Soulbound Bk. 01 Ch. 04

Hi again--I'm Alina Hart. Welcome to Chapter 4 of Soulbound: The Awakening (Book One).

All characters involved in sexual situations are 18+, and all intimate scenes are fully consensual.

***

Chapter 4

Stepping into the hotel, Julian half-expected to find Steven pacing back and forth in the lobby, worried something had happened to them since they hadn't been seen in days. Then it hit him--from Steven's perspective, if he was even awake yet, they had only gone to lunch and returned.

"Amazing," he muttered to himself.

Looking around the lobby and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Aurora lightly squeezed his hand. When he stopped walking, she wrapped both of her slender arms around his neck, rose slightly onto her toes, and half-kissed, half-nibbled his upper lip.

"What's amazing, my dear?"

Not even close to satisfied with just one kiss, Julian slipped one arm around her trim waist, placed the other behind her head, and kissed her with such intensity that she sighed when he finally drew back.

"Trans-dimensional travel," he said, his voice low. "The fact that, from everyone else's point of view, we walked out of the hotel less than two hours ago... It's a lot to wrap my mind around. It was so peaceful there. I could've stayed with you for an eternity and never missed this place."

Aurora's smile faltered for just a moment. She realized that--with some appreciated exceptions--their time together had felt like it was on fast forward since the moment they met. And despite all their closeness, she knew almost nothing about his family or friends.

That made her a little sad.

Then again, he hadn't asked about hers either--perhaps out of kindness. Surely he understood that her family had passed away centuries ago. For a while after being turned, she had kept up with the descendants of her sister and two brothers. But over time, it became overwhelmingly depressing to witness so much life given birth to... when she knew she could never have a true family of her own.

She had long since accepted it. Her distant bloodlines were no longer a concern. But learning about Julian's family--that mattered. It was something she needed to do.

Still... first things first.

"We should go upstairs to our room," she said softly, brushing her lips along his jaw. "And see how our favorite bellhop is doing."

"Yes, that's right--our suite isn't empty right now" he said, a look of disappointment on his face that made Aurora laugh."

"Don't look so sad.. we always have the shower" she told him with a wink as she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the elevators.

***

Upon entering their suite, Julian was a little surprised to find a sleepy-looking Steven sitting in an armchair, reading the note Aurora had left him.

"How are you feeling?" Julian asked. "I mean emotionally. It can be a lot to accept--learning that the things that go bump in the night are real. I should know. I just found out..."

He paused, frowning slightly as he tried to calculate the time through the fog of Amaya's magic.

"... a few days ago, I think?"

Steven looked up, thoughtful.

"When I delivered your breakfast, I thought you said your 'near-death magical awakening' was last night?"

At that, Aurora giggled.

The sound made Steven's head snap toward her like he'd just heard music for the first time.

"You have a beautiful laugh," he said, a little dazed.

Blushing slightly, she smiled. "Thank you."

Then she pulled Julian down beside her on the couch and turned back to Steven, her expression softening.

"But back to Julian's question--how are you? Be completely open, or we won't let you leave." She smiled as she said it, but the seriousness behind her words was unmistakable.

After what Steven had experienced that morning, he needed to talk through it with people who understood. Playing the tough guy wasn't going to cut it.

She leaned forward slightly. "I'll make it easier for you. Vampires are real. And so are a lot of other things Hollywood likes to make movies about."

Steven sat, just staring at them for a while, then looked around the room as though trying to wrap his mind around what he had just learned. "How about witches, warlocks, werewolves, and chupacabra?" he asked, with a serious--yet slightly excited--look on his face.

His expression was serious, but there was a spark of excitement behind it.

Julian stared, unsure how to answer. He really had no idea what was or wasn't real anymore.

Thankfully, Aurora jumped in.

"Yes, yes, yes--no," she said. "But all the fake pictures of chupacabras on the internet are so ugly, you should be glad they're not real."

