Chapter 108) In Aeternum – Part 1

“Your greatest awakening comes, when you are aware about your infinite nature.”

Excelsior Grand Hotel
Downtown San Myshuno

Sitting on one of the fancy loveseats in the fancy lobby of the Excelsior Grand Hotel, Blaine rubbed his face with both hands, letting out the groan of a man who has had a rough day, but smiled relieved when he looked up and saw Scarlett entering the hotel lobby, hurrying towards him. He got up to meet her, without a word she embraced him and they stood like this for a long time. It felt good. So good. Instinctively, she seemed to have known that this was exactly what he needed.

The past few months were full of things happening in Blaine’s life. None of it good in his book.
The deaths of his grandparents, succeeded by four of his distant relatives and neighbors, the Braxtons, perishing in a house fire, his cousin Jamie’s news about the drama with the unplanned pregnancy, which had caused Jamie’s long relationship with the expecting mother Averie to hang in the ropes, Kai proposing to his Cheyenne at Christmas which had him so preoccupied with wedding preparations now that Blaine barely saw him anymore. Then, upon returning home to Del Sol Valley after an extensive tour, he found his friends-with-benefits relationship with ex-fiancé Bristol had come to a sudden end when she flashed a big smile and an even bigger engagement ring, by another one of Blaine’s extended family members, Lucas McKenzie, meaning she would no longer be the safe and convenient way to release his tensions in the bedroom anymore. All that made him feel left behind, lonely, confused. Everyone was moving on, while he felt stuck.

Which leads to the here and now. Him and Scarlett secretly meeting in a luxury hotel in San Myshuno. Not exactly a new concept by a long shot, they had done this many times before. Another PR trip had brought him to the area, this time he didn’t even bother staying with family in Windenburg, too eager to reconnect with Scarlett as soon as possible.

“I didn’t expect you to be waiting for me down here. Can we go upstairs, quickly? I’d prefer being in your room over the lobby.” she whispered.

“Now we’re talking! Dang woman, can’t take another minute without me and my fun stick, huh? Now that’s an ego boost right there!”

“Yes, Blaine, that is exactly it. Couldn’t be the fact that I prefer to avoid having paparazzi taking pics of us together in a hotel lobby, smooching. Nor could I maybe want to talk to you some place where the walls don’t have ears. Oh no, it has to be my primal urges taking over, barely able to not just jump your bones right where we are standing. Oh baby, oh baby, yes yes – YES!” Scarlett ranted, purposely sarcastically.

“Wow and ouch! What got your panties in a bunch? Simple no would have been enough. And how is a man supposed to think straight with you looking like the perfect fusion between a sexy librarian and a real estate agent in your tight little secretary outfit with the hair up?” Blaine grinned, Scarlett let out an exasperated sigh, then headed for the elevators.

Once they entered Blaine’s hotel suite, Scarlett turned to him, a serious look on her face, about to say something, but Blaine cut her off before she could.

“No! Oh no no no no no! Scarlett wait! I know this look too well. Please, for all that is holy, don’t you lay any of those ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ lines on me now, followed by some calming mantras on how it would be good if we wouldn’t see each other anymore. I promise you, I will jump out of that window right now!”

“Goodness you drama queen. What sappy chick flicks have you been watching?! Those windows don’t even open.”

“I didn’t say I’d bother opening them!”

“That’s special glass, Blaine. You’d just bounce right off it, so save us both that trouble. It would take more than you have left in ya to get through for sure. How much did you have to drink already?”

“Just one glass while I waited for you .. wait … did my mom sic you on me?! You sound just like her. I am not drunk, I am desperate!”

“Blaine, you know what I am risking by coming here. My entire life is about to change in a huge way, one false move and I am taking my entire community down with me. I cannot be seen sneaking in and out of hotels with an alcoholic, sex-obsessed rock musician. I need a spotless white vest, once I start implementing my plan I’ll be under a constant magnifying glass, a concept you should be well familiar with. That alone is scary to someone who spent her life hiding, like me. Soon I will be out in the open, having to face everyone’s prejudice, and judge me they will. A young vampire woman among all those old mortal politicians trying to uproot everything everyone thought they knew, which all will try to deny, but can’t because I have proof, lots of it. The media circling over all of that. Yeah, I don’t want to have to worry about explaining what seems like some raunchy affair with a bad boy musician. That could really hurt my credibility.”

