Leilani Read online

  “It’s not that simple. We have things to finish here. If we don’t end this here and now, they will only follow us and find us no matter where we go. When we know we’re safe, and only then, we can think about where we want to settle down more permanently. So for now, this is home.” Christian looked at me and I nodded, assuring him I was fine.

  “Right now, I would like to talk about what you want,” I sat at the foot of the sofa and placed his casted foot on my lap. Focusing only on his recovery, the question of whether or not he wanted to stay with us had been left unasked. “We want to know what you want to happen.”

  “I don’t understand what you are asking.” He looked at Christian.

  “I think what she’s trying to say is that we want to know if you want to stay with us from now on or if there someone else you want to live with, maybe a relative somewhere? Maybe a family friend you’d rather live with?”

  Jose Luis’s eyes grew wide. He pushed the hair out of his eyes and looked at me with sadness. “No. There is no one. I thought you knew what I wanted.”

  “We hoped but we didn’t know for sure. I’d feel better if you told us.” I held my breath, nervous about his response.

  “I want to stay with you. There is no one else, but if there was, I would still want to stay with you.” His eyes watered and he blinked against the coming tears.

  “We are very happy to hear that. That’s what Christian and I wanted,” I looked at Christian who looked as confused as I felt over Jose Luis’s tears. I turned back to Jose Luis as he wiped his eyes with the corner of his blanket. “If that’s what you want, then why are you crying?”

  “I am sorry, it’s just that…” he looked away and focused on the blanket on his lap, pulling at a loose thread. “I feel very lucky but also very sad.”

  “Why sad?” Christian asked, moving to kneel in front of us.

  “Because my sister was not as lucky as me.”

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “My sister.” He raised his face and met my eyes. “My sister is lost.”

  With my mouth hanging open, I looked at Christian. He shrugged.

  “What sister?” I asked, taking Jose Luis’s hand so he would not unravel the blanket.

  “Her name is Leilani. She would be nine now, if she is alive.”

  “When is the last time you saw her?” Christian asked.

  “She was four, I think. She walked to the store to buy a candy because she had a coin from the mouse, Pepe…she lost a tooth. Anyway, she did not come back.” Jose Luis wiped his eyes again.

  “So you were both living with the hunters?” I asked. He nodded. “What did the police say?”

  “They did not want to talk to the police. Arturo, the man we lived with, said they could not help. He said they would take us away from him if they knew he was not our father, so we looked for her in groups, for days. I made signs with her picture and put them on trees. It did not help.”

  I looked at Christian. He folded his arms over his chest, his anger obvious. I thought asking about the police would have been a stupid question, since that is what most people would have done in that situation, but I should’ve known better. These were the hunters we were talking about. Arturo, the human leader of the so-called vampire hunters, from what I had witnessed so far, was not especially caring. Why would he do the logical thing?

  “Maybe they were trying to hide something?” Christian answered my thought.

  “Like what? She was just a little girl.” I turned to face Jose Luis again. “Can you tell us about her? What was Leilani like?”

  Jose Luis’s skin changed from deep golden tan to something with a sickly grayish hue within seconds. His fingers pulled at the thread on the blanket again before shoving it off his lap and onto the floor. He raised his watery eyes to me as he stood. “I’m going to get sick,” he said before hopping on one foot down the hall toward the bathroom.

  THREE

  “Jose Luis?” I knocked on the bathroom door a few minutes later. “Are you ok?” The door opened and I jumped back.

  “I am sorry. I don’t know what happened,” Jose Luis explained, still holding a hand towel. His face lost all signs of his deep tan and his bottom lip shook.

  “It’s ok. You don’t have to talk about Leilani if you’re not ready. We’ll have plenty of time for that later.”

  “But I am ready. I have to talk about her. What if she is still alive?” He threw the towel onto the sink and started down the hall. I followed without saying anything else.

  When we reached the living room, Christian looked at me. I nodded, smiling to let him know Jose Luis was ok, at least for the moment. We stood until Jose Luis sat on the sofa and wrapped the blanket around his legs. He looked ready to talk.

  “Leilani was such a smart little girl. She was born smart. She did everything early, got her first tooth when she was only four months, said mamá when she was six months old. She never crawled, just walked and ran. My mother was so proud of her, her little angel. We were all proud.

  “She got to start school a year early too. She got the best grades in her class, but she was always in trouble. Her teacher sent letters to our house almost every day.”

  “How was she always in trouble? She sounds perfect,” Christian said, leaning forward, elbows on his knees.

  “Something was not right with Leilani since the beginning. My father knew it. My mother knew it and tried to hide it.” He took a sip of his soda, looking into the glass as if it held the answers he needed.

  “Why would your mother try to hide it?” I asked.

  “My mother was the witch in our family. My father knew when he married her, of course, but he didn’t want anybody else to know. He was afraid of how people would act around her, of how people would treat her. I got some of her powers. We could only use our powers only in the house, never in public. We started to notice things with Leilani when she was still a baby.

  “One day, when she was about six months old, she was crying in her crib. My father was gone to work already and my mother was helping me finish my math lesson before I went to school.

