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"I gave her one this morning before we left.  I was not kidding when I said I had several of these lying around at work."  Beck knew Mae would be more comfortable if she could keep in contact with Gemma on the trip.

Mae called Gemma to see what she and Aidan were doing.  "How's the shopping going?"

"Oh my God, I found the cutest boots and jacket!" Gemma exclaimed.

"You and Aidan playing nice?" she was curious to know if they were still mad from this morning.

"Aidan has been on his best behavior since this morning and even took me for a massage," she giggled.

"Sounds relaxing.  I guess I will see you after dinner then, bye," Mae was relieved to talk to her but didn’t want to spend all day on the phone, so she cut the conversation short.

"Is all well with them?" Beck asked.

"Apparently so, he took her for a massage and everything."  Mae answered, relating what Gemma told her to Beck.

"Well at least they are not fighting.  Sometimes Aidan can be a bit of a cad," Beck said, seemingly unaccustomed to criticizing his friend.

Looking out the window at the landscape, the view was breathtaking with ocean-side cliffs and small mountainous lakes.  Mae could see small cottages hugging the coast all the way up to the mountains; it all seemed so peaceful.  Within minutes, they arrived in the small picturesque town of Kenmare, where they would dine at a pub called O’Donnabhain’s.

The dining atmosphere was laid back and the food was fantastic.  When they finished their dinner, they meandered into the bar where several musicians were playing traditional Irish folk music.  They sat and listened to a couple of songs before leaving since Beck wanted to get to Lough Currane before dark.

As they arrived in Lough Currane, Donald turned off the main road to a narrow back road.  He drove about another mile and stopped in front of a small cottage in the woods.  Mae had assumed Becks country house would be cozy, but there was no way they would all fit in this tiny abode.

“I hope the inside is bigger than it looks on the outside,” she said, eyeing the cottage.

“This is not where we are staying, this is just one of the guest cottages.  Aidan is staying here to avoid rooming with a houseful of women, so we are just dropping off his belongings,” Beck laughed.

Mae sighed as relief washed over her face, “For a moment there I thought we were all going to stay in this cottage.”

 “My home is just a bit further down the road,” he said, as he and Donald unloaded Aidan’s bags from the car.

When they finished, Donald continued to drive down the narrow road, shaded by trees, until they were at to the edge of the woods where it seem to open up into a large well-groomed estate.  Mae was completely flabbergasted by what she saw.  A massive modern castle came into view.  It was similar in design to the Biltmore Castle back in the states, but much older looking.

“You live in a castle?” she asked sarcastically, since it was far from the small country house she had imagined.

“If that is what you want to call it.  Then yes, this monstrosity is mine,” he smiled with pride.

They pulled into the stone driveway and parked next to Meredith’s black Prius.  Mae was glad to see Aidan’s Tesla Roadster, knowing he and Gemma would be here waiting for them.  Mae was stunned at the overly ornate décor as she stepped in the front door.  It only proved to her how little she knew about the man with whom she just spent the day.

“I had the maids prepare a room for you next to Gemma and Meredith’s.  But you may choose any room you like, although it could take some time to go through all forty-two of them,” Beck said, revealing a streak of conceit about the size of his home.

Gemma finally met them in the foyer, grabbed Mae’s arm and walked her in from the front door and Beck.  “Can you get over the inside of this place?”  Gemma asked, pointing to the Michelangelo-style painted cathedral ceiling.  “I got lost in one of the upstairs wings earlier.  Good thing Aidan was looking for me, because I’m not sure I could have found my way out,” she laughed softly.

“Beck is so unassuming when he says things.  This is not what I would call a home in the country,” Mae replied, motioning to all the finery around them.

“How about I show you to your room?  If I can remember where it is…” mumbling the last part of her sentence as she tried to hide her confusion in locating their bedrooms.

“What if we get lost?” Mae asked, poking fun at Gemma.

