Chapter 8

"But, Ricky…"

"HELL NO!"

"Luke, this is not negotiable! Now quit playing around and get moving." Luke was having a fit once I told him about everything that happened last night with Alexander after he left. He didn't mind the part about Alexander wanting to be with his kids. That part made sense. And he loved the twins, so he'd never deny them the right to be with their father. Not that he could, but still. He also didn't mind me telling Alexander about him being a vrekener. Only because the kids already knew. But the part that he was being a drama queen over, was the no sex part.

When I woke up he had a juicy steak, and a wine glass filled with human blood, O positive, spiked with his own set up at the table for me. He also took the liberty of cleaning the mess he and Billy made around the house. It was obvious he was gearing up for a competition to win my heart. He even decided to leave his shirt off to peak my interest. So I decided to cut to the chase and let him know what's up and what's not up, if you know what I mean. Immediately, he started yelling and cussing up a storm, before everything was converted to his native language. When I told him I was officially celibate until Alexander could take me back, that's when his eyes turned completely black. It was like black ink spilling over. Right now he was pacing the living room with an XBox controller in his hand. He started playing Left 4 Dead, to take his anger out on the zombies, which I had no doubt that with each kill he envisioned Alexander.

"WE'RE GONNA BE LATE!" I screamed. "Alexander will be waiting." And here comes the horns. "Luke! I'm sorry, but please. I need to do this." I begged for him to understand. The doorbell rang and I grunted in frustration as I started stomping to the door. "WHAT?" I screamed to the poor unsuspecting Alexander. Well, just throw in a fat man and a salad and we'll have a hell of a show. "Oops, sorry, Alexander. I'm just having a hard time right now, I didn't expect you." I admired Alexander's stunning appearance. His waist long hair was gelled and pulled back into a pony-tail. He was wearing a black silk button-up shirt with two buttons on top undone, tucked into iron-crisped black pants, and shiny, black dress shoes. I always loved how well he could clean up.

"Sorry, I thought I'd see you before you left. I hope I wasn't intruding."

"No, it's fine. Please, come in." What the hell did I say that for? How am I going to ask him to come in with Luke riled up like that? You might as well call me Lucille Ball while I introduce you to Vrekener Ricardo.

"Thanks." He said. I cautiously led him inside and offered him a drink when he stopped dead in his tracks. I followed the direction he was looking in when lo and behold!

There's Ricky right now, sitting on the edge of the sofa, sending death glares with his glowing black eyes, and horns jutting from his skull. Don't forget, he had no shirt on, so the muscled body, pierced nipples, birthmark/tattoo, and Black ripped Levi's made him even less unapproachable. Nice, Luke. Real fuckin' nice. I gave Alexander some credit for not bolting, flinching, or backing away. I looked back at him and saw he was putting on a predator look as well. His irises were glowing bright red. He didn't hold back on baring his lengthy, sharp fangs either. Is there an immortal referee in the house? Nope, just me.

"LUKE!" I screamed, snapping their attention my way. "Good. Can you please get ready so we can go? If you make me late, I'm gonna snap off one of those horns." He growled and it was the kind of sound that a lion makes if it could whisper. Then he started arguing in his language as he stood up to leave. Then I turned to Alexander. "How do you like your blood? Is it still B positive warmed not boiled?" I asked remembering an old joke he made in the past about coffee for vampires.

He smiled and said, "With no cream." I felt a little joy inside that he remembered too. I prepared his drink while he sat at the table in my gothic decorated kitchen. I saw him look around when his eyes landed on a picture on the refrigerator door that Alex drew. It was a picture of the mansion and the Sterling family seal.

"Alex likes to draw." I told him. I walked over to the refrigerator, and grabbed a book I had put on top of it. It was an album I kept of the drawings our son drew, and the paintings from his father when we were dating. "He's an artist, like his dad." I said with pride as I handed him the book.

"'Alexander the Great'" he read the title aloud. His smile was so big that you wouldn't have thought he'd been ready to fight to the death in my living room. I watched him as he looked through the album. Then I handed him his drink in a skull mug and he took it without looking away. So I sat down next to him and commented and some parts.

