Chapter 52

ARIC

The whole room smelled like her. Her scent filled my nostrils and pinged around in my head. I couldn’t concentrate on anything else.

I could only vaguely hear Mother sniffling over the teenage photos of Eleanor in the other room.

Eleanor stood in front of me, her hand still on the coffee machine. I had her pinned to the counter, my arms caging her in.

I could hear her heart racing in her chest, and her cheeks were slowly flushing bright pink. Seeing her again this evening after a couple of months had only confirmed what I had already thought.

She was the one for me—the only one. And I was now faced with the dilemma of what to do if she refused me.

Forcibly turning her would be the simplest plan, but she might hate me for a couple of centuries. Mother certainly would.

Then what would I do if she said yes? Take her immediately against the wall, but after that? We’d have to make a few plans.

She was pursing her lips, her eyes wide.

“Aric.” I could hear Mother moving back toward us.

“Tell me later,” I told Eleanor, quickly pulling away from her as Mother appeared. She’d been crying again.

She held an old astronomy book in her hands, staring at Eleanor, not even noticing how close I was standing to her, my hand hovering by her hip.

Mother had seemed completely oblivious to the glances we’d been giving each other all evening.

“Did Demetrius leave this with you?” she asked, holding up the book.

Eleanor nodded slowly, then leaned back gracefully to grab her coffee. She gave me a small smile, then pulled away from me and moved to where Mother was trembling, with tears or rage. I wasn’t so sure.

“I read it every night for a year,” Eleanor admitted, taking the book from Mother’s hands and flipping it open. “It’s still one of my favorites.”

“I am going to kill him!” Mother snarled. I chuckled and moved closer to them.

“He was keeping her safe,” I protested. “She was safe from everyone until Henry found her.”

“Now I have Aric to keep me safe,” Eleanor said quickly, then looked up at me, her eyes wide, like she was surprised she’d even said it. I grinned at her. That was a good sign.

Mother started exploring the kitchen, tracing her fingers along the shelves, gazing at the cookbooks, the spice rack, and the red chilis hanging from the ceiling.

Eventually, she went to sit on the sofa in the living room, still glancing around the room. Eleanor moved to her side, clutching her coffee. She sank down next to Mother. I sat across from them.

Mother reached over and hugged Eleanor to her side, breathing in her scent deeply and smiling.

“I’ve missed you,” Eleanor said softly, her gaze meeting mine as she leaned into Mother’s embrace.

“My sweet child,” Mother cooed. “I’m so proud of you. You have done so much with your life already. Show me your art!”

Eleanor jumped up and placed her coffee on her little coffee table before moving to the back of the room. She had a very large green file resting against the window.

She picked it up and brought it back to Mother. She curled her legs under and sat back down on the sofa, her eyes wide with excitement.

It was the same look she used to have when she finished her drawings and waved them in our faces when she was a child. I was struck by the familiarity.

She was flipping the wide file open. It fell hard onto her coffee cup. Before it could tip over onto the floor, I reached out and caught it.

The movement was too fast for Eleanor to see, and she just blinked at me in surprise when I held her coffee cup up to her.

“Thanks,” she murmured, sipping from it quickly and putting it down again.

She reached for her first painting and held it up for us to see. It was a stunningly realistic portrayal of a parakeet, bright green and yellow, sitting on a branch, cocking its head.

“Oh, Eleanor!” Mother gushed like she had when Eleanor was a child. “It’s stunning!”

“Just like the ones I saw in Iquitos,” Eleanor murmured and pulled out another painting that she showed me.

I recognized Whisper, still young, standing under a chestnut tree, nibbling from the grass on the ground.

“Whisper,” I smiled at her.

“Is she still alive?” she asked.

“Of course.”

Her eyes widened.

“She’s in fine health.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” Her eyes were brimming with tears. Mother was pawing through her other paintings, gushing and grinning at her human daughter.

“These are very impressive,” she told her. “I always knew you had an artist’s eye. Just like Aric was always a musician.” She beamed at me.

“I have a foster father who is an artist,” Eleanor said. “I moved in with him when I was sixteen, so not for long, but since I’ve gone to college, well, they’ve been my family, every Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.

“He had an amazing gallery, he did a lot of painting, but he also used to work with seashells and makes amazing designs,” Eleanor gushed, blushing.

“I’m glad you were able to find someone who cared about you,” Mother murmured.

