Lucius

14

"What do you mean, you bought this cafe for me?" Faline demands.

"I mean just what I said. I actually bought this whole city block for you. The cafe is the only eatery nearby. As soon as construction starts, which is tomorrow, I expect business to pick up."

"I don't know anything about running a business, especially not a business selling food." Faline says blind sided.

Lucius smiles, "I know that of course. I hired a manager that should be more than able to bring this cafe up to standards. After things get built, we can demolish this building and build a new one if you wish. That will be up to you, though."

Faline looks at Lucius, "Why have you done this?"

"You are old enough to want to stretch your wings a bit. You won't be happy staying with me forever and I wanted to make sure that you have some way of earning money." Lucius doesn't like putting into words those thoughts. They make him frown. He doesn't want to lose Faline.

"I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, Lucius. You're stuck with me for the time being." Faline tells him and gives him a hug. She loves it when he hugs her back.

"I love you Faline, and I don't want you to feel like you have to stay with me because you have no other choice."

"I'm staying with you because there is nothing I want to do more. I love you, too, and that's not something I have said in memory to any other person." Faline leans against him and just soaks in his love.

"You've been the best guardian a girl could want, Lucius, and as long as you'll allow me to stay with you I will."

"Then you'll never leave." Lucius says gruffly. He's not used to these emotional things and is having a hard time with it. From the moment he first saw Faline she was his. It has been hard over the years to allow her to make her own choices and decisions. He never knew when she might choose to leave him.

"Besides, I could never leave you, Lucius," Faline tells him pulling back. "Even if one of those wolves was good enough to be my mate, they'd have to live with us and not on pack land."

"Why's that little wolf?" Lucius asks amused.

"Star has made us our own pack. We've been talking mentally ever since we came back to the table." Faline says smirking at Lucius. He startles not having realized it himself.

Lucius smiles warmly, "Thank her will you? Who's alpha in this little pack of ours?" Lucius says mindful of her alpha blood.

Faline loses her smile, "Star isn't sure. She wants to say that we are, but you are by far more dominant than I and won't cede your spot."

Lucius speaking out loud, "We'll work together, Little Wolf, and be co-alphas. After all you're an adult now." Lucius looses his smile. "You'll be free to find someone to be with. You'll need someone soon, when your heat hits. I'll bring whoever you wish to the house. Who do you want? A wolf, a human?"

"Lucius," Faline stares at him and shakes her head. "You are the bar I've set my standards to. The wolves don't come nowhere near it and humans aren't even in the running. You are the only vampire I've met, so I have no idea if there is one that I could tolerate other than you..." Faline looks up from her food and sees Lucius.

"Calm down, Lucius," She's never seen him so angry before. "There isn't any one, okay?" Faline tries to soothe the angry vampire.

"There better not ever be another vampire around here." Lucius has an unreasoning hatred of his own kind. Faline has never even dared talk to him about it.

"Lucius," Faline sighs setting down her silverware, "why do you hate other vampires so much?"

"They killed my family. I was born a vampire. My parents were killed when the council decided that they were in the way. I wasn't at home at the time, that's the only reason I'm still alive. After that I came here and cleared out all other supers unless they are working for me." Lucius shrugs.

"Lucius, I shouldn't have asked, I'm sorry." Faline says looking down. She understands him so much better now, but she doesn't like having caused him pain by making him remember that.

"Not your fault. You're the first person I've told since it happened. The council tried to interfere when I made you my ward. I threatened them, that if they ever tried to mess with things that I would do to them what they did to my parents. They backed off." Lucius says satisfied at the results of his threat, but the anger is still there.

"Wha- never mind," Faline says and finishes the last of her food.

"They were dismembered and left to burn as they started our house on fire." Lucius tells her, his lips thinned in remembered pain and anger.

Faline slips out of her side of the booth and goes next to Lucius. She holds him tight to her side. He holds her as well. It takes some time but eventually he relaxes and loses the anger that he'd been feeling. "I'm sorry Faline, I hadn't intended on ruining your special day with my ugly memories."

"I think you sharing those memories is the best gift you could have given me." Faline counters back. "It isn't healthy to hold such pain inside. I don't know how long ago this happened, but I know that it's been far more than ten years. When we get home, well I want to say, let it out, but knowing you by the time we get home you'll be as hard as steel once more. It takes a far stronger man or woman to let out their emotions then one that holds it inside. 

"Holding it inside makes you hard, not strong. Hard shatters under the right pressure. Strong, only grows under pressure." Faline abruptly shuts up. She's said too much and doesn't want Lucius angry with her.

"You are as wise as you are beautiful, Faline. Are you done now?" Lucius had finished rather quickly. He doesn't eat human food often, but when he does, he does so as quickly as he can.

"Yeah, thank you for everything, Lucius. You didn't have to take in the stray wolf pup all those years ago. It would have been easier for you to either kill me or send me to a pack. You definitely didn't have to love me for all these years."

"Faline, the moment I saw you, you were mine. I could no more send you away or kill you than I could kill myself." Lucius tells her and Faline smiles at him brilliantly.

"I love you too." Faline tells Lucius as they leave the diner and start running home.