A/N: To be honest, I never thought I'd fall in love so hard with a secondary character, and I've wrote about some good ones these years, but none of them had stolen my heart till the point that I can't let her go.
My main problem was that the plot had been set from the first sentence of this book because I never start writing a story if I don't know the end, it's true that the storyline can change a little while I write because new ideas may emerge but I try to follow the plan I get ready the first day because, otherwise, my very imaginative mind would divert my attention to an infinite number of subplots and everything would turn into a chaos. Bluma Ahren had to die and the funeral chapter was so difficult to write that it took months for me to face that challenge.
But I can't do it, seriously, I can't kill her. She's a hell of a good character: she's funny, sarcastic, full of life, carefree, sensual, brave, smart, naughty, loyal to her friends, she's not afraid of giving her sincere opinion and doesn't give a damn about what other people think of her. She's everything I'd like to be... in the future. Because one of the best things about Bluma Ahren is that she's old enough to be a grandmother but she doesn't behave like one. I've read very few books with characters like her, authors tend to stick to cliches and old people are usually the weak victims, sometimes the wise people giving advice, the housewives, grandmas putting a ton of food on your plate, etc. Very few are lesbians wearing pantsuits with colourful Chuck Taylors and trying to flirt with a cute lady waiting in line at the supermarket with all the charm they learnt in France.
I don't usually write these abrupt plot twists because they look weird but I haven't figured out a different way of bringing her back, I'm really sorry, I know this is quite unexpected although I've been leaving clues here and there through the last chapters hopping that they help the story to flow more naturally. All of my readers that prefer a "normal" plot as I've planned it months ago, they can't stop reading right now and the last scene of the last chapter would be the end of this book. Iselen and Ruby will be happy forever when she leaves the hospital. Period.
But if you love Bluma Ahren as much as I do and want to know more about her life and that mysterious Venetian Masquerade Club, about Yànzi, Eleanor and Dr. Vasilievna... things are going to take a... supernatural turn, I'm afraid. I'm really sorry, my dear readers, I've been racking my brains on how to bring her back and this is what I got. I hope you can forgive me for this sudden change of plans. Let's go.
Remember this is Tassia POV, or Dr. Natassja Vasilievna, if you prefer.
The night is warm in Los Angeles despite the fresh breeze coming from the sea, or maybe I don't feel cold because I was born in a country where it's freezing and snow covers the fields during long winters. Russia is massive and there're still vast amounts of lands, forests and mountains where no one lives and stars shine bright above your head. It almost feels like you can touch them with your hand... In California, however, there's so much light pollution that the sky is never completely dark. I sigh frustrated before averting my eyes to look at the parking lot if front of me.
I wait patiently, watching the city lights, quietly. I'm in no hurry to go anywhere, I'm exactly where I want to be for the first time in centuries, I've spent long years traveling, learning, seeking knowledge, researching, fascinated by every technological progress in the field of medicine, biology and chemistry. Since the day my mom pointed at a plant growing in our garden and told me about its healing properties, I've been looking for a way of fighting the diseases that were killing my brothers and neighbours. The thirst for knowledge kept me alive and sane while the world collapsed and was rebuilt around me many times, through wars, famines and plagues... always looking for a way to help the victims. So many years traying to find a miracle cure but what I really needed to be happy was beautiful woman with blue eyes and a mischievous smirk.
I must give some time to my partner because I know this is hard for her, she's barely moved this past hour, watching the hospital building in the distance with her hands in her pants pockets, her shoulder leaned against a lamppost casually. Her eyes are fixed on a window... People walk around her, ignoring her, doctors, nurses and patients' families walk across the parking lot to get into their cars and go back home but none of them are paying attention to us and they forget our faces a few seconds later.
I can't help smiling thinking that, if they could see Bluma the way she really is, they'd end up hypnotized with their eyes caught by her flawless facial features. The illness is gone after the change and her skin isn't pale anymore, her white hair is soft and thick again, her muscles strong and flexible, her lips plump and, even if she still has high cheekbones and a chiselled jawline, she's not skinny anymore. Her skin is smoother now but she still keeps some wrinkles, above all around her eyes when she laughs, no one would say she's a young girl in her 20s despite she's a beautiful woman, that's for sure. Well, I wasn't young when I turned into a vampire either, I fact, I was 43, an old lady according to the standards of the 15th century, even if I didn't look old at all.
"Do you think someone has noticed it?" she whispers quietly knowing that I can hear her despite there's heavy traffic on the road nearby. I get closer rolling my eyes, frustrated and a little offended, to be honest.
