Once we'd said our goodnights and tucked them into their joint bed, my daughter's arm thoroughly covered up in Hello Kitty bandages, Teren scooped me up and told me to change into something nice. I smirked at him as he dragged me into our bedroom. "I didn't bring anything nice."
He smirked right back. "I did." Grinning crookedly, he pointed over to a garment bag that I hadn't packed.
Frowning as I unzipped it, I muttered, "You all know my birthday isn't until Tuesday, right?"
He laughed as he slung his arms around my waist and kissed my neck, the unscarred side. "Yes, but it's typical to celebrate the weekend before, when the date falls in the middle of the workweek."
Groaning as I pulled out a sexy little black dress, I mumbled, "Thanks for the tip, Mr. Birthday Etiquette."
I listened to my children say goodnight to each other as I slinked off my clothes. When I was just in my bra and underwear, I posed for Teren, thinking that maybe if he was wrapped around me, he'd ditch this idea of going out. His eyes did lock onto my body, but he stubbornly kept getting ready, buttoning up a black shirt that complemented his dark hair.
Cocking an eyebrow at me, he waited for me to cover up my body once he was finished. Rolling my eyes, I slipped on the dress. It fell mid-thigh and slinked so low in the back that I had to take my bra off. I sexily removed it and flung it at him. He caught it one-handed, baring a fang at me as he did. I bit my lip, wanting to stay for another reason and he chuckled, slipping his teeth back in as he walked over to my bag on the dresser. Rummaging for the supplies, he prepared my daily shot for me. When he had the syringe ready, he gave me a questioning look, as he always did, and I nodded.
Silently he walked over to me, shot in hand. Stepping behind me, his fingers ran up my thigh. I closed my eyes as his other hand rested on my hip. I could feel the desire rising in me as his hand rose higher up my leg, the syringe enclosed in it barely scraping against my skin. A low growl escaping him as he sensed it, he drug his teeth over my ear. "Stop that," he murmured. "We have places to be."
I let a small moan escape my lips as I leaned back into his body, grinding my h*ps into his. "Then stop teasing me...and do it."
He groaned a little bit as his free hand slipped under my dress, cupping the back. "You're too sexy..." Then he stiffened and pushed me away from him. Surprised, I twisted to look at him; his eyes were narrowed at me. "Are you trying to turn me on, just so we won't go?"
I smiled and shook my head. "I don't know what you're talking about, Mr. Adams."
Shaking his head at me, he grabbed my h*ps and pulled me into him. He injected me just as our bodies lined up. "There," he whispered, "I did it...we can go now."
Gasping as the heat of the shot flowed through my h*ps and desire pooled through my body, I grabbed his face and kissed him. He kissed me back just as hard and fierce as I kissed him. His hands ran up my legs, fisting my underwear at both sides. I whimpered as his cool tongue stroked over mine. Then he jerked away from me.
Blurring to the other side of the room, he panted lightly as he stared at me. "Hmmm, you're good, but we are going." He raised an eyebrow at me, his face playful, but serious. Smirking, he put the empty syringe back into our belongings, where our children wouldn't find it and accidentally hurt themselves with it.
After slipping on my family locket, I took a few minutes to readjust my hair and makeup, but we were still on the road to destinations unknown in no time. As I sighed, Teren chuckled at me. "What about this are you not looking forward to?" he asked with a smirk. "Spending some quality time with your friends...or your husband?"
He raised his eyebrow and I laughed, relaxing. "You're right. I guess it's just turning thirty that I'm struggling with a bit."
He furrowed his brows, his Prius flying down the road without him even looking. "You don't have to, you know. Turn thirty, I mean."
I relaxed back into the seat, watching the headlights light the road before us, much like our eyes did in pitch-black darkness. I knew what he meant, he meant I could stop taking the shot. I could die and stop my body from aging. I knew that, I just wasn't ready for it yet.
"No, I want to. Really, I do." I looked back at him as he twisted his head back to the front. "It's just the end of an era. I wasn't expecting that to bother me, I'd even been looking forward to it up until now...but, I don't know. I guess I just wanted to celebrate this milestone quietly."
Teren frowned, looking back at me. "Do you want me to call this off?"
I shook my head, feeling silly for objecting, now that we were out of the house and free for the evening. Putting my hand over his, I smiled widely. "No, I want to spend a night out with my husband, celebrating the fact that I'm still alive."
He grinned, placing a cool kiss on the back of my hand and stepping on the accelerator. "Good, because I think you'll like this."
While I was expecting to pull up in front of some packed club or maybe a swanky bar, he ended up driving us to the San Francisco Symphony. I stared at him open mouthed as we parked. "You got me tickets to the symphony?"
He tilted his head and nodded at my astonishment. I hadn't been to the symphony since my mom had taken me when I'd graduated from college. It was one of those things that I'd always wanted to go back to, but it always seemed to slip through the cracks.
"I asked your mom what you might like to do and she said the last time you were here, you teared up." He shrugged. "I thought you might appreciate this more than Tracey's plan of getting you smashed and making you sing karaoke."
