vampires of san francisco 07 - suckers lost and found (2 page)

“Well, there is that too,” Aidan says. “Where is my goddaughter? And her handsome brother, my namesake?”

“They’re at home with their parents and their Hell Hound, your other godson. Hannah said it was too hectic around here and packed up. I think having twins is a bit more crazy than me planning our trip but I’m not a mother, what do I know. Besides, I think she and Diel wanted some alone time,” I say. 

“Ahhh, they need time on their own with the babies too. As much as we want to be near them we have to respect their fledgling family unit,” Aidan says sagely.

“Have you been reading Dr. Spock?” I ask.

“No. What to Know When You’re Expecting, for Dads. I wanted to know how to be the best godfather ever.”

“Ohh, now Sebastian is going to want to read it too. I’ll be surrounded by experts,” I say as I roll my eyes.

I see Sebastian discreetly downloading the book on my iPad. He thinks I don’t notice. He looks up when he is done and sees I’ve caught him. He gives me a sheepish grin. I perch in his lap and he puts his arms around me.

“You would be a good dad,” I say softly. 

“You would be an amazing mother, ma petite.”

Aidan winks at me and leaves. 

Aidan’s eyes, once ocean blue and twinkling with humor, are dimmed by his pain. First he had to deal with our love triangle from Hell and me dismissing him and Sebastian while I went crashing into a downward spiral. Then he met Manda and the light was back in him. He fell deeply for her and it was evident she felt the same way about him. Just after they became engaged she was taken away against her will and turned into a vampire. Her scent and the signature of her energy changed so drastically that Aidan hasn’t been able to track her energy and I can’t follow her scent.

“I’m afraid we will have to settle for being godparents. But that doesn’t mean we can’t go practice making babies. I’m a slow learner. I need to do it over and over again,” Sebastian says as he kisses me. He gives me a long, hard look. I jump off his lap and streak up the stairs. He still beats me to our room. It is a glorious two hours.

Aidan is a jinni and that complicates things. I cherish the few moments we have to talk.  He is melancholy in a way that is totally uncharacteristic for a djinn. They are fire spirits. To see him sad and subdued is very difficult. The only time he lights up is when we are alone and he can talk freely about Manda. 

Vamps were afraid of us. I just killed the Vampire Queen of the United States. I have a djinn I am close to and Julian and Helena are an extreme power couple. Throw in Sebastian, who is an excellent fighter and has more connections than any vampire but Julian, because of all his liaisons throughout the years, and we are a formidable clan. Oh, and Liam and I are werevamps. And my bestie is married to a Demon Duke. Yeah we aren’t flying under the radar even if we try. And that’s a problem. Some consider us too powerful and wouldn’t hesitate to try and take us out. So far everyone has believed us when we have declined every opportunity to press that power.

Julian and Helena have warned us that ambitious vamps are watching us right now. We still don’t know who took Manda. Her disappearance might be making more people edgy.

If we get married in Italy we will be traveling into the territory of ruthless drain-them-and-leave-them kind of vampires.  After I killed Queen Zoe, in Milan two months ago for kidnapping and turning Manda, there is no ambassador to represent any American vamps to the King of Italy. We can’t travel into a sovereign’s territory without paying homage; King Basilio’s vamps are so old-fashioned or at least Basilio is. But maybe that is because Basilio is so old. It’s tricky but the wedding is an excellent diversionary tactic. Aidan thinks the King is hiding something about Manda’s whereabouts and we need that information since we are still without any solid leads, just a bunch of dead ends. Basilio is important in the vampire world and Julian and Helena have had many run-ins with him over the years. 

Since Zoe’s death, the stream of vampires with their ceaseless solicitation of Helena to become Queen has been exhausting. She’s turned them down in the past and is turning them down again. I can only hope someone as compassionate, powerful, old, and wise as she, is made King or Queen. Someone who is also a humanitarian, keeping humans safer than Zoe did.

Arranging our travel plans is somewhat complicated since Liam and I have that added little hiccup – our time of the month. Our voyage will get us to the King just as the moon turns full as we become werevamps. Being a werevamp hasn’t been so bad. I am stronger than regular vamps. My sense of smell is superior too. At our time of the month we are extremely sexually active. It’s the need in the wolf to reproduce. But since we are both in happy relationships it is a perk. We both go into a blood frenzy once a month that could be quite dangerous if not contained. But with the family and Aidan’s help we do well. When the wolf comes out, Liam and I will have to wear sunglasses to cover our silver eyes, but surely Ray Bans won’t look amiss in the Mediterranean. 

