by Aiden James
Talking with Racco felt good, and before long, I started to warm up to him again. The wanton thoughts―my lust―were rekindled as well, despite his and Chanson’s history. If nothing else, such desires kept me from thinking about Peter and the life I had lost, and that realistically, I’d never qualify for such a wonderful life. Not as long as I carried the special blood in my veins.
If not for my daughter’s presence, I might’ve acted on that lust and my need for a man after so many months foregoing all carnal desires. But, even if I had done so, Racco soon made it clear that his priority this time was my peace of mind and comfort, much more than a conquest for sex like what happened on our last shared experience together.
By then, it was nearing eight o’clock that evening. I had a few glasses of wine and so had he. But instead of leading me back to the lone bedroom on his personalized jet for sex, when I got there, I discovered he had arranged for a bassinet to be placed next to one side of the bed—my side. For himself, he had set up blankets on a nearby cot.
“You need your rest, Txema,” he said, after I allowed him to place Alaia inside the bassinet.
She sucked on her pacifier while looking up at us both, and it was only a matter of time before she fell asleep. I was having a hard time staying awake myself, as the jetlag mentioned by Kazikli early that morning had caught up with me. I had so many concerns and worries prodding my mind that I doubted I’d sleep long.
“Are you sure there’s no safe way for us to stop in Richmond to… to see my parents and… and my Grandma Terese?”
That was worry ‘number one’ for me, although I could barely keep my thoughts straight to coherently voice my request.
“Ralu’s forces attacked the airports in Kathmandu and Frankfurt last night. They will undoubtedly hit Nashville’s airport at dusk, merely on the off chance of catching you,” he said, his tone compassionate and soothing. “If he didn’t have to sleep in the day, Ralu would have captured you already. Sadly, I think his warriors will visit Richmond at any moment, if they are not there already.”
I pictured my momma and papa, as well as my brothers and grandmother dead―eaten by fiends like the ones I encountered in Knoxville last year, and started to cry.
“There, there, Txema… your loved ones will be all right as long as we continue on our journey to Paris tonight,” he said, placing his arms around my waist from behind. His strength enveloped me, and I felt as if I could melt into those arms. “Ralu will soon follow us there, I’m sure. We’ll arrive shortly after ten o’clock tomorrow morning with another full day of travel ahead of us, and to a destination he’ll never find. You need as much rest tonight as you can get, so have no worries, my love.”
I turned around to face him, looking into his blazing blue eyes heated only by human passion, albeit a passion with nearly two millennia of experience. I brought my lips up to his and closed my eyes, ready for him to take me fully. He kissed me softly at first, just barely touching lips to mine, but pulled away when my pulse began to race.
“Not yet,” he whispered. “You need your rest. There will be plenty of opportunities for us to make up for lost time.”
I groaned in disappointment, but reluctantly allowed him to walk me over to the bed. He helped unfasten the top back button of my blouse, and after I slid out of my clothes, I climbed under the covers. As he finished pulling a blanket up to my chest, I reached back and pulled his face close to mine.
“Don’t sleep over there… stay with me,” I whispered. “Please.”
He didn’t verbally respond, but pulled away. I heard his soft footsteps and the overhead light dimmed. I thought for sure he was going to leave my daughter and me in the bedroom alone. But, more footsteps followed with the sound of him undressing, and soon he pulled the covers back and climbed into bed with me.
“I’ll never leave you again, Txema,” he said softly, his breath tingling my neck as he pulled his warm, living, body up tightly against mine. “I swear this upon my soul.”
Lately, trouble seemed to always find me. Yet, in that moment, I felt protected and at peace from all of life’s craziness.
With a smile in my heart and upon my face, Racco’s promise was the last thing I thought about as I drifted off to sleep.
ight stabbing in through the single uncovered window in Racco’s bedroom woke me in the morning. We had just arrived in Paris. I thought for sure that someone, namely Racco himself, would’ve awakened me beforehand, so I could brace myself for the brief jolt of the plane hitting the runway. Not to mention the urgency to protect Alaia from flying across the room in her bassinet.
