The Days Fly

by C. L. Quinn

  Scanning the street, no one was in sight at this late hour, so Claude pulled out his Glock 21 45-caliber semiauto handgun. It felt good against his palm, his finger finding the trigger like an old friend. When Xavier passed the alley, he used air displacement to move from the back of the alley to the street.

  Claude smiled as the big vampire whirled, the expression of shock on his face a pleasure for Claude before he emptied the magazine into Xavier’s brain. The first blood vampire went down fast, his heavy body crumbling on the sidewalk outside of a dive bar that had closed for the night.

  Slowly, because there was no hurry now, Claude walked up to the body, stood over it for a moment, gloating, and then kicked him in the side as hard as he could. Once didn’t satisfy him, so he continued to kick until reason resurfaced, and he backed away.

  God that felt cathartic! It was a long time coming! But if he was going to take the head, he needed to get to it before Xavier revived. Hoisting the body, the weight nothing for Claude now that he was vampire, he carried Xavier several streets from where he died, down concrete steps to the basement of an old factory that had made bagels at one time.

  Claude dropped the body with force onto the hard floor before he walked away to get an ax that he’d carried with him almost from the first day he’d arrived on American soil again.

  The ax on his shoulder the way Paul Bunyan would carry it, Claude began to whistle as he headed back to where Xavier’s body lay, but as soon as he rounded a block wall that divided the basement, when his eyes went to where Xavier had been, the floor was empty. Fuck!

  Panicked, because now this was going to be a battle for survival, and Xavier was better equipped, Claude raced over and grabbed the handgun he’d left lying carelessly on a table near the stairwell. He listened soundlessly, hoping to hear something that would alert him to Xavier’s whereabouts, but the place was as silent as a tomb.

  Had the asshole left?

  Claude had thought about that, too, since this went wrong, just get the fuck out of here. Except it was too late for that. The vampire had him now, he knew he was in Boston, and there wasn’t a chance on this motherfuckingplanet that Xavier would let him live.

  All these months in hiding and he couldn’t even pull off a simple assassination. He was a professional assassin for fuck’s sake! He’d kept hidden from Tamesine all this time to finally get offed by that crude Scot? Hell no!

  A footfall behind him shocked him and he whirled, the gun in hand, ready to answer.

  Waiting for Xavier to charge him, Claude started to blast him again, but hesitated for just a moment when he noticed that Xavier just stood there, across the room and didn’t move. Claude was stunned that Xavier wasn’t already on him.

  Suddenly Xavier shook his head. “Where am I? Who are you?”

  Well, this was interesting…

  Claude pumped Xavier’s head full of bullets again.

  IN SOUTHERN FRANCE

  Second meal was often chaotic now that there were four children in attendance. Things generally never went smoothly, and someone usually got in trouble.

  Tonight, the two households were sharing this final meal before sunrise, the food nearly gone, the camaraderie deep, as the evening wound down. Finished, they abandoned the big dining room to reconvene on the first floor balcony.

  Koen tagged his granddaughter, racing by with a huge piece of chocolate cake.

  “Ay! Isn’t that the last piece?” he called out. Cairine turned, grinned, and continued to make a beeline for the stairs before her grandfather caught her.

  “Arrgghh!” he yelled, and chased her because he knew that she was expecting him to. Trying to not beat a four year old wasn’t easy.

  Squealing, Cairine shot up the stairs, then paused around the first curve to make sure her grandfather followed, squealed when she saw that he had, and continued up as quickly as her little feet could carry her. All Koen hoped was that his wicked little granddaughter wouldn’t pull out some of her considerable magics and send something his way…like a fireball!

  Tamesine carried Fia, her baby daughter, to the balcony to enjoy some fresh air with family and friends before they went to rest for the coming day.

  Koen’s wife Alisa carried Bryson, Fia’s twin, giving him endless kisses on his face as he giggled. She’d become the twin’s second mother, and Tamesine was grateful for her love and help with them.

  Eillia wandered out, leaning over the balcony to wave to her mate and Caedmon as they prepared to fly a glow-in-the-dark kite. Her eyes were locked on her son.

  Tamesine joined her. “That looks like fun.”

  “Uh, huh.”

  “He’s doing fine, Lia.”

  “Yeah.”

  Tamesine couldn’t reassure her any more than that. He was…for now. The strange moments when the little boy wasn’t well continued to recur and so far, Park had not been able to find a reason for it. Everyone was deeply concerned.

  Tamesine knew that there would likely be another power circle to ask the powers-that-be what was happening and if the child in danger. Did it mean the other children might be in danger too? Changes continued to come to the first blood clan. Centuries of expectations and history were being unmade.

  The others slowly wandered out, talking about various topics as Tamesine’s husband arrived and crashed beside his family on the big cushioned bench.

  “We’re going to begin the villa next week.”

  “Are we sure we want to do that?”

  “Tam, yeah, we can’t stay in Koen’s home indefinitely. Besides, I’ve seen all of your pics from Instagram, and I know exactly what you want. You’re going to love it.”

  “I’m sure that I will, it’s just…”

  “We’re two minutes away, we’ll be here for every meal, it’s going to be fabulous.”

  “I know. I still haven’t adapted to the concept of change as being a good thing.”

  Marc started to respond when he noticed Tamesine’s expression change, her eyes closed and she listed to her side. Grabbing Fia, he transferred her to Alisa.

  “She looks like she’s going to lose consciousness,” he explained, as he made sure that the baby was secure and reached for his mate. “Tam? Are you all right?”

  Tamesine’s head spun, her vision blurred, and her balance crashed. What the hell was that? Almost as soon as she thought it, she knew. The vision came to her, clear as day.

  “Claude,” she whispered. “He’s surfaced. I’ve got him.”

  Please join us for Book 12, Xavier’s story, coming in October, and then Days of Innocence in December, the final story before the Days of Awe…

  We jump ahead one hundred years to find out how the special destiny of the unprecedented vampire children unfolds. Can they save the living planet?

  You mustn’t miss the Days of Awe.

  Thanks for staying on the path with us once again!

  Charlie Quinn