Chapter 19- Longevity
We traveled through a forest by foot until we came to a large clearing. Lucian scanned the area with his eyes until he found what he was looking for, and I simply looked at him with a quizzical and amused look as he dragged me over to a random mound in the middle of the clearing.
"A long time ago, not long after Kraven set the old Lycan abode ablaze, I spared some of my blacksmith's tools in case I would need them, and I buried them," he said, a nostalgic look on his face. "I never needed any of them, until now."
"What for?" I asked.
"I am going to make your engagement ring before your very eyes. I don't have a stone to set in it like modern rings, but…"
"But it'll be personalized and hand-made," I finished, touched and with tears brimming in my eyes.
"Yes." He smiled. "And I have everything I need to heat and mold the metal, and enough scraps of metal to make a weapon if I needed to; there's no need to worry about materials. I can make you a silver ring. As a blacksmith I can mold several metals."
"Then I guess you have a bit of silversmith in you, too," I mused.
"Yes, I suppose so."
"Wait- and the silver won't…"
"No," he laughed. "We can touch silver. It's only a problem once it's lodged somewhere in a Lycan's flesh or deeper."
I watched in silent amazement as Lucian heated the metal and worked it by the processes of forging, drawing and bending. His fingers moved nimbly with the small tools he was working with to weave five long and thin pieces of silver together complexly into a thick band. My eyes darted between his fingers working artfully and his face, deep in concentration. Now and then he would meet my gaze, and the intensity of the love burning in his eyes was almost too much to bear. I could see the longing in his face for me, and my ache to put my arms around him grew and grew as the hours passed. He worked through the afternoon and into the early evening as the sun began to go down, shaping each woven strand of silver to perfection as he intertwined each piece. Each time he flexed a muscle amidst his work, and each time he looked at me with the tenderness I'd grown to appreciate so deeply, my heart would flutter like crazy. Nearby, he set a fire so that I could keep warm. Once he was done, he set the ring down on an anvil.
"Now we just need to let the ring cool, and then you can wear it," he said eagerly.
"I can't wait," I said smiling, my heart pounding anxiously. Our engagement was about to be solidified! He joined me at the fire, and sat next to me. The fire caught the reddish tints in Lucian's hair and cropped beard just perfectly in the warm glow, and his cheeks were flushed as the heat rushed to his slightly golden skin. Though the metal had been hot that he'd worked with and the air around him too, the fire was even warmer. He was so vital, and so perfect before my eyes. I had seen him in a whole new light amidst battle against Viktor. It's true he was fighting for all of the Lycans, but he was mostly fighting to protect me in there. He was right that I'd seen a different side of him, but just as I knew it wouldn't, it hadn't bothered me at all. Lycans were indeed fearsome creatures when they transformed, but not Lucian. To me, even in that state, he just seemed majestic, powerful and strong, and I did not fear him. He was still my Lucian, and even in battle in his human form, I did not fear him. His fierceness was just as attractive of a quality as any of his others.
His face was full of emotion as I appraised him, appreciating every inch of him, and every depth of him. He searched my eyes, and seemed to be doing the same. Every nerve he touched tingled as he stroked his thumb through the locks of hair around my ear, down my cheek and to my neck. He smiled wistfully, and spoke softly.
"Maya, you saved me in that mansion today. You saved my life at the risk of your own. Why?"
"Because Viktor would have killed you, and because I love you," I said, confused by the sadness that seemed to taint his expression and his tone. "I couldn't let you go. I couldn't let you die."
"Did it give you extra confidence knowing that you were Corvinus' prophesized?"
I looked at him incomprehensibly. "What do you mean?"
"Did you jump under the dagger only because you knew you would live and were meant to be immortal?
My heart sank to the floor. Had he truly thought that all of this time? My eyes squinted ever so slightly with sadness that he had thought that at all. "Lucian, I didn't know how I would become a Lycan, I just knew that I would. It didn't occur to me that this was how it was going to happen until the dagger was already twisted in my side. I also didn't even know I was the prophesized Lycan at all until I was on the way to the mansion and Selene told me that she had the same prophetic vision and dream the night before, and that it was me she saw with her. When I saw Viktor raise that dagger over your heart, I reacted by instinct, not out of hunger to be transformed and immortal. I didn't even have time to think about what I was doing. All I saw was that I had one shot to find something, anything, to get between that dagger and you, and my body was all I had. And if my body as a shield was the last thing I had to give to you so that you would live, then so be it. I would give you every last thing I have to give, even my own life." I took his hands into mine. "I didn't do this just so I could have immortality. I knew that I had a prophecy, and therefore a duty to fulfill, but my first and foremost duty is to you, and even had I had no knowledge that I'd be transformed and survive that, I would have given my life for you regardless. I love you," I said, starting to cry. "The truth is I didn't save you; you saved me. You saved me… so I couldn't let you die."
