Seventeen Years Later
Jasper was a tall and strong, like his father.He was a striking man as an eighteen year old vampire, most likely he will stop aging at 25 like his father, Zane, had.He walked in the lawns now, romping along with a teenage girl who was about a year younger than he was.The girl had long, flowing dark hair and when she laughed, her voice was like that of silver bells. She would be a singer, like her mother.
Jasper hid, then peeked around a lilac bush as he hid underneath its flowering boughs. When the girl reached him, he shot his arm out to her, a bouquet of lilacs in it.Sara laughed and took them.She kept walking however and Jasper pretended to be hurt.It was all in fun, though, as the two vampires had basically grown up together and were each others’ playmates since childhood.
Sara was wearing a red gown, she looked like a perfect, porcelain doll.Her pale vampire’s complexion against her dark hair and the red of the dress was remarkable, beautiful. She looked so dainty, so perfect and fragile.But, she was anything but fragile.She was strong of body and mind, strong even for a vampire child.Her ringlets bounced as she ran after Jasper, who was now high tailing it from the bush daring her to catch him. She did catch him by tagging his shoe and tripping him, causing him to land flat on the ground.The two young vampires then lay in the grass laughing hysterically.
Mitzi was enthralled watching the young adults.They seemed to float along on the lawn, perfect, gliding effortlessly.After several minutes of continuing to frolic with one another, they eventually walked back to where their parents sat around a wonderful marble table on which a teapot sat in the middle of.Each of the four vampires had a fragile little teacup in front of them, and there was an array of little pastries and cookies and mini cakes that were brought to them by quiet slaves with eyes cast down.
When Sara reached the table, she ran up to her mother and looked at her happily. “I caught Jasper.” Mitzi laughed as she looked into her daughter’s violet eyes. “Hey, I let you catch me!” Jasper prodded her, trying to get her worked up so he could run from her again.She just pretended to yawn.
A baby about a year and a half old was sitting on Mitzi’s lap, and Mitzi was bouncing him on her knee causing him to coo and laugh.He had silvery blond curls and his eyes were the same blue as Darius’s were.The faint little whimpers and cries of a brand new infant could be heard. Another boy of twelve and yet another of nine were sitting along a wall of arborvitae playing checkers.
Darius was holding the little bundle that was he and Mitzi’s fifth child.When the infant looked up into Darius’s eyes, Darius could not get over the thrill, the absolute happiness, that comes with looking into the eyes of a child, his child, a child between himself and his beloved wife, Mitzi.The infant began to put her fist to her mouth and cry, her little way of communicating that she was hungry.“She’s hungry, Mitzi.” Darius laughed when Mitzi rolled her eyes and smiled.The infant, Dael, ate more blood than the other four children had when they were the same age.Mitzi let the toddler slide off of her lap as she reached for the wiggling bundle that Darius was handing her.“Darius, the kid’s like you with her appetite!”Zane laughed from across the table and Bree shot him a look of disapproval. She then looked at Mitzi, who shrugged her shoulders and smiled a helpless smile.“Adiran, run along and play, but don’t stray just too far, ok?”The toddler nodded vigorously and ran about twenty feet before he plopped down under a cherry tree where he picked at the blossoms that had fallen to the ground.
Mitzi unclasped her diamond bracelet and offered her wrist to the newborn.Dael’s little fangs, the only teeth she had, were so tiny that they were still unable to pierce her mother’s skin deep enough to draw any amount of blood.Darius got up and walked over to her, Mitzi raised her wrist to him.He bit into it, not puncturing the artery because tiny Dael would be unable to drink so much so fast yet, but enough blood flowed from Mitzi to feed the tiny child.
