by Sasha Pruett
No one saw him and if any one did they would soon forget he was even there, he’d make sure of that. He had only a few hours before he had to return, no matter how much he still needed to do there was no way he was leaving Calynn alone any longer than necessary. He would not get stuck nearly powerless in Switzerland while Calynn was at the mercy of his family no matter how much they kept to their best behavior. He listened in on conversations, watching from the shadows as his father’s security team wandered the halls and installed their hidden devices. That would have to be taken care of, good thing he had a few tricks of his own up his sleeve. He’d already placed a series of motion detectors and cameras around the outskirts of the nearly 240 acres and with each visit he’d added more, closer and closer to the main house. No one came or went without him knowing it.
Drakon made his way to the hidden security room and waited patiently for the guard to leave. A little push here and there made the burly man believe he needed to take a nice long walk around the property. Co-eds may not have been his thing, but he was far from a novice when it came to influencing the human mind. He crept into the room full of monitors and surveillance equipment making his way to the computer system linking it all together and inserted the drive he’d brought with him. He may be over two hundred, but he, unlike his father, didn’t shy away from technology. He embraced it. He wasn’t as obsessed with the gadgets as his brother Maximilien was, but he knew more than anyone ever anticipated and what he didn’t know he either learned or employed those more skilled than himself. Though they would never remember him or the work they did for him.
His father outsourced anything dealing with technology. Sure, he would utilize it as most of their kind did, but his time was always much too valuable to be wasted fooling with the devices ‘the humans created in a desperate attempt to be more like him’. Even with his father’s near mania, he would consider monitoring the feeds himself too tedious and a waste of his precious time.
It took only seconds for the custom virus to load and the timing was perfect. No one would notice the addition of one more program disguised to look and act like any another update file amongst the dozens of updates loading at the same time. He could have wiped his digital fingerprints, but that was time he may not have. Now he had access to everything the system was monitoring, who was accessing it and most importantly, he could alter it. This was his home and his family and it would be under his control, not his father’s or his brother’s or anyone else’s. He would make sure of that.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Now this one is quite exquisite if I do say so myself. Not that I’m pushing, but I do believe this will simply kill. I spent no small amount of time designing this dress. The gems would all be hand sewn into the gown, not by me obviously, but it would be simply perfect. I would make sure of that.”
She gave a stern glare at one of her servants that worked on her designs. They had been in the studio for hours now going over every possible detail of not only Calynn’s wedding dress, but her entire trousseau as well.
“Why don’t you let her choose Delphine instead of shoving your favorite in front of her and coercing her into picking it?” It was becoming obvious that Erzsébet was growing tired of spending so much time with her sister; all in an effort to watch over Calynn, but those were her orders and she wasn’t about to defy her parents. At least she could get a few jabs in here and there and give as good, if not better, than she got.
“What would you know about fashion Lizzy? You have less style than Calynn. Oh dear, I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just… well you know.” She picked at Calynn’s sweater with a look of disgust and pity. All those fine designs she had made for her and she wears a sweater of all things. Had Calynn not soothed her wounded pride by informing her that she was waiting to go rummaging through her mother’s storage area for furniture she would have been insulted.
“Well I definitely don’t have your talent Delphine and I agree that gown would dazzle everyone, but the point is to try to keep the attention off of me until we can leave for the villa. Everyone would be gaping at your amazing creation if I chose that one.”
Erzsébet rolled her eyes and smirked, Calynn could handle herself just fine and no doubt Delphine would play right into her hand.
“Hum… I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe you’re right maybe a little less would be better in this case.”
“What about this Delphine?” Calynn picked up three of the designs laid out on the table. “This bodice, with this skirt and these embellishments here. It should help hide the bump and be adjustable enough so that any changes that have to be made because of the baby can be quick.”
Delphine took the sketches from her and looked them over one at a time studying them while glancing back and forth between them and Calynn’s form. “Yes… maybe a duchess satin with mulberry silk here and here I think. You have a better eye than I thought Calynn. Such a shame you don’t develop it.”
“See, she does have good taste after all.”
Calynn stifled a grin and Erzsébet burst out laughing when Delphine nodded obviously missing the slight and returned to her design desk to draw up another gown. Completely ignoring her sister and Calynn.
“Hope you don’t have your heart set on white. Purity isn’t exactly our thing.”
“What is?”
“Deep red, black, midnight blues, things like that. Just think red carpet meets Goth and you get the idea. Probably not what you dreamed of when you were a girl huh?”
“You’d think, but I was never that kind of girl. I was always concentrating on the here and now. Getting married wasn’t on my calendar so planning it was a waste of time to me. I tried to get into it when my friend got engaged, but it all seemed like such a headache. She had to have the whole fairytale thing, but I’d much rather go for simple, elegant, maybe a little classic. Nothing major.”
“Well you can forget that, this thing is going to be huge, but then again since we’re trying not to draw attention to you maybe mother will scale things back some.”
