Blood red love by Dripping Creativity

Blood red love 

106 

As the guests started to arrive the next day, Charlie found herself the centre of attention in a way she hadn’t counted on. She was introduced as clan Manarola’s maiden and as being imprinted to Vidar. Both things seemed to cause curiosity about who she was. She hadn’t met any new vampires since becoming one herself and she was surprised to find she could sense their age in a way. It wasn’t like a number would pop into her head and she knew how old they were. It was more of a sliding scale where she had a sense of where to place them in relations to each other. 

‘Vidar, is it just me or do vampires always feel other vampires ages?‘ Charlie asked him in a 

mind link. 

‘What you are feeling is the amount of magical energy they have. Usually it grows the older you get. Most of us feel it, some are more sensitive to it than others,‘ he explained. Charlie found that Vidar was one of the older vampires. Mauritius was older than him, as were at couple of more vampires she was introduced to. 

‘Do I need to remember all of these names?” she asked Vidar after she had been introduced to 

Khaemwaset, an ancient vampire with rich umber brown skin and dark eyes that still looked 

full of mischief. She heard Vidars soft chuckle in her head. 

‘No. No one expects you to learn all the names by heart after a short introduction. But I can help you out and you will impress them even more than you already have,‘ he told her. Charlie relaxed a little and was grateful she had Vidar and that they could use her ability to communicate privately. 

“Vidar, your parents just left the airport, they will arrive in about ten minutes,” Henry said. 

“What!? Your parents are coming?” Charlie asked. 

“You didn’t tell her?” Henry asked. 

“No, I didn’t see the big deal,” Vidar said. 

“Didn’t see the big deal? You fretted over meeting my brother for days, nearly strangling the 

1/5 

106 

wheel of the car on the drive over to his house. And you don’t see the big deal in me meeting your parents? They are even older than you, they have lived hundreds of lifetimes and have one son, you. They are going to hate me,” Charlie told them. She had no question in her mind that Vidar’s parents would see her as not good enough for their son. 

“What are you saying? Why would they hate you?” Vidar sounded so baffled it would have been funny if Charlie wasn’t half- into a panic attack. 

“Honestly, Vidar. Even I know better than to spring something like this onto your partner,” Henry scolded him and patted Charlie on the back as if that would help her calm down. 

“I really didn’t think it was this big of a deal. Charlie, are you okay? If you want you can go up to the room and lie down for a bit. You can meet them later, when you feel ready,” he 

suggested. 

“Right, like that is going to make such a good impression,” she said, shaking her head. No she was going to deal with this and then she would deal with Vidar. “I’m fine. We will talk about 

this later,” she said to him. 

“Ouch, sounds like you are in trouble, my friend. What did you do?” Adisa asked as he walked up to them with Nasir. 

“He didn’t tell Charlie his parents were coming,” Henry helpfully filled them in. They both 

made a face. 

“It’s been nice knowing you. Charlie, let me know if you need help getting rid of his body,” 

Nasir said. 

“Thank you, I might take you up on that,” Charlie said in her sweetest voice. Everyone except 

Vidar laughed. 

“How much trouble am I really in?” he asked her quietly. 

“Maybe not ‘disposing of dead bodies‘ big, but not ‘I forgot to pick up milk on my way home from work‘ small either,” she told him. 

“I am sorry. And I will make it up to you,” he told her. 

2/5 

106 

“We’ll talk about it later, when we aren’t surrounded by people. Just help me get through this, tell me if I’m making some mistake when you introduce me,” she said. 

“You have nothing to worry about. Any vampire family would be thrilled to have a child imprinted with a maiden and you are brilliant all on your own. They will see how lucky I am.” 

“You are lucky you are so sweet,” Charlie said with a smile. 

“Learning from my mistakes, my parents just walked in. You still have time to disappear if you want,” he told her. 

