the house, and he went to put his clothes away.

  I had already put my stuff away and was sitting downstairs listening to Olivia play the harp when, Dominick came into the living room with the shirts in hand.

  “Amber, where did these come from?”

  I knew what he was talking about before I even turned my head. I plastered a huge smile on my face, stood and walked slowly over to him. “I hope you like them.” I batted my eye lashes, in hopes of making the whole thing go over a little smoother. “I swear they were on sale and just happen to be your size. There were only a few left so I knew I had to buy them.”

  “You’re lying. These were all regular price and I don’t need them. Take them back.”

  Shoving the shirts towards me, I smiled harder. I could not believe he called me a liar. “No.” My tone was still sweet but the moment it slipped from my lips, Olivia stopped playing her harp.

  Taking a deep breath, Dominick smiled back and tossed the shirts onto his shoulder. “Fine. I’ll take them back, myself.”

  He turned and started to walk towards the door. I stood there wondering if he was insane. First, he had no car, I doubted he was going to walk. Second, I mean really, was it that serious that he felt he needed to take the shirts back? It is not like I spent that much on the shirts. “Um, how do you plan on getting there?”

  He was still walking towards the door, without turning around he called over his shoulder. “I’ll walk. It’ll give me a chance to check out the neighborhood while I’m out there. Maybe I can pick up a few clients.”

  “Walk? Do you know how far that is? Stop being silly, it’s only a few shirts.” He stopped walking then.

  “A few shirts? Amber, there’s sixteen shirts and none of them are under one hundred and ninety-five dollars. I asked you not to buy them. I’m taking them back.”

  When he turned to walk out the door, I stood there for a second in disbelief before I started to go after him. He wasn’t going to take back the shirts.

  As I started to move Christopher came out of nowhere and blocked my path.

  “Move, before I move you,” I hissed

  “Nope, I think I’m going to like this kid. It’s about time someone around here told you what to do. Now, I can either stand here blocking you from going after him. You know it’s a pretty long walk for a human or I can go get my car keys and give him a ride. It’s your choice.”

  I could feel my anger rising and the twisted smile on Christopher’s face was only helping escalate it. Lifting his eyebrow, I sensed he was not going to give up without a fight. I had no idea where all of it came from. He knew if I really wanted to, I could crush him like a bug, and then go drag Dominick back in the house. But he still stood there, taunting me and enjoying it. Christopher was getting a lot of pleasure out of making me mad, and I could not give him the satisfaction. Storming back to my seat, I flopped down on the chair, crossed my arms and looked at Olivia to finish playing where. “Fine!” snarled, from my lips and true to his word, Christopher went and grabbed his car keys and got to Dominick before he made it out the driveway. I kind of wished I could have seen his face when Christopher backed the car u
p and told him to get in.

  Hours went by before they returned home. I did not need to call to see what they were doing. With the new block I had in place, I had confidence that I would know in an instant if anything happened to Dominick. Getting up to greet them at the door, I was stunned to hear laughter. They were laughing, and at what? I had no idea but it sounded like they were actually getting along. Walking up the steps, Christopher of course knew I was standing there. I had not bothered with turning on the porch light.

  “Hey, sis.”

  As he slid passed me, he placed a kiss on my cheek. Dominick on the other hand was almost blind in the dark and had just about walked by me before he saw me standing there.

  “There you are.”

  Reaching out to grab my hand, I felt sparks the moment our hands touched. I was still mad at him but I could not resist him touching me.

  “For a second, I thought Christopher was losing it. I didn’t see you standing there so still.”

  I did not say anything.

  “Awe, Amber, you’re not still mad, are you? That’s why we stayed out so long, Christopher thought it was best for us to let you cool down.”

  He smiled in my direction. With how dark it was and the close proximity of our bodies, he was still having trouble seeing me. I could see him as clear as day and his eyes seemed to twinkle in the moonlight.

  Christopher popped his head back out the door then, “Man, thanks for throwing me under the bus. Oh, well, she spends most days mad at me anyways.”

  Dominick and Christopher both laughed. I wondered if it was some sort of inside joke. But honestly, I could have cared less how many inside jokes they had about me. They were getting along and that was all that mattered. Stepping closer and feeling his way up my arm, the heat from Dominick’s body increased. His heartbeat was still a normal rate but as his body came closer, the pumping became more defined. I was not positive how long the guys were going to be out, so I did not go get anything to eat. Having his body so close to mine, made my mouth ache. Still, there was a new feeling of something I had not felt before. It was a yearning to be closer to Dominick.

