Estelle checked into the hotel. It was nice enough and on the beach. Her room, which was small with enough space for a round table and two chairs, had a view of the ocean beyond the balcony. Sliding open the balcony doors, she breathed in the salt-scented breeze and smiled. She wasn’t on vacation, but it was hard to not feel like relaxing when she looked down at the tanned bodies stretched out on the beach.
That was for another day. After she’d found her brother and hauled his butt back to Orlando.
She unpacked her bag and spread all of her documents out on the flowered bedspread. Raoul had been thorough but they hadn’t been able to further pinpoint the location, and Cancun was only the best guess of three possible locations. She shuffled through the papers and sighed. Logically, the Dawning would be close to, but not right in, the populated area. Access to humans for feeding was important but they wouldn’t want to be too central. High visibility would be bad.
Her phone buzzed and she flipped it over. Stephan again. After a moment’s hesitation, she picked up.
“Why did you go to find your brother without me?” he asked. No hello, no greeting.
“I couldn’t wait.”
“I’m on my way to Cancun.”
Estelle had to admit that Stephan’s help would be an asset. There were many options and not enough time. Perhaps she should have brought a team, but she couldn’t risk it. There were too many ways information could leak, and the result could be devastating for her parents.
“I have a flight out tomorrow and will be there at nine in the morning,” he said.
“You don’t need to come,” she lied.
“I had to come back to report to Eric. Why did you leave without me?”
“I had the impression you thought this was a bad idea.”
“Even if I did, I’d be there for you.” He sighed. “Do you have your laptop?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Will you have dinner with me?”
“When you get here?”
“No. Tonight. I’ll Skype you at seven and we’ll eat together. Have a drink.”
Estelle grinned at the phone. “That sounds ridiculous. We can talk when you get here.”
“We can talk tonight as well.”
She thought about it. “Why not?”
“Good. See you tonight.”
With that he hung up. Estelle tossed the phone in the middle of the papers on the bed, suddenly feeling absurdly happy. The buoyant feeling was enough to get her moving. She’d go for a walk, get the lay of the town. Maybe go for a quick swim. After all, she didn’t want to stand out. It was weird enough for a person to be here alone—she’d already noted the staff looking at her in askance.
She changed into her swimsuit, then assessed the papers on the bed. Better lock them in the safe. It was impossible to know friend from foe here and she would need to be on her guard. She looked in the mirror to brush her hair and froze. She was the vampire seneschal—Crimson Whatever, guardian of the etcetera and so forth—and she was recognizable. For the first time in a while, she really looked at herself.
This wouldn’t do. She washed her face and scrubbed off her habitual black eyeliner and red lipstick. That helped. The hair was impossible, though. The cut was too steep and her hair an intense blue-black. A hat would help but she needed a more drastic change.
She felt a slight pang of jealousy thinking about Stephan and the other masquerada. All they needed to do was wriggle their noses and think blond thoughts. Not her.
Time to make an appointment with a stylist.
* * * *
Stephan poured himself a beer and opened up his laptop. Almost seven o’clock. He shut the laptop again. He’d call at exactly two minutes past seven to make sure she was there.
He’d thought about this call all day. If she didn’t pick up, he might have to…what? He didn’t even know. Estelle was part of his life now. When she was gone, the day simply felt gray. Dull. Where this “friends thing” would take them, he had no idea. To keep Estelle in his life, in any way, he would agree to anything.
He glanced at the time. One more minute.
Close enough. With cold fingers, he typed her name and called. She answered in seconds.
Or…he thought she did? “Estelle?” he choked.
“Hi.”
It was definitely Estelle’s sweet voice. He blinked. “You look different.”
If it could be called different. He was used to seeing Estelle with shining black hair and stark makeup that he considered almost a shield. He’d never seen her without cherry lips. God, even when he kissed her, that damn color had only smeared slightly. He’d found that minor disarray almost painfully erotic, but that was neither here nor there.
The woman smiling at him from the screen looked nothing like Estelle. Light brown hair that turned blond at the ends waved down past her shoulders. Her face was bronze and glowing, as if she had a tan, and he couldn’t even tell if she wore makeup. Even her eyebrows looked lighter.
“What do you think?” she asked.
He took another gulp of his beer and noticed that he’d managed to drink most of it while he’d been staring. “I don’t even know,” he said.
She laughed. “You’re a masquerada. Shouldn’t you be used to this?”
“Yes, for us.” He shook his head. “Not you. Why?”
“I’m too recognizable,” she said seriously. “Now I blend in.”
She couldn’t be serious. She was gorgeous. There was no way she could blend in anywhere. Even among the beautiful beach people of Cancun, Estelle’s wide smile and confidence would stand out.
