A calm night.

Alexis had her first night away from Arzu and Tahir in a week and she took this opportunity to go hunting then enjoy the peace and quiet of the garden.

The Vampire had removed her shoes and was walking along the edge of the fountain, her toes dipping into the water every now and again as she walked.

The woman hummed a soft tune to herself as she walked around, the tone carrying on the night breeze.

It was one of those rare nights where she was in such a calm and happy moods that she sung to herself.


In contrast to the lyrics of the song her voice sounded cheerful and light, Alexis had a beautiful singing voice though she rarely shared it.

He had been out all afternoon planning a lot of things.

He had made sure to go out while Aeker was asleep so he wouldn't follow him and find out what he was doing.

It was after dark now and he was sure that Aeker was taking the time to sit and read one of the books that he had bought 'without him knowing'. Very little passed the Lycan's eye. He knew about all of Aeker's books.

He paused in his fast walking when he caught sight of Alexis.

Perfect.

He slid out into the courtyard and padded silently towards her.

How hard would she hit him for surprising her? He'd find out.

Aodh pounced, sweeping the woman's legs from under her, holding her bridal style as he sat down against the edge of the fountain, setting her in his lap.

"Alexis, my wonderful sister, I have some very important things to ask you."

Alexis had been in her own little world and she hadn't heard the man coming towards her.

When she was lifted off her feet she gave a loud yelp. Automatically her first instinct was to attack, she had been hunted for so long that she had been conditioned to do so.

Her fangs extended and she was only an inch from tearing into the man's throat before she noticed who it was.

She pulled away from his neck and glared up at him, a pout forming on her lips.

"Don't sneak up on me like that Aodh!" She scolded, smacking the man on his chest in reprimand.

"Next time I am just going to bite you." The woman added with a small huff and she straightened herself up, fixing the front of her dress.

"You do that and you'll be the one that'll come off worse."

His blood was powerful; a pretty nasty poison to Vampires.

"Anyway. Important things need to be discussed." He had decided to talk to Alexis for a reason.

He pulled her closer and nuzzled against her, smiling softly.

He was extremely excited about what he was about to tell her. It was a wonder that he hadn't already outed it to Aeker yet.

"I'll keep your head as a trophy."

She mumbled softly under her breath, knowing full well that he would hear her, but he was like a brother to her, he got the same bickering and idle threats that Aeker got.

Alexis scooped up her hair and draped it over her shoulder, smoothing it out before nestling in against his hold, she had absolutely no problems about sitting in the man's lap, he was more comfortable than the stone fountain.

"Important things? What you deem important and what I deem important are two very different things.

If you nearly gave me a heart attack because you want to discuss something stupid like food, I am going to hurt you." She warned softly, a small smile curling onto her lips.

"Well... it'll involve food."

A buffet or a sit down meal between the family.

"What do you think of these?"

He rifled through his pocket, pulling out two small metal boxes. They sat in his palm as he held them out to Alexis to take and inspect.

Nestled inside each box was a ring. A rounded square of platinum with a circle cut out. Embedded one one side of the ring was a stone; one ring held a ruby and the other a diamond.

The Lycan couldn't keep the silly grin off his face now.

He wanted to see her reaction to the rings.

His legs bounced a little in excitement as he stared intently at the woman's face.

The Vampire rolled her eyes, of course this would be about food, predictable Lycan, always thinking with their... what does she think of what?

Her eyes cast down to the boxes, those didn't look like food. Alexis' hands tentatively took the small boxes from his hands and opened them.

As she did her mouth gaped open as her eyes widened in shock.
Those were....Aodh and Aeker....

The boxes snapped shut softly and she placed them back into Aodh's hands, her face looking rather expressionless.

That only lasted for a split second before she squealed softly and threw her arms around his neck and pulled him close.

"Oh my God Adoh!"
She bounced excitedly in his lap as she gave him a kiss.
"You and Aeker, I never would have, I'm so excited for you!"

Words seemed to be failing her at the moment but her joy was obvious as the beaming smile on her face.

He laughed when she pounced, her arms wrapping around him.

His arms wrapped tighter around her, pulling her closer.

His eyes lit up as she babbled excitedly. She was happy for them. He was glad. After what had happened between them he had thought she would perhaps be a little iffy. He was glad that she wasn't iffy at all.

"You need to be there. Its not going to be a big thing; Just us down at the cottage together."

Aodh didn't want to make a big deal over it. He just wanted him, Aeker and their close family. That was all.

"He doesn't know yet. I'm still trying to decide how to ask him. Help me."

"Of course I am going to be there, I don't care how big or small it is going to be, I'm not going to miss seeing my brother getting married."

It had taken Aeker over 900 years to find someone he wanted to be with, she wouldn't miss that for the world, regardless of what species of gender the person he chose to marry was.

Alexis adored Aodh, her brother couldn't have found a better partner in her opinion, they were complete opposites, but that was why they worked.

"He doesn't know at all, not even tiny hints?"
That made it even more exciting she could already imagine her brothers face, he would be speechless.

"I know you're both men but do something romantic Aodh." She muttered girlishly.

"Nothing at all."

It had been difficult but he had made sure to keep everything secret from Aeker. He wanted it to be a complete surprise.

The Lycan rolled his eyes. "Well, I wasn't going to club him over the head and drag him to the wedding."

He rested his chin on her shoulder.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm not the most romantic person. I need help with romantic things. Help me."

