Crimson

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I barely slept that night. Dream after dream disturbed me. Happy ones with Lamech. Terrible ones with him drenched in blood. Peaceful ones with my parents. Horrible ones with them dead on the floor. And the worst of them all: My parents dead on the floor with Lamech standing over them. He turned to look at me. His eyes shone red. Then he leered at me and my parents' blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

I woke up gasping and with my heart pounding. For a moment I thought that the dream had been a memory, it had all been so vivid. But as soon as I had calmed myself somewhat, I knew it wasn't anything more than a dream.

I had been the one to find my parents and there hadn't been anyone else in the room. It had just been them, covered in their own blood. I had very few memories of them, most I suspected that I had suppressed. But the image of my parents lying dead on our living room floor was as clear as day.

But even if he had not been directly involved, Lamech bore responsibility.

I didn't want to think about that. The evening before had been so wonderful. It had been fun, we had laughed and talked and it had felt easy most of the time. I wanted that to be reality, to become my future.

Maybe my parents' deaths had been an accident. I had been too young at the time to really grasp what had happened. Could it be that they had met with a vampire and the vampire had simply lost control? Like Kyle had explained the day before about the hunger. Could the vampire have just been manageably hungry, but then my parents had smelled too good?

I wanted to laugh at myself at my feeble attempt to find an explanation. The room had been a mess, that much I remembered and it made me certain that my parents had put up a fight. If it was the case of a vampire losing control, then they should have managed to regain it during the fight.

But I didn't want to believe. Didn't want to think. It just couldn't be true that my mate was responsible for my parents' deaths.

I shook my head and felt guilt wash over me. My parents had died and there I was, trying to find some sort of defense for their killer. I was even falling in love with their killer when I instead should be using the opportunity to burn the Midnight Refugees to the ground.

Not that I would ever be able to do that.

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter," I called out in a slightly shaky voice. I had expected to see Aideen or Kyle walking through the door, but instead it was Alair that came in.

"Could I possibly have a moment of your time?" he asked while still standing in the door way.

"Su-sure," I said and tried my best to dispel the remaining fear from the nightmare and the thoughts that had accompanied it. I couldn't have done a good job at that though. Alair had only taken two steps into the room before he stopped and frowned.

"Are you alright? Are you sick?" he asked and took urgent steps forward as if to go over and check on me.

"I'm fine," I said quickly to halt him. "Just had a nightmare. That's all."

"Ah," he said and stood still half-way through the room. "Do you want me to get you something to calm you? Chamomile tea perhaps?"

"No!" I snapped and saw how he flinched back a little. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout," I added. I really hadn't, but just the idea of chamomile tea made me think about Lamech and I wanted to keep him out of my mind as much as possible at the moment.

"It's alright. I understand." He gave me a soft smile.

"What... Did you want to talk to me about something?" I asked and tried once again to get the nightmare out of my head. "Is it about yesterday? I know I shouldn't have said what I said to Everett. Lamech explained."

"Indeed, I want to talk about yesterday and I'm glad Lamech has talked to you about Everett. But my reason for coming is to apologize to you for Everett's and my behaviors."

"What?" I said, certain that the nightmare was still messing with my mind and I had heard wrong.

"Although you can now understand Everett's actions, it was wrong of him to attack. He knows that as well and is sorry about it. However, with his personality, he'll likely not tell you so himself. But I want to apologize for him and I hope you can accept it," Alair said and both his words and tone surprised me. It sounded very much to me like he put great importance on me accepting the apology but was worried that I wouldn't.

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, it's alright. No harm done. Can you apologize to him for me as well? I shouldn't have said what I said."

Alair nodded and seemed to relax a little. "Thank you and I will happily carry that message to him. Then I want to apologize for my actions as well. I made you feel uncomfortable and I regret that. I shouldn't have suggested to drink your blood and I should have been more aware of how we made both you and Aideen feel. You have my deepest apology for it."

I was astounded by his apology. I hadn't even considered that an apology was needed. But I was even more shocked as he bowed down his head and tilted it, completely exposing his neck.

It was a common thing for both vampires and shifters to do towards someone that was above them in the hierarchy as a sign of subordination. One of the aspects of them that reminded more of how an animal might act than a human. Of course, that subordination wasn't only for someone that was above them in the hierarchy, but could be a way to simply show submission in a specific situation.

But a vampire like Alair showing me, a witch, his neck? I was completely stunned.

Of course I didn't know much about him. From his clothing and mannerisms, I assumed that he was very old though, certainly older than me. He also did seem to have a certain air of power around him, one that only came from having earned the respect of many. The fact that Lamech had also let Alair take Everett away while he was so angry yesterday, told me of the immense trust Lamech had in Alair. And Lamech had named Alair as a friend.

From all of that, I assumed that Alair was a highly ranked vampire within the clan and the fact that he would apologize and even expose his neck to me to show his sincerity felt unreal.

"It's alright," I said, feeling unable to not accept the apology even if I hadn't wanted to. "Thank you for apologizing, but you wouldn't have needed to. It's all good."

"Thank you," he said and looked up again, a soft smile on his lips. But that smile quickly disappeared again and hesitation seemed to come back. "There's one more thing I would like to ask of you. A favor."

I raised my eyebrows and waited for him to continue. He took a deep breath.

"About that I asked you about drinking your blood. I would very much appreciate if... If Lamech did not find out about that."

Once again I was stunned, but only for a moment that time as realization dawned on me.

"You know," I said slowly. "You know that me and Lamech are mates?"

He nodded with a smile. "It was somewhat evident from how he acted yesterday. And if he knew I had asked his mate about drinking her blood..." He shuddered.

I bit back the retort I wanted to make, that I doubted he would actually care. I knew he would though. Just from how he had reacted by seeing me slightly scratched, he obviously had the protective feelings that came with a mate bond and no doubt did he also have the possessive ones. Even though he still didn't want me.

"I won't tell him. I promise," I answered and all the rest of the tension seemed to disappear from Alair.

"Thank you, Crimson. And though I know things are complicated between you and Lamech, I wish to offer my congratulations of having found your mate. Independent on circumstances, it has always seemed to me to end in happiness. Albeit that the road there can sometimes be tricky."

I snorted and was about to give him a cynical answer, when a new knock on the door stopped me. Alair went to answer.

"Oh, hello," he said in a warm voice to Aideen that stood on the other side.