by Maya DeLeina
“Okay. You’re scaring me a bit, though, I have to admit,” Anya replied with slight apprehension of what he was about to reveal.
I knew he was too good to be true.
“I’m sorry.” Steffan paused to select his words prudently. “What I want you to know is I’ve have been with many, many, many women. I don’t want you to get this romantic notion about me. The truth is that a woman’s attention got the best of me. In the end, I’m still a man who had desires. The women were only interested in one thing from me, and I only had one thing in mind with them. But with you, Anya, it’s more than physical. I want to give you everything I have in me. You have my heart. You have my love.”
Anya gasped as his last words echoed in her head. “Love? H–how do you know this is love? We just met. You know nothing about me!” Anya blurted out.
“Everyone has their own way of defining what they’re feeling. For me, it’s not a measure of time that makes me determine when it’s love. I know myself. I know when I want to give unconditionally, when I care about someone else’s happiness more than my own. That’s how I know.”
“God, Steffan. This is so crazy! I–I don’t know. I’m not the same person when you are around me. And, I’ve been hurt more than you know,” Anya responded. More than anything, she wanted to admit he’d already captured her heart, but something told her to hold it back.
Was this love she was feeling?
She knew what lust felt like. And this wasn’t lust. Something about Steffan felt right and familiar. But beyond this, Steffan felt like a person she was supposed to meet. She couldn’t explain it. If there was one thing she was certain of, she needed to get a handle on her out-of-control feelings.
“When I tell you I’m in love with you, Anya, I don’t have an expectation for a response until you’ve discovered it for yourself. I want it to come from your heart, not from a response dictated by courtesy.” Steffan leaned in slowly for a kiss.
Anya didn’t hesitate and lusciously accepted his lips on hers. She wrapped her arms around Steffan’s neck as she closed her eyes and delved deep into his adoring kiss. Anya released a whimper into Steffan’s mouth. She had never had such a powerful and intoxicating kiss in her life.
He was right, they may have only met, but he was far from a stranger.
Flush from their passionate exchange, Anya looked into Steffan’s eyes. “What we did, who we were before we met, is just the past. We concentrate on us from here on, all right?”
Steffan nodded as he brushed back Anya’s hair. “I believe our music session in the park awaits us.”
* * * *
The Hummer rolled down the long stretch of highway. In the distance Steffan could see the red rock formations darting from the earth straight to the sky.
“Is that it there?” he asked.
“Uh-huh.” Anya smiled at Steffan.
He was full of anticipation and excitement, like a child on Christmas morning.
“It’s beautiful!” Steffan said as he made his way to the entrance of the park. He leaned into the steering column to look up at the towering cluster formations. “Look at the red rocks against the peak. How breathtaking!”
Anya smiled. “You think this is beautiful, just you wait until you make your way around the bend at the top of this road.”
The Hummer slowly climbed the grade in the pavement, navigating the twists and turns of the pathway. As Steffan negotiated the last turn at the top of the hill, he was left breathless at the picture-postcard sight that slowly revealed itself.
“Incredible!”
The red hues blazed from the multitude of spire formations that jutted impressively from the earth. The sight was a photographer’s dream.
“Steffan, pull over here, at the lookout,” Anya said, motioning for Steffan to the pull over.
Steffan parked the Hummer along the side of the road, eagerly stepped out of the vehicle and made his way to the passenger door. He led Anya around the front of the Hummer to the low rock wall barrier then took a seat on the wall facing the scenic view. He pulled Anya toward him and motioned for her to take her seat between his legs. As Anya settled in, Steffan wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, soaking in the sight.
The formations were prominent, mixing textures of free-flowing masses to serrated towers. Blue jays chirped and darted from tree to tree in deep contrast to the fiery red that radiated from the rocks. Above, two hawks glided silently through the air. In the distance, the snow-covered peak of the majestic mountain range served as a grandiose backdrop.
