Chapter 164

Chapter 164
Isla
Vladimir Dracul's house is creepy as fuck.
If he was the vampire I quietly watched as a child, I would have run as far and as fast as my daylight legs could carry me.
Tapestries woven in the middle ages adorn the walls, showing graphic depictions of his historic impaling. There are drawings of him sitting on the balcony of his castle, drinking from a glass and eating a ham while surrounded by impaled humans whose faces are twisted in grotesque images of agony.
"Those drawings aren't accurate, you know," Vladimir says as if I asked.
"Oh. You didn't impale thousands of people?" I ask so innocently that even Aeron looks surprised. "History got it wrong?"
The vampire chuckles softly. "No. I was already a vampire when I started." His voice is cold, devoid of all emotion. "And it was night time when I fed. The food was for my humans."
I nod and look around at the house trying to be a gothic castle. The walls are grey, the drapes are heavy, red velvet, the furniture is old and heavy, taking vast amounts of floor space, and chandeliers with skulls and bones and strange, copper roses drip from the ceilings. "You really believe your own hype, don't you?" I say before I can stop myself.
Nicolette barks laughter.
Vlad looks absolutely outraged though. "Have you no control over your brides?" he asks Aeron.
My groom turns to me, his gaze lazy, a sarcastic little smile playing around his full lips. "Not this one, no."
"She's special," Einar says. His eyes are empty, voice dead. "No one can control her. Not you, not Isla... I doubt there's a god that can bring her to heel."
Is he all alone in this world? Like Aeron? Does he have no other brides? Or did their bonds break when Einar turned to stone.
It troubles Aeron. I can see it in his eyes and feel it through our blood bond. The fact that his mother is going mad in the pits doesn't even faze him one bit, but Einar's suffering is eating away at his conscience.
So I don't ask. Because it will hurt Aeron and it will pain Einar. I barely know the father of my father, but he has not harmed me, and he seems kind enough.
I put my hand on Einar's shoulder. Startled, he turns to me, his piercing eyes fall on me, bores into me. He smiles, but it's bitter and cold. "It was better. When we were stone," he state.
"Oh Jesus," Vladimir sighs. "Cry me a fucking river. Idun was a monster. She belongs in the pits. Fucking hell, I belong there. Go make yourself a new bride, you'll feel better."
I've never heard any of the children speak to their parents that way. Not even Aeron. It all makes sense when Einar says, "We broke our our blood bond with you decades ago, Vladimir. Why are you even here?"
"I am still family," Vlad snarls. "And the sun approaches."
"The sun cannot harm me," Einar says in that say, dead voice. "If it could but burn me and hasten me from the world."
Vladimir rolls his eyes. "Was he always like this?" he asks no one in particular. "Or is this sad sack shit new?"
Aeron sighs and rubs his hands over his face. "It will pass, I imagine, as all things do."
Einar just sighs.
"You know," Vladimir offers. "I have a particularly tasty human." He wrinkles his nose. "Good vintage. I've kept her alive for a few centuries now. She is that delicious. And she fucks like a beast. I think she should spend the day with you."
"Christ, Vlad," Aeron mutters, but I find myself agreeing with the psychopath.
"When is the last time you've been with another woman besides Idun?" Nicolette asks the question I don't have the courage the say aloud.
"It's been... a while," Einar answers. "It doesn't matter. We're not all like you." He looks to Aeron for back-up. "Some of us are happy with just one bride."
To my surprise, my husband smiles at his father. "Are you asking me for support? I never wanted just one bride. But until Isla came... I could never successfully make one."
My insides actually feel like they're turning to water, and I can feel every eye on me.
I should have expected it. Even sweet, kind, devoted Hakon has more than one bride.
We are talking about an eternity here. Perhaps I'll grow tired of Aeron too with time, and ask to turn a bride. Or ask him to break our bond.
"Yep," Samuel says as if he can read my mind. "That's how it works. My sweetest bride, by first, Cordelia asked me if she could be a maker."
Hakon nods slowly along. "It's always the first one, isn't it?"
"Yes," Vladimir agrees wistfully. "My sweet Elizabeth also moved on with time."
I look from one to the other. The only one who doesn't seem to understand this conversation, the one who feels like me - terrified and lost - is Einar.
"Are you telling me that I have to break my bond with my bride?" Einar asks. "My first and most beloved bride?"
"No," Aeron answers. "I don't know a single original who ever did."
"But those who are still alive," Hakon picks up the thread, "all eventually took more brides."
"At the end there," Michael offers his wisdom, "even Richard and Aurelia barely saw each other."
"Aurelia is still alive," Aeron says. "She fled to the highlands to live with her fifth bride."
"She doesn't want the North?" Samuel asks.
"Clearly not," I snap, annoyed by how quickly they changed the subject.
But there's nothing else to say. This is the path Aeron set me upon when he turned me. An endless life demands endless boredom which needs to be broken.
And eventually, I will bore Aeron. Not just with my body, but with my thoughts and action, my questions, my stories that never change.
And he will bore me.
"How long does it take?" I ask. "Before you get bored of a bride and break the bond?"
Hakon notices it first, but he's always does. His gaze grows softer and pulls Sara closer. "Sometimes we never do? Einar had sixteen brides before he turned to stone. He only ever dismissed one. I myself broke the bond only twice."
"I've done it... dozens of times," Nicolette says.
"So have I," Vladimir says.
That doesn't make me feel any better at all.
Aeron slings his arm around me and pulls me as close as Hakon holds Sara. "We're not all psychotic like the two of you," he says offhandedly. "The rest of us are satisfied with one for centuries." He looks down on me, his eyes telling a whole story.
Don't worry about it, they say. I won't do anything that will hurt you.
But I feel uneasy. And I can't tell if it's Aeron's confession that he'll take more brides, or if there's something new in the air that's unsettling me.