The air had a slight chill to it when Salem, Desmond and I stepped outside of the hotel lobby and called for a cab. Melissa had opted to go off on her own for once, though I wasn’t quite sure why. My foster father wouldn’t tell me exactly where our destination was, and I was anxious beyond belief. A very small part of me longed to have Hannah with me; she would have warned me ahead of time if I was about to become victim to the man who corrupted my mother…but there was no telling where she was or what she was doing at this point in time. We hadn’t left on good terms, considering she was against my decision to potentially borne a creature that destroys the world. I shook my head in disbelief, causing Salem to give me a questioning stare, but I shrugged at him and played a false smile. There was no possible way that my child—our child—could be evil, especially not a vampire! It was impossible to give birth to a member of the undead—not to mention Salem and I were now fully human. Besides, I had just gotten married—having kids was still something distant in my mind.
My thoughts whirled away into nothing as a yellow cab pulled up to a curb and we climbed inside. Desmond took the front passenger seat beside the driver, and looked back at me reassuringly. He seemed quite positive that this was a grand idea, and that I would be fascinated by the man he was about to introduce me to…but I wasn’t so sure. The cab driver announced that our destination was roughly ten miles away. My stomach churned once the tires started to move and we were on the road, headed toward what I feared would be a catastrophic event.
Desmond and the cab driver—whom I could barely see, and didn’t really care to—had a long discussion in Romanian that gave me a headache just hearing it. Why couldn’t they speak in plain old English and make this simpler for me? Perhaps it was because my father wanted this to be a surprise trip. Then again, we were in Romania…maybe the driver did not know English at all.
I barely noticed Salem slip his fingers between mine and grip tightly onto my hand; I assumed he was trying to reassure me, but maybe he was just as nervous as I was. We passed the café we had eaten at a night ago, and my mind was instantly filled with memories of throwing up. I tried to alter the path of my thoughts and instead thought of the following morning when we had breakfast in the lobby. The mere idea of food was making my stomach gurgle unpleasantly. I glanced out the window again and saw a gas station, a small gift shop, and a line of identical buildings that I assumed was a community of office buildings. The cab took a sharp turn to the right after we passed the buildings, and I quickly spotted a large brick museum up ahead.
“An art museum?” I asked as the cab pulled into the wide parking lot and came to a full stop. “This was the huge surprise?”
“Don’t sound too excited, Alex,” Desmond replied sarcastically. “This is where he asked us to meet him before lunch.”
“Sooo…did he think you said I was interested in art instead of music or something?”
“No, Alex.”
I shrugged and climbed out of the cab. My legs wobbled beneath me, and I leaned on the door for support. Everything will be okay; Malik isn’t in this museum. Unfortunately, repeating this in my head wasn’t helping in the least.
While Desmond paid the cab driver, Salem wrapped an arm around my waist and led me to the front of the building.
“Malik won’t be in there, Alexis. I promise,” he whispered in my ear. “But if by some chance he is, we can leave as soon as you notice him.”
“Right.” I nodded, even though my mind was full of doubt.
“He doesn’t know what you look like at this age, and he wouldn’t know that Desmond, of all people, knows you.”
He was right. There was no possible way for Malik to know who I was, what I looked like, or that Desmond knew me. I sighed with relief and heard Desmond approach us from behind.
“When I called him yesterday evening, he asked that we meet him by the abstract paintings.”
Salem and I reluctantly followed him through two glass doors and were immediately met with a gust of warm air. I inhaled deeply and let the warmth fill my lungs as I scanned the expansive room before us. There were statues of things even I couldn’t make sense of, distorted shapes that were supposed to resemble one thing or another. Voices carried through the room as if pulled through the air vents and transported from one end of the museum to the other. Some of the visitors were notably from out of the country, while others were definite natives. My eyes were rapidly scanning the vicinity for any sign of the black-haired Vampire Lord from the visions my late mother had shared with me. I felt some relief at the lack of his appearance.
“This way, you two,” Desmond instructed and led us down a hall with pale blue walls adorned with nature paintings. I wanted to stop and examine one of a beautiful snowy scene, but my feet sped along behind my foster father.
