10. Thunderstorm
They wandered amongst the trees, the back of the Cullen's house still in sight. Elizabeth had come down after speaking to Esme and had kissed Caius for all she was worth. When they had pulled apart they had both apologised and decided to talk about it all calmly and sensibly; they both knew that they loved one another too much to argue.
"Elizabeth you're not inferior to me in anyway," Caius said, continuing their talk, "In fact it's quite the reverse. Look how I've spent the past three thousand years or so." Elizabeth slipped her arm in his.
"I know alright," she said, "I was being silly – just like you were. There's no way you're too old for me. You're only twenty-six and I turn twenty-six in January."
"If you're going by physical age," Caius said, turning to her, "Then soon enough you'll be too old for me!"
"Fine," Elizabeth said, "Age isn't important in any way at all." She squeezed his arm and leant into him.
"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, "For running off like that. I'm not brilliant at dealing with emotions, bar the simple ones – like anger."
"Well that's changing isn't it?" Elizabeth said, "And anyway, neither am I. You remember how I ran off after our first kiss." Caius smiled and then stopped.
"Is this mad?" He asked. She turned to face him and smiled.
"Sanity is an illusion," she said, "Nobody's sane unless they take their own definition of sanity which, let's face it, is always completely made up." Caius laughed and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
"You should be a philosopher."
"Oh yeah right," Elizabeth said, "Because they solve so many problems." They both burst out laughing and Caius pulled her in to kiss. It lasted several minutes, or at least seemed to, and then they pulled gently apart.
"I think I saw a lake near here," Caius said once they'd stopped kissing.
"What?" Elizabeth asked, completely confused, "Caius? I..." She broke off as he lifted her effortlessly onto his back and took off running.
"It was beautiful," he told her as he ran, sprinting up the mountain with ease, "You'll see."
"Caius!" Elizabeth cried and then started giggling.
"Are you alright," he asked, worried.
"Yes," she replied, choking down her giggles, "It's just this is... just..." She trailed off; words couldn't explain what she was feeling: the adrenaline, the rush, the wonder of it all.
"Well hold on," Caius said, he still sounded a bit worried: perhaps fearing for her sanity, whether real or an illusion.
Soon they had crested the peak and were zooming down the other side. Elizabeth let out a shriek at this point: it was like the most wonderful and bizarre rollercoaster ride ever. After running a little further and putting a few more mountains behind them they came to the lake Caius had been talking about.
He stopped at the shore and Elizabeth slipped of his back, feeling ever so slightly unsteady on her feet.
"Are you alright?" He asked her, his arm supporting her around her waist. She nodded in response then gave him a coy smile.
"It is rather a warm day, wouldn't you say Caius?" She said and gave him a long kiss before pulling back and stripping down to her underwear. Then she turned and ran down into the lake, shrieking as she plunged into the water. Caius stood there slightly shocked for a moment before pulling off his own clothes and running after her.
The water was cold, but such things never bothered a vampire, though Caius wondered how Elizabeth could just splash straight into the water without a second thought. He swam over to her and she splashed him straight in the face. He raised an eyebrow; so that was how she wanted to play then?
He dived down deep below the surface, and stayed there for a long time, lying on his back at the base of the lake. He could see her kicking above him and hear her calling his name and laughing. Then he pushed off from the base of the lake and zoomed up beneath her. She let out a scream which turned into a laugh when she realized who it was.
The momentum of his rise to the surface managed to carry them both a couple of metres above the surface of the lake before they fell back into the cool water. Caius resurfaced first and felt a moment of panic when he couldn't see Elizabeth. Then he felt a warm hand on his ankle and she bobbed to the surface laughing.
"There's no chance in hell that I could pull you under is there?" She said, paddling closer to him.
"No," he replied, smirking, "Of course not." And he pulled her closer to him, that feeling of panic still fresh in his mind. He leant his forehead against hers, their lips only inches apart. He closed his eyes, his arms wrapped around her waist, and revelled in the feeling of her so close to him.
"Caius," she said. He opened his eyes.
"What?"
"Look..." She trailed off and he turned around. She was looking at the forest on the slopes of the mountain and the sky beyond.
It was cloudy; the sky caked in the condensed water. Despite this, by some beautiful chance, the sun had found a small gap in this wall and the golden light of dusk was bathing the forest leaves in a holy glow, turning them from a dull green to a wonderful golden yellow. This enlightened colour was at odds with the grey of the grim sky behind it. It made for an eerie scene; the pious colouring of the land at the mercy of the menace of the darkening sky.
