Vampire King of New York (27 page)

His hand transformed into a claw and sliced the tape on one side. “Now open it.”

Evelyn removed the rest of the wrapping revealing a beautiful blue box, a Tiffany box. Now she shook for a different reason and her sister’s words about marriage came back to her. No, it couldn’t be. Probably diamond earrings. She loved earrings. She took the smaller box out of the larger box then opened it.

Chapter 15

The teardrop diamond ring twinkled at her. The gold band was a set of interlocking waves. She started to cry.

“Oh, Max, it’s beautiful.”

“I had Tiffany’s design it. The teardrop is for the humanity left behind when one enters the vampire world. You won’t be changing, but the people you associate with will and your view of the world will. The waves are for your Telkhine kin. After it fell into the sea and your cousin gave it back, I had Tiffany’s redo the ring to put the diamond on a band of waves.”

“It’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.”

“Will you marry me, Evie?”

“I wish you could read my mind to see how much I love you, Maximum.” He grinned, his smile lighting his eyes. He was clearly pleased she used the most personal name. “I just have a lot of questions.”

“Ask me anything.” He took her hand and placed it on his chest over his heart.

“I love you. I really do, but I’ve always thought, hoped actually that I could have a child again. And I know vampires can’t have babies.”

“Who told you that?”

“No one. David and Laura don’t, and I …”

“A dangerous assumption. David and Laura decided to play with each other for a while. Finding your lifemate is rare. They wanted to spend time enjoying each other first before having a family. Vampires can have babies; it just requires a little medical help.”

“How’s that?”

He leaned back on his arms into his pillow. In 1501 B.C., a vampire by the name of Rimkur Hshu married a lovely mortal named Muaora. More than anything Muaora wanted to have children, and Rim couldn’t. But he is a brilliant scientist. Many in his time referred to him as a physician, since he had mastered the arts of creating remedies for various ailments. He went into his study and worked for months on end creating different elixirs and potions until he created Shuma.”

“What does it do?”

“For some supernaturals, it is a potion for birth control. For vampires, it makes us fertile like rabbits. His wife gave him eighteen children.”

“As a human woman, she had eighteen children? At the same time?”

“No.” He laughed. “One at a time over time Muaora had eight children. She was dying after the eighth, when she asked Rim to change her. She had ten more as a vampire.”

“And how does that work? Do the children grow up?”

“Rim thought of that and created Shuma Moot which is given to the mother all through her labor and nursing of the child. It’s also given to the child every day until he or she reaches age twenty. Then they decide how long they want to continue taking it. They will stop aging when they stop taking Shuma Moot.”

“What a minute. You said Rim
is
a brilliant man. He’s alive?”

“Rim and Muaroa live in Paris now, and they are still in love. I guess they were lifemates after all.”

“Was there a doubt?”

“The whole lifemate thing is shrouded in mystery, even with signs a vampire can’t be absolutely sure. Accurate records of all the signs were not kept. If one of the signs was missing, you didn’t know if it was just an aberration or they weren’t your lifemate.”

“I can’t hear your thoughts, Max.”

“But you know my feelings.” He kissed her. “And we match in many other ways.”

“You mean physically we can’t get enough of each other?”

“That, too.” He leaned over her. “Do you truly love me, Evie?”

“Yes, Maximum.”

“Will you marry me?”

“I still have to think about it.”

He took the ring from the box and placed it on her finger. “I want you to wear it while you think about it.”

“But Max, I …” He stopped her words with a kiss.

“We can resolve any question, any doubt, any fear you have. I want to have children with you, Evie. I want to have a home and family.”

“Would the children be human or vampire? What about schools?” Even though Evelyn loved the idea of having children with Max, her brain just exploded with questions. “Would they bite people?”

“All children of a vampire are vampires. The children are daywalkers, and parents usually have them educated by private tutors until they are ready for college. I know several daywalkers. The Stenwoods live a few doors down. I could introduce you to them and their son and daughter-in-law. Trevor, who is an Arnhem Knight, and his wife Georgia have a baby.” He chuckled then added. “Whether they bite or not has to do with how their parents trained them.”

