The Crimson Bond (17 page)

            “I’m not sure. I think I just had visions of our future again. I think… maybe. It was like I was seeing glimpses of what will be.” Slightly shaken I looked into his clear blue eyes. “Alex, is it possible for us to get pregnant? I mean, obviously it is possible for a vampire to father a child, or I wouldn’t exist. But how about now that I‘m a vampire, too?”

            Alex smiled at me in that way that only he can and my figurative heart did a little double skip.

            “Absolutely we can get pregnant. Well, you can. Any female that has any human in them, regardless of the vampire, has the ability to get pregnant. So, a female vampire born from two vampires would not be able to, but since you were part human before turning, you could. Why?”

            I took a deep nervous breath out of habit. “Alex, I think one of the visions I saw was of our children. It was two of them, little girls, and they had your exact eyes. And when I’m having these visions they seem to always evoke feelings-- and I could just tell that I loved them, so much.”

            Alex’s eyes had gone a little wide. Like it was only just occurring to him that I could get pregnant. It was a little late for that considering that only a few short nights ago we had sealed the deal, without giving birth control a single thought. To be honest, I just kind of assumed that once I was a vampire, pregnancy would be impossibility. Now I was a little worried, but not too much. Having Alex’s children would be a dream come true-- one that I had thought would be a complete impossibility now. I studied Alex’s face. It was void of any emotion. Oh, he was wonderful at the poker face, but I sensed this possibility was upsetting to him.

            “Alex, are you okay? Did I scare you with all of the baby talk? I mean, I didn’t see anything in the vision that would lead me to think it was happening soon. Just eventually.”

            He ran his hand through his dark, unruly hair. And that one movement led me down a whole different train of thought. I mentally shook myself. I really did have a hard time focusing on even the most important details when I was with Alex. I waited for him to speak, as he seemed to be choosing his next words carefully.

            “Well to be honest, we’ve barely had a chance to experience any life together. And with the turmoil going on with the Regency, that is the very last worry we need right now. I guess I just didn’t give it any thought the other night. It all kind of happened. It‘s usually not like me to be so careless.”

            I raised my eyebrows, not sure how I felt about him referring to the other night as him being careless. Well, I guess he wasn’t really referring to the fact that we slept together, but that we didn’t use any protection. I guess that part
was
careless, but then again, we were going to be getting married soon, so I could think of worse scenarios.

            I decided not to bring up the other visions I had seen. I think the first one was a big enough shock for him and the others were pretty confusing. I didn’t even want to attempt a conversation at trying to decipher what they could mean. Once we were home in Charlotte and things were getting to normal, whatever that would mean, I’d tell him the rest of my vision.

            It felt so good to be sitting in Alex’s arms, free for now of the Regency, and hopefully on our way back to our real life. The past couple of weeks had felt like a dream-- very surreal. And now away from the castle full of vampires and in a hotel in the heart of London, it was feeling like we just might make it through this. Oh, I knew we were not through with Lucien or the Regency but we had completed the bond and there was nothing that was going to keep us apart now.

            I was so relaxed sitting in Alex’s lap, that when Ophelia’s voice rang out in the quiet room, my whole body jumped. I felt Alex’s arms tense around me, but other than that he showed no outward reaction to her appearance.

            Ophelia stood illuminated in the doorway of our room, looking elegant as ever in a black floor length evening gown.
Really, doesn’t she ever just wear normal clothes?

            “Oh, isn’t this simply heartwarming. Alex you haven’t changed a bit-- still doing things your own way, regardless of Regency demands. But really, running off with Demitrie’s newfound daughter? Hmm, I hope you don’t think he or Lucien is going to let you get away with this.”

            “Seriously Ophelia, you should know me well enough by now to know I don’t give a damn what the Regency demands. Regardless, Brooke and I have completed the bond and they’re just going to have to deal with it. We won’t cause any problems if they don’t, but if they threaten us, then we’ll do what we have to.”

            Ophelia had sidled up to Alex, reaching out to touch his arm. “Alex, we have so much history. Don’t you think it would be easier to let Lucien deal with the newbie vampire?” She glanced at me with poorly disguised disgust. “You and I still share something she doesn’t and we both know what it means to live this type of life.” She looked at me condescendingly. “I know you share a bond with her but there’s no reason the two of you can’t live different lives.” She was looking at me as if I was some worrisome puppy. And then seeing her hand on Alex’s arm sent a shot of hot anger through me. Before I knew what was happening my fury sent a burst of power from me sending Ophelia’s slender figure flying backwards and slamming into the wall. She crashed to the floor before jumping up, her face a mask of fury.

            She began advancing on me with such anger that had I been human, I probably would have passed out in fear. But whatever power was within me had me feeling serene and almost enjoying our little spat. Testing my newfound ability, I released another burst of power and this time Ophelia tried to struggle through it to get to me. Her resistance was completely futile and she was again thrown into the wall. Alex laid a calming hand on my arm and I freed her from the invisible hold I had on her.