My heart began racing faster with each step as we neared the abstract paintings, some of which Salem stopped to glance at briefly. There was a small crowd of people huddled up near a particular painting of what I thought to be a butterfly nestled on a flower, but everyone had their own opinion. I spotted a man in a dark-gray trench coat buttoned up all the way until the top two buttons, underneath which lay a pure white dress shirt, and he instantly struck me as the man we had come to meet. Everyone else in the room was clad in ordinary clothing, aside from Salem and Desmond, who dressed nicely for the occasion. I didn’t bother changing into anything special; I felt that a burgundy blouse and denim jeans was fit enough. Thankfully, I didn’t feel very out of place among the majority of the crowd.
“Wait here just a minute,” Desmond instructed and approached the group up ahead.
I stood warily beside Salem as we both observed the quiet conversation between Desmond and the man in the trench coat. If I had been able to retain my powers I could have easily eavesdropped; some things were going to take a long time to get used to again.
I gulped involuntarily as my foster father pointed in my direction and the mysterious figure glanced toward me and grinned. The only thing that kept me from turning around and running was the fact that this man was definitely not Malik. He had a warm, friendly face that was somewhat boyish despite having to be at least the same age as Desmond. He was slim around the waist, but even beneath the trench coat one could tell that he had large muscular arms. Despite his apparent strength, he didn’t appear intimidating at all. Wisps of light brown hair lingered over his deep honey-colored eyes, it bounced slightly as he stepped closer to us.
“Good morning, Miss Hobbs,” he said in a welcoming, accented voice as he held out a hand.
The cool touch of his skin startled me at first, causing my mind to wander, but I ignored it—humans could have cold hands, and it was certainly chilly here in Romania. There was no evidence that this man was a vampire. I shook his hand gently and smiled. “Hello. And it’s Young now, actually. Alexis Young. My dad still hasn’t told me your name.”
“Ah,” he said and acknowledged Salem’s presence. “My name is Cassius Arith, and I do apologize for my rudeness; however…I was not expecting more than just Alexis and her father.”
“I can leave, if necessary,” Salem replied.
Cassius looked him over quickly and seemed to decide that he was welcome. “It is of no need. I assume you are the new husband, no?”
“That’s right.”
“Ah, well, congratulations are in order then!”
“Thank you,” Salem and I both said in unison.
“Shall we carry on to the restaurant?”
“Why did we meet you here instead of the restaurant…if we are just heading straight there anyway?” I asked, hoping I did not sound rude.
“You wouldn’t have known where to find this specific eatery, my dear,” Cassius replied and smiled, despite the hint of annoyance I saw in his eyes. “It is for members only, and it is best that a member show you the way. After all, those…internet maps can never be trustworthy.”
My eyes followed Cassius’s every move as he led us out of the crowded museum and into the cold. Desmond didn’t seem concerned with the oddity of going from one place to another so suddenly. Perhaps he was used to members-only diners; it wouldn’t surprise me at all after all the stories he had droned on about the last few weeks.
A sleek, black limousine awaited us at the sidewalk, and my mouth fell agape. I had been in a limo once before, not that long ago, but this one was much larger, and I couldn’t peel my eyes off of it. A well-groomed, suited man with a curled mustache exited the car and opened the back door. Cassius held out his hand as a means of guiding the three of us inside, and we each climbed in. He followed after us and took a seat on one of the comfortable black leather seats. I listened as the chauffeur shut the driver-side door and turned on the engine.
“This is fantastic,” I breathed, inhaling the fresh scent of leather.
“I am glad you approve,” Cassius replied and rested his hands in his lap. “Desmond has told me a lot about you and your abilities.”
Abilities—I felt an awkward pang in my stomach at the mentioning of the word, until I remembered why I was here. It had nothing to do with that fact that I was a natural-born vampire hunter. Desmond didn’t know that part of my history, and this man was only interested in my life as a musician.
