Colder

lunch was gone, but a crisp $20 bill was tucked under his plate. My face fell and I wished that I’d had a chance to say goodbye and wish him luck on his first day. I was also going to tell him to stop over-tipping that much on a $7 meal.

The rest of the day kept me very busy. Jasper came back for supper and over-tipped me again, but I didn’t have a chance to admonish him for it or even talk to him beyond taking his order. I was just too busy. I got the diner closed and everything cleaned up and ready for tomorrow buy 7:30 when I said a quick goodbye to Jo, who thanked me again for coming in early and headed out the back door.

I was walking down the gravel back alley, headed towards my apartment when a voice that sounded like velvet came out of the shadows from a nearby building and I stumbled, nearly falling on my face. “A pretty young lady like yourself shouldn’t be walking all alone at night.” Jasper stepped out of the shadows and moved to my side, “There are…predators, out here.” He said the word predators almost like he was talking about himself.

When I finally caught my breath again I squeaked at him, “You scared me to death!” I reached over and punched him in the arm, hard and felt my hand begin to ache almost instantly. “Ow!! What the hell was that?!”

Jasper was laughing hysterically at the squeak in my voice but his laughter cut off instantly the moment he saw me clutching my hand to my chest. He grabbed my hand and brought it to his face, examining it closely, wiggling my fingers and bending my wrist slowly back and forth. “I don’t think it’s broken.”

I blinked in surprise, “Broken? I…” I stuttered, “Your muscles are like stone.”

Jasper just nodded as he continued to examine my hand, eventually releasing it, though somewhat reluctantly, “I think it’s sprained. Come, I’ll get you home and wrap it up.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and began to lead me down the back alley towards my apartment. I noticed he was incredibly warm and wondered for a moment if he ran hot in the same way I ran cold. I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed the heat radiating off of him.

“You’re so warm.” I whispered and nudged in a little closer to him.

He cleared his throat and looked down at me as he walked, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, “Yes, I tend to run a little warmer than most.” I could hear the amusement in his silky voice as we walked up the steps to my apartment. I fished out the keys with my non injured hand and unlocked the door. Jasper led me inside and had me sit at the kitchen table. “Where might I find your first aid supplies?” I pointed him in the direction of the bathroom and he was gone only a few seconds. He returned with a small bottle of something and a tensor bandage and proceeded to very carefully wrap my hand in the bandage. His warm fingers brushing against my skin and the glittering of his violet eyes in the dim light of my apartment was beginning to stir up all sorts of feelings inside me.

“So, how old are you, Jasper?” I asked, desperate to take my mind off of the swirl of emotions rooting around in my already knotted up stomach.

His half-smile caused my breath to catch in my throat as it always did and my heart thundered. “I am twenty-three years old. And yourself?”

“Twenty. I’ll be twenty one in July.” I replied. This wasn’t helping my nerves. “How is your arm so…hard?” I asked, suddenly curious again as to why my hand was sprained.

He chuckled and brought my hand to his mouth, brushing his fiery lips against my throbbing hand before dropping it. “There, all wrapped up.” He paused briefly, “I may be small compared to most of the other loggers around here, but make no mistake about it, I am all muscle and toned muscles can be very hard.” He grabbed the small bottle he’d brought from the bathroom and opened it, shaking out two pills into his hand. I watched him with curiosity as he moved about my kitchen, grabbing a glass from the cupboard, like he’d already known where they were, and filled it with water. He passed the glass of water and the pills to me. “That should help with the pain and allow you to get some rest tonight. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

I swallowed the pills dutifully and shook my head, my eyes wandering down his body and back up again, resting on his perfect face. His pale skin glowed in the dim light. He watched me studying him and ran his hand nervously through his wavy, bronze coloured hair. “I should be alright I think, thank you for your help.”

He nodded silently and headed for the front door. He stopped with his hand on the doorknob and turned back to me, his eyes flickering with curiosity, “What days of the week do you not work?”

The question caught me off-guard, “Oh. I’m off Fridays and Saturdays.”

He nodded slowly, a distant look in his eyes like he was thinking about something. He opened the door and turned to step through it. “Good night, Miss Amelia. I’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast.” His voice was low and thick as he walked out the door and I desperately wished it was morning already.

I dreamed about him again that night and again it was the same dream. Him in the field, walking over to me, looking for all the world like an angel straight from heaven and then suddenly his hands were trying to strangle me. I woke up covered in sweat again.

That morning I went in to work around the time I normally do. Jasper was already there when I got there. I guess he bribed Jo to let him in early. She was standing behind the counter chuckling at whatever words had come out of his pretty mouth.

“Good Morning, Jo. Jasper.” I said as I stepped behind the counter to pour myself a cup of coffee, “Here a bit early aren’t you?” I directed the question to Jasper.

He looked down at the plate of food in front of him as though he was ashamed, “I couldn’t resist. I was just starving, thinking of Jo’s wonderful cooking. You sure you can’t be my mom, Jo? If you feed me like this every day I’d be happy to follow whatever rules you set in place.” He winked playfully at her.

Jo’s face flushed red, “Oh now, Jasper, you’re going to make an old woman blush talking like that. But I’d be happy to adopt you same as I have, Amelia and every other kid in this town. They’re all my children.” She walked over to the cooler and grabbed a small box of milk and pushed it towards him, “Now drink up your milk! Make your bones nice and strong.”

Jasper tipped his head politely, “Yes, Ma’am” he popped open the top of the carton and tilted it to his lips. Jo headed back into the kitchen, chuckling the entire way.

Jasper set the milk down and turn to grin at me. I almost spit my coffee out my nose - He had a milk mustache. Without thinking, I reached forward and brushed my thumb across his upper lip, wiping away the milkstache. He grabbed my hand and held it against his cheek, his eyes boring into mine like he was looking straight into my soul.

“I…I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have done that.” I stammered, quickly pulling my hand away and reaching for the coffee pot to refill his cup.

He winced as if in pain, “No…no it’s ok.” He looked like he was about to say something more but he just frowned.

I was suddenly very self-conscious about what I’d done. “Let me get you some more coffee!” I said nervously and jumped to grab the coffee pot. Jasper leaned across the counter, reaching out to stop me. The shrill noise of the ringing telephone startled me and I whirled around to face it. I felt the coffee pot still in my hand as it crashed against the side of Jasper face like a crystal vase shattering against a granite floor. My eyes widened in horror and I turned to stare at Jasper, steeling myself against the grisly scene I was sure to find there.

There was nothing. Jasper was perfectly fine, there was no blood and no cuts. The only visible damage to his skin was a slight pink tinge where the hot coffee had splashed against it. We stared at each other in shock and he opened his mouth as if to speak but changed his mind and slammed it shut, his face twisting into agony. He grabbed his lunch and the travel mug I’d lent to him yesterday and whirled around to walk out the front door before I even realized he was gone. I just stood there, staring at the spot where he had stood just a moment before. He moved so fast some times that I didn’t even see it. I felt horribly guilty and unbearably curious, slightly afraid and a little more than angry all at the same time.

I spent the rest of the day in a daze, focused on Jasper and what had happened that morning. I’d went over the interaction in my head a hundred times and I still didn’t know what to make of it. How is this even possible! That coffee pot should have turned him from the beautiful specimen that he was into some sort of scarred, disfigured beast. There had been so much splintered glass to clean up, there was no way that should not have sent to the hospital. Then he just took off, with no explanation! Well, when I saw him again I was just going to demand an answer.

But he didn’t show up at all for the next two days. I began to wonder if maybe, because of me, he’d gone back home to Texas. I spent both days in a complete funk, which wasn’t helped any by the nightmares. Now while Jasper was strangling me in my dreams, I was attempting to defend myself with plates, pans, knives, forks and coffee pots, but no matter what I hit him with it just glanced off doing no damage at all. I woke up screaming and clutching at my throat.

I was as polite to my customers as required but I sulked around in a bad mood the entire time. I wandered through the days, barely paying attention to where I was going or what I was doing, trying to convince myself that it had all just been a dream and the mysterious Jasper didn’t actually exist. Jo had noticed my mood, she kept watching me like she thought I was going to explode at any moment. She was careful not to mention Jasper since that first day when she noticed he didn’t show up and I just shrugged my shoulders and walked away from her.

It was a warm Friday morning when I walked down the stairs of my apartment, having given up any hope of him returning to St. Elias. I was heading out to go hiking on some of the more experienced trails in the park. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings as I was still thinking about the nightmare I’d had again last night. I still didn’t understand why he was trying to kill me.

He was standing at the bottom of the stairs, a sheepish and apologetic smile on his face and a cup of coffee held out towards me. I nearly fell down the rest of the stairs when my eyes locked onto his and instinctively I grabbed at my throat. So he had been real, I hadn’t just dreamed him after all. Realizing my hand was still grabbing my throat, I dropped it and quickly descended the remaining steps.

“Good Morning, Miss Van Rybroek.” His smooth voice greeted me, his violet eyes twinkling in the morning light. His glance flickered briefly to the hand that had been just grabbing my throat but he said nothing about it.

I reached out to take the coffee graciously and stopped on the bottom stair, “Thank you. Good morning to you too, Jasper.” I smiled coolly. I was still angry with him for disappearing, “Care to tell me what happened?”

Jasper tilted his head curiously and looked at me, “Happened?”

I wrinkled brow angrily, “I smashed you in the face with a coffee pot then you left without a word of explanation and you’ve been nowhere to be found for the past 3 days. I thought you’d gone back to Texas! What was that all about?!”

Jasper’s eyebrows furrowed as he listened to my words and then, without warning he began to laugh, a deep throaty chuckle, “The coffee pot took me by complete surprise and frankly that coffee burned like hell and I was trying not to embarrass myself and scream so I left. You look like you are about to go hiking?” I knew he was trying to change the subject so I let him.

“Yes, I am just on my way out. Don’t change the subject. Jasper your face should be covered in cuts and bruises right now, that pot was in a million pieces, there is no way you don’t have a bunch of glass embedded in your skin.” I pushed at him, demanding a reasonable explanation.

He just shrugged at me, “What can I say? You didn’t hit me very hard you know, the pot was probably just old and the glass weak. It would have shattered the next time you set it down a little too hard, anyways. I was gone the past couple of days simply because I was sick.” He looked at the worry and disbelief on my face, “Really, Amelia. I’m fine. It was a lucky fluke but everything is fine. Don’t worry your pretty face about it. I forgive you.”

I nodded at him and managed a weak smile. He took my elbow and guided me off the last step and turned to head north of town, “May I accompany you? You did promise to show me around after all.” He changed the subject.

I pondered this for a moment, I was still a little dazed and confused but he said it was fine and everything looked fine and I found the prospect of spending the entire day with him to be completely thrilling. “Alright, you can tag along. Try to keep up will you?” I took off at a jog, heading north.

I didn’t take much for Jasper to keep up with me, he was in very good shape. I focused on my breathing as the buildings moved past me at a steady pace. We rounded the last corner to go past the logging camp and Jasper was right with me the whole time. It was as if he’d run this exact same path a thousand times before. I saw the start of the trail ahead of me and tried unsuccessfully to slow my speed, I grabbed at a tree and swung myself against it to stop. Jasper followed suit and we both fell into peals of laughter.

“You run like you…knew where we were going.” I said breathlessly.

“I did.” Jasper replied and doubled over in laughter again. I sat down on the side of the mountain, to relax for a moment. Jasper sat down beside me and after a few minutes the laughter and gasping subsided and out breathing returned to normal.

“How long have you been here, Jasper?” I asked cautiously.

“I arrived the day I met you.” He replied, turning his eyes to meet mine. The corner of his lip turned up and for a second I was dazzled.

I wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that. “Ok. Let’s go.” I said and stood up. I turned toward the thin trail that wound its way up the side of the mountain. Jasper followed closely behind me.

“Where are we going?” Jasper said from my right side.

“To that little clearing and cliff I told you about. I said I’d show you everything.” We carried on in silence for a ways. I pointed out different landmarks, fallen trees, boulders and paths that led to waterfalls or creeks, things I’d promised to show him one day. He looked around and listened intently to everything I said, paying close attention to the paths that crossed our own. His attentiveness gave me the impression that he was planning on going exploring on his own one of these days. I hoped he would be careful, there were lots of dangerous animals, cliffs and other dangers out here that could easily kill you if you didn’t know what you were doing.

The tree line suddenly gave way and we stepped out into the clearing, the long grasses swaying in the breeze. It was a very plain clearing, there wasn’t anything spectacular about it, not even a rock to sit on. The only amazing thing was the view on the far side of the clearing where the ground fell away into a cliff that dropped 40 feet or so. In the mountains views like this were usually obstructed by the tops of trees that grew hundreds of feet into the air but miraculously this view was completely clear of all obstructions. You could see the ring of mountains that surrounded the small gully where the town stood. You could make out some of the larger buildings in town, but most of the houses were too small to see clearly. You were barely able to see the small creek that ran along the west side of town and followed the base of the mountain off into the forest. There were a few hawks circling the skies, flying gracefully through the overhead clouds. It really was a magnificent sight.

I led Jasper across the clearing and sat down on the ground, dangling my legs over the side of the cliff. “I love it here. It’s such a beautiful view.”

Jasper followed suit, taking a seat beside me, “Yes it is quite…serene. I like it here too. But are you not afraid of falling off the edge of the cliff, sitting like this?”

I laughed at that and shook my head, “No, not really. I suppose I should be though right? It is a 40 foot drop onto hard packed earth after all.”

Jasper nodded, “Yes you’d likely break your neck and a multitude of other bones were you to fall.”

I just shrugged, “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid and it hasn’t happened yet so I’m not worried about it. I do wish I could find that other clearing again though.” Jasper glanced at me curiously and waited patiently for me to continue. “When I was a kid, about 7 years old, I was out here hiking. My aunt thought I was at a friend’s house but I would always use that as an excuse and go hiking by myself. I came across this really pretty clearing. It was full of so many bluebells it looked like an ocean of waves in the wind. There was a huge boulder on the far side that I could easily climb onto. It was shadowed by a huge weeping willow tree whose branches dipped so low they brushed the tops of the waves. It was the perfect place to sit and read. The sun always seemed to find a spot to peak through the clouds and light up the entire meadow. I spent the whole day there but when I tried to go back again the next time, it was gone. I was certain I’d gone the right way but I must not have. I’ve spent years combing these mountains since then, looking for that meadow and I’ve never been able to find it again. I’ve had so many dreams about it though that I’m now certain it never existed at all and it was just a place I had dreamed about as a kid. My happy place, as it were.”

Jasper’s eyes got this far off look, like he was picturing that meadow in his head. After a few moments of silence he turned to me, “It sounds like a beautiful place. I can see you there easily, sitting on that rock, the sun sparkling off your hair. You would fit there, perfectly, like that meadow was made for you or something.”

My face flushed at the compliment and I sighed softly, staring out over the little town far below me, “If only it were a real place.” I thought about that clearing and the day I thought I’d found it, It had been quite a long hike to get there.

Suddenly I burst into laughter and Jasper looked at me, clearly startled by my outburst, “What on earth is so funny?” He asked me, seriously.

“I can… only imagine what... my aunt would have said…if she’d ever found out about…my hiking.” I managed to get out between the peals of laughter.

Jasper thought about this for a moment and he frowned deeply, “I imagine she would have been very upset with you for hiking alone in the mountains at such a young age. That was incredibly reckless you know.” He didn’t seem to find this funny at all but I was picturing my aunt’s face as it turned tomato red and then purple like it so often did when she was truly furious, I couldn’t help but laughing. “You enjoy putting yourself in dangerous situations, do you?”

My laughter began to subside and my breathing returned to normal. I looked at Jasper, a little shocked at how serious he was being. “That was years ago, Jasper. Sure, I know it was dangerous now and I shouldn’t have done it but nothing bad ever happened to me so why worry about it now.”

