Chapter 7
Annie led them upstairs, and just as Thomaz had said, they found Bruno and Diablo lying at the top of the stairs. Bruno was lying on his side, with Diablo snuggled into him.
Bruno raised his head when he saw them. Annie bent down and patted Bruno’s head. “You’re a good boy, Bruno.”
Kitty and Karl dropped to their knees and stroked Bruno and gently stroked the puppy.
“Come along, you can play with the dogs tomorrow,” Annie told them.
The children stood up, and they all followed Annie down the long hallway.
“Here are the rooms that have been readied for you. This is the first one,” Annie said, opening the first door.
She moved on to the room next door. “This is the second one,” again she opened the door and then moved across the hallway.
“And this is the final one. Jamie, we made up a room for you as well in case you didn’t want to share with Ivan.
All rooms should have everything you need.
I’ll let you all decide who has which room, and now I’m off.
See you all in the morning.” And just that quickly, Annie was gone.
“So that was Annie,” Ivan commented with a grin. “Why don’t we look at the rooms and see which ones you want?”
Jamie looked at Ivan curiously. “So many questions.”
Ivan gave him a gentle smile. “And I will answer them all for you, but let’s get your brother and sister sorted first.”
Jamie nodded and turned to them. “Let’s check out the rooms and see which one you like.”
After looking at the three rooms, Kitty and Karl chose the rooms next to each other. They were both the same size, one was green, which Karl picked, the other was yellow, which Kitty chose, and they both had en-suites. Jamie spent time with them, while Ivan waited in the hall.
“I like Ivan,” Kitty said, looking at Jamie, who blushed a little.
“Is he your boyfriend?” Karl asked.
“It’s new, so we’ll see what happens,” Jamie replied. “Ivan and I need to talk about so much.”
“But we’re safe, right?” Karl asked him, fear still showing in his eyes.
Jamie pulled him into a hug. “Yes. I might not know everything at the moment, but I know both of you will be safe here,” he pulled back. “Do you want a hand unpacking your things?”
“No, we can do it. You go and talk to Ivan and figure out if you’ll be staying in your own room or Ivan’s,” Karl said, grinning at his brother.
Jamie tried not to blush. “I’ll be in the spare room for tonight.”
“But who knows what will happen tomorrow,” Karl added, playfully wiggling his eyebrows.
“Shut up,” Jamie said, fake scowling at him. He sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me how bad things had gotten?”
Kitty leant against him, and Karl stepped closer.
“We didn’t want you to worry, but it got too much. That was when we decided to run away and come to you, because it was getting so bad.”
Jamie put his arm around Karl. “I’m sorry you both had to go through all that, and I’m glad I had help rescuing you both.”
“How mad is it that vampires and witches are real?” Kitty asked.
“Crazy, but thank goodness they are. Now it’s getting late, you two need to get to bed.
Karl, I suggest you have a shower before you go to bed, to wash the blood out of your hair and off your face.
I’ll come and get you both up in the morning, but if you need me in the night, I’m right across the hall. ”
“Thanks, Jay, night,” Karl said.
Kitty hugged him. “Thanks, night.”
With a final hug for both children, Jamie left them in Karl’s room. He found Ivan pacing the hallway.
“Everything alright?”
Jamie nodded. “Thankfully. Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“We can go into your room, or mine, which is that door there,” Ivan pointed to a door three down from his.
“Let’s go into mine, then if Karl or Kitty need me, they know where I am.”
Ivan nodded and followed Jamie into the room.
The room was the same size as the other two they had seen, but in blue and white. At a quick glance, he saw that there was also a seating area by a large window with a sofa, chair and small coffee table. There was also the normal bedroom furniture.
Jamie walked over to the bed and sat down, Ivan sitting beside him. Jamie moved to face Ivan, one leg bent, resting on the bed. Ivan mirrored his pose. He put his hand on Ivan’s leg. “Thank you for coming with me and calling for backup.”
Ivan picked up his hand and kissed the back. “I will always help with whatever you need,” he promised.
Jamie scooted closer. “I have so many questions. The first is that everyone says I’m your mate. Is that like the books say, the fates made us for each other? Cause I’ve got to tell you, I think I’m okay with that, what about you?”
Ivan smiled and moved closer still. “Yes, the fates made us for each other. I have a long history which we should probably talk about at some point, but not right now, as not all of it is good and I don’t want to spoil the mood.”
