I woke up late in the morning with Sindee’s petite frame still pressed into my chest with our left hands intertwined. The feeling of joy and peace was still with me and I would have stayed in bed like that forever if it were possible. I refused to get up while she still slept. Her hair felt like silk rubbing between our bodies. The warmth of her body against mine filled me with wonder just knowing that she was mine and I hers bound by love and Magick. I knew realistically we couldn’t stay like this for eternity, but I was willing to lie here all day to preserve this moment. Once we got up again I’d have to get back to preventing the new possible future I had envisioned. My desire to protect humanity as I have chosen to aside, Sindee needed to be protected from what I’d seen as well. While she is becoming a powerful mage in her own right and will soon be more than capable of aiding in my goals I will protect her with every power and ability I have until my last breath. I continued to lie with her and watch her sleep.
Sindee’s breathing changed and her pulse increased a few min later. She started to move and rolled onto her where we could see one another. Her gaze sought out and focused on mine, a sleepy smile spread across her lips. I leaned down, gently caressing her lips with my one once, then again and a third time. When I kissed her the third time she reached up with her free hand, pulling my head down towards her and deepened the kiss. This amazing woman took my breath away simply by being here with me. I brushed her cheek with my right hand, slowly and gently brushing it along her skin; moving it down her neck, over her shoulder brushing down her ribs until I reached her hip. I pulled her closer to me, pressing our bodies together. As we continued to share our bodies, the Magick we both contained within us reach out for the other. We came together mind, body and soul; becoming one being instead of two. Everything beyond the two of us ceased to matter for a time. All that existed was emotion and pleasure; even time stopped as we lived an eternity in that moment.
When we were finally ready to start the day, we showered and dressed for a casual day. Sindee still had another few days before she was scheduled for work and while we were more than financially secure, she enjoyed her work helping people. I wouldn’t change anything about her as she was the other half of me. I had heard people speak of soul mates and other such poetic expressions regarding love. As much as I had been in love with Sindee and knew life was pointless without her, I never understood the truly profound effect of a true soul mate. As we went on through the day I continued to sense her presence, knew when she was focused on me. She seemed to do the same because whenever I looked at her she would lift her head and smile at me. She would laugh when she caught me staring at her and smile when I caught her doing the same. As new and strange as it was, I hoped that the newness and wonder never faded.
We made breakfast together, working as though we were one being instead of individuals. I didn’t feel awkward or weird because as attuned as we were to each other we still were individuals with our own thoughts and feelings. I just seemed that we were part of each other as well. After breakfast we headed out to make the rounds, visiting friends we hadn’t seen since the wedding and our honeymoon.
We stopped by the Existence late in the afternoon as our dated started late and visits were enjoyable, we didn’t want to leave even though we had other people to see. As it was still early the bar and club weren’t packed and there was no line. We walked into to see Arthur at his usual table, chatting with Jaq as they shared a meal. Arthur looked up as we entered and waved us over. As we neared the table they both stood to greet us even though we had seen them only two days ago when we arrived back from the honeymoon.
Arthur stepped forward, took my hand in has and pulled me into that half hand shake half hug between guys. As he pulled me in tight I felt a slight flare of Magick between us; he jump slightly as though surprised when this occurred. Arthur stepped back and looked me over, then directed his gaze to Sindee and she and Jaq were in a friendly embrace. Turning back to face me his eyes lit up and tears seemed to from in them; beyond the emotion in his eyes he betrayed nothing. He and Jaq switched places embracing us both fully.
We moved to sit down, Arthur pulling out Jaq’s chair as I did the same for Sindee. While it may seem old fashioned to some, chivalry is a lost art that should be fostered in the world and not ridiculed. We were barely seated when dinner for four was served with a bottle of wine that complemented the meal perfectly. Arthur may have been surprised by something but it wasn’t the timing of our arrival. I decided right then that I would someday get a straight answer from Arthur about what he really was. The last time I asked he said “I used to be a Mage, now I am something else.” I may want to know what that is someday; however, I am content to know that he is a friend and ally. Dinner conversation consisted of nothing more that the trivialities of everyday life, our honeymoon and Jaq and Arthur’s social life while we were gone.
After the meal and dessert we spent the evening dancing in the club. Arthur had taken the night off in the sense he may have been in the club but anything short of an emergency would be handles by Sam or Elayna. After the previous day, this had been a much needed respite along with being the first relatively ‘normal’ day Sindee and I had shared in some time. By the end of the evening, we were still sensing each other and Sindee caught me staring at her like a love struck teenager many time causing her to laugh. The behavior didn’t go unnoticed by Jaq or Arthur either.
