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Give Yourself To Me

Chapter fifteen: Sunlight


It was dawn, and even though Edmund should be tucking himself up in bed beside his beloved Peter, he wasn't. Instead Edmund was getting ready to leave with the night that had passed, and to go with the dawn.

Peter was under the sheets of the large bed they both shared, and the heavy suede curtains were drawn to block out the sun from outside. As well as Caspian, who was also outside (supposedly). But Edmund did not trust Caspian entirely. He wondered whether it was all such a cruel joke in order to get Edmund out in the sun-light, to watch him burn and to serve him right for being so darn foolish. But the temptation of finding the truth behind Peter was hard to avoid, for Caspian did say there were many secrets he could un-ravel, if he promised to meet the older male outside the old Theatre.

Edmund threw a dark cloak over his head and shoulders, hiding his flesh from the sun for when he'd step out into the fresh air of the out-side world. Scared of the tales of Vampires, and how sunlight could burn them to ash. He looked over at Peter, who remained sleeping. His blond Vampire, with eyes as blue as the ocean, lay asleep. He looked more marvellous than any portrait, or Greek statue, and Edmund could feel his heart sinking as the guilt of what he was about to do slowly over-took his body.

As Edmund reached the entrance he had come in, ready to exit, he looked around his surroundings one last time. He didn't know why he was doing this, but for some odd reason within him, he just felt the need to do so.
With slow steps, Edmund made his way up the narrow stair-case; the stair-case he had come down in search for help, not knowing of what fate was laid before him. And for a moment, he wondered if the same thing was happening to him once again. Was there an un-expected fate waiting for him beyond the thick door of the Theatre?
Walking up each step threw small flashes of Edmund's past dream through his mind. The dream he had had about Caspian, Peter and the ball-room full of masked dancers, as well as his dream of the dark woods. When he had reached the very top step of the stair-case, Edmund was beginning to feel a sense of foreboding. Was he making the right choices here? It's never too late to turn back now. What if Caspian held perfect advice? What will Peter do when he finds Edmund gone? Maybe Caspian is playing tricks? Or maybe, Caspian isn't? These sorts of thoughts ran through Edmund's mind as he clutched to the door-knob on the thick door, one turn and a push of the door and he could not turn back. So Edmund stood there for a moment, collecting his thoughts and thinking through them carefully, as well as taking on board the possible consequences of each.

"Maybe I should take a risk," he thought aloud. "Peter doesn't seem to trust me enough, and maybe there's a good reason for it. Maybe Caspian has the reason. And if I meet Caspian, hear what he has to tell me about Peter, and then I'm sure I can try to figure something out…"

To Edmund, he thought this to be very mature. As a Human, Edmund never had to face things such as these. All he had to worry about was school, money and just life in general. But as a Vampire, tossed into this un-known world, well, all of it was foreign to him. And so it meant big decisions, as this was something he had never experienced before. This was Edmund's life, as a Vampire, with other Vampires. Therefore, he needed someone to help aid him with such matters, and Caspian seemed rather trust-worthy at times, for Edmund still did not trust the spell that the older male was able to cast over him.

Edmund turned the knob on the door with one hand, and with his other, he tightened his grip on the cloak he wore, bracing himself for the sun. But Caspian did say that Edmund would be able to endure the sun's rays, and now, it was time for him to test that theory.
As he stepped out of the thick door, slowly pushing it open, Edmund clenched his eyes shut, anticipating the moment in which his flesh would be set alight by the sun, and he would be a pile of ashes at the ground. When he did not feel the hot sun melting his skin, Edmund slowly fluttered his eyes open, seeing that he had not been affected by any of the sunlight that lay upon his exposed skin. He smiled, gazing at his flesh in amazement, for he had not burnt to smithereens but had instead been just fine. Caspian was right.

Now standing outside, Edmund slowly shut the heavy doors behind him and looked over the street. The place looked very different than to the time he had seen it when he first arrived. Assuming the reason was because he had seen it at night, rather than in the day. The stairs he had walked up, which were then slippery and wet, were now dry and easier to walk down, was there. Edmund walked down a few steps, and then scanned the street for any signs of Caspian. He did not see Caspian, but what he did see was a jet-black car by the Theatre, and Edmund thought that it could be Caspian's vehicle. No other Vampires would be out at this time, and the only other Vampire that said they would be, was Caspian.

Edmund walked down the stair-case, and met with the concrete foot-path. He missed being outside, and missed the feel of hard ground beneath his feet, as well the scent of polluted air and the feel of wind against his icy skin. He had missed it all too much, and it felt oh-so-good to have it once again. The Raven made his way towards the dark vehicle sitting by the curb of the foot-path he walked on, and he could feel himself growing excited, yet nervous of what was to come. He anticipated his meeting with Caspian once again, for the older male never failed to make him feel a little shy and curious of him. And Edmund hated that feeling, and hated how Caspian made him feel.

He finally reached the car, and not a minute later did the door he was stood by swing open. A dusty, familiar voice oozed out from within the back seat of the car, and Edmund recognised the voice to be Caspian's.

