Page 24 of Illuminated

“You just do. I don’t know what it would be like if you were to be woken by an unsuspecting human. I never met anyone who had that happen to them.”

“So there are other vampires? That you know, I mean.”

He kissed my cheek. “Yes, my sweet, though they are few.”

“And that werewolf that you mentioned?” I asked, turning to him in the darkness.

“They felt unnatural; magical. And the region had legends about people turning to wolves. They did not get close enough to me at the time to try for a conversation, and they didn’t seek me out later. If there are more werewolves than vampires, they are much better at hiding than we are,” he said.

I took that in. “You’re saying even if I never saw a vampire, at least not during the day, and if you only ever saw that one wolf, there might still be plenty more. Wow.”

“That’s right.” He took my hand into his free one, led it to his lips to kiss my knuckles. “You are getting cold. Should we head back?”

“All right,” I said and turned as he spun me in the soft sand in such a way that I was sure at least some was getting in my shoes, and by the way I could just about make out the cheeky expression on his face, he was doing it on purpose.

Brightam’s lights were -- much like its name promised -- bright against the sky. It was a beacon, and while those lights had been the reason I’d been able to see anything before, the walk back made it seem as if they were right ahead. The darkness that had hung in velvety softness above the ocean on the walk out was left behind us.

It felt like we had abandoned civilization and were now slowly returning to it. All that resonated with my photos all over again, but how exactly it fit into what I wanted to capture, I still wasn’t sure. It was a feeling, not an idea, not an image ready for me to snap, not yet.

“Yesterday, at the old house,” Auris said. “I said we could come back another time. It upset you. Will you tell me why?”

I looked up at him, his face outlined by the glow of lights from town. “I wasn’t upset. I… Well, that was just when I realized that last night had seemed… surreal, up until that point. And then you mentioned coming back so casually, but you were also saying there would be another time down the line when wecouldcome back, you know.”

“I had considered the future, and you hadn’t,” he said.

“Exactly.”

Abruptly, Auris stopped and pulled me toward him until I faced him, my hands on his chest. “And how about now? Would you like to talk about the future with me?”

I held his dark gaze. “Yes, I would. And I hope that you are in it. In my future, I mean.”

He didn’t move, turned into a statue that held me in an unshakable grip, a statue that kept me safe and close. Except, Auris was no statue at all.

“I will be, my sweet. I will be your future,” he said before he pulled me close, before his lips found mine. There wasn’t the kind of all-consuming need in this kiss, but I could tell it was a promise, like the sealing of something whose shape I couldn’t quite make out yet. I kissed him back in the same way with no one but the ocean behind us and the stars above taking note.

Chapter Five

We walked back to the cottage in silence. I felt so comfortable with him rather than awkward, enjoyed his steadiness, the way he was calm. Calming, even, a lot like the waves and the night around us.

I took my shoes off on the patio and shook out the sand that had collected in there while Auris headed back inside to work his magic with the fireplace.

When I closed the sliding glass door behind me, the flames crackled as they devoured fresh logs. I took my jacket off while Auris headed back to the bedroom to build yet another fire there. I walked along the hallway and watched him doing it from the door.

“You enjoy that, don’t you?”

“The fires? Certainly. Do you want me to show you how it’s done?”

I shook my head. “Why if I have an ancient vampire who’ll do it for me?”

He smiled a toothy smile at me. “Pressuring me into servitude, Ethan? So soon? Most lovers have the decency to wait at least a fortnight.”

“Not me. I have standards.”

He chuckled and turned back to his work, and I had the urge to photograph him.

“Hey, did you bring --” I began, but then spotted my camera bag behind the others on the floor of the room. “Don’t move,” I said as I dug for my camera.

“My sweet, you cannot hold still when making fire. It defies the purpose.”

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