As the night wound down Arthur invited us all up to his place over the club to relax and to spend the night. As we had been drinks, dancing and celebrating we took him up on the offer and closed off a perfect day with drinks and company in front of a fire in his place. Arthur sat on the love seat with Jaq beside him, her feet curled up under her as she leaned into his side with his arm wrapped around her shoulder. Sindee and I were in a similarly comfortable pose on the couch.
I looked them both over, “I’m glad to see how close the two of you have become. I’ve seen you in social settings, but never more comfortable than you seem to be now.” A grin spread across my face at the smiles they wore.
“I owe you a debt Andrew. If you hadn’t made the impression of Jacqueline that you did we most likely would have been in this city and never met. I can’t repay you for that,” I had never heard the amount of emotion in Arthur’s voice before. He sounded as though the weight of the world had been removed from his shoulders.
Before I could reply, Jaq spoke up, “We owe you that debt Andrew, as well as to you Sindee. “ She looked directly at Sindee, “After meeting Andrew, I wanted him almost immediately. He had a quiet confidence and strength under the young exterior that is attractive as you well know. If you hadn’t had his heart from the time you both met he may not have run abruptly as he had. It was his desire to get back to you by making sure things happened as they should that made him disappear, prompting my search. When I arrived and saw the love he had for you, I understood more about him. I wouldn’t have met any of you if it weren’t for the love you two share. From that I met Arthur,” she placed her hand on his thigh and leaned in to kiss him. “That meeting has opened my eyes and brought me a happiness I didn’t know could exist between two people before seeing you and Andrew together.”
I didn’t have a voice to speak from the emotion in her words and in her voice. Sindee was much better than me with words and replied softly, “You helped Andrew when he landed in a small town as a man out of time. You made sure he was taken care of for the few days he was there, ensuring that he could get back to me. He told me of the kiss and I was a little jealous; and extremely proud at the same time. I first met the sixteen year old Andrew after you met the man I had come to know. He was a patient who had gone into a coma after the trauma of losing his family. I had read not just the new articles, but also the police reports and anything else I could get my hands on. His brother has even told me first-hand what he remembered from that night. Andrew had tried to save his family from what, at the time, was a serial killer. His heroism at such a young age drove me to work harder to help people instead of going into medical research like my parents. If I hadn’t taken that path I would never have met him again the night he arrived in Las Vegas for the first time. If you hadn’t taken care of the man I came to know when he arrived in your town and what happened had been changed I wouldn’t have met him either. So as far as I’m concerned there is no debt and no jealousy, just mutual gratitude. Andrew and Arthur though similar are each one of a kind and need someone who is a match for them. After Ander told me the little her knew about you from your conversations and time together I had hoped that you and Arthur would find what Andrew and I share together. I am just happy to see that my hopes were not in vain.”
Very few times in my life have I been stunned totally speechless, but in that moment there were no words to convey the emotions I was feeling. From the looks on Arthur and Jaq’s faces, I think they were in the same boat I was. I dropped all the mental barriers or shields between Sindee and I and just let the raw, unaltered emotion flow between us. Sindee moved in closer to me and responded by doing the same.
Jaq had tears slowly running down her cheeks and the emotion in her voice was indescribable when she replied, “Sindee, I can now more than ever what captured Andrew. Thank you for sharing that with us.”
Arthur, like me, seemed unable to speak past the emotional lump in his throat and simply pulled Jaq closer to him. We sat like that for a few minutes before any of us were able to speak of anything. As we sat there speaking the level or quintessential energy continued to grow. This isn’t an unusual occurrence when several mages gather together for long periods of time as we attract strange and powerful things all of the time. It’s one of the reasons that Mages exists in the first place. If the people who had the potential to awaken in the first place didn’t attract an Avatar to them there would be no awakening. Quintessence, or raw Magick energy, exists in the world as all energy does. Everything has some of this energy and it is produced continuously. It is possible to strip objects, spirits and even people of quintessence but it is a brutal destructive act and most Mages won’t do it unless an emergency happens. Of those that do it even then most try to stick to objects as the act can kill a living thing. I won’t even train a Mage in this ability until they understand the fundamental nature of Magick. As the evening continued none of us tired and the additional energy continued to be converted for us. While this was unusual, it wasn’t unheard of. Around three or four in the morning we all decided to retire for the night and sleep a few hours for the next day.
