by Myln Hurn
“I picked up on the whole family thing shortly after I arrived. Uhm, I hope AnnaBelle is all right. She isn’t sick, is she? You said she was pretty tired.”
Iain shook his head negatively. “No, but it is common in the first trimester to need more sleep.”
“First trimes…holy cow! Is she pregnant?” Hunter asked in complete surprise. “Does anyone know yet?”
“We didn’t tell your parents until last night before we went to bed. Then we made them promise not to tell anyone yet. AnnaBelle wants to let others know in a month or so.”
“Will she be pissed you told me?”
Iain scoffed softly, shaking his head again. “Of course not, Hunter. She’d like nothing more than if you moved here and she could see you all the time. By the way, I don’t want to put undue pressure on you, but if you did come here it would save me a bundle on long distance charges.”
“Ha! Well, I’ll be damned. Pregnant! Oh, congratulations, daddy!”
“Thanks, Hunter. We are pretty excited; especially since we weren’t sure it could happen at all. You know how they always said vampires couldn’t impregnate women, but I guess we are proving the world wrong once again.” Iain ran his index finger slowly around the rim of his glass. “I didn’t know the truth about you—hell! I didn’t even know Fauster had persisted with this insane breeding idea of his. I was his first failed experiment, you know. I always figured that once I left he would give up. Obviously he did not.”
“You are the seventh generation dhampir that had been documented throughout the European history books recording the legends and myths of the ‘vampyre,’ aren’t you?” Hunter asked the other quietly.
“Yeah, I am. I imagine I felt like you did when Fauster told you the truth. I’m glad to see that Fauster did perfect his technique over the years, though. After my conversion I told him he had most likely ruined his ‘master race’ idea all by himself. Fauster just shook his head and told me that I was forbidden to breed until he presented me with my chosen mate. God, the man was so cold at times. It was almost unreal. Anyway, the last thing I wanted to do was please Fauster.”
“You had no idea who AnnaBelle was when you met her?” Hunter asked.
“Her name struck me, being Blue, of course. But the last I’d heard of Fauster was that he was still in Europe, playing mad scientist. It turns out he came over to the States to escape Hitler in 1939. He didn’t trust France to keep the little runt curtailed.
“Anyway, when I learned that the missing uncle was none other than Fauster Blue, who had sired me, alarm bells went off inside me. But by that time I had come to care about AnnaBelle. My feelings for her were growing stronger and driving my decisions than any past connection with her uncle. I still found it hard to believe that he survived, after everything the world has gone through over the last three hundred odd years since I had seen him. And I sure as hell never thought Simon would make it this long. That vampire is a walking time bomb.”
Hunter nodded once. “I researched him quite a bit after AnnaBelle came to visit me in Australia. Since Fauster left Europe, though, he has really gone to ground. Despite remaining sanguineous he seems to have adapted quite well to the New World Order. Tell me, though, do you really think Fauster intended for you and AnnaBelle to get together, so to speak? Or was he just covering his ass so he wouldn’t look the fool?”
“Who knows? I wasn’t first choice, as you know. AnnaBelle doesn’t know this, though,” Iain added quickly. “The bond between the two of you is pretty amazing, and she cherishes it. I don’t know how she would react should the truth come out about Fauster and you.”
“So he confided in you?”
“Not voluntarily, but eventually. I admire you for saying no to Fauster. I think you are a brave man. AnnaBelle is a beautiful woman, no matter how you choose to see her. I’m very grateful that you stuck to your personal moral code.”
Hunter looked down at the table. “For me, there was no choice, no matter what Fauster said. I would have let him kill me before I would have done that to AnnaBelle. His ranting and raving about being my father and all his work and effort didn’t matter to me. What mattered was that AnnaBelle had been part of my life since she was born. I cared for her as an infant, a pre-schooler like Blue. She was my sister and I loved her more than I could say at times.”
