by C. L. Quinn
“Scottie has it covered if we can’t. Caed, let’s make some light and see what we’ve found.”
“You feel okay to stand on your own?”
“My legs are shaky, they ache, but I think I can.”
Ife’s feet were still pinging with nerve pain, but it had lessened significantly already. Vampire healing rocked. She moved forward to take Crezia’s hand and reach for Caedmon’s.
Now touching, the three first bloods created well beyond balls of light; they summoned excited molecules and created a bright glow that illuminated the entire space they stood in, its secrets no longer covered by the lightless cave it had been before Caedmon’s mishap.
Speechless, eyes locked above them, the three vampires, still holding hands, unmoving, couldn’t believe what they saw. The curved ceiling of a vast cave spanned the wide space overhead, every inch of the surface, above them, down the walls until they struck the floor, covered with large sparkling crystalline formations in colors that ran from pale pink to pale green. The glowing light they’d created twinkled off faceted surfaces in what had to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
“Ah…” Ife expelled.
“Holy…” Caedmon, blinking, couldn’t believe something like this had been underfoot all this time.
“Wow,” Crezia murmured. “We’ve found Mother Nature’s jewelry box. Ife, you have any idea this was here?”
“No. No one did. This is one of the most miraculous things I’ve ever seen, and you guys know what that means with all the miracles we earth warriors have experienced. Usually with openings this size, the crystal formations are radically different. I can’t imagine how this formed.”
“They aren’t diamonds, right?” Crezia inquired.
“They aren’t.” Ife tugged free of her companions and moved into the center of the cave, spinning to take it all in.
“It’s magnificent.”
“Yup. We let the world know it’s here, they’ll decimate it.”
“That we all know. We’ll need to return for samples so we can identify the composition of the crystals. To see how old it is. Aw, our geologists in Colorado will love this!”
Ife’s fone chimed. “It’s Scottie, ready to get us out of here.”
Back in the lounge
As she finished her tale, Ife watched her audience.
“So, pretty cool, yeah?”
Will thought about a cave deep inside the earth that no one else had ever touched. He couldn’t wait to climb down and touch the earth deeper than he ever had. “Did you find out what the crystals are made of?”
Shaking her head, Ife’s eyes sparkling, they moved from face to face. “That’s the mystery, kids. We’ve sent samples to Cari’s team, to Fia’s labs in Paris, and to a vampire team in the U.S. that handles the history of geology for the planet. They cannot be identified as anything we’ve ever seen before. These crystals are unknown to the world of science.”
Dani sat up and leaned forward. “No shit? Holy hell. They didn’t mention it to me before I left.”
Ife lifted to fold both legs beneath her, and dropped back into her seat. This, she loved, surrounded by family and friends, by fascinated and fascinating minds, by earth-borne, and starborn magic. They were doing good things here in the Amazon basin for both the planet and all life that depended on her.
“So, whoever would like to come, we’ve placed secured sturdy rope ladders at the opening.”
Will stood, his gastrointestinal trouble forgotten.
“I’m in. Can we go tonight?”
Ife nodded. “Of course. Will, you sure you don’t need some rest first? You look quite exhausted.”
“Sure, yeah, but I can hold it together for a few more hours. I need to see her.”
Like Dani, Ife felt an overwhelming need to touch Will, but she refrained. “You really are the earth’s sentry, aren’t you?”
“We all are, but it does seem like I’m locked in. Shit, I can’t even fly without magical intervention.”
“I remember that. Will, it seems the earth has chosen you. Your magic is linked to her even beyond the other earth warriors.”
“Naw. I’m not anyone special. Some days, I barely hold it together.”
Now Ife reached for him, her fingers moving along his arm and down to his hand, just as Dani had. “You’re special, and the fact that it isn’t easy makes you even more remarkable. Will, I think this part of your journey will bring you full circle. My empathic skill is somewhat limited, but I’m reading your agitation, you’re very private, yet I’m also reading your aura and the future attached to you. I believe that, here, in Brazil, is where you find what you seek.”
