Hard Days Night (The Firsts Book 8) (33 page)

Starla knew then that the big gentle-natured man she loved so much had been really damaged by the loss of this woman she hadn’t even known he cared for.  Ahmose loved his village and his family, and never failed to show up with a smile and warm greetings for everyone.

As he walked away, her best friend here in Zambia, a first blood, Chione, was coming up the hill towards her.  Chione’s elegant gait was quick, but with the grace of a deer, light and purposeful.

“Is he okay?” Chione asked.

Starla shook her head.  “He is
not
.  I wish I had known he was so involved.  He only knew her for a few days, but I swear, he’s acting like a man who has lost his love.  And he might be.”

“He has always had the greatest heart of anyone I have ever known.   We have always known that when he fell in love, it would be everything to him.  When I thought it was you, and that you could not be together, I didn’t think he would ever be well again.  I hope, too, that this time, he will be able to move past her loss with no deep emotional scars.  He couldn’t bear it.  I will never forget his pain when he thought that you had been killed and you were not even his mate.”

“We’ll all be here for him.  I’m going to follow him.  Do you want to come?”

Chione stepped back and bowed slightly.  “I think he will not need my presence or witness of his pain. 
Perhaps another time.  Besides, I must go tell Luka that she is dead.  He will be just as despondent.” 

Chione sighed.
  “I think I’ll pick up a bottle of MoonShine before I go home.”

Starla watched Chione head back down the hill. 
Talk about someone who wore his heart too openly, so did this beautiful woman who had come to be like a sister to Starla.  Chione was a strong, powerful vampire, but her heart was fragile, with thin glass walls that could break or shatter too easily.  Starla remembered a phrase she’d heard once and she thought it applied to her friend.

There are men too gentle to live among wolves
.

That was Chione, who hurt too easily.  Starla knew she would be leaving soon, to follow her destiny, to follow that open heart, to seek her own path.  She would miss Chione, but Starla knew with complete confidence that once that journey was complete, Chione would come home to Zambia, to the beautiful Victoria Falls and the people who loved her so much.

As she arrived at the small fenced-in water area with slides, swings, and rides in bright colors, she watched Ahmose as he picked up his son and held him. 

Ahmose buried his nose in the little boy’s soft hair.  Starla smiled, because she
often did the same thing.  His hair always smelled like fresh spring.  The love between father and son was obvious, she could feel the deep emotional connection even across the five or so yards between them.

Jacob came up to her and put his arms around his mate.  “He’s a mess,” he whispered in
to her ear.

“I know.  Do you think she might have been the mate he’s waited for?  God, I hope not.”

“No way to know, my love, but she was
something
special.”

“It would seem so.  He’s requested to be left alone to dine tonight.”

“Wow.”  Jacob knew what it meant, too.

After holding his son in his arms, Ahmose felt some of the intense pain wane.  He had a spectacular life here with his new family.  Starla would carry one more child, another girl, before the prophesied three first blood children were here.   His special destiny was coming true and he was ungrateful to ask for more.  This is why he knew he would never get the mate he thought he sought.  He had been granted so much already, how dare he be greedy.  It was okay.  All was going to be fine. 

With a bottle of pale
MoonShine, he left the village and traveled a well-worn path that led him to the top of a cliff overlooking the waterfalls.  Thousands of gallons of water crashed to the rock below as he watched the beautiful scene lit by a shining moon. 

He threw the cork of the wine bottle in a wide arch to fall many feet and be swept away on the rushing water.

It was a gesture of release.  “I cannot believe how much I miss you already, little detective.  None of this was your fault and I will never forgive myself for bringing this to you.  Sleep well in the cradle of the heavens, my lovely girl.”

For the next several hours as the moon moved across the dark sky, Ahmose killed the entire bottle of powerful wine and let his mind wander.  It wandered back to California, but he knew that it would.

IN L.A.

Kai couldn’t find his daughter.  No matter where he looked, what corner he checked, none of his contacts or sources, none of Kordalis’s resources either.  She was just gone. 

Bev was back
from Hawaii, too, frantically doing everything she could to help locate Mal, but with no more luck than Kai or the L.A. police department.

“She can’t evaporate,” Bev said at one point. 
“Unless
he
has her.  Otherwise, she would have called either you or me.”

“Not if she took off,” Kai said, under his breath, but she heard him.

“Why would she take off? Kai, do you know something you’re not telling me?  I’m Mal’s best friend, if you know something, you need to tell me.”

He shook his head slowly, and Bev watched incredulously, and wondered if he was trying to convince her or himself.  He wasn’t convincing
her
.

“So, more mysteries and lies.
  I’m glad I didn’t sleep with you, Mr. Kalani.  After ten years as a police psychiatric specialist, I already have trust issues.  You may be the sexiest man I’ve seen in a long time, but I can already see the heartache you’ll leave behind.  Just, if you can’t confide in me, just go.”

Bev turned away, went into her office, and slammed the door.  Kai heard the lock slide into place and knew the conversation was finished.  It was probably a good thing.  He liked Bev,
but she deserved better.

Well, call it a night, he guessed.  But instead of heading back to
Mal’s apartment, where he was staying, he headed to Kordalis’s office.

