Welcome to book 3 of The Golden Prodigies series! I hope you enjoy reading more about the futures of our beloved vampires, angels, and humans! ;)

- Sian

For Vinny and Oliver, two thousand years had flown by like it wasn't hundreds of lifetimes for humans.

The Vanderwood family still owned their city, and they still lived in their enormous mansion. Their home was rebuilt a few times, but they made sure it always looked the same.

Over the years and as technology developed, humans were given too much power that very nearly started a world war. The vampires had to restrict who was able to experiment with it and instead use it for the greater good. In terms of health and groundbreaking breakthroughs, humans could now live up to 100 years old with the guarantee that they would not die of any diseases. If they died before old age, it would be due to accidents only.

Humanity was dealing with population control, which had gotten severely out of hand, but the vampires left them to it.

Things for Oliver and Vinny were different now. They were both twenty years old and married. Yes, they were still young to be married, and Madison and Duke thought they should have waited until they were at least twenty-two or something. Vinny argued that they would be together forever. Waiting was pointless.

Vinny didn't even tell his parents that he was going to propose, so when he got down on one knee, Madison almost fainted with excitement. John was beyond pleased. He didn't care that they were only twenty; his son would be with the love of his life forever. Why wait?

The wedding was huge because Madison wouldn't have it any other way, and to the boys, it was the best day of their lives. A wedding so large was also something that excited the public and brought their city a lot of publicity.

The current generation of people had grown up with Oliver being a part of the Vanderwood family. In their eyes, he had always been there and always would. There was no surprise for Vinny to have a male soulmate. It was usual for Oliver to be viewed as a Vanderwood, just like the rest of the family.

It was unusual for Oliver to feel like he was never ageing. The people he thought would be there throughout his whole life had passed away. Everyone he used to work with, everyone he went to school with and familiar faces he would pass in the street all died many, many years ago, even his mother. Oliver was sad about that for a while, but it was almost two thousand years ago now, and he wouldn't be able to recognise her in a photograph.

It wasn't hard to imagine that the public loved Oliver. Mainly because Vinny was still his moody self and didn't acknowledge them, but Oliver was kind and gave them attention every now and again. The public also liked that he was human, so in a way, they felt like they could relate to him.

Now, life was just perfect.

* * * * *

The alarm screeched through the room, immediately waking Oliver. He groaned and leaned sleepily over Vinny, who was reading a book. Oliver opened his eyes to switch the alarm off before dropping all his weight onto his soulmate.

Vinny paused before pressing his book to his chest. "You promised him," he said while rubbing Oliver's back.

Oliver promised Duke that he would get up and give the staff their instructions for the morning because Duke was busy.

"I know," Oliver mumbled. "I'll get up in a minute."

Vinny smiled, knowing that wasn't true. He picked his book back up when Oliver started snoring. After thousands of mornings, Oliver still wasn't a morning person.

"Come on," Vinny murmured after five minutes. He put his book on the bedside table and slid out from underneath his soulmate.

"Just one more minute."

Vinny ignored his request and wrapped arms around him to pull him out of bed.

"I think a cold shower will wake you up," Vinny said which didn't fail to make Oliver stand up straight and rip himself out of his grip.

"No, thanks!" Oliver shot towards the bathroom.

Vinny smiled and followed. Oliver was sleepily pulling his t-shirt over his head. Vinny began to undress too and chucked his things in the washing basket.

At the same time, the boys stepped into the shower. It switched on automatically and was just the right temperature. Electronic showers were relatively new for them. Vinny tried holding onto his old shower handle for as long as he could. He didn't want to convert to technology, but nobody sold the simple showers, not anymore. However, he didn't miss the blast of cold that would come on before Vinny adjusted the heat.

Oliver grabbed any random bottle and opened it to squeeze on his hair. Vinny quickly swapped it for some actual shampoo, so Oliver let his husband rub it into his hair.

They knew they couldn't mess around in the shower for long. The boys needed to get breakfast before telling the kitchen staff their duties.

Oliver rubbed shower gel all over Vinny's body. He wasn't shy about touching specific places; they had showered together more than they could be bothered to count.

The boys then swapped bottles, and Oliver felt himself starting to wake up.

When they finished, Vinny plucked Oliver's clothes from the floor and threw them. Oliver caught them but sacrificed his towel. Vinny's eyes gladly traced his body.

When they were both changed, with their teeth brushed and their hair somewhat dry, they hurried to the dining room to make it in time for breakfast.

Duke and Madison were already sitting at the grand table, as usual. John wasn't down yet, but he probably went for a morning walk. He liked to do that a lot.

Vinny pulled his soulmate over to the table and poured him strong coffee.

"Morning," Oliver said, grabbing some toast.

"Good morning," Madison beamed. "Did you both sleep well?"

"We did," they said in unison.

Nobody was surprised by their synchronisation. The boys did it more often than not.

"Did you both?" Oliver asked.

"Yes thanks," Duke said, checking his watch. "Right, I must go. I'll see you all later." He kissed his wife and pulled himself away from the table. He had a meeting to attend.

Vinny watched Oliver eat his toast. Watching him was his favourite thing to do.

"What're you both up to today then?" Madison asked.

"I'll be in the kitchen this morning, but I don't know what we're doing after that." Oliver put his arm around Vinny's shoulders.

Vinny shrugged and put an arm around Oliver's waist. "I can think of a few things," he smirked.

