THIRTY-NINE

“Christian, why don’t you take Leilani on a tour of the apartment?” I suggested as Leilani stared up at us with wide eyes.

“Good idea,” Christian said and went to stand next to her, offering her his hand. Relief washed over me when she only hesitated a moment and then took it, jumping to her feet and grabbing Jose Luis’s hand with her free one. Now that they were together again, she wasn’t letting him out of her sight even for a moment. They disappeared up the spiral stairs.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions, Kalia,” Aaron said as he led his wife to the sofa and pulled her down with him.

“Yeah, Aaron is right,” I said following them and sitting on the coffee table across from them. “It’s not the first time they’ve set some kind of trap for us. I’m almost positive they’re just baiting us.”

“But they have her things,” Kalia sniffled. “How else would they have gotten them? They are either holding her or they already killed her.”

I pulled a tissue from the box next to me and handed it to her. “Or, and I hate to say this but, she is with them willingly. She has worked with them before.”

“I know that. Don’t you think I know what she’s been up to by now?” Kalia’s anger surprised both of us. Aaron placed his hand on hers in an attempt to calm her but it didn’t faze her. “I know she’s on the wrong side. I know how much hate she has in her heart and it’s all because of her jealousy. She’s jealous of everyone. She doesn’t seem to realize that everyone worked for what they have, even their relationships. For some reason, she thinks everything should just be handed to her.”

“I know, Kalia. But, despite everything she’s done, I still care about her. She’s young. She has a lot to learn yet. We will get to the bottom of this. That’s a promise,” I told her, not sure if she believed me or even if I believed myself.

She looked at me with wet eyes and a smile pulled at the corner of her lips. “I know, Lily. No matter what, I can’t stop caring about her either. We’ve been through so much together.”

“I totally understand. After everything Ian did to me and to everyone I love, I couldn’t make myself stop caring about him either,” I explained. “After his death, it still took me a while to accept him for the monster he truly was.”

“I know what you mean. Maia broke our hearts, quite a few times, yet we still love her,” she said looking at Aaron. She wiped her tears away again as Aloysius, Mateo, Giovanni, and Fiore walked out of the kitchen.

“I am going upstairs to take photographs of Tomas’s family. Fiore is taking pictures of Jose Luis and Leilani. They all need passports. Are they upstairs?” Giovanni asked.

“Yes. Christian is showing Leilani around. Where are they going?” I asked but Giovanni was already at the front door and Fiore was halfway up the stairs. I turned to Aloysius.

“We are sending Tomas and his family to Ecuador with Margarita. That should be far enough away for them. Jose Luis and Leilani are going to Argentina with Giovanni.”

“Is Tomas able to travel?” I asked. He had just gotten out of the hospital and I knew he was still weak and tired.

“The doctors told Lucia he is medically out of danger. He just needs rest and he can get that in Ecuador. His memory is returning slowly and he is pretty traumatized. We are setting them up in a nice hotel,” Aloysius explained before looking at Kalia and Aaron. “Any word on your friends?”

“Yes. Beth and Pierce will be arriving tomorrow afternoon and Riley and Raul in the evening. Riley is closing her club for a bit and her bouncers, the three vampires, are coming with them,” Aaron explained.

“That’s great. We need all the help we can get. It’s time to end this once and for all,” I said feeling some relief for the first time in a while. I turned to Mateo. “What about you, Mateo? When are you completing the change?”

“First of all, you can call me Matt. Mateo just doesn’t sound right coming out of your mouth,” he said with a laugh.

“Okay then, Matt. When is it happening?”

“We are leaving in a few minutes. Aloysius rented a room for us across town,” He looked at Fiore as she walked back into the room, camera in hand, and she smiled at him. “We thought it would be best if Leilani wasn’t around while it happens. She needs some time to rest and heal.”

“That is probably true. I haven’t even had a chance to talk to her yet but she seems to be doing better. She seems to have accepted her brother’s choice, I hope. How long do you think this will take?” I asked looking at Fiore.

“Considering he’s half way there already, it shouldn’t take as long as usual. We should be back by the time Beth and Pierce arrive tomorrow afternoon,” she explained. She kissed Aloysius and wrapped her arms around his neck while she looked into his eyes in silence. He smiled and nodded at her, kissing her forehead before she stepped away. Whatever passed between them, the rest of us did not hear it.

Fiore and Matt walked out the door without another word just as Christian, Jose Luis, and Leilani reached the bottom of the staircase. “Everything okay?” Christian asked.

“Everything is fine,” I answered and looked at Leilani who still held her brother’s hand. “Are you hungry?”

She looked at Jose Luis. He nodded and smiled at her, reassuring her. “Yes,” she answered in English.

I reached a hand out to her and, to my surprise, she dropped her brother’s hand and took it. “You are learning English. That is great.”

“Cachi says you not cook good,” she said as I led her to the kitchen. Jose Luis, Christian, and Aloysius burst into laughter behind us.

“Thanks, guys,” I said to them and as I entered the kitchen with Leilani. “I can use a microwave with no problem. Carmela, the housekeeper, left some food in the freezer. I can heat something up for you.”

Opening the freezer while Leilani stood at my side, I pulled a few containers out. “What looks good to you?”

