Throughout the weeks Sam had learned several very new and important things. Not just about herself, but her coven. Vampires were seemingly tireless. They didn’t require any sleep unless seriously injured. Even when that happened, it was more like their bodies shut down completely until they could be fed blood and given time to heal. Another thing she learned that the four vampires she found herself in the company of were tightly bonded, even for vampires.

According to some of the volumes she found in the library, covens of vampires were extremely hard to obtain, which is why they long ago put leaders in place to control them. If a house had more than a dozen vampires, they seemed to feed off of one another’s most bestial qualities, until it turned them all into even more sinister monsters than before. But House Rinna, which she found out was the name of her coven, was not like that, even before she had come into the picture.

They were unique, the odd ones out. Instead of allowing several to live in one unit, they broke their coven up into several properties, keeping them at bay from turning feral. She found it both amusing and comforting that of all the vampires that could have found her, the ones that did were so much like her in many ways. It made her feel as if the coven was exactly where she was supposed to be. Where she wanted be. Like Sulma had said, it was fate.

Learning about her destiny was thrilling and new, but also dangerous. According to Amaa, others could have felt her calling, even in the House Rinna.

“Beloveds are a diamond in the rough,” he had explained to her once. “Very rare, and very precious. They are a gift from the gods to the vampires as a small reprieve from the loneliness of the immortality. However, because there are so few it can create chaos. Which is why it’s so important for the coven that awakens them to keep them protected.”

She still didn’t quite understand all of it, but she felt immensely more comfortable with herself and her relationship with Amaa, Aruum, Taas, and Sulma than she did a month ago. Alongside of that, they had all settled into a relatively normal routine. In the mornings the guys would go out to train while Sam studied Amaa’s collection of the paranormal in the library or the patio. In the afternoon, they would break and take turns doing things together. She and Aruum would spend time in his lab, while her time with Amaa was spent learning to tap into her powers and learn simple magics a beloved was capable of doing.

With Sulma, she end up in the gym located on the second floor. He was very invested in teaching her self defense in the event that they weren’t close enough to protect her. Taas was, she found, the poet and writer of the group. In his human life he had struggled with depression deeply, and despite centuries of immortality, he was still consumed by sadness at times. They would end up spending hours discussing ancient philosophies of Descartes, Aristotle, and Plato. She enjoyed her time with all of them, and enjoyed even more when the talking and activities were replaced with kissing and other sensual activities.

Her sexual appetite had both pleased and surprised her. Her once closed-off sexual power had blossomed beautifully, and she was more than up to the challenge of thoroughly enjoying all four of her partners.

In the evenings when the sun was all but gone, the guys would then break off in pairs to go hunting. She was never left in the mansion alone, even with all of the safeguards Amaa had put in place. They would take as short of time as possible with their hunt, but it had become an almost nightly routine to run into trouble of some sort from the other vampires.

Sam could feel their wickedness rising with every week that passed. Like Sulma, she felt that another war was about to break out. If it did, she’d have her work as a beloved cut out for her to ensure that her vampires lived through it. She tried to imagine what it would be like to lose them now, and it filled her with dread. Now that she knew what it was like to have them all in her life, she never wanted to be without them.

So she did what she thought was best, and worked every spare moment on her powers and her education. She fully believed it when Ben Franklin wrote, “To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail.”

“Amaa! Put me down. Now!” Sam yelled, wiggling wildly in his hands. He had her high above his head, holding her with one hand as if she weighed nothing more than a pillow.

“Focus your energy,” he told her, ignoring her plea. “You think another vampire is going to just let you go after you yell at them to? Not a chance. Get yourself down.”

Sam growled in frustration, a sound she picked up from them. This was the part she hated about her beloved training; hurting Amaa. He wanted her to have real life practice, which she agreed with. She just didn’t like that she had to put him in real life pain. Still, she knew he wouldn’t let her down willingly, so she closed her eyes and focused.

Sam envisioned her life force gathering to the center of her body. Her soul, a little ball of light and raw energy, glowed from her chest before moving around to her back where Amaa’s hand held her. The light travelled from her to him, passing down his arm to his chest until it settled over his heart.

