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  “Do you even know how to shoot a gun?” he asked.

  “Of course I do.” Both looked shocked.

  “Jesus Christ!” Christian yelled. “Why they hell do you do that?”

  Aloysius stood in front of us, his shirt torn and smeared with blood. “Sorry ’bout that. I didn’t mean to scare you. I did not expect you to be out here. I didn’t expect Lily to be up and about yet.”

  Fiore ran to his side. “What happened to you?”

  “Don’t worry, Fiore. It’s not my blood.” He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off, tossing it on the chair. My eyes scanned his chest and stomach but found no injuries.

  “Whose is it then?” Fiore asked, her eyes glued to his muscular chest and flat stomach. I couldn’t help but smile at her staring like a high school girl. She caught my look and dropped her gaze to the floor.

  “I followed one of the hunters for a while but she didn’t lead me anywhere special. I think she was actually just shopping. She carried a basket,” he explained.

  “She? I thought the hunters were all male.” I stood slowly to make sure I could but Christian took my elbow anyway.

  “That is not actually true. Remember that they are also witches. From what I’ve seen in the past, females are more powerful than males, in terms of magic. This woman definitely was.” Aloysius walked to the armchair across from the sofa and sat down. Fiore’s eyes followed his every move. “That’s probably why they are welcomed into the group.”

  “So what happened? Where’d the blood on your clothes come from?” Christian asked.

  “I cornered her when we reached a dark alley. She knew I was behind her all along and she led me there. It turned into a fight, of course. She shot lightning, or something like it, out of her fingertips. I spent most of the time dodging them. A group of kids walking by distracted her for a moment and that’s when I managed to grab her. Her mind was closed to me so I figured if I fed from her, her guard would come down and I’d be able to get some information out of her. So that’s what I did. I fed briefly but when a car beeped and startled me she pulled out of my arms and ran. That’s how her blood smeared all over me.” He reached up and pulled his hair tie out, shaking his ebony hair out. I looked at Fiore’s reaction but she turned away, taking a deep breath. “I’m going to take a shower.”

  “Wait,” I said. “Who was in the car?”

  “It was just a taxi.”

  “We’re going out for a while,” Christian said before he could leave the room.

  “Now? Why?” Aloysius paused before reaching the hallway.

  “We need to get weapons.”

  “You don’t have to do that. I’ll make a call. I have a guy,” Aloysius said and climbed the stairs, carrying his bloody shirt.

  “Of course he does,” Fiore said still watching him as he disappeared up the stairs.

  “See something you like?” I asked. Christian laughed but cut it short when Fiore glared at him.

  “Well, he is kind of beautiful,” she said without meeting my eyes.

  “I guess,” I said, turning toward the window, my fists clenched. Why would that bother me? She had every right to admire him; after all, he was young and powerful, turned just two years after Aaron’s grandmother, his daughter, was born.

  “Look, Lily, I just want to say…” she started.

  I held my hand up to stop her. “You don’t have to say anything. That conversation was between you and Christian.”

  She turned her gaze to Christian and he nodded. He knew better than to force me to discuss something. Maybe Ian was right when he accused me of not voicing what was on my mind. Regardless, what Fiore felt was none of my business. At least, I tried to convince myself of that.

  Christian’s face scrunched and I knew he was listening to my thoughts. There was enough tension in the air without discussing Fiore’s and my feelings. “So, where do you want to go on our second honeymoon?” I asked to change the subject.

  “Anywhere you want,” Christian said.

  “I wonder if we can rent an island somewhere, so there’s no chance of anyone else causing trouble,” I suggested.

  “I’m sure you can. Movie stars and the rich and famous do it all the time. I can look into it for you,” Fiore suggested. “Mediterranean or Caribbean?”

  “Who cares? As long as we’re alone,” Christian said. “This means, you’re not going.”

  “No kidding!”