Surprising himself again, Will pulled her hand to his lips to kiss the palm gently, his eyes on hers.
“Ife, I hope you are right. I guess we’ll see as the days go by.”
“That’s how the future reveals itself. But you’ll have a lot of fun too, Will. We spend weekends at a complex just thirty minutes south of here run by Dez. Have you met her? You’ll love her and her facility. We work hard, but we play hard too. Oh, and Will, Brigitte will be visiting next week. I’m sure you remember my sister.”
Brigitte. Will remembered her; hell, she was unforgettable. The exciting, no-holds-barred sex was hard to forget. Extraordinarily beautiful in the way of the first bloods, she’d kept him sane and focused through all the shit and craziness last year. Yeah, he’d love to see her again.
“Sounds good,” was all he said, then lowered Ife’s hand. “I’ll be ready whenever you guys are.”
“Be out front in ten minutes.”
Two hours later beneath the surface of the earth
Moving in a circle around the perimeter of the high-ceilinged sparkling cave, along with the vampires, Dani and Scottie, and at least twelve of the blood-bonds, Will lay his hands against the rough surface of the wall for the fifth time. He placed his cheek against it too and closed his eyes.
Ife, Crezia, and Caedmon had been watching him and now that he’d moved around the entire edge of the vast space, Ife stepped closer. “Amazing, isn’t it?”
Not moving away, Will nodded. “Truly.”
He didn’t elaborate and didn’t see Ife shrug to Crezia and Caedmon. They’d hoped he would be more helpful, but he just lay there, his face scraped, a tiny bit of blood on his forehead. Suddenly he lifted away and faced the three.
“They’re not hers.”
After a moment of concern, Ife spoke. “I’m sorry, what do you mean?”
“The crystals. They’re not hers. Mother Earth’s. They didn’t come from this world.”
Ife looked back to her companions and then to Will.
“You mean, they really are extraterrestrial?”
“Yes. And they’ve been here for millions of years.”
“So not from the beginning.”
“No.”
“The mystery deepens. Look, we’ve been down here for a while. Let’s get back, let you rest, then we’ll debrief further. I think you more than anyone may be able to help solve the origin of these jeweled walls.”
Muffling a yawn, Will agreed. Right now, he was a walking dead man. Tomorrow night would come soon enough.
Two
FOUR WEEKS LATER IN LAS VEGAS
Leaving her business in good hands, Olivia had packed sparingly, and now sat in her lift car, her eyes on the spectacular 360 degree view that surrounded her on the roof of her building 75 stories high. Parked on the top of Serenity Tower, her home as well as the finest nightclub and restaurant in the city, she searched the brilliant multi-colored lights that drew massive numbers of travelers to the jewel of the U.S.
Even leaving Vegas for a short time was tough. In her very long life, little brought her greater joy than this city and the life that she’d built here, with many family and friends nearby. This city left her breathless.
So had he.
Always the first in line for adventures, she’d prided herself on spontaneity, the wild ne
ed to seek excitement in any form, her free-spirited dedication to creating ecstatic moments of joy with new people in new places. So why did she sit here, frozen in place, when she knew exactly what she needed to do and where she needed to be?
“Why are you so afraid of this?” Olivia asked out loud as she toyed with the lever that would lift the car from the roof and move her toward South America. At this moment, she felt cowardice wrapped around her like a mantle.
Yes, she was afraid to see him again. That moment in the desert when she’d seen him for the first time, dripping, naked, ripped like a god, walk out of that dismal pool toward her in candlelit glory, haunted her dreams. On the nights when the dream came to her, it played through from the moment he lifted himself from beneath the waterline to the moment he stood in front of her, her breathing labored. Olivia always woke startled, horny, wet, in desperate need that would not get quenched. No matter how many times she dreamed of him and hoped that, at least in the dream, she would get to fuck him, the dream always stopped at the moment they stood, confronting each other, strangers and yet, curiously not, both sexually stimulated, yet eventually walking away from each other.
