Annoyed, he sighed. “Do you really want to know?”
“Yes, I do, or I wouldn’t ask.”
“In a vampire’s world, humans are regarded as fodder and treated accordingly.”
His words shot unease into my stomach. I thought of cattle being herded into slaughter pens. I kept the disturbed look from my face, mostly. “All of us?”
His eyes scanned mine, watching with what I thought might be trepidation for my response. “Yes.”
“Oh.” I laid back onto my back and stared up at sky. I could feel his gaze on my face. I swung back to him. “So to you we are all inferior to your kind, in every way?”
“To me, Amelia, you are not, nor ever will be, food, and I will not treat you as such.”
“But you don’t think I’m equal?” I said with creeping discord.
He sat up, ran his hand roughly through his hair. I sat up beside him. He shot me a look of agitation. “Do I not treat you as an equal?”
“Yes.”
He threw out his hand in a gesture of exasperation. “Then there is your answer.”
“Well,” I shot back, “aside from when you try to boss me around, keep me confined to your house, order me to eat, demand I can’t go out. What was it you said?” I looked skyward, pulling the memory back, “Absolutely not, Amelia, I forbid it,” I mocked his voice. “And let’s not forget your superior vampire skills you constantly remind me of that us mere fragiles could never compete with.”
He exhaled heavily. “And you wonder why I do not answer your questions, you cannot cope with the answers.”
“I can cope, I would prefer truth rather than lies. It’s you who can’t cope with my response.”
We eyed each other in frustration. He shook his head slowly. “I have never met anyone who drives me as crazy as you do,” he said, turning to gaze to a point in the distance.
“Likewise,” I muttered under my breath. “You really can be such an ass sometimes.”
He swung back. “Yes, I can, and yet here you are.” He held out his palm.
“I must be stupid,” I said, glaring at the ground like it was the cause of our disagreement.
“Obviously,” he agreed.
I looked up, he had a boyish grin on his face, which soothed my mood instantly.
“You have to stop doing that,” I said, with mock frustration.
“Doing what?”
“Using your powers to win me over.”
“Powers? I smiled, Amelia, that’s hardly a power.”
“It is and you know it. You use your face as a weapon to suck us mere fragiles in,” I picked randomly at a few grass strands, plucking them from the ground.
He chuckled. “Is it working?”
“Every time,” I muttered. I plucked a strand of grass, its root popped from the ground. I dug a little hole with my finger and tucked it safely back in.
“You might want to water that strand of grass, or you could be responsible for its murder, that’s quite the burden to carry.” He grinned. The hazel of his eyes caught by the sun’s rays and the humor inside. Feeling a little silly and captured by his beauty I smiled in return. He reached over and planted a kiss againstthe side of my head. “I think you should come back later and read it a bedtime story, just to make sure it’s okay.”
I threw a backhander at his stomach, which he caught and wrapped his arms around me. We tumbled to the ground, laughing. I pulled his head toward mine and we kissed with such tenderness my whole body quivered and my groin stirred again. We stopped kissing and just laid there together. My head rested on his chest as his hand caressed my hair.
After some time, we both sat up and sipped our champagne again. I got up, stretched my arms back, my shoulder blades cracking. I wandered down to the stream, watching as a leaf bobbled with the flow of the water. Overhead, a group of birds sliced through the sky in unison. This place was stunning. I could live here forever, be with him forever.
