by L. L. Ash
“Wow, that’s some tale,” I said, though it was quite believable after everything I’d been through the last few days.
“It is why only the royals may have mates, because our blood is purest from the original vampire who was a god. We can produce heirs but the followers, those who are turned by blood instead of heritage, they cannot.”
“Makes more sense then when Calix explained it.”
He shrugged.
“You kinda need the whole picture to understand what the hell vampires are.” He smiled at me. “But it’ll take a while to get the whole picture. Just remember to have patience and ask questions.”
“So… vampires are Greek?”
“It’s just a story, Lil. Of course we would like to take responsibility but reasonably it’s likely just a virus like we’ve come to conclude with modern science. I’ve heard tale that the daywalkers are even working on a cure. I’d be interested to find out if they come close.”
“What’s a daywalker?”
“They are like our cousins in a way. Dead on the inside in the same way, though we are stronger and more powerful. They retain the ability to walk under the sun with pigment left in their skin that we've lost. They are our more human counterparts.”
“How is that even possible?”
“A son, one that hadn’t been fully turned, chose not to. He became something similar and turned the woman he loved with his blood. She caught the weakened virus and from there, it’s history. Viruses spread quickly and soon there were hundreds of thousands of them around the world.”
“Sounds nicer to be one of them instead of whatever you guys are. Well not you in particular. But kind of a general ‘you’.”
He smiled.
“I understand what you mean. I agree that it is nicer. Though our kind is assembled and lives longer, happier lives than they do. They also have the ability to change forms which we don’t possess.”
“Change?”
He nodded.
“They could walk past you at any time and you’d never even know.”
“That’s a scary thought.”
Shrugging, Ariston looked at me again.
“You keep distracting me from you. So you grew up in LA, didn’t travel… Did you have a family?”
“I have a brother and a sister ” I nodded.
“No parents?”
I bit my lip, wondering how much of my past I should reveal.
“I have parents.”
“None you’re fond of it seems. Your expression became hostile at the topic.”
“No. None that I’m fond of. My father’s a drunk bastard that’s never home and my mother abuses her children to get them to obey.”
He looked sad.
“I’m sorry you had a hard childhood, Lil.”
“Apologizing again?”
He grinned.
“Fine, I take it back.” His smile disappeared. “Was she terrible?”
“She put me in the hospital a couple times as a kid, but when it’s the mother abusing kids it’s harder to detect and easy to say it was an accident.”
“And you worry for your siblings?”
“Of course I do. I was only a few months from getting my siblings out of there. I had a lawyer lined up and everything… Now they’ll think I just... disappeared.”
“Lil… that’s terrible!”
No further questions about my childhood came up.
Ariston asked me everything about me, from my favorite food to my toothbrush color to my major in college.
Next thing I knew dinner was being served and we were eating fancy chicken and potatoes while the rest in the plane shared some tall glasses of red...blood.
Red is a much more palatable name for it.
“Have you ever had it?” I asked him finally, feeling comfortable enough with Ariston to ask sensitive questions.
“Had what?” he asked around a bite of chicken.
“Blood. Like...can you do what they do?”
He choked a little then grinned after swallowing
“I’ve tried it. It’s not my favorite thing but I can. I can change kind of like the daywalkers.”
Holy hell?
“Really?”
He hummed an affirmative.
“Can you like...change here? Like right now?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Right now?”
I nodded eagerly.
He got a little closer 'til his nose was just an inch from mine His eyes closed in a blink and he was ice blue like the rest of his family.
“Shit!” I exclaimed under my breath.
He grinned, his teeth a little sharper at the canine.
“Like what you see, Lil?”
I scoffed.
“It looks so weird! How do you ever get used to it?”
He blinked again as he sat back and it was gone.
“I grew up with it. My mother and father both had those eyes, and it’s normal when that’s what you see everyday. I saw green eyes for the first time as a child and couldn’t stop staring.”
“I bet. Man. I bet our childhoods were like night and day.”
He turned slowly to me, an eyebrow up and a smile playing on his lips.
“No pun intended.” I grinned and laughed at myself.
“Pun? What pun?” he asked with an innocent expression before bursting out in laughter.
Chapter Five
“You two look chummy,” Nyx commented with a smile as she took the seat across from me where Ariston had sat earlier.
“Lil is a riot,” Ariston told his sister, his smile still spread across his face.
“I know. She’s charmed every one of us in just a couple of days. Even Bampás.”
“All but one.” Ariston frowned.
“Ah, antíthetos Brother. She has charmed him more than he likes. It’s why he’s acting like such a psolí.”
“You know him better than I.” He waved his hands around as if to wave away the conversation. “Nyx, did you know that Lily here has a degree in design?”
“Oh? What kind of design?”
