Blood red love by Dripping Creativity

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Vidar swept Charli up in his arms and rushed her out of the sauna. Outside of it, there were some lounge chairs and a small table. He placed her on one of the chairs and as Charlie gratefully drew in the cool air; he reached into a bucket on the table and scooped something out. Before Charlie could comprehend what it was, he pressed his hand to the inside of her thigh. Charlie screamed as the ice hit her overheated skin. O 

“Shh, it will cool you down faster this way,” he said. He brushed her damp hair out of her face. and placed it behind her ear. 

“Ice?” she asked as he insistently pressed it to her. 

“Yes, I got it ready before I got in the second time. It’s refreshing to rub over your skin in between sessions. It’s also good at cooling down overheated bodies if you press it against areas with good blood flow close to the skin. Take some in your hand a place on your neck,” he told her. Charlie hesitated and looked at him. “Don’t make me tell you twice, lilla lo. It’s not a request,” he growled. She sighed and put her hand in the bucket with ice and flinched at the cold. She scooped some up and then hesitated again. Charlie really didn’t want to place it against her skin. She knew it would be a shock. “On your neck,” Vidar said. Charlie swallowed and did as he told her. Her skin signalled pain when the ice first hit it, then she felt drops of cold water starting to run over her torso as the ice melted against her skin. “Good girl,” he told her, leaning in and kissing her. The ice he had pressed against her was gone. “Stay here and keep ice on your neck, wrist or inner thigh,” he told her. She nodded. He disappeared and came back a moment later with two bottles of water. He opened one and handed it to her. 

“Thank you,” she said, barely able to get the words out. She hadn’t realised how dry her throat was until she had seen the water. She greedily gulped it down in one go. Vidar opened the next bottle and handed it to her. “What about you?” she asked. 

“I’ll get more,” he told her. She nodded and sipped on the water. She didn’t feel the need to down this bottle. Vidar walked away and came back, drinking water of his own. “I’m sorry, Charlic. I should have known sex was a bad idea for your first time in a sauna,” he told her, kneeling down in front of her. She smiled at him. 

“Don’t blame yourself. That was amazing. And I am the one who should know my limits,” she 

said. 

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“Still, I’m the older one, the one with experience,” he said. 

“Vidar, let’s just see this as a good lesson for the both of us and enjoy it.” 

“I can do that,” he agreed. “How are you feeling?” 

“Much better after your ice torture,” she told him. Draining the second bottle of water. 

“Ready to stand up and hit the shower? I think we have had enough of the sauna today.” 

“I think that is a good idea. But I really liked it, even the non sex part. I would love to do it again,” she said. He smiled at her. 

“I knew you would. We will give it another try in a couple of days. Come on, into the shower we go. Then I’ll cook something for you.” 

An hour later and Charlie sat in her usual place in the kitchen watching Vidar cook. They were both wearing white fluffy bathrobes and Charlie felt ridiculously relaxed and her skin felt smooth and glowing 

“You know you don’t have to make such an effort. I would have been happy with some cereal,” she told him and listened to him huff. 

“Cereal is not dinner. Honestly, it’s a miracle that you survived before meeting me,” he told her as she watched him cut vegetables and fish for the sushi. 

“The way you feed me, I will gain weight,” she said with a laugh. 

“I don’t mind, but I doubt it. Not if I make sure to keep you busy in bed. I need to make sure you keep your energy up,” he joked and leaned over the counter and held out a piece of thinly cut carrot. Charlie let him put it into her mouth and chewed. 

“You may have a point,” she said. Her mind wandered as she watched him work. It went to a place it often had gone to when she had time over in the last week or two. She wondered if she could make the choice to become a vampire, to have everlasting life. It sounded good at first. But she didn’t know if she could watch her brother and his family die. Watch her friends grow old and pass away. She would always have Vidar, and maybe that would be enough? 

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What would happen if she chose to stay human? Would he leave her when she started aging? Would he stay? Would she want him to stay? Looking at his eternal youth while she got old and wrinkled? At some point, she had to start introducing him as her son, then her grandson. 

That would hurt. 

“Where has your mind gone, Charlie?” Vidar asked. He had rolled the sushi and cut the rolls. into perfectly equal pieces. He was watching her with an intense gaze. 

“If I chose to stay human, what will happen?” she asked. He frowned, as if he didn’t. understand the question. 

“You will stay human. I don’t think I understand why you sound so worried.” 

“What would happen to us?” 

“To us?” he asked as he made his way around the counter to stand in front of her, taking her 

hands in his. 

“I will grow old. I will lose the body I have now. My face will change. Will you leave?” she asked, feeling terrified of his answer. 

“Charlie, look at me,” he said, putting a finger under her chin to make her look into his eyes. “I will never leave you. No matter what path you choose to walk, I will be there right beside you,” he told her. She saw the truth of it in his eyes. 

“Even when my body gets old and my sex drive vanishes?” 

“Your body is just a vessel that contains you. I don’t give a fuck how it looks or what it can or can’t do. I love you, Charlie, not the vessel that holds you.” His eyes were burning, pleading with her to believe him. It was one of the most beautiful things Charlie had heard. She grabbed the front of his robe, parted her legs, and pulled him to her. She kissed him hard and 

long. 

“You really would accept me, whoever I chose to be.” It wasn’t a question, it was her telling 

him she understood. 

“Yes. I know that whoever you chose to be, it will be someone that I will love. My soul has 

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claimed your soul and giving itself to you. That doesn’t change with race or age, it’s eternal, lilla lo. You are stuck with me and I don’t care what you chose. I will walk beside you as long as we both breathe and if you stop, then I will join you in the afterlife,” he told her. Charlie 

froze at that statement. 

“Vidar! You can’t end your life because of me,” she told him. He gave her a crooked smile and 

brushed his knuckles over her cheek. 

“Charlie, I have lived for over a thousand years, but it’s only since you came walking into my life that I have felt truly alive. I won’t face eternity without you. I’m not scared of death.” 

“Do you know how that makes me feel?” 

“It’s not your decision to make. You shouldn’t feel bad about it. Choose the path you want to live and I will walk it with you,” he urged her. 

“Knowing that if I stay mortal, we will both die.” 

“I’m not immortal, Charlie. I just have eternal life.” Charlie huffed out a dry laughter. 

“Potato, potato.” 

“No, there is a difference. Vampires don’t age and can, therefore, live forever. But we can die. Someone can kill us. We can starve or be killed in an accident. We are not immortal and that is something we all must learn,” he told her. 

“I’m still not over joyed about you killing yourself,” she said. 

“You won’t be alive when I do it, so you won’t know the difference. Would you rather that I lie to you and tell you I will live on?” 

“It’s a little too late for that now,” she pointed out. “But no. I appreciate you being honest 

with me. I don’t know what I will do. But if I chose a life with a set time span, we will come back to this discussion,” she promised him. 

“Okay.” 

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“Okay. Enough of gloomy subjects. Feed me and then I’ll let you do some work,” she said. He laughed and kissed her. 

“Yes, baby.”