Final Days (29 page)

TWENTY SEVEN

Alisa grabbed for the unruly dog, but he got away and raced through the room, knocking over everything he could as he chased the kitten Cairine had brought with her.

Frustrated, she looked at the little girl giggling on the divan, and wondered if she could do it. 

She hadn’t tried hyper speed yet, but how hard could it be?  Concentrating, she burst forward and caught the dog easily against her as they landed on the carpet.

Cairine giggled even louder.

“Yeah, I’m sure we look ridiculous, but, hey, I did it!”

Eillia came into the room.

“What did you do?”

“I used vampire speed without sending myself into next week.”

“Congratulations!  You’re getting the hang, Lise.”

“I know, right?”

Eillia looked at Cairine, who was giggling so hard now, she’d fallen over.

“What are you laughing at, little stinker?”

Eillia scooped her up.

“Park and I are going for a swim.  Why don’t you join us?”

“Sure.  Do I need to go get a suit?”

Eillia tilted her head.  “Not really.  It’s dark, and we’re vampires.  We don’t have modesty issues.  If you’re more comfortable with it, though, sure.”

“No, I’m going native!”

Bas swung in, grabbed Cairine, and scooped up the kitten.

“I’m heading home.  Eillia, would you tell Park I’m taking Cari, and I’ll see
her at second meal later?”

Eillia nodded.  “Sure.
”  She turned to Alisa as Bas left.   “Well, Park’s waiting for us on the beach.”

Alisa got off the floor and kissed Samson on the head. “Be a good dog.”

Taking Alisa’s hand, Eillia led her down the stone path to the sound of waves breaking against the sand. 

Alisa breathed deep of the clean
, fresh, moist air.  She loved this part of the world.  She loved her life.  And Koen had been right, she loved being vampire.

Park looked up at them as they approached.

“Tonight, the sea is calm, the moon is an enchanting crescent, and the sand is still warm.  This is the definition of serenity.”

Serenity.
  A perfect moment when everything comes together just as it should.   Alisa wandered into the water, which lapped gently at her ankles.  She drew her sundress off over her head and threw it onto a beach chair some distance away. 

There were parts of her old life she missed.  She’d loved her job, reporting the stories, but she couldn’t do that anymore.  Not the way she had, anyway. 
And Percy.  Luckily, he was okay.  Koen had compelled him with a memory of her passing on, with no pain, and left him with nothing but love and peace, and all the good memories of their life together.  He’d miss her, but it wasn’t with pain or regret.

Most of all, her love for Koen gr
ew day by day…well, night by night.  The first time she’d drawn his blood three weeks ago, her body linked with his and she finally understood what he meant when he called her his mate.  They were now one lifeforce, merged, bound, locked together.  They did not just want to be together, they
had
to be.  She knew she was in love for the first time in her life, and the last.

Eillia and Park swam near her, and pulled her out deeper into the water.

“You can go beneath for long periods of time.  Practice with us.  You cannot drown.  Next time, we’ll bring headgear with a light, and I’ll show some amazing underwater life,” Park said to her father’s mate.

Park knew they would be close, because they
both loved the big vampire so much.  But Park could see into Alisa’s soul and knew she was a kind, beautiful woman inside and out.   She fit into their family as if she’d always been there.  Bobbing  in the warm water, Park saw her father’s silhouette on the balcony above them.  He was happy.  Truly happy in the deepest sense of the word. 

Maybe they would have some peace for a while.  They were due,
after all the trauma of this past year.

“Let’s go a little deeper, Lise,” she said, and began to swim.  Alisa and Eillia followed her.

Koen watched the three women swim, naked, out into the ocean behind his home.   Life was finally as he always hoped it would be.  He was loved and in love, and it could not be better. 

Alisa had made a startlingly beautiful vampire.  Her already considerable beauty had been enhanced enough he really did have trouble letting her get out of his bed.  Her eyes, though, which had been a bright blue, nearly glowed.  In time, he could see her gaining first blood talents. 