That thought alone got me rushing out of bed. But, when I peered into the bassinet, it was empty. Panicked, I threw on my clothes and had barely zipped up my slacks as I scurried out of the bedroom and raced down the hall, shouting for Racco and my baby.
“We are right here,” he calmly called from the front of the plane. “Come, and see for yourself that everything is okay.”
He was sitting in his preferred leather chair with Alaia in his arms, and she seemed content until Mommy arrived and raised her arms for me.
“She will grow up faster than you can even imagine,” he said, surely in response to the surprise on my face. I felt a little self-conscious as I took her from him, since I’m sure my makeup was a complete mess and that I looked a lot less appealing than I had when we said goodnight. He, on the other hand, had showered and shaved already. He was dressed in comfortable jeans and a peach colored shirt similar to the one he wore the previous night. “And, you worry far too much!”
“Did you just read my mind?”
I looked at him suspiciously, since his response certainly fit my worried thoughts. Alaia giggled.
“Can everyone but me freaking read minds?”
“No, Txema, I’m not gifted like the vampires in that way.” He chuckled. “It’s only an observation that comes from many, many years of dealing with the heavier burden of vanity that all women carry, as opposed to the much lighter one we men have been dealt.”
“That reminds me. I’m still pissed at you, Racco. But I’ve thought about how you can make it up to me.”
“I’m all ears.”
“I’ve been wondering; is there some kind of potion you can whip up to block my thoughts? Not only from Ralu, but from everyone?”
His expression turned serious. “This can be done, yes, but it isn’t something I can just ‘whip up’ as you say. I need a well-stocked laboratory, and there are some ingredients that are of a personal and invasive nature, and obtaining them is not without risks. The potion must be attenuated to the individual and requires some glandular excretions from your brain.”
There aren’t many ways to leave me with nothing to say, but telling me that voluntary brain surgery is my only option for something is definitely one of them. Next subject. “So, how long will we be here?” I peered through a window on the opposite side of the plane from where he sat. Alaia continued to make giggling noises while I marveled at how deserted the tarmac looked. “We are in Paris, correct?”
“Yes, this is definitely the Charles de Gaulle Airport that we’re sitting in,” he said. “You’re not used to the curfews in Europe that make it difficult to travel for airliners. Good thing I have my own jet with friends throughout this continent to pull strings for me, eh?”
“What? Or, else we’d still be back in Nashville? Is that your point?” I said, while returning my attention to him.
“Actually, your lovely behind would still be somewhere in Nepal, since your flight from Kathmandu to Frankfurt and then to the States was also arranged through personal friends of mine,” he said. “Of course, you have the option of traveling by vampire, as well. But, that can take some time since supernatural or not, they do need to take breaks while traveling from one region to the next.”
I almost said something else smartass about how they might incinerate at daybreak traveling like that, but then thought better of it. At the same time, I started to feel n
ausea from my hunger, since the stuffed crab from my lunch with Peter was the last thing I’d eaten.
“I will have a fabulous brunch prepared for you!” said Racco, who stood after he heard my stomach rumble and moved over to the bar, where he opened a small refrigerator. “In the meantime, this should tide you over.”
He pulled out a parfait glass that looked as if it had a chocolate shake poured into it, and brought it over to me.
“Drink this,” he said, while motioning for me to hand Alaia over to him again. “It will take you a few minutes to drink it all, so why not sit down with me?”
“Why, does this have a drug in it or something?”
“No, there is no Rohypnol or anything else, other than vitamins and things that completely nourish the human body,” he said, chuckling more while reclaiming his seat with my daughter cradled in his arms.
“Ah, so it has perhaps the same ingredients as that crazy pill you gave me when we were about to ski down that mountain in the Pyrenees, huh?”
