Marked

okay.

  She was okay too. She felt in control. She could feel the energy surging through her body, it was invigorating. Soon, she could tell that she was nearly full, and Enric was getting weak. Gently she loosened her bite, and began to pull her fangs out slowly. It wasn’t as terrible a thing as she thought it would be. She wondered if Enric felt the same way.

  “There’s some gauze and ointment in the bedside table.” He gave no indication either way.

  “Okay. How are you feeling?” She reached over and got the gauze out of the drawer so that she could begin to tape up his wound. It wouldn’t be necessary to clean it. It wouldn’t get infected. The gauze would help to conceal the nature of the wound if he were seen unclothed though. She was almost afraid to meet his eyes. She felt so vulnerable, which was unexpected. He was what stood between her and the predator that wanted out. She needed him. She also knew that she hadn’t been gentle. She didn’t even think about how he was feeling until her own need was met. She didn’t know how he would react.

  “I feel good, Kate. I think I might actually have a bit of an adrenaline high going.” He smiled. She enjoyed his confidence and strength. He had a way about him, and people seemed to really enjoy being in his presence. He was selfless and honorable and many things that were foreign concepts to her in the men that she had known. “How are you feeling?”

  “Much better than I thought I would.” It was just a few moments ago that she didn’t know if she could even go through with this first feed. Now that it was done, she was relieved. Her hunger was silenced, and he was alive. She was very happy. His smile was infectious, and she echoed it back at him. He knew the fears and reservations that she would be facing. It was good to know that he was there for her. Also, she was pretty sure that it hurt like hell, but she was glad that he had spared her the guilt of saying so.

 

  C’est La Vie

  Marc couldn’t take his eyes off of her as she walked down the staircase. She was absolutely the most beautiful woman that he had ever known. It was like their wedding day all over again. She had made an even more profound commitment to him this time. It was such a relief and joy to have her back in his life again. Her skin glowed with an otherworldly glow. There was a bright and colorful aura around her. He was seeing her happy for the first time in so long. She took his breath away. It was such a relief and joy to have her back in his life again. He took her hand as she stepped onto the landing at the foot of the staircase.

  “You look refreshed.”

  “I am feeling much better.” She could see from the reaction on Marc’s face that he was impressed. It was nice to have him look at her like that. For that moment, she was the center of his world. He led her out the side door and onto the terrace.

  “Are you really okay?”

  “I think so, I mean, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.” Kate appreciated that Marc was so concerned for her emotions. He understood how hard it had been for her to come to terms with her new self. He had asked a lot of her in turning her. It was a selfish thing for him to do. That was the basic nature of his decision; he would not let her go again. While Marc’s thoughts drifted backward, Kate was thinking of the future. “Where do we go from here?”

  “Where do you want to go?” He was happy to leave the thoughts surrounding what he had done, and what he would have done with or without her consent.

  “What do you mean? I don’t know.” Kate had never entertained the idea of traveling before. Her life had always been centered on the struggle to meet basic necessities.

  “Tell me, what is the one thing that you’ve always wanted to do but never thought you would have the chance?”

  She took a moment to think. If there were any place on earth that she had wondered of as a girl, it was Paris. She could remember seeing the image of the Eiffel tower in her mind and thinking that it was such a beautiful place. Of all places this one stood out. “I used to dream of going to Paris.”

  “What would you do there?” He was pleased to see her trying so hard. Just imagining a destination was hard for her. She had never given herself permission to be happy or to let herself dream.

  “I would like to see the Eiffel Tower, I think.”

  “Ah.” He smiled and nodded in complete agreement and appreciation. He had been to Paris, of course during his long time walking this earth. He was turned in France. It would forever be close to his heart.

  Kate closed her eyes for a moment and turned her head just slightly to the right while she thought to herself. “I want to stand on the highest balcony and share a passionate kiss with the man that I love, who loves me even more, a kiss so powerful that for a moment we would forget how frightening and beautiful the view was.”