“Anya. Thank you for taking me here. This is truly amazing. I’ve never seen anything quite like this before,” Steffan said as he hugged Anya deeper to his chest.
“I come here to reflect and feel renewed. You can’t help but feel at peace surrounded by all of this. You seem that you have a enjoy nature as well. I’m absolutely thrilled that you’re an ‘outdoorsy’ person like me. There are so many things to see and do here in this town.”
Steffan cringed.
He was a vampire, a far cry from what one would consider an outdoorsy person. With his heartfelt speech to Anya about being truthful earlier, a sickness churned inside of him. He could continue his masquerade as a human for as long as Defender and Consumption could sustain and protect his true identity. He needed Anya to know who he was and why they had been brought together. He couldn’t face the guilt in lying to her and postponing the inevitable.
Steffan’s mind raced.
But how? How can I tell her without scaring her away? How can I make sure she’ll want to be my mate? Can I actually let her go if she rejects me? What happened to Dominic? Will that happen to me? Will I even choose to continue to exist without Anya as my mate?
“Steffan?” Anya’s voice interrupted the onslaught of questions plaguing his thoughts. She adjusted her position between Steffan’s legs to glimpse at his expression.
“Yes?”
“Are you okay? I was talking to you and you haven’t said a word for a couple minutes there. You seemed to be in deep thought. Is there something on your mind, anything I can help you with?”
Steffan smiled at the way Anya eyes fixated on him, drenched with genuine concern. He could see the affection for him building inside her. It was a look he hadn’t seen a woman have for him since his wife, Arianell.
Why am I waiting to bed this woman? We need to bond intimately, Steffan thought. After all, for him, it would be making love in the most literal sense. Their union could be essential in assuring she would choose to be his mate. “I’m more than okay. Anya, I was thinking about us.”
“What about us?”
“I was thinking about finding a private, little spot off one of these trails.”
“Really? And what are we going to do in our private, little spot?” Anya bit her bottom lip in anticipation.
“Play music together, of course.”
“Well, there is a trailhead down this road in the next parking lot. We can start our hike from there,” Anya responded.
Steffan slung his backpack over one of his broad shoulders and lifted Anya’s cello from the trunk. Anya packed the two quilts in her backpack, and Steffan carefully centered the bag on her back. She carried Steffan’s violin case in her right hand. They set out on their hike through the park in search of the perfect spot for their private rendezvous.
Anya slowed to read the fine print on the sign.
“Steffan,” Anya whispered as Steffan leaned down toward her. “I don’t think we can bring the wine in here.”
“I don’t think they’ll notice, love. We will be fine.” Steffan winked back at Anya as they continued to walk down the trail.
“Perfect,” said Steffan when they reached a spot on the trail. The setting secluded them from the barrage of people while allowing for unobstructed views of the spires and the stately, snow-covered mountain range.
“Simply perfect,” Anya said as she laid out the large quilt on the ground and carefully set the instrument cases on it
.
“And look, nature provided you the perfect chair so you can play your cello,” Steffan said as he pointed to a smooth boulder.
The lovers wasted no time in removing their instruments from their cases with an air of exhilaration.
“I worked on some of the cello parts for your song last night,” Anya said as she removed the sheet music and a bag of clothes pins.
“Clothes pins?”
“To secure the sheet music out here,” Anya said as she secured the sheet music with the clothes pins on a nearby bush.
Steffan stood next to Anya and laughed.
“Brilliant. But this is not my song. This is our song. I titled it ‘Ray of Light.’”
“Ray of Light?” Anya closed her eyes as she reflected on the melody. “Yes! That’s very fitting. It matches the feel of the piece, the slow melody of a single instrument piercing through the stillness, being met by the harmony of another instrument, coming together in unison to awaken emotion.” Anya opened her eyes. “How did you come up with that?”