This time, she planned to walk toward him and finish this, one way or the other. She’d had so many lovers over the past centuries, but she’d never been in love.
That’s why she’d walked away back then. He was Shoazan, and mate for a vampire. At that moment, the idea of taking a mate seemed ludicrous, something she couldn’t imagine.
Yet here she was, a year later, unable to forget him.
“Willoughby Jasper Collins, I guess we’ll just have to see how this farce plays out.”
“So let’s go,” she whispered to the fool she’d been.
Finally, decision made, she pulled the elevation lever backward to lift off.
She’d passed her 300th birthday, had bedded more hot men than she could ever recall, and yet still felt a tickle in her belly and pulsing between her legs at the idea of seeing Will again. The intense attraction they’d both felt on that hot summer night in the desert needed to be addressed. At the very least, confronting the attraction might be the only way to purge this strange obsession.
The air was calm tonight and didn’t fight the car as she headed to the airport to take her slick new jet to a rendezvous that almost seemed destined to happen. The flight would take six hours, so she would rest in the light-tight chamber built to protect a vampire during what had always seemed the most vulnerable type of transport for someone who could never allow daylight to touch them.
Once she landed, secured the car, and entered the jet, Olivia nodded her thanks to her pilot.
“I’m ready, Manuel.”
Moments after sealing herself in the safezone, she used the intercom to let him know he could take off. Settling into a custom-built seat, she pressed the number 1 on her fone, smiling when a brusque voice answered.
“Dez, I’m on my way in. I’ll see you soon.”
“Brilliant! Your bedroom awaits, granddaughter. We’re all exhausted here. Young vampires have arrived from all over the globe and we are partying every night. It’s been wonderful, but now, with you here, it will be perfect.”
“Young vampires? Who’s there?”
“Ife, of course. Crezia and Caed. Brigitte stopped to visit and hasn’t gone home. And now you. We are enjoying the company, my darling girl. It was time for an infusion of young first bloods.”
“Wow. I didn’t know. It will be a mini-reunion. Okay, I’ll see you soon. We’re going wheels-up in a few moments.”
“Safe trip, my love. See you soon.”
“Goodnight, grandmother.”
Closing the call, Olivia lay back against the soft leather that retained its coolness even in the heat. Leather was still particularly desired, but it was no longer made from animal skin. The resource wasn’t there anymore, but most of the world had long ago moved to cruelty-free productions. Nearly all food items were bio-chemically produced now to provide high nutrition and taste with no animal products. It was the only way to achieve sustainability.
“So many first bloods at Dez’s. Interesting.”
Closing the lights out, she reclined the seat and tried to sleep, but it didn’t come easily. Olivia had trouble shutting down her mind to rest. Usually the only thing that helped was the vampire imperative to sleep during daylight, but sunrise was hours away. When she finally allowed blessed unconsciousness to come, the dreams that arrived were otherworldly and made no sense at all. They were erotic, and somewhere buried in the disjointed scenes, her dream-self searched for something or someone.
Waking hours later, Olivia shot upright, parched and unsatisfied, well aware that she wouldn’t fall asleep again.
The intercom pinged.
“Ms. Olivia, we are on final approach to Desiree’s.”
“Thank you. I’ll let her know.”
Ringing in, Olivia smiled when her grandmother answered her fone with an enthusiastic, “Hi, baby!” Loud music almost overwhelmed the greeting.
“Party tonight, gran?”
“Yes, we have the group in from the Basin and we’re having a dance competition. Hurry up, darling, and you can still get in on it.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I’m pretty whipped. But I can’t wait to see you and Zach.”
“You’re staying a while, yeah?”
Olivia didn’t know quite how to answer that. “I’m not sure what my plans are, Grandmére, but I may be.”