  “The baby is crying,” I said.

  “I know. I hear her. She will be ok until we are finished. She is probably just hungry,” my mother said. We went back to the lesson and Leilani cried harder for a few more minutes. I was putting my books in my bag when it got very quiet. My mother and I looked at each other. I thought maybe she went back to sleep but then I smelled it, the smoke. So did my mother because she ran to her bedroom. I was right behind her. The curtain on the window by Leilani’s crib was on fire. My mother pulled her out of the crib and I ran to the kitchen for a pot of water. Leilani had a big smile on her face, like it amused her, and maybe it did. She was too young to know fire as a dangerous thing that could have hurt her, all of us. That was the first time. More fires started after that and it got hard to hide them from my father. It was hard to replace the things Leilani destroyed. We did not have much money and the fires happened every time Leilani was angry.”

  “You think she was starting the fires?” I asked.

  “I knew she was doing it. When she wanted something and did not get it, she would cry. Every time she cried, something burned. She accidentally burned her favorite doll one time so she cried even harder. More toys burned. When she was like that, whatever she looked at burned. I was afraid she would look at me, or my mother, or my father. I think she knew she was doing it and refused to look at any of us. Because of the fires, my mother always tried to make her happy. She let her do whatever she wanted. Anything was better than having things burning all the time and it was easier to keep my father from worrying.”

  “Did your father ever find out?”

  “Yes. I heard him and my mother talking about it one time when they thought I was sleeping. My mother could not replace the more expensive things Leilani burned. She made excuses at first but then she didn’t know what else to say. That was the only time they talked about it, though. My father loved
my mother very much, but he did not love the magic. I think it was easier for him to pretend it did not happen, that it wasn’t real. He knew I could do things and I think he thought, or hoped, that it would skip Leilani.” He looked at our faces for a reaction. We both stayed calm, or at least, we tried. I just wanted to keep him talking, now that he was finally opening up.

  “You’ve spent a lot of time with the witches and hunters. Did you ever see any of them do something like that?” I asked.

  “No. They have to do spells they get from a book. None of them can start fire like that.”

  “Was Leilani ever able to control it?” Christian asked.

  Jose Luis shook his head. “She was not allowed to practice. It was too dangerous. It would just happen when she was angry and she would destroy whatever was near her, even her own things. She hated it. When she did it at school, the teachers told my mother that she was playing with matches. My mother did not argue with them. After a while, when she got angry at school, she would just leave the school and run home. She got in trouble a lot for that too.”

  “Is it possible that someone else knew about it? Is it possible she was taken for that reason?” I looked from Jose Luis to Christian. Christian raised his eyebrows.

  “I never thought of that,” Jose Luis said and stared into his glass again. “Do you think that could be it?”

  “We shouldn’t rule anything out when it comes to the hunters. If they have her, they wanted her for a reason.”

  “Maybe. But why separate us if they have both of us? She is my sister. I should be the one taking care of her.”

  “That part I don’t know,” I stood and walked to the window, looking out at the familiar cloud of smog covering the upper floors of the skyscrapers. “We need to start looking for her.”

  “Do you have a picture of her?” Christian asked.

  “I have some pictures but they are with my things, at Arturo’s house.”

  “Right,” I returned to the sofa. “I forgot about your things. Since we bought you clothes, I forgot you still have other things you might want. We’ll have to figure out a way to get them.”

  “I could go,” Christian volunteered.

  “That is out of the question,” I snapped, wishing I could take the words back as soon as they left my mouth. I had to stop treating Christian like a human.

  “Arturo does go to work. He is out of the house every morning and comes back late in the afternoon,” Jose Luis said before Christian had a chance to argue with me.

  “That helps a lot. But what about the others?” I asked.

  “Some of them work but some are there all day. Maybe we can get them to leave somehow.”

  “Like create a distraction?” Christian asked.

  “That sounds like a good idea. We will have to think of something.” Getting them all off the mountain long enough to get his things and get out of there was going to take some careful planning.

  “I will have to go too. Christian will not know what is mine,” Jose Luis said.

  “I was afraid of that,” I looked at Christian. He nodded in agreement. “Then that means we have to wait until your cast comes off.”

  “Too bad Aloysius isn’t here. He could just materialize there and get right out.” Christian smiled, no doubt remembering the experience of traveling that way with Aloysius the night of the battle on the mountain.

  The landline in the apartment rang making us jump. That phone never rang. “I’ll get it.” I jumped up and ran to the kitchen. Christian was picking up a lot of Spanish but not enough to answer the telephone quite yet.

  “Aló,” I said into the receiver. A welcome voice greeted me in English on the other end. The anxiety I felt disappeared. “Fiore! It’s so good to hear your voice.”

  “What did she say?” Christian asked as I walked back into the living room and sat down next to Jose Luis. He looked calmer now and I wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

  “She said that they will be home tomorrow night. She also said that you and I are going away for a few days and that Aloysius won’t take no for an answer,” I explained trying to gauge Jose Luis’s reaction.

  “Yes, go. I am better now. You need some time alone,” Jose Luis volunteered before Christian could say anything.