  Pushing me lightly back against the house, he brought his lips to mine. Once again my world stopped moving. This kiss was a little different than the others; it was stronger in some ways. There was more feeling in it. Pulling back from the kiss and resting his forehead on mine. His breath caressed my lips, adding fuel to the fire that was set by the kiss. His sweet breath only made me want to get closer to him.

  “Can we go upstairs to talk?”

  He knew it did not matter where we went, everyone in the house could hear us. Thankfully, at the time only Christopher and Olivia were home, yet he wanted some sort of privacy. My hands, which were supporting me against the house—I have no idea when I put them there—moved out and grabbed his hand and led him into the house and up the stairs.

  Shutting the door behind us, I let go of his hand and went to sit cross-legged on the bed. Dominick leaned against the door and ran his fingers through his hair. I watched every one of those wavy strands in the front of his head move out of place then neatly fall back into place. His hair had grown out a little from the short hair cut he usually had, but I liked it.

  “Amber, I’m sorry if it upset you over the shirts, but it upset me too. I don’t need you buying stuff for me. It’s in your nature, but I just got here. Give me a chance to get settled. Give me a chance to get my bearings. Let me do something nice for you at least once before you overpower me with gifts. Please?”

  With the way he put it, I felt bad. Nodding in response, he gave me a half smile and walked over to the foot of the bed. Tracing his finger down the side of my face, he bent and kissed me. This time it was softly on my lips. As we kissed, I could feel his weight shifting and he was gently pushing me backwards on the bed. He moved forward at the same time. As my back hit the bed, Dominick began to kiss my jaw before sliding to my neck. His massive frame hovered over me and I was surprised by how agile he was for the position he was in. I had a low cut shirt on that exposed my collar bone. Going from the right side of the bone and working his way up the other, I was unable to breathe. Unable to think. I wanted so many things at once. I finally understood how Christopher had trouble keeping his teeth to himself when he was on dates with human girls. I wanted to lift my head and sink my teeth into the thick vein in Dominick’s neck. I also wondered how I could have gone for so long without feeling the sensations surging through my body. Everywhere Dominick touched with his mouth seemed to come to life. It felt like I was actually alive again. Things were being awakened in me that I never knew were there.

  My body wanted Dominick, but it wanted him in more than one way and I knew if he did not stop soon, I was going to break at least one of my rules. “Dominick?”

  “Yes, my love?”

  He only stopped kissing me long enough to answer. He was moving up the other side of my neck. I was unable to speak, my body was in sensory overload. Moving to my earlobe, I heard a soft moan, it took me a second to realize that it came from me.

  “Did you have something to ask me?” His voice whispered tenderly in my ear. His breath soothed the parts of my ear that were on fire from his kisses. I could not understand how the same part of his body that was setting me on fire was able to rein in those same flames.

  “Amber?”

  I felt his hand start to move under my shirt around my midsection. His hand left a tingling sensation as he worked it further up my shirt. My breath, for some reason, was coming faster. My mouth was aching more and I knew if I could not talk, if my lips could not do more than moan, he and I were going to be in trouble. I thought I heard footsteps outside our room but I did not care as I started to raise my head. I needed Dominick, I needed his blood and I needed to feel him.

  There was a sharp knock at the door and suddenly the loud pulsing in my ears seemed to fade. I had not realized it but my eyes were closed. Opening them, I saw that Dominick had gotten up to see who knocked.

  Not letting the door open more than a few inches, Dominick stuck his head out and said, “Hey?”

  It was Olivia and Isaac. I never heard Isaac come home, but I could tell he was in the hall the moment the door opened and fresh air flowed through the room. Isaac’s voice was calm, calm to the undetected ear, but I could hear a hint of worry in his voice.

  “We were about to go for a short walk, and we were wondering if you two would like to join us?”

  Taking a deep breath, I was thankful in so many ways for interruption. I did not need to ask, just by my parents being at the door, they knew as well as I did, things were about to get out of hand. “Thanks,” I said silently to them and climbed off the bed. I was able to get a clear shot of Isaac and Olivia in the hallway. They both nodded their heads in response. I stepped behind Dominick and placed my hand on the middle of his back.

