Blood Descendants (St. Clair Vampires Book 1) (7 page)

The foyer of the house
was amazing. The ceiling was four stories high with a huge crystal
chandelier in the center. There was a large table under the
chandelier where a vase of red Calla Lilies sat. Calla Lilies were my
favorite flower, but I had never seen them in this color and was
drawn to touch them. Their petals were as soft as they looked and the
fresh smell of pollen rose to tickle my nose. As I stood near the
table admiring the flowers a door to our left opened and three
massive dogs stepped out.

I had never had a fear
of dogs, but these were more like horses. Their backs were about
waist high and their heads came up to my shoulders. They didn’t
walk too far out of the room before they stopped and sat down. Behind
them was a tall dignified man in a black tunic and matching linen
pants.

“
Good
Evening”, he said with a very strange accent. I thought it was
African but he looked as pale as Tabitha did.

“
My
name is Samuel and I am at your disposal. You must want to freshen
up”, he continued, extending a hand toward the massive
staircase to his left.

I fell in step behind
Samuel as he led the way. The stairs were large slabs of white marble
and it took me three strides to get from one to another. The hand
carved smooth cherry wood hand rail had lilies carved into the
spindles at intervals of three. It was simply breathtaking.

We continued up the
stairs until we reached the landing of what I was sure was the third
floor. We stopped in front of a pair of double doors and waited while
Samuel unlocked and opened them. The room beyond the doors was as
large as my entire house in New Mexico. There was a floor to ceiling
fireplace to the right and an assortment of comfortable furniture in
front of it. On the left side of the room was a kitchenette with
stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops. The floors of
the room were a deep brown hardwood that was so shiny that I would
have been able to see my reflection had the lighting not been so low.
This room was amazing.

Samuel had continued to
the far side of the room and pulled back the heavy draperies. The
moonlight revealed a four poster bed at the rear of the room. The
bed, being about two feet off of the ground, had a set of stairs on
the side for easy access. A deep red velvet coverlet and several
pillows in various shades of gold gave the room a relaxing and
welcoming feeling. On either side of the bed, there were antique side
tables holding identical ornate lamps.

The sound of claws on
the floor drew my attention to the three massive dogs entering the
room. They each took up sentry on the Persian rug in front of the
fire place. Samuel continued to ready the room for occupancy and had
opened a door leading to the most amazing bathroom I had ever seen in
my life. Just by looking at the sunken jetted tub made me feel a
little bit cleaner.

He started to fill
bathtub then turned around and left the room leaving me standing in
the middle of the massive room not knowing what to do. Certain that I
would wake up at any time and be back on the bus next to a sleeping
old lady, I closed my eyes and held my breath. I was snapped out of
my mental reverie by sudden movement. The three dogs were standing
with the hairs standing up on their backs, looking towards the large
windows at the rear of the room as if they sensed something out
there.

“
Solomon”,
Tabitha said, scaring me a little since I forgot they were there.

Solomon turned on his
heels and swiftly left the room with one of the three dogs trailing
him. The other two dogs stayed in the room, one placing itself near
the window and the other walking over to the bathroom door and lying
down. The entire scene felt orchestrated and rehearsed and it made me
uneasy.

“
Cheyenne,
why don’t you get yourself cleaned up and then I will get you
something to eat.”

Tabitha was not asking
me if this was a good idea, she had simply given me an order in the
nicest possible way. Every instinct in my body told me to run from
the room screaming. These were not normal events for a 17 year old.
What kind of mess had I gotten myself into?

I looked at Tabitha for
some type of sign that all was well and noticed again that her smile
never made it to her eyes. This time, however, instead of looking
predatory like they had when looking at Raphael, her eyes now looked
concerned. She took a step toward me, but stopped when the beast near
the bathroom door growled softly.

“
Cheyenne,
there is a lot that I want to tell you but I can’t. All I can
do is be your friend. The bath water is ready. You should be able to
find some clothes in the closet.”

