“Well, what do you think?” She crossed the wooden walkway joining the boat to the dock.
A woman dressed in a white suit with a white captain’s hat came out of the top tier, and blew a whistle that commanded the attention of five women dressed in white, skimpy, miniskirts and bikini tops to come rushing out onto the deck.
“Good morning and welcome aboard. You must be Izzy,” one woman greeted as she extended her hand, offering to help me onto the boat. “I’m Beth, the Staff Manager.”
Taking her hand and crossing over the wooden bridge, I was pleasantly surprised that the boat didn’t rock and sway as much as I thought it would. So far, not bad.
Beth pushed the platform onto the pier, officially separating us from solid ground. “We are ready to depart on your orders,” she said, staring at Tamara.
“Are you okay with this?” Tamara faced me, grinning from ear to ear.
I wasn’t very well going to ruin her mood and in light of words failing me, I nodded.
“Very well then, let’s get moving,” she answered.
Beth gave the Captain a thumbs up and the engines roared to life, rumbling underneath my feet. Another woman, untied the ropes holding the boat to the pier and the boat slowly started drifting away. The engines roared and with a bump, we were moving faster. I grabbed the closest pole and held on for dear life, hoping I could keep my stomach contents where they were.
“It takes a little while to get your sea legs.” Tamara chuckled, holding out her hand. “Let’s take the nickel tour.”
The living room was enormous, African Mahogany walls accentuated the Marble floors and the large entertainment center housing a state of the arts stereo system, a sixty-inch plasma TV hooked up to satellite, DVD player and a telephone. The sectional couch was genuine black Italian Leather imported directly from Italy.
“This is your Captain.” A woman’s voice emanated from the ceiling. “We are now clearing the no wake zone and will be departing for our destination shortly.”
I stared at Tamara, but instead of saying what I wanted to say, I just smiled. I’ve been out running around trying to find Kaley, putting my life in danger, coming head to head with werewolves and she went out and bought a boat. I had no doubts that Celeste had something to do with this, too.
The engines roared and the boat leapt forward, knocking me off balance onto the couch. Tamara laughed, as I landed butt first on the cushy leather cushions.
“You’ll get used to it,” she said and then giggled.
“No. I don’t think so.” I swallowed, trying to keep my coffee down. Tamara extended her hand to me. Was she kidding? Did she really want me to get up and move while this thing gained momentum? My coffee was coming up. I gulped down what I could, prayed that I didn’t puke and took her hand. For the record, you don’t want to see a vampire throw up. It’s a cross between a cat coughing up a fur ball and a dog choking on a bone he refuses to let go of and with the same gut retching intensity. Only with us, it’s all blood that comes up due to our special liquid diet. It is the most unusual form of punishment you could ever bestow upon us.
I followed her lead, steadying myself as I bumped into the walls of the long, narrow hallway. She opened a door and proudly stood showing off the main bedroom. The walls were African mahogany with pictures hanging of the two of us. She plopped onto the bed.
“It’s a waterbed. Come and feel it.” She patted the jiggling mattress.
“Uh, no thanks. I’ll take your word on that.” My insides were churning. “I think I need to sit down.”
She jumped off the bed a pulled a chair close. “You don’t look so good.”
“Really? Green doesn’t go well with me?”
She laughed.
At my expense, but I took it.
“I’ll have Stacia bring up a Donor that should help settle you down.”
I wanted to upchuck everything I’d eaten my entire life. “No!” I snapped. “Not now, please.”
“All right then. Lay down for a while. I’m going to check in with the captain.” And she was off, disappearing down the hallway from hell.
Maybe she was right. If I lay down for a while, maybe I would feel better. I carefully maneuvered around the swaying bed and laid my head on the fluffy pillow. Closing my eyes only made it worse. I took a few slow, deep breaths, relaxed my death grip from the pillow and started feeling better. The boat rocked and then slammed down onto the water, jarring my guts. I grabbed the sides of the bed, hoping I wouldn’t have to pay homage to the porcelain goddess. Breath. Relax. Stay calm. Don’t panic.