  He turned and looked down at me and asked, “Do you want to go for a walk?”

  I was happy to see he did not realize how close he had just come to being my dinner. It also worried me that he was oblivious to how dangerous the situation was about to become. He and I were going to really need to talk. I smiled and said, “No, thanks, but thank you for the offer. Dominick and I need to talk.” They knew the meaning of my words. There was nothing else they needed to say, but for good measure Isaac chimed in,

  “All right, then. We’ll be back in a little. Lisa and Christopher are in the house if you need anything.”

  They turned and headed for the stairs. As they receded down the hallway, I closed the door and Dominick and I sat down to have a real talk.

  Besides those first few nights things went pretty smoothly. I was able to show Dominick around town during the day and at night, we all sat down as a family, even Christopher. I was extremely proud of how quickly my brother was able to turn his attitude around towards Dominick. Christopher went to the extent of learning to play a few of Dominick’s video games. This was helpful
because it gave me free time to help Lisa with wedding plans. Time is flying by and there is still so much to do. I never would have thought a vampire wedding would have so many things on the to-do-list, but somehow every time we cross out one item, three more pop up. Yes, as a vampire, you would think all of this would be easy but there were such questions like: Is it right for a vampire to get married in a church? Should a minister perform the ceremony or an Officiant? Will there be many humans attending, and if so, can we somehow serve blood without them knowing? Lisa, so far, has been too worried about making others happy with her wedding and less worried about making herself happy. I have a plan to help make her day really special and I really hope I can pull it off.

  When the full moon finally came, I greeted it with open arms, well, more like Dominick’s open arms. I think I was more excited to go to bed that night than he was. We talked about it a few times before the first night of the cycle and he was prepared, as prepared as he could be to think he would be sleeping next to what would appear to be a corpse. I tried my best to explain to him what I knew of what to expect when your vampire girlfriend is sleeping, but the most I could go off of was when I have watched my family sleep. To all accounts, they look dead while in their resting state. I told him I can only go off of that for me as well. Granted, my sleeping habits are a little different since I sleep at night. I would still assume the technique would be the same. I have to give him some credit, he handled it all with a straight face and none of it seemed to truly gross him out.

  As the pull of the moon began to wear on my body, I changed into my purple nightgown—the one Dominick would not allow me to wear the first night. I had others, but since I did not really get a chance to wear that one yet, I figured I should take advantage of it during the lunar cycle. After showering and joining me in the bedroom, Dominick noticed I put the gown on. I think he started to object but then changed his mind. Without saying a word he walked over to the bed and rolled the covers back on both sides. He then turned to me and reached for my hand. I felt the little sparks that pass through our bodies every time we touch. Pulling me next to him, we sat down on the bed and he looked into my eyes. Shaking his head, he brought his hand up to put a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

  “I love when you wear your hair down.”

  He then kissed the side of my neck where he just removed the hair before whispering in my ear, “I really do think you’re trying to drive me insane, but it’s fine, I’m a patient man. Are you ready to go to sleep?”

  Dominick did not give me a chance to respond, his lips pulled my earlobe into his mouth, and his teeth lightly grazed the sensitive skin. I sucked in a sharp breath of air before he withdrew his mouth. Making eye contact with me, it seemed as if his eyes were telling me ‘two can play this game’. Without another word, he got under the covers on his own side and opened his arms for me to join him. After turning out the light, I slid my body in place next to his. I could feel the warmth from his body radiating off of him. I snuggled my back close to his chest and curled my smaller legs around his and closed my eyes. With his arms wrapped around me, I felt him nuzzle his nose in my hair. His heartbeat was so peaceful. It was like my own personal lullaby. It did not take me long to fall into a deep dreamless sleep.

