บท 251: 11. Drowning.
I was walking to our supply room to retrieve something from the new room where I had recently moved. We were playing my system with a few modifications. First, Damon had placed our order, so he was behind me, always coming to the room I had just finished. Ahead of me was Number Two, so I was sandwiched between the two Salvatores. it had been a fun thing, actually, I loved to see what they had desperately tried to do in the time they had, but my approach was different, not that I was gonna share my experience and so-called wisdom on this thing. Nope, this was way too much fun.
I could hear Dresden grumbling something, as he was also in supplies. We had a lot of stuff in there, and once again, I kept my expertise to myself, not wanting to bother anyone or say a few things before starting. Since I was the one who had obtained those supplies, it was up to me and my five teammates. It had become our responsibility while the Salvatores, Adam, Charles, and the boys started to focus on tasks like wiring.
Mariella, the wolves, and the other girls had their own space in a large room at the back. In the makeshift kitchen, they were the ones who got us some food and drinks. The only problem was that there were no windows, but we stored food and other items there, so we could eat from time to time.
It was also acceptable to ask for help or opinions from others, so sometimes someone would come to me with questions. One of my advantages was intimate knowledge about our storage and supplies. I just knew what we got and what could be useful, but I was not gonna tell them, not right away anyway. I had gotten special wallpapers, while Magnum and Colin had regular ones.
Three hours was a fairly short amount of time to wallpaper a room, and one rule was no magic. Vampire speed was allowed, but no magic. This was actually Damon's idea. He had started to appreciate doing things by hand and avoiding shortcuts or easy ways out.
I grabbed a few rolls of my sticker wallpaper, which had pictures on them. They were quite large and had a strong adhesive that would stick to the stonewall. It was a way of making the room feel more like home. The room already had some rugs, a bed, a table, and various other items.
I had been working on my fifth room, which meant I would spend 2 hours and 15 minutes here, with 50 minutes left. It was perfect timing. I put some nice bedding on the bed, attached the headboard, and added frames around the window. Now, for the back wall, I grabbed a few spotlights and a roll of wallpaper depicting a night cityscape. I would have enough time to install it.
I had just left the supply room when Damon walked in and noticed the rolls under my arm.
He said, "Listen, baby, you don't have time to plaster the wall, but I do. Leave them to me. I can get it done."
I smiled and replied, "But Salvatore, these are sticking wallpapers. They have glue on them and can even stick to the stonewall. I have them in the supply room. Here, you can see what the picture will look like. You'll see it soon enough."
As I showed the small picture on the end of the roll to him, I smiled sweetly, and Damon's eyes narrowed, and his mouth tightened. He grabbed one of the rolls with his strong arm and turned around, heading back to the room I had been working on.
I had almost finished putting the headboards on the beds. It was something that made a statement, and these rooms desperately needed some statement pieces.
Just then, Dresden approached me and asked, "Hey, Springcove, where are those sticking wallpapers? Can you show me?"
I sighed and walked back to show him. Wulfe and Constantine were also there, eager to see, as they both had narrow rooms and were considering the dimensions since they were different sizes.
In passing, I asked Wulfe, "Have you put many headboards on your beds?"
He shook his head, clearly irritated, and quickly walked over to the section with the headboards, catching the attention of others. Oh, I felt smug.
I wanted to do different things in each room, not just put headboards on, so it was good to give some hints after they had gotten a bit frustrated. Even though the rooms we were working on were far from ready, we were making progress, and it was good to have a team working on this. Each of us saw something that the others did not, and there was always something to do.
Time was running out, so we had to prioritize our tasks and not be too ambitious like some of the other pack members had been. On the other hand, I preferred to focus on one thing, like putting the flooring in place in my first room, knowing that others would come behind me. The floor was now nicer, softer, and more comfortable to walk on. They had tried to do too much, put small things in, what others might be able to move as it was not forbidden. You could change something in that room.