I heard laughter and a voice I recognized coming from the other side of the door. No, it couldn’t be. Tamara wouldn’t dare bring her on board with me, would she? I gathered my strength and made for the door. Pushing it open, it hit the wall and slammed shut. Slowly opening the door, I saw Tamara and Celeste standing there with dumbfounded looks on their faces. Celeste bit her lips together in an effort not to laugh even though she was chuckling, while Tamara shook her head. “What the hell are you doing here?” I pointed at Celeste and quickly replaced my grip on the doorframe.
“I was invited,” she giggled, prancing out of the small confined space.
“Let’s go up and get you some fresh air.”
Tamara grabbed my arm and helped me stagger my way up to the deck. I felt constrained and started removing my shirt.
“Here, let me help you,” she said, pulling my shirt off.
“Stop it.” I slapped her hand away.
“I’ve put a towel out for you to lie on, if you don’t want to feed, maybe a nap will help.”
I could think of someone I could have easily fed from, but for the time being, I would play nice. Tamara removed my shirt and jeans and I lay down on the deck, took a deep breath and felt better. I closed my eyes and tried to relax.
I felt hands tugging at my shoulder and immediately my hunger roared. That’s a bad side effect of being a vamp—we want to feed as we wake up and it usually takes a moment to realize where we are. We wake up disoriented a lot.
Stacia leaned next to me, holding up a large towel. “Mistress Tamara wanted me to wake you.” She paused. “You might want to get up slowly.”
“Are we back yet? Did this blasted thing dock all ready?”
“No, so to speak. We are at the Hightower’s private island. Tamara and Celeste went ashore a few hours ago.”
“Together?”
“Izzy, if I were you, I’d get up and go find them. Why give Celeste another minute alone with Mistress T’mra?” Stacia smiled.
She made a good point. I got up and wrapped the scratchy towel around me. “Give me a minute to get dressed and we can go in together.” I headed into the living room and while passing a large, full-length mirror, glanced at it wondering how bad my hair looked and stopped dead in my tracks. I backed up to get a better view and screamed in horror as I dropped the towel. I was as red as a boiled lobster. They left me out on the deck to get sunburned and not one of them tried to turn me over.
Stacia and half the crew ran in. “I heard you scream,” Stacia said. “Are you okay?”
“Look at me,” I yelled. “I’m ready to be served for dinner.”
Stacia laughed.
“It’s not funny so stop laughing!” I scolded her.
“I’m trying.” She laughed so hard the tears flowed down her face.
“What am I supposed to do now?” My skin had started to burn.
“Perhaps I could take you more seriously if you weren’t standing naked with your arms held out in front of you.” She laughed so hard, she had started snorting instead of breathing while more tears fell from her face. She dropped onto the couch.
Great. Stacia, the heartless human found this comical. I’m doomed. I looked in the mirror and she was right. I was a sight for sore eyes. “Help me. I’m burning,” I pleaded.
Apparently, that was just hilarious because it sent her into another laughing fit.
“You…need…to…f
eed…maybe,” she said, every word between gasps of mirth.
“Maybe? Aren’t you sure?”
And that’s all it took to send her into another fit. I gave up. I slowly stumbled my way into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. I caught another glimpse of myself in the mirror. I looked pathetic and knew every inch of me would hurt. I fell back on the waterbed, wallowing in self-pity.
Knock! Knock!
“What?” I snarled, wanting to be alone.
“Dinner’s ready.”
I knew that voice and with a sense of humor like that, it had to be Vicky. We both worked as Donors at Kaley’s center before I was turned. We had become friends, yet I couldn’t let her see me like this. I didn’t care about the sunburn. I worried about my new status as a vamp. “Go away,” I whined.
“I can’t. Stacia threatened to throw me overboard if I didn’t do this.” Vicky paused. “Someone in there is hungry and I’m your girl. Open up.” She jiggled the doorknob.
“No.”
“Come on, girl.” She jiggled the knob again. “I know everything, so let me in and I promise I won’t laugh at the sunburn either.”