“Ray of Light? It means a beam of light that leads the way, with a sense of inspiration and enlightenment. Anya, we were drawn to each other by some force. And now, I have a sense of clarity and fulfillment when I’m with you. I don’t know. That’s what I feel our music, our connection, translates to.”
“Nicely put. Well then, Maestro, shall we perform our song?”
“Let’s.”
* * * *
They spent the rest of the afternoon playing their song and performing solos for one another in the picturesque setting. Each was in awe of the masterful skill and talent of the other. As the sun set, they packed away their instruments and sat on the quilt, quietly embracing one another as the blue sky rolled in slow waves of orange, purple, and pink.
“I’m glad we ended up bringing both quilts. It feels a little chilly out,” Anya said.
On cue, Steffan gathered the blanket tightly around Anya as he pulled her closer into his body. Steffan leaned his back against the boulder, his legs separated, allowing Anya to nestle in close to his chest. Anya drew her arm from under the covers and retrieved the bottle of wine.
“I love this wine!” Anya took a healthy gulp. She handed the bottle to Steffan as he took his turn savoring the nectar.
“It goes splendidly with the strawberries and cheese. And it should be excellent with your dessert.” Steffan put the bottle down and retrieved a plump strawberry from the tray that sat next to them.
Relishing the sensuality of being fed by Steffan, Anya leaned her head back and parted her lips. Steffan traced Anya’s lips seductively with the fruit before allowing her to take a slow, juicy bite.
“Does Eilian only make red wine?” Anya asked as she gulped down the strawberry piece.
“Yes. He’s quite fond of reds and concentrates on perfecting them.” Steffan frowned as he caught himself in another web of deception. The very words stung his lips and seared a path straight through his heart.
Truth told, the wine was Steffan’s specific brand that he and Eilian had perfected. The wine had a marked sweetness, with deep chocolate undertones and was laced with droplets of Steffan’s black blood. The wine was stored in a large oak barrel, encouraging the flavor of the blood and wine to develop, all the while contributing to the smoky vanilla finish. The wine was filtered and bottled like clockwork and sat deep in the cellar, waiting to be presented to a potential human mate.
It was documented that humans, when consuming their vampire mate’s blood that had gone through the fermentation process, would slowly acquire a partiality to blood themselves. This would make the last part of the claim ritual less intrusive. For Steffan, he had read that the blood wine could somehow reduce the pain of the turning. The exact science of it all still eluded Eilian and Steffan, but anything that could minimize the pain his mate would surely suffer through was the inspiration he needed to produce the elixir. So they continued the process, bottling the blood and wine while discarding older bottles that were untouched and had lost their potency.
They followed this practice every three years. But now, it appeared that it would swiftly come to an end.
Anya reached for the glass plate only to find it empty. “Looks like we need more cheese. I’ll slice a little more.”
“I’ll do it.” Steffan retrieved what was left of the Asiago block and the fig goat cheese. “Here, you can plate the last of these,” he said as he handed Anya the little foil discs.
Anya peeled back the gold and silver foil, exposing the sponge-like cheeses nestled in their protective wax casings and placed them carefully on the plate. Anya popped one of the delectable pieces in her mouth and leaned back to retrieve the bottle of wine.
She took a sip and closed her eyes.
“Nice huh?” Steffan asked, noticing Anya took a long moment to linger in the finish.
“Very nice.”
“I’m curious, what notes did you pick up on in the taste?”
“Hmm…strong hints of cherry, black currant, a slight oak flavor and chocolate.” Anya paused. “There’s something else there that I can’t quite pick up on. Whatever it is, they make a delicious wine.”
“Very good, Anya, very good.” Steffan smiled with a hint of surprise. He went back to work.
Anya sat back on her heels and watched Steffan as he worked on the presentation, placing the Asiago pieces in a fan design on the glass plate and spreading the goat cheese in a generous layer on paper-thin crackers.
Steffan looked up at Anya as he sliced the last of the cheese on the board. He flashed Anya a smile.
