23. My Vampire

Alex's POV

I woke up safe in Ash's arms again. We were in a decently sized room that I couldn't recognize, but I assumed he knew where we were.

"Good morning," he whispered huskily, drawing my vision to his face. More specifically, his lips.

"I missed you so much," I told him quietly.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Where are we?"

"We're in my home," he stated simply. "My old home, I mean."

"Oh..." This is the place I did those things to him. I know he somewhat forgives me, but I'll never let it go. I won't be able to forget as quickly as he did, it just wasn't possible.

"Stop it, you're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault."

"I know you hate it. I already told you that I couldn't help my guilt. Marley hates upsetting you, but he's just like me and isn't about to let it go," I sighed sadly.

"Then I guess I'll just have to give you a reason to drop it."

I closed my eyes briefly before breathing the word, "Impossible."

If he heard me he didn't show it as he continued pulling my arm out into the hallway. Alice and her mate were already outside in the foyer, looking around at the wreckage. Alice brushed her finger along one of the tables and lifted it to see a thick layer of dust while making a pitiful face. Across the way, her mate was looking at the photographs lining the walls. I walked over behind her and looked at a few over her shoulder. There were so many, but I managed to locate one of young Ash. His smile was so bright that it seemed to light the room, but nowadays no matter how hard he tried there was always lingering sadness in his eyes.

"You know, I never got your name," I expressed quietly, causing her to whip around to look at me.

"Oh, I'm Hannah."

We continued to look around for a while until Alice suggested, "Maybe we should clean this place up a bit? Make it our hideaway, perhaps?"

We all nodded our heads and began to work. I cleaned next to Ash in the main area, fixing the scattered tables and chairs. He managed to find the dusters and brooms in a small supply closet, so we began to get the table tops and floors. After a few hours of working, it looked pretty clean. Ash had commanded me to leave the 12 year old cake alone, so I let that be. It was probably one of the last remaining artifacts of his childhood before it all went to shit.

He turned his smiling face towards mine and wrapped his arms around my neck in a tight embrace. Once he drew away I looked down into his face and swept a stray strand of hair out of it. His bright blue eyes shone brighter than I had ever seen before, and with the smile it made him look almost like the innocent child of that picture. I leaned down and planted a small kiss on the tip of his nose.

He grabbed my hand and dragged me from the room we were in to the hallway. We began sweeping again, causing the smile to grow a bunch more. Obviously he enjoyed making it look like it had once.

***

By the time the sun had set, we had brushed up all of the hallways in the building, which were a lot, and moved back to the foyer. Alice and Hannah joined us a few moments later.

"What'd you guys get done?" Alice asked happily, smiling joyously.

"We finished the dining area and all of the hallways," Ash responded before I could.

"That's awesome! We got the foyer and quite a few bedrooms," she finished with a yawn.

"That's it for tonight, we're going to go to bed," Hannah commanded before whisking her exhausted mate after her.

"Let's go," Ash said, pulling me behind him as well.

We walked back to the room I had woken up in, and I just now noticed it definitely looked like the kind of room an eight year old Ash would live in.

He sat down on the edge of the full sized bed and gazed up at me longingly.

"Alex, I want to take you, so bad."

"Then do."

***

(Yes, they did it. No, I did not write it out. We keep it P.G. 13 up in here. I totally just put a sandwich on my stomach then try to use it as my mouse)

I woke up the next morning with a huge soreness in my lower back. Then it all came back to me. We did it, in his childhood room, for the first time.

Ash had propped himself up on the headboard and was absentmindedly playing with my hair, but it didn't bother me. In fact, it was soothing because it reminded me of what my mother would do to calm me down when I was younger. I stirred quietly and stretched my arms above my head with a yawn. Ash quickly pecked my lips before allowing me to stand up. I groaned when the pain shot up my back from my rear.

"You went hard last night," I grumbled, limping over to the pile my clothing lay in. I applied them before straightening my back. Ash suddenly hugged me from behind and placed his face right near his mark. His warm breath tingled it gently.

"That I did," he muttered.

"We should probably go make sure that the girls didn't break or burn anything," I joked.

"That is, if you can walk properly. If you can't I could just carry you."

"I don't care if I can walk, carry me prince charming!" I hollered laughing.

Ash let a soft, deep chuckle make its way out from his throat.

"I wasn't joking about the whole carrying thing," I implied slyly before being literally swept off my feet. The girls were sat out on some small chairs in the dining area chatting. Hannah was the first to notice us and greeted us cheerfully.

Alice and I made eye contact, and she began wiggling her eyebrows profusely. I randomly felt my submissive side emerge and buried my face into his chest. I could hear his heart speed up, but didn't mention it for fear of embarrassing him. I don't want to make him mad again.

I was soon being gently set down on one of the multiple tables that we had dusted the previous day. Since I was seated, Ash was finally taller than me. I looked up into his eyes and saw a lingering bout of lust and longing. His smiling lips curled up into a gentle smile that only occurred around me, one that actually reached his eyes and was completely void of any sadness. I just now realized that the pupils, instead of black, were red. The sign of a vampire, my vampire.