Pigalle Palace (14 page)

E
ssence made up an excuse not to come to my parents' house for the gathering. I showed up alone. My mother had invited one more guest I wasn't expecting to see: Olivia, my ex-girlfriend. She'd had a family emergency in New Orleans and had to leave Paris abruptly, but that was years ago. She never contacted me once she left and I had no way of contacting her. How did they get her to come back to Paris and why was she here after all these years?

Olivia was a few feet away, drinking and laughing with my mother. Her eyes sparkled as soon as she saw me. One of her best qualities was her blue eyes. For some reason when she turned into a vampire, her eyes turned blue instead of the amber or light-brown color that most vampires had.

I turned to Onyx. “What is she doing here?”

“They said she happened to stop by.”

She happened to stop by? That was a lie. I felt this was my mother's doing. She hated Essence that much that she would go out of her way to bring Olivia back to get me to leave Essence alone.

Mother waved for me to come over and I walked to them.

“Hey,” Olivia said, giving me a hug. “It's so good to see you, Rain.”

“It's good to see you, too. This is a pleasant surprise,” I lied.

Mother was grinning from ear to ear. She always liked Olivia for
me and always hoped that we would get married one day. At one point, I was close to proposing, but she left abruptly. I hated her for doing that to me.

“She's so pretty,” Father said, joining the conversation. “I always thought so. Don't you think so, Rain?”

“She's always been beautiful.” That was the truth, but she meant nothing to me anymore.

“Thank you,” Olivia replied with a bright smile.

“Why don't you two sit and catch up?” Mother asked while linking arms with Father.

Olivia and I sat on the couch next to Onyx and Soleil.

A server came around with champagne on a tray. I handed her a glass. We drank in silence. Olivia kept staring at me and I kept staring at her. Suddenly, all hate went out of the window. I wanted to tear all her clothes off immediately. My animalistic desires felt rampant and I was ready for them to take over. It was amazing that she could still do that to me after being gone for 300 years.

Olivia whispered in my ear, “I missed you.”

“Is that so? What do you miss about me?”

“We used to have so much fun together. I want to kiss you right now.”

I chuckled and shook my head while taking her hand in mine. “You've always been a quick mover.”

“I want you in my mouth right now.”

“You can do whatever you want to me…later.”

I glanced across the room, and there was Essence. I removed my hand from Olivia's immediately. Essence smiled as we made eye contact.

Onyx cleared his throat and said, “Essence is here.”

I then turned my attention to Olivia, whose undemanding angelic
blue eyes were wide, curious, and almost afraid because Essence was within a few feet of us.

“Is that her?” Olivia questioned.

“Yeah. Excuse me.”

I got up from the couch and before I could meet Essence, she was already standing in front of me with the confidence of a queen. She may have been the queen of her world, but it would be a cold day in hell when she would rule over me. I could feel her newfound power and though it was scary as hell, I stood there firmly.

“Rain.” She fluttered her eyelashes as if she were expecting me to respond. She stood tall in her three-inch gold stilettos.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I thought about it and changed my mind. I figured, why not come and mingle with my in-laws.”

“If you were going to come, you should've come with me earlier. My parents don't like for guests to show up unannounced.”

I looked across the foyer and my parents were staring at us.

“I hope they're not mad. They extended the invite in the first place, so I'm only a little late. They should feel pleased that I showed up at all.” She flung her long hair over her shoulder in an awkward silence. The tension between the two of us was too profuse. Essence glared at Olivia and then smirked. “Who is she?”

“I need to talk to you, Rain,” Mother demanded.

Mother looked at Essence as if she were an old chewed-up piece of gum on the bottom of her shoe.

“Hello, Mother. It's good to see you again,” Essence said in a sneering tone.

“I need to talk to you now, Rain!” Mother exclaimed, walking to the library.

I turned to Olivia. “I'll be right back.”

She smiled at me. “Okay.”

Essence snapped her head from Olivia to me.

Olivia introduced herself to Essence. “Hello, I'm Olivia.”

Essence fluttered her eyelashes as if she were insulted. She pulled on my free arm roughly. “Don't you walk away from me. I deserve an explanation.”

“I don't owe you anything, Essence. You broke our bond and even then, I've been trying to make this work between us, but it's not going to work.”

“You did this to me and now you expect me to go on with my life?”

“This was a decision you made.”

“Wrong! You made that decision for me.”

The angrier she got, the louder her voice became.

Olivia pulled my hand gently. “Rain, your mother is waiting to talk to you. I'll come with you if you want me to.”

Essence threw her head back and laughed hysterically. “You're such a puppet, Rain. You do everything your mommy tells you to do. I'm your wife and I say we're leaving this party now.”

I turned around and glared at her. I was on the verge of putting her in her place until Olivia pulled my hand again.

“Come on, Rain. Walk away.”

“I'm talking to him!” Essence exploded so loudly that the whole floor shook.

Azura hissed, Legend balled up his fists, and Onyx stood to his feet. Essence's lip curled into a devious smile. She looked as if she were ready to take us all on if she had to. I held up my hand to alert them to be still.

As I walked away toward the library, I said, “Essence, you can see yourself out.”

She jumped on my back, grabbing me tightly around my neck as she wrapped her legs around my waist. I tried to
get her off, but her grip became too tight. She put up a good fight, but I was stronger. I struggled to pull her off. Her claw-like nails were digging into my neck as she ripped my shirt. I felt the burn as I pushed her as hard as I could, which caused her to fly back against the wall. The brick shattered.