“No trace, eh?  Well, good for her.  Maybe she got a little of the old coot in her after all.”

“Mr. Canzone, do you want us to continue?”

Canzone paused. He should say yes.  He should send a team after her until she was gone.  But he’d loved his sister, and he had an attachment to her kid.

“No, pull everyone back in.  If she’s off the grid, she’ll
stay
off the grid.  It’s time to get back to work.”

            
 
Chapter 16

FIVE MONTHS LATER

First meal was always everyone’s favorite.  The chefs prepared the best of everything because they knew that their guests would be starving after a long night’s asleep.

Ahmose came down the hill from his elevated dwelling with Er
as on his shoulder.  The boy could easily ride on his father’s shoulders now, able to maintain balance and hold onto his neck.  Ahmose snatched a fried pastry from a tray as he passed by, took a bite, then held it up and behind him for his son to nip at.  Eras giggled and only managed to capture a small bit as he bounced on top of his tall father.

Chione was already dining, Luka at her side as he had been now for months.  Their relationship had grown very close, not romantic, but as close as family. 

Whenever Luka looked at Chione, he couldn’t help but smile.  She made him happy much in the same way his partner had before he had
died
and then
she
had been killed months ago.  It still hurt when he thought of Mal, but he was past the point now where he had been devastated.  Now, he remembered her with love and the sense of loss that was common when someone died so young, and a relationship that meant so much to him was gone forever.

Ahmose picked up a large platter-plate and watched Chione drop her head and laugh, while Luka slid his fingers
along her forearm.  He wondered, not for the first time, if he was witnessing fledgling love, but only time would tell.  Chione was such a beautiful soul, and deserved only the best mate possible on Mother Earth.   Ahmose hoped that if she was falling for Luka, that he was good for her, and that he would honor her as she should be.

He’d just reached for a ladle full of gravy when someone grabbed Er
as from his shoulders and the little boy erupted with giggles.

“
Ya thought ya could escape me, did ya?  Aarrgghhh!”

Jacob swung the boy around and tossed him into the air to catch him easily on the way down.

“Don’t break our son, Jacob,” Ahmose said over his shoulder, while he finished filling his plate.  “Where’s Starla?”

“Close.
There. See that angel carrying the smaller angel?”

Both men’s eyes went to the
same hill they had just descended.  Starla landed on level ground and smiled at her children’s fathers.  She carried a baby wrapped in the softest cotton she had ever felt in her life, which she thought was only appropriate for the most beautiful little girl in all of existence on the Mother Earth.  Starla was barefoot, a diaphanous gown flowing in the breeze.  They really
did
look like angels.

“Good evening, gentlemen,” she said with a wide smile,
then her eyes moved to the little boy hanging almost upside down from Jacob’s hands.

“And that includes you, handsome.”

Ahmose reached for another plate.  “I’ll prepare your meal, Star, if Jacob wants to hang onto Eras.”

Jacob nodded, and escorted his mate to the table where Chione and Luka were finishing their first meal.

Chione put her hands up and wiggled her fingers.

“
Gimme, my friend,” she demanded.

“Umm,” Starla moaned. 
“Deal. Babies are a twenty-four-seven project. I haven’t had much time to just hold my man.”

She handed the tiny baby girl to
Chione’s waiting arms.

“There you are, my darling,” Chione whispered and cradled the soft bundle.  “You are more beautiful tonight than you were last night.  That’s great magic, my little lady.”

“It’s great magic indeed.  We already know she’s going to overpower our generation like the others some day.”

Ahmose approached with a full plate, his own left abandoned on the buffet table. 

Starla sat daintily as her two men took care of all of her needs.  She wasn’t about to complain.  While she may be vampire, caring for her new daughter and her toddler son was wearing her out.  It was true that she had a huge village to help her, but right now, she wanted her children close.  It was a ridiculous amount of work, but she wouldn’t trade a moment of it for anything.

Starla glanced at the baby in
Chione’s arms, smiling up at her beautiful godmother.  Shani, a daughter that destiny brought to this unique triad of parents.  The name was Egyptian and meant “wonderful.”  Every moment of this journey with her babies, Ahmose, Jacob, and this entire village of lovely people had been wonderful.  This night, too, of soft breezes, family and friends close by, her children safe and well, and finally, Ahmose, healing after all of these months.

Ahmose.
  He was smiling again.  Just recently, but he’d finally allowed himself to let go of the lost love that had been gone now for nearly half of the year.  It had been heartbreaking to watch him try to smile, try to behave like everything was fine, when he knew it wasn’t.

But when Shani was born just last month, she’d crawled inside of his heart and he had blossomed back into the caring, gentle, loving man she’d fallen for after she had been kidnapped two years ago.

So, as Starla watched her baby in her closest friend’s arms, she was happier than she could ever have imagined.  The only thing that would complete this perfect circle would be the final birth, next year, of the third child destined to come to them.

“What do we have tonight?”

Ahmose presented the plate he’d prepared and watched Starla tear into the freshly made American food that had become common now for their nightly buffets.  He himself had become accustomed to hamburgers and French fried potatoes.

He glanced over at Chione, her eyes glowing, literally, as she looked at the newest first blood baby.  His eyes dropped to her small face, smiling up into
Chione’s dark eyes.