Iain smiled, getting up from the table to refill their glasses. “She feels the same way about you, Hunter. You are more than a brother to her. You are mother and father, since they were always off traveling somewhere on a vampire trek. Having you live nearby would make her complete. Hey, I’m not saying that she isn’t one hundred percent there for Blue and me. She is. But you and she have a bond. It’s kind of like what has developed between the three of us and Tatiana. Coming home was more than just returning to Blue, whom I love with all my heart. Tatiana has become like the sister neither one of us had growing up.”
“I understand what you are saying.”
“You have the kind of job where you can live virtually anywhere in the world.”
Hunter laughed softly. “Is this part of the hard sell package?”
Iain smiled, nodding his head in agreement. “I guess so. I just think that it would be pretty cool, having the family together.”
* * * * *
Hunter sighed in the darkness. Alone in the den, he remembered it was not long after the conversation he’d had with Iain over his future that Blue had been the first one to come downstairs, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Even though it had seemed perfectly natural for him to get up first, he had been aware that Iain watched him lift Blue into her chair without waiting to be asked, fetching her bib and tying it in place. Iain had grinned at him when he poured the glass of soymilk, in spite of his own grimace of dislike, but then shrugged and served it to Blue with a huge smile on his face.
The whole rest of the day had been perfect. He had gotten nearly an hour alone with AnnaBelle to catch up on things. And he had remembered to act suitably surprised when she told him the secret. They didn’t want Blue to know yet, since it was still months away. Tatiana knew already, though, because she was the one who ran to the store the first morning for the early pregnancy test. Hunter had decided to have a talk with Tatiana about how well she could keep secrets.
A noise startled him out of his reverie, and then he heard someone speak.
“Shoot!”
“Darn it!”
Hunter sat up in bed, hearing the faint, muffled voice. It seemed to be getting closer. Then he heard the double doors, which slid open and shut into the den, sliding open for a second and back together just as quickly. Frowning because he couldn’t see anything in the darkness from the heavy drapes on the windows and the dark paneling in the room, he heard the voice again.
“Son of a bitch!”
A second later, a body pitched forward and landed across his lap. The last words had clued him into his visitor’s identity. Grinning, he spoke softly.
“I’m not sure AnnaBelle and Iain would approve of this change in sleeping arrangements.”
“Ouch!”
“Damn! Is that your foot or your hand?”
“I’m trying to move—”
“Shit! Too many more moves like that one and your trip downstairs will have been for naught, sweetheart.”
“Sorry. I can’t see in the darkness very well. I thought vampires were supposed to be able to do that.” Tatiana shifted around on the airbed, stopping to bounce slightly when she discovered its resiliency. “Hey, this is kind of nice, isn’t it? Does it have the built in heat thing? I might want one of these upstairs.”
“Do I need to ask why you are down here?” Hunter asked softly, grinning.
Tatiana shifted on the bed. “You dirty old man you. Where is the light, by the way? I’d like to see the person I’m….uhh…talking to.”
A second later, a soft light lit a quarter of the bed enough to see. Hunter stopped shifting around after he’d turned the light on as he caught sight of
Tatiana for the first time. “What in the world are you wearing?”
Tatiana looked down at the pajamas AnnaBelle and Iain had brought back to her as a present. Blue had really liked them and kept insisting she wear them tonight.
“Please stand up and model them for me, so I can enjoy the full effect,” Hunter asked her softly, hiding his grin behind his hand.
The glare Tatiana shot toward him told him that she was not fooled by his supposedly simple request. Reluctantly she scooted out of bed and began turning slowly, on the same side as the light. Hunter reached out and stopped her when she was turned away from him.
“Hold on a second and let me take a good look now. Let’s see, we have mannish styled pajamas with Eiffel Towers, croissants, street lamps, bicycles, bunches of flowers and glasses with red-lenses!” He couldn’t resist running his palms up the backs of her legs and finally cupping her ass cheeks with his palms. Speaking softly, he continued, “I get everything but the glasses, darling.”
Tatiana sighed heavily before answering him. She shifted on her feet, which pushed her cheeks more fully into his grasp. “The red lenses are for the song ‘La Vie en Rose.’ You know, looking at the world through rose colored glasses.”
