The inside of the jungle-meets-bohemian-meets-vampire mansion was absolutely impeccable.
The sunset hovering over the ocean was viewable through the entire glass front, and the whole lower level of the mansion was a completely open space, with a living room in one corner, a kitchen in the other, a dining room in the next, and a lounge area in the last one. Dinner had already been laid out on the large wooden table, and Lady Landau insisted that the four guards sit at the table with them.
Rose sat next to Lily who sat next to two guards who scarfed their food down rather loudly, and across Rose sat Lady Landau next to Holden next to the last two guards. Stainless steel lamps hung from the ceiling over their heads, providing cozy yellow light to the table as dusk began to set right outside. The sand grew darker as the violet sky above shadowed the water and deepened its hue. The waves were growing much stronger as the moon began to rise above, pulling them under its sway.
Rose and the Lady were talking about some Duchess while Lily ate and stared around at the large bookshelves and hanging paintings. It was very nice and aesthetic in the house, and Lily bet that Lady Landau was an artist who had a studio hidden somewhere in the house full of her own paintings.
The dinner was very good; it was a grilled chicken breast, a healthy pile of white rice, and a big bowl of salad made of fresh spinach leaves, cranberries, walnuts, and feta cheese. The chicken let out steam as Lily cut it open and plopped a piece into her mouth. She found herself grateful that vampires enjoyed food even though it was not a necessity.
Glancing up at Holden, she watched him take the knife next to his plate and scrape it across a stick of butter that sat in a white dish in the middle of the table. He then brought the knife over his pile of rice and shook it, trying to get the butter to plop onto it. When the slice of butter wouldn't budge, he tried to smear it over the rice, but instead of the butter being pushed off the knife, it stayed stuck to it and picked up several grains of the white rice.
Trying to restrain a giggle as Holden sighed in annoyance, the girl watched him decide to take his finger and smear the butter off his knife. But as he shook his finger, the butter stayed stuck to it. Lily couldn't help but blurt out a small, choked giggle as she watched Holden vigorously shake his finger coated in butter over the rice to no avail.
The girl's giggle interrupted whatever conversation that Rose and Lady Landau were having, causing both of the women's head to turn towards her and then to Holden who froze and looked up sheepishly.
Rose let out a sigh and playfully said, "Holden, this is why we don't let you eat at the table at home."
As Lily giggled even more, Holden only wiped the butter off his finger with his napkin, rolling his eyes as he chose to simply eat his rice without butter.
There were a few moments of silence as the Queen and the Lady lost whatever topic they had been discussing, and Lily's cheeks burned as she felt the Lady casting occasional glances to her.
"You know, Rose, I just think it's wonderful, what's between you and Lily," the Lady suddenly blurted all at once, as if she had been holding it in all night.
Rose looked up at her in surprise at her sudden words. Swallowing her food, she smiled softly and glanced over to Lily, her thick eyelashes coating her vivid irises. "It is, isn't it?"
"Not only am I so happy for you two," the Lady continued, casting a warm smile towards the girl who returned it, "But I think it's just what this kingdom needed. You know, I've never been one that was in favor of the way humans have been treated since the invasion, although I knew something had to be done so us vampires could be free."
The Queen nodded in understanding, leaning away from her plate so she could listen more closely.
"I always wished that humans and vampires could live peacefully in coexistence, but after the Human War, humans were made as slaves."
Rose glanced down as her jaw clenched. She felt a pang of guilt and embarrassment from how she had treated humans since the invasion. "I acted brash, and I didn't even think of coexistence back then. I was fueled by the anger of our people and acted on that instead of on what would be best for both sides. I was selfish."
Lily's eyebrows threaded as she watched Rose stare pensively at the table, and she had to admit that she was shocked to hear such a confession come from the vampire. She knew that she had changed over the past couple weeks and felt empathetic towards humans, but the raw guilt in her words had thrown the girl off-guard.
