=====================================================  

Closing my eyes and losing myself in the euphoria of Ivan's consuming kiss, everything seemed to disappear into nothingness until all I heard was the sound of the ocean. The last I heard of the real world was Kheelan's fading voice saying, "Holy mother....." then his voice vanished into the gentle hushing of the waters. The whispering sound surrounded us, like a haunting lullaby of never ending waves crashing against the shore....but there was no shore. The tune of the waves seemed to continue on and on...like a song calling me out to the sea.  

In the darkness of my closed eyes, the redness slowly went away as my light gradually faded.  

A gentle wind whispered past, caressing against my skin... My skin. Blinking open, we were no longer formless, but slowly materialized until the feeling of Ivan's strong hands on my bare back was undeniable. The sheer feeling sent a current of sharp pleasure running through the very heart of me, gripping my lungs in euphoric ecstasy. Pulling away from our kiss needing to breathe, my heart stopped. Gasping in awe, I held on tighter to Ivan, so scared yet a willing prisoner of this unknown world... where were we?  

We sat embraced on crimson red sands that stretched endlessly behind us. Releasing a hand, I swept it across the sand. Expecting roughness, the red sands were smooth like satin, falling from in between my fingers like glittering water. Turning to the sea left me breathless. The midnight blue waters lapped continuously, gently crashing but receding and crashing once more, though there was no wind. The crashing sent a gentle humid mist pouring over our bodies. Meeting the dark water at the horizon was a red wine sky that basked everything in a reddish hue. There was no sun, no moon, no stars....the glow of the sky just was.  

Shaking my head in disbelief, I looked to Ivan. His eyes looked out into the ocean, filled with a satisfied awe....with an enchanting wonder....but he wasn't scared. His awe was more of him knowing or having heard of this place but finally experiencing it for the first time. Kheelan said he was a sage, he must've known where we were. His crystal eyes practically shone filled with a serenity that left me speechless.  

Thundering in my ears, my heart begged to know where we were....but I couldn't even speak....there were no words. Nothing in the human spectrum of emotions could describe how sacred everything felt.  

The breeze whispered past us once more with a humid intensity clinging to our pores. A warmth instantly spread within me, starting at my center and spreading to my fingertips like a pulsing current. Gripping onto Ivan, the overwhelming passion nearly collapsed my chest with its burning force. Unwittingly closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply, letting the air and Ivan's scent infuse me. It was intense. I wanted to tear away all inhibitions and succumb to the desire.  

Letting the craving possess me, I released my hands from Ivan, laying back into the crimson sands. As my legs slowly smooth against the cool satin, I sighed. My arms swayed, letting my fingertips absorb the smoothness, relaxing me...shutting out all thought and doubt. I should have been embarrassed or scared....but I wasn't. I wasn't Charlotte the timid girl anymore....I was Charlotte, the Fae, binding with the only man I'd ever wanted with such a whirlwind desperation....  

Kheelan said to give Ivan all of me. Well there I was. All of me for his taking.  

Lifting my eyes to Ivan, his silver eyes focused on me, darkened with the reflecting crimson hue. His raven black hair trickling over his eyes added to the madness of it all. Piercing me with his gaze, the primal look in his eyes awakened a ravishing hunger within me. I wanted him. All of him.  

Sliding over me, I tensed but quickly eased as his weight settled on me. Intertwining hands over our heads, he desperately searched my face with his eyes.  

Hesitating, the smokiness of his eyes cleared for a moment as if fighting the possession.  

"Charlotte" his voice echoed softly, almost blending with the hushing of the waves "you have to stop--we can't do this.....we shouldn't be here..."  

Here? Where was here? But most importantly, did I care anymore? No. And neither did he. He only spoke words. He was saying everything he was supposed to, not what he wanted to. The underlying fire in his eyes burned strong, His body begging me not to listen.  

He said 'I' had to stop. That was only because he couldn't.  

I refused.  

Tracing my nose along the length of his neck, I breathed him in, his scent quickly becoming an addiction. My veins ignited, shivering with a frantic need to the point his scent became so pure and singular, I found myself dependant on it to survive.  