Once there, she focused all of her energy on bringing out the truth of his nature. All the kills Amaa had made, all of the evil he had ever committed flooded into his mind in vivid pictures. The goal of the trick was to overwhelm the vampire with long ago lost emotion. A vampire could take a physical hit from a human over and over again, but a mental one could put them down for hours, if not days.

Beneath her, she felt Amaa begin to tremble, and she immediately wanted to stop.

“Keep going,” he barked through gritted teeth. He was in obvious pain, and it went against everything Sam wanted for him. But she obeyed, and pushed her mind further until Amaa finally tapped out and put her down. The moment she was balanced on her feet she opened her arms and let Amaa pull her into his to heal the damage she had just caused.

“This is my least favorite lesson,” she told him bitterly after healing him.

“I know,” Amaa told her, kissing the top of her head. “But look at it this way, you get to practice defense and healing all in one lesson.”

Sam grunted, and rolled her eyes. She knew it was true, but she still didn’t have to like it.

“You’re going out patrolling tonight?” She asked, wanting to talk about anything else.

He nodded, and released her from his embrace. “Speaking of, I guess it’s about that time. I’m going to go grab a quick shower before I go.” His eyes glittered with mischief as he gave her hand a squeeze.

“Care to join me?”

Smiling, Sam nuzzled her face back into Amaa’s chest, if only for a few minutes.

“I would,” she told him, “but I skipped lunch today, and I’m feeling a little dizzy.”

Amaa lifted an eyebrow.

“Sam we talked about this, you have to stop forgetting to eat. You need all the strength you can get.”

“I know,” Sam sighed, rolling her eyes. “It’s a bad habit I’ve had for years. I just get lost in studying. I’ll get better at it, I promise.”

“Better,” Amaa told her, “or else.” He gave her a wink and a gentle kiss, letting her know he was only teasing. After that, he turned to go upstairs.

In the kitchen Sam’s stomach growled again hungrily. In the fridge she found plenty of ingredients for several different dishes. She knew that the house had a butler/chauffeur, but had yet to see him. Despite his invisibility however, she always knew when he visited because the kitchen would be all but overflowing with fresh, healthy food. After perusing through the giant fridge, she decided to make steaks, rare, with creamed spinach, and candied beets with feta cheese and onions. They were foods filled with iron, a component she sorely needed since she’d become comfortable with the four of them feeding on her.

After switching on the radio, Sam began to cook as she danced, moving her hips to the Latin music as she pulled the ingredients out onto the countertop. The music playing was rhythmic and sensual, and as she danced, she forgot that she was cooking for one, not five. Before becoming a beloved, Sam had found food a simple means to an end to stay alive. Now, she was all but obsessed with it. She found cooking to be simply edible chemistry. If she followed the formula correctly, she could create something delicious and amazing. But if she wasn’t careful, it could, like all other science experiments, blow up in her face.

“I didn’t know you liked to dance.”

The sudden voice made Sam yelp and jump, and she whirled around to see Sulma and Aruum standing in the kitchen entryway, wide grins on their faces. Sam felt a deep blush fill her cheeks, but she lifted her chin haughtily.

“Well, I do,” she said, holding out her hands. Still grinning, Sulma and Aruum each took one, and the Latin music led them into a three-person tango. Even without practice they were able to move as one, twirling and moving around the kitchen floor as if it were perfectly choreographed. When the song ended they moved her into a final dip, and when she came back up they were all laughing. It was then that they spotted all of the food.

“What’s this?” Aruum asked, his tone full of amusement.

Sam followed his gaze and realized that in her fun with dancing, she had made way too much food.

“Um, well, I guess I made us all dinner?” She said, laughing at herself. “I can’t believe I forgot about the whole blood only thing.”

Aruum and Sulma chuckled, and sat on the bar stools on the other side of the kitchen island.

“I’m sorry you guys,” she said, feeling guilty. “This is such a waste!”

There had only been one discussion among them about finances, and it had been a short one. She was to never worry about money while she lived with them, and they even contacted her university to pay off all her student loans and final year. It was a blessing she’d never expected, and didn’t want them to think she was ever taking advantage of it.

“It’s not really,” Sulma told her, grabbing a plate. He piled on two steaks and a large spoonful of the beets.

