Hours later, after they were finally too exhausted to move and sated with each other's bodies (for now), Douglas and Alice began to talk.
"So, when did you..." she trailed on, looking up at the ceiling, curling up closer in his arms that were currently wrapped around her shoulders and with his legs propped up, acting as an arm rest. She could feel a burst of air against her hair and guessed he was laughing quietly.
"A long time ago. So long ago that I don't remember the date anymore."
"Do you remember how?"
There was another hot puff of air. "Yes. I was in battle and had been fatally wounded. I was on the ground, staring up at the sky and waiting for death when a woman appeared over my body. She was dressed in rich reds and blacks, her cloak whipping in the wind as if she were Death himself. She offered me immortality because she said she admired my battle skills."
"So you accepted?"
He laughed. "Nay lass. I rejected her offer because it seemed too good to be true."
Point for the man that had some intelligence to recognize things can be too good to be true. Especially when skewered to the ground.
"But, how-"
"I told her that she needed me more than I needed her, so unless she had something to offer me that I could understand, she could leave me to my new grave and go on her merry way."
Alice paused in her questions, playing with his large callused hand. There were many battle scars she hadn't noticed until now on them - some were shallow cuts, others were deep slashes that were sloppily burned or stitched together. While his nails were decently managed, though not manicured expertly like some of her male co-workers, his hands told of rough beginning and his body, while hard, must have come at the price of war and constant training.
"So," she began, kissing a particularly large and brutal-looking scar. He shivered. "What did she offer you?"
He paused and moved his other hand to stroke her belly absentmindedly.
"A kingdom."
"A-what?" she dropped the hand in shock, to which it stealthily sneaked a grope of a warm breast with a pebbled nipple that had been peeking out from the sheets wrapped around her. A girl had to have some modesty.
"A kingdom."
"Y-you're royalty?" she sputtered, shocked.
He laughed. "Not just. I am king of these vampires in this section of the country. I think there's," Douglas paused and mentally counted silently, only mouthing the words for various names and countries. "another five kings and queens about the country and countless more in Europe, Asia and Africa."
"I-I'm sleeping with a king? How-why, why me-"
He tightened his arms around her possessively. "Because there was no other in that club for me, because you felt the same loneliness that I did and because we both want to bring a child into the world and could find no one worthy. Because I took one look into your eyes and found the one for me. I won't let you go Alice - I meant that."
She stiffened in his arms, then, as his words began to sink in, like a fine wine that burned a warmth through her throat, her belly and her veins, she slowly settled and relaxed.
Several minutes of silence passed and it was almost as if the air around them held its breath in waiting. It was actively waiting, wanting desperately and hoping for the proper response, the response that would make it smile, make it sigh with happiness and dreams, and still eagerly ask for more.
It waited impatiently until-
"I felt that too," she whispered softly.
He smiled against her hair and kissed it adoringly.
The air settled with a collective sigh of relief, but not before rousing again when he next spoke.
"Now that that is settled, I just need to convince you to become my lady of the night and queen."
She groaned, running a hand through her hair.
"I'm human Douglas. I was born human and I'll die human. I love the sunlight, garlic, singing Church hymns and taking long baths. I don't want to give that up."
She didn't see it, but he has the most confused expression on his face as he glanced down at her.