“He put me into art classes after school,” Eleanor said. “I used to do a lot of animals, as you can see, but I tried doing more people, which is a lot more difficult. But I like this one.”

She slowly pulled out the last painting from the file and held it up for us to see. Our family stood in a vast white space, with a faint depiction of a cathedral in the background.

Mother and Father were painted standing together, embracing, Mother’s long blond hair shone in the moonlight.

The twins stood in long ball gowns, Phoenix with her curly bright red hair and Venus with her curly strawberry blond hair.

And I stood to the side, my hand resting on a moose, which lay slaughtered at my feet, my eyes were red, blood dripped from my fangs. Our eyes were all red, our faces blurry.

“I painted it a few years ago,” Eleanor admitted. “I imagine you all have changed, maybe, a little?” She cocked her brow at me.

Mother heaved a heavy breath, her eyes brimming with tears again.

“It’s stunning. But you’re missing. You should be there with us,” Mother told her.

“Next to me,” I added before I could stop myself. Eleanor smiled up at me.

“Send me a more recent photo, and I’ll add myself next time.” Mother hugged her tightly.

“Tell me more about this foster father,” she pushed. Eleanor nodded, diving into a tale about her and her foster father painting their weekends away in the garage of their house.

Eleanor made herself three more mugs of coffee. Eventually, at five in the morning, her eyelids grew so heavy she nodded off for a second mid-sentence.

Mother cast me a warm look. The sun would be up in a couple of hours.

Though I knew Mother didn’t want to leave Eleanor’s side, and neither did I, we couldn’t spend the day in her tiny apartment.

“My darling,” Mother cooed, pushing Eleanor’s dark curls out of her sleepy eyes. “We have to leave now.” Eleanor nodded slowly.

“Of course. Will you still be in town tomorrow?” she asked, glancing at me.

“I have to be back in Poitier,” I admitted. “We have wine to haul back and store. James, do you remember him? He’s getting married in several weeks.”

“Oh, how wonderful for James!” Eleanor gushed. “He had the craziest hair.” She smiled at her childhood memory. “I wish I could come and see everyone. I missed all you guys.”

“I wish you could as well, my darling,” Mother replied. “But you have what I always wanted for you, a successful and happy human life. I cannot bring you back into our world.”

“We’ll visit again,” I said softly. Eleanor nodded slowly.

Mother and Eleanor embraced for a long time, and when they drew apart, both were teary again. Eleanor’s heart was racing. Her emotions heightened with her exhaustion.

When I drew her close to me, I wrapped my arms tightly around her small frame, and I felt her melting against me. She buried her face into my chest and breathed in heavily.

I could feel her heart racing through her soft skin. I placed my head on her softly and stroked her dark curls.

“Mother, could I catch up with you?” I asked her. Mother’s brows rose in surprise, but she nodded with a small smile.

“I’ll meet you there,” she answered and slipped out of the apartment.

I held Eleanor to my chest, half unsure if she’d fallen asleep against me, while I listened for Mother’s footsteps to take her far enough away.

When I could no longer hear her, I peeled Eleanor off me and gazed down at her. She smiled up at me, her eyelids heavy.

“It’s always so much easier to stay awake when you’re drunk,” she said, pushing her hair out of her eyes and smiling.

“I won’t take too much of your time,” I promised her, tracing my hands down her cheek. She shivered, her eyes growing wide.

I heard her heart rate accelerating slightly, and the faint scent of her arousal reached my nose.

I remembered vividly what she looked like naked, her soft curves, the goosebumps on her skin, her pink nipples, the dark hair curling between her legs. I ached with how much I wanted her.

I breathed in heavily, trying not to think about her naked, or I’d take her against the wall before I could stop myself. No woman, vampire, or human had ever had this type of power over me.

I had to concentrate.

“I’ve missed you,” she murmured against my chest. I gave her a small squeeze. “Thank God for twenty-first-century technology.” Her arms were tight around my waist.

“I miss you too, little one,” I breathed, stroking her cheek lightly.

She smiled up at me lazily. “I’m glad you brought Mother to see me.”

“It was time,” I agreed. “I’m not sure what’s in store for Father when we get home, though.”

Eleanor snorted playfully, her arms still wrapped around me. “Aric, why does it seem so simple, but I feel so lost?” she asked.

I cupped her chin in my hand and forced her to look up at me. Her lips were pursed, her brows drawn together.

