Authors: Aiden James
“It may take a day or so to get used to the lack of privacy,” he admitted, and I knew then that he’d been studying my reaction as I moved through the room. “But remember, other than my staff, you and I are the only human beings here. My employees will only visit your room when you want them to do so, and will otherwise stick to their quarters on the other side of the palace.”
Well, that made me feel a little better about it.
“I want to thank you, Racco, for saving our lives,” I told him, voicing my conclusion to what surely would’ve happened to me and Alaia if he had not come to rescue us unwittingly in Nashville. If Racco hadn’t sought immediate resolution of where our relationship stood, Ralu would’ve surely made good on his threats to kill us.
I walked over and gave him a hug, and then I kissed him on his cheek. But I also pulled away before he could seek more. His expression was a curious mixture of disappointment and regret, as if he could’ve somehow prevented the series of events that started with his banishment from Peter’s and my Relance de sang last November.
“Give me time to sort things out,” I said, trying to be gentle. “My heart has been through a lot, and it’s not only my heart’s welfare that I must consider.”
He nodded thoughtfully while alternating his somber gaze between Alaia and me.
“I’ll give you as long as you need,” he said finally. “But, remember that I’m not like the vampires. I can’t read your mind. So, when things change in your heart, you must tell me, and not keep me guessing.”
“That’s fair,” I said, and reached out my hand to grasp his. “I promise you’ll be the first to know when my heart is free again.”
He smiled weakly and then left. I thought I might stay up until Chanson and the others returned. But after feeding and changing Alaia, my eyes grew progressively heavier, and I ended up falling asleep with her in my arms. It was the last thing I recalled when I awoke the next morning.
Chapter 19
The birds were what woke me the next morning. There were three of them sitting on one of the marble railings, and they looked like small green parakeets with crimson rings around their necks. They chirped merrily to one another and flew away once I sat up in my bed.
Someone had visited my room after I fell asleep, as a pink blouse and white shorts had been laid on a chair across from my bed, and white sandals sat next to the chair. There was also a small pink and white onesie for Alaia.
I must admit that receiving such attention has always calmed my uneasiness since my vampire adventures began last year. Especially since every time something’s been left it has always been a perfect fit. That morning, I immediately felt better about Alaia’s and my situation, and it didn’t hurt when a cool breeze from the ocean neutralized the tropic heat in my room.
I felt exhilarated, and ready to face the day.
Even Alaia seemed excited, giggling as I spent a few minutes playing peek-a-boo with her. After taking care of her needs and dressing her in her latest outfit, I laid my bedclothes on the floor and headed for the exposed shower that stood just outside my bathroom. All the while I wondered if any peeping toms were watching from some remote place. At least the water was incredible…. It felt so warm and gentle that I would’ve loved to linger under the light spray if not for the paranoia I felt. Still, I looked forward to how wonderful this experience could be once I got over the fact it was right out in the open. Once dressed, with only light makeup that morning, I picked up my daughter and we exited the room…hoping to find other human beings for conversation and definitely something to eat.
When we arrived downstairs, I heard the sound of a harp being played. The harpist was quite skilled, although the hauntingly beautiful music was unfamiliar to me. I followed the music, which took me past the reception area and through a small alcove as it grew louder. When I stepped out of the alcove, I immediately gasped.
Despite the palace’s lavish luxury, I didn’t expect to step into an enormous garden, featuring a wide variety of exotic flowering trees and plants. The top of the immense room was enclosed in glassed sections contained within a sprawling white marble frame, and the sides were left open—much like my bedroom. Supporting the ceiling and jutting up along the sides of this garden were huge white marble pillars, each one adorned with intricate gold designs. In the midst of this marvelous place sat a beautiful blue lagoon, with a fabulous golden fountain in the middle that was a collage of Hindu sculptured deities.
Similar to the much smaller pool inside the palace, a pair of natural waterfalls fed the lagoon. But all of this was not what caused my astonishment.
