"We can meet in Flavio's study—he took Wlodek's manor after my sire gave up his position as Head of the Council. He had no need of it after coming to the Saa Thalarr. I can convince Flavio to bring Gavin and Anthony in, and I can ask some of the others to come—those who are now Saa Thalarr," Radomir offered, his dark eyes concerned. He wanted me to agree. I felt uncomfortable about the whole thing.
"Gavin and Anthony still remember all of those who became Saa Thalarr," Charles grinned. "They just don't know about Flavio and me. Flavio helped the Saa Thalarr in the past, so he was given blood as payment. He walks in daylight, now. He can fold space too, but only on Earth—he isn't allowed to go off-planet. I'm a Spawn Hunter for the Saa Thalarr, but that doesn't interfere with my duties as Flavio's Chief of Staff."
"This may work, Lissa—we can introduce you to Gavin and Anthony as a friend and if nothing happens, then we'll know for certain," Radomir sighed.
"And it won't be disappointing in the least when they don't recognize me," I muttered. "I'm not sure I can handle that."
"Lissa, you'll want to know, eventually. And this will be your chance to make a decision—on whether you want Gavin back in your life. Come, this could work. And even if they do not recognize you, at least you can build a relationship with them if that is what you want." Karzac rubbed my back gently.
"Fine," I huffed.
"I'll set it up for tomorrow night," Radomir said. "I know Flavio isn't doing anything other than slavedriving, and Gavin and Tony recently returned from the states."
"No pressure," I sighed.
Karzac, Charles and Radomir eventually convinced me to go back to the kitchen. My plate was still sitting at the island and someone had used Power to keep it warm for me. Karzac sat with me, chatting while I ate as much as I could. Charles and Radomir had gone off to visit Flavio to set up the gathering they planned. Karzac told me all about current events on Refizan.
"Do you ever hear any news of Gabron?" I asked. I was too stuffed to eat another bite, and my plate was still half-full.
"No, but the vampires there continue to retain their secrecy. We can search him out soon if that is what you want."
"I'll think about it, but he may have forgotten about me, too," I said. Yeah, I was depressed. While we sat there, two men folded into the kitchen. They startled me and my heart began to pound in my chest at the sight of them. Karzac had his hands on me quickly, regulating my heartbeat, somehow.
"Anything left for us?" One of the two said when things calmed down after a few moments. I knew the scent—these two were Dragon's twin sons and Devin was their mother. They had the signature Asian look about them, along with very long, very black braids hanging down their backs. They were dressed in what looked like ski outfits and the long skis and ski poles in their hands weren't a giveaway, either. Tinted goggles were pushed back on both foreheads; they were identical in looks but I could tell the scents were different. Just their appearance made me smile, once my heart was back to normal.
"You're Dragon's," I said.
"Nah, Crane's," one of them grinned crookedly at me.
"Do not attempt to tease Lissa, Drew, she knows better," Karzac informed the one who'd spoken. "Lissa, this is Drew," Karzac indicated one of the twins, "and this is Drake," he nodded toward the other.
"Nice to meet you," I said. "I wasn’t aware that Dragon had children."
"You need to meet our older brother, Dragon Taylor, then," Drake grinned. "Grace is his mother."
"Grace had quadruplets," Karzac sighed. "One child for each of her humanoid mates at the time."
That caused my eyes to pop. "You're kidding? That can happen?"
"Not normally," Drew flopped onto a chair at the island. "Are you going to finish that?" He nodded toward my half-empty plate.
"It's yours if you want it," I said, pushing the plate toward him. He dug right in. I slid my glass of wine over, too, and he accepted it with a muffled thanks; he was already eating.
"Hey, is there any left for me?" Drake sat down next to his brother.
"I'll check," I said and went to the huge bank of refrigerators in the kitchen. I found leftover pot roast and vegetables, heating it in what Karzac called a zap oven. Drake started eating as soon as he got his plate, and I filled a wineglass for him and topped off Drew's glass. "Karzac, do you want tea?"
"Karzac only likes his tea a certain way," Drew said, winking at me. Karzac surprised him greatly.
