She laid there wishing that she could not hear his heart beat or feel his warmth. She wished he was as cold as other species felt he was.
That way she would be able to walk away. That way she could be seen as normal. That way she would not feel like some type of anomaly.
She would not need to hide her love from the world.
But she could hear his heart beat and feel his warmth and when she was near him like this there was no other place she wanted to be.
And she would do what ever she had to in order to be with him.
It was too late. She loved him now and there was no going back to the way that it once was.
She was human and he was a vampire and they loved each other beyond reason or clear understanding.
And the fact that she could wield magic just as well as most ancient vampires did not make her situation any better. But he didn't truly understand the extent of it. He knew she could cast but he didn't understand just how powerful she was.
This was not because of her. Once he understood she could cast to say he freaked out would be a gross understatement. He forbade her from ever casting again and said they would speak about it later.
That was over eight months ago and she was still waiting for that conversation.
But she wanted him to know. She did not want to have one single or minuscule secret when it came to him. She wanted him to know everything that she was to the smallest detail. So him not knowing the full extent of it caused her quite a bit of distress.
She began wielding magic when she was three years old. When her parents found out, on her fifth birthday, they told her to never do it again. She was frightened for years but still she continued practicing in secret. Even her parents hadn't known.
She had a compulsion to practice. Her body demanded that her ability continued to grow consistently. She understood a long time ago that she was very powerful but never just how powerful.
Now she was nineteen. No one knew she wielded magic but it was suspected that someone in their village did.
She had decided to help when there was a problem with crops and when disease ravaged the area. She felt she was actually discovered when she saved her young cousin from a deadly fall. But no one ever suspected her.
Which was a bit curious but she decided to ignore the peculiarity.
She had been in such a rush to help the child that she did it without thought and it did not look natural or coincidental at all.
At first she was mad at herself for the exposure but then she realized that no one accused her or looked at her oddly. Not even her parents gave a thought to think it was her doing.
Then she met him.
Her fingers slid across his chest as she thought about the first time they had met.
He rode into the village on the back of a black and white panar, a horse like creature with six legs and a short bushy tail. He was there to investigate the use of magic. He was not there to investigate anything she had done. It was routine to investigate rural areas twice a year. This was to capture any humans who may have even the tiniest bit of ability.
It was illegal for humans to wield magic in Evercrest.
Many millennia ago both humans and ancient vampires lived together in peace and both wielded magic. The only differences in their magics were that vampires wielded magics of nature while humans could wield all types with the exception of nature magics.
In time some humans wanted the long life of the ancient vampires and began hunting them to gain it. They decided that they needed to hunt the ancient vampires and experiment on them to find out their "secret" of immortality.
They finally felt, after hundreds of years of ambush and covert experimentation, that if they drank the blood of the vampires they would gain immortality. When they captured the vampires they quickly drained their blood and used elemental magics to enhance its vitality before drinking it in a ritual their leader, Valess, created.
Valess was the first to drink the blood, only a sip was needed. He quickly became taller, his skin became craggy like the bark of an ancient tree, and his hair became coarse and brittle like dry twigs or roots.
But he gained the immortality of the ancient vampires. Others drank after him, none caring about the outward changes.
They changed in this way due to the fact that vampires were creatures of nature. They were healers and creators of life. And killing them in this way and reaping an award for this act placed a curse on the killer.
Ancient Vampires were like this, in part, due to the fact that they sustained their lives with the life essence of all things. Their favorite foods being wild grown produce.
They held a fruit or vegetable in their hand and drained the life essence from it. The more vital the item the more life essence but they felt things grown in the wild, by their own devices or found by luck had the most perfect "ethereal" taste.
They did not understand the consumption of animal flesh.
The humans who became vampires called themselves true vampires and they began hunting vampires in earnest. This was because the true vampires needed the blood of the ancient vampires to live. Without the blood, of the ancient vampires they withered and died like plants left without water.
They hunted the ancient vampires to near extinction before the ancient vampires regained control and pushed the true vampires from their lands.
Soon after they were pushed out the ancient vampires took over the rule of Evercrest and forbade all humans from wielding magic. Any human found to have any ability was strictly monitored and if they cast a spell, completed a ritual, or the like they were killed without question.
