vampires of san francisco 08 - merry sucking christmas (8 page)

“Andrew and Liam, we got you a vacation on a cruise line that specializes in gay cruises. You leave just after New Year’s. We hope you like it,” Hannah says handing Liam the pamphlet and tickets while hugging a bouncing Andrew.

“It’s perfect for a honeymoon.” Liam stands and shakes Diel’s hand. “Thank you so much,” he says.

“That was fortuitous because we got it before you told us about the wedding,” Diel says. Andrew hugs him too, making Diel chuckle.

“Okay, okay. Settle down. It’s Lily’s turn. Here you go, ma cherie.”

“Thank you, Bast.” I give him a chaste kiss on the lips and open my present.

It’s a book. Confused, I open to the first page. My hands fly up to my mouth as emotion hits me like a hurricane. It’s a picture of me pregnant with Mattie. Sebastian is standing behind me and our entwined hands are over my baby bump. Under the photo Sabastian has written what he remembers of the memory. His words, etched in his strong slanted calligraphy, flow off the page and go straight to my heart. Each word and photo is a gift. I get up and kiss him long and hard.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “It’s so beautiful and thoughtful, just like you.”

“Get a room,” Julian says and smirks. I give him a look and he laughs at my attempt to glare.

“Let me see,” Helena asks. “I’ve been hearing about this for weeks.” I hand her the memory book reluctantly. 

“Hannah’s turn.”

“Aidan.” Diel says and then nods at him. “Babe, we have to go outside to see your present. Get your jacket, honey.”

“What is it, Diel? We have to get the twins dressed…”

“Sacha, will you watch the kids? Thanks,” Diel says not waiting for a reply. He helps Hannah with her jacket and then covers her eyes as he walks her out of the house. All the adults hurry behind them.

Sitting in front of the house is a spanking new Harley with a big red bow around it. It’s been custom painted to have blue flames on the black paint. Very Demon meets Goth. A perfect combination for a complicated woman.

“Fuck yes!” Hannah fist pumps the air and looks sheepishly to see if any of the children hear her. “I’ve always wanted one of these! Thank you!” Hannah says while running to the bike. She quickly gets on and starts it up. When she learned to ride a bike I’ll never know. Diel looks as surprised as I do by it. He looks at me and I shrug so he laughs and helps Hannah find her helmet. With a wink from Aidan, the ribbon is gone and Hannah takes off. Everyone starts talking at once. Congratulating Diel on his brilliant gift. 

Hannah comes around the corner, roaring to a stop. She waves Aidan over and they have a brief conversation. He nods and Hannah turns her bike off.

“I know this is out of order but since we are already outside I thought I could give Diel his present. Aidan, if you would.”

Aidan snaps and next to Hannah’s Harley is another new Harley, this one for Diel. She had his custom painted with red flames. These two know each other so well it’s scary.

“Babe! Yes! I love it.” Diel lands a long kiss on Hannah until she melts like goo.

“Let’s get you two lovebirds inside before we all freeze,” Sebastian says.

“True, true,” Doxie says. He pats his son on the back. “Well done, son. You’ll have to bring the bike down under and we can take a trip. You and me and the wide open road.”

Diel stumbles and looks at his dad like he can’t believe him. “Sure dad, I’d like that.”

Doxie grins, showing his very sharp teeth. It gives me a shiver. Bast mistakes it for me being cold and wraps me in his arms. I don’t bother correcting him.

“Everyone, please keep your jackets on. Sacha and Annie are going to keep the children for a few minutes. I have to give my gift to Sebastian. Well, Aidan had a lot to do with it too, sweetheart. I couldn’t have done it without him.” I take hold of Bast’s hand and entwine our fingers. “If you all would join hands, Aidan is going to take us to Bast’s present. It’s too big to fit under the tree.” I wink at my husband and take Aidan’s hand.

When we are all connected, Aidan transmanifests us to darkened door in downtown San Francisco. The door is a replica Tiffany glass inset in a huge blue wooden door. I can tell Sebastian is completely confused. I love this. I wink at Aidan. Reaching into my pocket I pull out a ring of keys and hand them to Sebastian.

“I believe this one will open the door.” I pick the right key out and give it to Bast. He starts mumbling in French under his breath as he opens the door. Something about humoring crazy women.

“Welcome to Sin, Sebastian. Your second nightclub. It’s steeped in 1920’s – 1930’s nostalgia.”

“Lily, how… Darling, I can’t believe this.”

