Twice Bitten (44 page)

For Alaia’s survival alone, I made up my mind to cooperate fully with my vampire guardians. I’d have to ignore the ominous feeling that my defenselessness was as poisonous to my daughter’s safety as it was to my own. This included my ultimate fear that if Ralu carried out his threats to kill me, my daughter’s ceremonial protection would prove inadequate to save her, the very last of our bloodline.

But, instead of dwelling on the terrible things that could happen, I pulled on the knowledge I’d gained from Yangani and Suddhodana, to meditate for a positive outcome according to my most cherished thoughts. That seemed better than to try and remember the Hail Mary’s from my youth.

The dawn’s light was steadily approaching, and without looking at my hut’s door I knew that Garvan, Chanson, and Tyreen would soon be leaving for the nearby cave that had been their ‘hotel’ for the past few nights. I was pretty sure Armando and Raquel had already gone back to the cave, since there was very little in the village to keep them entertained.

It was in this context that I drifted off, thinking I’d rest for a little while and snap back awake when Alaia became hungry….

My departure from such an uncertain world and arrival into the realm of dreams must’ve been immediate. I was even aware that it could be a dream, although there were aspects that felt far too real to be a concoction from my subconscious mind. I sat up in my bed, not overly surprised that I was still inside my hut, and that my baby girl slept soundly at my side. But a fire raged outside my hut’s door.

The smoke floated into the hut and carried with it an acrid odor of burnt wood and flesh, and it stung my eyes. Alarmed, I picked up Alaia and headed for a small back window in my hut, hoping the fire hadn’t spread there. It was free from flames, so I climbed through the window after gently setting my baby on the ground outside the hut. No sooner than I was safely through the window, and had picked her up in my arms again, the flames engulfed the thatched building and it fell behind me, sending a flurry of sparks and tall flames into the air.

I scurried away from the intense heat and flames, shielding my face from the fire that seemed on the verge of spreading out of control. I heard the terrible screams of men and women beyond the flames, and thought these poor people had been caught in the fire without a means of escape.

But then the heads of Yangani and the midwives who had delivered my child rolled toward me through the fire. An enormous figure emerged, carrying the bloody sword used to decapitate my Sakya friends.

“Well, well…what have we here!” the hateful fiend roared, and then added a boisterous laugh to go along with his menacing words. “If it isn’t the last two vampire lovers…‘
Les Amantes de Vampire’
. Txema and her little vermin heir, Alaia!”

I wrapped my arms tightly around Alaia, who was now awake…cooing again instead of crying like me, her mother. Ralu had finally found me. Dressed in the deep crimson velvet robe he favors, he looked even more frightful than I remembered him in previous dreams. In those visitations I only had dim firelight to define his features, from the bowels of the dilapidated Byzantine cathedral he had once called home. Not this time. I got to see him in all of his hideous glory as the fire threatened to rage out of control just before daybreak.

His eyes were the only things that looked identical to what my memory recalled. Bloody pools of fire from the depths of Hell, they were more offset than I remembered. The rest of his appearance was much worse than what I’d previously gathered. In addition to the double-fangs he enjoys because of his ancient status, his lips were partially rotted away, fully revealing his bloodstained, sharp, jagged teeth. Huge boil-like lesions covered his neck and part of his face, although the rest of his bald head and pointed ears looked the same as with any other ‘Nosferatu’ vampire. And, the lesions extended to his blood-soaked hands that tapered into predatory talons.

In his other hand, he carried a jeweled golden scepter, nearly identical to the one Gustav carried with him in our meeting when we first arrived in China, and an item that Ralu had always brought with him in dream visitations before my Relance de sang.

“Please leave me alone, Ralu!” I pleaded, crouching before him since there was nowhere for me to escape. “My baby and I just want to go back home to America and get away from all of this vampire shit! Then you and Gustav—along with all of the other vampires—can work out your problems without us interfering.”

“How lovely, indeed!” he exclaimed, than laughed uproariously again. “That would suit me perfectly…except for one little thing. Can you guess what that would be? Hmmm??”

Nothing good. That’s all I knew. This wasn’t a creature given to mercy and fairness.

“You and Alaia would still be alive!” he sneered. “And the bloodline that I so loathe would still be feeding those whom I despise far more than I do either of you!!”

He leapt over the flames and landed less than a foot away from me. Before I could scoot further away, he pinned my robe to the smoking ground with the sharp point of his scepter. It swayed violently back and forth while he leaned down toward my face with his vile presence. Meanwhile, Alaia had begun to whimper, as if she finally understood Ralu’s malice or the fact she had encountered the first creature in her life that didn’t immediately fall in love with her. I instinctively pulled her close to my chest, and angrily brought my face up to meet his. Whatever my fate, I was determined to fight to the death to try and save her.

“How touching,” Ralu taunted me, sending a blast of his foul breath into my face. The urge to hurl up everything in my stomach was damned near impossible to hold back, but somehow I managed to keep it all in my throat. “But why prolong the inevitable? I will win, Txema, and you and your kind will soon be no more. Then, all of your vampire friends will have nothing to fight for…little to live for…and only me and my kingdom to
kill
for!”

He threw his head back and let out a thunderous roar of triumph, and then lifted his sword to smite me and my daughter. There wasn’t time enough to escape his range and avoid the heavy sword speeding toward my head. I did the only thing I could think of, and wrapped my body around my baby girl….

I awoke with a start.

Alaia was crying. At first, after I realized it was a hellish nightmare and not reality, I thought my daughter’s cries were from her early morning hunger. But, then I saw the sheer terror in her innocent face…so young, and yet not at all like a typical newborn. There was knowledge in her expression, like an old soul bringing keen understanding to a new lifetime.

