Chapter 21

I was fuming as I got dressed. That was fucked up. Two could play that game; I still had my dare; had he forgotten that? He was going to regret that, getting me on the edge of release and then stopping cold turkey. I took a deep breath and put on a front. I would play nice for now and get him back when he least suspected it. 

I emerged from the changing rooms and smiled when I saw him. "Where to next?" I asked calmly, keeping my end goal at the forefront of my mind. He walked toward me and wrapped his arm around mine. "I was thinking I could take you to the bowling alley down here.", he said. "You guys have a bowling alley in the basement, too?", I responded inquisitively.

He replied, "We do, but it's only two lanes. I thought you might want to blow off some steam and knock some pins over." He was right about one thing: I had a lot of steam built up in my frame, and he was to blame. I smiled, "Sounds fun."

We walked around the basement hallways until we reached the small bowling alley. He turned on the lights and made a quick phone call; shortly after, one of the vampire servants arrived. Did he think I would behave because there was a witness? He had another thing coming.

"You'll need to reset the pins between our turns.", he told the servant. The vampire nodded and stood between the lanes. James handed me a bowling ball, and I struggled slightly with its weight. "Um, is there a lighter ball?", I bit my lip, looking up at him. He smirked, "That is the lightest ball; we only have two 14-pound balls." Jeez, I was weak. 

I held the ball between my legs and let it roll granny-style. Unsurprisingly, it only knocked over four pins. He smiled again and let out a little chuckle. The vampire servant between the lanes placed my ball on the return and manually removed the pins I had knocked over. James wrote on the scoring card as he sat there gazing at me. Rolling the ball again, I knocked over three pins this time. 

"Sorry, I'm not any good at this.", I said as I sat down where he had been. His eyes glowed competitively. He flung his ball down the lane with such ease that all the pins scattered. He looked back proudly, showing off. Did he have to be ridiculously good at everything? I rolled my eyes and smirked at him. 

"It's your turn again, Love.", he said as he walked over and kissed my cheek. It wasn't fair; why was it so hard to stay mad at him? I stood up, allowing him to sit at the scoring table, and he wrote a big X in one of the boxes. 

I picked up the heavy ball and went to send it down the lane. I paused when I felt his presence behind me; he wrapped his body around me, forcing me out of my granny stance. He helped me support the ball and guided me to throw it more correctly down the lane. With his help, I got eight out of the ten balls. He brushed his nose against my ear and whispered, "See there, better already." My body shivered at his words, or maybe it was just the closeness of our bodies. 

I couldn't help but smile. "You did most of the work.", I said, facing him and biting my lower lip. I gazed upon his handsome face, then shifted my eyes away as I heard the bowling ball approaching from the return. I went to turn away, but he grabbed my arm and waist, pulling me close. Face to face, he leaned down, kissing me passionately. My mouth opened, allowing his tongue to enter. 

My eyes opened when he pulled away, leaving me breathless. "You're not still mad at me about earlier, are you?", he asked. "I, uh...", I stumbled on my words; he could read me so easily. "Come on, I have another place I want to show you.", he pulled at my wrist, dragging me along like a rag doll. 

The next thing I knew, we were back upstairs on the main floor. He took me into a music room with all kinds of instruments. "Are you going to play me a love song?", I asked. James chuckled, "Not exactly." He sat me beside him at a grand piano and began playing. 

The chords invoked a deep sadness in me. The melody was beautiful, however, and I was lulled into a melancholic mood. Tears welled in my eyes as he continued to play, the sound fully engulfing my being and reverberating through my core. When he looked at me and saw my teary eyes, he gently wiped them away with his thumb and kissed my forehead. "It's beautiful." I whispered, "What's it called?"

He responded, "That is Beethoven, the first movement of his Moonlight Sonata." I sat wide-eyed as if a whole new world was opening up in front of me. "Will you play again?" I pleaded. James smiled warmly and began again. The keys were different this time, and the tune was more tranquil. It didn't instill the same sense as the first song that he had played, but I still admired his talent and sat there experiencing the music. 

"That was Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9.", he said. I stared up eagerly. "Another?", he asked, and I nodded. The following piece was more uplifting but still placed my emotions on a roller coaster, especially as the deeper cords were introduced, followed shortly after by a rapid increase of notes. James's fingers danced across the keys with such speed and accuracy. James looked over at me when the song ended to gauge my reaction. Debussy's Clair de Lune. "They are all so beautiful.", I said. He smiled, "They are some of my favorites, too."

I was so caught up in the music that I hadn't realized that my previously soured mood had dissipated. James had a way with me; staying mad at him for long seemed impossible, and I loved and hated it simultaneously. "Can you teach me sometime?", I asked. James nodded, "I would love to; we could even play some great four-hand pieces together." My eyes lit up, and a smile crept across my face. He nodded at my enthusiasm, "Schubert's Fantasia comes to mind." 

He looked down at his wristwatch, "We have a few more hours before sunrise. Do you mind if I go eat?" Of course, he usually ate while I was sleeping, and now that he was entertaining me, he hadn't had the opportunity. "Sure. I could grab a bite to eat, too.", I said. He looked worried, "Won't it bother you to see me drinking blood?" I laughed out loud, "My pack would hunt down cute woodland creatures and eat them during their shifts on the full moon. I don't think me seeing you drink blood is going to be that disturbing for me." He smiled, "Well, when you put it like that."

After he let out a short chuckle, he led me out of the music room and down several corridors to the large kitchen where the blood was stored. He grabbed six blood bags from a refrigerated room. "We should head back to our wing; you won't find any human food down here.", he said. I interlaced my fingers around his arm and felt the coolness of the refrigerated room still lingering on his clothes; James usually felt cold to the touch, just not this cold.

We headed up the winding staircase and back to our wing. There were still some leftovers from the Chinese food I had ordered earlier, so I warmed them up to join James for a meal. When I returned, James held a gallon-sized black Yeti jug. The packets of blood lay on the dining room table emptied. I set my meal down next to him. Climbing into the chair, "I told you it wouldn't bother me." James smirked, "I still put it in this container, so it wasn't in your face." I smiled, "Isn't my husband so considerate." Then I thought for a moment, what if the sight of my human food repulsed him? I suddenly felt self-conscious, "Um, my food doesn't bother you, does it?" He laughed, "Not at all unless it smells super garlicky. It's only a minor annoyance, but that's about it." Relief swept over me like a wave crashing upon the beach.

We continued eating our respective meals, enjoying the companionship provided by each other's company. "How long have you played the piano?", I asked. James responded, "I started learning when Sylas took me and prepared me to meet you." He paused momentarily, "I was forced to stay here and learn everything he put before me. I've read so many documents on the histories of vampires that I could probably recite them all by heart." As he reminisced again, he stared off, "I taught myself the piano after hearing Sylas playing an old record one night. The melody was so beautiful, and I couldn't get it out of my head." 

"Let me guess, the Moonlight Sonata?", I said. He smirked, "That one stuck with you, too, huh?" I couldn't find the words to express the feelings it evoked, so I just nodded, knowing that the memory of hearing it for the first time would stay with me forever as a treasured gift from James.

I let out a massive yawn. James finished his meal before saying, "Come on, Love, let's get you to bed." I rubbed my weary eyes and happily followed him to the master bedroom. Settling in for the day, I snuggled my body so profoundly in his that we practically became one.