"We should get back," he said, worried, "It looks like there'll be a storm."
"It's beautiful," she said, her eyes wide and her lips slightly parted, "Don't you think?"
"It is," he agreed and turned so he could fully see it. The floated in the water of the lake like this for some time; side by side, arms around each other, staring at the ominous beauty of the light, sky and trees. Then they heard a low growl which built like an orgasm and suddenly it started to rain.
"That'll be the storm you promised," Elizabeth said, smiling slightly. He nodded.
"We should get back."
They hurried back to the bank and pulled on their clothes, not having the time or the means to dry themselves off first. Then Elizabeth got onto his back and he ran off, back to the Cullens...
"You're soaking wet!" Esme said, appalled, "What were you two doing?"
"We went to a lake," Elizabeth replied, "Near here. It was beautiful." Esme sighed and shook her head.
"Alice went shopping without you in the end," she told her, "She's left the new clothes upstairs on your bed. And not a minute too soon."
"Thank you," Elizabeth said and hurried upstairs leaving Caius and Esme alone.
"Well you managed to dry off alright," Esme said, "How's that?"
"I was running," he said, "And it wasn't raining too hard, then at least." He turned to look out of the window. The rain was hammering it down, the drops on the window racing down to the ground in seconds.
"Well it is now," Esme said, then in a more serious voice, "Are you two ok?" Caius looked at her, and the smiled.
"Yes," he said then paused. "You spoke to her didn't you?" Esme nodded.
"And Carlisle spoke to you didn't he?"
"Yes," Caius said then gave a wry smile, "Have you two considered setting up a couples counselling business? You'd be good at it."
"What," Esme said, laughing, "And then specialise for immortal and human couples."
"What are you two talking about?" Carlisle came into the room, holding an open book. He looked about, "Where's Elizabeth?"
"She's gone upstairs to change," Esme said, slipping her arm around his waist, "Apparently these two went swimming and got a bit wet." Carlisle raised an eyebrow and looked over to Caius.
"We got caught in the beginning of this rain," he explained.
"So I'm guessing the two of you are alright now?" Carlisle asked.
"Yes," Caius nodded, "Thank you, both of you." He was very grateful to them both for talking rationally, being the voices of reason, but he wanted to see Elizabeth now, "If you'll excuse me," he said and hurried up the stairs.
He smiled when he heard Carlisle say to Esme; "Swimming; I suppose it is the perfect weather for ducks," and her laughing.
Elizabeth came out onto the landing as Caius reached the top of the stairs. She was wearing warmer clothes: a pair of jeans and a thick jumper. As soon as he came up the stairs she came over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"I've dried off now," she said looking up at him. He put his arms around her and pulled her close. They stood like that for awhile, entwined in one another's embrace, then the sounds of movement coming up the stairs moved them back into her bedroom.
"I was thinking," Elizabeth said, "Back home, I don't have many people I'd consider friends and no family, but there's one person – a university friend."
"You want to go back to England?" Caius asked, tucking one of her stray curls behind her ear.
"Yes," Elizabeth said, "I mean – the Cullens seem to think that Aro isn't looking for me and I know Francis will be wondering where I am, why I haven't called..."
"Is Francis your university friend?"
"Yes," Elizabeth said, "I'd just like to visit, with you: I'd like you two to meet."
"Of course," Caius said, "I'd love to meet Francis, the university friend."
Elizabeth smiled, and snuggled in closer to him. "When can we go?"
"We could go tomorrow, if you want," Caius said. Elizabeth looked up at him, eyes wide.
"Really," she said, "Because that would be amazing." Caius nodded and kissed the top of her head.
"I'll book the flights tonight."
A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while but I had a huge plot crisis. I changed something I thought quite small in the plot and then had to change a lot so I've been doing a lot of plot rehashing. Therefore I didn't have the time to actually write chapters but now I've sorted out the plot and am back to writing though the updates will be slower than they have been. Thanks for bearing with! :D
Anyway, I hope you liked that chapter and I am really excited about this new character, Francis, because it'll open up a bit more on Elizabeth's past and all that. Just a heads up for the next chapter: there will be explicit mention of adult themes. I have changed the rating of the whole story to M but I know people will have started reading it when it was a T so just so you know. Hopefully I'm just overreacting over the ratings but just in case.
Thanks for reading :D :D X