Blood red love by Dripping Creativity
Chapter 60

Blood red love

60

When Vidar finally got home, he stopped inside the door and listened. He could hear Charlie moving around their bedroom. He smiled and walked towards the sound, fantasising about what he would replace when he got there. Charlie, in a variety of lingerie, flashed before him. Charlie spread out, naked, in their bed. The possibilities were endless. He hurried his steps

and opened the door. And found a fully clothed Charlie putting away laundry.

“Hi,” she said happily and walked up to him and gave him a kiss. Vidar’s brain had stopped functioning. He just stared at her. “What’s wrong?” she asked. The worry in her voice snapped

Vidar out of his frozen state.

“No, nothing’s wrong. Hello,” he said and pulled her closer and kissed her. She looked at him and frowned.

“And you’re sure nothing is wrong?”

“I’m sure. What have you been doing today?” he asked as he took off his jacket and tie, rolled up his sleeves, and tried to discreetly look around the room. Trying to see if there was a hint of a surprise or something Charlie had planned.

“Nothing much. I have updated my freelance homepage, stating I’m not taking on any additional work at the moment,” she said as she put away the last of the laundry.

“Fucking right, you’re not,” he agreed.

“I spent some time giving the page and update to have something to do. Some new design, added a new picture and so on. It was fun. I had lunch and then I did some laundry and did some cleaning,” she told him.

“You know we have people for that, right?” he asked.

“I know, but I was a little bored and restless. I thought you would think it was better that I did a little cleaning then me going outside alone.” Vidar hugged her from behind.

“First,” he told her, kissing her neck. “You are never alone. My men will always be around you.

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Second,” he said, kissing the other side of her neck. “Good call. We’ll do something fun tomorrow, get you out of the apartment, and do something safe.” Charlie laughed.

“I would like that. But we need to be home to make dinner. We are expecting company.”

“We are?” he asked.

“Yes. Henry and his restaurant manager are coming over to meet with Lilly. I thought the first time would go a little smoother if they met over dinner,” she told him. Vidar smiled. Charlie had a built in function to take care of the people that were important to her. She was fiercely loyal and therefor it hurt her all the deeper when people around her betrayed her. Now it was his job to make sure that didn’t happen.

“Sounds like a good plan,” he told her.

They had eaten dinner and Vidar had told Charlie about the meeting with the clan. She

offered to do the cleanup to let him set up the meeting and she would join him. Vidar walked into his office. As soon as he sat down in the chair, he noticed something new. On his desk was a simple bronze frame with a black–and–white photo of Charlie in it. She was smiling at the camera, her shoulder length hair slightly curled, with a warm smile on her face. Her work

smile. He stared at it for a moment, wondering how he would ever get any work done with

her picture right in front of him and at the same time humbled by the gift.

“Charlie?” he called out.

“Yes?” she said as she walked into his office, grabbing a visitor’s chair to move next to him.

“When did you have this photo taken?” he asked, running his finger along the frame.

v camer

“I took some today, for the homepage. I put up in the entertainment room upstairs. The light from the windows makes it really good for photography. I liked how they came out and thought you might like one. Did you like it?”

“I love it. Thank you,” he told her, kissed her as she sat down on the chair next to him. He took out his special computer and logged on to the meeting site. He had just logged on to the meeting, seeing a smiling Henry on the screen, when Charlie leaned into him.

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“When you texted earlier, I was in the middle of my photo shoot. The photos were so good. and when I got the idea to give you one, I thought you would like some riskier ones as well. Those I hid around the apartment as I cleaned,” she whispered to him.

“Hello, Vidar, Char…” Henry’s greeting was cut short as Vidar slammed the laptop shut, ending the call.

“You did what?” he asked.

“Vidar, you just cut off the meeting. We will be late,” Charlie objected, trying to lift the lid of the laptop. Vidar put his hand on top of it.

“What did you do?” he asked.

“I took some pictures of me. Some with a little less clothes, some… without clothes. And I hid them around the apartment for you to replace. Now stop overreacting and start the meeting.”

“You will tell me where the photos are,” he demanded. The thought of the cleaning staff replaceing naked pictures almost had Vidar in a rage. He was pushed even closer when he thought about Henry and his restaurant manager coming over the next day and replaceing them.

“Vidar, stop being so dramatic. It’s only a couple of photos. They are well hidden and after

the meeting you can go look for them. Now start the dammed meeting,” Charlie told him.

“Fine. But we will talk about this later,” he huffed, flipped open the laptop and reconnected.

All four of the others were now in the meeting.

“Vidar, everything alright?” Henry asked, looking worried and confused.

“Fine,” Vidar grumbled and, next to him, Charlie giggled. The meeting started and both Vidar and Charlie got distracted by the seriousness of the conversation.

“I

agree. It does sound like he has been planning this for a long time,” Adisa agreed.

“But it hasn’t been that long since you got to know me. Do you think he had time to plan all of this since then?” Charlie asked. Vidar had taken her hand and now his thumb was rubbing

soothing circles on top of it.

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“No. That is what’s worrying me,” Nasir said.

“Agreed. I believe this exit strategy of his was planned fore something else, he just had use of it for this,” Jun told them. The others grunted and nodded.

“We need to know what he was planning and if it has been put into motion or not. We can be facing something even bigger,” Nasir pointed out.

“That little fucking dick. I will tear him up in bite–size pieces when I get my hands on him,” Vidar growled. The clan had been good to Millard. They had taken him in and made sure he was taken care of. The clan had taken him under their wing, made sure he had a good setup that would be a good starting platform for the start of his life. They had even begun planning how to handle his Great Understanding, even though it was hundreds of years in the future. They had wanted him to feel safe, and that they were committed to him. He had broken all of that, and he would pay for it. It was Charlie’s turn to rub her thumb over the back of Vidar’s

hand.

“What do we do next?” Henry asked.

“Vidar, Caine is our best bet for catching Millard, so keep him on it,” Adisa said. Vidar

nodded. He had no intention of letting anyone but Cain handle this. Preferably, he would

have handled it himself. But Charlie needed to stay safe, that was now and forever Vidar’s

first most duty. That meant Caine was the only option left. “Jun, do you think we could use Min to dig up what Millard was intending to do?” Adisa asked. The meeting got silent, everyone waiting on Jun’s reply. He gave them a hard nod.

“I will ask her to come at once,” he said.

“Thank you,” Vidar said. He knew what his friend was potentially risking. But Min was like no one else when it came to digging up things you wanted to stay buried. Everyone nodded, and

they all swore to help with whatever resources were needed. The borders between their lands were now open for the others. Even though they were a clan, they still respected each other’s territory. Well, they might do a friendly smash and grab or something, just to have some fun. But a vampire’s territory was sacred and, once established, they would defend it against any outside forces. But now was the time to band together. There were no borders between them. until they had caught Millard and learnt of his true plan. They ended the call and Vidar took a deep breath.

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“Who is Min? Everyone had a strong reaction to that name,” Charlie asked him. Of course, his clever lynx would pick up on that, Vidar thought. He picked her up and sat her down in his lap, just because he had missed her the entire day and he wanted her close. Charlie squealed a little, but got comfortable with her arm around his neck.