Final Days (15 page)

Her th
roat hurt so badly she didn’t think she could speak.  But she tried to anyway and although she could only get out one word at a time, she managed.

“Was.”  She gasped on breath that felt
like fire moving in her throat.  “There.”  She tried to swallow.  “Doubt?”

Oh, spirits of the moon!
 
Chione realized her mistake.  She did not want to tell her.  This time she chose her words carefully.

“There was some concern, but it was all for naught.  See you are here and well.”

“My. Child.  Is he?”

The room lost its air.  Chione did not know what to say.  She had never been a woman who could lie well
, and this was so important.  She told Starla the only thing she could.

“I do not know.”

Starla didn’t react.  She blinked, and her tongue shot out to wet her lips.

“More water, please.”  Her words were coming easier.

Chione poured it quickly and helped her drink a good amount this time.

As Starla laid her head back, she closed her eyes and was still again.  Chione stood over her, unsure what to say or do.  Moments passed…minutes…then
Starla’s eyes opened again.  Her lips curled slightly and she looked at Chione, her eyes glittering with unshed tears.

“He is still here.  Safe.”  She drew an extended breath.  “I need Jacob.”

“Mistress, I know you do.  But he is across the village and it is full daylight.  If we call him, he will come immediately and risk his life doing so.”

“Then you are right.  We must wait to let him know I am awake.”

Chione felt sick to her stomach. 
Let him know she was still alive! 

He would be in so much pain.  She
should call him now.  But she knew for certain he would blow out the door with little concern for his own health.  It would just be a few hours, the sun would drop enough for both men to come safely.  There was nothing more to be done now.

“Do you need anything else, mistress?”

“Yes.  Chione, I love you.  You are my dearest new friend.  Please stop calling me mistress.”

The words came slowly, haltingly, but were sincere.

Chione bowed.  “I will.  Whatever you request.  Star.”

“Better.  Now help me sit up please.”

“I do not think…”

“I am going to sit up whe
ther you help me or not.”

Chione helped her.

He just stared straight up into the darkness.  The ultraviolet shield that covered the yurt during the daylight also blocked visible light, like most vampire shelters, so that the dwellings were conducive to sleep.  Jacob did not sleep.

Suddenly, he felt her presence, as if she were still alive, an intense connection to his mate that proved to him they were still bonded, even after her death. 
It hurt so much!

His mind wouldn’t shut off.   Every moment with Starla played out in glorious
Technicolor against the absence of light.  The moment he first saw her, hostile and stunning, at
Incognito
in Paris.  That super-sexed display in the grocery store that made him almost forget he was a gentleman and take her right there.  When he found her again here in Africa, his hand and head busted up trying to defend her, and would have taken the same beating again and again for her.

Making love to her… 
He closed his eyes to try to block the images, hoping for respite from memories that were too painful right now.  But it didn’t help.  He saw her smile everywhere he looked in the nearly pitch black void.

All he had left was the
empty satisfaction of killing the one who took her from him.  Empty, because it wouldn’t bring her back.  He would do it anyway.  He refused to allow the one who killed her to take one breath more if he could stop it.

Night was near.  His vampire clock told him the sun was nearly gone.  He thought about staying right
here in their bed.  The idea of going to this ceremony to celebrate his woman’s death made him sick to his stomach.  But he knew Starla would want him there.   He could see her, standing with her arms folded, smiling at him while she ate a chocolate chip cookie.

“Are you kidding me?
Jacob Ward, no one should be at my funeral more than you.  You are my love, you need to be there to tell everyone how awesome I was and how much you’re going to miss me.  Now, get dressed and go make me proud.”

She deserved nothing less.  People said a service like this was supposed to bring closure. 
Maybe for some.  For him, this wound would remain open until he was with her again.

Chione waited.  Minutes now…twenty, maybe, and she could safely call Jacob and the
n Ahmose.  Breath of Mother Earth, she was ecstatic.  It was at once wonderful and impossibly hard to call Jacob.  She glanced over at Starla, who was sitting up now with a bag of grapes Chione had brought with her from her dwelling this morning.

