Two

Ramiel stretched his arms above his head, enjoying the feel of Noele’s head resting on his chest. If he could stay right there in bed with her for the rest of his life, he’d be happier than he’d ever thought possible. No Sons. No prophecy. No anything but the two of them and Theron living happily ever after.

Now that was a future he could deal with.

Noele moaned a tiny contented sound as she repositioned herself against him, and he brought his arms down to hold her closer. He loved these moments with just the two of them as the sun began to set each day. The feel of her soft skin on his after they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms made him feel like the luckiest man in the world.

Even the sound of their son waking up was something he looked forward to. It had taken some getting used to but Theron was really no different than any other vampire child, or at least that’s what Noele kept telling him. For Ramiel, the idea that the little boy seemed to grow by literal leaps and bounds each day as they slept seemed pretty different, but none of that really mattered.

What mattered was that they were a family. A happy family.

“One of us has to get up to check on the baby,” Noele whispered against his chest.

“He’s not a baby anymore, Noele. We’ll be lucky if he fits into his clothes from last week.”

Noele lifted her head and smiled up at him. “Ramiel, he’ll always be my baby. I don’t care if he grows to be as tall as you by next month. He’ll still be my baby.”

“I think we can give him a few more minutes,” he said as he pulled her on top of him. “I bet he’s pretty tired tonight.”

Wrinkling her nose, she grinned down at him. “I bet he is. He had a busy night with Dante, who by the way is becoming quite the babysitter.”

The idea of Theron and Dante getting close made Ramiel edgy. Dante was like an overgrown teenager himself. What effect that Son would have on his son he couldn’t tell, but he doubted it would be good.

He didn’t want to think about that now, though. Now he wanted to make love to the woman he loved. Maybe they could make another baby. A girl.

“No more talk about Dante. I’ve got better things in mind.”

Ramiel slid his hands down over Noele’s back and pulled her body into his. Her skin was supple, like it was meant to be molded by his hands and only his hands. Kissing her, he let every wonderful emotion she brought out in him run amok inside his heart. There was no point in trying to stop feeling them all. Something about her made him that one thing he thought he’d never be.

Happy. And he loved the feeling of being happy as much as he loved her.

He slid his tongue into her mouth and mingled it with hers as she began to slowly grind against his already hard cock. Her body’s movement was slow and gentle, like they had all night, but Ramiel knew better. Any minute Theron would be making noise letting them know he wanted to get up. In fact, he was surprised the little guy hadn’t cried out yet.

They didn’t have much time. He planned on making the most of it.

Lifting Noele off him, he slid out from underneath the covers and into her warm and wet cunt. She made that familiar soft moan he loved hearing every time they made love, exciting him more. A gentle tug on her long brown hair let her know he was in the mood for something a little rougher tonight, and she stopped above him.

With a sexy grin, she whispered, “Feeling a little Visigoth tonight?”

Ramiel flipped her onto her back, staying inside her all the while, and thrust his cock deep into her. “Every night, my angel. Every night.”

Wrapping her legs around his waist, she offered herself to him in the most intimate way, and he adored her for it. She truly was his angel. In her, he’d found a home he’d never believed existed anywhere in this world. Finally, he wanted to be worthy of the name Amita had given him, and with Noele he believed he could be.

He worshipped her body with a passion that had stirred inside him from the minute he’d first laid eyes on her. She was so much smaller than he, but that tiny female contained a spirit as strong as he was. She took every powerful thrust he offered and returned his desire with her own that was just as great. In truth, while he certainly was a male who enjoyed being dominant with his female, she was no submissive.

And he liked it that way.

He’d had more women than he wanted to remember who let him do as he pleased, mostly pleasing himself, first and foremost. With Noele, it was different. He wanted to please her too. She brought that out in him. He never would have believed it, but her strength made him stronger. The very fact that such a woman would give herself over to him still amazed him.

Her body became part of his body and vice versa to the point that when they made love, they shared something perfect and complete neither of them found anywhere else in life. Noele scratched her fingernails down his back as a sign that she was close, and he plunged his cock into her cunt one last time before she came apart beneath him. The feel of her thighs as they quivered against his sides—something so small between two souls—thrilled him more than it probably should have, but it never failed to push him over the edge into that sweet oblivion release offered. Buried deep inside her, he came and then stilled his body above hers as she tenderly stroked his back.

