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The rest of the day was spent together and would have no doubt been in his bed, had it well...not been for the mess he had forced me to make. Geez, but just thinking about it made me start squirming and from the knowing spark of power in his eyes, then he knew it too. But since then we’d had sex three more times and I had to say by the time night started to fall, I was feeling it, both between my legs and with how tired I was.
But then, I most certainly wasn’t regretting it, as it had been like being reunited with an addiction. One, that granted was dangerous for my health considering the amount of my blood he had consumed. Although, he had also made sure I fed from him every time as well and I had an idea this was his way of trying to get back that bond. The exchange of our essence and what strengthened that link between Chosen Ones.
It was clear he wanted that connection back and I was only to eager to give it to him. But sex, after the first time, had been a mixture of frenzied sex in the shower, then playful sex on the sofa and last of all, making love. It had been slow, sensual, and adoring. And it had also been on fresh clean sheets back on the bed. This was after the chambermaid had come in and I had told her we were sorry, that I was clumsy and spilled water on the bed...all in a rush of words. Something Lucius ruined the second he said in perfect Hebrew,
“What she is trying to say is that I fucked her like a beast, and she loved it, but now she is shy because we made a mess.” Something I learned once the horrified woman left the room making a sign of God and I’d asked what he had said to her. I knew some Hebrew but nothing like Lucius’ skills. Of course, I had been mortified hearing this and hence how we ended up having playful sex on the sofa, which I made sure we didn’t make a mess on, this time.
But now, we had just finished making love. And honestly, it had been so utterly perfect that I felt myself getting emotional and having to hold back the signs of it. However, with the moonlight pouring in through the open windows and the hum of the city outside, it was a moment that I would never forget.
Especially with my body curled to his side and with him looking down at me the way he was. The way his gloved hand tipped back my face so I could look up at him, then he ran a covered thumb over the apple of my cheek and said,
“Gods, but how I have missed these stunning eyes of yours...no wonder I would dream of them every night, looking up at me the way you do now.” I blushed and turned my face quickly so I could kiss the palm of his bound hand, making him tense a little at the contact. Contact, I had never braved to attempt before, but then as soon as the gesture was done, he relaxed, lowered his hand, and pulled me tighter against him. Then he kissed my forehead, calling me,
“My Sweet girl.” I grinned before teasing him,
“Yeah, but I bet you weren’t calling me that only two days ago.” I felt him smile and admit in a knowing tone,
“No, I was not calling you that, Amelia.”
“I never asked, but how did you find me?”
“Apparently dumb luck can happen to us all,” he replied making me hit his belly, although little good it did me with all those tight abs bunched like a brick wall of muscle.
“Hey!” I shouted, making him question,
“And did it happen any other way?”
“Well no, but still, give me a little credit here,” I grumbled, knowing that dripping blood into that box had been more luck and less intelligence.
“Oh, my girl, I have given you enough credit over these last eight weeks to last you a lifetime...Of course I have also cursed your name equally so.”
“Gee, way to go in making a girl feel...” he quickly cut me off, reminding me that we may be in each other’s arms, but we still had a long way to go before trusting each other again.
“Hunted? Because that is precisely what you were. I told you that I would never give up, I warned you that I would find you and now here we are. You’re locked in my embrace and soon to find yourself this way every night that follows it, for I promise you, my Khuba, letting you out of my sight will not happen...not for quite some time.”
“You think I would run from you now, after what just happened between us?” I asked making him point out on a growl of words,
“I believe that is the second time for such a thing to happen between us and yet it still ended in you running.” I hated that he was right, because we had been like this together once before and I had run from it the first moment I had seen...well, what I thought I had seen. Something in itself that still needed to be explained. Yet, when I was just about to open my mouth to ask, he shook his head and told me,
“Not tonight, let us face everything else tomorrow, for today was perfection and tonight I get to sleep with you in my arms. Let us just enjoy the now.” I couldn’t argue with that and well, I also couldn’t argue with him playing with my hair the way he was, finding myself sinking into all that was Lucius,
And loving every breath I took doing so...
Sleeping in his arms.
