Blueblood: A Dark Southern Aristocracy - 15. Wentworth Manor Reborn!

Unlike the movies, the body of a vampire didn’t just dissolve, but it did slowly break apart and began blowing away.

I leaned toward Colin. “I am FREEZING!” I said at last. “I’m going to make that coffee and hot chocolate right now.” I turned to walk away only to be grabbed by Colin who brought me into a hug.

“It’s over,” Colin said embracing me closer, but his voice was almost a whisper that was both relieved and astounded. “I’ve lived in fear so long for those around me, but it’s finally over. That nightmare has ended.” He let me go a little and then chuckled when he saw my painfully patient face. “Right, you’re cold.” He pulled me and Gabriella to his sides and we walked back to the elevator. “We’ll drink the warmest hot chocolate you can stand.”

Colin was almost giddy he was so happy. The pressure was gone now and Colin came to life. He was whistling and moving about as he got his coffee. The threat he was so worried about for so long was gone. He was free.

Mom got up a few hours later to find Colin in the kitchen making breakfast. Her eyes got wide as she saw the mess in the kitchen.

“Colin.” Mom said softly coming to him and taking the spatula from him. “I don’t know what you’re making, but what you have made, is a mess.” She waved him to the table. “I’ll make something we all can eat. And don’t worry, I’ll make plenty.” She smiled, but she looked at his eyes. “I take it Brett Marshall is gone?”

Colin nodded. “He is.” He said happily.

Mom nodded. “Good. Now sit!” She ordered.

It was later when George came again to the apartment. This time, after ringing the bell he actually said hello first. Colin invited him in where we sat.

“This is an important day, Colin.” George smiled. “Brett Marshall is gone, but you know…there is another potential threat.” He sighed nodding at Colin’s surprised look. “This is an unknown threat. Someone had to make Brett Marshall. Was there anything in the past that told you who that would be?”

Colin shook his head. “Never.” Then he thought. "There was a rumor that a slave did, but don't believe it."

George nodded. “We have searched the news feeds and internet a long time. There are disappearances that can’t be explained all the time, but some…are questionable. We talked about the possibility of others far older and I said before, whoever they are, they are well hidden and know how to cover their tracks. The number of vampires could be much higher than we think.”

“You don’t know where they are,” Colin said. “Any guesses?”

George shook his head. “No.” He smiled at Colin. “You are becoming known. I think they will contact you.”

“Why?”

George waved at him. “You’re new! You have a past that no one can verify. They may recognize you as a vampire, but you walk in the day and live among men. You need to be careful. You can do and live whatever for a decade or so. Then you will have to go away a while and come back again. Modern technology is catching a lot of things and we’re trying to keep up, but…”

Colin nodded. “I need to be careful.”

George smiled running a hand through his thick red hair. “I was going to suggest be more of a spectacle. It might bring them out.”

“More spectacle? How?” Colin asked.

George chuckled. “Just be you.” He grinned as he stated the obvious. “You’re good looking and rich. Both of you are beautiful men! Fame will come.” He shrugged. “Just don’t hide anymore. You and I been gotten used to running from light and attention. Don’t do that now. You’re getting married. You’re building a great house. Don’t be secretive. Of course, this will make it more difficult to vanish later…”

I frowned. “You want Colin and me to become targets?”

George nodded. “Yes. That will bring attention and if they are out there, they will see the discrepancies in Colin’s background.”

This was becoming a lot bigger than I imagined.

“Well, tomorrow is New Year’s Eve,” George said smiling. “We’ll ring in the new year with a party and then we go on.” He rose. “It will be a new beginning for all of us, but for you, Colin, in particular.”

I shook my head. “Okay. Can I ask a question?”

George looked puzzled. “Sure.”

I waved at the surroundings. “What do you call this place? I imaged all sorts of names. Vampire Central, Vampire Headquarters…”

George burst out laughing. “We really don’t have a name, but on the W2s for employees, it’s Holms Laboratories.”

I grunted. “Not very creative.”

“Not drawing attention has been our way of life for decades.” George chuckled. “Though Vampire Central is a little more attention than we want.” He shook his head and patted us both on the shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

That evening I was in the shower when I heard Colin come in the bathroom. I saw him grin at me and he immediately began undressing. Of course, I watched. He was walking porn! I smiled as he opened the glass door of the shower and stepped in with me.

