Blood red love by Dripping Creativity

Blood red love 

46 

Vidar looked at Charlie. He was worried the evening had been too much for her. This part of life wasn’t something she had experienced. He wished he could have kept her away from it. But the anger and determination in her eyes told him it wasn’t an empty threat. He turned to 

Caine. 

“Let’s take the discussion on the couch,” he told his old friend. Caine looked at him for a 

second and then burst out laughing. It was rare to see his friend laugh so freely. 

“You have found someone that rival your own stubbornness,” Caine said. “Good move, Charlie. I’m starting to like you more and more,” he then told Charlie. Vidar felt proud of her. If Caine praised her, she had handled the situation well. 

“Thank you, Caine,” she said as she got down from the stool. 

“Do you want something to eat or drink?” Vidar asked Charlie. 

“How about ordering pizza?” she asked. “Or is that too big of a risk?” 

“No. We’ll order from one of our places, and Jones will bring it up,” Vidar said. The three of them decided what they wanted and ordered. 

“I was actually telling Vidar we needed to invite you to dinner,” Charlie told Caine. 

“You were?” he asked, sounding genuinely surprised. 

“Yeah. You have been watching over me and you are a friend of Vidar’s. It seemed like the right thing. I hadn’t expected it would be like this. We will have to do it properly another time,” she said. Vidar smiled. He didn’t know why it moved him so much that she wanted to include Caine. He and Caine had been friends for a long time. Vidar had come across Caine almost six hundred years ago. He had been newly turned and left to massacre a city. Vidar had been able to stop him until the first blood thirst had died down. Then they had gone after the men who had turned him against Caine’s will. When they all lay dead in the sand, Caine had sworn his loyalty to Vidar. No matter how many times Vidar had tried to convince his friend to go out in the world and find his own path, Caine always refused and stayed as 

1/5 

Vidar’s right–hand man. Despite of this, no one ever noticed Caine. Vidar knew it was how Caine liked in. He liked to live his life as a shadow, watching without being seen. But Charlie had seen him and understood his importance. In her usual stubborn way, she decided to dra Caine out of the shadows, and Vidar loved her for it. The pizzas arrived, and they all sat dow on the couch wich powa and beer. 

*What do you think?” Vidar asked Caine. 

“The bullet was an ordinary shotgun bullet. Range, I would say around a hundred and sixty yards or so.” Caine told him, handing him the bullet that had been inside of Vidar just half a 

hour ago. 

“No silver,” Vidar said. 

“No.” Caine agreed. Vidar had known the moment the bullet hit him there had been no silver involved. The pain from silver would have been excruciating. The pain from the bullet had been a muisance at most. 

“What does that mean?” Charlie asked. Vidar looked at her. She shouldn’t have to learn things like this, he thought. 

“That the bullet wasn’t made to hurt a magical being.” Caine said. 

“The bullet was meant for me,” Charlie said in a calm voice. She was too smart for her own good, Vidar thought and pulled her onto his lap. 

“Not necessarily,” Vidar said. “It can just as well have been planned by someone who knows nothing of our true nature. Some human competitor,” he explained. 

“But it was aimed at me, wasn’t it?” she asked. 

“Why do you think that?” Caine asked. 

“Because Vidar and I were moving apart when I heard the glass breaking and then Vidar covered my back and got hit. That suggests I was the target,” she said. 

“Impressive,” Caine said, looking at Charlie like he was reevaluating her. Vidar had to clamp 

25 

46 

his jaws not to growl. “I agree with you,” Caine said, which made Vidar growl at him. “Oh calm down, she has already figured it out. No need to hide it from her.” Vidar huffed and placed a kiss on her shoulder. 

“Is it because I’m a maiden?” Charlie asked, and Vidar’s heart ached. 

“I don’t think so,” he told her. 

“I agree,” Caine said. “You are early on your journey. You can end up choosing either of the fractions. There is no one that would gain to have you killed at this point,” Caine explained. “More likely is that some of Vidar’s human enemies have noticed how important you are to him and took the opportunity to strike against him.” 

“I want the shooter caught. I don’t care what happens to him. I want the one that ordered the hit brought to me, alive,” Vidar said. He could feel how close he was to blood lust. He would 

happily kill every living being in the city if that would keep Charlie safe. Charlie rubbed her hand over Vidar’s, that was holding her waist. He could feel the blood lust sinking back. 

“I’ll make it happen,” Caine said, getting up from the couch. Vidar knew he was going to get started the moment he left the apartment. He enjoyed this kind of work. 

“Thank you, Caine. For keeping us safe and for helping today,” Charlie said and got up as well. Vidar followed close behind her. 

“It’s not something you need to thank me for, Charlie,” Caine told her. She nodded. Vidar walked his friend to the door. “Should I leave the investigation to others and keep watching Charlie?” Caine asked. 

“No. Focus on finding them. I’ll keep her safe,” Vidar told him. Caine nodded, and they embraced before Caine left. Vidar walked back into the livingroom where Charlie was stacking the empty pizza boxes. Vidar walked up to her and drew her into a tight embrace. 

“I’m sorry,” he told her and held her even closer. She shook her head, and he realised she was crying. She had been brave and hadn’t cried despite everything that had happened. Vidar felt proud that she was comfortable enough to lower her walls around him. He scooped her up and sat down on the couch with her in his lap. He held her as she cried. He rubbed her back and rocked gently to soothe her. 

3/5 

46 

“You were hurt because of me,” she sniffled after a while. 

“No, baby, don’t think like that. It was my way of living that caused the situation. I put you in danger, and for that I will never forgive myself,” he told her. 

“You saved me,” she said, looking up at him with eyes that still glistened with tears. 

“I will happily do it again. I will take any hurt or pain I can from you and carry it myself,” he told her. It made her sob, and she clung even harder to him. “I will keep you safe, I promise. 

you.” 

“I know you will. I’m just scared you will get hurt even more. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you,” she said, her voice muffled as she had buried against his neck. 

“Look at me, Charlie,” he told her and lifted her chin so she looked at him. “You don’t have to 

worry about me. I’m old and strong. It will take more than a bullet to kill me, even if that bullet was made of silver. I am not going to leave you, Charlie.” She looked into his eyes, and after searching for something, she finally nodded. He kissed her and then he wiped her tears away. “I will throw this away. You go and get into the shower. I think we have deserved to go. to bed early tonight,” he told her. 

“That sounds good,” she agreed with a sigh. He smiled at her. 

“I love you, Charlie,” he told her. The words had just left him, but they were true. He had loved her since the day she had come to his office and turned in her findings. The imprinting had begun long before that, but it had been at that moment he had realised just how much he loved her and what an amazing person she was. Charlie looked at him with big eyes, then she gave him a brilliant smile. 

“I love you too, Vidar,” she said and kissed him. 

“Go. Get into the shower,” he said as he stood up and placed her on her feet. 

“Don’t be too long, or I will come and find you,” she said as she walked towards their bedroom. Vidar smiled as he took the pizza boxes to the kitchen and cleaned away the beer bottles. He did a quick check of the apartment. It made him nervous knowing someone out there was coming after Charlie. They wouldn’t be successful. They would find out exactly 

4/5 

46 

what would happen to someone that threatened the woman Vidar loved. And they would find 

n 

the veneer which made him a modern, civilised man was thin. Underneath were the hundreds of years that had shaped him into a warrior without mercy. Vidar walked to their bedroom. H heard the water from the shower and the soft humming from Charlie and he smiled.