  “I made the call,” Aloysius said as he entered the room wearing black jeans and a black shirt, his wet hair falling around his shoulders like a veil. Fiore sighed as he neared. “Carmela will be making the delivery as soon as it’s ready.”

  “Carmela? Why her?” I asked.

  “Because I trust her,” Aloysius looked at Fiore and then slid a chair closer to her. Christian took my hand as my back tensed. Why was her sudden crush bothering me? “She’s been working for me for a long time.”

  “So she goes to your man, picks up weapons, and brings them here, no questions asked?” Christian asked.

  “She knows about me and she knows about the hunters. She minds her business and that’s why I keep her around. She takes care of my apartment even when I’m not here. She has full access to everything I own in this country.” He ran his fingers through his damp hair. His shampoo smelled like lavender.

  “What exactly do you own?” I asked, curious as to what her ‘full access’ entitled.

  “Properties I rent out, downtown, at several beaches, and three up north, in Trujillo. I cash the checks; she does everything else,” he explained.

  “Wow. So that’s how you earn a living?” Christian asked.

  I knew he felt badly about losing everything and not being able to work since becoming a vampire. He felt guilty about letting me support him but I didn’t mind. My parents weren’t rich, but they left me something. I invested it wisely. Ian had left me plenty to live off of for the next couple hundred years. That was the only good thing he had done every time he left me. He’d place an envelope full of money somewhere I’d find it and then I’d invest that too. It was easier to get money from my victims in the beginning because most carried cash. It was a rarity now that most people carried plastic.

  “Listen, you two,” Aloysius said looking at Christian and me. “There’s nothing we can do until we have the weapons and Aaron and Kalia are here. Why don’t you go out for a while, enjoy yourselves? It might do Lily some good to get out. I can call a driver for you.”

  I looked at Christian and he was smiling. Getting away, even for a little while, sounded like a good idea to me, but not something doable. “Thanks for the offer, but I think it’s best that we stay here with you.”

  “Nonsense. Go, enjoy yourselves for a while. I can take care of myself. Besides, it’s not me they want,” Aloysius insisted.

  Christian nodded to me and I knew they were both trying to distract me for a while. I hesitated but nodded to Aloysius, knowing there would be no arguing with him, just as there was no arguing with Aaron.

  “Great,” Aloysius smiled. “I’ll call a car for you.” He headed toward the phone.

  “No thanks. I’ve done enough lying around lately. I could use the exercise. I guess I should get dressed.”

  Christian helped me get up and then let me walk down the hall unassisted, though he stayed close. “You seem much better, steadier on your feet,” he said after closing the door.

  I pulled the shirt over my head and stood in front of the mirror to examine the wound. He stood behind me, still protective. “It’s pretty ugly.”

  “But it looks like it’s almost completely healed,” he said, wrapping his arms around me and brushing my neck with his soft lips. “You’re still perfect.”

  The skin surrounding my wound was red and puckered, almost raw looking, but it wasn’t overly sensitive anymore. A shudder ran through me as I brushed my index finger over it and realized it was actually numb. Seeing my finger there but not feeling it was a little too creepy even for me. Cov
ering it up with clothing as soon as possible was best.

  “It really does look fine,” Christian assured me. “It probably won’t even leave a scar.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’ll always remember it.” Dressed and wanting to escape reality for a while, we left the building and walked toward Kennedy Park. There was always something going on there.

  As we neared the park, the sounds of pan flutes, charangos, and laughter grew louder. People were dancing, talking, and laughing as if nothing at all was strange about their city. It must be nice to be totally oblivious to the existence of the supernatural, or at least not care about it. It must be nice to only worry about pickpockets and common thieves when venturing out in the night. My life could’ve been that way too, if only I’d never set eyes on Ian. Would I have been married, had children, and been remembered for something special?

  “Stop beating yourself up like this, please,” Christian said. “None of this is your fault. How could you have known?”

  “How could I not have known? I knew from the beginning that he wasn’t normal. I didn’t listen to what my brain was telling me. I let my silly heart lead me around and look what happened.”