Like a puzzle suddenly clicking into place, It all made perfect sense. In the classroom when this all began.... The smell of fresh cut grass...the coldness I felt....when I fed off Jaime...it wasn't Jaime I was seeking....it was Ivan. It was all begging for him., calling for him. I would have killed Jaime, he didn't belong in this place...but Ivan was my equal...my mate. Mine.  

Finding his lips, I brushed them with mine...  

Gripping my hands tighter, fighting for control, a low growl escaped him, "Charlotte, please"  

Closing his eyes, he tensed, his hands further suffocating mine. His control was slipping.  

Maybe it was this place....or maybe my fae nature, but my next words shocked me as they did satisfy me...  

"Take me...." I coaxed him, biting him lightly, "All of me....."  

Saying the words needed, like a sweeping fog, the smoky redness overpowered his reason, possessing him again and he crashed against my mouth. Our mouths entwined, begging for more. Then, as if reaching another plain in our kiss, I felt the air being drawn from my lungs...and so I drew his in return. We became the reason the other lived. We took each others life but equally gave ours in return...  

Untangling our fingers, we succumbed to the desperation, our hands traveling the course of our bodies feverishly. Slow and hard, fast and soft, burning everything between us, until we were bare, skin against skin, breath against breath. The winds picked up around us, wrapping our bodies in the satin sands when a soft melodic echo whispered around us...  

'One body' the soft voice spoke with the same passion swirling around us before vanishing in another powerful gust. Ivan moaned the words into our suffocating kiss and I blindly did the same. Instantly a slow burning seared my right arm but the pain mixed with the pleasure was euphoric and the pain quickly vanished.  

Another violent gust rolled us over, leaving me on top, but we didn't stop. Pulling my hair and exposing my neck, Ivan kissed and bit and breathed, leaving me gasping for air...  

'One Breath' the wind resonated again... Ivan spoke it against the racing pulse in my throat and I breathed it into the open air...  

Gasping, a trickling burning ran from my neck to in between my shoulder blades...  

Suddenly breaking from their barrier, the waves crashed into us, backed by an even stronger wind that sent the waters whipping around us. Startled I broke from our kiss, gasping for air but scared. There wind was chaotic but looking down at my anchor, he ignored the rising waters, focusing only on me. Knowing what came next, Ivan spoke in unison with the next whisper,  

'One Life'  

My heart came to a painful stop as I finally understood. This was fusion....Vows. We pledged our Bodies, our breaths....our life...  

Though the waters receded and returned with the same intensity, the words got caught in my throat. My life? I didn't even know what 'my life' was. My life consisted of a father I never saw because I reminded him too much of my mother, whom I never met. I had Casey, a bright point on my life but other than her, I was alone. I had no thrilling experiences. No joyful memories.... I didn't take risks, I didn't even kiss on a first date. But there before me, was a man, one of my kind, who wanted to share it with me. He knew what I was and how dangerous I could be, but it didn't matter. The thought was beyond anything I'd ever experienced...and there, looking down into Ivan's eyes, there was not a doubt in my mind....  

"One Life" I whispered.  

Instantly another fiery sensation cut from down my left arm. Tensing, I gripped tighter onto him as the waves crashed against my back once more, easing the pain....then they receded for the last time falling back into their old rhythm.  

Looking down, all words escaped me.... Intertwined symbols seared both of our skin running down each of our arms like black tattoos. Certain the same was true of my back, I ran my hand along Ivan's nape until locating the burned skin that ran down to in between his shoulder blades. They were our fusion marks and they were beautiful....  

Before I could ask what they were, everything stopped.  

The waves. The wind. The whispers. Pulling away, I shivered violently from it all. I wasn't wrong in thinking our experience was sacred....it was a celestial experience.  

Looking to Ivan, my voice trembled, "Is it done...?"  

He ran his hands softly down my spine, shaking his head with a serene calmness, "The next is ours to make...." He said, his voice but a soothing bass in the eerie silence. Gazing at him so open and true, vulnerable and willing, perfect and utterly beautiful......fear gripped me.  

What the hell was I thinking? He was right...I couldn't do this...we couldn't do this. I had to stop it.  

