River of Red

XXVIII

The '64 Mustang was royal blue.
The engine rumbled in great gasps.
It was awesome.
Domitius found the old beauty in someone's garage, and had promptly stolen it. I felt bad for the owner, but we had who knows how many vampires after us and a lack of good clothes. We had found the rental BMW sunk underwater at the bottom of the cliff, none of my clothes inside. So we set off again, to another unknown destination that I couldn't help feel dread over.
We both needed clothes, a shower, rest, and food. Domitius finally found a nice hotel, fitted with a store for clothes and a bar to eat, Domitius eating differently, naturally.
I stretched out on the large sofa fitted in the room. It was white, and very ornate. The room was painted blue, with bamboo floors and one four poster bed. The ceiling was beautiful: copper plates and designs covered the high, vaulted roof. It smelled of the salty ocean, sand, and surf. Honestly, it was the best smell I had ever had in my nose.
Mew, sad tear, even better than the smell of books.
Domitius had left two hours ago to get clothes for us both, since he was more covered. Apparently, seeing a shirtless man was a normal occurrence on the ocean, not a woman with a ripped shirt and bra.
A little hiccup pulled me out of my daze.
I sat up on the couch, and scanned the area for any sign of what it had been.
Another hiccup, only louder and closer.
It was so one followed by a little cough, only it didn't sound like a normal cough, it sounded almost like a puppy.
Suddenly, a small, brown puppy with blue eyes waddled into my line of vision.
It was a puppy that I knew.
It was Gravel.
His big, adorable blue eyes stared at my from across the room. He had came in from the balcony. Momentary confusion enveloped me. How had Gravel gotten here?
I pushed the thoughts away, and quickly ran to fold the baby into my arms.
"Gravel," I cooed into his tiny, ruffled ear. He hiccups in response, which was followed by a little puppy cough. His wet little nose rubbed the inside of my neck when he snuggled into me. His little, fuzzy form was cold, which scared me, since it was 90+ degrees outside, the baby should be warm.
But he wasn't.
I rubbed my warm hands over his whole tiny body. His hiccups finally stopped, and he looked up at me with affectionate eyes, like he felt real emotion. I hurriedly wrapped the now warm pup in a soft blanket.
I tucked Gravel into the giant bed, and stayed snuggled next to his body while he fell asleep. When his blue eyes finally shut from exhaustion, I walked to the balcony to stare at the night sky. Tiny bright lights stood out against the dark sky. The crescent moon hung over the earth like a bladed knife. No clouds crowded the air, but the ocean musk was prevalent in the breeze.
Someone dropped into the railing between my spaced hands.
"Hello, dove."
I looked up at Domitius's dark eyes.
"Hello."
I noticed the plastic bag he held in his right hand.
I gestured toward it, "Clothes?"
He nodded, and flipped gracefully over me to end up behind me in a perfect stand. I looked on enviously, always amazed at how lithe and beautiful he was.
He placed the bag into my hand, and followed behind me when I walked back into the room.
I headed immediately towards the bathroom to change, but stopped to look back at Domitius.
He leaned against the balcony doorman nonchalantly, like he didn't have a care in the world.
His as I stepped into the bathroom, he lifted his nose into the air and took a sniff.
I shut the door.
I turned on the shower, planning to rinse off and on clean myself before putting on clothes. The warm, saying water felt like heaven against my skin. I washed away all the grime and salt, and scrubbed my tan skin smooth. I rung out my hair in till it was it's usual soft, thick, wavy self. I stayed under the water way too long, long enough for my fingers to prune and wrinkle.
When I was finally finished, I dried off and wrapped my hair in the towel gypsy style.
When I pulled out the clothes, I gasped.
Inside was a mint green lace dress, with an exposed back and a flimsy skirt that fell to the knees. I mentally screamed and yelled at Domitius, for I knew he had bough me this dress to make me angry on purpose. I despised dresses.
Also inside was a bikini swimsuit, flamingo pink and plain. I screamed take him more, and weighed my possible options.
Dress?
Or swimsuit?
Dress and swimsuit?
Dress and swimsuit.
I pulled on the bikini, and pulled the tiny dress over it. With my hair in a towel, my legs hairy, and my dress rumpled, I walked out of the humid bathroom. My eyes immediately landed on Domitius, a very hot, mean vampire, holding a little boy on the bed.