Carefully moving out of the bed, I unlocked the door.
Vicky turned the knob, slowly opened the door, and froze. “I didn’t know it was this bad.” She waved her hands up and down.
“Please,” I mumbled, slowly moving back to the bed. “I can’t handle more laughing.”
“I ain’t laughing at you, girl. I just ain’t never seen a vamp with a sunburn.” She rolled her eyes. “Ain’t no one gonna believe me so we’ll keep it our little secret,” she proclaimed, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Stacia told me you ain’t happy about this. Did she make you do it?” she asked, putting a little too much emphasis on the word she.
“No, not her. Her sister didn’t give me a choice.”
Vicky’s jaw dropped from the implications I had made. Who would have thought that the sweet, human-loving Kaley would have done this? But here I am, undead proof.
“Well, no need to cry over that now, huh?” She pulled her hair back, exposing her neck. “You’re finally on the other side so let’s take care of you now.”
“No!” I snapped, rolling away.
“Oh, baby, you’re cranky.” She straddled on top of me, and flung her bikini top to the side. Vicky’s large breasts wiggled as her nipples grew firm. Stretching and tapping the side of her neck with two fingers until her artery swelled to the surface, she slowly rubbed her groin against me. “You’re a Hightower now and, baby…I know how to work a Hightower.”
That reassuring pressure that I love to hate built behind my eyes and my fangs extended.
“Yep,” she grinned. “I’d say you need to feed.”
I knew what followed next and whispered, “I’m sorry,” as I latched onto her neck and took in her sweet blood.
Vicky didn’t flinch. She sat obediently, letting me suck and lap up her blood, enthralled by my charm. As she passed out, I held her in my arms and continued to drink. I paid special attention to her heartbeat and when it started to slow, I stopped. I was finally learning how not to bleed someone. She would recover nicely.
Feeding made my sunburn feel better, but it did nothing for the redness. I put on a large, loose blouse and found Stacia in the living room, reading the financial paper. “Where are they on the island?”
She looked at me over her glasses. “Near the restaurant section.” She folded the paper and laid it on the couch next to her. “How are you going to get there?”
“Isn’t there a boat to take me across?”
She chuckled and raised her brow. “Do you know how to drive it?”
“No, but how hard can it be?” I said, walking out on deck.
She followed me. “I’ll take you. With your luck lately, you’ll sink the boat.”
“You just want to see me kick Celeste’s ass. Get honest.”
We loaded up in a dingy with a motor, at least that’s what the captain called it, and took off toward the shore.
“I thought that Lady Hightower forbade you from hurting Celeste?”
Standing up in the dingy, I waved my hands toward the empty ocean. “Do you see the almighty Matriarch anywhere? Why do you care?”
“I have come to respect and admire you. I don’t want you getting in trouble because of your uncontrollable anger.”
“My uncontrollable anger…what…are we friends now?”
“No, but you are a formidable ally.”
“Well, I’m glad we established those lines. God forbid we should be friends.” I smiled.
“We both want what’s best for Tamara and it’s not Celeste,” Stacia confessed.
Well, it’s about time someone else saw it, too. I had begun to think that I was just jealous, but that solidified it for me. It was more than jealousy.
Stacia idled up to the marina and a handsome young man ran out, tied our dingy and helped us climb onto the dock.
“Should I get a golf cart for you?” he asked.
“No,” I replied.
“Yes.”
I looked at Stacia. “I can’t run as fast as you can. I’m only human, remember?”
The dock boy stared at us, confused.
“Yes, a fast golf cart…the fastest you have,” I corrected myself and Stacia smiled.
I floored the accelerator, cruising at a steady fifteen mph. Woohoo, we were moving now! The Island was huge so I followed the trail to the restaurant section. A wrong turn would have gotten us lost for days. “If the island is so damn private, why are there so many people on it?” I yelled as I swerved to miss a pedestrian on the narrow road.
“The island is rented out. All the movie stars come to vacation without worrying about their fans bombarding them for autographs.” She had a tight grip on her seat.
