Julian nodded but kept his focus on their guest. "In a minute, Ollie girl. I want to hear what Hernando has to say."
No, you don't. You want to put him on the spot and let him know you don't appreciate him interrupting your daughter's life and keeping her from enrolling in college. You're just too polite to couch it in such direct terms.
"My parents enjoyed their trip to Los Angeles very much," Hernando began. "It was much larger—and louder—than they expected. They loved meeting their relatives in the big city, but they were happy to return to their small farm on BloodDark."
Olivia's mother got in on the cross-examination. "Your parents look like a very nice couple in the interview I watched on CNN. Your dad is...he's a...he's not all human, is he?"
Olivia gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists on her lap. You are one to talk, Mom. You're a mostly white girl who married a mostly black boy. You're throwing down the species card now, huh?
"Why don't we let Hernando get on the road now?" Olivia stood up. "After all, he's representing the vehicle manufacturers of BloodDark to the auto execs here, and we don't want to keep them waiting."
Julian shook his head. Olivia sat back down. "More manufacturing jobs going out of the country—or should we say out of our world?" her father emphasized. "Talk about an imbalance of trade."
"Hernando, was your mother like the woman who wrote the expose about being a mistress to a Pure Blood ruler?" Moira wondered aloud.
"Uh, no. She wasn't. Not at all."
Olivia could tell Hernando felt uncomfortable talking about the subject in regards to his family. Darn her nosy mother! Olivia did her best to inject her comments into the conversation, but her mother wouldn't have it.
"Our neighbor's daughter read that best-seller about BloodDark, and now she wants to travel there and marry a vampire." Moira huffed and threw up her hands with a shake of her head. "I don't get it. I can't understand why anyone would want to go so far to find a husband when there are more than enough people to marry here on Earth. Perhaps you could enlighten us."
It was obvious to Olivia even T.J. felt uptight discussing the topic. "Uh, boss, we probably should be getting on the road," the big driver said. "You have a reception at seven, and you're supposed to meet with the consulate staff beforehand."
Hernando looked lost in the sea of conflicting comments. He turned to his driver and nodded."Yes, you're right, T.J." He stood and bowed to Olivia's parents. "Thank you so very much for the wonderful apple crisp and the stimulating conversation, but we must be on our way. Duty calls."
After everyone shook hands, Olivia left her parents on the porch and followed Hernando to the limousine. "I apologize for my parents giving you the third degree back there. I did warn you last time they're still a bit edgy about me not enrolling in college this term. I'm not sure how long I can put them off."
"Don't you want to go to college?" He flashed a wan smile. "I want you to go. You could learn a lot which could help both our worlds. I don't want you to give up on your chance for learning job skills. This isn't BloodDark in the old days. This is Earth in the twenty-first century. You're not forced to do as you're told without a thought as to what you want to do."
"You sure?" She shrugged. "I know I've got freedoms, but it's just that I...I don't want to upset my folks anymore than I have, and I don't enjoy being so far away from you."
"Same here." He watched Olivia's parents enter the house and the door close before leaning in to give her a kiss. "I'm getting the idea from your mother she doesn't approve of you having a vampire boyfriend."
"That stupid woman who returned and wrote her memoirs of being a bloodsucker's sex-slave has a lot to answer for!" Olivia sighed. "You're a Quadsang—you're just a quarter Pure Blood anyway, right?"
Hernando shrugged. "I guess. I can tell your mother doesn't like the idea of her grandchildren having fangs like my dad. Why that interviewer had the camera zeroed in on his smile during the television interview I'll never understand."
Olivia scowled at the memory. "I do. It's called prejudice and fear. Emphasize the differences and ignore the similarities we share." She stopped before she went off on a tirade about the unfounded bigotry many of her kind often demonstrated much to her chagrin. Instead, she smiled and stroked his cheek. "Grandchildren? Did you say grandchildren?"
