Chapter 4Warm Hearts in a Russian Winter
The next evening I packed all things winter and not so winter but managed to pack it into two suitcases since I didn't have many clean clothes left. Doing laundry is boring and I had only left a note for the maid that evening.
Once I had finished and had my evening blood pack, I knocked on Sinjin's study door. "Only two suitcases," he commented.
"The last of the clean clothes but I left a note for the maid."
"Do you trust me?"
"Of course, I do."
"Good, my methods of travel are a bit different than what you're used to." Out of nowhere, a black scarf appeared in his hand. "You'll need to wear this. My lab has secrets that you may not see." Nervously, I nodded. Though the scarf only went around my eyes, I couldn't hear anything either. Everything will be alright. I could hear him in my head telepathically.
Within a couple of minutes, I felt a blast of cold air on my face. Then Sinjin untied my blindfold. Looking around, I saw some of the odd shaped colorful domes of turn of the century and older buildings and the reknown St. Basil's Cathedral with it's domes and archways of every color that I had seen in my mother's photos of home. "We're in Red Square. I've only seen this in pictures." He nodded. "Why would you even own a car if you can do this?"
"We only have limited preset destinations with the ritual. That's all I'm going to tell you."
"Is that how you got to me last night?"
"No, I flew." From his look, he was serious.
Some bellhops ran out to where we stood and took our luggage into a luxury antique hotel. We were there at night but lights of all colors eminated from the antique buildings. "How are we going to tourist around, considering our unique schedule?"
"I've made arrangements."
"Sinjin, you're the best." I threw my arms around him and kissed him lightly on the lips.
Afterwards, he acted like I had hit him. "The belhop will show you to your room. I have business to tend to." When it came to touching me, he seemed to fall into his tribe's general attitude.
Within the luxurious antique Metropo hotel, I had a presidential suite and Sinjin had the other from what the belhop told me. Slipping the bellhop fifty dollars, would help me get what I wanted. "Where is a great nightclub to party?"
"Red Destruction," he replied. "I'm going there in an hour. My shift will be over. Wanna go? It's not far."
"I would love that." Speaking Russian came in handy.
After unpacking in the suite which looked like something out of the turn of the century except for the sauna, I quickly dressed. A long faux fur coat covered my latex black mini dress. This time I left a note for Sinjin but I didn't feel guilty since he abandoned me. A childish move, certainly but for some reason, his indifference made me irrational.
With my rather young escort beside me, we walked through Red Square towards some industrial dance music I heard in the distance. Entering this club, I knew I would have a good time. Every sort of person in every manner of dress was there in the huge industrial club with flashing lights, DJ's and several dance floors including stages for dancing. On one of the stages, I spotted a near Sinjin clone. Time to quench a few appetites. When I hopped on the stage and danced with him, he screamed his name Heinrich. After a few hours later, in Heinrich's car, I feasted while he unzipped the front of my dress. He passed out drunk before he even started on his pants. Figures!
With a delightful buzz, I stumbled into the club and danced. As I danced, Sinjin cut in looking more morose then ever and slow danced in spite of the fast paced music surrounding us. I put my arms around him and whispered in his ear, "Is everything alright?" I pressed against him, signaling the go ahead. "You seem so depressed." Looking into those poignant blue eyes, a dizzy spell passed over me. Soon he removed me from the dance floor in a discreet manner despite my protests.
Suddenly, I awoke to blackness which had enveloped me and screamed. Sinjin ran in and turned on the lights. "Are you alright?"
Looking around, I laid in the king bed of my hotel room. The burgundy curtains had been taped so no light would come in. "I need a nightlight on. I don't like complete darkness."
"A vampire afraid of the dark, interesting." He sat on the bed next to me looking gloomy. "Alex sent me a message. I wanted to tell you in the club. He wants you to fly to New York in a few days."
Seeing Sinjin every night without any chance of anything happening took a mental toll. "I'm so glad the danger is over and I can return home. Thank you for letting me stay with you." As I stood up I felt nauseous. "I don't feel good. I don't suppose you have a potion on you to make me feel better?"