“Aidan added his number to my speed dial in case such an emergency should arise,” she shot back playfully, trying to reassure Mae of their wellbeing.

“I know Beck is not your type, but I hope he didn’t bore you to death driving up here and you know you don’t have to pretend to like him for my sake,” Gemma added, not wanting to force anyone on Mae.

“Actually we had a good time, better than I expected,” Mae confided to her, still not ready to tell her the whole gamut of emotions she felt for Beck.

“Here we are,” Gemma said, opening the door to the room Beck had picked out for Mae.

The walls were a medium colored aqua-blue with lots of white crown molding.  The furniture was all white with gold trim including the large canopied bed in the middle of the room.  Elaborate antiques randomly dotted the room.  Mae had never stayed in a room as luxurious as this, but it was far from what she considered cozy.

“It’s beautiful,” Mae said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

There was a knock on the door frame.  Beck was standing there looking like perfection incarnate, only this time the palatial surroundings amplified his god-like attributes.

“I thought I would give you a tour of the house,” he said, leaning against the doorframe.

One look at him was all it took for Mae to abandon her conversation with Gemma.  “I would appreciate that immensely,” she said, anxious to see the rest of his palace.

He showed her some of the other bedrooms, in case she did not like the one he had chosen for her.  The other rooms were just as beautifully decorated, but Mae liked the color of the room he had picked.  They walked for what seem like a mile, when he stopped at a set of massive double doors.

“This is my room,” he said, opening the doors to the most magnificent bedroom of all.

She wished his room was not so far away from hers and wondered if that was intentional.  He showed her around the rest of the house, which seemed to have a room for everything.  Now it made sense why Beck ordered three chandeliers for the dining room, as well as how Gemma got lost earlier.  He ended his tour in a room that had computers and large monitors set up.  The décor was different from the rest of the house, looking more like command central for the space shuttle with a touch of IKEA.  There were electronics everywhere, but it was still cozy.

“This is the computer room, and my favorite room in the house,” he said, kicking back in one of the gaming chairs.

Mae flopped down in a beanbag chair next to him.  “It’s my favorite room too,” she concurred.

Beck laughed at her remark.  “I thought you would be into that ridiculously opulent décor throughout the rest of the house.”  The sarcasm lacing his voice sounded playful.

“As beautiful as it is, I find it uptight.  On the other hand, this is far more comfortable.  I feel like I can be myself here and not pretend to be someone I am not,” she said in a melancholy tone.  His home made her feel out of place, but she wished she did not sound as though she were being ungrateful.

“I do not want you to be anyone other than who you are Mae, whether you are in this room or any other room in this house.  I want you to feel at home here,” Beck said leaning over and kissing her cheek.  “I want to show you something I think you might appreciate.”  He got up and grabbed a couple of software boxes from a computer desk.  He smiled, tossing one of the boxes to her.

“What is this?” she asked as she looked over the box.  “Is this what I think it is?”  Mae’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas day.

”Diablo III,” he said raising his eyebrows.  “Do not get too excited; it is only the beta version.”

“How in the word did you manage to get your hands on these?  I have been waiting years for this game to be released.”

“I have a few connections at Blizzard,” he stated, as if to impress.

“This is so cool!” she exclaimed, jumping up and hugging him.

“It is getting late, so the games will have to wait until tomorrow.”

