The First
2120 Words
“Hello Kierdra,” Godfrey greeted as he moved past Aurora and towards the young woman standing there in the distance.
Aurora didn’t move, neither did her expression betray her by displaying the surprise and suspicion at Godfrey’s reaction to the vixen standing there seductively smiling at him as if she were standing there non-existent.
“You truly are a sight for sore eyes, Godfrey Jefferson-White,” This Kierdra said, her step echoing with every word that left her bitten red lips. The statuesque vampiress only stopped when she was barely an inch from Godfrey’s lean, masculine form. “You still are...the sexiest vampire in this world and the next,” She grinned. “Well...outside your father of course.”
Godfrey’s lips turned up slightly as he shrugged. “Surely, you didn’t think fifty years would do anything to this face.”
She simpered. “Only make you even more attractive. Which I see is the case,” The growl that sounded from behind Godfrey bayed Kierdra to finally acknowledge that Godfrey had been with someone. “I see you have a new pet,” She said, and sniffed the air. “She smells funny...younger,” Her brow raised. Where Kierdra’s eyes were distantly staring past Godfrey and right through Aurora, she finally returned her mahogany gaze to him “You’ve gone younger...how adorable. Trying to tame this one?”
“Kierdra, I-”
“It’s obvious that she needs it with all of the children she’s been leaving around,” Kierdra scowled.
“Frey?” Aurora spoke in the distance.
Godfrey could tell by the tone in her voice that this was the warning shot. She was going to tear Kierdra apart-or at least try to. Being a century older than Aurora would give her an advantage. Or at least, that was what Godfrey had assumed.
“Have I hurt her feelings?” Kierdra chuckled and sighed. “Seems your tastes have gone soft, my sweet,” She lifted her hand to caress his face. “Godfrey-”
Her hand was caught by Aurora’s. “Mine!” She growled in a dual tone with Sol, her eyes igniting in fiery anger as she slammed Kierdra into the side of the building.
“Spunky,” Kierdra returned as she grabbed Aurora’s grasped fingers with her free hand and forcefully unwound them from her wrist. “Looks like I will have to teach you a less cutie,”
“I am going to kill her, Frey,” Aurora simply said.
“Rori,” He stepped in between the two. He glanced at Kierdra and then turned his gaze completely upon Aurora. “You cannot kill her.”
“What?! She growled.
“I’ll explain. How about we just go-”
“Your loverboy just saved your life Rori-poo,” Kierdra said. “You may not be so lucky next time,” She grinned. “Frey knows what I am capable of when I want something bad. And I think…” She locked eyes with Godfrey. “I’ve decided that I want my loverboy back,” she winked. “Enjoy while it lasts!” Kierdra remarked before disappearing into the evening sun.
Godfrey watched her leave, and then returned his gaze back to Aurora and when he did, the rage on her expression was something that he had never seen before. “Rori, I-”
“Don’t you dare!” She growled and stalked off before disappearing in a blur.
He had already known where she was headed. He immediately followed after her at a blurring speed as well. Aurora’s scent led Godfrey back to the hotel room that they’d been staying at. He took a deep breath and then unlocked the door, trying to mentally ready himself for the hell that he was about to get. ‘Back to square one’, He began to think as he headed into the small apartment space. He knew after the way that Aurora had reacted that he’d be at first base once again when it came to her trusting him.
“Rori,” He called out to her. “Please answer me,” He said, walking into the bedroom area. At first, he thought it was empty until he saw her clamoring out of the bathroom with a bunch of her toiletries. She tossed them aggressively into the suitcase and then went into the closet. “What are you doing, love?” He stood behind her and started to place his hands gingerly to her arms.
Aurora whirled out of his grasp and walked past Godfrey to grab a few more things. “What does it look like?” She hissed. “There’s no more reason to be here, so I’m leaving!”
“Rori, can we please talk?” Godfrey asked.
“What is there to talk about?” She griped. “Levi is dead. Kierdra’s not dead! Great day!” Aurora sarcastically exclaimed. She placed her hand over the messily placed items in the suitcase and immediately they straightened themselves out.
“Rori, come on,” Godfrey grabbed her arm as she started to walk away from him.
Since he wanted to talk, Aurora decided to oblige him. “So I’m wrong for wanting Levi to live but you’re not for blatantly flirting with that w***e…” When Aurora emphasized what she thought of this Kierdra, her voice deepened and she became deeply angered.
“Aurora, I wasn’t-”
“You’re lying to me,” Aurora cut in. “Either that or you really just don’t remember yourself when you were around her.” She scoffed. “Well don’t worry about that because I was standing front row to the spectacle and let me tell you, something loverboy, that is far worse.” She went back into the bathroom and started to grab a few more things when she simply stopped, dropping her hands onto the bathroom counter. Taking a deep breath, Aurora lifted her gaze to the reflection in the mirror and saw the rage bubbling beneath. Sol had gotten so flustered by what had happened earlier she couldn’t bring herself to come out of her feelings for even a moment to spare. “I’m so sorry, Sol,” Aurora mumbled, it being the only thing that she could think to say before she got herself together and walked out of the bathroom.
