To Love a Vampire Ch. 01

First, huge thanks to Meridian13, who started this story and trusted me enough to finish it for her. Also, another huge thanks to her again for helping me iron it out and make it even better!

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"Bitch!" Augustus Caesar muttered under his breath. Damned if he would let that bitch have anything from his father's estate, some money grubbing bitch that weaseled her way into his father's heart. His lawyers were already fighting the will. He couldn't believe his father would actually move his assistant in with him.

She was 27! A 27 year old who agreed to marry his father; 67 year old Jules Caesar, money grubbing bitch! In truth his father was ancient before he was killed. An ancient vampire; individuals cringed at the mention of his name. This mere fucking human had wedged her way into his life and ultimately was engaged to him when he was assassinated.

The bitch would find out soon. He had frozen every account his father had set up for her. Let her find out later. He was still smiling at his accomplishment; contesting the will. He couldn't help but look at her dressed in black, while his father was lowered into the ground. What a farce! Here she was falling to pieces sobbing. Dressed like some god damn WWII widow. What was with her dressing like it was WWII?

He smiled a bit at the thought that she was already being thrown off the estate. She'd find out after the reception at the estate.

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Livia couldn't stop crying. Livia Ross had become Livia Caesar, she loved Jules. Their relationship had never been conventional. How could Augustus hate her? He didn't even know her.

She still remembered when Jules had asked her out. She was in sales at his company and he asked if she would accompany him to a dinner since his date had cancelled last minute. He bought her an evening gown and everything. The gifts were not what she wanted! She wanted him. She'd trade it all for him to not be dead.

Saying their relationship was normal was a pure lie. They went out that night and she felt completely out of her element. He refused to let her go that night. He kept his arm around her waist the entire time. The next morning she woke up at her usual time, she knew he didn't do mornings but she wanted to go home and get ready for her job, she wasn't rich like he was and she had to work hard to pay her bills. It took all her pleading for him to allow another driver to take her home. That's when the sky fell down.

As soon as she approached the gate to enter the apartment complex she saw him, her ex-husband. She had been running from him for some time now. He was mentally ill and the drugs he took during their marriage had driven him over the edge. Dangerous is for rational people, he was more than that. He was evil. If Satan had become mentally ill that would be her ex-husband. Trey Ross, sounds like a sweet and innocent name sweet doesn't it?

Liv had the restraining order, had him committed, but he had somehow been released. The limo had just dropped her off at her apartment; she didn't know that he was waiting. She had her keys out getting ready to go through the gate when she saw him. She started running to get away from him. There was no chance, a 105 lb woman at the age of 25, against a mentally ill delusional man who wanted her dead. Liv was 5 foot 2 with raven hair and eyes the color of caramel. Trey was six foot five and weighed a good 250 pounds. He used to play professional football until his illness manifested itself. High school sweethearts had gone horribly wrong.

When she saw him she ran not caring about anything but getting away, even though she knew that it was highly unlikely she would be able to get away. Right there in the courtyard of her apartment he caught her, screaming, kicking and fighting was never enough. He had brutally raped her as she screamed in the courtyard for all the world to see. She kept remembering, just live through it. Don't fight him too much, it made things worse. She sobbed as he brutally slammed into her face down in the muddy courtyard. She almost choked on the dirt he was pushing her face into. She almost wished she did, at that time. She didn't realize she had been screaming the entire time.

Trey removed his belt and looped it around her neck like a noose. This man was easily holding her up in the air off the ground, slowly killing her. Her hands were clenched and clawing at the belt trying to do everything to keep air going into her lungs. Someone had called the cops.

While she was being held in the air suffocating, dozens of cop cars had surrounded him. Words were said, words she could no longer understand. Darkness was descending on her. She remembered hearing an EMT saying, "Welcome back, look at me, can you see me? We lost you for a few minutes there." Darkness descended again.

She woke up seeing Jules, Julius was his full name but only business associates referred to him in that way. Jules stared at her while she was hooked to all this horrible equipment. She really didn't remember a lot of the damage Trey had inflicted on her, the pain of the rape and hanging was stuck on the forefront. Yet, here she was in a hospital bed with a broken leg and arm.