Steven gave a short laugh, but she wasn't done.

"Don't feel too let down, though. While they aren't real, wendigos are. And it's much worse." Her tone shifted to one of genuine warning. "Just stay out of the forests in northern Michigan, Oregon... pretty much anywhere in Canada west of Toronto, and you won't run into one."

She said it with total sincerity.

Steven blinked. "Noted."

Aurora had a spontaneous idea--one she would've preferred to run by Julian first. But Steven looked half-terrified, and even if he wasn't, his life going forward would never be the same. So why pretend nothing had changed?

She turned to Julian and looked deeply into his eyes, her voice low.

"Lover, do I have your never-ending trust?"

Without even a second's hesitation, he answered,

"Forever and always."

That earned him a beaming smile and a quick peck on the lips.

Turning back to Steven, she asked, "You're a few years older than Julian."

It was a statement, not a question--but Steven nodded.

"Twenty-four."

"Have you been to university, Steven?"

"Yes. I graduated in the spring. I have a graduate degree in Library and Information Science."

He smiled sheepishly. "Please don't laugh--I was nearly done with my undergrad when I realized it wasn't going to turn me into some super cool mystical librarian like that guy in the movies."

Aurora giggled again. Under her breath, Julian heard her whisper,

"What are the odds of that?"

Turning to him, she grinned.

"I think we just found our mystical researcher. I want to hire him. He'll be useful--"

"He's hired," Julian interrupted. "Never-ending trust, remember? And I think it's a great idea. You're going to be too busy with the archive to handle outside research. He's perfect."

He turned to Steven.

"I know all of this is happening really fast, but can you really picture yourself going back to work tonight--knowing what you know now? There's so much more for you to learn. And it's better to truly learn it than let your imagination run wild. Otherwise, you'll end up checking under your bed every night for the rest of your life."

"He's right," Aurora said, her voice calm and encouraging. "Come work for us. You'll be well taken care of--salary, benefits, all of it. Better than whatever this city pays its head librarian."

Steven looked back and forth between them, cautious but intrigued.

"That sounds really great. I mean... it's an attractive offer. But the two of you look like you graduated high school a few months ago."

"June of last year, actually," Julian said with a half-smile. "But don't let the number of candles on a birthday cake keep you from something you clearly want."

He leaned forward slightly.

"Steven, I can see your soul. The moment she asked you to come work for us--even before we said anything about money or benefits--you got excited. I don't know how you're hiding it, but kudos on the outstanding poker face."

Aurora sensed they were winning him over, but didn't want to push too hard.

"Steven," she said gently, "this has been a very exciting day for you--and that's putting it mildly. Go home. Get some rest. Call in sick tonight; you've earned it."

She stood and stepped closer, her tone warm.

"When you come in tomorrow evening, please stop by and see us. We care about your well-being. And I really believe you're a valuable resource we'd be foolish to let slip away."

She paused just long enough for her final words to land.

"And while you're thinking about your decision, think about this:

Many years from now, do you really want to look back on this moment and wonder what would've happened if you'd said 'yes'?"

***

The next morning, waking later than usual, Julian realized he must have been more mentally exhausted from Takeyoshi's training than he thought. One glance at the customary bedside alarm clock--even in an upscale hotel like this one--told him it was a little after eleven o'clock and confirmed he'd slept past breakfast.

Closing his eyes, he rolled onto his left shoulder, arching his right arm over and downward, expecting to feel the bare skin of his girlfriend lying beside him--no, that wasn't right. Girlfriend didn't feel right.

That word seemed to carry the connotation that what they had wasn't destined to last.

But he knew it was.

He could feel it--they were part of each other. And they'd do anything for one another.

Patting the cool, empty spot with his open palm, he heard a melodic giggle nearby. Opening his eyes, he saw Aurora--fully dressed--sitting on the mattress beside his waist.

"Good morning, handsome. You were more tired than you let on last night," she said, smiling. For a brief moment, her focus drifted, like she was reliving the night's passion all over again.