"Lissa made tea for me long before you were even a thought," Karzac snipped. I made tea for Karzac, just the way he liked it. I remembered; vampires have good memories. He sipped from his cup while I sat next to him again.
"So, who are you?" Drake asked. He was about to scrape up the last of his mashed potatoes and gravy.
"This is Lissa, the Vampire Queen," Karzac informed him. Drew almost choked on his wine. "The one who popped all the heads off the Ra'Ak and the High Demons?" He sounded very surprised.
"If you and your brother would show up for more than food now and then, you might learn a great many things," Karzac scolded.
"Feather, Christi and Kerry wanted to go," Drake defended himself. "So we couldn't turn them down. We're so seldom all home at the same time."
"Which one of you did the time bending?" Karzac asked gruffly.
"Feather," Drake grinned.
"Hmmph," was Karzac's response. I was enjoying myself. These people were family and they were acting like it. That made me happy.
"How was the skiing?" I asked.
"Great. We went to Chleroa. Those mountains are amazing."
"I never tried to ski," I said. "Maybe I'll try it, sometime. If I'm about to hit a tree, I can mist right through it."
"That would be handy," Drew laughed. "Bro here had to fold away from that rock pile he was about to run over."
"That'll get you a thrashing in the dojo tomorrow morning," Drake threatened.
"You're on, dude. Let's see you do it," Drew countered.
"So, did your dad teach you bladework, or did your Uncle Crane?" I was curious.
"They both did, and whacked us around pretty good," Drew admitted.
"They still whack you around pretty good," Karzac huffed.
"Well, we're off to get out of these clothes," Drake stood and stretched. "Dad will haul us out of bed if we're not there on time in the morning." He and Drew folded away.
"They seem like a lot of fun," I said.
"Did you like them?" Karzac smiled at me.
"They're young," I said, although their scents said a hundred years. "Sometimes it's nice to be around youthful exuberance."
"You should go to bed soon, it is getting late," Karzac said. "And I will place you in a healing sleep if you ignore me."
"Is there a picture of you next to the word autocrat in the dictionary?" I asked.
"My picture is also next to the word curmudgeon. With me, the terms are interchangeable."
"Stop it," I smacked his arm lightly. Karzac grinned.
The suite I'd been given had a bedroom, an attached sitting room, a huge bathroom and an empty walk-in closet. Pajamas lay on the bed when I walked inside after telling Karzac I could find my own way. There was also a note lying on the pajamas.
"These are Fox's," the note read. "Fox is mated to Wlodek, Weldon and three others. Her clothes were the closest we could come to something that would fit you—Devin and Grace."
The pajamas consisted of silky pants, coupled with a stretchy top that had thin straps. My kind of pajamas. I gathered them up and took them into the bathroom to take a shower. When I crawled into bed later, feeling much better after bathing and washing my hair, I fell asleep quickly.
* * *
"I'm Mike." He held his hand out to me so I took it and shook. "I'm the cook. My mate, Jamie, is the housekeeper for this bunch," Mike informed me as he prepared breakfast the next morning.
"How do you keep up with all of them plus the house?" I asked, mystified. The place was huge with a capital H.
"It isn't easy," Mike laughed. "But Conner sends some of hers over now and then, and they help out if we need it." Mike was in his early thirties, according to his scent, looked younger than that and knew his way around the kitchen. He had a plate of ham and eggs in front of me in no time.
"Look who's up," Dragon grinned when he and Crane walked into the kitchen. "Want to watch us practice in the dojo? Those sons of mine have been off messing about and not keeping up with their training."
"I met them last night," I said, cutting into my ham. I hadn't had ham in a long time. "This is good, Mike," I said.
"Did they say where they'd been?" Crane asked, pulling up a chair.
"Skiing on Chleroa," I replied. "No idea where that is."
"Then somebody bent time for them," Dragon sighed. "It's summer there, right now."
"They said Feather did."
"Feather is Mack's daughter," Dragon informed me. That's all right, then."
"I also heard you have a third son," I glanced at Dragon, who was getting his plate of food.
"Dragon Taylor," he nodded. "We call him Tay."
"You've been busy since I met you on Refizan," I smiled at him.
