“Almost immediately, she became uninterested in my brother and turned her attentions toward me. She made sexual advances toward me every time she saw me and her eyes displayed this weird kind of rage each time I refused her. Sully confronted me about her obvious obsession with me and accused me of trying to steal her from him. We had a huge argument and our harsh words escalated into a brawl when I told him she was nothing more than a whore. Even if he was my brother, I was forced to defend myself and she just stood there with this strange, devious delight on her face.”
Later that night, she entered my bedroom and I awakened to find her standing over me. When I demanded she leave my room, she flew into a fit of rage and attacked me, sinking her teeth into my neck. I can still remember the way it felt as she sucked the life from my body. My last living moments consisted of watching her rip a gash across her wrist, forcing her blood in my mouth and turning me into a vampire against my will. I died that night and I am no longer a mortal man. Do you understand what that means?”
“You will live forever?”
“I am no longer alive, yet I exist, and I will walk this earth for an infinite number of days, but when the world ends, so will I. My body is no longer made up of living cells and tissue, so I will never have children because it isn’t a physical possibility. Immortality doesn’t mean I can never die, but it is difficult because we are built to resist a second death, or as some call it, a true death.”
“What did Marsala do to you after she changed you?”
“Marsala was evil, in it’s purest form and she remained obsessed with me, refusing to release me from her bondage.” I rolled up the sleeve of my shirt and pointed to the tattoo that Chansey found so beautiful. “This is her mark of ownership and I belonged to her for 139 years.”
She reached out and touched the tattoo and said, “Now, I understand why you reacted the way you did when I told you that I loved it.”
“She always had the choice to release me from the bond, but she refused and this was her way of permanently reminding me I would always belong to her,” I said.
“If she didn’t release you, how did you get away from her?” she asked.
“In 1989, I traveled to Los Cabos with Marsala to see the greatest total solar eclipse since 1955. The misery of her companionship had driven me to make an unthinkable decision and I planned to meet my true death when the sun emerged from behind the moon. I should have burned and died, but instead, I stood in sunlight for the first time in 139 years and watched a pair of red butterflies come to temporarily rest upon my arm, before flying away.”
“Just like me, at the very same moment, thousands of miles away. What could that possibly mean?”
“At the time, I didn’t understand. I only knew I had the ability to walk in sunlight, which enabled me to escape Marsala. When you told me about the day you were born, I realized your birth dissolved my bond to Marsala and it was you that saved me all those years ago.”
Chansey appeared puzzled and said, “I don’t understand why my birth would break your bond to the one that changed you.”
“Would you allow me to summon Sebastian and Solomon?” I requested.
“Who is Sebastian?” she asked.
“He is Solomon’s mentor, and Solomon is mine. They are incredibly knowledgable and I think I prefer them explain the next part,” I explained.
“Are they vampires?” she asked.
“They are, but they will not harm you, so don’t be afraid,” I reassured.
“After my ordeal with Julian, I’m seeing there are far worst things than vampires to fear. May I have a head start getting ready before you call them?”
“Take as long as you like,” I encouraged.
Chansey’s reaction was just as Sebastian predicted. She embraced what I was, and if possible, her acceptance made me love her even more. She had much more to learn and I braced myself for her reaction and wondered if she was willing to accept me if if meant living everyday in danger for the rest of her life?
Chapter 22
The fragrance of burning lavender oil floated into the living room where I waited for Chansey, along with soft music, accompanied the sound of the tub filling with water. I turned on the television in search of a distraction from the thoughts in my mind, so I flipped through the channels and, ironically, found a vampire movie. The scene was when Vlad Dracula was mesmerized by seeing his beloved for the first time. I remembered seeing it in the 90’s, when it was a new release, and thought it was ridiculous to portray a vampire falling in love with a human.
The movie was doing it’s job as a distraction until I suddenly sensed the presence of someone in the house, and not just anybody, it was a vampire. Although I couldn’t identify him, I recognized the scent as the same essence that lingered at my family’s gravesite.
My speed placed me at Chansey’s side instantly, and although my sudden appearance forced the uninvited guest’s departure through her bedroom window, I found myself next to a safe, but very naked Chansey, submerged in a tub of bubbles.
The only illumination in the room belonged to the dancing glow of burning candles and the breeze of my sudden appearance caused the flames to sway, giving away my unexpected entrance.
Chansey turned her head from where it rested against the tub. “Curry?”
I averted my eyes toward the floor when she said my name. “I’m so sorry. I thought I heard a noise and I guess my protective instinct got a little carried away. I’ll leave.”
“Please, don’t go. Will you sit with me?” she asked.
Too afraid to answer, I sat on her vanity stool, facing the wall, preventing my eyes from seeing her exposed skin.
“I felt so dirty. I could smell him all over my skin and in my hair. I know you must have, also.”
I would never have told her, but I had smelled him on every inch of her body since finding her in his lake house. “A long, warm bath is just what you needed and it’s going to help you feel a lot better,” I encouraged.
Something unusual was happening to me, so I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, as I always did when I was nervous. I placed my palms on my knees and bounced my legs alternately up and down on my toes as I concentrated way too much on her body under those bubbles.
“You never answered my question about Crosby,” Chansey said.
“You mean, was I jealous?” I asked.
“Yeah. You never answered me,” she laughed.
“About that, what exactly were you trying to pull?” I scolded.
“I was attempting to draw you out with jealousy. I thought you might come back to me if you couldn’t stand seeing me with him, but I guess my plan didn’t work.”
“No, it worked, a little too well. You had me going crazy, and if Julian hadn’t come into play, I was about to give in and tell you everything.”
“Look at me, Curry,” she requested. I stopped my nervous tick of bouncing my legs and turned my face to meet her eyes. It was impossible to not notice how the bubbles stopped only slightly above her breasts while her shoulders glistened with long strands of dark hair stuck to them. “Don’t you ever leave me again. Do you understand?”
“I do, but you must also understand, I love you and will always do what I must to keep you safe. Always, without fail.”
“What do I need to be protected from, besides Julian?”
There was so much she didn’t know or understand and I feared it could be too much for her. “You should finish your bath and we’ll discuss it when Sebastian and Solomon get here,” I suggested.
“I’m ready to get out. I forgot to get a towel, so would you mind passing me one from the cabinet?” she requested.
I reached for her towel and heard the unmistakable sound of her rising out of the water and I was frozen where I stood with my back turned to her. She stepped from the tub onto the bathmat and walked behind me, reaching around to take the towel from my motionless hands.
“I’m not afraid of you, so don’t be afraid of me,” she sa
id as she leaned around and laughed at the expression on my face.
She wrapped the towel around her body and tucked the corner tightly, then moved in front of the mirror to comb her wet hair as I turned to leave the bathroom.
“Hey, is the big, bad, scary vampire frightened by me?” she taunted and I stopped behind her, staring at her image in the mirror.
Her question was asked in jest, but I truthfully replied, “Yes, you scare me very much.”
Chansey saw my seriousness and the humor on her face was replaced with something different. Never breaking eye contact with me in the mirror, she said, “I don’t want you to fear me. I want you to kiss me.”
I moved toward her as she continued to watch me in the mirror and I pushed her wet hair to the side as I gently planted kisses over her bare shoulder. I moved up to her neck and her eyes never left mine. She turned to peer over her shoulder at me and I gently glided my mouth along her jawline. She instinctively leaned back against me, briefly rubbing her body against mine before she spun to face me. We stood, staring into one another’s eyes, contemplating our next move, when I heard the knock at the door.
I lifted my head toward the sound. Ugh. Sebastian and Solomon had arrived.