by C. L. Quinn
IN SOUTHERN FRANCE
Daniel held Caedmon at the waterline as the tide washed around the little boy’s legs. The toddler stood on his own now, but this was a much more dynamic surface than the soft carpet inside the villa, so he kept a protective hand around his son. Glancing back, Daniel watched Chione coming towards them, Cairine at her side dressed in her favorite bathing suit that looked like a princess gown. It was pink, of course.
Another first blood vampire accompanied Chione and the child as they left the security of the house that overlooked the crashing sea. They all felt safe here, but with the SRS so active right now, he was grateful to have the first bloods from South Africa for additional protection while Eillia, Koen, and Park were gone.
Besides, Daniel enjoyed Chione’s company. He found her bright and funny, and, as she was first blood, incredibly lovely as well. She reminded him of his mate, who he missed more and more every second she was away.
Chione’s smile was sweet, a little timid, perfect white teeth displayed behind full rosy lips. “Ah, Daniel. I love this beach. Of course, we have nothing like this at my home in Zambia.”
“I know, but you do have the glorious Victoria Falls.”
“We do, and they’re astonishing, but I am seeking something else. This breeze coming from the sea, it’s breathtaking.”
She led the delighted little girl up to Caedmon and the two children reached for each other immediately. Cairine was older than Caedmon by several months, but it seemed as if they had always been together. They held each other, and giggled as the curling waters splashed their pudgy legs.
Daniel still found himself amazed by their connection. Even the first blood vampires he lived with, who had seen just about everything in their over a thousand years alive, had never seen anything like it. Eillia believed that something was coming and he knew that she was right. She usually was, and even he could feel the change in the air.
Chione pulled her sheer dress high as she tied the tail up to keep it clear of the water, then waded deeper.
Daniel’s eyes roamed over her body. The dress covered little, a diaphanous fabric, no undergarments, her full breasts exposed to his appreciative eye. He had no sexual interest in her, his desire would always be only for Eillia, but Chione was very easy on the eyes. She had the same Asian heritage Eillia did, her long slick black hair worn in an identical style, full and loose. Outrageously sexy, he thought, like all of these first bloods. It was no wonder he’d fallen for Eillia on sight.
“Are you enjoying your stay here in France?”
“Very much. I’m glad Ahmose sent me to help you watch the children.”
“We appreciate the help. You said that you were seeking something. May I ask what it is that you seek?”
Chione was silent, her gaze buried in the distant horizon. Although the sun had set some time ago, a glow remained from a high full moon that reflected off a bank of voluminous white clouds. Then she glanced at Daniel.
“I do not know. I only know that after so many centuries, there is something that pulls me from my home in Africa. It is not clear, but it is strong and cannot be ignored. I’ve been unsettled for a long number of years now, but here, near the warm sea, I can breathe easier. I feel that I am on my path.”
“I hope you find what you need. I was a lost man, ready to leave this world, when Eillia came to my rescue.”
He looked down at Caedmon, now holding a shell gently in his hand. “I cannot believe I am here, father to this special child with a grand destiny. I don’t deserve it. But destiny doesn’t justify its choices, does it?”
“No. It’s one of the first things you must accept when you live as long as we do. You must accept the truth and your place in the universe before you can become who you are meant to be. I believe I am here for a reason, now, at this moment, with these children, under that very moon.”
“I don’t doubt it. I’ve seen a lot in the year that I’ve been vampire. We must learn to stand even when we think we’re falling, I get that now. And I am eternally grateful.”
“I am happy for you. Long lives with no purpose are so empty. It’s why I know there is something waiting for me. I believe that Ahmose unknowingly sent me here to begin my journey. We shall see. For now, isn’t it time to see if these little imps will enjoy a dip beneath the sea?”
Taggert startled awake when Marc shot upright with a groan. He pushed himself up too, and turned on a bedside lamp, swiping at his eyelids which resisted opening.
“You found her?” He posed his comment as a question, but he could tell by Marc’s harsh breathing that he had.
“She’s back in L.A.”
“Fuck me.” That asshole had flown her back? Something was going on.
“I have a bad feeling about this. Well, all of this, but the fact that Lamont let us capture him, the fact that the assassin took the vampire, that he returned to L.A. It all smells of a set-up. I wouldn’t have guessed it if I didn’t know these men as well as I do, but this just isn’t right. Something is happening. What, I don’t know, but they’re up to something else.”
Marc wasn’t special. He wasn’t a vampire or mind reader, and he certainly couldn’t divine the future. But from the beginning, he’d felt a bond with this man. Something inside of him had connected, for whatever the reason, to Taggert, and he not only trusted him, he trusted in him.
“Then we act. Your instincts are likely right.”
“The vampires don’t want us to go without them.”
“Yeah, and I understand why. But if we can avoid this Claude, we can probably still infiltrate the facility, you know, with your credentials. You with me?”
Staring at the twisted bed sheets, Taggert considered the path he was choosing. Was this a mistake? He knew how vicious and powerful this organization was. Was he willing to risk his life on this? He looked up at Marc, standing in the center of the hotel room, wearing only briefs, and trusting a man he did not know.