It took centuries for this law to calm and finally change to no human being able to wield magic unless in the service of the ancient vampires and with strict monitoring.
When he, Dylan, rode into town she, Suzan, was instantly thrown into a daze. It was like her soul was speared by something white hot and she could not look away from his face.
As she stared his gaze turned to her and froze as well. They stared at each other for long moments and they both knew.
That night they found each other. All they could do was stare at each other at first then Suzan broke the spell with a wide beautiful smile. Dylan blinked twice and returned her smile with a beautiful one of his own.
That night they spoke until just before dawn when he left her to return to his guard.
Now she laid on his chest feeling his warmth and knowing his love for her.
Yesterday he had returned to her village of Eversea for her. They kept their secret from all except his guard but now he wanted her with him. He had come for her to take her to his lands and castle in the west of Evercrest.
He and his guard had a sense of urgency about them that made her nervous. She had asked him why she needed to leave several times and he just told her to wait.
But it made her heart worry not to know.
This is why she lie awake restless wondering if loving him was wrong.
His hand gently grabbed hers. She froze.
"Tell me what you're thinking about? Your heart rests then flutters and rests again over and over again. What is going through your mind? Tell me."
He paused, allowing her to respond. After a long moment of silence Suzan could only swallow twice. He sighed.
"You do not trust me."
They laid in silence for some time, she opened and closed her mouth several times within that silence. Finally she sighed as well.
Here she was stalling and he knew something was amiss and yet he had not moved an inch. Something clicked within her.
"I trust you but I also know you have a duty."
"My 'duty' is to you first my love. Nothing you tell me will change that. Absolutely nothing."
She sighed again.
"You know that I have been wielding magic since I was three years old." She paused again. "My ability is on par with the ancient vampires."
There was silence. Dylan's heart rate had never changed, his breathing was calm, and he had not moved.
As he spoke she heard the smile on his face and the love in his heart.
"I know. That is why I am here for you. That is why you must live on my lands in the west."
"You know? How long have you known?"
There was a pause.
"Probably more than a year. Your magic is very unique. It is of the ancients but of the humans as well. It is inexplicable. This is why I told you not to wield and that I would explain later. Now you are nineteen and for us this is a special time when our magic blooms and can become wild. I suspected that something similar would happen to you."
She listened attentively when he spoke of her magic being like the ancients. She suddenly had questions but he spoke first.
"When I first entered Eversea I sensed powerful magic but it disperses over the city like a protective web and the origin is lost. But when I first looked into your eyes my soul was struck and I knew there was something unique about you. I felt that the magic in the area was due to you."
"I this why you feel that my magic is of the ancients? I am human is it possible for a human to wield ancient magic."
She felt him nod then clasp her hand.
"No. And this is why I need to protect you. I have no idea why it feels like our magic. But do not worry. We will figure this out.
"But first we need to speak with your parents. Do you think they would leave Eversea?"
This is what she dreaded. No one knew of their relationship and her family was overprotective.
"They will not leave Eversea. Father falls ill just from a short trip to Attia and you know how close that is and how many natural water sources they have. Will they be endanger?"
"Don't worry. We will protect them."
"I trust you." She gently kissed his chest. She knew he could sense her inner concerns.
Her brothers and sister looked at her intently as she sat next to Dylan. Only her parents were calm and bore smiles. They seemed to watch her and Dylan in anticipation.
"Thank you for inviting me into your home like this. I want to speak to you about Suzan. She is very precious to me and I want to marry her."
The silence was pervasive. And there were several audible gasps. Even Suzan was a bit surprised. Dylan had already asked her and told her that he would speak to her parents about it but she didn't know he would speak to them about this now.
She saw the excitement in her parents' faces and she was even more stunned. Suddenly she felt like a spectator of some type of odd play.
"But there is a problem. Not a large one but a problem all the same. We, the ancients have been told that there are true vampires in Evercrest seeking magic wielders" He paused in thought and looked at the startled expressions before him and the terror in the eyes of Suzan's parents.
He then knew that Suzan's parents knew she was a wielder.
"I want Suzan to move to my west castle. We can return here for the wedding or you can move there with her."
He watched the joy in her parents' eyes change to interest in her mother's and abject fear in her father's. Dylan almost laughed.
They spoke as one. "Thank you so much." "Please protect our daughter."