“It’s not something to do everyday, but we can eat this stuff,” he told her, picking up a beet and popping it into his mouth. “We can absorb the vitamins, which is sometimes helpful if we can’t find healthy donors.”

“Which has been really difficult lately,” Aruum added, fixing his own plate. “You humans got really addicted to the fake stuff.” He picked up a knife and sliced it easily through the steak. The bright red center bled its juices over the white plate as he did so, the colors swirling together artfully.

“It’s true,” she admitted. “I’m feeling better than I have been because I’m not eating junk food anymore, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss cheese puffs.”

Sulma raised an eyebrow. “Cheese puffs?”

“Basically puffed up plastic with a ton of powdered cheese on them.”

They wrinkled their noses, and Sam nodded.

“Yeah, I guess when I explain them like that, I don’t really miss them anymore.”

She fixed her plate and they moved to the more intimate breakfast nook. As she dug in, Taas and Amaa came into the kitchen. They both looked at them in surprise when they saw Sulma and Aruum at the table chewing human food.

“What’s this?” Taas asked.

“Sam made us dinner,” Amaa said, his mouth full. “It’s great. Have some.”

Taas and Amaa shared a look before shrugging their shoulders and doing so. It was the first time they had sat down and shared a meal as a group, and although Sam was enjoying it immensely, it brought up some questions she realized she never asked.

“When you guys feed,” she asked, looking up at them, “…do you kill people?”

They all shared a long look with each other before Aruum gave her a small smile. She couldn’t help but notice that it didn’t reach his eyes.

“As you know Sam, we must feed,” he began. “If we don’t, we risk becoming much more decrepit. Some vampires do drain people, even though our high council has made it illegal to do so. As for us, we try our best not to kill our donors. It means that we have to feed more often, but it also means less dead bodies in the city.”

A long silence stretched throughout the room before Taas spoke up.

“None of us have killed a human in a long time,” he told her. “Despite what the rest of our species may think, we all have a reverence for mortal life. Especially yours.”

Sam nodded, feeling relieved if only slightly.

Sensing her discomfort, Amaa switched the conversation back to the meal she made for them.

“For now let’s focus on your eating habits, yeah?” He gave her a silly grin. “The flavor of the steak is superb Sam, really.”

The others quickly agreed, and they moved into a different conversation fairly easily. Amaa let her know that her registration book for school had come in the mail, and they talked about what she would be taking for her final fall semester as an undergraduate. It was an incredibly normal conversation that could have occurred in a regular family. It made her feel more settled, and soon the thoughts of their feeding habits were gone. That was, until the sun fell all the way down, and it was time for them to take their turns hunting. Sulma was the first to get up, but just as he was leaving the table he froze, and turned his head towards the radio. She had turned it way down when before they started to eat, but it was still on.

“It really was delicious, Sam,” Sulma told her suddenly. “But we should be going.”

Following his lead, Amaa got up as well, kissing Sam’s cheek before getting up. She immediately noticed that both of them had taken a predatory stance.

“What’s going on?” She asked, knowing their body language enough to see that something had suddenly stressed them. She noticed then that Taas and Aruum were now looking at the radio as well.

“What’s it saying?” When no one said anything, she moved towards the radio to turn it up herself. Sulma stopped her, and begrudgingly told her what it was saying.

“It’s a breaking news story,” he told her. “The police found another dead body by the harbor.”

Sam felt the familiar pang of sadness she got anytime she found out about another woman dying. But she still didn’t understand why her vampires, who were used to the dead, still looked completely spooked.

“What else? You’re leaving parts of the story out. Tell me,” she demanded.

Sulma and Amaa shared a long glance before Amaa answered. “They described that deceased female as tall, athletic, and red hair.”

“And?”

“And she had a B carved into her chest, right above her heart. There were also four long, deep cuts in her abdomen.”

Sam didn’t need to hear anymore as the details drew a picture all on its own. It was supposed to be her. The others had decided to send a direct message to her. Suddenly she felt nauseous, and the food she’d just eaten threatened to come back up.

“I see,” she whispered after a long silence. With her fingertips she pushed the plate away from her, no longer hungry. “But what I don’t understand is how they know what I look like?”

“We don’t know,” Amaa admitted.

“But we will keep you protected, Sam,” Sulma told her, his voice strong, authoritative.

