Transfusion (Transfusion Saga #1)

Chapter 16

Home, Bitter Sweet Home

I shook off this inner battle that was sticking around the edges of my mind and creeping in like old cobwebs of doubt blowing in the wind.

They just kept coming at me until just one thing was all it would take for them to come floating back.

“Sholeh Zard, Lotfan,”

Lucius said briefly looking to Amir and it was obvious that he was ordering something.

I knew the word ‘Lotfan’ meant ‘please’ in Farsi, so it made sense.

And I was right, because the next course to be put down in front of us was a dessert.

It was a small bowl of something yellow and was set like a custard tart only without the pastry.

It had a pretty little display on the top with what looked like some brown spice and slices of almonds.

I leant forward a little and took a sniff, looking back up at Lucius as if needing his guidance here.

He chuckled and picked up my spoon, passing it to me before saying,

“Here, try this.”

I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm but did so without being able to suppress my grin completely, especially because he looked so good smiling, damn him! I dug my spoon in and took a bite and the second I did, I wished I hadn’t.

I held the spoonful in my mouth far too long and started looking around hoping that Amir couldn’t see me.

Meanwhile, Lucius burst out laughing and the second he did, I had no choice but to swallow, pulling a disgusted face like my features were melting off.

“Here.”

He offered in an amused tone as he passed me the water that he had ordered earlier, half of which I had already drank because he was right, I had needed it.

“Not a fan, I take it?”

Lucius asked after I had stuck out my tongue a few times in hopes the air would help, damning ladylike behavior all to hell, a place ironically where this dessert must have been invented! Okay, so that was harsh but let’s just say that I wasn’t a fan of fragrant cold rice, rose water, saffron and cardamom all together with nuts on top.

“That would be a big fat no on that one…what was that?”

I hissed behind my hand after looking to make sure I wasn’t about to insult Amir.

“Their version of the traditional Persian dessert Sholeh Zard,”

Lucius told me before picking up his own spoon and taking a mouthful.

Gods, even watching him eat was turning me on!

“Amir, please get the lady some ice cream, I am afraid the dessert is not to her taste, she usually craves something sweeter,”

Lucius said calling out to the owner, making me first blush in shame and then the heat in my cheeks was there for another reason.

As the way he said this last part was as though there was a sexual meaning hidden in plain sight.

Amir walked a few steps closer and asked what flavour I would like after giving me the options.

“Chocolate please.”

“Chocolate.”

Lucius and I both answered, shocking me.

Amir smirked as if he could see something big was happening when it wasn’t and no doubt getting the wrong impression.

But then, was it any wonder considering how Lucius was acting.

For starters during this whole meal he had been like a different person and I for one had never seen him looking so relaxed and at ease.

He had laughed, teased, joked and conversed with me as if this had been…well, an actual date. As if not only an hour and half ago he hadn’t run into the room and acted as a super human shield before then aiding in killing a guy, watching him melt as if someone had stuffed a lit firework up his butt.

But then again, was a day like this considered the norm for someone like Lucius?

Shortly after this Lucius was taking my jacket from Amir and helping me into it, creating a shiver that zip lined all the way up my spine the second he let his fingers graze across every bit of my body they could find.

And I suddenly cursed the decision not to become a nudist when I first turned eighteen.

Then his hands lingered on my shoulders after my jacket was on, making me question why he hadn’t yet let go.

But then he turned his gaze to Amir and I guessed it was because he still had an act to portray that I was his girlfriend.

But wait…why did he want to pretend that? Because, if there was one thing I definitely knew about Lucius, it was that he generally didn’t do anything that he didn’t want to.

“Khoda hafez, my friend,”

Lucius said nodding to his friend and in return Amir did the same.

After this we left and again Lucius portrayed the perfect gentleman as he held open the door for me as he always seemed to do.

“What did that mean?”

I asked him the second we were back in his chauffeured car that no doubt cost half of the flats in my building combined.

Lucius turned to look at me before giving his answer to the window as we drove away from what I very much suspected was his favorite restaurant.

“It means ‘May God protect you’,”

he said in a quiet voice and it was then that I finally understood why he acted this way.

Let’s just say that God and he weren’t exactly on the best of terms and leave it at that.

After this, silence descended until I could stand it no longer, as it was one of my biggest weaknesses…awkward silences.

But as it turned out that after I spoke, I quickly vowed it was one weakness I was now promising myself to be mastering, because then it would have stopped me from blurting out shit like,

“Why have you never taken a woman there before?”