“Hmm.” Hunter paused and squeezed her cheeks a few times. “I don’t imagine you’d care to sing me a few stanzas, to refresh my memory?”
Silence followed his words for a few moments. And then he softly heard her voice begin to sing. “Je vois la vie en rose, il me dit des mots d’amour…” The words faded away.
“And in English?” Hunter lightly tapped her behind both knees, tumbling her back into his arms. “What do the words mean?”
“Well, the beginning says, ‘Hold me close and hold me fast, the magic spell you cast—’” Tatiana gasped as Hunter’s hands slid beneath her arms and cupped both her breasts tenderly.
“Please, go on.”
“This is la vie en rose. When you kiss me, heaven sighs, and though I close my eyes, I see la vie en rose. When you press me to your heart, I’m in a world apart. A world where roses bloom…I can’t remember this part very well.”
Hunter pressed his lips along the side of her neck, tenderly, over the place where he had marked her forever. “Do you know any more stanzas?”
Tatiana nodded slowly, beginning again. “I thought that love was just a word they sang about in songs I heard. It took your kisses to reveal, that I was wrong and love is real.”
Hunter felt Tatiana take several deep breaths, each one pushing her breasts more fully into his hands, but he didn’t squeeze or stroke or even caress her tender flesh. He waited to see if she would go on. It took almost a minute and seemed even longer before Tatiana continued.
“Angels sing from above. Every day words seem to turn into love songs. Give your heart and soul to me, and life will always be la vie en rose.”
Neither of them spoke or moved for a long time. Finally Hunter forced the words through his choked off windpipe. “Tell me what you want, Tatiana.”
“I want you to fuck me.”
Hunter’s hand covered her lips instantly. “No, I mean what do you want out of life, my sweet? Where do you see yourself going? Your plans, future?”
Tatiana started to move away from him, but Hunter stopped her by pressing her firmly against his chest. “Please, stay here while you tell me.”
“I don’t know what my future is supposed to be. I know what it was going to be at one point, but for a long time I have lived day to day, and that is okay.”
Hunter waited for her to go on, but she didn’t. After several long moments of silence, he prodded her again. “Tell me what you want tomorrow, next week and six months from now.”
“I want to continue studying with Lamenta, and living here.”
Hunter tried to contain his frustration. Taking a deep breath, he spoke again. “Tatiana, my goals were simple: to continue hunting and recording vampires, reestablish my relationship with AnnaBelle and be healthy.”
“Okay.”
“Those were my goals.”
“You don’t want to be close to AnnaBelle again?”
“Yes, but it is second place. What’s changed is what I want more than anything.” Hunter resisted the need to turn Tatiana and see her face as he told her his deepest emotions and needs. “Now I want to be with you…all the time. I want to be part of your life. I want us to lie down together each night and wake up snuggled close in the morning. I want you to have our child—”
Tatiana tensed in his arms.
“Please, hear me out, my love. I want this life we have shared the last couple of days with Blue. I’ve never been this happy, not even before Fauster converted me and I had no cares in the world. This is better than that. I want AnnaBelle and Iain’s children to grow up with ours. A family with you, AnnaBelle, Iain and Blue. That to me would be heaven, my ‘la vie en rose.’ Now, tell me what you want. And if I’ve read this all wrong and you don’t want to be with me, please, just be honest.”
Tatiana shivered despite the warmth coming from Hunter’s body. Hearing him confess her own deepest unspoken dreams had her torn between joy and tears. Before she could release her own feelings for his acceptance or rejection, she had to tell him her secrets. After all, she knew all about him.
“Hunter?”
“What, Tatiana? You can tell me anything.” He rubbed his cheek against hers.
She couldn’t be near him, though, when she told him her secrets. It would be easier, she thought, to accept his rejection if there was space between them. Pushing his hands off, she walked away from him. She stopped a few feet from the door.
“I am probably not what you think I am, Hunter. We’ve met in such unusual circumstances, coming together—”
“It doesn’t matter. The only important things are where we go from here.”