She started to sob when she saw Jules. The shame, horror and hatred she expected to see in his face. She had seen none. Love, caring...unconditional with no demands in return was what she had seen in his eyes. Honestly, if he had not been her salvation by her guardian from the demon, she would have slit her wrists afterwards. Maybe dying that day would have been easier?

Who was she kidding? She would have given her life today or any day for those two years he gave her. Her savior, her love, was now her lost love. Now it really didn't matter. He had taken her in. Never once asked for anything in return; just held her while she cried. She had been so injured, bruises, cuts, broken bones, emergency surgery for internal bleeding, not to mention the rape and near hanging. She didn't remember Trey hitting her but she was told he had.

Jules had hired a nurse for her. He was 40 years older (in human years not vampire) than her but it seemed insignificant. He spent all the time he could with her. He had given her his room. He had started calling her his sun until one day she started crying. "How can I be your sun? How can I be anyone's sun? What did I do so wrong in this life for someone to want me dead? To hate me so much? How can you even stand to be near me?" He had said that was the day he fell endlessly in love with her. Liv staring up at him, swollen eyes from crying, lips swollen, and looking at him for answers. He told her he was more than human. That is when he shared a sacred gift with her, he gave her just enough blood to heal.

"Jules, first of all it doesn't bother me but I am what I am. You do not owe me that! I owe you! How can you even stand me? Look at me? After the horrible things he did to me."

"I love you! Hopelessly, endlessly, with everything I am! Does the idea repulse you? Do you think of me as a monster?"

She stared up at him with eyes overflowing with tears. "Nothing you could ever do would repulse me! (she was on her knees holding his face) Monster? (her lip quivered and she tilted her head to the right) Monsters are of no species, race, creed, or color. Date, time, and all other are irrelevant and unexplainable...monsters are just monsters. Rationalization will never explain or show why there are monsters. You my love are absolutely no monster, maybe a Saint with extra long teeth." She giggled.

Her mind went back to the present. She noticed Augustus glaring at her. She remembered Jules telling her when things got bad, "close your eyes, I'm here sweetheart." Her love, her life, was being buried in the cold ground in January.

She still had to sing. Jules wanted her to sing a song for him according to the funeral arrangements when they went back to the estate. When they arrived at the estate she took nerve pills to make it through. She would have a hard time not falling to pieces during singing. Besides, what was the worst that would happen? She'd overdose? Not such a bad option at this point to be honest. She took 5 benzos downed with straight brandy in her old room. She couldn't stay in "their" room.

An hour of individuals saying how sorry they were was horrible. Augustus glared at her the entire time. You would swear she had destroyed his life. He hated her from the first day. She knew when he found out about her singing and the orchestra it would piss him off. Not that it took much to piss Augustus off, he was like a toddler screaming for constant attention. Today was not for him. It was for Jules, her love, unselfish, nonjudgmental, only for him! Screw the world, she would never ever do anything to blacken this day. Black was color of the clouds hanging over her head and in her heart.

It was like a bad countdown. She had to do everything to hold it together for him. She owed him that. He was so strong and she had to be for him.

Augustus looked at her when he saw an orchestra setting up. "What the fuck is this?"

"It's his wishes. I will not ever defy them. I am bound by my promise. I gave my word to do this." She glared at him.

"A fucking orchestra for you to sing?" he said in a highly agitated voice. "Give me a break! This was your idea!" He screamed at her.

"I'm only going by his wishes. I don't care about my own. I'm trying to hold it together to sing. I'd honestly rather slit my wrists with a razor right now, especially being around you, but I made a promise. I'm doing everything I can to not fall apart! So fuck off and back the fuck away from me!"

Augustus slapped her hard. Her cheek started to bleed. She just glared at him. "Are you done?"

"Like you would ever slit your wrists for him! You didn't even know him! I'm his damn son! You talk him into an orchestra for you to show off your singing? Selfish bitch!" Augustus fumed as he walked away.

Liv screamed at him, "I would have given my life on that day for him. Any day so he would be here now. Don't talk to me about devotion about love! Where the fuck were you?"