"If you're ready to get out of bed, go use the ensuite. I'll be waiting in the sitting room. I bought Danish and coffee," she added with a gleeful smile. "And I make no promises there'll be any left if you don't hurry."

Julian stretched and groaned. "I'd rather have you for breakfast. Why don't you get undressed and join me instead?"

Aurora seemed to seriously consider the offer--long enough that Julian thought she might accept. But then she shivered and shook her upper body, as though casting the temptation aside.

"You are very tempting. I'll take a rain check--and it'll be worth the wait."

Leaning over, she kissed his nose, then jumped out of reach before he could try to change her mind.

Hearing her laughter echo from the sitting room, Julian decided he'd better do as she suggested--before she ate all the Danish.

***

Coming from the bedroom, dressed but with slightly damp, uncombed hair, Julian sat across from Aurora at the in-suite dining table.

"Handsome, huh? I've never actually considered myself a handsome person. And I'm not fishing for compliments--I know there's someone for everyone out there--but... you really think I'm handsome?"

Aurora stood and walked--no, it was more like she prowled--around the table. Swinging one thigh over his lap, she lowered herself until their bodies just touched. Slowly rotating her hips, tracing her sex against his own, took his head in both hands, and kissed him longingly.

With a gentle grind of her hips against his rising cock, Aurora leaned back, tilted her head, and used her fingertips to brush his damp hair away from his eyes.

"My love, you are the most beautiful man I have ever seen," she said in that soft, sensual, husky voice of hers. "Inside and out. You've gained confidence these past few days--but you're not arrogant about it. Many people with your natural gifts would be."

For a few moments, Julian could only gaze into her eyes. When he finally found his voice again, he said,

"When I say I love you, it's only because I can't think of a shorter way to say, 'Your soul is connected to mine. When you're not by my side, I feel like something's pulling me--and when I look in that direction, you're always there.'

Aurora, you are my personal paradise. As long as you're with me, I could be happy anywhere"

Aurora drew in a deep breath through her nose. "I want you so bad right now..." she murmured, kissing him once more. Then she looked at him thoughtfully, biting the corner of her bottom lip. With a soft grunt of frustration, she extricated herself from his lap and walked back to her chair.

"But I meant it when I said we have things to discuss."

Looking at her as he reached for a lemon Danish, Julian said with a grin, "This sounds serious. I'm all ears."

Aurora paused, a flicker of nostalgia touching her eyes as a distant memory surfaced--nearly a century earlier, she'd attended a performance by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Her gaze drifted to his ears, lips curving mischievously.

"Not even close. I once saw someone who was all ears. Yours look normal... maybe even good enough to bite," she said, flashing her fangs for the first time, though her playful smile made it clear she was teasing.

Julian, mid-bite, couldn't reply--not verbally, anyway. But he thought she looked far too adorable to be scary. Then again... he'd never seen her angry.

He chewed, swallowed, and simply blew her a kiss before giving her a wink.

A moment later, he discovered just how strong she really was.

With no warning, she removed him from his chair so fast that he barely registered the blur of motion before landing on the mattress in the other room.

Hovering above him, her voice dropped to a sultry whisper.

"Do I have your consent, lover?"

Julian could only whisper back, breathless--from her beauty, her strength, and the wild, undeniable pull she had over him. "You do."

***

Forty-five minutes later, they sat back at the table, unconcerned that their coffees had grown cold. Both wore soft smiles--Aurora shyly nibbling her lower lip.

Knowing they had things to do, she gently took charge.

"Ahem. No more of that now. Save your soul-manipulation for later."

"I wasn't... I didn't--" he began to protest, only to fall silent when she started giggling at his flustered expression.

"I was teasing, my love," she said, reaching to touch his hand. "But now, on to business. While you were sleeping in, I went out and looked at a few modest condos in a high-rise not far from here."