A flicker of anger crossed his face, “Because you should be a little more concerned with your safety. Just because you got away with it as a kid doesn’t mean you should be reckless as an adult. These are treacherous mountains, you have no idea what lives in these woods. You should never go hiking alone, or sit on the edge of a cliff,” his voice began to get louder and more frantic, “Just like you should never walk home by yourself at night or invite someone like me into your house or be alone with me at any moment! Don’t you understand how dangerous these things are? You could get yourself killed!”

I was taken aback by the sudden outburst. What was he talking about, being alone with him? How is this dangerous? It’s not like he was going to hurt me. “What… What are you talking about? How is this dangerous?”

Jasper growled, “You’ve got your feet dangling over a 40 foot drop that if you slipped or the ground gave out around you, you’d break every bone in your body!”

I shook my head vigorously, “No, I get how that’s dangerous. I meant you. How is being here with you, dangerous?”

Jasper stared at me wide-eyed. His mouth snapped shut and he swallowed hard. Clearly he hadn’t meant to say that. “N-nothing. It’s not, just… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I don’t know what came over me. Can we just forget the last few minutes, happened?”

I nodded slowly but kept my eyes focused on his face, trying to riddle out for myself what he was talking about. There was certainly something different about him. He has a bit of a temper, clearly. His skin is unusually pale and sometimes it looks like it is glowing, I’ve never seen eyes the colour of his before, I’ve heard that Elizabeth Taylor had violet eyes but I imagined they were more like blue with a hint of purple, his are very clearly the colour of amethyst. His body feel like it is as hard as marble, there is no way that I should have sprained my wrist punching him like that and I’m sorry but that thing with the coffee pot? I didn’t buy this weak glass bologna he was trying to sell me. When he moves he never makes a sound and often he seems impossibly fast. And sometimes he has this look on his face and I’m certain that he knows what I’m thinking.

His eyes looked into mine and he sighed deeply, “You have every right to be suspicious of me… I shouldn’t be here… I’m sorry… I should go.” He stood up and headed back across the clearing.

He’d made it half way to the tree line before I realized what had happened. I scrambled to my feet and hurried after him, “Jasper! Wait, don’t go. Please.” He stopped in his tracks and turned towards me, his eyes questioning. I stopped in front of him, my eyes wandering over every inch of his stunning face and I knew right then that he was something else, something more than human and I didn’t care what it was. I wasn’t afraid of him. “I…” I started, unsure of how to say the words, “I don’t know…what you are. But I do know that you are something… beyond human. You move too quickly, your muscles feel like iron and the coffee pot… and you sometimes speak like you’re…a lot older than you look. There is something off about your skin too, like it almost glows or something and your eyes… I have never seen eyes that colour before. And sometimes… sometimes I think you can read my mind or something.” I shook my head and smiled at him, “But whatever you are is beautiful and I’m not afraid of you.”

His face twisted in pain and he winced as he listened to my words. He smiled weakly as he looked warmly into my face. His hand lifted and he brushed his fingertips tenderly across the cool skin of my cheek, “I haven’t been very careful with you, have I? I can’t seem to help it, I always let my guard down around you.” He dropped his hand and looked away, his face suddenly hardened in anger, “But make no mistake about it, I am extremely dangerous and you should be afraid of me. “

“Well I’m not.” I said indignantly.

He growled and turned towards me, “You don’t even know what I am, Amelia! Don’t say you aren’t afraid of me. That’s the entire point to me being what I am. Every part of me is designed to seduce you, my voice, my looks… all of it. I am supposed to be so beautiful that I draw you in and you trust me even when your subconscious is screaming for you not to.” He gestured to the hand that I clutched my throat with when I’d first seen him that morning and I knew that somehow, he’d known about my dream.

I took a deep breath and forced my voice to remain steady, “What….exactly… are you?” I was scared now, but not because he thought he was dangerous, but because this was strange, this couldn’t possibly be happening, someone like him, someone beyond human couldn’t possibly exist, and if it did… What else existed?

He looked off into the distance as if pondering how to answer that question, “That’s a complicated question.” he replied. He glanced into my face and saw that I was staring at him, my face determined. He sighed, knowing it was useless to try and evade it. Suddenly that beautiful half smile tugged at the corners of his lips again. “That depends on who you ask. Most middle European countries call me a revenant, sometimes a wight. The Scandinavians call us Draugr. The Dine call us The Holy People, The Christians call us Fallen Angels, Watchers or those who bear the mark of Cain. But mostly we’re called Vampires.”

I gulped. Ok, I was afraid now. I had already known Jasper was something different. This shouldn’t be that much of a shock, but still, there was something about hearing him say it out loud. He was right. He was dangerous and I shouldn’t want to be with him. But I couldn’t help it, afraid or not, I wanted to be with him, even if that means it literally kills me. “Ok. I can deal with that.” I managed to squeak out.

Jasper’s face grew hard, almost angry, “What do you mean you can deal with that? I am a Vampire, Amelia! I’m a monster, a murderer, something that belongs in a horror story to terrorize women at night. And you’re ok with that? That I kill humans for food?” He saw clearly that I was afraid of him now and his features turned from anger into despair as he took a step away from me.

I stopped for a moment as the reality of his words sunk in. I swallowed hard and choked on it. Then a thought occurred to me, humans eat three meals a day… “D-do you…h-how… how…many…times a day do you…eat?” I stuttered out as my heart thundered in my ears.

He blinked at me in surprise and confusion. It wasn’t exactly the question he was expecting. It took him a second to riddle out why I was asking. “Oh. Well we don’t eat three times a day like humans do. How long we can go between feedings depends on what we have been hunting and how large our last kill was, and we don’t eat humans that often. It’s…complicated.” He sighed unhappily.

As I listened to his explanation, my heart began to slow down and I suddenly wasn’t quite as afraid anymore. He heard the beat of my heart slow, and shook his head, “No you were right to be afraid. You should be. The majority of the time vampires actually feed on animals, deer, bears, cougars, moose, that sort of stuff. It’s not that humans aren’t appealing, it’s just that our self-control is excellent. but... oh jeez, this is going to sound cliché…. Once in a blue moon, and I do quite literally mean a blue moon, something happens to us, our thirst overtakes us and we are…” he paused, searching for the right word, “compelled to feed on humans. We can’t stop it, we become slaves to our nature.” He looked down at me, searching my face for a reaction, “That’s why I disappeared for the last 3 days. There was a blue moon Wednesday night and I didn’t want to hurt you because if I’d stayed, I wouldn’t have been able to keep myself away from you.”

He saw the look of forgiveness in my eyes and interjected quickly, “Don’t get it twisted now! Just because most vampires have the self-control to not feed on humans save for when the compulsion strikes. That does not mean that we are not tempted beyond belief by being around them. Self-control takes a lot of effort to maintain and there are vampires out there that don’t bother to even try. Your pull is strong to me, Amelia. To be near you tests my self-control every day as it is but…if I’d killed you…” his silky voice was layered with anguish at the thought, “I’d have had to find a way to die right along with you.” He gently brushed my cheek with the back of his fingers, his eyes glistening with his pain and he gazed into mine.

I was surprised to find out that this didn’t bother me. That it was easier to accept his nature than I’d expected it to be. It wasn’t his fault, he had no choice. I could forgive him for it. I cupped his cheek in my hand and he closed his eyes, leaning into my cool skin. Lifting myself to my tip toes, I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. His eyes opened in surprise and before I knew it he’d wrapped his arms around my waist and was kissing me back fervently.

After a few moments he reluctantly pulled away from me, lifting my chin with his fingers to look into my eyes, “This is dangerous for you. We shouldn’t be doing this but… I am an incredibly selfish creature it seems. I cannot keep myself away from you so as long as you’ll have me, I’ll be right here.”

I searched his face, confused. In what world would I not want him? This crazy, strange vampire wanted to be with me and somehow he thought I wouldn’t feel the same. “Then get used to being here because I am never going to stop wanting you.” I leaned up and brushed my lips against his again and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into him and hugging me tightly.

Chapter 3

From that moment onward, Jasper and I spent every spare moment we could together. The only times we were apart was when we were both at work, and at night when he went home so we could both sleep. He started coming back to the diner for 3 meals a day. The following Thursday, he was sitting at his usual spot at the counter once the rush had died down. He was slowly working on finishing a plate of fries with gravy as I rolled silverware and chatted to him. It suddenly hit me that he was actually eating food, human food. Keeping my voice down, I whispered, “Jasper… how is it that you can eat food? Real food?”

He smiled at me, always happy to answer my questions about his nature, “Food tastes just as good to me as it does to you, it just doesn’t satisfy me at all or provide any nutritional value. My body burns it off almost instantly so there is really no reason for us to eat human food, though many of us do. To keep up appearances you know.” He winked at me playfully.

That night when Jasper was walking me home after my shift a thought occurred to me, “Do vampires sleep?” I asked curiously.

Jasper chuckled at this, the arm around my shoulder shaking with his laughter “No. We don’t.”

I nodded slowly and a few seconds later I asked, “So what do you do at night? When you leave me here?”

Jasper glanced at me warily, wondering where this conversation was going, “Well that depends. A couple of nights a week I’ll go hunting. That usually doesn’t take very long though so I spend most nights reading books, listening to music, studying different things. I’ve learned a lot in my long life.”

“Oh.” I said “don’t the guys at the logging camp notice that you never sleep?”

Jasper tilted his head curiously at me, “What made you think I lived at the camp?” a grin in his voice.

“I don’t know” I answered, “Most of the guys do, so I just assumed…where do you live?”

“I bought a small cabin just outside of town.” He shrugged “I’ll take you there sometime, if you like.”

“Tomorrow!” I said quickly, he had seen my apartment and now I wanted to see where he called home. I couldn’t imagine a place that would be good enough for him. Every home I pictured him standing next to always seemed dilapidated compared to his exquisite and timeless features.

He chuckled at this and shook his head. “I already have something special to show you tomorrow and it will take a while to hike there. Maybe I can show you Saturday.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to my apartment and smiled down at me.

I bit my lower lip slightly and nodded, “Saturday it is. Do you have to hunt tonight or,” I paused nervously, “would you like to come in?”

I saw a frown flicker briefly across his face and he started to say no but something stopped him. “Yes,” he said, “I’d like to come in, for a few minutes at least.” He flashed me a nervous smile and I led the way upstairs.

He followed me as I headed into my tiny apartment and I kicked off my shoes, “Have a seat, wherever.” I said, gesturing to the living room. “I’m just going to go change.” He nodded stiffly at me and pulled his shoes off as well before taking a seat on the couch to wait for me.

I ran into the bedroom and pulled open the top drawer of my dressed. What was I going to put on? All of my pajamas were so not sexy. Finally I settled on a pair of fuzzy black pajama bottoms and a green tank top. Next I headed into the bathroom to brush my teeth vigorously and run a comb through my hair. I splashed some cold water on my face and rubbed my cold wet hands over my neck to hoping to soothe my nerves.

After I was in control of myself and came out of the bathroom and headed into the living room. He was sitting on the couch like a statue. His hands resting at his side with his knees pressed tightly together. I wondered if that was a vampire thing or if he was just nervous and a smile crossed my face.

I walked over to him and promptly sat down on his lap, wrapping my arms about his neck. His arms slipped around my waist, his wrists resting against my hip and his eyes instantly locked on mine. A mischievously happy smile on his face. “So…” I began casually, “I have been thinking about it this past week and I have a few questions about being a vampire? If you don’t mind, that is.” I fluttered my eyelashes slightly and gave him the sweetest smile I possibly could.

His lips split into a wide grin that he failed at hiding and he laughed out loud. “Like what, exactly?” He said with amused curiosity.

“Well, “I started, keeping the same tone of casual curiosity in my voice, “Let me just recap for a second if you don’t mind. Because I’m thinking… Hollywood got you ALL wrong.“ He would have doubled over in laughter if I hadn’t been sitting on his lap. I waited patiently, a grin on my face, until he quieted down.

When he was in control of himself finally, he looked at me once more and waited politely for me to continue. “Creepy but awesome eyes. Super strong and fast. You usually drink animal blood, but once every so often you are compelled to drink human blood by a force you cannot stop. Your skin is….weird.” It was the only word I could think of to describe his skin. “Weird but beautiful none the less. And you don’t sleep. This is about the extent of my knowledge. So what else is there? Let’s start with something simple. You have a lovely smile, Jasper but I would hardly call any of your teeth, fangs. They seem slightly more pointed than most, but not fangs by any means. Where are the fangs?” I tilted my head and stared at his mouth with mild curiosity for a moment.

Jasper did an excellent job of trying not to laugh through the entire question. He cleared his throat to stifle a laugh now, “Well, unlike hollywood would like you to believe, our fangs only come out when we are feeding, and we cannot make them come out at will. It’s an instinctual thing and all that happens is our incisors descend about a half inch or so.” He flashed me a pearly white smile and asked, “Does that answer your question?”

I pondered what he’d said for a moment before nodding, “Yes, it does. Now how about your eyes, do all vampires have eyes like yours?” I peered into the depths of the Ameythst Sea and melted at what I saw there.

He smiled a little softer and nodded, “Yes, we all have the violet eyes. We do not all have the same shade of violet, however. Some are lighter, more muted like the colour of a lilac. Some are darker, like pools of raven hued black. Mine happen to be a very vibrant colour.”

“Amethyst.” I interrupted him. “I always thought your eyes look like Amethyst.” And I could live in those Amethyst Seas forever. I thought to myself.

The corner of his lip twitched knowingly, “Mine tend to be more vibrant than others. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know. Most vampire’s eyes tend to be better able to blend in, they’re close enough to other normal colours that unless humans were to sit there and stare into them for a while, they’d never really notice the different. Many scientists have passed it off as the Violet Eye theory. Elizabeth Taylor was famous for her violet eyes, she was actually a vampire. I’ve never met another vampire with eyes quite as bright as mine, though.”

“Ok. How do you do that? You knew what I was thinking just a second ago, didn’t you? What is that all about?” I eyed him with playful suspiciousness.

He chuckled at me again, “It’s not quite like that. I don’t know exactly what you thought, it’s more like I know what that particular topic made you… feel. I can sense your emotions. I can tell when you’re sad, happy or angry at me and when you’re… wanting to tear my clothes off.” He said with a seductive but playful wink.

I blushed at that and buried my face in his neck. That was incredibly embarrassing but at least he didn’t know what I was thinking. After a few minutes I looked sheepishly into his smiling eyes, “Can all vampire’s sense emotions?”

He gave his head a slight shake, “No. Some vampires can do other things though, some can read minds, some can control one or more of the elements, some can fly, some can shape-shift. Really we can do all sorts of things. From my understanding it is generally believed that whatever abilities a vampire has, they had some sort of talent for in their human life. I, as a human, was likely very sensitive to the emotions of the people around me. Now I am able to feel them very clearly and while some other vampires might be able to manipulate or control the emotions of people, I can only feel them as they are.” His lips twitched downward with this last admonishment and I got the idea that he has felt a lot of pain over the years. I decided to change the subject.

Grabbing his hand and bringing it directly below my eyes, I studied the back of it very carefully as I said, “What’s with the skin thing? Why do you glow? Do all vampires glow?” I dropped his hand and smiled at him.

He shot me a half-grin and I was stunned for a moment before chuckled, “Maybe we should save some questions for tomorrow. We have all the time in the world, honey and I’m happy to answer them all. But you, angel, need to get some sleep.” With that he slipped a hand around my neck and pulled me into him, pressing his warm lips against mine for a few moments before pulling back, “So I should be going.”

I gasped at the thought of him leaving and wrapped my arms tighter around his neck. I pouted at him playfully, “No, you can’t go. Stay with me, please? At least… until I fall asleep?”

He grinned and slid one leg under my knees and the other around my back. He stood up, carrying me easily with him. His Texan accent was thick and rough as he spoke, “A gentleman never says no to a lady so if you want me too, Ma’am I will stay forever.” He carried me into the bedroom and laid me down on the bed, hopping gracefully over top of me and landing on the other side of the bed. He turned onto his side and slid his arm around my waist, tugging me against him. I turned into his body, curling into the warmth he was radiating, “Mmm, why are you so warm?” I murmured against his chest, “You radiate heat like my own personal sun or something.” I nuzzled my face into his chest, brushing my lips against the hot skin.