The second I asked I wanted to take it back and prayed so hard I felt a vein popping just for him not to have heard me.

But this was Lucius we were talking about, so of course he bloody did!

“Why would I?”

was his question back to me, which had me stumped.

“Uh…well, that is what someone usually does on a date.”

I reminded him making him scoff,

“I don’t date, sweetheart.”

I would be lying if this little piece of information didn’t make my heart sink a little, but then when he added to that last sentence, it didn’t just sink, it thundered against the bottom of the bloody ocean floor.

One so deep that the surface was merely a speck of a dot of light above me.

“I fuck, plain and simple.”

I swallowed hard and couldn’t help but flinch at the sound of his harsh and unfeeling tone as if having a woman in his bed was a chosen commodity.

I found I had no choice but to look out of my side window or I would have just ended up giving too much away the second I couldn’t stop myself from asking one last question.

A question I knew I never should have voiced but what choice did I have? These last few days, seeing him this way, as more of a man than the King I had walked in on that day.

The day I had stupidly stumbled into his kingdom and ran away from it leaving my heart behind.

Did he really have no idea what he had done to me?

Did he really have no idea what he was doing to me now?

So, no, as much as I hated to ask the question I knew that I had no choice but to ask him.

“Then why did you take me?”

His answer was even more confusing than from the dark and dangerous root the fruit of where that question had grown from.

Crushing it in his hands the second he spoke.

A thing called faith…

“Because it’s just you.”

Lucius and I didn’t speak again after this and for once, I let the awkward silence roll over me like a comfort blanket.

This time knowing that at the very least it meant he wasn’t hurting my soul with his words.

With regards to how Lucius was feeling or what he was even thinking, well like always that was anyone’s guess because as usual he gave away nothing.

I swear it was like looking at a different person to the man I had been sat opposite to back in the restaurant.

He had been so at ease back then.

As if he wasn’t just letting you into a secret slice of his world, but also a small peek into the root of his soul.

Jeez, but I was starting to sound like a hopeless romantic when in reality I was just plain hopeless.

No, all I needed was to go home, say goodbye to the day by drowning my sorrows in the rest of that bottle of Prosecco in a bath full of bubbles.

All the while toasting the asshole in my life who was unfortunately, both the man of my dreams and of my nightmares.

But then, as I was planning the rest of my day ahead which of course included going to the toilet at some point, I suddenly shouted just as we were passing a Tesco Express (which was a smaller version of the large supermarket chain that was popular in the UK).

“Stop!”

I actually made Lucius jerk in the seat next to me.

“I mean, you can just drop me off here,”

I added so that Lucius could stop looking at me as if I had lost the plot.

“No,”

Lucius said firmly, and the car continued on.

“That’s fine, I will only end up walking back this way anyway,”

I said crossing my arms and making Lucius growl.

“Look, I know this might be a foreign concept for you, but us humans need little things called groceries and things like toilet rolls are kind of important to us,”

I said in a condescending tone because let’s face it, it was needed.

He looked at me and sighed, giving in and telling the driver to turn the car around.

Well, being chauffeur driven to Tesco was certainly a first for me.

The car pulled up on the right side of the road so that I didn’t have to try and cross the traffic.

Which I was thankful for as getting run over by a car was really the way to go and top off a day like today, I thought rolling my eyes at myself.

“Okay, well I guess this is goodbye and…”

I had started to say after turning around back to face him with my hand on the door frame, one I had to let go of as I paused mid-sentence.

“…Wait, what are you doing?”

I asked the second he followed me out of my side.

He ignored me and my question, instead going over to his driver’s side window and telling him,

“Wait for us.”

“Erm, I don’t think he is allowed to park there,”

I warned but one look from Lucius told me that he didn’t give a damn.

I knew this when he said,

“Let them ticket me.”

This blasé attitude to breaking the law and parking in the way of people shouldn’t have been surprising to me considering I had not long ago witnessed him nearly killing a man.

“But…but…what if the police come or…or…”

I started to say making him pause a step before coming back to me.

Then he hooked my chin with his gloved hand and tilted back my head in an affectionate way, that once again was playing havoc with my mind.

“Then we’d better be quick, had we not, before we get into trouble,”

he said in a teasing tone that told me the type of trouble he meant was the private moments like this that we shared.

Alone in the world yet surrounded by the echoes of life.

I swallowed hard as was quickly becoming habit around him and his own habit in return was watching the second I did it.

