Confessions Of A Vampire (20 page)

I reasoned that at least he wanted to be with me. I tried convincing myself that with Draven I could be happy again. I pushed all those thoughts of why I'd divorced him in the first place down and tried to tell myself that none of that mattered. Draven loved me, or so he said and I deserved to be loved.

And I did. I tried. I tried my best to let him love me again, but I couldn't. It had been a couple of months since Severus had left and I simply vanished. I just couldn't be in this realm anymore so I ran. It wasn't the first time I'd just up and left Draven but it would be the last.
Star later told me that it had devastated my former husband and that he’d spent all of his time trying to find me. He even went as far as hiring trackers. Of course it was all to no avail. If I didn’t want to be found, not even the best of the best trackers could have done so.

“What did his attorney want?”

It was a simple question but not such a simple answer. I shrugged and turned away from Aaron then. I didn't want him to see the regret in my eyes or to know that I was ashamed of all the pain I'd caused a man that had loved me.

“He wanted to let me know that Draven had met his final death.” My answer was quiet and Aaron watched me closely as I continued. “Draven had left his entire estate to me.”

“How did you feel about that? After everything that
had
happened, I mean.”

“I was shocked at first but agreed to come in and sign the papers. I wasn't really expecting everything that I found out but I think Draven did it on purpose. I think he wanted me to know that he was connected to my maker.”
“How was he connected?” Aaron was asking things I knew would come and I wanted to be honest. This was all part of the story and explained so much.

The memory was fresh in my mind since it had just happened and I let it flow off of my tongue with ease.

Chapter Twenty-F
ive

When I’d collected all of the paperwork from the attorney, I’d been handed a key along with a note. The note explained that I’d find all the answers I needed at a bank in New Orleans. So I made the trip and found the bank. After being led into the vault,
I slipped the key into the
security deposit box and opened
it cautiously. I wasn't sure what I'd find in there, but Draven had obviously thought it valuable enough to protect it.

I raised a brow as I picked up my engagement ring and diamond wedding band form the time we were married. I l
ooked down at my ring finger
, smiling to see the black diamond and plain platinum band that rested comfortably on it now. Setting the old rings down on the polished tabletop, I pulled out a large
manila
envelope. Putting a nail under the seal, I opened it without hesitation.

Inside I found stocks, quite a lot of stocks actually. Thumbing through them, I grinned to find Microsoft and Apple stocks. Draven had always had a good head for business and he'd left me enough money with those to keep me in Jimmy Choos for several centuries to come.

I leaned on the table, studying the pile of papers that lay before me and that's when I saw something that sent me reeling. My maker's name was printed on a page that gave information about some of the property my former husband owned. My brow
rose
again and I started going back over each page, shocked to find Kieran's name on several more.

As I scratched my head I started trying to figure out how and why my maker would be connected to Draven and then it dawned on me. They shared a last name. Could it be? Did Draven and I share the same maker?

That's when I began to piece together our relationship. When I'd first met Draven he seemed
to have known more about me than
possible if we'd just met. Looking back I realized that all the signs had been there
but I’d been too swept up in the emotions of the time to notice
. Draven shared several things with his maker, besides his last name. He had Kieran's temper and hated that I was a natural born flirt. He'd grow very possessive if he thought I fancied someone other than him.

The more I thought about it, th
e more I saw the connection.
I
started
to question if he'd found me in an effort to destroy me for what I'd done to our maker. It would have made sense, but why would he abandon a plan to destroy me?

The only thing I could think of was that
found himself in love with me a
nd in my eyes that made him a weak and silly vampire, but I understood it. You can't help who you fall in love with and to be honest, my life probably would have been easier if I'd had been able to return his love.

But
the
one thing I was certain about? My life would have been boring as hell with Draven. I thanked Lucifer every single night for bringing Severus into my life and teaching me what true, passionate love is. No matter how hard life could be with him, it was a life filled with love.

“So, Kieran was Draven's maker as well?”

I nodded and ran a hand through my recently dyed blonde locks. “Yes,
a bit incestuous, I know, but
according to the papers I found, he inherited nothing when Star staked Kieran.
I’m pretty sure that’s why he came looking for me. He wanted what he thought was rightfully his. I’m pretty sure h
e'd also been searching for the truth on how Kieran had met true death for centuries.”

“Did he ever find anything?”

I saw the worry etched on Aaron's face and smiled warmly. “No, there was nothing to be found now was there? Star and I made sure that no one could pin it on us. I played the grieving wife to perfection and the state settled his estate quickly since we'd married under human laws. Besides
,
back then, we were still just folklore and no one would have believed anyone who tried to tell them that Kieran Blood had been staked by his sister
-
in
-
law who also happened to be a vampire.
I really do miss that time period sometimes. It was so much easier to get away with killing someone and be able to blame it on the monsters everyone feared. Of course, I was the monster that they had nightmares about but I didn’t look like a monster so they never once suspected.
”

“So how did he come to find you?”