“You really think so Lizzy?”
“No. We are the House of Drake and regardless of you being human we still must appear to be what we are. If mother were to deviate from that in any way it would be like tattooing it across your forehead.” Calynn was surprise that Delphine had heard anything they’d said with how engrossed she was in her designs.
“I hate to say this of my sister, but Delphine’s right. I wouldn’t get too attached to that simple affair idea.”
“Can’t blame a girl for trying.”
“That’s what I keep trying to convince mother of, but you cause one little riot in Hungary and you’re marked for the next few decades as the ‘trouble child’.”
“If I remember correctly my dear Lizzy that riot nearly led to a civil war.”
“Says you.”
“And CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN, and every other news media at the time.”
“Oh well that’s the news, they can never get anything right; and they’re always blowing things out of proportion anyways. You can never trust them. It’s all about the ratings.”
“And was father exaggerating?”
“Overreacting is more like it.”
“I’ll tell him you said that.”
Erzsébet stuck her tongue out at her sister scrunching up her face like Calynn had done so many times and had she been paying attention it probably would have worried her that the two of them shared so many mannerisms. “She thinks she’s so smart, but she’s really just a tremendous pain in the… hey Calynn. Earth to Calynn. Boy when you zone out you zone out. What are you on girl, where’d you get it and can I have some?”
“Huh what?”
“Oh nothing, we were just discussing the ritual dance that you and Drakon will be doing after the ceremony.”
“What dance? No one said anything about a dance.”
“Relax Calynn, Erzsébet is being her usual unfunny self. There is no dance, unless you want to that is and it
’s nothing special, just a waltz or something like. She only said that because you weren’t paying attention to her. She can’t stand not to be the center of attention can you Lizzy?”
“You’re one to talk Miss Fashionista, Queen of the runway.”
Delphine beamed proudly, but Calynn wasn’t paying attention again. It finally hit her, even though this was her wedding she would have very little if anything to do with it except to show up and say, ‘I do’ and she wondered if this was how the grooms usually felt. Had she really thought it would be anything else? Good thing she hadn’t been one of those women that had been dreaming of this day since they first saw Cinderella. A red and black wedding gown and a room full of bloodsuckers. This wasn’t a wedding it was a nightmare.
“I’m thinking if we go with the red base then we can inlay onyx into the bodice and skirt and I know for a fact that Drakon has a garnet circlet set that would be perfect.”
“And how would you know that?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Uh, yeah, that’s why I asked. You haven’t been into my stuff as well have you?”
“Calm down little sister, mother showed me a few things she thought might inspire me.”
“Uh oh I think we lost her again. Hey Calynn, you with us?”
“Hmm, oh yeah, red and black that should be incredible Delphine.”
“Yes, I believe it will, but you seem to be quite distracted at the moment and I can’t tell you how that inhibits my muse so why don’t you go lay down or something. I’m sure my brother would be more than happy to… entertain you.”
She wasn’t exactly tired, but she was more than ready for any reason to get out of there and politely excused herself returning to her rooms. There wasn’t much she could actually do there either, but after hours of listening to one sister praising her own genius and the other talking about everything else she could use some peace and quiet. Plus, always having to be on guard with everything she said and did was somewhat exhausting. She had no idea what she would do when she got back to her room, besides relax. Maybe she’d go for a walk around the grounds if it wasn’t raining again that is, but when she opened her door a foot-high stack of bridal magazine awaited her. At least she knew how she could waste a few hours until dinner or until Drakon showed up to rescue her from boredom.
Here she was in the lair of unholy creatures and she was bored, perhaps she was crazy after all. With all of the fear and life sustaining role playing and even the excitement over the past couple of months you would think she’d welcome the hours of down time. Then again maybe it was the stillness that bothered her more than anything else, like that eerie calm before the storm that causes massive death and destruction. Drakon was her only ally, the only one she was sure she could trust and he still hadn’t shown up. Oh well, she was a big girl and it wouldn’t hurt her to be alone for a while so she moved the stack of magazines over to the bed where she could stretch out and began the pointless task of thumbing through them. It was a nice gesture, but it didn’t matter what she liked, in the end it wasn’t about either of them. They may have fallen in love and are really getting married, but that doesn’t mean she has any control over anything and she knew it. This was his family’s dog and pony show and if she didn’t continue to play along she’d be up to her neck in party guests thinking she was the main course. The flower arrangements were so not worth it.
Would their life always be like this? Would it always be a series of chess moves, letting them make the decisions and going along with it, biding their time until… what? She spun her ring around and around her finger as her present and future collided in her mind. No, she had faith in Drakon, somehow they would find a way to live how they chose to live. Maybe she couldn’t have the things she liked for her wedding, but that wouldn’t stop her from looking anyway. Who knows? There was always the possibility she could have something her way; if it didn’t endanger their lives that is.