Surprised, all he could manage was, "You did? And?"

"And... I purchased one for us," she said simply. "I want a fresh start--for both of us. I'm tired of moving from city to city, never putting down roots. And I know you're not thrilled with your current living or work situation. Well, I'm assuming about work--since we met in this dimension--" she paused, trying to keep it straight in her head, "--thirty-nine hours ago. Even if these two days were your weekend, I'm pretty sure you'd have mentioned work if you were heading back tomorrow." She raised an eyebrow.

Julian looked impressed. "You're quite the detective. And you're right. I'm on-call during the week--home furnishings delivery and assembly. The pay's decent for post-high school work, but I only average thirty-two hours a week."

She studied him thoughtfully, trying to reconcile the man sitting before her with the life he'd just described.

To her, he was an unstoppable force of untapped potential. Beautiful, dangerous, and good.

"I'll never tell you what to do," she said gently, "but I suspect you already know you have no intention of going back. You just haven't admitted it to yourself yet."

He chuckled softly. "You're right. There's no way I could focus on it now. We haven't exactly decided what we're going to do yet, but I know we have to do something. And I believe it's going to be something good--for humanity. It might not be grand in scale--I don't have any delusions of grandeur--but I also don't see us wasting our days away with the mundane."

She smiled at that. "I don't know how we'll explain the fact I don't age, but you're going to have to introduce me to your parents eventually. You keep surprising me. Around every turn, you..." She trailed off. "Is everything okay?"

His head had dropped slightly, and she felt the shift in him--an undercurrent of sorrow beneath the calm.

"I'm okay... now," he said softly. "It's been many years. It happened when I was really young. When I was four, my parents were hit by a drunk driver on a narrow bridge. They didn't survive."

He didn't pause long enough for her to respond--just kept going, as if the words had waited a long time for release.

"With no aunts or uncles willing to take me in, I lived with my grandparents--on my dad's side--until they passed away when I was fourteen. By then, I was too old for adoption, so I bounced from foster home to foster home. Sometimes I stayed as long as six months. Other times, as little as two weeks.

"School was a mess. If the new foster home wasn't in the same district, I had to leave the school--leave the friends I'd made--only to sometimes end up back in the same place months later. I have aunts, uncles, cousins... but I've never been close with any of them. I don't dislike them. They're just strangers to me. And I guess I'm a stranger to them, too."

He reached across the table and gently took her hand.

"You're the only family I have."

Half purr, half growl, Aurora murmured, "You have this ability to move me so much with so few words."

Her eyes softened, but her voice remained steady. "Julian, I mean it when I say you're my family. You're more to me than just physical attraction. What I feel for you... it goes deeper than love."

She let out a breath and rolled her eyes, though her affection was clear. "Six days with you, and centuries of practiced poise go right out the window."

Then, shifting gears, she added, "Let's talk about the Forty-Nine. Have you thought about requesting they come?"

"I have," Julian replied. "Honestly, there wasn't much to think about. The way Takeyoshi described them--they volunteered for this. All I have to do is call, and they'll judge me. If they approve, they'll stay."

Despite her inner doubts, the memory of the sigil in the sky made Aurora shiver--not for her own safety, but for his. The idea of the Forty-Nine manifesting as a single, samurai-like guardian stirred equal parts awe and relief. Even she wouldn't want to face that kind of force alone.

"Okay then," she said, meeting his gaze with quiet resolve. "I know just the place where we won't be bothered."

***

Julian and Aurora stared wide-eyed in complete shock, unable to believe what they were looking at. With so many unknowns--spiritual, magical, even emotional--they had expected the result to be abstract at best, maybe even incomplete. A flicker of presence. A vague shape. Certainly not this--fully formed, elegant, composed. And unmistakably aware.

"O-M-G... what did I just create?" Julian asked, his eyes wide as saucers.

With the refined cadence of an upper-class British accent and the confident vocabulary of a man well-practiced in commanding a crowd, the figure offered a bow and said,

"My good man, you didn't create me--you returned me."

