Siren Songs

I started dreaming of Ethan again, in the winter of 1937.

The Germans invaded my beloved France in 1940. They stormed across the Ardennes and overtook Paris. I feasted on the wounded and dying very well those few weeks. Over the next four years, whenever I could, I'd sneak out and set free those who were suffering. It was the only source of pride, the only thing in my life that had any meaning now.

In the autumn of 1944, the Germans were in full retreat, but fighting hard for every inch of land that they gave up. The mortar fire and cannons blasted long into the night. German, American, French or British, it didn't matter, I would go out in the night and silence their pain filled cries.

One night, the Germans had been pushed to the east of my mill and the Americans were on patrol, scouring the countryside, looking for stragglers. Normally, I would have stayed inside, hidden down in my lair. Something, some force pulled me outside. I cannot explain what it was that compelled me, but I had to be there as soon as evening fell.

I stood outside, watching the wind blow the last of the leaves from the trees along the stream. My senses picked up the sounds of foot soldiers, off in the distance, but they were getting closer. Self-preservation would normally have had me hide. Something, some unknown force kept me rooted in place. There was a familiar scent on the air. It was as if I were swept back, to 1918 again. It was impossible, but I could smell Ethan on the air again. My pulse quickened and my body thickened, throbbing with long dead desire.

When the American soldiers entered the clearing, my throat ran dry and my palms began to sweat. My super-sensitive eyesight flashed onto each of the soldiers as they cleared the forest, lighting upon each of their faces. Every nerve in my body thrummed with recognition, but I didn't see who was connected to what was quickening me.

After the first of the soldiers passed by, the rear guard cleared the trees. Two men, one tall, one short, dressed in the drab olive of the American Army walked into the clearing. My eyes were unnecessary. I recognized the walk, the almost swagger of the taller man. Ethan.

As the soldiers made their way to my mill, the emotions running through me clogged my throat. Silent tears trailed down my cheeks, unchecked by my hands. The smaller of the men ran off, following his comrades. Ethan stayed behind, staring at me from across the meadow. I could see in his eyes loss and confusion. He stopped his walking and stared at me.

In the moonlight, I could see tears well in his eyes before he started walking towards me. Within seconds, he was running. We met by the stream, standing a mere three feet apart. The confusion in his eyes startled me. I recognized him. I don't know how, but it was Ethan. He was a bit taller than last time, his coloring a tad darker as was his hair, but it was Ethan.

"What's going on?" His voice was a bit deeper, I think.

I smiled, not bothering to hide my fangs. "I do not know, but it's a miracle."

I could tell he was thinking, remembering, feeling. "I've had dreams; lots and lots of dreams. They were always your eyes." He shook his head in wonder, his eyes not focused here, but somewhere, some other time. "Caleb?"

My voice was thick and rough with tears. "Yes, Ethan."

He laughed an almost breathless sound of wonderment. "How? Why?"

I laughed loud. "I don't know."

He swallowed deeply, still looking disoriented and confused. "You came to me, always at night. You took me here, down the stairs. We made love." He looked right into my eyes. "I was injured. You came to me and I begged you to make it go away."

I looked down, the tears, the raw pain of that moment still as fresh as it was all those years ago. "I didn't want you to suffer anymore."

I felt his fingers brush the tears off my cheek as he pulled my face up. "All I remember is hating that I was leaving you. You always seemed so lonely. When you bit me, I wished with all my might to never leave you."

I smiled at him, probably the brightest, most sincere smile since the day I crossed over to the immortal life. "Perhaps that did it. Perhaps you were granted a miracle."

Ethan looked into my eyes, his blue irises sparkling. "Perhaps it's our miracle." He lowered to my lips and kissed me. His flavor, his innocence, his purity, everything that I remembered was there, only more so, more precious. I ran my hands over his body, relearning him.

