by Mairsile
“Certainly not while our sire is here. But maybe, after they leave.”
“You know his rule,” Nikki shouted to be heard over the running water.
“Yeah, yeah. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt me.”
“What did you say?” Nikki asked loudly. “I can’t hear you in here when you’re not thinking.”
Vince walked naked into the bathroom and wiped the steam from the mirror. “Thank God that myth is wrong,” he thought as he checked his hairline in his reflection. “I said, how would he know? This is the first time he’s been here in what? Three years? What are the chances he’ll know?”
“Are you completely insane?” Nikki asked as she peeked around the shower curtain and reached for a towel from the rack. “Get out of here!”
“Please, it’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before, Niko. When you’re insane you like to take all your clothes off and—”
Nikki grabbed the bar of soap from the tray and threw it at Vince’s head.
“Ow! Fine, be that way,” Vince grunted and walked out of the room. “Why the hell are you so shy all of a sudden?”
“Shut the damn door!” Nikki yelled. Vince slammed the door shut, and Nikki continued. “It’s not all of a sudden. You know perfectly well that I have always preferred my privacy so knock it off, you jerk.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Vince asked mentally.
Nikki rolled her eyes and ignored his question as she stepped out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around her midsection and dried her hair. Then she picked up her dirty clothes and tossed them in the hamper. As she opened the door she glared at Vince, who leaned against the wall, au naturel. “I know what you’re thinking of doing, Vinny, and it’s not worth it,” she warned, her finger poking his shoulder.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vince feigned ignorance and walked past her into the bathroom.
“The hell you don’t. All I can say is that if you bring a human down here for sex, it’s your funeral. No wait, we don’t have funerals. We have beheadings or rotting corpses in the sun. I won’t be a part of that, Vinny.”
“Who’s asking you to, sis? I haven’t lived this long by worrying about our sire’s irrational rules,” he stated and shut the door.
“That’s because I’m the one who bails your ass out with the old man,” Nikki shouted through the door.
Vince’s laughter sounded garbled under the water spout. “And you don’t think I know that? You’re his favorite, he owes you, and I know that. One of us should take advantage of that, and since you weren’t, I did.”
Nikki opened the door and growled, “Kiss my woman again, and I’ll let you face his wrath by yourself.”
Vince pulled the shower curtain back, but kept his privates covered. “You’d be that ungrateful? I mean, after I took care of you when you went looney, you could so easily—”
Nikki scowled and put her hands on her hips. “That won’t work, Vince. I saved your life, you saved my sanity. I believe my save trumps yours.”
Trying to find the perfect retort, Vince hesitated for a moment. Luckily for him, he was off the hook when the buzzer rang. The speaker box crackled, and Ludovico’s voice shouted, “Children, get your asses in here!”
“Well, that didn’t sound good,” Nikki said.
“You think? Something must be up.” Vince walked out of the bathroom. “We’d better get up there.”
“Uh, Vince. You might want to put something on first. Don’t want to scare the women folk.”
Vince looked down at his nakedness. “Scare them. Please.”
“On second thought, go on in there like that. I’d love to hear their thoughts on your manhood.”
“I don’t think your virgin mind could handle it,” Vince quipped and rushed to his room.
Nikki rushed into her room also and closed the door.
A few minutes later, fully dressed, they ran up the stairs and through the kitchen. Nikki stopped suddenly and gasped when she saw Lilah standing beside her sire. Vince ran into the back of Nikki and almost knocked her over.
“What the hell?” Vince griped as he rubbed his forehead where he conked heads with Nikki. She didn’t even notice.
Beulah became alarmed when they ran through the kitchen, so she and Dorothea followed them into the living room. She walked past the siblings and over to Ludovico. “What’s going on, dumplin’?”
“These idiots told Lilah about us,” Ludovico said angrily, “She eavesdropped on my conversation with Leonard, and now she won’t leave.”
“Not good. He hates when a human tells him no,” Vince told Nikki in his thoughts.
