Aura's Undoing (After Death Chronicles)

Chapter 18

We moved back to the country house and I was happy to leave the city behind. So was Frej. He seemed much more at ease when he was in the old house with creaky floors. We started hanging out more. It was like we had had this weird bonding experience and now it was just easier to hang out with him. He was so low effort too. He didn't mind not talking for several hours and then he'd comment on something that made me laugh.

Dawid and I spent a lot of time too on his computer, geeking out. He was even a brilliant coder which I had not seen coming. But he said it was like a language where you didn't need to hear anything. It was one he could speak just as well as anyone else, and I got it. In many ways, coding had done the same thing for me.

He tried to teach me to sign too, but I was horrible at it. I couldn't get my hands to move as gracefully as he could. Or Iwo. Both of them were so good at it and I always watched them with wonder.

The second Tec told me, his blood wasn't in me besides the genetic bond we shared, Dawid was on me.

He was so gentle when he leaned in over me and sank his sharp fangs into my throat, my wrist, my arm... Where ever he could think of really. It was a good thing we healed so fast otherwise we'd both look like we'd gotten mauled by a snake. 

The best part about it all was the fact that I did feel our bond grow stronger. As Dawid was feeding on me, I picked up more and more of his emotions. And... They were so lovely. I felt a love for myself I had never felt before. I hoped he picked up on my emotions too because there was nothing but positivity thrown his way.

Dawid was handsome. He had these startling grey eyes and his skin was pale. Almost so pale it looked more like marble than skin. And then there were his collarbones. He had awesome collarbones. He wasn't as muscular as Tec or as lean as Frej, but a good middle. He was almost pretty with his long eyelashes. And he had awesome hands. They were big, but they were also so gentle.

"You're thinking loudly," Dawid murmured against my throat. "But by all means, keep thinking what you're thinking." He pulled up and smiled at me, my blood staining his lips and fangs.

"You don't know what I'm thinking," I said a little suspiciously.

"Not exactly. But I feel what you're feeling," he murmured softly and kissed me. "Don't you feel me?"

I nodded and my eyes slid closed again as he kissed the side of my mouth feather softly.

"We should get out of bed," he murmured without pulling up. No answer needed from me then. And he didn't stop kissing me either. "But I don't want to." He bit down on my skin again and I gasped. I ran my fingers over his short hair and he made a low humming sound.

"Okay. Enough," he said resolutely and pulled up. I flicked my eyes up and smiled innocently at him. "Not enough," he murmured then and lowered himself again and kissed me. He pressed his body down on mine and my hands shot up to his shoulders, pulling him further down. I just wanted him closer.

"I love you," he whispered, his lips brushing over my skin.

I ran my hand over his hair again and he tipped his head down, allowing me to gently run my fingers over the back of his neck. He dipped down and kissed my collarbone before lifting up.

"I think we should actually socialise with the others today. My brother mentioned he wanted to hang out."

"Right," I breathed back and just kept looking at him from my position on the bed.

His slight smile disappeared and he dived back down again, biting down on my arm, hard. We were way too distracted to think of anything else right now.

We did emerge much later though. And we found our family in the living room. They all sent us sly looks and made stupid comments, but I didn't mind it. I didn't mind any of it.

I sat down next to Kissy and she slung her arm around my shoulder. "Girl, we gotta go shopping soon," she said with her best American accent.

"I'm game," I said with a wide smile.

"Off the hook!"

"I don't think people say that anymore," Frej murmured under his breath.

"When did they stop?" Kissy asked and arched a brow at the redhead.

"In the '90s," Tec said. "Kissy, what have I told you a million times now? You have to follow the trends. Assimilate."

"At least I know how to use a smartphone."

"I do too... Now when Aura has taught me." Frej smiled over at me and I offered him a small nod back.

"Honestly, it took me a while to figure out smartphones too. And I didn't really use mine when I was alive. Most people use it for social interactions and well..." I shrugged a shoulder.

"We should all make Instagram accounts and then we could follow each other," Frej said all enthusiastically.

"Why, lover?" Tec laughed and put his arm around his husband. "We live together, all of us. We can just talk to each other."

"But I wanna send you funny images. I've found so many." One smile from Frej and Tec seemed to be convinced.

And then we all had Instagram accounts so we could send each other funny pictures. This family was weird, but I loved it nonetheless. I taught Dawid how to take selfies, taught Kissy how to find hot people to follow who didn't wear a lot of clothes in their photos and showed Iwo the travelling accounts. Tec was fast to find the other artists, especially a lot of talented tattoo artists. He suggested Frej started uploading pictures of the tattoos he did on people. Kissy suggested he started posting pictures of himself shirtless.

Tec didn't like that idea.

A notification ticked on my phone already and I opened the image sharing app up again. Dawid had posted the selfie we had taken together with a small heart emoji in the description. I smiled up at him and kissed the corner of his jaw.

"You're too cute," I said.

He chuckled and shook his head. "If it's that easy to please you, I'll post more stuff."
"Remember we can all see it, bud," Iwo said but Dawid wasn't looking at him and therefore didn't know his brother was talking to him. Dawid was too occupied with his phone again.

Who knew a bunch of multiple 100-year-olds would be this obsessed with Instagram. I should show them Twitter next, I thought to myself and snorted as I observed my family.

Kissy kept showing Tec and Frej pictures of shirtless fitness models, and they either applauded the poor soul on the picture or shook their heads, not accepting the 'offering.'

Iwo came over to where Dawid and I were sitting and talking about the trips he wanted to go on. He wanted to see stuff around the world again. Both Dawid and I agreed to go with him. I hadn't been to nearly as many places as the twins and I was jealous. But Iwo assured me I'd catch up. I did have eternity after all.