River of Red

XXV

The scenery was fantastic.
Upon arrival to the airport, Domitius had finally told me where we were.
Greece.
Specifically Kalamaki.
On the drive away from the airport I couldn't unglued my face from the window. Saying Kalamaki was beautiful was an understatement. The ocean was visible past the various buildings.
The beauty of Kalamaki didn't surprise me.
But the houses did.
It was modern.
Every once in a while there would be a small, abandoned stone house. The loneliness of the ruins was sad, like a forgotten puppy.
All that architecture down the drain.
Small shops and restaurants lined the streets. Sadly, we had to leave Domitius's Lamborghini back I'm America, but he rented a small BMW that was probably shipped here from Europe. When we rounded a corner, past small, tightly packed buildings, I noticed what direction we were headed.
A hotel.
And it was huge.
It was a pale brown, tan color, stucco finish, and had a large, glass front door. A huge, bean shaped pool dominated the scene from the road. Domitius smoothly pulled onto the side of the street and parked perfectly.
Domitius headed out of the car, which made me push my awe for later and follow him. As we walked past the pool and to the door, I looked at the people swimming carefree in the giant lake.
Everyone seemed to be a different ethnicity, there were some people speaking languages I didn't know, and some spoke what I did know. A couple spoke French, another spoke English, and another spoke Spanish.
It was like a melting pot.
I gripped Domitius's arm when we walked past two gigantic men that looked at me like a meal.
And maybe I was.
I nudged him to have him look at the huge and bulky men. Domitius only glanced at them out of the corner of his eye.
He patted my hand on his arm like I was a helpless child.
"Don't worry, dove, they can't harm you while I'm here." I partially believed him, if the men were normal humans Domitius could protect me. But if they were vampires...
Let's just say that wouldn't end well.
I decided not to think about that, and turned my attention back to the beautiful view.
Domitius led me inside the massive hotel.
I gasped at the interior of the building, the ceiling was white, with drop down lights, white marble floors dominated the room, and the white walls made the room feel open and airy. At the counter a woman sat. She glanced up at us, and a big smile lit her face. The cool smile didn't reach her eyes, though. She was middle aged, lines had started to pull at her tan skin, and her dark brown hair had grey streaks.
She placed her phone down and addressed us.
"Velcome," she said in very broken English.
Domitius said something in return in a language I did not know. I guessed it was Greek, by the use of verbs and that I had heard it before. It was what people were speaking on the streets outside. The woman's face turned surprised when she heard her own language being spoken, and her mood brightened. They bickered and talked for five minutes, but finally Domitius pulled a wad of cash from his pocket.
All I saw was lots of money.
He handed her the wad, which she then inserted into the modern register. She handed him two small cards, glanced at me, and turned back to her phone.
Rude.
With that done, he turned back and addressed me.
"Follow," he said with a flourish.
Domitius walked down halls, like he knew where he was going. We went up a modern, smooth elevator to the top floor. I just followed in silent awe, the marble floors clicked under my cowboy boots. At a room, he expertly inserted the card and watched as the large, dark blue door swung open. He gestured for me to go in first, and placed a hand behind me to guide me.
Domitius gently pushed me inside the room, his hand situated on the small of my back. His touch sent tingles down the whole length of my spine. I almost kissed him right then and and there. He was too close. He lowered his head to the crook of my neck, and inhaled deeply.
"How do you like it?" He questioned, just as my hazy mind took inventory of the room.
I gasped.
It was bright, the light blue walls contrasted nicely with the marble floors. The ceiling was white, with a dropped down square fitted with round cylindrical lights. A large balcony was past two, sliding glass doors. I could see the light green ocean past the balcony, the water stretching into infinity with no end. The sky was clear, the occasional cloud could be seen in the endless blue.
It was amazing.
"Wow. Domitius, it's incredible." I was at a loss for words, it was like a dream come true, but there was only one bed. And the fact that the bathroom was seamless with the room; no door.
That fact didn't make a dent in my happiness though, because it was just too beautiful to think otherwise.
He dropped his hand and stepped into the room, pulling his luggage along with him.
I then noticed my lack of a bag.
Sadly, I realized the topic of my clothes must be discussed.
Soon.
So why not now?
Slowly, I turned toward Domitius, and gestured to my white man shirt, and black sweatpants I had seemed to forget about on the plane ride.
No wonder I got so many rude stares.
I raised my right eyebrow, "Clothes?"
He sighed, and ran a hand through his soft, raven black hair.
"Yeah, that's an issue," he paused and met my eyes, a accusing look on his face, "I don't know why we didn't adress the topic back in the Americas."
My cheeks burned, I looked away, embarrassed.
"I didn't really think about it at all." I was awkward at the topic of clothes, I had always been, "We were supposed to, but I guess some drama got in the way." I said, thinking about the way we had planned to go shopping, but had been intercepted by the car accident.
My mother didn't take me shopping much, only my dad. And well, my dad wasn't around much anymore to take me shopping.
His gaze dropped when he realized what I had thought. He sighed, and came with unnatural speed to stand in front of me.
"Lets go shopping."
__________________