  He loved the way she looked like this. She had the innocence and excitement of a child about seeing that place. She wanted to experience this moment that she had explained so well. He wanted her to have it. “Let’s go.”

  “What?”

  “Go to Paris! We could leave on Friday.”

  “Are you joking?” Kate could not believe that this was real. Here was a man who loved her, who cared what she dreamed of, and who wanted to make those dreams come true.

  “No, I’m not joking. You want to see Paris, and I want to show it to you.”

  “Really?” Her smile was radiant. The excitement shone in her eyes, then suddenly her glance fell and her smile faded.

  “What is it? Don’t you want to go to France?”

  “Yes, of course I do, but I just. I can’t stop thinking about them.”

  “Who can’t you stop thinking of?”

  “The people I left behind.” She was ashamed to even admit it to him, or to herself. No one she had left behind and really cared for her. She had given so much of herself over the years for their expectations. They had only given her a broken heart.

  Marc pulled her close to him, letting her sink her face into his chest for a moment. “I understand what you are going through. It’s not normally a good idea to check in on them, but if you need to then I’ll take you.”

  Kate thought about it for a moment more. Was this really what she wanted to do? They had always disappointed her before. Instead of offering comfort, she could very likely be setting herself up for pain. “I think I have to. I need to know what is happening with them.”

  “It’s settled then, we’ll go in the morning.”

  They went back inside and found that Enric and Natasha had fallen fast asleep, leaned up against one another on the couch. Marc laughed softly. “I guess we’re on our own. Let’s go up to the library.” He grabbed a couple of wineglasses and a bottle of Cabernet. As she followed him up the winding staircase it became apparent to her that this was what she had been missing. When something was never quite right, when she longed for something more, all along it was this. She felt at home. They sat down on the floor of this great room. Rows upon rows of books lined the shelves from the floor to the ceiling. It was dark, except for the soft ambient light given off by the sconces. Marc grabbed a book and began thumbing through it. He found the page that he was looking for and began to recite it.

  He looked at her as he spoke, his eyes rarely falling on the pages. This was a book that he knew by heart, Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale. “The Destiny, minister general, that executeth in the world o’er all, the purveyance which God hath seen beforne, so strong it is, that tho the world had sworn the contrary of a thing by yea or nay, Yet sometime it shall fallen on a day that falleth not oft in a thousand year; For, certainly, our appetites here, be it of war, or peace, or hate, or love, all this is ruled by the sight above.” As he finished the passage, he turned the book around and handed it to her. “What do you think?”

  Gracefully, he picked up a wineglass and filled it halfway. She took it lightly in her hands and tried to think as she stared into the glass, swirling it a bit. She wasn’t used to being asked what she thought very much, especially about something so profound. She doubted her own intelligence. Wh
at alternate interpretation of the words could she give him that would make any sense at all? She had been forced to drop out of college because of lack of support. Financially and emotionally she had no means to continue her education. It would have been pointless anyway being that she was forbidden to have a career or occupation outside of her home. All she knew of life was the little bit that she herself had experienced. Her narrow experiences seemed so miniscule next to the ages that Marc had survived.

  “Don’t over think it. I don’t want a contrived answer. I want to know what you really think.”

  Kate took a big drink of wine. She wanted to open up to him, but she wasn’t sure how. She decided to just tell him what she thought as plain and simply as she could. “I think that he’s talking about fate and how some things are destined to happen.”

  “Que sera, sera?”

  “Yes, to some extent.” She was horrible at explaining things, and especially horrible at speaking to him in any intelligent way. It didn’t matter because here they were. In a way it was nice to have him so interested in her thoughts.

  “Interesting, what do you mean by that?”

  “There are some things in life that we are meant to experience. Circumstances will always shift us back to certain situations until we walk through it and learn something.” This had seemed true from what she had seen in her own life, and with