Noblesse nodded.
“You have to hold yourself together for my father’s sake.”
Noblesse smiled as Evelyn finished with the cloth, keeping it in one hand.
“I should leave you, Evie, so you can get some rest. Especially in your condition. After all, it is your and Father’s room.”
“We two are an interesting pair. I’m married to your father, and soon you’ll be married to mine. As soon as Max found out that Donovan wanted to change, he decided that you two would stay in this room. I already have a place elsewhere in the house.”
“But . . .”
Mina burst into the room. “Max is on TV.” She turned on the television and sat on the bed on the other side of Evelyn.
Max always looked handsome, but the new HD technology suited him well. A young woman stood beside him. They had caught her mid introduction. “Jenny Blinker and I’m here with the CEO of VMeer Industries Maximillion Vander Meer, whose ancestor also by the name of Max Vander Meer founded the Arnhem Society in 1679 as a charitable organization. Today it is one of the largest non-profits in the State of New York, raising billions every year and dispersing the money to those in need through grants and scholarships.
“Mr. Vander Meer, I understand you are also a member of the Arnhem Society.”
“I am, Jenny. And the public can rest assured that the good work of the society will continue. VMeer Industries will be donating office space and equipment to keep them going during the upcoming holiday season.”
“Do you know if anyone was in there?”
“Several of the staff were working late on a special project. I was told by David Hilliard, the president of the Arnhem Society, that everyone got out but one. David has gone in with an extraction team to rescue her.”
“Do you know the name of the woman?”
“I can’t share that with you at the moment, Jenny. My staff at VMeer Industries are in the process of notifying her family. I would like to thank everyone at VMeer Industries Manhattan who have come in to volunteer and make space for the Arnhem Society. We are going to help the Arnhem Society through this.”
Jenny jumped in. “For those who do not know the good works of the Arnhem Society, there isn’t a business or non-profit or school in the city which hasn’t benefitted from their generosity over the years.”
Turning back to Max, she asked, “Have you been told what caused the explosion?”
“Jenny, I’m waiting for the officials to make that determination.”
Emergency personal clustered around the manhole where David and the others disappeared.
Evelyn laughed. “Max is so relieved to have the attention off him. He says that they are making progress. They are below Lily’s location and only have to get the staircase to descend now to go up and get her.”
The press with their cameras moved away to hover over the manhole cover that was left pushed aside. Emergency personnel put a barrier around it.
“Well, since we have a pause.” Mina hopped off the bed and went to her bag, retrieving a long blue bottle and two glasses. She poured a glass and handed it to Evelyn. “A little Shuma Moot for our expectant mother.”
Evelyn drank it down and gave back the glass.
“And how are you feeling, Mrs. Vander Meer?”
“Amazing.”
“That’s great. You do have a glow about you. Now Noblesse . . .”
Noblesse stood. Her gaze darkened. The room became a misty frame around the scene underground. Donovan. She was seeing through his eyes.
“Okay, Gregor, give me a boost up.”
“Maybe I should go first instead,” David said.
“No. We have no time. I have no time. We have to move fast. Gregor.”
The large man put his hands together. Donovan put his foot into them, bracing himself for the shove up into the small opening. He grabbed a stair and pulled himself into the space and began the crawl up.
He didn’t need to see her to feel Laura behind him. Donovan went up the stairs as fast as he could. David was behind Laura. He couldn’t stand with the mechanism being stuck. It didn’t clear enough headroom. He pushed on further.
“Lily, it’s Donovan. We are almost to you.”
Laura held up her hand, and he could see the steps instead of feel for them.
“Donovan,” came back a whisper. “I’m in the dark.”
“Don’t worry, Lily. Laura and David are right behind me. We’re getting you out.”
“I hurt my leg. I can’t feel it. It’s stuck.”
The climb seemed to take forever. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he forged upward. I can’t fail this. Saying it over and over in his mind numbed his body’s agony. Donovan put on a burst of speed.
The second he was in open space, he looked around. Everywhere was black. Laura came up, and instantly Donovan spotted Lily sitting clutching an ancient book. He scooted over so Laura and David could enter the space. They were walled-in by books, and God knows what debris beyond that. Lily cried, huddled under the protection of the Babylonian stone table, the only thing preventing the building from crushing them.
“Let me look at your leg, Lily.” David carefully moved over to her. Gently he lifted piles of books and fragments of wreckage as Donovan pulled her free.
The building shook, and they clutched each other. The stone table remained strong.
“Oh my God, let’s get out of here,” Donovan said.
“Lily, let’s inch over to the steps,” David said. “You will hug me, and I’m going to go down fast. I can see in the dark, so you might want to close your eyes. Donovan, you follow with Laura.”
David got Lily over to the stair opening. Then they were gone.
Laura inched over to the opening with her father. “Papa, I’m going to do the same thing. You’re in a lot of pain now, so much that every vampire in a fifty-mile radius feels it.”
“Even Noble?”