"Maya, my love, I'm sorry. I don't even know why I asked… please forgive me," he whispered, tears streaming down his face. "I owe you my life and my gratitude, not my suspicion. But you are truly the one who has saved me. You gave life back to me emotionally. I was just a shell walking for centuries until you came along. You gave me a reason to keep going when I thought there was nothing left for me in the almost millennium I've lived. And I love you too." He kissed me penitently. "Wait here one moment," he said, and he walked over to the anvil.
He returned with the ring, and slid it gently onto my left ring finger, his eyes gazing into mine, and once again I was amazed with his beautiful and accurate craftsmanship. Not only was the weaving pattern of the ring flawless, but his eye had detected my exact ring size. It was neither too snug, nor too loose. I took a moment to admire the ring.
"It's perfect," I declared, touched to the core that he had chosen to create my ring with his own two hands. It meant more to me than any other ring in existence.
He took my hand and kissed each fingertip lightly, setting every nerve ending ablaze with unfettered, unabashed passion that I'd been longing to release. "You're perfect. You are an angel who has given me everything. You've bestowed on me a love so perfect I don't even know if I deserve it. And I want you to know that my life, literally my life, is yours. If ever the need arises to protect you that way, I would gladly give my life for you as you nearly did for me."
And with that he kissed me full on the mouth. His tongue grazed my lips lightly, and our breaths came out in aroused and slightly chilled shudders. Even amidst the cold, a safe distance off from the fire, we took all of our clothing off, and Lucian laid them down into a sort of makeshift blanket. He laid me down softly, kissing me the whole way down as he supported my neck. I could feel my pulse rising as his lips made their way down my neck, his hands moving around everywhere. I ran my fingers through his hair with my right hand and let my left hand run up his back softly, causing him to shiver at my touch. He pulled me up into a sitting position as each kiss became more desperate, more ardent than the last. We inched as close together as we could manage until at last we were one, and slowly rocked back and forth. Every moan that escaped his mouth made me rock faster, breathing his name, and he gladly increased his tempo to match mine until at last we released, our shouts of pleasure and each other's names unheard in the still of the night. To be so wholly alone with him that night, especially after all that time that we'd been surrounded by nothing but danger, was such a gift. We'd both been able to be louder than ever before without neighbors or anyone around for miles. We were both still breathing heavily and kissing for a few moments afterward until the last waves subsided to a small tingle. The chill of the night began to settle upon our sweat-coated bodies, and Lucian tenderly rubbed his hands up and down my back, holding me as close to his body as he could to keep me warm.
I looked into his eyes blissfully, playing with the ends of his hair absently. He smiled and leaned his forehead into mine, and I realized I was smiling too, from ear to ear. The saying would have seemed so facetious and ridiculous at any other point in my life, but there really seemed to be no other way to describe how largely I smiled every time I saw Lucian, and whenever I was with him. It occurred to me that except for when I'd first run into the mansion and when I'd run off down the corridors to take out the council members of the vampire coven, we hadn't been apart since Lucian had first told me he was a Lycan, and we'd probably never be apart from each other's side ever again. I couldn't even imagine ever being apart from him now.
"Are you happy?" he asked me, his expression soft and earnest.
"Yes. I am incredibly happy, Lucian," I declared, never taking my eyes off of his. "I've never been this happy before."
"And so am I, my darling Maya. The happiest I've ever been."
I felt safer than I had ever felt before. Not only did I have a powerful Lycan looking out for my safety, but I was also a powerful Lycan myself; I was incredibly powerful.
"Maya, do you want to stay a Lycan forever, or do you want to go back to being a mortal?"
The question he asked me caught me off guard. It was an incredibly good question.
"Gosh, I never even thought about that. Well, it almost seems like I was born to be a Lycan if there was something prophesized about me a long time ago, but on the other hand I don't know if I have a moral obligation to turn back or not." I paused. I knew he couldn't decide for me, but maybe knowing how he felt would help me decide. Whatever we chose I wouldn't want to be the opposite anyway. "What do you want to be?"