  The rest of the lunar cycle went the same. The only difference was every night before bed my pyromaniac would set a different part of my body on fire by kissing it. In the mornings we were greeted by Olivia. Well, I was greeted by her. Since I do not require as much sleep as Dominick, I awoke earlier than him every morning. I did not mind laying there in his arms while he slept. And Olivia did not mind talking quietly to me either during those times. While Dominick and I started our mornings, my family would be getting ready for their daytime sleep. Dominick thought it was strange that the humans we went to school and/or worked with, did not notice the pattern, but I reminded him that depending on what day the cycle fell on, would depend on how much of their weekdays were disrupted. If the cycle fell just right, then some of the sleep time would happen during the weekends. Also, I explained this was the main reason I was the only one who was able to maintain a daytime job. The only time my family is able to work during the day and not have people notice their absence is when we run our own businesses. In these cases, I would man the facilities by myself while they slept. Regardless of how weird it all was for Dominick, he enjoyed the time he and I shared while everyone was asleep.

  15

  Different Techniques in Drawing Blood

  The summer is quickly coming to an end. Over the past few weeks we have started to prepare ourselves for the coming school year. Other than Dominick insisting that he did not need any supplies or clothes for the new year—though I was still able to sneak a few items in here and there—he is all set for school. Although, Dominick has had most of the summer to get his bearings, he is still trying to get settled with the new surroundings. I thought it would be a good idea if his friends came to visit him before they all went back for the final year of high school. I told Dominick, that once everyone went off to college, it would be a lot harder to maintain contact with his friends, so inviting them to stay for a week or two before school started would be a lot of fun. He of course was hesitant about the whole thing. He did not want to tell me in the beginning why he was apprehensive about his friends coming—he was afraid that it would hurt my family’s and my feelings. The moment he shared what the problem was, I assured him that he would not hurt our feelings. He had as much right as anyone to worry about the safety of his friends. That seemed to take some stress out of the decision but he still thought it was a bad idea. It took some negotiating but he finally gave in and we called the boys and their parents.

  Ryan’s mother had no problem with us flying him in for a visit. Dominick explained later that she was an alcoholic and would look forward to having Ryan out the house for a while thus she could drink without him throwing a fit. Talking Tim’s and Tom’s mother into letting them come on a free vacation did not go as smoothly. She, as any parent, was concerned for their safety. The boys had never flown on an airplane. I thought that was classic. I wanted to tell her that was nothing compared to the house they were going to be staying in, save I figured that probably was not the best way to finish my sales pitch on why the boys should come for a visit. She also did not seem too comfortable with the idea of the boys staying at their best friend’s girlfriend’s house. She was not overly thrilled when she found out Dominick was moving out of town to live with his girlfriend. Although she never said it on the phone, I sensed she was questioning what parents would allow teenagers that were dating each other to live under their roof.

  It took some convincing. While I talked to her, Dominick gave me helpful tips, trying to assist in persuading her into letting the boys come. He wanted me to make it clear that the trip was on us and she would not need to do anything but put the twins on the plane. He tried to explain that money was tight for her. Her husband of twenty-six years left her and the boys a year and a half ago. He wiped out the bank accounts on his way to Minnesota with some twenty-three year old that used to be his secretary. I knew Dominick’s helpful hints were necessary, but I wished he would have told me all of this before getting on the phone. I was trying hard to keep up my end of the debate up, but I found it hard to keep my game face with Dominick telling me such awful stories about his friends’ lives.

  After explaining that I thought Dominick was still struggling to adjust to his new home and it would be good for him to have some familiar faces around, she finally caved. Disconnecting my cell phone, I was winded—if that is even possible. She and I battled for one hour fifty-nine minutes and forty-six seconds. I think it would have gone on longer but the twins were in the background bickering over whose turn it was to take the car out. I wager somewhere in the back of her mind, she was thinking of how nice it would be to have a break from them. They seem to be a hand full from the stories Dominick has told me. I am up for the challen
ge. Between Lisa, Christopher and myself, we will be able to keep all four boys on their toes.

  “Amber, how far is the airport from here?”

  I turn and look at Dominick. I am sitting on the upper balcony off of our room. He has been doing some last minute cleaning. Of what? I have no clue, but I think it is more to keep him busy until his friends arrive. “We’ll need to leave in the next ten minutes, that should get us there just as they are getting off the plane.”

