Breathless Ch. 06

She looked around the party, seeing Frankenstein laughing it up with Vlad. Her lover was explaining the details of his divorce and getting a lot of sympathy from the testosterone-laden portion of the crowd. And his sister, who had never liked Teresa anyway. Vlad's nephew Todd, with a girl on each arm, was talking with Tommy, who had fully recovered his mind and was getting offers from psychologists around the country to lecture on what going insane had been like. He was going to be just fine. Mary and Melissa were making googly eyes at each other, and Mel seemed to be blushing a lot. They had a "play room" in the basement of Mary's house where they would often disappear for hours, leaving both wholly satisfied.

'Damn,' Sadie thought, watching the smooth and sensual grace that Mel moved with, 'she is smoking hot. Mary SO owes me for making her a vamp.' About that time, Mary noticed that she was being stared at, and she gave Sadie a warm and grateful smile. She understood and appreciated the gift that was Melissa.

For the evening, Sadie had pulled her wings back into her body, making it easier to navigate the crowds. She didn't mind so much, since she knew she could unfurl them anytime. She never had to hide again. Slowly she made her way to the edge of the crowd, looking up at the quarter moon and the endless stars, seeing them in a whole new way. And she felt a presence approaching her from behind. It was strong, warm, and smelled of pine trees and winter winds, and it wrapped her up in powerful arms.

"This is your party," Vlad said softly, kissing her on the neck just behind her ear. He had spent a lot of time learning what made her tick, and was delighted by how many ways he could make her purr. "Shouldn't you be in it?"

"I've been enjoying it," she said, running her hands over his forearms. "Can you believe how many people are talking to Mary? I love this town!"

"She and the wraiths stepped up big time," he replied. They both looked over to where Anya had Mary cornered in order to find out how she got her landscaping so perfect. The wraith had a lot of free time on her hands before Sadie entered her life, and was quite a competent home improvement guru. "She promised to help install that hot-tub." Sadie glared at him. "You ARE going to keep it cleaned right? Get that hair out of the filter?" She wasn't a big fan of water anyway, but he really wanted one.

"I promised I would, didn't I?" He kissed her again. "Besides, the possibilities --"

"I am quite aware of the possibilities having a hot-tub provides," she crooned. Damn, she wanted to throw him down on the ground and make love to him right then, but they had guests. She sighed. "I just can't believe it, ya know? This is the first time in seven thousand years I've welcomed a new year as . . . me. Yeah, maybe my name is only one-hundred and twenty years old, but everyone knows it's me."

"Any regrets?"

"Besides the pronounced lack of privacy, getting fired from a job, being worshiped as a goddess and the devil at the same time --"

"You're loving it, aren't you?"

She turned her head and kissed his lips. "Could be worse."

In a few moments, a new year would dawn and she would be surrounded by friends. She would kiss Vlad again, hug her children and her neighbor and all those who had walked through hell on earth with her, and then she spend the night with a man who encompassed all the passion that mortality gave. She promised herself she wouldn't wait another seven thousand years after dieing before she started living again.

"Deep thoughts can wait until next year," Vlad said sternly, picking Sadie up and carrying her back into the party. Sadie started humming an old Jimmy Buffett tune, and soon Vlad was singing along. Badly off key, but no one seemed to care. It wasn't long before "Cheesburger in Paradise" had taken the place of "Auld Lang Syne," the traditional New Years Eve song. There was energy in the air, ripe with the promise of starting over. And when Vlad and Sadie kissed again at the stroke of midnight, the only fireworks being seen weren't in the New Year's sky.

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The End . . .