Like Real People Do (Live Version) - Hozier
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Everything around me felt amazing. Smelt amazing. Looked amazing. I couldn't begin to describe the euphoric feeling passing through my very veins. It was always the same whenever I came here.
Paradise. Well, to be more specific Jamaica.
On this rock, the smooth, cool waves hit the tips of my tanned toes. The waters were calm this evening. Although ahead, where Cuba was situated there were thick orange clouds settling above the sea; the sharp flashes of lightening touching the surface of the waves. A storm was heading their way.
I inhaled the warm salty air and allowed the breeze to blow the edges of my loose dress around my ankles. All those years ago Katherine's vision didn't make one lick of sense until I finally stood on this very rock when Michael took me here for our honeymoon. I could remember it with exact clarity.
"What's wrong? Is it too hot? Are you-"
"No," I murmured turning to him with wide eyes. "This was what Katherine saw!"
Mike's eyebrow rose and I could practically feel him thinking, 'she's lost her mind already.' "Um,"
"Weren't you there?" I exclaimed. "When Kate was saying she saw me standing on a rock or a boulder? No? You weren't were you?"
"Maybe you should lie-"
I smacked his stomach when he climbed up beside me and he flinched. "Don't patronise me mister. She said she saw me on a rock or a boulder surrounded by nothing. This is it. The sea is the nothing. This is what she saw." I murmured more to myself. Katherine had saw our happily-ever-after after all.
I smiled at the memory of that day. The feeling that after everything we'd gone through, Kate did see our happy ending.
"...mom."
It was odd to think of those fateful months now. We'd all moved on, we'd all grown up.
"...mommy."
Nobody really talked about it anymore, nobody dared to mention her name. She was nothing more than a fantasy. I wouldn't even call her a memory. Because fantasy's don't exist. And to all of us Florence never existed.
"Mom seriously?"
I blinked out of my thoughts and turned. Standing with her hands on her hips the girl flared her nostrils - just as Michael does - and widened her green eyes.
I tried to hide my smile as she started to chew on her lip. Now I understood why my mother hated that habit. Call me a hypocrite, I don't care, but I didn't want her to grow up with the same damn habit I started at her age.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Jonas won't let me and Mia play with his Nintendo because it's a 'boys' game and that we're not allowed to play it 'cos we're girls."
From the distance I saw Jonas racing out of his villa with Amelia hot on his heels in our direction.
I turned to my darling Anna with a smirk. "Is that so?"
She threw her hands up in the air effectively knocking her red hair off her shoulders. "Mom."
That's right. I won the bet when Anna Marie Reeves was born six years ago. The deal was that I chose the name. But I couldn't. I wanted Michael to be part of her name choosing. I had a name all along and it was for her to have an abbreviation of Anastasia's name. Michael couldn't have been more thrilled.
Well, of course the name choosing happened after I turned because trust me when I say I didn't have the easiest of births. Amy's was straight forward... Mine... Well mine was not. I'll always remember the pain of both the birth and even turning. They weren't kidding when they said it was a painful process especially Amy...
**
It was not a walk in the park. Hell it was worse than a maze at night on Halloween with a clown wandering about with a pickaxe. I've been through a whirlwind of pain in the last two years but nothing can compare to this. Not a thing.
In the blur of my vision I could see Micah's mother walking back and forth to a table with a multitude of tools and towels - each covered in my blood. I blinked to the side and Michael was by my side holding my hand, his face pale his pupil's pinpricks as he stared at me with emotions easily depicted - worry, fear, sadness. I blinked to my other side and there was Celia and Katherine. Celia's lips were moving but I couldn't hear or even begin to concentrate on what she was saying. I was too busy screaming my womb off. Literally.
"Alright, Evie just keep squeezing Michael's hand, I'm going to need you to try to push one more time but if it doesn't work this time we'll have to do an emergency c-section. I'm not seeing any change." The last part I knew wasn't directed at me because Michael turned to Claire.
A sudden sharp wave of pain caused me to shout out. I don't think I've sworn this much in years.
Even Katherine was raising a brow. "She's got a truckers mouth."
"Don't joke right now." Mike snapped. "Especially if you don't know what's going to happen."
While they were arguing in one ear, Claire was telling me to push in the other. With an inward count, I was trying not to pop a blood vessel as I began to push. They call childbirth magical? What kind of drugs were these women doped up on when they decided to call childbirth 'magical'.
"I call bullshit." I gritted out loud. "This isn't magical, women are liars."
Celia popped into my vision with an amused yet apprehensive glare. "You may be right but Evie things aren't looking too good. Claire says the baby is having difficulties and you're losing too much blood."
"Do what you need to do." Mike interjected before I could. "Quickly, please."
