The Vampire's Requiem II [malexmale]

Epilogue

Epilogue (Newell)

"That is one of the many reasons I love you. You would never let me go."

"Never. I'm never letting you go. Anywhere. You can't go anywhere without me again. Ever again."

"I would not have it any other way, Newell."

There was a time in my life when I thought that my life could not be more than it was. Struggling for survival, clawing my way up the food chain so people would no longer see me as a child, so people would finally look at me and appreciate what they saw. More than that, I wanted to have someone take my hand and pull me with them, smile a true smile, and whisper the three words that seemed almost foreign to me.

I love you.

Why was everyone else allowed to hear those words and I wasn't? What had I done that made people not want to love me? Granted, I had done many terrible things, but that was after I had given up on everyone, like they had given up on me. I was tired of the scorn, the hate, the insults.

I was tired if living.

A day to day life of nothing, but misery and a struggle to survive-- and for what? To be spat upon and kicked again? No, I was so tired of it. Right when I was ready to give up and let the world swallow me into nothingness, someone had come to me and without a single word, had come to change my entire life into something I couldn't even imagine dreaming of anymore.

And that someone was Xed.

Tall and muscular, with a body that turned heads whenever we were in public, a warm olive tint to his skin indicating his Mediterranean origin, hair a pale blue shade, mismatched eyes of brown and green, a dark beauty mark spotted in the far corner of his left eye, and a thickly accented voice that brought chills to my very soul.

Xed had been what I was too afraid to dream of. The dream that was right there all along, urging me to believe, to hope. I had taken the risk and instead of having it slap me in the face, like everything else in my life, it opened a window of opportunity and beauty. I had made the best choice of my life.

I sat with my back against the window frame, breathing in the deep sweet scent of the garden that Daimonas had insisted on putting outside our flat. With permission from the neighbors, we put the project into motion and now the garden had given birth to many a vibrantly colored flower, like the shades of a rainbow, mingled with the fresh herbs we used for spells. It was warm now, a bright spring afternoon. Warm enough to wear a thin light green shirt with long sleeves and a pair of white shorts, my bare feet resting on the white sill. It was large enough for me to be seated there, a sort of window seat really. We'd had it installed a few months after we moved back in.

The thick spicy scent of food wafted from the kitchen. It was funny. I had never thought of food really. My kind thrived on blood. We lived on it. We didn't really need human food. So I had never thought twice about it. But now, the scent made my stomach clench eagerly and mouth water. It was a spicy warm scent. Pepper, thyme, oregano, and the faintest hints of cumin. I tilted my head back, inhaling that scent mingled with the flowers outside.

I turned to watch Keeko and Ana, two oversized German Shepherds, sitting on the Persian rug in the living room right between the sofa and flat screen television. They both panted eagerly, ears perked up as they watched the master of flavors moving about the kitchen as if he owned it, which he really did.

 I slid off the window sill and set my laptop down to pad over to the island counter of our black and white marble designed kitchen. It was pretty modern and expensive. Xed was sliding a pan on the hot stove, sliding vegetables and steak around in it. Every so often, he'd add another dash of seasonings. He was so engrossed in it that he didn't notice me standing there, spying on him, but I didn't mind.