“My precious Alaia…I’m so sorry,” I told her, gently rocking her in my arms while gasping to catch my breath. My racing heart felt as if I had just finished sprinting around the village ten times. “I’m so, so sorry.”

She continued to cry despite my efforts to sooth her, and she would not calm down enough for me to feed her…at least not until full daylight arrived and Yangani and the eldest midwife stepped into my hut. My daughter began to smile again as soon as she saw these familiar faces were very much alive and well.

As she cooed contentedly in Nagira’s arms, I realized what I’d previously feared as a possibility had, in fact, been proven true.

Alaia could share my dreams, and worse, she had experienced my nightmare with Ralu.

Chapter 12

I spent the entire day sitting on pins and needles. I hated saying goodbye to Yangani, Nagira, and Suddhodana at dusk, and I truly dreaded being on the run again. Not to mention things would be much more dangerous this time since I carried a helpless newborn with me.

Despite Alaia’s rapid development, she was still far too young to be traveling anywhere just yet. Kazikli disagreed, and was quick to point out that instead of an infant only three days old, she was actually going on four weeks if her rate of growth and overall development were taken into full consideration. But in my mind, until she could physically run away from danger on her own without being helped or carried in some way, she wasn’t ready to leave the village.

Kazikli was the first vampire to arrive that night, dressed in tailored Brioni with matching black Ferragamo pythons upon his feet. He seemed unusually tense, like he wanted to get things rolling, instead of waiting for everyone in our group to arrive.

I should’ve known then that something had happened—some new unforeseen development. Our previous plans discussed last night had already been changed.

“You’re looking dapper,” I told him, both as a sincere compliment and a way to ease the tension he brought with him into my hut. “Since I know there isn’t a fancy nightspot within a hundred miles of us, and this doesn’t seem like the usual garb I’d expect from a vampire guarding his Indian fortress, what gives?”

I tried to sell my question with an impish smile, as in no way did I wish to needle him.

“You’ll be changing into something more cosmopolitan than we originally planned, too, Txema,” he said, indirectly answering my question. I knew the rest of the puzzle would begin to flesh out at any moment. “One of Racco’s 737s is awaiting us in Kathmandu.”

“What? I thought we were supposed to take a small caravan of jeeps to the Indian hills just south of the Nepal border!” I said, unable to mask my surprise. Then I seriously started to worry. “We’re not heading to your castle in India, are we?”

“I’m afraid not, Txema,” he confirmed, glancing at my doorway before motioning for me to sit on the bed with him.

I was dressed in my favorite ceremonial robe—my most cherished tricivara, and one that Nagira had made especially for me. I wanted to wear it that night. Not to mention Yangani had spent more than an hour fixing my hair for my trip to India. Even my makeup was perfect, and in line with what is acceptable among the blended Indian and Nepalese cultures in the region.

“Ralu’s armies made much more progress than we expected overnight,” he said, once we both had sat down together. His brow seemed more furrowed than I’d seen it before, and I took it as the heaviness of the situation he carried upon his shoulders. I got the distinct feeling from him that he handles far more responsibility for Gustav than is generally known among his vampire peers. “One enormous army has managed to cut across India undeterred since Alaia’s birth three nights ago, and will soon reach the castle. We spent the last hour hiding anything of value and evacuating everyone—human servants and vampires alike. “

He didn’t have to spell out what would happen once that army got to the castle and didn’t find me or the vampires that have a vested interest in mine and Alaia’s survival.

“I had a nightmare about Ralu early this morning, right before sunrise,” I told him. “He threatened to kill me, as he has before, but this time his threats included Alaia!”
Even as I said this, I almost started crying again—like I had throughout the day. I wasn’t worried so much about me as I was my precious little girl. I could still feel Ralu’s murderous intentions toward her, and the heartache radiated to the very core of my being.

“Yes, I know about the dream and your ongoing fixation since then about Ralu,” he said, his tone compassionate despite the coldness of his words to me. “And, I have no doubt that every vampire within a hundred miles of the village could also hear you, if their passive attention was locked upon your essence as they slept.”

“What do you mean—I don’t understand?” I said, even though clear images to support what he meant suddenly appeared in my head. “How can anyone hear me if they’re sleeping?”

“Because you are the last bearer of the birthmark that is physically mature, and there are no others to dilute the signal emanating from your brain,” he explained. “You might ask Chanson and the others when they arrive about what they picked up from you since this morning as they slept. I’m sure you’ll be surprised.”

He chuckled sadly and then looked at his watch, scowling in disgust. Apparently my other vampire protectors’ habit of running a few minutes late following each night’s sunset was an irritation for him.

“It’s more than that, Txema,” he said, eyeing me seriously. “The others need to fully understand that you must not be left alone for even a few minutes from sunset to dawn.”

“Actually we do appreciate that fact, and I’m sorry we’re so late,” said Chanson, stepping into my hut with Tyreen and Raquel right behind her.

All three were dressed in similar low cut Versace dresses, in the colors favored by each one. One might think that our redhead should avoid crimson attire, but her lavender eyes always seem to help her pull it off. Tyreen has always had a strong affinity for purple since when I first met her in college, and other than the hunter green dress she wore at the Christmas Eve gala last winter, the color of royalty serves her best. I could tell she had not fed yet. But her light ebony skin was aglow with angelic beauty, and her makeup was stunning. This definitely looked like Raquel’s doing, since it’s one of her exceptional talents.

Chanson would look enchanting in any color, but lately she had shown a stronger affinity for black gowns as compared to the darker greens and deep blues she seemed to prefer when we first met in November. Her emerald eyes were on fire that night. Unlike the other two ladies, she appeared to have found a moment to feed—probably while waiting on Tyreen’s makeup, which is why they were a tad later than usual.