“I will take what I can get, Livie. See you soon.”
The plane landed safely on Dez’s private runway and taxied back to the entrance of the building.
After thanking her pilot, Olivia hurried through a cooled corridor that led underground to the rear of the main housing section. In the past thirty years, Dez and Zach had completed remodels that expanded the underground chambers to accommodate larger numbers of visitors that came and went year around. Before she even reached the inner door, Olivia heard pounding music, the percussion felt beneath her feet. Her grandmother did know how to party.
Computer controlled automatic security stopped her at a heavy entry door, but it recognized Olivia following a brief thorough scan. Welcome, Miss Olivia, the pleasantly-accented AI voice said.
Without pause, she moved inside, dropped her travel pack in an alcove to her left, stepped down a short flight of steps, around a second corner and down a wide corridor painted with images of a Tuscan garden. The corridor opened into a beautifully lit room with high chandeliers and multi-colored lights facing several large mirror balls. Other lights in the room were off to create a darkened nightclub ambience, the result electric and welcoming, enjoyed now by a generously-sized crowd. Drinks in hand, most of the partiers were dancing and eating, some doing both at the same time, while they watched a smaller group of dancers finishing what looked like a competition of an old-style dance from the late 1900’s. Dancers with great rhythm recreated classic hip-hop moves while others, some highly inebriated, stumbled and laughed as they attempted to match the steps.
Scanning the dancers, she tried to make out the faces, and only recognized Scottie, Rodney’s daughter, as she sauntered around the floor.
“Hey, pretty girl.”
Olivia turned to a voice she knew well, to the man sitting at a table lost in the shadows behind her. Moving toward him, she smiled. “Zach. Hey stranger.”
“Join me. Here, have a glass. Ife’s father sent us some of their special MoonShine wine. I could live on this stuff.”
Sliding into a chair beside Zach, Olivia reached for the filled stemmed glass he handed to her. “I remember. I’d hoped to get some for my restaurant, but he only sent me a small amount for my private use.”
“No, they don’t make it in that kind of volume. It’s unique. Nice to see you, Livie. Dez know you were coming?”
“Yeah.”
“A nice long visit I hope.”
“Um…we’ll see.”
Zach clicked his tongue. “Ah, ha
. Something else is afoot. I know you love to visit us here, but I suspect there is another reason you’ve shown up so suddenly?”
Lingering on slow sips of the exceptional wine, she finally answered. “There is a reason that I’ve come this time. I think. I hope.”
Olivia scanned the man she’d had a special friendship with from the first moment they met. The low-light shone off his blonde hair, tied back at the nape of his neck. Sexy, just like he’d been so long ago before she found out what she was.
Zach lifted his glass. “Journeys. Paths. Destinies. A vampire’s life is rarely dull.”
“True. Speaking of…why are you alone here in a corner?”
“I like the solitude.” He used his wine glass to point across the room. Olivia’s eyes followed to where Dez, her skin-tight suit sparkling, moved sensually among her guests. Dez threw her long black hair over her shoulder, laughing as she ran her hand up the back of a handsome local man.
“She’s so comfortable with this life. One of my favorite things in the world is to just sit back like this and watch my woman work the room. I’ll never get enough of watching that mesmerizing witch do what she was born to do.”
“I can see why. You remember how she challenged me the night I met her?”
“Every moment. That was the night she came back to me.”
Olivia would never forget either. It was the night she met Dez, and would find out soon after that the woman she’d developed an odd relationship with was her grandmother. Her life had changed forever that night when she not only found out that she was a first blood vampire, but that she wasn’t alone in this world. Zach had found his mate and she had found a family. The past century had been the best years of her life.
“Penny for them?”
Pulled out of warm memories, Olivia reached for the bottle of MoonShine. “Zach, sorry. I zoned.”
“You did, and Olivia, you don’t zone. Are you sure you’re okay? You gotta clue me in. What is it? Or should I ask who is it?”
