Bloody Lies//g.d~completed

Chapter 21

There was no way for me to know how long I was out in the gardens with Grayson. We spoke with one another as if no time had passed since the last time I saw him. Gray seemed excited to see me, I definitely was ecstatic to see him.

"So is this headquarters?" I asked Grayson as we walked hand in hand through the garden.

"Yes." He replied looking down at me with a smile. "You've met Isla, Kyle, and Adrian, right?"

"Yeah," I replied with a laugh. "Isla and Kyle are great. Adrian seems to hate me though."

"He probably does," Grayson said with a simple shrug. I playfully punched him in the arm.

"Hey!"

"What? He probably doesn't hate you exactly, just hates the fact that your human and dating a vampire."

"Why is it any of his business anyways?"

Gray sighed. "It's really not. He's just an Old Age and is kind of stuck on the old world order."

"Oh. And are Isla and Kyle New Age?" I questioned curious about the status of my new friends.

Grayson nodded as we turned the final turn out of the garden maze passing a small coy pond. Instead of taking the stairs that I had taken down from my room, Grayson turned down another path that sent us towards a set of glass doors.

"This place is beautiful. How'd you guys find it?" I asked in awe as we entered back into the mansion. The room we entered into was a grand foyer with stone columns and a grand chandelier. My voice echoed throughout the room and I was suddenly embarrassed that another vampire could be listening to our conversation.

"This place is sort of hidden. We have a set of vampires, twins, who are really good at protection enchantments. Anyone who we don't want seeing the place won't be able to."
Grayson seemed to be bragging, but he had every right to. According to what Isla and Kyle said, he ran the place and the mansion seemed very well put together and protected.

"And you're the boss right." I asked raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know. Everyone else seems to think so."

From the left of us, I heard a sudden thud of footsteps on the stone staircase. I looked up to Grayson.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Get ready, Em. Don't be afraid if they tackle you."

I was immediately overcome by fear. Grayson placed a protective arm around my shoulders where as I leaned closer into his side for protection. I don't know what I was expecting to come galloping up the stairs.

Whoever they were stopped at the top of the staircase and stared at us. At first, I didn't recognize the vampire.

"Emily!" Madeline said happily before she ran to me in vampire speed. I smiled as I felt her loving arms wrap around me.

"Hey," I said simply, pulling out of her embrace. She smiled at me.

"I was so worried about you! God we should've protected you better." Madeline said pushing a strand of hair out of my face.

"I'm fine though."

"You may not have been. I can't even think about something happening to you."

At Madeline's words, Grayson winced and placed a tight grip around my hand.

"Madeline it's okay."

"I'm glad baby," the loving women said before hugging me again. I snatched my hand from Grayson's grasp and fully enveloped Madeline in my embrace.

"It's almost dinner time," Grayson said. "I'll take you up to your room so that you can get ready." The vampire boy pulled me away from Madeline and led me towards another staircase.

"I have to get ready for dinner?" I asked with a laugh.

"Dinner is going to be very formal tonight. It's an important holiday today."

"Oh no was I asleep for that long? It's Christmas already?" I said jokingly. Grayson didn't respond to my joke, if you could even call it that.

"It's mortus dies."

"What?" I asked. "Is that in Latin or something?"

"Yeah it is," Grayson replied stepping behind me so that he could support my waist while I climbed up the steep stairs to my room. "It's a holiday for vampires. I believe it translates to dead day or something."

"Well that's festive." I retorted sarcastically.

"It's a day that celebrates the first vampire. It's kind of morbid since the first vampire was blood crazed and a killer."

"Cool," I replied. Truthfully, I had no idea what to say next.

Grayson and I were now off the stairs and were headed down the dark hallway towards my room. The sun had began to set outside. Streams of light shone into the hallway.

"That's probably a problem." I said now standing in front of the door to my room.

Grayson pushed his eyebrows together. "What's a problem?" He asked.

"The sunlight. Doesn't it bother you all?"

Grayson smiled. "No. Not this sunlight anyway. The protection charm doesn't really let the sunlight in. It's more of an illusion."

"Huh." I said with astonishment. "That's pretty neat."

Grayson opened the door to my bed chamber and followed me inside. Once we entered the room, the candelabras on the walls burst into flames on their own.

"Have you seen the balcony yet?" Grayson asked me as he gently laid his hands on my waist, pulling me close to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck forcing his face down closer to mine.

"There's a balcony in here? Show me."

Grayson smirked and bent down to peck my lips but pulled away before we could kiss. "Alright."

He gently took my hand in his and we walked over towards what I had previously assumed to just be a window. Grayson slid the dust covered emerald green curtains out of the way to reveal a set of delicate glass doors. He opened them revealing the glorious landscape below.

A gentle waterfall cascaded down a frost coated hill. It was windy, but the wind created a mist from the waterfall which shown a rainbow if the water caught the sunlight at exactly the right angle. Blue mountains jutted up from the earth in the distance where a gentle rain seemed to be falling.

"This is-wow." I cut myself off with my own astonishment. My gaze shifted over to Grayson. He too seemed amazed by the view despite most likely having seen it before.

"I knew you'd think it was beautiful." Grayson slyly slid his arm back down around my waist spinning me around so that I was facing him once more. Instead of snaking both of my arms around his neck, I instead placed one hand on his chest and the other on the back of his head so that I could feel his soft lochs in my grasp.

"You're hair is soft." I said awkwardly not really meaning for the words to slip out. Grayson smiled.

"Thanks." He replied.

I blushed in both embarrassment and happiness. The sight of his smile always made me feel better.

I leaned up and kissed Grayson. His arms wrapped tighter around my waist until there was no unoccupied space left between us.

"We should start getting ready." Grayson said pulling away from my lips.

"Probably." I answered.

"I'll swing back by in about an hour." He said while stepping off the balcony and into the room. I followed him. "Ooh, and Isla said something about wanting to do your hair and makeup or something. Not that you need it though." Grayson said with a wink.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh shut up!" I replied while playfully shutting Grayson out of my room.

QOTD: If Emily were to be a vampire, what would her powers be?