"It was wonderful."

She moved between his knees and setting the cup down
he wrapped his arms around her.  She buried her face
in his hair,"You're wonderful, Lucien, when you're
loved."  She breathed in his scent.

"Love disarms me. I felt it only once 800 years ago."

"That's when you brought Nick across.  Did you love
him that much?"

"I did love Nicholas as a child, as my son, but I
fell in love with his sister."

"What?"  She whispered.

LaCroix pulled her into his lap and held her close.
"Nick insisted we go to his home in Brabant so that he
could say a final farewell to his family.  At the time
he was a model son.  A son to be proud of. I let him
convince me it would be okay."

"We arrived late one morning already exhausted from
travel and damaged by the sun.  Fleur touched me and I
was captivated by her. We were only there a couple of
nights.  She accidentally cut herself on a thorn and I
tasted her blood.  She was mine."

"Nick absolutely refused to let us have that
happiness.  He convinced me to leave.  He told me if I
really loved her, I would not take her life.  She
even discovered what I was.  She wanted to join me,
yet I left her.  She died only a few years later.
What a waste!  I was devastated and I became angry.
Nick felt guilty as always.  The disappointment and
pain took on a life of its own.  The animosity that
grew changed us.  We hated the sight of each other. It
got so bad that he would run and unable to stop
wanting to punish him I pursued him over the
centuries.   It came down to Nicholas stabbing me
with a fiery spear and I nearly died.  It took me a
year to rehabilitate enough to show myself in public."

"Lucien, I didn't know."  She held him tightly to
her. "That's what that night at the Azure was all
about?"

"Yes," Natalie felt him shudder.  "I was angry that
Nicholas was declaring his love for you.  That he
blatantly ignored our pact."

"But you were going to kill me."  She trembled
against his body.

"No Natalie," he moved to look into her eyes, "I
would never have taken your life.  Not all of your
life.  I'm not sure I would even have brought you
across.  I just wanted to scare him away from you."
He kissed her gently. "I was insanely jealous," he
said softly.

Natalie caressed his cheek with her fingers; she saw
a small flash of amber in his eyes.  She did not draw
away but pressed kisses all over his face, loving the
vampire away.  When she drew back, she found he had
blood tears in his eyes.

"You forgive me for that night?"  He was amazed at
her willingness to love him no matter what.

"If Nick had decided to fight you for me, what would
you have done Lucien? Would you have killed him?"

"No, Natalie, I would rather die than see my son
perish.  No matter what he's done to me.  I know I've
made his life hell.  I did it to make him tough, to
make him a survivor. To answer your question, I
would have bloodied him pretty good, but I would have
let him have you.  I should have fought for
Fleur."

"Fleur," Natalie repeated, "A beautiful name."
Finding out Lucien had been that much in love made her
ache for him and for Nick. The battles fought
between them all those centuries had been over a
woman.  To know Lucien had hurt all these centuries
made her cry and she kissed him again.  Because of
Fleur his bitterness had lashed out against humans.

She felt herself trembling uncontrollably in his
arms.  Had he loved Fleur more than he did her?

"She's dead and gone. You are real and warm and
mine."  He kissed her deeply wishing he could take her
losing himself in her body and blood.  But he set
her up on her feet with a sigh.

She caressed his soft hair again, and pressed a kiss
to his forehead.  She grabbed his hand and pulled him
to his feet, "Go freshen up, or whatever vampires do
and I'll call in sick.  We will go out." She went to
her closet to find something to wear.

Lucien watched in amazement at this woman.  He had
feared she would be jealous of Fleur and angry with
him and Nick for their foolish human behavior that had
destroyed their relationship. The utter irony was that
Nick had left Natalie in the end, just as he had
Fleur. Thus they were even now.

He made a call to his driver and then went to take a
shower.

