It was to be a quick fact finding trip, and I had certainly never expected to meet anyone, much less discover where my soulmate is living.  For this particular venture, I had rented a small house on a hill since living in the mountains has always been a quirk of mine.  The house is situated in a private gated community, creating a small haven for my guards and myself, while on my short exploratory stay.

On my first evening following my arrival, I felt a strange and strong intuitive feeling that I had never experienced before this day.  It was not long before I suddenly understood the nature of the alluring summons.  The insistent pull had me feeling as if I was expecting someone when the truth dawned on me.

I stopped cold while walking, when I grasped that my yet unencountered soulmate was in a nearby conference room, at a Gay Romance Writers conference no less.

How appropriate.

On the day he was born twenty-four plus years ago, my enlightened senses picked up on the birth event, as prophesied, and I knew he was alive and was breathing, but I did not know where.  I made a silent vow to myself and the fates at that moment when I first sensed him, that I would search endlessly and somehow locate him, but I promised I would not approach him until after his twenty-fifth birthday.

I understood this connection we shared, and even if he did feel it as he grew older and probably did not figure it out, would keep him for me, and now, me for him.

I also appreciated the fated soulmate bond would allow us to only respond romantically to each other, and as of this moment, I would never look with desire at another man, until the day I meet him.

I’m not kidding myself and of course, I previously had men in my life, but since that day when I felt him take his first breath with the heavens announcing his arrival to me, there had been no one else in my bed, such was our fated connection.

During these long years of waiting, I could continuously sense him enough to know he was doing well, and that he was growing stronger, but I knew nothing else.  Even though I consulted others who could sense the future, his location remained elusive to them and to me as well.

At times I would go half-crazy with worry that I was unable to protect him.  Vito Lizorno, my sired offspring, best friend in human life, and extremely loyal second in command had often talked me down again.  He knew of the anxious mental anguish and discomfort I was feeling without my soulmate.

“Damnit, Bart listen to me!  We know this is a real fated connection and since the fates have connected you both, they will also eventually bring you together, now get real and quit being so difficult,” he told me time and again.

I knew he was right, but it gave me little comfort as I needed my mate with me as much as I needed to feed, but I was premature and must wait until he grew into manhood and could meet me as an equal.

Often, I took the only small comfort that I could, knowing he was growing strong somewhere, and understood that if I was feeling the constant connection, so was he, even if it made no sense to him.

At this portion of my long life the main difference between us was that I knew what this unusual sense of longing meant, while he did not, but then again, he may be a human child.  I knew utterly nothing about this being who was to someday be my soulmate, other than he was alive; be it human or supernatural.

And now, twenty-four years later, I knew at this moment that he was mine alone, and that he was finally near to me physically, and I had to see him even if I had to rip every shred of this fucking big building apart.

Frantically and systematically for the next several minutes, I desperately tried to find him.  I casually passed by the conference room’s open doors and felt a strong pull that drew me like a magnet, but it was too crowded in there to see everyone, or at least someone that would fit my fantasy description.

I was already late for a meeting that I had personally called and engaged several top realtors from all over the state, damn.  This search was turning me into a real flake.

Turning away in frustration, I was rapidly walking back to my meeting before deciding ‘fuck it’ this is my call.  I punched in the numbers for Vito on our private and seldom used emergency line.

“Hey Bart, what’s up, I thought you were in the meeting you called this evening, and everyone is starting to bitch that you aren’t there, and why the emergency line?  Is there something wrong,” he asked, sounding a bit overly cautious as I infrequently used this special number and wanted to talk to him personally rather than use our mental link.

“Tonight, I have found my soulmate,” I told him, and counted to three before the explosion happened on the other end.

“Fuck me, Bart!  Are you sure it is him?  You have been looking for him for decades, you know?  Who is he?  Have you talked to him?  Did you mark him yet?  When do we get to meet him?  What is his coven?” he asked in rapid succession, sounding almost as excited as I was feeling about now.