Jules best friend, Valerius, grabbed Augustus as he was ready to go after Liv, and pulled him off into a room.

"August what the hell are you doing? I found out you were having her tossed out after this! Tell me it is not true. Tell me you are not going against your father's wishes." Valerius sometimes wondered why he was friends with Augustus, this was one of those times.

"She was only here for his money. She's just some human looking for a meal ticket."

"Do not disgrace your father like this. She's not like that. Lucus will be here soon, how do you think he will react to this? Don't make me remind you, Lucus is the ruler of all the vampires and a dear friend to Jules."

"How would you know what she's like? Do you know her? Do you know how he's put her in the will? I'm his god damn son! I'm sure Lucus could see right through her and he'll be relieved I'm kicking her out after the song."

"I know more than you think. Don't do this Augustus until you meet with me after the funeral. She is human. I worry this is too much for her. Discuss it with Lucus before you do this."

"She's just faking, damn it!"

Though he couldn't get the feeling out of his gut when he looked in her eyes as she talked about slitting her wrists, he felt that she just might do it. Something bothered him about it. He was overreacting. She was a lying uncaring human. They all lie.

"I hear your thoughts as they scream. Please tell me she did not say that. Augustus, don't do this. You'll regret it. Just take time to rethink and we can decide in a week or two. Don't dishonor your father now."

"He was my father no matter what she talked him into, I knew him."

"Augustus, you did not know how she changed him. How she loved him. She never wanted anything from him. Damn it Augustus, when he proposed, she tried to tell him she felt bad for taking the vintage ring! She said she was a clumsy and human. Give her silver and cubic zirconium. She honestly tried to hand it back, stupid excuses of her only being human and not being able to protect it. She was not lying when she said...

"Damn it Jules, a string in a knot was fine as long as I only have you!" Valerius laughed a bit. "She's in the front of over 100 people; only worried about letting him down. Saying that she was a mere frail, klutzy, fragile human and yes was her answer, she needed no ring...nothing he had to give her to convince him. Just his love."

"Sounds like a great actress to me."

Valerius started to get angry. "Augustus, I am older and wiser than you. If you do this now Lucus will become very angry with you. I know and can sense what she meant. She was never lying."

Just then the orchestra was about to start. "Everyone, can you please gather. As much as I just want to cry in the closet alone and nurse a bottle of straight vodka...I promised this to him. He wanted it. My love, my dear Jules wanted me to sing. The man who saved my life. I offered my life in exchange but they wouldn't take it. I'd give my life, my soul in exchange for his, in exchange for him to be here today instead of me."

"I owe so much to Jules. He saved my life more than once. He offered me things he never was required or had to. He was smarter, sweeter and my love. My everything. He called me his Evy, his everything but it should have been the other way around. I will love him always. He was always so much better at holding things together than I was. Look at me, I'm falling to pieces in front of all his friends."

"It's funny that on our first date, for those who don't know, umm...I died. Now I know most of you think. Oh how sweet. No, it wasn't at all nostalgic, with that common phrase "I died a bit inside." I actually died. He was there by my bedside, there for me. I still feel unworthy of his love. But I cherish every moment I had with him so I dedicate this to him, to show my love to him. I could never ever ask for anything more, even if it had been two days and not two years. I would still exchange my life for his."

"So here we go...I miss you and love you my Jules...."

The orchestra started. "The following song I dedicate to him."

Liv sang her heart out, to say goodbye to her love. "I love you, I'll miss you, In my heart you'll always stay...The Jules of my heart."

The orchestra took a break and got ready for the next song for another singer to sing. Valerius went over to Augustus standing in the kitchen door watching her sing. Could someone lie that much? Show that much emotion singing to just be liar? She smelled like pills. She'd taken too many. Who was he to care?

"No, Augustus, she's not lying. She's trying not to fall to pieces. She never even asked him to turn her. August, (as he was sometimes called) don't do this! Don't disgrace your father like this." Valerius was angry and stormed away.

