Months later, the sun was just beginning to rise on Los Angeles when Douglas woke to the feel of someone joining him in his bed. Not opening his eyes immediately, his lips still curled into a smile as he felt Eliot’s mouth covering his. After the kiss ended, Douglas finally opened his eyes and reached up to push back a few black curls from the face of his now thirty-three year old lover who still did have the face and body of a nineteen year old, due to that now permanent blood of Claire’s still running through his veins after nearly fifteen years.

“And what addiction was it that kept you awake all night this time?” Douglas greeted him with a smile as Eliot still leaned over him.

“Addiction?” Eliot responded with a curious look.

“Yes, was it the vampire herself, or the obsessive need to keep trying to find a way to save her?”

Eliot offered a scowl, short-lived though it was. “Those sound like pretty much the same addiction.”

“Imagine that” Douglas smirked back up at him.

Eliot just shook his head, but his smile soon returned, “but, I think I found something else that could really work.”

“Do tell.”

“What do you know about...” he paused to take a breath before finishing, “sex magic?”

Douglas couldn’t help his immediate chuckle before replying, “well, I know that even if it doesn’t work, it will likely still be quite... pleasurable to try.”

Eliot returned his smirk before replying, “glad you feel that way” but before he made any further explanation, he pushed himself up to his knees and moved his fingers to his already partially unbuttoned shirt.

Though, upon Eliot removing the shirt, Douglas gasped. His eyes widened at the sight of the still slightly bleeding symbol of an eye which was now carved into his flesh over his heart, “what the hell?”

Eliot just looked down with a slight breath before offering an answer, “It’ll heal in a few hours. Vampire blood and all. That’s the one drawback. It’s normally a permanent scar for most mages who have done this. But since I’m me, I’ll have to do it again when I try this with Claire tonight. But I wanted to test it out first with you, of course,” he added as he tried to ignore Douglas’ continued look of worry, instead moving on to begin unbuttoning his pants.

“That’s a hell of a drawback, Eliot,” Douglas told him with concern as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, trying not to get further distracted by Eliot’s continued undressing. “And what exactly are we trying again?” he asked as he pushed his own sleep-tangled locks from his face.

“It’s a sort of soul connection between you and a lover. If done right, then you can see a glimpse of their future. I could use it to find out exactly how and when this prophecy is going to happen. Then I’ll be able to try to figure out what I have to do to stop it,” Eliot explained with a desperate kind of hope in his voice as he finished undressing and then reached for Douglas’ trousers.

“Wait a moment,” Douglas stated as he covered Eliot’s hand with his, “soul connection?”

“Basically” he then paused, “What? Are you afraid of me seeing your future? Don’t worry I won’t tell you what I see. I know how badly that could go” he assured.

Douglas shook his head, “thanks. But, are you sure this would even work with Claire? All things considered.”

“What do you mean?” Eliot replied, finally ceasing his attempt at unbuttoning the other man’s pants.

“I mean, it’s Claire” Douglas stated pointedly.

“And?”

Douglas just shook his head, “but Eliot, are you even sure she...” he just looked down as Eliot’s gaze darkened.

“Sure she what?” Eliot prodded with a bit of coolness.

“You know what” Douglas stated softly, eyes cast down.

“What? You actually don’t believe that she has a soul? Is that what you are saying?” Eliot asked, obviously offended by that particular insinuation. After all, this was a woman who he had fallen so deeply in love with that his entire world view of who and what he was had changed. The way he felt about her had affected him so deeply that he himself had changed.

Douglas sighed heavily then. He hadn’t been trying to hurt Eliot with the question. But he also didn’t want to see Eliot giving in to false hope just to be destroyed by it. “You have to know that that’s what a lot of people believe about them” he reminded, though his voice was nearly a whisper.

“And how many of those people who know so much about vampires have ever actually even met one? Let alone spent nearly half of their entire life loving one?” Eliot shot back with increased volume.

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt if it doesn’t work, Eliot” Douglas stated apologetically.

“Yes. You’re quite right. I’ve been hurt enough, haven’t I? Which reminds me, what do I even need you for anymore anyway, Douglas?” he growled as he moved from the bed, snatching up his discarded clothing and storming out of the room with a slam of the door behind him.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

----------------------------------------

When Claire awoke on that warm California night, she smiled to find Sean still there next to her in bed. Normally he would give her a simple sweet kiss and then go about getting ready for another night full of his seemingly endless duties that came with overlooking the Kindred population of a rapidly growing human city.

“Starting late tonight?” she smiled again as she cuddled closer, wrapping her arms about his neck.

“Thinking about it” he responded as he turned to place a gentle kiss upon her head, his fingers curling in the silken black locks of her hair.

“What’s the occasion?” Claire asked as she moved to wrap her leg around him as well then.

Feeling her close what little distance had remained between their bodies, Sean also couldn’t help a smile, “I’m sure I can think of one” he then pulled her atop his hips, causing her short dressing gown to ride up around her own. He then gently pulled her down to him for a long kiss.

Both of them missing each other’s touch far more than either of them had realized until that moment, the kiss lasted quite some time. Slowly but surely, three hundred years of desire began rising back to the surface for both of them. Sean continued the kiss while reaching down to free himself from the front of the trousers he had slept in the night before, already commanding his body to harden at her nearness.