  “All right.” Walking over to me, he bends and wraps his arms around me and kisses me behind my ear. Leaning back against the chair, I am a little upset that I feel more of the chair then Dominick’s body. He brings his nose up slowly, moving it along the ridge of my ear and I fight the shiver that tries to run through my body. I wonder if my ear is capable of turning red, from the sparks that are jumping between our skin. “Have I told you today how much I love you?” His voice is thick and low. The sweet smell of his breath makes my mouth ache. Last night, I insisted after Dominick went to sleep that the whole family went out to feed. I do not want anyone to be tempted by our guests. My plans did not account for Dominick. Moving his lips along my jaw line, I turn my head just slightly to meet his lips. My breath catches and…

  “I think we should head out now.”

  As my eyes open, I am met by his calming gray eyes. He is so close that I cannot tell if he is really smiling or not, but from the way his cheek bones look, he must be. Sighing, I start to pull away. He is getting better at teasing me, he claims he is not but I beg to differ. I stand and he reaches out for my hand so we head out for the car. I want Dominick to be as familiar with the town and the ones surrounding it if possible, therefore the last few weeks I have let him drive. He was not too happy in the beginning about it, but he understood my reasoning. We compromised. I told him I would not buy him a car if he promised to drive whenever we went out. He cringed at the thought of me buying him a car, so he agreed a little quicker to me trying to give him his independence. The faster he learns where everything is, the less I will need to go places with him. I tried to explain that I did not want him to feel burned out. Living together could get a little crazy. And not only are we living together, but we are also going to school together. Without his friends being here, the only people he will be hanging around until he makes new friends will be my family and me. I encouraged him to look into starting a lawn care business here. It would be a great way for him to meet new people. He said he would, but he wanted to first spend the summer with me and look into it during the fall.

  Letting the GPS system guide us, we have made it to the airport in Columbus right on time. If I was driving, we probably could have stayed at home kissing for another thirteen minutes. Seeing his three friends standing at the curb, he puts his turn signal on and moves into the pickup lane. We had to borrow Isaac’s car to collect the boys. I was so in love with the last car I bought, I never thought about trying to fit four good size boys in my car all at once. I do hope they will all fit in the backseat. It will be a little cramped but it is a twenty-seven minute drive back to the house; they will make it. Parking the car, Dominick jumps out and gives his three friends huge hugs before helping them put their luggage in the trunk. Ryan, who is about two to three inches shorter than Dominick, has mud brown hair and pale blue eyes. He, too, has a physique of a young athlete. It seems that he has packed lightest, just an overnight bag and a book bag. The twins, to the untrained eye, appear identical; however, if you look close enough, Tom’s left nostril is faintly smaller than his right and Tim is possibly two to three pounds heavier than his brother. Both boys are remarkably tall to be twins. Standing at six feet, their dirty-blond hair and blue eyes have got to stop most ladies in their tracks. As the boys file into the vehicle, I turn and greet them. This is not the first time we have met. From the looks on their faces, you would think it was. First, Thomas climbs in, then Ryan, and finally Timothy gets in. “Hey guys, how are you? How was your flight?” Ryan is the first to speak, although I have no clue what he is trying to say, since it comes out as more of a squawk than anything else.

  He elbows Tim who is laughing quietly and he clears his throat. “Hey, Amber, um the flight was nice thank you. Thanks, um…”

  I chuckle and turn back in my seat as Dominick gets back in the car.

  Thankfully with Dominick in the car, the guys become more animated. They were having trouble answering my questions. I really hope this will not go on their whole stay. I have an upbeat week and a half planned for them. Coming to a stop in front of the house, one of the twins—I am not sure which one—gives a low whistle. I am assuming it is because of the structure that sits before us. To those that have never seen an older model Colonial style farmhouse, the first glimpse can appear to be magnificent. The all white with burgundy trim structure that sits before us is a two story, six bedroom, four and a half bath. I believe it has the living space of five thousand two hundred and seventy-six square feet. Parking the car, we all climb out and the boys get the luggage out of the trunk. I am the first to head into the house, Dominick is giving his friends a chance to look around outside before coming in.

  I stifle a laugh as I enter the living room. Dominick is not the only one nervous about having visitors. Isaac and Olivia are sitting in the living room and it seems as if they are trying to portray the loving parents. Isaac is reading the paper, which he does on a daily basis, but it is the way he is seated. He looks like the father on Leave it to Beaver, well, except for his long hair that is pulled back into a loose ponytail. Olivia is…she is crocheting. To be honest I did not know she knew how to crochet. Her eyes are glued to her work. “Um, okay guys, don’t you think you are taking this a little too far? Try to act normal, well as normal as this family can be. I’m sure everything will be fine.” Putting down his paper, Isaac looks at me and a sigh of relief settles on his face. He seems to slouch a little in is seat.