“Computer stuff. Graphic design and anything that goes with it. I can design websites too if it pays well enough.”
“Wow, that’s cool!” Nyx looked interested. “That’s all stuff I don’t really get yet. Bampás is always telling us to learn about the new technology stuff. It never made sense. Seems a little lazy to me.”
“Well, you know what they say,” I told them and they both shrugged. “Laziness is the mother of all innovation.”
They laughed.
“See?” Ariston turned to his sister. “She’s great!”
Nyx winked at her brother then went on about Greece and what to expect.
When the plane landed, I watched the vampires in attendance dress in light clothes, gloves, hats and scarves that covered their faces. Large, black sunglasses covered the upper portion of their faces as they stepped off the plane, heading quickly into the huge stretch limo waiting for us.
I stood on the steps that led down to the tarmac and took a minute to soak in the early dawn light.
“Feels nice, doesn’t it?” Ariston asked from his perch one step ahead of me.
“I miss it,” I admitted.
He gave me a soft, understanding smile before putting out his hand to me, palm up. I knew this action and what it meant to them. I slipped mine into his and followed him to the limo.
We slid into the back, almost unnoticed by the others.
“I’ll make sure you get plenty of exercise in the sun when we arrive at the archontikó.”
“The what?”
“The mansion,” he said simply.
We sat silently as the limo drove through city streets, but I didn’t get much of a view through the deeply darkened windows but I didn’t mind so much. I would get my time to see the city, even if I had to beg Ariston on my hands and knees to show me.
The thought made me smile.
Shortly after we pulled off the ma
in road or highway we were on and down a long road before it ended at a huge white building. Marble-type stone shone as we got closer, making up the multi-leveled home, all in classical Greek-Roman design. Columns lined the front expanse of the house along with statues of what I only imagined were Greek gods and goddesses in the lush green garden and yard. The car drove down into what looked like an underground garage and the view was cut short with darkness.
“We’re home!” Nyx called in a happy voice as the car stopped.
Even Ariston looked excited.
We got out of the car single file. Papa and his men first before me, then Ariston and Nyx. Up a large spiral staircase was a sprawling living room, but all windows had been shuttered. It wasn’t dark though. They made up for the lack of sunlight with electrical lights all over the place.
Suddenly a high pitched woman’s voice excitedly chirped strange, incomprehensible words. All my companions grinned at seeing her.
“Charmion!” Papa exclaimed and took the woman into his arms immediately.
“Who’s that?” I whispered to Ariston.
“One of Bampás’ mates.”
“One of?” I asked in horror.
“No one human woman can give a king as many heirs as he needs. Each mate is expected three births. That’s nine childbearing years, give or take.”
“Holy hell! How many of you are there?”
“Seven brothers. Nine sisters.”
“Does that include mates?”
“God no.” He chuckled before stepping forward to hug the woman.
“Mamá!” Ariston grinned, pressing the woman close to his chest.
She kept speaking in the strange language that I assumed was Greek and held on, her eyes closed in happiness.
“Demetrios,” another feminine voice filled the room, this time it was husky.
“Agápi Mou,” Papa said back to her, giving her a completely different greeting than the other woman.
Papa took her cheek in his hand and gave her a long, lingering kiss.
Another of his mates, I assumed.
“My mother,” Nyx told me from my side. “Calix’s too. She is the first mate. The one Bampás fell in love with.”
Oh. That made more sense.
“How many mates?” I asked her.
“Five. ”
I just shook my head in disbelief.
So they had multiple ‘mates’. I was going to be just one of the harem for Calix. The thought made me furious. No wonder they didn’t bother with wives.
“I uh… I need a minute,” I told Nyx before turning in a random direction and practically sprinting.
I heard Ariston’s voice and Nyx’s but I didn’t stop. If I did I’d end up sobbing all over the place in front of my new ‘family’.
Taking a sharp turn, I passed another woman who was on her way to where I‘d come from but I blew past her and her confused face. Finally I opened a door down the hall to a blessed bathroom.
Locking the door, I slammed the toilet closed and plopped down, trying to catch my breath before it turned to hyperventilation.
“Lil,” a knock on the door had my head shooting up. “Please open the door, Lil.”
“I just need a few minutes, Ari,” I said in as strong of a tone as I could manage while my entire world was crushing from debris to dust.
“Ariston,” that same husky voice from earlier came through the door. “Give us some time.”
There was no audible agreement from Ariston but I knew he’d left.
“I’m coming in, Lily,” the voice spoke to me now.
I just sat there as the door opened.
“You are upset,” the woman said, stepping into the small bathroom before closing the door again.
“Of course I’m upset!” I snapped then immediately regretted it.
Hopefully this woman wasn’t where Calix got his temper.
