Chapter Twenty-Seven: Delicious Ambiguity

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.
- Gilda Radner

Friday, 11th August 2006
Lexie completes me.
She is my perfect fit - heart, body and soul.
ADS

My parents loaded the last suitcase into the car and slammed the boot closed. I watched from across the road, hidden in the shadows between two houses, as my brother and sister got into the car, followed by my parents. They were talking and laughing, looking as though they didn't have a care in the world. They were on their way to the airport for their holiday to Tuscany, Italy; a holiday I should have been joining them on.

They seemed to have forgotten me already. I couldn't blame them, I supposed. After all, I had been the one to leave. But it still hurt. It had only been two weeks since I'd left my family - one week since I'd killed Dracula. But I was trying not to think about that.

"Lexie?"

I almost jumped out of my skin at the sound of Alejandro's soft voice. I spun around to glare at him. "One of these days," I said, "we're going to have a long talk about how it's not nice to sneak up on people."

He grinned at me, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. I leaned back against him gratefully, resting my head on his chest. The injury he'd sustained fighting Dracula had faded to a faint pink scar. Our burns had healed too. We were two healthy, fighting fit vampires. "How are you doing?" he murmured against my ear, his breath stirring my hair. I could smell his strong, intensely masculine scent as I moulded against him, letting him support my weight.

"I'm okay." I watched as my dad started the engine and pulled out of the driveway before the car disappeared down the road. I tilted my head back to look into Alejandro's alluring golden eyes. He had one dark eyebrow raised sceptically. "Really, I'm all right," I said sincerely. "I...I'll miss them, obviously. I love them; they're my family. But you're my family too now, in a way. I'm happy with you. I love you."

Alejandro smiled widely, leaning down to plant a quick kiss on my lips. "You have no idea how pleased I am to hear that, mi amante. Te amo."

He took my hand, his skin warm against mine, and led me across the road to my house. I let us in using my key and we went up to my bedroom. I lifted up the mattress on my bed and brought out Alejandro's first diary. It had been hidden there for two weeks - it was one of only two diaries left. Only one hadn't been reduced to charcoal due to the fire at Alejandro's house: his most recent one. Somehow, that had survived the flames. All that remained of Alejandro's diaries was the beginning and end of his life to date.

There wasn't much left of Alejandro's mansion. It had been razed to the ground by the fire Tom had set. It was definitely unliveable, so Alejandro and I, along with his retinue, were staying in a hotel in London until we found a new house. I didn't care where I lived, so long as I was with Alejandro. He was all that mattered to me now.

Alejandro smiled as I handed him his diary. He leafed through the pages carefully. "Thank you, querida. I may be willing to forgive you for taking it in the first place, as your action means it was saved from the fire." He tried to look severe and failed.

I laughed and stuck my tongue out at him. "See? You owe me."

He chuckled and reached for me, pulling me up against him. My breasts brushed his chest, the folds of my skirt jutted around and between his trousers, and one foot slid between his. "I can make it up to you tonight," he whispered seductively.

I grinned, my fangs sliding out as a delighted shiver went down my spine. "I like the sound of that." I stood on tiptoes and kissed him, brushing my lips over his in a slow, sensuous way. He smiled against my mouth and deepened the kiss, my lips parting with a sigh of contentment. I felt a rush of lust and love as our lips and tongues tangled. Ours minds merged: we were two halves of a whole.

By the time we left the house we were both breathing hard, our hair was mussed, Alejandro's shirt was unbuttoned and my T-shirt was on back to front. We walked hand in hand, smiling, down the road to where Alejandro had parked his car. As Alejandro pulled away from the curb, I turned round in my seat to watch as my house disappeared round a corner. I didn't know when I would see it again, if ever.

I wasn't lying when I'd told Alejandro that I was okay with my decision to leave my family. In a perfect world, of course, I could tell them everything, but that wasn't the case. Things had to be this way. I didn't think my family would ever be able to handle the truth. I didn't want them to have to handle it. If I told them what I was, they would inevitably be sucked into my world. And my world was far too dangerous and bizarre for humans. I accepted that now.

I slanted a sideways look at Alejandro. The afternoon sun was reflecting off of his silky dark hair, his topaz eyes glowing as he concentrated on the road ahead, his olive skin shining in the sunlight. He looked handsome, strong, mysterious, and just...Alejandro. It still astounded me to think that he loved me - ordinary, boring Lexie. More than that, we were soul mates. We were destined to be together.

I never used to put much stock in fate. I'd always thought that people chose their own destiny. But in this case, I was glad I was wrong. Although I wasn't completely convinced it was fate that Alejandro and I had met in the lift, that he'd bitten me and turned me into a vampire, I did know that I could have been just a quick bite to Alejandro - instead, we were dating. And whether it was fate or not, I was thrilled that things had worked out this way.

It was such an inadequate word to describe our relationship: "dating". I was so much more than a girlfriend to him, and he was much more than just a boyfriend to me. We were friends, confidantes, partners, consorts, lovers - he was my inamorato, my One True Love. I didn't know how I had ever lived without him. All I knew was that I never wanted to again.

And I was finally at peace with myself. I'd fought being who I was for so long, but not anymore. Just because I was a vampire, it didn't mean I couldn't have a life. In fact, it wasn't until I had become a vampire that my life had really started.

I was a vampire.

And you know what? I was bloody proud of it.

There is a sequel to this story called Love Bites.