He blushed. "One can dream." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her again. "Now, I really must go. This is a fairly short trip, so I'll stop by in a few days’ time unless you think it unwise."
"I don't know. I want to see you, but then it might make things even more strained between me and my parents." Olivia felt tears welling in her eyes. "Oh, Hernando, I know it's wrong, but sometimes I wish I'd never returned home. I miss the freedom I had on BloodDark, even when I wasn't quite free. I'm crazy, aren't I?"
"No more than the rest of us." He held her in his arms, tighter than he'd ever had. "Do you want me to activate the beacon?" he whispered in her ear. "Do you wish to return to BloodDark with me, right now?"
"Not here, not now." Olivia sighed. She knew if Hernando pushed the microscopic bio-transmitter hidden deep under the skin in the palm of his left hand they'd vanish in a flash and reappear halfway across the galaxy.
They'd all been put through an MRI scanner and had X-Rays done as part of the frantic reaction to their arrival, but the Pure Blood technology hadn't shown up on the primitive Earth equipment. She and he had decided they couldn't risk Earth authorities discovering Hernando possessed such a device. The cover story they'd given the government during their quarantine period was Portal transportation only occurred along a preordained schedule and from a limited number of locations on Earth. It wasn't true, but it was better to let them think so.
"You are wise. Best we are parted for a little while than reveal all our technologies." He kissed her again and then let her go, opened the car door and crawled inside. He rolled down the window. "I'll try to watch my Smartphone more closely if you want to text me. Try not to be too hard on your parents. They care about you and want what's best for you. Anyone can tell how much they love you."
"I love you. It should count for something, shouldn't it?"
"It does. I love you, too." He smiled and waved as the limousine rolled away.
Olivia stood on the curb and stared after the car as it traveled down the road. Her phone signaled someone had sent her a text. So soon?
Where U at? It came from Britt. Still here. Come on by. I saw the limo. Cool.
Olivia took a long breath to clear her head and her conflicting emotions before heading down the street to visit her friend.
Chapter Three
Later in the evening, Olivia curled up on her bed and opened Valori's letter first. Olivia remembered how she couldn't contain her surprise when she learned the Pure Bloods hadn't refused education to their servants. Valori had attended the equivalent of a one room school house located on a plantation during her formative years. The school's main role was to keep the younger children occupied while their parents worked, and it was taught by a teacher who had recently been abducted from Earth. There, Valori received a sound education in reading, writing—certainly not computer keyboarding—BloodDark mythology and mathematics.
Olivia thought it sad how children like Valori received very little science training and nothing to do with higher technology other than what was necessary in order to handle the job the Pure Bloods had designated for them. Those who showed mathematic prowess or engineering tendencies were sometimes taken to BloodDark City and apprenticed to Pure Bloods it was said, although Valori had never known anyone from her school accorded such an honor. She had felt lucky they had allowed her to study sewing and cooking.
Books written in English, the language of the now freed humans, were rare commodities on the tidally locked world. With the opening of relations between Earth and BloodDark, books and other reading materials were often requested and sent along in the diplomatic pouches and with the occasional visitors. Olivia w
as glad to be able to help her friend learn more about Earth, humanity and the universe in general.
Dear Olivia,
Thank you again for the wonderful printed materials on clothing fashions through the ages on Earth. I have studied the pictures and patterns over and over again. I find it fascinating the current style among the Pure Blood seems copied from the fashion period entitled "The Victorian Era." The Pure Bloods did visit Earth often in that time period and perhaps the Victorians' fashions were their favorite? The more recent fashions do leave a lot to be desired. No beautiful trim or corsets. No bustles or hats and veils. Just because a woman has legs doesn't mean she has to show them off—and so much else of her skin—all the time.
Olivia laughed hard at Valori's objections over women showing off their legs. What would she think of bikinis? Thongs? Maybe she should send Valori a swimsuit or lingerie catalog? That would do it! She couldn't wait to hear the middle-aged woman's objections.
The letter's closing brought a lump to her throat, however.