She smiled.
“Of course you are,” she agreed.
I looked up at her, noticing for the first time her amber colored hair, pale skin and ice eyes.
“You’re one of them,” I whispered.
She nodded.
“I gave him Calix, Nyx and Bion. I did my duty and he gave me eternal life.”
“I don't want the duty. I don’t want eternal life.”
“It doesn’t matter what we want, child. We accept what they give us. It is our place.”
“Only because they made it our place,” I growled.
She smiled.
“I like your fire,” she told me and settled onto her knees in front of me on the hard marble floor.
Taking my hands, she looked into my eyes.
“You already carry a child,” she told me. “You belong to our family now. ”
“I don’t want to be.” I groaned and tears started falling again.
She pressed her palm to my cheek, cold and familiar.
“It is a good life, child. Whether you are the loved mate or not, you will be well cared for. Even if you do not want eternal life, you will bare children, live well, and Calix will obey your wishes if you choose to stay mortal.”
He would?
“But my life is over,” I half asked, half stated.
“As you knew it, yes it is.”
“What about everyone—”
“You need not worry about anything from your past life.” She looked at me sternly. “It is less painful if you look forward at what lays ahead. Your family, your job, your old life…everyone will be ok without you. No matter what situation they are in, your family, they will be ok. You made it; so will they.”
I blew out a breath that weighed about three tons.
“What was it like for you?” I asked finally.
“I was a diplomat’s daughter, a thousand years ago. Demetrios first met me at a banquet his father threw. He was young in heart, full of life.” she smiled at the memory. “It wasn’t long after that his father was killed. Soon thereafter he was looking for a mate. Of course, being young, we also fancied ourselves in love. I was the first he took, and it so happened that I was compatible.”
“So you knew about all the vampire stuff?”
She laughed.
“Not a thing. After our first time together Demetrios laid it all out for me. He explained what he was, what I was to be… I was so angry with him. I walked away from him that night, taking the day to think on what he’d said. I loved him, and I wanted to be with him, but I understood that loving him and being with him meant I lost everything I had known my entire life.”
“So you got a choice?”
She shook her head.
“I did not. That night I told Demetrios that I did not want to be his mate. I wanted the comfortable life I’d always had. His response was to take me anyway. Kicking and screaming.”
“Hey, sounds like we have more in common than we realized.”
“Demetrios is a passionate man, and Calix takes after his father in that way.”
“He kidnapped me and...” I sighed.
She didn’t care. Nobody cared about the injustice.
“I know. Demetrios told me all about it. I could whoop that boy if he were here. He knows better.”
“Papa said it has something to do with his first mate. The one who died.”
She nodded.
“She was a cute little thing. Though she wasn’t much in the way of personality. She smiled and nodded, agreeing with all. Calix needs a strong woman, not one who bends to the winds.”
“Well I think he bit off more than he can chew with me,” I huffed.
She laughed again.
“I think you may be right. But it serves him right after what he did. Taking that many virgins?” She scoffed and looked heavenward as if for assistance.
“So your best advice is to just be ok with this?” I asked her.
“It is the only advice, child. I know you hail from the United States. You are used to your freedom, and people not telling you what you can or cannot do. I was already trained t
o obey men by my teens, so I accepted quickly and thoroughly. It will take you more time.”
We paused in talking for a minute and I wiped off my excess tears.
“I am glad, though.” She smiled at me again, happiness in her face. “That Calix got one like you. He could be very happy and content with a woman like you. If he pulls his head out of his ass long enough to see it.”
We both burst into laughter.
“Now, I apologize. I never introduced myself. I am Xeno. You may call me Mamá if you like.”
I nodded, letting her take my hand and helping me to stand.
“We have breakfast ready.” She gave me a soft smile. “I’m sure they are waiting on us.”
Taking my hand, she led me out of the bathroom and back to the big room where everyone else was gathered. Ariston caught my eyes the moment we entered the room and strode toward us.
“Are you alright?” he asked me, wiping his thumbs under my eyes to finish drying my leftover tears.
“Yeah. I’m ok. Just needed a minute.”
He looked unconvinced, but he let it go and took my other hand.
“Breakfast is ready,” he told me and Mama, leading the way to the dining room.
Lounges shared space with the table, and I watched as the vampiric part of our company took to the lounge couches while I sat with Ariston at the table. Cloche covered plates were put in front of us by humans in uniforms. Other humans came in, all in white dresses or white linen pants and tunics.
Nyx clapped when a certain man appeared. He grinned back at her.
“You’ve gotten old, handsome,” she told him before kissing him on the mouth.
“Only cause it’s been too long since you’ve been home.” He winked at her.
Did the woman have all the men servants charmed? Probably.