Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) (25 page)

“Thank you for accepting my gift. It’s Abe’s favorite color. Just sayin’.”

Becky walked out of the bathroom towel-drying her hair. “There’s no need to fix my hair, is there? I think Abe planned for us to have our hair done, too.”

“Facials, pedicures, manicures, hair, make-up, the whole nine yards,” Jonah said.

Both girls look stunned and asked at the same time. “How do you know?”

“Abe called me earlier. We’ve got a double date tonight. You girls go have fun.” He planted a smacker on Becky’s lips and walked out the door barefoot and shirtless.

“You ready, Becky?”

“Yup. You ready, Ariana?”

“Yup. Let’s go, girl.”

C
HAPTER 35

Abe walked in security controls with a stack of papers he had to go through before his date with Ariana. He had gotten way behind on the boring side of his job since he’d first seen her, and didn’t need anyone questioning whether he was capable of running this fine island. He hated doing paperwork, though; money, bitches and gripes, one guy’s dog shit in another guy’s yard and he wanted to sue him for it. What? There were no lawsuits here. The way Abe saw it, if you weren’t able to get along happily with everyone else on the island, there was a simple solution: one little spell and poof – all your bad memories would dissipate in an instant and you could go be happy somewhere else.

If vampires could have gotten headaches, Abe was sure he would have one and he hadn’t even started to go through the thicker files yet.

“Hey, Mark,” Abe said to the guard sitting behind the monitors.

Mark nodded. “Sire.”

“I want you to pull up cameras one fifteen, two twenty seven, thirty eight and forty two on the monitors.” Abe pointed to the first monitor as the footage from camera one fifteen appeared. “When that door opens, I want to know about it. Until then, I’m going to sit back here and go through all this mess.” Abe raised the two inch stack of papers so Mark could see it.”

“Better you than me, Your Highness,” Mark chuckled.

“Yeah. Well, someone has to do it, and I guess I’m the idiot who volunteered.”

Abe sat down on a stool and got to work. He had been deep in thought over a problem one of his restaurants was having – money and food were coming up short on the night shift – when Mark spoke up.

“Sire, there are two females leaving that room.”

Abe was in front of the monitor in half a second. He squinted at Ariana. “Shit, she didn’t see it. Ah… ah… Yes! Becky did, though. Remind me to give her a raise before I leave the room.”

“Can I get one, too?”

“Let me think about it. Uhhh… no.” Abe smiled and looked back at the screen. “We’ll see, Mark. The first girl that walked out is my girlfriend, Ariana, and your future High Vampess… hopefully. Huh! I don’t think I’ve ever said that before. I know I haven’t. I’ve never tied myself down to just one girl before. It sounds kind of nice. Here she comes back.” Abe had a mile-wide smile planted across his face as he watched her open and read the note.

“If I may say so, Sire, you have great taste in women. She’s beautiful.”

Abe looked quickly at Mark and growled. “No, you may not. Quit ogling, asshole.”

Mark rapidly averted his eyes. “Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir.”

“There went that raise. Hurry, give me your cell phone.”

§ § §

The two girls headed out the door. Ariana walked ahead with her head down in her purse, checking to make sure she had Abe’s credit card and his cell phone and that Shaman’s card so she could call him. She might just see if Becky would take her to the clinic, so she could meet him in person. She’d made it halfway to the elevator when she heard Becky say something, back by their room.

“Hey, Ariana. Look at this. There’s a note on the wall. It’s got your name on it. Can I open it?”

Ariana walked back and sure enough there was a letter taped to the wall across from their bedroom door.

“Is your name on it?” Ariana snickered as she grabbed and opened it. As soon as she unfastened the binding she knew who had left it for her. It was in the same script as the note Abe had left on his pillow for her.

Ariana, My Love,

Get in the elevator.

Abe

“I was going to.” Ariana looked puzzled at Becky.

Her and Becky ran to the elevator and pushed the button. When the elevator doors opened, there was another note taped to the back wall. Ariana read it out loud.

Ariana,

Go to garage number three.

Abe

She looked at Becky. “Is that not where we were going anyway?”