“Let’s get this over with.” Charlie felt Vidar’s arm go around her, securing her to his side and she took comfort in the feeling. Vidar steered them towards a couple talking to a stunning couple, they stood talking to Mauritius and Britta. The woman was short and her blond braid. almost reached the floor. She had an air of confidence about her that Charlie picked up on even from afar. The man next to her was taller, the same height as Vidar, Charlie guessed. The difference in height could have looked comical, but thanks to the woman’s confidence, it wasn’t noticeable. Vidar’s father had nutbrown hair that was longer and kept in a sleek ponytail. 

“Father, mother, I would like to introduce you to the one I have imprinted with,” Vidar said as he and Charlie approached the group. His parents turned to Charlie and his mothe 

had a smile on her face, Charlie wouldn’t exactly describe it as warm. But it wasn’t unfriendly. 

“Maiden of the Manarola clan, our son has been fortunate in his imprint,” Vidars father said. He spoke perfect English with a British accent and a slight hint of something else that Charlie. couldn’t place. Vidar smiled and held Charlie closer to him. 

“I’m the lucky one that found Vidar. I could not wish for a better partner,” Charlie told them. Both his parents smiled at that and nodded. 

“You are beautiful, your children will be exceptional,” his mother said. It wasn’t hard to see 

Vidar had inherited his colours from his mother, but he had his father’s features. Charlie 

blushed and didn’t know what to say to that. 

“It’s a little too soon to be thinking about that, mother,” Vidar said. “We want some time to 

bond and Charlie needs to find her place as a vampire. Not to mention this whole mess we 

3/5 

106 

need to sort. There will be time for thinking about children later.” 

“Our son speaks with wisdom, they are both still young and newly imprinted,” his father said. 

“I guess you are correct. We were very pleased to hear that you chose the vampire path. We know it was a big step to take, and I might be partial, but I think you will be very happy with. your choice,” his mother told Charlie. 

**1 

agree with 

you,” Charlie said. 

“We won’t keep you, we know you have a lot to do. But it was lovely meeting you, maiden,” Vidar’s father said. 

“The same, and please, call me Charlie.” 

“It would be an honour, I’m Caius and my wife is Vigdis.” As they walked away from his parents, Vidar place a kiss on Charlie’s temple. 

‘Not so scary, right?‘ he sent his thoughts to her. 

‘Don’t think you’re out of trouble. But no, not scary, they were very nice,‘ she agreed. ‘We should make sure to put some time aside to have dinner with them or something with them while we all are here,‘ she added. Vidar hummed. ‘I think it’s time to let the rest of the clan in 

on my ability as well.‘ Vidar stopped and as he had his arm around her, Charlie stopped as 

well. 

‘You are okay with that?‘ he asked. 

‘I am. I trust them and it will be useful if we can communicate without being overheard in a room full of vampires,‘ she told him. 

‘But everyone can only communicate with you, not with each other,‘ he pointed out. 

“True, I have to be the go between. But that is better than not being able to do it at all.” 

“You are right. How do we do it?” he asked. 

4/5 

106 

‘Let’s gather all of them in a room,‘ she said. After sending out a text, the clan all got together in a small conference room. 

“What is the important information you needed to share?” Adisa asked. 

‘I have found my maiden power,‘ Charlie answered him without using words. He looked at her with enormous eyes. “I can communicate with you like this,‘ she sent to Nasir. ‘Henry, can you hear me?” she asked the last member in the room. All of them looked at her like they hadn’t. 

seen her before. 

“Charlie, did you just talk to me in my mind?” Henry asked. 

“I did,” she answered with a nod. 

“You can send your thoughts to us?” Adisa asked. 

“I can, and you can send yours to me,” she added. 

“This is amazing,” Nasir said. 

‘Let’s keep this a secret as long as we can,‘ she sent to each of them, they all nodded. 

“I always knew you were a blessing,” Adisa said and ruffled Charlie’s hair. Charlie laughed, the gesture reminded her of Huxton and in a way that was how she felt about the other members of the clan. Like she had got four new big brothers.