“Is there anything I can do?” She asked.

Sulma nodded.

“Stay here with Taas and Aruum while Amaa and I go hunting for them.”

She shook her head no.

“Shouldn’t you take them with you? For more protection?” Her eyes were glassy as she looked at the four men surrounding her. “I just found you all. I don’t want to lose you.”

“It’s important that Taas and I stay here to protect you, Sam,” Aruum told her, his tone gentle.

“Your safety is our top priority. Not just for you, but for us. As long as you’re protected you can help us.”

“How?” She asked, feeling obstinate about the situation.

“You saw yourself how you were able to heal me,” Taas pointed out.

“You can bring us back from the brink of death,” Amaa added. “We all must work together on this, Sam.”

Sam didn’t want to agree, but she knew they were right. She was the vulnerable link of an otherwise unbreakable chain. If she wasn’t protected, especially now when an impending war could break out any minute, all could be lost. She took a deep breath, then nodded.

“Fine,” she said at last, looking more worried than ever. But kiss me before you go?” Immediately Amaa pulled her into his arms, wrapping around her tenderly before kissing. It was gentle and sweet, and made her whimper in sadness when he pulled away.

Sulma’s kiss was rougher, but more passionate. His hands cradled her against his perfectly muscled body as if she were made of the softest material while his mouth ravaged hers.

“Stay with Taas and Aruum,” Sulma urged one last time. She nodded as they turned away from her.

“Please be safe,” she pleaded, watching them go.

“Everything is going to be all right, little one,” Taas comforted, massaging the back of her neck with his skilled fingers. “This is nothing we haven’t been through before. We’re centuries old, remember?”

She only nodded, and a wave of guilt hit Taas like an actual ocean curl, crushing him. He and Aruum shared a long glance as she moved away from them and began to tidy up the kitchen. Heartbreak and fear were written all over her face, and it destroyed them to see her that way. When she started doing the dishes, Taas came up behind her slowly, stilling her hands in the dishwater as his body hovered inches behind her.

“I’m sorry for the way I acted when you first got here. And how curt I was at times last night. You don’t deserve that. You deserve to be protected and cherished. And that’s what we’re going to do.”

She turned around, startled.

“Where did that come from?”

Taas shrugged his shoulders. “I guess it’s a piece of guilt I’ve been holding onto for a while. I was the one that frightened you the first time you came to the mansion, and the one who gave you the cold shoulder when you first started staying with us.” He paused, his eyes searching over hers before continuing.

“I just want you to be able to trust me, like you trust the others. I never want you to think that I’m more like the rest of the vampires and not like our coven.”

A smile spread across Sam’s face as she stared up at him, reading his truth through his eyes. Vampires could not lie to their beloveds and vice versa. Although she hadn’t feared that Taas was like the rest, it relieved her that he was open to discussing his own concerns about his previously gruff behavior.

“Thank you,” she told him. “But I promise that my previous concerns are long gone.”

Sam sighed, and leaned forward against Taas’s chiseled chest. She really did understand that there was a specific power exchange within the coven’s dynamic, and she was learning it well, in her opinion. From what she’d been able to find in her books, there was always awkwardness when assimilating to a beloved relationship. She also didn’t miss the fact that the coven she was tied to fell more on the ‘guardian’ side of the fence than that ‘villain’ one, that apparently most vampires give into. If she wanted to stay with her coven, which she understood now that she absolutely did, she had to let her vampires go out and fight and be badasses.

As she stepped back from Taas so she could look at both him and Aruum, she gave them her best smile.

“I get it. I really do. I just don’t like it. I want to protect you too.”

Taas and Aruum both chuckled as they moved to pull her into a group hug.

“You do,” Aruum told her, kissing the top of her head.

“More than you know,” Taas agreed.

When they let her go, Aruum was not smiling. In fact, he looked dangerous.

“Sam, I think before we let this discussion drop there’s something you should understand about us.”

She raised an intrigued eyebrow, and waited for him to explain.

“You see us as these guardians, these loving, protective immortals that you now share your life with.” He shook his head.