“I thought we could share the shower.” Colin smiled kissing me gently. “Save money, water…”

I chuckled as my arms came around in a familiar way. “That is very sensible.” I loved how he and I just fit together now. We knew each other very well and casual intimacy was not put on or tried, it just was. I ran my hands over his now wet body. My arousal grew instantly and looking down, so was his. “We don’t even need the serum.”

He chuckled as his hands roamed over me. “No, we don’t.”

The fact that he no longer was hiding, the fact that the creature that had plagued him for a century was gone…he was very passionate. The new freedom he had I really enjoyed. Sex was never boring and we did more than just have sex. We made love. No position was too embarrassing and nothing sexual was taboo. Be it orally, digitally (using fingers) or penetration, all of it was done, but done in love. The more we did, the closer I felt to Colin. We were solid. I knew he felt the same.

After he and I took our serum, we enjoyed lovemaking again. It was during the afterglow when he smiled at me. “I love you, Devon.”

I ran my hand over his chest. “I know.”

“How are you going to feel if we’re out?” Colin asked.

I frowned. “Colin, we’ve never been in the closet about the fact we’re lovers and getting married.”

He nodded. “But I mean, we will be out to the world if we do what George suggested. How will your mother feel?”

I shrugged remembering my telling her. “She’s was a little skittish when I first told her I was gay, but she’s fine with it.” I laughed. “Now, when she thought I was a vampire…that was a little more difficult. Gay and a vampire is too much for her to take.”

Colin nodded with a sigh. “I’m glad you’re not. We have decades to live together, but we might be more visible.”

“As long as we’re together. No problem.”

He grinned at me. “Just try to escape. I’m not letting you go.” Colin growled.

“I’m not going anywhere. I love you, Colin.”

Colin kissed me. “I know.”

The party at Holms Laboratories was pretty nice. It was not a blowout, but everyone that worked here or was affiliated here showed up. There was a band that played and this was Manhattan! The streets below were crowded to watch that shiny ball descend to begin the new year. The building wasn’t close enough to see it, but we watched it on a big screen. We were high enough that it wasn’t noisy up where we were. Everyone was dressed formally, Colin and I wore tuxedos, Mom and Gabriella wore evening gowns, Gabriella’s blue again. Glasses of champagne was passed out and we all waited. Then it was a minute until midnight, then thirty seconds and we all counted down. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…Happy New Year!!”

Colin touched his glass to mine. “Happy New Year, Baby. It’s going to be a whole new life for us.”

I nodded. “Happy New Year. I can’t wait.” We entwined our arms and drank as tradition and kissed the new year to begin our new life.

When we went back to Charleston, we decided it was time to break Gabriella into what a real airport was like. We flew commercially. When we flew before, it was always a private hanger and boarding, now she was stunned by JFK. Her experience with the TSA was almost too much.

“They have things that see through our clothes!?” She asked as we cleared security.

“Pretty much.” Mom chuckled. “Not like they can see us naked, but what people often hide under their clothes can be dangerous.”

Colin and I were not hiding anything now, he and I proceeded hand in hand now. Colin nodded. “It’s a dangerous world now. There are dangers they look for from crazies. Not all threats are bloodsuckers.” His eyebrows danced.

Once back at the house on Tradd Street, we began our lives again. Though I was not technically an employee now, I still oversaw the rebuilding of Wentworth Manor and that was proceeding nicely, if not slowly. The remaining structure had been torn down and now the foundation was being laid and re-enforced. Mom returned to the real estate she liked to do but was enjoying some notoriety because she was going to be Colin’s mother-in-law. Colin and I were just…us. There were inquiries about him from local historical societies wanting to know more about his past and connection with Charleston. There were requests for interviews by local news shows, the most prominent one was Good Morning, Charleston. It was a popular show highlighting people in Charleston and life in general here. This was our first step in becoming…more noticed. Colin agreed to the interview and even consented to have it at the house on Tradd Street. The house on Tradd Street was a historical landmark and people often wanted to see inside.