The shop was cute.
It was small, almost like the little stores in downtown St. Louis. The store had a sign that said κολυμπώ, which I had no clue what that meant.
In answer to my unasked question, Domitius answered, "Swim, it's swim in Greek."
For the first time I wondered if he could read my mind. When we entered the shop, a cute bell jingled from the door. Domitius followed behind me, probably embarrassed to be caught going into a girls clothing store.
I stifled a laugh.
Domitius looked around, horrified, as his eyes caught the intimate rack.
A tall, tan girl with dark eyes and dark hair approached us from the corner if the shop. The main theme seemed to be ocean, and that happened to be a theme I loved very much.
She looked from Domitius to me, a smile on her face, "He-lo," She asked, her gaze traveling over my body in a disgusted look.
Why did everyone diss my clothes?
Domitius said something to her in Greek, and she answered with a nice smile and a nod. She walked back to the corner and sat behind the counter.
Domitius gave me an impatient push, "Go ahead, look."
I shuffled through various racks, and ended up with a new bra, new underwear, a blue, frilly crop top, anchor shorts, plain blue jeans shorts, shoes, and a gray loose tank top with a mint green mermaid silhouette.
I don't think the store knew what cold weather was.
No matter, I was still happy with what I had gotten. It made me really realize I was at the ocean.
The ocean.
So beautiful, I had only seen it in pictures, and now in real life it seemed more incredible than anything that's happened so far. Domitius handed the clothes to Melody, whom I learned her name from his translation. He promptly paid with his huge wad of cash, and led me back to the shiny BMW.
The sun was just starting to set, which made me realize just how long we had been in the small store. The Orange glow reflecting from the ocean looked amazing and bright against the darkness of the sky above. Waves lapped the shore, which detracted uneven light throughout the shore in lines of color.
Domitius pulled me out of my daze when he started the car. The engine rumbled quietly. I was amazed at how good Domitius was at driving, considering the first time I tried to drive my dad's truck I nearly popped the tire on a curb.
He drove smoothly, though he took an unexpected turn down a dirt road.
"What are you doing?" I asked, confused why we weren't driving back to the hotel.
He glanced my way, "Memories." He simply stated.
Memories?
What kind of answer was that?
We drove on, but he finally stopped at a circle that overlooked the ocean. There were no houses on the road, only trees and bluffs that loomed over the ocean. Domitius turned the car off, and stepped out onto the old, overgrown road.
I followed, and got out of the car.
I stood by him while he watched the waves crash against the shore below.
His face was unreadable, his dark eyes a reflection of the stormy sea. I opened my mouth to ask him something, but something wood was suddenly stabbed through the chest and he was pushed off the cliff. I watched, horrified, as he plummeted into the depths below.
Before I could begin to comprehend what happened, I noticed someone behind me.
It was the two men I saw earlier.
With wide eyes, I watched as the biggest one popped a broken finger back into place.
"Well, that was considerably easier than I thought."