He removed his gleaming white top hat in a sweeping, theatrical arc.

"Thank you for that. I never previously was... but now I am."

Julian blinked, still trying to process what stood in front of him.

"Um... you're what exactly?"

The mysterious entity smiled--or at least, Julian felt as though he was smiling. He couldn't actually see any skin. The figure's face, neck, and hands were all covered by a smooth, slightly glossy white bodysuit, thick enough to be opaque--or perhaps they were simply a solid mass of white. Over this, he wore a perfectly tailored white three-piece suit with tails, polished black wingtips that gleamed in the dim light, and carried an ivory cane adorned with carved runes.

"Why, good man, I am your--well, for lack of a better term--your revenant. Bonded to you till death. Yours, that is, not mine. I will simply carry on toward where I was headed before I arrived here, I'm afraid. But as the old saying goes... till death do us part."

Julian looked to Aurora, who was still speechless, then back to the elegant stranger.

"So... you're, like, a super golem?"

The revenant let out a soft, amused sound.

"Heavens, no. Golems are crude things--useful, perhaps, but uninspired. I am not an echo of life. I am a reconstruction. I am Geoffrey."

"Geoffrey?" Julian repeated, blinking. "We were expecting something... different. This ritual was carefully crafted--by someone far more capable than me. And the Forty-Nine--where are they? You didn't consume their essence, did you?"

"Good heavens, no," Geoffrey said with theatrical horror, placing a gloved hand to his chest. "What sort of ghoul do you take me for? I did not consume them--I carry them. They are not fuel, but flame. I am their vessel. Their voice. Their return."

He gave a graceful bow, letting the tip of his ivory cane trace a deliberate arc across the floor.

"You may call me Goff, if you insist. Not--never Jeff."

Julian almost laughed, but caught himself.

"Right. Goff it is."

Aurora finally found her voice.

"How is this even possible? That ritual wasn't meant to make... this--him. It was supposed to summon a guardian, drawn from the essence of forty-nine fallen warriors. We expected something... stoic. Silent. Maybe even formless. Not..."

She trailed off, still trying to find words that matched what now stood before them.

"Soul-forging anything--even a golem--is all about timing, material, and power," Geoffrey said. "A few seconds earlier or later, and I wouldn't have been... available, and your original intent would have manifested. The material--those forty-nine--was exquisite. Honorable. Purpose-bound. And the power..."

He tilted his head slightly, that faint gleam in his unseen eyes returning.

"That... is a truth still writing itself. But I daresay, it promises to be quite the revelation."

***

Back in the suite, Julian sat across from Steven at the small dining table, the rune ink pot and brush arranged neatly between them, the room so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"You ready?" Julian asked, focusing on Steven's upper shoulder, where they'd agreed to place the rune.

Steven, shirtless and visibly nervous, nodded. "This won't, like, sizzle my soul or anything, right?"

From his seat at the window--legs crossed, ivory cane resting elegantly across his lap--Geoffrey glanced up from polishing one of his already-pristine black wingtips.

"Not unless our dear necromancer forgets which end of the brush to use," he said dryly. "But do brace for a slight existential tickle. It's all the rage in modern protection magic."

Julian grinned despite himself. "No sizzling. Just a slight warming sensation. The weave binds spirit to form--it doesn't carve it into your essence. You'll still be you. Just... harder to find"

Despite Julian's earlier explanation, Steven was pretty sure he still had no real idea who--or what--Geoffrey actually was. He looked like a magician plucked from a dream and spoke like a butler from one of those old-fashioned period dramas everyone watches late at night. But Julian trusted him. Aurora hadn't raised any red flags either.

That was enough.

Steven exhaled, shoulders relaxing as he looked at Julian.

"Alright," he said with a nod. "Let's do it."