And they did. They cut me open like a turkey on Thanksgiving and I barely lasted five minutes. I held on for as long as I could - their shouting for me to keep my eyes open didn't help none - but Michael managed to feed me enough of his blood directly into his veins and as well as an unusual amount swallowed before I died. I didn't think I was going to make it. Michael's panicked eyes and trembling mouth was the last thing I saw before I shut my eyes and succumbed.
I can't begin to describe what it's like to die. The feeling of absolutely nothing, the white haze filling my vision and being stuck in Limbo. Limbo lasted a hell of a lot longer than I expected before the burning swept right from the tips of my toes to my fingertips and scalp. Gosh my scalp! It was literally on fire! I felt like I was underwater; my ears were blocked, I couldn't breathe. But with each passing minute a small sliver of awareness would pass through me before it would disappear altogether.
Sometimes I would open my eyes but, no, I couldn't see a thing. And every time I did wake up I was whimpering, wincing, flinching. I could... feel Michael's blood eating away at my own. Feel the venom working its way around my chest, around my heart. Every time I did awake however, someone's cool fingertips would press over the crease in my arm before they'd prick me with - what I assumed the fourth time around - a needle.
They kept putting me under, but it wouldn't last very long because of how fast Michael's blood would consume it.
But when it wore off for the sixteenth time - that's right, sixteenth - I wasn't given another. And I realised why; the burning coursing through my veins had eased. Eased a lot, in fact. Now it was only a dull pain at the back of my head. No wonder Chelsea thought we'd gone out before she'd woken up. What surprised me next was how much I actually remembered from before. Nothing was blurry - albeit a few things were, I won't lie but I couldn't pinpoint what just yet - everything just seemed... right.
It took me a while before I could fully open my eyes. The first thing in my vision... was giant green vivid eyes.
"Mother of-" I sat up straight completely startled and just stared.
Everything... was startlingly detailed. Colour's I didn't even realise existed were jumping out at me. A sliver of the sun peaked through the curtains. It wasn't just a yellow it was a... Mikado yellow, cobalt and even a hint of amber. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the bright colours.
"Evangeline." I heard.
Wow... it was only a brief whisper and yet I heard it. Hell, I could barely even call it a whisper. It was said under somebody's breath. I turned to the voice and caught my breath at the sight of Michael. My god magnificent wasn't even the right word to describe him. It was like seeing him for the first time all over again. His silky dark hair was draped over his forehead, his lips were curved upward into a smile - tired, but a smile nonetheless. The t-shirt he was wearing hugged his chest and his lean arms. When he approached the bed, I couldn't tear my gaze away from him.
It may have had something to do with the fact he was my maker too, but even when I was human - what a thought - I couldn't tear my gaze away from him. When I was human.
I'm a vampire now. I'm twenty-one forever. And to think, I would have been twenty-two in two weeks. I blinked a little and rubbed my stinging eyes with a small groan.
"You'll get used to that." He explained. "You'll get used to a lot of things."
I blinked my eyes open again and eyed the empty room. I was surprised no one else was here, Katherine namely.
He'd obviously seen me eyeing the door and empty room because the next thing he said was, "Everyone's gone out apart from Claire. She's next door... with our daughter."
Daughter. A girl... Our girl.
He took my hand in his and I leaned into his touch when his large hand cupped my cheek. His thumb brushed beneath my eye and I realised I was crying. "You're both fine. She's healthy, eating, kept me up most nights."
"How long-" I slapped a hand to my mouth. Was that really my voice? "I sound... sexy."
Michael's laughter made me smile. "Yes, you do sound different. And four days. A bit longer than Amy and Celia but you did have a bit of a troublesome birth. Would you like a mirror?"
"No, that can wait." I shook my head of red hair, running my fingers through the newly silky waves. "I want to see her."
On cue, Claire wandered in with a bundle in her arms. A few months ago I thought I may not have been ready for a child. I thought I'd screw up, I didn't know what was going through my head. But as Michael took our daughter from Claire's arms and sat beside me with a beautiful rosy cheeked wide-eyed girl I knew this wasn't a mistake. She was mine and Michael's. She was something we wouldn't have been able to make if I'd have turned.
"She's so gorgeous." I whispered running a finger along her cheek very carefully. "When can I hold her?"
He didn't say anything at first and I looked up to meet his extraordinary stare. And he smiled. "Right now."
"But-"
"You're fine, trust me." He reassured. "Here."
When she was in my arms, nothing in the universe mattered apart from the two people in this room. Both I would give my life for. I was a mother. At twenty-one, good god. I wanted a secure job before I started popping out kids. But obviously being in love with a vampire changes things.