One thing that kept me in a good mood was hearing Damon cursing in my mind as he entered the room I had finished. He wanted to see what I had done, what my vision was. I had none, at least not for these rooms. Soon, it would be time to eat and discuss who had done what.
Many pack members had cursed about various things in these rooms, but Elena pointed out that these were challenges and opportunities to learn. She doubted that the next place we would go to would have rooms as challenging as these, so she jokingly referred to them as "Eleanors," like in the movie "Gone in 90 Seconds." She was right, though. These were some of the hardest rooms to decorate.
After we would have finished organizing them, Adam, Charles, Alaric, and Dexter arranged for renovation groups to handle the wiring, plumbing, and the addition of a few bathrooms to make this floor more livable. That was after the holidays then.
I briefly wondered if I had given the city council the correct dimensions of the rooms. Should I reapply or was this just part of the attic floor? Damon assured me that it was a trivial concern and that I should leave it to the men to take care of. It pissed me off as he was quite damn condescending toward me and I wanted to voice my opinion and give him a few snappy sentences but just as I was about to, Charles walked in, kissed me, and stopped me from asking Damon whether he was referring to himself or if there were other men involved.
I knew it was a boring thing to worry about, but if the local council found out, it could cause trouble for us. So, it was better to do things by the book. Charles assured me that all the necessary licenses and permits would be applied for, and I shouldn't worry, but instead, enjoy the process.
Damon said telepathically to Mariella, who was always behind one room, "My darling, I derive great pleasure from manipulating Mimi with my pheromones. Number two is doing an excellent job infusing the baby with his own pheromones, and I happen to spend a considerable amount of time with her, offering her a wide range of potent masculinity to enjoy."
Mariella couldn't help but respond sourly, "Yes, I have indeed smelled your masculinity. You leave me surrounded by it. There is a fucking cloud of it and not-so-good air circulation."
Damon chuckled and teased his wife. "What's the matter, darling? Don't you appreciate my pheromones?"
Mariella retorted sharply, "I know exactly what you're trying to do. Mimi has already experienced it at some point. And damn it, your pheromones make me want. Babies, breeding, and stuff. I'm almost trying to create a nursery here, or a breeding room. Poor Charles might be a little distracted by my choices."
Damon sent his amusement to her, not bothering to respond to his slightly irritated wife. She was certainly good to tease, but Damon wanted to take things slowly, to build up the heat, to build up that breeding season.
But first, there would be a wedding. Oh, every single Salvatore was ready, and even if Elena and Katherine weren't the brides, they would have special nights. Mimi, on the other hand, was reserved for number one, always and every night. At first, there would be a vampire wedding, and the mere thought made Damon's pulse quicken.
It was wonderful to have Wulfe as a friend. It had been about a day after the breakup or their return when Damon had been sitting alone in a room, reminiscing, when Wulfe entered.
As Damon began pouring out his heart, expressing his inability to let go of Mimi, Wulfe posed a single question, "What is it that you truly desire between you and Mimi?"
Damon hadn't really thought or analyzed his thoughts as he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind, "A bond that not even I can tear apart. I thought, I truly believed that a vampire wedding would achieve that, but now I understand what Mimi must feel when she realizes just how powerful she is. I was simply too strong."
Wulfe replied calmly and confidently, "I can make it happen. I can bind you two together with a bond that time itself cannot break. Neither you nor Mimi will ever be able to rid yourselves of each other."
There was hope in Damon's eyes. Wulfe then proceeded to explain the unique nature of the vampire wedding and the bond that would form between him and Mimi. But there was more, something that would be a surprise for everyone, including the other Salvatores, until the time was right.
Damon couldn't help but think that it had been his hope, something to hold on to, after Mimi's rebuke and then that kiss. He had embraced it fully, giving his everything, and miraculously, he had won her back. He was determined never to lose her again. And now, as irritating as this situation was, it presented a perfect opportunity for him to tease and seduce Mimi, to observe her reactions and touch her.
