Days of Innocence

by C. L. Quinn

  The beautiful redhead worried him. Until that last visit a year ago, he’d always thought of Cairine in the same way he did his sisters. This morning, when she’d turned to him and he’d held her, even for that brief moment, the electrical current had lit up all of his nerve endings. She’d felt soft and warm in his arms, and her scent had reached for him. Over recent years, he’d been sexually active, but this was the first time he’d experienced strong sexual urges around Cairine. Taking her into his arms had nearly pushed him past his limits, but he’d stopped before he did something that would embarrass her. And himself.

  Finally arriving at Bas’s villa, one even larger than Koen’s home where they would stay tonight, Eras was fifty feet from the doorway when it opened and two young men stepped out. They leaned against the door, arms folded, grinning.

  “Damn, what took you so long?” Mac barked.

  Maccabee, Cairine’s little brother, bigger than his sister by quite a lot, and only slightly smaller than Eras, shoved away from the house and met Eras as he crossed the courtyard. With strong handshakes, they gave each other the one-armed hug that men often do, and stepped back.

  “Good to see you again,” Mac said in welcome.

  “Yeah, I’m thrilled to be here. It really is too long between visits.” Eras’s eyes went to Caedmon, slowly making his way across the pavement, his smile just as bright. “Brother,” Eras said, and tried to keep the sadness from his tone.

  Caedmon’s limp was dramatically noticeable now. Last year, it had only been obvious when he tried to move quickly, but he wasn’t trying to now. Still, his gait was slow, but steady and unhalting.

  “Brother,” he responded, and accepted Eras’s forward steps to bring them together sooner.

  “You look great.” Caedmon pulled him into a hug. This time the hug included both arms as the two held each other close. Eras also supported his friend as they greeted each other. Carefully stepping away, he ensured Caedmon had regained his balance before he let him go.

  “Join us for breakfast. Your sister has already seated everyone.”

  Caedmon nodded. “We just finished here. Mac and I are working on a routine for tonight.”

  “Ah. The concert.”

  “Yeah. My mother made a request and we just wanted one more rehearsal before we go live.”

  “Cool.” Eras paused, his eyes moving from Mac to Caedmon. “Caed, how are you feeling? Really?”

  “I’m okay. Tired a lot, and you can see that I’m still having a little locomotion trouble, but I’m fine.”

  “I’ve worried about you.”

  “Stop. I’m going to be strong enough to kick both your asses someday soon.” A quiet man, Caedmon was at his strongest when he was with his brothers. Between the three men, he had found his place, and although they were not brothers in blood, they were in soul and mission. Their fates were tied together, along with the women they would stand with one day. “Let’s just go get something to eat and enjoy the afternoon. I may be slow on land, but I doubt either of you can beat me in the water.”

  “I’ll get my car,” Mac announced and headed back into the villa.

  “Really?” Eras asked.

  “No. It’s not just weight bearing. My legs don’t work too well, water or land. I just don’t want anyone showing me concern or pity, or helping me. You understand, my friend?”

  “You know I do. And I won’t as long as you promise me something. If you do need help, you’ll ask me and you’ll let me. I don’t pity you, but I demand that you let me be there to help whenever you need it.”

  Moments passed before Caedmon nodded. “What a useless vampire I am.”

  “Hardly. Intellectually, you can run circles around me a hundred thousand times. And when you convert, you’ll be good to go, buddy, I know it.”

  “Let’s hope. Right now, I’ll go for breakfast and a good day with my best friends.”

  “I second that.”

  Screeching tires accompanied a small convertible as it raced from behind the south side of the villa, coming to a sudden stop just a few feet from Eras and Caedmon. Eras had been ready to grab Caed and pull him back with him if the car hadn’t stopped in time. He glared at Mac.

  “What? I’ve never missed my mark. I wouldn’t risk it, guys.”

  Caedmon smiled and clapped a hand on Eras’s back.

  “He’s that good. Last month he planned to go to America to race cars. His father put a stop to that idea quite quickly.”

