Prompt's for 2014 - 3. Prompt 315 - Marry Me

“How come I’ve never been to your house before?” Casey asked Jackson as they drove up a winding country road right on the outskirts of the community.

“You’ve never asked to see where I live and you always need to be near the clinic,” Jackson said calmly concentrating on the road ahead “Anyway this is not where I stay all the time, it is too far from town and work. I only come here when I want some peace and have time to take a break. I have two staff that live in a nearby cottage that looks after the place and get it ready when I want to stay a while.”

Casey shook his head, he would never get used to how much money Jackson had, he himself was not poor by any standards but he only had one house and that he shared with his twin brother, his brother’s vampire mate Andrew and his niece Beth, whom he loved to death and spoiled. His house was also attached to the healing clinic he and his brother ran, this meant they were always on call and rarely had time to take vacations or go outside the community without having to ensure there was a healer with their high abilities on call.

He came out of his thoughts when the car started to slow and turned into a large drive. His eyes widen when he caught sight of Jackson’s ‘country house’. It was huge and looked like an old mansion set in beautiful grounds. It also looked like it had been transported straight out of a storybook and he half expected to see a dragon come around the corner of the building to defend the princess that should be hanging out of one of the high turret windows.

“You call this a house?” He said incredulously, turning towards Jackson who was grinning at Casey’s reaction.

“Yes, I call this a house as that is what it was when I had it built about six hundred years ago. I’ve added to it since then of course but it is still my house”

He was clearly enjoying Casey's reaction and so Casey tried to blank out his expression but it was too little too late.

They parked in front of the grand front doors and Jackson came round to open Casey’s door. He held out a hand and Casey took it without thinking about it. The shock that went through them had become expected now that they had both acknowledged they were mates, Casey still couldn’t believe that this elder vampire was his mate. Jackson was two thousand years old and had seen things and been places that Casey could only dream of. Casey, on the other hand, was twenty-six and had never left the community except to attend healing conferences in other communities. Although he was more muscular than Jackson, due to the nature of his work as a healer he kept in shape and worked out regularly, Jackson was a vampire and so had more strength and speed that he as a witch could ever hope to have. That thought brought to mind the night they had acknowledged the mating call. They had been arguing, as usual, Casey couldn’t even remember what the argument was about as they argued so much it could have been about anything. Casey had had enough and had tried to push Jackson out of his way so he could leave the room. Jackson had grabbed him by the arm and shoved him down into a chair, then pinned him there saying that Casey would listen or else. Casey had screamed “Or else what?” and before he could say anything else Jackson had kissed him. Heat had flooded his body as Jackson ravaged his lips. When they’d finally come up for air he’d demanded an explanation.

But that was a thought for another time as they were entering the mansion, as he still thought of it, and the beauty of the place captivated him. Jackson was using the hand he still held to pull Casey towards a side room.

It turned out to be a beautiful library and Casey knew he was in heaven. Jackson knew that Casey’s favorite hobby was to read, he would read anything he could find and he was always hungry for more knowledge. Casey stood in the middle of the room looking around in awe. Bookcases lined the walls and looking up Casey saw there were three floors with a metal spiral staircase joining them. He moved to the nearest bookcase and saw all the books there were vampire research books.

Before he could pluck one off the shelf Jackson was pulling him over to a small table that had been decorated with a table cloth and in the middle, was a parcel beautifully wrapped in blue paper (Casey’s favorite color). Jackson picked up the parcel and handed it to Casey trying to look like he wasn’t worried but failing miserably.

Casey raised an eyebrow but made no comment as he took the parcel and ran his hands over the wrapping. By the shape and feel it was definitely a book of some sort but there was an odd lump on one side and Casey’s curiosity was peaked.

He slowly peeled back each part of the wrapping, when he saw how impatient Jackson was getting he slowed down even more, his enjoyment of annoying Jackson outweighing his curiosity for a few moments.