Calynn continued to peruse the catalogs, marking pages, and losing herself in something that actually resembled normalcy until dinner arrived. Afterwards she shrugged into a cardigan and walked onto the terrace wondering where Drakon could be. The night was cool, but the rain had made things damp and sticky and it clung to her skin like a wet blanket making her feel like she needed another shower. Her eyes scanned the darkness hoping he’d step out of the shadows with that same sly look on his face, but there was no sign of him. Not that she’d even know it if there was.
*****
He stood in the tree line watching her as she looked out into the night hearing her heart pulse, smelling her scent on the air and knowing he was helplessly lost to her. He waited until she turned back inside then silently instantly he was on the very spot she had just been standing, her presence flooding over him. He could do anything in that moment. Knock her out, take her away, wipe every memory from her, even drain every drop of her life from her if he so desired and she’d never know what hit her, but that’s not what he wanted.
“I was wondering when you’d show up.”
He grinned and hung his head, defeated as she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You don’t have to keep sneaking in, the front door works fine you know.”
“Yes, but it’s much more fun to take my prey by surprise.”
“Oh, so you’re hunting me now?”
“Kind of hard to do when you always seem to know I’m here.” Something clicked and it made him freeze. Nearly every time he’d been near her she’d know it, she’d known he was there hiding in the darkness. But how? With his abilities she never should have been able to sense him. He pressed his finger to her lips conveying a warning. “And now that I am let’s not waste a minute.” He leaned in and kissed her, though it was pleasant she knew it was more than just a kiss.
“How about I tell Millie we’re not to be disturbed.”
As soon as she returned from the hall and locked the door, she switched off the lights and he swept her into his arms. They were out the back way and into the woods before she could blink, standing in the very spot where only yesterday she accepted his proposal and her future.
Drakon walked to the trees, to the very one she had fallen against the day before. There, imbedded deep into the trunk of the young oak was a small handprint just Calynn’s size. He reached out touching the rough surface, tracing the indention, still in disbelief. How could she have made such a print, the strength it would take for such a simple thing like a little pressure against it would have to match his own? His heart thudded hard in his chest, he couldn’t deny the evidence in front of him any longer. He knew it last night when he’d first discovered it. Calynn was developing her own abilities, the doctor had been wrong. Not that he put much stock in that quack anyway. A flood of emotions and questions ran through him. If she had their strength what else did she have or could she have and not even know it? It was time to tell her, time to find out how deep this river ran and how long it’s been running.
“Okay, what’s the big mystery this time? A spy in the ranks, or maybe a plot to overthrow the whole wedding?”
She was joking, but it was only to hide the growing dread and feeling of uneasiness that was threatening to take her. Drakon didn’t need his senses to know that she was scared, though the waves of fear flowing off of her was palpable. He hated to add to it, but he had no choice.
“Calynn how is it that you always know when I’m close even when I’m completely hidden?”
She was confused. Why was he asking her this? What did it matter if she could just tell he was there? Come to think of it; how did she know? Had it always been like that?
“Think back as far as you can. I know that may be difficult with the memory gaps, but this is important.”
He didn’t need to prompt her; her mind was already deep in thought. How had she known? He was right, until recently he’d always kept his presence as secret as possible, even his own family had been unaware of his visits to her. So how was it that she’d known? Caly
nn closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could. She hadn’t heard him or seen him or anything like that. It was nothing that her normal senses had ever been able to pick up on; no, it was something deeper. Like when the hair on the back of your neck stands up or the world starts to warp and you swear you’ve been there or already done that. She had sensed him, some part of her had simply felt his presence. Strong, powerful and deadly sure yet not threatening. He was just there. He’d always been there.
“I… I felt you. It doesn’t make any sense I know, but it was like a part of me could feel when you were there.”
“And how long have you been able to feel me?”
She knew the answer, but what did it mean? “Since the very beginning.”
Drakon let out a deep breath. They had been wrong.
“What? What does this mean? Drakon what’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but we’re not leaving here until we figure this out.”
“Figure what out?”
“Calynn I need to show you something, come here a moment.”
She walked to where he was standing confused and concerned, but determined not to fall apart. He took her hand and placed it on the tree where the indention was. She felt like an idiot feeling up a tree in the middle of the night, but it must be important so she kept her hand grazing across the surface gasping as it fit perfectly into the fissure.
“What the…? What is that?”
“I found that yesterday when I came back to pack things up and retrieve our shoes. It’s your hand print, from where you became dizzy and fell against the tree.”
“But how’s that possible? I would have to have super strength to do this. Wait are you telling me that I … that this…?”
“I think your Valdi genes are becoming stronger the more they awaken. Tell me, has anything else odd been occurring. Sights, smells, sounds, anything going on that is unusual or strange?”
She turned around, her face tight with concentration. There had been some things, but nothing that raised a red flag. Nothing that couldn’t be explained away as hormones and her pregnancy.