That very evening, Michael taught me how to feed. I'd avoided a mirror, very narrowly, but I'd avoided it. And later that very night - after feeding from a very willing man casually strolling out of a cinema. I swear he was, I'd compelled him after all - I turned the light on in the bathroom and stared at my reflection. Call me vain, but I was embodiment of predator. No wonder the guy was willing even before I'd compelled him. My silky red hair ran in waves down my back stopping in the middle of my back. My eyes that were previously a dull pale blue now sparkled a brilliant crystal blue. Almost grey.
My cheek bones were prominent, my top lip a little plump and as I turned my head, my jaw line looked just a subtle tad sharper. But, I thought as I left the bathroom and into John's spare bedroom where Anna was soundly sleeping in her crib. None of that really matters. None of the little things at least. This girl right here with a sprinkle of my red hair on the top of her head, is all that matters.
**
I smiled lovingly at my six year old and crouched down to stare into her wonderful green eyes. Her lip twitched a little upward but she stubbornly held her frown. Bless her, she got my red hair and Michael's startling green eyes.
And when she smiled there was my wonderful dimples winking right at me.
"Did Jonas really say that?" I asked brushing the sand from her own dress. "I can't imagine him not letting you play."
"She's lying!" The seven year old Jonas jumped in next to her. His bright brown gaze frantic as he threw a look over his shoulder at Amelia approaching.
His olive skin had darkened to a wonderful glow due to the Jamaican sun. Jonas's dark hair curled around his ear and over his forehead due to heat. All of the kids looked healthy and so did all of us to be honest.
"No, I'm not!" Anna argued. "Why would I lie to my mom?"
Jonas frowned at her and Amelia finally caught up, her brown her flying behind her as she came to a halt. "Aunt Evie, he did."
And of course, the voice of reason. Between the three of them, Amelia was exactly like her mother as the voice of reason. However, put her mind to it and she was just like the mischievous John. She was definitely a smart one. Not that my little trouble maker was any different. Now, Amy and I wanted Amelia and Anna to be good friends but Jesus the two of them were getting into trouble a bit too much for our liking. God help us when they're teenagers. No, scratch that. God help their fathers. The two of them were keeping an eye on Jonas already and Jonas was still saying girls couldn't even play the same games.
Jonas looked so sheepish, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down at the ground. From the villas I could see Celia approaching with a stern look on her face.
"Jonas, I can't help you with this one." I said trying to hide my smile. "Your mother's coming."
Surrounded by long lashes, his eyes widened before he scurried off to meet his mother halfway. As he got a little telling off by his mom, I turned to the girls and stood. "Let's go find your father's."
They both took my hands and started chattering away about their last week of school, the way Jonas told a boy off for picking on Anna about how she only got nine out of ten right on a test and then about the wonderful aunt Chelsea who decided to make her own appearance from her own villa beside mine.
"Are you girls talking about me?" She smirked, crossing her tan arms over her chest.
Oh, Chelsea. My gaze wandered to Christian walking along the beach with John and Ethan beside him. She was a wonderful vampire. Well... she was doing as wonderfully as her maker allowed her.
Amy and I hadn't seen her for almost six months... She's taken to travelling the world, doing those digs she'd been dreaming of. This was probably the first time we'd seen her without her flying off to God only knows where.
The girls ran toward her and tackled her legs with giant smiles. She was wonderful with the girls and they missed her terribly as do me and Ames. Christian, funnily enough took to keeping an eye on her but all of us knew for a fact she didn't have the slightest of clues he was following her around the world keeping her out of trouble. The two still didn't get along even six years later and I still found it funny. He hadn't released her and to be honest I don't think he ever will. Chels was a flighty soul, she always has been. And now that she has an eternity, I couldn't blame her for getting away and doing what she's always wanted to do.
These holiday's, we do every year. A way of bringing everyone back together. Celia and Ethan were still in Vancouver and so were we but everyone else like Callum, Pam and Nick they disappeared to their various homes around the world. Micah and Kate were in Seattle together and Nate and Jackie... well, they live in Dubai. I know Dubai. Together. Happy, in love. It's almost too adorable. But these two months, no matter what, we spend it together. Everyone was here.
"Mom, can me and Mia go with Aunt Chels up to the mountains? Please? Please?"
"It's fine with me as long as it's fine with Mia's mom." I said stroking a hand over her flyaway hair. Chelsea gave me a pointed look toward my own villa and I tried not to smile at the tall figure peaking behind the curtains. "Be back before nine please." I directed more towards Chelsea.
"Of course, I know their bedtime. You go have fun." She winked.
I watched the three of them bound off toward Amy strolling along the shore with Pamela and Jackie and slyly slipped through my doors. I shut the curtains and clicked the lock on the door so we wouldn't be disturbed.
