Twenty-Three

If I was dreaming, I didn’t want to wake up! She had cocooned herself underneath my body on my side; the fire was almost gone as the temperature in the cabin dropped a bit, and we drowned in a mess of blankets.
I have been awake for some time now, but working up my courage to let go of the warmth of her soft body against mine. My fingers moved on their own accord, caressing her face and putting away the wild strands of her hair. She was an enchantress, my enchantress. Her eyes drifted open. How I’ve missed waking up to those lavenders!
“Hey…”
“Hey, Grizzly.” She giggled, but there was a hint of sadness. I didn’t miss it. It was there, and my heart constricted in my chest. “I was afraid to wake up alone, and it had been only one of my dreams again.” She brushed the tips of her fingers over my face with such delicacy, trying to make sure I was real.
“How can you be so accepting of me? Are you not afraid of what I am?” I didn’t understand. I was ready for a fight and…
“I don’t know. Throughout my life, I’ve differed from the others. There are things we can’t explain. I move, break and explode things with the power of my mind, for heaven’s sake.” The sorrow in her voice deepened, and I tightened my hold on her. “Also, you have been with me in my dreams, since I was three years old.”
“But you have said in your nightmares, dragă. You should be afraid.”
“Maybe I should explain it better. I referred to them as nightmares, because most of them were violent and gruesome, but not to me. It was as if I was watching a movie, but I could feel all the main character’s emotions as if they were my own.” She whispered, and her eyes watered. “The worst ones were when the handsome knight would get hurt. I felt each and every cut, and harm a sword could do to him as if it was in my flesh. And I’d wake up screaming in agony, but he always had his second with him, and that brought me comfort afterwards.”
“Sorry I wasn’t there for you, Liz. I should have been.” I needed to find out what went wrong this time. But even with all the sorrow in her words, she had a smirk on her face. “Did I hear you say handsome knight?” My voice came out in a purr, mischief in my eyes.
“A very handsome knight, and when I was about seventeen...” Her cheeks blushed, and I raised one of my eyebrows to her. “Other more interesting dreams started.” Her eyes glowed, staring at me. I didn’t refrain from myself as I waited for this moment for so long, so I kissed her long, taking my time. Under the covers, my hand roamed over her naked skin. She would never leave me again.
“I like where this is going,” I whispered to her lips.
“I had prayed so many times, you weren’t a figment of my imagination. When I met Shane, I liked him so much, but he wasn’t you, and after a while I tired of him and I broke his heart.” She sighed with contempt, and I tensed as I opened my eyes, staring at her face, puzzlement creeping on her.
“Has another touched you?” My blood boiled in my veins, and rage roared in my mind. “How dare you, Liz! I’m gonna impale the bastard!” I barked, then I heard her laughter, she was laughing hard at me.
“Vlad, this is the 21st century. We’re not in the Middle Ages! Relax.” She laced her fingers in my hair, pushing them back. “You can’t go around impaling people, anymore!” Her carefree laughter puzzled me, and I could not get over someone touching her. I did not care which era we were in! “How long have you slept under your rock, Grizzly?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Since when are you cursed? How long have you slept?”
“Since 1476, and I’ve been awake most of the time, but I had to put myself in a slumber once in a while, but never for too long.” I stopped talking and stared at her. “Don’t change the subject. Who is this Shane person?” She did not answer me, and chuckling, she pulled me to her in a hot and passionate kiss, and I could do nothing but to kiss her back the same way. It would never be enough.
These past days I was so worried about her condition, I noticed her skin was different. But I preferred not to dwell on it, for the matter. Last night I couldn’t care less about it in the heat of the moment, but now I saw it better. What did she do to herself? I sat back, uncovering her luscious body, and it stunned me. Lots of drawings covered her left arm and shoulder almost entirely, under her belly button and part of her other arm. My gaze went down to her legs, and a few of these colorful drawings, all kinds of them, also covered her thighs and one calf.
“What? What’s wrong?” She saw the confusion and anger in my eyes, I’m sure. “Why are you angry?”
“You’ve marred your skin! Why would someone do this to a gorgeous skin? I want you to wash these from your body.” Her beautiful violets turned black, and she shot daggers in my direction.
“Well, they are tattoos, they are not washable, and to get rid of them, just skinning me alive.” She threw the last remark on me, jumping out of bed and reaching for her shirt.
“What are you doing, Liz?” She didn’t answer me and kept dressing. I wanted to kick myself for being such an ass. “Answer me, woman!” The look she granted me, fried me on the spot, and she gave her back to me, going to the bathroom. How dare she leave me talking to myself in such disrespect? I was her husband. Fine, a long time ago, but I did not care. “I’ve asked you a question, and I expect an answer, now!” I growled, following and bringing her crashing into my bare chest.
“Don’t go there! I don’t have to answer to you or anybody, much less an almost six-hundred-year-old vampire!”
“Alexandra, don’t provoke me!” The warning in my voice just made her even more furious.
“I’m not afraid of you, you’ll never hurt me, at least not physically, and if you excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom.” She said to me, and she was right. I was at her mercy, but I wasn’t about to let her get away with it. “Time has changed, Vlad, and we just met. You know nothing about my life, or what I’ve been through all these years, but, know one thing, you don’t tell me what to do! I own my life, and if you don’t like it, the door is right there.” She pointed to it. The look of defiance on her face made my blood rush, and my pulse increased a notch with rage. I had a feisty woman in my hands. Her lips parted when she noticed my anger turned to lust, and I could smell her arousal. “You’d better…” She started.
“I’d better, nothing!” I didn’t let her finish as I descended my rough lips unmercifully on hers. Lord, this woman would drive me insane. She laced her fingers in the mess of my hair, giving a soft pull while I ravished her mouth, pushing her back and pressing her to the wall. I kissed and lightly scraped my teeth at her jaw, feeling her shudder against me. My lips traveled through her long sinful neck to her ear, where I sucked and nipped at her earlobe, making her moan and rub herself on my excited body.
“Why can’t I get enough of you, Grizzly?”
It was her question in the middle of all that fervor. She sneaked her hand down my body, grabbing my butt cheek and bringing me closer to her, and I growled on her neck, my fangs exploding in my mouth again. And the same way it started, I ended it. What was wrong with me? Why so suddenly I couldn’t control my demon? She cupped my face, kissing me so my chest swelled in response and she rested her forehead on mine, trying to catch her breath.
“As much as I want to take you back to that bed…” She could barely talk, since we were panting hard. “We have to go, Grizzly... They must be looking for me, and soon enough they will find me. We have to move.”
“Who’s after you?” What kind of trouble was she in? “What the hell is going on, Alexandra?” I was back to my angry self. No one would hurt her. “Tell me, I’ll hunt them down!”
“It’s not that easy, Vlad. Time’s changed! Come, let’s get ready and leave, we’ll talk when we get to my home.” She got on her tiptoes and pecked at my lips. “It’s nightfall, and we have a bit of a walk to do! Do you know how to get back to the other cabin? Just close?”
“I do, why?” I got a bad feeling about all these.
“Because I lost my GPS, and I know how to get back to my sweetness from there.” She smirked at me. I was getting to know her already. She was up to something when she smirked like that.
“What’s a GPS?”
“It’s like a map.” She answered after pondering for a bit.
“And who’s this sweetness of yours?” I couldn’t hold back the bite of jealousy in my tone. But to my doom, her smile widened.
“You’ll see…” She pecked me on the lips again and ran back to the bathroom.