Beulah chuckled and patted her husband’s arm. She knew he was frustrated and looking for someone to blame and unfortunately, Nikki and Vince were readily available.
“I was not eavesdropping,” Lilah complained. “I live here, remember?”
Ludovico bared his fangs and growled at her. “Don’t be pertinent, girl.”
“¡Oh Dios mío!” Dorothea screamed and pointed at Ludovico. “¡Oh Dios mío! Chupacabra!”
“What the hell is she going on about?” Ludovico barked. It had been a long time since he had a hysterical human pointing at his fangs. “And what in the hell is a chupacabra?”
“It’s a Mexican goatsucker, Papá,” Nikki translated.
“El chupacabras!” Dorothea screamed and pulled Lilah back behind her.
“Is she going to do that all night?” Vince asked.
“I was wondering the same thing,” Ludovico retorted, his fangs disappearing from view.
“Dorothea, please, calm down,” Beulah implored. “He won’t hurt you; you’re safe. He’s a good chupacabra and he doesn’t suck on goats.”
“That is ludicrous. I haven’t drunk from a goat in over five hundred years,” Ludovico declared, his irritation growing.
Dorothea’s eyes grew larger, and she began to hyperventilate. She ripped open her blouse and grabbed her crucifix, holding it out. “Jesús, a mantener este mal de mí!”
Seeing the confusion on Beulah and Leonard’s faces, Nikki translated. “She said, ‘Jesus, keep this evil away from me.’”
“I don’t have time for this silliness,” Ludovico growled, taking a step closer to Dorothea and raising his hand.
“No! Don’t touch her!” Lilah said, quickly stepping around Dorothea. “Please, don’t hurt her,” she cried, her face flushed with fear and determination.
Nikki wasn’t sure what her sire intended to do, all she knew was Lilah was in his way. “Papá, no!” she shouted, rushing to stand in front of Lilah and Dorothea.
“Are you insane again, girl?”
“No, I’m perfectly sane, and I won’t let you hurt them.” Nikki stood defiant, hoping that her sire could not hear the tremor in her voice.
“Of course I wasn’t going to hurt either one of them,” Ludovico blustered, his anger abating infinitesimally. “The sun will be up soon, and I don’t have time to kowtow to their emotional outbursts.” Even before he had finished speaking, and faster than the human eye could follow, he had flown behind the two women and touched Dorothea with his influence. He caught her as she fell unconsciousness and eased her down to the floor.
“What have you done?” Leonard barked. Leonard knew exactly what Ludovico had done; he’d seen it before. But he had never seen him use his influence on a member of his own family. It was frightening and intimidating, and completely uncalled for.
“Oh my, God! You’ve killed her!” Lilah screamed, bending over Dorothea, trying to protect her.
“She’s only asleep, Lilah,” Nikki said, kneeling beside her.
Lilah shoved her away. “Get away from her!” she demanded.
“This is getting completely out of hand,” Vince thought to himself. “Nikki, knock Lilah out, too, before Father has to do it. It will show him that you’re not insane, which, by the way, what a completely insane thing to do, standing up to him like that.”
Nikki s
hook her head. She would not silence Lilah. She needed to know that the immortals in her home were not going to hurt her. She needed to know that she was safe, especially around her. She wanted desperately to hold her and reassure her of that very thing, but she could see the terror in her eyes and hear her accelerated heartbeat. She was in turmoil, and she would do battle with the devil himself to protect her.
“Did you have to do that?” Beulah asked sharply. “She was only frightened.”
“And now she’s not frightened anymore,” Ludovico retorted, walking back to his drink sitting on the end table.
Beulah looked at him angrily, her hands on her hips, her legs spread apart arrogantly.
Ludovico knew that she was ready for a fight, but this was not a fight he wanted to have, because he knew she would win. When it came to her human friends, his wife would not back down. He had asked her one time why she didn’t just tell the human employees about them, but she very fervently told him no. She explained that the oblivious humans had a certain kind of innocence about them that she enjoyed and it would break her heart for them to look at her differently. Beulah further explained to him that after hundreds of years, she still could not shake the vision of her beloved mother’s reaction, much the same way that Dorothea had reacted, when she told her mother, revealing her fangs to her. And to compound things even more, Dorothea was a lot like her mother; chubby, bubbly, loving. Ludovico tried to remember what it was like the first time he showed his human father what he had become, but the memory was vague at best.