“Oh…” I nodded and cleared my throat. “I’m not that good, really. I haven’t played much in a while. I used to play a lot in school but…” The memory of quitting school so closely to graduation crept back into my mind. I regretted that decision, if for no other reason than it would have meant more time spent with Karen before she had passed away.
“Don’t be so modest, dear. Your father has already told me you were quite the musical prodigy as a child. Those gifts don’t just vanish.”
My mind raced again at the word “gift”. It was amazing how such a simple and common word now brought on all these emotions and feelings. Paul had always called my raven abilities a gift.
“I would love to hear you play sometime soon.”
My cheeks betrayed me and reddened slightly. “Thank you…I would be happy to…”
Salem sat quietly between Desmond and me, observing each of us in silence. I felt suddenly claustrophobic in the limousine and shut my eyes tightly, inhaling deeply and wishing the car would come to a full stop so I could get a breath of fresh air. I couldn’t recall any other time where I felt like this, and I had been confined in tight spaces plenty of times before. Maybe it was the fact that I was riding in the back-facing seat of the limo. Whatever was causing it, my nerves were in a huge bundled up knot and I could feel trickles of sweat seeping from my pores. Faint voices reached my ears but I could not comprehend whose they were, or if they were even real, until I felt a sudden shaking of my entire core and my eyes flew open.
“Alex?” Desmond stared at me through concerned eyes, a frown marking his tanned face. “Are you all right?”
I shrugged and glanced around, feeling a wave of dizziness overcome me. “I-I think so,” I mumbled into my hands. “Just a little car sick. Never rode facing this way before. How close are we?”
Cassius knocked on the window that concealed us from the driver. I watched it slowly ease downward, and the well-groomed man was revealed. “How far, Victor?”
Victor peered toward us, noting my condition, and turned his attention back to the road. “We will arrive in less than five minutes, sir.”
“Thank you,” Cassius replied and watched the window roll back up. Without consent, he leaned over and gripped my hand reassuringly. “Victor shall have us there promptly. Until then, may I offer you a glass of iced water?”
I eyed his hand awkwardly and nodded with as much of a smile as I could manage. “Yes, please.”
Salem feigned a cough and the man in the trench coat swiftly pulled his hand back, smiled apologetically, and prepared the glass of water. I gulped down the contents of the glass quickly and shivered as the icy liquid inched its way down my esophagus. I immediately felt better and relaxed in my seat. Without warning, the vehicle began to slow down, eventually coming to a full stop.
“We are here!” Cassius said with a wide smile as the driver exited the vehicle, then immediately came and opened our doors.
As soon as I exited the vehicle and gazed upon the restaurant before me, sneaking a glimpse through the rows of well-kept shrubbery and tall gate that blocked most of it from view, I felt I was in a trance. The building itself had to be at least as old as the cathedral we had visited earlier in our trip. And despite the obvious wear to the architecture, it still held onto its ancient beauty. In comparison to the restaurants I was used to, this place might as well have been the palace of eateries. My glimpse expanded into a full view of the front of the building as Victor unlocked the thick gates and we passed under a stone arch.
The exterior walls were thick gray stones with wide, arching windows toward the top giving it somewhat an air of mystery. Had this place once been another cathedral? Or the home to someone? Perhaps it still was. Vines twisted around the iron bars across the windows, and I was almost positive that someone was peeking out at me through a crack in the panes.
“You need not concern yourself with Frederick,” Cassius commented as he followed my stare. “He lives in the upper level of the restaurant. He’s the maintenance worker here, as well as the owner. You might say that he is a bit…edgy about newcomers. But, he without a doubt is familiar with yours truly.”
He shot a smile toward me and I felt reassured, despite the unwelcoming gaze Frederick sent in my direction. My eyes drifted away from the windows and fell back upon admiring the remainder of the building. The door arched just as the windows did, but it was much friendlier to glance at. A wobbly sign hung overheard with foreign words carved directly into the wood.
