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  “I’m still thirsty.” His eyes looked hazy but his lips formed a smile.

  “I know but we have to take it slow at first. This is new to your body,” I explained.

  “I feel so…drugged? I don’t know quite how to explain it, like I’m floating.” He stood again and ran his hand through his hair, fixing the mess I’d created. “Is all blood like that or is it only yours?”

  “It’s not just mine, I’m sorry to break it to you, but all human blood. Animal blood doesn’t have such a strong effect. It quenches our thirst and sustains us but it doesn’t have that hypnotic quality.” Maybe hypnotic was the best way to describe the feeling. It didn’t matter who the donor was, the end result was always the same: hypnotizing, mind-numbing.

  “I saw something in you…scattered images. You were lying under a tree, Kalia and Aaron were with you, I think.” He stood and reached for my hand.

  “You will. You’ll get something from anyone whose blood you drink. That must have been what I was picturing, what was happening after the battle was…over.” I stood now, wanting to pull him out of the room with me so I didn’t have to think about any of the events leading up to this moment. It was all too confusing. Ian’s headless body was in the living room before Aaron buried him, yet, I had seen him only a short while before that. He had a beating heart then but I knew better. I didn’t want to think about any of that. I was too happy having Christian at my side again.

  Christian watched my face and nodded. “Okay. Maybe I can have more later…I guess we should make our entrance. They expect it.” His arm wrapped around my back, strong and steady. “Ready?”

  I took a deep breath. “As ready as I’m gonna be.” I couldn’t help but worry about Aaron and what he thought of me. Could I have done this? Could I have been the one to make Christian a vampire? It was very possible that I suppressed that memory because of all the stress.

  “Later. We’ll worry about that later.”

  ~ Four ~

  As we entered the living room, conversation ceased. Everyone focused on us, except Aaron. He stared out the window with a stiff back. I followed Christian to sit on the floor in front of the fireplace, which was the only space available. I tried to listen to their thoughts, but everyone closed their minds.

  “Beautiful day, huh? So, what is everyone doing?” I asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. Christian looked around the room as if he’d never laid eyes on it before, which he hadn’t – not with vampire eyes, anyway. Kalia smiled at his child-like wonder and everyone else relaxed a bit, except Aaron.

  “I’m going for a walk,” he said and left, letting the door slam behind him. My stomach sank.

  Kalia looked at me with tender eyes. “He’ll be fine. He just needs a little time and he’ll come around.”

  “But, time for what? I did not do this. Why doesn’t he believe me?” I knew I pleaded with the wrong person but I didn’t care. I did not want to lose my new family. If anyone could make Aaron understand, it would be her. Aaron was the only one who had no access to my thoughts, but it would help so much if he did. “I don’t even know how this happened.”

  “I know dear. Christian, how are you feeling?” She leaned forward in her seat.

  “I’m okay. Actually, I never felt better.” He smiled and hugged me closer. “It’s what I wanted, to be with Lily forever.”

  “Do you know what happened? Do you remember anything at all?” Pierce asked.

  Christian shook his head. “I only remember what happened in the beginning, after Ian started talking to Lily. I hid in the bedroom, against my will, I might add. I heard a struggle and came out to see if Lily was okay. After that, I only remember very hazy bits and pieces.”

  “What do you remember, Lily?” Kalia asked.

  “Well, I heard someone outside. I made Christian hide, like he said, and then Ian busted through the door. We argued, fought, and I lost the sword. The next thing I knew Christian was in the room and Ian grabbed him.” I took a deep breath, trying to gather strength to continue. No one moved. “Ian bit him and I knocked Christian out of his grasp, out of the way. Ian came toward me but something was wrong. He was slow and awkward, stumbling like a drunk. He acted like that was my fault. He accused me of letting him drink poisoned blood.” I looked from Kalia to Pierce, hoping they had some explanation.

  “That was my doing. I put a spell on the charm around Christian’s neck. I’ll explain later. Go on,” Pierce said.