"I had wanted so badly to be a mortal and let my life finally end once Sonja was dead. I felt I had lived enough years after eight hundred years had passed by without feeling much purpose or joy anymore, day after day droning on as lifelessly as the last. I felt there was no need to live forever anymore. Then I met you. I figured especially after I met you and fell so deeply in love with you that I couldn't watch your entire life pass me by and have you eventually leave this world and I be left behind to live alone yet again- forever. So I had every intention of continuing the anecdote. But now that you are immortal too, perhaps I am greedy and selfish for this, but I would like to embrace this immortality once again to live a very, very long life with you, Maya. I feel like eternity isn't enough now that I've been given the chance to love again."
I smiled at him, and felt that I knew what I wanted to do now. "Well, the way I see it, we could always stay immortal and use that immortality for good things as long as we live, and protect the Lycan species when needed, and our vampire brethren. We could always help keep the peace and intervene when we have to. One day, maybe centuries, maybe millennia from now, if we decide the time is finally right to age and die, then we'll take the anecdote at that time together. Then we'll just age like two regular humans and at the same rate and the same time. I'm almost thirty years old, and you look like you would be roughly that age too, even though you were never one hundred percent human to begin with and aged slightly to this point at a different and finite rate. We don't ever have to decide on mortality until or if we feel the time is right."
He kissed me intensely. "I think we can both agree on that. We will decide together when it's our time to go."
"Either way, our souls will be together forever."
"Then I do believe it's time for us to return home to Seattle and start our life together. We'll go to Singe's old laboratory where my instructions to make the anecdote are stored. I'll make a set for me and a set for you for when we choose to use them; they'll be ready."
I nodded. "Okay. Oh, and I could really use a shower. It's been days," I said, making a face. "I kind of reek after having hot, sweaty, nearly full moon Lycan sex, and engaging in vampire-on-Lycan combat."
He laughed. "I do smell rather foul myself. Alright, we'll get a hotel room for one night so that we can freshen up."
Suddenly I stopped as we were walking back to the city. "Oh crap! I haven't worked in at least a week now! I work from home, and I haven't done a thing since I've met you. I should call my boss from the hotel too. I have a deadline coming up that I hope I can make with some of the large sets of documents I'm translating. And I have a mortgage payment coming up…"
"You know, you could always move in with me," he said, his face shaping into a grin. "You're over there half of the time anyway, and our houses are a backyard away from one another. Plus, I have the added bonus of you being my fiancée. One day soon we'll have to pick a house anyway, and mine will be fully paid for when we return."
I grinned too. "And you could use a little decoration in your house…"
"It's settled then."
I jumped into his arms and squeezed him tightly. "It's more than settled. We'll have a home together, Lucian. I can't wait," I whispered, laying my head on his chest for a moment and listening to his heartbeat, thankful that it was still beating and that Viktor had not cruelly taken him from me.
When we got back to the Lycan's hideaway, Lucian led me back to the laboratory, and he started to make the anecdotes for us right away after pulling out his briefcase from hiding and locating Singe's instructions.
"Wow, I didn't even see you sneak it in here," I marveled.
"That was the idea. That ensured that it was completely safe."
"Do you mind if I take it with me for a moment? There's something I have to get while I'm here," I said, trying to conceal my smile, an idea forming in my mind impulsively.
He looked at me in puzzlement, understandably not comprehending what I could possibly need in a city I'd never even been to before, but his eyes were trusting nonetheless. I appraised his body for a moment, memorizing his frame and its shape. "Alright..."
"Oh and don't book any flights back to America until I say you can."
"Actually because of the anecdotes it would be best if we travelled by boat so that we don't look too suspicious. Up in the air they would find two people carrying chemicals on board extremely dangerous."
"Okay. Well don't make any arrangements for us to leave just yet," I said, trying to contain my excitement.
"What are you planning?" he asked, grinning now. I obviously had not done a good job of being secretive and had given away that I had a plan.
"I'll meet you here in an hour or an hour and a half or so! Just get the anecdotes finished to occupy yourself."
I kissed him on his lips, lingering for a moment, and scuttled off into the city, my heart leaping with joy. I ran as fast as I could, and searched around until finally I found a bridal shop, and conveniently a tuxedo rental place right next door. Next, after I was finished with figuring out measurements and making my selection, I just had to find the nearest cathedral and find a priest who was willing to perform a last-minute ceremony.
A/N: Last chance for any sort of input on whether you'd prefer me to write my sequel, or to write my prequel next after this! I've already started on the prequel, but I'll have the story perfectly set up for the sequel if you want me to do that first. REVIEW and let me know!
And on the technical side, CAN werewolves/Lycans touch silver? Or is it completely off limits? I need to change what the engagement ring is made of if it's lethal or weakening for them to even touch/wear silver.