Stay safe, dear child. I fear a time of struggle and heartache is at hand. Look after your friends. Better still, look after yourself.
"Hey!" Olivia's big tuxedo cat, Bilbo, jumped onto her back in order to gain her attention. She sat up and cradled his softness in her arms to pet. "You're such a naughty kitty, but I don't think you're what Valori means about a time of struggle and heartache. I wish I knew what she does mean by it. She claims to see into the future, but she's always vague about the details."
Olivia let her squirming feline go and picked up the letter from her friend in the Resistance. "At least Annara tells me everything straight out. She doesn't treat me like a child."
After the first page or so of routine news about who was working where now in the newly formed BloodDark government and the odd, unannounced recent visit from the Earth ambassador, Annara got down to the good stuff.
The exodus of humans and Quadsangs to the sunlit side is ongoing. Family farms are popping up all over the place, and human villages long abandoned are now filled with people and trade. In the midst of all this freedom and excitement lies one worry. The Portal is located in BloodDark City, an area almost entirely populated by Pure Bloods, since now their servants are free to live wherever they want. Worse yet, there's not enough human or Quadsang fighters to guard it adequately. The Overseers don't seem to take guard duty of our only link to Earth seriously. Rumors are circulating the Pure Bloods have been making overtures to disaffected Overseers, promising them more power if they'll go along with an overthrow of the mostly human government. I am afraid perhaps our revolution has lost steam like a transport engine stuck on the rails, and things will revert to the dark ways of our recent past where the Pure Bloods had no real rivals...
Olivia slumped and pressed the letter against her heart. "Oh, no. It can't unravel this fast. I've only been home for a year, and half of it was spent in quarantine. Hernando has just established himself as ambassador, and the tabloids can't get enough of his handsome face on their covers. We can't go rushing back to BloodDark this soon, can we?" She opened a cautious eye to peek at the letter again, reading what she didn't want to read.
We need to make it clear to the Pure Bloods Earth wants to deal with humans and part-human races alone. They won't get anywhere with trying to overthrow our current confederacy. Another thing—we've got to stop this idea some have that their "soul mates" await them among the bloodsuckers. Earth people shouldn't be allowed to relocate to BloodDark. You and I both know it isn't a good idea. This small world can only sustain so many. We don't need to continue feeding the Pure Bloods fresh blood. Their time to die out has long since passed...
Olivia sighed. Should she tackle this impossible task? How could she help her friends on BloodDark as well as friends and family here on Earth?
Her mother's voice drifted through her bedroom door. "Olivia! Come downstairs and see who's on the local news at ten!"
Does anyone other than my parents' generation even watch the local news anymore? She put Annara's letter on the desk and slunk down the steps, silently slipping into the living room to sit next to her mother on the sofa. An irritating commercial for an area car dealership played.
"You want to buy me a new car?" Olivia asked with a questioning grin.
Moira laughed. "No, baby, we can't afford it. It's the story coming up after the break I want you to see. I hadn't really believed Jace's mother when she told me about it a while back, but it's definitely more serious than anyone thought. Oh, here it is now."
"A local woman will be among the first group of ordinary people—neither government officials nor scientists—to receive visas to travel and actually resettle on the planet of BloodDark," the perky blond anchorwoman announced with mock gravity. "Lauren Petrowski is packing her bags and readying herself for transport via the molecular projection device called The Portal. Our reporter Chip Block is live at her home with an exclusive interview. Chip?"
The scene switched from the studios to a familiar living room. "To say Lauren Petrowski isn't excited would be an understatement, Ashley," the skinny, fresh-faced reporter began. "You can almost taste her enthusiasm, but once she gets a bite of life on the alien world, will she want to stay longer?"