  “He said some things, we said some things, I swung the sword and…that was it.” I explained as Christian gripped my hand, encouraging me. “I tried to do CPR on Christian but it wasn’t working. I kept trying until I heard Maia. She looked shocked or scared when she saw Ian and she just ran. She didn’t try to do anything to me. She ran and I ran after her. That’s all I remember.” I lied, leaving out the part about seeing Ian alive and well later. I didn’t know how to explain that part.

  “That doesn’t explain much,” Fiore said, smiling at Christian. “Well, Christian, welcome to our world.”

  Everyone nodded and I couldn’t help but smile at how easily they accepted him. Pierce stood. “We’ll figure it out later, I suppose.”

  “I’ll go find Aaron and talk to him. In the meantime, we need to figure out what our next move is. I think we’re pretty much done here,” Kalia said.

  I hoped with all my might that Kalia would be able to get through to Aaron. I couldn’t wait to get back to Astoria and the semi-peaceful life we had created there. The only difference was that Christian would be a vital part of that life now, no longer someone I had to hide, or hide from.

  As if hearing my thoughts, Christian asked, “Where do we live?”

  “I hadn’t thought about it. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what Aaron says.” I knew where I wanted to be and that was anywhere Christian was, whether that was at his apartment or at the Benjamin house. “Where do you want to live?”

  “Anywhere you are.” He smiled and squeezed my hand. I somehow already knew that.

  Kalia walked in with Aaron behind her about a half hour later. He didn’t say anything to the others, who were chatting while they waited, but walked directly toward where Christian and I stood by the kitchen sink.

  “Can I talk to both of you outside?” He looked a bit nervous.

  “Um…sure,” Christian answered.

  We followed him out, where the setting sun painted the sky the bright orange of flames. We walked a few feet from the front of the cabin, where he paused and faced us.

  “I wanted, first of all, to say that I am sorry about my reaction. I don’t want you to think that I don’t trust you, Lily. It’s, well, what was I supposed to think?” He raised his voice and I backed up a few paces. He took a deep breath, calming himself before continuing. “You say Ian didn’t do this and there was no one else. I still have no idea how this happened but I suppose, in time, we will get our answers. I know everyone is exhausted right now and would probably like to go home.” He smiled trying to ease the tension.

  “Believe me, Aaron; I would like to know too. I don’t understand it either. All I know is…I’m glad it turned out this way.” There. I said it. And I was glad Christian wasn’t gone forever. I couldn’t take that back.

  “I can imagine. I can’t even fathom having to go on without Kalia. This is why I want to forget about this for now. Christian…” He turned to him. “Welcome to our family. If I would have had to choose someone for Lily, I couldn’t have done better than you.”

  “Thank you, Aaron. I appreciate that more than you know.” Aaron nodded and started walking toward the cabin. It was the end of the discussion.

  As we entered, all talk ceased again.

  “I say we head out. There doesn’t seem to be anything left to do here,” Aaron announced. Everyone agreed.

  I cleared my throat. All eyes focused on me, including Christian’s. I bit my lip and smiled at him. “On behalf of Christian, and myself, I want to thank you all for helping us. Y
ou have no idea how much we appreciate it. This had nothing to do with any of you and yet you all came. I wish there were something we could do to repay you.”

  “No payment is necessary. We are family and that’s what family does.” Beth smiled and looked around the room. Agreement was unanimous.

  “I think I speak for all of us when I say I know you would do the same if any of us needed help,” Riley said. “Now let’s go home. I’m famished.”

  In the moments that followed, goodbyes were said and plans to meet again soon were made. As I stood by Christian’s side, as my new family welcomed him with open arms, I couldn’t help but glow. What I had avoided all along was now something I couldn’t live without. It made me wonder why I hadn’t realized it sooner. Christian squeezed me to his side, again knowing what was on my mind.

  After everyone left, we packed what few belongings we had gathered there and extinguished the fires. The question of where we were going still unanswered, I stopped cleaning out the refrigerator. “Where are we going? I mean…Christian still has an apartment.”