“I now sense he lives as a human and I am sure he has no idea about everything,” I said, and then grinned, anticipating what was coming next.

“No!  A blood bag, seriously Bart?  What is this going to be?  A fuck and suck only he’s literally feeding you?”

“Watch it,” I growled, reminding him that I am his Sire, and letting him know I did have my limits on certain subjects to his humor.

“But isn’t this going to be a little strange any way you cut it?  Hi, I’m Bart Magnus, we are destined to be soulmates.  Now stick out your neck, just a little prick here, and I’ll take a big sip,” he breathed in complete frustration.

He was sounding like his normal sarcastic self, and the reason I adored him.

“Smartass.  So here is what you are going to do; first I want you to take over the meeting via videoconference instead of being a participant on the phone and shut them the fuck up.  Just tell them some excuse for me not being there that is at least halfway believable.  Give the brokers a good whipping in my name of course, reminding them I will make someone incredibly happy when I buy.  After that, send them off with their marching orders, preferably with their tails between their legs, no pun intended for our potential canine friends.  I want you to make sure to get their real estate agents on the stick to find some compounds located here, large enough for our whole coven as we are soon leaving New Mexico.  We are relocating to Arizona immediately, call a meeting of the coven leaders to make them aware of the pending move.  Find out who the vampire is that controls this area and make it worth their while to let us move here; if he makes trouble take him out; I don’t have time for that nonsense.  If there is nothing that meets our needs, we will build it.  I want it hidden in the McDowell Mountains, high up in the foothills near Scottsdale where I can be close to everything with enough property to finally assure our continued privacy.  There are exclusive housing areas in the foothills, and you know our special needs, especially for our witches.  I want it to be spectacular for my soulmate yet fully functional for our business requirements.  There is no budget.”

“Wowie, Sire Bartie goes courting in lavish style, you’re even giving me a hardon old man.”

“Another thing,” I began ignoring him, “get a list of everyone at the Gay Romance Writers conference located in this hotel.  Ignore all the obvious misses and zero in on someone born about twenty-four years ago.  I want that list tonight by the time I get back to the house.  I am going to stay right by the exit and try to identify him, as I will strongly sense him.  I will not approach him yet as I am waiting until he is twenty-five as you already know.  I will get a picture if I can and send it to you.  Use one of the facial recognition programs to find out who he is, and I’ll text any other information that I can get and send that along as well,” I told him, and then hung up when I saw people beginning to exit.

I stood at an angle where I could see people coming out but was not in their face with my cell phone camera ready to snap a shot.  Probably ninety percent were easy to dismiss without a second glance being female, older, younger, or obviously unacceptable for one reason or another with no supernatural pull, at least to me.

As the last of the attendees exited, I suddenly saw a handsome young man, slim yet toned, shaggy sandy blond hair falling into his eyes as he struggled with a large leather messenger bag, a medium sized rolling tote, and two large grocery bags, one I noticed was filled with bottles of wine.

I could feel the strong and unexpectedly insistent connection between us firing back and forth and knew he would feel it soon as well if he hadn’t already.

Bingo.

He abruptly stopped in his tracks like someone had grabbed him.  He almost dropped everything, and slowly looked around, his sexy mouth open, his deep green eyes wide.  It appeared almost as if he was frightened by something, or that an intense feeling of déjà vu had suddenly gripped him.

I at once experienced the same shock of recognition that my soulmate was feeling, and I could not help but to fall hopelessly in love with him at first sight.

It was easy to tell he was obviously confused by the unfamiliar sensations he was experiencing and knew something unexpected and very strange had taken hold of him.  He did not see me even though he was desperately looking around, for the fates were telling him to find me, and do it now.

I watched him lick his sensuous kissable lips and peer frantically throughout the vast room behind him as he sought me.

I stepped over to the corner of the building to hide from him, but only after I took his picture several times.

I had felt him faintly since the day he was born and knew he was mine, but I never knew where he was until now.  I had waited so long for this moment.  But until this instant, I only discerned that he was alive and at the appointed time we would meet.  As the years went by our feelings would grow stronger with every season that passed.