“I want you to know that there are so many times I want to scream out, but with the baby in the next room, I don’t,” she whispered in his ear as her fingers continued to slowly glide up and down his spine.

“You don’t have to make an excuse for anything, Noele,” he answered. “I don’t need a female who has to scream out every time I put my cock inside her. You could never say anything again when we make love and I’d know if you were satisfied.”

He kissed her softly on the lips, and she smiled. “That’s good. I’m happy we’re like that.”

Nuzzling her neck, he teased, “But once the boy is old enough to have a room further away from ours, you better be ready for the things I’m going to do to make you scream, angel.”

Noele made that sexy giggling sound she did only when they were alone, and Ramiel sighed, content to know that was something only he got to hear. “We better check on Theron. It’s got to be close to sunset.”

“I think we have a few minutes, but we can check, although I’d rather stay like this all night.”

Chuckling, she pushed him off her and stood up from the bed. “The lives of parents, right? Someday when he’s grown up and out on his own and all our other children are too, we’ll get to do whatever we want any night we want.”

Ramiel silently wondered if the grown up version of Theron wasn’t just months away. He liked the idea of other children, though. Who knew? If they all were like the boy, they might have an entire brood of kids and be able to spend their nights as they liked in just a few years.

“Mama! Come see!”

Theron yelled for Noele, but Ramiel knew instantly he wasn’t in the next room. His voice sounded too far away. Noele knew it too, and she quickly threw on clothes and dashed out of the room to find him.

“Ramiel, the baby’s not in the house! Where is he?” she screamed frantically just seconds later as he slipped on a pair of pajama bottoms. “Ramiel!”

He’d barely made it to the kitchen before he saw Noele pointing toward the door. It was slightly ajar, and from outside the little boy could be heard laughing as he called to his mother.

“Mama, come here!”

A look of terror settled into Noele’s face. The last rays of the sun still shone through the crack in the door, which meant Theron was outside in the sunlight. “Ramiel, he’s out in the sun! We have to get him!”

She reached for the door, but Ramiel yanked her back just as she was about to risk her own life to get the child. Pulling her close, he said, “No. I won’t let you get hurt.”

Looking up at him, she cried, “I have to go save him! Let me go!”

“No! Give me a second and I’ll get Dante over here. I can get him.”

Noele pushed against his hold, making dialing Dante difficult. She began crying as the phone rang, which tore at his heart, but he couldn’t let her risk her life. He’d sooner do it himself than let her, but if he could get Dante there fast enough, maybe nobody would get hurt.

“Hey, Ramiel, what’s up?” Dante chirped into the phone.

“Theron’s outside, it’s still daylight, and we need you here NOW!” he ordered into his cell.

“Holy shit! I’m on my way, dude.”

Ramiel had no idea where Dante was, but thankfully, he was as good as his word and appeared outside in just seconds. Noele’s crying slowed just a bit as they listened to the clyten talk to Theron.

“What’s up, buddy? I don’t think you’re supposed to be out here.”

Noele yelled toward the door. “Dante, is he okay? How bad is it?”

“Hang on. I’m bringing him in now. Give me a second.”

Noele shook with fear, and Ramiel had to work to keep calm. Born vampire or not, their son could be seriously hurt by the rays of the sun, even those that lingered just before sunset. Thankfully, his rapid aging probably meant he’d heal quickly too, but how bad his injuries would be terrified the new father.

Tilting her face upward, Ramiel said the words he knew would calm her. “He’ll be fine, Noele. We’ll take care of him and the first thing I’ll do is make sure all the doors and windows are locked and childproof so he can’t get out again.”

Her brown eyes were wide with fear, her natural maternal instincts stronger than ever. “Ramiel, what if he’s not okay? He’s just a baby, no matter how fast he’s aged. I don’t know what I’ll do if he’s not okay.”

The sadness in her voice broke his heart, and he pulled her close to him to hold her. “He’ll be all right. He’s a strong born vampire like his mother.”

Noele buried her face in his chest and sobbed while Ramiel held his breath in anticipation as Dante opened the door to come in. A quick glance at the child in his arms told him that his son seemed fine. He wasn’t burned, so maybe the sun hadn’t touched him somehow.

“He’s okay. It’s all going to be okay,” he whispered as he kissed the top of Noele’s head. “He’s fine. See?”

