Misunderstanding
Vampires never sleep.
That doesn't mean we don't pretend to sometimes. This morning was definitely one of those times. It was one of those mornings where you don't want the dream from last night to end. Oh, except, you know the dream actually happened. Satisfaction radiated from every single non-living cell in my body as I came to realize what had happened last night.
I opened my eyes to see Athena's head resting atop my chest while the sunlight filtering through the window made her sparkle. I gently ran my hand through her hair until she slowly opened her eyes and smiled at me. I couldn't help but smile back at that perfect angelic face.
"So what are we going to do today?" she asked softly.
"Whatever you want," I said.
"That's helpful," she sighed, "what if I said I wanted to go jump off a cliff?"
"I'd push you off," I teased, "you're a vampire, jumping off a cliff wouldn't give you a scratch."
"And if I said I wanted to hunt werewolves?"
"I'd hold you back in my arms and find a means to distract you," I growled.
"Caius, can we hunt werewolves today?" she asked, smiling.
"Athena, as far as I'm concerned, we can hunt werewolves every single day of the week here." Athena laughed at my answer and kissed me.
"How about we go for a walk?" she suggested, a bit more rationally if I may say so myself.
"A walk would be delightful," I agreed, sitting up.
"I'm going to take a quick bath and I'll meet you downstairs," she said, standing up.
"I'll have breakfast ready," I smiled and put on a robe before descending down the stairs. I found two silver goblets in one of the shelves located to the right of the kitchen; now the matter lie only in filling the cups.
I ran in the direction of the surrounding wilderness, intending to find the largest animal possible so the blood would be sweeter. No point in drinking a dull squirrel on their honeymoon, was there? I was planning on some sort of wild cat, but stumbled upon something better. Monkeys. (A/N: I don't actually know if there are monkeys in Greece, it just works for this part of the story) Monkeys, though not as large as other animals were more closely related to humans, and thus, their blood was sufficiently sweet. However, chasing them through the trees was not a pleasant experience.
The monkeys swung nimbly, almost gracefully, from branch to branch, tree to tree; while I awkwardly swung from the lower branches trying to catch the blasted monkeys. It was definitely safe to say I was glad I was alone with no one to embarrass me, though as soon as Aro read my mind…no matter, I had something nasty in store for him for intruding upon my love life.
Finally, I caught, and killed, one of the damn monkeys and ran back to La Dea. I tried to fill the goblets as fast as I could, preferably before Athena came downstairs, and almost succeeded. Almost.
"Caius?" Athena asked as she came down the stairs. I was straining to fill the second goblet when she came into view and swiftly hid the depleted monkey behind my back. "Caius," her tone was firm, "are you holding a monkey behind your back?" Her voice was incredulous, but then grew to sarcastic, "or did you suddenly grow a tail?" She began to get a kick out of my unresponsive state. "If so, you hid it miraculously well last night." She laughed , and turned around to fix her wet hair in a looking-glass. Before she could turn back around I threw the monkey out the window, and then looked back to Athena. She raised her eyebrow and it was easy to see why was trying to hide a smile. Oh right, a looking glass; she had seen everything.
"Hehe," I laughed a bit nervously, and shuffled around the kitchen trying to make it look like I had something to do. In one turn about the kitchen I saw her laughing silently while watching me. "Do I entertain you?" I asked frankly.
"Very much so," she smiled coyly and took a sip from her goblet. I stared at her, a bit speechless, though not out of being embarrassed nor surprised, simply…calm into the remission of no words. She put down her goblet and stood up, coming to me and putting her arms around my neck. "As much as I wish for you to entertain me for the rest of the day, I do believe we agreed upon a walk?"
"Oh, yes," I said, taken out of my strange reverie. I smiled down at her and ducked out of the vice her arms held around her neck before simply just taking her hand. We walked to the door before she stopped.
"Hold on a second, Sulpicia wanted me to wear the things she packed while we were here. You don't mind the wait, do you?" she asked.
"Of course not," I replied. She took the stairs all in one great leap and I could hear her rummaging through some clothes.
"CAIUS!" Athena screamed from our room. I quickly ran up to the room and asked Athena what the problem was. She looked up at me, confused. "I don't understand why Sulpicia put shreds of cloth in our trunks. Do you perhaps know?"