"No, honey," Lady Landau quickly spoke, setting her glass down and leaning forward suddenly. "It was the only way. The humans had armies and military. War and defeat was the only way that our kind could be free." She watched as Rose returned her eyes to her, their chartreuse tone solidified. "I think everything that has happened was supposed to happen, even the cruelty inflicted on humans. It has been horrible, but it isn't like they didn't force our entire species to be in hiding for millennia."
Lily nodded in agreement, having to admit that the vampires did have reason to be angry back then.
Lady Landau caught the girl's motion of agreement, casting her a quick smile before she continued, "But now what's supposed to happen is coexistence. We must free the humans from their slavery and push a peaceful existence amongst each other. Both sides have had their fair share of suffering, so now the slate needs to be considered cleared." She paused, glancing over to the girl with her light golden eyes. "And she is the key to that."
A soft blush rose to Lily's cheeks as a sense of pride swelled in her. She smiled humbly, glancing over to Rose who was already smiling down at her.
"It's only destiny that your mate is a human, Rose," the Lady spoke gently. "We know, only from the natural clockwork of this universe we live in, that love unites. And it will be your love, the one so obviously powerful between you two, that will unite humans and vampires for good. It will set us on the right track and ensure us all a better future for so many centuries."
Rose grinned, taking Lily's hand in her own and squeezing it. "I couldn't agree more, Your Grace."
Lily grinned back at Rose, feeling her heart inflate with pure joy and happiness. She closed her eyes as the brunette leaned down and gave her a light kiss, inciting a few chuckles around the table. Even Lily chuckled. But in that moment, as Rose and the Lady began talking more of war and of the things to come, Lily's eyes averted to her and Rose's clasped hands sitting together on the edge of the table.
She stared at the vampire's strong yet soft hands. She thought about how long those hands had been on the earth, building kingdoms and defeating armies. She thought about how they were hardened by their immortality, strengthened by her supernatural strength. She thought about Lady Landau's words, how she talked about how their love will unite vampires and humans for centuries.
But then she looked at her own hand. It was warm from her human blood coursing inside her, and it was softened by her mere 18 years of living. And they would always be soft in comparison to Rose's and any other vampire's hands, for they would only be around for a handful of decades. She would not live to see the centuries of unification of the two species. By the talks of it, it would take several decades before humans and vampires could live fully peacefully with each other, as it would take a very long time for the mere idea to become plausible to everyone.
As she listened to the others around the table chatter and laugh, she couldn't pull herself out of the trance she was in. It was a trance induced by the fact that, while Rose would live on and on for who knew how long, her life would end rather soon. She would only be a passing moment in her mate's life.
Rose sensed the anxiety and sadness emanating from the girl, and she didn't even have to break the conversation she was holding with the Lady to sense what it was. Her hand gave the girl's an assuring squeeze, and she felt relief fill her when the girl's hand squeezed back, signaling that she noticed and appreciated her attempt to calm her.
She was relieved, not satisfied. How could she be satisfied when her mate's death loomed over her head, promised like the way the waves outside promised to always roll back up onto the shore.
And, on the basis of a vampire's sense of time, that promise was way too near on the horizon.
✞
"It's so salty!" Lily exclaimed as her lips twisted into a disgusted pout, her tongue puffing air out of her mouth in an attempt to rid it from the salty seawater.
"You're not supposed to drink it!" the tall brunette vampire exclaimed over the loud ocean winds as she carried a pile of sticks from the trees in the nearby mountains. Carrying them with ease due to her impeccable strength, she set the sticks and leaves down on the ground right in front of their hut.
"It splashed up on my mouth," Lily carelessly argued as she stood ankle-deep in the water, fascinated with the way she felt the muddy sand being pulled from her toes each time the water was drawn back away from the shore. She could feel shards of seashells scraping underneath her toes, as well, and she tilted her head and studied the array of orange and white and black shells all broken up and littered throughout the wet sand.