Then he tapped on my chin twice before letting go of me and saying,

“Come on, little rabbit, let’s get you those much-needed human provisions you seem so passionate about.”

Then he actually winked at me before taking my hand in his to pull me into the shop.

I didn’t know what my mind was focusing on the most, the fact that he was going grocery shopping with me or the fact that he had winked at me?!

And also, I don’t know why but the nickname ‘little rabbit’ was finally one I found cute and for once, not patronizing.

However, now all I wanted to do was ask him why he called me it and wondering now, if he would again.

The automatic doors slid open and let us inside.

I reached for a basket, one which Lucius quickly took out of my hand without saying a word.

I wanted to tease him about being such a gentleman for a Vampire but admittedly I was too afraid to do so.

I watched as he scanned the shop as if assessing it for a threat and I wanted to laugh.

I didn’t know exactly what threat he was looking for, but I suppose after today, then it was bound to put someone on edge.

But England wasn’t usually a place where supermarket cashiers, banks or even petrol stations were held up at gun point and if it did ever happen then it was usually big news.

Then again, I guess this wasn’t very surprising considering there were practically no guns in the country.

So, unless you were a farmer, then to get one was extremely difficult.

Don’t get me wrong, crime still happened, just as it did in the rest of the world.

But the difference being was that hospitals weren’t usually dealing with gunshot wounds or accidental deaths where, Gods forbid, a child happened to get hold of their parent’s gun.

I think everyone had the right to defend themselves, especially in their own home.

However, if you knew when a home invasion happened that they weren’t armed with a gun and your trusty baseball bat would be just fine, then those were injuries that people could usually survive…unless of course you had the swing of a once Viking king like Ragnar, my old colossal bodyguard who could barely flick you and made you fall over.

The sound of Lucius clearing his throat finally jarred me out of my thoughts and I mentally started to make a list of all the things I needed.

So, I walked down the aisles like a woman on a mission grabbing things and putting them in the basket Lucius was holding.

He didn’t say anything but just watched me as if this was the first time he had ever seen a woman shopping before and he was curious.

Well, to be honest, I couldn’t exactly imagine Lucius buying his own food as he had an army of minions to do that for him and I wondered just how far down that food scale did someone have to be to be put in charge of something like his laundry?

I knew that once my mum had moved in with my dad she had soon made sure things had changed in that regard.

Which was why I was used to seeing my mum cleaning and cooking and even on occasion making my dad do the same.

I remember asking her once after hearing her muttering to herself about ‘annoying cleaning day’ why she didn’t just let other people do it.

She looked up at me from the bathroom toilet she had been cleaning, put down her cleaning products and sat back on her legs.

Then she told me that when she first met my dad that he was so lost and grown apart from humanity, that she felt it her mission to try and change this.

I asked her why he had got that way and she told me that after years of living in a world as a king, whose only job it was to care and maintain a way of life for his people, well then, he had never known what it was like to care for himself.

He had never cleaned a day in his life unless it was wiping the blood from his weapons.

He had never once cooked a meal for himself or washed an item of clothing.

But then he met someone who started life as a human and little by little things began to change.

His respect for human life started to grow the more he allowed himself to be around them and essentially to understand them.

But what my mum had told me really changed him was when I had been born. Because here he was, the King of the Supernatural world with a human baby he utterly adored and rendering him for once in his life something other than a king…something greater.

A father.

So, as that new role started to take root, he then became just like any other parent.

He would find himself getting his hands dirty with changing diapers, preparing bottles, bath time, getting me dressed and when I grew older, even learning how to braid my hair.

Something my mother laughed at when he made her vow never to tell anyone, for he feared his enemies would no longer consider him as a feared warrior.

My mum even told me that once, after a particular bad explosion of baby poo, she found my father hunched over the sink in the bathroom scrubbing it out of my clothes.

It was in that moment that she finally knew that her husband had most definitely found his humanity.

Because there was a time he would have just burnt it and declared he would just buy me a new one.

But the reason he didn’t, my mum learned, was because it was his favorite dress on me and he feared that to use his powers might damage it beyond repair, something he didn’t want to risk at the time.

So that day my mum taught me a valuable lesson.

She taught me that no matter how much money we had or how many people there were who could do other things for us, that sometimes it is worth doing these things ourselves so that we may be thankful for what we have.

So that we may be thankful that we were alive.

It was in that moment that I knew, without her even saying it, that at some point in her life she had truly believed she was going to die.

