I'm Simply Leaving

Kayla’s point of view.
Moscow.
From the Ancient Palace to the Novodevechy Monastery and Cemetery.

I looked myself over in the mirror. I was wearing a black, long sleeved velvet dress. And when I say long sleeved, I mean long sleeved. The material fell fast my knees. The dress is very Morticia Adams like.

All Ancient occasions required the dress code of either satin, velvet or lace. And when you were in Russia - one of the coldest places on earth - you wore several layers of velvet to keep warm. Unfortunately a velvet suit looks terrible and Michael refused to wear one so he was wearing a Giorgio Armani black pinstripe suit with a beautiful, black, wool overcoat.

I was standing in my suite in the Ancient Palace in Moscow. We had a Palace like this in major cities all over the world. It looks like an apartment building or even a parliament building to blend in. It’s convenient for us when we have gatherings like today’s event or if one just wants to visit the city. It takes a lot of money for each Ancient to have a stocked household in every city.

This is time and money friendly compromise. Each palace is fully staffed at all times and our suites are ready when we have need of them. It’s a great system. The dead prince was actually the one who came up with the idea. It had been nine days since the prince’s death and we were all gathered and getting ready for the funeral.

If anyone had told me a year ago that I’d be mated and on my way to becoming queen thanks to the death of my oldest friend, I’d have signed them up for a long stay in a rubber room.

The thought got me thinking back on the events of the last few months.

After Michael and I had had our I-can’t-live-without-you exchange at my old high school, we’d walked home hand in hand, while Rebecca had driven my new car home.

My family was surprised to see Michael, but he was greeted with hugs and we practically had to pry my little brother off of him with a crowbar. He’d moved in with me in my new apartment a few days later. Sam and Betty hadn’t approved of us living together. Betty didn’t want me moving out at all and Sam didn’t want me moving out to live with a guy. I had calmly told them that I understood their arguments and appreciated them, but I was a grown woman.

The night before I moved out, Sam found me in the kitchen washing dishes, after everyone had gone to bed.

“Hey, kiddo. Let me give you a hand,” he said taking a towel and started drying off the clean plates.

“You know I think it’s cute that you call me kiddo.”

He laughed, “It is kinda weird, isn’t it? I know that you are a woman, hell I’ve seen you naked, but some part of me loves being your dad.”

“That’s sick and perverted,” I pointed out.

“You know I don’t mean it that way. Listen, all joking on the side, I want to talk to you about this whole moving in with Michael business…”

“Sam,” I warned, “do you want me to remind you that you’re not actually my father?”

“No, I know that I’m not your father, even though I try to be and I also know that you have several life times on me. But I am your friend. And I worry about you. Are you sure that this is the right move? What do you actually know about Michael? He could be an axe murderer for all we know.”

I started laughing, “You are so cute,” I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m dead serious, Kayla.”

“I know, Sammy, but I’m sure of him. I love him very much and couldn’t imagine life without him. My day begins and ends with him.”

“Really? You love him? You’re sure it’s not some silly crush?”

“I’m sure, I promise. Now go to bed, before your wife wonders where you are.”

If you think the moaning and groaning was bad when I told them I was moving in with my boyfriend, you should have heard the scream fest that Betty threw when I informed them that I was no longer going to Uni, but instead going on an around the world trip with the previously mentioned boyfriend.

Michael and I were newly mated and we’d both been to enough Universities throughout our lives. We just wanted to live each day thinking only of watching the next sunset in some beautiful place, while in each other’s arms. We mostly stayed in cute little cottages and castles without plumbing.

When Michael and I were in Saudi Arabia, the late prince heard I was travelling and invited us to stay in his house for a few days. Then his wife killed him and now here we are, about to bury him in the Ancient Cemetery. It was a small, secluded spot inside the Novodevechy Cemetery, where no one ventured unless they were vampires.

You could ask why we didn’t bury him in his homeland that he loved so much and certainly, we would all prefer to be laid to rest in the country we originated from, but Russia was where we had buried our first ancestors - those that came from the mother planet - and it became tradition. In fact my parents and grandparents were buried in this cemetery, even though we hailed from France.

A knock on the door, was a servant telling me that it was time to leave and everyone was gathered in the main hall.

I donned my matching velvet overcoat and gloves and looped my arm through Michael’s. We headed downstairs and everyone started piling into limousines.

When we arrived at the Novodevechy Monastery, I spotted the prince’s mate climbing out of a limo. She looked like a wreck. To find one’s mate only to lose them a few days later… I couldn’t imagine. It made me think of Aiden and Shane’s predicament.

After talking to the Council members, it had been decided that the prince’s wife had to be executed for murder. I didn’t like giving the order, but after her children had said goodbye, she’d been hanged. The children didn’t want to be orphaned, but understood that the law was the law and no one was above it.

Inside we had the service and after giving my speech we moved to the cemetery, each of the remaining ancients carrying the coffin along with the prince’s two sons.

We carried the casket into Vere’s family vault and put him on a slab of granite.

I was wearing the diamond necklace that Prince Vere had given to me on my three thousandth birthday. The heavy black stone conveyed the heaviness in my heart. As they closed the door behind us after exiting the vault, tears started falling and Michael put his arms around me. Vere’s mate was crying hysterically and holding onto one of her new stepson’s for dear life. I felt very sorry for her and as we were leaving, I put one of my hands on her shoulder. She only cried harder.

When we got into our limo, I turned to Michael’s chest and let the tears flow freely. He held me tightly and stroked my hair.