“Yeah,” he said suddenly, and surprised himself. He’d called Marc brother as a gag several times this night because of the compulsion placed in his mind by the vampires. Now, he thought it applied, because he couldn’t let down this brother who stood before him and needed his help more than anything right now.
“To L.A. then,” Marc said, and grabbed for his clothes.
SIXTEEN
Iron walls do not a prison make, thought Lamont, as he stretched, and looked at the cage they’d placed him inside. They had compelled him to stay put, an extra measure in addition to the cage to keep him there. As he had suspected, they did not know that he was immune to vampire compulsion, because Tamesine’s blood had worked.
No, he wasn’t vampire yet, but her blood had bonded with that which was already in his body, and he had been able to hide his remaining abilities. Using his stolen vampire skills, he accessed and disengaged the locking mechanism on the cage. He might not have been able to do so with just any cage, but this one, he knew well. This one, he’d designed, and knew it had a loophole that made the task child’s play. Of course, they thought he wouldn’t even attempt to gain his freedom. Park had instructed him to stay and sleep until they returned.
Lamont walked out of the cage, and smiled. His plan was working perfectly. Shortly, he would be on a plane bound for Tasmania.
Lamont knew that he could not disclose his plan to the assassin, because if they compelled him, he would expose everything. So he’d told him just enough to put all the pieces in place, to make certain that his first blood vampire was exactly where he needed her to be. The next time, she would do precisely what he asked without resistance.
While the vampires slept, Lamont grabbed a pack he’d already prepared, hidden in a small alcove, and hiked the half kilometer to where a small team of trusted soldiers waited with transportation.
IN SOUTHERN FRANCE
Daniel was exhausted. With daylight moments away, he still needed to get the children in bed and secured.
“Chione, could you get Cairine c
hanged while I get Caedmon down?”
Both kids slept in his chambers right now, in small beds brought into his room while the household was currently without its most powerful members. Daytime was the most dangerous time, since all of the vampires would be forced to rest. Security would be manned by highly trained humans, but Daniel still worried about the SRS. God, he hoped his family could finally be free of them after this.
For now, though, they needed to dig in, using caution for even the most mundane things.
Chione nodded as she entered his room, yawning.
“Of course, Daniel. Come here, little imp.” Chione charged at the naked toddler, still wet from her bath. As the child squealed and ran, Chione caught her easily and scooped her up in a fluffy towel.
“Tell me, Cari. Is your nightgown covered with princesses, too?”
Cairine nodded. “Uh, huh. Pretty princesses. Mommy says I’m one too.”
“Oh, you are, my precious. All little girls are princesses, did you know that?”
Again, Cairine nodded. “But they don’t stay princesses when they grow up, do they?”
The comment startled Chione and she didn’t quite know how to answer. “Maybe not, but they are always princesses in their heart, and that’s what matters, right?”
Cairine tilted her head and stared at Chione for several moments before she spoke. “You are, I can tell. And you’re looking for your prince, aren’t you?”
This child could melt my heart, Chione thought. Smiling, she slipped the frilly pink nightdress over Cairine’s upraised arms. “I guess I am. Won’t it be fun to see if I find him?”
Cairine suddenly touched Chione’s cheeks with her hands. “You will. He’s waiting for you now.”
Sitting back, Chione looked into the sea green eyes of this child who was born to the newest generation of first bloods. At this moment, she realized that it was very true that each generation was more powerful than the last.
Chione moved closer and gathered Cairine into her arms, whispered into her ears. “I hope you are right, my darling girl. We shall know soon, shall we?”
Cairine pulled back, nodding.
“Off to bed,” Daniel called out as Caedmon, perched on his shoulder, giggled.
“Sleep well, sweetie,” Chione said and picked Cairine up to tuck her into the little bed next to Caedmon.
Daniel killed the lights and escorted Chione to the door of the bedchamber.
“Sleep well, sweetie,” Daniel said, smiling, as he repeated Chione’s good-night wish to Cairine. “You’re good with them.”
“I’d better be. I will get plenty of practice when I get home. Starla has two more to go. This second pregnancy is more challenging than the first one. Ahmose is beside himself much of the time, since he feels partly responsible.”
“I’d say he’s one hundred percent responsible. It’s his destiny and his seed.”
“It is Starla and Jacob’s destiny, too. They are all bound as parents to these three children. I know the trio of parents will have their hands full since their trio of children will be as precocious and brilliant as these two you’re raising here in France.”
“I look forward to meeting them all someday.”
“As do I. Goodnight, Daniel.”
“Goodnight. See you at first meal.”
Nodding, Chione walked slowly down the corridor to her assigned room. It was really lovely, but as she closed and barred the door, she turned to face the room. It felt so claustrophobic. Four walls and a close ceiling with a barrier now pulled over the wide French doors that formed the back wall of the room. In Africa, they slept in large Yurts, with high vaults overhead, rounded, organic, like nature meant it to be. As a child of the moon, she needed to be near the earth at all times, and this room, high above the ground in this beautiful villa…a place like this could never be home for her.
