Vampire Heart 15

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Scroll 16: An Early Start
Vicente nodded toward Bonnie who was still embracing Naoko. He was carrying their luggage and now had more truth than he initially had from rumor alone about the Valentine family and the history of Vampire Heart. Although Bonnie had never experienced Human Heart to give him more clarity about his situation, he felt more confident in Naoko's situation.
"Come on," Naoko said, signaling Vicente to follow her.
Vicente mouthed a thank you to Bonnie before catching up to his eager Mistress, "So we have our very own cottage to live in?"
"Yes, my grandmother pays everything on the cottage every month and she insists that our use of it won't be a problem."
"Bonnie is very generous," Vicente muttered, “Why does she keep a cottage?”
“I don’t really know…” Naoko smiled as she glanced over at Vicente, who seemed to be in a lighter mood, despite his lack of sleep. "In my dream, you have very soft lips."
Vicente smirked and glanced down at Naoko who was seemingly in "la-la land" as it was deemed. He gave her a quick peck on her lips before continuing walking. Naoko flushed and froze after he kissed her, and she couldn't help but stare at him, even when she caught up to him. "And in reality?" Vicente asked.
Naoko only nodded once as she tried to avoid eye contact with him. She wished he would have kissed her for a little longer. She knew that she liked him a lot, and contrary to every girl who says that the boy she likes is different, Naoko would actually be telling the truth by saying that. Vicente was the best looking man she'd ever laid eyes on (even though the vampire in her dream was a close second), and he refused to be cheesy and cliché if it could be prevented.
"Are you able to speak or are my kisses cursed to silence?" Vicente asked. Everybody but Naoko would call his tone smug with his last remark, but not everybody but Naoko had felt his soft lips caress theirs with a gentle romantic kiss that he had initiated.
"I-I think I can," Naoko whispered.
"I see you're recuperating."
"Healing is a process," Naoko replied dully.
"So, where is this house?" Vicente quibbled, not sure if his kiss actually had an effect on her opinion of their love.
"In the middle of the woods with a one hundred foot radius clearing of just a meadow," Naoko replied. She stared at Vicente who had nodded in reply to her and who wasn't burdened by the things that she would have struggled to carry. She was clearly developing a strong romantic interest in Vicente, despite being unsure of his feelings. It was just the necklaces, right? "Vicente?"
"Yes?" Vicente met Naoko's eyes.
"Why'd you kiss me?"
Vicente smiled at her, "I was hoping it was a mutual desire."
Desire. His kisses were just a single item on her list of desires. All of them dealt with him, but she couldn't ever tell him that. "Meaning you wanted to kiss me and you hoped that I wanted you to kiss me, too?"
Vicente stared into the endless black abyss that blanketed the air above them, "If I read you wrong, than do let me know."
Naoko couldn't reply to him, simply because he kept to his word of not being a stereotype. No boy that she had a formal relationship with had ever kept to his promises or even made her feel an inkling of happiness if what she felt from simply staring at her pet charming. He was 504 years her senior, and still the most energetic man that she had ever desired. The only man that she had ever desired.
"Are you feeling alright?" Vicente pressed his lips to her warm forehead, "You're warm but not feverish."
"I'm just thinking. Sorry..." Naoko whispered.
"What are you thinking about, exactly?"
"Us and what we're going to do," Naoko shrugged.
"I'm guessing that living a normal life is out of the question," Vicente muttered.
"We'd have nobody to act normal in front of," Naoko replied. "No neighbors."
"Good, we don't have to be quiet about slaying vampires and other intruders," Vicente replied.
Naoko pointed toward the clearing that served as a landmark toward the house that they'd be using until further notice. "It's even more beautiful than I remember..."
"That looks like the place in your dream," Vicente commented. “Look at the building’s style and structure…”
Naoko gasped when she realized that Vicente was right and that's where they were in her dream just a few hours earlier. "It is where I had my dream."
"Let's get settled in before we get soaked," Vicente nodded toward the blue-black sky with ominous grey clouds rolling over the meadow in the woods.
Naoko and Vicente took off in a run toward the house and found it unlocked as Bonnie had promised. Naoko flipped on a light switch and illuminated the old-fashioned house that marred a historical beauty. "Come on up. The bedrooms are upstairs."
Naoko led Vicente up two flights of stairs and stopped when four wooden doors seemed to form a small square in the middle of a larger square. She opened the closest door to the stairs that they had climbed and revealed a queen-sized bed with new bed sheets and a canopy.
"This place is awful big to be a quaint cabin." Vicente commented as he set down their suit cases and sprawled out on the bed.
"We can call it Vampire Manor."
"I like it," Vicente replied. "I just thought of something."
"What?"
"Do we have to stock food?" Vicente asked.
"Let's find out," Naoko shrugged. She led Vicente back down the stairs, onto the ground floor and into the kitchen that had an old country feel to it. Naoko opened a cupboard and found a few spices.
Vicente opened the refrigerator and found nothing, "I think we do."
"What kind of a vampire eats?" Dameon's voice asked. Naoko and Vicente turned to face the vampire from Naoko's dream. Dameon was standing in the threshold from the kitchen to the hall.

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Vampire Heart 17