Chapter 44

“I saw this in your memories, this place,” Soraya said.

“It was supposed to be our home, you chose it yourself,” Paris said, smiling.

“How long before you think Merch will realize that I am not coming home?” Soraya asked.

“What is the longest you have stayed away before?” Paris enquired.

“Three hours,” Soraya said.

“It's been three hours already, you should bathe so that we can continue our journey,” Paris suggested.

“Why should I bath?” Soraya wondered since she was not the one doing all the running.

“Your perfume,” Paris said.

“I think it is a bit too late for that now,” Soraya said, thinking she should have bathed before they left.

“Just go bath, I will go get you something to wear,” Paris said.

Paris pulled some of his own clothes from his closet for her to wear, putting them to his nose, “smells old, but will have to do.”

“I am leaving the clothes and a towel in the room,” Paris said by the bathroom door.

Soraya looked at her surroundings, “Paris, how is it that the water is hot?”

“I turned the geyser on, on my way to you,” Paris said.

“So, you planned to bring me here?” Soraya asked, frowning.

“Not exactly, I didn’t even think you will still be alive,” Paris said, resting both his hands on the door, chest level.

“You can come in you know, nothing you have not seen before,” Soraya smiled.

“Actually, I have not seen you naked, you missed a few memories,” Paris said.

“Like?” Soraya asked.

“Our wedding night, we never made it to the bed,” Paris said.

“Oh, I see,” Soraya said, thinking about the other girl that she saw in Paris's memories.

Soraya wondered if she should ask him about her, thinking, ‘maybe she is a distant memory as well?’

Soraya got out of the bathtub and before Paris could step away from the door, she opened it and kissed him.

Paris put his hands on the side of her head and pulled her away, “why did you do that?”

“Why did you steal me away?” Soraya asked.

“I did not steal you away. I took you away. You are clearly not there by your own free will,” Paris said, turning his back to her.

“Let’s have our wedding night,” Soraya said, tucking at his shirt, wildly attracted to him, wanting to experience the love Paris had for her in his memories, wanting to make them a reality again.

Paris turned around and grabbed her hands. “I love another.”

“Then why take me away from where I was happy?” Soraya asked.

“Happy? How do you even know if you are truly happy and not compelled by some spell to make you believe that you are happy?” Paris asked.

“Why did you come for me if you love another?” Soraya repeated her question in a different way.

“I wanted to be sure that you are ok,” Paris said, wondering if that was it, thinking, ‘am I lying to myself?’

“Make love to me, just once. If you don’t want me, then I will accept it,” Soraya said, before pressing her lips to Paris’s.
Paris could not help but respond to her. Soraya’s kisses and her naked body pressed against his. He swept her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. After making love to her, he looked at her, stroking her hair, “you have to hide in the attic while I take some of my old clothes and run the opposite direction of what we are going to lead them off your trial.”
“You want me to stay here? They will sniff me out, they know my scent with or without perfume, Merch will know that I am here,” Soraya protested.
“Not if you are quiet,” Paris said, getting up.
Soraya does not like his plan at all, but decided to listen. It was not as if Merch will kill her, so she got dressed and went to the attic to hide.
Paris left that night and not a moment to spare, and Merch and some of his nest members showed up.
Merch followed the scent to the bedroom where Paris and Soraya had sex and could smell it in the air. “I am going to kill him.”
Soraya tried to calm her pounding heart down, knowing the vampires will hear it, thinking, ‘this was a stupid idea.’
“Follow me, they already left,” Merch said, signaling the vampires to all leave, but he stayed quiet, listening, fisting her shirt that she came with.
Soraya was about to sigh with relief.
“Merch, the scent is this way,” one of Merch’s nest members gave Merch away.
“You stupid woman,” Merch said, speeding out of the house, “burn it down,” Merch said before speeding off, following Paris’s scent.
“With what are we supposed to burn it down?” one of the vampires asked another.
“Let’s just go, we can burn it down later,” they all agreed before speeding off.
‘It can be another trick,’ Soraya told herself, breathing quietly.
Paris tied some clothing pieces around a fox's neck before stopping at another one of his homes, before getting undressed and taking a shower before leaving, naked. Paris went to the nearest river and traveled back to Soraya through the river as near as it allowed him.
“Soraya,” Paris called out to her when he found her sleeping in the attic.
“Paris? Why are you naked?” Soraya asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Time to go,” Paris picked her up and sped off.
Merch and his group of female nest vampires found the fox. “Did you burn the house down?”
“Not yet,” one of them admitted in fear.
“You stupid fools! They are still in the fucking house!” Merch shouted, speeding back to the house. By the time they got back to the house, the sun was rising, and they had no choice but to wait it out. The scent of Paris and Soraya’s lovemaking driving him nuts.
Paris and Soraya reached Toronto, and he decided to hide out at Dario’s penthouse. “We will hide here until the sun set again.”
“This place is beautiful, but won't the sun hurt you since there is nothing but glass?” Soraya asked.

