Modern Day

I woke up to the feeling of warm lips on the back of my neck – featherlight kisses, followed by the harder press of fangs.

"Wake up," Edmond murmured, sliding his arm around my waist.

"No," I said, burying my face in my pillow. "It's too early."

My vampire husband kissed the back of my neck again. "It's Christmas tree day, and if you don't get up, then Jason will either come and drag you out of bed, or he'll assume you're forfeiting the competition."

My eyes snapped open. "Oh, hell no."

Edmond chuckled. "That's what I thought."

I threw back the covers and scrambled out of bed. "Remind me what time we're leaving?"

"Ysanne wants to be on the road by 6, which means" – Edmond rolled over so he could look at the clock on the nightstand – "we've got twenty minutes."

"Plenty of time," I declared.

Since vampires couldn't sweat, we couldn't get body odour, which meant that, technically, we didn't need to shower, but I still didn't like the idea of starting the day without one.

"Do you want to shower first, or can I go?" I said.

"We could save time by showering together," Edmond suggested, lifting one dark eyebrow.

"I don't think so."

"Why?" Edmond reclined against the pillows, one arm stretched above his head, looking delicious enough to eat.

"When have we ever showered together and not had it turn into something more?"

Edmond's lips twitched. "Good point. We do have twenty minutes though. That's enough time to squeeze in a little bit of fun."

I leaned across him and kissed his mouth. "If we save it for when we get back, we can have a lot of fun."

"Why not both?" Edmond said, but I was already on my way to the bathroom.

I showered quickly, wrapped myself in a fluffy towel, and went back into the bedroom, where Edmond was now sitting on the edge of the bed, shirtless, his pale, perfect chest framed against our dark bedcovers. I felt a brief moment of regret that I hadn't pulled him into the shower with me. We'd been together for three years now, and that sizzling chemistry between us hadn't lessened one bit. I wanted him more than ever.

Edmond got up and walked to our bathroom. Instead of closing the door, he slipped down his black silk pyjama trousers so I could see him doing it. Of course he wore nothing underneath, and with a heroic effort, I tore my gaze away.

"You did that deliberately," I said.

"I don't know what you mean," Edmond said, his voice innocent.

I turned my back, determined not to look at him, because if I did, I might not be able to resist joining him in the shower.

While Edmond showered, I got dressed, throwing on jeans and flat boots, and a chunky knit jumper. When I'd first arrived at Belle Morte as a donor, I hadn't been allowed to bring anything of my own. Donors had to wear the clothes that Belle Morte provided for them, and even after I'd become a vampire, I'd had to keep wearing those same clothes, because I hadn't had anything else. But now that I lived here permanently, I'd started buying my own clothes. Part of me would always appreciate the glitz and glamour of the donor lifestyle, but it wasn't really me.

I heard Edmond come out of the bathroom, his bare feet almost noiseless on the floor, but I still didn't turn around because he'd either be naked, or wearing just a towel, neither of which I could resist.

Clothing rustled behind me as Edmond got dressed – deliberately slowly, I was sure – then his hand swept my hair to one side, baring the back of my neck.

"Your skin is so soft," he murmured, nuzzling against my nape, and I couldn't help arching against him.

Maybe he would have got his way after all, and pulled me back into bed, but a timely knock at the door interrupted us.

"Guys? Are you ready?" Jason asked.

I opened the door. "Ready to kick your butt and find the best Christmas tree? Absolutely."

Jason grinned at me from under his woolly hat. "Honey, you don't stand a chance. This competition is mine."

I made a grab for his hat, but Jason ducked and jogged down the hallway, laughing.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want to win," he called back.

I didn't chase him, even though I could easily have caught him. Let him think he was winning, for now. All that would change once we arrived at the tree farm.

When Edmond and I reached the staircase, I paused, looking down at my friends as they gathered in the vestibule.

Roux, as stylish as ever in a suede coat trimmed with fur, was pulling a scarf tighter around Ludovic's neck, even though he couldn't feel the cold. He, of course, knew better than to protest.

Isabeau and Ysanne sported matching fur hats, which I suspected was Isabeau's doing, as Ysanne would never intentionally coordinate her outfit with anyone, not even the woman she loved. I smiled when I noticed that, even though we were heading to a muddy farm, Ysanne had refused to ditch her heels. Obviously she wasn't planning on charging around like the rest of us.