It was still not that wonderful time yet.

I had no choice but to respect fate’s decision on the matter as much as it hurt me not to run to him.  I had seen him, and it thrilled me beyond all reason, but tore at my heart that I could not hold him close to me.

Despite that decision I made at his birth, I wanted, however, to follow him out and to see where he lives.  I was put off at that moment, for about six other humans approached him, along with a handsome puppy or baby werewolf, who instantly sensed my supernatural presence at the same time.

He stopped immediately to whirl and look directly at me, fixing me with his golden blue eyes, openly staring at me, confronting me with those very possessive and accusing angry eyes.

I had to grin at the cheeky little devil, if only I had a collar and leash handy, or a juicy bone.

I gave him a quick nod and smile, and then flashed him my fangs as a courtesy, I let my eyes begin to glow a bit red just for fun.  His face twisted in shock, and he almost fell over himself to turn and scurry away close behind the others.

Good boy.

This made me wonder if my mate was aware of other supernaturals around him, and that he was friends with them?

Without wasting another second musing about things, I texted the photo to Vito to try and identify him by name.  I then tried to cautiously follow behind them at a good discrete distance, aware that I wasn’t a secret any longer, and kept seeing his young friend glancing back in my direction, as if I was nipping at his heels.

I am glad my soulmate and I did not lock our eyes, or the pull would have stunned him into submission.  He would have had no alternative but to come right over to me without any choice in the matter.

There would have been no other way for him, and I would have had to do a fast disappearing act, if I could manage, to not break the unspoken rules of our mating.

On the other hand, I would have been out of control myself and might have taken him on the spot!  Now that would have been just a little bit hard to explain I would imagine, even if most of the people milling around are romance writers.

I did, however, get a good look at him, and it was love at first sight as I said, and okay, perhaps a tiny little roaring lust was involved there too.

The first thing I noticed about him is that he is a little shorter than my six feet.  I glimpsed a flash of his deep emerald, green eyes, sandy blond shaggy wavy hair, and a lean toned frame.  He is slightly hairy on his chest as I saw in the vee of his tee shirt, and that I wanted to lick him all over and taste him.

His movements were fluid and sexy without his burdens after he almost dropped them, but now others carried them for him.  I was taken by his very handsome face, and had to watch where I was going, I was so mesmerized by him.

We would complement each other nicely, as from my Italian heritage, I have deep auburn hair nearly black and probably longer than the current styles demand, but what the fuck, it’s my hair and I like what I like.

My heavy lidded eyes, often referred to as bedroom eyes, are also very dark blue nearly black, befitting a vampire.  They are a nice contrast when they turn red, as they started to when I smelled my irresistible soulmate’s heady unique scent so close to me.

As I mentioned before, I stand just over six feet, I too have a lean muscular frame since I watch what I eat, just kidding; plastic bags of blood are not too much fun to watch.  My body is hairless except for strategic locations that you can use your imagination to figure out, or just keep reading.

Soon I was following the merry group and expecting them to head to a local restaurant or maybe even a bar.  When we entered the garage, my newly discovered mate jumped into a little black Hyundai SUV, nice to see I have a practical man.

Then, even though I was basically hidden from general view, and just before the puppy got in to sit in the passenger seat next to him, he had the fucking nerve to pause while scanning over the top of the SUV.

He glared in my direction with those sassy, momentarily golden yellow eyes, and tried to warn me off with a sneer that only looked cute.

I snickered in his face, flipped him off, and let him clearly see me do it, the little son of a bitch, literally.

Luckily, I had by chance parked close by, and was soon tailing them staying about a block behind his SUV.  I did, however, notice the little mutt spotted me and kept looking back at me in the side mirror.  My black Mercedes SUV does tend to stand out, so much for the stealth effect.

To my surprise, they turned into the same nearby gated community where I had rented the large house.  I stayed with them as they drove part way up the hill then turned to go over by the desert lake closer the large hills beyond the community.