Her eyes were narrow slits when she stood up and her usually perfect composure was visibly shaken. It was usually not my style to throw things back in other’s faces, but the treatment she had given me since we met was finally wearing on me.

            “Ophelia, this newbie vampire is ready for you to get out of her fiancé’s hotel room.” I smiled sweetly, knowing that I was riling her up when there was nothing she could do about it.

            In a whirl of black evening gown she disappeared out the door, slamming it behind her. I stood up from Alex’s lap and said, “Well, that was interesting.”

            He was looking at me in astonishment. “Do you realize that Ophelia is one of the oldest vampires in existence? And she couldn’t even hold a candle to your power. I think we’re finally seeing some of the renowned powers that come with this bond.”

            I was pretty shocked at what I had done now that it was over. “I didn’t even realize I could do that-- it just happened. I was so angry when she touched you and then the way she was talking about me like I wasn’t sitting right here-- it just burst out of me.”

            Alex shook his head in disbelief. “You know Brooke; you get more and more amazing every minute.”

            I walked over putting my arms around his neck and looking into his glowing blue eyes. “Oh really? Well, I can show you something else pretty amazing.” And I set about doing exactly that.

CHAPTER 20

            Once we were all settled in and in the air, I breathed a sigh of relief that we were off the ground and making our way further and further away from Lucien, Ophelia and the Regency. Not that I thought they would give up that easily, but somehow everything would feel more manageable on our own turf. I was actually going to miss Katina a little bit. She and I had developed an unspoken bond during my semi imprisonment. I was pretty sure she was secretly rooting us on.

            Ethan was sprawled back on the plush sofa idly whirling his drink around in his glass. One thing I had learned about vampires over the past few weeks was that they were still able to drink alcoholic beverages. When I had asked Alex about this, he told me that for some reason vampires were still able to get the buzz from alcohol that they did as a human-- without the nasty side effects. It was a pleasure they were still able to indulge in. Personally, I wasn’t one for drinking alcohol, as a human or a vampire, so I was sipping on a glass of blood.

            Alex sitting next to me still sent little tingles of delight all through me.
When would I ever get use to him?

           
Curling my legs underneath me and settling back in my seat, I decided to make the best out of this time I had with the both of them by getting some more of my questions answered.

            “So, I don’t remember Lucien flying me to Romania after kidnapping me. Why is that?”

            Ethan sighed. “Are we going to play twenty questions this whole flight? Because I’m not sure I can take seven and a half hours of that.”

            I rolled my eyes at him. So, he was going to play annoying big brother, was he? When it counted, Ethan was really sweet and protective, but at times like this I wanted to strangle him in annoyance.

We had developed such a love hate relationship lately.

            Alex ignored Ethan completely, answering me without even glancing his way. “Lucien used a little thing called captivation. Once he placed that on you, you were pretty much a walking zombie, easily led, but still functioning. So you wouldn’t remember anything that happened while you were captivated.”

            My heart skipped, figuratively speaking, at the thought that that many hours had passed without me being aware of anything in the company of Lucien.

            Reading my face, or perhaps my thoughts, Alex answered my unspoken concern quickly. “Nothing happened, Brooke. Katina was waiting in the car when he took you and accompanied you on the flight. Demetrie knew better.”

            “That’s relieving. But funny that Demetrie even cared. Not when he agreed to me spending an eternity with Lucien.”

            Ethan spoke up maintaining his bored demeanor. “Demetrie knew you would escape so that was never a question.”

            “Hmm, I understand why he went along with it, but I’m still not sure I’m letting him off the hook that easily.”

            The rest of the flight I made an effort to keep my questions to myself, as not to insight Ethan’s teasing rudeness. Eventually I snuggled into Alex’s side and let my thoughts carry me away. I had plenty to brew over and now that I didn’t need sleep, I had plenty of time to do it. Before I knew it we were touching down in Charlotte and were being whisked away in a flurry of identical vehicles. Apparently Alex and Ethan were taking no chances, even though we were back in the states. Alex had explained that his security consisted wholly of vampires, so any disturbances we might have would be well matched. Even our driver was a huge vampire who would have scared me to death had I been human. I relaxed at the thought of having the extra help, even though I was sure Alex, Ethan, and I could handle whatever presented itself. My little tiff with Ophelia had boasted my confidence and I was feeling very capable all of the sudden.

            The first stop we made was by the Rettings corporate offices to drop Ethan off. He had insisted on checking in at the office given his extended absence. As I watched him stride confidently into the glass building, I realized how different his demeanor was with me then the one he had obviously slipped into the moment he stepped out of the car.

            Putting that puzzling question away for later, I turned my attention back to Alex who was watching me under hooded lids.

            “Are you ready to go to
our
home future Mrs. Chase?”

            “Umm, yes. But don’t I at least need to move my things first?”

            “I took the liberty of sending for your things before we left London. I hope you don’t mind. I don’t trust the Regency right now and I think it’d be easier to make sure you’re protected if you’re living on my estate.”