There Godfrey was, still standing there. “What is the matter with Sol? Is she alright-”
“She’s fine,” Aurora snappily retorted as she zipped the bag up.
“Rori,”
“What Godfrey,” She grabbed the bag and headed for the door of the hotel.
As Godfrey watched her turn her back on him to leave him, a fire stirred up him. He grabbed, Aurora’s arms and snatched the luggage from her hand. After tossing it away, he wrapped his free arm around her waist. “You’re not...leaving me, Aurora Vale,”
“Why don’t you go and find your slut puppy?” Aurora glowered, her orchid eyes slithered away from him in malice.
“If you really think that I’d rather be...anywhere else but here,” Godfrey took her chin into his forefinger and thumb and forced her to look into his gaze. “i...am so sorry for my transgression, my love.”
“Who is she, Godfrey?” Aurora asked, refusing, though hard as it may be, to not be sucked into his seductive words. “And why can’t I kill her?”
Seeming disappointed in her blatant display of disregard for what he had just said, Godfrey obliged his love nevertheless, without argument nor hesitation. “She’s a huntress,” He finally told her.
Aurora waited for him to explain further. Her expression showed her lack of impression. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
“Hunters and huntresses work for the council. They hunt down unsanctioned inhumans.”
“That’s fine and dandy,” Aurora returned. “Who...was she...to you?” She asked, cornering her gaze on him.
“Rori, she was a past fling-”
“She was more than that,” Aurora cut him off. “I can see it in your eyes...your past,” Godfrey sighed and rolled his eyes, “Who is she, Godfrey?”
Godfrey expelled harshly. “She...we were promised to each other at a young age.”
“What-is she your...your mate?”
“No! No,” He quickly shook his head. “Well, I guess...in a way. She was chosen,” He simply stated. “Kierdra is from my mother’s coven in Vancouver,” He told Aurora. “The Hales coven. For centuries our coven has been pitted together, to create something assumed to be more powerful,” He shrugged. “When I was a young...young boy,” Godfrey recalled. “My father told me the truth of the future-what the elders had in store for me,”
“Why would they take you from your true mate?” Aurora asked, suddenly engulfed in curiosity about Godfrey’s past.
He chuckled. “Surely, you’ve noticed how vainglorious and selfish vampires can be. We are driven by greed, power, and self-preservation.” Godfrey shrugged. “Vampires do not hold much stock in true mates, I guess. Or at least we look at it differently than that of our more bestial counterparts.”
“Is that right?” Aurora grimaced.
“Yes,” Godfrey replied, knowing that she was starting to find offense in his words. “I wish that I could tell you that I was not one of those people, my love, but...I am...through and through.”
“Then why are you here with me?” Aurora asked.
“Because...your,” He raised a hand to push a strand of hair behind her ear. “Complex nature drew me in, the moment I met you,” Godfrey chuckled. “I was certainly too stubborn to admit it.”
“Right,” She rolled her eyes, trying so hard not to get sucked into Godfrey’s alluring nature. “Continue with your past.”
With a half-chuckle, Godfrey resigned. “Well, I fear my stubbornness set root as a small child as I refused to out and out marry and mate with someone that was chosen for me,” He shrugged. “I guess...I had a little of the belief of a true mating bond within me as well.” He confessed, “Anyways, while my father was totally against my free thinking, my mother was not.” Godfrey told Aurora.
“Hm, somehow, I find it hard to believe that Varick actually tried to follow any rules that weren’t his own.” Aurora commented snidely.
“While that may be true now, my father was far more rigid when I was a child, Rori,” Godfrey remarked. “Whenever my mother and I had a moment away, we’d talk about any and everything under the sun.”
Aurora watched Godfrey’s distant smile as he remembered his childhood. Suddenly, the feeling of him being happy seemed to exude upon her. She fought the smile that was trying its hardest to force its way to her lips. It was something about seeing him genuinely happy that uplifted her spirits. Even when she was as livid with him as she was now.
“One day we talked about the arranged marriage. She told me that when I grow up, if I do not feel love for the girl then I do not have to go through with it.”
“And?” During this part of the conversation was when Godfrey became a little more reluctant. “Frey?” She said softly, “Tell me,”
He looked down at Aurora and saw the concern underneath her frustration. “And as I grew up, I realized that my feelings did not matter.” He simply replied. “I came to the harsh conclusion that I was not living in some fairytale land where everything that I wanted was given to me.”
“Your father found out about your mother and your conversations.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, so he did.” Godfrey's brow raised in dry amusement.
“So, what?” Aurora took a deep breath. “You had a fling with her and...what? Who is she, Frey?”
Godfrey walked away from Aurora, a pain sharply pressed against his heart. He was afraid that what he would say next would hurt her far more than anything else he had done or said at this point, but Godfrey knew that there was no way to go back now.
He turned around to face her. “Kierdra...she’s my first wife, Aurora,”
- Writer