"Buma, I'm a real doctor, you know. I may have started in this career as a healer centuries ago but I've been learning too, I studied at several medical schools and have so many PhDs that I lost count of them, I've worked in hospitals and labs... I was a paediatrician, oncologist, surgeon, neurologist, gynaecologist... I contributed to the discovery of innovative therapies and medicines that have saved millions of human lives over the past century."
"Yes, I know, and you're a powerful vampire who can manipulate the minds of weak humans... but maybe a stronger and smarter human saw you."
"Baby, please, I know how to behave inside a hospital. I wore a white lab coat and walked firmly down the corridors, never hesitating, no nurse dared to stop me when I sneaked into the emergency room where Ruby was waiting while they got the operating room ready. No one was watching while I put one drop of my blood in her mouth..."
"Only one?" she asks in disbelief.
"It was enough to keep her alive while the surgeons did their job, I couldn't give her more, she was weak and had lost lot of blood... I could've started the change in her body unintentionally. She's okay, Bluma, weak and tired, but will recover. I checked on her a couple of hours ago, she was sleeping soundly... Iselen too although she'll wake up with neck pain, those armchairs aren't comfortable to take a nap, I'm afraid." My mate nods and remains silent, keeping her eyes fixed on the window. "Shall we go? We have to take a plane..."
"I can't do it," Bluma turns around abruptly to look at me, her gorgeous eyes shine with unshed tears like two stars falling from the sky. "Tassia, please..."
"Babe..." I whisper hugging her, surprised when I feel her arms holding me tight against her body, squeezing me against her torso. Her grief is overwhelming, I can feel it through the blood bond that binds us: not even in the worst stages of her illness, before we fell in love and I decided to save her life giving her the gift, I felt so much despair inside her. "Are these humans so important to you? I thought the love you felt for me was stronger than anything else, I understand they're your family but we leave our people behind when we turn into vampires. That's the way it works, I thought you understood it..."
"I'm sorry, Tassia, after all the things you've done for me... but I can't do it."
"I did nothing, Bluma, only loved you..." I whisper cupping her cheek with my hand.
"You gave me everything I could dream of, angel." The beautiful woman smiles, her hands rub my back pushing me closer to her body and her blue eyes look right into my face. "I was ready to die, I had accepted it and got my affairs in order, I swear... till I met a pretty blonde doctor with fascinating green eyes and couldn't help but flirt with her in the middle of the hospital corridor."
"You have no shame, Bluma Ahren, the things you told me... it's been centuries since the last time my cheeks blushed beet red like that," I admit amused. "You were not supposed to see me, you were supposed to forget my face a few minutes later, but you did not... your mind is so strong."
"I'm happy it is, forgetting you would be the worst punishment in this world, princess..." she whispers emphasizing the last word.
"I shouldn't have told you that..." I click my tongue, upset, and try to move a step back but she doesn't let me do it.
"That your father was a Great Prince in Moscow and your mother a princess from Lithuania? Why not?"
"Titles mean nothing to me, I never wanted to live as a princess, marrying a Byzantine emperor and fighting with that bitch of a mother-in-law I had. A court is a golden cage, believe me. I only wanted to learn and save people from the bubonic plague, I couldn't stand watching all those kids dying... In the end, I caught the disease too, it was inevitable given the sanitary conditions at that time. If it weren't for the vampire who saw my effort to take care of children and decided to reward me for my big heart offering me the gift, I'd be dead, no matter if I was a princess or a kitchen helper..."
"Well, I'm happy you were alive and bumping into me that night at the hospital, falling in love with me since the moment I whispered the first pick-up line in your ear..."
"Oh, come on..." I laugh trying to step back again. "You're good at flirting but not that much, it took a little longer for me to fall for your charm..." Bluma raises an eyebrow, staring at me in disbelief for a second, her hand slips from my waist, going up my side slowly, grazing my breast till wrapping my neck, squeezing my flesh gently and using her thumb to push my chin up, forcing me to look right into her eyes.
"We both know that's not true, babe, you were just playing hard to get," her tone of voice has turned harsh and dominant all of a sudden and her eyes look at me closely while I hold my breath. Her warm hand is still wrapping my neck and for the umpteenth time I wonder why I let this woman talk to me like this, what makes Bluma so special that makes my legs shake and the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. I nod slowly and she responds with a mischievous smirk before leaning forward to kiss my lips, a soft touch that tears a moan from my throat, her sweetness is tantalizingly close and I'd love to get lost in her kiss as usual but it's getting late.