Turning to look at her son, Noele visibly relaxed, her shoulders sagging in relief. She ran to him and took the boy in her arms to examine every inch of him from head to toe for any damage the sun may have caused.

“Mama, I saw a bug just like in the picture book! See?”

In his hand, Theron held a caterpillar just like the one on the cover of the book Noele had read him as she put him to bed that morning. The child beamed a smile that lit up the room, not knowing that he’d given his parents the scare of their lives.

“Theron, are you hurt? Tell mama where it hurts,” she said as she ran her fingertips over his hair and forehead.

“Not hurt, mama. Just a bug,” he answered sweetly, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Ramiel motioned for Dante to join him in the next room. When they were alone, he whispered, “He should be hurt, Dante. The sun was still up.”

“No kidding. I know that. While all you spend your days lounging out, I’m up most of the time. He should definitely be suffering from burns.”

Looking past the fellow Son, Ramiel watched as Theron jumped down from his mother’s hold and began playing with his new friend. How was it possible he hadn’t been burned in the least from the sun?

“Maybe his rapid aging healed him before any real damage could be done. I don’t think he was out there for more than a few minutes and he was wearing pajamas,” Ramiel wondered aloud.

“Dude, you’ve a got a clyten kid,” Dante said as he chucked Ramiel in the shoulder.

“How? Neither Noele nor Thane’s clyten.”

Dante shrugged and made a goofy face. “I have no idea. Hell, I have no idea why I’m a clyten. When I find that out, maybe I’ll know why the little guy is one too. Doesn’t matter why, though. If he can handle the sun, he’s like me.”

A clyten? The implications of this new development raced through Ramiel’s mind. A born vampire aging rapidly who was also a clyten? Being a father just got one hundred times harder.

“So what do we do?” Ramiel asked, for the first time feeling as if Dante was someone other than the Son that irritated the hell out of him.

Dante laughed and held out his hand to shake Ramiel’s. “You count yourself blessed. Your kid will never have to worry about the sun like most vampires.” Pointing to himself, he puffed his chest up. “And you know a clyten, by the way. I can help the little guy and you two when it comes to dealing with him.”

Noele joined them looking like her usual self again, her expression full of relief. Theron followed in tow, bringing his caterpillar with him as he plopped himself down at his father’s feet.

Hugging Dante, she planted a big kiss on his cheek, making the clyten grin like a Cheshire cat. “Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you came as soon as we called, Dante.”

“It’s my pleasure. I was just telling Ramiel that I’m more than happy to help the little guy figure things out about being a clyten.”

Noele shook her head in disbelief. “He’s not a clyten. We just got lucky this time.”

Ramiel put his arm around her and squeezed gently. “There’s no way he wouldn’t have been hurt out there, Noele. At the very least, he would have been burned a little. He’s a clyten if he can stand the sun’s rays.”

She looked confused, which Ramiel could certainly understand. First, Theron had begun aging so fast they never knew what he’d look like from one night to the next and now this.

Gazing down at the child, she said, “A clyten? There was never anything mentioned about this in the stories my mother told me all those times.”

“Did she ever mention his learning to walk and talk at just a few weeks old? Did she ever mention anything about like he is now?” Ramiel asked.

“Not to worry, guys,” Dante said with a laugh. “I’m the man for this job. I can show him the ropes. You said last night I was doing pretty good as a babysitter.”

Noele turned toward Ramiel and gave him a look that pleaded with him not to overreact. “We could use his help. He knows what Theron will deal with, and you’re right. We’re flying blind, for the most part. Having Dante to turn to about him being a clyten can’t hurt.”

Obviously outnumbered, Ramiel raised his eyebrows in disbelief at the turn his life had taken. Once a committed bachelor who made it a point to live life as solitary as possible and never a fan of Dante’s, now he bowed to the wishes of the woman he loved and accepted the help of the one member of the Sons of Navarus he would have bet money he’d never even want in his home.

“If that’s what you want, Noele, then Theron’s got a new nanny.”

Noele rolled her eyes while Dante protested his new title, amusing Ramiel. At least if he had to accept everything in his life changing he could do it with a little tweak to the clyten’s ego. Feeling a tug on his pant leg, he looked down to see his son smiling up at him as he placed the caterpillar on the top of his foot.

Life had certainly changed.