Rose, her hair blowing wildly in the night's wind, maneuvered the sticks around so that she could create a sort of cage made out of the larger sticks that shielded the leaves and twigs inside it from the sea winds. She then reached into her pocket and slipped out a lighter, lighting the innards of the cage in various places.
Lily turned and watched a few orange flames flicker from inside the wooden contraption, noticing the way Rose fearlessly kept her hand inside the cage of sticks, not flinching as Lily witnessed a newborn flame burn the side of the vampire's hand. When she was satisfied with the fire that began to burn in the twigs and leaves and pulled her hand away from it, a spot on the back of her palm was blackened from being burnt. But it quickly healed and faded away as if nothing happened.
The blonde who watched the scene intently usually always marveled at the magical way vampires healed so quickly. But in that moment, all she could think about was what would have happened if it was her own hand that had been burned. She would feel immense pain, and it would not heal within seconds. If it ever did heal, it would leave a nasty scar behind instead of the same perfectly flawless skin.
She was fragile—too fragile for the world she was now living in.
Turning back around before Rose would sense her troubles and give her that omniscient stare with those all-knowing cat eyes, Lily cast her eyes among the surface of the choppy ocean water that appeared black in the night. The moon sat above the water like an observer, staring right into her as if he knew everything bubbling up in her mind. He looked at her like a sponge soaking up all her feelings selflessly, asking for nothing in return. It eased her.
She didn't jump when she felt arms wrap around her from behind. She felt even more comforted, even more safe, even more protected. But her mind still rattled from the force with which her worries were hitting her.
"I've sensed your worries all night," Rose whispered, her nose brushing against the back of Lily's ear, her arms wrapping tighter around her and pulling her against her front. She kept the girl's blonde hair from blowing wildly about by trapping it between her own chin and the girl's shoulder; and Lily found it ironic how the vampire seemed to do the same thing with her soul—kept it held down and safe from flying away.
"It's hard not to worry," Lily muttered, letting her back lean harder against the taller woman. "You don't have a set death. I do."
Rose gulped, her jaw clenching as her stomach twisted with anxiety. Taking a deep breath, she gazed out at the water, trying to mimic it in the way that it was seemingly comfortable with always moving, always rising up and down and falling again. She tried to mimic it in the sense that she wanted to be comfortable with falling down, with not being completely stoic or valiant.
"I know," was all the vampire could give the human, for the first time in her eternal life finding herself unable to loom over a problem; this problem was instead looming over her.
"I'm going to grow old, Rose. I'm going to be a wrinkly old woman, then I'm going to die and you will live on without me," the girl said all in one breath, feeling like the words were escaping her without warning.
The brunette gently dug her chin into the crevice of the girl's neck, her sharp cheekbone pressing against her ear. She thought about the shocking selflessness the girl harbored within her, for Lily would get to spend her life with Rose, but Rose would not get to spend her life with Lily. Lily would grow old, but Rose would not grow old with her. She was not worried about herself, but rather the grievance that her mate would have to suffer after her death. It made Rose love her even more.
Nevertheless, Lily felt a devious smirk form against the side of her neck, followed by a husky yet playful, "You'll be the sexiest old lady I ever did see."
But Lily did not smirk or chuckle. She only turned around in the arms of the vampire whose own smirk faded as she saw the serious look in those light blue orbs and the threaded skin between her blonde eyebrows.
"I don't want that to happen, Rose," Lily whispered, placing her hands on the woman's shoulders and looking up at her pleadingly. "I want—I want..." She trailed, her formerly shaky breaths ceasing completely. Her face seemed to fall, her eyes dropping past Rose and to the ground. "I need to become one of you."
The vampire stiffened in her arms, her hands that rested upon the girl's hips tightening in their grip. "That's not something to say lightly, my love," she said rather sharply between her even sharper teeth, her throat clenched as her eyes hardened with her seriousness.
"I'm not saying it lightly," Lily quickly retorted, her eyes moving back to the vampire's and hardening in their own might. "How can we ever live peacefully when this looms over our heads? I know you worry about it, too."