  “It was all Olivia’s idea.”

  Glancing at my loving mother with caring eyes, he ducks just in time to miss the crochet needle that she throws at him. He and I both laugh and I move quickly to remove the needle from the wall. I am able to pull it out and slip it in my back pocket just as the boys walk in.

  My parents get up to greet the new guests. As they move towards the foyer, Christopher and Lisa emerge from the entertainment room. Prior to the affectionate couple getting to close to the others, I try to smooth down Lisa’s hair before the rest of the family and guests see her—couch hair? I guess that is what I should call it since there are no beds downstairs. Before introductions to the rest of the family start, the boys all greet Olivia with a warm “Hi, Mrs. Harris.” She of course in turns pulls them all into gentle hugs. She spent plenty of time with the guys while she stayed with Dominick before the end of last school year. Stepping back, I look to Dominick to make the introductions, he smiles at me and turns to his friends.

  “Guys, this is Amber’s father, Mr. Harris, her brother, Christopher and her sister, I mean soon to be sister-in-law, Lisa.”

  As Dominick misspeaks about Lisa, his face turns bright red. I am glad I am not standing too close to him, I would be even more drawn towards the heat and blood radiating from his face.

  Moving on, he takes a deep swallow and says, “Everyone, this is Tim, Tom, and Ryan.”

  The gang each reach out to shake hands with everyone besides Olivia and myself, I think this is off to a good start.

  “How about we show them to their rooms? We can let them get settled and then maybe grab something to eat.” Dominick gives me a strange look at the mention of eating, before he heads towards the stairs.

  “Hey, guys, you can drop your stuff up here.”

  The three boys begin to follow. I, join the line heading up the stairs. Coming to a stop at the top of the steps, Dominick has a puzzled look on his face. Without asking what the holdup is, I walk past his friends, grabbing Dominick’s hand as I slip past him to lead the boys to their rooms. We make a left at the end
of the hall and I stop at the first guest bedroom. “One of you can take this room.” Opening the door, I wave my hand towards the entrance. As Ryan steps into the first room, we make our way down to the next door and I stop and gesture towards the door as I open it. The twins both step forward. Perhaps they think they need to share a room. “Um, there is one more room down the hall if you would like your own rooms, but if you feel more comfortable sharing that’s fine too.” Both boys blush, I turn my head so I do not become sidetracked with the wonderful smelling blood that is moving ever so quickly in their cheeks. Dominick gives my hand a quick squeeze.

  Letting go of my hand, Dominick takes over. “Tim, if you want this room. We can show Tom where his is.”

  “Awesome! That works for me. I’ve never had my own room before.”

  Stepping out of Tim’s way, Tom looks to us to usher him to his room. Walking past our room, I halt at the door between mine and Dominick’s and Olivia’s and Isaac’s. A look of surprise dons Dominick’s face. I figured this was coming. He sees now that there were other rooms for him to stay in, but I wanted to share mine with him. Tom sensing the private moment between us, reaches over and opens the bedroom door and steps in.

  “Nice.”

  Breaking eye contact with me, Dominick turns to see what has met his friend’s approval. As he does, I walk back down the hall and enter our room. Dominick is giving his friend a rundown of where things are, and I wager he will do that with each of them while they get settled.

  Walking over to the sliding door that leads to the upper balcony, I stare through the glass. My family is downstairs. Isaac and Christopher are talking about digging an in-ground pool before the winter. Not that the cold or winter would stop the digging process, but they are debating on doing it before or after the wedding, since Lisa wants everything held in the backyard. Lisa and Olivia are talking about Project Runway, their favorite TV show that they watch together. I usually watch it with them, but I have been preoccupied with Dominick and missed the first few episodes. All the episodes have been DVR’d for me. Maybe one night while Dominick is asleep, I will catch up on them.

  There is a familiar set of footsteps heading towards the door. I need not turn around to know who it is. As he twist the handle and enters the room, I catch his reflection in the glass. Smiling, he crosses the space between us in five steps. His arms wrap around my waist, and he sighs as he rests his chin on top of my head.