Jason and Gideon stood slightly further apart, their heads bent together, Gideon listening as Jason frantically whispered, his hands making fluttering movements.

"I bet they're planning strategies," I said.

"I didn't realise that was an option," Edmond said.

All these people that I'd come to love so much, looked exactly the same as they had when I'd first met them. Except Jason, now three years older, and getting broader around the chest.

It occurred to me that I no longer knew how to describe my own age. I'd been eighteen when I died, but that was three years ago, so was I still eighteen, or was I now twenty-one?

"What are you thinking?" Edmond asked.

I glanced down at my platinum wedding ring, nestled alongside the glitter of my emerald engagement ring. "I never thought I'd be married by eighteen, or twenty-one, or whatever age I am, and I certainly never imagined that I'd end up calling a vampire mansion home. It's strange, isn't it, the places that life takes you."

"It's certainly taken me to some places I never imagined," Edmond agreed.

I stood on tiptoe to kiss his nose. "I'm glad it took me to you."

"Are you ready to go?" Ysanne asked, looking up at us.

I nodded.

We set off from Belle Morte in two black vans, driven by Seamus and Andrew. I hadn't been sure that Andrew would stay with Belle Morte – he was the man who'd helped us escape when Etienne and Jemima took the mansion over, and then he'd fled with us to Ireland, which I doubted had been covered in his job description. But he was still with us, and I was glad. I liked him.

Our destination was about thirty minutes outside the city, but there was little traffic on the road that early in the morning, and we made it in less time.

Andrew opened the doors to let us out. "Happy tree hunting," he said.

"You're not coming with us?" I said.

He laughed a little. "No offence, but tramping around a field in the freezing cold before the sun's even up isn't my idea of fun. I'm staying in the van."

"Seamus?" I turned to him.

It was hard to see much of his face – the collar of his coat was turned up, and a hat was pulled low over his eyes, but I thought he was smiling. "Sorry, I'm with Andrew on this one. You guys are crazy."

"We can't feel the cold, remember?" Roux said, winking at him.

"He can." Seamus pointed at Jason, who beamed back at him. Jason's nose was already turning pink from the frigid air.

A gate creaked open behind us, and we all turned. Two men strode out of the field we'd parked beside, both wrapped up warmly. One of them looked to be in his sixties, weathered and grey-haired, but the other was probably only Jason's age, and there was a slightly star-struck look in his eyes.

"Mr Coates?" Ysanne said. She held out a hand for the older man to shake. "I really appreciate you making this concession for us."

"Thank my grandson," Mr Coates said, smiling as he jerked his thumb at the younger guy. "He's the one who talked me into it."

"We're very grateful," Isabeau told him.

The younger guy's eyes looked like they were about to bug out of his head. "Can I get a photo with you?" he blurted, holding up his phone. "All of you?"

Isabeau adjusted her hat and gave him a dazzling grin. "Of course."

This had all been Jason's idea. For our first Christmas in Belle Morte, he'd taken Nikki Flynn – the daughter of our deceased head of security, Dexter Flynn – to the Winchester Christmas market, in an attempt to cheer her up for her first Christmas without her dad. Even though she could only visit Belle Morte from time to time, Jason had bought her a tree anyway, and put it in his and Gideon's room, so he could at least send Nikki photos of it. Edmond had installed a tree in our room without me knowing, and this year, Roux was determined to have one too.

That was when Jason had discovered the tree farm. Comprised of a sprawling field outside Winchester, it was only open one weekend a year. Customers arrived at the gate, were given saws, and then let loose in the field to find and cut down their tree.

But Jason had taken it one step further, and decided that we were in competition. Whoever found the perfect tree the fastest, won. I wasn't sure what the prize was yet, or if there even was one, but anybody who cut corners in order to win would end up with a subpar tree. I wanted a good tree. I also wanted to beat Jason.

Mr Coates and his grandson led the way into the farm. It was so dark here, with no streetlamps around, that a human would have trouble finding their way around the rest of the field, and I was about to mention that to Jason when he whipped a torch from his pocket.

"Did you think I wouldn't come prepared?" he said, shaking his head at me.

Normally, the farm didn't open until 9 a.m. but Mr Coates had agreed to make an exception in our case, otherwise Roux and I wouldn't have been able to come. We were still too vulnerable to sunlight.