He chuckled at this and slipped down the bed a little further, pulling me closer against his warm body, his arm moving to wrap around my shoulders. “Hey I thought we said no more questions tonight.” He placed a soft kiss against my forehead, “I promise, it’s a hell of a story and I will tell you tomorrow.” He whispered softly while his hand idly stroked the length of my arm.

I kissed my way up his shoulder before pulling back to look at his face and smile mischievously, “Ok. I won’t ask questions then.” With that Ieaned in and pressed my mouth softly to his.

His lips parted in response and he grinned against the kiss. A playful growl rumbled in his throat as he pulled me tighter into him, kissing me harder. I nestled my body against hips and ran my fingers slowly up his ribcage, fumbling with the buttons of his shirt as we kissed heatedly.

He ran his fingers slowly down the back of my arms, winding their way to my wrists. His grip tightened around my wrists and he slowly pushed me off of him. “Amelia, wait.” He whispered. “There’s some things you have to know. Before… before we can do that. ”

I pulled back to look at him and swallowed, “Like what?” I tugged my hands downward and he let them slide out of his grip. I sat up on the bed and absentmindedly rub my wrists where he’d been holding me as I listened to him.

His face twisted with indecision, “It’s… well the most pressing reason is because. You can get pregnant and birth control doesn’t seem to be effective against vampire seed. But there is more to it than just that.” he gulped nervously, “I grew up in a time where sex meant more than it does today. I do understand that you were raised differently than I am but to me sex is meant for the one person that you are going to spend your life with, in my case that life is an eternity. I won’t have sex with someone who… isn’t my wife. I may damned to this earth until the end of time but if there is the slightest chance I have a soul, I will do what I can to protect it, to ask whatever Divine Being to forgive me for what I am.” His voice choked up slightly toward the end and he smile weakly at me.

I looked into his face and reached out to stroke his cheek tenderly, “No Being that ever denied you forgiveness just for being what you are, can ever be considered Divine. And if you would like to know something….I’ve never actually had sex. But not because I’m concerned for my soul, just because I haven’t found a person I’ve wanted to have sex with yet. I’ve never felt enough of a connection to a guy to want to have sex with him. I don’t care about sex before marriage but I do agree that sex is something intimate and should be saved for a special person.”

A look of mild surprise covered Jaspers face when he realized what I’d just said. He was special to me. “So, you’re ok with that? That’s not a…. a deal breaker for you?”

I chuckled in amusement “Why would it be a deal breaker for me? I want to get married to someone, some day. If that someone turns out to be you, great. I’m willing to wait and see if that’s what you want.”

He nodded and then remembered that was only addressing the one issue. “What about the other thing?” He asked, “What about the pregnancy thing?”

I opened my mouth to answer and my chin trembled. That part scared the crap out of me, I didn’t want to think about that part right now, so I just said, “Well… we have time to discuss it, don’t we? After all, we aren’t getting married tomorrow.” I smiled and gave him a soft kiss on the lips before snuggling down into his shoulder and closing my eyes, “I’m tired just now, though. Good night, Jasper”

“Goodnight, Amelia” he whispered. I drifted off to sleep with Jasper tracing lazy designs on my arm.

The next morning I woke up to the sounds and smells of sizzling bacon and fresh brewed coffee coming from the kitchen. I sat up groggily, looking around small bedroom to be sure I was alone. I opened the door to the kitchen just a crack to see what Jasper was doing and when I was sure he wasn’t looking, I quickly sprinted around the corner into the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my hair.

When I came out of the bathroom Jasper was standing beside the table, one hand resting on the small of his back and the other holding the chair out for me. The table had a plate piled with food, a steaming cup of coffee and a tall vase with two roses in it. “Good Morning, Ma’am. I’ve made you breakfast.” His smooth voice always gave me chills when he called me Ma’am.

I sat down in the chair as he pushed it beneath me and breathed in the array of food. He’d piled my plate with cheesy scrambled eggs, hot toast and thick slices of bacon. There was a wicker basket sitting on the counter as well. I realized I was starving and began to shovel it in, stopping only to speak, “Wow this is incredible, Jasper!”

He smiled and watched me as I ate, his chin resting on his hand. When I was finished I stood up and grabbed my plate to wash it. Jasper was over to me in a flash, he grabbed the plate from my hand, “Let me do that, you go get dressed. We’re going hiking.” He smiled at me and pushed me gently towards the bedroom. I looked outside at the weather and selected a pair of dark blue jeans, a thick, black long sleeved shirt, a light jacket and my hiking boots with thick socks on. It looked like it was chilly outside.

Jasper and I headed out to the west side of town. We crossed a small foot bridge that went over the creek and headed into the forest with Jasper leading the way. I didn’t hike so much on this side of the creek and I wondered briefly where he was taking me. We headed up a trail I didn’t recognize, but I wasn’t paying much attention, I was simply following Jasper and thinking about some of the questions I had for him.

“Jasper,” I said suddenly and he glanced over his shoulder at me, one eyebrow raising in question. “How old are you?” I asked curiously.

He smiled as he took my hand, helping me to climb over a fallen tree, “I was made a vampire when I was 23 years old.”

“What year were you made a vampire?” I asked quickly, not wanting to give him a chance to change the subject. I really wanted to know how old he was.

Half of his mouth turned up in a grin, “I was made a vampire in 1854. I was a first lieutenant of the Regiment of Mounted Rifles during the Mexican-American war. “

On October 1, I was leading 60 of my men from Fort Inge, Texas toward the Diablo Mountains along the Rio Grande, Mexican border. Our pursuit was to investigate the claims of livestock stolen by Apache warriors. On the third day out, just as we were reaching the base of the mountains, we encountered well over 200 of the Apache’s with a herd of various captured farm animals. We came upon them over a hilltop from the east, they were resting by the river while the farm animals grazed on some of the grasses. They had their backs to us and knowing I had only moments to decide before they noticed us, I ordered my men to attack immediately.

We took the Apaches by surprise, cutting down 50 of them before they had time to even grab the arrows from the quivers on their backs. They fought back valiantly, managing to kill about 10 of my men but our horses and guns were much faster than their feet and arrows and we managed to kill another 50 before they fled. Some of my men grew angry with me for not going after them, we could capture them easily. But I saw no point in that, we had won the battle and there was only cruelty to be found in kicking your enemy while he is down. By this time it was twilight, so we made camp for the night, intent on returning the livestock to their rightful owners in the morning. That night a few of my men decided they didn’t like my attitude toward freeing the natives, but I was not going to be responsible for a massacre. It is one thing to kill in battle for a purpose, a reason. It is another thing entirely, to needlessly slaughter an enemy who is fleeing. That was murder without a reason or a purpose.” His voice broke sadly, “I trusted those men with my life. Six of them came into my tent that night and gagged me and tied me up. They took me far enough off the trail, into the desert that my men wouldn’t find me when they searched. They set me down on the ground and began to take turns kicking me in the ribs, the face, everywhere. They crushed my ribs, punctured my lungs and my nose was broken and bleeding. Then they left me for dead.” Jasper blinked away the moisture building in his eyes. “Warren found me…”

He’d said he’d been hunting the desert for coyotes when the scent of blood from the earlier battle had distracted him. When he’d stopped on the top of nearby hill to survey the campsite and my men below, he caught another scent of blood, much fresher than the last. He followed it till he found me. He realized from my uniform that my rank meant I had probably been the one leading the small army of men he’d just seen.

Kneeling in the sand beside me he unbound my arms and legs, and removed the gag from my mouth. Reaching for the canteen strapped to his waist, he rested my head on his backpack and tilted his canteen to my lips, “There, there, drink now.” He said calmly.

I drank slowly but gratefully. I had been laying in the desert, screaming into my gag for what felt like hours and my throat was as dry as the sand surrounding me. When I was finished he put the canteen away and looked at me curiously, “What happened to you, Lieutenant?”

My throat still felt dry and scratchy and came out in a hoarse whisper, “Mutiny.” I said simply, “For letting the natives go.” Warren nodded slowly and looked off into the distance, as if he were recalling the images of the battle before his eyes. I studied him while he sat, pondering. He was around the same age as I was with smooth skin, having not yet grown in a beard. His skin had a slightly darker tone to it, like he had spent many hours in the sun, tanning but yet it still seemed oddly pale. His eyes were so dark in colour that they looked almost black. His raven hair was long enough to reach the middle of his back and he wore it tied back at the base of his skull with a leather strap. On his arm he had some strange, tribal tattooing. I would have thought he was one of the Natives if it weren’t for what he was wearing. It was a plain black shirt that buttoned in the front and looked like the sleeves had been torn off and a pair of basic black trousers and matching shoes. I found it an odd outfit but the way his skin glowed in the moonlight made him look like an angel and I wasn’t going to question an angel.

Warren rested his chin on his fist and looked down at me, “I can save you.” He said simply, “but it comes with consequences that I don’t have the time to explain to you because you are about to die. I don’t know how but I can sense there is something special about you, and this existence I have can be lonely. If you are willing to trust me, befriend me and travel with me, for a while at least... Then I can save your life. But you have to choose now, knowing only this.”

He looked at me expectantly and I swallowed hard. A hoarse voice rose from my throat, “Yes. Save me.” Whatever the consequences, it had to be better than death, right?

Jasper had slowed to a stop just before he finished his story and turned to face me. “Warren turned me into a vampire that night and I travelled with him for a while as my brother.”

I stopped in front of him, breathing heavily from the hike. “Where is he now?” I asked him curiously and he chuckled.

“Such curiosity! He still lives back in Texas. I left him to see what I could make of my life on my own. I still talk to him regularly, he is my brother, my family and he always will be. There is no one I would trust more than him, except perhaps you.” He reached out, taking my hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze, “Now close your eyes. We’re here.” I blinked and looked around, not seeing anything familiar in the forest around me. I gave him a puzzled look and he laughed, “Close them!”

I sigh in playful exasperation and closed my eyes. Jasper slid one arm around my shoulder, placing his free hand over my eyes and he and guided me forward. After a few moment we stepped out of the trees and he dropped his hand. I opened my eyes and my jaw hit the ground.

“H-How… How did you….” I gasped out in shock. There it was spread out before me exactly like I remembered, exactly like I dreamed it was. The huge weeping willows branches brushing the grass, the big flat boulder against the willow that was perfect for sitting on and the field of waving bluebells with patches of sunlight poking through the clouds to illuminate the beautiful glade.

Jasper chuckled as I ran into the middle of the field, standing in a beam of sunlight and throwing my arms wide open to soak in the sun’s rays. “I have been searching every time I go out hunting since you told me about it” he said as he moved towards me, carefully avoiding the shafts of sunlight. I noticed the odd behaviour and made a mental note to ask him about it later.

I flashed him a wicked grin, “Race you!” I said and dashed off instantly towards the rock. Jasper won the hundred meter dash easily and when I got there he was already standing on top of the boulder extending his hand to help me up. I took it graciously and he lifted me onto the rock. He sat down with his back against the willow tree and pulled me down into his lap. “Wow, you are faster than I realized.” I breathed softly.

He grinned in amusement, “That was nothing. “

Chapter 4

There lies in the centre of each man’s heart

A longing and love for the good and pure;

And if but an atom, or larger part,

I tell you this shall endure - endure --

After the body has gone to decay --

Yea, after the world has passed away.

The longer I live and the more I see

Of the struggle of souls toward the heights above,

The stronger this truth comes home to me:

That the Universe rests on the shoulders of love;

A love so limitless, deep, and broad,

That men have renamed it and called it - God.

And nothing that ever was born or evolved,

Nothing created by light or force,

But deep in its system there lies dissolved

A shining drop from the Great Love Source;

A shining drop that shall live for aye --

Though kingdoms may perish and stars decay.

I finished reading the poem to Jasper. I’d grabbed the book of poems off my shelf that morning and tossed it in the picnic basket. I always liked to have a book with me, just in case I needed something to stave off boredom while I was out and about. I didn’t think for a second that Jasper could ever bore me but it was just a habit. Jasper has discovered the book and asked me to read a few of my favourite poems to him while he unpacked the picnic basket for our lunch. Well my lunch mostly, he only nibbled on a few grapes and a piece of cheese. This particular one was titled Deathless and it was my favourite poem I had ever read, by any poet.

Jasper was laying on his side on the blanket he’d laid out for out picnic and I was sitting beside him, the book in my lap. Reading through the poem again, a sudden question popped into my head. “Jasper, can vampires ever die?” I asked curiously. His eyes widened in mild surprise at the question and the corner of his mouth turned up into a heart stopping half grin.

“Yes, we can. But the only things that can kill us are other vampires. The only thing strong enough to get through our skin is another vampire’s fingernails or teeth. Because of that we try…” he emphasized this last word and paused for a brief second, “to remain civil amongst ourselves. If we cannot solve a disagreement amongst ourselves in a civil matter, Asael will solve it for us.” He shifted to a more upright position and entwined his fingers with mine.

I leaned against his shoulder and pressed a brief kiss against his neck. “Who is Asael?” I asked my voice laden with curiosity.

Jasper laughed and pulled me into his lap, he nuzzled his face against my neck and murmured, “I suppose, I promised you the story today didn’t I?” he was asking himself more than me. “Alright. Asael is the one who makes and enforces our rules, he is essentially our King. We really only have two rules. Our numbers are few and we must protect the vampires we do have. Without extremely good reason, killing another vampire will earn you the sentence of creating two more to replace the one that was stolen.”

“What’s so bad about that?” I interrupted him.

“Well,” he began patiently, “When you create another vampire a bond is formed between the two vampires that cannot be easily broken for the bond is deep, much like the bond of parent and child or a husband and wife. As you can imagine, because of that, we tend to be very careful about whom we bond ourselves too in that manner. It’s not to be taken lightly at all. This becomes a punishment when, Asael chooses the humans you are forced to bond to and you have no say in the matter.”

“And the other rule?” I asked when he’d finished his explanation. I had more questions but I wanted to hear about Asael first.

“The other rule is quite obvious. We must keep our existence a secret from the humans. Asael works to enforce that, if a vampire gets a little overzealous with his desire to feed on humans or has allowed a human to see whatever gifts they might possess. Asael will be sure to destroy that vampire. Do not get me wrong, he is not a tyrant. He rules us fairly and justly, he will listen to your explanation and has been known to grant mercy for those who truly did not understand the error of their ways. But he can also be ruthless if need be. I have never met him myself but I have heard stories that he has ripped the top of a vampire’s skull, right off his lower jaw. Even I would not be able to do such a thing but the older the vampire, the stronger they get and Asael it is said is 5000 years old and the first of our kind. All we know about where we come from was told to us by him.”

“Where you come from?” I asked in confusion.

Jasper nodded, “The ironic part about the story of our origins is that almost every human on the planet already knows the story. They just don’t realize that it’s talking about vampires.” He smiled and shook his head in amusement before continuing, “You know the story about Lucifer. He was said to be the most beautiful angel in the heavens but he grew angry with God for giving the humans free will and adoring them as his greatest creation. Lucifer envied the humans for God’s unconditional love and led a small army of 200 angels to rebel against God. The angels were cast from heaven and sent to live on earth until the Armageddon when they would be tried and judged for their crimes.”

Two of these fallen angels, Lillith and Nilaiha, chose to rebel against God even further. They found two brothers named Cain and Abel and seduced them into marriage. Nilaiha became pregnant with Abel’s child shortly after their wedding and she gave birth to a child of unimaginable beauty. She became pregnant with a second child within a few short months.

Cain became jealous of his brother’s growing family. Try as he might, he could not seem to get Lillith pregnant. She became angry with Cain for this and blamed his brother, saying Abel had put a curse on Cain in order to increase his own family, effectively stealing Cain’s potency. She told Cain that the only way to get his seed back from his brother was to kill his children while they slept and then to cut off his brothers head and drink his blood.