  “Nonsense,” Kalia said looking at Aaron. When he didn’t disagree, she smiled and continued. “You’re coming home with us. That is, if that’s what he wants.”

  Christian stopped in the middle of pulling the bag out of the trashcan. His eyes questioned me. I nodded. “I would be honored. I will go wherever Lily is happy.”

  “Great. That solves that. Fiore, what about you?” Aaron turned to her. “Are you coming with us or do you have other plans?”

  “I hadn’t really thought about it. I figured I would go back to Italy for a while, but…” She turned to me. I smiled. “If you have enough room, maybe for a while…”

  “You’re coming with us!” I blurted.

  Christian stiffened but said nothing.

  “Then that’s settled,” Kalia said and went to turn off the bedroom lights.

  “Shall we?” Aaron said as he piled things into his arms. We followed with our own loads.

  Not a word was said about Maia. No one seemed to want to even think about her.

  ~ Five ~

  Kalia and I gave Fiore and Christian a tour of the house and after Fiore went to the guest room, Christian and I went to my room…our room. He took everything in with his new vampire eyes, opening doors and walking around the room.

  “So this is it?”

  “This is it.”

  “When I tried to picture what you were doing during the day, I tried to imagine your room, thinking you might be in it.”

  I smiled, realizing I used to do the same thing about him. “So, do you like it?”

  “I love it. You have a lot of books,” he said as he looked at the shelves in my sitting room.

  “Most of those were here when I moved in. I usually borrowed books from libraries,” I explained. With all the moving around I’d done in my past, it was just easier to borrow books than to accumulate them, much easier to pack.

  “I need to email my landlord.”

  “Maybe we should wait on that. We haven’t exactly figured out what to tell people.” I sat on the bed, kicking off my shoes.

  “What do you mean?” He stood in front of me, waiting for me to invite him.

  “Your bed too,” I patted the mattress. “I mean, we have to tell them something. You’ve been missing. They don’t even know if you’re alive. We can’t just go back to normal.”

  “Oh, right. I forgot. As far as work, I have to stay away. I’m sure the police questioned the university and my landlord.”

  “That’s true,” I explained. “The reason I knew you were even in Ireland when I escaped was that Ian told me the police had questioned him. They called because you were missing and students had seen us together in the parking lot. That’s how I knew to go back to the cottage for you.”

  “Right. I wonder if my apartment is considered a crime scene.”

  Picturing the CSI team walking around getting prints and photos of everything, I laughed. Christian laughed too. “What are you laughing at?”

  “CSI? You watch too much TV.”

  “You saw that?” This was going to take some getting used to. Ian had only been able to see what I wanted him to see. But Christian? I didn’t intentionally put that image in his head, yet he saw it anyway.

  “I guess I did. Wow! Are we that connected?”

  “We must be. I can’t remember ever being this connected to someone. It was different…you know.” He nodded, knowing it was a subject I didn’t want to discuss.

  “How do you think this happened, me being like you? Do you have any theories?” He leaned back against the pillows, throwing his arms behind his head. It was strange to see him on my bed. Many times I had wished we’d been here and now he finally was. That made me smile.

  “I wish I knew. It would make things with Aaron so much easier. Maybe someone came in after I ran outside but…no, I had just left you and I ran into Aaron right outside the door. If someone had passed he would’ve seen.” I sat up searching for the TV remote. I spotted it on the night stand next to Christian. He looked at it and, with his arms still behind his head, the remote took to the air and landed on my chest. I jumped up. “Ouch!”

  “What was that?” Christian sat up and turned his head, looking around the room.

  “I have no idea. That’s not the first time something like that happened.” I picked up the remote and examined it, not knowing what I was looking for. “Ian? Is that you?” I asked, bracing myself. No answer.

  “Do you think so?” Christian asked but shook his head. “I don’t think that’s possible. He’s quite dead.”

  “I know. Neither do I but I thought I’d try.” I stared at the remote in my hand. “Can I try something?”