“Let’s get everyone inside where it’s warm. You can look around then,” I say as I herd everyone through the door.

“Wow! Lily, this is incredible,” Hannah says as she gets a glimpse of the silver and blue interior. 

Sebastian actually stumbles into the entryway as he is busy looking at everything around him. The coat check is off to the left and then like You Belong to Me, the main floor is accessed by three descending stairs. The mahogany carved bar wraps around the right side of the floor. The dance floor is center with a stage set up for the band. Half-moon, brocade covered banquets float about the room, giving each table a hint of privacy. The booths are covered in dark blue and the tables are the same mahogany as the bar. The walls are covered in large framed items from the twenties and thirties. Beaded dresses, hand bags, head pieces, hats and menus, show bills and other paraphernalia. Around the tops of the walls subtle lighting is recessed behind a mahogany wainscoting. The ceiling is covered in embossed tin tile. The overall effect is one of decadence and glamor.

Sebastian takes it all in with a gleam in his eyes. I know he is thinking about the room bursting with people. I can see it. 

“Lily and Aidan, you’ve outdone yourselves. It’s gorgeous,” Helena gushes. She gives us both tight hugs.

“Lily, Aidan. How?” Sebastian asks.

“Well, I bought the building a few months ago. Whenever Aidan and I had a free moment we came in and started renovating. It used to be some disco or something then turned bar. The smell of smoke still lingered and it was dingy and stale,” I say while a disgusted shiver goes through me.

“Lily designed everything. I just followed her lead. It was truly a pleasure to do.”

“Thank you, Aidan. It’s magnificent.” Sebastian swings me around and kisses me soundly. “Ma cherie, this is incredible. The best present ever. I can have Annie help manage it. She is done with her MBA now. We will have to find another nannie, though.” Sebastian frowns at this.

“Love, I’ve already interviewed a young vampire that I think will be just what we need. I thought you might want to steal Annie away.”

“She would be great here. I’ll have to start interviews for the rest of the staff. I think we could open for Valentine’s Day. We’ll do some kind of promo for it and the grand opening.”

“I can see you are happy with it. I wasn’t sure. It’s similar to You Belong to Me yet I hope we made it distinctive enough to be able to stand on its feet.”

“Darling, it’s perfect. I love it. Thank you so much.” Bast kisses me again. Julian and Diel chuckle at his exuberance. “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“You didn’t have to do anything. I love you, Bast.”

“Why don’t we get back to the house so the little ones can get to bed,” Hannah says, pulling us back into the here and now.

“Yes, I still have to give Aidan his present,” Manda says.

“And I have to give Helena hers,” Julian says.

“Everyone grab hands again. We’ll pop back home.”

“Oh, pooksie. Can we come back for the opening? It would be so much fun,” Celine coos.

“Of course, Ce-Ce. I think it would be great fun. Is that all right, Sebastian?” Doxie asks which startles everyone. He is not the kind of Demon to ask. It just shows how much of an impact Sebastian has made on him. I am so proud of my man.

“Absolutely, Doxie. It would be an honor. All of you, I expect you to be there. We will celebrate the holiday and my beautiful wife’s generous gift.” Bast tightens his hold on my hip. Aidan pops us back home giving Annie and Sacha a start. Aidan’s eyes twinkles. He eats that sort of thing up. I wink at him and he laughs.

“Come and give Grandpa a kiss and hug goodnight, little ones,” Doxie says to the twins. They run to him. It shows how much work he has done with them. They trust him and that isn’t bestowed lightly. It’s the vampire in them. Even Hannah smiles at the picture they present.

“Papa, fire,” Finn says as he brings a small flame up in his little hand. His hand wobbles trying to keep the flame going and I’m terrified he’s going to light the house on fire. 

Diel runs to him and steadies his small hand. Doxie is beaming at Finn.

“Very good, Finn. We never play with fire inside. It can be dangerous. We’ll start practicing outside tomorrow. Daddy wants you to be trained well.”

“I’ll fire proof everything tomorrow,” Aidan offers.

“Thank you, Aidan. That would be a big help. Maybe you could start with Lily and Sebastian’s house tonight? That would allow everyone to sleep better, I think,” Diel says.

“Done.”

“Thanks, Aidan,” Hannah says and lets out a deep sigh.

Fiona tugs on Doxie’s sleeve. “Papa, watch.” She proceeds to make Finn float and send him across the room to Hannah.