When God saw what Cain had done, he branded him a murderer and decreed that Cain would be forced to walk the earth for the remainder of his life with nothing but an unquenchable thirst for human blood and all of his descendants would bear the same mark.

A short while later, Lillith finally became pregnant and gave birth to a boy even more beautiful than his cousins had been. This boy was different though, being half angel and bearing the Mark of Cain. He had the appearance, strength, speed and immortality of the angels and the insatiable lust for human blood of his father. His name was Asael.

“Now of course we don’t know how accurate this story is as no one else was around to attest to this at the time.” Jasper added to the end of his story. “For a while the first vampires were born, as humans were but from the seed of a vampire. At some point we discovered the ability to create new vampires by willingly feeding someone our own blood. There are just as many born vampires as there are created vampires and the only difference between any of us is that created vampires are much more likely to be sterile and only able to breed by blood, and born vampires tend to be more likely to possess a special talent, though cases of the reverse are not considerably rare. ” Jasper grinned and smiled at me knowingly.

“So, vampires can be born. And… birth control is ineffective?” I asked cautiously.

Jasper nodded.

“And you’re a created vampire who has never had sex, so you don’t know if…?” I trailed off.

Jasper nodded again.

“And I could end up being a mother to a vampire.”

Jasper took a deep sigh, “That is correct. But there is more to it. Mothers who bear vampire children have a much higher rate of the mother’s death, due to the breaking of bones from the inhuman strength of the vampire child.”

I gulped. This was going to be difficult. “And how exactly is a vampire created? Does someone have to be dying?” I asked carefully.

Jasper eyed me tentatively, “No, that was just me. Someone simply has to drink the blood of a vampire that was offered up willingly to establish the bond. The vampire blood will fill your body, taking control, making you very sleepy, eventually once the blood reaches your heart, it will stop and when you wake, you will be a vampire, the undead and never have a need to sleep again.”

“So you were born of angels… Is that why your skin glows and you are as warm as the sunlight?” I tilted my head curiously.

Jasper grinned and lifted me off his lap, leaping to his feet and jogging out into the field and stopping beside a shaft of sunlight coming from the clouds, “Yes and no. Most vampires, being undead are actually ice cold. I am different in that regard and I honestly have no idea why, like any other vampire my heart doesn’t beat but I am still warmer than most humans. Also our skin doesn’t exactly glow. This is why vampires stay out of the sunlight, we’d be noticed immediately.” He rolled up his sleeves and took a step to the left.

The air whooshed from lungs and I forgot to breathe. I had never seen anything more stunningly, beautiful in my entire life. His pale arms and face shimmered with a rainbow of colours, like a prism of dancing flames across his skin.

He looked at the ground sheepishly when he’d noticed I’d stopped breathing, “Asael says it’s the skin of the angels, it’s why they were so beautiful, they shimmered with and travelled around on rainbows, God’s favourite palette.” He stepped out of the light and came over to sit down beside me.

I loudly sucked in a big gasp of air, finally remembering to breathe, “You are beyond stunning.” I said in a hushed tone.

Jasper frowned at my compliment, “Yes, because I really need one more thing to seduce you with. I’m not dangerous enough as it is. I may be descended from angels but remember they are fallen angels. My soul is damned to this earth for eternity. There is no heaven for me anymore. I am only allowed to wear the skin of the angels to remind me of what I shall never possess. Peace.” His voice was rough and tinged with pain and longing.

“You are not damned for eternity. Even the stories say you are damned only until judgement day. That means on that day, God will look at your soul and what you’ve done with your time on earth and he will judge you then. If God intended to send you to hell anyways he would have just sent the angels straight there. But He gave you the earth and very long time to make amends, to prove to Him they are worthy of heaven, worthy of forgiveness.” I reached up to caress his cheek slowly, “And no God could ever look into the soul of someone like you and not forgive you. Your nature is not your fault.”

He smiled softly at me then, “There is no absolution for a demon such as me. There is only torture and agony that awaits me. This…being trapped here like this, is a far worse punishment than Hell ever could be. I will walk like this forever, never changing. Watching the humans around me live the life I never had the chance to. Falling in love, getting married, having children and growing old with someone, sitting on a porch swing somewhere surrounded by the innocent faces of their grandchildren. The worst part of it is that I can feel it, I can feel everything they feel, the love, the happiness, the devotion and I know that I will never be lucky enough to…” He ran his thumb slowly across my cheek, “Keep such a treasure.” His gave me a weak, pained half smile.

I shook my head vigorously at him, “Don’t say that. You can keep me, forever and be happy with me. I’m not going anywhere.”

A look of pain crossed Jasper’s face, “Amelia, you are human. Unlike a vampire you grow and change. In a few years when you are older and I still look the same age, you won’t want me anymore and when you have found someone to marry and have a family with you will forget I even existed and someday you will grow old with that person and eventually, you will die but you will go heaven having lived a long and happy life. On that day, whatever is left of my soul will also die and I will be forced to remain here living out eternity, without you and that will be my Hell.”

My eyes filled with tears and I wiped them angrily away, “I will never forget about you, Jasper. I will never, not want you. If Heaven is a place without you there, then it’s not a place I ever want to go. I would rather spend eternity on this earth with you. That is my idea of Heaven.”

Jasper stared at me in bewilderment for a moment. Quickly he changed the subject, “We should go. Come on, I’ll show you my cabin if you like.” I took the hand he then offered to me and stood up. Instead of letting my hand go, he gripped it tighter and swung, me around up onto his back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He took off in a flash, dashing through the trees expertly. I closed my eyes against the trees rushing towards me and squeaked in fright.

Chapter

Jasper’s cabin was breathtaking. It was two stories of smooth pebbles and polished logs around the trim. There was a log porch on the front of the building with an awning overtop of it and a porch swing. A stone path lined with bushes of crimson flowers, led the way to the trail. He opened the door and led me into the living room. A fire flickered in the stone fireplace on the far wall and candles surrounded the entire room, the wax dripping down the tapers and onto the shelves holding them up. The walls were painted a light sand colour and the floors were a dark hardwood. In front of the fireplace was a large red carpet that look thick and luscious, like you could sink into it. The large light brown couch had a red blanket draped in the centre.

He took me on a tour of the rest of the house, his bathroom had a large round marble tub in the corner. At the end of the hall there was a small kitchen with wooden counters and a bedroom with a huge bed draped in crimson and every wall was lined with shelf after shelf of books. There were two spare rooms upstairs but he didn’t take me up there.

He led me back to the large brown couch and sat down in the corner, his arms opening to welcome me onto his lap. I sat down and he grabbed the red blanket off the back of the couch and covered us both.

“You have a beautiful cabin. I can’t believe it was out here all this time.” I said wonderously.

He laughed softly, “It wasn’t. I purchased the land and built it myself in about 3 days.”

“Jasper, that’s incredible!” I exclaimed, “This is just…wow….” I trailed off, clearly impressed.

“I am glad you like it. Perhaps one day you and I could live out here together.” he wondered aloud.

“Jasper,” I said seriously. He tilted his head to listen, “Why do vampires kill? I mean like, how much do you absolutely need to feed on a human? Can you stop once you’ve started?”

Jasper’s mouth twitched as he tried not to laugh. “As a matter of fact, we can stop. In all reality vampires only need a few swallows of blood every couple of days to remain perfectly healthy and strong. We kill our victims because…well… we can’t have people walking around telling other people that they got bit by a vampire.” He laughed then. “Is there a particular reason you had such a question burning in your mind?” he asked me smoothly.

“I was just curious if you’d ever had the desire to bite me is all.” I replied innocently.

His mouth turned up in a wicked grin, “Oh believe me the desire has very much been there. I have simply learned to control my urges. For vampires, when they bite each other as lovers do, it tends to get a little more intimate first. And that is something you and I can never do.”

Did he say never? Does that mean he doesn’t intend to turn me into a vampire? But, I didn’t want to grow old without him, I didn’t want to live any sort of afterlife without him. I wanted till the end of time with him.

He winced as he felt the wave of pain that had washed over me with this realization. “Amelia, no…” he whispered. “You don’t want this life. You don’t want to be a monster. You don’t… You don’t understand, you can’t…”

“Can’t what?” I demanded, “Help me to understand.”

“You’ll hate me.” His voice came in a shallow whisper.

I swallowed and took a deep bready, I forced my blood to slow, “Try me.” I said sternly.

A flicker of a grin crossed his lips, “The worst part of it, the absolute worst part of all of it, is that I like it. I like being a monster. I like having the power to kill people and the restraint not to do so. I like feeding on humans, with or without their consent. I truly like being a vampire.” A smile formed on his lips as he said this last thing, in another instant his face screwed up into a look of disgust, “And I hate myself for liking it.” He spat out.

I reached out and cupped his cheek, “No, you shouldn’t,” I was shaking my head, “You shouldn’t hate yourself for liking it. That’s just who you are, it is your nature. People cannot help what sort of things they are attracted to. We’re like magnets, only we’ve got a lot more poles that just north and south.”

He smiled then, “And just what are you attracted to, Miss Amelia?” he asked in a seductively silky voice. He flashed me a grin and his pointed teeth glittered. My breath caught in my throat and my stomach twisted in knots.

I licked my lips nervously and swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat, “Well right this second, Sir, I am attracted to you.” I leaned in and kissed him deeply.

His hands slid up my thighs to rest on the sides of my hips as he kissed me back. I moved till I was straddling his hips now. I kissed him again harder, more passionately, he returned it for a few moments before trailing his kisses down my jawline and the side of my neck. I could feel his pointed teeth grazing against the soft flesh of my neck. I moaned softly before he sought out my mouth again with his own. I pressed against him more urgently now, my fingers raking over his shirt, searching for buttons.

A low growl issued from his throat as his lips grew hard against mine, “You sure do love to test my self-control, woman.” He accused.

I pulled back and looked into his eyes, fighting to slow my pulse back to a normal speed. “No, I am simply failing at my own attempts of self-control.” I managed to respond weakly.

“It’s getting late, you need to sleep. Shall we move to the bedroom?” He asked me politely.

I shook my head and cuddled up to him again, leaning against his chest, “I’m comfy right here.” I said and I closed my eyes. Jasper chuckled and pulled the red blanket up higher, tucking it around my chin and wrapping his arms around my torso, holding my tightly while I slept.

Chapter

It was the next morning and Jasper and I had run into town that morning for breakfast, as he kept no human food in the house and I was complaining of starvation.

When we walked into the Diner, Jo was standing behind the counter having herself a coffee so we went and sat down by her. “Morning Jo!” I said before hopping over the counter and giving her a big hug.

“Well, good morning, Amelia! Jasper, a pleasure.” She shot Jasper a smile.

“I promise you, the pleasure is all mine Ma’am.” Jasper replied in his most charming Texas drawl and flashed her a pearly smile.

“Awe, aren’t you a sweet one! Here, a sweet for the sweet.” She handed him a cookie I knew would have just come out of the oven and grabbed two cups and filled them with coffee for bother of us. “And some coffee to dunk it in.”

Jasper inhaled deeply, “Ooo! My deepest thank you, Ma’am. This smells divine.” That voice still made my stomach turn in knots. He took a large bite and chewed slowly, mmming and ahhing at all the right moments. “This is incredible, Jo. Best cookies I’ve ever tasted.” Jo chuckled and reached over the counter and pinched his cheek before heading back to the kitchen, she had orders up.

Julia, the girl who filled in on my days off, came over to take our order. As she headed back to the kitchen I turned to Jasper, “You are a very good, actor.” I said teasingly.

He laughed at this, “It really does taste delicious to me, Amelia I just have a stronger like for blood and so it holds little regular appeal to me.”

I was about to counter with a follow up when we overheard the table in the corner. It was Newf. “Did you hear about that poor, Samantha Collins?” he asked the guys at the table.

“No! What happened? I figured she be on her honeymoon by now with that Martens boy.” replied Ken.

“No. Apparently just after the wedding ceremony they all went to have some photo’s done up on the cliff to the north, the one that looked over the entire town?” The others nodded, they knew the cliff.

“They were standing too close to the edge and the rock gave way beneath her feet. They say she died the second she hit the ground.” He continued. The men at the table all began to shake their head sadly.

“So sad!” said Ken

“Terrible tragedy…” said Clayton

“That poor girl… and on her wedding day no less!” said Lawrence.

The murmurs of sympathy continued around the table. I looked over to see Jasper clapping his hand over his mouth, his face screwed up oddly. I realized he was trying not laugh. My eyes opened wide and my mouth dropped in horror. I couldn’t believe he found this FUNNY!

He saw the look of atrociousness on my face and began to shake his head, “I…told you… not to sit… on that cliff…” he choked out between laughs. I blinked as what he said took me by surprise. A smile creeped across my face and I began to giggle uncontrollably at how completely funny it all was.

We were on our way back, just walking up the end of the trail where it split off at the path to head down to Jasper’s cabin. As soon as we turned off onto the path, Jasper stopped immediately. His body tensed and he began to sniff the air, his mouth peeling back in a snarl that was cut short by a man stepping off the front porch of the shady deck and into the light.

“Warren.” Jasper whispered in surprised. He dropped my hand immediately and rushed to the strange man, giving him a big brotherly hug and clapping him on the back. “Brother! What are you doing here?”

Warren hugged back briefly. A worried look crossed his face as his eyes found me and locked onto the flush of human blood in my cheeks. “I was worried about you.” He said seriously.

“We both were.” said a melodic voice coming from the porch. My eyes followed the voice to the woman slowly walking down the front steps. She was remarkably beautiful. Her shiny hair was chestnut brown and fell in waves to brush the tops of her hips. Her plump lips were a soft pink colour and set in a sensuous half-smile. She had a long thing nose that suited her oval face and her eyebrows formed a perfect arch above her almond-shaped, lavender eyes. Nothing on this woman, not even her snow-white skin seemed remotely out of place.

“Solen. It’s good to see you again.” Jasper smile warmly at the woman. He turned towards me and placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me forward toward his friends. I gulped nervously and Jasper turned to address me. His gentle smile made my knees go weak and a sudden calmness flowed over me, as long as I was with him everything would be ok, “Amelia, this is my family. My brother, Warren and his wife Solen.” He gestured to each as he said their names then turned to address them, “This is Amelia and you have nothing to be concerned about. My life is wonderful.”

Solen hissed softly and narrowed her eyes at me, “What are you thinking, Jasper?! She’s human!”

“I know what she is,” Jasper responded threateningly.

Warren stood between the two of them, holding his hands out in peace, “Come now, Jasper.” He said wisely, “Surely you must intend to create her new again at some point. If Asael found out she knows about us he would kill the both of you. Humans are not permitted to know. Ever.” A stern and commanding look overcame his face.

“You know how she feels about you,” Warren gave Jasper a curious look, “You would torture her like that, when she wants so badly to be one of us?”

“I won’t condemn her to hell along with the rest of us. I can’t do it, I can’t take her life, I wont.” Jasper growled in agony.

Warren shot Jasper a quizzical glance, “You have always had a knack for believing yourself a demon. You continually forget that you are birthed from angels, my brother.” Warren clasped a large hand on his shoulder.

“Birthed from angels or not, I am damned the same as you. I am an evil monster who enjoys feeding on humans. I will not allow her to be damned as well.” Jasper spat out.

A hard stern look overtook Warren’s face, “Jasper” he said seriously, “You are choosing to not see reason. You hold too much regard for human life and not enough for your own. She wants to be a vampire. She wants to spend eternity bonded to you. I really think such a decision is hers to make and not yours. It is your choice to give her your blood and solidify the bond between the two of you, but if you don’t make her a vampire, she will find someone else who will. Should she ask, I would be more than happy to oblige,” Warren gave me a meaningful look, “she is clearly very special, though I doubt you can see that like I can. You deserve to be happy, my brother and clearly she has found her happiness with you and is willing to make the required sacrifices to keep you. Don’t throw that depth of love and devotion back in her face.”

