Man Of My Dreams

Chapter Six

I slapped my hand over my mouth. His eyes narrowed on me and then he knitted his brows together. “Okay, Miss Taylor,” he stood and walked over to his bar cart and poured two glasses of what I assumed was whiskey. I’d only ever seen liquor on t.v.. He sauntered back over to his seat and pushed a glass over to me, “Drink,” was all he said. So I did. And I nearly coughed up a lung. Kian chuckled.

  “Not much of a drinker?” I was still trying to recuperate from the whiskey’s burn in my throat, “I’ve never drank before.” He was staring at me, and for a moment I thought I saw a look of familiarity come over him. He finished his drink and set his glass to the side. “How do you know I shared my bed with someone?” I felt all the color drain from my face. The whiskey’s burn was successful in making me forget I had asked him who she was. 

  I wanted to tell him the truth. And I will. But how is he gonna feel about a human girl who’s watched every night of his life for the last twenty years? But he has to know why I dream of him, right? He has to have some sort of knowledge on magic bargains and how they work and if they can make you dream of the person you struck that bargain with? I took a deep breath and said, “I saw you, y’all, in my dream.” 

  He didn’t say a word. He only stared at me, I guess waiting for me to say something else. So I did, “I’ve been hidden away from the world all my life. I only just learned why a few hours ago. I didn’t know anything about the bargain you made with Genevieve. I didn’t know you held her captive, I didn’t know about my family figuring out how to diminish the magic that tied you to me. I didn’t know any of it. I didn’t even know your name until this morning. All I know is that every night, for as far back as I can remember, I’ve seen you in my dreams. I’ve watched you sleep, read, stroll through your garden, shower…

  And it’s… odd. I’ve never met you before, you’re a stranger in every sense. But it doesn’t feel that way. Not to me, anyway. I’ve known you my whole life.” My palms were sweating again. I wiped them on my pants and waited for him to say something. Anything. Minutes that felt like hours had passed before he said anything. He looked tired. I thought immortality and vampirism were the opposite of tired.

  “You look like her.” I tilted my head, and then I realized he meant Genevieve. “Same copper red hair, same dark brown eyes. And freckles.” His voice was melancholic. I knew right then that I was right. There was more to the story. “You didn’t hold her captive and treat her badly like my family said. I knew there was more to that.” He smiled softly. And then he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one and took a long drag. I didn’t know vampires could smoke. Or that they could even operate their lungs.

  “Genevieve’s story is much like your own,” he blew smoke from his lungs and flicked the ashes from the cigarette, “Hidden away by her family on a farm way out in some rural town in south Mississippi. Vampires had just started rehabilitating in the south. And her family, your family, despised my kind. Women born in your family are rare. And so, they are protected. Like fine jeweled family heirlooms. But Genevieve,” he chuckled and took one last drag from his cigarette, “she was rebellious. She hated being cooped up on that farm. She was forced to marry a man of her father’s choosing and eventually, she bore a child. A son. But despite how much she loved that boy, she still felt like something was missing. She wanted to see the world. To meet the vampires her family claimed were so bad to form her own personal opinion on them. To be free from her family.”

  I shifted in my seat. He’s filthy rich but can’t afford a cushioned chair for his guests? He went on, “It wasn’t long before the band of vampires that came through the veil fooled the HWV organization and started that five year long war. Genevieve’s father was the most known general of that war. And with her family full of men, everyone was distracted with fighting in the war. She waited for the right time to leave. Leaving her son with her mother. I was fighting alongside humans and vampires. The start of my downfall with my own people, I would soon learn. Genevieve had heard of me during one of her father’s late night discussions at his war camp. 

  When she found me, she told me who she was and a little of her story. I was barely three hundred years old at the time. Still considered young amongst my kind. I was entranced by this fiery spirited human. She begged me to take her. Even said I could use her to gain a vantage point over her father. We needed that advantage, too. We were losing. Humans had learned each and every one of our weaknesses and used them all against us. So I obliged. I took her with me, here, to my home. I told her father I had locked her away in a cell but in reality, she slept in my bed. And anything and everything she wanted was at her disposal.

  Turns out, her plan had worked. Years of the war had gone by, the human side never quite recovered from the general’s loss of his only child. His family had detested him for leaving her unattended, he became sloppy and a drunkard. By year five, the war was over. I had spent all five of those years with her when I had time to come home. I shared with her my home, my bed, my deepest darkest secrets… I had grown such an immense love for your ancestor. But she didn’t love me the way I loved her. She had spent so long of her life being tied down. She didn’t want to subject herself to commitment with me or anyone else. And I respected her decision. I knew she was mortal and would die a mortal death one day , so I loved her while I could in any way that she would let me. When the war ended, I offered to bring her back. To be with her son.

  But she refused. She said her son wouldn’t remember her anyway. And she was sure her family blamed her for her father’s downfall. She feared they’d only lock her away again. So for twenty more years, she lived with me happily and healthy. Until one day, she started to put off a scent that I had recognized in a human hospital before. Cancer. And so I offered to change her. But in the twenty years she had spent here, she harbored a lot of guilt. For leaving her only son.  And she didn’t want to live forever, she told me. She asked me if she could go home. And of course, I told her she could have and do whatever she wanted. She was dying and I could stop it. But she wouldn’t allow it. It was her choice, she kept telling me.”

  My eyes were stinging. Tears were threatening to spill. I had no idea… I knew there was more to it, but I wasn’t expecting this. He continued, “She offered me a bargain. She said the next woman of her bloodline would be mine. That I would find the spirit of herself within her descendant. I didn’t want her great-great whatever granddaughter. I wanted her.” His hands were fisted on his desk. I could feel his anger and hurt in the air. It was palpable. And I wondered if he would hurt me, in his moment of anger. But it diminished as quickly as it had came. 

  “But she wanted this. And I couldn’t tell her no. I had always had a hard time telling her no. She said she knew her family would never change and that the next girl born would live a life of being trapped. Just like she did. She knew they’d hide her away. And she wanted to give her, you, the best chance at escaping. But what she didn’t bank on was losing her voice to her illness. When she finally did show back up on that farm, her family bombarded her with questions. All of which she physically could not answer. 

  So they assumed she was treated poorly here. And that I had grown bored of her. And she couldn’t deny or confirm. She didn’t live long after she left me. I felt her die through the magic the bargain had given us. Her mother went through her things and learned of the bargain through reading Genevieve’s journal. And soon, they figured out how to hide you from my magic. And when they did, I stopped being able to see them, sense them. But I didn’t care. It was Genevieve I wanted, not you.” I flinched at his words. I mean, I didn’t expect him to want me. But it still hurt to hear him say that. He stood from his chair and walked over to the large window behind his desk. 

  “Go home, back to wherever you were. Tell your family I don’t want you here.” I stood and balled my fists up on each side of me. “I have no family,” My breath was quickening and anger was white hot and boiling in my veins. My family had hidden me away with a woman who was nothing to me. And for what? For a king who doesn’t even care to uphold his end of a bargain? I’ve spent my whole life hiding from someone who wasn’t even looking for me?

  He turned to face me. “I’ve never met my father’s side of the family. They stuck me in a swamp with my father’s widow, who was never anything but cruel to me! I have slaved and hunted and hid for twenty fucking years for nothing!” It wasn’t about him not wanting me! It’s about the fucking entirety of my life wasted! “No friends, no school, no nothing!” Not even a loving mother and father. Just… nothing. 

  The tears were warm rolling down my cheeks. I turned around, grabbed my back, and walked to the door. Fuck this. I was about to push the doors open when he said, “Wait.”