Twilight Embrace (Completed)

Chapter 31

Lyell woke around midday with the sun streaming through his window. He'd never seen the sky so blue or heard the birds singing so clearly. As he lay on his side staring out the window he felt unusually calm and relaxed, a feeling he'd not experienced in some time.  He usually woke heavy headed from lack of sleep, but this morning he felt very different. Sitting up slowly he was confused to find he was naked under his duvet as he normally slept with his boxers on.

His memory of the night before seemed rather incomplete like pieces of a puzzle that were missing. The memory that shone as bright as the midday sunshine was the picture of Annjelica's beautiful body beneath his as she gave him her innocence, a gift he would treasure for the rest of his life.

"I need to find her and tell her how much she means to me, how I can't live without her, that I love her. Yes, I am in love with you Annjelica, I want to make you mine forever." Lyell said to his reflection in the mirror as he stood in the bathroom.

While showering Lyell rehearsed different ways of telling Annjelica that he loved her, could no longer live without her in his life. He did not want to see her occasionally anymore; he wanted her by his side every day. He wanted to go to sleep with her in his arms every night and wake up by her side every morning. As he turned off the taps and stepped out of the shower he knew exactly what he had to do and what he needed to say.

~~~

Annjelica had returned home with her parents, sitting quietly on the back seat with her mother beside her holding her hand.

"Sweetheart, are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes Mama, I've actually never felt better." She lied. The tender feeling between her legs bearing witness to the intimacy Lyell and her had shared.

'What you're feeling is very natural Sweetheart, it will pass. All you need is a lovely warm bath and sleep.'

 Annjelica blushed scarlet when she realized her mother had been reading her thoughts, but grateful she had kept this little truth from her father. Only to learn later that her father already knew and was upset and annoyed that he did not get to meet Lyell first. She apologized to her father and promised she would make sure they were properly introduced.

 Her father smiled and kissed her forehead saying "Now get some sleep Annjelica you have been through quite a bit of shocking activity lately." He winked at her.

"Father!" Annjelica exclaimed.

"Wolfe, honestly, you're impossible." Alexandria scolded playfully.

Wolfe swept his wife off her feet and lifting her high in the air spun around with her, "I really love these two women in my life," he said coming to a standstill and looking at Annjelica. "If anything happened to either of you, I would just die. You ladies are my whole world." Hugging his wife close he buried his nose in her hair sniffing deeply, taking in her scent, printing it into his memory.

Watching her parents, Annjelica smiled. Their love for each other filled her with a glow. A warmth of happiness spread through her whenever she saw them together like this. She was indeed a lucky girl to have such adoring parents.

Wolfe nodded to his wife and left the room, knowing that his daughter needed to rest after her ordeal and he knew his wife would not leave her side today of all days. In fact he knew Annjelica would not be able to leave her mother's side over the next couple of days with her birthday just three days away. Her coming of age would open a whole new world to Annjelica, a world where she no longer had to walk in the dark, when the daytime would not betray her existence. But they knew very little of the powers she would receive or how strong she would become and what will she be? Vampire, Lycan, human or possibly something they couldn't begin to understand.

Alexandria could sense her husband's concern and knew in her heart that the next couple of days were vitally important and Annjelica needed to rest and gain her strength for whatever her future might hold.

"Sweetheart you must rest now and sleep please. You are going to need your strength. Now drink this and go to sleep please."

"Thanks Mama," She said taking the glass from her mother, "I promise I will." After drinking her potion she gave the glass back to her mother and waited for her to leave the room. But she did not leave.

"No, Annjelica, I'm not leaving. I want to make sure you're alright and you really do get to sleep."

"I promise I'll sleep, you really don't have to stay with me."

"I'm not leaving your side over the next three days, I will be your shadow till you come of age." Her mother replied, ignoring her daughter's please leave me alone expression.

Annjelica scrunched her eyes up and playfully pulled a tongue at her mother, "Okay, I'll sleep, but only if you promise I can see Lyell again before my birthday."

"We'll see. Now sleep Annjelica, you're exhausting me."

Annjelica hugged her mother and rolled over onto her side closing her eyes she shut down all thoughts. Tuning out the world so her body and mind could take advantage of this quiet time she realized she did need.

~~~

Preparations for Annjelica's birthday party were in full swing and everyone in the castle was bustling around doing something. Alexandria desperately wanted to check on things, but knew she was right where she was supposed to be at this time.

She relied on Wolfe to drop in every now and then to inform her of proceedings and she would quietly leave the room but stand just outside her daughter's bedroom door leaving it slightly ajar, so she could still see her. She feared as night drew closer Annjelica would become agitated and want to return to Lyell, and she had no intention of letting her leave the castle tonight, especially with another storm brewing.

Depending on the weather and circumstances she would accompany Annjelica to Lyell's cottage tomorrow night. After which she could not see him again till her birthday was over and they discovered what her powers were and which side of her blood she would take on.

While Annjelica slept Wolfe visited Lyell discreetly to make sure he was alright and that his memory of the evening's events did not consist of the imagery, of what had passed after his intimate moment with Annjelica.

Before they'd left for the cottage that evening, Wolfe had contacted Vampuric thinking they might need him if Annjelica was injured or worse still close to death. Vamp had saved the lives of both his wife and daughter before now and he'd hoped he would be able to do the same again if Annjelica needed.

Apart from giving his immortal life blood to Wolfe's wife and daughter, Vampuric had the astounding gift of being able to erase a human's mind of all unnecessary memories.  He would lock eyes with them and send them into a trance like state and placing his thumbs into their temples exerting just enough pressure to ensure the portal to their minds was open to him. Here he would feed out the memories they could not retain and remove them. This was an unusually unique gift that very few vampires had. Apart from this he could control his blood lust when biting down to save a life, no easy task for a vampire, especially if they hadn't fed for a while as was the case when he'd brought Alexandria back to life after giving birth to Annjelica.

When Wolfe had called, Vampuric didn't hesitate for a moment, knowing Annjelica's life was in danger, he had spanned the distance between the two families just as Wolfe and Alexandria were leaving the cottage with their daughter. Wolfe had quickly explained what was required and without any hesitation Vampuric quickly took charge of Lyell's sleeping body, controlling his mind and quickly erasing the dangerous memories.

Before Vampuric left he made absolutely certain there were no traces of anything that would remind Lyell of the incident that had taken place in his bedroom that night. Concerned about Annjelica, and the reaction she seemed to have during lightning storms, he hurried to the castle to see her and talk in depth to her parents about her coming of age.

He arrived at the castle soon afterwards and assured both Wolfe and Alexandria that Lyell would not remember anything except for those memories of Annjelica that they wanted him to keep and that he would suffer no ill effects from his method of erasing memories. In fact he wouldn't even remember that anyone other than Annjelica had been in his company that evening and would not remember coming back to the cottage after their intimate time at the lake. Lyell would wake up alone thinking Annjelica had gone home.