“Your hair is long,” he said stupidly. A wig?
“Extensions. It took a few hours.”
“Wow.” It was grossly inadequate but Estelle nodded.
“It’s taking a bit to get used to,” she confessed. There was a Corona beside her and she picked it up. “I hardly recognize myself.”
“You look good,” he said. She did, naturally, but it was so different than what he was used to. How was it that Eric could turn into a tiny elderly woman and he would hardly blink, but all Estelle had to do was change her hair and makeup and it shocked him almost speechless?
Well, she wasn’t supposed to change. That was his thing.
“Thanks.”
They both sipped their beer. Stephan pulled out a burrito and waved it at the monitor screen. “Hungry?”
She laughed and revealed her own silver-wrapped cylinder. “Great minds.”
The conversation went easier after that, chatting about what Miaoling was doing with the Pharos Council and Ivy’s exams and how Raoul was going to email Caro.
“Just a sec.” Estelle stood and Stephan saw she wore a long, flowing skirt. Not her usual style but pretty. She returned with a new beer and popped the cap off on the edge of the table.
“Nice,” he complimented her.
“Forgot the opener,” she said.
“How did Wavena take your leaving?”
“I didn’t tell her. I’m only going to be gone a few days and Agata can learn best by doing.”
“Is that how you spun it to her?”
She took a bite of her burrito and didn’t answer.
“Any leads on the location of their base?”
She swallowed. “I think so. When I was getting my hair done, I eavesdropped on some of the conversations.”
“You speak Spanish?” he interrupted.
She looked surprised. “Sure. They were talking about an old resort out of town that was being renovated. They said the renos were going slow but they already had guests.”
“Seems slim,” Stephan said.
“I’m going to check it out tomorrow.”
“We’re going to check it out tomorrow,” he corrected. “I’ll be there in the morning.”
Off to the side, her cell rang and she grimaced. “Maman. I’m not going to pick up.”
He noticed that she kept glancing at the phone. “Is it hard to have parents in your life?”
“I don’t know.” Estelle pushed her hair behind her shoulders. “It simply is, and one copes.”
“You’re a hundred years old and your mother calls you constantly.”
“What you mean is that she treats me like a child.”
Stephan tried to gauge her expression through the laptop screen. “I wonder what it would be like to have your family for so long,” he admitted. “It seems strange to me.”
“The same as I feel sad you don’t have yours in your life, even though I’m the first to admit that my kin can be extraordinarily annoying.” She tipped the bottle to her lips and drank. “Each family is different. Some scatter around the country and meet rarely. Others live together in compounds.”
“Yours?”
“I was away for most of my life,” she said slowly. “Training meant I lived apart from them. Maybe had I been there, Maman would have accepted my growing up. Perhaps in her head, I remain a child.”
“How do you get past that?”
“I can only answer to my own feelings, not hers.” She glanced at her watch. “I should go. I’ve already booked you a room at the hotel.”
Shit. He’d hoped they could share one, but acknowledged she’d done the smart thing.
“Wait.”
Estelle looked at him expectantly and he cast around for a topic that would keep her on the other end of the line. She gave him a contentment he couldn’t find anywhere else.
“Nothing,” he said finally. “Early flight. I’d better go.”
“Get some rest. See you tomorrow.”
Estelle disconnected and Stephan stared at the blank screen as he finished his beer.
He was so in love with Estelle.
He’d been in love with her since the moment he saw her. Selene had always nagged him about being closed off, said he was too frightened of love. She’d been right, but he had good reason. He’d seen the damage love could do to those who had been ripped from their homes, dragged half-dead in stinking hulls across the ocean and dumped in a foreign land. Love of their homes, their families—that was what killed the soul of so many of his compatriots, even as the slavers did their best to torture their bodies.
Then he had loved Selene and she had gone too, taken by the convergence that killed her out in the field, away from his help. Eric had been the one to find her and his friendship had helped to sustain Stephan in those dark days.
To love Estelle was sheer folly. Look what had happened to Tom. His throat tightened as it always did when he thought about his friend.
Not to mention…here he shut the laptop and turned to the mirror. She’d never seen his true self. She knew he was a masquerada but she was used to the Stephan masque. What would she do if she saw him as he really was? Would it matter to her?
He was running ahead of himself. Estelle had made it clear what she wanted from the relationship and it was friendship and sex. He sat down on the bed and hung his head down. He’d agreed to take what she’d offered but he wasn’t sure how long he could keep it up. Was it better to have some of Estelle when he wanted all of her?
Or would that small taste overwhelm him until he had to break from her completely?