The Vampires' Birthright (24 page)

Sounded better… until I thought about the Chinese dragons. They seemed quite fond of broad daylight.

“Ha! I suppose that could be possible, but not in the country we’ll be visiting next,” he said, chuckling for a moment. “There are only a few areas of the world where vampires have evolved to shapeshift like them.”

“Does that mean you can’t shapeshift where we’re going either?”

Honestly, I couldn’t help myself. My own tiredness left the filter between brain and mouth completely disabled. If a thought came to me, most likely I’d send it on through my lips unchecked. Of course, since my mind was still an open book to them, it was irrelevant anyway.

“Yes, I can always shift,” he said, “And, so could any other vampire that has the ability. It doesn’t matter where we are for it to happen. Having said that, I can assure you of this: no one with my ability, or Xuanxang’s ability―or any other shifter resides in the land where we’ll soon arrive. There are reasons for this I can’t go into, without starting a conversation that will likely still be going on when we land. In just telling you this much, it is likely I have given a clue to our enemy as to our destination. You need your sleep, Txema, to avoid serious jetlag. You should retire soon, and I can provide a safe sleep aid should you need it.”

As much as I thought a sedative would be nice, I decided against it. The others were steadily becoming calmer, so Kazikli’s elixir was working. However, the main two reasons I turned it down were both because of Alaia. First, I wasn’t sure how this sedative might pass through my body and on to her through my milk. I doubted Kazikli had run his homebrew sedatives through the FDA and while I trusted him with my life, I was still an overprotective mommy. As for the second reason, I didn’t want to be dead to the world should she need me. Her feeding times were becoming more spread out instead of the ‘every three hours’ routine she had previously settled into. But, still, I couldn’t bear the thought of not being there for her if something went wrong. After all, our shared birthmark had already enacted a prolonged version of Murphy’s Law… at least for me.

Which brought to mind something that had haunted me since shortly after Alaia’s birth.

“I think I’ll pass on the sedative, Kazikli,” I said. “But I do have a concern that’s been on my mind the past few days. When will vampires resume feeding on my blood?”

He grew serious for a moment, as he considered my question, which only added to my unease concerning the subject of my blood and how it affected the immortality of more than three hundred vampires. Even if each one only needed to feed from me once a year, that meant almost nightly visitations, and I pictured myself in some kind of old Hammer Horror film, the poor damsel in billowy white nightgown, being visited each night by a different fiend. Only in this movie, I was the one doing the rescuing and it was the monsters who were in distress. Frankly, the notion that they could all deteriorate into an army of near mindless monsters if deprived of my blood was an extremely heavy burden to bear. Not to mention it came with many terrifying considerations. Like, what if there wasn’t enough of me to go around for everyone? Would I be rationed off until I died? Or, worse yet, suppose a vampire like the one who had threatened me desired to drain me dead while gaining several centuries of virtual youth for only himself. With as many hateful looks as I endured back in China, and along the Kosi River in Nepal, that fear seemed well founded.

“It’s true that many are ready to begin the ‘restoration plan’ of invigorating our perpetual youthfulness by taking miniscule amounts of your blood, and to do this every few years instead of every few decades,” he said, meeting my worried gaze head on with his solemn one. No bullshit here, so far. “In that way, we can more carefully monitor how much is taken at one time and prevent an accidental death.”

“By draining too much of my blood at one time?”

“Yes,” he said. “And that can also happen if too many feedings take place without allowing enough time for your body to recover adequately.”

Oh joy.

“What about someone taking more than they should? What protection would I have against that?”

“The same protection you have now.” He motioned to the others, and although they all seemed preoccupied, I assumed they were listening to our conversation. “The bond that we share with you and your kind is an eternal one that we not only wish to protect from extinction, but it goes much deeper than that―especially for you and even Alaia. I’m sure I speak for all of us gathered here tonight in saying that we love you, Txema. As each of us knows that word. It is in our blood the same way love is a chemical reaction in the brain of a human. It is beyond that, in the same way love is beyond mere brain chemistry in the case of human love. We will do whatever it takes to keep you out of harm’s way. Even if it comes down to killing comrades we’ve been close to for hundreds of years. Yours and Alaia’s well-being must always come first.”

Small pinkish tears formed in the corners of his eyes, and he looked away.

“Well, if you decide you do need something to help you sleep, let me know,” he said, after abruptly standing. “I need to check on our progress and call ahead to our associates at our landing point, in order to ensure everything is fully taken care of upon our arrival.”

He disappeared before I could say another word. I assumed the soft double-clicking noise I heard was the door to the plane’s cockpit opening and closing at the speed of a camera shutter. I glanced around me. Everyone else was still preoccupied with whatever they were doing. At least there was cohesiveness, and the strife I witnessed earlier had truly dissipated.

After taking care of Alaia, who was ready for a diaper change and feeding (I guess now that I think of it she isn’t all that different from a vampire herself at times), I held her close to me. We smiled at each other and she seemed very much at peace, cooing a little more than usual as if she were trying to converse with me. I gently stroked her fine, dark brown hair that seemed to be getting noticeably fuller each day. Finally, she nodded off and we both fell asleep.

When I awoke, the vampires were busy moving about the plane, talking hurriedly amongst themselves. At first I thought this was due to the effects from the elixir they drank wearing off. But then I realized we weren’t moving.

The plane had landed.

“Is everything okay?” I said to Chanson, who seemed the busiest. One moment she was checking her laptop, and the next she had disappeared. A moment later, she appeared at my side, put her hand on my arm and gave me that wan smile of hers that meant her plans were moving along nicely.

“Yes, everything is fine,” she said. “Or, maybe I should say that everything is going according to plan.” She disappeared again. I grinned to myself. Who needed to read minds when you could pay attention?

