Redemption (5 page)

“Mmmm, I must have found the right spot.” Ian smiled and went down to explore the site a little more.

“No, no. I can’t take it anymore. No more teasing.”

She lifted herself up, and started pulling at her bottoms. Ian took her hands and slid them off with her. They flew through the air, hitting the wall across the room. He brought himself up to her face to find her eyes were glowing like golden honey and her whole body felt much warmer after his exploration. He brought his lips to hers. She suddenly darted her tongue through his lips, searching the space that lay pass them. The ache they felt could no longer be kept at bay. His hips pressed flush with hers as he melted inside of her.

Ian lay back on his bed, praying that this memory would keep him going until he was able to melt with her once more.

Lily’s body had put a permanent dent into Renee’s sofa and she was slowly becoming conscious enough to recall how and why she was there.

After every single person in town had bought her a drink, even she did not have the strength to walk, let alone drive home. As a vampire, she still felt the exhaustion brought on by a very long night. She had come to make the sofa in Renee’s apartment above the bar a second home many nights since her return. She would surely have to buy Renee a new sofa after the ten hours of uninterrupted sleep and the effects brought upon it.

She curled her bare toes into the tan shag carpet, finding that her leg had crept off the side sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Somehow, it was soothing stroking it across the carpet that way.

“Lily? Lily, get up!” Renee shook her shoulders violently until Lily’s eyes popped open.

“Was I snoring that loud?” Lily asked, slowly making it to an upright position.

“No. Damn girl, you scared the crap out of me. You weren’t even breathing.” Renee sighed, as she plopped down in the chair across from the sofa.

Lily just shrugged it off as her fingers felt the tangled knots that now inhabited what used to be her hair.

“You, young lady, had a pretty wild night last night.”

“It did get a little rowdy after a while,” Lily replied with a snort.

“I’ll never forget the look on my father’s face when you pulled him up on the bar and started singing. I didn’t even know my dad knew how to carry a tune. You were brilliant, but he needs work.”

“Must have been the whiskey we polished off. It’s always a little more exciting when you’ve got some liquid courage on your side.”

“Yep, the whiskey, the tequila shots, a few flaming Doctor Peppers, and don’t forget all those blow jobs.”

Lily picked up a pillow and threw it playfully at Renee. “You are terrible. Why did you let them buy all of those for me?”

“You only turn twenty-five once; I wanted it to be something to remember.”

“Yep, only once.” Lily rolled her eyes.

If she only knew how many times I’ve said it was my twenty-fifth birthday.

“I know you don’t have any family here, but Dad and I…we consider you one of us; outsiders in this frozen wasteland.”

“You’re not really an outsider, Renee. You’ve lived here since you were fifteen.”

“That’s only ten years. I had fifteen years in California. You know, the California that’s five hundred thousand miles from here? The one with ocean and beaches. Where tanned guys with rippling muscles surf all day and party all night. Tasting like salt water hours after the sun had gone down...”

Lily snapped her fingers in front of Renee’s dazed face. “Come on, snap out of it. You’ve got a great life here. You have your business, your dad, and I’m sure your pick of eligible bachelors.”

“My prospects are George, the fisherman who seems to always smell like the catch of the day, or Ivan.”

“Which one is Ivan again?”

“The tall one, sandy blond, with the eye thing.”

“Yes, that one’s a keeper.” Lily stood, did some unnecessary stretching along with a yawn for good measure. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?”

“Clean up. We aren’t opening till four, so we have a while.”

“The least I can do is help. It was my party after all.” Lily flipped her hair as she batted her eyelashes.

“I’m sure Dad’s already down there, I can smell the coffee. I need to shower. I still have that Ivan smell all over me.”

Lily sniffed the air around Renee. “That’s what that awful smell is? I thought it was one of your new imposter body sprays.”

“Hilarious, you are.” Renee stuck out her tongue in mock disgust before making her way to the bathroom.

Lily had slept in her jeans and thermal. She found her socks and boots after a moment of searching and securely fastened them on her feet before jumping down the back stairs to the bar.

The bar was littered with glasses and bottles; they certainly had their work cut out for them.