Oliver felt the affection rising in his chest. "Ah, so you're in that kind of mood today?" he questioned before kissing his cheek. Vinny turned his head in time for him to kiss his lips instead.

Madison smiled at their cuteness, but she had to get some work done too. "I'm going up to your dad's study. He works better when we're together. Oh, and Oliver, you're two minutes late," Madison chuckled.

"It's Vinny's fault," Oliver said before jumping to his feet.

"Of course." Vinny rolled his eyes. "Because I'm the one who doesn't know how to get out of bed!"

Oliver grinned and took his hand. "Come with me," he said, dragging his vampire towards the door.

"Fine." Vinny didn't need convincing as he intertwined their fingers. They headed towards the kitchen as staff nervously stepped out of their way.

"Do I still look tired?" Oliver asked, walking down the corridor.

"You look beautiful," Vinny said, squeezing his hand.

Oliver blushed proudly. "Thank you!" he chirped and swung their intertwined hands. "What do you want to do today?"

"I'm not sure. I know you'll be in the kitchen a lot today, but just being with you is good enough."

Oliver blushed even harder. "I don't deserve you," he smiled and stopped outside the kitchen.

"Are you kidding?" Vinny chuckled before wrapping his arms around Oliver's shoulders. "You're so god damn perfect. Now get in there, you're already late."

Oliver had a big grin on his face when Vinny turned him around and pushed him into the kitchen door. Without looking back, Oliver entered to see a room full of unfamiliar faces.

They saw him, and the chat died down instantly. They stopped what they were doing and waited for him to speak. Now, seeing Oliver was like seeing Duke. He was just as important.

"Morning everyone," he said and dug his hands casually into his pockets. The staff liked Oliver a little more; he was less scary and more comfortable to be around, though they respected Duke. "Are you all set up in the restaurant?"

"Yes, Master," a guy said politely.

Oliver was addressed with a dominant name, but he didn't mind. Sometimes, they call him Master-Oliver if he was with Vinny, to avoid confusion.

"Great. It's just another regular day, so get on with whatever you have to do. I'll come back in a bit to see how you're all getting on," he said, just as the door opened.

"Wait," Vinny said before looking around with a scowl. "Who is responsible for the deliveries this week?"

Everyone looked around as a guy stepped forwards. "Yeah, that's me, why?" he questioned.

Vinny immediately didn't like his tone. "You've got every single one wrong," he said bluntly and crossed his arms.

"No, you need to look again, I did that perfectly."

Oliver glanced at Vinny, catching him clenching his jaw. The staff stood silently, knowing things might get heated.

"Come outside," Oliver said to the guy. He wanted to deal with it first instead of letting Vinny tear him apart. The guy walked past Vinny and out with Oliver into the hall. When the door shut behind him, Oliver turned to the delivery guy who waited in the corridor. "Is there any chance that you could have gotten this wrong?"

"Forgive me, master, but we record our phone calls, and this is what he requested," the man said. "I can send it to you."

"Alright," Oliver sighed. "And please do send it."

"Shall we start bringing it in?" the delivery man asked.

"Yes, thank you," Oliver said before turning back to the worker. "Why did you lie?"

The guy shifted on his feet. "Vinny kinda scares me," he said truthfully.

"Okay, first of all, you have to address him as the Master, and you should know that lying to him would only make things worse."

"Yeah, but we shouldn't feel that way. He's just a vampire, not a God."

Oliver was shocked to be spoken to that way. "And we're only human, not gods either," he said with a firmer tone. "Why did you get the delivery wrong?"

"Why is the Master so angry?" the guy asked.

Oliver crossed his arms and sighed. This guy reminded him of someone. "Why did you get the delivery wrong?" he asked again.

"I didn't," the worker said, crossing his arms too.

Oliver knew that he wasn't getting through to him, but he knew someone who would. He turned and opened the door to see his soulmate glaring at everyone. "Vinny," he shouted over the chatter. Vinny walked over immediately. "Please talk to him," Oliver said as the man started shifting on his feet again.

Vinny nodded and walked up to the worker. He towered over him, and his cold glare was anything but pleasant.

"Do you think you're acting smart? Oliver is reasonable, and you're giving him cheek. I don't care that you messed up the deliveries, I'm firing you for being a pain in my a-"

"Vinny," Oliver warned.

Vinny stepped back and stood up straight. "Get out," he grumbled when he felt Oliver's hand wrap around his bicep. "And don't come back."

It wasn't often that they had to deal with difficult people, but when they did, it angered Vinny a lot.

The worker shrugged like he didn't even care before turning and walking down the corridor.

"I say, good riddance," Oliver chuckled when he was gone, but he was only trying to calm Vinny down.

Vinny sighed and rested against the wall. "I hate people," he muttered.

Oliver smiled and leaned his body against him. "That was an excellent start to the day." Most people treated him okay; it was the occasional few that pushed their luck.

"You're an excellent start to my day," Vinny said and wrapped arms around him, pulling him into a long hug.

Oliver gladly embraced him back. Even after so many years, little bits of affection still filled them with excitement and filled their senses with pleasure.

Vinny kissed his neck and his hands wandered down his back.

Oliver bit his lip when he felt Vinny's hands go lower than what he would like to showcase in public. He chuckled and pulled back, taking Vinny's hands and kissed his knuckles. "Later," he grinned.