It was another simple question that didn't have quite as simple an answer. I shrugged my shoulders and told him what I knew from the notes I'd found in his belongings.

“It seems he was looking for Kieran for help with a problem he was having when our maker met true death. Losing a maker is almost as bad as losing a child. Many vampires end up going to ground for long periods of time when they lose a maker or a bonded. The loss is overwhelming and torturous at best. Apparently Draven did just that, and when he
arose
he set about trying to find who was responsible for Kieran's final death. What he found was, well, me. I don't think he expected to find that he had a vampire sibling or that his maker had married her.”

“He never let on that Kieran Blood was his maker too?”

“No, not once. I'd have been a lot more cautious around him if I had known. Given that Star and I essentially planned Kieran's murder then executed that plan, I sure wouldn't have been marrying another progeny of his.
I like to live dangerously but I’m not stupid.
”

Aaron let it all sink in for some time before he spoke again. “Do you think he wanted you to know the truth?”

“Yes, I think that he did, but I also think that Draven believed he was in love with me and didn't want to hurt me, even though I'd hurt him repeatedly. He could have used that information anytime he'd wanted to try to come between me and Severus
but he never did
. I can't speak for him, but I felt the love he had for me and it was real. He could finally let me in on the secret he'd kept for hundreds of years at his death.”

“Would it really have changed anything though? Mrs. Severus, you said yourself that you loved your husband in ways that didn't make sense. So how could anything Draven
might
have said have changed that?”

I took a sip of my tea and tried to find the way to explain the complicated world of vampire loyalty to this breather. I'd almost forgotten that he wasn't a part of our world.

“It's complicated, but had Draven made it known that he and I shared a maker, he could have insisted that I swear loyalty to him. It would have been hard to not do so because we are drawn to those we share a maker with. We share the same blood, so the connection is too strong to ignore. I suppose that is why I took to Draven as quickly as I did.”

“But you didn't love him.”

“No, I did not love him. Not the way he wanted me to anyway. Perhaps if I'd never have met Severus, I could have loved Draven enough to stay with him. But it was already too late
,
long before our paths crossed. That chance meeting with Severus in 1342 was all it took. My heart has belonged to
him since that night in London
.”

“And yet you still married Draven.”

“Yes, well, you see, as I've explained, I didn't think Severus would ever be an option for me and I was just trying to be happy with what I had. Of course I could never get him out of my mind or my heart.”

He nodded then, and I was sure he had more questions but he wasn't sure he should ask them. Luckily for him my darling husband chose that moment to make an appearance.

The smile brightened the entire room as he leaned down and kissed my cheek. In a shocking move, Severus turned to Aaron and said hello. For the first time since I could remember, he was making an effort to notice the other people around us. And for a split second, I was hurt. I know it sounds silly, but there was a time, not that long ago that he'd never have noticed another soul in the room. As my smile faded a bit, Severus and Aaron struck up an easy conversation. I could tell that Aaron was happy to hear Sev's side of things, even if it was just for a short time. I found myself reliving the tale as my husband told it.

Chapter Twenty-S
ix

His touch electrified my skin and it wasn't the first time. We were happy, happier than we'd been in quite a long time. Our lives were going good, the girls were growing fast and we'd made Rome our permanent home. Severus was once again making the effort to be home. Lucifer had actually given us a break as he focused on this new love he'd decided was what he wanted and I wasn't about to complain.

We were standing just outside the house, looking out over the vast estate that we called home. His arms wrapped around my waist as I leaned back into him. I could feel the heat radiating from him and it warmed me.

He'd often talked about how he loved the feel of my cold flesh against his. We were the perfect contrast he'd said when we first met. And we were. I thought of how different we were and I knew that he was thinking the same. This bond of ours was often just as much a curse as it was a blessing at times.

I could see the way I looked in his eyes. To Severus I was beautiful. He loved this version of me just as
much as he had the previous.
I could see the comparisons he made and it warmed my heart to know that he actually preferred me this way. He claimed that my body finally matched my insides. I'd laughed then, but he'd been so right.

Before I'd been tall and thin, a model's figure. My strikingly pale blonde hair and even paler skin had made me seem almost ethereal at times. I was classically beautiful but it didn't fit who I really was.

As his arms tightened around me I could see that now, at least in his mind, I matched inside and out. This rebellious little vampire looked the part perfectly now. My pink and black hair was cut in layers that seemed to frame my delicate face. I was short and looked fragile and my husband whispered in my ear that he loved that about me.

I turned in his embrace to study the man I'd loved almost my whole existence. He hadn't aged a day. His body was muscled and tan, his dark hair fell in waves and
more
often
than not
a stray lock seemed to hover just above his eyes. We were a study in contrasts but together we were a striking pair.