“At least think about it, Jasper” Solen’s sing-song voice rang out, “You are putting her in danger by keeping her a human, you know that.” Solen moved off the step now and came towards me. Jasper stepped in front of me threateningly. Solen laughed out loud and patted his shoulder as she pushed him off to the side, “I’m not going to hurt her, brother.” She turned to address me, her hand extended in friendship. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Amelia. I’m very sorry you had to witness that, we’ve just been so concerned for Jasper and don’t want to see either of you get hurt.”

I took the offered hand and shook it, “Thank you. It’s nice to meet you too.” I turned to address Warren, “What do you mean I’m special?” I asked him curiously, my nerves having finally begun to calm down.

“Like Jasper, I too possess a gift. I can see into your head, reading your mind. What I can see there tells me that you are different. What gifts we may or may not possess as vampires,” he began to explain, “Are something we usually had a latent talent for as a human. I don’t know what talent you have yet, my dear but I can sense there is something special about you, you will make an extraordinary vampire. The same way I knew Jasper would make an extraordinary vampire when I met him as well.”

Jasper scoffed at this, “I am hardly extraordinary, Warren.” He muttered.

Warren rolled his eyes at this and ignored Jasper, turning back to me, “He doesn’t give himself enough credit.” Warren flashed me a handsome grin and I nodded in agreement.

“I agree entirely. That’s alright though, it might take him some time but he’ll get there. He’ll understand how I feel about him, someday.” I said reassuringly.

Warren smiled at this and nodded, “I am sure he will. I am curious though, how did you discover he was a vampire?” he asked curiously.

I looked away sheepishly, “I smashed a pot of hot coffee against his face and it didn’t even leave a mark.” I fixed my eyes on the ground as an embarrassed blush rose to my cheeks.

Warren and Solen both burst into peals of laughter, “Oh I would have loved to have seen that!” Warren guffawed.

Jasper grumbled and crossed his arms, “I’d rather not repeat that, thank you.”

Warren clasped him on the shoulder again, “You, my friend, are awfully cranky today.” He turned to address me, “Would you mind if we borrowed him from you for a while? We’re starving after such a journey and he looks like he could use a drink too.” He looked me up and down thoughtfully for a moment, “Unless you prefer to provide his meals for him?” he inquired playfully.

Jasper growled at this suggestion and grabbed Warrens arm, “Let’s go.” He said darkly, clearly he wanted that line of questioning to stop. He turned back to me for a moment and leaned down, brushing his lips quickly against mine and said, “We’ll be back in a couple of hours, make yourself at home. I’ve stocked the kitchen for you if you get hungry.” He stroked my cheek softly and then disappeared in a flash out the door, leaving me alone to wander the cabin.

I knew they’d be gone a good couple of hours and I’d been dying to try out Jaspers massive bathtub since I first saw it. I meandered down the hallway and began to run myself a bubble bath. I borrowed a few candles from the living room and lit them, placing them around the bathroom. I slipped into the warm water and closed my eyes, laying my head back and allowed myself to dream of Jasper and what it would be like to be a vampire and have him with me until the end of time.

After a good long while I realized that the water was getting cold and I was a little peckish. I got out of the bathtub, dried myself off and headed to Jasper’s room to look for some clean clothes. I had the intention of borrowing some of his clothing but when I opened the closet there was an entire section of women’s clothing there, mysteriously there were all my size. A smile crossed my lips and I silently thanked Jasper in my head. I pulled on a pair of comfortable jeans and a tank top. I reached for a sweater and as my hand passed over one of Jaspers it hovered for a moment. I grabbed his sweater, slipped it on and zipped it up half way. It was far too big for me but it was comfortable and it smelled like him, like cedar wood and apple blossoms.

I revelled in his scent surrounding me before my stomach growled, reminding me it was hungry so I headed into the kitchen. Pulling open the fridge door I noticed that Jasper wasn’t joking when he said he stocked the kitchen. The fridge was completely packed with food, after opening a few cupboards I discovered they were packed with food as well. I marvelled at it, there was enough food here to feed the whole town! I grabbed a bowl from one of the cupboards and tossed some fresh, deep red cherries into it from the crisper of the fridge. Taking my cherries with me I set off to explore the tiny cabin.

After looking through the massive amounts of books lining the shelves of the main bedroom, I headed upstairs to take a look at the guest bedrooms. I opened the first door and was amazed by yet another room, lined floor to ceiling in all sorts of different books. Jasper had accumulated quite the library in his nearly 200 years. In the middle of the room was a large round bed decorated in a black and purple bed set with 6 matching pillows laid out neatly. I browsed the shelves for a while, floored by the age of some of the books. I could only imagine what some of the 200 year old, leather bound first editions might be worth.

I headed across the hall and opened the door to the second room. A gasp caught in my throat and my hand flew to my mouth to stifle the surprise. This room was not at all what I expected. This room was decorated in the purest of white, from the carpet, to the walls to the curtains. A snow white crib with fluffy, white satin blankets and sheets sat in the middle of the room. A rocking chair in the corner had also been painted the same shade of white and beside the chair was a long, hand built box that had been painted white with big blue letters on it that said “Toys”. It was a nursery and there was a little dresser along the one wall with a small, intricately carved, silver photoframe. In that frame was a picture of Jasper with his hair cut short, standing in his military uniform and holding onto a tiny baby dressed in a beautiful white gown, his face was looking down at the child rather than the camera and the smile on his face was one of genuine happiness.

“Her name was Clara,” a voice, broken in pain, spoke from behind me. I turned around to face Jasper and I saw the tears in his eyes as they leaked out and left marks against his pale skin on their journey down his enchanting features. “She was the entire reason that I said yes to becoming a vampire. Her mother,” a soft, reminiscent smile crossed his lips before turning serious again, “died during her birth. I was all she had. She was staying with friends for a few days until I’d gotten back from the battle before I was turned into….this.” He said in disgust as he leaned into the room and grabbed the door, me hot on his heels, and into the living room where his guests were waiting.

Warren was focused on the staircase as we descended, his expression one of deep concern. “Jasper…” he said cautiously.

Jasper interrupted him with a snarl and narrowed his eyes in an unnerving manner. He hissed, “Do not start, Warren!”

“Jasper, please… it wasn’t your fault.” Warren said.

A howl of agony burst from Jasper’s chest as he lunged at Warren, knocking him into the side of the fireplace. A large chunk of the mantle went flying across the room when his iron head slammed into it. They struggled for a while, first one pinning the other, around and around again until the room was almost entirely destroyed, piles of glass and broken wood everywhere.

Warren had managed to break free of Jasper and dashed into the kitchen. I stepped in front of Jasper with my hands out to block his path. Solen moved toward me, one hand raised in warning. I saw that her lips were moving but I couldn’t hear the sound. Jasper grabbed at my wrists and in his rage, flung me across the room and onto the couch.

I wasn’t expecting his reaction to me so when I landed on the couch I was so shocked it took a few moments before the sharp pain burst through my consciousness. I screamed.

Whatever obsession had overcome him before, instantly drained from his face as he heard my blood-curdling screams. His nose twitched as the scent of fresh blood hit him and he was at my side instantly. “Amelia? Amelia are you ok?” His hand slipped behind me to help me up and fresh blood flowed over his fingers. His face wrinkled into a grimace of despair. “Oh God…What have I done…” he whispered.

“Jasper,” Warren’s stern voice immediately took over, “Bring her to the kitchen and lay her on the counter so I can assess the damage.”

Jasper wrapped his arms around me and I clutched at his shirt with my shaking hands. I buried my face into his neck, crying out with each movement. He walked, stone-faced into the kitchen and laid me on my stomach on the counter. He took one look at the blood gushing from my back, where the glass shard was embedded in my flesh, and walked out into the night.

Solen rushed to Warren’s side with a pile of clean cloths and a basin of warm water. He began cleaning the wound very carefully. “It’s in there pretty deep but I think it missed her kidney.” leaning down towards my head he said loudly, “I’m going to have to pull this out now, Amelia. Brace yourself, this is going to hurt.”

Solen moved to stand by my head, cradling it in her arms and brushing my hair back, “Shhh it’s going to be ok, Warren is an excellent medicine man and you will be fine. Here bite down on this.” She stuck a leather belt into my mouth, I guessed it was Warrens. Suddenly an explosion of pain ripped through my side and I let out a bloodcurdling scream as my teeth bit straight through the leather belt. A cry of despair echoed from somewhere out in the forest and everything slowly faded to black.

Chapter

When I opened my eyes Jasper was kneeling beside me, pain radiating from every inch of his perfect face. I was lying in the large bed in his room with one of my hands clasped firmly in both of Jasper’s. It was light outside now. It had been night out when I got stabbed, hadn’t it? Everything that had happened came back to me in a flash and I winced as pain coursed through my body from the wound in my back.

Seeing the wince, Jasper reached up to brush my hair off my forehead, “Are you alright? Is there much pain?” he whispered, hoarsely.

I nodded weakly and cleared my throat, it was dry and tickled as I tried to speak, “What happened…. What time is it?”

Jasper caressed my face softly, “It’s eight in the morning. You’ve been asleep all night.” His eyes filled with tears but he refused to let them escape down his cheeks, blinking them away, “I threw you over my shoulder…. You landed on the couch on a pile of glass. A large shard of it stabbed you in the back. Thankfully, it missed any major organs and Warren was able to stitch you up.” He buried his face into the side of my chest as the sobs began to wrack his body. “I’m so sorry, Amelia… So, so sorry...it’s all my fault. I’m a monster.”

I had a feeling that I wasn’t the only reason he was crying and placed my hand on his head, stroking his hair softly as he sobbed, “Jasper…”

“I’m glad to see you are awake. I’ve brought you something for the pain.” Said a voice from the doorway. I glanced over to see Warren as he began walking towards the bed. “You’re quite lucky to be alive. That glass missed your spleen by a quarter inch, if it had been hit, I wouldn’t have been able to save you.” He handed me a glass of water and three small, pink pills. I took the pills and swallowed them, chasing them with a big gulp of water. I’d drank half the glass of water before Warren had to pull it out of my hands, laughing, “Take it easy now, there is plenty of time for quenching your thirst and I don’t want you making yourself sick too.”

I really loved Warren’s smile, it was calm and soothing and instantly made me feel like everything was going to be ok. He was sort of like an intimidating but loving older brother.

Warren’s mouth turned up into an amused grin, “Thank you, Amelia. You’re a very sweet girl,” he answered the thought in my head. “I am pleased to see that if Jasper has chosen his mate, he has chosen someone like you.” He flashed me another more mischievous grin. “You will make a wonderful vampire someday.” he finished with a knowing wink.

I was starting to feel a little less groggy so I attempted to sit up in bed. The blanket slid down and I immediately snatched it up and clutched it to my chest. Why am I naked? Jasper stood up, reluctantly dropping my hand, “I’ll get you some clothes.” He murmured before he dashed out of the room.

I wrapped the blanket tighter around myself just as Solen walked into the room carrying a tray. She set it down in front of me and on the tray was a plate full of eggs, bacon and toast and some orange juice and coffee. It smelled delicious and I was ravenous so I dug in. After a few bites I stopped eating for a moment to ask a question, “Who’s Clara?”

Solen took a deep breath and said, “She is…was Jasper’s daughter. Jasper had to take care of her after he was tur…”

“Solen.” Warren interrupted.

She stopped.

“I think perhaps that question is better answered by Jasper.” He smiled at me politely. I nodded in understanding, going back to my plate of food.

Jasper came back in the room and set the sweater and jeans he’d picked out for me on the bed. “Clara didn’t have anybody else.” He began softly, “So when I was turned a vampire, I still took care of her, with Warren’s help. We watched her grow up.”

Warren smiled fondly at the memory of the little girl.

“I was a horrible father, I sometimes forgot to feed her or change her. I tried so hard but… I was a vampire, I’d forgotten what it meant to be human. She survived though and by the time she was 5 years old she was making her own meals most of the time. She was incredibly smart and did very well in school. When she was 10 she began to ask questions about what we were. She’d always known that Uncle Warren and I weren’t the same as everybody else she knew.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh, clearly trying to maintain his composure, “We sat her down and we told her the truth. About who and what we were. We told her it was an absolute secret and she could never tell anybody about us. She understood entirely of course…” He trailed off and looked out the window, gathering his thoughts.

“When she was sixteen she came to me and told me that she wanted to be a vampire too. So that she and I could always be together. I refused her. Her life was too important to me, too precious. There was no way I could ever do that to anyone, least of all my own daughter. I wanted her to have a full, rich human life. The life I never had the chance to live.” He paused, his voice catching in his throat, “I felt she was better off in Heaven with her mother than stuck here on Hell with me… She didn’t like that idea so much.”

“You have to understand this, Amelia… In the larger cities, like Houston for example. There is a lot more than just one vampire like there is here and being that Warren and I are what we are, Clara knew a number of different vampires, friends of ours mostly. Well there was one vampire in particular, Elliott, who she’d become… smitten with. He was turned when he was 18 years old and he was as fond of her as she was of him.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as if trying to block out the bad memories, “When I refused to turn her and Warren also refused to turn her, out of respect for my decision as her father. She went to Elliott.” He said through gritted teeth. “She was sitting on his lap, his wrist was open and bleeding. She was just about to put it to her mouth when I burst into the room. I flew into a blind rage at him for wanting to… to steal her light like that…” He sighed painfully, “I pushed her off of him, out of the way… like I did to you last night…She hit her head on the corner of the staircase… it was a marble staircase and…” he looked away, choking back a sob “She was dead before I even reached her side…murdered by her own father… the monster.” His chin quivered and he made no effort to stifle the tears now freely flowing down his chiseled features.

Warren, who had been still and quiet as a statue during the entire story, spoke in a low voice, “It wasn’t your fault, Jasper…”

He whirled around angrily and glared at Warren, “Of course it was my fault! I threw her like a ragdoll! I let our own temperamental, demonic nature take over and my daughter paid the price for that with her life! And I almost did it again! Yes, it very much is my fault!” he growled.

I threw my arms around Jasper and hugged him closely to me, not even caring that the blanket had fallen and the only thing covering my bare flesh from the other eyes in the room was his solid, warm chest. “Jasper…” I said softly, “We all make mistakes…big ones. We are -all- monsters inside and sometimes those monsters come out even when we don’t want them to.”

He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my neck, sobbing in anguish. “I thought I’d done it again last night… I thought I’d killed someone I loved more than my own life…”

His admonishment took me by surprise. He loves me! I hugged him a little tighter and smiled, “I love you too, Jasper…” I whispered into his ear.

He pulled back, wiping the moisture from his eyes quickly and shaking his head at me, “Don’t…don’t say that, Amelia… It makes this so much harder. I don’t want you to love me. I’m just going to hurt you again. I’m…” he gulped, “I’m leaving. I’m going back to Texas with Warren and Solen. It’s the only way I keep you safe, keep you alive.”

My mouth dropped and my eyes welled with tears, “No! Jasper you can’t! Don’t go. Please stay here, its ok! You won’t hurt me, I know you won’t. I trust you.”

He frowned at me, his mouth set in a thin line, “It’s not about you, or whether or not you trust me. I don’t trust me. Put your clothing on and I’ll take you home.” He stood up and walked out of the room to wait for me by the front door.

I stared at the space where he’d just been, tears streaming down my face, “Warren…” I choked out, “Please… please don’t let him go…”

Warren smiled sadly at me, “While Jasper has always been my brother, and looked up to me for advice and assistance… when it comes to certain matters he is very stubborn and I’m afraid there is nothing I can do.”

“You can turn me…” my voice a disheartened whisper. I already knew what he’d say.

“I’m sorry, Amelia. I can’t do that. Jasper is my family and… I can’t hurt him like that, even if I think he is hurting himself more by not doing it.” He shook his head slowly.

“Solen?” I turned to her, my eyes pleading.