The next day started pretty much the same as the one before, in the sense that we woke up late and Lucius and I were in bed together. Although the differences were that our first meal of the day wasn’t then followed by destruction, arguing, and being tied up before sex. No, it just started with sex, then came the meal and we skipped destruction and arguing altogether.
But by late afternoon, I found myself being led down to the lobby where I was faced with what Lucius had planned and it included a huge heavy duty 4x4. I watched as it was driven and parked directly in front of us making me comment,
“Well, this is unexpected.” His knowing grin was my only reply to this, and I couldn’t help but take a moment to look down the length of him. It was slightly cooler today, so he was now wearing stonewash jeans and a plain charcoal T shirt, that was tight on the arms. But he wasn’t the only one who’d dressed for the cooler weather as I was wearing tight indigo jeans that were rolled at the calf, and a plaid shirt in burgundy red, navy blue with hints of white in the lines that separated the two colours. I wore the shirt open and knotted under my bust with a white vest top underneath. White and red sneakers matched, although from the looks of things, I was missing hiking boots and a beige safari hat!
“Are we going hunting or something, ‘cause despite popular belief among rogues and Mercs, I don’t actually consider killing a sport?” I commented at the sight of the huge Mercedes 4x4. Lucius burst out laughing before grabbing the knot in my shirt and tugging me to his front before telling me,
“You wanted to know what was next, this is next.” I frowned in question then asked,
“Is this why you had me pack a small bag, because you know, I was only kidding with that boy scout stuff and didn’t really peg you for the camping type,” I said as he started to lead me around to my side. Then he opened my door after the man who had driven here handed Lucius the keys.
“Just wait and see,” he told me before grabbing me by the waist and lifting me into the car, adding yet another bossy order,
“Sit your sweet ass down, beautiful.”
“Wow, bossy much...you know, you are lucky you are hot, Mister.” I grumbled with a smirk I couldn’t hide after he got in the car and started her up. This was before we headed out to I had no idea where. I lasted all of about five minutes when I said,
“Oh, come on, this is killing me here! Lucius, where are we going?” He chuckled at my outburst and told me,
“Where do you think, Mount Hebron of course?” My eyes widened at the sound of the name that was written on the map, as it had been the one I had spent weeks researching.
“We are?!” I said, the excitement in my voice easy to hear.
“Once the blood started to run through to the map, you recognized the mountain track from the picture in my office, didn’t you?” he asked making me look sheepish.
“I might have done,” I answered in a cryptic tone that didn’t match my obvious reply.
“It was my home, you know,” he said after a few silent minutes, making me tense and hold myself ridged, as for the first time he was giving me something of himself...a piece of his past.
“But I take it you know where I was born...being the clever little scholar you are,” he added playfully.
“Queriot, a town located south of Jerusalem in Judea,” I told him making him grant a sideways grin.
“Also known as Kerioth, but it is nothing more than ruins now,” he said without any melancholy in his voice, just more matter of fact.
“What was it like?” I asked, making him look thoughtful as we drove through the city in a heavy duty truck that looked right now nothing more than overkill.
“The same sun baked, dry earth in seemingly endless summers, to snowcapped mountains in winter, so basically the weather is what I remember the most, that and olives.” I laughed at his dry humour.
“In truth, I don’t often find my mind going back there,” he admitted surprising me.
“Too painful?” I asked softly, surprised and thrilled that he was finally opening up to me.
“Too old, more like,” he said scoffing first, then going on to say,
“When time seems everlasting, it changes you. Your memories seem more like distant tales whispered from ear to ear until they become barely even the truth in which they were born from.”
“So, what you’re saying is that you don’t miss...”
“Stale flat bread and herding livestock...no, Amelia, I don’t miss that,” he said amused. I honestly tried to picture it, knowing he didn’t even look close to being the same man he once was...Judas Iscariot.
I confess that since being here I had become obsessed in discovering all I could about who was only classed to most as being a traitorous historical figure during the days of Jesus Christ. So, needless to say, that more often than not, it just ended up making me angry. Besides, I didn’t want to learn about it from books or what the bible claimed it to be. I wanted the truth of it from the man himself.
“So, I take it we are going to the mountains and following the map, because you know I have tried to follow the same route and it’s still too vague...for starters the tracks don’t even look to exist anymore,” I told him making him reply cryptically,
“That’s because they don’t.” Naturally, this made me frown in question.