“Erik?” she called. “I know you’re down here. I can smell the…coffee.” The smell made her gag a little, not one of her favorites.

As she made her way behind the bar and into the kitchen, the next few seconds slowed to a whisper as shock overtook her body.

A tall man stood above Erik’s lifeless body. All she noticed was a long, black, woolen coat with jet black hair teasing about the collar, before covering her face with her hands.

“I’m afraid it’s too late. There’s no pulse.” The man’s melodious voice filled her with despair, but sparked a long dormant flame deep within her. Her breath caught in her throat as she let her mind deal with the possibility.

It felt like forever before she gained the courage to kneel down beside Erik. She heard no heartbeat. She felt no pulse. “There must be something…”

The man knelt down beside her. “I wish there was, but…feel. He’s already cold.”

Another man whom she had grown to love as a father was gone. Just another reason to distance herself from society all together.

The man brought his hand to Lily’s face, sweeping her hair behind her ear, seeing her truly for the first time. “Lily,” was all he said.

The next second, she turned to meet his gaze, but he was gone.

At that moment, Renee wandered in. She rushed to her father’s side and her sobs were uncontrollable as she wept in Lily’s arm
s.

“Lily!”
His voice reverberated over and over in his mind as he felt his body thrash through space and time.

When everything became very still, he ventured to open his eyes. He was now seated in what had all the appearance of a coffee shop. Grinning enormously across from him was Peter. The man shook his head in disbelief as Peter rushed his fingers through his perfectly quaffed russet hair.

“What? No hello? How are you? Nothing?”

The man was by no means amused. “What just happened, Peter? She was right there. I touched her.”

“Have some coffee. You’re going to be here a while.” Peter waved his hand in front of the man producing a cup of steaming hot coffee. “Or would you prefer cappuccino?” Another wave and Peter produced a cappuccino.

“I just want to know what’s happening. Was it her? Could it really be her?”

Peter pulled out what looked to be a state of the art cell phone. “This might explain a few things.”

“The Big Man’s finally gone high tech, eh?”

“He’s beginning to come around. Just take a look.” Peter offered up the phone by sliding it over to the man. A video began to play on the small screen, Lily sitting in a train compartment, gazing at the countryside out the window.

“Do you remember this night?” Peter questioned, as he took a drink of his coffee.

“Of course, how could I forget? The first night of our honeymoon.”

They stared at the video as the man saw himself enter the compartment.

Lily couldn’t take her eyes off her new husband. She slowly took in all of his features, from his magnificent blue eyes that complemented his high cheek bones to his jet black hair that fell in perfect disarray to his shoulders. His muscular torso visible through his half unbuttoned shirt to the gold band that now had its place on his left hand.

“What is it?” He asked, as he brought her into his arms.

She laid her cheek against his bare chest as he kissed the top of her head. Her gaze turned to his eyes.

“I’m still getting used to all this. It seems as though we’ve been waiting forever. I’m not sure I can believe it’s all real.”

“It is, my sweet. I’m so sorry it took us so long to get here. Seven years.”

“Might as well of been seventy,” she sighed.

“I can’t believe we wasted all that time, putting on that show for my parents.”

“They were just looking out for the both of us. I don’t think they ever imagined that we were what each other was looking for.”

“I’m so glad I finally told my father how we felt about each other,” he said, tightening his grip around her.

“I thought your mother would die of joy. I wish we would have known how happy they’d be, it would have saved us a lot of lonely nights.”

“They weren’t all lonely.” He spread a few kisses across her jaw. “Those secret meetings in the familiar hours of the night…”

“I hadn’t had a decent nights sleep in years until our wedding night.”

“When we could finally sleep together.”

“Together, forever,” she smiled.

A sharp turn tossed them down onto the bed as they embraced.

They had been standing on the edge of temptation for so long, it had become an effortless dance when they joined together as one. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to explore each others bodies, devouring every inch of flesh. Their sweet symphony, so new, yet so familiar. Their bodies were perfectly matched to each other; their souls entangled in the winds of fate.

“Forever…” the man laughed. “Why are you showing this to me? Are you trying to torture me? I know what happens next.”

“But you don’t know what happened after that, to her.” Peter pressed another button and brought up a new scene.