She frowned and looked to Warren. Taking a deep breath, she sighed, “I too am sorry, Amelia. But for the same reasons as Warren, I cannot.” She reached for my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “It will all work out, have hope, dear.” She smile sweetly at me before standing up and nodding her head politely in my direction before leaving the room, Warren trailing behind her.

“He already is my every hope…” I whispered to the empty air.

Chapter,

When Jasper returned me to my apartment an hour later it seemed like the light was just too bright, too harsh for the conversation we were about to have. Standing on my doorstep he reached for my hand, “You understand why I have to do this don’t you, Amelia?” he asked, his voice in a flat melancholy.

I shook my head, “No… I don’t. I want to be with you, Jasper. In every way inhumanely possible. I don’t see what is wrong with that. You wouldn’t be ABLE to hurt me then. Don’t…Don’t you want that?”

He turned his face in shame, “Of course I want that… But it would be incredibly selfish of me to ask that of you when you can’t possibly understand what consequences come with that choice.” He sighed deeply, “You’ll hate me for it…in the end. A part of me hates Warren for it.”

“Now you are the one who doesn’t understand, Jasper. I will take any and every consequence that comes with being a Vampire. I don’t care what they are, monster and all, if it means I get to spend eternity with you, rather than an eternity without you. Heaven is nothing compared to forever with you.” I said seriously, looking directly into his Amethyst Seas.

“Amelia… I’m so sorry but I need to go. I can’t… I can’t do this. It’s too intense. There are too many ways for me to hurt you.” His face tightened and he swallowed a lump in his throat.

“Nothing could hurt me more than what you are doing right now…” I whispered softly as tears rolled down my cheeks.

He reached up and cupped my face in his hands, his thumbs brushing my tears away. He brought his face right close to mine and whispered, “I love you, Amelia” before brushing his lips softly against mine. His face twisted into agony as he felt the wave of pain from both of us combined, he turned to walk away.

“Jasper, wait!” I called, “I…”

He paused.

“I want you to promise me something.” I said

He turned and looked up at me, his face curious.

“Promise me that… That you’ll never love anyone else, that no matter what…You won’t forget me and… you will remember that you will always be mine, and I… will always be yours.” I said, choking back the tears.

“Amelia,” his voice cracked, “when God created this Universe, for every person he built, he meant to give a spark of life, but on his first attempt, something strange happened and that spark split in two, one half went into one person, and the other half to another. Those people became what is known as soulmates. You are the other of half of my spark and I will never forget your light in my thousands of years of darkness…” he turned and was gone in a flash, leaving me standing at the top of my stairs, tears streaming down my face.

I turned and went inside, collapsing in a fit against the front door as it closed behind me. I cried out in agony, sobs wracking my body as I rocked back and forth. After what seemed like hours, all cried out and in a state of comfortably numb, I stood up.

I walked in a daze through my apartment. First I headed to the bathroom in a vain attempt to clear my head. After I was finished my shower, I went to my closet and found a large sweater of Jasper’s that he’d left here one night. I pulled it over my head and then collapsed onto my bed, barely remembering to pull the blankets over top of me.

When I finally woke it was to the sound of pounding in my head. No, my ears. Someone was at my door. I could hear a voice, screaming for me and beating down the door like a mad woman.

“AMELIA!” Jo screamed at me. “Amelia?! Are you ok? Girl, wake up and answer me! Don’t make me break this door down, I’ll do it! I swear I will!”

I got up from my bed groggily and hobbled out to the door, twisting the deadbolt and pulling the door open. “Yes?” I yawned. “What is it?”

“Oh, thank the Lord!” exclaimed Jo as she pulled me into her arms and hugged me tightly. “Honey, you’ve been asleep for about 36 hours now. You missed your shift yesterday and when you didn’t show up for work today, I got all worried and called Jasper’s cell. He gave me his number before he left in case anything happened to you while he was off on vacation. Sweet boy.” She mused before remembering her train of thought, “He said you’d gotten hurt while you were out with him and were probably at home sleeping it off! He would have told me about it, but he’d assumed you already had and oh my I’m just so glad you’re alright!” she threw her arms around me again.

I winced as her hug pulled at the stitches in my back and her words pulled at the fraying strings of my heart. “Jasper…” I said softly. I fell to my knees and screamed as I clutched my chest. My wails of despair bringing on new rounds of wracking sobs and a flood of tears.

Jo knelt down beside me and wrapped her arms around me holding me tightly as I screamed. “Shh, shh, shh” she shushed as a mother would. “That’s ok sweetheart, just let it out. You go on and cry. You take all the time you need my dear, the diner will be there for you when you’re ready.” She called Jasper a cruel name under her breath. This odd act of meanness from what was probably the kindest woman in the universe is what snapped me out of my fit.

I stood up and nodded, rubbing the tears from my eyes as I swallowed the sticking feeling in my throat. “Thanks for coming to check on me, Jo. I appreciate it. I’m alright I promise. I’ll be in to work tomorrow.”

Jo shook her head, “No, no. Take as long as you need, J…” she caught herself, “I was told you’d gotten hurt. What happened?”

“Oh, I fell down and a shard of glass stabbed me in the back. I’m ok though, I promise. It doesn’t even hurt anymore, I’m all stitched and bandaged up.” I smiled too convincingly.

Jo eyed me warily, “Well if you’re absolutely sure, that’s fine you can come back to work tomorrow. But I don’t want you overworking yourself you hear!” she told me firmly.

I nodded, “Yes, Jo I understand.”

“Well… OK Then. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask. Rest up today and take care of yourself, ok kid?”

“I will. And thanks, Jo. Really. I’m glad I have someone like you, looking out for me.” I smiled and gave her a big hug.

She hugged me back tightly, “Aww you’re welcome, dear…. See you later.” She let go and headed out the door, turning back to give me a short wave before trudging down the front steps to my apartment.

I spent the rest of the day sitting on my couch, not really watching television and eating double chocolate chunk ice cream, right out of the bucket. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, about him.

The next few days dragged by in a slow haze. I poured endless coffees and served endless meals to the sea of empty faces, people that I knew, but no longer recognized. Perhaps they didn’t recognize me. I certainly didn’t feel like myself. It felt like I was there, but not there. My body was there but my mind, my soul was somewhere far away down in Texas with an impossible dream. Everything seemed surreal to me, like the world around me was out of focus and Jasper was the lens my eyes needed to see with crystal clarity.

The people of the town looked at me with concern and pity on their faces. I loved them more for it. It was nice to know that people cared about my happiness. But their pity was wasted, there is no point in pitying something that you cannot change. Without him… I could never hope to be happy again.

After work I’d go home every night, forget to eat and crawl straight into my bed and scream myself to sleep. My aching soul could get no relief from its black sorrow, not even in my dreams. They were all of him, his smiling face. That crooked, half-grin that turned my knees into jelly, the dazzling rainbow of his skin in the sunlight that took my breath away and that voice…. That sweet, southern voice that I could never forget, the voice that filled my head and made my ears burn and my heart thump a million miles per minute. Just as I fell asleep screaming, I’d also wake up screaming.

Jasper has no idea what he’s talking about…. This is what it means to be damned, to have known the deepest, most eternal love that you can possibly imagine and to have it ripped away, gone forever. It leaves this large void of emptiness and agony that’s crushing your soul at every moment and you can’t bear to hold it up any more. The walls of your sanity are made of glass and beginning to crack and you are slipping ever further into the comforting mists of the twisted kingdom.

After a week of this torture, my life stretched before me and I saw nothing but years and years of this agony and never tasting happiness or love again. I slid into bed that night, having made a decision. I wasn’t going to live the next 50 or 60 years of my life feeling nothing but this aching despair. If I couldn’t have a life with him, I wasn’t going to have a life at all.

That night though, the dream changed. It wasn’t Jasper and I standing alone in the meadow bathing in the sunlight as it was every other night. Tonight I was standing in what looked like a dungeon, a large room built out of stone with beautiful gothic era archways and sculptures of gargoyles and naked women being held by men who looked like they were about to suck the life out of them, like something from a museum. The only light in the room was the flickering torches sitting in metal hoops along the walls. A crimson carpet formed a walkway from one end of the long hallway to the other.

Tonight, like the different room, it wasn’t Jasper’s face I saw, it was a face I didn’t recognize. This man was young, maybe 18. He had thick waves of short black hair, brushed back from his face. A face that was beautiful and terrifying at the same time, he had a strong jawline and thin, red lips that were set in a firm expression of displeasure. His thick eyebrows were knotted together and his dark eyes swirled like pools of deep purple ink against his paper white skin. Instantly, I knew who this was.

“Elliott.” I said, only it wasn’t my voice, it was Jasper’s “Why are you here?” I asked.

Elliott’s mouth turned up in a wicked grin, “To kill you of course…” when he spoke, his voice sounded like the evil hiss of a snake.

“I suppose I deserve that. What happened to Clara was my fault and I’m so, so sorry for that… I loved her too you know… I miss her too and it kills me every damned day that I can’t be with her.” I said, my voice cracking at the end as tears welled in my eyes.

“Jasper…Jasper…Jasper…” Elliott hissed. “I do not care to hear your apologies. You killed my love, your own daughter and now I shall kill you.”

A smile flickered across my lips, “Good… please do. I want to be with her again, I miss her.”

Elliott chuckled at this and shook his head, “Oh no, no, no my old friend. Clara was sweet and pure and will now be in Heaven with her mother, while you… you are condemned to an eternity in Hell.”

“I’m already in Hell. It can’t get any worse than this. Go ahead, Elliott. I won’t even fight you.” I said, my voice filled with aching sadness.

Elliott’s head cocked to the side curiously, “Is that sadness for Clara I hear in your voice or has my old friend finally found a lover?”

I swallowed, trying hard not to react to his question. I couldn’t let him know about Amelia. It would put her in danger. It appeared my non-reaction, however, was confirmation enough for him. He stepped closer to me and sniffed the air around me.

“You smell like the Winter.” said Elliott, “Is your new love up north somewhere? Washington perhaps?” he sniffed again, “No… No somewhere else… Alaska maybe?” he raised his eyebrow knowingly at me.

My eyes widened slightly and I took a deep breath.

“Ahhh yes. Perhaps then, death would be too kind for you. I can smell her on you. I think taking from you, what you took from me will be a far more pleasant way to exact my revenge.” He leaned into me now, whispering into my ear, “I will drain her dry, this love of yours, and you will have to live without her for eternity, just as I do.”

My eyes opened in shock and rage quickly overtook me. I reached out instantly and clasped my hands around Elliott’s neck. He grinned at me and grabbed at my wrists. With one sweep of his legs, he had me on my back on the ground. Too quickly, he had me pinned to the marble floor. I pushed him off and charged at him again, knocking over statues in my furor to save Amelia.

Elliott, pleased that I was actually going to fight back, came at me with full force. His hands and feet kicking and punching at me wildly. His jaws snapping violently at me as we grappled. It was a constant assault, throwing each other against the marble floors and walls, leaving long gouges and giant cracks in what used to be smooth, polished stone. Elliott’s foot connected with my face and I heard a sickening crack as my jaw broke. Dazed, I fell to my knees and he was instantly behind me. He grabbed my arms, yanking them behind my back. He placed one foot between my shoulder blades and began pulling my arms straight back. I screamed in agony as my arms were ripped out of their sockets and severed from my body.

His arms wrapped around my head and began to pull upward and I knew it was over. I had lost the fight and I was going to die. I couldn’t save Amelia now.

My body slumped to the ground and Elliott tossed my severed arms and head on top of the pile. I watched as he grabbed a torch from the wall and held it out towards the pieces of my body. My field of vision was filled with fire as I burned.

I woke up screaming in terror, thrashing around on the bed, trying to put out the imaginary flames that engulfed my body. Once I realized I was not in fact burning and it was just a dream, I sat up on the bed, hugging my knees to my chest and rocking back and forth, sobbing loudly. That was the most intense and realistic dream I’d ever had. It felt like I was inside Jasper’s body, like I was watching through his eyes and feeling everything he felt. I had this nagging, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that it had really happened. That it wasn’t just a dream.

I quickly got out of bed and tossed on a pair of jeans and a random sweater. I grabbed my backpack out of the closet and started shoving random clothing into it. I didn’t care what it was, I threw it in. I grabbed my brush and toothbrush, threw it in the pack and zipped it up. I checked the clock, it was 6 am. Jo would be at the Diner by now. I slung the backpack over my shoulder and headed out the door, locking up behind me. I raced down the stairs and through the dark alley, I burst through the back door.

Jo looked up, startled at my sudden appearance, her face and hands covered in flour. “My dear girl! What happened to you?!” she asked, her eyes filled with concern.

“It’s Jasper. Something’s wrong. I don’t know how I know this but Jo… I swear, something is wrong with him. I have to go to Houston, I have to find him.” My eyes welled with tears as I gave her a pleading stare. “Jo, please… I need your help, I have to get to the Airport in Anchorage.”

She dropped the ball of dough she had been kneading and ran over to the sink, running the warm water and quickly scrubbing pieces of dough from under her fingernails. She grabbed her keys off the hook by the door and turned to me, “Let’s go!” she said and rushed me out of the door, locking it behind me. The bread dough was still lying uncovered and half kneaded on the counter.

Ten minutes later we were out of town and on the highway for the two hour drive to Anchorage that was taking far too long already even though Jo was going well above the speed limit. She handed me her cell phone. “Call Newf, would ya? Put it on speaker phone.”

I dialed the number and hit the speaker button. “Jo?” a man’s voice answered. “Why are you calling me from your cell?” he asked curiously.

“I don’t have a lot of time to explain, honey. Amelia needs our help. I’m taking her to the airport in Anchorage, we’re already on our way. I need you to do a couple of things for me.”

“What do you need?” he asked seriously.

“I need you to go online and book a plane ticket from Anchorage to Houston, Texas. Try and get one with no stops if you can, she needs to get there as fast as possible. Put it under Amelia’s name and she’ll pick it up at the desk. When you’re done that would you mind heading down to the Diner and turning off the deep-fryer, I left it on. Oh! And put a letter on the door saying we’re closed today and will reopen tomorrow morning, please?” the words all came out in a jumbled rush but Newf understood what she was saying.

“I will get on it right away. Oh, Amelia?” he asked, knowing he would be on speakerphone.

“Yes?” I answered

“Be safe, honey.” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“I will, Newf… Thank you so much.” The line went dead and I pushed the end call button.

I turned to Jo, “Really, Jo. Thank you. I don’t know what I would do without the two of you.”

She smiled at me, her big stomach rubbing against the steering wheel as she drove. She reached over and patted my hand. “You are more than welcome, my dear. You’re the closest thing to a daughter we have and Newf and I both love you very much. We’re glad to help.”

I sniffled back some tears and smiled at her. She really was the kindest women in the universe. A half hour later her cell phone rang, the number showing was the diner so I answered, hitting the speaker button as I did so. “Hello again, Newf.” I said.

“Amelia, Jo.” He replied, “The tickets are booked, you can pick them up at any customer service desk under Amelia Van Rybroek. I was able to get you a red-eye all the way to Houston so you’ll be here in just a few short hours.” Newf said happily. He was clearly pleased with himself.

“Oh thank you so much Newf!!” I gushed.

“Yes, thank you, dear. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Said Jo.

“You’d probably forget your head on a mountaintop somewhere.” He chuckled. “I’m at the Diner now, Jo. There were customers waiting outside when I got here and everything was already turned on, so I let them in. Won’t have any baking today or anything but I am capable enough to flip a few burgers and fry a couple of eggs, I think.” Jo’s face turned into a smile as she listened to him talk.

“Thank you, sweetheart. You didn’t have to do that for me.” She said, he voice filled with gratitude.

“We’re partners, Jo. I’m happy to help where I can. Now, you make sure our girl gets on that plane to Jasper… Anyone who isn’t blind can see that they belong together. I love you both.” The line went dead again.