  “It was silly of me to think this place only had three bedrooms.”

  He chuckles and I lean back further to feel the vibrations in his chest.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you. There are only six bedrooms, well seven if you take the office away from Christopher and Lisa. Once your friends leave you can have one of the rooms if you like.”

  His grip tightens. “Why would you think I would want to move out of here? I enjoy sharing the room with you.”

  Dominick’s grasp loosens and he tugs my body to turn me so we are facing each other. Bringing his forehead down to rest on mine, I am assaulted by his sweet breath. It was close before and I was able to ignore the sound. Now, not only can I hear his pulse beating, but I also see it thumping in his neck. Lifting my hand up, I let my left index and middle finger rest on the vein. His pulse quickens. My eyes focus on his neck, on the nagging beat that is thudding in my ears and under the light pressure of my fingers. I cannot see his eyes, but I hear his eyelids slowly close. As they do, the sound whispers in my ears as his top eyelashes connect with the bottom lashes.

  “Amber, I wouldn’t have wanted the sleeping arrangements any other way,” this comes out as a soft murmur.

  As I tilt my head up to bring my lips to the pulsing vein for the softest of kisses, to feel the warmth of his body and the pulsing of his blood, there is a rap at the partially shut door. The door opens slightly from the force of the knock. Pulling me out of my trance, Dominick and I turn to find his friends standing in the doorway with their mouths hanging open.

  I sense a slight annoyance from Dominick as he pulls away from me and says, “Do you guys want to grab something to eat or finish looking around?”

  Tom speaks up first. “Nice room, is this yours?”

  “Yes, it’s our room. Now stop changing the subject. What do you want to do first?”

  Laughing, Ryan gets the hint that it is time to go and responds, “I’m good for eating.”

  The other two boys nod, but they are still trying to understand the dynamics of Dominick’s new living situation. As the boy’s step out of the doorway, I begin to move, only to stop when Dominick’s warm hand grabs on my arm. I spin and glance at him and find a silly grin on his face, the one that reminds me so much of Lance. “What?” I ask, with a raised eyebrow.

  “Why do you have a crochet needle in your back pocket?”

  I have completely forgotten about the stupid thing. Removing it, I toss it onto my dresser. With a light chuckle, I grab his hand and start to gently pull him to the door. “It’s a long story.”

  Dominick laughs out loud and counters with, “You’ll have to tell me about it one day. When I first felt it, I wasn’t sure if I should be worried about you using it in some way to draw my blood.”

  His friends are out of earshot. Smiling, I resist the urge to tell him that I have a few ways of doing that and none of them consist of using a crochet needle. But then again, that could make things interesting. Instead I tug lightly on his hand. “Come on, let’s go make your friends smell even better.”

  Dinner seemed pretty simple. A few weeks back Isaac brought home a barbecue grill. He claimed he saw Dominick eyeing it on one of their outings, and he thought it would be a good idea to buy one. While the boys chose what steaks they wanted to fire up, Isaac quickly put the grill together. Thankfully, our guests were unaware of the fact that until about two minutes before walking into the backyard, the grill was sitting in a box in the shed out back. I did not want to be in the middle of male bonding time so while the guy’s cooked the steaks, I attempted to cook sweet-potato french-fries. Fortunately, Lisa was home and stepped in to help. Her cooking skills, unlike the rest of the family’s, are a little fresher in her mind. I have noticed on a few different occasions Lisa stepping in to aid Dominick with making his meal. Although, I doubt it was going to be that big of a disaster, she still felt the need to assist. As Dominick and his friends were coming in with their unpleasant smelling overdone—in my mind, it may have been appealing if it was left raw—steaks, the fries were finishing. I had just placed the salad on the dining room table.

  I was surprised none of the boys questioned why the rest of the family was not joining in the feast. Yet there was not much talking going on. I guess they were enjoying their food. I question how often Dominick will end up feeling awkward in trying to explain the why and why-not’s of my family to other’s. Unlike us, most of our human interaction is kept at a minimum so there is less explaining to do for our un-human proceedings.