"Come in," it called, and Edmund slowly did as told.

As soon as he was sat in the car, and had shut the door, Edmund looked to see Caspian sat beside him in the vehicle. It was rather dark inside the car, with blacked-out windows. There was obviously someone else driving the vehicle for Caspian, and for a weird reason, Edmund assumed it to be a woman, since all he ever saw Caspian with, was beautiful women. So if Caspian were to be in the company of other men, (excluding Edmund) that would be odd to the younger boy. But Caspian was a normal male, though he may not be Human; he still had that strong taste for beautiful creatures of the opposite sex.

Edmund sat silent, not knowing what to say as he looked at Caspian for a moment, seeing the male wearing a delightfully smug grin on his face before flashing his eyes to his knees in a nervous panic.

Caspian un-crossed his legs, (it was rather spacious in the back of his car, as it was also a large vehicle) and he began to speak. "Edmund, I am glad you came." He said, and the smile on his face was clear in his voice.

Edmund remained quiet, thinking of what words he should use for a response that wouldn't make him sound as stupid as he felt in Caspian's presence. He just felt very embarrassed and cautious of himself when with Caspian. He didn't feel, mentally stupid. "Yes. You did promise to give me a reason for what you said last night, so I have come to receive these reasons." Edmund was quite glad with his response, and Caspian was pleasantly surprised with it also.

"Yes," he nodded. "I did. But, we can't discuss it all right now. I shall take you to my home, and we will talk in a more comfortable setting. That's if you don't mind, of course?"

It was at this moment that Edmund began to feel nervous about his decision. The idea of going with Caspian, or to not go with him weighed repeatedly in his mind, leaving him terribly un-sure of what to do next. But Caspian was right, they should discuss it all somewhere they will both be a lot more comfortable, rather than in Caspian's car, for it may take a while for the older male to explain everything.

"That's fine with me," Edmund replied quietly.

Caspian nodded, smiling still and said, "Very well, to mine it is." And just as he said this, the car started, and Edmund could feel it in motion.

x

The drive to Caspian's home was not long, and Edmund knew why this was. The driver had sped to where Caspian lived, therefore he didn't know if the male lived far, or quite close to the old Theatre. The drive was silent, and an un-easy feeling danced cautiously within the air of Caspian's car, and Edmund pondered if it was just he who had felt it.

When Edmund's door opened for him, he did not see the sun, or feel the outside air against his skin. Instead, he felt the cold air of a garage; Caspian's garage. After all, maybe Caspian could not be out during daylight, and if so, why could Edmund?

"How come I can go out into the sun, but nor you or Peter can?" He asked Caspian, stepping out of the open door, to see that no-one stood on the other side.

Caspian stepped out from the opposite site, looking as dashing as ever. "It is because you are a Changed Vampire, Edmund. You were born Human, so you are able to face the sun unlike Vampires like myself… and Peter."

"Oh," was all Edmund replied with, stood in the same spot until Caspian stood by his side in a flash.

"Shall we go into my home now?" He asked, holding out his arm for Edmund to take.

Edmund looked at Caspian's arm with a puzzled and surprised expression. Maybe it was because Caspian only ever spent his time with women, that he thought it was acceptable to do this with Edmund. Or, Caspian thought of Edmund as a small child, or girl! But Edmund took his arm into Caspian's never-the-less, as he was led by the older male out of the garage and through a door at the end of the room to an elevator; which was quite peculiar to Edmund.

They both stood in the elevator together, and still arm-in-arm and Edmund had still not forgotten that his door had been opened by, erm, no-one.

"Was there, anyone driving that car Caspian?" He asked rather timidly, as he looked up at Caspian close to his side.

Caspian chuckled. "Yes, there was a woman driving the car."

"So where is she?" Edmund also asked. Once Edmund got curious and started asking questions, they just seemed to never end!

"She attends to the cars in my garage, I don't know if you actually noticed, but I have quite a large garage, with an equally large amount of cars to keep inside of it." Caspian smiled to himself as he said this, and he was probably proud at this fact.

"Oh, I see. So she has to do whatever it is you do with cars…" He replied with a smile.

"Yes, that it precisely right." Caspian added in a joking-matter, as Edmund had just done. And suddenly, for Edmund, he felt that tense cloud fade away. "She's fast on her feet, she opened both of our doors before leaving to attend to her jobs. She's a Changed Vampire like you, Edmund. But she's been one for many years."

Edmund nodded, seemingly surprised that the female who drove for Caspian was a Changed Vampire, but also nodded not feeling surprised at the fact that she was a woman.

When the elevator doors opened, it revealed an extravagant-looking passage-way. The hall-way had dark wood on the floor, with a slim crimson carpet running all the way through it. The walls were papered in a dashing colour of red, with Victorian patterns. There were black candle-holders along the walls, as Caspian and Edmund walked down the hall-way together. Their way lit by the dim and warm light of each candle. The walls were also decorated with portraits, old portraits of women and men, who strangly looked like Caspian.

"Are these portraits of your family?" Edmund asked as they walked along the hall-way.