Rose quickly looked away, her lips tightening as she resisted showing any inclination of the truth, which was that she, indeed, had been worrying about it nonstop. But she couldn't bring herself to imagine Lily having to go through the pain of morphing, of her humanly innocence slipping away from her. She would be a cold-hearted, bloodthirsty monster like her.
"A person loses a part of their soul when they become a vampire," the brunette quipped, averting her eyes back to the girl. "You won't think about anything other than blood for the first decade of your life. It consumes you. You no longer have a light because you are so horribly self-aware of your existence as a lethal creature, nothing but a killer."
Lily threaded her eyebrows, searching the vampire's stony face. Her words were so sharp and emotion-driven. "You were born a vampire. How would you know any of that?"
Looking at her in a few moments of silence, Rose eventually exhaled and turned her head towards the mansion, locating that mop of black, curly hair sitting on a couch in the living room, the glass allowing her eyes a clear view of him. "I had to witness Holden morph."
The girl quickly snapped her eyes over towards her house, although her human vision prohibited her from being able to see the guard. "He was a human before?" she slowly murmured, returning her curious eyes to Rose as she turned back around.
The vampire stepped away from the girl and clenched her jaw, slipping her hands into her pockets as her eyes fell to the sand. "He was born from a white slavemaster who had impregnated one of his female slaves. Considered a bastard child, he was abandoned and grew up in an orphanage." Lily's eyes widened. "I found him in the woods one day, about two centuries ago. He was young, about your age," she spoke softly, the delicateness of her voice drawing Lily's careful attention. "A few other vampires and I had been scavenging for food, splitting up throughout the forest in search of deer or even humans if we came upon one that looked liked they wouldn't cause a big deal if they went missing. Our race was still in hiding, so we made sure to be extra quiet."
Lily watched as Rose's eyes traveled up the sand and to the water, her chartreuse orbs burning golden inside their lime flames.
"I came upon him. He was on the ground, leaning up against a tree trunk. Apparently he had also been hunting that day, using one of those old flintlock fowlers." She paused, her eyes flashing as she seemed to mentally teleport back into that day so long before. Her voice lowered, nearly tremulous as she continued, "He'd had an accident—tripped or something. He had shot himself in the stomach."
The girl's lips fell open, her eyes widening as she imagined a younger, human Holden injured so badly. The guard was always upbeat, always snarky and snide, always seeming to beam a sort of light. She had never pondered his origins before, and it seemed that she was now seeing the goofy guard in a different light.
"Blood was everywhere," Rose continued in a wavering tone. "He was so pale and his lips were blue. And he looked up at me, only seconds away from death. And his eyes were the richest color of brown I had ever seen. They looked like honey melted over tree bark, and, as I was standing in front of the sun, when he looked up, the sun cast right across his face and into his brown eyes. And something told me right there in that moment that I couldn't kill him or leave him there to die. He was just a human kid. "
Lily remembered one of her first encounters with Holden, when she had commented about his eyes being black instead of a vivid color. Now, hearing that his eyes were brown when he was human, it made a small smile tug at her lips.
"I had just been announced Queen, and I thought it was so ridiculous how I was considering showing kindness to a human." She chuckled, finally glancing over to the girl with her molten eyes. "But I've always made a point of following my instincts, and they led me to turning him right before he was about to die. But for years, he was not the Holden you know him to be now. He was angry and cold and obsessed with killing." She paused, her eyes nearly pleading as she made her point to the girl. "Every newborn vampire is nothing but a killer. You saw it yourself with Jasmine."
The girl frowned, inhaling deeply as she glanced over to the sea. Hearing about Holden made her feel sadness in her heart and reluctance in her stomach. It wasn't like she wanted to be a vampire—she just wanted to be with Rose forever. In fact, the mere thought of becoming an undead creature who fed on blood made her want to vomit.
But being Rose's mate had ignited her own sense of instincts. Never had she felt her soul gravitate towards something the way it gravitated towards Rose, and she knew that Rose's instincts also drew her to her like a magnet. Plus, the vampire had just said that it was also her instincts that led her to turning Holden.
