80. Years

Genre: Paranormal romance, drama

Type: Series

Characters: William Thornton, Margaret & Lily Frost, Celina

Prompt: 80. Years

Word Count:  2300 +

Warning:  language, nudity, adult situations, time shifts, crappy shots. If nudity and adult situations offend you, I humbly suggest you stop reading now for both our sanity's sake.

Rating:  M- (coarse language, adult situations, nudity. N.B-Applies to the whole series)

Summary: William takes a trip down memory lane...

80. Years

________

Bridgeport, present day...

Hours after their meeting with Krisis Frost, William Thornton was still in his office, trying to get his head straight.

He left his chair and began pacing the room…

The Council wasn’t pleased. They were worried he was growing soft, allowing his familial instincts to overrule his head. He’d had to threaten and blackmail and dredge up secrets from all their pasts just to  ensure Krisis and Krimsyn walked away from this mess with their lives somewhat intact.

He knew this last stunt had left a dent in his relationship with the Council members, especially Joanne. Come election time in three years, everyone on the board would push for his dismissal.

For years he’d cleaned up after Krisis and Krimsyn. They were rock stars, and ran into trouble with the law a lot, their heinous crimes ranged from assault to drug possession, and every time he made their stinking mess go away. Of course the twins assumed they had a pit-bull of a lawyer to fight their battles. They didn’t know about the silent power behind the pit -bull.

The hearing went well, all things considered. William thought as he rolled his shoulders, trying to alleviate the tension on his neck. But he knew it wouldn’t be long before Krisis was in trouble again, and all because of his human. 

“Fucking humans!” He swore furiously. He hated the filthy lot. Because of just one! The one that stole his heart and ran away with it…

He fought hard, and tried his damnedest to resist, but the rush of memories won, and William found himself drawn back to the past…

217 Years Earlier...

Though he looked thirty, at 453 years when he wandered into the small, sunny town of Sunset Valley, he felt his age.

He was tired of watching a thousand sunsets through the glass, and never get to enjoy the warmth of the sunrays on his cold skin. Tired of trying to find meaning in his empty, infinite existence. He was jaded and fatigued. He’d given up on life and love. Given up on everything… Until his world collided with that of Margaret Frost’s.

Humans were only good for one thing: snacking on. But when the barmaid, stopped at his table and placed his drink in front of him, something changed in that half second.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” She asked softly, brushing her long hair away from her face.

His tongue felt like a slab of concrete in his mouth and he couldn’t form any words, so he settled for a mute nod.

“I’m Margaret Frost,” she smiled sweetly, and waited for him to say something, but he had no idea where to start.

“And you are?” She laughed at his awkwardness. Somehow he found himself laughing along with her.

“I’m William…William Thornton.” He gripped the edges of his seat tightly, trying his damndest to ignore her fluttering heart and the millions of thoughts swimming in her head. She was intrigued by him, her thoughts told him so. He didn’t know why that excited him so, but it did.

In a cloudy haze he watched her run a dainty hand through her fiery red hair. He saw her lips move, but he barely made out what she was saying. He guessed correctly though that she wanted know if there was anything else he wanted, to eat, that is.

Something alien flared in his heart at that moment. It bothered and disgusted him, but somehow it still managed to keep him enthralled.

He made the mistake of staring straight into her eyes, and suddenly he had the strange sensation that he was drowning in the blue, icy depths, and only her smile, showing off her perfect pearly whites pulled him to safety.

His body surprised him when he grew hard just thinking about her warm, translucent skin, tucked underneath his body, her crimson lips whispering words of love and endearments in his ear.

“No!” He croaked harshly. “Nothing else!” Margaret looked at him for what felt like eternity but he knew it was a mere second, a worried frown creasing her perfect features.

For some inexplicable reason, she seemed to linger, and he silently willed her to walk away, convinced any second now he’d throw her over his shoulder and take her back to the inn and have his way with her.

“Suit yourself!” She retorted, before moving on to attend to other patrons…

The next evening, William was waiting outside, for her, when the pub closed. He wanted to walk her home. And maybe talk.

But when she rushed from the warmth inside the pub into the cold night air, she was surrounded by her friends.

He was bitterly disappointed when she barely paid him any attention as she passed him, and for a long time he stared after the small group, his eyes, focused on the object of his desire, watching from a distance, and admiring her ethereal beauty from afar.

For weeks he stayed away from the bar. But his thirst for Margaret Frost grew tenfold.  A trail of bodies,  drained to death, sent shock waves throughout the small town.

The town's people grew uneasy, females with red hair and blue eyes, aged between 18 and 25 years were warned against being out alone at night…

A knock on his door disturbed his reverie.

“Yes!” William barked.

“Sir, can I get you anything before I leave?” Celina, his PA, poked her head through the small crack on the door.

How about some peace of mind for a start? William almost growled, but he shooed her away instead.

“No thanks Celina. I’ll see you tonight.

He wasn’t surprised when heard her make her way deeper into his office and he resented her for knowing him so well.

“It must be a relief to know they’ll be okay,” she murmured, running her hands on this back.

He stiffened at her touch, and shrugged her off, but she firmly held her own, refusing to be discarded with a mere flick of his shoulders.

William knew Celina would love to be more than just his PA. She’d made that very obvious on more than one occasion, and he guessed he was about to feel the full force of her ambition again.

“Yes, it is a huge relief. Krimsyn takes after me. She’s as tough as nails. It’s her brother I worry about. He’s soft, generous, and emotional, more so now with the human in his life!” He replied.