  Sliding upward to perch on the edge of the door, Mac grimaced. “For that moment in time, yeah. I still might.”

  Eras moved to the car and jumped over the side into the backseat. His first instinct had been to assist Caedmon, but Caed’s request still rung in his ears, I don’t want anyone helping me.

  Caedmon followed, his pace slightly quicker than before. Eras tried to act cool and just nodded to him as he carefully opened the door to step in, one leg at a time.

  Mac waited patiently and when Caedmon pulled his door closed, he looked back at Eras and grinned.

  “Hold onto your hats!”

  After revving the engine multiple times, he gunned it and flew down the two lane road at breakneck speed to spin out in front of Koen’s villa.

  Once the car had come to a complete stop, Eras jumped out over the side the same way he’d gotten into the car. “Well, if I’d had a freaking hat, the thing would be in Scotland by now! You as good as you think you are?”

  Mac pushed up to perch once again on the doorframe.

  “I’m as good as I say I am. I love cars. Next month, I’m taking that old Bugatti Veyron for a run at the OWT in Dubai.”

  Out of the car now, Caedmon slammed his door closed. “No you’re not. Bas said no, not until you’re vampire.”

  “What Daddy doesn’t know…”

  “Daddy’ll know. You just need to wait until it’s completely safe. It won’t be much longer.”

  “I’m not waiting. This boy has to ride the wind, guys. I’m not in any danger.”

  “Do you remember the speeds they get to on the One World Track? With the new jet-powered engines most PV’s use, it isn’t safe. You’d be using an old combustible engine if you take that ancient car.”

  “It’s outstanding. I need to open it up and let it hit top speed.”

  Caedmon looked at Eras, who’d dropped off the edge of the car and walked around to meet him. “Mac thinks that since he’s a first blood, he’s invincible.”

  Mac slammed the door and stood, arms crossed, and glared at Caedmon. “No, I don’t. But I know how good I am. And Caed, I want to do this before I turn vampire. I want to know that it is me and not some genetic lottery that made it around that track. Me, not the vampire genetic code.”

  Eras held up a hand and placed his other on Caedmon’s shoulder. “Stop. This conversation is a non-starter. Caed, Mac will do what he needs to do. Mac, you need to remember your family and what you mean to them. To us. To the mission. Okay, enough said about that. Except for this.” He caught Mac’s eyes. “If you do go, you call me, I want to be there.”

  “You bet. Look, Caed, I’m sorry for that. Let’s find the others.”

  Entering the villa, Francisco was just closing the doors that led into the dining room. “Oh, you’ve returned. Did you want something before I clean up?”

  “Nah, we’re good. Where are the others?” Caedmon looked toward the back of the house. “Beach?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll bring drinks and snacks down soon.”

  “Good deal, thanks, Francisco. Guys, let’s change and go down.”

  “Hey, I don’t need swimming trunks. Haven’t used them in a while now.” Eras grinned as he headed to the sliding glass doors that led to the stone steps.

  Mac nodded. “I’m with him. Vampires aren’t bothered by nudity and we’re all adults now.”

  Caedmon smiled back. “Okay. You go on, I’ll be there shortly.”

  After Mac followed Eras down the steps, Caedmon moved to the stairwell.
His friends were right, that kind of prudish behavior was not observed within the vampire community. Everyone had beautiful bodies and no reason to hide them. Still, he felt more comfortable with his nylon shorts. He really didn’t know why.

  Within moments, Francisco heard raucous yelling as the young men reached the beach. He smiled. Having all of the first blood children here again was a good thing. Everyone in the household was joyful when the families reunited like this.

  Closing the door behind him, he moved quickly through the large room to the kitchen. He’d make haste in his preparations. Although the people on the beach were, at this time, completely human, they still had big appetites. It was his greatest pleasure to provide for them. Miss Cairine was gracious and lovely, Master and Miss Bryson and Fia capricious imps, Caedmon and Mac uber male. He loved and cared for them as everyone in both villas did.