“Don’t I feel special now after so much love. Tell me how you really feel about me. Just have to yell it into the closet you are keeping me in.” Blaine’s words oozed sarcasm.

“Blaine, you do nothing but feed into the cliché of the womanizing musician bad boy. We both know most of that is an act, but that doesn’t help me. I am at the verge of getting the chance I have been working hard for. Daddy, Ri and Caelan are SO close to getting the majority of our Grand Master Elder Council to agree to me going public with what they spent millennia hiding and denying its existence, us, vampires. So close! It will be up for a vote soon, and then I, a young vampire woman, have to try to convince those dusty old vampire Elders that I am of sound enough character not to fuck it all up for all of us. If I can, that will be a major milestone for me, something that gives me a real future, meaning, and has potential to change the world for all vampires. To put it in your terms, if that passes, and I can make it work, that would be like building you a house made of Starlight Accolade awards, carpeted with stars for the walk of fame. It’s larger than life, Blaine!”

“Nah, I get it, you do not have to pre-chew the facts and spoon-feed their meaning to me like a toddler. I get how drastic that is. So, we’ll be more careful. No prob.”

“Well, your usual potty mouth makes it easy to forget how smart you really are … or can be, if you choose to.”

“Oh, so I am a selective dumbass then, yeah, that is much better. Thanks for clarifying. So, what exactly are you saying, Scarlett? Just know, if it includes the words ‘sorry, but I can’t/won’t see you ever again’ I am killing myself right here, right now, right in front of you. No joke.”

“Blaine, cut the drama! I could never say that to you. It would kill me too and you know that. No, I am saying we have to be very careful, more than before. Politics are a fickle mistress, I am at the edge of something so much bigger than all of us. I am way ahead of schedule and super-thrilled. If I succeed, if I play my cards right, maybe even during your lifetime we won’t have to hide at all anymore. I could be out there without lies. I could officially exist … vampires could have jobs – without fake IDs and made-up BS stories about heritage like me – their children would be acknowledged, could go to public schools, vampires could …”

“… have relationships and/or get married to mortals ….?” Blaine finished her sentence.

“Ah, yeah, sure, that too. Where did that come from now? Strange tunes from the dyed-in-the-wool bachelor.”

“Except I am not one of those. I’d be in a serious relationship in a heartbeat, if the right girl were available for it. Besides, I cannot escape being confronted with all that sappy relationship shit everywhere. Kai popped the question to Cheyenne and has already threatened that he wants me to be his best man, meaning one of these days in the not-too-distant future I get to be sweating my balls off in some penguin suit at some Sulani beach. Bristol is wedding dress shopping and I am 100% gonna be invited to that wedding since we’re related to the groom, means another time where I am either strangled by a tie or my mother, while I sit through watching my ex marry my around many corners cousin, and I am almost certain that within the next few months there will at least be an engagement ring, if not a wedding band on Jamie’s ‘we-are-sorta-broken-up-but-not-really’ baby momma’s finger. Almost everyone I know is married, getting married or is having babies. So ..”

“Aww, Jamie and Averie. I hated seeing them fall apart. Glad they are trying. What about Jordan and Jenna, any relationship leveling up or baby news there yet?”

“I don’t know, I think Jamie and Averie are trying. You can’t get a straight answer out of either. At least you don’t need industrial grade headphones anymore when they get together somewhere. My guess: once that baby is born they’re either married or history. I have no fucking clue about my other cousin’s family planning, nor am I gonna make the mistake and ask, but if you care this much, I’ll be sure to stick a pregnancy test in Jenna’s piss next time I see them. Now can we stay on topic here?”

“Sure. What topic? You being worried that I am breaking ties with you? I am not. The end. All better?”