“No, special glass, and it is not my place. It belongs to my former nest leader,” Paris said, cleaning up the mess left behind the last time he was there that was not so long ago, the night that Wynn got his wolf part burned to death.
“Former,” Soraya questioned.
“Yes, he was wrongfully used as the last sacrifice in the vampire turning ceremony,” Paris said.
“How so?” Soraya wondered, lending a hand at cleaning up.
“Someone wanted what was his and framed him,” Paris said, cracking the coffee table in half when his fist came down hard on it out of anger.
Soraya jumped in fright.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Paris said, looking at the broken coffee table, thinking back at the day when Hannah and Dario bought it; they had such a huge argument about it that they ask him to choose the coffee table.
“Can you fix it?” Soraya asked.
“It does not matter, neither one is coming back here ever again,” Paris said.
“No, I don’t mean the coffee table. I mean the wrong full doings that happened to your nest leader,” Soraya rephrased.
“I tried and wanted to but it will only bring his former wife heartache to learn the truth; her memory got wiped before she got turned into a vampire,” Paris said.
Soraya kept silent as she did not know how to respond or to ease his pain at his loss.
“Get some sleep,” Paris suggested.
Soraya walked into the first room and then turned out when she saw the blood on the bedsheets.
The next room was clean, so she got into bed while Paris cleaned up and put some clothes on.
After Paris cleaned up, he found himself in the room where Soraya slept and pulled a chair closer and looked at her sleeping, thinking, ‘I should not have slept with her. I know Ann is double dating, but how will she feel about the fact that I slept with another?’
Paris sped off to Dario’s and Hannah’s room and took a phone out of the safe to call Ann.
“Hello?” Ann’s familiar voice answered the phone.
“Just checking in, my love. I will be home during the night, later,” Paris said.
“What is going on? They told me you left the council a while ago,” Ann asked.
“I had something to take care of, but I am on my way home now,” Paris said.
“What did you have to take care of? Jessica is still not back. Deacon says she is not dead yet, he says he would have felt it,” Ann asked, trying to get confirmation from Paris.
“Yes, that is right,” Paris assured her.
“Did you see Michael? He left, saying he was going to the council,” Ann asked.
“I have not. I have to go,” Paris said, hanging up the phone, thinking, ‘she cares only about Michael.’ Paris crushed the phone in his hands, breaking it.
“Bad news?” Soraya asked, standing at the door.
“No, good news actually,” Paris said, speeding over to Soraya, kissing her before pulling away, sweeping the hair from the side of her face, “I missed you so much and we will find a way to restore your memory.”
Paris kissed Soraya trying to get Ann out of his mind, but all he kept on thinking was that he wanted to kiss Ann, that he wanted to make love to Ann, and that he wanted Ann all to himself.
Paris pulled away from Soraya. "Sorry, I need some time to think."
"Anything I can help with?" Soraya asked.
Paris took her hands and kissed them. “Get some sleep. We will travel to Alaska as soon as the sun is down.”
Paris regretted breaking his phone as he really needed to get hold of Michael, knowing that the new vampire king will be able to demand Merch to stand down.
***
Michael arrived at the higher council and stopped at the dungeons. “This better be good.”
“Brother, let me out,” Torvald said with a tired voice.
“I promised, along with everyone else, to never let you free,” Michael sighed and turned to leave again.
“Wait,” Torvald stopped him from leaving, hanging on to the bars, resting his head against two.
Michael stopped with a sigh but didn’t turn to face him and waited for him to speak.
“I know where our clang is,” Torvald said, thinking that all was not lost, ‘one of them will save me.’
Michael turned around and walked over to Torvald. “Dead?”
Torvald held out his palm for Michael to drink, “see for yourself.”
“I promise not to do anything stupid,” Torvald sighed at his brother’s hesitation.
Michael thought about Ann for a moment. ‘How will she feel about me waking up my dozens of wives?’
‘Can I call them wives in this modern time? Will they understand and accept today's world order?’ Michael thought about his clang and about the prehistoric he already set free. ‘They have all accepted the way humans are today, right?’
“What is it going to be, brother?” Torvald pulled him out of his thoughts.
“I already looked for them and our villages are long gone. Ice slides and all that over the millions of years has displaced everything,” Michael said, sure of himself.
“Sure, but I have had a millennium head start to re-map,” Torvald informed him.
“So, you send the hunters after me?” Michael questioned.
“It is in the past, new beginnings,” Torvald tried to change the subject.
“How many of us have you had killed?” Michael grabbed him by the neck.
“All the men. You were the last of my brothers,” Torvald hissed.
“Father?” Michael hissed back, tightening his grip.
“He was the first,” Torvald managed to pull himself out of Michael’s grip.
“Why not kill the women?” Michael breathed angrily.
“Calm yourself, brother,” Torvald said calmly, rubbing his neck.
“I was getting around to them,” Torvald said, not ashamed of what he has done.
“You are going to give me their location without taking into account what they will do to you?” Michael questioned, staring at his brother in disbelief.
“Don’t you worry about me,” Torvald said, putting his palm through the bars again.
Michael gave Torvald one more look before grabbing his palm and drinking his brother’s blood to see what he knows.
After getting the information, Michael sped out of the dungeons and took out his phone to call a few vampires to meet up with him at the North Pole. The last vampire on his list was Paris. Michael thought, ‘can’t give him too much alone time with Ann.’
Michael got the ‘not available message,’ and hang upped without leaving a message, thinking, ‘I will stop at Alaska first.’