Pigalle Palace (10 page)

I was ready to tell her. I took a deep breath and replied, “I have one memory from when I was about eleven years old. I was playing outside of the house and some men came. They were looking for my birth mother and father. One of them grabbed me by the neck to make my parents come outside. He held the knife to my face and cut me. My mother came outside and begged them not to kill me. He flung me to the ground and I watched them kill her and then my father. My godparents appeared like out of nowhere, killed the men, and saved me and my siblings…”

Soleil continued to caress my face with tears in her eyes.
“I hope our son looks just like you.”

I ran my fingers through her curly mane. “He will.”

She giggled. “You're supposed to say that he will look like me.”

“Why would I lie to you?”

She laughed and I laughed with her to ease the sad mood.

“Our child will be beautiful no matter what because he is ours,” I said. “Now, give me a kiss.

  *  *  *  

Soleil had been sick the past few mornings after she broke the news to me. She didn't feel well enough to try to hunt animals to feed on, so I told her we would get a thermal of donated blood from the club.

When we arrived at the club, Mother and Father were already there. When I saw them, nervousness swirled inside of me. I wanted to be the one to tell them what we had done, but I could tell by the look on Mother's face that she had already known.

As soon as my mother took one look at Soleil, her large eyes amplified as if she'd seen a ghost.

“Do you want me to go grab a thermal?” Soleil asked nervously.

Mother's eyes nearly came out of her head. She shot up quickly from her seat and swiftly levitated before us. Father was right behind her.

“Mother… Father,” I said calmly.

Mother examined Soleil from her hair to her manicured fingernails. Soleil's skin was glowing as if she were alive. Entranced by her glow, my parents couldn't take their eyes off Soleil.

“She's
pregnant
,” Mother said. “I see it.”

“How is that possible?” Father asked.

“I don't know,” I said. “But it's true and it's possible.”

Soleil froze and didn't utter a word.

“Impossible.” Mother casually laughed it off as if she were in denial.

“Soleil is my girlfriend and I want to protect her and the baby.”

“Are you trying to tear what's left of this family apart?” Mother asked with tears coming to her eyes.

“No. We've never seen a vampire pregnant. This has to mean something.”

“Never mind the meaning. How did this happen? Did you cast a spell or something?”

“We don't know any spells to cast, Mother. My siblings and I were born to a human. She was born to a human, too. Do you think that has something to do with it?”

Mother threw her back toward us. It still bothered her that we weren't her birth children. Whenever we spoke of our birth mother, she always got sensitive about it.

I added, “The Divination spoke of a Daywalker… Maybe we were wrong about Rain. Maybe he isn't the one. Maybe it will be my baby.”

“How dare you curse the Divination,” Father yelled. “You don't know better than any of us.”

“When have you seen Rain walk in the sun? When have you seen Rain fulfill or carry out anything that was said in the Divination? Soleil is pregnant with a child that has the same DNA as our family. The Divination must've been talking about this child.”

“This is outrageous,” Mother nearly screamed. “The
Préfet
will not understand how this happened. We've managed to break almost every rule of Pigalle Palace as of recently. We won't have enough time to explain anything to them once they discover this. We can't expose this. We will be killed.”

“Why should we hide?” I retorted. “Why would the Préfet be upset about something that they've been waiting for?”

“Get me out of here before I snatch his head off his body,” Mother said.

Father followed behind her without saying another word. With tears in my eyes, I watched the both of them until they vanished around the corner.

“Do you think the Préfet will be upset? What do you think they'll do to us?”

Fear was in her eyes; I could see it.

I reached for her hands. “I'll protect you. I'll do whatever it takes to protect the both of you.”

“Maybe we should abort the baby.”

“No, I can feel that something very special is going to happen. So, calm down, baby,” I said, rubbing both of her arms.

Soleil took a deep breath for a second before she asked, “I'm your girlfriend?”

“Aren't you?”

“When did I get that title?”

“You're having my baby, aren't you?”

“Just because I'm having your baby doesn't make me your girlfriend.”

“You know what your problem is, Soleil?”

A wild fire was in her eyes. “What's my problem?”

“You think too much. I want this baby and I want you. Know that. Believe that.”

She rolled her eyes, but I saw a small smile ease at the corners of her mouth. She wanted me to confirm what she already knew. Soleil was officially my woman.

“W
hat is this
?” Essence asked, flipping out over her iPad while sitting at the kitchen table. “My professors have reported me as a missing person.”

She nearly spilled over the vase full of flowers with her rage. Even though she swore she wasn't concerned with anyone looking for her, she kept her nose in the news to see if she would turn up in it. Sometimes, she laughed at the news and sometimes, she cried. I didn't know why she worked herself up over that crap. Rumors were the only things those journalists believed in and they actually convinced the world it was the truth. They never apologized when they gave out false information, either.