Ariana looked suspiciously around and spotted a surveillance camera in the top corner of the elevator.

“He’s watching us, and he’s going to send us on a treasure hunt all day, isn’t he? I don’t like people telling me what to do! Just so you know!” Ariana yelled. “I bet he’s laughing his ass off right now.”

Becky smiled and pushed the button for garage number three.

When the doors opened, they saw another letter taped on the nearest cement post.

Ariana,

Go to parking spot number fifteen, and answer my phone when it rings.

Abe

Ariana rummaged through her purse and pulled out his phone as Becky started counting the numbers written on the pavement behind each parking spot. They found Abe’s big black Hummer parked in slot number fourteen.

Becky looked at Ariana and grinned as she ran to the car next to it. “Oh my God, Ariana. Look!”

Ariana started feeling dizzy as she walked up beside Becky and stared at the car parked in front of her. A shiny black Porsche 918 Spyder convertible, with the biggest red bow she had ever seen sitting on top of the hood.

She covered her open mouth with both her hands and at that moment the phone went off. She almost dropped it, she was shaking so violently. She put it to her ear, right way up, after a few tries.

“Do you like it? If you don’t, I’ll buy you another one.”

“I… I…”

“You don’t like it. That’s okay. There was also this really nice – older – but nice station wagon…”

“Of course I like it, but why did you buy me a car?”

“Because you need one. I agreed to you working in the clinic, so I thought it would be only fair that I was allowed to buy you a car so you don’t have to walk to work.”

Ariana sighed. “Yeah, but I meant I needed to borrow one until I could buy one myself. You didn’t have to spend your money to buy me a Porsh, Abe.”

“First of all, Ariana, it’s Porsche. You can’t drive the car if you can’t even pronounce its name. Second… I love your independence, but you’re just going to have to get used to me spoiling you every now and then. I love doing it, so please don’t ruin my fun. If me buying you things makes you upset, then I’ll just have to come up with lots of ways to make it up to you, because you’re going to be pissed off a lot. Now, say thank you, take that ridiculous bow off the hood – that was Jonah’s idea, by the way – get in your car and have a nice day. I got you a transmitter and an mp3 player. Jonah loaded it with what he considers a suitable range of different genres of music. We weren’t quite sure what you listened to. Oh, and tell me you love me, because I love hearing you say it.”

“Thank you, Abe. I love you,” Ariana said through tear-filled eyes.

Abe chuckled. “That’s better. I love you, too. Be careful, please. You are not immortal yet, you know?”

Ariana ended the call and played what he said over and over in her head.
“You are not immortal yet, you know?”

“Come on, Ariana!” Becky whined from the passenger seat.

Ariana smiled and the thought was forgotten as she pulled the bow off the hood and got behind the wheel of her brand new Porsche.

Abe smiled like he’d won the lottery. “Damn, I love that girl!” Then he frowned. “Now I have to get back to work. As if I could concentrate. It shouldn’t take me more than one, two, three months to get through all this. Hey, Mark, about that raise… How are you at paperwork?”

“You couldn’t pay me enough. I’m fine with what you are paying me now, Your Highness. Thanks for the thought, though. Have a nice, productive day, Sire.”

Abe growled as he slammed the door to the security control room and headed to his office.

C
HAPTER 36

Janie rolled over and looked at the clock on the bedside table. Ten thirty. Damn, Lance must really be upset with her if he didn’t even wake her up to say good bye before he left for work. He usually didn’t work on Sundays, but his boss was making them work so much overtime lately, he was lucky to get one day off a month.

She threw back the covers and decided to get some coffee. She hoped Lance had at least left her some.

Janie shuffled along the dark hallway to the kitchen, not looking at her feet, and stubbed her toe on something hard. She screamed and hopped around on one foot, not that it made the pain any better, but that’s what most people did when their toes were stubbed.

“Damn, what is that?”

She flipped the hall light on to get a better look at the toe killer.

A wooden box she had never seen before was sitting all alone in the middle of the floor. It wasn’t there last night and she was sure Lance would have seen it on his way out. There was no missing it.