“I’m starved.  I think I could eat an entire grocery store right now.  Thank
God it is nearly night. Chione, give me the phone.  Let me be the one to call Jacob to let him know I’m awake.”

Chione just stood there, the phone suspended from her hand in mid-air.  Oh,
Mother Earth!  Getting a phone call from Starla after the night he must have had would be enough to send Jacob over the edge of sanity.  She had to tell Starla the truth.

Laying the phone down before she walked over to her, Chione approached the resurrected Shoazan.

“You cannot call Jacob, mis…Star.  Masura pronounced you dead.  Your injury….it was not survivable.  You were dead forever.  Your lifeforce was gone, a true vampire death.  We brought your body here for me to prepare it for your funeral service tonight.  Star, Jacob and Ahmose think you are gone.”

“What…?”

Chione could see Starla trying to wrap her mind around this news.  “How...  If I was dead, truly dead, how am I alive?  You said my wound was completely healed.  That doesn’t happen to mortal injuries.  I shouldn’t be alive then.”

Chione nodded.  “That is right.  You should not be alive.  I can’t explain it, but I’ve never been happier than the moment I heard
you take a breath.  But Jacob doesn’t know.  It would shock him to get a call from you.”

Starla shook her head, shock
ed herself, still attempting to understand.

“Oh, God, no. 
How he must be suffering.  Is it time?  Is it safe for him to come here?”

“Close.  Let me look.”

Cracking the UV barrier, Chione glanced out.  The sun was teetering on the edge of the village, its light already gone from most of the sky.  Ahmose could come right away, but Jacob should wait a little longer.   She’d decided, though, she could not tell Ahmose before Jacob, so they both would have to wait.

“Minutes, my friend.  I will call Jacob first of course.”

Starla just nodded.  She was still shocked at the news.  Chione noticed Starla’s hands had gone to her rounded belly immediately and remained there. She went over and sat with Starla, her hand over Starla’s, both protecting the child nearly lost. 

“Star.  May I ask you something?  I apologize, but it is important.
”

“Chione, anything.  You should know that.”

“Thank you.  I am so sorry for this, but you will understand its importance.”  Dead silence.  “Knowing what you do now, that you were murdered, I must ask what you remember.  We do not know who did this, so no one has been detained.”

Chione watched, breath held, as Starla worked on understanding
and remembering.

“I…
”  Starla closed her eyes and just sat there.  When she opened them again several minutes later, she shook her head slowly.  “I don’t know.  The last thing I remember was looking at the flowers.  I don’t know why, but I remember thinking how lovely the flowers are here.  And nothing since then until I awoke here today.”

“It’s alright, my friend.  The first blood who lives with you, Eillia, she is on her way here.  Jacob tells me she is gifted and may be able to read you and discover the truth.  Please don’t worry about it.”

But she did.  She should be able to remember the one who tried to murder her and her children.  Putting her fingers on her forehead, she massaged and squeezed, trying to ease a headache that came on fast.

They would need to wait for Eillia to unlock the truth.

Jacob knew it was night.  Still, he didn’t move. What was the point?  There was nowhere to go, nothing he wanted to do.  Vampires always woke with voracious appetites.  His body wanted calories.

He didn’t care.  Somewhere in the back of his mind
, something told him he was going to have to eventually, but of this moment in time, he rolled back over, ignored the hunger, and closed his eyes.

A chirping kept trying to invade his attempt to seek unconsciousness.  Someon
e was trying to call him, but he had no interest in anything anyone needed to say to him. 
It was incessant. A rage built up inside him when it would stop and then start again, so he surged up, glanced at it and saw it was Chione, and threw it against the wall to shatter into pieces.

He liked C
hione and knew she was probably just checking on him out of concern.  She would ask “how are you” but she wouldn’t want him to answer that.

A moment later someone pounded on his door.  Ignoring it, too, he expected the person to leave, but whoever it was didn’t. 
Once again, in anger, he flew out of bed, naked, and ripped open the UV screening and then the door.

Chione stood there breathless.

“What the fuck do you want?” he yelled, simultaneously angry and ashamed of himself for talking to her that way.