Mariella found it mostly amusing at first, trying to focus on her decorations, but the dreariness of each room began to irritate her, too. More and more people became annoyed, although Mimi seemed to relax a bit, knowing she wasn't alone.
They would have to do something about these rooms soon, but Damon calculated they would be too busy with other things by next Christmas. The heat would start in January, and they had planned to spend January, February, and March on a paradise island after the wedding. Damon intended to start organizing the wedding in December, during the Christmas season, so it would mark the beginning of the year and be the first vampire wedding. Then, they would have a grand church wedding that would be public, and by then, America's sweetheart would be on everyone's minds.
After the heat, April and maybe a bit of May would be spent being pregnant with cubs. They would tend to the cubs in May and June, and the babies would be born at the start of July. They would raise them for many months, and Damon imagined how lively they would be during the Christmas season. He couldn't wait. The babies would be walking and toddlers, making it a perfect Christmas. And who knows how long they would continue to care for them after Christmas?
The entire pack would be in a flood of toddlers, leaving little time for decorations but plenty of time to tend to the little ones. Mimi wanted heat and babies, so Damon was determined to give her just that. But what kind of heat?
Oh, if it could be a passionate, intense heat, where they would lose themselves in each other for three entire months, it would be perfect. And he would make sure to satisfy every single female. Of course, they would need a few extras, two girls from each female, to balance the female to male ratio and prevent the females from being overwhelmed.
They would engage in serious breeding, and Dresden, Constantine, and even Alaric would have to contribute. Damon had given the males pheromones and used his alpha power to effectively control their fertility. So, when he desired it, they would be fertile, breeding without even realizing it. After the cubs were born, the first litter, paternity tests would be taken to establish each father.
And as wolves were exceptionally fertile, there would be multiple fathers in one litter, except for Mimi who would only have Damon's offspring. Damon wasn't quite sure why he wanted it that way, but he did. No other man could ever conceive with Mimi, not in her womb. Of course, if her eggs were harvested and fertilized outside her body, it would be a whole different story, but she wouldn't carry them.
Wulfe was busy working on his room, or rather the room he was currently working in. It was almost time to eat, and he was glad that Damon and Mimi had gotten back together. He was older, some might even call him wise, but he considered himself the one who had learned enough lessons from life. He wasn't jealous. He knew that Damon could never have the bond that he and Mimi had. Damon wasn't like them. Wulfe had explained this to Damon before.
He had said, "You can never be to Mimi what I am to her. It's just that you belong, you've always belonged. You were a vampire lord, a pure vampire, one of many. You had your place, your power. Me, not so much. I've been a wizard vampire for a very long time, born as a wizard, turned into a vampire early on, and I've never truly belonged. Neither has Mimi. She's just as unique as I am. It's hard to explain to someone who does belong."
Damon expressed, "I understand Mimi's struggles, but you are undoubtedly powerful, so you could have carved out a niche for yourself."
Wulfe smiled and tried again. "You know deep down that it's not genuine. It feels forced, and I did it wrong. I don't fit in, and trying to force myself only makes me feel more like an outsider. Mimi and I are both misfits who found each other. We understand what it's like to be too strong, too strange, and too dangerous. Neither Mimi nor I desire power or influence. That's not who we are. Mimi may be a leader, but she tries to help, not impose her lifestyle or ideology."
Wulfe sighed internally. Damon had asked numerous questions, yet Wulfe knew that his point hadn't been fully grasped. Being part of the pack felt good. It was now his family, and despite the occasional irritation, it was a comical job to undertake. And to think, he had even managed to find those sticker wallpapers. It required some maneuvering to install them, but they completely transformed the room.
Wulfe chuckled to himself. It was so typical of Mimi to keep important information to herself, so she could subtly outmaneuver the rest of the pack. However, it was time to eat and then move on to the next room. This was pack life: identifying a problem and solving it with the collective power of the pack. Wulfe felt a sense of satisfaction, fulfillment, and happiness that he hadn't experienced in a long time. He finally belonged.
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