Chapter Bonus Chapter ~ The Bucket List ~
The sun is starting to rise through the blinds as I open my eyes, which lets me know that it is still very early in the morning. I feel all warm in fuzzy on the inside as soon as my brain starts to register.
Today is going to be an amazing day. Now, that we’ve settled into our new home in the nation’s capital.
We’re officially embarking on my bucket list journey.
Ever since, Vlad learned about my upbringing he promised me that each day for the next six thousand, five hundred, and seventy-five days that we can do whatever I want to do. This is his way of making up for each day that I’ve spent without him since the day that I’ve been born, a scratch-off my bucket list per day.
Yes, I’m so thrilled!
He’s the best boyfriend. Ever!
How did I ever get so lucky? He’s my good luck charm.
Thinking of my lucky charm, who’s currently still sound asleep beside me as I stretch out my arms. My eyes scan the enormous master bedroom. The fire that Vlad sparked last night before we went to sleep is still roaring in the fireplace that’s facing the bed. We’re laying in the best bed ever invented in the entire universe, and no matter how much I want to stay in this massive four-poster king-size bed I must get up.
My boyfriend has the biggest appetite that I’ve ever encountered, and I love to have his breakfast prepared before he wakes up and he always seems to be grateful that I do. Although, he usually prefers to go down on me before he eats whatever I cook for him like I’m his breakfast and I truly do enjoy feeding him either way.
Now, that I’m fully awake I need to figure out how to win my biggest challenge of the day.
My eyes travel to my man’s arms that feel as if they weigh a ton of bricks as he wraps them around my tiny waist. Then, they travel to his big muscular legs as he slides one of his leg between my thighs and then latches the other one around my left one. It’s a classic Vlad moment.
How on heavens earth am I supposed to escape this time? I swear, each day he makes it harder and harder for me to do something as simple as getting out of the bed.
Okay, inspector gadget Abby! You must find a way.
Think quick!
Darn it! There’s no use I think to myself as one of Vlad’s hands wanders across my chest before it cups one of my breasts, hugs it firmly, and stays there completely shifting my train of thought. Suddenly, goosebumps emerge all over my skin, spiraling towards the juncture between my thighs. Next, comes the chills that are spreading from my cheeks, down to my neck... everywhere
His actions are followed by his delicious manly scent of vetiver with a hint of sweet warm vanilla covering me whole and I must refrain myself from licking him. He smells so good, so tasty, so appetizing. It’s so hard not to want to taste him. As if he is listening in to my thoughts, he pulls my entire frame closer to him completely smothering me with his marvelous scent.
Automatically, my heartbeat begins to thunder in my chest pounding the alarm and I think that’s the point.
Everyone knows that vampires could be awakened from the dead itself whenever vampires hear a racing heartbeat. The old saying goes, that vampires can tell when a person is lying, crying, and even dying by the speed of the person’s heartbeat. In this case, my heartbeat is serving as his alarm clock to wake up.
Oh, snap! This was his trap and my heartbeat fell right into it. Another, classic Vlad moment. He’s a professional predator you know, who happens to be well crafted in catching his prey.
At this moment, I’m his prey caught and swayed like a mouse would be the very moment that it smells cheese on a trap in the far corner of the room.
Oh, darn it! I fell for it, again.
“You sure did,” smiles Vlad as his shockingly crystalline eyes pop open.
I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! It was a trap, trap, trap!
“Can you stop repeating yourself? It’s really annoying,” He yarns.
Well, who’s fault is that? If he just stops invading my thought’s he wouldn’t hear me repeating myself. So, therefore he’s annoying himself. I think to myself, seeing no point in speaking my thoughts out loud because I know very well that he’s still listening in.
That’s what he is famous for and the worst part is that I had no clue that he could do that into Embry told me a couple of days ago before we departed. According to her, Vlad had access to my precious thoughts and even emotions possibly the very moment that he claimed me. Which was literally over a month ago.