I had just arrived home from work. I wasn't in the mood to fight with her, especially when we were finally trying to bond as a married couple.

“I need to show back up at school,” she said.

“You can take night classes like Colette. She's learned to go to different campuses, so no one would think anything funny.”

“I guess that's the only choice I have. That means I would have to withdraw out of my day classes. This is so messed up. I'm going to have to move back into my dorm.”

“You don't have to live back on campus.”

“That's the only way my life will feel normal again. Will you be able to come by and visit?”

I sighed at the thought of being restricted from her company. This wasn't going my way. I started walking toward the front door.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to get some air.”

  *  *  *  

“What are you doing here?” Onyx asked, opening his front door for me.

I spent my whole day thinking until I couldn't focus anymore. It was almost nine o'clock at night on a Sunday and we were going to have to be at the club in an hour. I took off my shoes at the door and followed him inside.

“Essence read her missing person's report today.”

He frowned. “Didn't you explain to her that she would be filed as a missing person if she didn't go back to school?”

“I told her, but she wants to go back to school, and she wants me to give her the space to do what makes her comfortable.”

“How are you really feeling? It doesn't seem like you and the new bride are getting along too well.”

“This is all becoming more complicated than it needs to be.”

“I'm sure this was what Father meant when he said we had to choose our brides carefully…”

“That's exactly what I was thinking on my way over here.”

“Well, I have some news to share,” Onyx announced.

“Yeah? What's that?”

“I got Soleil pregnant.”

“Soleil? The bartender?”

“Yeah…”

I frowned deeply. “Wait, is that even possible?”

“Mother gave her an ultrasound earlier this evening… Yes, there's a baby and he or she is growing.”

This couldn't be true. He had to be joking. “Yeah right.”

“I swear to you.”

As I tried to process the news, Soleil walked into the kitchen and Onyx's face lit up.

I thought we were in the house alone. She actually startled me a little bit. I straightened up and waved. “
Bonsoir, Soleil
.”

“
Bonsoir, Rain
. How are you?”

“I'm good. How are you?”

“I'm doing pretty well.”

“Congratulations on the baby.”

“Thank you.” She held on to Onyx.

Onyx kissed the side of her face.

“I'm going to head to the club. Thanks for being an ear, Onyx,” I said. “I'll see you there.”

“No problem, bro. I'm here for you whenever you need me.”

This would be the very first vampire-born baby in over two centuries. Worry filled me. It was time for me to face the one thing I had been running away from, the Divination.

I
went into the living room and the sliding door to the balcony was opened. Chantal went out to view the city as the lights twinkled underneath the moonlight.

I joined her. “Hey, baby? What you out here thinking about?”

“I'm just thinking…”

“I can see that. What's on your mind?”

She hesitated for a moment as if she didn't want to tell me. After a few seconds of silence, she said, “I don't think I'm ready for this.”

“You don't think you're ready for what?”

“Is there a way to turn me back human?” She took off her wedding ring and placed it in my hand.

I stared down at the ring, feeling very confused. I scowled deeply. “This is not a game, Chantal. This is irreversible. I thought this was something you wanted.”

“I can't do this anymore. I'm going back to Chicago.”

Seemed like her mind was made up. There was no point in arguing with her.

“When?”

“Tomorrow night.”

“You do know that the life you used to know is no more, right? No one there will understand the change in you. Vampires aren't accepted like that over there, and you will find that you will start
to hate them. You might even kill a few of them. See, Pigalle Palace isn't just a place of erotic indiscretion. It's our home. The only place we can be safe in.”

Chantal shrugged. “I don't care. I want to go home. I don't belong here.”

“So, you don't plan on coming back?”

Her eyes became vacant, empty, and she seemed to space out. “…No.”

I chewed on the inside of my jaw to contain the sadness my heart instantly felt. “I see you gave this some thought?”

“Of course I did. I jumped into this head first without much thought about my life back at home. I can't stop thinking about home.”

I went inside, poured some Brandy in a glass from the bar, and placed her ring on the countertop.

“Thank you for everything you've done for me,” she said as she came inside.

My mind felt caught in a whirlwind as I tried to find a trace of sadness or any tears in her eyes. Nothing told me she really wanted to be with me. I swallowed the hard lump in my throat and prepared myself for the breakup.

“Go ahead and leave. Make sure that you leave everything that belongs to me here.”

She fluttered her eyelashes and frowned as if to ask how I could be so cold all of a sudden. She took out the card from her purse and placed it on the bar next to the ring, looking at me in a way I didn't recognize. What'd she think? I wasn't going to let her still have access to my money while she was away.

“I was hoping I could still use this for a few more weeks, to help me get another place and what not once I get home.”

I cocked my head to the right slightly and stared at her. She was crazy. “Why would I let you do that?” I picked up the card and waved it in front of her face. “You do have money to get you home without me, right?”