The threat was over.  For now, everything was wonderful.  He had a trip scheduled next week to take her to South Africa to meet Jake and Starla, and the children of the moon. 

He believed the lives of the first bloods were changing now.  Something deep inside him warned him that the Mother Earth was close to calling them to duty. 

Koen believed that something was coming.  I
t was the reason so many first blood children were suddenly being conceived.  It was their time.  They were being called.  Soon.  He didn’t know when but he felt it was soon. 

There
was a disturbance in the air. 
As one of the first bloods, one of the oldest beings to walk the earth, he felt it.  He knew Eillia did.  And he knew the children, the ones born these past two years, he knew they felt it too. 
Something was coming
.

They had built a strong community of powerful vampires.  They could deal with whatever came.   Until it did, he would love his family, make love to Alisa, and thank the fates for bringing Alisa home to him before her awful human illness took her from him forever.

It had been close, he knew that.  He’d felt her weak lifeforce when he’d found her.  Now, watching her laughing and playing in the warm sea, vampire, and his forever, he smiled.  Destiny had been kind.   He was a man who knew when to stop, breathe, and say thank you.

“Thank you,” he whispered to the sky.

                                   
 
the end

     Back in Chicago…

God, Lauren was tired of fighting for every little thing!

That damned backseat was stuck again.  Every time she tried to lower the seat to carry her floral arrangements in the ancient hatchback, Lauren broke a nail and her temper skyrocketed.  If she could just pull out a little more profit, she could buy a newer car.  Or a van.  That would be so fucking nice! 

But it wasn’t happening anytime soon so she struggled with the defective latch and finally got the seat to drop, carrying herself with it.

Nice.  Elegant.  Her ass in the air and her face in the floor.  Was this the right life for a woman with a doctorate? 
Hardly.
  But it was her best choice for now.  Lauren felt like she was a walking advertisement for living with the consequences of your choices.  And it was true. 
She
was responsible for the nasty turn her life had taken.

It still sucked.

She finally got the ten orders loaded securely, groaned in relief, and turned the key.  Dead.  No response at all.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”  It struck her that that phrase had been her theme song lately.

Tired of fighting with the car, she picked up her old flip phone and dialed a number.  A quick answer brought a sigh of relief.

“Merry, thank God!  Can you come and get my latest delivery?  This car refuse
s to do anything now.  It’s like dealing with a stubborn jackass.  You can’t get it to go when you want it to go, and you can’t get it to stop when you want it to stop.  Really?  Oh, thank you.  I’ll give you an afternoon off with pay.”

Lauren left the ornery car abandoned behind her shop, Floral Magic, and headed back inside.

Around the corner, in the shadows of an adjacent alleyway, a man stood silently, blending into the grayness.  He’d found her.   He wasn’t sure at first, she looked so different.   So he’d had to do some serious surveillance for several weeks.  But it
was
her.

The committee would be pleased.  Probably give him a promotion.   He pulled his handgun out to make sure the clip was full. 
Although he would use it only as a last resort since they wanted her alive.

Man, was her life about to get seriously bad.  He knew what they had planned for her, and it made even him cringe. 

Well, he had a job to do.  Time to go to work.

Koen and Alisa belong together and I am so happy that they made it.

ALS is an awful fate, and on behalf of all those who battle this in real life, so bravely, I just wish there
really were
vampires who could heal you and give you back your interrupted lives.  Fate truly does have a lot of power and too many times, we have to accept the path it chooses for us.  All we can do is live and love every moment we can, and be grateful for the gifts we are granted, just for the time we humans get in our brief little lives.

The lullaby mentioned on page 211 is from a movie with Debbie Reynolds,
Bundle of Joy
, entitled
Lullaby in
Blue
.  It has stuck with me all of my life and seemed to belong right there.

Go to clquinn.com or C.L.Quinn Facebook page for information on new titles, the release of Book Six,
Days of Redemption,
and C.L. Quinn’s Christmas novella
, Angel High.