Jo and I both sniffled this time. “I am married to the most wonderful man in the world.”

I nodded, “Yeah… you really are lucky, Jo. Newf is amazing.”

A while later, with a little less than an hour left in our drive, Jo looked over at me curiously, “I was wondering, Amelia. What brought this sudden urge to go to Houston on? You’ve been completely out of it all week and then this morning, you come barreling in like you’re on fire. What happened?” she asked.

I took a deep breath, “It’s going to sound silly… I…had a dream last night. About Jasper… he was being…hurt…killed…by someone in Houston. Only it wasn’t just any dream, it was too real. Like I could see and hear and feel everything that Jasper felt. When I woke up, I knew that something was wrong that I had to get to him before it was too late, before my dream became reality…” I trailed off, looking sheepishly at my feet.

Jo just nodded, “Intuition is a mighty powerful thing. I’ve always believed that you should trust your gut. If you have a feel deep inside that something isn’t right, then in my experience, it usually isn’t.” with that she pressed her foot to the floor and the car shot forward.

Forty-five minutes later I was standing at the customer service desk in the airport, my eyes widened in horror, “What do you mean there are no tickets booked under that name? Check again! Van Rybroek. R-y-b-r-o-e-k. He booked them an hour and a half ago! How did they just disappear?!” my voice raised to a frantic pitch and my eyes welled with tears.

“Ma’am I’m very sorry but there just isn’t anything under that name. Would he have put it under another name maybe?” The woman behind the counter asked, looking very nervous at my delirious state.

“Kingsley. Try Amelia Kingsley” she said quickly. “My husband, Gerald was the one to book the tickets.”

“Oh! Yes, here we go, Amelia Kingsley. One ticket, red-eye to Houston, Texas. Your flight leaves in 10 minutes.” The lady smiled, a look of relief on her face as she handed me the tickets.

I turned to face Jo.

“I told you, you’re the closest thing we ever had to a daughter….” She said sheepishly.

I threw my arms around her neck and hugged the big woman tightly as tears flowed freely down my cheeks, “Oh Jo! I love you both so much! How can I ever thank you enough?”

She hugged back and smiled, “We love you too. Now go get on that plane and get your man back! You can thank us by being safe and checking in often ok?” she asked, her chin trembling as she sniffed back the tears.

“I will. I promise.” I gave her one last hug and a big kiss on the cheek before I headed off to the gate listed on my ticket.

Chapter

The next 5 hours felt like years. I felt unbelievably anxious, I’d been vibrating in my seat for the entire flight. By the time the plane was finally descending toward the black tarmac of the runway I was bouncing and fidgeting like a crazy person. I was certain the lovely gentleman sitting next to me was thoroughly frightened of my eagerness. The plane finally came to a stop and the stewardess allowed us to begin to leave the plane. The forced slowness of de-boarding left me feeling frustrated and ready to burst into a sprint the second I could.

And there he was.

Standing by the gate, anxiously waiting for me to come through was that tall, perfect specimen of a vampire. His angelic face was filled with deep concern despite the wide smile that crossed it the second he made eye contact. What was he doing here? How did he know I was coming? Oh…he looks even better than I remember!

I started pushing through the crowd now, running through the people as fast and I possibly could. When I finally reached him an hour later he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me into the air, squeezing me tight until I winced audibly and he let me go,

“Sorry.” He said as he glanced at the floor, embarrassed by his own strength.

“Jasper! Oh thank god you’re still alive.” I gushed. I held him even closer, burying my face in your neck and inhaling. The sweet scent of cedar wood and apple blossoms filled my nose and I gulped it in, savouring every breath.

A curious look flickered across his features, “Amelia, you have to go.” He said quickly. “You have to turn around, get on a plane and leave. Right Now.”

“Jasper, I am not going anywhere and nothing you can say will make me leave. End of story.” I said firmly. I pulled back and stared at him in the face, my eyes narrowing in warning.

“Amelia, he’s going to kill you. He’ll catch your scent here, he’ll find you and kill you.” He whispered urgently, his voice pleading with me to see reason.

I wasn’t having any of that. “Then right here is exactly where I need to be. There isn’t another person in this world who is better equipped to protect me than you.” I smiled at him and leaned up, kissing his amazingly soft lips.

He picked me up again, kissing me back enthusiastically before pulling back and flashing me a dazzling grin, “I guess we’d better get home then.” He said, winking playfully before turning and leading me toward the exit.

We were speeding down the freeway in Jasper’s silver Scion FR-S and out the southwest end of Houston, nothing but open grassy plain stretched before us with few trees and the occasional bush.

“This is quite the car, Jasper.” I said, astonished. It was very nice, silver with a black leather interior. I could barely feel us speeding down the free-way. It seemed like the perfect car for Jasper too it shimmers in the sunlight and is so fast you never see it coming, without being an entirely obnoxious car. I couldn’t imagine him driving something like a Ferrari or Lamborghini.

“Thank you.” He shot me a dazzling half-grin and I sucked in my breath quickly. “I like to be able to move fast, running or driving.” He winked playfully.

I smiled at this and took a moment to examine my surroundings. It was awfully green outside. Lots of grass and clusters of tree’s dotting the landscape. It was as though it used to be a forest but much of it had been chopped down to make room for agricultural land. I thought this was supposed to be a desert. Where is the scrub brushes and sand dunes and cactuses? The mountains in the distance looked right. Giant rocky formations with steep cliffs on all sides, made entirely of sedimentary rock worn smooth by thousands of years of changing weather. Desert mountains… but this wasn’t like any North American Desert I’d ever read about. Maybe we were too far east.

“This sure isn’t how I pictured the desert.” I said.

Jasper chuckle at me and shook his head, “Most of Texas is actually plains or scrub steppe, sort of like the…savannah of North America. The desert is way over on the western side of the state.”

“Oh.” I said, “that’s too bad. I wanted to see the desert.”

He glanced over at me, one hand on the wheel, the other on the stick shift between us. He smiled, “Then you will. I’ll take you there.” He flashed me a dazzling smile and I had to tell my heart to start beating again. God, I had missed that smile.

“I missed you, Jasper.” I said softly.

His smile faded, “I missed you too. Oh Amelia…” he said softly, “I hope I have what it takes to protect you, to keep you safe.”

I thought about this for a second, “You wouldn’t have to… we could keep each other safe instead... If you turned me.” My voice wavered. “I can’t bear the thought of ever being without you.”

He reached across the center of the car and stroked my cheek softly. He stared directly into my eyes, his other hand on the wheel still steering the car perfectly. “Then you won’t be. You will never be without me again, I promise. Let’s just go home now, we can talk about it again later. We have all the time in the world.” He dropped his hand and caught mine, entwining our fingers together and turning to face the road again.

I was still staring at him. He was at least willing to talk about it. I noticed we’d been driving down the open highway for some time now. “Where exactly are we going? I thought you lived in Houston.” I was suddenly curious.

He grinned, “Technically, no. We live on a ranch a little ways out of the city that has let’s say...been in Warren’s family for centuries.” He chuckled. “We’re almost there.”

“You live with Warren and Solen?” I asked.

“Not always, sometimes they live with me. It depends on where we are and who technically owns the house. In Houston it’s Warren’s house. In Alaska it’s mine. I also own a house in Chile, Norway, and Sicily. Warren and Solen also own multiple houses in multiple countries. Obviously we sometimes live apart but we’ve always been free to come and go as we please with each other’s homes.” He gave me a sly smile, “We really are a family.”

He turned the car onto a narrow dirt path, lined with same trees that formed the majority of the dense thickets in the area. The path wound its way through the trees for a good few miles until it emerged into the center of a clearing with a large house, almost completely composed of windows and wooden beams. White carpets and furniture could be seen through the windows. Sparkling rainbows danced across the room’s various surfaces, cast off from the numerous prisms stuck against the windows.

“Solen like’s rainbows, she likes to ‘feel comfortable in her own home’, as she puts it.” He said with a breathtaking half smile.

Warren and Solen were standing on the porch. His arm around her shoulder, each with a hand raised in greeting. I waved out the window at them and grinned widely. I think I liked these two.

The car slowed to a stop in front of them and I opened the door, stumbling out and landing on my knees in the dirt.

I hopped up to my feet and beamed at them, “Hi!” I chirped. Warren and Solen both laughed and held their arms wide. I rushed up and gave them each a brief hug.

“Hello Amelia.” Said Warren. His smile lit up the porch and I felt a soft warmth begin to spread wthin me. He was such a warm and kind person.

“I’m so glad you’re here.” Said Solen. “We shouldn’t have left to begin with.”

“Thanks. I missed you guys too.” I said.

I studied Solen for a moment. She had a beautiful smile that made her eyes sparkle. She was looking at me like I was the most welcome person in the world and she was genuinely happy to see me. I decided that she was equally warm and welcoming. I really like Jasper’s family. Suddenly I began to wish that someday they could be my family too.

“Hello Warren. Solen.” Said Jasper, dipping his head politely to each in turn. He began to walk up the stairs to the porch. He flashed a dazzling smile up at us just as he walked through a ray of sunlight. The sunlight caused rainbows to shimmer across his skin like a prism. Seeing his smile lit up in such a magnificent way caused my heart to begin pounding in my chest and my breathing caught in my throat. I heard a low chuckle from behind my right ear.

“Hello Jasper,” You could hear the amusement in Warren’s voice. “I see you failed in your determination to send her away immediately.”

“Yes, well. You try saying no to her when she’s being reasonable.” Jasper said with mock annoyance.

Warren raised one eyebrow curiously.

I looked at his questioning face and shrugged my shoulders, “I told him that the best way to keep me safe and protect me was to be with me. There is no being in the world more capable of protecting me than a vampire, especially against another vampire.” I said with a confident smile on my face.

Warren pondered over this for a moment, finally giving a slight shrug of his shoulders, “I suppose I would have brought her here also with an argument like that.” He grinned at Jasper before turning to Solen, “Why don’t you show her the house, angel? I’m sure it was a long flight, she might like to get cleaned up.”

Solen smiled eagerly grabbed my hand, pulling me into the house. It was a large open room, there was a fireplace on the far wall with a large white rug in front of it. The furniture was also white and went very well with the dark hardwood floor. Candles were lit on the mantle but no fire was lit in the fireplace as it was already very hot outside. The room was cool though. Air conditioning, I assumed.

“This is the living room, clearly.” She said as she moved me down the hallway. She walked slowly and turned into the second room on the left. It was a huge room, covered floor to ceiling with books of all types. Many of them very old with beautiful leather bindings. A large comfy couch for reading and a coffee table with an antique floor lamp were centered in the middle of the room. Along one wall was a large window overlooking the front porch where I could see the statuesque figures of Jasper and Warren, deep in conversation.

She wandered around the perimeter of the room slowly.

“I love this room.” She said. “I enjoy reading, learning new things, old legends, escaping into other worlds.” She turned to me and smiled, “Do you like to read?”

I nodded. “Yes, I read quite a lot. I know exactly what you mean.”

Solen nodded slowly and took a seat on the couch, patting the cushion beside her and beckoning me to sit. I complied and sat down with her. I was dazed, not really paying attention to anything. It was a nice library definitely, I could see myself spending hours and hours in here but right now my thoughts were elsewhere.

“What is it, Amelia?” Solen asked. The distraction must have been evident on my face.

“It’s nothing really... I’m just thinking.” The ghost of a smile passed fleetingly across my lips.

“You can tell me, you know. I won’t judge.” She reached across the couch and patted my knee comfortingly with one perfectly manicured and delicate looking hand.

I didn’t know if I should tell her or not. What if she agreed with Jasper? What if she didn’t think I should be a vampire? Then again… Jasper did say she liked being a vampire, maybe she’d be ok with me being one too. Maybe if Jasper wouldn’t…she would. With that hope in mind I took a deep breath and let it out in a long, slow sigh, “Solen…Do you think Jasper should make me a vampire?” I asked a little nervously.

She smiled at me, a look of understanding touching the soft lines of her beautiful face. “That is a difficult question with many answers. On one hand, anyone with eyes can see that this world was built for you and Jasper and the only path that ends in you being together, is one with you as a vampire. On the other hand, I know how Jasper feels about it… how he feels about his soul, and yours. Belief is a funny thing, it’s not always rational and can cause people to act in ways they otherwise wouldn’t. Belief…faith… is also one of the most difficult things in the world to change.” She smiled softly at me then and reached for my hand, clasping it in her own. I noticed immediately that unlike Jasper, her skin was ice cold and I wondered again how he could be so warm.

“Try to see it from his point of view, my dear. If you believed that you had no soul, could never get to Heaven, and he could… would you be able to ask him to give that up for you?” she smiled sweetly at me.

I understood his point of view, of course I could see where he was coming from but he was being unreasonable and unwilling to even look at my side of the situation. “That’s the problem, Solen. He thinks he is asking me to give up Heaven for him and that makes him selfish... He doesn’t understand that he is not asking me for anything. I’m offering my soul to him. ” I sighed softly and looked out the window to the breathtaking man standing on the porch, speaking in low whispers to Warren.

Solen glanced out the window and a look of pure contentment and love spread across her ravishing features as she stared at the man who created her. The man who had given her everything. “I understand entirely what you mean, Amelia. I offered my soul to Warren as well, he never even had to ask. I was his right from the start. I was born a human in 1941 but my life never really started until I was created a vampire in 1968 when I was 27 years old. I’d spent my life and childhood reading stories of witches and dragons, werewolves and vampires. Magic and mayhem and everything supernatural wherever you went. It was worlds away from the horrors of my everyday life.”

“My father… he didn’t like that I read so much, he thought I always had my head in the clouds and was never focused on reality. But I just didn’t feel like this was a world I belonged too. If I couldn’t exist in the worlds I found in my books, surrounded by magic… then I didn’t want to exist at all.” She smirked and chuckled softly, “Being a vampire however, was never something I had pictured for myself.”

“It wasn’t?” I asked, suddenly a little worried that she didn’t like being a vampire as much as I’d hoped.

She looked at me thoughtfully then and chuckled, “No. I pictured myself more as the fairy princess who gets saved from the evil vampire trying to drain me of my blood…” Her trilling, melodic laugh echoed through the room at the absurdity of such desired. “I wouldn’t have changed it for anything, though. I like being a vampire, because it’s not like the vampires I read about in my books. It is better….It’s beautiful. We are surrounded by rainbows and colours and things of great and unimaginable beauty. You can’t even imagine the way we see the world, Amelia, a vampire’s sense are heightened a thousand times that of a human. I can see the dust sparkling in a beam of sunlight, the dew drops clinging to delicate strands of a spider web. Did you know that flower petals are not just one solid colour? All flower petals are a mosaic, a kaleidoscope of many colours, some just more prominent than others…those are the colours the humans see. We see them all.” She drifted momentarily from the conversation, mulling over the wonders of being a vampire before focusing her eyes back on mine, “How can something that... enchanting, be evil?”

“I don’t think it can be evil. You know, he told me the story of how vampires were first created about them being the fallen angels… I don’t get it, how can someone as good and kind as Jasper, someone who is descended from angels, think himself a demon?” I was entirely bewildered by this notion. Certainly there was darkness in him but it was minute, very small compared to the light that radiates out of him.

“Jasper only sees the shadows and the darkness that are forever encroaching on the tiny flicker of light that is left inside of him. He doesn’t see that light, pushing the shadows back driving them further and further away. He doesn’t see the angel in him, only the demon.”

“Well that is utterly absurd. Angel or demon, I love him regardless…nothing could ever change that.” I whispered softly.

Solen suddenly chuckled at this and I looked at her curiously. I wasn’t sure how my unyielding love was funny. “Angels and Demons are cast from one mould till love guides them upward… or downward, I hold.” She was quoting a line from one of the poets I’d been reading to Jasper in the meadow back in Alaska.

“Quoting Amelia’s favourite poet, Solen? Now that’s hardly fair.” Jasper’s silky voice came from the doorway and I looked over to see both he and Warren standing there. I hadn’t seen them move from the front porch at all but I’d been distracted by my conversation with Solen and wasn’t paying attention.