“So where are we going then?”
“Harei Yehuda,” he told me, marking the end of our discussion. I knew this when he said,
“After today, will you do me a favour, Amelia?”
“What?” I asked in a tone that said I was almost afraid to.
“I want you to call home, talk to your father and...”
“My mother?” I finished off on a whisper.
“She is worried and upset, she is also desperate for you to discover the truth and believes she has something important to tell you that will help you understand.” I looked out of the window and watched as we continued through the built-up parts of the city. Then I felt him reach across and take my hand, raising it to his lips to kiss. After this, he held it there and asked in a sincere tone,
“Please?”
I released a deep sigh and nodded, telling him,
“I will... I promise when we get back that I will call her.” He granted me a warm, tender smile that created small creases at the corners of his eyes before he thanked me. One kiss more and my hand was given back to me so he could drop his sunglasses down from his head before changing gear. Twenty minutes later and I soon understood why it was we needed a four-wheel drive, as we started heading up the mountain.
The drive up the mountain had been beautiful and offered amazing views, if not a little bumpy. Hence the heavy duty ride, one I discovered had been what Lucius’ ‘Make it happen’ order had been all about yesterday. I also discovered that Lucius most certainly knew his way around this part of the world. He drove to places that seemed like the road would go nowhere and it was only when we pulled into a clearing that I finally asked,
“Are we here yet?” He laughed once and inquired,
“Be honest, just how long have you wanted to say that?”
“Erm...about five minutes into the drive.” He smirked and told me,
“We have a few hours until night falls.”
“Wait...so we are camping?” He put the car into park, took off his glasses and said with a wink,
“Boy scout, remember?” Then he got out of the car taking a moment to scan the area. I watched as he made his way around to my side before he opened my door and helped me down.
“Well, this is cute,” I said following him to the back of the car and scanning the clearing that was framed by trees which sloped down over the ridge the clearing was situated on top of.
“I used to travel through here with my father as a boy,” he told me, shocking me enough that my steps faltered.
“You did?” I asked after first needing to clear my throat. Gods, but I could barely even think of Lucius as being human, let alone just a boy!
“Of course, over two thousand years have passed, so it’s of little surprise that the place looks different now, far more trees and such,” he told me after opening up the back doors revealing what looked more like a rugged camper. Then he continued to get things out of the back that looked like...fold out chairs?
“Holy shit, we are camping!” I shouted making him laugh.
“Don’t get too excited, sweetheart, we are just spending some time here before night falls.” Then he pulled out a basket and I shouted,
“And you brought a picnic!” making him mutter under his breath,
“Easily pleased once again.”
I ignored this and skipped up to him, placed my hands at his back and reach up on my tip toes by his ear so I could whisper,
“You know, if there is cheese in there, then chances are you are gonna get lucky in the wilderness, Mr Septimus.” At this he turned his face to look at me over his shoulder and with an arrogant grin he asked,
“Is that so, Miss Draven?” I gave him a wink and kissed his cheek, before grabbing the chair and taking it over to where we were setting up, ‘picnic camp’.
After this Lucius made short work of using what was inside the camper style 4x4, that I learned was a Mercedes-Benz G professional that meant it had been stripped of its back seats, so it could be converted by Grey Wolf camping interiors, with a custom pop top roof that had a bed in it. It also had two 20L jerry cans filled to the brim, a Forcetec ladder to the roof and rails to match. Oh, and just in case we happened to get stuck in a downpour, it had Mud Tec reinforced ramps attached to the sides. They were ready to be taken off and used to get us out of any sticky, muddy situations, by putting them under the wheels. But in my opinion, it just added to making the gun grey vehicle look meaner.
Now, I knew my cars and also my bikes, as growing up with so many diesel heads in the household, well something was bound to stick, seeing as I was a walking, talking, living breathing, information sponge. But even with this being said, I wouldn’t have known anything about this car, if Lucius hadn’t decided to share with me after I had asked him about it.