Do you know how embarrassing that is? All this time, he had access to my dirty little thoughts, and I was completely oblivious because I’m a stupid human.
“You’re not stupid?” He says to me while climbing over the top of my body, but most importantly officially pinning me to the bed.
“Aaaarrghh...Would you stay out of my head!” I jump. Well, I would have jumped if it wasn’t for Vlad’s army guns pinning and holding me down.
Ugg! Stupid human strength.
“Someone’s annoyed,” he laughs. “And I already told you that you aren’t stupid. So, stop saying that.” His playful expression turns serious, making my toes curl. I love when he displays his dominance over me.
It’s such a turn-on. Most girls don’t like being told what to do but I’m completely okay with submitting to my man. I also, have no problem with cooking, cleaning, and catering to my boyfriend. He’s a good man.
He deserves it. All I ask in return is for him to love me and my body properly and Vlad is an expert at doing just that.
No one knows this, but Vlad can be extremely erotically sadistic in the bedroom, and I love every second of it. Just thinking about the wickedly wondrous tricks that he can do with his tongue makes me want to bust it wide open for him.
Aaaaarrghhh! Here I go again, focus Abby! Focus.
Instead of giving in to him, I squirm and wiggle my tiny little frame underneath his gigantic one until he lets go. His muscles flex as he lifts himself up, allowing me to go free before he leans on his elbow, looking at me with a scowl. “It’s so cute when you try to fight me.”
He’s completely bare. The soft dark gray Egyptian cotton sheets are the only thing that is preventing me from full access to his Adonis of a body. Oh, how much I love his body.
Darn it! I’m getting sidetracked again which seems to happen a lot. He’s making me want to jump his bones. See, what I mean, erotically sadistic.
My boyfriend’s name should be Dr. Sexy Evil, instead of the almighty Commander Vlad.
Vlad chuckles. It’s that dark and dangerous chuckle of his with the boyish overtone that always gets me going. Plus, it states the obvious which is that he’s still evading my thoughts.
Jerk face.
It’s reasons like this why I’m such a train wreck in the morning. He makes me crazy. He always finds a way to ruffle up my feathers. On top of that, Vlad using his bodybuilder of a frame to keep me in bed is started to become repetitive. Though, I really shouldn’t be complaining. I mean who would, just look at him.
He’s hot as heck. I swear that I’ll lick the sweat off his body, especially when my nuisance of a boyfriend unintentionally flexes the deepest core muscle group in his muscular abdomen just like what he’s doing right now.
And to be honest it’s not that bad to be pinned by that body that is currently peeking from under the sheets teasing me like how a sparkling gem apart of buried treasure would do to a pirate right after discovery.
“You’re drooling again, my sweets.” His lips curve into a sexy smirk. “That’s not cool, Abby. Particularly, when you take into consideration that you have a serious case of morning breath.”
Aaaarrghh!!! That’s it! I roll out the bed, grab my robe, and storm out of the room but not before I hear him say, “Hurry up back! I’m hungry and stop calling me your boyfriend. You’re my beloved. This bond is forever and always, baby.”
Gosh, he’s so hot and annoying, hotly annoying.
I watch as Abigail slides into the passenger seat of my Escalade as I hold the door open for her. That super short, pleated schoolgirl skirt that she’s wearing fits her itty-bitty waist perfectly. It took her three hours and thirty minutes to convince me to allow her to wear it and I’m still having second thoughts.
Taking a deep breath, I hurry up and close the door before I do something stupid like grabbing her arm, locking her in the house, and then throwing the keys away. The very thought of it is tempting, very tempting.
Although I’m perfectly aware that her lack of proper garment is really my fault, I should have taken her shopping myself instead of letting her go with what does she call them?
Oh, right! The chosen whores!
I don’t know what I was thinking. No other vampire in their right mind would allow their beloved to go shopping with a group of girls that call themselves chosen whores. We’re all possessive and way past borderline neurotic when it comes to our beloveds.
