Centuries

Chapter 6

Jennifer POV-

Nolan stares at me for a few minutes before he burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" I snarl.

"A vampire? Thank god."

"What do you mean 'thank god'?"

"You are just messing with me. I knew you had troubles with an ex, and believe me, Jennifer, I won't let him get to you. But then with all that death and vampire talk? You were just messing with me. Right?"

Nolan sounds confident, but I can tell that there is a part of him that wants to believe it, so I do the only thing I can to prove the truth.

"Nolan, watch."

I open my mouth to reveal my perfectly straight, white teeth. I feel my canines begin to elongate and sharpen to points. My eyes turn from their natural green to black. Nolan's eyes widen, and he starts to back away slowly, looking like he's about to run.

"No, wait!" I shout, re-disguising my vampire traits.

He stops and stares.

''So, you just vamp in and out whenever you want?"

"Pretty much," I giggle.

"And you drink blood?"

"I am a vampire."

"S-so what kind of blood?" He asks, attempting and failing to be cool about it.

"Human."

Nolan visibly pales.

"But I don't kill. I take only a few pints and I heal them with my own blood. Then I make it so that they an't remember it happening. Remember your friend from the bar the first time we met?"

"Yeah."

"He thought we had sex. I set the record straight the next night. All that really happened was that I drank from him and made him forget."

"How long have you been a vampire? Hundreds of years right?"

"No, actually. I have only been like this for about 15 years."

"And you ex? Is he ah.....Like you?"

"Yes. He turned me. I ran away five years later. I've been on the run for a decade along with my friends Brady, Magnus, and their daughter, Emerald."

"Are they vamps, too?"

"Brady and Magnus are. They want to turn their daughter, Emerald, for her safety, but so far she refuses."

"Why?"

"The first year as a vampire is a;ways the hardest. Emerald is eighteen now, and wants to go to college. She wants to go to Harvard with her boyfriend now and not in a few years when she could control the blood lust."

"I see."

I take a closer look at Nolan's face and note the lines of exhaustion etched onto his handsome face.

"Let's go to bed."

"Together? Does this mean you aren't breaking up with me?"

"No, I'm not. You are one of the first things that have made me happy since I was turned."

"You're serious?"

"Yes. Now, shush. We need to sleep."

***
Carter POV-

"Carter, buddy, come on! Let's go out and have a good time," Allen complains.

"I'm not in the mood," I reply sullenly.

"You're never in the mood!"

"Well, I would rather not be your wingman so that you can fuck yet another female."

"C'mon man. This time I'll be the wingman. You need to get laid, and fuck her out of your system."

I realize that I have grabbed the framed picture of Jennifer that I keep on my desk. I'm holding it so tightly that my knuckles are paler than usual.

"Not interested."

I know that if I display enough aloofness, Allen will eventually leave. Anybody else, and I would have killed or kicked them out. But Allen is my oldest friend. He was the first vampire I created-practically my son.

Suddenly, unabidded, her image comes to mind.

Long, waist length, thick and soft, midnight black hair.

Deep, jade green eyes. Even more green than the prettiest blade of grass.

Jennifer.

She had been mine.

Scratch that, she still was mine.

I had found her, alone, tired, and dying. I rescued her and brought her into my home. I turned her so that she could not be hurt again.

I doubted she even understood the sacrifices I made for her. The sacrifices I still made.

It had been a long decade. I remained faithful to my wife, regardless of the fact that she left me.

People still talked. I despised gossip, and I was beginning to tire of being questioned about the truth of Jen's disappearance behind me back.

I loved her. I really, truly did. She is my mate, and I will get her back.

Of course, there will be punishment. After all, she deceived me. She lied and left. Lord Cain help her if she actually had the nerve to allow anither male to touch her.

Sure, even the vampire society was more modernized than we have been previously.

But many traditional customs had not yet been deciphered and outlawed.

Jennifer Whitelaw Musedan is my wife. She is under my command.

She will be found and returned our London home.

Her punishment will be grave yet deserved.

I swear it to the Vampire Lord Cain.

***
Brady Youngbloods PIC

"Sweetheart, please reconsider," I plead.

"No, Dad. I want to be normal."

"We are normal. The ratio of vampires to humans is three to five."

"I want to be human, Dad. You know that."

"But why? You know that the longer you stay human the more danger you are in!"

I grow frustrated. Just the other day I could have sworn I smelt Carter on a vamp in a local blood joint.

If his men were closing in...

I didn't want to think about what tgat meant for my family.

"Dad, please understand. I'm in no more danger now then I was when Aunty Jen ditched her bastard husband when I was three. I never even met him. I want to get through college and get married. Maybe have a kid. Then, and only then, will I consider turning. Okay?"

No, it wasn't okay. If Carter was gwtting closer...

He knew everybody was happy here. Magnus had a new job, Jen had a fiance, and Emerald was starting college with her highschool boyfriend.

Brady hated that he was the voice of reason.

They were getting to comfy.

Their coven needed to move on before any of Carter's men caught wind if them.

Brady was all for staying. He rather liked New Orleans.

But he was ditching the second there was any trouble.

And he wasn't leaving his family behind.