“Friedman Estates,” Cassius said as he noticed the source of my stare. “Frederick Friedman, our good friend up there. This estate used to belong to his relatives; he sort of inherited it, I guess you would say.” He then pointed behind the building, “If you notice, there are a few buildings beyond the restaurant that have since been run down to the point of being deemed useless. The Friedman family had a lot of enemies in this town. Frederick though, he always kept to himself—a hermit, you might say. He stayed out of the conflict, and once his relatives were long gone, he took over the place. There are some rumors that say he was in on it all. Secretly plotted to get rid of them so he could have the place to himself. Not sure I believe all that. He may come off as unfriendly, but once you get to know him your opinion of him will change. I can’t see him doing anything like that.”
“Why is this place for members only?” Salem asked, clearly noticing the overgrown foliage and lack of attention to the building itself. It was beautiful regardless of its state—all it needed was some care.
“That is something I cannot exactly explain just yet,” Cassius said with a mysterious gleam in his eye. “I will just say that despite Frederick’s friendly core, he is very specific about who he lets in.”
I could tell by the look on his face that Salem was becoming suspicious of the man in the trench coat, but he didn’t speak another word.
We finally approached the four slate gray steps that led to the arched doorway. Cassius’s pale fist rammed against the wooden entryway and soon after a tall dark-skinned man opened the door. He grinned wide as he acknowledged Cassius.
“Greetings, Mr. Arith,” he said and eyed the three of us behind Cassius. “Who are your guests, today?”
“Friends of mine, Derek. They won’t be any trouble,” he said assuredly. “We would just like a table for four…preferably someplace away from the rest of the crowd. And Derek.”
“Yes?”
“They are friends.”
“Well of course, sir,” Derek replied and led the four of us inside.
Immediately, I began admiring the interior of Friedman’s magnificent restaurant. Golden chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, each one holding dozens of lit candles. The room was warm and brightly illuminated. There were booths up against the walls, dark wood tables surrounded by chairs with burgundy cushions, and a bar toward the middle of the building. It felt like a cozy, casual place, and was certainly much more well-kept than the outside.
We followed Derek to a booth in the furthest corner of the room, nestled in a small nook with a black curtain that he gently pulled across our seating area to block our view and the other visitors from seeing us. Salem appeared cautious and uncertain, giving Cassius a curious look once more.
“Shall I start you four off with some water?” Derek asked, specifically looking in Cassius’s direction.
“Yes, please do,” Cassius replied. “Also, you know what I will be having.”
The waiter nodded and looked to the rest of us. “Three burgers should do them fine,” Cassius said, interrupting Desmond as he began to read off of the menu Derek offered to him. “And not too rare.”
Desmond looked dumbstruck for a moment and then shrugged. “That works. I suppose.”
“Right away,” Derek said, quickly pulled the menus away and left the table.
“I do hope you don’t mind that I ordered for you. The menu here is a little…unusual, perhaps not something of your taste.”
“I’ve eaten plenty of strange things in my journeys,” Desmond commented. “But it's not a problem. I was getting a little tired of the Romanian dishes we’ve been having the last few weeks anyway, to be honest. No disrespect to you and your country, of course.”
“Not at all.”
Derek returned promptly with the water, and I noted that all of ours came in clear glasses aside from Cassius’s…his was offered to him in a thick black mug.
Salem raised his eyes questioningly. “Do you have something against regular glasses?”
Cassius smirked. “It is a funny story, actually. When I first started coming here I broke more than my fair share of glasses. Maybe it was the condensation that tends to build on them, or perhaps I just did not know my own strength at the time. Whatever the reason may be, Frederick told me if I broke one more that he would kick me out for good. I jokingly asked if he’d rather I used a mug. To my surprise, he went upstairs and found one. We still have a good laugh about that, and I still use the mug.”
“I see.” Salem sounded unconvinced.
There was scarce lighting in this portion of the restaurant, but I wasn’t about to complain. It gave it a sense of calm, and the curtain helped dull out the sound of everyone else’s voices. I sipped my cold water and relaxed against the back of the booth. The setting may have been a little off, but the company was welcoming—definitely not the ancient, evil vampire I was expecting.
“Tell me a little about yourself, Alexis, if you do not mind,” Cassius requested.
