Merry Christmas 🎁
[Soleil]
"Silvian," I whispered, gently shaking the snoozing vampire's arm to wake him. He opened his eyes for a second, then scrunched them shut and rolled over onto his other side. "Silvian!" I sang softly, leaning in close to his ear with the laugh.
He let out a loud groan and placed a chaste kiss on the space behind his ear.
"What?" The vampire finally whined, rolling over to look up at me with tired silver eyes. They pleaded for a few extra minutes of sleep.
"It's Christmas!" I whisper-sang, feeling my body bubble up with excitement. I had never spent a Christmas in the company of people who cared about me, given that the holiday had come about many years after my family and people were lost. Now I had a chance to spend it with Silvian, and I wanted to try everything.
Which meant he had to get out of bed.
"Don't you mean Yule?" He muttered under his breath, then brought his arms around my waist to pull me into the bed with him.
"Don't ruin it!" I snapped, slapping his arm playfully when they moved further down than they should. He hummed, then finally seemed to notice what I was wearing.
"Is that... the suit from the summer solstice?" Silvian asked with a quirked brow, his voice still deep and thick from sleep. I nodded, blushing slightly as I ran my hands over the silky purple fabric.
"Don't you like it?" My voice came out quieter than I had meant it to, and I looked down at the right material self consciously. "I thought that—because it's just..."
"I like it." He declared, springing up from the bed and giving me a quick hug, then walking over to his wardrobe. "You look beautiful. Now I suppose I should put an effort in, as well." Silvian sighed dramatically, swinging the oak doors open and sorting through his collections of suits.
I eyed the materials in awe, studying the collection of colourful silks and satins and corduroys. He pulled out a light grey suit, and I turned my nose up at it.
"You're not going to wear something... brighter?" I asked, feeling my voice trail off as I watched him change out of his nightclothes. As if he had noticed my eyes on him, his actions slowed slightly, letting the material slip off of his body and drop onto the floor near his feet. "Don't be such a tease." I scolded him, and he turned around to flash me a quick grin - his white fangs glinting in the firelight.
"I thought we were matching to our eyes. Yours are purple, mine are grey." He noted, gesturing between us in exaggeration and I scoffed.
"Your eyes are silver. Sil-ver! Not grey." Silvian laughed at me as I grumbled at him, then walked over to me once he was dressed. He turned in front of me a few times, then smirked.
"But I look good anyway, don't I?"
"Shut up and come downstairs!"
•••
"It's odd having no staff in during the holidays," Silvian remarked as we both laid across the settee, my back to his chest. The fire had been lit and a fir tree sat proudly in the corner of the room, adorned with red paper roses, bells and ribbons. Underneath sat a lone box, wrapped in a red cloth I had found in the storage shed. "Usually Celeste would be throwing a ball at this time."
I hummed in agreement. The female vampire went to extreme lengths to make any holiday as memorable as possible, much to the dismay of her staff. Having a smaller celebration seemed to suit Silvian much better, I noted as I watched him relax further into the settee and lay an arm around my waist.
"It's just us, this year." I offered, with a small smile - not sure if that was a good thing or not. To me, it was the best thing in the world to spend the Yule period with someone I adored. But Silvian was used to parties and swarms of admirers. Perhaps he would have preferred a large event.
I worried over my lip, and Silvian reached around to place his fingers on them gently. Slowly, the moved down to my chin and tilted it slightly, then leaned in to kiss me.
My eyelids fluttered shut, and I shifted myself so that we could wrap our arms around each other. His hand strayed from my waist, travelling down to rest over my groin, and I made a noise of panic.
Silvian pulled back quickly, looking me over as if to look for any injury, but all I could offer was a weak, uneasy smile.
"I'm just so tired," I explained truthfully, and he nodded, sitting back down next to me and wrapping his arm around me once again.
After using so much power to heal my body as a result of the accident in the kitchen, I felt completely exhausted. Of course, I couldn't tell Silvian that, because he didn't know what had happened between Grimm and I. Now I was worried that he felt I was pushing him away.