So, turning towards the vampire and staring at her for a few moments, her crystalline blue orbs revealing that innate stubbornness she had since the first day Rose met her, Lily walked fiercely towards the vampire who watched her expectantly as she came to a halt right in front of her.
The blonde stared up at the vampire, taking in her fluorescent eyes, moonlit skin, mountainous cheekbones, structured jaw, supple lips, elegant neck, and chestnut hair. Even being close to her made something in her chest twist. Looking into her eyes so deeply, feeling their souls click together like two pieces of a puzzle, nearly trembling from the power of the magnetic field between them, the girl ground her teeth as she was imbued with that characteristic obstinacy of hers.
"Then what are your instincts telling you about me?" she whispered, the ocean winds suddenly silent.
The vampire stared down at the human girl who was a physical embodiment of her entire heart. Every time she talked, breathed, laughed, walked, or even moved, it seemed that she moved along with her. Ever since she met her, she had felt that gaping hole in her chest begin to close up.
Rose had everything. She was Queen of the Vampires and, subsequent to the invasion, Queen of the entire world. She was the ultimate ruler over vampires, humans, and animals alike. She held the planet in her hands.
Yet she was never fulfilled. She would always pace in her office and stare out at the window, envying the mountains outside her castle for seeming to be so full and content and satisfied with their stationary life. She always felt restless, always needing to be on her feet moving, always seeking out pleasures and even pains, always wondering to herself why she felt like there was still so much more waiting for her, that she still had a journey and a destination even though she had everything she thought she'd ever need around her.
Then she walked into the dungeon that day. She walked through that heavy metal door and laid eyes upon that small human girl, her blonde hair matted and her arms bloody from the chains that held them up. She remembered crouching down in front of her and grabbing her face, those clear blue eyes locking with hers. And she felt it. She didn't know what it was at the time, but she felt it, that heavy click of something in her chest turning in just the right way, all of her inner pieces falling together perfectly.
She had thought it was just because of her sweet blood that she couldn't stop thinking about her. She thought she was just her next blood obsession, and she thought the reason she refrained from draining her was because she was constantly high off that thrill of the unattainable treasure.
But, that day when she took the girl outside in the snow and felt her cold face press against her warm chest, she realized she had actually been high off her entire existence. She realized that she had met her mate, and then everything had really turned into the right places even though she had to suffer through the fact that she, the Queen of Vampires, was mated to a human.
Lady Landau had been right when she said it was fate, and Rose had been aware of it from the very start even though her attempt at being logical had pushed it down and kept it hidden. Maybe that was why she had somehow been unaware of William's betrayal—it was all just fate working together so that it would bring about a war that could end in the freeing of humans and the cohabitation of humans and vampires together.
And, as much as she hated to admit it, there was another last piece to the puzzle of fate. And she saw it in Lily's powder blue eyes that were so electric and so dazzling. She saw it crystal clear in them.
Sighing, she visibly deflated and glanced to the ground as she finally decided to answer the girl's question. "Let's wait until everything is over, until after the war is done," she said quietly, slowly looking back to the girl with a shadow of a smile on her lips. As much as she hated the idea of turning her into a creature like herself, she grew childishly elated inside at the idea of being able to have Lily by her side for infinity.
The girl looked at her in disbelief for a few moments before she broke into a wide grin, stifling a chuckle as she knew that although the answer brought her great happiness, it was not going to go without reluctance from the tall vampire.
Lily basically attacked the brunette with a hug, wrapping her arms around her middle as tightly as possible and pressing her face against her chest tightly. "I love you," she breathed into the black fabric of her shirt as soon as their bodies made contact, not able to control herself any longer.
Rose, taken aback by both the hug and the words, froze for a moment, her eyes wide at the girl's confession, before she chuckled and wrapped her arms around her mate just as tight, planting a kiss on top of the girl's head and murmuring into her ear a husky, "I love you more."