"That is a little primitive, even for you, lets avoid giving him a concussion when you ask him, that's a start."

She gave a soft giggle as she rested her head against Aodh's, they would be able to come up with something good between the two of them.

"Why not something like a fake surprise, buy him a new copy of his favourite book, knowing him he has worn his copy down to pieces, but cut a hole in the pages for the ring to fit in, so when he opens it he finds them instead."

The Vampire tapped her finger against her bottom lip as she hummed softly.

"You can't go wrong with the classics, romantic dinner together and presenting it place on the plate instead of dessert, something along those lines?

Aodh chuckled softly.

"I think he'd murder me for killing a book rather than being excited about the proposal." He'd rather not kill a book for the sake of romance. Aeker would probably beat him.

"Cheesy," he moaned.

He wanted to do something...nice. Shocking but not cheesy. Well, not too cheesy.

He pursed his lips as he thought before yelling. "I've got it! Thank's Lex!"

He leaned forwards to kiss her forehead.

Alexis gave a small chuckle.
"You're probably right, he does seem a little overly attached to them."

Aeker was always like that, then again they were from a time where books were scarce, hand written and very expensive, everyone who read them took great care and her brother was still in that mind set.

The woman gave a soft squeak, jumping slightly as he yelled, she hadn't been expecting that.

"Hell, Aodh you are going to give me a heart attack."
She hit his chest again as he kissed her forehead.
"Well are you going to share your brilliant plan?"

"Nope!"

No, it would be much more fun to see her reaction when Aeker told her about it.

He was already so excited about it, plots and plans swirling in his mind for what he was going to do. He needed to do a lot of planning for this.

"You can't tell him. You can't let on that you know anything about this at all, understand? If he finds out before I tell him..."

It'll all be ruined. He didn't want that.

"Relax, I'm not going to tell him anything, my lips are sealed until he comes to me, excitedly tell me all of this himself."

She promised, there was no way she was going to ruin this for the two of them, it was going to be amazing and she didn't want to spoil it at all.

"Now, I have to do my customary sisterly duties."

She reached over and grasped his chin, making him face her.
"You have my blessing but you break my brother's heart, I will personally castrate you."

"Shouldn't you have said that when we started dating?"

His lips curled upwards.

"I hereby promise that you will be allowed to castrate me of Aeker hasn't already done so should it come to pass that I fuck up mine and your brothers relationship."

He wouldn't do anything to fuck up anything in their relationship. It was just far too important to him.

"Dating is one thing, it doesn't have to be all that serious, marriage is another.

I'm not over protective enough to warn away his dates, plus he didn't really have all that many of them, and if I remember correctly, you two didn't tell me when you started dating."

She wasn't upset about that anymore, it didn't bother her now that she had a boyfriend of her own, but that didn't stop her from giving him a soft punch on the shoulder.

"We're serious and we won't let this go to the shits."

They'd pull through this and it would be absolutely perfect. They'd both pull through this relationship happily.

He wouldn't allow anything less.

"Yeah, well, you weren't the most agreeable person back then. But now you're getting some you're a lot more relaxed."

He grinned widely, waiting for the next strike.

The next strike came immediately as she punched him in the exact same spot as she had previously.

"Me recovering my sanity has nothing to do with 'getting some'... though that is an added bonus."

She replied with a soft chuckle, even she had to admit that Tahir kept her temper down, just being around him calmed her greatly and kept her head clear.

"Oh well, all of that is behind me, and I couldn't be happier for you two."

"Oh, admit it, after getting laid you started acting nicer."

He grinned widely. "Sex is great for getting rid of pent up frustration. You're living proof of that."

His silver eyes flashed with laughter as he pushed her off his his lap, right into the fountain.

She landed with a splash and he skittered backwards, laughing loudly.

She was going to kill him but it was fun at the moment.

"Perhaps you're right, I suppose that I am lucky that I happened to find myself the biggest man in the coven."

That comment was obviously a little dig, and not exactly false, Tahir was a large man, both physically and....

The Vampire squeaked as she was pushed into the water, spluttering for a moment before sitting up and glaring at Aodh.

With a small flick of her hand one of her shadow tendrils came up behind the Lycan and whipped him over the back of the head.

"Your brother's not complaining about my size, I can tell you that," he snorted at the dig.

Aeker seemed pretty pleased with him.

He laughed, hand coming up to rub the back of his head when he was whacked with a shadow tendril.

He loved picking on Alexis. No matter how predictable her reactions were, they were always amusing.

The Vampire gave a small huff before waving her hand again, this time the tendril coiled around his ankles and hoisted him into the air.

Her hand reached up and splashed him with water, she didn't want to dunk him in and risk damaging the rings and their cases, she was more thoughtful that that.

Alexis got to her feet and got out of the water, ringing out her hair before dropping the Lycan flat on his ass against the pavement.

He tried his best to shield himself when she splashed him.

A loud grunt sounded when he was dropped carelessly to the ground. Ouch. That wasn't all that pleasant.

"Love you, Lex."

He grinned widely at her as he rubbed his ass, pushing himself to his feet.

"Mhmm."
She muttered nonchalantly as she stepped out of the fountain and began trying to ring out her shirt.

"Just be thankful that your blood is poisonous otherwise you would be sporting some rather lovely bite marks right about now."

She would have happily bitten him very roughly in payback for dumping her in the fountain but she didn't have enough self control to go around biting Lycans and not drinking.