Bella Vita (2 page)

“
You know, he'll be your
grandpa too. Maybe you should get used to calling him Grandpa.” I
smiled up at him bashfully.

His cheeks blushed a gentle crimson. I
leaned toward him and kissed the reddish hue on his beautiful pale
skin, I could feel the warmed skin below my cool lips.

“
Sleep now,
mia bella
. The sun is
coming up, it'll keep the dream away.” He kissed the top of my head
and then helped me settle back into my bed.

I snuggled down into my pillow and as he
reached the door, I said, “ Thank you. For everything.” And with
that he left.

When I could feel the
evening air begin to creep into my stone towerish room, I decided
that I should get up.
I don't really want
to.
I felt unsure about all my
decisions.
What if I didn't want all of
this? No dreams, vampires, werewolves, death prophecies- none of
it! Maybe I just want to go back to my old life.
I knew it wasn't true. I had dreamed of getting
out of that town forever. I was different now and nothing I thought
could change that. I was just going to have to make the best of
it.

Our academic year started
in a week, but before that happened I needed to talk to Grandpa and
see Batty Betty.
Damn, I love that the
vampire seer pretends to be a little nutty, when she understands
more than most.
I made my decisions-
tomorrow I'd see my grandparents, today I'd make plans to see
Betty.

I grabbed the card she'd given me off my
nightstand and reached for my private line coffin phone.

I dialed the number, struggling with dialing
European numbers. The line rang twice.

“
Hello.” An oldish woman
with no accent answered the phone.

“
Hi, may I please speak to
Bettina, please?” I felt nervous and it made my stomach twist into
knots.

“
Ah, Emma Hutchinson. I
knew you'd call. Please call me Betty, Child.” Her voice slipped
back into her native English accent.

“
Hi Betty. How are you
doing?” I wasn't sure how to approach the topic.

“
I'm quite well, Child. Now
why don't you tell me why you've really called, besides your
prophecy, of course.” I was slightly shocked.

“
Well, um, I had, a, dream.
I had one before that came true, I'm sure this is the same kind of
dream.” I absently rubbed the scar near my neck on my back- it was
the slightest raised skin, but the same color of my own. It was
also a reminder of my last vision.

“
Ah. I see. You, yourself,
are a seer of sorts. I believe it's time for you to come see me. I
know your grandparents arrive tomorrow, so I think tomorrow evening
you should be on a plane to here. This, however, is a path you must
take on your own.” Her voice seemed darker.

“
I understand, Betty. I'll
make the arrangements. Thank you.” I didn't know what else to
say.

“
Do not fret, all isn't
lost. Take care of yourself until you find yourself here. Also,
take caution in who you tell about your latest vision. Your
grandfather already knows, I'm sure. Be safe, Young One. Goodbye
for now.” And she hung up.

I held the phone in my hand
and stared at it.
How does she
know?
If I were in fact a seer then I was
nothing like she was.
But would I want
that?
That was a question I couldn't
answer.

I hung up the phone and then dialed the
airport. I booked a first-class ticket to England, and tried to
figure out what I was going to say to Dominic.

I took a deep breath. My blanket was so
inviting, but I needed to interact with Dom. My plan needed to be
planted in his thoughts too. He had to believe I was going to visit
a family friend and he had to stay here.

I rolled off the bed and
felt the soft fluff of my thick floor rug. It was tempting to even
sink down on the ground and enjoy the comfort of my familiar room
instead of starting this process.
Stop
being an ass. Get up and go see him.
I
could've growled at myself, but I was right. I found my warm
squashy black slippers and pulled on my red terry cloth robe. The
static sound of my slippers scuffling along was a calming noise as
I walked downstairs. My stomach rumbled loudly when I passed the
kitchen.
Clearly, I'm a bit on the hungry
side.

Mia
bella
.
His voice
was like sweet honey.

Dom, where are you?
I sent back to him.

In the kitchen, I thought
you might be a little famished when you awoke.
I could hear his smile as his words floated in my
mind.

“
What's cookin' good
lookin'?” I asked as I was surrounded by the most delicious
smell.

He handed me a wine glass of blood- clearly
the staff had gone home for us to be out in the open like that.

“
Artichokes, green olives,
and sweet basil pizza.” His face shone with a slight film of sweat
from cooking- he looked quite yummy himself.

“
Sounds good.” I licked my
lips after I sipped on my drink.

I watched as Dom put the
last pieces on the pizza. I noticed flour sprinkled lightly across
the front of his black tank top- clearly he had leaned against the
counter while making the dough. His well-defined arms with their
elaborate tattoos shone slightly from the heat of the oven.
Man, I love those tattoos.
I started to wonder how he got them all- there were so many,
surely he couldn't get them all from each place he
studied.

“
Dom?” My voice was
unsure.

“
What's wrong,
mia bella
?” He asked as
he pushed the raw pizza into the glowing red mouth of the
oven.

“
I was, eh, just wondering
about your tats.” I had to fight off the urge to touch them- some
were raised with intentional scarring.

“
Oh.” He turned, his face
flushed with heat. “Well, it all started with my family crest.” He
held out his right wrist for me to look at his first
tat.

I ran my finger over the black ink with
small intricate red marks. It made me think back to when I'd turned
eighteen and dragged Mike to get tattoos- only find out that
everything was planned out for both Mike and I get our family
markings. I held up my wrist next to his. The family crests were
similar, but still different- mine had the black bat directly above
it, and it was red verse his black and red.

He touched the back of my hand and let it
linger there.