Leilani took a container out of my hands, lifting the corner of the cover to inspect its contents. She did the same with the other two containers before handing one back to me. “This is my favorite.”

“That one it is then,” I placed the others back in the freezer and put her choice into the microwave, setting the timer for four minutes. “Let’s sit down.”

She pulled a chair from the table and sat down, her feet dangling just above the floor. Her sneakers looked too small and were ripped and stained at the heels and toes. Upon closer inspection, her clothing didn’t look much better.

“We need to take you shopping,” I suggested as the microwave hummed behind us.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because you need some things. Your sneakers look a little worn, and too small. Is that Scotch tape? Never mind… You need shirts, pants, pajamas, things like that,” I explained. The microwave beeped and I got up to check the temperature. Half of the container was still cold so I stirred the contents and put it back in, setting the timer again, before sitting back at the table.

“No,” she said. “I mean, why do you care about me? Why are you doing this for my brother and me? We don’t live with you.”

So Jose Luis had not gotten that far in his explanation to his sister. She had no idea Jose Luis was with us permanently. Stalling a bit, I stopped the microwave and took her meal out. I grabbed a fork from the drawer and handed her the container. I then pulled a bottle of milk out of the refrigerator and poured her a glass. She sat and stared at me, not touching her food, and waiting for an answer.

“I know your mother and father passed away years ago. I also know you have been living with those…people…since you and Jose Luis were separated. Jose Luis does not want to go back with them. He was not happy there, and I think you feel the same,” I stopped to give her a chance to answer. Instead, she took a forkful and blew it before placing it in her mouth. “Jose Luis wants to stay with us and we want the same thing. He is family now and we would like you to be family, too.”

She put her fork down and looked up at me with curiosity. “But you are vampires. Jose Luis is a vampire. I am not.”

“That’s okay. We can still be a family,” I assured her.

“I know but, why can’t I be one too?”

And there it was, the question I was dreading. All I could do was explain my reasons the way I wished it were explained to me. “You are only nine years old. At eighteen, you would legally be an adult. Don’t you want to be an adult first?”

She thought about it a moment, tilting her head to the side and biting her bottom lip, the same way I did when confronted with a dilemma. “But Cachi is not an adult.”

“I know he is not, but he at least looks like a young adult. He was dying from cancer. We couldn’t wait. We had to save him now,” I paused while she took a sip of her milk. “You might want to wait until you look like an adult since that’s how you will look forever.”

“But I do not want to be an adult,” she said setting her fork down and wiping the corner of her mouth with her napkin, though she had only eaten half the bowl.

“Why not?”

“Because all the adults do is fight. They are always fighting and hurting each other. I don’t like it.” Her big brown eyes showed her conviction.

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” I started, though I had no idea where I was going with it. She saw my hesitation and continued.

“Why does Melinda want to hurt you? Did you do something to her?”

If I had actually done something to Melinda, or even knew her before all this started, it would be so much easier to understand. But I had done nothing to her. In fact, I had done nothing to her sister, who she was so protective of and hellbent on getting revenge for. Fergus was killed in self-defense, in a battle that had nothing to do with them. The thing was, Fergus had not even died by my hand. Regardless of that fact, Melinda was determined to hurt anyone in my life and she was willing to use anyone she could against me, including Maia.

“No, I didn’t. She is doing this for her sister. It’s a long story and now is not the time to tell it. I promise I will tell you everything as soon as we are all safe.” I reached for her bowl and raised my eyebrows. She nodded and pushed it toward me. No wonder she was so tiny. She barely ate.

“They are going to come for me,” she said as turned in her seat to look at me. I placed her bowl on the counter and went back to my chair.

“I know they wanted you because of your power over fire,” I explained. “But I also know they were tired of trying to train you. Melinda said you had no control over it.”

“Yes. I know about that, but they still need me,” she said.

“For what?” I asked though I was afraid to hear what they told her.

“They will die without me. They don’t want to die. I don’t want them to die. I don’t want anybody to die,” her voice lowered toward the end as if she were fighting tears.

I stretched my arm across the table and offered her my hand. She looked at it a moment before placing hers in it. She jumped when I closed my hand against her warm one but did not pull away. “Why would they die without you?”

“Because I am the only one with blood they can drink. They need my blood to live,” she wiped the corner of her eye and took a deep breath before continuing. “I have special blood. They will die without it.”

“Oh, honey,” I stood and went to her side of the table, dropping to my knees, and taking both her hands. “They lied to you.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Because they wanted to make sure you did not escape. It is not true that they will die without your blood. Nobody has special blood. They can drink any blood,” I explained. “How often did they feed from you?”

“One or two times a week. They took turns,” she explained as if it were normal. “They each drank a little and then I got to eat whatever I wanted after. One time, I ate a whole tub of lucuma ice cream all by myself.”

“Sweetie, they lied. They were feeding from others, too. They were only saying that to you because they wanted to keep you there and use you for your fire.”

Tears finally streamed down her cheeks and she didn’t bother to try to wipe them.

“I know it hurts when people lie to you. I am sorry that happened to you but you are safe now,” I hesitated for a moment but then took her in my arms. Instead of pulling away, she buried her face in my chest. “I promise we won’t let them take you.”

“I know, but…” she sniffled against my shirt.

“But what, honey?”

“I lied, too.”