“Jacob, Starla is alive.”

He stopped moving, stopped breathing, stopped thinking.  All he heard was something that he couldn’t have.

Chione put her hands on his arms to support him in case he tried to bolt.

“She’s alive.  You need to come right away.  But you might want to put some pants on.  Come here.”

She pulled him into his dwelling and grabbed the abandoned pants and shirt from yesterday strewn across the floor.

“Put these on and let’s go see her.”

Like a child, he began to dress, right leg, left leg. He felt numb.

“I don’t understand,” he finally said.

“Neither do I, but your mate and your son are healthy and well and waiting to see you.  I know you won’t be able to believe me until you see her.  So come, please.”

Jacob followed Chione back to the temple expressionless, still moving by sense memory, afraid to imagine it was true.

But when he crossed the opening and saw
Starla sitting up, heard her squeal his name, he ran to her and collapsed against her, pulling her tight into his arms.  Immediately he pulled back and stared at her face, his eyes roaming to her neck where he saw no trace of the cruel cut.

“Baby,” he said, and then they both lost it.

Chione stood at the entrance of the room, tears flowing as she watched Jacob and Starla accept that they hadn’t lost each other after all. She slipped out and fingered her phone.  She would wait a little before she notified Ahmose.

FIFTEEN

“I have to get th
ose flowers I promised you,” Koen told the radiant woman at his side.

They had just had hot dogs and French fries
at a stand on the sidewalk downtown after she’d shown Koen, with considerable pride, around this city she loved.

Arm in arm, she nodded
. “That’s right.  You promised.  My favorite flower shop is on the edge of town.  It’s called Floral Magic and is run by a funny, smart woman who I really like.  Then let’s walk through the park.  It’s so pretty tonight and I’d like to take a midnight walk on the arm of my beau.”

“I’m your beau, am I?”

“In the best tradition of your language, yes, you are very, very beautiful.  And I am proud to say that, at least for the time being, you are mine.”

Koen stopped and took her face in his hands.

“Alisa, I swear to you.  Sometime soon I’m going to convince you that this isn’t a temporary thing.  I
do
belong to you, and you
do
belong to me.”

Butterflies flooded into her gut.
This was way deeper than she was ready to admit.  So she smiled and pulled him away toward his car waiting nearby, a sporty sexy Jag.

“I still can’t believe you brought your car all the way from France.  You could have rented one or used mine.”

“I only drive when it’s something I enjoy.  Honestly, I don’t get out as often as I’d like on the road, but when I do, it has to be a worthy vehicle.  This is one of my favorites.  One of my daughter’s friends stole my favorite car about a year ago.  I still need to get to South America to steal it back.”

“Daughter?   Wait, you have a
grown
daughter?”

“I do.  Her name is Park and I want you to meet her soon.  I may as well let you know I have the most beautiful granddaughter in the world, too.”

It was too much
.   She was becoming embedded in his life.  It wasn’t fair to these people to let them get to know her at this point.  But she said the one thing she really meant at the moment.

“I would
love
to meet your family.”  Not that she ever would.  But she sincerely would have loved to someday.

“We can fly back to France any time you want.  I brought my private jet, so whenever you would be free to come and stay with us for a few weeks, I would like to take you.”

Wow.  She had already realized he was wealthy, but his own private jet?   Money was the last thing she had any interest in, especially now.  But everything new she learned about him was just better and better.  If he wasn’t the most perfect man ever wrapped up in one amazing package…that she couldn’t unwrap.  Ending this affair was going to be beyond difficult.

“We
’ll see how things go.  Ah, over there, just pull up to the curb. They allow street parking here briefly.”

The beautiful engine winded down and the sleek Jaguar came to a quick stop.  Her hand caressed the smooth handle as she reached for it to get out.  Everything about this car was sensual.  She understood why he loved it.

“My favorite flowers are yellow tiger lilies.   I hope she has some.”

Koen had just reached her side to help her out
of the low slung car.  She laughed as she struggled to get her feet under her, which was getting more difficult by the week.  Right now, though, she felt ridiculous.   Almost out of her seat, she stumbled on the curb and he caught her.