"I have, little vampire. It might have been easier for me these past few weeks if I hadn't thought you were dead." I didn't tell him it might be easier for me if I were dead.
We finished breakfast, Crane listening silently as Dragon and I talked, and then Dragon folded us to a dojo somewhere. "My dojo is behind Adam's garage," Dragon caught me looking around the place. "He built it for my family and me." The single, spacious room had a large square floor, most of which was covered with a padded mat. A nearby wall was covered in thick cork, held a row of practice blades, both wood and metal, in a rack, with another rack of throwing knives. On the opposite side of the room were weights and other exercise equipment.
Crane and Dragon were stretching and preparing to spar when Drake and Drew showed up. "Dad doesn't look happy," Drake whispered to his brother while he grinned. I snickered.
"Hey, quiet you," Drake pointed a finger at me.
"Hey, don't point at me," I said, letting the claw slide out on my index finger.
"Wow, now that's a fingernail," Drew laughed.
"Get over here," Dragon commanded—he was telling his sons to come and spar. I sat down on the floor outside the mat and watched them go after each other. They all fought using two blades each, and it was a dance as they moved and clacked wood practice blades together. Crane took Drew on; Dragon had Drake. They were all sweating when they finished.
"Impressed?" Drake flexed his muscles; he and his brother were just as broad across the shoulders as Dragon and Crane and they were all tattooed. I'd seen Dragon's tattoos before, but Crane had a dancing crane on his back, a crane with widespread wings on his chest and cranes flying up both arms. Drake had black dragon tattoos; Drew had silver dragons. I don't know how they'd managed to sit still for all that work. They were impressive, though.
"Lissa, how are you feeling?" Dragon asked. "Want to go a round with my brother?"
"I could probably do that," I said.
"Just don't overdo it, all right?" He smiled slightly.
"I can mist out of the way if I have to," I said, standing up.
"Here," Dragon handed over his wooden practice blades. "Crane, see what you think." Dragon moved aside.
"Parry with the flat of the blade," Crane instructed when I came to stand before him. He'd taught, all right. "I'll go slowly."
"You don't have to—I'm vampire, remember?"
"Then how fast do you want me to come after you?" Crane grinned.
"How fast can you go?" I shrugged.
"I like her," Crane said, and went into the middle position. He did come after me, as fast as he could and as hard as he could. He Pulled in a wood replacement blade when I hit one of his hard enough to break it. He hadn't touched me and I was blocking all his blows. When I got the first touch in, we stopped; I was breathing hard and Crane knew not to push it.
"So, brother—black leathers?" Dragon pounded Crane on the back.
"Yeah." Crane grinned at his brother.
"Come on, you," Drake came to me and lifted me over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
"Hey!" I swatted what I could reach, which turned out to be his ass.
"I can hit you in the same spot," Drake laughed and folded me back to the villa's kitchen.
"Young Falchani, please explain what you are doing with Lissa in such an undignified position," Karzac had fists on his hips while he glared at Drake. Drew had come along, with Dragon and Crane right behind. Drew was laughing out loud.
"We had to haul her out of the dojo; she wore herself out whacking Uncle Crane," Drake grinned at Karzac.
"She is still recovering! Explain yourselves," Karzac demanded.
"Lissa had Crane subdued in a matter of minutes; I doubt she's permanently damaged," Dragon was calming Karzac down. Drake set me down on the floor and I swatted him across the stomach as soon as I was in a position to do so.
"Can we keep her, Dad? We've already touched her, we can't put her back," Drew snickered.
"Lissa may have something to say about that," Dragon said.
"What are you doing today?" Drake caught my arm as I started to walk away; my suite was upstairs and down a lengthy hall.
"Going to find a wardrobe; I have no clothes," I sighed.
"That sounds intriguing," Drew smiled.
"You can go if you behave yourselves," Devin walked in.
"Mom, we're models of decorum," Drake hugged his mother.
"You're not supposed to be able to lie," Devin gave him a kiss on the cheek when he leaned down.
"But we can practice sarcasm until the Falchani sun experiences a carbon flash," Drake laughed.
"Lissa, we have more borrowed clothes on your bed and we'll go as soon as you clean up," Grace walked into the kitchen.