I swallowed and felt suddenly self-conscious. All eyes were on me. “There isn’t much to say, really…I grew up in a small town, and have always had a passion for music. That’s what you are interested in, right?”
Cassius pulled his lips away from the brim of his mug and nodded. “It is. I have a job opportunity for you in town, and after hearing so much splendid appraisal from your father, I knew I had to meet with you. I suppose it might seem awkward, having you come all the way here, when I could have more easily had you send a recording of your music…but Desmond said he would be delighted to take you on a trip for the first time. So it all worked out perfectly. Now go on, tell me everything.”
“Well, let’s see…what else is there to know. I took music lessons when I was really young. I would have kept going with them but…” I looked over at Desmond, who suddenly had an uncomfortable look on his face. “But I didn’t. When I hit middle school though, there was the option of music class. To be honest, you don’t really learn much in there. I mainly did it so I could play the piano every day. I fell back in love with it. I’ve tried some other instruments but nothing else has ever felt right. So I hope you weren’t needing a flutist or something.”
“No, your father mentioned the piano specifically, and it just so happens you are exactly what I needed.”
“I am sorry to interrupt the conversation, however…this interest of yours, it sounds like it will complicate a lot of things,” Salem said, absentmindedly clicking his fingernails against the table surface.
“I, of course, would offer a lot for her services,” Cassius replied. “I can supply housing, vehicle, anything your heart’s desire.”
Salem looked at me pleadingly, clearly not liking the direction this was going.
“Are you offering me a job?” I asked, an ounce of incredulity to my tone.
The man shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “That all depends on just how magnificently you do play.”
A job was just what I needed—but not here, not away from home and my friends. Salem and I had expenses we would need to take care of back in Willowshire, and a job would come in handy back there…but how could I give up such an offer, when in Colorado I wouldn’t be able to get much beyond working at a place like Howard’s? Why hadn’t I thought that through when I decided to leave school?
“We’ll have to discuss this together, at a later time, Alex,” Salem interjected. “Please.”
“Oh, you will have plenty of time to discuss it. Why, I haven’t even heard her yet!”
Derek approached the table with three round silver plates topped with cheeseburgers on thick sesame seed buns, each with a side of steak fries. He served a bowl of unidentifiable liquid to Cassius and deserted the table.
“May I inquire as to what you are having?” Salem asked, staring suspiciously at the bowl of dark liquid.
“Soup,” the man said simply. “It’s one of Frederick’s specialties…only select customers are lucky enough to have a taste, and I am afraid that I may not share the name or ingredients with you. He is very cautious about this family recipe of his.”
“Where is this job opportunity?” Desmond asked while dipping a fry into ketchup.
“At the residence of whom you might call my boss. He had an exquisite pianist who played there regularly before—she unfortunately passed away, however.”
“That’s awful,” I gasped.
“And when will you be taking Alex to hear her play?” Desmond interrupted, showing little grief over the loss of the pianist.
“She can play here, actually,” Cassius answered with a grin. “Upstairs, Frederick has an old piano. Another one of his family’s leftover relics…he would let you use it. He and my boss have an understanding. If I mention it is for him, he will know better than to say no.”
I gulped nervously. Desmond appeared perfectly content as he bit into his burger, whereas Salem was eying Cassius with a glint of distrust in his eyes.
“How long are you expecting Alexis to stay here?” he asked, arching a brow and pushing aside his food—clearly having lost his appetite.
“However long she desires to stay,” the man replied with a smile. “I will not take her away from her home and family, unless that is what she chooses to do. This is a grand opportunity for her, and for you. She will be paid for this, and as mentioned before, I can provide housing, as well.”
Salem glanced at me warily for a moment, and I shrugged. It really seemed like a good choice, despite the idea that Malik was lurking around here somewhere. I reminded myself again that Malik wasn’t aware of my presence in Romania, and he didn’t know what I looked like—I was perfectly safe.
“I think we can stay for a couple of weeks, at least.”
“Splendid!” Cassius grinned and eyed our plates. “Finish your meals and we can meet with Frederick about using that piano of his.”
I nodded and dug into my burger. It was far rarer than I would have liked.