  “Sure.”

  I crawled to the bottom of the bed and set the remote down at his feet. When I lay back down, I asked him for it. “No. Don’t move,” I said when he tried to sit up. “Just think about it.”

  “You think?”

  I shrugged. He concentrated and scrunched his nose. The remote lay where I put it but after a few moments, it twitched. He turned to me with a wide-eyed look. I nodded, excited. “Try again. Give me the remote.”

  As he stared at it, it rose about two feet off the bed and flew at me so fast I didn’t have time to react. It hit me square in the forehead, again. “Ouch!”

  “Oh no!” he cried as his hands pushed my hair aside to look at my forehead. “It’s red. I am so sorry!”

  Suddenly, I was doubled over with laughter. I laughed so hard my body shook. Christian stared at me, not moving. “What is so funny?”

  I couldn’t stop laughing long enough to answer him. I saw the frustration on his face but it didn’t matter. “What is so hysterical?” he asked again. I calmed myself enough to talk by taking a few deep breaths. “Please, Lily. I’m going nuts here.”

  “Beth said you were powerful. She said that when she first met you and at the cabin she said you were special. I had no idea what she was talking about, until now. Do you realize what this means?”

  He shook his head. “You got hit in the face with a remote?”

  “Besides that. You did it, like you pulled the covers over yourself in the cabin, when I had pulled them off because you were sweating. You closed the curtain when the sunlight bothered your eyes. I was in the room for that one. I thought it was Ian, somehow.”

  “So, you think I can do that with my mind?” He looked confused.

  “That’s the only explanation I can think of. I wanted the remote. You knew it and you made it move before you actually reached for it.” It made sense. That had to be what Beth was talking about. Christian was powerful enough to use the part of his brain that had been dormant while he was human.

  “I guess I did.” He still didn’t look convinced.

  “It was definitely you.” Most of us had special gifts that weren’t awakened until after we became immortal but I had never seen this one. “Truthfully, it doesn’t shock me one bit that yo
u would be so talented.”

  “Even though I hit you twice?” He laughed.

  “We’ll have to work on your aim.” I hit the power button on the remote and settled down with my head on his chest. “We have all the time in the world to perfect it.”

  He wrapped his arms around me and held me, kissing my head and whispered, “I love you, Lily.”

  “I love you, Christian.” I turned my head up to look at his face. “How are you feeling? I mean, how’s your thirst?”

  “It’s there but it’s manageable. I guess I have to hunt, soon, huh?”

  I knew I couldn’t put it off too much longer but I had no desire to leave the peace of our room yet. “Yeah, soon. I don’t want to move right now.”

  “Neither do I.” He flipped me to my back and lay on top of me, our faces inches apart. As usual, butterflies invaded my stomach. “I can’t believe this is really happening.” He gently kissed my lips. “All my dreams came true.”

  “You really feel that way? I was afraid you’d resent me. I thought…”

  “Are you kidding me?” he interrupted. “Don’t ever think that. This is what I wanted all along: to be with you, forever.”

  Relief, and disbelief, washed over me as his lips found mine again and his kiss wasn’t so gentle this time. The room started spinning as his lips and his tongue danced with mine in perfect harmony. Moans escaped both our mouths and his hands pressed against my back, holding me tighter still, our bodies like one. His lips left mine as they traveled down the side of my face, finding my neck as I arched my head back granting him easier access. My head clouded and my breath sped as he nibbled on my skin, once in a while letting his tongue touch the sensitive flesh, sending chills up my spine. I felt him pull back a bit as a gasp escaped his lips.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked trying to pull my face aside enough to look at him but he dropped his face to the pillow. “Christian, what is it?”

  “My mouth,” he mumbled. “It hurts.”

  Relief washed over me as I realized I hadn’t done anything wrong. “Is it your fangs?”

  I felt him nod against my shoulder. “Let me see.” He leaned over me but kept his mouth closed awkwardly. “It’s perfectly normal. It’s okay.”