"I started the scrapbook when I found a box that he kept in his closet. There were many other pictures but I only took the ones that related to you. New ones would be put up on the fridge for a while until I got around to adding them in. Look he even kept them dated on the back with his name." I showed him by pulling up a corner out of the flap. Together we looked through the album in silence. There were pictures of the mansion, the cemetery, depictions of what he thought his father looked like, us as a family, bats with chocolate drops for eyes. Pictures from the stories I told him of our adventures and Alexander's battles with Claude's gang and Jagger. Alex was quite the artist for a child. They looked clear and detailed. There were paintings that his father made, with his own imitation drawings next to them. There were even pictures of Alexander when he was dressed as Phoenix with purple hair, sunglasses, leather jacket, and a motorcycle. Alexander laughed at that. When we reached the empty pages, I got up and grabbed the drawing from the fridge and gave it to Alexander. He took it and examined it as a father would. "Will you do the honors?" I asked, waving my hand towards the book dramatically with a bow. He was very careful with the construction paper drawing, placing each corner into its designated pocket. When he finished, he closed the book gently and drank his beverage without a sound.

I felt the hairs on my neck stand and knew Luke was watching. I turned my head to see him leaning quietly against the wall… unarmed with his supernatural assets. However, as sensitive as my hearing is, I can never hear him coming when he wasn't stomping like a spoiled little boy. I smiled at him to let him know I appreciated him giving us the moment. He wasn't completely selfish, especially when it involved my kids. "Are you ready to go?" he asked solemnly.

"Yeah," I said. "Alexander?" I wanted to make sure he was ready to meet our little vamplings.

He cleared his throat before speaking. "Yeah, I'll wait for you at the mansion."

"Okay, well… we'll only be about fifteen to thirty minutes tops. I already told Aunt Lily to have them ready." He nodded in understanding and followed us out the back door. Luke walked ahead of us as he went out into the woods to the clearing where we met. Alexander walked beside me in silence. I wanted to give him assurance with Luke around so he knew where my heart was. I turned to him and kissed his lips like he did to me last night. What I wasn't expecting was for him to pull me in for a deeper kiss.

His hot tongue invaded my mouth to brush against my tongue. I welcomed it, and responded the same. It was a sweet kiss that lasted but a minute. I guess he was giving assurance too. I thought.

An agitated Luke interrupted the moment as he audibly cleared his throat. "We'll see you soon, you should get going." I told him. I turned around and walked towards Luke as he took off his shirt and stuffed it in his pocket. The markings on his back started to glow and slits on the inside of his shoulder blades began to part. The site always amazed me and I wondered what Alexander thought. Then Luke inhaled threw his nose. When he exhaled his wings sprang from the openings and stretched up and out. His coal-black feathers unfurled and ruffled. His wingspan was the length of his body. Showoff.

I didn't want Alexander to see me as I got into Luke's arms, so I looked over my shoulder to see if he was still there. Unfortunately, he was, and he was watching expressionless. I'm pretty sure that I'd kill a nun with a crucifix for a dagger just to hear his thoughts. "Let's get going, Rave," Luke called as he turned to face me.

I mouthed my apologies to Alexander for what he was about to witness. I didn't want him to think I am being wooed by Luke's appearance. I turned to Luke and grabbed his hand that was outstretched for me. Once he pulled me to his chest and lifted me with ease, I wrapped my legs around his waist and locked my ankles to his lower back. My arms went around his neck and I held on tightly preparing for the rush of speed his wings would bring us. Luke's arms tightened around me with one hand around my waist, and the other around my back. I buried my head in the crook of his neck when he turned around. I was too afraid to see Alexander's disapproval plastered on his face. Thank the seraphs Luke didn't linger to gloat, but instead took off. With a hard flap of his wings, we were rushed through the trees and airborne in seconds. Luke brought us above the night clouds to avoid attention and placed our bodies in a horizontal position, as if we were lying on the clouds. Every time we were like this, I blushed from memories of our lovemaking up here.

I noticed we weren't moving and looked up at Luke's face to ask 'what's the hold up'. "I don't want to do this, Raven," he said, "I don't like it." Luke has never cried in front of me before and I was afraid that he might start.

"Luke," I whispered.

"I'm not going to give up on you. Don't expect me to. I know you guys have something strong between you. I know you love him still. But I'm not blind, Raven! You've been in love with me for quite some time now. And don't deny it! I know when you're lying." I let out a sigh knowing this was going to be a real challenge and to have this talk meant he was going to make this difficult, even if it killed him. "We're going to talk about this sometime, about you and me, and what's really going on between us. You're not going to just decide on your life with him without considering your options." With that, he ended the conversation by flying full speed to Hipsterville where my babies were.