Solen’s hand flew to her chest and she gasped in mock offence, “I’ll have you know I am quite the fan of Miss Wilcox myself.” She paused for a second and gave a soft sigh, “I only meant, Jasper that we all have both light and dark battling inside of us and it’s the choices we make that determine which of those opposing forces win the war. Those choices are most thoroughly influenced by love above all else. That love can be dark and dangerous it can lead anyone, even a human, down the path to eternal damnation, or it can guide us, lift us and carry us to the gates of Heaven if we let it. The only difference between us and them,” she gestured towards me, “is that we have a little farther to walk. If she is willing to walk the longer path by your side, if she is willing to carry you and show you the way to Heaven… What is stopping you from letting her? The only other option, is you both walk your separate paths alone.”

Warren gave his wife a loving smile and nodded. He reached out and placed a hand on Jasper’s shoulder, “It doesn’t take long for loneliness to become unbearable and drive you to madness, brother. Especially when you have nothing but eternity spread out before you. Take my word for it. I was alone for over 800 years till I found someone to make my existence bearable.”

“800 years? You’re over 1000 years old, Warren and Solen is only a few decades. I think you’ve got your math wrong.” Jasper said curtly. My eyes opened wide with shock. 1000 years old?! Wow. I didn’t know Warren was that old and I found I was curious as to what his story was. I would have to ask him about it later.

Warren flashed him a charmingly crooked grin and rolled his eyes, “I was talking about you, you big dope. You were the first to give me family and friendship, to bring me back from the insanity where the loneliness had led me. But the loneliness came back, you lessened it… made it bearable but it wasn’t gone completely. Something was still missing and then I found her. Solen has given my life meaning and purpose and a reason to want to suppress that demon inside of me.” He stepped from the doorway then and moved around the couch to stand behind Solen, his hands on her shoulders and his eyes still fixed on Jaspers stony face, “You deserve that same happiness, Jasper. Don’t throw it away just because you are afraid of the possible consequences for Amelia. There are consequences for her, no matter the path she takes. Which of those consequences she chooses to take on is her decision. Whether you are there to help her through them, or leave her to face it alone.” The corner of his mouth turned up in a wry half-smile, “Well, that one is your decision.”

Jasper sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, his face screwed up as though he were trying to banish a headache. After a few moments he dropped his hand and shook his head clear, regaining his composure. His eyes focused on me and a warm, dazzling smile spread across his face, defrosting the ice that had been present just moments before. He extended his hand toward me, “Come on, Amelia. I’ll show you my room.”

I glanced at Warren and Solen, giving them a pleasant smile and mouthing the words “Thank you” before taking Jasper’s hand and allowing him to lead me from the room. I really was grateful that both Warren and Solen were trying to help Jasper see the sense in turning me into a vampire. I could use all the help I could get in that department.

Chapter

Jasper led me toward the stairs with Warren and Solen trailing behind us. I clutched his hand in my own, relishing the warmth of his skin against mine. I’d missed that warmth so much in the short time we’d been apart. I never wanted to let go of him again. He stopped short at the bottom of the stairs and I glanced up into his staggeringly handsome face to see it alight with surprise that slowly twisted into worry. I followed his gaze to the top of the stairs.

She was the most astonishingly beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my entire life and my heart instantly began thudding in my chest. Her pearl white skin glowed faintly under the lights. Her silky, raven black hair fell in waves to her waist and was perfectly offset by her pouty blood-red lips and lilac coloured eyes. She was wearing a red corset style tank-top that perfectly matched the colouring on her lips and fingernails and a floor length cotton black skirt. Her eyes were shadowed with smoke that made the stark white skin of her lovely oval face, with its small upturned nose, stand out even more. She looked seductive and dangerous, just like you would expect from a vampire. When she flashed a pearly smile at Jasper as she walked gracefully down the stairs, I was surprised to not see a pair of fangs poking out from behind her lips. I felt Jasper instantly stiffen beside me, his grip flexing in my hand.

Why is he so tense? Who is this gorgeous woman and why hadn’t Jasper mentioned her before? I would have asked him but I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. Suddenly she was standing on her tip toes in front of him, blowing a kiss beside each of his cheeks.

““Jazper, I am zo glad you are back. I have mizzed you. ” She said in a breathy whisper and the sound of her voice made my heart stop. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until it all came out in a loud whoosh. She seemed to speak very good English but she had this unbelievably sexy European accent that I couldn’t quite place.

Jasper cleared his throat and I turned to stare at him. “It’s always lovely to see you, Lily. I would have returned sooner but I have a guest that I didn’t exactly intend on bringing back with me.” He gave me a sidelong glance and I grinned proudly at him. I certainly wasn’t going to be leaving any time soon and he would just have to get used to that.

Lily’s laughter was high and musical as she patted Jasper’s shoulder, “I knew you couldn’t rezist bringing her back vith you.” She moved past him toward me and I hear Jasper sigh. She reached out and took my hand, cradling it in both of hers. Her skin was ice cold and a shiver ran down my spine. Her luscious lips turned up into a smile and I was mesmerized. There was something unusual about her eyes, besides the obvious purple colour. The ring around the outside of her iris was flecked with dark green. “It iz a pleasure to meet you. I am Lily Dragan. I underztand that you are the von who haz svept my brother off hiz feet, as they say?” she asked me politely.

I tried to speak but what came out was a voice that was not my own. It was high-pitched, nervous and squeaky, like a teenage boy during puberty. “Amelia. N-Nice to m-meet you.” I manged to stutter. Instantly I was mad at myself for becoming so entranced by this woman. I hated when I got so nervous I started to stutter. Why couldn’t I have better control over my nerves like Jasper? Nothing ever bothered him. Oh no. Jasper would be able to feel my nerves. Oh, this was worse than I thought! I was utterly mortified that he could feel everything I was feeling right now.

I heard a low groan coming from Jasper and Lily turned towards him, her bottom lip sticking out in a childishly, “You know I can’t help it, Jazper.” She pouted.

The corners of Jasper’s mouth turned up in an apologetic smile, “Yes, I know. I just wish I’d had a moment to prepare Amelia for you.” My mouth fell open and I stared at him in horror as my worst fears bubbled to the surface. Surely, Jasper had no intention of staying with me when a woman as incredibly beautiful as Lily was here. He must have been planning on breaking it to me gently, hoping to lessen the pain such a blow would cause. I couldn’t blame him though…she was perfect and I was just a human. Maybe he’d offer me to her for lunch, at least then I wouldn’t have to bear living my life without him and the pain of knowing he was with her.

Lily saw the look of horror and anguish on my face and laughed that same trilling and melodic laugh as before. ““It iz not vhat you think, Amelia. You zee, as Jazper here iz able to feel the emotions ov others. I am able to hypnotize them, but it’s something I have only limited control over. It’s more like an aura of influenze zurrounds me and makes people vant to give in to me. It is alzo vhat makes me zo unnaturally beautiful… and that iz vhy you feel the vay you do right now.” She smiled reassuringly at me and again I could see her perfect teeth. “It vill pass as you grow more uzed to my prezence.”

I swallowed hard and nodded, still embarrassingly unable to speak which caused my chees to flush bright red. I still couldn’t believe Jasper had never mentioned that he had another sister, especially one as perfect as Lily. I felt Jasper’s arm slide around my shoulder and his breath was warm on my ear, “Don’t worry, Lily doesn’t bite.”

An impish grin crossed Lily’s face, “Much.” She winked teasingly at me.

Warren’s thunderous laughter echoed through the house, “Alright. I think that’s enough teasing, Amelia. Poor girl is probably terrified of us now.”

Warren’s voice brought me back to my sense. Terrified? No I wasn’t terrified, I was shocked, amazed, in awe and a little annoyed at Jasper but I wasn’t terrified. I stood a little taller, squaring my shoulders as I fought to control my breathing and regain my composure. “No, I could never be terrified of you.” My heart just didn’t want to stop thundering in my chest but at least my voice sounded confident. Jasper squeezed me a little tighter and I felt his warmth sink into me and a wave of calm washed over me. I turned to face Lily, “That is an interesting accent, Lily. May I ask where you are from?”

Once more her musical laugh echoed through the room, “Vhy, Transylvania Darling! Izn’t it vonderful?” a wide grin slowly crept across her face. Once more shock overcame me and I leaned against Jasper for support, unsure of how to respond to that. Was she teasing me? Did vampires REALLY come from Transylvania? No way... that was just too cliché! But then again until a couple of months ago I didn’t even think vampires existed.

Jasper felt my body slump against him and he held me closer, “Ok I think that is enough shocking, Amelia for today. If her heart starts beating any faster she’ll have a heart attack and I’d rather that lovely heart of hers remain beating.” He supported my weight against him as he pulled me beside him up the stairs.

Lily called out, her voice thick and pouting, “Aww, Jazper you are no fun!” I heard all three of the other vampire’s laughter ring out just as we rounded the corner at the top of the stairs and Jasper opened the nearest door, pulling me into the room with him.

“Do you regret saying yes? When Warren offered to save your life?” I asked seriously. I nuzzled my face into Jasper’s neck as he stroked my shoulder softly.

A happy smile overtook his face, “Not at all. He has given me a truly amazing life. He has made things possible for me that I never imagined in my wildest dreams. For all the… consequences that come with being what I am. I wouldn’t have wanted my life to end any other way. I was made a demon, but I can’t help but love it, almost as much as I hate it. I certainly wouldn’t have given up the chance for this moment, right now, for any of it.” He looked down at me as he spoke, his eyes glittering in the soft light of the bedside lamp.

I sat up and kneeled on the bed in front of him, straddling his lap, his hands went instinctively to my hips, holding me there. I gave him a soft kiss and looked into the depths of his stunning Amethyst Seas, “Jasper,” my voice in a solemn whisper, “I want to have that same truly amazing life with you. I don’t want it to end, not while I have a choice. You are my end and my beginning. I love you, Jasper. Don’t make me live without you. The only heaven I will ever want is right here on earth with you. You are taking nothing from me, I am offering myself to you.” my voice trembled and my eyes filled with tears, “Please… Just… let me give you my life.” Tears streamed down my cheeks as I stared pleadingly into Jasper’s incredible eyes.

Jasper stared at me, his face a mixture of disbelief and amazement. He sat still as a statue for a good five minutes. His hands still on my hips, just staring at me in shock as I cried.

“Jasper…” I begged, “Say something.” My face twisted in pain as I choked back a sob.

Finally Jasper moved, he sat up straighter and placed one hand on the small of my back. He tugged my hips closer to him and looked seriously into my eyes, “Marry me.” His request came out in a breathy rush, “Marry me and I swear we will face Judgement Day together. I’ll give you everything you want… I can’t refuse your heart’s desire, no matter how selfish that makes me. If it will make you happy…it’s yours.” His free hand moved upward and he brushed my cheek tenderly with the backs of his fingers, tracing the line of my cheekbones.

My eyes opened in shock as the realization of what he was saying hit me and my mouth opened to answer, “Are you kidding me?” I reached for the hand that was brushing against my cool skin and clasped it in mine, holding his palm against my cheek. A feeling of warmth tingled from the bottom of my toes and moved up radiating out the top of my head. “Of course I’ll marry you! If you’re willing to make me a vampire too, I’d marry you tomorrow!” I threw my arms around his neck and pressed my mouth happily to his.

He laughed into the kiss and laid back onto the bed, pulling me down with him as we kissed. “Well it doesn’t have to be tomorrow if you wanted to maybe have an actual wedding.” He pulled back from the kiss and grinned at me.

“Wait, “I said curiously, “We can have an actual wedding? That’s not… against the rules or anything?” A look of hope flashed across my face and Jasper laughed louder, shaking his head.

“No.” he said between laughs, “it’s not against any rules. Just keep me out of the sunlight and there is nothing wrong with it at all.” He wriggled out from under me and turned over to the other side of the bed, “Speaking of rules…” He trailed off as he pulled open the drawer of his bedside table and handed me a tiny black box, open in the palm of my hand. There in the centre of the box was an elegant silver band with a blood red ruby cut in a rhombus shape and set in the centre of the ring with small clusters of diamonds on each side. “I believe tradition dictates you have a ring.”

My jaw hit the floor as I stared at the magnificent piece of jewellery. I’d never been one to wear jewellery but this ring was exactly right for me, small, elegant and didn’t have the typical diamond as the main stone. “Where did you get that…?” I whispered, my throat dry from all the gasping in surprise I’d been doing today.

Jasper chuckled at this as he took the ring from its box and slipped it onto the proper finger on my left hand.

His darkness seeped into my fading light.

For the first time in her life, she had jewellery. She felt the weight of it around her neck and on her finger. For the first time, she truly felt like a grown woman instead of a child. She suddenly had a burning desire to go buy a pretty little jewellery box to hold the pretty little tokens of his love, safely inside.

Jasper lifted me off the ground and carried me, across the threshold into the little stone cottage. The light from the desert sunset bathed Jasper in its warm glow, making his skin skimmer with a fiery rainbow of colour. He led me through the cottage, and I barely noticed the rooms we passed through, I was completely lost in those striking violet eyes. When we reached the bedroom, I finally looked around and my breath caught in my throat. The room was breathtaking. The walls were the same burnt sienna colour as the distant sandstone formations you could see through the large French doors that opened out into the desert. The doors and two windows on either side of the bed were wide open and framed in flowing, white chiffon curtains that billowed into the room with the desert breeze. The large canopied bed was covered in a white silk comforter, with matching pillows. Each post of the canopy had the same chiffon drapes, reaching the floor and blowing in the breeze. The bright reds, golds and oranges of the sunset reflected off the white silk and made the bed look for all the world like it was on fire, just like Jasper’s skin.

He walked over to the bed and set me down in the middle of the bed. Pulling his shirt over his head, leaving his chest bare and glowing in the sunset. He moved onto the bed, his body covering mine. His cool lips pressed against my mouth and I melted into the kiss, certain that I had died and gone to heaven. He pushed my hands above my head as his lips trailed kisses along my jaw and down my neck. His fingers grazed slowly, softly down the sides of my body to my hips and tugged me closer to him. I closed my eyes and relished the feel of his fingers as they began to deftly pry open the buttons of my blouse, tugging it out of the band of my skirt. My blouse fell to the sides and he pulled back, his eyes roaming over my bare torso. I saw him swallow and I knew, he was just as nervous as I was.

I reached up with one hand, leaving the other where he had placed it, and ran my fingers through his hair and cupping his cheek softly. “You’re beautiful.” He whispered as he gazed into my eyes.

I let my fingers trace the shifting patterns of embers on his neck and down his chest. “You’re stunning.” I whispered back. His head bent down and he kissed me again, more passionately this time. His lips parted and I returned the deep kiss with equal enthusiasm and desire. His hands slid up my thighs, pushing my skirt up to my waist and pulling my hips tight against his own. I moaned softly into his mouth as I let the passion and heat of the moment carry me into bliss.

My eyes filled with tears and I blinked them away rapidly, turning my head away from him before he could see my weakness, “Life is only worth living if somebody is loving you. I love you. I want to make your life, our lives together, worth something for the rest of eternity.”

Jasper reached towards me, one finger brushing away a stray tear that leaked down my cheek. He shook his head, his eyes set with hard determination, and “I can’t, Amelia! I won’t. I don’t know what comes after this life but I do know that I am damned. And I won’t damn you to the same fate I have. I will protect you. I will give you every chance to get to Heaven.”

I reached over and took Jasper’s face gently in my hands, “You don’t see it do you?” I said, “Don’t you understand that, for me… Heaven is a place on earth, right here with you.” She sighed softly and looked into his eyes, speaking in a low whisper, “They say that the world is built for two. I never used to believe that but from what I’ve seen and experienced of love in these past few months I know now… That it’s absolutely true. This world was built for you and me. Without you, there is nothing left for me.”

John Legend – All of Me - Wedding Song.