Dropping her clothes on a chair near the bed, she killed the lights and stepped forward to lift the satiny sheet as she slid onto the soft bed. Her fingers lingered across her breasts and belly. The child seemed for foresee her prince. Rolling onto her side, Chione smiled in the dark. She hoped the child spoke true. There were a lot of years of joy behind her, and also a lot of aloneness.
Her eyelids dropped as she began to fall asleep. Perhaps the Mother Earth would send her a dream to let her see her prince so that she may recognize him when she met him. In moments, the only sound in the room was soft, even breathing.
The villa was silent, no one moving at all except the three men at each entrance, armed, and standing guard, casually. Nothing ever happened here, they were used to the quiet ennui of long days.
They did not even hear the entrance of several men dressed in white as they fired silenced tranquilizer darts into each of them before they were aware anyone else was there. The guards fell quickly, and no one alerted the vampires of the intrusion.
Motioning the advance, one of the white-garbed invaders traveled silently up the stairs and straight to one room on an upper floor. A group of two men lightly rattled the door handle of each of four rooms, and when the doors opened, they fired into the rooms, soft thuds followed immediately afterward in each case.
Advancing to a final door, they repeated the process, and were surprised when at that door, the person who answered called out first. “Yes?” he said through the locked doorway.
The intruder, who was obviously a leader, grabbed a rifle from one of the others and fired rapidly through the door, forcing whoever was inside to dive for cover. Two other men used a battering ram to destroy the locks and the doors flung open.
A man, vampire, blew into the invaders, and took down three of the armed men with no delay, but the last invader fired at him, and he went down hard with a vicious yell.
“Inside, get them,” the leader barked. “Go out the window. Go, now!”
As they grabbed the children from where they’d been bundled together, the little girl cried out and beat against the man who held her, but she was too small to make any difference and there was no one left to hear her. The little boy carried by a second man whined.
As they carried the children from the room, they swaddled them in canvas bags, then attached the bags to ropes already suspended. The men rappelled off of the balcony of the room to the beach below, the brutal sunlight forced the children to close their eyes. They could suffer sunlight well, it wasn’t a problem for a vampire child until the child reached maturity, but they were unaccustomed to the brightness. Motorboats pulled up to the waterline and the children were gone in minutes.
Left behind, the house in shambles, humans and vampires tranq’ed and unconscious, it was almost an hour later when they began to waken.
Daniel was one of the last, the serum the SRS had developed most effective on made vampires like him. He came awake suddenly, aware something horrible had happened, but not what it was, when he saw Chione leaning over him, tear-stained cheeks and bright red eyes, and he remembered.
No, God, no…not his son…not the precious Cairine…the children…nothing was more valuable…nothing ever!
“No…” Daniel whispered, as Chione helped him up.
“They’re gone. Oh, Daniel, I am so sorry.” She was still crying.
“How long?”
“An hour. Not more. All of Koen and Bas’s teams are searching now and I’ve put in a call to Koen and Ahmose. But it’s daylight and we are trapped for many more hours. Ahmose will come, children of the moon can tolerate daylight briefly enough to get to an airplane, but we can do little until the sun drops.”
As he looked around, Daniel realized he’d been pulled from his room into the hallway. Standing, he walked to just before the doorway to his room and looked in, where sunlight stabbed the room through the opened French doors, which, too, were fractured. Rage and pain built up inside of him quickly, he almost surged out of the villa right then to go to them, the sunlight be damned!
But he knew. He dropped onto his knees, his hands to his forehead as he realized ho
w very fucking useless he was right now. His son and his best friend’s daughter were gone, and he could do exactly nothing to help them.
Chione came up behind him. “When the sun drops, we will have an unbeatable force to track them. Ahmose is bringing ten of our biggest warriors. We will get those children back and there will be rivers of blood. They won’t hurt them, Daniel, you know that. They want Caedmon and Cairine because they are special.”
“How did they do this? How could they have pulled this off?”
“Our arrogance in thinking they would never try. Even though we thought we were prepared, nothing can stop a force that is willing to die for their cause. It’s the most effective army in the world.”
Daniel’s watery eyes met Chione’s. “I know. I used to be a mercenary soldier. I led men into battle just like these animals. It’s karma. It’s finally caught up to me and my child is paying my debt.”
“No, Daniel. That baby was a gift from the universe, which has forgiven you, made you father for a reason. You are a part of the changes that are happening to the world, Daniel. Caedmon and Cairine will be back, and happy and well, soon, of this I am certain.”
Leaning against the shattered door of the room he shared with his mate, Daniel sighed as he slammed his fist into the wallboard, splintering it and splitting his hand. Blood dripped but he did not notice.
“What do we do now?”
“I’m sorry. We do the hardest thing possible at a time like this. We must wait.”
Tamesine wasn’t in a dream state. Her mind and body had been at rest, engaged in nothing more than desperately needed nothingness. Finally, she could actually sleep dreamlessly.
When the cry came, it shocked her mind and spirit, urgent need and terror she’d never felt before and hoped she would never feel again.
Caedmon! He was crying out for her! Something was wrong!