The interviewer was a lovely lady that was trying to make a name for herself as a reporter. Susan Hendricks. A woman in her early thirties, attractive and blonde. She came to the house and set things up for the interview. We had microphones attached and a makeup person put that powdery stuff on to reduce shine on camera. After showing some of the house on Tradd Street, she began.

“And now, I’m with Colin Wentworth. A man, who has strong Southern roots here in Charleston, who came from New York to rebuild his historic home at…” she looked at Colin. “…you refer to it as Wentworth Manor.”

Colin nodded. “I do. It was a plantation back in the early and mid 19^th century. My ancestor, also Colin Wentworth, left the Lowcountry before the beginning of the Civil War.”

“There are limited records about Wentworth Plantation. There isn’t a lot about it. What sort of plantation was it?” Susan said as an inquiry.

“They grew everything from rice to indigo. Those were the two major crops.” Colin answered.

“So what happened? Why did he leave?” Susan asked.

“This one, I’ll answer,” I said. “The Colin then was a forward thinker,” I said. “He didn’t agree with slave ownership. He paid people that worked the plantation as employees. In return, they worked not only for Colin Wentworth but to better their own lives. Colin was forced out by people that didn’t agree with him.”

“This is Devon McGee.” Susan smiled at me. “You and Colin are…?” She left the question open for Colin or me to say it.

Colin chuckled as he took my hand leaning his head toward me, didn’t kiss me, but bumped his head against mine. “Devon and I are getting married. He’s the love of my life!” I wondered if his look of love came through on camera as it did for me.

I chuckled. “And he’s mine.”

Susan had known, but she didn’t want to be the one to announce it. She smiled bigger. “And you’re getting married when?”

“As soon as the reconstruction is done at Wentworth Manor,” Colin said happily. “When Colin Wentworth left the South, it was given to his daughter and her husband, but during the Civil War, it fell apart. Now, it’s coming back. And it will be grander than it ever was!”

“That sounds wonderful! I’d love to film it. I know everyone out there would love to see it.”

Colin chuckled. “When it’s done, I promise you’ll be invited to see it.”

“So the budget is pretty substantial.” Susan qualified.

“Unlimited,” Colin said. “It will again be a jewel in the South.”

“And your connection with the family here in Charleston is what?” Susan asked.

“We’re probably related, but we were separate from that family,” Colin replied. “If we go back further, you’ll probably find we share grandparents. Those records are a little fuzzy from time past, but I’m sure they can be located somewhere.”

Now, we were out and then came the interview requests from many other news shows including Out and Advocate. Architectural Digest wanted to see this new jewel being built. We hired more crew to come out and get the job done faster. A paved road was being laid. The grounds being cleared and redone. The walls were going up. This wasn’t going to be a plantation house, but a mansion.

Mom and Gabriella were planning our wedding, but trying to keep Colin and me involved. A wall was going up to surround the house and grounds to secure it more, fiber optic cables put in and a solar garden put up in one to the old fields that got a lot of sunlight. The solar garden had the collectors that power from the sun would give and provide power. Electricity was connected and would be there for cloudy days and when the demand for power was more than the garden could provide. With the added workers the construction was going quickly and true to his word, the house was grand! Before long it stood proud and stately on the island. It had the look of a historic plantation house with the columns in front, the steps rising to the entrance on a porch that spread across the front. The entrance foyer was two to three stories high and round! The foyer was surrounded by windows that let the light shine on the ornate floor. The marble that had been salvaged was the floor there and high above was the crystal chandelier that hung before two grand staircases that rose from either side up to a landing to the second floor. Shotgun houses were common in the past, and a person could fire a gun at the entrance and not hit a thing as the hallway on the bottom floor went clear to the back door. The house was wide and stretched out a good way on either side. Now there were nine bedrooms and ten baths. Oh, and a powder room! Really? But in the past, a lady needed privacy to add…whatever to their faces and there was a room near the entrance for them to do that, use a toilet and wash their hands. The entrance hall was again wide and there was a T connection to a wider hallway that stretched the length of the house. There was a library/music room on the right side of the entrance hall and a massive dining room on the left side. There was a media room that had been the master’s office in the original. Beyond that, down the center hallway was a solarium and then a ballroom which as big enough for a party of hundreds! Beyond the dining room on the left was the dinette and kitchen which had everything a person wanted to cook on or with. A walk-in refrigerator and freezer. There was a house office for whomever we hired to manage the house as in housekeeping and land maintenance. There were eight bedrooms upstairs with their own bathrooms and all spacious, but the ninth was Colin’s and mine. It was huge! It was over the ballroom. What in the days past had been the master suites, his and her bedrooms which were separate. Separate!? We had one huge room with a fireplace and sitting area that was bigger than most living rooms or den. We even had our own little kitchen up there. Assuming you wanted something to eat…and with Colin that was going to happen…he didn’t have to trudge through the huge house take the back stairs to the kitchen all the way on the other side of the house to get something to eat. The house had the wrap around stone terrace on the bottom floor that went all the way around the house that looked out over the grounds. From the back door, steps went down left and right to the ground and two stone paths stretched back beside a water garden that began at the back door to a junior Olympic sized pool that had Greco-Roman columns at the end. A walled garden off the left side of the house had plants from roses and other flowering plants known in the South. Gardenias, camellias and all sort of flowers. This was all done by the end of Summer. It wasn’t just a house. This was a palace!