I walked over to where she stood and looked down to see what she was referring to. It looked like torn up clothes. How odd. I picked up one frill and found that it was connected to other strings of cloth and scanty pieces of cloth; it looked as if it formed an, an...outfit. "I believe it is meant to be worn."
She laughed, something I did not expect. "Good one, Cai, although a bit vulgar for you, don't you agree?"
I narrowed my eyes. "Well I doubt it is to decorate the room, or to stuff the pillows." I held the garment to hold it more in front of her figure. "And it…uh…covers certain…private areas."
"Have you gone blind, my love?" she asked me, "because if you think that covers, I shudder to think what you consider something that is scanty." Then quietly she added, "Besides, isn't the point of the honeymoon not to cover areas?" She slapped my arm back since I was holding the...clothes.
"Temptation?" I suggested. Athena would look awfully tempting in that, especially considering she could wear a potato sack and still seduce me.
"Nah," Athena said nonchalantly, "Sulpicia knows I do that perfectly well without help."
"Well thanks," I tried to sound offended, resulting in her laughing and giving me a quick kiss. We both stood and wondered what was the meaning of the garments.
"Do you think this is the 'lingerie' that Sulpicia spoke of?" Athena asked me.
"Lingerie?" I asked. Lingerie referred to undergarments in one of the new languages called 'French'. "Maybe," I said, "In any case, how about we leave whatever Sulpicia packed for later and just enjoy our walk for now?"
"Okay," Athena said, hastily changing into a light white dress. We finally were able to commence our walk and began at the beach. Though I was often distracted by how magnificently she sparkled, I managed to hold my own in our conversation. After we had worn out a topic there would be silence. It wasn't awkward though, it was peaceful, and it gave respite before a whole other conversation began; as, in due time, one did.
"Have you ever loved another?" she asked, out of the blue.
"No," I said calmly, and it was true. I had never really given it much thought; being an emperor didn't allow much time for personal affairs. Perhaps once I became a vampire I might have dwelled on the thought a bit, but in truth, I usually thought having a mate would be much more of a burden than a comfort. Those were the good days… I smiled at the thought of her expression had she heard my thoughts, but instead, simply reinforced what I said. "Never. And you?"
"I thought I did once, when I was a servant of course," she said quietly, though I could tell she didn't think much of it; I, however, could not say the same. "When I was here though, my whole life was planned out for me. I was to marry some Prince from Crete and unite the two kingdoms. My parents, I'm sure, must have been disappointed when I disappeared they relied heavily on my matrimony for peace."
"I can't say I'm sorry to disappoint them," I grinned and squeezed her hand.
"I would like to see them," she said dreamily, and then I felt her jolt as she realized she could. "Oh can we Caius, can we see them? Please?"
"I thought the last things newlyweds want to do is see the in-laws," I tried to discourage her through humor.
She rolled her eyes, "Please?" she begged.
"No," I said softly, "I don't think we can."
"Why?" she asked, and I saw a spark of anger in her.
"It's against all that we stand for. How can we hope to gain control of our world if we don't live by the rules we have made?"
"Power?!" she said angrily, "Is that all you ever think of, power?"
"Of course not," I said, "I think of protecting our species, or friends, of you."
"And to think I might have believed what you said only a few moments ago!" she scorned, "But no, I see things very clearly now—" I doubted it "—you've only looked out for your own good this entire time! Well, I am determined to do what I want for my good and even if you try to defy me I will get my way. The only question is whether you will come with me, or you will not."
"Athena," I grabbed her as she pulled away, "consider what you're doing. It's madness! We'll be discovered, and—"
"Let. Go. Of. Me. Caius." She spat out my name and I knew it best for me to let go of her. "I'll deal with the consequence of my actions when the time comes, but at least I will do it by myself, without anyone telling me what to do." She turned and quickly walked away. I kept pace with her, trying to make her see reason. She misunderstood what I was saying so as to think I thought she was being unreasonable. "Just let me go, Caius!" she hissed and I slowly let her hand fall away from within my own. She ran, and because I loved her, or perhaps in spite of it, I didn't follow.