“Probably. Let me get you out fast.” They went down three steps and hugged. “Close your eyes.”
She had just hugged her father, when the stairs began to move. Laura screamed.
“Come down fast,” David shouted. “Gregor and I are holding the stairs. Come now.”
Embracing her father, they slid, tumbled and slithered. Still the wall moved in tiny increments despite the combined strength of a vampire and a bear shifter. Laura shrieked, her arms sliced by a closing stair. Donovan shouted as a tuft of hair was ripped from his head. His shoulder tore open. One foot slammed against the stair below.
“Hang on,” David yelled. “I can see you. You’re close.”
The ancient mechanism of the stairs whined. The building shook. A stone struck Donovan in the head. Blood rained down his face.
Noblesse watched all this through Donovan’s eyes. Heard the screams through his ears. Suffered his increasing agony.
She screamed. Noblesse stood and gathered herself as the warrior she was. Closing her eyes, she stretched out her arms and commanded, “Venez ici!” (Come here!)
When she opened her eyes, Donovan and Laura were covered in blood and in her arms. Laura yelled and toppled backward, falling to the floor. Donovan, weak and bleeding from several wounds, collapsed. Evelyn rushed to Laura. Mina helped Noblesse ease Donovan to the bed.
Laura got up. She was already healing. “David can’t or won’t hear me. He thinks my voice in his head is his imagination. They think we were crushed to death.”
Mina examined Donovan, while Noblesse held his hand pressed against her heart.
“Laura, I’ll handle it.” Noblesse focused her thoughts and said into her brother’s mind, David, I have them. Donovan and Laura are here. I teleported them to me.
What? You what? You can do that? His confusion flooded his mind.
It’s been shaking a lot down here, but we got through the wall door before it crumbled. We’re at the ladder now.
“Evelyn, call Max. Tell him to get here quick,” Mina said.
Evelyn used her phone. She shook so badly, she couldn’t focus on his mind. On the television, they saw Max look at his Blackberry. “Excuse me. I have news. The heroes are on their way up now. Please, make way for the ambulance.” He walked over to his limo, got in and it pulled into the street.
Instantly, Max was standing in the room facing Evelyn who still held her phone.
Mina turned to him. “Max, it’s now or never.
Max hurried to the bed. “Donovan, you’ve requested to be changed.”
“Yes.”
Noblesse squeezed his hand, and Donovan turned to her even though that mere movement was torment.
“Donovan keep looking at Noblesse.”
“Bless, kiss him quickly, as I must start now.”
Noblesse knew exactly why Max wanted her to kiss Donovan. She pressed her lips against his. Her tongue pushed his lips apart and caressed the insides of his mouth till he moaned. Her saliva was now effectively mixed with his.
Then they parted. He gasped for breath, still holding her hand.
“Stay facing Noblesse.”
“Stop,” he whispered. “Noble, remember you are mine, and I am yours.”
With tears in her eyes, she nodded.
Max leaned over Donovan. Noblesse lay on the bed facing her lifemate. While Donovan faced her, Max bit him.
Pain surged through his body, but he kept his focus on Noble.
He said, I love you, Noble, over and over again to her mind. He heard her say to his mind I love you, Donovan. I will wait for you.
Don’t let me go, Noble. The world grew cold and dark. She hugged him. He could feel her heat. She kissed him again, and he faded away, lingering in that kiss until it was far like a star in the sky.
He heard Mina say, “He’s dead.”
Donovan hung on Max’s last words. “Now we wait.”
Everywhere grew very bright. When the light dimmed so he could see, he was at the Rex Ball. Except it was different. Everyone there wore white. Juliette walked up to him. He was happy to see her and yet he wasn’t. Donovan ached for Noble, his lovely vampiress waiting for him in the Earth world.
Juliette smiled and asked, “May I have this dance?”
He held out his arms and obliged her, sweeping her up into a waltz.
“I knew you would come.” She kissed him on both cheeks and then on the lips.
Donovan pulled back slightly, still holding her and gazing into her eyes. “I will always love you, Juliette. You gave me two wonderful daughters, and now Evelyn is going to have a baby.”
“It is a blessing to have a child,” she said. “Are you ready to begin your new life?”
While they danced, the place became a world of light. The faintest outlines of buildings shimmered. Waterfalls were beads of light bursting into arrays of fine golden beams.
She smiled at him. “You have earned the right to be here.”
“Would I be staying with you?”
“If that is your heart’s dream.”
Every detail enchanted him. Water fountains of pure light overflowed into a glowing ground.
“I imagine life with a Celestial is paradise,” he said.
Juliette smiled. “Paradise is limitless wherever it is found.”
“You’re giving me an out?”
She nodded.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’re not going to hurt me. Please, don’t worry. God needs to know your request. Which paradise do you wish? The one here, or the one with Noble?”
“You might consider me a bad person, but I want to return to Earth and be with her. I love Noble and couldn’t be happy without her.”
“You’re not a bad person, Donovan.”
