Chapter 14

At 8 pm that evening, we met with Christian in Sophia's suite in the Plasma. He was waiting there for us with a pitcher of rum and coke. Sophia started to speak, but Christian put up his hand, stopping her mid-flow.

"Just let me speak, please. Most of this conversation is going to be directed at you, Randi. Sophia has brought me up to speed on your life, past and present, so we need not go over that again. What I'm concerned with is the future. Once you cross over there is no going back, I'm sure you understand that, but I need to hear you tell me."

"Yes, yes Christian I fully understand. I truly believe I…Sophia and I have….a destiny. I'm not sure if she told you any of that, but we both feel it. I won't lie and say that it didn't scare me at first…freak me out, in fact, but…but….I guess I can't really explain it. I just feel…I know… it's the right thing to do. I don't mean to sound indecisive. I'm completely at peace with it."

Christian looked at me as though he was staring into my very soul...and who knows? Maybe with 300 years' experience dealing with the human race, he can see into someone's very being. He then turned his attention to Sophia.

"My dear Sophie," he began, "while I cannot say that I totally understand just what has transpired here between the two of you, I have no problem with you wanting to be happy. I believe I am a pretty good judge of character, and I think your soul mate here is an honorable woman."

Sophia smiled. "Thank you, Christian."

He continued. "I trust I do not need to reiterate the seriousness of what respecting our secrecy and privacy means. We may not be staying here in Pennsylvania much longer. We do tend to move around a lot, Randi, usually staying in an area only a few years at most; the exception being the ranch in Wyoming. It is our only true permanent residence. I will not discuss anything else at this time. Randi…Sophia, I will leave it up to you as to how you want to proceed with the turning. Just please let me know when the deed is done."

And he took his leave.

We sat there in silence, Sophia and I, barely breathing it seemed….until I couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright, how are we going to go about this? When, where….?"

Sophia walked over to me, took my face between her hands, kissed my forehead, and said, "We could do it right now, but I have a better idea. Why don't you go back to your apartment, spend some time as your last hours as a….a human. You may even want to spend some time considering what you are going to do about your business. Pack up some of your things. You can always bring whatever you truly want to keep here until we can get it transferred to Wyoming. Go enjoy a good meal. Contact anyone you feel might want to know about your whereabouts and tell them that you are making a life change…they don't need to know specifics. Then meet me here tomorrow night at 10. I promise I will make the wait worth your while."

I smiled at her. My heart was so full of….of love! So gladdened by the idea that I would get to spend the rest of my…okay, unnatural….life with this incredible woman; and, apparently, many other lifetimes as well.

"All of those things sound like a plan. And I must say now you've got me very intrigued….not to mention extremely titillated, about tomorrow night. I really don't have too many people to contact, only the landlords for the apartment and the office….neither of which should be a problem. I'm not working on any cases at the moment, so that's easy. As for possessions, besides my clothes and a few mementos from my parents, there's not much worth saving. You still haven't told me how you travel back and forth from Wyoming yet."

Sophia chuckled. "Oh…you'll find out soon enough. Can we please just leave it at that for now?"

I smiled broadly and said, "Do I have a choice?" Then, I drew her into my arms and kissed her deeply.