28. COZY LITTLE CABIN

COZY LITTLE CABIN

T he fireplace crackled in the living room of the cabin where I sat with Andras and Nadia. From my place in the leather armchair, I watched snowflakes float on a gentle breeze. Snow blanketed the forest beyond the cabin in a stark, lifeless white, a blank canvas. Aside from the occasional deer wandering outside, the world was silent and seemed to hold still, as if we weren't about to be attacked by an ancient vampire with a flair for bloodshed and violence. The snow brought memories of hot cocoa, the holidays, and giddy excitement, which seemed so out of place as we waited, and I silently pleaded with the universe to keep my daughters safe. To help us kill Callum quickly.

Nadia lay on the age-worn sofa with her legs bent at the knee, her camel-colored trousers comfortably loose but hugging her ample hips and bottom. Her fingers worried the knot on her matching twist-top sweater, her eyes glued to the ceiling, lost in thought. Andras clasped his hands together in his lap, his long legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankle. He focused his sapphire eyes on the fireplace.

"This reminds me of the old days," Nadia said, sighing, eyes still fixed on the ceiling.

"Does it?" Andras asked without looking away from the fire.

"Well, I suppose just the part where we're together and Callum is being an asshole."

She raised her eyebrows in jest and glanced at Andras sidelong.

He hissed, but there was hint of levity there. He leaned forward to rest his forearms on his thighs. The firelight cast a soft, warm glow on his face, the flames dancing in the blue of his irises.

"What a fucking mess," he said, hushed. Then he turned towards me, "I am so incredibly sorry, Danny. Truly." It was barely audible.

I hugged my legs into my chest, resting my chin on my knees. There were a million things I wanted to say to him but none of it had to do with blame. I was scared. Andras couldn't have known that any of this would happen, couldn't have predicted that Callum would get free after however many centuries, with a mind functioning well enough for vengeance. What was Andras supposed to do, live his entire immortal life in fear of the past, trying to control the world and the people in it to protect any potential love interest from some terrible fate?

"It's not your fault," I whispered.

"It is," he muttered.

Incredulously, I shook my head slowly. Then went back to watching the snow because I wasn't in the headspace to convince him.

"How did you guys meet?" I asked, still focused on the forest and its expanding shadows, as the sun dipped behind a mountain.

Nadia laughed softly, drawing my attention away from the woods. She broke focus with the ceiling, letting her cheek fall towards the sofa cushion to observe Andras, still brooding in the chair. Tendrils of her hair fell over her face. She rolled to her side and pushed up on one arm, shaking her hair back.

"Well," she began, smiling to Andras, who regarded her with an unreadable expression, "it was in the street, actually. I was playing an innocent game called Thimble Rig, on the lands that Callum lorded over. Well, I should say, lands that Callum owned and Andras…enforced?"

"By innocent game," Andras huffed, "she means a scam. She was scamming people out of coin. Gambling was very illegal back then to anyone who was not of a certain class. I stopped short the second I saw her. She looked like a queen," Nadia beamed at this, "and she…well, she smelled not human. I realized almost right away that she was like me and..."

"Back then? When was that?" I wondered out loud.

"Thirteenth century, I think?" Andras looked up at the ceiling like he did sometimes, like that's where he'd find the information.

I gasped.

"Thirteenth-century? During Medieval times?" I paused to do the math. Four, five, no, six! No! "That would make you six hundred years old?" I asked, in awe, trying and failing to temper my shock.

"Yes."

"And?" Nadia added, raising an eyebrow. "Go on. What were you just about to say? About me?"

His lip tugged up at the corner, "Nadia was not human and she was absolutely gorgeous," he replied, flatly, "of course."

"I know," she said, "I just like to hear you say it." She smiled devilishly before resuming control of the narrative.

"When I saw that Andras was with Callum, ugh, my heart just ached for him. I knew of Callum, that he was a sadistic prick, and Andras seemed too...good."

"Good? I was an absolute fucking monster, Nadia," Andras grumbled.

"No. You were behaving monstrously, but I could feel your compassion and kindness. I saw slivers of it when you thought nobody was watching. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Tonight I feel the same way I did back then: worried about you because of that son of a bitch."

Andras rose to his feet in one elegant motion. He prowled out of the room, then returned a moment later, holding a bottle of wine and three wine glasses. The cork popped faintly, and he filled a glass for me, which I accepted with a faint smile, then for Nadia, and finally himself. He stood by the fire for a heartbeat, staring into the flames again, and I couldn't help but crane my head up to take him in. He looked like a God, like someone forged from magic and dreams, or maybe nightmares. He wore all black: a wool sweater, and trousers that fit him too well. Those piercing eyes were dangerously focused, and his sensual mouth pressed into a tight line.

My phone buzzed. I held my breath while I slowly turned it over to read the screen. A text from Steven, "Putting the girls to bed. Do you want to tell them goodnight?" I exhaled, and a wave of relief rose and fell inside of me. They were still okay.

"I'm unable to talk," I wrote. I'm too sick. Kiss the girls goodnight and tell them I love them so much."

"Is everything okay?" Andras asked. "Your heartbeat sped up and then slowed."

He silently lowered himself into the leather armchair.

I nodded, "Just Steven letting me know that my girls are asleep and well." I brought the wine glass to my mouth and drank, letting it warm my throat for a long moment before I asked, "I need to know what's going on, the full story. Why is he after you? Is he the one who turned you?" I paused, wondering if that's what they actually called it outside of the books and movies I'd consumed. "I know it's all part of your past, and that it's personal, but I think I deserve to know why I'm holed up in a cabin right now worried about my children."

Nadia cut Andras a sharp look, nodding for him to go on, encouraging him to talk. Andras blew out a breath.

He began slowly, "Callum is the person who made me."

His thumb idly stroked the side of his wine glass.

"Where do I begin?" he asked me and Nadia.

"At the beginning."