Evelyn shook her head. “It’s all too much to think about. Max, I—”

“Then don’t think. Love.”

He touched his mouth to hers and then moved away. She caressed his face with her hands and drew him back down to her lips. “I love you, Maximum. I just need more time. I am just getting used to being your girlfriend. I need to love you for a while before I can think about becoming your wife.”

“But you’ll keep wearing the ring and thinking about it?”

“Yes, I’ll keep thinking about it.”

He growled into her ear sending a rippling sensation of desire. She giggled in return. They met in another kiss. Evelyn pushed her tongue through his lips and stroked his fangs.

“Hmm.” Evelyn felt his anticipation in her core. Then everything in her stopped. Something was very wrong.

Chapter 16

Slam. Bang. Bang. Bang
. Shouts and gunfire filled the air. Max leapt out of bed and ran to the door. He slid the brackets out of the wall and placed a thick beam across the door. Then he grabbed his robe and threw one to Evelyn.

“Come. We have to get out of here.”

“What’s happening?” Evelyn put on the overlarge robe and tied the belt as tight as she could. She threw his wallet and Blackberry into her purse and hugged it against her.

He seized her around the waist. In a blur, he opened the door to the balcony. It wasn’t quite twilight. The invaders slammed something hard into the door. Part of him wanted to stand and fight, but Evelyn was his life and being there wasn’t safe for her.

“Where are we going?” She turned her face to him, white as a sheet.

Max looked briefly around. “To my boat.” Holding her tightly, he teleported. They landed on the deck.

“Captain! Holden! Where the hell is everyone?” The crew never answered. He rushed toward the cabin door.

Get out of there. Dead ship.
Evelyn heard her sister screaming in her head. Grabbing Max by the arm, she yelled, “Fly. Now!”

Instantly they stood on the head of the Statue of Liberty. They huddled behind the crown.

Then the boat exploded.

“What the …?” The sunset blazed and he turned hiding his head against her. Evelyn quickly took off her robe and wrapped it around his exposed skin. She hugged him.

“We’ll wait here until the sun goes down and then we’ll plan. We need somewhere to lay low and figure out what’s going on. My guess is that your house was invaded. They struck before sunset, thinking most of the Arnhem Knights would be asleep.”

She wrapped her body around him and watched the burning orange rays slowly fall below the horizon. She kissed the part of the robe that covered his head.

“I love you, Evie.”

Dark surrounded the city, and Max kissed her, wrapping her robe around her. The wind picked up and while it made him feel better, it would soon be too cold for Evelyn up there.

“It’s time we left, but where is the question? They will be watching for us and I don’t want to lead them to the Arnhem Knights.”

“They might think we were killed on the boat,” she suggested.

He could hear the hopefulness in her voice. “If they were watching, they saw us leave.” Max didn’t want to cast their situation into a negative light, but he had to be realistic.

“Can we teleport to my house?”

“I can’t teleport to a place I haven’t seen.”

“Fly out to sea then.”

“What?”

“Fly out and parallel the coastline. I’ll show you the lighthouse at Millport. We’re going to my house.”

They huddled together several minutes more. Max wanted to kiss her one more time before they went into completely unknown territory. Connecticut had been her world a year ago, but things change.

Slowly they stood. Max helped her up and then tied the belt of her robe. Evelyn nodded and hugged him around the middle. He held her and off they flew. Going out to sea was a great idea, but the wind was brutal. This was supposed to be a warm summer night, but flying into the wind ripped through her like ice.

Then she realized her front was very warm. He was generating heat. She had to hold on. She knew by car that her house was only forty-five minutes away from the city. Flying had to be faster. When he turned north, she was relieved. Evelyn peeked over his shoulder. She didn’t think they were being followed, but she had no way of being sure.

Up ahead, the lighthouse on Copper’s Point blazed its light into the dark. They landed on the grounds.

“Ooh, that’s cold.” She hopped up and down on the grass. “No shoes.”

It didn’t appear to bother Max at all. “Where is your house from here?”

“About four blocks in that direction.”