As the wrapping fell away and he saw what had caused the lump in the wrapping his breath stopped. In his hands he held a copy of a book on the beginning of the vampire race, a book that until now he had not even knew existed. On top of the book held in place by a red ribbon that encircled the book was a blue topaz ring. It held sixteen blue topaz stones set in a silver circle. Casey slowly removed the ribbon and freed the ring; he then looked up to see Jackson had knelt beside him.

Jackson took the ring from Casey’s unresisting hand and looked deep into his eyes.

“I waited to find my mate for over 1900 years and then when I realized that you were my mate I waited for you to grow up and tried to get to know you. I loved your curiosity about everything, especially anything to do with vampires as it gave me a chance to let you get to know me in a roundabout way. My protective instinct always seemed to get in the way and I was so set in my way of doing things that I didn’t want to listen to you when you suggested things, I always thought that because I was older I knew better. I am sorry for the time I have wasted and am asking for you to forgive me and agree to join with me as my mate for life.”

As he finished he reached for Casey’s hand and waited.

Casey felt the tears running down his cheeks, he had never thought Jackson had a romantic bone in his body, yet here he was on his knees asking for Casey’s hand. Casey used the hand not being held to caress Jackson's face gently and loved the way Jackson leaned into the touch.

“Nothing would make me happier than to be joined with you for life and beyond,” he said through his tears.

He then found himself swept up into Jackson’s arms and found his lips being ravished.

When they broke apart he waved his hand at Jackson and was rewarded with a smile and the ring being slipped onto his finger.

He then took the time to look more closely at the book he still held, the title stood out in gold lettering ‘The Real History of Vampire Creation’ and then he read lower to see the author, wondering why this book had not been in the vampire reference library when he visited to do his research paper. When he saw the author had to read it twice, he then started up at Jackson.

“You wrote this book? Why have I never seen it before?”

“Yes, I wrote this book. I wrote it for you when you started your research paper two years ago. You haven’t seen it before because that is the only copy in existence. I had it made then got one of the computer people on the council to make sure all mention of it had been removed.”

Casey stared and then clutched the book to himself protectively, a book written just for him and he held the only copy. No present could have meant more to him. Then he caught the glint of light on his ring and amended that, only one thing could mean more to him.

As he looked at the ring he started to frown, as Jackson sat in a comfy chair in a corner of the room with Casey on his lap, Casey looked up at him.

“You know I can’t wear a ring while I’m in the clinic?”

Jackson smiled “I thought of that, I went to the same jeweler Rickman went to and got this to go with the ring” he reached into his pocket and drew out a pendant that was similar to the one Elder Rickman had brought his mate Ben when they decided to join. Casey looked closer and saw that it had Jackson’s family crest on the front and that there was a small chain hanging off the bottom.

Jackson held out his hand and Casey handed over his ring with reluctance, Jackson slipped the chain through the ring and fitted the clasp to the bottom of the pendant. He then held it up for Casey to see.

The ring now hung securely from the pendant and Casey could wear it under his clothes when he was at work.

Jackson reached over and hung the pendant where it belonged; he then removed the ring from its chain and returned it to Casey’s finger.

****

Later on, they were sitting around a small kitchen table and Casey was enjoying a turkey sandwich that they had had to drive to the nearest take out café to buy.

“I can’t believe you forgot to get some food in for me,” he said smiling to show he didn’t really mind that much.

“I’m not used to having anyone here with me and definitely not anyone who isn’t a vampire. So I forgot to instruct the staff to put some food in the fridge.”

After Casey finished his sandwich they retired to Jackson’s huge bedroom to celebrate but Jackson had to carry Casey after he found a broken step on the grand stair case and nearly fell. Casey didn’t mind however, he liked having a mate who could carry him around as though he weighed nothing.

“Now you’ve got me in your bed what are you going to do with me?” He asked Jackson as he posed on the bed and sent his mate a come-hither look. When he saw the answering heat in Jackson’s eyes he grinned.

‘Well,’ he thought ‘life with Jackson may have its ups and downs but it would never be dull and the make-up sex would be out of this world’.