"No but I'll keep an eye on you just in case. You're in for a rough ride with some of the chemicals coursing through you. Why do you keep doing these idiotic things?"
"Because I'm a wacky impulsive Pario and not an ever proper Veneficus," I replied dripping with sarcasm.
"No need to be like that, tribe has nothing to do with respectable behavior."
"Well there's your answer. I'm not respectable."
"How many sugar-daddies have you had?"
"Hundreds!"
"Don't lie to me, child!"
"None! For your information, I've only had two lovers in my life." I brushed my teeth quickly. "But I suppose someone as old as you considers me a slut." I emerged from the bathroom in some silk boxers and a wife beater. When Sinjin saw me in them, he looked infuriated. "You're so stuffy," I commented as I crawled into bed, "but I will miss you." Then I fell asleep.
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The next evening I powered up my laptop first thing to find an invitation to a tribal party with only the elite attending forwarded to me by Alex. Out of courtesy, Sinjin had informed him of our trip beforehand; I was certain. So while Sinjin lay there sleeping in the chair next to my bed, I primped in a red and black iridescent sheer micro dress with lacy black panties and a black with red polka dotted garter for luck. It worked for Pipat, normally. I wore my hair down instead of the usual ballet bun. I wrote "Out Partying" in lipstick on the mirror.
At the Tretyakov Museum, I mingled with the upper eschelon crowd for hours gazing at all the Russian paintings, sculptures and other forms of artwork before I spotted my mark. Since it had been almost four years since I had great sex, I decided to yet again get someone to help me get Sinjin out of my head and have fun as well. For over an hour, I listened to a mortal whose name I forgot that looked like Sinjin but certainly didn't have his brains, debating whether or not to go through with it, before we snuck off to a private sitting room. As we kissed, I lost my nerve so I volunteered to grab a bottle of wine to help things along. Pining for Sinjin had turned me into a lush.
Within one minute, I returned to find Sinjin calmly waiting instead of my loverboy. "Hello Sinjin," I said glancing around the room for lover boy. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Hello Natasha, charming negligee you're almost wearing," he said watching me intently, "Love your hair. I never realized it was so long. This is the first time I've ever seen it down."
"Thanks. I'm surprised you noticed," I remarked now checking behind the curtains.
"Looking for something," he asked.
"My lipstick," I replied peeking in the closet. "It rolled somewhere."
"I think it rolled somewhere and will never be seen again," he smiled smugly. "Let's go back to the hotel. Maybe there you can stay out of trouble."
"I'll just get another lipstick."
"No," he calmly replied in a condescending manner. "You'll behave yourself and return to your room."
"What makes you think you have the right to tell me what to do, you priggish codger?" Dammit, he didn't look like a priggish codger in that gothic clothing which made him sexier.
"You flippant child," he replied with even more calmness. "Since you are my charge for the time being, I will ensure that you respect Alex by not cavorting around. While overseas in an unstable area, he has been very worried about you and this is how you repay him."
"First, I am not a child," I replied then my New York crassness reared its ugly head. "If you cleared the old codger dust out of your eyes you would notice. Second, Alex won't care."
"He's your lover. Of course he cares."
"Alex and I are not lovers. I'm his protégée."
"What," he muttered in disbelief. "You and Alex aren't lovers?"
"No," I replied. "Do you have codger dust in your ears too?"
"But he expressed affection for you more than his normal companions, always calling." He paced a moment. "You wore his things last night."
"I borrowed from him because I forgot to do my laundry during my European tour. I'm absent minded like that."
He stood there with a reflective look in his eyes. "I've been a gentleman, trying not to take advantage of my friend's trust. All this time, right in front of me and I could've." He indulged himself staring boldly over every inch of me. Slowly his arm slid around my waist, hesitantly his lips caressed mine. My lips tingled.
I ran my fingertips against his chest. "Sinjin, your heart is beating again."
"I lied to you before. My feelings for you make my heart beat, not a potion. It's extremely rare for our kind."