I hit the center of the steering wheel. “Where’s the horn?”
“There isn’t one,” she panted. “You’re in a golf cart, not a race car.”
The ten-minute drive would have been quicker by walking it, but I managed to get us to the restaurants safely. Pulling up to the barricaded street, another young man approached, asking if we wanted to valet the cart. Imagine that.
“Seriously?” I looked at Stacia.
She shrugged her shoulders. “It was Tamara’s idea.”
Shaking my head in disbelief, I entrusted the golf cart to the valet and accepted the ticket he offered. “Where do we start?”
Stacia rolled her eyes and sighed. “How about at the beginning?” She pointed at the first restaurant on the busy street. “We can start there, unless you can smell them. No, wait. Silly me, you haven’t practiced your new skills. You can’t do that yet, can you?”
Yeah, I deserved that, but I’d been a little busy lately. I smiled. What else could I do? She was right, I’d been afraid to embrace my new self. I believed if I ignored it, then it would go away, but it wasn’t going anywhere. “Okay. Point made. Can we find them now?”
Stacia’s posture changed. Her shoulders dropped a little and her face softened up. She turned and headed for the Devil’s Peak Café. “Do you know what I would give to have your gifts?”
I quickened my pace to catch up with her. “Why don’t you? I mean, why hasn’t Tamara seen to that?”
She stopped, waving her hands around. “Because I love this too much. I love the days. I can’t see myself reserved only to existing during the night.”
I remember when I used to think that way, too, but I wasn’t given a choice and now all I seem to do is harp on that fact. I wouldn’t try to change Stacia’s mind…if anything, I’d support her decision. What’s happened to me is almost surreal, I can’t believe the amount of problems and issues I’ve taken on since Kaley attacked me. Stacia is right—sunlight is a precious commodity. Maybe I should back off and give Tamara time to enjoy herself. I only wished she would enjoy it with me. “I can’t do this.” I grabbed her arm, stopping us dead in our tracks. “Let’s go back to the boat.”
“What? We just got here,” Stacia complained.
“I know and I’m sorry I dragged you out here, but Tamara needs time to figure this out on her own.”
“Yeah, but she’s not on her own. Did you forget that?”
“No. I didn’t forget,” I spat. The idea of the two of them together ripped me apart, but I couldn’t smother Tamara to keep her interested in me. I’m not sure when I developed this unrealistic insecurity, but it had to stop. I was driving myself crazy and for what? We were united and I hoped that was enough.
Under protest, Stacia followed me back to the dingy, occasionally reminding me that it was a stupid idea leaving the two of them alone. Wait a minute. We were united! I wondered if I could see into Tamara’s mind and get a peak at what they were doing together, but wait - what if my being nosey got me more heartache? No. I wouldn’t violate that trust. I would wait for Tamara to come to me.
Coming abroad the Izmara, Vicky met me on the deck. “Damn girl,” she said, rubbing her neck. “You needed me.”
I smiled. “I needed something, huh? How are you feeling? Did I hurt you?”
“Whoa.” She held up her hands. “You’re a vampire, sweetie. Don’t be so concerned about your dinner.” She cocked her hips and tightened her lips into a smile. “I knew what I was getting into.”
“I’m not really comfortable with this whole thing yet,” I said, defending myself against Vicky’s polite reprimand.
“Miss Izzy.” Beth hurried onto the deck, holding a satellite phone. “Call for you. Viola…says it’s important.”
I shrugged my shoulders at Vicky and took the phone. “Hello.”
“Lady Izzy, I found Jules’s body on the grounds.” Viola’s jagged words were difficult to understand.
“What do you mean you found her body?”
“She is dead, Lady Izzy,” she yelled. “She was killed on our grounds. We are under attack!”
“Viola, please calm down,” I said, using my vamp voice and I heard her take a deep breath. “I’ll get Stacia on it. Listen to me,” I said as I poured on my charm. “Only Edgar is allowed in Katherine’s room until she wakes. I’ll call you later.”
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