VA 2 - Blood Jewel (7 page)

I printed the best one on canvas
and chose a few others for an album before I went back out to the
pool to tell the others my good news.

I held up one of the photos and
said, “Well, ladies, here’s the proof. I’m afraid you better come
up with another name for Sol besides buffoon because he was right.
It was Chansey and her family.”

“Dammit!” Gia swore as she slapped
the water. “I’m sorry, Curry. I didn’t mean that. I’m happy for
you.”

Sol got out of the pool and reached
for one of the two towels on the table. “I think Mr. Fabulous has a
nice ring to it.”

Lairah was fuming. “Well, I think
jerk off sounds more like it. You didn’t bring a towel with you, so
that means you just stole one of ours.”

“Sorry ladies, it’s one of the
perks of being Mr. Fabulous,” he said as he used one of their
towels to dry off.

“You make me want to throw up,”
Gia gritted through her teeth.

Sol enjoyed the aggravation he was
causing and said, “Darling, you haven’t thrown up since you were
human.”

“Whatever, jerk off.”

Lairah attempted to cool Gia
saying, “Calm down, girl. You’re giving him way too much
satisfaction by getting all riled up.” She turned to me and
continued, “I was thinking while you were inside. I know of a cool
band playing tomorrow night at a club on Bourbon. My friend, Jett,
plays bass. Chansey is musically inclined, so I know she will love
to hear them. Why don’t we all meet at the club after you take her
to dinner and we’ll celebrate her birthday together with a night
out on the town? We’ll show her how to party vampire
style.”

“I think she would love that and
your suggestion gave me an idea. Do you think I could get your cool
band to do a special song request?”

“Jett will do anything for me,”
Lairah promised.

“And is your friend, Jett, a human
or a vampire?” I questioned.

“He’s human, but he’s so cool. I
wish he was vampire because I could so dig him if he was. What do I
need to tell him to play?”

“Van Morrison’s ‘Steal My Heart
Away.’ It was playing during our first dance.”

“Nice one,” Lairah
complimented.

“It was such a bittersweet first
dance because I thought it was our first and last. I loved her so
much and I thought I was about to leave her forever.”

“It was your choice to leave, you
ignoramus. Nobody forced you. Maybe you’re the buffoon instead of
Solomon,” Lairah laughed.

“That’s what I’m talking
about...someone else being the buffoon,” Solomon
interjected.

“I realized my mistake and it
won’t happen again. That I can promise you.”

5 Back Against The Wall

I left the compound before Chansey
woke so I could have her photographs matted and framed. While I
waited for the job to be completed, I strolled the streets of the
French Market and decided to stop for beignets and
coffee.

For years, I watched people sitting
under the pavilion enjoying their pastries and I envied them for
something so simple. This morning I wouldn’t envy them...I would
join them.

My order arrived and I examined the
white powdery pastries before picking it up for my first bite. It
would be impossible to not make a mess. While I thought through my
strategic plan for how I would eat the beignet, I watched pigeons
walk around in search of crumbs and scraps and I realized I was
happy, but something was missing. Chansey was missing and I wanted
to do this with her. So, instead of enjoying my first order of
beignets without her, I fed the pigeons and postponed my first
experience until another time when I could share the experience
with the love of my life.

I sat under the pavilion and
‘people-watched’ until I decided the frame shop had been given
ample time to complete the project I left for them. I left a
generous tip for my server and then walked toward the frame shop to
pick up the gift I knew Chansey would love.

It was perfect, without a doubt,
and I looked at the happy expression on Chansey’s innocent young
face. She was truly happy and I knew I would see that same
expression on her face again when she saw this
photograph.

“It’s perfect. Would it be
possible for you to gift wrap this for me?” I asked the aging lady
behind the counter.

“Of course, sir. What’s the
occasion?” the saleslady asked.

I smiled and said, “It’s a birthday
gift for my fiancé.” I loved how the words felt rolling off of my
tongue. They sounded so normal...So human.

“Oh, that’s wonderful.
Congratulations, sir. When is your wedding?” she asked while she
wrapped the frame in black and white polka dotted paper.

I proudly answered, “October
16th.”

“Oh, then you don’t have long.
October will be here before you know it.”

“I sure hope so. I can hardly
wait,” I admitted.

“That’s a beautiful time of year
to get married. She’s a lucky young lady.”

She was wrong and I felt the need
to correct her. “No, I’m the lucky one.”

She smiled and said, “You’re going
to be a wise husband. I can see that already, young
man.”

≈ ≈ ≈

I parked in the drive and hid
Chansey’s gift behind the driver’s seat, careful to not smash the
lime green, turquoise and pink bow. I knew my decision to leave her
gift in the truck was wise when she met me at the door as I entered
the house. She smiled as she said, “You snuck off without me. Where
have you been?”

“I had some things to do in town.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Like what?” she
questioned.

I gave her a quick peck on the
nose. “Some things I’m not telling you about.”

She smiled at my response and gave
me her best pouty face. “Well, I’ve been lonesome. Everyone was
asleep when I got up.”

“Yeah, that’s sort of the risk you
run staying in a house of vampires,” I laughed.

“If everyone’s asleep, then it’s
just you and me for how long?” she inquired and I knew she was up
to something.

“Hmm, several hours, at least.
Why? What are you up to?”

She slapped my arm and said,
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Why do you always think I’m up
to something? I just thought we could go swimming. It’s a beautiful
day. I might work on my tan.”

Her harmless answer surprised me
because I completely expected a response involving sex since she
was asking about alone time.

I wrapped my arms around her and
said, “Okay. I’m sorry my mind was in the gutter.Will you forgive
me?”