And I may just be the most unstable creature of them all. I’ve already killed about ten other vampires since Abigail’s been around me whenever she wasn’t paying attention just for looking at her.
Call me crazy because it’s the truth, I am a mad man when it comes to her.
I’m not the type of guy who goes along with that you can look but you cannot touch motto.
I’ll kill you for doing any one of them, my word is my bond.
In the end, I’m still a predator, a deadly one at that and that’s what predators do, we prey.
This thought alone makes me check my surroundings, it’s way too quiet on this street for my liking. My eyes scan the area and once I finish scouting my vision focus on what my sweets like to call our charming townhome.
The modern seven-story home is impressive, to say the least, surrounded by tall oak trees that are dressed in severely prominent orange leaves. The astonishingly solid study brick house with multiple bay windows was built to weather any storm. On the other end, Abigail fell in love with the interior of the home. She made it her point to let me know that the French door off the breakfast room that leads to a large wrap-around composite wood deck with views of our manicured rear yard was what sold her.
Then she stated that the patio will be perfect for a summer BBQ and stargazing with an evening drink, which are also two items on her bucket list that we will soon scratch off.
I made her a promise and I intend to keep it. She can have it whatever she wants and I will give it to her. It’s the least that I can do for not finding her a lot sooner.
My frozen heart broke into tiny little pieces when she told me about everything that she was forced to endure while growing up as a slave. I couldn’t bear the pain in her voice or the haunting expression that marked her pretty face as she told me it all.
That’s exactly why I made her the promise that she will never have to live a life of the sort ever again, and neither will our children or our children, children.
This is the predominant reason why I purchased this home in the first place, I love the security of it and the peace that it brings her.
It’s the perfect fortress to start our family in the center of a suburban neighborhood that she always fantasized about living in. She told me that she always admired how government officials’ wives lived, carefree with no burdens. She said that she used to dream about being one of the vampire ladies that she was forced to take care of.
Now, she is one of the most important government officials beloved in this entire continent, and that bond is deeper than a simple wife and husband bond shall ever be. She will always be provided for a have a life of riches and wealth if that’s what makes her happy. I said it once and I’ll say it again Abigail can have whatever her heart desires. Although Abigail doesn’t really care for the finer things in life.
She just wants to be happy, safe, and secure. Free. And that alone makes me love her more.
I love the fact, that she doesn’t care about my title, connections, or wealth. No matter how much she craved the life that we have been blessed with before we met. She has always craved just to be loved ten times more and I’ll love her for the rest of eternity.
Even if we lived in a box instead of this mansion of a townhome, I would still vow to make her feel like the most important girl in this world because that’s exactly who she is. That’s exactly who she is to me.
Although, the Kings would most likely place us on house arrest in the biggest mansion in the world before they allow us to live anywhere in a fine and heavily guarded area.
They wouldn’t have us living any other way, no matter how many times I tried to decline their offers. They just wouldn’t budge, and nor would the queens. Embry and Claire both made it quite clear of the horrifying things that they would do to me if I didn’t move us into here and I don’t care how fearless I am.
I am not fucking with my crazy ass sisters. Nope.
After climbing into the driver’s seat, I place my beloved hand into my hand. Then, I hold it up in the air, entwining our fingers before bringing it closer to my lips. She shivers. I love the effect that I have on her body. I swear. She sets my soul on fire.
Seconds after that, I place a kiss down onto the back of her soft hand. The heavenly scent of fresh linen overloads my senses placing me on cloud nine. I’m overly obsessed with her smell.
“Where is the driver?” She questions me, knocking me straight from heaven and sentencing me to hell.
At least, that is what will happen if she ever learned the truth about the question that she just asked me.
“He’s on vacation,” I lie through clenched teeth. When the truth is, I killed him too. He was staring at her way too long yesterday when he picked us up from the airport. Now, he will never be able to stare at another soul.
May he burn in hell.