This also signified the first of many conversations once we sat down together. As soon we were sat looking out into an incredible view of the mountains, we both had a beer in hand and consumed half of the food Lucius had arranged for us. It was hours later, and the sun was just beginning to set, bathing the view in warm colours of pinks, oranges, and hints of red as the shadows of the mountain ridges turned to shade of blues and purples. It was beautiful, but for once this wasn’t what I commented on.
“So, what did you do up here with your father and what was he like?” I asked seeing as he was in a chatty mood. I noticed him glance at me from the corner of his eye before taking a swig of his beer and looking back over the vista of colours.
“He did what most things fathers did at that age with their sons, he taught me to hunt, to be cunning and to be fast.” I raised a brow in question, prompting him to tell me,
“I was something of a troublemaker.” I burst out laughing at this and couldn’t help but continue to chuckle after it.
“I am shocked, of course,” I said making him scoff,
“Yeah, I just bet you are.”
“So, what you’re saying is that you have always been one of the bad boys, eh?” I said teasing him. His amused look said it all. Then after a minute of thought he continued,
“I questioned everything, including authority.”
“Noooo...that doesn’t sound like you at all.” He gave me wry grin and said,
“I wasn’t one to conform, unless there was a cause I believed in.” I took a breath and decided to see how far this conversation would go.
“Is that why you followed Jesus?” I braved to ask. He gave a smile and told me gently,
“Not ready to go there just yet, sweet.” I granted him a little nod of understanding and decided to switch to when he first became who he was today, thinking this was a good way to keep him talking.
“So, you didn’t deal with authority well...Must have been the natural born leader in you then,” I commented taking another swig of my beer. But then he shocked me by saying,
“I never wanted to be a leader, least of all a King.” I frowned before pointing out the obvious,
“Lucius, you were a Roman Emperor.”
“Yes, but only under the order of your father did I become so, my little scholar,” he told me making me nearly choke on a swallow of beer. He chuckled at my reaction.
“I didn’t know that,” I said, pointing out the obvious.
“Two thousand years of history, sweetheart, there is a lot you don’t know,” he said making me release a sigh because I knew it was true. I mean just how many layers could a guy that old have?
“Hardly seems fair seeing as you know everything about me,” I complained on a sigh, making him remind me,
“I’m talking now I believe.” I grinned at him and agreed, tipping the neck of my beer at him,
“That you are.” I took a sip and then said,
“And not that I want to seem ungrateful or at the risk of making you stop or regret that...”
“You want to know, why now?” he cut me off from my rambling,
“Yeah, I want to know why now,” I repeated wanting to know why he was all of a sudden Mister chatty past pants and was letting me into the world of Lucius.
“Let’s just call it the first steps to gaining back that trust that has been lost,” he replied making me realise that he was doing this for me...or so I thought, until he added,
“Besides, I realise that expecting you to be content at only knowing the past thirty years of my life is unrealistic.”
“Oh really?”
“Well, given your curious nature, your love of history and tenaciousness at getting what you want, then yeah, it was unrealistic.” He teased making me shout,
“Oi!” This before throwing the first thing my hand grabbed from the table, which was a half-eaten pastry.
“Gods, woman, will you stop throwing shit at me!” he complained as it missed him by an inch as it went sailing past his face.
“I will, when you stop pissing me off, handsome!” I threw back at him without an ounce of malice, making him grumble,
“Fuck, wish she would go back to slapping me...ends better.”
“Who are you even talking to?” I snapped making him grant me a dangerous grin. Then he placed his bottle down next to his chair, doing so without taking his eyes off me.
“Oh no...no you don’t...” I started to say moving from my chair and starting to walk backwards, keeping him in sight as he rose from his seat, ready to start stalking me.
“No...you...don’t...Lucius, ah!” I shouted as I turned to run back to the car finding myself grabbed from behind and thrown over his shoulder.
“Well, look at that, caught you again!” he shouted. Then, just as he started walking me to the back of the car, his entire body went ridged. This was something that made mine do the same and only realising why, when we heard a voice say,
“I can say the same thing.” I looked down at Lucius and told him,
“See, I told you that you should have packed the smelly cheese.” He growled low after pulling me down the front of him, so I was plastered to his chest. Then we both started to take in the full extent of our problem as the small army of shadows started to surround us.
I released a sigh and said,
“The bitch, witch is back.”