“I’ll think about it.” She made a
thoughtful face and said, “Okay. I forgive you.”

I kissed her forehead and said,
“Thank you.”

She slapped me across my ass and
said, “Come on. We’re wasting alone time. Go get your trunks on and
I’ll be in to change after you’re finished.”

When I finished changing, I found
Chansey in the living room. “Your turn.”

“Okay. I’ll be out in a minute.
Meet you in the pool?”

“Sure.”

I knew my sisters only wore skimpy
bikinis, so I was a little afraid of what Chansey would be sporting
by the pool today. I hoped it wasn’t the new red thong Lairah
recently purchased, but then I caught myself hoping it would
be.

Sexual frustration was no
joke.

I grabbed my shades and a couple of
towels before I headed for the pool. I dove into the deep end and
began swimming laps to take my mind off of which suit Chansey would
be wearing. I stopped on lap number 12 when I saw Chansey come out
of the house wearing my button up shirt.

“I had to borrow your shirt again.
I didn’t have a coverup.”

“You know you can have anything of
mine. You don’t have to ask,” I told her, again.

I noticed that Chansey looked
nervous, which was completely unlike her and it didn’t suit her
well. Her heart sped as she walked closer to the pool and she
seemed unsure of herself. It felt like she was stalling when she
said, “You can finish your laps if you want.”

Curiosity sat heavily upon my mind
and I said, “I’m good. Are you coming in or do you want to get a
little sun first?”

She crossed her arms over her chest
as she replied, “I haven’t decided yet.” She was still stalling for
some reason.

Something was off and we both knew
it. I lowered my head into the water and raised straight up to
slick my hair out of face, then ran my hand from front to back,
pushing the water from my face. “You’re being weird. What’s
wrong?”

She grinned and said, “Nothing is
wrong.”

“Come in with me. You know I won’t
bite.” It was a bad joke, but she laughed.

She walked to the steps and began
unbuttoning my shirt, her coverup. I floated on my back in an
attempt to not stare as she shed the only thing keeping me seeing
her in a skimpy bikini.

Curiosity got the best of me and I
raised my head just as Chansey tossed my shirt on the lounger and
saw she wore nothing but the skin she was born in. She slowly
descended into the pool, watching my face for a reaction to her
bareness.

What
are you doing, Chansey?
My
mind thought it, but my mouth was unable to say
it.

She shrugged her bare shoulders and
said, “Sorry. I forgot I didn’t have a swimsuit. What’s a girl to
do?”

I began to back away from her and
said, “A girl can borrow one...that’s what a girl is to
do.”

“Lairah and Gia were asleep,” she
weakly argued.

“You could have just gotten a
swimsuit from one of their closets. You know they wouldn’t
mind.”

She swam closer and said, “There’s
no way I’d risk waking a sleeping vampire. Would you really advise
me to do that?”

I backed into the wall of the pool
and could go no further, which couldn’t have made her happier.
“Your back is against the wall and you have nowhere to go, Curry.”
She swam until she reached me and placed her arms over my
shoulders. Her wet breasts pressed against my chest and she wrapped
her legs around my waist. She watched my eyes for a signal to stop
and when I didn’t shut her down, she wasted no time in leaning
forward to kiss me.

She took my mouth, claiming it as
hers, and I freely gave her what she wanted. In that moment, I
think I would have given her anything she asked of me. I lifted my
face to the sky above and exposed my neck to her. She kissed me
along the most sensitive part for a vampire, my carotid, and I
groaned, “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Why are you willing to give me
anything that belongs to you except yourself? That’s what I want
more than anything. None of this other stuff matters,” she
pleaded.

Her convincing scent permeated me
and flipped an inner switch I couldn’t find to turn off. She slid
her hands inside the elastic band of my swim trunks on each side of
my hips and I realized that I wasn’t going to tell her to
stop.

I placed my forehead against hers
and said, “Let’s go inside. The others are asleep.”

She stopped to look at me. She
searched my eyes to see if she could trust me to not change my mind
from the time we left the pool until we reached my bed. “I’m not
going to back out, but the pool is not where this is going to
happen.”

She breathlessly said, “Okay, let’s
go inside.”

She released her hold on me and
took my hand to lead me up the pool steps when we heard the sound
of closing car door, then another. She turned to look at me in
hopes she imagined the sound, but then we heard the voices of two
men.

Oh, hell no. “What time is it?” I
grumbled.

“I don’t know. Probably around two
o’clock?” Chansey guessed.

“Baby, I am so sorry. It’s Harvey
Janson, the contractor. You had me so distracted that I forgot we
were meeting with him about the construction today.”

I heard the steps of Harvey and his
assistant walking closer and I streaked to our towels and back,
covering Chansey before they got an eye full of her
nakedness.

She wanted to be furious, but found
the whole situation too laughable to hold much of a grudge against
me. She gathered her towel under her arms and started walking
toward the house. “I’m going to kill you and send you to your true
death. Do you hear me? I can’t go on trial for killing someone that
is already dead. You understand that, right?”

I could not stop myself from
laughing. “I’m sorry, but the look on your face is hilarious.” I
kissed the end of her nose and said, “I’ll be inside to get dressed
after I tell Harvey to give us a minute.”

She turned to go in the house and I
couldn’t take my eyes off of the sway of her hips as she walked
because I knew she was naked under her towel. I reached out and
smacked her across her cute little bottom as she walked past me and
a squeal escaped her lips. She whirled around and narrowed her eyes
at me. “You think this is over, mister, but it’s a long way from
over. I’m not finished with you, yet.”