"I love you." As I ran my fingers through his silky golden hair, I longed for him. "Kiss me." With a ferocious intensity, he kissed me so passionately that my thighs melted. Through the thin fibers of my dress, I felt him but craved more. Every caress made my skin tingle, even moreso than in my mortal days. Slowly, I unbuttoned his shirt and ran my fingers along his chest.
"Dawn will be here very soon, too soon." We maneuvered into the tiny closet and switched on the closet light. Using his fangs, Sinjin pricked his finger and wrote some Runic lettering on the door with his blood. "This will keep mortals and sunlight out until tomorrow night."
We both stood amongst the cleaning supplies. Even pushing them back didn't leave much room. Sinjin sat against the wall and motioned for me to join him. Sitting in his lap, I cuddled against him. Sinjin choked back a laugh and another. "Your hair," he muttered.
"Someone's ticklish." After a couple of deliberate swishes of my hair against his chest and his uncontrolled laughter, I stopped and cuddled once more.
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For Lord Sinjin Breawood, being a vampire for nearly four hundred and fifty years had it's perks. Without the limits of age and human frailty, he travelled and studied, amassing knowledge unknown in a mortal lifetime. All in all, he never regretted his decision because he became so much more than what he could have ever hoped to be. However, as with others of his kind, memories and the feelings of his mortal days faded with time, replaced with indifference to keep away the sadness of losing one's friends and relatives to mortal death. On the other hand, that indifference which prevented the sadness of loss also kept him from feeling the joys of life and of love.
Now as Natasha cuddled in his arms, he lightly stroked the back of her knees, making her tremble. For Pario's, all five senses were heightened but many never thought about the sense of touch. Because of the way Natasha lightly trembled and almost purred in his arms, he was glad he knew about their sensitivity. For some reason, Natasha always made him remember his mortal days.
….
In 1563 the Black Plague raged through London and the outlying areas. Through the green countryside of rolling hills and trees, Sinjin's rabicano Arabian stallion galloped along surpassing the last wagon of spirits headed for Breawood Castle. Upon his arrival, he saw barrels of spirits already unloaded in the castle courtyard as well as several newly arrived house cats in cages. Marge their rotund grey-haired housekeeper since he was a child greeted him. "Lord Breawood, you must leave here at once. The Duke has the plague like many of the staff. His symptoms started yesterday. We were sending you a letter."
"Fill his bath with the spirits, NOW!" Sinjin ran through the castle and up the stone stairs towards his brother's room. "Also, let the cats out to hunt the rats and mice. Wash everything in the spirits. You should have plenty leftover."
Upstairs, in the plush red velvetine bed chamber, Sinjin gazed at the fevered plague ridden shaking patient in the middle of the bed whose sandy blond hair lay plastered against his forehead. Dazedly glancing around, his hazel eyes rested on the new arrival bringing a poignant smile to his lips. "Is….is… that you… Runt or am I… hallucinating?"
"No Collin, I'm here. I'm going to save you."
"There is no cure. I'm a dead man. Save yourself and leave."
"Lord Breawood, the bath is ready."
Sinjin grabbed a clean piece of linen which he dipped in the ale bath before he covered his mouth with it. Despite his brother's fervent objections, Sinjin helped Collin into the bath. "I should be drinking this not bathing in it."
"It will help you. Hold your breath and put your head under the spirits for a minute." Collin took a deep breath as best he could and did so. "Marge bring me a needle and a lit candle." Moments after his brother's head emerged from the spirits, Marge brought the requested tools. After he passed the needle through the flame, his brother looked at him apprehensively. "This is going to hurt."
"Is that payback for all those times when Kyne and I harassed you?"
"A little," he smiled as he pierced away. "I miss him too."
"That temper of his," Collin remarked, slowly shaking his head. "Of all things, a bar fight," he added. With the draining of the first nodule, his brother grimaced. A few more followed with mild growls. "That burns."
"It's killing the poisons inside your body." Sinjin looked at the grotesque black blood that seeped into the bath of ale. Luckily it blended some. In order to keep his brother's mind off the pain, he reminisced about the past. "You and Kyne pestered me but no one else did."