As Claire wore nothing under the gown, it took only another moment before he was sliding himself inside her. Both of them then began to intuitively move their bodies in unison with a knowledge of exactly how to please one another that had been easily gained over their centuries’ long love affair.

Once that mutual climax engulfed both of them in a wave of pleasure, Claire collapsed to his chest. Both of them held each other tightly through the afterglow, waiting for both their bodies to calm and cool to room temperature once more.

It was only a moment later when they heard the sound of someone clearing their throat from the doorway of the privy that led to the adjoining bedroom Claire spent many of her nights in. “Before you say it, I realize I should really learn to knock before entering this room unannounced” Eliot stated with more than a bit of nervousness as both of them turned their eyes to him.

“Eliot” Claire greeted him with a slightly scolding tone as she forced herself to end that intimate connection and awkwardly move off of her husband’s hips. Sean simply sighed in more than obvious annoyance as Claire moved off of him and he just as awkwardly pushed himself back into the trousers.

Eliot spoke with more than a little discomfort, his cheeks slightly reddened, “evening, fake Madame Bonaparte, also known as real Mrs. Beringer” he greeted her sheepishly, not able to pull his eyes from either of them as much as he wished he could have right then.

“And Mr. Beringer” Sean interjected pointedly as he made himself sit up and move to the edge of the bed, “aside from your inability to knock, you could have simply chosen to wait til we were done.”

“I sort of did” Eliot stated with a nervously forced smile.

“More done” Sean added sharply as he stood.

“You’re right. I’m...”

“Yes, I am right” Sean interrupted bluntly as he moved to retrieve a shirt for the night, while Claire simply remained sitting on the bed uncomfortably, keeping her eyes averted.

Eliot took a deep breath, trying to find anything else to say right then, though his distraction, which was caused by many factors right then, made that quite difficult, “you really recover from that... activity... quickly, don’t you?” he asked as Sean had already finished dressing.

Sean just shook his head, “they’re different for us than they are for you. I could do that ten more times right now if I wanted to. With the same results each time” he told him pointedly as he moved closer and spoke more quietly in Eliot’s ear, “think about that next time you finish” he told him with a condescending pat upon Eliot’s shoulder before leaving the room.

“All right then” Eliot breathed with an even brighter blush once Sean was gone, “I’m somehow equally aroused and feeling ten times more insecure, at the same time.”

Claire just shook her head, “you probably should have taken my advice.”

“Which advice was that?” Eliot asked her with narrowed eyes.

She just smirked but gave no answer, allowing him to mull over it, just to punish him for his interruption, “so, what couldn’t wait til we were... more done, then?′

“I didn’t even know you two still did that. I mean, three hundred years?”

Claire sighed, “less stammering, more answering.”

Eliot let out another ragged breath, casting one more glance at the door Sean had just departed through, though, as he stepped closer to the bed, Claire looked up at him with sudden worry.

“Are you hurt? What happened?” she said as she quickly stood, looking him over with worry.

“Pardon?”

“You’re bleeding” she stated with the same worry, moving her hands to pull his shirt downward, exposing the bloody symbol that had been cut into his chest for the second time that day. She gasped and looked even more worried as her eyes fell upon the injury.

“That’s very... eerie” Eliot allowed another shallow breath in response to how quickly she had known he was bleeding and had her attention drawn immediately to it.

“What’s eerie?” she then shook her head, “you’re the one with some symbol cut into your flesh.”

Eliot just shook his head, “but that’s part of why I guess I was in such a hurry to see you. It’ll heal soon.”

“What is it and why is it even there? I mean I can heal it right now for you, but explain.”

“Well I could heal it right now too, Claire” he reminded, “but, no, I don’t want it to heal” he told her quickly.

“And I’m the eerie one?” she asked with a raised brow.

Eliot shook his head once more, “I need it for a ritual.”

“Sounds like a shitty ritual” Claire replied, her eyes moving back to the still bloody gashes, trying to concentrate on his words more than the aroma of his blood which seemed even sweeter now than it had when she had tasted it all those years ago.

Eliot took another breath as he took her wrist to lead her back to his own room, speaking as they walked, “it’s a ritual that will let me see glimpses of the future. I could actually possibly tell you what’s going to happen and how and when. And it’ll make a lot more sense than anything Minna ever tries to tell anyone” he added.

“You can just make yourself have premonitions like that?” Claire asked, stunned, as the two now moved to sit upon his bed.

“Well, there’s a catch of course.”

“Of course,” she sighed, deflated.

“It’s not that bad of a catch, since yours is the only future I care about,” he smiled down at her before moving to accent his words by placing a long kiss over her lips.

When the kiss finally ended, Claire had to ask, “So what’s this catch then?”

"So far, I've only been able to look into the past. My own past. And it was only a glimpse. And I didn't really know what part of my own past I could go back and interact with. But it did show me something I needed to see. So, I'm hoping seeing the future will work like that as well. I'm hoping I'll travel to the part of your time line that I need to be able to see. Though, it may only be a glimpse. But first, we need to form a soul connection before I can even try," he informed, just so she wouldn't be expecting a miracle on this first attempt to change her fate.

Claire narrowed her eyes again. "Hoping? That only sounds slightly worrying. And how exactly does one make a ‘soul connection’ anyway?” she asked. Though instead of answering with words, he smiled and pulled her closer for yet another kiss.