I almost screamed at the cuteness.
The boy was probably five years old, with wide blue eyes and brown hair.
Domitius met my surprised eyes.
"You didn't tell me you found a shapeshifter."
He rubbed the little boy on the head, and the little boy grabbed Domitius's hand in response. The little boy pulled at Domitius's hair also, and he smiled.
My mouth popped open in confusion and wonder.
"What?"
Domitius lifted his gaze from the little boy to me.
With supernatural speed, he pulled the boy off the bed and came to stand in front of me with the little boy standing at his feet.
Domitius had his hands on the boys shoulders, when I reached down to touch the boy, he yelled in surprise and disappeared.
Domitius tsked, "Now look what you've done, you scared him." He lifted a small balk of fluff now at his feet, and lifted it into his arms. I soon recognized the fluffy form as Gravels.
"Gravel?!"
I touched his wrinkled head, his little droopy eyes looked at me in happiness.
Domitius frowned at me, "You named it?"
I met his eyes, "Yes! Don't you remember when you kidnapped me I was holding him?" I asked, frustration in my voice. I snatched the puppy out of his arms, and snuggled him into mine instead.
"We can't keep it." He mumbled.
I shook my head, "Yes we are."
Without meaning to, Gravel's little arm slipped from in between my arms, and he let out a startled yelp. Suddenly, Gravel disappeared, only to reappear as a little boy again. I stumbled back in surprise when the little boy ran to Domitius and wrapped his little arms around his legs.
"See, he's too much of a scaredy cat...dog..." He trailed off.
"What- how- huh?"
Domitius looked at me, and brought a hand to his chaining thought.
"Mm, Yes, you know not of shapeshifters," he said hesitantly.
I nodded, egging him on.
He picked the little boy-Gravel off the ground, and laid him on the sofa, and pulled me out of Gravel's earshot onto the balcony.
He pushed the glass doors shut, and with the reflection off of the glass it made it impossible to see inside the room.
He leaned onto the rail, while I lifted myself to sit on the railing to look at the beach four stories below.
I looked at Domitius, his skin illuminated in the pale moonlight. His scar stood out more than ever before.
"Explain please?" My voice was pleading.
He sighed and ran a hand through his soft, black hair.
"There are many types of supernaturals, many of whom aren't nice. The main types are Vampires, of course, werewolves, mermaids, fae, and shapeshifters." He paused, hesitant to continue, "and then there is a special breed. The Immortales, a rare breed of vampire that is unkillable, and unaging." He smiled at me, "And that is what I am. But our little friend in there is a shapeshifter."
I only stared at him, and soaked in the information so far, "Shapeshifters are rather common, they breed quickly, and are difficult to kill, which makes them dangerous to most supernaturals. The one in there is harmless, no more than one hundred years old, and still chooses the form of a little boy," he let out a  humorless laugh, "And it's probably as innocent as the five year old it pretends to be. It seems to have taken quiet a liking to us. Isn't that right, Katrina?"
I nodded, but was still surprised. How had the fact that Gravel wasn't a dog elude me all that time?
I closed my eyes, and processed the information slowly. The cool breeze whipped the towel from my hair, which caused it to fall in wet waves over my shoulders. Another large gust of breeze hit me from behind, and I let out a startled yelp. My sweaty hands slipped from the grip they held on the metal rail, and my slippery, soulless felt slide off also, which caused my whole body to tumble off the balcony four stories high in the air.
I screamed, and failed my arms around wildly while I plummeted.
A strong, muscular pair of arms wrapped around my torso and stopped my free fall, which caused a painful grunt to erupt from my throat when my body was jerked to a sudden stop.
"Clumsy fool." Domitius whispered in my ear, but I could hear the smile in his voice. He dropped the rest of the two stories down, but softer than I would have hit the ground myself. As soon as my feet landed on the ground, Domitius stepped away from my as though I had burned him. He looked at his hands in wonder and surprise.
"What?"
He met my eyes, but quickly looked away and closed his features into an emotionless mask.
"Go back to the room and watch the boy, I'll be back soon."
And, to my absolute anger, he disappeared, again.