“Fine. I’m sorry. But it’s done. Nikki take Dorothea to her room and…” Ludovico looked at his mate’s still irate face, then back at Nikki. “And give her a nice dream. Leonard, let’s finish our conversation in the study. There’s much to do before our guests arrive tomorrow night.”
“Lilah.” Nikki looked at her softly. “Will you show me where her room is?
Lilah glanced over at her father, and he nodded. “It’s okay, honey. Take care of Dorothea.”
She didn’t want to leave her father, but she didn’t want Dorothea to be manhandled by a vampire either. “It’s upstairs. I’ll show you.”
Nikki scooped Dorothea up as if she were light as a feather, and for a brief moment, Lilah admired her flexing muscles. Even though she knew that Nikki was a vampire, she was amazed at her inhuman strength. Lilah quickly turned her head when her eyes met Nikki’s, and she made sure she conveyed her thoughts in a way that Nikki would know exactly what she thought of her. I hate you!
Nikki sighed and followed her up the stairs with Dorothea.
“Mr. da Polenta, we’re having a wake here tonight for Rebecca,” Leonard interjected, watching Nikki carry Dorothea up the stairs. “If we had known you were coming...”
“That’s perfectly all right, Leonard. We didn’t give you any notice,” Beulah admitted. “Mr. da Polenta and I would like to stay and help Dorothea with the wake.”
“She would appreciate it, I’m sure,” Leonard said, relieved that Mrs. da Polenta would be at the ceremony. She’d always had a cooler head than Ludovico. At his wife’s wake, it was Beulah who planned the whole thing and played hostess to his human family and friends. He was beholden to her for keeping Ludovico busy serving drinks and out of mischief. Leonard had grown up knowing Ludovico was a vampire of some status. He was used to getting his own way, except where his wife was concerned. But Leonard could tell the stress was bearing down on the immortal, and it was just the first day. He had already bared his fangs and used his compulsion with no regards to the fear he had caused. For Ludovico, that was a normal way of life.
Leonard had an uneasy feeling that nothing would ever be normal again in his home.
Chapter Twelve
“Just put her down on the bed and leave,” Lilah said sharply as she opened the door for Nikki.
She stepped into the medium-sized bedroom and immediately noticed a large crucifix hanging over the bed, and an oil painting of the sacred heart of Jesus hanging on the wall opposite of the window. A Bible lay on the nightstand beside her bed, with a rosary lying across it.
Lilah pulled the covers back on the bed and Nikki laid Dorothea gently down, making sure her head was comfortable on the pillow. Lilah pulled her shoes off and moved to unbutton her blouse when she stopped and gave Nikki a dirty look. She quickly turned around and faced the door, more from respect than shyness.
“Lilah, could we talk? Just for a—”
“No.”
“Please? I know you must have questions. How can I gain your trust?”
“By dropping dead,” she quipped, loosening the snap on Dorothea’s skirt. “Oh wait, you’re already dead, aren’t you?”
She knew that she shouldn’t, but a snicker escaped her lips anyway. “Well, I’ve been alive for over 180 years, so I don’t see how I can be dead. I have a heart, lungs; all the regular equipment. I laugh, cry, and enjoy sex immensely.”
“Deviant monster. Forcing women to have sex with you.”
She turned around to protest but Lilah glared at her so she turned back to the door. “I would never take a woman without her permission. Even when I was a newly turned vampire, consumed with bloodlust, I never raped a woman.”
“Never?” Lilah asked hesitantly. Could she believe the words of a creature of the night that up until a day ago, did not exist in her world?
“I swear, I never did.”