Arthur had a spare room Sindee and me as well as a change of clothes for the morning. We got ready for bed and curled into each other falling asleep almost instantly now that we were no longer sitting in the room with all the energy. We were both content and happy being together anywhere. Nothing struck as strange about that night until about an hour later when I suddenly woke sitting straight up and a pulse of Magick flowed through the entire building. Sindee was sitting up next to me at the same moment as our eyes locked together. It hit me right then that while there were four of us sitting in the room, only three of us had Avatars to pull in the energy. Jaq had as much energy as the rest of us. I jumped out of the bed and threw on a robe before leaving the room. Sindee did the same and came out right on my heels.
We both ran for Arthur’s bedroom door as we felt the pulse of Magick and were concerned for both of them. As we got to the door Arthur was pulling it open; he took one look at Sindee and I in the hall and pulled us into the room. I have mentioned in the past that Awakenings were different for everyone. While mine was an explosive event caused by my need and desire to protect my family and stop the monster trying to kill my family, and Sindee’s was emotional caused by the trauma of seeing me dying and refusing to let me go; they were not the only way that awakening occur. Awakenings can be simple epiphanies about the nature of the world and what is possible, as many awakened as there are there are that many ways for it to happen. I can only guess at why Jaq awakened and how it occurred, but after talking it over with Arthur at a later time he agreed with my line of thinking. Jaq whose exposure to the Supernatural started of slowly with meeting me and putting together the clues to track me down began to understand that there were things that she couldn’t explain in the world. As a cop and then Federal Agent she had seen more than her fair share of these things in her career. She had tracked me down and seen the impossible without her mind breaking and refusing to see the truth. Since then she has spent more and more time around very powerful supernatural beings including two Mages and whatever Arthur was.
That night, the four of us spent the entire afternoon and most of the night together. We spoke of what happened to my family in a way we hadn’t before. Sindee’s explanation of how if it weren’t for both of their actions, neither of them would have met me as the man I am. The emotions and energy we were enveloped in during all of this was raw Magick and would draw all kinds of spirits and extra-planar beings to our gathering. After we finally laid down to rest, her subconscious mind would have continued to work on understanding everything that had happened and been discussed. Sometime during the night her mind must have come to some understanding of what happened that brought the four of us to this place, this night through a series of unexplainable events. She had an epiphany giving her the potential to become an awakened. As the energy had been there from out gathering there were spirits with the potential to be Avatars there as well. When you combine her potential with the availability of an Avatar you get a Mage.
While her Awakening was a good thing it also brought with it some concerns. Mages for the most part are rare. The fact that both Sindee and Jaq had connections to me and through me to Arthur and the fact that both awakening had occurred with me in the vicinity had me worrying about the implications for the futures I have seen so far. For the most part Mages do awaken near someone who will know what they are and can teach them how to use their new abilities. Having two new Mages awaken within such a small social group and in such short a period of time was something I hadn’t heard of before. While I wanted to believe it was for the better and that Arthur deserved the kind of happiness it would bring him, I was still concerned. Arthur could have extended Jaq’s life with Magick but using it on a mortal would present problems over time. The mind ages no matter what it done to the body of someone mortal. Mages can extend their lives indefinitely because of the changes made to the mind as part of an awakening. While my concerns for the future were more than valid, there was nothing I could do about them that night; and this was a welcome change. While none of us had slept for more than an hour the residual energy from her awakening and our own excitement of this change more than made up for the lack of sleep.
Sindee and I ran back to the house to get our tent and a few camping supplies as well as a couple days clothes together. I packed a few items that I used for teaching Sindee and others that Arthur planned to send my way to take with us. Once we got back to Arthur’s and parked the car had finished loading an SUV that he kept there, transferring the camping gear from our car to it. We all hopped in and headed out of town, just the four of us. Arthur told us he had left a note for Sam leaving her in charge for a few days and not giving her our destination. He said if he woke her up or gave the destination that George at the very least would be heading our way. Jaq, Sindee and I laughed at him for ‘sneaking out’ like that for a few minutes. When the laughter faded he explained that Sam is a little over protective and he can’t wait until she hears about Jaq. I laughed at the idea of a US Marshall being escorted or followed everywhere by someone like George. Jaq laughed until she realized that it was a distinct possibility as she had gotten to know Sam and her loyalty to Arthur while not in any way romantic was total and devout.
