Page 101 of Love Lives
"I think the blood loss is getting to you." Aldrich laid an arm around Remy's shoulders. "C'mon. We'll check in with the others."
Remy didn't argue as Aldrich led him back in the direction of the house. Crimson was the first to greet them. "The Keepers disappeared," he said. "I think they got called off. I don’t know if they'll be back."
"I don't think they will," Caspar said. "If what happened here has happened all over the world... they'll be busy with other things, and this unofficial war is officially over, anyway." He exhaled, not quite in relief but something close to it, anyway.
"Let's go inside," Aldrich suggested. "Lick our wounds and catch up."
"Are you going to shift to lick your wounds?" Remy asked. He didn't manage a full smile as he said it, but he tried for one anyway. Aldrich appreciated the effort. It showed him that his armadillo was going to be just fine, given a day or two to process everything.
"What made you think it's my own wounds I want to lick?" he gave back.
Remy groaned. Aldrich gave him a grin and a nudge, and then they were inside the house.
Safe at last.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Two Months Later
We reclaimedour old family home after the events of that night. It wasn't easy at first, with all the memories that lingered, but we decided as a group, as a family, to make new ones. Not all of us moved into the house, though. Elena chose to go back to her own apartment just outside town, and I realized that Aldrich lived close to my place of employment.Suspiciouslyclose, really. Just across the street from the restaurant, in fact. He told me I could stay the night if that was more convenient for me. I did, and then over the course of a couple of weeks, more and more of my stuff ended up at his apartment. We never made it official, but we both knew I'd moved in.
Jared, Luke and Collin however, all moved back into the family house. With their respective partners, of course. I was a little surprised that Jared made that choice, but it was probably not a bad idea. This way, his and Collin's kids could grow up together. And Silas's dog loved having the run of the backyard.
We might not all live together anymore, but we made it a point to have family dinner once a week, usually on a Sunday. It was something we'd never done before, at least not during that year after Dad's passing--and before Collin had introduced us to his vampire boyfriend. I liked this new tradition, though.
Today, I was making minestrone for everyone.
"Are you almost done?" Aldrich asked, hovering behind me in the kitchen as if he was actually hungry too. As if he could eat what I was making.
Actually, he was never hungry these days. Not even for blood. He told me he wasn't sure if he even strictly needed it anymore. Some side effect of the God of Death bringing him back to life, maybe. We weren't sure. The other vampires weren't similarly affected. The only real change for them had been in reconnecting with their mortal souls. That, and they could walk in the sun now. Not a bad change at all, if you asked me.
Well, there was one more thing, but Aldrich had only heard this through the gossip mill. No more new vampires. No turnings. That didn't seem to work anymore.
Good,I thought, stirring my soup. Itwasalmost done, but I didn't feel like telling Aldrich that. "Why so impatient?" I asked instead.
"I'm not impatient. But the sooner you all eat, the sooner we can get back home." The vampire came up behind me and kissed the back of my neck, lightly scraping it with his teeth. Arousal zinged through me. But this was not the time. Or the place.
"Not now," I told him. "Not while--"
"Not while you're cooking, I know." Aldrich stepped back. "You're no fun."
Only because I didn't want to accidentally set the house on fire while Aldrich distracted me, but I didn't tell him that. He would have taken it as a compliment, no doubt. "Set the table if you're so impatient."
"Already taken care of."
When I turned to glance over into the dining room, I saw that he was correct. The table had already been set, and most of my family was seated around it. My lips twitched up in a smile. It was such a nice sight, everyone talking among themselves, happy, smiling... it was almost like before Dad had died. Well, if you added a few friendly vampires to the picture.
I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Some days it still felt hard to believe that we got to have this now.
"All right," I said, handing Aldrich a basket with bread. "Carry this over and I'll be along with the soup."
My vampire did as he was told, and I followed him with the main dish.
"Finally!" Elena greeted me as I walked into the room. "I'm starving!"
I set the pot on the table before lowering myself into the chair on her right--the one on her left being occupied by Caspar. "Hope you enjoy," I said.
