"Perhaps, Nikolai, but you really don't know females very well do you?" Natalia says dryly. She has no doubt that Rosalie will be less than happy that her father is getting married.

Nikolai looks at Natalia with a smirk. "Why do you say that, love?"

"Most females become very territorial when it comes to the men in their lives. I have no doubt that Rosalie will be the same."

"You're not." Nikolai says kissing Natalia.

Natalia snorts. "Hell I'm not. I knew the score between you and Samantha before I started dating you. Since you were paying for our housing I wasn't going to rock the boat. Honestly, I'm used to sharing you with Samantha, but the thought of you being with others isn't a happy thought for me."

"I'll need to make more pets, Natalia, or I'll likely kill Samantha." Nikolai says soberly.

"I know, but it doesn't mean that I'm happy about it. But I'd rather have you make more pets than kill Samantha."

Natalia looks at Nikolai, "Why'd you buy us the chokers?"

"I don't share my property very well. My marking should be enough, but I don't want any doubts for anyone, vampire or human, that you belong to me." Nikolai holds his hands up, "I know that you don't like being referred to as property, but until you become a vampire that's what you'll be."

"Until I become a vampire?" Natalia asks no little scared at the idea.

"I didn't search for you for a thousand years to lose you to death, Natalia. I will allow you a few years to remain human, then I want you to become a vampire." Nikolai says very soberly. "I never plan on getting married again."

"So it won't kill me, kill me to become a vampire?" Natalia says thinking about the idea. Tasting it and trying it out. Now that she thinks about it the better she likes the idea, but she's still scared.

"We've already established a bond, the stronger the bond the more likely the change is to occur. My father didn't know that or I doubt he'd have tried to change me. His maker was incompetent and it was only by luck that my father survived his change.

"Not only do we have a strong emotional tie, but we've also exchanged blood. Not just now although you don't remember the first time."

"Nikolai, I was a virgin until last night. How did I drink your  blood and not die a painful death before?"

Nikolai smirks down at her, "The body just needs to believe that it's getting sex. I thoroughly pleasured you and it was sufficient." The smirk leaves, "It's a damn good thing too, your family damn near killed you. If I hadn't of forced my blood into you, you wouldn't have awakened the next morning."

"That's why you killed them?" Natalia says wonderingly.

Nikolai hides his emotions, even managing to block his feelings through the bond, "Yes."

Natalia lifts her arms up and encircles Nikolai, gently pulling him to her. "Thank you." She would like to remember that though. She's sure that he did a thorough job of giving her pleasure and that's something she would like to remember.

"Nikolai, I know you said that it's her story, but how did you and Samantha first meet?" This is bothering Natalia pretty bad.

"She was a slave in my father's whorehouse." Nikolai finally says after thinking it over.

"Was she yours?" Natalia says after a long silence envelops them both.

"No. She was brought in as payment for a debt. Her parents, well they paid with their lives, Samantha with her body. She was stuck in that hell for six years before her debt was paid sufficiently that I could buy her freedom."

"Six years...she's only a year older than me. That means-" Natalia has to work to keep from hyperventilating.

"She wasn't yet ten. She was a favorite among the perverts. They even requested movies to be made by her. Father earned a great deal of money from her presence. It was only after she became an adult or adolescent that her value fell."

"That's why you were able to buy her then?"

"Yes, by then she came under my protection since I was in charge of the slave pens and whorehouses. She had always come under special watch because of her value, but as she matured she captured my attention on a different level."

"How is it your father didn't recognize her?" Natalia asks still trying to come to grips with the information Nikolai is giving her.

"To him, one human is much like another. It's the blood that he remembers and he never drank from her. I made sure of that. I kept all the vampires from drinking from her."

"You love her." Natalia says that without emotion.

"Yes, but you do know that you are the one I'm in love with."

"Yes." She can feel it and had felt it since the bond doubled the feeling. It fills her and awes her to no end. "It's why I'm not jealous. You don't feel this way about others."

"Never have, not even Anna. No matter what, Natalia, you are the only one I want. The only one I love enough to be with for eternity."

"You were lovers with Samantha before you set her free, weren't you?"

"Yes, after she came to my notice, as an adult for sale, I took her as my personal whore. It made life far easier for her. At the time it was the best I could do for her."

"Now what Nikolai?" Natalia says after the story was finished.

"Now we get married on Saturday. But before that you and Natalia will be having lunch with my father. Then-" Nikolai stops, unsure if he should say anything, but Natalia can feel his unease through the bond.

"What is it, Nikolai?"

"You and Samantha both are carrying my children. Your child will be my heir."

Natalia looks at him beyond shocked. "Samantha has been your lover for years, I'm pretty sure that she is on birth control." Natalia hadn't even thought of the possibility that she could  be pregnant. Until Nikolai said something the fact that he'd fathered several hundred bastards had never penetrated.

Nikolai shrugs, "Those I am with become pregnant if I desire it. Until now I haven't wanted her pregnant. I haven't fathered a new child since my last pet a century ago."

"So why now?"

"I've waited a long time for my heir, Natalia. This is one reason why I wanted to wait until after the wedding. But it doesn't matter, you are carrying my child as is Samantha."

Now Natalia is angry, "Didn't you think that maybe, just maybe you should have talked to me about that first?"

"Natalia," Nikolai warns, "I love you, but you are coming dangerously close to -"

"Punish me? Go ahead. Some kind of marriage this is going to be. I won't even have any choice as to whether or not you get me with child." Natalie sniffs, "With child, hell I have no control over anything. All decisions are going to be made by you. I don't even know why you  bother with asking me about anything. Why didn't you just force the mark on me?"

Nikolai sighs. He hadn't meant to make her feel like that, even if it is true. "If I had forced you to take the mark then you would have been a slave. You would have to be kept at the estate and told every little damn thing to do. No free will at all."

"Please, what free will are you giving me? The wedding, being pregnant, decisions that should have been mine are all yours and -" Natalia stops before she goes too far. She turns away from Nikolai.

Nikolai for his part hadn't realized just how hard Natalia would take being pregnant. He gently puts his hand on her.

"Please don't touch me, Nikolai." Natalia says with as much humility as she can, but right now she's hurt and angry and wanting to lash out at him.

"Natalia-" Nikolai begins but Natalia turns away from him, but not before he saw the tears. "I'm sorry. It's not enough, but I am. I will endeavor to ask your thoughts and feelings before hand. I'm just not used to doing that."

Natalia doesn't say anything. She refuses to make eye contact with him though. Nikolai is frustrated and wants to force her, but he knows that will just make things worse.

The stalemate is broken when Nikolai's phone rings. "Shit."