We took a drive out into the mountains of Wyoming avoiding the area near the cabin and Jaq’s home town as many questions would be asked that we didn’t have answers to. We picked up food, water and other items at a store before heading up into the mountains themselves. Once we parked the SUV, we spent the rest of that first day hiking as far from civilization as we could get. We finally settled on a campsite late in the evening and set up. After a good rest we woke in the early morning. We traveled out here for privacy so we could work with Jaq exclusively while hiding the fact that she’s a Mage from everyone for the time being. The reasons behind it were varied; primarily for her protection from what we faced. As we hiked and discussed this, Arthur stated that by hiding that she is a Mage will give us another surprise to interrupt the Naphandi’s plans. While I was viewing the possible futures and fighting to change them, he may not be aware of my visions in the here and now. The longer we can keep them and any other secrets from him the better for us and everyone else.
We spent three days doing nothing but work with and train Jaq using magick to give us additional time and energy to just keep going. In those three days we packed in at least a month’s worth of training. Jaq was an exceptional student and adapted to new information quickly. Sindee taught her about Life Magick, focusing on how to heal herself and enhance her physical abilities when needed. Arthur taught her about Prime, the control of Magick itself including how to counter all types of spells and how to shift the backlash when possible. We all spent time learning from one another as we trained Jaq and shared information. I worked with Jaq with a focus on Time and Entropy Magicks as having the ability to alter or control chance and probability and the ability to accelerate your body and slow enemies can be useful in her line of work. The most important thing we stressed in the training was how to blend your spells into reality as seamlessly as possible. The greatest secret of all types of magic, and more so the Magick of Mages is that while most people don’t believe in it, they will accept coincidence as a matter of course.
We headed back to Las Vegas with a stop in Wolf Creek. Jaq wanted to introduce Arthur to her mother as well as Sindee and I. Since it had been a few days and I hadn’t bothered shaving the slight change to my features was enough to mask the fact that I hadn’t aged. We ate a nice home cooked meal for lunch once we stopped. I had liked Jaq’s mother before and her open friendly manner was still the same as before. She took to Arthur quickly when she saw the way the Jaq and he looked at one another. She was gracious when we gave her brief and simple explanation of my disappearance by not asking for details. As a cops mother I figure she knew something wasn’t being said, but accepted that it didn’t need to be. She simply adored Sindee and threatened to adopt her so Jaq would have a sister. After too short a visit we got back on the road headed back to Las Vegas and Arthur’s confrontation with a pissed of Vampire.
We all knew that while Sam was utterly loyal and wouldn’t harm Arthur for all the power in the world, she had a temper that made the devil quake in fear. I told Arthur to ensure that we arrived during the daylight so that we could avoid her wrath until Sindee and I got out of there. He looked at me like I was throwing him under the bus and I said, “Arthur, you of all people know that discretion is the better part of valor. It’s not fear… Okay, it’s not only fear but prudence that has me wanting to avoid her temper.”
Arthur burst out laughing for a few minutes as we got closer to the city before replying, “Andrew, you are an intelligent mage, but you’ve missed something obvious in all the times we’ve worked together and visited.”
I sure a look of confusion crossed my features and I tried to think back and see in my memory what I missed in the first place. While I was searching my memory Sindee gasped and started a quiet laughter. I guessed that she figured out whatever it was I had missed and the laughter was at my expense. When Jaq started laughing as well, I knew it was at me. I finally spoke up, “I know I am missing something that should be readily apparent to me and I’m going to feel dumb in a moment but what am I missing?”
Before Arthur or Jaq said anything Sindee asked, “What time was our wedding ceremony?”
That was obvious to me as I would never forget the image of Sindee walking in from the front doors of the church. The sunlight shining in her hair and sparking of the jewelry making her eyes stand out more than ever as the cool grey color reflected the glint from the gemstones. “Is started at noon and the sun’s light was pale compared to your beauty to the point where Marcus had to poke me in the back and remind me to breath.”
Sindee smiled at me and laughed again. Jaq was also laughing only more and harder now. I knew I was going to be the fool here in a few minutes but I did it to myself by missing the obvious. Sindee got enough control to speak again, “While the compliment is appreciated, it has distracted you and not me from the topic at hand.” I blushed as she poked fun at me. I wasn’t upset, far from it really. I just couldn’t get over the embarrassment of being this oblivious. She asked her next question between giggles, “And where was Sam at during the ceremony?”