"We have to go..."
"Damn it, Tassia," she whispers pulling away, looking down and running her fingers through her hair, angrily. She averts her eyes to the window again and the intensity of her sadness makes me feel overwhelmed, I even struggle to breathe.
It's amazing that a woman who's always taken pride in being independent, free and stubborn can love with all her heart, she not only loves me because I'm her partner but loves those two humans that she doesn't want to leave behind. After she got her heart broken in France when she was young, Bluma decided to protect herself from pain turning into a sensual, elegant and bold Dom, but cold at the same time, she never gave herself totally and only Iselen managed to get close to her and became a real and trusted friend. But, after she was diagnosed with cancer, she decided to change, enjoying her feelings to the fullest and destroying all her defences... Bluma decided to love with all her heart and soul because there was no point in keeping something to herself since death was waiting in the end.
This is why she let Ruby Rose enter her life and heart and, also, she flirted with me shamelessly in the hospital corridors, not fearing the consequences for the first time in years, and we both met the real Bluma, an extraordinary woman that only a few privileged friends knew. And we both fell in love with her, of course, because she's the most fascinating creature on earth.
Even after I told her who I was and promised her that I could heal her illness and give her a new life, Bluma kept behaving naturally with me, after she overcame the initial shock, of course. She was still a sensual and dominant demon, a naughty lady, teasing me till I gave up, she wasn't afraid of me... I was supposed to be the strong woman, very experienced since I've lived for centuries, she was a weak human, and yet she managed to turn me into a quivering mass that craved her kisses and discipline. It felt so good to let myself go, letting another person taking control and relaxing... I never understood how tense and anxious I was till Bluma dragged me to her dungeon and persuaded me to lay my will at her feet. All those centuries lying, hiding, pretending to be human, worried in case I made a mistake, all the stress accumulated vanished immediately.
I kept her alive with little drops of my blood while she put the finishing touches to her last will, our plans were delayed when Ruby came into Iselen's life and we learnt that she was being harassed , but we finally faked her death when it was obvious that the situation couldn't be prolonged without arousing suspicion and the little amount of blood I was giving her was unable to fight pain and illness anymore. I know she doesn't regret her decision, I can feel love flowing freely between us, but she cannot stand the thought of leaving them behind. Fuck, everything gets very complicated when the happiness of a woman is more important than your own feelings.
"You won't be happy with me, you need them..." I sigh wearily and fix my eyes on the hospital window too. "I've always been an independent and fancy-free woman, I thought that being cold and insensitive made me stronger while humans died and empires collapsed, but here you are, the most confident woman I know... and you can love with all your heart."
"I was like you, thinking that loving someone and having something to lose made me weaker, it took me years to learn this lesson," Bluma admits, smiling sadly.
"It took me centuries... Well, I never thought I'd have a clan of my blood, but never thought I'd find a mate either and that she'd be the first person I turned into a vampire. And when you get married, you join the bride's family too, or so they say... Do you think they'd accept the gift?" Bluma stares at me with her eyes wide open in shock and seems to hesitate for a few seconds before nodding slowly.
"They're going to freak out and both can be very stubborn..." The hint of hope in her tone of voice makes me smile, I know this idea had crossed her mind several times but she'd never ask directly, she was waiting for me to offer the gift freely.
"We love a good challenge, don't we, baby?"
"Iselen will be livid after what she's gone through because of me..." My mate bites her lower lip, looking at the hospital again, and I can't help letting out a laughter.
"Forget what I said. Bluma Ahren, the woman who always looks self-confident is very nervous all of a sudden... You're a powerful vampire now, honey. Are you really afraid of those weak humans?"
My mate frowns and gets closer to me, wrapping my neck with her hand without previous warning, I hold my breath when feeling her fingers squeezing gently and my legs turn into jelly. Her blue eyes are fixed on my face and she licks her lips, slowly, her breath fans my skin and I lean forward without thinking, trying to kiss her while she smiles smugly.
"You're also a powerful vampire, babe, and yet, you melt in my arms every time I touch you..."
"That's because you're some kind of sorceress, Bluma Ahren," I answer grazing her jaw with my lips. The beautiful woman chuckles and releases my neck to hug me, her lips meet mines in a hot kiss, her warm tongue swirls around mine while I hold onto her body and run my fingers through her hair.
"Do you really want to do this? Turning Iselen and Ruby and becoming the head of a new clan..." she whispers worried and I nod, dazzled.
"I'll do whatever you want, Madame." A sultry smile plays across her face and my heart skips a beat when I see it.
"Good girl."