She eased off the ground and laughed in a shrill manner. She snatched my father's sword off the mantel and charged at me. Before I could get out of her way, she stabbed me with it. I doubled over as my blood gushed out of me. Onyx, Legend, and Azura took hold of her. When Essence realized they were too strong for her, she broke through the pristine glass window and disappeared.

I pulled the sword out and the wound started healing immediately. I made my way to the library quickly. Everyone followed behind me.

“Rain, are you all right?” Chantal asked, trying to see if I was still bleeding.

“I'm fine. It's healing.”

“What's wrong with her?” Olivia asked.

“Don't worry about her.”

As soon as I entered into the library, I could see Mother's and Father's grim faces.

“Do you see what you've done,” Mother said. “That woman has crossed over, Rain. There's no getting her back. Let her be. She is now the enemy.”

“Mother, let me handle this.”

“Be aware. The power that she has is one that we will all have to come together to destroy. You, alone, won't be able to kill her,” she replied.

“I created her, so I will end this. No one is to lay a finger on her. Leave that up to me.”

They all paid very close attention to the tone of my voice. They had never heard this tone from me. It was the tone of their leader.

  *  *  *  

After the gathering, everyone went home. I wasn't going to go home; the wild banshee was waiting for me to return. She could've easily made her way back to my parents' house, but she wanted to catch me alone. I wasn't going to let her have her way.

Olivia stayed with me in the living room by the grand fireplace.

“You should really come to New Orleans sometime to get away from this mess,” Olivia said, trying to lighten up my sullen mood.

“That would be nice.” I headed straight to the liquor cabinet, poured some rum and downed the drink. I needed it.

Olivia stared at me with those blue eyes penetrating mine. She positioned her body right up against me. “Rain, do you think about getting back together?”

“Olivia, what we shared was precious and we shared some of the best times of my life. I'll always cherish those memories. I missed you and anything is possible in the future. It's that right now, I need a little time to get myself together.”

“You're in love with her.”

“Yes.”

“You always love too hard.”

“There's no such thing. Well, at least, not in my book.”

“Are you afraid that she will try to hurt you?”

“I don't fear her. Are you afraid that she'll hurt me?”

She dropped her teary eyes from mine. “No, I just want to be with you.”

“Being with me is too complicated and I don't want to break your heart. This may sound foolish, but until I resolve things with Essence, I can never give myself to you completely. Every time I start to fall for a woman, she breaks my spirit.”

She bit on her lower lip. “I will never break your spirit again.”

“Once is all it takes. It will be hard for you to undo what you've already done.”

“Will it?”

Her blue eyes had me staring too deeply. Suddenly, I grabbed the back of her head with two hands, pulled her to me, and kissed her passionately. When she expressed her love for me, I didn't want to deny it. Felt too good to deny it. Was it too soon to let her back in?

Our tongues danced sweetly, melodically to our own rhythm. I'd forgiven her a long time ago for hurting me by leaving for so long.

“If you want me, Rain, take me. I want to be yours.”

I gave her neck a sensual nibble. In the heat of our passion, I wanted to make love to her for the rest of the night.

“The only way you can have me back is if you get rid of
her
.”

“What?” I asked, coming out of my lust-filled daze.

There was no need to discuss Essence. She should've been the last person on her mind. I should've been the only one on her mind. I was about to give her an experience only I could give.

“I love you so much, Rain. I don't know what to do with myself. All I do is think of you, night after night, day after day. I really missed you.”

I pulled her body against mine roughly. After easing all her clothes off in a hurried fashion, we were making out as if it would be our last time feeling one another. Our breaths became one as I used just the tip of me to play with her slick opening.

“I've wanted to feel you for so long.”

Placing my finger over her lips to hush her, I smothered her lips with a deep kiss. In and out of her, I pumped thoroughly. Our rigid grinds took us away until the early hours of the wee morning.

Five months later…

O
nce Soleil was completely naked, she helped me get out of my clothes. She traced small circles along my chest hairs with the tips of her fingers as we lay in bed. I caressed her large tummy. I was so excited about the baby and he was going to be coming soon. She felt a sharp pain and she clutched her stomach.

“Looks like our miracle is coming, Onyx. My water just broke.”

  *  *  *  

Soleil wanted the birth of our child to be private, between the two of us, but that was close to impossible while giving birth in my family's mansion. Twenty-two hours of labor and I felt as if I had just given birth myself. That's how exhausted I was. As soon as our son was born, Mother and Father wanted him in their arms to hold. My premonition of a son had come true. I had been right. They were the proudest days of my life.

We named him Ulysses like the title of the novel written by the Irish writer James Joyce. Ulysses was the hero in Homer's poem “Odyssey.” He was also the Greek leader that came up with the plan to burn down Troy and save Helen during the Trojan War. I loved everything there was to know about Greek mythology and Soleil thought the name was perfect for him.

Everyone from our family was there to witness his birth and everyone was as happy as we were. There was no talk of the Préfet. They weren't aware of what was going on. Our parents' plan had worked better than we'd imagined.

The baby had his eyes opened for his grandparents. He sucked his fingers, wiggling into a cry.

“Uh-oh, Mommy,” Mother said. “Baby is hungry.”