by Raven, T. R.
Claire stood mesmerized, staring at a picture of her family together on the beach two years ago. Kevin was even there. They were all smiling, squinting against the bright sun, relaxed and happy together. “Nikoli, I….I don’t know what to say.” She tore her gaze from the picture to look him squarely in the eye. “Thank you, I can say thank you, but it’s not nearly enough.”
Nikoli hugged her tight again. “I’m sorry they’re gone, Claire. We’ll make Stavros and his Myrmidons pay for what they’ve done to your family.” He kissed the top of her head. “I just wanted you to have these to remember them by. I wanted to get what I could for you before we left on our trip.” He stepped back, holding her shoulders. “You need you rest. Tomorrow will be a long day of traveling. Goodnight, my lovely Keeper, sleep well.” He kissed her softly and was gone.
Claire sank onto her bed, holding the precious photographs. One by one she arranged them on her night stand. She drifted off, her pillow wet with tears, her dead family smiling at her from times long gone.
Claire awoke once in the night, drenched in sweat, her bed soaked with tears. Strong arms held her as she thrashed about, calling out for her dead parents.
“Ssshhh, Claire, I’ve got you, you’re safe now,” Nikoli crooned softly, rocking her in his arms. Claire curled into his chiseled chest as she strained to shake off the lingering terror the nightmare had left behind. “It’s okay my Keeper, I’m here.” Claire slipped back into sleep in the arms of her Guardian, and dreamt no more.
Chapter 11
The bird calls outside woke Claire the next morning. Blearily she opened her eyes to find herself nestled in the crook of Nikoli’s neck. She smiled to herself and lifted her head slowly, trying not to disturb him. He slept on, his arm draped over her, hugging her close. He slept in a pair of boxers, shirtless. Claire used the quiet moment to enjoy the view of his finely sculptured chest. Heat bloomed in her stomach and her breath quickened as she examined Nikoli’s exquisite face. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. She resisted trailing her finger down the slope of his jawline.
A loud knock sounded on her door. “Claire?” Joyce called. “Sorry to bother you, but it’s time to get up. Do you know where Nikoli went off to?”
“I’m in here Joyce, give us a few,” Nikoli responded groggily. He smiled sleepily at Claire, rubbing his hand up and down her arm.
“How are you feeling?” he asked her.
Claire responded by burying her head back against his neck, drawing him closer. “Better now,” she replied as she trailed kisses down Nikoli’s neck. He stilled, enjoying the sensation, then pulled her lips to his.
“I could do this forever, but we’ve got to get going. We’ve got a plane to catch. We can’t just lie around ‘making out’ all day,” he chided.
Claire put on a playful pout. “Why not? It sounds like a good plan to me.” She sighed. “But you’re right. No more fun for now.”
“Baby, you don’t know what kind of fun we could have.” Nikoli smiled devilishly as he untangled himself from Claire and climbed out of bed. “I’m going to get dressed, I’ll see you downstairs in a few.”
Claire took a quick shower, threw on some of her new clothes and hurried down the kitchen. Joyce sat alone at the table, reading the paper. Nikoli was nowhere to be seen.
“Good morning Joyce,” Claire chirped, trying hard to act casually and failing miserably at it.
Joyce lowered her paper, and raised her eyebrows, looking expectantly at Claire. “So, you, ah, had a visitor last night, did you?” Joyce inquired teasingly.
Claire flushed crimson and shrugged her shoulders, busily preparing her cup of coffee so she wouldn’t have to look at Joyce. “I had a nightmare, Nikoli calmed me down,” she said, aiming for nonchalance and again falling short.
“I’ll just bet he did,” Joyce snorted, returning to her paper. Nikoli entered the kitchen and made a beeline straight for Claire at the coffee pot.
“Morning Joyce,” he called, sliding up behind Claire to slide his hands down her hips as he caressed her neck with his chin. “Good morning, Claire.”
Claire’s stomach flip-flopped like she was on the world’s fastest roller coaster. Her pulse quickened as she fought to sound somewhat normal.