She also quickly added,

“Besides, I wouldn’t ever wish upon my worst enemy someone to have to clean this loo, especially after I just made your father’s favorite, ‘Kazzy’s Demon Chicken’.”

After this we had both burst into a fit of giggles and still found ourselves chuckling as I picked up a cloth and helped her clean the rest of the bathroom, before then taking the cleaning stuff and doing my own.

After that day I had vowed to become more independent, which was when my mum taught me how to cook, do my own laundry and basically fend for myself…I had been ten years old at the time.

Now, of course, I lived on my own so had no choice but to do these things, which included grocery shopping.

But at least now, when I am washing or cleaning, I would always think back to that day and continue the chore with a smile on my face as I thought about my mother.

However, Lucius looked as though he had entered another realm where the strange monsters of the human world roamed…

The dreaded ‘Shoppers!’

I smirked at the thought as I picked up a bag of tea bags and a jar of jam.

I also picked up some bread, milk, ham, cheese, a pizza from the frozen section that I always had in my freezer in case I couldn’t be bothered cooking, which during the weekdays was often.

Then I grabbed the much-needed toilet rolls stuffing them under my arm because the basket was nearly full, and I knew I wanted a box of cereal so left room for it.

“Mmm, what to do?”

I said to myself as I stared at the shelves.

“What seems to be the dilemma?”

Lucius asked me, making me jump as it was said very close to my ear.

“They are all out of Crunchy Nut Chocolate Clusters Cereal,”

I said as if this was the worst thing ever, and well, it kind of was.

Because I could have eaten a bowl of the stuff for my three meals of the day and still never get bored of it.

In fact, I usually bought at least three boxes whenever I got my food delivered but well this week, what can I say, I had been a little preoccupied.

I heard Lucius chuckling next to me and I looked up to see him looking highly amused.

“What?”

“It’s nothing,”

he answered with a shake of his head, done not so much in way of an answer but more because it was as if he didn’t know what to do with me.

“No, go on, what’s so funny?”

I asked again, determined to get it out of him.

“Alright, it’s just that today you had three men show up and try to kill you.

Then you were shot at, just before you had to watch as a man…how did you describe it…”

“Melted like a firework was stuffed up his butt?”

I added this time making him throw his head back and laugh, causing every female within the immediate vicinity to pause whatever it was that they were doing and stare at the Godly sight before them.

I swear I was surprised that none of them threw their panties at him like he was some sexy man on stage rocking it out with a Fender in his hands.

“Yes, that.

Then, you are forced to hand over a puzzling artifact that is obviously in your nature to crack and yet they don’t have your favorite cereal and you look as though you are close to tears,”

Lucius told me, making me fight a blush.

In the end I grabbed a box of frosted flakes, dropped it into the basket and said,

“Well, good food is important to some, Mr Authentic Persian Cuisine.”

This come back made him smile.

“Touché,”

he said warmly, making me grin.

After this I got in line at the checkout fully aware of the amount of people staring at us or should I say…Lucius.

But then again, what wasn’t there to stare at as Lucius didn’t really give the female population a chance.

Incredibly tall and built like an Olympic athlete who does body building on the side, meant that he looked like a living Adonis.

With his sandy coloured hair in a messy style that just screamed that he didn’t give a damn and got out the shower, rubbing a towel over it before it dried naturally that way.

Or was it his chiseled jaw line and perfectly shaped lips that had women ready to sign over their ovaries and beg him to make babies with them like I was close to doing right alongside them?

Okay, so that was a bit much as I liked to think we as a species were blessed with a little more self-control than that.

Even if it didn’t stop a girl from fantasising.

But then there were his eyes.

Eyes that seemed to have the power to pierce your very soul, capturing it and only releasing it again when his gaze was no longer blessing you by being directed your way.

The silver grey with flecks of blue that looked like ice over water.

The colour reminded me of a storm that was brewing, rolling in over clear blue skies and consuming them.

Even the sandy blonde brows that slanted across his deep-set eyes gave him a dark angelic look that would have fooled anyone naive enough to believe that he was a man to be trusted with your life in his hands.

But then, hadn’t he had my own life in his hands twice now and each of them he had chosen to save it?

Lucius nudged me from behind and I looked up to see that a cashier was now free and waiting for me to approach.

“Oh, right,”

I mumbled before stepping forward to place my basket down on the counter.