"Sounds good," I said and had a quick hand fight with Drew before I got out of the room. He and Drake were enjoying themselves, I could tell.
* * *
"Have you ever seen anything like that?" Drake asked as soon as he knew Lissa was out of hearing. Since she was vampire, he waited quite a while.
"Bro, do you think we have a shot at that?" Drew came to stand next to Drake.
"I think you may have to work for that," Karzac growled.
Chapter 7
"Merrill said to give you this," Grace handed a credit chip necklace to me. "Most people have these embedded in their wrist, but a few still wear it like this. He says the money is yours, from long ago." I slipped the necklace over my head and tucked the chain inside my borrowed blouse. "How much?" I asked. I didn't want to upset Grace by cursing Merrill—she didn't have to know how I felt about him.
"He says there are too many zeros to count," Grace smiled, brushing honey blonde hair back. Karzac and Dragon had to be proud; they had two ladies who were knockouts. Devin came in, her red hair in a clip at her nape and dressed tastefully in a jacket and matching trousers.
The shocking thing came while we were preparing to fold to London—I learned the villa was roughly a mile away from Merrill's old manor. Devin explained things after I finished dressing in more borrowed clothing and misted back to the kitchen.
"Lissa, hello," Amara's musical voice hadn't changed since I met her the last time, and she was just as beautiful as I remembered. Another set of twins were right behind her as she appeared inside Grace and Devin's large kitchen. I drew in a breath when they materialized.
"They're your nieces; Brenten's granddaughters," Amara said as I backed away, shaking my head. I knew from the scent they were related—we had the same bloodline—on one side, anyway. They were also beautiful, with long, auburn hair that fell in waves down their backs. Nearly-gold eyes studied me as they sized me up. Their scents, though, were vastly different. Both held a great deal of power, but the power signatures weren't close. One held a scent of the Larentii about her, while the other could only be
described as otherworldly.
"I found a way to duplicate the Larentii power signature," one stepped forward and held out her hand. "I'm Kyler, and Flavio is one of my mates."
"Kyler," I took her hand. I wanted to cry—I had family I hadn't known about. It made me wonder what else Griffin had kept from me.
"My mother—your half-sister, died long ago," Kyler squeezed my hand and stepped away so her sister could come forward.
"I'm Cleo," the other took my hand. "I'm a healer for the Saa Thalarr. Rhett is one of my mates. Our father," she nodded toward Kyler, "is Glendes, Eldest of Grey House. Our step-nephew, Shadow Grey, should meet you," Cleo said, smiling uncertainly. She wasn't sure how I'd receive her or her sister.
There's nothing to worry about, I sent mentally. "So, you both have multiple mates, too?" I asked aloud. Cleo took another step forward and hugged me.
"It'll work out," Cleo whispered in my ear. "Kyler says so, too."
"I sure hope so," I brushed away a bit of mistiness when Cleo stepped back.
"I'm mated to Dalroy, too, and as Cleo said, she's mated to Rhett," Kyler smiled brightly at me. "We know you know them."
"Yeah, I know them. I'd say they're damn lucky," I nodded to my newly discovered nieces.
"And we tell them how fortunate they are all the time," Cleo snickered.
"We'll sit down and tell you about all our mates soon," Kyler promised. "Our Larentii mates want to meet you."
"You have Larentii mates." I shook my head. How did they all get so lucky?
"Come on, you," Drake walked in with Drew and draped an arm around my shoulders. "We have stuff to buy."
"We're coming," three more people appeared in the kitchen. A short, perky brunette with close-cropped curls was there, flanked by Wlodek and Weldon. Truthfully, I wanted to punch Wlodek and hug Weldon. Both those thoughts flew away when I got the woman's scent—she had Bright Elemaiyan blood.
"I'm Bernadette," she held out a hand, "but that name is embarrassing, so I prefer Fox. And I'm the Ka'Mirai—the one the Elemaiya wish they hadn't rejected."
"I've heard of you," I took her hand. Griffin mentioned her before; said she could turn back time or change things for the Elemaiya. Well, they'd fucked that up, just as he'd said they would.
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