“Yes, but the past does shape us.”
“But it doesn’t demand we stay that way. I believe that all people, humans, vampires, and everyone in between have the capacity to change. If we didn’t, then the race would have become extinct millennia ago. What we want to be is what matters, and working toward that end.”
“I agree. No…wait!” She held her hands up to stop him from walking toward her. “God, this is so hard! I’m a witch!”
“Honey, I think we all have the capacity within us to be bitchy at one time or another.”
Tatiana saw his gentle smile and knew that he was deliberately making light of her confessions. She stomped her foot, struggling between tears and laughter at his words and smiling face. “Lamenta is a witch, and I am one. That is why I am here. I came to study with her.”
“Your family sent you?”
“No. They didn’t want me to come. Lamenta and my mother are only half-sisters. There are no witches on that side of the family. They knew from an early age that I had powers of some sort. I don’t understand it all myself because the only time I was allowed to discuss it was when Lamenta came to visit. But my father was so opposed to any practicing at all that he…well, he thought that if I was no longer a virgin, I would lose my powers.”
“Shit! But you were when we—”
Immediately she felt her face flush as she recalled the first time they’d made love as well. “My virginity was a technicality, you could say.”
“My father married me to a friend of his. We lived in a very small town, you see. The family worked very hard to make sure that no one knew, or ever suspected. So, a reverend married us, and this man took me home with him that night.”
“Are you still married, Tatiana? We’ll get you a divorce and then we can be married. I’ll find out the easiest way to do this. I’m sure Iain knows a few lawyers, and if he doesn’t, then I am sure Fauster can call in some favors. I’ve seen him operate and he knows which strings to pull when he has to.”
Tatiana shook her head and slowly sank to the floor, sitting cross-legged. It had seemed as if her legs would no longer support her. “I am a widow. I was widowed that nigh
t, you see. I believe I killed my husband.”
She closed her eyes the moment she finished the last word. She couldn’t bear to see the contempt and disgust she was sure must be in Hunter’s eyes just then. A murderess had been in his bed, living in his sister’s house. She looked up suddenly. “I would never hurt AnnaBelle, Blue, not anyone. I promise you, Hunter! Even Lamenta doesn’t know. I couldn’t tell her once I’d come here for fear of what she might do to my father. My mother would not have liked sleeping with an old boar in her bed!”
Hunter crossed the room to Tatiana and pulled her to her feet. He led her back to the airbed, and then gently pushed her so she was sitting down. He joined her a second later.
“Maybe your mother wouldn’t have noticed if he was a little more boring than he usually was.” He shrugged, obviously hoping to make light of things.
Tatiana shook her head. “You are just like Fauster. No, don’t be upset over that. He has always refused to believe that Lamenta was a real witch. He thinks the hair and the nails are cute tricks, along with lighting cigarettes or candles from across the room.” She paused, still seeing his unsure look. “Lamenta would not have made my father more B-O-R-I-N-G, Hunter. She would have turned him into a fat, dirty old B-O-A-R! A pig!”
Hunter shook his head. “I…no, wait. Let’s leave that for another day. Why do you think you caused this man’s death?”
“I just did it.”
Hunter decided it would be best to worry about pigs and bores and rotten fathers later. “Sweetheart, start at the beginning. Your father married you to this jerk, and then what happened?”
Tatiana closed her eyes. “We went to his home. It was a small, dirty little house. All he wanted was someone to cook and clean for him!”
Hunter watched her closely, seeing her knot her hands into fists on her knees. “Go on, darling. I’m here, and nothing can hurt you now.”
“I wasn’t sure what he would do. I mean, I understood how things worked in theory, but…I was in the bedroom brushing my hair. I wore it long, to my waist. He got angry at me for spending so much time on it and he said ‘no more of that, girl.’ Grabbing some scissors he cut all my hair off. God! It looked terrible. He’d just hacked it off and it was all different lengths from an inch or less. Anyway, I was crying and he just got angrier. When I didn’t stop he slapped my face and knocked me down onto the bed.”