Since the road they were on was a straight shot along the placid lake, with no real way out other than to swim, I parked my car and decided to follow them on foot.  About three quarters of the way down the road, they turned into a smaller well-kept Spanish style house, and pulled into the garage.

I glanced around the neighborhood and considering the other spectacular divisions of this community, this must be the part of the more modest area.  It was still a beautiful and serene neighborhood, and I was genuinely enjoying the view when an alarm went off in my head as I caught the distinct scent of a canine, way too near to me.

The damn pup.

“What are you doing here vampire?  You are on my turf, and you have no right to be here,” the pup demanded from me, taking a brave step closer.

“Watch your muzzle or I might just have to chain you up to a tree somewhere,” I snarled at him, secretly enjoying our little pissing contest.

“Why are you following me and who are you,” he demanded ignoring my insulting threat, his reddish blond hair beginning to stand up in warning.

“Put your hair back down, and don’t flatter yourself, I’m not after you.  What is your friend’s name?” I asked, at least it was worth a try for now.

“Look buddy, whoever Joffre is, is none of your damn business,” he spat back at me, trying to be tough.

Both of us recognized simultaneously that he had just inadvertently spilled the beans, or at least part of them, and he looked like he might cry with his mistake.

I smirked at him in amusement.

“So, I’ve got Joffre for twenty, how about a last name for one hundred,” I joked, amused by how he wiggled in frustration.

I was just hoping he wasn’t going to pee on himself or worse, me.

“Look, I don’t know you or what you want other than probably his blood.  He is my best friend and does not have a clue about us sups.  I do not want to start anything here with you, but I will call my pack to help me if I have to,” he warned me.

It was obvious this was going nowhere fast and before too long, Joffre would be out looking for him.

I could not let that happen.

“I understand you are trying to help your friend out here and watch out for him.  I appreciate it more than you know.  I’m not here to hurt him in any way but he can’t know about me yet, at least for a little less than a year longer.”

“What are you trying to say vampire, this makes absolutely no sense to me.”

“My name is Bart Magnus, and I am a man of my word.  Can I trust you in a confidential matter here?  If I tell you something, and you betray this trust, I will have to come back for you, do you understand me?”

I had noticed at the mention of my name his face grew pale and he looked at me in shock, and then nodded his head in agreement.

“Good.  I see you know who I am then,” I asked, politely making him confirm my suspicions.

“I do, and so does most of the planet I’m sure, especially the supernatural community.  My name is Craig Wainwright and Joffre is my best friend as I already told you.  We grew up together and like I said earlier, he has no idea our world exists.  Please Mr. Magnus, do not hurt him,” he pleaded desperately with me, and I could sense his truly honest concern for a beloved friend.

I was impressed by his loyalty and that does not happen too often in my dealings with strangers.

“I will not hurt him you have my solemn word on this Craig.  What I am going to tell you remains between only you and I and will stay that way for less than a year until his twenty-fifth birthday.  During that time, I am moving my coven to Arizona.  I will expect you to keep your normal relationship with Joffre.  On or just after his next birthday, I will tell him what I am going to tell you now.  I expect you to watch over him and take my card with my private contact information.  You are to call me if anything, even the slightest thing bothers you or Joffre.  My security team will arrive here before dawn tomorrow to take up permanent residence nearby to back you up.  They will know about your relationship with Joffre and that they are to protect you both, with their lives if necessary.  Do not approach them or converse with them, only talk to me.  Do you understand me, Craig?”

“I do, but what is happening here?”

“First let me tell you this.  For helping me out here, I will expand your career tremendously, or whatever in life you wish to pursue.  As of tomorrow, I will have one of my staff contact you and arrange for you to work for me directly, and for the Bart Magnus Foundation.  I will help you to use and enhance your skills and ambitions to make it worthwhile beyond your wildest dreams.  But always remember one thing Craig,” I told him, knowing I was leading him on, and suddenly I could feel my eyes begin to glow.