A smile spread across my lips when I felt a hand brush my hair off my shoulder. His lips traced along the curve of my shoulder.
"Where's Anna?" He murmured huskily against my skin.
"With Chelsea for a few hours."
"Oh? And when you say a few hours you mean Chelsea's stolen her and Mia for the remainder of the night and we won't see either of them until morning."
The other wonderful thing about Chelsea is she knows when Amy and I want our private time with our men, she host's a 'slumber party' and we don't hear from any of the kids until morning.
I turned around and faced my topless husband, lover, best friend and partner with devilish smile. "That's exactly what I mean."
Michael shined me a giant white grin that contrasted against his tan skin and slid his hands along my waist. "So you're telling me, this place will be empty?" Ziip. His fingers lowered the zip of my dress. "For an entire night?" He pushed the straps off my shoulders but I held his challenging stare as it fell to a pool at my feet.
"Yes, Mike empty for an entire night, want me to spell it out for you?" I teased walking around him - only in my bra and underwear - and settling onto the edge of the bed. His eyes never left me. And they certainly didn't when I unhooked my bra to let it fall beside me. "Still want me to spell it out?"
His eyes darkened and I felt that familiar warmth spread throughout my veins as he approached with startling ease. "Nah. I got the idea."
As a vampire, sex was just... mind blowing. No limits what so ever, none. Plus the fact I still technically belonged to him and the connection was a thousand times stronger. Mike still has yet to release me but only because I've protested about a million times.
Michael wasn't as, well, gentle as he was when I was human and I absolutely loved it. He could bring me right to the peak only to pull away and bring me right back. Tangled within one another, his lips trembled against my neck as he moved within me like he had all the time in the world. I knew that lip tremble very well.
Hours of what felt like an eternity of love making, I lifted my head from his stomach and met his watchful eye. "Why didn't you?" I asked him.
He knew exactly what I was referring to. "Because."
I waited for an answer and frowned when he remained silent. "Mike, you haven't since-"
"You turned, I know."
"Why?" I wondered trailing my fingertips along his chest. "You know I trust you, you don't need me to say it. You've tasted my blood since I've turned, you know it's fine." I pressed small kisses along his ribcage, smiling as he relaxed. "I love you."
"And I you."
"Then sink into me, Michael." I whispered. "Let me share myself with you like this."
It was as silent as it could get in a villa by the sea. The waves were the only sounds in the room, his fingers pausing around the small of my back. But then I gasped as he used his inhuman speed to have me pinned beneath him. Whenever I knew I was thirsty or aroused, my vision would sharpen. That's how I knew when my pupils were the size of saucers. I've learnt to control it of course but in situations such as these? With Michael hovering above me? I couldn't even try to.
"You know that's how you tempted me all those years ago to bite you again? With those three words."
"What? Sink into me?" I murmured trying to move my pinned hands from his hold.
"Yes." His lip twitched and I knew he was holding back his smile.
"Am I really that tempting, Mike? I mean really?" Florence's words will forever haunt me because honestly it will never make sense to me.
"You're temptation on legs, Evangeline Reeves."
I always loved the sound of my name on his lips. "Am I professor?"
Now, that made him smile. "Don't start with the professor thing."
"Then..." Slowly I ran my fingers along his chest. "Sink into me."
He groaned. "Evie..."
"Sink..." I pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. "Into me."
His groan was more of a growl now and his grip tightened on my wrists. "You'll be the death of me."
"I hope not," I teased. "You turned me so we could spend eternity together not so I could 'be the death of you'."
"An eternity is what we'll spend together. Me, you and Anna. My little family." He kissed my neck and I smiled when I felt his teeth graze my neck. "I'll drink from you, Evie under one condition."
"Anything." I breathed.
"You bite me in return."
I blanched a little, surprised at his request but then I grinned. With little ease - because he allowed me to - I switched our positions and lay straddled across his stomach. I could feel the veins on my face throb as I eyed the prominent vein on his jugular. I hadn't bitten him before. Thought about it sure, but I was a little scared of what his reaction would be so I just forgot all about it. The urge was there, always was but never have either of us acted on it. But for him to ask me?
"Well," I said lowering my head to his neck, smiling and grazing my sharpened teeth against the skin. "If this is the only way you'll drink from me... I'll be happy to oblige."
THE END
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Guys...... I'm shedding tears... my poor life. My favourite characters, all of them. I want to thank each and everyone of you. Some names I recognise from the very beginning, before Wattpad decided to eff up the profiles and before it was followers when it was fans... good times.
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Chelsea and Christian's short adventure: Escaping Christian. In my works :)
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Thank you everyone!! Hope you enjoyed this lovely long epilogue!!
Misguided xoxo