  Now, where was that new carafe of specialty root-beer the kids loved? Kids. They weren’t anymore, but it would take him a long time to see them as anything else.

  On a balcony, hidden in shadow, likely unnoticed by the young people laughing, swimming, and sunbathing on the beach more than three stories below, he watched the happy vampires-to-be frolic. The balcony had a steep cantilevered overhang, so it would obscure his presence. That was the intention. Surveillance without interference. The unseen protector, put in place decades ago by the man who had come to him one cold night in New York City to change his life.

  He remembered the night like it had happened yesterday.

  That year, Rodney had met a vampire for the third time in his life. They always intrigued him, but this one…an enormous, powerful one...had touched his heart and reminded him of the vampire who had been mother to him. He would find out eventually that the vampire had felt the same strange connection to Rodney.

  Six months later, the vampire had returned. Rodney had been sure he would never see him again, so, surprised, elated, the moment Koen had walked back into the private area of the warehouse he owned, he’d sent his staff away.

  “Noble One. You have returned to the city that never sleeps. And here you are in my tiny part of its dark life. I feel blind-sided and immensely grateful.” Rodney had bowed then. For him, this return of the vampire had rocked his world. Koen’s presence felt like a tether to the woman he’d searched for all of his adult life. His fruitless search for love, he guessed, that informed the ragged emotions that plagued him. Did that make him a tragic figure? Perhaps.

  Koen had gestured to him. “Let’s walk.”

  Rodney had slipped a long leather jacket over his sleeveless vest, then followed the big vampire out into the darkened street past warm air into a chilly breeze. At that time of night, the street had been mostly deserted, and a conversation that changed the path of Rodney’s journey on this earth began.

  “You’ve been on my mind, odd one.” Koen spoke abruptly, his eyes ahead as they walked.

  “I am honored, sir, to have even crossed it at all, let alone to have lingered. Or should I be? Is my existence troubling to you?”

  “Troubling? No. Well, yes. In that something about you, about your aura and spirit, and your strength, your honesty, has had enough impact to follow me home. I finally sussed out why.”

  “This unassuming man is curious, old one. What have you uncovered in your mental travels? What have you seen in me?”

  “I see a man who I know carries a shield of honor in spite of the direction his life has taken. In spite of choices that, at first glance, seem less than honorable. Of recent, it has become apparent to me that I need a protector, a warrior, for something so precious, words have no use to describe. In my dreams, which I believe to be sent from the universe, from destiny, I have been guided back to you. If you will accept a mission like none other in the world, I would like you to come with me to my home in France. Your task would be unboundedly challenging. I would make you the most powerful blood-bond in history, and give you powers only seen in first blood vampires. Rodney, you would be my most trusted ally in protecting my children. I ask you, then, would this life appeal to you? It would be for at least thirty years. As my blood-bond, you would not age a day in that time.”

  Rodney stopped and lowered his head to stare at the ground. He did not speak for several minutes, then raised his head, his eyes on Koen’s.

  “I have always known that this unremarkable man with this small life had journeys yet to take. A path unto the unknown to be trod by these restless, searching feet. This man is honored beyond all measure that such a man as you would trust and have expectations of me. I do indeed accept your offer. I feel the light break beyond the window of my mind. Old one, I have always known that I carried inside me a karmic destiny of grand import.”

  “Grand,” Koen whispered. He smiled. “It’s interesting that you use that word. Good. Then it’s done. Once you settle your business here, I will come for you.”

  “Old one, within my house, I hold the loyalty of five uniquely true men who would follow me anywhere in time and space. I would take them as a trusted crew, if you would allow.”

  “You feel you need them?”

  “I do. One man can do what one man can do. This humble man before you can do what twenty can with those at his side. I need a force I trust without question if my mission is one that must not fail.”

  “Then bring them, yes. I will bond them too.”

  Koen stepped forward and took Rodney’s face in his hands, his eyes locked on Rodney’s, but with no force in them, no attempt to use compulsion.