“Good morning Nikoli,” she mumbled. Every inch of her body called out for Nikoli’s touch but she pushed him away gently. “Not in front of Joyce!” she mouthed silently to him.
Nikoli leaned in again, his lips to her ear. “I don’t think Joyce cares, and I intend to enjoy you every opportunity I get,” he whispered, sending chills of longing up and down Claire’s spine. He moved away, but not before caressing her bottom first on the way by. Claire thought she might pass out from the sensation. She steadied herself, finished mixing up her coffee, and went to join Joyce and Nikoli at the table.
Joyce put her paper down and addressed Nikoli and Claire. “I’ve got muffins coming out of the oven in a few. You two can have some breakfast, and then you’ll need to be on your way. Horace will be waiting for you two.”
“Horace?” Claire asked.
“Horace- my pilot,” Joyce said as if it were the most natural thing in the world to have a personal pilot. “You’ll be taking my private jet to Hungary dear.”
Claire broke into a wide grin. “Private jet?”
“I told you, thanks to my dear late husband, money is of no concern to me. You didn’t think I’d be just sticking you in coach on a commercial flight, did you? Oh- I almost forgot- Nikoli, I’m packing your injections in a cooler to take along, I’d better go draw them for you. When the timer dings be a love and take the muffins out to cool, won’t you?” Nikoli nodded and Joyce left to draw up the injections that allowed Nikoli to be exposed to sunlight.
Nikoli reached across the table and took Claire’s hand in his. “Are you ready for this Claire? I mean really, truly ready for this? We’re off to Europe to rally with the Gypsy Queen and destroy the one thing that could resurrect the biggest threat to everyone on this Earth.”
Claire considered for a moment as she stared as his hand over hers. She looked him straight in the eye. “Yes, my Guardian, I’m ready to do my duty as Keeper,” she replied seriously. She couldn’t help but crack a smile when she said “Though the private jet part kind of helps too.”
Forty five minutes later Nikoli and Claire were both packed and ready to go. Joyce walked them out to the truck and Claire felt a twinge of regret to be leaving the Farm. In only a day and a half it had come to feel like home already.
“Claire,” Joyce said, hugging her goodbye. “I hope you’ll consider staying here when you get back. It’s an awfully big place for just Nikoli and I, please consider joining us. It’s going to feel empty without you here and I need another female to keep me company. Nikoli’s too broody,” she teased.
“Thank you Joyce, for everything. I’d like that,” Claire replied sincerely. This was home now, with Joyce and Nikoli. Her family was gone, her home destroyed- she belonged here, with her Guardian and her new friend.
“Nikoli,” Joyce held her arms out to him for his goodbye hug, “you take good care of her, this one’s special.”
“I will Joyce, you can be sure of it,” Nikoli replied, tears in his eyes.
“Ready?” he asked Claire, opening her truck door for her.
“As I’ll ever be,” Claire replied, climbing into the old truck.
An hour and half later they arrives at the small airport in the nearest city. As Nikoli grabbed his bags out of the truck Claire gasped.
“How are you going to take syringes full of blood through security?” she wondered aloud.
“No problem. First of all we don’t need to go through security here since we’re going in our private jet Joyce owns and secondly, if we ran into trouble I could simply persuade someone. There are some perks to being a vampire, you know.” He reached over to Claire and removed her suitcase Joyce had lent her from her hands. “Come on, Horace is waiting.”
Nikoli was right abou
t skipping security. Out on the Tarmac a portly middle aged man helped Nikoli with the bags before ushering the two of them onto Joyce’s private jet.
“Mr. Ivanovicth, we’ll be stopping in Paris to refuel, and then off to Budapest. Rocco is co-piloting today, Sir.” With that Horace returned to the cabin.
Claire could not believe her eyes. It was not just a private jet but a luxury private jet. She sank onto the plush leather sofa facing the immense flat screen TV. Nikoli sat next to her and rested his arm around her shoulders. “So what do you think?” he asked her.
“I think I’m never leaving this plane!” Claire gushed.
Chapter 12
Once they had taken off successfully and Horace announced they were free to move about the cabin Nikoli and Claire unbuckled their safety belts. Nikoli approached the small bar and produced a pair of crystal champagne flutes.