Then I waited for the lady to ring up my stuff and noticed the way her eyes kept wandering to the man at my side, making me want to lean forward and say, ‘I know, ridiculous how handsome he is isn’t it, should be illegal if you ask me.’ But thankfully, I squashed down the urge.

Then it came to paying and just as I was still fishing out my card from my purse, Lucius had taken control.

I looked up to hand it over to see Lucius already had his own fancy black card in the reader.

“Uh…what are you doing?”

I asked, making the cashier smirk.

“What does it look like I am doing, paying for your goods with gold doubloons?”

was his sarcastic response and I laughed, unable to help myself, something that stopped suddenly when I just caught in time him enter his pin number.

I frowned the second I realised it was, unbelievably… my birthday.

Okay, so what were the chances of that, like ten thousand to one?

“Thank you, have a nice day,”

the lady said, prompting me to reach for my bags, ones that were quickly grabbed by Lucius first.

I watched him nod to the lady in thanks and I mumbled a thank you before following Lucius out of the shop with my mind doing the bloody hopscotch, bouncing all over the place!

“Hey, why did you do that?”

I asked, catching up with him and grabbing his sleeve jacket to hold him back.

“Do what?”

he asked like it was no big deal and therefore I shouldn’t be making a big deal out of it.

“Why did you pay for my stuff?”

I demanded to know instead of saying what I really wanted to know, which was how come my birthday was his pin number? Of course, I didn’t because of how potentially embarrassing his answer could be, which would mostly like be, ‘Oh is it, that’s a coincidence but hey wait, you didn’t think it was intentional or anything did you? Because why would I do that when I don’t care for you’…you know, that type of mortal embarrassment.

“Why do you think, naturally to hurry things along, which I believe is the opposite to this,”

he said looking down at where I still held on to him, preventing him from moving unless he yanked out of my hold.

“Oh.”

I said disappointed, letting my hand slip from its hold, shamefully thinking his reason seemed logical enough.

Then he nodded to the car, no doubt trying to get me to hurry up, which I decided right now was for the best, as the sooner we got back to my flat, then the quicker it was that I could get back to my life, one where Lucius didn’t feature in it.

To be honest though, I didn’t actually know how I felt about this because no matter what I knew was best for me, it didn’t mean that I didn’t want what was clearly bad for me.

But it was like having an addiction you knew was bad for you, rotting away at your core like the way smoke does to your lungs.

So, after getting back into the car and soon pulling up outside my building, I had mentally prepared myself for saying goodbye and forcing myself this time to move on.

And who knew, this may even mean that Peter and I would have a chance to take things further with the hopes that deeper feelings would grow.

If I were being honest with myself, then really with claiming that my heart belonged to Lucius, I was setting myself up for a fall.

Because then I would have to admit that there was never a chance for me to find happiness with another person.

Now was this really something I was prepared to give up on finding for the rest of my life? What if true love was out there waiting for me and I don’t mean the type found only in Disney movies.

The ones where all it seemed to take was a stroll through the forest, singing at woodland animals to make a guy declare that he was madly in love with you.

Again, my thoughts were interrupted the second we arrived, and I noticed Lucius getting out of the car.

I followed his lead and did the same, but before I could reach for my bags, he beat me to it.

Again, I wanted to comment but it just seemed like the time for teasing was long gone and now all he wanted to do was say goodbye and have done with this little ‘London Mess’.

Which meant that we were both silent all the way to my flat door and as I reached to take the bags from him he nodded to the door for me to open it.

Wow, talk about efficient, he wasn’t kidding around when it came to doing a job.

“It’s okay, I can take it from here,”

I told him, not knowing how I felt about him being inside my tidy little private space that was, up until now, a Lucius neutral zone.

The last thing I wanted was to live in a place with the memory of him lingering around like a ghost of time, haunting my mind.

I just wanted to unlock the door, scream bye bye now, in a bear faced lying kind of ‘it was nice knowing you’ sort of way and slam the door in his handsome face.

But then he frowned down at me and ordered,

“Open the door, Amelia.”

The way he said my name again made me want to shudder.

So much so, that instead of being able to argue against him, I had to turn away just so that he wouldn’t see how much the sound of my name coming from his lips affected me.

I swear that I would still be hearing that voice of his whispering it in my ear this time next year.

I shuddered at the thought before doing as he asked.

But then, as I unlocked the door and opened it, the sound of Lucius’ voice was the least of my problems.

Because the moment I walked inside there was only one thing that happened.

I screamed as…

My world had been invaded.