“I am so uncoordinated.  Thanks, Koen.”

“I will never let you fall,” he told her seriously.  She believed him.  Within his power, he would protect her from everything. 
Within his power.
  Too bad her problem lay outside of that.

“I meant it when I said I trust you.  So how about we go in and get those flowers?”

Alisa couldn’t take her eyes off of his lips as he smiled.  Damn, she had it bad.  She took his arm and led him through the small door that needed a couple of coats of paint into a colorful oasis of flowers and ribbons.  It was an unexpectedly lovely shop.  The owner had twisted hundreds of ribbons in various pastel shades across the ceiling that cascaded down the walls creating a waterfall of motion and color for the many bouquets of flowers positioned in every corner.  It wasn’t a large shop, but he saw that the space had been perfectly optimized. 

A woman with long dark hair snatched up on top of her head with a wide clip faced a bundle
of loose flowers lying against the back of a counter.   Her hands full, she called out, “Hi. I’ll be right there.  I’ve been wrestling with this bundle for far too long to let them get away now.”

Alisa walked up to her and leaned on the counter.

“Take your time, Lauren.  I know how sneaky flowers can be.”

The woman looked up then and smiled at her.

“Alisa, hey!  I’m so glad to see you…”

Her eyes landed on the huge man that walked towards her from the corner of the room and she dropped the big bundle of blooms to scatter all over the counter and floor.

“Oh, shit!”  She yelled, staring at him, shocked.

Koen slowed, his eyes travelling over her.

Alisa looked from one to the other.

“Um, you guys know each other?”

Neither one of them spoke.  Then Lauren seemed to pull out of it.

“Kind of.
  Long ago.  Just, uh, surprised to see him in Chicago.  Hello, Koen.”

“Lauren.”  He paused.  “You look well.”  He paused again, looking around the shop again, obviously
uncomfortable.  “This is where you disappeared to.  Nice shop.”

“Thanks.  It was my second career choice when I was in college.”

They stared at each other silently and Alisa knew something between the two of them hung unspoken in the air.  They had a back story.  She wondered if they had been lovers.  And although she promised herself she wouldn’t ask him later when they were alone, she knew she probably would.  Lauren was a beautiful, smart, interesting woman.  Alisa had always wondered why she was happy eking out a small living selling flowers in a run-down part of the city.

“So.
  Nice to find old friends in unexpected places,” Alisa said.

No one responded, but Lauren took the conversation in a new direction.

“Yellow lilies?” she asked Alisa.

“Yes, and two dozen if you have them. Koen has a…”  Alisa stopped and glanced at Koen.  “Well, you might already know this, but he has a severe reaction to sunlight, so I’m filling my apartment with flowers so it’ll feel like a garden inside for him.”

Again,
neither Koen or Lauren responded, so she filled the silence.   “So, anyway, that’s what we’re here for.”

“I think I can do two dozen. I’ll be right back.”

With just the two of them in the room, Alisa couldn’t help herself, in spite of her promise to herself moments earlier.

“Old girlfriend?”

“God, no!”  Koen said explosively.  “She’s an acquaintance of friends who live in Iceland.”

“Seemed like more than an acquaintance.  It’s okay if she is, Koen.  Of course you’ve had a life before we met.”  Suddenly she had a thought.  “She’s not the mother of your daughter, is she?”

He looked hard at her.  “No.  Really, baby, she’s no one.”

Lauren walked back into the room just as he said that.

“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” he apologized.

“No,” she said.  “That’s fair.  That is exactly who I am these days.  I’m no one.”

Alisa was shocked where this meeting had gone.

“Lauren!  You are one of the most confident women I’ve ever known.  How can you say something like that?”

Lauren didn’t answer at first.  She looked down at the bundle of lilies in her hand and began to wrap them.

“
It’s quite true. 
He
knows what I mean.  But you are right, I’m fine and always will be.  I am a survivor.  So, would you like some greenery to add to this order?”