"Yes," Caspian replied without even glancing at any of the portraits that lined his passage walls. "They are my family and ancestors."

"Were they all vampires too?"

"Yes, they were." He replied. His tone was dull, and un-happy as he said this, making Edmund all the more curious. But a feeling he got told him to remain quiet, so he did.

As they got to the end of the hall-way, there was a door. Instead of reaching his hand out to open the door, Caspian remained still for a moment and Edmund couldn't help but look back and forth between Caspian's hand, and the door-knob, wondering when the older male would ever decide on when he was going to open the door!

But before Edmund could open his mouth to ask why, the door suddenly opened. This time, there was someone there. And no surprise to Edmund, that it was a woman who opened the door.

"Welcome home, Master." She said with a smirk as she opened the door to fully let Caspian and Edmund through.

Caspian smiled at her and nodded, and Edmund couldn't help but gape at her beauty. She was as beautiful as all the other women he had seen with Caspian, yet there was always something about these Vampire women that never failed to amaze Edmund. There was also the fact that she was wearing a fancy little maid dress… something he didn't expect a Vampire to be seen wearing. But in Caspian's household, he should've expected something like the sort.

The two men were now in a large hall-way, much like the main hall of a large house, for at the end of the room were two stair cases that curved into each other on the left and the right sides of the room.
But the stairs weren't the main thing in Edmund's sight to have caught his eyes, it was the women instead. There were about six, or maybe even seven, scattered across the hall. They were either going into other rooms, or coming out of them (those rooms were close to the hall) as well as doing small jobs. Some were dusting the portraits and statues on the room, and some were re-arranging flowers in vases. None-the-less, they were all doing their own thing, but as soon as Caspian passed by them, they would stop and bow at Caspian, and welcome him home. Always adding 'Master' at the end.

"Did you change all these women?" Edmund asked Caspian, still looking over his shoulder at the women below them as he and the older male made their way up the right side of stairs.

"No," Caspian half-laughed. "These are women who have worked for my family for years."

Edmund's eyes widened. If these women had been with Caspian's family for years, only God knew how old they were.

They walked up the stairs, then down another hall-way. But this time, the passage they walked down had a few doors along the way. And at one door, Caspian turned to it and pushed it open. It was a double-door, with two dark oak doors, and Edmund imagined the room beyond to be rather large.

When Caspian had pushed the doors open, revealing the room, Edmund's expectations were correct, for the room was very grand and large.
The room looked old, and posh; as if it were from a period-drama based on the nineteenth hundredth era in England. The furniture seemed to match that same time period, and the fireplace that was already blazing completed the whole room.

Caspian led Edmund to one of two double-seated chairs that sat across each over, over a fairly large coffee table, and sat him down. While Caspian took the seat across from Edmund. They each sat down in silence, listening to the sound of the fire crackling at the fireplace, and the distant sound of foot-steps walking along the hall-way outside. The foot-steps grew a little louder as they did closer, and a gentle knocking at the door followed shortly.

"Come on," Caspian called, crossing one leg over the other, and adjusting the ends of his sleeve.

The door was opened by one woman who looked to be a maid, while another walked in holding a wooden tray with a kettle and tea-cups on it. The female who held the tray set it down upon the coffee table, and Edmund noticed that it had the other assortments linked to tea such as, a pot of sugar, a small jug of milk, as well as two tea-spoons, and a plate of biscuits.

"I didn't know Vampires drank tea and ate biscuits." Edmund exclaimed, watching as the Vampire maid filled each cup with tea.

Caspian laughed. "Yes, in-fact Vampires enjoy a nice cup of tea once in a while." He replied, smiling as he was handed his cup of tea first.

"I only ever see Peter drink cups of heated blood…" Ed mumbled in response as he watched the maid fill his cup with a tea-spoon of sugar and a small dose of milk, stirring it before handing a tea-cup sitting on a matching saucer to him. He took the cup and saucer, which was of fine china, and took a small sip from the cup. How good it felt to consume something… Human.

"Heated blood?" Caspian repeated, leaning over to take a biscuit from the plate left by his maid who was now taking her leave from the room with the other maid, closing the door behind them both. "That's probably why there is more alcohol in Peter's drinks than there is blood. Blood that is kept in heated cupboards isn't the best kind…" He mumbled. "But that is going off topic. How about I tell you about Peter?"

Edmund held his cup of hot tea a little away from his mouth. He nodded, and could feel that same feeling of regret, for he was going to now receive his answers, and finally get the truth...


A/N: I am so sorry for the late update. School is so busy right now. But I have no intentions on abandoning this story, because I actually like it quite a bit, and I am also looking forward to progressing this story. But every time I sat down to write it, I'd have some form of writer's block, and could never even write one line to open the new chapter with… This chapter isn't very good, and like all my other chapters, it is rather rusty. But I will work on it, and if you have any advice, or constructive criticism that could help me with further chapters and my other works, then please feel free to do so. Also leave reviews on this chapter, because reviews, and readers keep me writing a story!

Thank you.