Surrounding the lagoon were a number of marble pedestals, with the largest ones perched between the waterfalls. And, sitting upon these pedestals were a variety of large predatory felines.
A male lion sat on the tallest one, and his lioness mate was perched slightly below him. A pair of white tigers sat on pedestals to either side of the lions, and further away on either side of the waterfalls sat two jaguars—one black and one white—a cheetah, and two spotted leopards.
All were lounging, as if in a zoo exhibit or resting between circus performances, but none of the animals seemed forced into this arrangement. They could easily jump down from their pedestals and race around the lagoon to reach me in a matter of seconds. From where I stood, I could see the top of the harp just below the lion, and openly wondered what kind of idiot would have a death wish to play music in such close proximity to one of mankind’s most feared predators.
“They take turns playing it, since the harp itself is shaded from the sun,” said a familiar voice.
I whirled around to where Racco stood, less than twenty feet to my right. His dimpled smile was fed by some amusement, as surely he observed my awed expression from the moment I stepped outside of the palace’s main building. Standing in the shade from a mangrove tree, his form-fitting attire tugged upon my heartstrings and libido. I think I mentioned long ago that he’d look sexy wearing a burlap sack. The khaki shorts and short-sleeve safari shirt opened halfway down his chest did a hell of a lot better job than that, and as he walked over to where I stood my heart began to beat faster.
“Well, good morning to you, too!” I said, while I sought to protect my emotions from the sudden flurry of my hormones. “And, who are ‘they’ that you’re referring to?”
“Why, our hosts of course!” he gleefully responded. “But you can’t really see much from here. Allow me to escort you to a table with a fine view of our breakfast entertainment!”
He held out his arm for me to take, as if he was an usher at an ancient airy cathedral, and I was a little old lady in need of support. I’m sure it was all in fun. I slid my hand down the length of his muscular arm and grasped his hand instead. He paused to study my yearning expression, allowing his smile to widen slightly, and then he proceeded to lead me along a marble path toward the lagoon.
The exotic melody along with the soft crash of the waterfalls was further enhanced by a myriad of birds singing from the upper branches of immense coconut palms that surrounded us. We soon arrived at a table under a tasseled umbrella, and Mercel stood by a wooden chair already pulled out for me. Attired similarly to Racco, he lacked the skittishness I saw the last time he prepared a meal for me, at Xu Zheng Palace’s ballroom on Christmas Eve. He seemed perfectly at ease, despite the presence of dangerous big cats on the loose nearby.
“We had a little batter left over from yesterday…would you like a freshly baked crepe?” said Mercel, motioning to a small stand set up next to the table. “It could be the last one for a little while, until we get our first shipment of cooking supplies and other necessities from the Indian mainland in a few days.”
“Sure, why the hell not!” I added a playful smile while I handed him the empty plate set before me. “I’m feeling really hungry this morning, so if you don’t mind I’ll take a couple. Oh, and can we get something for Alaia…is there anymore formula available from the plane?”
“Mademoiselle, you are in luck,” he said. “Racco made sure we brought extra formula and powdered milk….”
I completely missed whatever he said after that. Following a slight nudge from Racco, who had taken his seat next to me, my attention was drawn to the harpist located directly across from us, on the other side of the narrowest section of the lagoon.
“No fucking way,” I whispered, as I watched him gracefully work the strings, relying on obvious supernatural skills to move his fingers so swiftly across the strings that it was nearly impossible to define the pattern. It made better sense to focus on the face and not the blur…the face of one of the young male vampires from last night. “Shouldn’t he be exploding into flames at any moment?”
“Didn’t I tell you these vampires are different?” taunted Racco—turning impish once I shot him a warning look. “They can stand some daylight, but only in small amounts before they have to switch places with another.”
“How can they do that if only one of them is out here in the sunshine?”