“Yes.  Lauren, you
’re all right aren’t you?  It’s obvious you two have a past, I assume it’s romantic…”

Simultaneously
, Lauren and Koen yelled the same word.  No!  They were so emphatic, Alisa believed it was true.

“Well, whatever it is, was, I hope I didn’t open up old wounds by bringing you two together today.”

“It’s okay, Alisa.  Really.  Now let me get your greenery.”

As she walked out of the room again, Alisa heard Lauren swear under her breath.

Alisa shot a look at Koen.  “You need to fill me in tonight.”

He lifted his eyebrows and turned away to feign interest in a machine that inflated balloons.

Lauren came back out with a beautifully wrapped box of flowers for Alisa.  She laid it on the counter and came around to give her a hug.

“Everything is fine.  It was just a big surprise to see Koen.  But I’m okay.   Why don’t we have lunch sometime soon?  I’ll buy.”

Alisa nodded and hugged her back.

Koen watched them with interest.  Before Lauren could ring up the sale, he threw a few bills on the counter and picked up the box.

“Appreciate it.  Have a good night.”

Lauren gave Alisa a too-bright smile as Koen led her out into a ridiculously expensive car that Lauren knew would pay her bills for a year. 
Maybe two.

She went back behind the counter and dropped against the wall. 
God.  That big vampire in her shop. 

Was she still safe?   True,
she wasn’t specifically hiding from him, but that he’d found her here, did it mean that the others could?   Was she in danger?  

Cherise and David checked in with her every once in a while to be sure she was still okay, but no one else had any idea where she was.  It needed to stay that way.

Even though Armel Joubert and Didier Devereaux, who ran the vampire and supernatural studies in Paris, were dead, the council still existed.  And she was enemy number one since she’d helped destroy thirty years of cruel research and aided in the release of all the council’s subjects.  They’d tear her apart if they ever found her.  So her doctorate in genetic research was only a memory, and she lived a paycheck-to-paycheck life with a shop that barely made its expenses and a car that needed a rope and a hill to get started half the time.  The scissors in her drawer that she used to cut stems on the flowers also served her for haircuts.  And the snow boots she used last year were packed with plastic baggies to keep her feet dry because they had holes in them. 

Turning to pick up the multi-use scissors off the counter, she noticed the money Koen had thrown down and laughed with a snort.  Two crisp one hundred dollar bills. 

Lauren shook her head and laughed.  Well, what the fuck. Tonight she was going to have a nice dinner with a good bottle of wine.  And if there was a little left over, maybe she would hit a real beauty salon for a real haircut.  If the council found her, at least she’d leave a good-looking corpse.

She thought about this new development. 
Alisa
with Koen
. The sweet, sexy reporter she’d been building a friendship with since she’d arrived here about a year ago. What the hell was fate’s problem?  Why did it keep on setting her up?  The only woman she had really befriended since she got here other than her staff and simple acquaintances with many of her customers and suppliers, and she was dating a vampire.  And not just a vampire, but one of those huge-ass first bloods.

Lucky girl.
  One thing Lauren knew about them was that they were intense about everything.  Koen was one of the oldest, so she knew his sexual prowess had to be off the charts. 

Sighing as she locked the doors and killed the lights, she just hoped it went all right for Alisa.  And she wondered if she knew what he was.

The flowers left safe in the back of the car, Koen escorted Alisa through the small park across the street from her apartment building.  There wasn’t a lot of green space, but just beside it, the lake sparkled in the darkness, the lights of the city and the full moon creating its own magic.

How could the night get any sweeter?  After this romantic walk in the park
, she knew they would end up in her bed making love for the thirtieth time since he arrived here just two nights ago.  She couldn’t wait.

“Hold on,” she said to him suddenly and turned to pull him into her arms to kiss him thoroughly.  Once she pulled away he moaned.

“You know I’m already filling up.  You have the sexiest mouth in the world.  I think I’m done with this walk.”

“Yeah, so am I.  Let’s head home.”

Koen liked the sound of that.  Home.  He couldn’t wait to take her there.  She already belonged.

On the way out of the park, they passed a woman struggling with four golden retriever puppies on four leashes that were currently
crisscrossed around her calves.