When we finally began stopping at islands, I realized that Caleb hadn’t been joking when he’d said that he would take me to remote parts. We hardly spotted a single human. By day, we stayed on the boat, and at night, we roamed the islands. I had also brought a number of small instruments with us from my father’s music room. We bathed in hot springs, went on long walks and explored the gorgeous landscapes. Often I would spark up a bonfire and we would sit around it, playing and making up our own melodies. Our nights often ended up with making love on the beach before returning to the boat before the sun rose. Even though Caleb tired me out and we were out all night, I found that I just couldn’t sleep much. I just wanted to be with him. And of course, he barely slept anyway.

Once we hit New Zealand, things got more upbeat. Despite agreeing to stay away from humans, we did spend many nights in clubs on the beach, and during the day continued sailing around different parts of the magnificent country.

I took a charmed phone with us, and remembered to call my mother once a week as I had promised to assure her that we were still fine. But time flew by, and before I knew it, we’d been gone several weeks.

Since we had finished touring all the places that Caleb had planned out, he suggested that we start making our way back. We stocked up on food supplies for me with the money we had brought with us, and there was still plenty of blood in the boat’s storage room.

And then we took off into open ocean, making our way back toward The Shade.

We traveled slowly. We wanted to make the most of our time away, but I suspected that Caleb was also going slower because he was beginning to feel more and more nervous about the end of the journey, when he’d promised to turn me.

We spent a few more days on the ocean, enjoying the last of our long honeymoon. But finally, we began to near home.

It was close to midnight one night when Caleb felt that we had neared close enough to The Shade. He moored the boat and then looked at me. I couldn’t miss the worry in his eyes as I stood with him in the control room.

Taking my hand, he led me out onto the deck. He looked toward the distance, scanning the shoreline. I couldn’t see so far into the darkness.

“Do you think those hunter ships are still surrounding The Shade?” I asked.

“We’re not close enough to them now to see. But if I had to take a guess, I would say that they are still there.”

Gathering me closer to him, he leaned down and closed his mouth around mine, caressing my lips slowly and tenderly. He kissed me as though I was the most precious thing in the world.

Raising his head again, he looked deep into my eyes.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” His voice sounded hoarse.

I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

“Because the last thing I want is for you to regret this decision,” he said. “You know that it will mean losing your fire powers, right? They will become dormant, like your father’s do when he is a vampire.”

I raised my hand to his face, my thumbs brushing either side of his lips as I kissed him harder.

“I want you to turn me, Caleb.”

I had grown attached to my fire powers and I was sad at the thought of losing them, but this was what I wanted. Still, the pain and danger of the experience had been built up so much, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. But I made sure to not show it in my expression. I didn’t want Caleb to see even the slightest bit of hesitation in me, because this was difficult enough for him as it was.

He nodded slowly. “All right.”

Taking my hand, he led me down to our bedroom.

“Is this really the best place to turn me?” I asked. “Won’t we get the bed all… messy?”

“Yes, it’s going to be messy,” Caleb said grimly. He had a dark expression as he looked around the room. “But I would rather have you in a contained space than out in the open. I don’t know what kind of state you’re going to wake up in. The last thing I want is for you to go diving into the ocean.”

My spine tingled as he sat me down on the bed.

“Wait here,” he said.

I did as he requested. He returned a minute later carrying a large blue tarpaulin. I lifted myself from the bed as he spread it out over the mattress, covering the silk linen.

Then he nodded toward the center of the bed. I positioned myself there and looked up at him, my heart fluttering.

He removed his shirt and dropped it to the floor. Then he climbed onto the bed and crawled toward me. He positioned himself over me until his legs straddled my hips. He unbuttoned my shirt and removed it completely, discarding it on the floor next to his own. Then he removed my jeans. Now I wore only my underwear.

His breath hitched as he positioned himself over me, his eyes falling to my neck.

He placed his hands either side of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair. He lowered his head to mine and caught my lips in his. I could feel how tense he was, and I could feel him trembling slightly. I reached up my hands and cupped his face, hoping to reassure him. When his lips broke away from mine, I whispered:

“I trust you, Caleb.”

Chapter 19: Caleb

My hands shook slightly as they rested in my wife’s hair.

I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of her warm hands against my face. I didn’t know when I would feel her heat again.

Rose’s sweet scent engulfed me as I dipped down lower. So close to her, normally by now I would be in full-blown battle mode to restrain myself. But this night would be different. For the first time since I had met her, I would taste her blood. I swallowed hard as she stared up at me, her eyes so wide and trusting.