We made our way back to the mill, always touching as we made our way to my room. Once there, Ethan toured around, lighting candles as I removed my clothes. When he came back to the bed, he looked at me, stared at me with raw hunger and lust. My hands were trembling, my body shaking as I removed his uniform, slipping each item off his body as I kissed his newly bared skin. As he stood before me naked, I took in all that had changed. His face was mostly the same, but his body was more muscular and a few inches taller. His chest was more densely furred, but it was darker. I reached out my hand, and grinned when I discovered his chest hair was still soft as down.

We were both so hard as I pulled him down onto the bed with me. Ethan started kissing my neck, licking at my skin just below my ear. My whole body shuddered under his. He pulled up to look at me, staring into my eyes. He chuckled, "I was going to say I've never done this before, but that's not true."

"Be with me Ethan. There's been no one but you." Ethan lowered his head to me, kissing me deeply.

"You didn't have to." His words were honest, but his face showed his delight at my confession.

"Yes, I did. You're my mate. I couldn't find another."

With those words, Ethan maneuvered his body over mine and pressed into me gently. My body arched against his at his invasion, purring in utmost pleasure. Ethan arched into me, moving swiftly, but surely, over and over, pulsing and hard inside me. I could feel his pleasure. The link between us was now gone, but I could watch his face, see the strain, lick at his sweat and I knew he was lost in bliss. I was close to the edge, my voice keening in moans and gasps. I felt Ethan speed up his stroking and my body exploded in such exquisite release, I blacked out from it.

I awoke with my nose pressed into a wall of muscle and fur, snuggled deeply against this miracle. Now that I could think again, the night that Ethan died came back to me; the horror, the desperation tensed my body. Ethan must have felt it, because he tightened his arms around me. "Don't think about it Caleb."

I rose up, linking my hands together against the broad expanse of his chest. "I can't help it. I nearly stayed in that field when the sun rose, just to be with you."

Tears welled in Ethan's eyes. I watched as he swallowed deeply. "I'm so sorry I left you."

I placed my fingers over his lips. "Don't. You couldn't help it."

He smiled against my fingers before kissing them. "I love you, Caleb."

I grinned against a fresh wash of tears. "I love you too, Ethan."

We kissed again, which led to more kissing. As I slipped inside Ethan, I realized that I really did want to open our bond again, to feel all that he felt, to have him be safe and by my side forever. I watched as pleasure rippled across his face as I kept pushing my body into his, over and over. My own pleasure was secondary to his. It didn't matter what I was feeling, I got pleasure from watching his.

As he found his release, I sped up and within seconds, joined him, filling him with everything. Ethan pulled me down to his lips and I kissed him. At some point, he had bitten his lip, because his blood spilled across my tongue and the bond instantly flared between us. Ethan?

Caleb?

"I was trying to tell you, before you left that morning, that I wanted to bond with you."

His look was skeptical, but he was listening. "We would be together forever. My life force would fuel yours. My need for blood would diminish, you would live longer."

Ethan looked in my eyes. Would we be like this always? Would you be able to hear me?

Yes.

Will I be immortal?

I chuckled. No. But you would live for a long, long time.

How?

I smiled. "The first part has already happened. I tasted your blood, from where you bit your lip. Now you would have to take of mine."

He stared at me, but didn't see me for several moments. It was a big decision, so I wasn't hurt. "How?"

Instead of speaking, I bit my lip, letting my blood pool against my teeth. Taste of me Ethan.

He lowered to me, kissing me, taking my blood into his mouth. The moment he swallowed, I felt the last barrier between us disappear. My thoughts were his as his were mine. All the love he had felt for me, over two lifetimes filled me, flared inside me until there wasn't a single inch of me that wasn't filled with his love. The shock of it made me tremble and tears leaked from my eyes in a great flood of emotion.

When I had calmed, I looked up and saw the same had happened for Ethan. His eyes were wet; the tears clung to his long, long lashes. I knew that he was filled with my love. We came together in a hot kiss, sharing a love that time couldn't stop.