“Care for a drink?” he asked Claire.
Claire hesitated, then nodded. She couldn’t drink in the United States for another 3 years, but as they weren’t in her home country, why not? “Just a small glass please.”
Nikoli returned to the sofa with their champagne flutes and a small bowl of fresh strawberries. “Joyce thinks of everything,” he commented. He raised his flute in a toast before they drank. “To my Keeper, the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in all my years. Cheers!”
“Cheers.” Claire touched her flute gently to his as she savored the compliment.
“We’ve a long flight ahead of us, shall we watch a movie?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Claire answered, sipping more of her champagne. “I wanted to know more about you, and we’ve got nothing but time right now. How were you turned, if you don’t mind talking about it?”
Nikoli tossed back the rest of his champagne in one big gulp. “You really want to know?” he challenged, his voice tense.
“Not if it makes you uncomfortable. I’m curious, but we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
Nikoli sighed. “No, it’s okay, I just rarely tell anyone. I try not to think about it too often, it reminds me of what I lost of my human life. Come.” He pulled Claire’s flute away from her and stretched out on the leather sofa. He motioned for her to lie next to him. “If we’re going to do this I want to be comfortable.”
Claire kicked off her shoes and lay next to him, placing her head on his chest. She slung an arm around him, holding him close.
Nikoli wrapped one arm around her and began stroking her black curls as he spoke. “When I was a young human, I worked as a guard to Czar Nicolas the first. I was not your average Palace guard but one of an elite group who acted as his personal body guards round the clock. We went everywhere with him at all hours of the day and night. We were his most trusted guards, and it was the highest honor to be chosen as such. I was 20 years old then. One night I was on duty with a few other guards, in the Czar’s chambers as he readied for bed. He had requested something from the kitchen. When the servant brought up his request it was not a servant after all but an assassin who made an attempt on his life. I dove in between the assassin and the Tsar, taking a deep dagger wound to the shoulder.”
Claire gasped in horror. “Were you okay?”
Nikoli sighed. “The Tsar was fine, that was what mattered. I had blocked the attack and the other guards subdued the would-be assassin. The Royal Surgeon was called for immediately and he operated that night. He closed up my wound. You must remember Claire, this was 1827 and medicine was crude at best. My wound became infected and despite the Royal Doctor’s best efforts the infection spread throughout my body,” he recalled with great sadness.
Claire raised her head and kissed his chest. She hurt to hear Nikoli bear the burden of this memory.
“I lay dying in the Royal Palace, thinking it was the end for me. Word of my deed spread throughout Russia and soon everyone knew of the boy who had saved the Czar’s life. It didn’t matter, no one could save me. The story of the attempted assassination and the guard who saved the Tsar reached the ear of a very important vampire. He sought me out quickly as he knew my time grew short. He persuaded his way into the Palace, right to my bedside, and made me an offer I could not refuse.”
“He turned you?” Claire inferred.
“Yes, he turned me. I was hours from dying and could not bear the thought of my life ending. I was scared, Claire. I didn’t want to die. The vampire who turned me was very important as he was the Guardian of the Keeper at that time. Each Guardian may turn one, just one person in their lifetime. That person will be the next Guardian should their maker be destroyed. Guardians look to choose someone brave and selfless, someone who will fulfill the duty of the Guardian well. This vampire had heard how I saved the Tsar and determined I was a good candidate to be a Guardian.” Nikoli sighed. “I agreed knowing I would die otherwise.”
“So this vampire was of the bloodline of the original Nikolai?” Claire asked for clarification.
“Yes, and when he turned me I became of his bloodline too.”
“Do all Guardians have to be named Nikolai, or was that just a coincidence?”
“No, not at all, it doesn’t matter what their human name is. Once they turn and become the next Guardian their name changes as well, to honor the original Nikolai who killed Stavros.”
“So….” Claire leaned up on her elbow so she could see Nikoli. “What is your name, really?”
“My name, as a Guardian, really is Nikoli. But my human name was Sergey, Sergey Ivanovitch,” Nikoli divulged. “That name belongs with the human me, it died with my human body.”
