Can't Stop-Smoke

by Claudy Conn

  “Why isn’t it working?” he asked no one in particular.

  “Hmm…Mr. All powerful have a problem?” I taunted. He had tried to hurt me and it didn’t work. He would eventually fix the problem and the pain would begin. Hell, I needed to get out before he solved his problem.

  What I noticed and assessed was the fact that Vidal remained in the dusky light. He hadn’t ventured into the lit part of the room where I stood. I concluded he preferred or needed the dark. If he was a born vampire, sunlight shouldn’t be a problem, unless he had spent all these centuries draining and killing humans.

  I made up my mind. Now was the moment. Now when he was confused.

  Vamp speed took me to the drapes covering the large window they concealed. Without hesitation, without a backward glance at him, I used only some of my vamp strength and pulled down the heavy velvet drapes at the wide window.

  Sunlight poured into the room, filling every bit of its large expanse.

  To my relief and great satisfaction Vidal made an awful sound as he ducked behind his hands and raced out of the room.

  I turned on the demon who had been momentarily frozen with shock. “Want to pit your strength against mine and try and stop me from leaving?”

  He didn’t move.

  So before he changed his mind and attacked, I crashed through the window and landed like a cat on my feet two stories down.

  I looked around and for a moment couldn’t fathom where the hell I was.

  Didn’t matter. I ran full speed in a southerly direction. Instinct took me as it so often does. My witch DNA at work.

  I had only gotten a couple of miles when I recognized a few streets and realized just how far out of the historic section of New Orleans I had been. There was only one place I wanted to go, Hazard!

  Vampire speed took me to the Dark Lord’s club five minutes later.

  I had played it cool and cocky when abducted by the ancient vampire, but it wasn’t how I felt. Vidal was a scary dude and I needed to know why he was after me. I mean, holy jeez, I am an absolute nobody in the vampire world. What did the ancient vampire think I could do for him.

  The club was closed. I knocked, or rather I banged hard on the door.

  A huge man with a shaggy haircut and the golden eyes of a wolf and the smile of a charmer, opened it a crack. I shoved it open. He said, “Careful, little girl.”

  I gave him a glare that silently told him I did not appreciate being called a ‘little girl’. I was about to push my way past him when I heard a movement from the rear of the open galley and then heard his voice, loud, clear and oddly soothing.

  “Let her in,” Wilder said from where he stood in a doorway to a backroom.

  I turned to the sound of his voice which annoyed me to admit went through me and sent shivers up my spine.

  Our gazes locked and I was aware of the sexual tension between us. It was like a warm and intoxicating current that flowed in a wide wave from him to me and back again. Oh damn, I was being fanciful. This was ridiculous.

  And then I saw the redhead from last night, the one who had stepped between us to kiss him. She slid off the huge desk in his office and came up behind him to run her hand down his white silky covered chest.

  I heard her say in her husky sensual voice, “Later, darling.”

  He didn’t respond. He didn’t look at her. Instead, he took a step toward me.

  Oh no, all the more reason to put distance between us. He was, as I had suspected, a player and I wanted nothing to do with that sort of man in my life, no matter how much my body wanted to be with his body. My mind was too smart for that.

  “Wilder,” I said and marched towards him. “You will never believe what I have just been through, and I blame you.”

  “Hush, Smoke. Calm down and come in,” he said and put his hand on my back.

  As I passed by him I looked up at his oh so gorgeous face. He was frowning and he said, “Now, tell me, what happened.”

  “Till you…I lived a quiet, unobtrusive life. Now, you start talking about prophesies and an ancient born vamp and the next thing I know, boom, demon creep pushes me through a portal and there I was, standing in front of Vidal himself! Not good. Really not good!”

  He had closed the door, stopped in mid-movement and said quietly, “Tell me all, from the beginning.”

  So, I did, with a few expletives to express just how I felt about what I had just experienced.

  “A portal,” he interrupted me to question. “Vidal used a portal? To where?”

  “If you hadn’t interrupted I would have told you already. The demon pulled and then pushed me and I landed in what I thought was a dungeon because it was so dark, but was really a library…Vidal’s library, though where his place is, I am not sure, quite a few miles north of the Garden District I think.”

  He folded his arms across his chest and said, “How did you get away?”

  He looked suspicious and that infuriated me.

  I poked his chest and said, “Hey, don’t believe me? Fine. Go have some fun with your redhead, I am outta here.”

  He had my shoulders and he said softly, “First of all, I do absolutely believe you. You have no reason to come here and lie, and besides, your facial expressions, sweetheart, always gives you away. Second, the redhead? She isn’t mine, nor do I want her to be. She is an accomplished witch who keeps me informed on many matters. Nothing more.” He released my shoulders.

  I couldn’t look at him and the words slipped out before I could stop them, “Sure looks like more to me.”

  He laughed. Damn him, he actually laughed. “I have been alive a great many centuries and I was not a monk, my love, but…”

  “The clothes…in the guestroom, are they hers?” What was wrong with me? Why was I asking such stupid questions? Why should I care? But, deep down, I wanted to know the answers.