“Why are you
all
running around like this?”

Every time I tried to focus on one individual, they’d disappear like Chanson had. As I sat observing this craziness, heavy
thumps
came from the section behind the passenger cabin. The noise was loud enough to awaken Alaia, whose gaze soon mimicked mine as she tried to follow the movements of one vampire after another flitting about.

“Okay, the caskets are all in a row now, so once dawn gets here we can all jump into our beds and put an end to this marathon nonsense!” Armando announced. He looked over at Alaia and me. My daughter cooed, and she kicked her legs as if she wanted to run over to him. “Welcome to Nashville, Tennessee, li’l darlin’!” he drawled.

“Nashville?”

“Uh-huh, that’s what I done just told y’all,” he said, and walked over to us with the bull-legged strut made famous long ago by John Wayne. He gently picked up my daughter while continuing his antics. “That’s why I’ve been busier than a fox in a goddamned hen house gettin’ our beds ready for sun-up. Even though you can’t see nothin’ yet ‘cause it’s two-fifty-five a.m. and dark as hell out yonder, you damn well know that ole rooster’s gonna crow his li’l ass off sometime in the next two and a half hours… at least by my reckonin’ that’s what he’ll do!”

If not for the shocking news, I might’ve joined Tyreen and Raquel as they paused to laugh at him. But despite Armando’s seemingly limitless bag of bad jokes, I had far too many questions as to why this city had been chosen above all others as our plane’s destination. I mean, we had been traveling for damn near nineteen hours straight without a break. So why in the hell Nashville over anyplace else?

“Because of what’s here,” said Kazikli, reminding me once more that my thoughts were an open book to any vampire on the plane. Or the planet. I had been unaware of his presence in the room, although I doubt he ever moved from his seat in the back corner to my right. I just hadn’t noticed him yet. Like Chanson, his laptop was open and he appeared to be reading something important. Something with serious implications, I gathered, since he wasn’t smiling and looked worried. “Or, I should say
who’s
here.”

“What do you mean?” I said. “We’re not talking about Ralu again are we?”

“No. At least not yet,” he said. “And we certainly would never have picked someplace he could easily access. Which is very good for us, since you only need today in order to tie up some loose ends in your life.”

“Well, if that’s why we came here, why didn’t we fly to Richmond instead?” I couldn’t control my rising sharp tone or the lump of indignation I felt forming inside my throat. “That’s where my family is, and until I see them and introduce them to my daughter, there will always be loose ends―
terrible
loose ends, especially if Grandma Terese never gets to meet my baby girl before she leaves this life!”

I looked around the cabin for support, but only found Tyreen’s quivering lips and misty eyes to back me up. Despite her empathy for me, and my situation, I knew her tears and sadness were for her own loss of contact with those she dearly loved and was forced to leave behind. We had briefly discussed this when it became obvious we would have to leave Nepal and be on the run from Ralu once more. Her parents and boyfriend still lived in Atlanta, an hour’s flight south from Nashville. That was even closer to where we were as compared to Richmond.

“It’s not out of the question that we might find a way for you to see your family, as well as other loved ones on this trip,” said Kazikli, turning off his laptop and closing it when I stood and moved toward him. He appeared in front of me, and I almost ran into his chest. “But you’ll need your rest―at least five or six more hours of sleep―for the long and busy day ahead of you, Txema.”

“But, I’ve slept almost eight hours,” I said. “Even Alaia doesn’t seem ready for a nap anytime soon. Besides, I’m getting hungry and she will likely be hungry again in the next few hours.”

I pointed at Alaia as she was busy trying to grab Armando’s face while he gently bounced her in his arms.

“Your daughter isn’t the one I’m worried about, and if you’d like, we can have Racco’s chef fix her another bottle and then we can entertain her until dawn.” Kazikli fixed his eyes on mine and his voice let me know that this wasn’t a discussion. “Now I want you to lie down once more and try not to fight the urge to sleep. Your desire to eat can wait… you will be fine.”

As crazy as it sounds, I started to feel drowsy again, and the more tired I got the less I cared about eating. I don’t think I was hypnotized, but Kazikli’s words definitely carried some sort of magic. As I looked for my chair, Chanson and Nora had already reclined it and had retrieved blankets from somewhere else on the plane. I was badly outnumbered, and my own body and mind had betrayed me, as well. Like it or not, I was going back to sleep.

“I have already picked out a…a ‘nice’ outfit for you, cousin,” said Chanson, after she had tucked me in. “It will be waiting for you in the plane’s bathroom when you awaken. Once you have bathed, you’ll find the makeup items you prefer in the vanity. All right?”

“Okay,” I said, picturing the layout of the bathroom in my mind, although it was getting harder to hang on to consciousness.

“And, this is your purse,” said Nora, holding up a small beige Bottega Veneta handbag. “Remember that your passport and two thousand dollars in cash is inside. You shouldn’t need to use much of the cash for this excursion, but the passport will be a necessity. A limousine will pick you up outside the hangar we will be staying at, and it will arrive at 11:30 a.m. sharp. Your alarm will wake you to get ready at ten o’clock, leaving you plenty of time to get dolled up.”

“How did you get a passport without me filling out anything or taking m-my… pic-picture?”

It was getting harder and harder for me to focus.

“The same way dishonest humans do it,” said Kazikli, his image getting dimmer. He was standing next to Nora, I think. “We had it forged months ago for such an occasion as this.”

He sounded like he was quite pleased and proud of himself, and he chuckled, but I could no longer see him.

“Rest, Txema, rest and know that we’ll be waiting for you when you come back,” said Garvan. His cool fingers massaged my temples and I closed my eyes. It felt really good, and I wanted to tell him not to stop. For once, I was glad they could read my mind, so I just thought it.