I shook my head, my eyes already brimming. "Oh my God, I love you."
He chuckled against my lips. "See what I'm willing to sit through for you." I laughed when I pulled away from him. I had a feeling that Teren wouldn't mind sitting through the symphony. He was just more open to culture than most men.
Stepping out of the car, I heard Hot Ben's grumble before I saw him. Turning around, my flirty black dress swirling around my thighs, I watched as the modelesque man walked up to us, his fiance on his arm. While Hot Ben had a slight grimace on his sculpted face, Tracey was ear-to-ear smiles, eager to try something new. The perky blonde immediately engulfed me in a hug when she saw me. "Happy birthday, Emma."
The scent of freshly applied hairspray stung my nose, but I managed to hold in the sneeze. "Thank you, Tracey." I pulled back from her, my own face nearly splitting open with the wide grin on it. "You realize it's not today, right?"
She shushed me in the air with her hand. "Close enough. Can you believe the guys are taking us to the symphony?"
She started going into detail about how thoughtful our boys were and how romantic the evening was going to be, but from behind me, I heard Hot Ben grumbling to Teren and I couldn't stop myself from eavesdropping.
"Dude, I cannot believe you talked me into the symphony. I mean, aren't you supposed to be a badass, soulless, bloodthirsty monster?" Sighing softly he muttered, "I can't believe I was ever terrified of you."
I inadvertently laughed, causally switching it to a cough in my hand, and looked over my shoulder at Ben. Looking quite dashing in his semiformal suit, his light eyes and blonde highlights made him seem more like a movie star than a substitute kick box instructor and former vampire hunter. He was the one human outside of my family that knew without a doubt what the Adams clan was. The only reason he still knew was the fact that he'd earned their trust, earned it and kept it. He still hadn't told anyone about what he knew, not even his clueless bride-to-be.
He shrugged sheepishly at me as Teren clapped him on the back. Sometimes Hot Ben forgot just how good our hearing was. Actually, I think sometimes Ben forgot what we were entirely. A fact that made my husband exceptionally happy, as he sometimes liked to forget what he was too.
Just as the four of us started walking towards the front doors, a familiar car rumbled into the parking lot. I heard its particular jumble and smiled at my husband. "You invited my mom?"
He smiled and shrugged, squeezing my waist. "And your sister." Shaking my head at him, I leaned in to give him a light peck. Mom and Ash found a spot near the front to park and Tracey finally noticed they were here when Ash stepped out of my mom's compact. Grinning through her disfigured lips, Ashley waved at our foursome. We all waved back, Tracey breaking free from Ben to give Ashley a sisterly hug.
Tracey had always had a soft spot in her heart for Ashley, even trying to set her up with a cousin of Ben's once. The not-too-bad cousin that she'd once tried to line up for me. Apparently, he was still looking. Ashley had politely refused though, telling Tracey that she was perfectly capable of finding her own dates. I hadn't heard of any yet, but if my sister had proved anything to me, it was that she was indeed capable of doing anything. I was sure that meant finding a man too.
Wrapping her in an embrace when Tracey was finished, I ran a hand through one of the soft curls that were flowing down the hair-growing side of her head. "You're beautiful," I whispered.
She grinned and hugged me tight. "So are you, although..." She studied my face in the parking lights and for a moment I worried that the glow of my eyes was visible. Then she grinned crookedly. "I think I see a wrinkle."
I smacked her shoulder just as my mom came up to hug me. "You're not funny," I said, breaking into laughter before I even finished saying it.
"Sure she is," Teren said, filling in for me as he warmly hugged my sister. She wrapped her arms around him like he was just another family member. Of course, my sister had been the first one to know about him and completely accept him. The two of them shared a certain bond. According to the world, they were both monsters, Ash on the outside, Teren on the inside.
As our expanded group sat in the plush box seats that Teren had procured for me, I started listening to the swirl of conversations going on among the crowd assembling. I started to worry that my enhanced hearing would be overwhelmed by the noise a full symphony produced.
Teren noticed me worrying my lip and squeezed my leg. "Don't worry. Focus on one instrument at a time, until you can handle them all together."
I smiled over at him, relieved and warmed that he knew what I was thinking. Clutching his arm tight, I leaned into his side, feeling my heartbeat slow as peace settled through me.
As the music started, I realized that Teren was right. I was afraid it would be overwhelming for my sensitive ears, but I could actually hear more levels of the music than I ever could before. My attunement to sound could pick up highs and lows that normal humans could not, and it added to the piece in a way that had tears ruining my mascara in no time. I couldn't help it, it was just...the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. Each note was distinct. Each individual instrument could be distinguished. Yet, at the same time, it was a beautiful, perfectly synchronized sound that blended together effortlessly. My vampire ears were in heaven. Glancing at Teren as I wiped my eyes, I smiled at the look on his face. Eyes closed, peace on his features, he absorbed the music into himself, relishing it in a way that only we could.
Either that...or he was sleeping.