“Sort of,” he said. “Will you at least taste it, damn it?”
Tough words delivered with a silver-tongue and devilish smile.
I took a sip, and then another, and another until I nearly gulped it all down. It was delicious, and my ravenous hunger made it nearly impossible to heed Racco’s advice to drink it slowly.
“Now, in four or five hours, when you wake up for good, we’ll share an excellent brunch,” he said, while rocking Alaia in his arms like a proud papa.
I couldn’t be more proud or very, very tired.
“You did put something in this!” I yelled, hearing the slur in my voice. The tiredness damn near rivaled my experience from the night before, when I could barely keep it together long enough to climb under the bedcovers. “What in the hell did you put in it?”
“Nothing harmful, Txema,” he said. “The truth is that you haven’t slept very long at all since last night. You were asleep for less than four hours. Paris is seven hours ahead of Nashville. If you take time to ‘do the math,’ as they say, you’ll see this is true, and that you woke up at what would’ve been 11:30 p.m. Nashville time, which corresponds to 6:30 a.m. in Paris. It’s not even seven o’clock yet, seeing daylight after retiring in the dark is what has thrown you off.” The times and numbers and cities he was throwing at me were coming so fast and confusing and my eyelids were so heavy that I couldn’t think straight.
I started to protest how this couldn’t be true, when one of the pilots peered into the cabin. He announced that we’d soon take off for our next destination.
“Time to buckle up again!” Racco said, half jesting and half concerned. “I really think you’re going to like, no, love, today’s destination!”
I reluctantly put on my restraint, while I ‘did the math’ in my head. I should mention here that I have always scored quite high for ‘logic’ in every type of intelligence test I’ve been given the past few years. But for math, even though it is directly related to logic, I suck… really badly.
By the time we were airborne again, I had worked the numbers three different times, and gotten the same answer Racco told me was true… twice. The jetlagged exhaustion continued to grow worse, and once the airplane climbed back into the clouds, I allowed him to lead me back to the bedroom. He coerced my reluctant agreement to let him take care of my baby girl, too. I gave my word not to leave the room again until he came back to get me, when the fabulous brunch he promised to provide was ready.
“Txema… Txema, my sweet, rise and shine!”
Lying on my stomach, I craned my neck up until could see Racco standing over me. He smiled down at me, an amused glint shining in his beautiful blue eyes.
“Perhaps you would prefer to sleep a little longer?” He sat gently beside me. His right hand, so strong, felt wonderful as he rubbed my back. “I can have Julius, my chef, hold off on your beloved crepes until you are ready.”
“No, no, that won’t be necessary,” I said. “Just give me a few minutes to get myself together and I’ll join you. I take it we’ll eat somewhere near the front of the plane, or do you have a dining room aboard this fine vessel of yours?”
“Actually, with such a nice bedroom, bathroom, and a kitchen large enough for someone like Julius to maneuver and work his magic―not to mention sleeping quarters for the servants at the back of the plane and the pilots behind the cockpit―there is no place left for a dining room, alas.” He grinned impishly. “But we have taken pains to make sure our improvised dining area lives up to your high standards, machérie amore!”
That brought a giggle, and he laughed along with me.
“I’ll wait fifteen minutes and return for you, unless you prefer to take a shower before eating,” he said, and got up to leave.
“If Julius can hold off for twenty minutes, I can be totally ready, although I don’t have anything clean to wear,” I said.
“Yes you do, something casual but still sexy.” He pointed to the cot, where jeans and a cream-colored blouse ad been laid out for me, along with underwear, as well. He seemed uncomfortable once he followed my gaze that lingered on the panties and bra. “I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty long ago to find out your size from Raquel, in case an emergency such as this ever arose.”
“Just as long as they’re clean and they fit, I won’t have any qualms about wearing them.” I shot him my own impish look.