Liv walked into the bedroom and Augustus followed. "Pack one bag, don't take any of the jewelry he gave you. I want you out of here now. You've made your appearance. I've already talked to Lucus and we want you out of here. It's best if you leave before he gets here." Liv just stood there staring in shock. "NOW LIV! Get your shit and get the hell out!"

"But why would Lucus be mad at me? I don't understand."

"You stupid bitch, can't you tell that everyone is just being nice to you. They all hate you and blame you for his death, especially Lucus."

In a very weak shaking voice she answered, "Ok."

She packed a couple sets of clothes and some toiletries in a bag. She grabbed the small framed photo of Jules and put it in her bag. "Ok, um I can just take the Toyota."

"You're not taking any vehicle. I'll have the limo drop you in the city. You don't have any legal right to anything."

She turned to leave and Augustus spoke, "Aren't you forgetting something."

"I don't think so." She looked around the room to try and figure out what he was referring to.

"The jewelry you dumb ass bitch. You don't get to take it with you." Liv was shaking at that point pulling off all the rings and bracelets that Jules had bought her. She was shaking so bad she couldn't get the clasp undone.

"Damn it bitch, can't you do anything right." August ripped the necklace from her neck causing it to bleed.

"I was supposed to go to the doctor tomorrow. Does...Does my medical end at the end of the month."

"Your medical is terminated. I cancelled the appointment."

Liv picked up the bag, "OK, I'm ready."

"Are you that fucking stupid bitch? The wedding ring, you don't get to keep it. Take the damn thing off."

"Please let me have something of his."

"You have the picture now get the fuck out!"

"I get it. I am and never have been good enough. It's OK Augustus, don't worry. I won't fight you. I'm purely happy to have had his love for two years. I'd still give my life for his. I'm OK."

"Stop playing the wounded victim here. Just get the fuck out of my house!" All of this was becoming too much for Liv. She was going to be sick so she ran into the bathroom and dry heaved. Then she remembered she hadn't eaten in...well she couldn't remember when.

Augustus barged into the bathroom, "Can't you just fucking leave already?"

In between the dry heaves Liv tried to speak, "Just...Just...let me stop...throwing up." Liv started heaving twice as hard. Valerius had been standing outside the door and barged in pulling Augustus out of the bathroom.

"Back off Augustus! She's throwing up. Let her finish throwing up alone, damn it. You are acting like some god damn spoiled brat!"

Ten minutes later Liv finally finished throwing up and brushed her teeth. She was weak and Valerius helped her up off the floor. "Liv honey, you're running a fever."

"It's just the stress it will go away. Thank you for helping me up."

Valerius had promised to take care of both Augustus and Liv and now he had to decide. He just kept looking at her. She looked so sick. So frail.

Before she left she went around and gave everyone a hug. "Thank you all for attending. Jules would have been proud." She grabbed the bag and got ready to leave.

"I'll carry it to the limo for you." She heard Valarius say.

He slid 100 in her bag as he carried it to the limo. Augustus had planned it out and had a temporary driver drop her in the middle of the city.

"You should really stay until Lucus arrives. So where are you going to stay? How can we get a hold of you for the will?" Liv started to get even more nervous.

Liv was in shock, sick and nothing made sense. Her bottom lip started to quiver as she held back the tears. "I um...I'll find somewhere to stay. I won't be able to make it to the will reading. I've been told to leave, I can't let Jules funeral become a fight. I'm too weak to handle much more fighting. Tell Lucus I am sorry about everything. There's no need to worry about me and the will. I won't contest it." She gave Valerius a big hug. This would be the last time she's see him. "Thank you for everything Valerius." During all the stress she had forgotten to lock off her thoughts.

"Liv, look at me. Are you ok? How much money do you have? Here's my room key. I'll get another room, don't argue with me but if you need to stay there you just go to my room and stay."

"That's very kind of you but I've got the cards if I need to get a hotel room." She didn't tell him that Augustus had taken her credit cards and locked all of her accounts. She had $40 on her. Liv did everything she could to hold herself together. She had to hold it together and get out of here. She would make things go the way they should have. She would die like she should have.

"Valerius, I'm fine. I've got some cash. I have the account Jules set up for me. I'll get by."