While LaCroix was in the shower the doorbell rang
and Natalie found the Limo driver with a black suit
for Lucien, fresh from the cleaners.  She thanked
him and laid it on the bed.  She had taken out a
chic black knit dress and slipped it on.

LaCroix came from the bathroom with only a towel
around his waist.

Natalie stared in open-mouthed appreciation.  His
body was perfect.  Tight muscles, well defined abs.
His suits had never revealed this.

"I was a Roman General," he said guessing at her
thoughts.

"Of course," she came closer taking the towel from
his hand and slowly rubbed the moisture from his
shoulders and back in slow firm movements.  He stood
there letting her dry his hair.  He had not been
attended to in many years.  She ran the towel down his
arms and across his back again; leaning in she pressed
her cheek against his back and then her lips.  The
towel fell to the floor and her hands caressed and
studied the planes of his back.  He was
still warm from the shower and felt wonderful.

Lucien closed his eyes, very aware of her stomach
pressed to his buttocks. "Natalie?"  He cautioned her.
"I have not yet fed enough."

Her hands reached around him to touch his nipples
feeling them harden against her fingers.

He clasped her hands pulling them away, "Natalie
please."

She froze and sighed pressing her face against his
back again.

"Okay, I'm going."  She left the room walking on
rubbery legs.  She wanted him so badly.

A few minutes later he came from the bedroom
immaculately dressed as always.  He took a mug of
warmed blood wine drinking it down,then another and
another until he'd drank the contents of two whole
bottles. Finally he shook his head when she offered to
open another one.

"Seems like your stomach would explode."  She
ventured.

"Its absorbed by the whole body," he said. "Buy the
way you look amazing, my dear.  I would like to ravish
you."

"You could, I'm not stopping you."

He pulled her close kissing her deeply, "I could..."
He kissed her again, "satisfy your needs, my dear, but
you would not be able to touch me."

Natalie felt her legs weaken, "How?" she whispered.

He picked her up and carried her to the bar.  He sat
her upon it, "Lay back," he said then left her briefly
to grab a pillow from the couch to place it
under her head. He took her hands and pressed them
to the sides of the bar, "Hold onto the edge and do
not let go for anything. Do you understand Natalie,
for anything."

Trembling with excitement she nodded and clamped her
hands on the sides.  The rounded wood seemed to be a
natural handhold.

He carefully removed her shoes and pulled her dress
up over her hips and drew her stockings down and her
panties off.  His hands ran gently over her legs
and then he drew her legs up and placed her feet on
the bar and spread her legs.

He could hear her breathing increase and her body
was trembling with deep desire and emotion.  He
pressed kisses against her thighs.  His hands
caressed her flesh and his mouth drew closer and
closer to his goal.

Natalie held the bar so tightly her fingers where
aching.  She cried out to
him, "Lucien!"

"Hold on Natalie," he whispered, his fingers dipped
into her moist opening. She cried out with pleasure
and arched against them. He ran his thumb over
her nub and was rewarded by a gasp of delight.  Then
thrusting two fingers deep inside of her he bent and
ran his tongue over her clitoris.  She tasted of spice
and wildflowers.  He withdrew his fingers and wrapped
his arms around the outside of her legs and pulled her
closer to his mouth.  He sucked deeply and thrusts his
tongue into her in rapid succession.

She was writhing and gasping with desire. "Faster
Lucien," she cried arching against his face.  Her
orgasm built until she screamed his name and shuddered

against his mouth.

He sucked in her juices finding great satisfaction
at knowing he'd relieved her needs.  He placed kisses
against her thighs then moved to her side, and
covered her mouth in a deep penetrating kiss.

Natalie tasted herself in his mouth let go of the
bar and placed her arms around his neck as he lifted
her from the bar.

"You are so beautiful, Natalie. You were brave and
strong."