“This is not how the rest of the world, neither the normal or the paranormal one, sees us. Nor do we want them to. Every single one of us has survived this long because of how savagely we can fight. When the time comes, and all five of us are fighting side by side, you need to be prepared to see us like the rest of the world does. Feral. Vicious. Deadly. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”

She did. She had seen them train but never actually battle, and because of that she had tricked her mind into believing that they were slightly more vulnerable than what they actually were. The realization calmed her fears immensely, and she thanked him for bringing it up.

Deciding to move forward from the subject, they both helped to finish clean the kitchen, then all three of them moved into the great room to relax. What Sam had failed to see earlier was that the large painting of a stag leaping over a fallen log was actually also a flatscreen television.

Since she’d started staying at the mansion the great room had gotten more use than ever. It was where they all gathered when the day was winding down, and it had become her safe space. Yet despite how many times she’d visited the room, she never realized that the large nature painting above the fireplace was actually a flat screen television. Taas turned it on with a small, white remote, and picked a music station playing 1960s’ music.

When Etta James’ At Last began to play he smiled widely and tapped his ear.

“This was my favorite era for music,” he told her, starting to move with the melody. “Absolutely horrible for human history, what with Jim Crow and all, but hands down fantastic music.”

Sam looked at him in awe. Even though she knew vampires stopped aging when they were turned, she always seemed to forget how much history they had all lived through. “What was it like to be alive back then?” She asked.

He gave her a terse laugh as he walked over to the small bar and poured her a glass of red wine.

“Technically I wasn’t,” he told her. “None of us were, but we were at least here. It was…complicated.”

It was Aruum’s turn to laugh. “When isn’t it, brother?” He asked, shaking his head.

“Fair point,” he replied. “But this one was particularly dreadful for this country in my opinion. However, not nearly as bad as the Civil War.”

Sam’s jaw dropped. “You fought in the Civil War?”

Taas nodded his head. “From start of finish I was ‘damned yank,’ but that’s a story for a different time. For now, let’s focus on the present. The air is cool, the music is great, and the wine has an excellent bouquet.” He held out his hand to her with a crooked grin.

“Care to dance?”

Taas waited until she slipped her hand into his, then gave her a gentle twirl before pulling her into his arms. For the rest of the song they danced in slow circles, letting the danger outside the mansion slip from their minds.

They stopped dancing when the next song, Do You Love Me by the Contours came on and picked up the tempo. It was then that they noticed that Aruum had gone missing from the room. Sam went to go look for him, but Taas stopped her.

“Stay, try the wine,” he insisted. “I’ll go get him.”

But Aruum returned a second later with a deck of cards and a coy grin stretched wide across his face. No one in the room had to be a mindreader to guess what he wanted to do, and the sound of Sam’s laughter bubbled up throughout the space.

“Strip poker?” Sam asked, laughing. She’d never played for clothes, but she did enjoy the game. The idea both thrilled her and unnerved her. Although she had been naked in front of all of them several times now, she’d never just paraded around in her birthday suit. Still, the idea of having some overly silly fun was appealing.

“Shall we?” He asked, wagging his eyebrows playfully.

Taas covered his eyes and groaned. “We’re not in college anymore, Aruum. Must we play such childish games?”

“I don’t ever remember strip poker being something I did for fun as a child,” Aruum quipped back. “But it is a fun game that takes concentration.” He gave Taas a hard stare, willing him to understand that it was simply for the benefit of keeping Sam’s mind occupied from the growing danger.

“Right,” Taas nodded, fully understanding now. “Well, I guess it’s time to come clean,” he added, hanging his head down in mock shame.

“You see I- I have never learned how to play poker,” he admitted, his voice full of guilt. “I know, I know, what self-respectin’ man can’t handle a hand of poker and a stogie, am I right?”

Sam knew he was lying, but she laughed all the same. She truly appreciated the effort they were going to keep her relaxed until Sulma and Amaa came back, and didn’t want to ruin it by acting like a brat.

“Don’t worry,” she comforted, patting him on the cheek before gathering around the large ottoman. “I’ll be sure to teach you how to play.”

“Oh, well, thank you very much,” he teased, tugging playfully at a strand of her hair. He did so until her head was tilted back just enough so he could touch his lips to hers. His kiss was playful and warming, sending tingles throughout her body.

“Hey hey,” Aruum joked, shuffling the cards. “That comes after we play!”