Within the silent exchange, he could taste their arousal hovering thickly in the air.
Steffan once again went back to his task, but he could feel Anya’s eyes still on him, as if in deep evaluation.
He’d wondered if Anya had any disappointment in the way he looked. Steffan wasn’t clean shaven like last night. He’d let his dark stubble grow and knew that against his white skin, it was no doubt well pronounced and very rugged looking.
But by the way Anya kissed him when he picked her up, he didn’t think this was the case at all. Hell, she didn’t even seem to mind the roughness of his stubble against her skin.
“Shit!” Steffan yelped out of nowhere.
Anya jerked suddenly.
The sound of the heavy cheese knife crashing to the plate was piercing.
Steffan sliced his finger with the cheese knife.
Before he could shield the flow of his black blood and close his wound, Anya quickly reached for his finger and placed it in her mouth. Her reaction was effortless and natural. She didn’t even cringe at the taste of his blood. Steffan tried to pull back, but the sensation of his blood pumping into Anya was overwhelmingly pleasurable. Steffan looked at Anya as her mouth puckered around his finger in a sucking motion. It was an erotic sight and Steffan couldn’t control his breath.
Retract your finger, Steffan.
It was too dangerous for her to consume his blood in its purest form. But then, she would surely see the black blood. And it wouldn’t be just a hint as Rhys had advised. Hell, what did it matter anyway? She was sucking on his blood of all things, clearly not in the realm of what Rhys had suggested. He was out of his element, not being as polished and elegant as he wanted. He just started his mate claim, and he had already lost control. Now, he would have to face the consequence and work through an explanation for Anya. He fought to still his mind and regain control.
The black blood was the telltale sign of an unmated vampire.
A vampire’s blood would not flow red until their fated mate was claimed. The color shift was the last part of the ritual, symbolizing the passion, the romance, and the burning desire the mates vowed to one another.
Steffan would not flow red until after he and Anya mated.
That is, if she would have him and give up her mortality.
He wrestled with the swirling thoughts and finally retracted his finger from her mouth. He held his breath in anti
cipation of her onslaught of questions.
Anya released his finger and examined the wound. “Steffan, your blood! It’s black!”
Steffan pulled his finger from Anya’s grasp and wrapped his finger in a wad of napkins.
“Are you okay? Is there something wrong with you?”
“Don’t be scared. I’m fine.”
“But your blood—i–it’s not supposed to be black like that. I think it may be a sign of low oxygen levels. Are you light-headed or anything?”
“I’m fine.” Steffan removed his finger from the napkins and stuck it in his mouth. “See?” Steffan said as he held his finger out for Anya to examine.
Shit!
He’d sealed the wound completely. He’d only meant to stop the bleeding.
“There’s nothing here!” Anya pulled his hand in closer for examination. “Not even a scratch. I know you cut yourself and were bleeding, I could taste it in my mouth!” Anya ran her finger up and down Steffan’s finger.
“Anya, I’m okay. I’m not hurt. I’m not bleeding. Really, honey. I am okay. Thank you for helping me. ”
“Stop it! Stop being all sweet. I know what I saw.”
“Look, don’t be scared, I’m okay now. C’mon, let me hold you again and enjoy the last of the colors. It’ll be dark soon.”
Anya stared at Steffan in silence, then responded, “Okay. You’re right.”
Anya slipped into Steffan’s waiting arms. She reached for his hand and held it up for examination once more. Steffan didn’t release his hand and allowed Anya to explore freely.
In their silent exchange, Steffan knew that the mystery of what had just happened weighed on her mind.
Perfect.
Clue number one was effectively revealed for her to deliberate on.
“Anya, I’m thinking about the dark chocolate mousse,” said Steffan, breaking the long silence of their embrace.
“Coming right up!” Anya pulled out two small ceramic dishes that held the chilled mousse and retrieved two small dessert spoons. “I hope you like it.”