"Anything under four feet is ten pounds," Mr Coates explained, as we stopped by a tiny wooden structure where I guessed he kept warm while people looked for trees. Saws hung from nails on the wall, and he offered the first one to Jason, who was making eager grabby hands. "Bigger trees are thirty, as long as they're under seven foot. Anything over that is forty-five."

"Thank you," Isabeau said, taking her own saw.

"Okay, so whoever gets their tree back here first is the winner. Are we ready?" Jason asked.

"I think so –" Roux didn't get a chance to finish.

"Go," Jason cried, and raced for the trees. He quickly disappeared among the dark, spiky shapes, then his voice drifted out from the shadows. "Gideon, come on!"

Gideon jogged to join him.

"They seem to be taking this seriously," Edmond said, looking at Ludovic, but Ludovic was already gone, running into the trees with Roux.

Edmond lifted an eyebrow, looking down at me.

I tugged his hand. "We're not letting them beat us, are we?"

"Apparently not."

Isabeau and Ysanne hadn't run off like the others, but that wasn't surprising. Ysanne had agreed to join us, but there'd never been any question of her dashing around like an overgrown kid with us. She would choose her perfect tree in her own time.

Edmond and I headed into the clustered trees, moving further up the field than the others had gone. "This looks like a good one," I said after a few minutes. The tree was slightly taller than Edmond, and bushy all around, like a spiky bell.

Edmond frowned a little and crouched to examine it. "It's two trees," he said.

"Huh?"

He gestured at the trunk that I couldn't see through the thick grass. "It's two trees growing very close together."

I crouched down and swept the grass out of the way so I could see. Edmond was right. There were two trunks – two trees had grown together in such a way that they looked like one.

"Do you think that matters? I mean, once it's in a pot no one will be able to tell, right?" I said.

Edmond shook his head. "I doubt they would keep this shape once we cut them both down. Let's keep looking."

In the distance, I heard Jason's excited cry, but no sounds of sawing wood followed, so I guessed his find had turned out to be a dud too.

"We could always take the top of one of the bigger trees," Edmond said, tilting his head back. A chill breeze tugged strands of raven-black hair across the pale planes of his face, and for a moment, I forgot about the trees and stared at him. In the darkness of predawn, he looked unreal, like some beautiful faerie creature come to life. Sometimes I couldn't quite believe he was mine. Then he would take me to bed and remind me that every inch of him was mine.

"What do you think?" Edmond said, and I tore my eyes away from him to look at the taller trees towering over us.

"Maybe, but none of them look quite as good as that first one. I'm not ruling it out as a possibility, but let's keep looking for smaller ones for now."

We moved through the field, stopping every now and then to discuss and examine trees, and I kept my ears pricked for the tell-tale sound of a saw going to work, but so far there was nothing. No one had found their tree yet. We were all still in the competition.

After about half an hour, Edmond stopped and smiled. "How about that one?" he said.

I studied it.

It was tucked beneath the branches of two much bigger trees, like a child that they were protecting, but even in their shade it had grown full and round, every branch clothed in dark green needles. I walked around it, looking for dead patches or bald spots, but there was nothing.

Edmond's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "Well?" he said, even though he obviously knew what my answer would be.

"Good job, husband," I said, grinning.

Edmond crouched again, and pulled up several handfuls of grass that grew around the trunk, so they wouldn't get caught on the teeth of the saw, then he got to work chopping our tree down. The trunk was thick, but Edmond was strong enough that it only took a few strokes, and then with a loud creak, our tree toppled onto the dewy grass.

But the sound of sawing wood didn't stop. My eyes met Edmond's. "Someone else found their tree," I realised.

Edmond and I had found ours first, but the rules were that whoever got their tree to the finish line first was the winner, and Edmond and I had moved some way up the field, away from the gate where we'd come in.

Edmond shoved the saw at me, and hoisted the tree onto his shoulders.

"Are you going to run?" I said.

"You want to win, don't you?" Edmond said, mischief creeping into his eyes.

"Yes."

He was off before I could say anything else, his dark hair streaming behind him. Carefully holding the saw so the teeth were facing away from me – knowing my luck, even my vampire grace wouldn't stop me from tripping and falling on the damn thing – I ran after him.

Edmond broke through the treeline and raced down the field, but a blond shape was already ahead of him – Gideon, I realised.