  “You met me, married me, and will live happily ever after. That’s what happened. We can deal with everything else together. I think we’ve done alright so far.” His smile took my breath away. Maybe he was right. Maybe living happily ever after with him by my side was possible, as soon as we took care of this mess. He was absolutely right about one thing; meeting Ian led me to him. Something I would have completely missed.

  “Let’s dance,” I suggested, leading us to the middle of the happy group. I placed both his hands on my hips and started swaying with the music. Keeping my eyes locked on his, I let the music and the movements of our bodies melt away the frustration of the last couple days. This was our honeymoon and I was determined to enjoy my new husband any way that I could, even if it was only for moments at a time. It wasn’t long before his lips found mine, his tongue parting them, and tangling with mine. His hands left my hips and found the back of my head, pushing me even closer, our breathing ragged and shallow. Let’s get out of here! My mind screamed at him.

  He backed his face away from mine, his eyes sparkling in the darkness. His lips were swollen, wet, and red. He grasped my hand and pulled me from the center of the dancing crowd. “Which way?” he asked.

  “That way.” I pointed to a street I knew led to the beach below. Passing other couples shielded by darkness, we ran hand in hand down the cobble-stoned street and down to the beach. It was a moonless night and the extra darkness was especially welcome. An abandoned building stood close to the ocean, its darkness and cover calling to us. We stopped behind it and I kicked my sandals off. Our feet sank in the wet sand, and he pushed me up against the wall. Carried away by our passion and the fact that we were finally alone, we made love, standing behind the looming ghost of what had once been a popular restaurant.

  Laughing at ourselves for acting like this on a public beach, exhausted, and trying to catch our breath, we sank to the sand and leaned against the cool cement. We didn’t bother moving out of the way as the water nipped our toes. “I hope nobody heard us.”

  “Who cares,” he said, his thumb caressing the hand he held. “I love the way you sound.”

  “I guess it really doesn’t matter. Did you see all the couples on our way down?”

  “Lots of passion in the air tonight,” he said and leaned to kiss my lips. My hand made a fist in his hair and my fangs extended, nipping his bottom lip as he moaned into my mouth.

  “Don’t you two think you’ve had enough?”

  I jerked away from him and crouched into a fighting stance. “Maia?” I called.

  “You should be arrested for this public display,” she said with a laugh. “But do go on. That was quite…educational. Don’t let me interrupt.”

  “What the hell do you want?” I screamed, though I couldn’t see her.

  “I just want what should be rightfully mine. You took Ian away from me, permanently. I think it’s only fair I get Christian.”

  “Christian is not yours!”

  “Oh, no? We’ll just see about that.”

  Our eyes searched the darkness and settled on a distant shape further down the beach. Christian pointed toward it. Just as I nodded to let him know I saw her too, her body lifted in the air, large wings fluttering as her shape drifted higher and higher into the moonless, black sky, and disappeared from view.

  ~ Twenty-Nine ~

  “I’m telling you, she had wings!” I paced the living room while Aloysius and Fiore watched me from the sofa. Christian stood by the window.

  “Wings, Lily? Are you sure?” Aloysius looked at me with concern in his eyes.

  “But I saw them with my own eyes. They were definitely wings!” I argued.

  “That’s not possible, Lily,” Fiore said but didn’t look away from Aloysius. “Think about it for a minute. How could Maia have suddenly grown wings?”

  “You’re right, Fiore. It does sound impossible,” Christian interjected as he moved to my side. “But it doesn’t change what we saw. Maia was carried into the sky by wings, whether hers or someone else’s, we don’t know. It was too dark and it happened too fast.”

  “And she’s obviously not being held captive anywhere, is she?” I stopped pacing and stood close to Christian. “She’s safe and sound and free as a bird, no pun intended.”

  “Tell me exactly where you were, what you saw, and what you heard,” Aloysius said.