Blinking back the tears, I looked away to the never ending midnight waves. Behind me the crimson sands.... How did I let things get so far? I was supposed to be healing him.....not mating....fusing. I wasn't meant for it. I didn't deserve it. Swept up in the passion, I didn't think.  

He didn't want me. The passion and the winds and the waters possessed us, but in that moment of clarity, I realized it was all a mistake.  

The next was ours to make....  

Ideally it would have been the most amazing experience...In dreams, I would have had an endless list of things to offer him....but I had none. How could I possibly give anymore, when I had nothing in the first place? I had so much to lose....and absolutely nothing to give....  

Once the passion passed and he saw the nothingness in me....what then? When everything settled and the veil lifted, what then? When the lights turned off, leaving us in the dark back in the real world, I would still be me...a lost soul....  

A cool hand gently lowered my head down and meeting his eyes, Ivan didn't wipe my tears. His fingers trailed down with them and with a knowing nod, he spoke,  

"One soul...."  

Each-word-cut-through-me..  

I couldn't do it. Seeing my life flash before my eyes, I lost all will to speak. My soul? No...it wasn't happening. Not because I didn't trust him with it...but because once he had it, he would realize that that being within me was like being stuck alone in a crumbling house with tainted windows....  

Closing my eyes, I held him, shaking my head like a child.  

His nose brushed lightly against mine and the sweetness of his breath was intoxicating. I gasped His fingers breezed down my arm, following the path of the seered symbols. They trailed back up and over my shoulder, moving to my neck where they proceeded to whisper against my collarbone. A single finger traced my jaw like a tear until reaching my lips. I kissed each fingertip with quivering lips.....  

Slowly he retracted his finger, taking a piece of my being like a solar flare being pulled from me. Though his mouth remained closed, I heard him clearly and positively in my mind....  

'....Let me into your heart... I won't hurt you.....'  

His words chiseled at my remaining defenses. My tears flowed around us, between us and within us. I opened my mouth but before I could say a word, my breath began being drawn out from within me in single doses at first, being fed to Ivan. He inhaled them and devoured them but with each dose, he drew longer breaths. Much deeper and faster. His lips came closer and closer until brushing softly against mine. He wanted to instantly devour each breath giving me no time to produce another. Feeling the warmth of Ivan's lips on mine sent electric currents running down my body and all around us..  

"One soul...." he begged as the air around grew saturated in our desire for the other. Like an orchestra of drums, his heart began beating in my head accompanying my breathing's melody.  

I could have resisted more, but why?  

Closing my eyes and resting my forehead upon his, I lowered all my defenses and spoke, realizing I would never be alone again...  

'One soul'  

A final fire scorched my skin as it ran down my spine. I screamed from the pain but suddenly feeling Ivan and I as one soul, one life, one body, I reached heaven. There suspended in time like a symphony of colors, we became one. As the tears fell from my eyes, he became a part me and I of him. Instantly I heard his thoughts in my head as if they were my own...all his thoughts were mine...and mine his.....  

Then there was a laugh....a familiar laugh... and it was leaving my lips!  

Like lightning cutting through our sky, a darkness swept over the land and the soft waves became a ravenous storm, threatening to blow Ivan away from me. Everything shook but the laughter remained, growing in intensity until stopping sharply. A low growl then softly echoed in our heads--  

"You couldn't get rid of me that easily, Ivan...Thank you Charlotte...."  

What? What the heck? He said she was bound! And--and why on earth was she thanking me?  

Then she was gone. Everything instantly fell back to normal....except for Ivan.  

As all the blood drained from his face, Ivan's eyes widened in horror but quickly shifted into a fiery dark anger as if having finally understood--  

Horrified, he painfully gripped my arms, his face morphing into one of disgust and disbelief,  

"What the hell have you done!"  

===========================================  

Wow....so this one was hard to write! My imagination is bust. But it's done so yay.  

If you don't understand something about "fusion" (or anything else in the story) let me know. I can only make this story better by fixing what's missing. With that said, And due to some very lovely death threats, I will make this a double upload.  

Also comment and vote and fan if you haven't already!