Colin and I showed this to Gabriella when it was nearly finished and furniture would be brought out of storage. There would be additions furniture wise I knew. Even what he had in that basement couldn’t cover this monstrosity! Oh! And the hunting den! Where the basement was there was a hunting den. You came in from the outside through a door on ground level. The ground was stone covered and you could clean your “kills” without messing the floor up and there was the other bathroom. You showered and cleaned up before you came upstairs. I never killed anything, not even a bug unless I had to, mosquitoes were fair game, but I’d catch and release other bugs. Oh, roaches didn't fend well with me, either. The hunting den would be a great game room!

“Oh, my God!!” Gabriella said as her voice echoed in the emptiness. She stood at the intersection of the lower floors hallways looking the width and length of the halls. The floors were all twelve feet high if not higher in some rooms. “This is beautiful!” Colin smiled as he watched his daughter do a twirl in the middle. “It is grand, far more grand than it ever was!”

Colin nodded. “I told you it would be.” He pulled me to him. “So, what do you think about our new home?” He asked kissing me.

“That I was poor,” I said. “I don’t think there’s been a building of a house like this since Cornelius Vanderbilt with that house in North Carolina!”

“Biltmore!?” Colin said, but smiled. “This isn’t nearly that big.”

“Okay, it’s not as big as Biltmore, but it’s big,” I said loud hearing my voice echo. “We will definitely be noticed now.”

Colin frowned. “You know I was doing this before we tried to be noticed. I am proud of my family and what we did.”

I nodded with a smile. “I know, baby. This is just new for me.”

Colin nodded with a chuckle. “It’s new to me, too. We’ll have to hire people to clean, cook and do yard work.”

“And security,” I added.

He grinned and took his daughter’s hand. “I have something to show you.” He led her up the stairs. He threw open a door to a bedroom. “I think you’ll like this.”

Gabriella looked in the spacious room and covered her mouth with her hands as she gasped in awe. “Oh, Daddy!” She said in a whisper as she walked in the room. There was a carpet laid out from wall to wall, but what was most important, it was all blue! Trimmed with white molding, the white fireplace mantle, but the room was blue. Light blue walls, the carpeting slightly darker blue and even the ceiling high above was blue with white molding around a small chandelier. Large windows would allow morning sun to shine in as it did now causing the crystals to sparkle. Even the bathroom was done in blue tile. “It’s beautiful!”

Colin nodded with a smile. “I had it done with you in mind. It’s yours if you want it.”

She looked as if she would cry as she lunged herself at her father hugging him. “I do! I do!”

Colin laughed hugging her back. “Nothing’s too good for my Princess Gabby.” He said softly to her. He looked at her as tears came down her face. “I am so sorry what happened to us. The Hell you and I lived for so long. If this can just begin to make up for some of it, it’s worth it.”

“Oh, Daddy,” Gabriella said as she cried. “It wasn’t you. This is wonderful.” She was his baby girl!

My mind was doing what I didn’t want to, but I was calculating. This house had to cost millions! A hundred million if not more! I had been here during much of the construction and I saw a lot of it going up, but now I realized, he wanted to share it with me!?