Easy question, easy answer. “Obviously right where she belonged with the other bridesmaids standing across from the groomsmen,” I quickly replied. At this point all three of them were laughing so hard that Arthur had to pull over to the shoulder and put the car in park. I still hadn’t gotten what it was I was missing. It was going to be a long time before I would ever live this down.
Sindee was smiling in gleeful and mischievous delight when she asked the next question, “And how did she get to the ceremony so that she could stand with the other bridesmaids?”
“She rode to the ceremony with you and the other bridesmaids around ten in the morning to make sure you all had plenty of time to complete your makeup and other preparations before ……” I trailed off there when my brain finally caught up why everyone was laughing at me. I completely deserved the laughter, more so because I had always been a devil in the details kind of person and it took me this long to notice the blindingly obvious. I hung my head for a few minutes during which Arthur got the car back onto the road.
Arthur looked into the rearview mirror to catch my gaze when I finally life my head back up. “Now that you’re caught up Andrew I’ll explain it better. Yes, Sam is a Vampire. Yes, the sun is dangerous and deadly to most Vampires. Sam is one of very few Vampires that are usually called a Daywalker. She is as different from the other Daywalkers as you are from a hedge wizard however. Sam moved beyond being a normal Vampire around the same time I became more than a Mage. It is not time for you to know anything else about either of our unique statuses as they have nothing to do with the Ascension War or the Nephandi you’re fighting. The good news about that is he knows nothing of what we are, as that is a secret held only by my inner circle of friends. You and Sindee are both becoming part of the inner circle as well. While I count you among it, it is for both our wars that I don’t explain anything else as secrets once spoken can be heard by those who were not meant to have them.”
Quiet reigned in the car for a few minutes before he spoke again, “Besides, if you think I would let you sneak off and avoid any of the blame while I faced the Wrath of Sam alone you got another thing coming.” He laughed, “At least she likes Jaq and Sindee so we should be safe from any harm that would deprive them of us for any amount of time.”
Sindee and I both laughed at that statement before I spoke up, “Arthur, you’re missing the obvious now.”
Arthur looked perplexed then just asked, “What is it you think that I’m missing?”
Sindee spoke up while I laughed, “Sam knows that I’m an accomplished and well trained Doctor along with being, and I believe the words you used were, ‘an exceptionally talented and powerful Life Mage’ Arthur.”
The look that crossed Arthur’s face at that moment was priceless; right up until the thought crossed my mind that my head was back on the chopping block with his. Arthur watched as the emotions flitted across my features before speaking up, “Not so funny when we think about it now. Perhaps we can go to your place for a day or two?” he asked.
Sindee and Jaq both answered at the same time, “NO!” and that was the end of that idea. Arthur and I dragged them out to the mountains so we were going to take out punishment from a Vampire like the men we were, or else.
We pulled into the spot at the top of the parking garage just a night fell over the valley. Sam was at the SUV and opening the doors for everyone before we even saw her coming. The emotions playing over her features were many and varied with a lot of them reflecting anger and concern. She checked Arthur over for any injuries before moving onto Jaq and Sindee finishing up with me. Arthur and I are both relative large and physically well-built men. Within seconds after she finished her inspection of us for injuries Sam grabbed Arthur and I both by the backs of our necks one handed and carried us that way into the common room above the club. I was too frightened for embarrassment or anger at this treatment. Looking over at Arthur, his features seemed to show the same. Here we were two reasonably powerful beings who could easily destroy any vampire we ran into and we were helplessly at the mercy of a woman who was barely 5’3” tall. Once she got us into the common room Sam went into a rant, chewing us out from here to hell about recklessly endangering not only Arthur but all four of us by taking off without telling her with no one to watch out backs in the event something happened. Leaving the city without three of the key players in the battles we were waging. A few of the guards and other staff members were in the hallway outside. JD and Guido were sitting on the other side of the room watching the ass chewing when as things continued that way.