“Yeah, better, but I am really hating this constant hiding, lying and sneaking. I want you to be with me, always, but at the very least when my family drums everyone together to kumbaya around a fire and celebrate shit. Everyone always has someone to smooch around on and crap, except me. That’s a fucking lonely place, Scarlett, especially since I DO have someone I would love to smooch around on for all to see.”

“Okay, if it’s just your family that’s fine, I can probably swing that. Especially if I know them well, like Jamie and Jordan. But as I was saying, we need to be extra careful in public, at least for a while. After that I think it no longer matters, one way or another.”

“Define ‘while‘.”

“Few years. Decade tops.”

“A DECADE?! Is that still ten years in vampire too?! Cos if it is, then all I gotta say is: are you out of your mind, woman?! How is that progress?! Ten years!”

“Blaine! It’s either that or never. Which one is longer, you think? And nobody set a timer. Maybe sooner. Or longer. I don’t know.”

“Fuck! I don’t know if I can make it. What exactly does that mean anyway? I can’t see you at all?”

“No. You can come see me in Forgotten Hollow, and I may be able to sneak over to see you whenever you’re visiting family. I just may not be able to do the hotel thing with you anymore or at least not as much as we have. Also, just so you know, I will have an official residence somewhere in San Myshuno, I won’t really live there, just a decoy, for normalcy sake and you definitely cannot show up there. Once it’s all out there and acceptance is high enough, I’ll flaunt who and what I am like a true Vatore should. And then the Elder Council won’t be able to help but acknowledge me. Daddy even thinks they might MAYBE make me an honorable member. If that came to be, I would be the first female EVER in the entire history of vampire … Just imagine Blaine. I’d be someone, and could really suck it to those dusty old, ancient council farts who have been ignoring me because I am a girl! Ha, I’ll show those rancid old bastards what I am made of!”

“Yeah, that’s great and all. So, are we still gonna screw tonight? Just asking because you going all female superhero while talking about girl power and vampire shit really got me all horny now and I could use an up after all the downs, pun fully intended.”

“You are such a nasty douchebag, Blaine! I don’t know why I even bother with you.”

“Cos I am such an amazing lay and you feel better afterwards too. Takes the tension away for sure, and girl, you are tense like an overstrung bow. Well?” he shrugged, grinning.

“Oh my god. So take off your damn clothes already. You are so lucky that I find you highly irresistible and that I actually missed you a lot and that I know you are just trying to push my buttons. That nasty mouth of yours, the crudeness, and that dirty mind are just something I’ll have to ignore.”

Blaine just smirked deviously when she couldn’t hide a smile, a light moan as he kissed her and touched her.

Before they knew it, both were shedding their clothing, her kisses became more and more demanding, her caress generated deep, throaty moans from him. Yes, this, a thousand times this! It was what he lived for now. This and his music. It was way more than physical between them, the bodily aspect just reaffirmed what they felt for each other which no words could describe.

Her lips found his, her now fully undressed body rubbed against his equally bare one, the feeling of her always cool skin and the sensation of her female form against his, the aura of that indiscernible floral scent that had been her signature for as long as he had known her, all that made his confusion and frustration disappear in an instant.

With one swift movement he had them both on the soft bed, when he already hungrily united them, her moans, her touches, her kisses, for the moment Blaine’s entire world was perfect and wonderful.

Afterwards, cuddled together in a lovers’ embrace, she traced patterns on his chest, taking him back to their very first time, when she had done exactly that. He smiled at the memory, when she quietly spoke.

“Something about vampires, Blaine. We can sense emotions, especially in those we are bonded with. I knew you were not in a good place, and that is the only reason you are still in one piece and don’t have one of my heels permanently wedged up your ass for being so crude and for calling me vampire chick again. I told you I hated that! Just an FYI.” she said quietly, making him chuckle.

“Copy that. Crude Blaine equals yucky bad and Scarlett no likey. Still, it worked, got us both laid and we’re both happier than before. But bonded? We’re bonded? What does that mean?”

TO BE CONTINUED 
Watch for Chapter 109) In Aeternum - Part 2 coming soon