"That's because you were OUR baby brother to harass and no one else's. Besides, we had to get your nose out of those books."
"Books might have just saved you. I read about this treatment in an ancient text." Sinjin handed him a vial of red syrup. "Drink this."
After his brother swallowed it, he almost gagged. "That is horrible."
"It'll cure you." Somewhere in the castle, they heard a cat meowing. "Rome loves its cats. The Black Death hasn't ravaged them nearly as bad. Many think its because the cats have killed the rats."
"Unlike here where they think cats are the devil's tool," his brother commented.
Once Sinjin dressed the wounds, he help his brother to a clean bed and forced him to drink juice. While his brother rested, he scoured himself from head to toe with fresh spirits. That evening he sat at his brother's bedside where he fell asleep near dawn.
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At a nearby lake, two days later Sinjin enjoyed a swim in the cool blue water. The clopity clomp of a horse caught his attention. Gingerly, Collin who looked almost fully recovered hopped down and sat beneath a tree. "Always swimming," he commented. "You swim better than a fish."
"It was the only thing that I was better at than my brothers."
"Well, you are the Runt."
Sinjin dried off and joined his brother. "I'm just as tall as you now." Carefully, studying him, Collin stood up, looked him directly in the eye and nodded.
Collin gestured to the castle and its grounds. "You could have let me die. You could have had it all."
"I don't want it."
"Three years ago you set out on your travels but returned from Arabia just in time to save me." Collin sat down and Sinjin joined him. "You're having the dreams again. That's how you knew to return."
"Yes, I never stopped having them. I only pretended to."
"Are you sure it's not the devil's work?" Collin looked around, ensuring they were alone.
"I go to church every Sunday. These visions have helped me save you." Sinjin toyed with a few blades of grass. "Also, they do help know which knight to bet on at the joust so its not completely altruistic."
Collin shifted around nervously like he always did when speaking about the dreams. "Well, tell me about the women that you have met or have you yet to discover that joy?"
"I've discovered it many times but none have I found more intriguing than my books or my travels." Sinjin skimmed a pebble across the lake. "In a few months you have an upcoming marriage, don't you?"
"Yes, I have." Collin skimmed a rock across the lake but in his weakened condition, not as far as his brother. "One of these days, you will meet a woman who no matter how many times you make love to her, you still crave her more. No matter how well or how long you've known her, you still find her beguiling, a woman that you would die for or kill for."
Sinjin rolled his eyes. "Then I will stop my travels and my studies and marry her."
"No, that one you will make your mistress." Collin laughed. "You marry the one who will increase your status and wealth and you hers. That is the business of marriage."
"Is your mistress, the strawberry blond?" Collin's startled look amused Sinjin. "Another dream," he added.
Collin nodded. "So have you had a dream about your love?"
"Sort of because I don't think I'm meant to see her face but to I feel her." Sinjin grabbed a flask his brother brought for him. "In the moments just before I awaken, I feel her in my arms, strong but delicate. I can smell her scent, vanilla and something else as she nuzzles my neck. And then…."
"Go on, I only want your happiness. Maybe I can help you find her?"
"She has very long, wavy hair, the silkiest I've ever felt. She tickles my chest with it."
"Maybe you'll find her in your travels. I hope you do." Collin pointed to the lush forest in the distance with various ponds that Sinjin loved to swim in as a teenager. "I'm bequeathing that forest and surrounding pastures that you love so much to you. Don't object, you saved my life. Maybe one day, you'll build your own keep for Lady Breawood or your mistress."
…..
That dream from my mortal years has come true. Now, in a cramped cleaning closet, Sinjin inhaled Natasha's vanilla and something perfume while her long hair covered his chest. Remember her and the party, in a sundress boldly introducing herself, it wasn't love at first sight even though he greatly appreciated her beauty. When she gave her thoughts on logic and other topics, then he fell in love. You're wrong dear brother, I've found that woman but I'm not going to make her my mistress. I'm making her my wife.
"Natasha, I love you so much." His arms tightened around her. "Will you marry me?"