He carried her into the bedroom and sat her on the
edge of the bed.  She was spent and was unable to
move.  He smiled down at her and then went to get her
a glass of orange juice.  He made her drink it then
helped her remove her dress so she could go into the
bathroom to clean up. He fed some more pushing
down his desires. He washed his own face and hands
and then helped her dress again.

Though she was still very quiet she came along with
him when he pulled her to the balcony.  "Do you trust
me?" He asked, indicating the night sky.

Natalie's eyes grew big but she nodded.

"That's my girl," he bent and picked her up in his
arms and up they flew into the dark night sky.

Natalie held tightly to him for a few minutes then
relaxed in his arms.  Her body was so satisfied she
didn't care where they were going as long as Lucien
held her close.  They flew over the city and out
into the edge of the country.  Feeling stronger
Natalie started to take notice of the surroundings.
They were flying lower right above the trees.  Natalie

realized they were moving over the grounds of a
large Estate.  She looked at him curiously but he only
smiled at her.

He gently lit down in front of the door of the huge
house.  LaCroix sit Natalie down on her feet, still
holding her around the waist to steady her.

"Lucien, what is this place?"

"This," he said sweeping his hand out to indicate
the whole house and ground, "is going to be our home."

Natalie gasped, "What?  Oh Lucien." She eyed the
place with more interest.

He produced a key from his pocket and opened the
door.  They stepped into a warm foyer.  It was grand.
It had marble polished floors, high ceilings.  A
curved staircase went up to a second floor.  Flowers
sat in vases on warm rich dark wood tables making the
place warm and fragrant.  A huge glass chandelier hung
in the foyer.  He showed her a small intimate sitting
room and a larger den.  There were offices with state
of the art equipment for both of them and a library
filled with wonderful old and new books.  The
kitchen was huge and there was also a small private
breakfast nook. There was a huge dining room table and
Natalie giggled with the image of her at one end
and he at the other.

LaCroix opened a door off the kitchen.

Natalie went through the door.  She gasped in delight
when her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting.  There was
a beautiful indoor pool.  It had deep blue
tiles with gold woven in a Roman design with columns
supporting the ceiling. The lighting was romantic and
amazing.

"Oh, Lucien," she cried, "its wonderful.  After
gazing at it for a while longer and studying the
statues that were also arranged in the water and on
the sides they went back into the house.

He led her by the hand up the large carved staircase
and down a hall with doors going to bedrooms.  He
stopped before one. "This will be your room."  The
door opened and she stepped into a huge room. It was
gracefully decorated in creams and corals.  The bed
was in lightwood and the high posts of the bed where
draped in a cream colored canopy with coral flowers.
There were plush cream carpets and the blonde
furniture
that matched the bed. It was beautiful. He then showed
her the bathroom equipped with everything imaginable.
It had white and coral marble, even a sunken tub.

He took her to a room down the hall.  It was quite
the opposite of hers. There was a thick dark canopied
bed with heavy drapes of blood red.  She went
to look on the bed and found a quilt of deep red,
blues and greens in velvet it was beautiful.  She
reached out to run her hands over it, "It's beautiful,

Lucien."

He came and gathered her close to him, "I want this
to be our union bed."

She looked up into his eyes, "So it shall be my love."
She looked around the rest of the room. The windows
had matching black out drapes and thick blood
red carpets. The bathroom was black with red tiles.
Her eyes rested on the huge sunken tub.  She blushed
with the thought of making love to Lucien there.

He said, "It has wonderful possibilities, don't you
think?"

The rest of the rooms on the floor were also bedrooms.
These are for my children.  Janette and Nicholas if
he should decide to return."

Natalie turned away.

LaCroix came to her gathering her close from behind
and leaned his chin on her shoulder. "When you become
a vampire, if you survive your first year and
live into the future you will eventually see him.  I
am his father Natalie.  He will come back."

"I don't want you to fight with him, Lucien.  He
does love me.  He will be insanely jealous.  You have
worked through your feelings for him, but he has
not changed how he feels about you."

End Part 5