Olivia groaned and screwed her eyes shut, not wanting to see or hear any more. Journalists had been advised by United Nations early on not to use the words vampires or bloodsuckers and to avoid any allusions to the Pure Bloods' use of human genetic material to improve their life spans, but puns were bound to happen. The tabloid press, blogs and talk shows didn't adhere to these guidelines at all, of course. In fact, people like Lauren relished calling their potential mate vampires and themselves vampire-lovers. The shock and disapproval of their family and friends made them appear all the more daring.
"I see you are packing a lot of dark clothing, Lauren. Can you tell us why?"
Olivia opened one eye. Jace's oldest half-sister had gone completely Goth in her style. Her boot-black hair coloring and black lipstick and heavy eyeliner said it all. Why did they ever bring that horrible Sylvia Moffat woman back to Earth with them? Her salacious memoir of being a Pure Blood's lover had caused nothing but trouble. They were even making a movie about it with a big all-star cast. Obviously, humanity's poor taste in literature and film hadn't improved during her time on BloodDark.
"We wear black because this symbolizes our willingness to unite with the dark side of the planet," Lauren replied, absentmindedly fiddling with her multitude of ear studs, chains, nose and lip rings. "We want to become immortals and live side-by-side with our immortal lovers in the darkness."
"What about Ms. Moffat's assertion in her book that eventually Pure Bloods cast their human partners aside for... fresh blood?"
Good! Olivia approved of how Chip the Cub Reporter challenged Lauren's fantasy. One good thing about the memoir was how Sylvia acknowledged the reason why she'd returned to Earth—because she had been dumped by her vampire lover when a younger replacement had come along. All was not eternally rosy in a Pure Blood/human pairing. Long-lived species grew bored and tired of their aging pets, replacing them as easily as some heartless types dumped perpetually barking dogs by the side of the road.
Lauren's lower lip quivered. "They would never cast us aside—they need us."
Olivia sighed. Lauren's false bravado didn't convince anyone. Was Lauren herself even convinced of the truth of her words? Maybe the need to be loved and wanted was so strong it didn't really matter who you pinned all your hopes to in order provide it?
Olivia sat with her mother for a few more minutes until the awkward interview came to an end. Her mother clicked off the flatscreen. "I've never been so happy to have you back home and away from that evil world and its people as I do after watching this TV report."
"Not all the people on BloodDark are evil, Mom," Olivia protested. "I hope you're not including my friends who helped me escape—Valori and Annara and Caveman. You'd better not be including Hernando."
&
nbsp; "Of course not, baby." Moira patted Olivia's knee and smiled. "I'm sure there are quite a few good apples in the lot, but they're not going to be enough to save the entire degenerate culture. You forget I read the entire thousand page U.N. report on BloodDark published after your... debriefing period. I harbor no illusions about those vamp—Pure Bloods. They are about as base as they come. Why else had they been hiding out for thousands of years instead of traveling the universe with their technology? Why else kidnap other beings to alter their own D.N.A. so they could mask themselves from their enemies?"
Olivia shrugged. "Maybe it's just how they ask for help?"
"Funny way of asking." Her mother shook her head. "I think most people—Earth people— are convinced these Pure Bloods purposefully wanted to terrorize our planet over the centuries. By creating myths about vampires and other creatures which prowl the night, they could condition us never to leave home, never to become their rivals, but their own laziness and arrogance caught up with them. Of course, they'd never run into anyone as brave and smart as my little girl before now." Moira pulled her daughter into her arms and hugged her. "Did I ever tell you how proud I am of you?"
"Yes, you've told me how proud you are of me a million times, Mom." Olivia couldn't be too angry with her mom praising her. She hugged her mother back and then let her go. "However, you must realize I can't agree with you on everything about BloodDark. I think it's worth saving. It's worth helping them establish a new society which guarantees equal rights for all its inhabitants—including the bloodsuckers, er, Pure Bloods."
"You're a better person than I then." Her mother's concerned tone didn't soften the blow. "It's why I worry about you and Hernando. I just want you to be safe, sweetie. You'll never be safe if you're associating with individuals who put others at risk because of their position in society."
Olivia's Return Page 2