“Shush! ...They are already preparing to make a change. Abhaya is getting ready to relieve Aadi,” he advised, while taking his traditional half crepe from Mercel. I could almost hear him go ‘oink-oink’ when he looked at the two hefty crepes laden with crème and mango slices on my plate.
“Where is Abhaya?…I only see the lone vampire,” I said, taking a small bite from my crepe. As if that would somehow make me seem daintier. Meanwhile, Mercel left to prepare a bottle for my baby girl. I was about to say something smart-ass about Racco’s middle-aged eyesight when I noticed the vampire named Aadi had started to look uncomfortable. Light steam rose from his body as if he was being cooked at a hotter temperature than our French pancakes.
“What the fu...?”
I couldn’t even finish my ‘unladylike’ comment. Nor could I say anything else, at least until the transformations I witnessed had fully registered in my brain.
Before Aadi could begin to combust, the white jaguar climbed down from its perch and trotted over to the where the harp sat, and by the time the feline reached it the jaguar had disappeared…and the vampire Abhaya took its place. The shift took place so fast that my human eyes couldn’t discern how it happened, only seeing the finished transformation!
Meanwhile, Aadi had somehow disappeared. But I was pretty damned sure that he had shifted into an albino cheetah that soon climbed atop the marble pedestal that Abhaya in his jaguar form had vacated moments earlier.
“That’s unbelievable,” I said to Racco, who smiled proudly in response. Abhaya began to play a new song, and he looked at us knowingly as he worked his musical magic upon the harp. This time I did recognize the piece…one of Mozart’s piano concertos. “It’s all so incredibly un-
fucking
unbelievable!”
“They are the ultimate vampire family, since to my knowledge these are the only ones who are afflicted this way,” he said, after nodding thoughtfully to my ruffian observation. “Nearly thirteen hundred years ago, Koimala searched the entire world for others like himself. Most of the vampires are sort of locally grown, so to speak.” He laughed. “The warriors and his lover, Mohini, came from an island in the Pacific that has long since been underwater, and was once the capital province for the lost continent of Mu.”
Mercel arrived with a bottle for my baby, which curtailed this discussion for a few minutes. After Alaia was content and I had a chance to make a bigger dent in my breakfast, I asked the foremost questions I’d been thinking about.
“So, I assume the rest of the felines across the way are Koimala and everyone else, correct?”
“Yes, of course,” he said.
“Can you tell me who’s who?”
“Well, let’s see…. The lions of course, are Koimala and his queen, Mohini. The tigers are Bhima and Chatur, and the black jaguar is Ravana. The rest often interchange with one another, but they are the girls and boys in the group.”
The male lion, which had been staring at us for the past few minutes, jumped down from the highest pedestal. It roared mutedly while shaking its mane, and then it rubbed noses with the lioness. I turned to Racco again to comment on the love connection between Koimala and Mohini, when suddenly Koimala appeared before us under the umbrella. I glanced across the way, and the lion had disappeared.
“Txema, how wonderful to see you!” he enthused. “I see that Racco is bringing you up to speed on how things work around here!”
I just happened to notice he was entirely naked, which I should’ve figured would happen after Abhaya shifted from his panther self to a stark nude young stud.
“If you’re out here all day, how do you sleep?” I desperately needed something to keep my gaze from falling below his waistline.
“We don’t often rest,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at the other cats that all had their heads pointed at our table. “Racco doesn’t need much rest either, and I’m sure he has at least told you some of why that is. But with cat-shifters that are also vampires, we often go months without resting. Speaking of which, it’s almost time to see who’s getting thrown into the lagoon today!”
He winked, which made me worry that he meant me.
“He’s teasing you, Txema,” said Racco, who shared a knowing smile with Koimala. “At least about throwing you in the water. As far as going for months without stopping, that’s definitely true. The cell regeneration for these vampires far exceeds mine, and is also vastly superior to any other vampire group upon this planet. At least if Ralu or Huangtian Dadi ever did find our hideout, you would still have twenty-four hour protection with Koimala’s vampires.”