Abigail seems to be pleased with my answer because she just gives my hand a gentle squeeze and says, “Aww, that was so nice of you. You’re so sweet.”
And then her gentle smile stretches out across her pretty pink lips killing me softly.
Fuck, she’s way too good for me and I know it but I’m too damn selfish to ever let her go. She’s mine.
For the rest of eternity. Period.
On that note, I press my foot down onto the gas, accelerate, and then merge into the deserted highway effortlessly. One of the perks, that comes along with being employed by the kings is that I have access to the special roadways to travel across North America.
Though, I’m not a fan of using my connections to my advantage. I will never turn down access to skip traffic. I’m not that humbled.
Out the corner of my eyes, I steal a glance of the drop-dead gorgeous beloved as her intoxicatingly innocent blue eyes follow the scenery on the other end of the window. Just looking at her does something to me.
The magnetic pull. The crackles of electric energy between us seem to make my frozen heart skip a beat. It’s all so astonishing to me.
In my three hundred years of existence, I’ve never experienced anything like it and now that I have, I never want to live without it. Ever.
“But if you keep sending all our workers on vacation, who’s going to protect us? We’ve got to have some type of security detail. You’re an important government official and I’m human.” Abigail suddenly questions me.
Then, she begins to fiddle with her deliberately messy bun, which lets me know that she truly is concerned. The very idea is laughable. As if, I would ever allow anything or anyone to hurt her.
“Babe, I’ am the protection,” I flicker my eyes in her direction for just a second. “I’ll rid the world of every soul before I allow anything to happen to you.”
Her entire angelic face lights up and the shade of rosy- red spreads out across her well-defined cheekbones.
I love it when she blushes. I adore it.
Rows on top of rows of corn maze field’s, The Spooky Square vampire scare hunted pumpkin maze, hayrides, a petting zoo with cute little animals, pedal kart’s, a hay and play area, roping range, hill slides, pumpkin bowling, puzzle mania, barnyard basketball, a blazing bonfire, and a massive movie projector playing some thrilling horrific horror vampire cinema in the center of it all.
We're at the pumpkin patch in the spring. I know it sounds crazy but it's true. Every since I was a little girl all I ever wanted to do was go to the pumpkin patch and Vlad made it happen for me.
He's so sweet.
As soon as he opens the door, I practically trip over my own two feet as I get out in scream, “Oh, yeah!”
Leave it to my boyfriend to be the one to turn one of my dreams into a reality. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” I overly excitedly scream, jumping into his arms.
“You’re welcome,” he says, holding me tight and close into his body. Then, he slightly pulls away and scolds, “But I’m not your boyfriend Abigail I’m your beloved and this bond is,”
“Forever and always,” I finish his sentence before he seals the deal by planting a super sweet kiss down onto my lips.
“Now let’s go! Those candy apples dipped in caramel with sugar-coated blood are calling my name.”
“Two each is own, I’ll take my candy apple dipped in caramel without the bloody sugar coat, please and thank you,” I tell him as he drags me towards the fall festival filled with vampires, who seem to have their eyes all on us, but I don’t care. I’m safe with him.
I know for a fact, that I’ll be protected and provided for as long as I shall live because I gave him.
My man.
My boyfriend.
My beloved.
And he doesn’t know this but finding my other half was the first thing on my bucket list and he made that happen as well.
Finding that one person that I could spend the rest of my days with just goofing around, having the time of my life, and feeling safely secure was always the first priority on my bucket list.
I mentally scratch that first one off.
“Oh, is that right?” Vlad laughs, squeezing my hands tightly.
Darn it! He’s in my head again.
Super cool vampire powers!!!
“Don’t worry my sweets, you’ll be able to have some super cool vampire as well one day. I can’t wait until you’re ready for me to turn you.” And neither can I, but as of now I’m cool with just being the almighty Commander Vlad human Girlfriend. Not even a second later, Vlad monster releases a viscous growl.
Ooooppppp! My bad. I meant beloved.
I’m so thankful.