Jamie gave him a quick grin. “Murder vibe, remember. As long as you’re not a psychopathic killer, it’s all good.”
“I can promise you that I'm not. I work for a security company run by David. I’m skilled in pretty much everything, and I'm good with electronics.”
“I’m just a barista. My dreams of being a museum curator and working with old books and documents went out the window when I left home and had to find a job quickly. I was trying to save up for Karl and Kitty to come and live with me, but being a library barista doesn’t pay much.”
“But now look, they are both here and both safe. Max said you had to move out of your current lodgings, so now you can move in here, where you know the three of you will be safe.”
“Ivan, that’s not the reason why I’d want to move in. I mean, sure, I want Karl and Kitty to be safe, but if I stay here, I can get to know you better, and Ivan, I really want to get to know you better.”
“Thank goodness,” Ivan said, putting his hand around the back of Jamie’s neck and pulling him forward. Not that it took much pulling, Jamie happily leant close as Ivan’s lips descended on his.
Jamie sighed to himself, kissing Ivan was everything he had dreamt of and more, so much more. He slipped an arm around Ivan’s waist and put his other hand on Ivan’s leg.
Ivan was blown away. He had kissed many people in his long life and thought he knew what to expect, but he was wrong, so wrong.
Kissing Jamie was on a whole other level.
He wrapped his other arm around Jamie and pulled him closer still.
He licked the seam of Jamie’s mouth, and Jamie instantly opened to him, so Ivan plundered.
Finally, after what felt like forever, they drew apart, Ivan resting his forehead against Jamie’s.
“Wow,” Jamie said softly.
Ivan gave him another quick kiss and then pulled back. “Wow indeed.” This close, Ivan could see a splattering of freckles scattered over Jamie’s face. He was a sucker for freckles. “I love your freckles.”
Jamie grinned. “Thank goodness, as there is nothing I can do about them and believe me, I have tried everything over the years to get rid of them.”
“I’m glad you couldn’t. You also have flecks of green in your grey eye, I’ve never seen that combination before.”
“Me either. Karl, Kitty and my father all have grey eyes, but without the green. I guess I get that from my mum. I’m so glad you came into the library that first day.”
“Me too. I’ll have to thank Dave for having hired mercenaries after him. If not for that, I would never have met you.”
Jamie looked shocked. “Hired mercenaries?”
Ivan nodded. “Yeah, it’s a long story, I’ll let Dave tell you. But you had questions,” he prompted.
“I did?” Jamie replied. He shook his head. “I did. Do you sleep in a coffin?”
Ivan laughed and rolled his eyes. “No, I sleep in a very comfy bed. When I need blood, I drink it from a bag, but I hope to one day drink from you. Yes, I can go outside in daylight. No, I don’t sparkle.
No, I don’t cry tears of blood; that’s just nasty.
Yes, I have killed in the past, but I’ve not ripped anyone’s throat out in nearly a hundred years.
Yes, I am a lot older than you. When we mate, and I’m saying when, because we will do, you will live as long as I do, which could be thousands of years. Let’s see, what else?”
“Stop,” Jamie said, holding his hand up. “Back up a moment. Thousands of years?”
Ivan moved his hand to Jamie’s cheek. “Caught that, did you? I was hoping it would be lost in everything I was telling you.”
“Eh, no, I caught that bit. That’s complete madness. How do I even get my head around that?”
“You forget all about it and just take one day at a time.”
Jamie took a breath. “Yeah, I think that would be best.” Jamie let out a yawn. “Sorry, I’m suddenly really tired.”
“Nothing to apologise for. The last few hours were stressful, you’re bound to be tired,” Ivan said, caressing his cheek with his thumb.
“That’s for sure. If Karl had died, I don’t know what I would have done,” he confessed softly, turning his cheek into the caress.
“But he didn’t. Your brother and sister are both here, both safe and thanks to Gabe and Adrian, both well.”
“Yeah.”
Ivan wrapped his arms around Jamie and hugged him close, Jamie’s arms slipping around Ivan, as Jamie leant against him.
“I’ve also just remembered I don’t have anything with me, no spare clothes, toiletries, nothing.”
“The bathroom is fully stocked, and I’ll message Dave; he’s roughly the same size as you, I’m sure he can lend you something. We can go and collect your things tomorrow.”
Jamie pulled back and looked at Ivan, smiling. “How did I get so lucky?”
Ivan laughed. “I’m the lucky one,” and with that, he dipped his head and kissed Jamie.