Janie lifted the hinged lid on the box and looked inside. There were a dozen red roses, a bottle of champagne, a small jewelry box, another, bigger, box that looked like it might hold clothing, and a note. She picked up the note first.

Janie,

I’m so sorry about yesterday. I was going to make it up to you last night, but I had to work late. I’m coming home early tonight, no matter what. Wear what I got you; we’re going out. Oh, Ariana said to tell you hi. I am really sorry for not believing you. Hell, I don’t know if It was real, but it sure seemed that way. Be ready by 8.

Lance

Janie squealed and grabbed the jewelry box, opening it with shaky fingers. She almost cried when she saw the necklace with a diamond heart-shaped pendant hanging from it.

She set the box down and picked up the bigger box, shaking the lid loose. It contained a navy blue cocktail dress in her size. The dress had obscured a shoe box. Same color heels as the dress… in her size. Damn, he was good. Janie realized right there and then that she wasn’t going to make the boy wait any longer. Ariana was fine and Lance believed her now and all these things he bought her must have put a hell of a dent in his pocketbook. The least she could do was show him just how much she appreciated it and move on with her life.

§ § §

Ariana and Becky headed down Palm Tree Street. She didn’t know what it was really called, as she hadn’t seen any street signs, but the road was lined with palm tree after palm tree, so that’s what she called it.

“Hey, where’s the clinic?” Ariana asked Becky.

Becky was flipping through the songs Jonah had loaded on Ariana’s mp3 player.

“Oh, it’s up here, on the left. About a mile farther on. You going to see if the Shaman will give you a job? You think he needs two people? I don’t recognize anything Jonah put on here. Ooh, here’s one I know. Seether’s Breakdown. This is a damn good song. Have you heard it?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard it. I like Seether; I’ve seen them in concert. And yes, I am going to see if the Shaman has two positions open. You think I would have the heart to leave you working in the kitchen?”

Becky grinned at her. “I hoped you wouldn’t, but I would understand if he can’t fit me anywhere. It’s not like I have a lot of experience in healing work. There it is. Park over there.”

Ariana parked. “If he can’t, then I won’t have any other choice but to take Lidia’s advice.”

“And what’s that?” Becky said as she shut her door and they walked to the clinic.

“To open my own clinic and put him out of business.”

Becky gasped. “You wouldn’t, would you? You would! Oh, you are so bad.”

Ariana opened the clinic door and a ‘ding dong’ announced their entrance. An old, short Indian man with a long braid sat behind a counter laughing at a Jackie Chan movie. He must have heard the bell ring, and yet he was still staring at the television. Eventually, he stood up.

“Can I help you?” The old man smiled affably.

“Yes. I need to see the Shaman,” Ariana said.

“I am He Who Heals, the Shaman. What can I do for you? Are you ill?”

“Uh, no. I’m Ariana Lochalan and this is Becky Smith. We were actually wondering if you had two positions that needed to be filled on your staff list,” Ariana said with confidence. She was in a strong negotiating position and she knew it. He was either going to take both of them or he wouldn’t get either of them.

He Who Liked To Make People Feel Better or whatever his name was’ eyes grew wide and he hurried around the counter, the faster to grab Ariana’s hand.

“You are the miracle worker who healed Miss Lidia and her young? I am pleased to meet you. I only have one position open and it’s for you. I can only afford to pay for one.”

“Oh. I’m so very sorry to have wasted your time, Mr… Shaman, Sir, but if my friend can’t join me, then I can’t work here, either. You see, she is my assistant and she knows exactly what I need when I am healing. Time is of the essence in this profession, as you well know.” She thought hinting at his slow response to what could have been a life and death situation might make the old man reconsider.

The Shaman put his hand to his chin as if he were thinking it over in his head. “I pay you six hundred dollars a week and I pay your friend three hundred a week…”

“Deal!” Becky squealed, then looked at Ariana’s shocked face. “Oh, I’m sorry, you weren’t done. Go ahead.”

“You take all after hour calls and you and her can keep the fees from that shift. I am an old man and I hate getting up after I start watching a movie. You start tomorrow, yes?”

“What are our hours?” Ariana asked.