  “As it happens, I have never…entertained a female in my home. You are the first. So no, the clothes were purchased with you in mind,” he said solemnly.

  My truth antenna told me he wasn’t lying, but why I should feel elation over this was something I wasn’t ready to face.

  He waited for me to say something. When I didn’t he sighed heavily and took my chin, “Now, beauty, how did you escape?”

  “Vidal’s library was dark, so completely dark, except for some lights over me and the demon. I noticed that when he came towards me, he stopped short of the light. I figured the heavy drapes over his window needed to come down.” I shrugged. “Yeah, he didn’t like the sunlight, so I took that moment when he ran out and the demon looked flabbergasted and I crashed outside and ran.”

  “The demon didn’t try and follow?”

  “I never looked back, but, from all I have learned in these two years of being a newbie vamp is that demons are nowhere as fast as vamps.”

  “Correct. Right then, you have had your first introduction to Vidal and have come out quite well. I must go out, but you, Smokie, will remain here in my club. When I get back, you will have the next lesson in your education.”

  “Education in what?”

  “Warfare. I believe you will be a quick study. You have ingenuity as you exhibited today, and that will help you in the future, but you need skills and you need to know what you are up against.”

  “Yeah, well…I didn’t come here to learn how to fight,” I objected.

  “What did you come here for?” he frowned. “We both know you did well today, but the next time, he will be prepared for you and Smokie, there will be a next time. He is an ancient with a purpose.”

  “You can’t know that he will still come after me,” I objected. That stubborn streak.

  “Smokie, you know you didn’t come here expecting me to soothe your tattered nerves,” he said softly.

  “Maybe I came for tea and pastries,” I said and plopped into one of his leather chairs facing his desk.

  Softly he said, “You did well. Your instincts serve you better than I could have for against Vidal.” He f
licked his wrist, and both tea and pastries appeared on the desk.

  “Stay, eat, I shan’t be long,” he said and in a puff of black, my Dark Lord was gone.

  I smiled and poured a cup of tea from the pretty tea pot, added some sugar, sipped the delicious brew and wondered what next was coming.

  ~ Four ~

  WHEN MY HOLY GRAIL RETURNED, he did so with a load of questions.

  Wait, did I just think that? My Holy Grail? No. He wasn’t mine. I got stuck on this in my head for a few moments and had a downright but silent argument with myself.

  I could hear him talking but I couldn’t concentrate on what he was asking. When I didn’t answer, he took my hand and led me into the main galley, and then behind the bar. He held onto me as he moved his hand along the far edge of a shelf where, he unbent just as I heard the click of a switch. A hidden door made to look like part of the wall, opened inwards just a crack. He pushed it further and pulled me inside with him.

  I stopped and I think my mouth opened because I was sucking air through it.

  On the other side of that narrow, hidden door was a world all on its own.

  This was a Hollywood horror movie producer’s dream. The room was dimly lit and the ceiling was like a dark velvet sky alive with twinkling stars and traversing planets, none of which I recognized from this galaxy. It was a 3-D planetarium. Spectacular and yes, magical.

  As it happens, there are some things I have learned over the years from both my father and my mother, so I knew what this was—a portal between universes!

  I have always been drawn to white magic. I mean physically drawn to it and ridiculously I felt embraced by what my mother referred to as ‘magic of the light’. When I come across it and in New Orleans, that happens quite a lot, I feel a glow surround me. I felt that now.

  Here was ‘white magic’ and its power was immense. Odd, that, since here standing beside me was the Dark Lord.

  I don’t know why, but I lifted one finger and pointed at an unusual star alive with rainbow colors.

  I almost jumped when a voice, robotic, genderless and emanating from that rainbow colored star actually spoke and said, “Welcome Princess of the Light.”

  I looked around. No one behind me. Grail Wilder stood to one side, watching me. “Er…ah…” I meant as a question, loud and clear and meaning, what the hell?

  Grail Wilder folded his arms across his chest. His white silk shirt was open midway down his chest and I was able to see a great deal more of his tattoos. They formed a familiar design. My father had similar tattoos on his chest and biceps.

  I also noticed that Wilder’s expression was unreadable as he ignored my reaction to the faceless voice that had called me a ‘Princess of the Light’.

  “Indeed,” he said, “So, Princess of the Light, tell me your father’s name. Just who was your father?”

  “My father? I…why? What does it matter who my father is…was?”

  “Because you know, don’t you? You know you are so much more than a vampire with expectations of becoming an earthly witch. Your present magic or what you call instincts, comes from your maternal side, but, your powers inherited from your father, are about to bloom. You must know that. You must have seen something was different about your father when you were growing up. Tell me, what was his name?”

  I don’t know why this angered me. Perhaps because he was suggesting that my parents kept too big a secret from me. I had always suspected that, but hearing it from someone else was infuriating. I got control but said, “My father, is my business. You don’t understand. I grew up thinking him…the sun, the stars and the moon. My father walked on water and then one day vanished out of our lives. I was only fourteen and coping without him…with my mom broken by his loss. You don’t understand. Mom was never the same after he vanished.”

  He took me into his arms and I let him. He stroked my head and whispered, “I am so sorry, Smokie.”