“We’ll have to get this place decorated,” I said coming toward them. “We can have a Christmas party here. To make up for last year. Can we do that? It’s not finished.” I chuckled and shrugged. “We hired more workers to get it up as fast it has been. It looks finished to me. Even if it needs some work still, we can have the party here.” I smiled at Colin. “You’re sure you want to marry me? I will be living here.”

Colin looked confused. “Of course, I want to marry you.” He let go of Gabriella and walked over to me. “Why would I change my mind? This is our home. Why wouldn’t you live here?”

I threw my hands up in frustration. “Because things like this don’t just happen. Not to me!” I explained. “I meet a man, very, very attractive, I find out he’s a vampire…or was…and then I find out he’s gay and fall in love. And!” I said with emphasis. “I find out he’s not only rich but super rich! And now he’s built this huge castle and wants me to live in it with him!?” I shook my head. “It’s got to be a dream!!”

Colin chuckled. “Okay, now hear it from my side. I meet this man, who is very, very attractive and very, very smart. He finds out I am a vampire and two hundred years old and he doesn’t care!” He was smiling as he went on. “He finds out I have a daughter who is also a vampire, puts himself in harm’s way refusing to leave me even when his own life was threatened and nearly taken and turned into a vampire himself! Why? Because you love me!? I’ll give you anything and everything! Yes, I want you to live here, with me!” He said grinning even more. “I love you, Devon McGee! I adore you!” Gabriella was smiling as her father was saying this.

I smiled back. “You’re my best friend and I want to marry you. I don’t care about the money.”

Colin nodded. “I know!!” He said it like that was incredible enough. “You don’t! You love me!”

I let myself be brought into his hug as he kissed me.

“You’re my best friend, too, Devon.” He said softly as his face pressed against mine. “I will love you forever.”

“I love you,” I said back.

Mom had a similar reaction when we showed her. She walked in the round foyer and looked up and over the entrance. Her mouth dropped open, but nothing came out. She walked through and finally in the library/music room she gathered enough to say. “Oh my!”

I chuckled. “That about sums it up.” I nodded. “Think you can live here?”

Her eyes widened looking at Colin. “Me? Live here!?” She pointed at the floor.

Colin nodded. “Absolutely. You’re family and there are only two rooms spoken for, there are five more to choose from.” He literally bounced on his heels as he said that.

“Colin, how rich are you?” Mom asked.

I leaned into Mom. “He’s very rich.”

Colin shook his head. “No.” He gathered me in his arms. “We’re very rich.” He said proudly kissing me. Mom was never bothered, and now, didn’t even blink.

“This wasn’t here a year ago!” Mom said as if the house appeared by magic.

“I know.” I nodded. “That’s why we hired all those people!” I smiled. “We have a wedding to plan. We can plan a date now!”

Hiring people was the next thing. Housekeepers, ground maintenance people and security. Gabriella and Mom worked to get things in the house from storage and decorated. The house was taking shape! Wiring was the thing that was the last to be done. It was a smart house, as in it had a brain! I’m not lying! A computer in the house ran lights, sound, watered the lawn and put up pictures! I mean he had these screens put up, but they looked like fancy picture frames surrounding the screens and he could change a theme. Van Gogh, Monet? The artists? If he wanted that theme, we hit a button of the remote and all the paintings became Monet’s painting and they looked like paintings. Or a mixture of artists’ work. Not all of them, but enough to make an impression. And the remotes. There was one in every room this size of those handheld tablets that people used now. You could choose any movie or music from a library of CDs and DVDs or access the internet and it would play. You could have it play music in the whole house or just one or two rooms. I had a plan, but how do I get him to pose without knowing he was posing for the picture? I intended to have a picture of him in the dining room above the mantle. As big as he is tall and I was told it would look like a painting. I was doing the same for Gabriella, but her portrait would be above the mantle of the library/music room, also looking like a painting. They were the Wentworths. This was my home, yes, but they were the real Wentworths. I would agree to add mine if asked to, but they came first. As I said, I had calculated this house in the millions, but it was more than that I just knew. It ain’t a house in the suburbs! We would be noticed! I was a little worried about who would be noticing.