“Tell me what you mean, beautiful,” I murmured.

“Before…” She pulled out of my arms and walked away from me, raking her fingers through her hair. She picked up her coffee cup and brought it back to the kitchen. I followed behind, watching her movements.

“Before you came back into my life, I had these plans, you know. Get my Ph.D., get a job, buy a bunch of useless stuff, eventually find someone, travel, invest in stocks, have babies, I dunno.”

She leaned against the counter, her eyes red with exhaustion. She was fumbling with an apron, tossing it over her head.

“But now my plans, they’ve changed. That life doesn’t sound so appealing to me anymore. Like, I was settling because I didn’t have any other option. Now that I do, it’s jarring.

“Aric, you perplex me. I cannot believe you would possibly want to be with someone like me. I’m a human. Completely normal.”

“You were never normal, Eleanor. You were raised by vampires.”

She rolled her eyes. “All the same. I don’t understand it.” She bent down to her freezer and pulled out a packet of frozen gyozas. She gave me a sheepish look.

“I understand how you’re feeling,” I admitted. “I didn’t expect to fall this fast and this hard for you, Eleanor. It~ is~ simple.

“I realized that I have always loved you. I just didn’t know how much before now.”

I stepped toward her and placed my hands lightly on her hips. Her heart skipped a beat. “I know that I want you. Only you. Forever.”

“Aric.” Her eyes were wide. “How can you say that? How can you know?”

“Because I’ve been around long enough to know what I want and what I don’t want. I’ve been waiting for you, Eleanor. Now that you’re here, I just want to spend all my time with you. Make you mine.”

“If, if we were to be together…,” she said slowly, watching me move closer to her so that our hips were pressed against each other.

I knew she could feel the bulge of my member growing against her. “How would that work? Me being human? You being a pureblood. Us being siblings?”

“We’re not siblings, Eleanor. We’re different species. Mother found you in a car crash. You spent more of your life raised by humans than by my parents,” I replied quickly. She scowled at me.

“I know pureblood do things differently, Aric, I remember. You mate for life. Like swans.”

“Yes, and we take a long time choosing as well. We can take our time. Make sure that it’s what you want. I just want to be with you.”

“I can choose a human life with a human partner?”

“If that’s what you want, Eleanor. I told you, I will be your guardian angel for as long as you want and need me.

“I won’t deny my magnetic attraction to you, which I believe you feel as well, but I certainly won’t force it on you. Your life is yours. You make any decision you want.”

“What about your life? Your decisions?”

“My decision is to stay by your side. I care for you, as your partner if you’ll take me, or as a brother if you prefer. I will love you either way.”

“Aric.” Her eyes were wide. “If I wanted to be with you, would I have to be turned into a vampire?”

“Eventually.”

“Would I survive?”

“As an adult, you’d have a higher probability to survive.”

“Higher, as in how much? Are you willing to take the risk?”

I nodded. “I can heal you while you turn. That could ensure your transition.”

“Really?”

“I’ve heard it works,” I admitted. “But Eleanor, I wouldn’t risk your life if I wasn’t sure I could keep you safe,” I promised her.

She nodded slowly. “I see. And as a vampire, I would be your partner, not a servant like other turned vampires?”

“Of course. You would be mine, and I’d be yours. Forever.” I moved my head down to trace my nose up against her throat.

She breathed out heavily. “But I’d lose my human life. Completely.”

“In a way, not entirely. You’d get a new life. You’d have me, and Mother. Your whole family.”

“Mother doesn’t want me to be turned. She doesn’t want me to go back. She wants me to have a human life.”

“Yes, but she doesn’t know about our feelings either.”

“Do you think she’d want us to be together?” she asked. I paused and shrugged.

“I know she’s always wanted you to have a human life, get married, and have children. You won’t have that with me.”

“Children? Don’t you want children?”

“The twins will have children enough for our line to survive.”

“I’m sure, but that’s not the same thing, Aric,” she replied dryly. She raked her fingers through her hair and gave me a small smile.

“Let me take you out. For dinner. Next week. Does that work?” I suggested.

“You’ll eat dinner?” Her eyes widened.

“I can eat anything I want. Wood, metal, humans,” I said with a chuckle. “But if you like, I can take you to do something else. Whatever you prefer.”

“An opera? I’ve always wanted to go to one,” she murmured. I grinned at her.

“That sounds perfect.”