  Now that dinner is over, Olivia has kindly offered to load the dishwasher. After realizing that it was a moot point in helping with the dishes, Dominick decides to show his guests the rest of the house while Christopher picks out a few movies for us to watch this evening. I do not understand how it is possible, but the boys are complaining about being jetlagged, thus we have changed the outdoor activities we had planned for the night to indoor ones to give them a chance to rest. Lisa is once again coming to the rescue, I, not really caring about the different kinds, picked up microwave popcorn on one of my shopping trips. Yes, popcorn has been around for centuries. I remember when mother used to cook it for us in a kettle over the fire. As I rip open the bag of microwaveable popcorn and dump it in a pot, I have on the stove Lisa of course is at my side in an instant.

  “Um, Amber, what are you doing?”

  “I’m cooking popcorn.” I give her a look that I know she has received more times in her life than she could count for being a blonde and begin to dump another bag o
f popcorn into the pot. “You know you’re supposed to cook that in the microwave, right?”

  Turning to look at her, I arch an eyebrow and say, “Liss, I know what I’m doing. I was cooking popcorn before your great-great-great grandmother could even hold her head up.” She opens her mouth to say something then closes it. Turning to retrieve another box of popcorn from the pantry, she opens the microwave door tosses it in, hits a few buttons and starts to walk away.

  “Have it your way, Amber, but feel free to give the boys that popcorn once it’s done. Yours is going to burn without extra oil in the pot.”

  Looking back to my pot on the stove, she is right, the kernels on the bottom have already started to burn. All I wanted was to be able to do something helpful for Dominick and his friends. Looking to my mother, who, as always has remained silent, our eyes meet and she smiles a kind smile. A smile that if I read her mind she would be thinking ‘you know she’s right.’ Knowing that I am defeated, I dump my half burnt/uncooked popcorn into the garbage and hand Olivia the pot and lean against the counter to watch Olivia load the dishwasher ever so humanly slow. “Is it me or has she been really moody lately?”

  Before my mother answers, Lisa speaks out, “I can hear you.”

  There is a playfulness in her voice, but it’s only because she knows I am right. Shaking her head, Olivia looks back up from her task.

  “I think it’s just wedding jitters.”

  “Heard that, too!”

  Olivia and I smile at each other, but neither of us makes an outward noise. Olivia is right. It must be wedding jitters. Lisa is usually on the kind natured side of things.

  Cooking the popcorn Lisa’s way seemed to take longer than me pouring a few of those bags into a pot and cooking it. I figured with the guys’ appetites it would be best to give them each their own bag of popcorn. Now that I am finished, I head downstairs with the four bags of snacks and four one liter bottles of soda. I remember how thirsty popcorn used to make me therefore I want to make sure the boys have enough to drink with their munchies. I, of course get strange looks as I pass out the refreshments. I catch Lisa and Dominick shaking their heads but no one has anything to say out loud. Smiling, I sit next to Dominick. The chairs in the entertainment room are set up in two rows. The first row that Christopher and Lisa are sitting in has four chairs, and the second row which Tim, Tom, Ryan, Dominick and myself are sitting in has six.

  I hear my parents heading out for their nightly walk. I was wondering if they were going to join us for the evening but I guess they have decided to make other plans.

  “Thanks for the popcorn, Amber.”

  I lean past Dominick’s massive frame and smile. All of Dominick’s guests seem very nice but I do believe Ryan is the most appreciative of the bunch. Grinning back at me, he turns his head back to the front. Christopher has just hit play on the projector.

  “Hey, Christopher, what movie are we watching first.”

  Looking over the back of the chair, Christopher gives Ryan a warm smile and says, “Batman: The Dark Knight. Have you seen it yet?”

  “Nope.”

  “Sweet.”

  Turning back to the front, he pulls Lisa into the chair with him. She giggles and kisses him tenderly. She and I are both impressed with Christopher’s manners. As always, we were all a little concerned with how he was going to react to having so many warm bodies in the house, well, then again, just having others come to visit was the real worry. The warm bodies only put us on a little higher alert, but he so far has behaved himself. Christopher has taken a liking to Ryan. I caught him in the act earlier of looking into Ryan’s eyes for a brief moment. He saw some of the terrors the poor boy has to live with and Christopher has decided to take it easy on him. I cannot say the same for the Ruggford twins, the term ‘sitting ducks’ comes to mind. Reaching over I pull Dominick’s free hand into mine. Rubbing his thick vein in his wrist, I attempt to concentrate on the movie.