“I will be a vampire.”
“I have two wonderful daughters who are vampires. Lately, I’ve been inspired by how one once relegated to the dark, would walk the path of death to be with the one she loves.”
“What?”
He looked past Juliette. In the distance, Noble turned and walked away.
When Donovan died, Noble closed her eyes determined to follow his path into the otherworld. She would stand with him no matter what. If he did not awaken, neither would she.
At the Rex Ball, she found herself dressed in a white gown. Donovan and Juliette danced, while she hid behind a potted plant. When they left for a higher world, and conventional forms dropped away, Noble followed.
Remaining a distance away, she watched Donovan and Juliette. They stood so close to each other. Then his angel offered him a life with her in paradise.
Noble trembled holding in the grief. He’d spoken many times about his wife and the curse that separated them. For years, he struggled to return to her and their daughters. Then Juliette died, and the curse ended. He finally got into New Orleans as her funeral concluded. Now at last they could be together again.
Noble couldn’t bear it any longer and decided to leave. She wanted Donovan to be happy.
Her body wept. She felt Max come near and sit beside her, stroking her hair.
“Bless, don’t cry.”
It was a tremendous effort to form the words and let her physical body speak. “Father, if Donovan doesn’t wake, please, put me in stasis.”
“I won’t do that, Bless.”
“You can’t do that,” Mina shouted. “You and Donovan are having a baby.”
Turning her back to the scene of the two lovers, Noblesse paused. She heard Mina and smiled. Yes, she would return and wake. If she couldn’t have Donovan, she would love his baby, their baby. Becoming a mother had never occurred to her.
Suddenly she was face-to-face with Juliette Cordelais. Noblesse stared into those pale blue eyes, the same as Laura and Evelyn’s, and felt wonderstruck and inadequate.
“I’ve never seen a creature normally relegated to the dark worlds be so ablaze with light,” the angel said.
“I’m a vampire.”
“You’re so much more than that, Noble. You must be a mighty soul to walk so easily into this world.”
“I . . . I.”
“Hi.” Donovan took her hands and pulled her in for a hug. “She is an Arnhem Knight.”
“Even in the heavens we have heard your legends.” Juliette tilted her head as if to examine Noblesse. “Donovan calls you Noble. Your father named you Noblest.”
“Yes, he did.”
“And you gave yourself a sad, depreciating name. Did you do that because you became a vampire?”
Noblesse laughed in resignation. “Yes.”
“Max also calls you Bless and with good reason. Did you hear Donovan turn me down flat?”
“He did?”
“I did. Juliette says that God is giving me a choice. I want to go home with you, Noble.”
“But you will be a vampire. Why would you give up paradise with an angel?”
He kissed her, and he held her like he would never let go. “I will have paradise on Earth with you.” Donovan kissed her again. “I can’t be without you, my Noble.” The third time he kissed her, she closed her eyes.
Chapter 18
Donovan sat up in bed and stretched. When he yawned and opened his eyes, his mouth fell open. Quite a crowd had gathered in the room to wait. He immediately reached over to where Noblesse lay sleeping.
“What’s wrong with Noble?”
“I influenced her to sle
ep a little. She was afraid you would not come back,” Max said.
“How do I get her to wake up?”
Evelyn laughed. “You kiss her.”
He did. Noblesse groaned and said, “Five more minutes,” as she rolled over in his arms.
Everyone laughed.
Noblesse heard the laughter and realized she was back.
“Noble? Sha?”
Oh, yes! Donovan was back too. She opened her eyes and gazed into the dark blue eyes of her lifemate. He looked so young, maybe twenty-two. Donovan was handsome, and his upper body so strong and virile. She wondered about the lower parts. Noble was stunned by the difference. She was used to looking at the older version. Frankly she loved the older Donovan.
He stroked her hair. “Noble, it’s still me.”
Noblesse ran her fingers through his thick ebony hair and lingered teasingly along the sides of his face. She enjoyed his young beard, the scruffiness. His mustache was nicely formed as were his muscled arms and chest. She bit her lower lip, as her fingers racked down his washboard abs. It was enough to make a grown woman cry. Her mind raced with all the ways to delightfully explore him.
Max cleared his throat. “Before you continue with an audience, a few matters must be fulfilled.” He stepped toward the bed carrying a goblet.
Donovan sat up, the blanket resting on his lap. Noblesse, too, sat up.
“Since I am your sire, I give you my blood to settle your mind. It will create a link between us.”
He handed it to Donovan who drank it down and returned the cup. “What should I call you?”
“I was thinking about that. Since I have married your daughter, and you intend on marrying mine, perhaps it is best you call me Max, Donovan.”
They shook hands.
“Noble and I will be marrying as soon as I can get out of this bed.”
“It can wait,” Max said. “You need to stay in that bed three days so your body can complete the change. You came back in just six hours. You need time for the change to finish.”
Vampire Princess of New York (Arnhem Knights of New York) Page 12