Chapter 8 #2
I sat down in the leftmost corner of the U and pulled my legs up. The couch was comfortable, and from my spot on it, I could see the ocean churning, the white seafoam, and the turquoise depths.
“Should I get you something to drink?” Auris asked from where he was stacking logs in the fireplace as well as kindling.
I hadn’t seen him do it the night before, but it was somewhat elaborate the way he piled everything up, building a little pyramid.
I’d have simply tossed in the logs and lit them.
He’d lived through a time when you learned how to do it the right way.
“If you really have to keep stalling, sure.”
“I take that as a yes.” He smiled at me over his shoulder. “Thank you for allowing me to stall.”
I huffed. “Sure.”
I watched him strike a match and hold it to the kindling, then blow on the growing flame for extra air. He put on more logs until he was satisfied with the result. Then, he got a bottle of red wine from the pantry in the kitchen, and filled two glasses, brought them over, and handed me one.
“Cheers,” he said, and the rims sang when they touched.
I tried the wine. The taste of dark summer berries exploded on my tongue.
“I thought you didn’t drink.”
“No, but I can keep you company. So.” He put his glass down and adjusted his position so that his body was facing mine. “The easy answer is that I’d have come to you again because I’m in love with you.”
“Bullshit.” I sipped more wine.
“You pulled away from my entrancement in the church. I know you don’t know how rare that is, but it’s not normal at all.
” He stopped, shaking his head as if to dislodge an errant thought.
“It’s more than that, of course. I feel like I’ve known you forever, even though I only met you yesterday.
I feel close to you, and I want to be close to you.
There is a connection between you and me, Ethan.
Even though it hasn’t been long, it’s the dearest thing to me. ”
“Still sounds like bullshit,” I said, although some of what he said rang true. I couldn’t deny that I’d felt something similar myself.
“I told you you wouldn’t like the explanation.” He stroked my cheek with his index finger. “The second thing I should tell you is that my mother told me about you.”
“Your mother? From one-point-five millennia ago?” I put the wineglass on the table and stared at him.
He nodded. “Yes. She told me the night I was to be turned into a vampire. Remember I told you some witches gain divination? My mother was one of those. She took me aside before it was time for me, and she told me I’d know random passions for a long time, but would never love until a man cut me down from a cross in a place of worship and thus saved my life.
He would be the only man to ever own my heart, she said. ”
I reached for the wine again, took a bigger swig, then put it back down. “That,” I said, “sounds like even more bullshit.” But there were goose bumps all over my arms and up my neck. Something about this… But no. Prophecies were not real.
“I can see how it might, but I can’t deny what I feel. I won’t deny you the truth either.”
“I don’t think I’m drunk enough to be told I’m supposed to be the centerpiece of a prophecy.”
He sighed but said nothing.
“What did you have planned, then? If you don’t want to turn me, and you don’t want to fuck me just for a little while, what was your plan?” Even as I said it, I regretted it. It was mean, it was hurtful, and it was most certainly petty.
To Auris’s credit, he never allowed himself to be baited. He didn’t snap at me, simply looked into my eyes with unabashed longing in his.
“Believe it or not, I didn’t think it would ever happen myself, and I hadn’t thought about what my mother told me in years and years.
I didn’t even think about it when I was on that cross.
Then you arrived. And note that I didn’t say I would never turn you into a vampire, I said I will not turn you now.
Even if you change your mind about wanting to be a vampire, I’ll have at least one lifetime with you. It beats never having met you.”
That…left me dumbstruck. I licked my lips and ran my fingers through my now dry hair.
Auris took my hand and tugged. “Come here, my sweet.” He wrapped me in his arms and hugged me to him.
I rested my forehead against his shoulder. “I’m sorry for being confrontational. I don’t know… I didn’t want to argue either, but it was a lot.”
“You are forgiven. Let me assure you, you were nowhere near as confrontational as a priest with intent on murder.”
I snorted, and we moved so we could sit next to each other, his arm around me, the ocean and the dusk-painted sky our entertainment while the fire provided the music.
“It’s still weird,” I said after a while. “Love. A prophecy of love. I honestly don’t… You know. I just don’t.”
He sighed. “My life has often been strange. You don’t have to believe anything just because it’s nominally a prophecy. It’s something that happened in my past. Then yesterday, we met. We can just take it from there.”
“You’re being very pragmatic. For a vampire. What will my cult followers say if they learn you’re so down-to-earth?”
“My sweet, just because I confessed my feelings to you does not mean I am allowing you a cult. Stake that idea and rinse your mind with holy water.”
My laughter rocked me, and his hand in my hair soothed me.
After a little while longer, he said, “Ethan, while you had some exercise in the bedroom earlier, I noticed that you barely ate some bread and fruit. I’ll call Gloria to make you something more substantial, if you don’t mind.”
“Gloria?”
“The housekeeper. Stay there and enjoy the sunset. Oh, and what kind of food should I tell her to make?”
“Vegetarian,” I said, possibly tanking my application for vampirism.