Chapter 1
Sirous had everything set up the way that he wanted.He’d arrive at Brew’s for a week, where he’d talk to his friends and hang out with them all.After that, he would have his good friend, Yosef, kill him because that was the way that he wanted to go.
He did worry that he’d not be able to remove his head all in one slice, but he had faith in his friend, as they both knew that the sun would no longer kill him if he were caught out in it for an extended period of time.Yosef had agreed to do it long ago, and he wasn’t going to allow him to back out of the deal now.However, he did say that if he’d met his mate in the time from now until it was time to kill him, he’d not do it.He was just going to make sure that he didn’t meet anyone new for the next two weeks.That should be easy enough, as he’d been around for thousands of years and had never met her, so now wasn’t going to be any different.
Most vampires of his age had long since given up on finding their mates.They’d either made arrangements as he’d done to be killed, or they did something that made it so that the council would have to kill them.He preferred his method as he didn’t want to linger around waiting for someone to get around to knocking him off.Sirous thought that they’d make it hard on him, too, if he did something that would make them have to kill him.He didn’t want a lot of pain, just for it to be over with in record time.
However, he was looking forward to seeing Brew again and his new mate, Cally Lily.She sounded like she was the perfect match to the new king and was looking forward to bowing before him just to piss him off.And it would too, he had no doubt.
He could have willed himself to see Brew, but he wanted to see some things before it was gone from him forever.Like he wanted to see the sun setting over the ocean again, as well as see it rising in the same way.There were places he wanted to say goodbye to as well.Little shops that he’d frequented before that sold candles and good wines.He had invested and invested well in the little shop and was glad to see that it was still striving after all these decades.There were people that he wanted to say goodbye to as well.
All their good friends that he’d made over his lifetime.Yosef was one of many whom he’d like to talk to once more.To see Rutger to play a good game of chess, as well as Rance to just sit and talk about books with one more time.The other, Kenneth, was his best friend, and he didn’t care who knew it.But the man had been unlike any other vampire that he’d come across in all his years of roaming the earth.
He often wondered if he had a monster, what all vampires called their other half.Kenneth could charm a woman’s favors from her with just a look and a smile.Once when they were out together, he’d lined up three women for his bed, and they all knew about it.Still, they waited their turns and gave him a good time.He was like that.A charmer.And he loved him very much.
Sirous had had enough.He was bored out of his mind with the way things were, and he needed someone to take him to task and remove his head.It was the only way to kill one such as himself, and he was ready and willing to have it done to him.The very least that Yosef could do for him was to remove his head so that he could enjoy the afterlife, if there was one, fully.
As the train he was riding on slowed for another freight train to pass them, he enjoyed his glass of wine and watched the passengers.There were quite a few on board the large train, and he was just as excited to watch them as he was to see the scenery outside the large open windows of the dining car he was in.
He saw the couple that had gotten on board before him enjoying a late supper.He envied them their love—for now at least.Being humans, they didn’t know what perils would tear them apart, but he did.Seeing into their future, he knew that in less than one year, the man would cheat on his lovelybride and she would kill him and his lover.But for now, they were happy, and he supposed that was all one could hope for in this world of humans.He looked up when the waitstaff asked him if he was enjoying his trip.
“I am.I’m having a lovely time.”He ordered another glass of wine and told the staff member that he wouldn’t be partaking of dinner tonight when the others did.Sirous would grab something to eat on the midnight train so that he could enjoy it in peace.Not that anyone on the train was making a lot of noise, but he’d had enough of the humans around him and wanted to catch a nap while they slumbered in their beds.He tipped the young man when he returned with his new glass of red wine.
Sirous could eat should he want to.It wouldn’t fill him up like fresh blood did, but he could blend in when necessary.He could also leave the train and return fulfilled, and no one would be the wiser.It was one of the perks he enjoyed at being as old as he was.Again, he was tired of the magic that would get him into trouble at times, like seeing the future of some of the patrons on the train.He didn’t tell them, of course, that would just bring unwanted attention to himself.
He knew that the young man who had been serving him tonight was going to die in ten years.He’d take a lover who wasn’t as kind as he was, and he would end up killing the younger man.The woman who changed his bed linens would go on to become a great lawyer in her own right, and she would take on cases that meant the world to others.She would be, with all the others on the ride, the only one who did something productive with her life and lived well beyond her years.
Having contact with so many people on the train gave him a bit of a view on all their futures.Some of them were good lives; most were not.He even knew that the baby that had come on the trip with his parents for some quality time together would become a mass murderer and blame it on his kind parents.They had given him all that he needed, but not what he wanted, and that was everything that he saw.It would take years for them to come to terms with the fact that they’d not been the ones who had caused him to kill women.It has always been in his head that he deserved more than they were giving him, and that’s what made him a bigger monster than even Sirous was when he was angry.
As the supper car was being filled with guests, he made his way back to his cabin.It was more than enough for him.Using his considerable magic, he had magically enhanced the room so that while it appeared to be the same size as all the others, he had his own bed as well as a shower and bathroom in his room.He didn’t like sharing things like that and was just as happy to make sure that he didn’t have to.Pulling down the book he’d been reading, he laid back on his bed and read until the sun had set and the darkness of the night was all there was.Not even a bright star in the sky could invade the darkness that he so loved.He felt someone touch his mind and smiled when he realized that it was Brew.