Mae made a frown and pouted at him.  “Okay, but tomorrow we play.”

~~~***~~~

After the day’s adventure, Mae was glad to take a shower. She was still feeling a bit sticky from all the whiskey and beer she drank earlier.  The shower was big enough to fit a whole family in and the acoustics were incredible.  Soon, she found herself singing Adiemus just so she could hear her voice echo off the long shower wall.  “Today was the most incredible day of my life,” she thought.  Beck turned out to be far more down to earth than she could ever have imagined, but Aidan’s touch still lingered in the back of her mind, as she let the hot water stream over her.

Beck stood in the hallway.  He was checking to see if the girls needed anything before he turned in for the night.  When he heard Mae singing in the shower, he stopped to listen.  Her voice was beautiful, like a siren’s song luring him to his demise.  Mae had a certain fire about her; she was spontaneous and loved the same things he did.  She was the complete opposite of Helen and her reserved demeanor.  He never could have imagined Helen doing any of the things he and Mae did and it left him feeling somewhat guilty to have enjoyed it so much.  The shower stopped and Beck quickly departed not wanting her to know he was listening.

Mae put on the plaid pajama bottoms and t-shirt she stole from Beck’s apartment, his scent still lingered on them and it made her think of the kiss they shared in the car earlier.  She smiled just thinking about it and could not wait for more stolen moments with him.  “Next time I will not let him stop me so easily,” she thought.   The house seemed very quiet.  Gemma and Meredith must have already gone to bed…so she did the same.

Beck lay in bed tossing and turning, his actions from the day mentally replaying.  It was the first time in over thirty five hundred years that anyone other than Helen had stolen his heart.  He betrayed Helen by getting close to Mae and now he stood at the cross-roads unable to choose.  How could he tell Mae about Helen?  Mae would leave him and never look back if she found out the real reason he brought her to Ireland.  How could she forgive a man who was so ready to wipe her from her existence on earth?  His heart screamed in anguish as his emotions kept him feeling confused and twisted.  Unable to sleep, he walked the grounds looking for something to ease his self-imposed torment.  He decided a blood feeding might be the very drug needed to numb him from his own despair.

Beck snuck back in just as the sun was coming up, he was covered with the blood of some poor local girl who was all too willing to let him feed on her.  His stomach was lurching from the previous night’s indiscretion, as she was not completely human, her blood having enough Nauss blood to almost qualify her as a witch.  His fix was long gone and regret quickly took its place as he made his way to his room.  He stepped into the shower fully clothed, needing to wash away the evidence before anyone found out what he had done.  As soon as he reached for the handles to turn the water on, uncontrollable nausea consumed him.  He doubled over in pain and spewed the bloody contents of his stomach.

~~~***~~~

It was barely morning when Aidan noticed Beck stumbling across the lawn.  Something was terribly wrong with this picture, so he followed Beck unseen into the house and up the stairs.  When he got to Beck’s room, he found the doors were locked.  He was about to turn away and leave, not wanting to invade his friend’s privacy, when he heard a crash from within.  Aidan used magic to unlock the door and ran to the bathroom where his friend lay unconscious on the shower floor in a pool of blood.  Aidan felt panicked, he had never seen Beck like this.  He kneeled next to Beck and shook his shoulders calling his name.

“Come on Beck, wake up!” he shouted to his unresponsive friend.  Aidan reached over and turned the water on, it was ice cold and the shock of it made Beck stir.  Soon the water warmed and Beck opened his eyes, his head resting on Aidan’s lap.

“Just kill me now,” Beck whispered looking up at his friend.  His body was wracked with gut-wrenching pain, making him cry out in agony.

“I don’t want to hear any of your crazy talk right now, Beck.  You and I will have a man to man talk later, for now let’s just get you cleaned up.”  Aidan knew it would be his turn to be the voice of reason, like Beck had always been for him.  “My magic doesn’t work on you.  Otherwise I might be able to help with the pain.  Meredith is good with herbs, I’ll get her to make something for you.”

Aidan helped Beck clean himself up.  He carried his friend to bed and brought him the trash can from the bathroom, in case he got sick again.  He cleaned the bathroom not wanting the housekeepers to see the bloody mess Beck had left behind.  He quickly bundled all the blood soaked-towels and clothes into a duffel bag from Beck’s closet and disposed of them in the rubbish bin outside.  It was the first time in their long friendship that Beck was the one having to be cleaned-up after.  Aidan was definitely going to find the underlying cause of his friend’s strange behavior.