“
The rest I got during my
time that I was studying what all of this meant.” He was tracing a
design on the back of my hand.

“
But surely each one isn't
from a different location- there are so many.” I knew my face
showed the questions brewing inside.

“
Ah,
mia bella
. So many questions.” He
rubbed my worry lines that had appeared on my forehead. “No, each
one didn't come from a different location. Think of them as
representations of lessons learned.” He kissed my head.

“
Still, that is quite a bit
of lessons.” I wanted to understand more about the man that was to
be my husband one day-
someday
soon
.

“
Ah, but the lessons were
learned at each of the many places I was taught.” I could tell he
wasn't ready to confide more about this- which seemed odd because
of the topic.

“
Okay, so how about that
yummy pizza that is filling my head with hungry thoughts.” I slid
down my fangs to emphasize it.

“
Coming right up, my
hungry
principessa
.” He said
as he went to get the pizza.

The rest of the evening was spent eating
pizza as we watched old 80s movies in the theater room.

When I awoke in the
morning, I realized I had fallen asleep on the overstuffed comfy
couch. Dominic was sitting in a red cushy chair, reading an ancient
looking leather bound book. The drapes were pulled back just enough
to allow a beam of light to shine directly behind him.
He looks godlike
.
He looked up as if he'd heard my thoughts-
something that had become impossible unless I allowed
it.

“
Good morning,
mio angelo della notte
.
Did you sleep well?” He sounded so hopeful that my new dream had
not plagued me.

“
Wonderful.” I lied, “what
time is it?” I wanted to know if my grandparents had arrived- I was
on a tight schedule .

“
It's about eleven. Your
grandparents have just landed at that small airport we landed at.
We'll head over in about an hour. How about I get some breakfast
together while you get ready?” Dom's smile was like a shining star
in a pitch-black night.

“
Sure.” I suddenly felt
really nervous about talking to Grandpa about my new dream and
going to see Betty.
Would he cover for
me?

I went to my room and grabbed my comfy
traveling clothes that I could pretend was to be able to help my
grandparents unpack. I threw together a bag for a couple of nights-
I hadn't booked a return ticket because I wasn't sure how long this
would take. I hid it in the bottom of my closet and went to take a
shower in my glorious bathroom. I came out fully dressed and found
a tray with a cup of Dominic's delicious smelling hot chocolate and
a large Italian pastry. I ate it all with guilty pleasure.

I sat in my room, not wanting to really face
this day. Dom came and got me when we needed to leave- he was
dressed in attire similar to my own. The drive over to the ferry
was quiet, as was the ride over to the main land. I was still
trying to decide what to tell Dom to keep him here, when the boat
touched the land.

“
Why so quiet,
mia bella
?” I could tell
he was uncomfortable with the silence between us, especially
because we had a driver.

“
Oh, I don't know. Just
lost in thought I suppose. It will be nice to see my grandparents.”
I wanted to change the subject.

“
Yes, it'll be good to see
Grandpa and Grandma.” His eyes twinkled.

I smiled. “Yes, I'm sure they'll be glad to
see us.” It was great to have him finally addressing his future
grandparents as such.

My mind drifted back to
before Dom was in my life.
Would I be just
as happy if it were Mike?
I knew Grandpa
would accept him- Grandpa's secret was that he was the one that had
started the shared schools for vampires and werewolves. Grandma
would kill him if she found out.
I'd
probably be going to one of those schools with Mike.
I knew that future would never be, it was
important that I remembered that and focused on what I had. I
looked over at Dom and found him looking at me.

“
What?” I felt very
self-conscious.

“
Nothing,
mia bella
.” His
beautiful green eyes sparkled at me with a hidden
thought.

“
You know one day I'll
expand my gift into mind reading.” I teased but secretly wondered
if I could learn it.
It would be kind of
cool.

“
I've a feeling you could-
which is a tad bit frightening.” His white teeth gleamed as he
smiled at me.

I thought the drive over to my grandparents
new house would take forever, especially since we had fallen back
into silence, but the time flew by as I watched the beautiful
houses glide past the tinted windows and Dom seemed lost in
thought.

We arrived at their new villa about the same
time as the moving truck. I found it strange that they hadn't hired
someone to get the house ready before their arrival. But to my
surprise both my grandparents were helping the moving men empty out
the truck- and they looked happy.

Our car stopped and I bolted out, forgetting
to try and act human. Grandpa caught hold of me just as quickly-
thankfully the movers were inside.

“
Emma. I've missed you, my
little darling.” His bright eyes glittered the way they always
did.

“
Grandpa! I've missed you!”
I followed this with my silent message just for him.
I need to talk to you.

I know
. He smiled at me.

Dom walked up to us at a leisure pace. “Well
met Alfred, I do hope your trip went well.”

I frowned.
Always so serious, Dom.

It is respect for my
elders,
mia bella
.
He countered.

“
Yes, the trip was quite
nice. Thank you for inquiring. You won't mind helping Winfred
inside, would you? I'm afraid the movers will have a terrible time
with her.” He smiled a knowing smile- apparently Grandma liked to
chew peoples' heads off all the time and not just at
home.

“
I never mind a chance to
spend time with any of you. Emma, you'll be fine then?” I wondered
if I saw the hurt in his eyes like I heard the insecurity in his
voice.

“
Yeah, I'll be fine. I
heard Grandma badgering those poor guys and you know I'll just sit
and watch and Grandpa is too nice to say anything. Therefore, it
elicits you!” I kissed him on the cheek.