She stood there for a
moment before she bowed in my direction and walked out of the room,
leaving me with the two remaining dogs and a ton of questions.

I debated jumping from
the window and taking my chances with the fall and whatever it was
that made Solomon rush from the room. I stood there debating until
the sound of large dog claws on a highly shined floor brought my
attention back to the glorious bathroom and the water that was
dangerously close to spilling over onto the floor. I quickly turned
the faucet off and released some of the water down the drain so that
the jets could be turned on without getting water on the floor. I
closed the door, undressed and sank into the best bath I knew I would
ever have.

As I lay in the tub
washing the grim and dog mess off of me, I began to plan my next
move. I would demand to know what was going on and how it had
anything to do with me. I needed to know who I was and why my name
was in a book of Efia’s descendants. Why were people chasing
me? Why did they want to kill Tabitha? And this house, these dogs and
Samuel? I wanted answers.

With my resolve firmly
in place and my body free of anything smelly and gross, I stepped out
of the tub and reached for a towel. I walked through the bathroom
towards the closet to see if there was a pair of sweats or a robe or
anything, really. Once I was able to find the light in the closet, I
almost gasped at the amount of clothing it contained. Everything was
color-coded and hung on wooden hangers. Each section was divided by
length of the garments as well as the season they should be worn in.
This would be my dream closet if everything in it was a size 8 long.

I sighed at the thought
that the items in the closet were obviously Tabitha’s. I was
going to look like I was wearing my little’s sister’s
clothes. I went to the dresser that sat in the middle of the closet
and opened the top drawer. On top of the delicate under garments was
a note. “Cheyenne, make yourself at home, Efia.” I read
the note twice, turning it over to make sure I hadn’t missed
anything, then picked up a pair of panties that were just my size. I
would have thought it was a coincidence if the bras had not also been
my size. I ran over to the wall of clothes and began grabbing items
off of the hangers, squealing in excitement when I noticed that they
were all my size: 8 long. And then came the feeling of dread. What
was going on?

There was a hard series
of knocks on the bathroom door. From the closet I could see Samuel
backing his way into the room so that he did not offend my
sensibilities. He sat a tray of what looked like tea and cookies on
the vanity and went back out the way he came. The door was left open
and the large dog came in, sniffed the air and turned to look me
directly in the eyes.

I stared at the dog not
knowing what to do or if I was in danger. As if it sensed my dilemma,
the dog lowered itself to the ground and lay on its back. From what I
had watched on National Geographic and the Dog Whisperer, I knew that
this was a sign of submissiveness. Even so, a submissive 200lb dog
was still a 200lb dog. I approached slowly and scratched it behind
the ears before rubbing its stomach. I noticed a heavy chain around
the dog’s neck and looked at the tag that was hanging there.
Her name was Artemis after the Greek goddess of the hunt: an
appropriate name for such a powerful dog.

As I stood up and
turned to get dressed, Artemis followed me to the closet and sat in
the entrance. I wondered if she was there to watch me, but couldn’t
tell if it was to keep me safe or keep me from leaving.

“
Artemis,
what’s going on here?” I asked the dog.

Artemis’ head
turned toward me and her eyes glistened as if she truly understood
what I was asking her. After a moment, she tilted her massive chin in
the direction of the clothes I had yet to put on as if telling me to
hurry up. On cue, the other large dog entered the bathroom looking at
the two of us as if we were late for something important.

“
I’m
coming”, I said, feeling silly that I was talking to the dogs,
but the dog at the door promptly left when I made my statement. They
must have been trained really well, I thought. These dogs certainly
weren’t stupid.

I returned to the job
of getting dressed in a set of black sweats while Artemis cleaned her
front paws. She was actually quite an amazing animal. Her short coat
was the color of caramel and she had a white patch on her chest. Her
eyes were that brownish-yellow that dogs have and which made them
look really mean and her ears and tail were cut and she reminded me
of a huge Pitbull. After I dressed, I knelt next to her and rubbed
her shiny soft coat. She lifted her head and placed it on my shoulder
and exhaled. What a great dog.