Julian closed his eyes, took a breath, and let the spirit-thread rise. As in his practice with Master Takeyoshi, it shimmered faintly in the air like spider silk catching sunlight. Slowly, he guided it into the brush. Each stroke across Steven's skin drew not just ink, but intention--protection, concealment, balance.

Geoffrey watched with a calm, curious detachment--until the final stroke sank in and the rune pulsed once, then vanished into the skin like frost on a warm surface.

"Elegant," Geoffrey mused, tapping his cane against the floor once. "You've a knack for threading spirit, boy. Most necromancers stumble through it like children sewing with fishing line."

Julian sat back, flexing his fingers, the energy still humming faintly in his blood. "It's done."

Steven rotated his arm, glancing at the mark. "Feels kinda warm... like I've been out in the sun. But... that's it?"

Julian nodded. "That's it. If it worked, you'll be invisible to any vampire's senses. Not physically--but spiritually. You'll be like static on a dead radio frequency."

"I prefer 'ghost-coded,'" Geoffrey chimed in. "Sounds more cinematic."

As if on cue, the suite door opened.

Aurora stepped in, casually brushing her hair aside. "I thought I heard you talking to Steven?"

Julian and Geoffrey both turned to look at Steven--who was grinning and giving a small wave.

"Hi."

Aurora startled. Her eyes widened slightly as she focused on the space he occupied.

"I didn't see him," she murmured, stepping closer, her brows drawing together. "I couldn't even sense him."

Steven glanced between them, confused. "Wait... why can't she see me? I thought this only works on vampires."

Aurora hesitated, the answer weighing heavier than expected. Her expression shifted--gentle, serious.

"Because I am one," she said softly.

Steven's smile faltered. He blinked, once, twice. "You're... wait--what?"

He pushed back slightly in his chair, instinct flickering behind his eyes. "You're a vampire? I thought--when you saved me--that you were like Julian. Just... something else. Not one of them."

Julian stepped in calmly, his voice steady. "She's not one of them, Steven. She's different."

Geoffrey, still seated nearby, tilted his head with a small smirk. "You have no idea how right you are."

Julian glanced in his direction, but didn't take the bait. In the few hours he'd know him, he'd discovered Geoffrey being theatrical was standard operating procedure.

"She's different because of something we experienced together," Julian added, choosing his words carefully.

Geoffrey chuckled but said nothing.

Aurora's eyes narrowed, a flush rising in her cheeks. "Geoffrey..."

Steven, misreading the moment, raised his hands with a smile. "Hey, hey--it's fine. Clearly an inside joke. Go on."

Julian gave Aurora's hand a reassuring squeeze, then turned back to Steven.

"That experience--let's call it a convergence--triggered something neither of us fully understood at the time, and really still don't. Her vampiric soul... was scoured of its darkness."

Steven blinked. "Scoured? Like--cleansed?"

Julian nodded. "Exactly. But here's the part you need to understand: even before that, the darkness in her soul was only a speck. In more than three hundred years, Aurora has never taken blood by force. Not once."

He let that settle before continuing.

"She lived every moment of her cursed existence by her own code. She only took what was freely given, and only from people who understood the choice. And now... something's changed. She still has her strength, her speed, her senses. But her soul is pure. Not metaphorically. Literally. There's more to it than that, but... that's the short version."

Steven sat back slowly, his gaze shifting from Julian to Aurora. His voice was quieter now. "Okay. That's... a lot to take in."

"It is," Julian agreed. "But she saved your life. And she'd do it again."

Aurora met Steven's eyes, steady and sincere. "I would."

Steven took a breath, then nodded once. "Alright. I trust you. Both of you."

Geoffrey gave a slow, approving clap. "Well said. Heartfelt. Slightly awkward. Utterly human. I do love watching the living sort these things out."

Julian rolled his eyes. "You want to help, or just keep commentating?"

"I wouldn't dare interfere," Geoffrey said with a grin. "This is your show, necromancer. I'm just enjoying the production."