Chapter 2 Part 1

Scarlet was excited about getting back to the beach, she waited with their bags as Stephan rented a car for them to use that weekend. She was excited, tomorrow was going to be the third anniversary of her marriage to Stephan.

She had a feeling of novelty when she thought about her anniversary. It was starting afresh, a chance for her to get to know her husband all over again, a chance to fall in love once more.

She missed her son, but she knew in two days she would be seeing him. He had managed to corner her when Kayla wasn’t around and by the time she got back she had said yes to hundreds of things, one of them was his trip to San Francisco to join them on Monday.

She thought it would be a good chance for her to take him to her parents’ grave. He had never had to deal with death before and wouldn’t, considering everyone he knew was immortal. He was going to fly with the twins; she didn’t think it would be wise to leave him unsupervised, although Vincent wasn’t much of an authoritarian.

“Ready to go?” Stephan picked up both their bags.

“Sure. Where to?” she held on to his arm as they walked out of the airport.

“To pick up the car at their garage, then to the beach.” The thought of being alone with her, under the swirling lights of the moon and the stars and the ocean air, made him giddy.

“I reserved the tickets for the boys; I booked them in first class. Fewer people around, I don’t want SJ to be uncomfortable.” Scarlet was still thinking about her son’s second trip without her.

The first was when he flew to Argentina with Solara, to stop his father from destroying a whole race of beasts.

“He’ll be fine.” He could sense her nervousness, “Solara and Kayla are happy about having the house to themselves.”

“I know what that means.” Scarlet giggled. “I was thinking that maybe after visiting Iris we could take SJ to my parents’ graves.”

“That’s a great idea. I wish I had something to show him of his heritage.” Stephan had nothing from his past except his memories.

“He doesn’t need anything old, he’s already got you.” Scarlet joked.

“I thought his jaw would drop when we told him I was over three hundred years old.” Stephan laughed at the memory.

That day SJ stared at him as he had just landed from another planet. He kept on asking him if he was sure of his birth year.

Scarlet laughed, “It was incredible how he kept on looking at you. It took a while before he stopped calling you an old man.”

“I am an old man.”

They got into the jeep and drove towards the bay area. The scenery as they sped towards the bridge brought back memories. Stephan suggested that they dropped by Joany’s and she refused, just as she had the previous year.

She was determined to put the past behind her to allow her new life a chance to survive. She never went back to DC as it reminded her of Archie’s death and the diner reminded her of Marcie’s death.

Archie’s body parts had been found floating in the river two months after Solara had disposed of them. The murder cases had gone unsolved, they were cold cases and all the information about them was stacked in boxes on a shelf in a storage room.

Scarlet got out of the car and the ocean scent and the sounds of the crashing waves welcomed her to her second home. She took off her shoes and tossed them at the back of the jeep, she wasn’t going to need them that weekend.

She let Stephan set up the tent on his own while she soaked her toes in the ocean water. The sun was setting and the orange flame-like color was beautiful as it ducked under the ocean’s horizon.

“It’s beautiful.” She said as she heard Stephan’s footsteps approaching her.

“She is.” He brushed her hair to the side revealing the bearskin at the back of her neck. He kissed it before pulling her back into his arms.

“I meant the sunset.” Scarlet chortled, knowing he was referring to her and not the view.

“That’s exactly what I was referring to.” He teased.

She slapped his arm, “It is beautiful, Mother Nature’s gold.”

“Want to take a swim with me before it completely disappears?” he was asking her while he slowly took off her clothes.

“Why not?” at that time he had already rid her and himself of their clothes.

They swam deep into the ocean taking advantage of how long they could hold their breaths underwater. They swam in each other’s arms, taking breaks to kiss. It was night-time when they went back to shore. The light of the sun was replaced by the swirling twinkle of the stars and the moon at the centre of it all.

“I thought we could do something different tonight. Something more, human.” Stephan said as he towelled her hair dry.

“Human? I don’t know if you know this already but you stopped being that, three centuries ago.”