“Well done, Fiona! Well done, Finn. You two make your Papa very happy.” Doxie wipes at the corner of his eye. Truly a proud grandpa. My heart melts a bit toward him.

“You two will be the death of me, but I love you so much,” Hannah says as she scoops up both children and hugs them close to her. I can’t help but be so happy for my friend.

“Manda, why don’t you give Aidan his present,” Julian says. You can tell he is excited to give Helena hers. I wonder what he has up his sleeve.

“Aidan, it’s so hard to give you something you haven’t already summoned for yourself. Yet you are the most generous, selfless soul I have ever met,” Manda says. Her voice chokes up a bit. I squeeze Bast’s hand. I know Manda really fretted over her gift.

“My love, anything you give will make me happy because you thought of it.” Aidan kisses her forehead and gives her a hug.

“I did some research and found a text that has your true name in it. I was able to buy it. It’s my gift to you. A step closer to true freedom.”

Aidan looks stunned. I know how much this means to him. He looks down at Manda and then picks her up for a real kiss. He holds her tight and closes his eyes. I let out a small sob for my dear friend and Bast pulls me closer to him, kissing my temple.

“Lover.” Aidan’s voice trembles a bit and he clears his throat. “You couldn’t have given me a more meaningful, precious gift than you did. Thank you,” he whispers. He kisses her again and she giggles.

“Gross,” Mattie says and Sammy laughs at his parents.

“Gross? Gross? I’ll show you gross.” Aidan picks Mattie up and rains kisses down on her face. She giggles and screams to be let down. “Ow!” Aidan lets Mattie down and looks back down to his son.

Sammy stomps his foot at Aidan and Aidan lets out a deep laugh. He picks Sammy up and twirls around with him until Sammy is laughing too.

“What happened?” Manda asks.

“Samuel just zapped me the way a djinn does. I knew you had it in you, Samuel. Goddess save us. This opens us to all kinds of mischief. I assume he didn’t like me kissing his intended.”

Sammy nods and zaps Aidan again.

“Owww!” Aidan laughs so hard he almost drops Sammy. “Now, you can’t zap your friends or your aunts and uncles and especially not your mother. You can save it all up for me. Understand?”

“Yes Papa. I like to zap.” He points his little finger at Aidan again and again. Now it’s not so funny to Aidan and he is jumping around. Sammy laughs and does it again and again until Aidan grabs his finger and begs for a reprieve. It makes everyone laugh. Especially Sebastian since usually nothing can hurt Aidan. 

Mattie tugs on Sammy’s shirt sleeve. “Sammy, don’t hurt Uncle Aidan. He’s nice. You can zap the dollies.” Sammy nods and wiggles to get down. They head off toward her bedroom with Finn and Fiona hot on their tails.

Aidan shakes his head with a huge smile on his face. I can tell my friend could not be happier.

“I hoped that I added something to him, that he might have a few of my traits. But now it’s sinking in what that could mean. Transmanifesting, summoning giraffes, you name it. If he even has half of my powers we are in so much trouble. I better put a tracker on him in case he pops out and we can’t find him.”

Manda pushes Aidan towards Mattie’s bedroom. “Now, Aidan. Oh, God. Please hurry.”

Aidan laughs again but humors Manda. He’s back in a minute. “Done, now don’t worry, love. We can find him anywhere.”

Manda sags in relief and smiles. “It will be fun to see what he does. I’m kinda glad to leave for a while during the day to go to school. I’m not sure my heart can handle this.”

I squeeze her hand. “You’ll make it. The hard part is going to be keeping Aidan in check. He’ll let Sammy get away with everything because it will amuse his mischievous side.”

“Goodness, you are so right. Aidan, you have to promise me you will behave yourself.”

“Of course, my love.”

“I mean it.”

“I know you do. I think it’s time for Julian to give Helena her gift.”

“Wait! I have to give Julian mine first,” Helena says jumping up to run to her coat pocket. She comes back with something in her hand.

Helena kneels down in front of Julian and takes his hands.

“Julian, I know I said I would never do this. But watching our family grow has changed my thinking. My love, you are everything to me. The sun, the moon, and the air I breathe.” She opens a little ring box and pulls out a beautiful Celtic wedding band. “Would you marry me?”

Julian starts laughing and Helena looks at him with confusion and hurt flitting across her beautiful face. He pulls a ring box out of his pocket and opens it.

“Helena. If this isn’t proof we are meant for each other I don’t know what is. You and I share a soul. Let me share my name with you and show the world that we belong together. Will you marry me?”