Jason scrambled out of the trees, breathless and with pine needles sticking out of his hat. "You're almost there, Gid," he cried, and shot me a smug smile.

"Even if you win, we still found ours first," I told him.

"Doesn't matter."

This time, I did snatch his hat, and ran after my husband. Jason dashed after me, but as a human, he couldn't hope to catch me now.

Gideon had had a head start on us, but Edmond was older and faster, and maybe just that little bit more determined to win. They were almost at the shack when he overtook Gideon, and reached it just a second before him.

"Yes!" I cried, pumping my fists in the air.

"No," Jason cried from behind me.

I tossed his hat at him, and even in the dark, he managed to catch it. "Better luck next year," I said.

"You suck," he told me, but he was laughing as he said it.

We joined our husbands at the wooden shack. They'd lowered their trees to the ground, and Edmond was laughing at something Gideon said. There was no sign of the others.

"Can I offer anyone a tea or a coffee?" Mr Coates said, poking his head out of the shack.

Jason's face brightened. "Coffee would be amazing."

"Anyone else?"

"We're vampires. We can't drink tea or coffee," I explained.

"Oh, right." He disappeared into the shack, and I heard the sound of a kettle boiling.

By the time he re-emerged, carrying a steaming mug for Jason, Roux and Ludovic had finally appeared, walking across the field, carrying a tree between them.

"What took you so long?" Jason called.

"Some of us were more concerned about finding the perfect tree than we were about winning," Roux told him.

"Excuse me, but we did find the perfect tree. And we still won," I said.

"We'll get you next year," Roux informed me.

"Nope." I grabbed Edmond's hand and raised it. "We are the tree champions."

A few minutes later, Isabeau and Ysanne walked out of the trees. Isabeau was carrying a much smaller tree than any of us had gone for, and a spiky twig was sticking out of the top of her hat. Ysanne was as perfectly groomed as ever.

We paid for our trees, thanked Mr Coates, and then made our way back to the vans.

"Who won?" Seamus asked, opening the van door and climbing out.

"We did," I said.

"What's your prize?"

"The smug satisfaction of being better than everyone else?"

"That seems like a good prize."

We loaded the trees into the backs of the vans, then climbed in after them, and closed the doors. The small space was full of the smell of pine and sap – pure Christmas.

"This was fun. We should do it every year," Roux said.

"I fully intend to. We've got a championship title to defend," I said.

"Nah, you're going to lose next year."

"You're both going to lose next year," Jason said.

A few cars were starting to turn up as we left the tree farm, but since it didn't open for another hour, I couldn't help wondering if they were here for us, rather than the trees. Mr Coates's grandson had taken several pictures with us, and we hadn't said he couldn't post them on social media, so local Vladdicts probably knew we were here now. They'd be disappointed then. We had our trees and we were going home.

We drove back to Belle Morte, and as I climbed out of the van, I was struck by a sudden wave of love for the mansion. I'd hated it when I'd first arrived. I'd dreamed about destroying its beautiful clothes and smashing its furniture, or even burning the whole place to the ground. Belle Morte had taken so much from me, but it had given me so much too, and even though my sister had died here, even though I had died here, I couldn't help loving it now. It was my home.

The donors were up by the time we carried the trees inside, and several of them applauded us. Even though donors fulfilled the same role they had before, there was more familiarity between them and us than there had been before, like we were all on a more equal footing.

Edmond carried the tree up to our room, and then I helped him arrange it in the pot, turning it this way and that until we found just the right angle.

"You did good," I told him. "I'll go get the decorations."

I turned to the door, intending to go to the east wing, where all the Christmas stuff was stored, but Edmond caught my hand and pulled me back. His lips found mine, in a kiss that would have taken my breath away if I'd still been human.

"We can decorate it later," he murmured.

"But –"

Edmond silenced me with another kiss, then lifted me in his arms and slung me onto our bed. "Later," he said.

"Is this the part where we celebrate winning?" I said.

Edmond's eyes gleamed red. "Something like that."

I wasn't about to argue with that. I pulled him down on top of me, and as the delicious weight of him settled between my legs, it felt like I was home in more ways than one.

Belle Morte had taken my life in directions that my wildest dreams honestly couldn't have conjured up, but there was nowhere I'd rather be. 

Happy Christmas, my lovely, lovely readers. Have a fantastic day!! *blows kisses*