  “I will trust to you that which means more to me than my own life. You understand that this makes you family.”

  Moisture invaded dark eyes unaccustomed to displays of emotion or affection. Rodney brought his hands up to curl his fingers around Koen’s forearms. “You will never have a moments regret or concern that your choice was not the right one. I will defend and protect you and yours until I no longer draw breath. As will my men.”

  That had been over twenty years ago. Each morning before Koen retired for the day, he sought Rodney’s gaze in a moment that had become ritual to pass off responsibility for the children’s safety from himself to Rodney. Each night as Koen rose and emerged from his suite, he joined Rodney on the third floor balcony where they repeated the ritual, passing back the charge to Koen.

  Both men took this sacred task seriously. Koen would not let anything happen to any one of these special children, and he had every confidence that his chosen partner in this would do the same. He’d given Rodney the power to do so.

  During their awful experiences with Lamont, the first bloods had learned something new. The vampires had always known that when humans took in small amounts of vampire blood, it gave them perfect health and a long, youthful life. What they’d discovered from Lamont’s arrogant effort to forcibly obtain vampire skills, was that if a human drank a cocktail of blood from several first blood vampires, they would receive first blood features. The un-converted human body would mimic the strength and talents of a first blood. The revelation had been epic!

  For his vital role in protecting their progeny, Rodney now ingested, each and every morning, several ounces of blood that combined Koen’s and his daughter Park’s, along with blood from the ancient powerful women, Eillia and Tamesine. It was literally a power drink.

  While it was true that a human reverts completely back to its natural state within a week or two of stopping the vampire blood intake, they’d found that with the incredibly potent mixed-blood cocktail, Rodney’s strength and abilities had grown each year. Now, after two decades, his body was indistinguishable from a first blood in size and fitness. He could wield many of their talents; speed, freezing, compulsion. And yet he remained fully human and able to perform the function he had been brought to France to do…watch over the children when the vampires couldn’t.

  So here he was, on a balcony he’d stood on for most of those twenty years, as invisibly as possible, and kept a sharp, but distant eye on the five future-warrio
rs who lived here and at the villa up the hill. Now, his job ramped up to include the other five from Africa. To ensure no trouble when ten powerful young people got together to reconnect and socialize, and play with the talents they still barely controlled, was a feat for no mortal man. Rodney smiled and finished a Kahlua and ice cream drink Francisco brought him earlier.

  Good thing he wasn’t a mortal man.

  His eyes moved carefully over each face. The entire group was down there now, some swimming, some lounging in the cushioned circular seating area just beyond the waves reach, and one girl who had just moved away from the group to wander alone along the beach.

  The young men had guitars and a woodwind instrument. Several musical starts always ended in laughs and playful jabs. There’d be no serious music down there today. Rodney had noticed they’d carried down a couple of Koen’s bottles of whisky and ale.

  They were divided by gender, as they often had been as children. All in their mid to late twenties now, and in spite of their lineage and destiny-designed futures, they were quite a sheltered group. Their freedoms had been curtailed by the hidden communities common for the vampire’s need to remain separate.

  Taking inventory of everyone and their positions, something he did automatically, he noted that Cairine, Fia, Brigitte, and Ife were in the water, floating and gabbing, something that women did best. It wasn’t a criticism; Rodney enjoyed the fact that women were superior communicators. It was an anthropological advantage as far as he was concerned.

  He knew, though, that things were beginning to change. Cairine spent a great deal of time lately at the edge of the sea, deep in thought. And there was no missing the inquisitive, capricious, almost wild natures of Tamesine’s twins. Things were going to get much more interesting before these children left behind the human part of their lives.

  His gaze shifted to the lone figure moving along the waterline just past where the waves broke against the shore and rolled lingeringly onto the sand before they stopped to shift back out to sea. She wasn’t in a hurry, her pace consistent with someone lost in thought. He’d walked the same path himself many times to clear his mind and find the often elusive state of serenity.