When we walked out of
the bathroom the remaining dog completed the same submissive
maneuvers that Artemis had and I was able to read his tag. His name
was Apollo, the Greek sun god among other things, and Artemis’
twin. I wondered if these two dogs were actually twins. They
certainly looked alike except that Apollo was larger than Artemis. I
rubbed his belly and scratched him behind the ears before we rose
together and headed for the door.

The two dogs acted as
escorts, one on either side, guiding me as we walked down the hallway
toward the stairs. I assumed that they were trained in some type of
search and rescue school as they led me all of the way downstairs and
to an enormous kitchen. There were two dark granite islands, both
with bar stools on one end. The gas range was an industrial monster
with 8 burners and a grill. I counted three ovens, two stainless
steel fridges, two dishwashers and a microwave over the range.

I stopped in the
entrance and felt Artemis lean on my legs in agreement. We stood
there while Apollo walked forward causing the occupants of the
kitchen to quiet and turn to face us. In unison all of them did a
quick bow, put their hands behind their backs and cast their eyes
downward. There were about seven of them of all genders, all ages and
all nationalities. All of them were wearing the same blood red tunic
and pants with black shoes. The pants had perfect creases from mid
thigh all of the way to the ground. They wore varying styles. The
ladies’ tunics had pockets in the front and the men had side
pockets that you could only see if they put their hand there. In
addition to the uniform, each of the people standing before me wore a
black 2 ½ inch suede choker with a red calligraphy initial on
it.

“
I
see that you’ve found the kitchen”, Tabitha said.

Her silent appearances
were really starting to get on my last nerve. She walked toward
Apollo, and knelt to scratch him behind the ears. As she stood, a
girl about my age walked toward her reaching behind her neck to the
clasp on the choker. Tabitha’s eyes widened and she gave a
slight shake of her head as the girl’s hand fell from the
choker and returned to rest behind her back. I looked closer at the
girl's choker and the initial on the choker was a ‘T’.
Could each person in this house have a personal assistant? That
seemed odd.

“
You
like Artemis? She’s a good dog”, Tabitha continued as if
nothing had happened.

I looked down and
realized that I had been rubbing the dog’s massive head ever
since entering the kitchen. Something about her presence made me feel
a lot calmer than I should under these circumstances. Artemis met my
gaze. Her golden eyes looked intelligent and supportive; like she
would be there whenever I needed her. I knew that I was reading more
into the dog’s agenda because I had no family of my own. Of
course I would read the simplest of signs as evidence of undying love
and support. Even so, something about this 200lb dog made me feel
less alone.

“
Yes”,
I said. “She’s a very good, very large dog.”

“
Gigantic
is more like it”, Tabitha laughed. “Efia doesn’t do
anything on a small scale.”

“
Where
is Efia?” I demanded.

I
looked up at the collective gasp that came from the red uniformed
staff. It was the quietest of sounds and I probably would not have
heard it had I not been on edge the way that I was. I glanced at
Tabitha only to see that she was looking at the red clad people with
a look so chastising that I took an involuntary step back.

“
Efia”,
Tabitha said without looking away from the group, “is around.”

She was speaking more
to the group than to me so I took this time to study their faces.
Each of them was attractive and healthy looking. Their skin was
flawless, even the teenagers. There were black, brown, olive and
pale-peach colored skin amongst them, making it seem like the United
Nations assembled before me. All the different colors, heights and
ages made for a beautiful picture of humanity.

Solomon and the third
massive dog entered the kitchen, breaking up some of the tension
between Tabitha and the red uniformed people. Artemis and Apollo
chose that time to walk all of the way through the kitchen and
disappear through specialized a door that opened when they
approached. Solomon tilted his head in acknowledgment of Tabitha and
then toward me before walking to the massive refrigerator.