  “My father’s name was Canyon McGuire,” I answered and heard the grief in my own voice. “I don’t speak about my dad because the fact I have to face is that he might have just left us of his own accord, or…worse, that he…that something happened to him. If he was a paranormal, he never told me. But, I do remember hearing my mom tell him once she wanted a normal life for us while I was a child.”

  “What else do you remember?”

  “When I was fourteen, just before we lost him, we came home from a festival in the French Quarter. I overheard him tell my mom he had to go out. They argued and I heard the door slam.” I shrugged. “He never came back.”

  My Dark Lord stroked my cheek and said. “I don’t think it was his choice to leave you and your mother.”

  “I don’t either. He wasn’t like that. He would never have left my mom to wonder…to…suffer like she did.”

  “Forget that now, and tell me something joyful, like what your parents named you Smoke?”

  “My mom didn’t. She said Dad insisted on the name. He wanted something of himself to be a part of who I was. That never sense to me. How is my name being Smoke…something of himself? But, we were so happy…life was so perfect and I never questioned the reasoning.” I shrugged and added, “It was a kinda cool name and as I was popular in school…I was happy with it.”

  Wilder looked intently at me. In his blue eyes I saw something that tickled my imagination and made me shiver with need. He had an erotic hold on my libido and I watched him as he ran his hand through his black hair. After a moment he said, “It all makes sense now.”

  “What all makes sense?” I frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “You say his name is Canyon? That rings a bell…but, I can’t quite place it—put it with a face.”

  “Rings a bell?” I said more than astonished. I grabbed his arm. “You knew my father?”

  “I am not sure. I need…to think about this,” he said quietly.

  “You are lying. I can tell. Why would you lie to me about knowing him? Grail, please, tell me.”

  “Not lying, I just need to be sure,” he answered impatiently.

  “Wait, no. Not fair. I answered your questions and talked about something very personal and hurtful to me. You must tell me what you know about my father. You must.”

  “Dear heart,” he said and touched my cheek with his thumb, ran it down to my lips. “We were friends in passing…more acquaintances than friends. I knew him under another name and he explained that he was using the name of McGuire because he had broken all his…families’ rules and married a human.” Grail looked away and then back at me. “You must favor your mother, although…your eyes are even greener than his, as I recall.”

  “Yes, I have his eyes, but not his auburn hair color. I am blonde like my mom was. Tell me what you know about him?”

  “I only know that he was happy. He came to me once…wanted to know if I knew how to make a mortal…immortal without destroying her soul.”

  “My mom? Why would he want to make my mom immortal?”

  “Because sweetheart, he was.”

  “No, no…” I said.

  “I knew him a century ago. We met in passing and then we met here again in New Orleans just after he married your mother.”

  “No…immortal?” I was stuck on this.

  He held my shoulders in his large hands. “Somewhere inside of you Smoke, you own his magic. He was the Prince of Light and from the Deatach Realm. He named you after his native realm. Deatach means Smoke. That is why the Mystic recognized you immediately. You have enormous power that must be locked away inside of you and needs to be released. I imagine your father installed a switch to release it in stages in order to give you time to adjust to its potency.”

  “What? Why…why would they have kept it secret?”

  “I don’t know. I know your mother told him she wanted to give you a normal…human life for as long as she could. Smoke, your full might must be formidable. I can help you adjust to it. Let me help you unlock who you really are.”

 
“If…if I am so magical, can I rid myself of the vamp in me?”

  He shook his head, “I don’t think so, but you can mitigate your vampire needs. There is no cure for vampirism, but your magic will make you so much more comfortable.” He pulled me close and held me, “Are you ready?”

  Hell no, I wasn’t ready and damn straight, yes I wanted to know everything.

  ~ Five ~

  I PUSHED OFF HIM AND ran as fast as I could outside the club. I stood in the fresh air, bent over my belly and fought the tears that threatened to take over. I took long hard breaths. I sucked in that air and couldn’t think.

  Secrets! I hate secrets and apparently my parents had been keeping more than the ‘average’ amount of them from me. Not right. I should have been told…at least before my dad left us and then especially afterwards.

  Holy Grail with his beautiful blue eyes was in front of me, pulling me into his arms, crushing me in his embrace, whispering, “I’m sorry, Smoke. I’m sorry. I knew putting it all together would be difficult…but, I believed and still do, that you deserve the truth.”

  I was angry at the world and shoved him away. He didn’t let me go.

  “Sharon couldn’t have known that you were an immortal,” he said as much to himself as to me, “She would never have given you her blood, had she known.”

  “I did know. I have always known,” said a familiar and dear voice.

  We both spun around as she walked up to us, beautiful reddish hair silky loose and long, amber brown eyes bright with emotion.

  I faced her. “You are my friend and knew? How could you have still turned me?”

  “You hadn’t come of age. Your immortality in this realm had not yet kicked in. That is what I knew,” she said sadly. “I had tried to tell you so many times, but you were so happy being human…and I wanted to prolong that comfort for you.”

  “You weren’t my roomy by accident,” I said as new dawning descended.

  “No, I was an acquaintance of your parents…and I have always known about the damned prophecy.”