“Sergey,” Claire repeated softly to herself. Was there no end to the surprises that came along with guy? “Have you turned your one person, the one would have been the next Guardian after you if….?” she trailed off, unable to mention the possibility of Nikoli ever being destroyed.
“Yes, I have. Back in the 1960’s in the South. I came upon a serious car crash on the side of a quiet road. The car had rolled onto its roof, trapping two people inside. It was a young soldier out on leave for the weekend and his girlfriend. I worked to get them out, but as I did the engine caught fire. The soldier insisted I get his girlfriend out first even though he and I both knew that would probably mean he’d burn to death. I extracted her from the car and got him out before the fire reached him, but he was in bad shape. He was dying before my eyes and we both knew it, so I offered to turn him and he agreed. I had to persuade his girlfriend, she was really freaked out by the whole thing.”
“So where is the soldier now? Is he Nikoli too now?”
“I have no idea where he is. If something happened to me he’d know, he’d sense it and come running to protect the Keeper in my place. No, he’s not Nikoli like me, he’s Nick- we do allow for cultural adjustments to the name, you know.” He gave Claire a squeeze. “Enough of this, now. I have you alone on a private luxury jet and I intend to make the most of it,” he growled, grabbing Claire and flipping her onto her back on the sofa. He loomed over her and paused to take in her beauty.
Claire could wait no longer and the champagne had made her bold. She grabbed his head and pulled him to her, her lips hungrily seeking his. Heat flared through her as their lips danced together. She ran her hands over his shirt, feeling his muscular chest beneath. He pulled away to nip her earlobe and then began kissing her neck, making his way down to the neckline of her t-shirt, across her sternum and then back up the other side of her neck. Claire felt as if every bone in her body has dissolved away- she was completely jello. She giggled- the champagne had gotten to her a bit.
Nikoli paused over her, his eyes searching hers. “My turn to ask you something.”
“Yes?”
“Did you mean what you said last night, that you never….?” Nikoli couldn’t seem to find the right words.
Claire giggled again. “That I’m a virgin? Yes, it’s true.”
Nikoli kissed her again then gently pushed her back down as she rose to meet him insistently. “We sh
ould stop now. You’ve had a little too much to drink and this isn’t a good idea. Your judgment isn’t what it should be.”
“My judgment is fine, thank you,” Claire squealed, massaging his buttocks. Nikoli grabbed her hand firmly and removed it.
“No Claire, I don’t want you to do anything you wouldn’t if you hadn’t had that champagne. I wouldn’t have given it to you if I had realized how much it would affect you.” Nikoli straightened himself up and got off the sofa. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’ll take a rain check on this for another time, when you’re clear-headed. And I will be collecting on that, trust me.” He smiled affectionately at her.
“But I want you now,” Claire sulked.
Nikoli sighed. “I know but you’ve had too much to drink and that’s a problem for me.” He crossed the cabin and opened a small cabinet. “In the meantime, I have another idea.” Claire couldn’t see what he was doing.
Suddenly the voice of Frank Sinatra filled the cabin. Nikoli turned to Claire, holding out his hands. “Come on, let’s dance.”
Claire put her hand in his and he pulled her off the sofa into his arms. Claire forgot her disappointment over their aborted make-out session as he cradled her tenderly, swaying to the beat.
“Nikoli?” she murmured tipsily as she leaned against his broad chest.
“Yes, my Keeper?” He smoothed her hair with his free hand.
“I’m glad you found me at Ava’s.”
“So am I lovely, so am I,” he echoed as he held her close.
The plane jolted abruptly causing Claire to almost fall but Nikoli held her firmly in his strong arms.
“Mr. Ivanovitch, Ms. Raymond, we’re hitting some turbulence and request that you sit and fasten your safety belts if you have not done so already. We hope to be out of this rough patch shortly,” Horace announced over the intercom.
“You heard the man,” Nikoli instructed as he guided Claire back to the sofa. “Buckle up now, I’ll be right with you.” Nikoli stopped the stereo and started up a movie. “We might as well watch that movie now.” He opened the fridge and selected a sandwich.