He picked her up and flew into the sky just above the treeline. Evelyn kept looking down and giving him directions. They finally landed in her back yard. She ran up to the small statue of Buddha and flipped it over to find the spare key in the statue’s hidden compartment.

“Here it is.” She held up the key. Taking his hand, Evelyn led him around the pool to the back door. Opening it, she felt around for the lights.”

“You didn’t have the power turned off when you left.”

“No, it was necessary for the security system. Oh, my gosh, I’ve forgotten the security code.” She ran to the panel beside the kitchen cupboard hoping that by looking at it, she’d remember. She didn’t. Evelyn punched in a set of numbers, and the red lights flashed.

“Oh, oh, we’re in trouble.”

“Why?”

“The security team should be showing up any minute.”

“Why?”

“I punched in the wrong code. They’re going to think there are burglars in the house. Quick.” She ran through the house and into the living room, and he followed. She turned on the TV and several lights. Then Evelyn raced upstairs with Max on her heels.

“What are we doing?”

“We’re turning on lights to show that we belong here, and I’m finding slippers.” She found hers first and put them on.
Oh, nice and warm.

“Oh, no.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t have anything for you to wear. All I have is some of Jack’s old clothes.”

“I’m fine the way I am.” He retied the robe’s belt.

The doorbell rang.

She took his hand and they walked down the stairs together. Evelyn opened the door to two uniformed security guards.

“Hello, gentlemen. I’m sorry I forgot to call, and I forgot the security code.”

“Mrs. Beaumont?”

“Yes.”

“You probably don’t remember me. I’m Jimmy.”

“Oh, hi, Jimmy.”

The guard that recognized her introduced her. “This is Evelyn Beaumont, Fred.”

“Um, yes, ma’am, but since you didn’t call, and we have to reset the system, I need to see some ID,” the other guard said.

“Sure. I’ll get my purse.”

Max came to the door at that point. “Anything wrong, darling?”

“No, I just need to get my purse.” She turned and hurried up the stairs.

“And who are you, sir?” Fred asked.

“I’m Maximillion Vander Meer. I’m Mrs. Beaumont’s fiancé.”

“Fiancé! Well, congratulations, sir,” Jimmy said. “Wait a minute, you’re the New York industrialist that was featured in the last issue of
Forbes
.”

Max smiled. “I was.”

Evelyn rushed to the door with her purse in hand and took out her driver’s license. Jimmy glanced at it and handed it to Fred who nodded and gave it back to her. Then they followed her to the kitchen to key into the system, and Fred called into the office. The password was reset.

“Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.”

Fred smiled. “Next time you come in from the city, just give our office a call, so we will know you’re here. And congratulations.”

For a second, she was caught off guard. “Oh, I see Max has been bragging already.” She fluttered her hand with the ring.

“That’s a big one.”

“Not that big. It’s only fifteen carats. Evelyn has small hands.”

The guards smiled and left. When they left, Evelyn locked the doors and rechecked the system in the kitchen. She showed Max how to do it. “There’s another panel upstairs in the hall closet.”

Still bundled with nervous energy, Evelyn went through the downstairs turning everything off as she went. Max stayed her hand on the last light.

“Evie, leave it on.”

She sat in a chair and started to cry. Max knelt in front of her, holding her hands in his.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m back, and I’m afraid to be back. More than I’m afraid of your home invaders.”

“Oh, no.” He picked her up and carried her up the stairs. Walking from room to room and peeking in, he finally settled for the large bedroom at the back of the house. It had no balcony but a window seat that overlooked the backyard.

“This is one of the guest rooms. Besides the master bedroom, it’s the only other one with a private bath.”

Max put her gently down in the loveseat facing the fireplace.

“You press a button and the fire comes up. It’s a gas fireplace.”

“Convenient.” He pressed another button and a TV came out of the wall. “Why didn’t your husband want this room for the master bedroom?”

“He felt it was too far away from our son’s room. Our room was just across the hall from J.J.’s.” Evelyn shook herself for a moment and then started to cry again.

Max settled in the loveseat beside her and took her into his arms. This would take a while. He wasn’t sure if it was the shock of narrowly escaping the killers that had invaded his home, or the tragic memories that invaded her when she entered her house.