“Okay, then. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”
I waited for him to close the bedroom door behind him to get out of bed. As I expected, the adjoining bathroom was quite nice—actually a little overboard in my mind with the black marble tiles and what looked like solid gold faucet handles. Even the commode was dressed up like this. But, I suppose when you have nothing better to spend your billions on, then anything goes. Not to mention the same waterfall jets that were in his French castle had been installed in this particular aircraft.
All my shampoo, toothpaste, and makeup preferences were here, which made me believe that either Raquel or one of my other vampire guardians had given an entire list of my personal products and preferences to Racco. I doubted this information came from Garvan or Armando. Nor did it seem likely it came from Chanson.
Anyway, having everything I needed right at my fingertips allowed me to beat the twenty minutes I committed to, with at least a minute to spare. I had just put on my shoes from the day before, which weren’t a complete fashion faux pas, when Racco returned for me.
“Well, I must say you look even better than I anticipated,” he said, studying me for a moment with admiring eyes. “Regardless of what you wear, you always look like a goddess.”
Such flattery. Yes, every woman loves a gracious compliment. But, in the short time I’d been dealing with immortals, both human and vampire, I had already learned the importance of having a well-calibrated bullshit meter on at all times.
“Hmmm… I’ll do my best to live up to such a lofty statement,” I said, adding a knowing smirk to let him know his words were under official review.
“No, I’m serious, Txema!” he said, wearing a pained look that was at the same time playful. “I mean what I say. You are that beautiful.”
Without waiting for another comeback from me, he gently took my hand and led me to the front of the plane. The first thing I looked for was my precious daughter, who Mercel held at the moment. Dressed in a cute light blue ‘onesie,’ she seemed enthralled with his slightly elongated nose and was trying to grab hold of it. But that fascination came to an end as soon as she saw me. As she had earlier that morning, Alaia reached out for me to take her.
“Hey, baby girl!” I squealed while taking her from Mercel. “Mommy’s missed you so much… yes, she has!”
As amazing as all of the luxurious castles, boats, jets, and palaces that I had been inside of these past six months, to my heart they paled terribly in comparison to the loving look my daughter gave me. And as Racco commented earlier, her growth utterly astounded me. Every day she showed something be
yond a subtle difference from the day before. Not even a week old yet, even Mercel found it hard to believe that she wasn’t approaching five to six weeks in actual age.
“Well, what do you think?” Racco motioned to a table that had been set up in front of the window next to the passenger cabin exit door. “This may be much more than you or I, or even Mercel, Stephen, and Julius can consume in a single afternoon.”
Try two or three such afternoons, Racco dear. The crepes smelled incredibly good. Along with them, Julius had cooked an omelet, bacon, and added fresh fruit and what looked like fruit preserves. Everything was piled high, and there was no way in hell all of us could eat this much food in a day, much less in one meal.
“Would you like champagne, wine, or coffee?” said Mercel. “Or, we have water if you prefer.”
If this had been served earlier, I surely would’ve needed the coffee. But whatever was in the breakfast drink Racco gave me had eradicated my exhaustion and disorientation from the jetlag. I felt great.
“Champagne, please.”
Racco motioned for me to sit next to him, and I dug in. Literally. Of course, once I had eaten enough to curb the initial hunger, I noticed he hardly had placed anything on his plate. It occurred to me that he rarely ate much in my presence. It was a question that I meant to ask him about before, but one that was definitely inappropriate at that moment. Not unless I was prepared to feel like a cow if the half crepe he took was all this powerfully built man required for nourishment.
“So, when are you going to tell me where we’re going today?”
“It might be better to give you a little hint first, although I don’t expect for you to recognize the geography below us,” he said, motioning out the window.
The angle of the sun indicated mid to late afternoon… maybe three to four o’clock. It sucked not having a watch handy.
“How long did I sleep?” I asked, while trying to get a decent view of the earth below us. Mountainous terrain stretched out for miles below in any direction. “It looks like it’s way past brunch time.”
