In Dreams: Bleed Out

Christmas Came Early

"Sorry, ladies only!"  I screeched, cackling madly as I heard him growl outside the door.  I looked at my flushed face and messy hair in the mirror and decided it was definitely time for a shower.  If other certain after effects of an active s*x life weren't enough.  I checked the bathroom for supplies, it had enough basics.  Not my favorites, but it would do.  Enough for an adequate rinse off anyway.  I giggled.  I didn't trust I could sneak past Alexandre if I tried to leave the room.  I turned on the hot water and let it steam up the room to warm the room before adjusting the temperature down to a more comfortable setting.  I stripped and stepped into the cascading water, letting out a moan of relief as the water beat down on me mercilessly.

The curtain was suddenly thrown back and I squeaked, covering my privates.  Alexandre was standing on the other side, eyes wide.

"Rude!"  I shrieked and splashed him with water.

"You could have invited me, you know, after teasing me so."  He accused.  "I thought something had happened to you when you started making all that God awful noise."  He tsked, crossing his arms and turned as if to leave.  I grabbed him by the sleeve.

"Well get in here then."  I growled, and pulled him clothes and all into the water.  Due to vampire speed, only most of his clothing got wet.  But I laughingly helped him strip out of the rest of it and he held me tightly as the water cascaded over us.

"You know, I had meant this to be more of an actual shower."  I informed him, but he just hummed against my neck agreeably.  "I thought you had work to do?"

"Mmhmm."  He answered happily.

"Are you just agreeing with me so I'll shut up?"  I asked suspiciously.

"Ummhmm"  He responded, his chest vibrating with silent laughter against my back.

"Jerk."  I muttered, and he chuckled again.  It took a little maneuvering, and much swatting of wandering fingers, but I eventually felt I was clean enough.  I dried off with a fluffy towel I found hidden away under the sink, which inspired more wandering fingers during the drying stage.  These I captured and kissed.

"I just washed, and you have work to do."  I scolded.  He pulled me into his arms.

"But you smell so good, your scent is so strong fresh from a shower."  He inhaled at the crook of my neck deeply.  I turned, placing a hand on his chest to put some distance between us.

"Work/life balance.  You have an eternity to torment me with your s****l prowess and vampiric charm.  We still have to maintain appearances.  And I think somebody still has a car bombing to sort out."  I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows at him.  Alexandre's face was frozen.  "Alexandre?"  I asked.

"An eternity..."  He mumbled breathlessly.

"I mean, only if you want, I don't want to make you feel obligated or anything."  I hastily explained.  Alexandre's eyes lit up and he smashed his lips on mine, locking me in place with his arms.  Stunned, I returned the kiss belatedly and chuckled lightly when he pulled back.  He wrapped an arm around my waist and his fingers got lost in my hair, drawing me against his body.

"I know you've said you'll stay before, but each time I hear it, I'm shocked all over again, and dare to hope all over again, and fall in love with you anew.  Never stop telling me that Carys.  And never stop meaning it."  His words were gentle, but I could feel a desperate undercurrent of pain in them.  I wondered again about his past.  One hundred years is a lot of time to lose people...

I walked the house in the towel towards my room.  At this rate, I was seriously considering just asking Alexandre to move my stuff nearer his, or at least some of it.  There was definitely too much here to all fit in his room, but maybe he could loan me a draw.  I shook my head and muttered about him having too much money under my breath again.

"Well you seem to be enjoying it."  Alexandre remarked from behind me, and I squeaked, dropping the towel.  His eyes roamed greedily up and down my body, making me blush.  "What a lovely view, I'll have to stop by more often."  I threw the towel at him and snagged some underwear out of a drawer.

"Excuse you."  I said, motioning for him to turn around.  He sighed, but complied.

"Carys, I've seen everything, several times, from several angles."  He looked over his shoulder.  I tossed a shoe at him that he snagged out of mid-air.

"Consent."  I snarled, and he sighed again, but turned back around while I finished dressing.  As I passed by him on the way out of the closet he snared me in his arms.

"When are you going to get over this interminable embarrassment?"  He asked, kissing my cheek.

"Would you rather I walked around everywhere naked?"  I retorted.  He hummed thoughtfully.  I elbowed him, putting enough power behind it for it to be noticeable, but not enough for it to do any significant damage.  He huffed lightly and grabbed my arm, trapping it against my torso.  He dug in his pocket for a moment and placed a cool rectangular object in my hand.  I turned it over.

"Your phone, Miss."  He said teasingly.  "As requested, fully activated, charged and set up.  You'll have to customize it how you like, no password or anything yet, though I suggest setting one up.  Moving at high speeds can sometimes activate the touch screens."  He chuckled.  "I've already programmed my number in, and sent you your first text."  He grinned proudly as he activated the screen to show me the message symbol.  I tapped it, looking at the cute boyish grin on his face.

'All my love, Eternally'The message read.

"Oh my God you're so sappy." I said with a giggle, leaning up to kiss him on the mouth.  He frowned.

"Is that bad?"  He asked uncertainly, drawing back slightly.

"Mm-mm."  I mumbled against his lips, slightly shaking my head and then deepened the kiss, parting his lips with mine and letting my tongue tease until he was the one pushing me away for breath.

"Right..umm...More sappy romantic gestures..ahem."  He cleared his throat and walked stiffly out of the room.  I laughed lightly as he left, and sat down on the bed with the new phone.

'You didn't wait for me to properly reward you'I typed out and sent back.  In a few seconds I heard something crash in the house and collapsed in laughter in the chair.  This phone could end up being fun.  I sat and customized the phone for a short while, then reached for a long abandoned medical textbook.  I was reading about nerves and nerve damage when I heard my phone ding.

'Surprise downstairs, reward later?'I laughed and got up.  Deciding 'downstairs' could mean anything, I pulled on some comfy shoes and headed out of the room.  I followed my sense of smell towards the foyer, where I could still sense Alexandre and someone else.

"Thank you!"  Alexandre was saying enthusiastically as the door shut, and he happily turned around to look for me.  "Ah, there you are!"  He exclaimed and came towards me quickly, grabbing me off the staircase to swing me down the last few stairs.  He squeezed my waist possessively, then ushered me towards the door.

"Oh, here, you'll want these."  He dropped sunglasses in my hand.

"When did I get my days and nights mixed up again?"  I sighed.

"Hmm, a little over three or four days ago I guess?  No maybe even longer, the cops fiasco."  Alexandre replied.

"Oh yeah."  I huffed.

"You know your phone does have a clock on it."  He chided as he turned me away from the doors and opened them behind me.

"Yeah, but I stopped paying attention to that annoying little 'AM' or 'PM' thing a long time ago, and to be fair, you keep most of your house kind of...daylight ambiguous. ..."  I shrugged as the light flooded around me, casting my shadow across the foyer floor.

"Ok, you can turn around now."  Alexandre said excitedly, so I did, to see yet another expensive car in the drive I smiled lightly.

"I see Christmas came early for somebody."