Crimson

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A while later we had finally made it into the bathroom which looked identical to the one in my room. We started with taking a shower to wash of the majority of the grim from our bodies. But once that was done, Lamech insisted on us taking a bath.

As we sat down in it, he placed me on his lap and hugged me to him.

"Are you sure about all of this?" he asked and I could hear nervousness in his voice.

"All of what?" I asked back, confused by the question.

"Are you sure you want me as your mate?"

I tried to turn to look at him, but he held me in place and bent his head down, nuzzling his nose into my neck.

"I'm sure. Very sure," I answered. "I really shouldn't have rejected you before. It was dumb. I think I honestly regretted it as soon as I had done it."

"I am really sorry for what I did. And I would understand if you could never forgive me."

"The fact that you feel that way is reason enough for me to forgive you."

I tried to turn around again and this time he let me. I placed a hand on his cheek and he moved his head to kiss it.

"I love you, Lamech. And I'm yours until the end of time," I told him. I felt pleasantly warm and knew that had nothing to do with the temperature of the water surrounding us.

"I love you too, Crimson. And I'm yours evermore."

I smiled at his choice of word and then saw his eyes travel down to my neck.

"And I'm very glad you feel that way, because it would be much harder to break the bond now," he added and placed his fingers at the spot on my right where my neck ended and shoulder began. That small touch sent a shiver down my spine and automatically I looked to the same spot on him and gasped.

Because of all the filth we had been covered in, I hadn't paid it any attention and so hadn't noticed what had formed on him there. But now as I looked, I could see what obviously was a mate mark.

It was some type of plant, or rather tree, though my knowledge of plants were limited so I couldn't tell which. It started on the shoulder and then grew up a bit onto the neck. The colors of it shifted between brown, green, blue, and red and it was breathtaking.

"Yew," Lamech said. "For many it represents immortality due it is ability to regenerate from within."

I smiled at his explanation and bent down to kiss his mark. I felt him shudder as my lips connected.

"I like that," I whispered to him and leaned my head against his shoulder. It was such a peaceful moment. All was good and calm. I hadn't slept for days and I didn't even know if vampires could sleep. But with my head on his shoulder. His arms around me. The warm water surrounding us. And I could also feel him, his feelings, his adoring love. It felt like I drifted off to sleep.

Then a loud voice sounded in my head.

"Everyone free, come to the first floor to help out!" It was Alair's voice and it startled me, made me sit up straight, splashing water over the edge of the tub as I did so, and stare in bewilderment at Lamech.

"Wha..." I started to say, but then more voices sounded.

"Why?"

"Something happened?"

"Are we throwing a party?"

"What are we celebrating?"

"Crimson's back," Alair answered the curious voices and an ear shattering babble erupted. Out of reflect I put my hands over my ears, but that obviously didn't make any difference.

"She's back?"

"For how long?"

"I'll come help!"

"How is she?"

"Crimson," Lamech said out loud and took hold of my hands. I shook my head lightly and focused on him, though it was hard because the chatter was still in my head.

"Why? Why can I hear them all? Am I included in the clan's mind-link? But isn't there some ritual needed for that?" I asked because it was obvious what the talking was. It was a conversation held through mind-link with all vampires that belonged to the clan.

"I would assume that when we mated and marked each other, that was enough. I am the leader after all." He looked at me with bright and proud eyes as he kissed my hands.

"They are... talkative," I pointed out as the noise had far from died out.

"You'll get used to it. And you'll learn to control it and block it out completely when you want."

I groaned slightly as a headache started to form and leaned my head back on his shoulder. He made circles on my back and pressed light kisses to the top of my head.

"Why don't you try saying something?" he suggested.

I didn't give any verbal answer but just concentrated on the open connection and what I wanted to say.

"Can you all quite down a little? You're giving me a headache," I told them and for a second my head did go completely quiet, but then the noises came back and the intensity had increase, though how that was possible I didn't know.

"Crimson!"

"Where are you?"

"Are you okay?"

"Hey! Come to the gym! I want a proper opponent!"

"When did you come back?"

"Screw the gym! Come to the bar!"

"She's mine for tonight," Lamech's voice came into the conversation with a clear annoyance. "Whoever disturbs us will clean all the bathrooms alone for a month without pay."

It became completely silence in an instance and I let out a giggle. I raised my head from his shoulder again to look at him.

"Yours for the whole night, huh? Now what could we spend the whole night doing?" I said and gave him a smirk.

"Oh, I think we'll have plenty to do," he answered, his voice having become huskier, before he leaned in and kissed me, taking my breath away.

It was first a long while later before we got out of the bath. Lamech insisted on helping me dry and comb through my hair, taking care of me in all ways that he could think of. It felt slightly awkward, but also nice. I couldn't remember when someone had last taken care of me in such a way. But because of that, it wasn't until we were about to leave the bathroom that I caught sight of my own reflection in a mirror and I gasped.

"What? Is something wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?" Lamech asked in an instance and was by my side, resting a hand on my waist.

"My eyes," I said weakly and looked fixedly at myself in the mirror. I couldn't believe that it actually was me. I brought a hand to my face and placed it by my right eye and saw the person in the mirror do the same. Those colorful eyes really belonged to me.

Vaguely I remembered what I had seen during Mabon. How the dark tunnel had ended and I had been met by red, blue, green, and brown. Now I knew what the tunnel represented as well as the colors.

"They are beautiful," Lamech murmured and kissed me over my left one. Then he turned and looked into the mirror as well and a frown developed on his face. "Your mark on me is much more special."

I redirected my eyes to my own neck and saw a mark, identical to the one I had given Lamech in shape, but the one on me was only grey and red, compared to the four colors on him.

"I like the one you gave me more," I said as I looked between the two marks. "The one I gave is too much."

"It's not too much, it's expressive. The one I gave you is dull."

I shook my head. "It's calm, not dull."

I leaned into him. The mark really did look calming to me, but I knew that was because Lamech was my calm. He would likely prove to be the only one able to calm me down when I got too riled up.