“And it will only get worse if he does have younglings with her,” Celina finished his unspoken thoughts.

“You’re right; she is his weakness. The Council knows it too!” He added softly.

He dropped his length on the couch, and Celina followed suit. His meeting earlier with the council was a distant memory as they kissed and touched, and it wasn’t long before her hands were fumbling with the zip on his pants.

As his PA knelt in front of him and got down to the business of releasing his pent-up tension, it was a different pair of lips William fantasized about...

“Yes!” he groaned his encouragement when her soft lips enveloped him. He took clumps of red hair in his hands, and he flung his head back, baring his fangs, enjoying the sensation of Margaret’s warm lips and expert tongue on his throbbing arousal.

William couldn’t believe how quickly things had changed between them. Ironically, the fear gripping Sunset Valley, the fear he’d unleashed on the town, had led her straight into his arms.

Getting Margaret to submit to his charms had not been easy, but he had persisted, frequenting the pub almost every evening, making conversation with her, and getting to know her better. It had not taken long for their conversations to move on to other places.

Their courtship had begun as innocent meetings between friends, brought closer by her fear of the predator lurking quietly in the shadows. But within a mere few weeks, it was obvious to William where they were headed. He couldn’t say he loved her, but he cared enough to want to spend a lot of time with her. Cared enough to stop his reign of terror on redheads who were unlucky enough not to be her.

“Was that good?” Margaret, her bright blue eyes feverish with desire, came up for air when she felt him grow limp in her mouth. She pushed him gently onto the bed and nestled her small frame beside him.

William thought about her question as he sat in a post-coital coma. It was more than good. It was incredible. He had known many women in his 453 years, and he had lost count of the number he had bedded, but he knew none compared to his human concubine.

Sex between them was pure fire. Her blood tasted as sweet as he’d imagined it would. Margaret didn’t know he was drinking from her, and he felt some guilt for compelling her. But he just couldn’t resist or stop, she was like a drug, the more he drank her blood, the stronger his need for her grew.

But he had promised himself he would come clean with her tonight. “Love, there’s something you should know,” he murmured, his arms tightening around her.

“What is it William?” She asked, raising herself up on her elbows, her long, luscious curls falling around her face, reminding him of the beauty of a sunset.

“I’m a Vampire!” He announced, and closed his eyes tightly, dreading her reaction.

Margaret didn’t take the news well. Vampires were vermin, savage creatures her mother, Lily Frost, had warned her about, lots of times. There weren’t any in Sunset Valley; at least that’s what the town’s people had thought.

She connected the dots, and very quickly. The bodies drained of blood. The reign of terror unleashed on the town. It all connected, and it all led back to him. Everything had started around the same time he had moved to town.

Margaret boldly confronted him, and seeing his one chance at redemption, William stupidly confessed, hoping his honesty would put him back in her good books, and they would work things out, and he could carry on drinking from her, with her permission of course.

He hadn’t realized how much she meant to him, until that moment, in all her naked fury as she stood over the foot of the bed, screaming her guts out.

Accusations flew around, and they were mostly from her. He’d duped her and used her. Seduced her with his good looks and charm. Mesmerized her with his ethereal aura. And he couldn’t deny it. It was all true; he was a social predator by nature. He took all her accusations in good stride.

But when she went as far as suggest he had sexually assaulted her, that’s when he put his foot down. Everything, with the exception of drinking from her, had been consensual. But no matter how hard he tried to explain his side, Margaret still saw it as a violation. He couldn’t say he blamed her. If he’d told her the truth from the start, she wouldn’t have felt so violated, and they probably wouldn’t have gone this far, and that’s precisely why he’d kept quiet about his little secret.

Margaret left a while after that, but not before she proclaimed the hatred and disgust she felt for him. Soon after their fight and knowing full well Margaret would tell her parents and the town’s people, and a war would be declared on him, William left Sunset Valley.

But every few weeks, he’d drift back, unobtrusively watch her house, and admire her from afar.

He was there when she discovered she was pregnant and she artfully spun the wool over her parents’ eyes, and lied about being sexually attacked by a Vampire. Just like he was there, watching outside her bedroom window, when she gave birth to their twins. He heard her clearly when she named them Krimsyn and Krisis.

He was also there when she left town a week after her father’s funeral, six months after the birth of their beautiful babies.

Over the decades that followed, he watched over Lily Frost and his precious younglings. He would sneak out of the shadows to leave pints of blood on her doorstep. William often smiled at the surprised look on her face when she would open her front door and find a week’s supply of fresh blood on her doorstep every Sunday without fail.

Lily would look around her curiously, trying to catch a glimpse of her Robin Hood, but she could never make him out, safely hidden in the shade of her Willow trees…

“Was that good, Mr. Thornton?”

“Yes, Celina. Thank you! That will be all for tonight!’ William firmly closed the lid on his past, as he straightened and zipped up his pants. Through hooded eyes, he watched her walk to the door, her shoulders set in a disappointed fashion; she’d hoped for a romp in the sheets.

“When will you tell them Mr. Thornton? I think they are lucky to have you for a Sire. And maybe if Krisis had a father figure in his life, he wouldn’t be so erratic?” She asked curiously, turning from the door to look straight at him.

He glared at her, trying to control his red-hot rage. It was bad enough she knew about his children, and now she was trying to get him to reach out to them.

“They’ve done well for 216 years without me!  I have no desire to let them know anything, Celina! And it will be in your best interest to keep your nose out of trouble.” His PA frowned at the threat laced in his words.

“Of course Mr. Thornton. Anything for you!” She closed the door softly behind her...