"Ah, I know," I blurted, trying to diffuse the tension in the air from earlier. "I got you a present."
Silvian's mouth dropped open, and he sat up. I stood from the settee and went over to the tree in the corner, kneeling down to pick up that small box I had left there and held it to my chest tightly with glee.
I placed it in the vampire's hand and watched him study the gift slowly, with anticipation in my eyes. But his hands stopped moving suddenly and gripped the fabric shakily.
"I've never," Silvian started, his voice becoming raspy and strained. He looked up at me, and I gasped at the sight of his eyes - tinted pink and wet with tears. "I've never gotten a Christmas gift before..."
"Silvian..." I crooned, rushing to sit next to him and bringing my hands up to his cheeks so that I could wipe his tear tracks away.
"I'm sorry," he sniffed, then reached up to wipe his eyes himself. "Sorry, I didn't think I'd get this emotional."
"Neither did I," I replied honestly, with a slight grimace. Silvian laughed at that, and I continued. "I hope you actually like it, then. After all that..." once again, I was biting my lip from the nerves.
My gift is absolutely terrible... if I had known it would be his first present... I suppressed the urge to grab the box out of his hands and chuck it out of the window before he could see what I had done.
Nevertheless, I sat and watched him unwrap the red cloth, and open the small box. From inside, he plucked out a small book - worn and leather-bound.
"What's this," Silvian muttered, and opened the first page of it. Out of the pages fell three flower pressings.
Two red roses and a maidenhair fern.
With delicate grip, Silvian picked up the small pressing and brought them up to his face to observe them. He opened his mouth to say something, but I interjected.
"The book is so that you can make notes," I spoke so fast that I stumbled over my words. "And the flowers... well my people believed that flowers had their own language."
"Then what do these mean?" Silvian asked curiously, still carefully holding the dried up flowers in his hands. My cheeks lit up, but I told myself it was the heat from the fire.
"I won't tell you," I answered back shortly and turned my head to hide the redness in my cheeks. Even so, Silvian smiled coyly and rested his head against my shoulder.
"Thank you," he looked up at me, his silver eyes no longer shining with tears, but something else. "Merry Christmas." Without much warning, he lifted he head up to plant a kiss on my lips.
I couldn't help but smile at that and twiddled my fingers in my lap to stop myself from saying anything stupid.
"Ahem," the sound of Silvian clearing his throat made me turn my head, and I watched the man produce a small box from the pocket of his blazer, black and tied with an even smaller ribbon. "Well, I know that Celeste broke the necklace I bought for you last time. I thought that it was perhaps a sign that I should buy you the real thing."
The box popped open, revealing a sparkling purple gem mounted onto a silver plate. It was surrounded by sparkling white crystals that looked like-
"An amethyst pendant, encrusted with real diamonds." Silvian smiled up at me, and I felt myself suddenly get warmer.
"No, this is too much." I stuttered, unable to move my eyes from the necklace. "That must have cost a fortune - put it away before it gets damaged—"
"Nonsense," said Silvian teasingly as he took the pendant from its box, letting it dangle in front of me before unfastening it and bringing it around my neck. I held my breath and stayed completely still, afraid that any sudden movements would break the precious necklace.
I heard it fasten and let out a sigh of relief.
"Don't you cry too!" Silvian exclaimed, reaching forward to dab at my eyes with the pads of his fingers. I blinked in disbelief, then reached up.
Sure enough, there were tears streaming down my cheeks.
I laughed at Silvian's worried face and reached up to touch the pendant that hung around my neck before tucking it away into my shirt - never to be seen again by anyone but me or Silvian.
That's how we are, you see. Me and my master. Our love is the one that the maidenhair fern whispers about, late at night when it's leaves are tickled slightly by the breath of wind.
The secret bond of love. One that is slow and kind, and hidden away like most precious things should be.
My timid and fragile heart will only open to him, away from prying eyes.
For if we are caught, it will mean our deaths. Our blood will spill on the whitest of roses, soaking their petals red.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!