“Kenneth has arrived and is in good spirits.Though I don’t know of a time when he wasn’t.He said that he’s looking forward to seeing you again after so long.”He said that he was looking forward to seeing them all again.“Yosef told me what your plan is.I’ve not told my Calla Lily as she will be upset by your plans.However, you will have to tell her yourself when you see her.And hell hath no fury like my matewhen she thinks an injustice has occurred.And she will think that when she finds out you wish to have your head removed.”
“I shall tell her what I told you.I’m much too old to be going around doing the same things daily.I’ve been around longer than her, so I know what I’m about.”He thought about asking Brew if he knew that his mate was breeding, but figured that he’d know.Being the king of their kind, he’d have special magic that would be needed to keep her safe now that she was going to have a child.“Why do I have the feeling that she is right now lining up a bunch of single women to see if any of them are our mates?Do you suppose that she has any idea how long I’ve been looking myself?I’ve given up, my dear friend, and that’s the way that I want it.”
“I understand.I wanted the same thing before she came into my life.”He said that he was lucky.“Yes, I am.And I feel so more every day of my life with her around.She is my world and keeps me on my toes daily.I love her.”
“Of course you do.”They both laughed.They talked about the others coming to town in much the same manner that he was.Taking their time in coming so that they could see a bit more of the ever-changing world that they all had had a part in creating.“What of the magic that you have now?Are youstronger than you were before?I’m betting that your mother is very jealous of it all.She’s a lovely woman, your mother.”
“She’s coming to town as well.In fact, I’m expecting her anytime now.She said that she wanted to get some things from storage to bring to Calla, but she didn’t say what she would bring.I can only hope that it’s nothing from my childhood.She’d be the only one who could embarrassme like none other.”He laughed at the image of Mother Smith bringing out things that Brew had made her when he was no more than a babe.It would do him a world of good to see the big vampire embarrassed, and he told him so.“Did you know that when I became king, we got some faeries that came to the house?I’ve never seen the like of them.There are quite a few of them around us at all times, but the most important thing is that they’re here only to serve us.The household has never been so full before.”
“I heard how your lady wife went over your books and found that you were paying a dead woman’s family.And quite a few other things you were overpaying for as well.Good forher.If I didn’t do my own books, like I told you to do several times in our lives together, I’d be worried as to what she’d find in my books too.”He was told how she went over Conri’s books and found a great deal of money when the adding had been off by thousands of dollars.“Good for him.I’m sure that his pack could use it.Are they still looking for work around the town?I’ve seen in his future that great things are coming his way for himself and his pack.”
“He’ll be happy to hear that.I know that I am.”He didn’t say anything more and was glad that Brew didn’t ask him about it.There would be some bad that came with the good news, and he was sure that his friend knew that.“When can we pick you up?I’m sure that you might have told me, but let me get it straight in my head.”
“I will be at your home in one week.I’ve some things that I have to take care of once I’m off my trip here, and then I’ll be on your doorstep.I’m to understand that you’ve made some improvements to your home since I was there last.I will need to be invited in because of the status that you now have.”
“You are very welcome, and you know it.Forever if you wish.”He didn’t take the bait in telling him that he’d not be around forever because he was finished with this world.Instead, he told him that he was looking forward to meeting his mate and seeing their friends again.That was the best he could do under the circumstances.“I will see you in one week then.And until then, you enjoy your trip.Know too that I love you like a brother and will, no matter what happens.”
He had a moment of worry when it occurred to him that Brew could now order him to live.He might well be planning that, but he doubted that it would come to that.Brew was a good friend and knew the trials of living for so long.He’d been lucky in finding his mate, and he wanted the best in the world for them both.He put his book away in favor of doing one of his errands now and left the train.
There were several investments that he’d made just before deciding that he wanted to die.Looking over the books in the newest adventure, he was satisfied that things were going the way that he thought they should.He couldn’t see the futures on things like investments, and it had taken him a long time to get as good as he was with them.But once he decided on something like this little venture, he knew that he’d be making money until the end of time.And leaving everything to Brew as his king, he knew that he’d put his money to good use when the time came.He only hoped that he’d forgive him for leaving things the way that they were and do what he wanted.Some of his money would go to his best friends, and the rest would be for Brew and his lovely new mate, Calla Lily.What a beautiful sounding name.
~*~
Brew watched as Calla put on a robe.He knew her body as well as he did his own and loved every inch of her.They’d made love for the third time today, and he could never get enough of her.As it was now, he was getting very little done in his office because he wanted to spend time with his mate.She turned to look at him as he stared at her fine ass.
“There is more to life than just making love, you know.”He asked her if she had enjoyed it.“I came five times, I’m sure you know that I did.Are you fishing for compliments?I have them for you, but I fear it will go to your head and you’ll try to outdo yourself.I don’t know that I can take much more of your lovemaking than I have right now.”