Lilah pulled the blanket over Dorothea and picked up the rosary with a crucifix dangling from it. She walked over to Nikki and held it out. “Swear before God, and maybe I’ll believe you.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll burn to a crisp if I touch that thing?”
She gave her a satisfied smile. “I’m counting on it.”
Nikki looked at the seriousness in her eyes and wondered how she’d really feel if she did. Pretending to be afraid of the cross, she held out a trembling hand and timidly reached for it. “So,” she said, pulling her hand back, stalling for dramatic effect. “All I have to do is touch the cross and you will believe that I am not a bad person?”
“No, I said swear that you never raped a woman. It’s still debatable whether you’re a good person or not.”
“Woman, you wound me. You know just because we have fangs doesn’t mean we’re insensitive to hurtful words.”
“Just touch the damn cross,” Lilah said, exasperated. She felt a pang of guilt at hurting her feelings and it irritated her. She’s a damn vampire; she has no feelings.
“You’re wrong, Lilah. All kidding aside, I really do have feelings and they really can be hurt by your words. In fact…” She reached out and took the crucifix from her hand. “I’m offended that you think so little of me that you thought Jesús would strike me dead.”
She stared at her in disbelief. Not because she held the crucifix, but because she actually did look offended. “I’m… I’m sorry. I thought…” She walked over to the armchair in the corner of the room, and exhaling, she slumped into it. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”
“Yes, I can sense that,” Nikki said, at a loss for words to comfort her.
She gazed at her for a moment, wishing she could read her mind so she would be on equal ground. Only then could she truly trust her. “What other parlor tricks can you do?”
Nikki laughed and leaned a hip on the side of the bed across from where she sat. “Are you sure that you want to know all of it? Some things may be disturbing to you.”
She saw the genuine concern in her eyes. “Yes, school me.”
“Okay, here goes. Vampires 101. First, because of your confusion over the crucifix, let me say that, no, a stake through the heart will not kill us. Just like the crucifix, both are myths. And holy water tastes like regular water to me, but garlic is just disgusting.”
Lilah quirked her upper lip in consternation.
“Gee, you look disappointed.”
What? “Oh, no. Sorry. Please continue.”
Nikki chuckled. “There are five elements that
a vampire can possess. Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Spirit. Vince, Beulah, and my sire can manipulate the air. Ludovico hates having so many Air vampires around, but that’s the way it turned out. Well, except for me. I have the fifth element by a freak of nature when Ludovico turned me. I can read your thoughts and bring back the dead. My element is considered rare, perhaps in order to keep a balance between heaven and hell.”
Lilah sat up and grabbed her hand. “Oh my God. Bring back Rebecca! Bring back my mother. Please, Nikki.”
Compassion overwhelmed her as she shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Lilah. It doesn’t work that way. I can only revive the newly dead before they are embalmed.”
“Oh,” she said disappointedly, tears swirling in her green eyes. She sat back in the chair and after a moment, asked, “Okay, so can you do that thing that your dad did to Dorothea?”
“Yes, all vampires can use their electrical energy to influence a human. And by the way, he’s not my biological father. He is the one who sired me.”
Like a Texas tornado spinning around at 300 mph, Lilah had a million questions at once whirling in her head.
Nikki threw up her hands. “Whoa, slow down. Your thoughts are all jumbled up together and it’s giving me a headache.”
Her questions suddenly deflated as her anger took over. “Look. That’s damn annoying,” she proclaimed. “Can’t you just be normal and stop violating my private thoughts? It’s completely unnerving and unfair. You are molesting my mind, and I won’t have it, damn it!”
Taken aback, Nikki gasped shallowly. No one had ever put it quite so graphically before. “I am sorry. It’s second nature to me and not something that I can turn on and off. But I promise to try not to hear your thoughts. Well, I promise not to tell you when I do, how’s that?”
“I guess it will have to do.” It’s not like I have a choice in the matter, you eavesdropping Tom.
“I am not—”
She cocked her head and gave her a told-you-so look.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
“Anyway, explain to me about the influence thing. What did Ludovico do to Dorothea? I mean, I know she’s asleep, but why?”
