This Must be Fiction

The sound of soft strumming woke me up. I yawned and sat up on the couch, seeing Ville sitting on the end with his guitar. He was only humming, but playing beautifully.

"You did that just to wake me up." I accused him. He stopped briefly to smile at me.

"It was a perk. I wanted to write, and it felt better to play in front of you."

"You haven't played for me in ages." I said.

"Well I got talking to Linde and Mige, and we were discussing new projects, and I felt the need to write. It felt good." He began strumming again.

"That's really beautiful."

"Thanks." He bent down and kissed me. I groaned.

"I have morning breath."
Ville laughed at me as he picked up his guitar again and began singing.

"She was the sun, shining upon the tomb of your hopes and dreams, so frail..." Ville continued to sing "The Funeral of Hearts" to me. I sat back and closed my eyes. His voice surrounded me and pierced into my soul, making my heart skip beats and my palms sweaty. I felt like a twelve year old girl when he sang. A CD could not give his wondrous voice any justice. Just as he finished, I opened my eyes to see him staring at me.

"Lovely." I said. "But kind of depressing." I smiled. He set down the guitar and crawled on top of me.

"Not the point, love. You said that was your favorite song."

"One of them." I spoke while looking into his emerald irises. "It truly is one of the most amazing songs. Maybe it's the way you sing to me that makes me so flustered, Mr. Valo."

"Maybe that's why I like to sing to you, Ms. Briggs." He kissed my jaw line. Only he knew what to do to turn me on instantly. I loved the way his small kisses left trails of cool skin behind them.

"Are you going to ravish me, yet again?" I said with a smile.

"Do you have a problem with me doing so?" He sat back and made sure not to touch me at all.

"No!" I shouted, jumping on top of him, straddling his legs. Ville's head rested on the back of the couch, waiting for me to make the first move. I started nibbling his neck, then up to his chin, getting a positive response with a deep and rattling moan. I kissed down the center of his neck, pausing to strip his shirt from him and toss it on the floor.

"Don't move." I told him sternly.

"Why-"

"Don't talk either." I cut him off. He immediately understood and smiled at me.

XXXXXX

The next three days went smoothly. We went grocery shopping and got ourselves even more settled into our temporary house, but mostly we just sat around. Ville was right about the calls from his band, once they started, they never stopped. He must have spent at least five hours of the day talking or arguing in Finnish. Every time his calls were over, he would pick up his guitar and play for another hour. He intended the songs to be played for me, but I knew that he played to take off steam. Plus, I was not going to argue with being serenaded by the love of my life.

My family made a trip over and we ate lunch, but that was the extent of my family visiting for those short days.

Ville and I were sitting at our breakfast bar when a knock came to the door. He told me to sit and finish eating while he jogged to the door to answer it. We were both a bit apprehensive about the knock, because no one had called either of us, and supposedly no one knew that we lived here. There was a worried glance shared between us as Ville's fingers turned the door knob.
It was a mailman.

"Priority mail." He said, thrusting a package into Ville's arms.

"Thanks." Ville muttered as he shut the door.

"What is it?" I asked him, jumping off my bar stool and meeting Ville half way.

"I assume it's something from Linde... I don't know how though... no one has our address."
He set the small box on the counter and the silence that went through us was eerie.

"Well open it." I said to him. He cut the tape with his finger nail and peeled back the six inch cardboard flap.

"It's a...." He held it up, "A necklace?" He looked at it with a confused face, as did I.

"What would someone send us a necklace? Is there a card?" I pulled the small box to my side of the table and plucked the small piece of paper from the bottom of it.

"I know you haven't forgotten. I haven't either."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Does this look familiar to you at all?" I asked Ville. He studied the necklace for a moment before his eyes got wide.

"Fuck." He threw the it down and took out his phone.

"Mind telling me what's going on?" I said, following Ville into the living room.

"It's from Jonna. She knows where we are." He said plainly, looking at me as if I should have known that already.

I couldn't speak. She knew where we were. She knew where I lived. What was supposed to happen after that? What was the significance of this necklace?

I picked it up from where Ville and thrown it and inspected it. It was silver, beautiful in every aspect. A heart dangled from the end of it, it was plain, but lovely. Ville had obviously given this to Jonna when they were together.

Ville was speaking in rushed tones in the living room. I walked slowly over to him with the necklace in my hand.

"Put that down." He told me in the middle of his conversation. I ignored him. "Molly, please put it down." He said with a lighter tone. I tossed it onto the coffee table and listened in as Ville spoke. I couldn't understand what he was saying, and for the first time, I didn't really care.

He hung up and put his face in his hands. I stroked his fingers, trying to pry them from away from his eyes.

"What's happening?"

"She knows where we are. I don't know how... I have no idea... but this only means that we don't have long."

"What do we do?"

Ville was quiet. He paced through the room with his hands on his hips.

"I'm not sure what we can do. We can... try to go somewhere else but.."

"She'll only find us there." I finished his sentence.

We were both silent. I sat on the couch and watched Ville's feet as they shuffled loudly. Neither of us had any clue what we could do to avoid Jonna. She was undoubtedly on her way to our home. But, the time of her arrival was unknown.

"Think we should have that vampire talk now?" I asked without any emotion. I couldn't lift my eyes from the floor.

Ville sat beside me and ran his hands through his hair a few times. He seemed to be more nervous than me.

"It won't hurt until the end. When it's happening, you'll have no idea what's going on. It will feel like you're... you're dying, I suppose. And then at the end it's like you're being buried alive. And then after... well after is going to be the most difficult time of your life. Controlling yourself will be unbearable, but I'll be here to help you.." Ville looked at me and sighed, realizing that it was just me that he was talking to. He took a few deep breaths and grabbed my hands in his, rubbing cold circles into my palms. It was difficult for me to focus on anything but what he was telling me.

"In order to eat... well I'll take care of that for you when you wake up, so we can worry about that after. As for your family..." Ville trailed, obviously not wanting to tell me the truth about the situation.

"What's going to happen?"

"You'll have to be away from them for a long time. Possibly.... forever." His fingers stopped making circles as he felt my body tense.

"No, Ville... that can't happen." My hands were shaking.

"It's not a sure thing... it's possible that I'm wrong. Every vampire is different." He attempted to be soothing, but it was just not helping.

"You are wrong. I can't live without my family." It was my turn to start pacing the room. Would I even have a good bye? How would I explain to my Mom that I'd never be able to see her again? How would Lizzie feel when I began ignoring her phone calls and acting as if she didn't exist. They wouldn't know it was for their own safety. They would have no idea that I would end up drinking their blood.

"I could be wrong."

"How long do we have?" I asked him, pleading with my eyes.

"I don't know. Not long. It might be better if..." He took my hands in his once more.

"If what, Ville?"

"If you're changed before she gets here."