The Vampire's Requiem [malexmale]

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-One (Newell)

Everything went black the moment Xed had put the mask on my face.

And it remained black for a while longer until I heard a voice I hadn't heard in decades.

"Newell, sweetheart, wake up, pumpkin." My mother's voice. Soft and timid, sweet and savory. The memory came flooding back in bits. I could smell the heat of the summer, clean cotton linens, the wood of the house, the fresh paint that'd been slathered on the day before. I opened my eyes to a dimly lit room, the sunlight peering through billowing white curtains my mother had sewn when we moved into the house. My mother was standing over me, a warm smile on her face.

Her thick black hair was in a high, curled ponytail, her bangs cut across her face over a pair of soft blue eyes that glittered in the sunlight. She was wearing a snug fitting short dress and glittery heels to match the headband on her head, the expensive earrings in her ears. She looked more like a model than a mother.

I wasn't in control of my body, only watching from the inside out. I sat up slowly, rubbing at my eyes sleepily. I looked up at her, feeling the sluggishness of just waking up.

"What's wrong?" I asked tiredly. She smiled, reaching out and smoothing the hair back out of my face.

"Your daddy wants to take us out to eat for breakfast, so let's get you all dressed and ready to go, all right?" She asked, then stood up and called to our servants to help me dress. I climbed out of bed, making my bed the way she had taught me. Two servants came in and one undressed me while the other went to fetch a few clothes, showing them to my mother, who turned down several before she decided on a pair of black slacks and a matching jacket with a navy dress shirt. Why would she choose black in the summer?

The servants dressed me and fixed my hair, pinched my cheeks and pushed me toward my mother, who took my hand and led me out of the room just in time to meet my father, who came out of his study just down the hall.

He looked just the way I remembered. Tall and intimidating with broad shoulders and a muscular build, black hair swept back from a stern, handsome face and piercing cold blue eyes that promised death to anyone who opposed him. I could remember the fear I felt as a child whenever I looked at him or even heard his footsteps coming down the hallway at night when he paced.

"Aurora," My father stressed in irritation as he approached us, "You can't dress him in black in the summer, it's nearly ninety degrees. Do you want to give him heat stroke?" Aurora pouted, squeezing my hand and gesturing to my outfit.

"But he looks so cute, Edward!"

"It's not about looking cute, Aurora. Besides, he's a boy."

"Boys can be cute."

"Not when they're the heir to the most powerful vampire clan in the world," Edward snapped in frustration, making Aurora's pout melt into a pitiful frown that made Edward wince, "Damn it, Aurora, don't look at me like that. Look, we don't have time to change him. We'll just go like this, but keep him out of the sun." Aurora beamed at that and smiled down at me.

"I can't help it; I like showing off my baby." She told me with a wink. I remembered just smiling up at her with stupid childish awe. She and my father led the way out of the house and outside to our car, an expensive and new model that costed almost as much as our plantation house in the South. Then again, at the time, things weren't as expensive as they were now.

My mother and father sat up front while I sat in back, watching my father drive with my mother's hand in his other hand. At the time, they had reached a perfect peak in their marriage. It had been a thrill for both of them to have a baby boy, a beautiful home, dozens of servants, hundreds of friends, and millions of followers.