  “I don’t think this is the time to go on any kind of a trip. We have too much to do yet,” I protested.

  “That may be so but, like you said, we will have to wait until his cast comes off before we can get his things. That will be another couple of weeks yet,” Christian explained. “Besides, Aloysius and Fiore will be here, plus all the bodyguards. No one will dare come near him while they are all with him.”

  “I understand that, but it just doesn’t feel right. They will all be stuck here while we are out having fun. It just doesn’t seem fair.”

  “Two or three days are nothing. Besides, your honeymoon was ruined. I will be fine here. I will be surrounded by protection.” Jose Luis pushed the blanket off his lap and stood. “I am going to take a nap. Please say you will go.”

  I looked at his pleading eyes, the usual strands of his hair hanging in front of the right eye. How could I ever say no to that face? I nodded. “As long as you promise to call us every night before you go to sleep and to listen to Aloysius and Fiore.”

  “I promise,” He threw his arms around my neck and I squeezed him gently against me. “Good. Now go pack.”

  “Yes, sir,” Christian answered with a laugh.

  FOUR

  “Are you sure that’s all you need?” Christian asked as we left our room with two suitcases in tow.

  “It will be less than a week. I think I’m all set.” I turned the light off and closed the door. Fiore and Aloysius met us in the living room a moment later. Jose Luis was just joining them with a glass of soda in his hand.

  “Is that all you’re taking?” Fiore raised her brows at me.

  “Shorts, pants, shirts, underwear, and a bathing suit. What else is there?”

  “Yeah, I have all the toiletries and the hairdryer in my suitcase,” Christian added with a smile.

  “Did you remember your camera?” Aloysius asked with his arm firmly around Fiore’s waist as her face glowed with her smile.

  “Yes, I did. I wish you would let us take a less conspicuous vehicle,” I reminded him again.

  “Nonsense. It’s a three hour drive. I want you to be comfortable.” Aloysius grabbed my suitcase and headed toward the door with Fiore and Jose Luis following. As soon as we went through the door, Margarita, the guard stationed there, picked Jose Luis up in her arms and propped his crutches against the wall. Instead of protesting as I expected, he wrapped his arms around her neck and relaxed, letting her carry him.

  “We’ll see you down,” Fiore summoned the elevator. “Trust me; you’re going to love this.”

  “I do love what you’re doing for us, believe me. I just don’t think we need a limo. Any car would have been enough,” I protested as we set our suitcases in the trunk.

  “I understand how you feel but you will be more comfortable this way. Besides, the limo has bullet proof windows. The thing sits in a garage all the time. It was begging to be driven,” Aloysius said. “There will be a car in front of you, and a car behind. You’ll have five bodyguards with you. They won’t bother you.”

  “You’re too much, Aloysius, but thank you. For everything,” Christian said as he patted Aloysius’s back. He hugged Fiore and Jose Luis and then stepped into the car. I said my goodbyes as quickly as I could and got into the car. The last thing I wanted was to start crying in front of Jose Luis. Seeing blood running down my face would probably scare him even though he was fully aware of what we were.

  “It’s a really nice thing they’re doing for us. Let’s try to enjoy it,” Christian wrapped his arms around me and leaned his face into my hair, inhaling deeply. “For the next few days, let’s pretend this is our real honeymoon.”

  “That sounds like a great plan to me.” I leaned into
him and tried to erase my mind of all the trouble and the losses we’d experienced lately. They were right—we deserved a honeymoon. We had fought so hard to be together, met so many obstacles, and for every one we overcame, it seemed more were thrown our way. Since we had arrived in Peru we had not spent more than an hour or two alone. A few days would do us good and would not cause any harm, at least not as far as Jose Luis was concerned. He would be safe in the hands of Fiore and Aloysius.

  “You are very right. He couldn’t be in better hands,” Christian responded to my thoughts. “From this moment on, we will worry about nothing except each other, until we get back, at least.”

  “Agreed,” I said and leaned to kiss his lips. “It’s going to be gorgeous. Churín is perfect for us. We can relax in the hot springs all day if we want.”

  We settled into the ride and watched the scenery whiz past. The driver kept the tinted divider window up the whole time and gave us the privacy we craved but never voiced. For a while, I rested my head against Christian’s shoulder and closed my eyes, getting as close to sleep as my vampire mind allowed, and daydreamed of the next few days we would spend alone, with the exception of the guards, of course. Every time I pictured something intimate, Christian sighed as if he was living the fantasies with me. And knowing his mind, he probably was.

  “Stop that or you’ll get yourself into trouble, driver or no driver,” he warned with laughter in his voice.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said, lifting my head and gazing out the window. “I think we just arrived.”

  The limousine came to a complete stop on a dirt path in front of Aloysius’s bungalow. The setting sun reflected off the windows, bouncing oranges and yellows off the shiny black vehicle. Before we could look around, the door to my side opened and a hand reached in to take mine and help me out of the car. The bodyguards who parked behind us already had our luggage on the small front porch that only fit two chairs and a little round table. The metal table contained a weathered, old fashioned storm lamp.