  “We were, uh, behind an abandoned restaurant on the beach, just below Larco Mar. We were sitting on the sand when we heard her voice. She was standing down the beach, didn’t really say much, except that I took Ian and she wants Christian now.” I looked at Christian to see if he had anything to add. When he didn’t, I continued. “She also teased a little about what she saw us…doing. Then huge black wings carried her away.”

  Fiore smiled and looked at Aloysius. She knew exactly what we had been doing. I looked at the floor. “What about a parasail? Could she have been using one of those?” she asked.

  “You can’t go straight up in one of those and that’s exactly what she did. She didn’t run. She didn’t jump. She just went straight up. Besides, I heard flapping.”

  “What about a shapeshifter?” Fiore asked.

  “There’s no such thing,” I answered. Aloysius and Fiore looked shocked. “What? Please don’t tell me I’m wrong.”

  “I’m sorry but you are wrong on this one, Lily,” Aloysius replied.

  “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be wrong? Why am I always the last to know anything?” I moved closer to Christian, looking for his mental support.

  “You weren’t kidding when you said Ian taught you nothing.” Aloysius stood and came to my side.

  “Of course I wasn’t. Does that shock you? He did it on purpose. The more naïve he kept me, the more dependent I had to be on him.”

  “I believe that. Though it’s not too common, there are some that have acquired the ability to shift. It takes a lot of power and strength and can’t be done for extended periods of time, but it is possible.”

  “Why haven’t I seen this before though? It’s not like I wasn’t surrounded by vampires at one point or another in my years with him,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “I’d say Ian kept you away from powerful vampires so you wouldn’t learn how to do these things. If you’d experimented more, and acquired new gifts or talents, you wouldn’t have been as helpless as he wanted you to be,” Aloysius suggested.

  “I wish he was still alive,” I announced, my hands in fists at my sides.

  “Why?” Christian asked with a frown.

  “So I can kill him again!”

  Everyone laughed and I relaxed my hands. Thinking about him wasn’t doing anything to solve our problems and besides, the three vampires in the room had a way about making me relax.

  “I think you’d have to share tha
t privilege with me and Christian,” Fiore said, making me laugh.

  “Okay, kids,” Aloysius said with an amused grin. “Let’s focus. This happened in sight of the mountain. I have a feeling that’s where they are.”

  “I thought it was just for the last meeting but I think you may be right. That’s their meeting place. They live on San Cristobal, at least that’s what Jose Luis said. They must not want to attract more trouble to their home. No one lives where they meet, right?” I asked.

  “Nobody that I know of, except the woman who takes care of the chapel. She lives there with her children; at least, she did before Melinda got here. Who knows what she’s done since?” Aloysius returned to Fiore’s side on the sofa.

  “If the humans are still on the mountain, is there any way we can get them out of there before they get hurt?” I couldn’t fight knowing there were children up there.

  “We’ll figure out a way,” Aloysius assured me.

  My stomach knotted at the thought of Jose Luis being caught in the middle of a battle that wasn’t even his. Was he a prisoner, being tortured? Was he even still alive? Would he fight on their side or ours? I had no way of knowing, though I wanted to believe he would side with us.

  “We’ll get him back, Lily. I promise,” Christian assured me.

  “You honestly believe that, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  “Now, how do we convince Kalia and Aaron that Maia isn’t innocent in all this?” I asked, looking at all three faces. Fiore looked at Aloysius, who then looked at Christian. “Am I missing something?”

  “Lily, why are you so sure she’s not innocent?” Fiore asked, her gentle voice infuriating me anyway.

  “You’re kidding. Please tell me you’re kidding!” My hands curled into fists and I walked away from Christian so I could look at all three of them. The shock on their faces told me what I needed.

  “Just consider the possibilities for a moment. She wasn’t alone on that beach. You said yourself that wings carried her away. What if she is being used as bait, against her will?” Fiore’s voice was so soft, I strained to hear her.