Sindee started to move forward towards Sam when Jaq stepped passed her to get to Sam first. She stepped between Sam and the two of us, grabbed her shoulders and started in on Sam with, “Just you wait one minute Sam. They didn’t just take us against our will and both Sindee and I are quite capable of taking care of ourselves and them as you are.” Jaq removed her hands from Sam’s shoulders, bringing her right index finger up and poked Sam in the chest over her heart, “And another thing, as surprised as I am at meeting him and finding out about everything else in the world that I didn’t know before; I am handling myself quite well.” She poked Sam in the heart area again, “I also happen to be totally in love with Arthur and wouldn’t have met him if I hadn’t known Andrew so I’m not going to let you stand here and yell at them for the four of us taking a weekend trip together.” Jaq continued to poke same over the heart as she read her the riot act. “I like you Sam and can see you as a sister that I never had but I won’t put up…..” As Jaq was yelling, she continued to poke Sam. I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying about not poking the bear. I personally imagine poking a Vampire was an even worse idea.
Sam reached up and grabbed Jaq’s hand just as it poked her again. Her eyes flashed and her expression changed from anger to confusion at being yelled at, to shock over something. She looked across the room to JD and Guido and said, “Out.” It was one work spoken in and even tone. That word made my back tense as though I had a gun to my head. It had no less of an effect on the two of them as they were out of the room faster than I could track their movement. Sam then turned to look at Sindee, “Close and lock the door from the inside her then hit the second switch from the right.” Sindee complied as fast as the two who took off out of the room, then walked over to sit with between Arthur and I. Sam guided Jaq to a seat beside Sindee leaving them between Arthur and me. “Now, tell me when she,” pointing at Jaq, “became a Mage?”
Jaq, Sindee and I tried for blank expressions as though we had no idea what she was talking about. Arthur on the other hand had a ‘the cat is out of the bag’ expression. I’d seen the man play poker and knew he had a better blank look than I did. Jaq replied to the query, “What are you talking about?”
Sam’s features were exceptional at conveying her thoughts just by adopting certain expressions. The one she put on her face then was something between a ‘do you really think I am that stupid’ and a ‘If you lie to me again I’ll rip your head off’ expression. Her words were heavily sarcastic, “Of course you have no idea what I’m talking about. I’m only over five hundred years old and know nothing of the supernatural world.”
Arthur opened his mouth to speak and Sam cut him off, “No Arthur, not listening to you at the moment.” He closed his mouth right back up. She shifted her glance over each of us I turn before continuing. “I just so happen to like you as well Jaq and when you said you were totally in love with Arthur I reflexively used one of my powers to view your Aura and saw the telltale signs of a magic user in it. While there are many types of magic that mortals have the ability to use; they always leave a trace of evidence. You don’t smell like someone using blood magic which would be obvious to a vampire. You have not scent of potion ingredients that would indicate Wicca, voodoo or other hedge wizardry. More to the point, three known Mages took you on a sudden trip to the middle of nowhere for three days. I’d assume you were receiving a crash course in using and more importantly hiding your powers.” All four of us being lectured had out jaws hanging. “Now close your mouths and I’ll explain a little before you answer.” We closed our mouths, “First as to where you were, leave the cell phones behind. While you had not service in the deep mountain forest, the GPS chips still worked. Second, you all lit out of here with just a note when Arthur normally gives me detailed, annoyingly detailed, instructions about what he wants done. Odd behavior for him to say the least. So with the lack of other ways for her to have an aura that looks like the three of yours I guessed that she awakened. I wasn’t positive until all four of you needed to pick your jaws up off the floor there, but still an educated guess.”
I broke the silence that followed first, “Remind me never to play poker with you Sam.” The irrelevant comment made everyone laugh and allowed a relaxed atmosphere to enter the group.
Sam took one more look at Jaq, “As for you Jacqueline Dupree, I lover Arthur as though he were family and am glad that you two found each other and love each other as much as you do. However, the next time you poke me in the chest for any reason I’ll break the finger doing it. Other than that, welcome to our small but growing family.”
I don’t know if we were all more surprised by the threat or the instant forgiveness and end of the rant. Either way we took it in stride and didn’t poke the Vampire any further than we already had. We spent the rest of the evening catching Sam up on what had happened while we were gone. As soon as all that was complete, we called it a night and headed for home. Sindee had work the next evening at the hospital and I had more people to train. As I drove us home I could feel Sindee staring at me and was more thankful than ever that the bond we formed five days ago was as strong now as it was then.
We got back to the house grabbed ourselves hot showers, took care of things such as shaving our respective needs and dressing for bed. We curled together; I pulled her against my chest and took in the scent of her hair. We fell asleep from exhaustion barely seconds after lying down together.
After what felt like an entire to short period of time, I opened my eyes to find myself outside the ruined city……