We are going by yacht because firstly, the King won’t meet with us until later. Secondly, Julian and Aidan can continue looking for Manda daily and thirdly, it’s hard to arrange trans-Atlantic flights. Hannah, Liam, Andrew and I fall asleep and look like dead people. It can’t be helped, since basically, we kinda are dead. Sebastian and Diel might get into some trouble for carrying women who look like they’ve been drugged out of the airport. Mostly we are using the honeymoon cruise as a diversion to throw the hounds off of Aidan’s searches. It will look like we are planning a long vacation traveling this way. We plan to stop in many ports. We want the extra time to look for Manda without anyone knowing. The boat will also be a safe place for Hades, Hannah’s Hell Hound to be while we are looking. He won’t be able to match-make but it will be safer for when he barks fire to be around all that water. Makes it all easier that the owner and captain of the ship is a vampire Sebastian knows.

So much to prepare for. Once again my mind makes lists. We set sail from Florida in two days. We have to get outfits for the babies to wear to court. We need respectable clothes as well, since the King is very old-fashioned. I stop. I know where this cycle leads and soon I’ll reach for my hand sanitizer. Take control, Lily. Fuck. I’m slathering on the hand sanitizer before I even register that I reached for it. Baby steps. At least I realized I was heading in that direction. It’s a big deal for me. Awareness is the first step.

Helena and I are responsible for all the details and have been shopping for weeks trying to find something suitable for everyone to wear. 

“Ouch! That was my skin,” Julian growls.

“Oh excuse me, Sir,” the tailor in the parlor says through a mouth full of pins. I stifle a giggle. Julian has complained the most about the new clothes.

“Helena…” Julian yells. Obviously reaching the end of his patience. Helena blurs past me before she slows down right outside the parlor to make it look like she is human. I hear her consoling Julian and can sense the impatience in the tailor. He is pacing and sighing a lot.

“He needs a touch of flair. I don’t know, Liam, what do you think, a hot pink tie?” Andrew says giving his two cents. The tailor takes an even bigger breath and blows it out hard. I rush in to calm the poor man. Julian is too broad in the shoulders for anything off the rack. For the trip we had suits made for each of the men. Diel had his fitting earlier today before they left. Liam and Andrew are ‘helping’ the tailor, even though he is the best in the business. They say their sense of style is better. The tailor is merely a tool to them. Signor Rossi, the tailor, assures me everything will be ready in time to go. He said he hired extra help.

“Signor Rossi, may I talk to you in the kitchen?” I ask. I want to be out of the boys’ hearing. Rossi nods and follows me.

“Signor Rossi, I know the boys are a bit over-enthusiastic.” He raises his eyebrows at me. “Okay, they are being pains in the ass.”

“Si!”

“I would like to make you an offer. I’ll pay you double if you continue to work for us.”

“That is very generous, Signora. I’m not sure what to do. I would like to strangle them,” he says. His earlier pique rising with the red color in his cheeks.

“I would consider it a favor, Signor. I must simply have your work. It is the best and I will not let them run you off. Please, Signor Rossi.”

“Rest easy sweet girl, I’ll stay. You deserve the best even if those animals can’t recognize it.” I clap my hands and give him my biggest smile.

“You have no idea what this means to me. We need to be dressed in our finest clothes and you create them as easy as breathing.” He chuckles and blushes slightly.

“Signora, you flatter me. But rest assured. Even if it kills them and me, they will be dressed in my best before you go.”

“Grazie, Signor Rossi,” I say as I hug him and kiss his cheek. This time he really does blush. I escort him back to the parlor, hoping I have averted a royal meltdown.

Julian talks to him in fluent Italian once we enter the room. It sounds like an apology and Rossi acts like he has been praised and is back on the job. I wish I knew more Italian.

Julian dislikes putting on a show for someone he hates and he hates the King of Italy. They had a falling-out about four hundred years ago and Julian has not forgotten.

The women are easier. Helena will be wearing Dolce and Gabbana, Hannah, Chanel, and me a new Italian designer that has some bold but stunning designs. I’m hoping the King knows his Italian designers. We have to make an especially charming impression as he has a particular distaste for werewolves. Most vampires consider Liam and me to be abominations. We may be, but we’re abominations that can kick their asses. We can smell other vampires’ distrust and it isn’t pleasant.

I guess we will see their reactions when we get there. But dammit I am going to make sure we all look smart. We’ve also got everyone being fitted for tuxedos and dresses and of course my wedding dress. My final fitting is this evening. 

I went back and forth between my favorite bridal designers, Angela Sanchez from Venezuela and Jenny Packham from the UK. I finally settled on a dress made by Packham. It’s a white satin dress that looks like a throwback to the thirties. It has gorgeous crystal work on it. The waist-line is simple with a slender silhouette to the dress. It is slated for this year’s Cat Walk. It’s called Leila and is simple and elegant. I hope Sebastian likes it. He has impeccable taste – and if he doesn’t like it … well his wedding night will be very long indeed. All this wedding planning is getting on my last nerve. I now understand bridezillas a bit more. I will not be one! We will have an extremely small, intimate wedding so no need to stress. Riiight. You’d think that this wedding stuff should be making me, Lily Goodwill, fashionista extraordinaire, sublimely happy and it would, if I weren’t worried about Manda and Aidan. But the pieces finally come together.

Now we all need to do is feed and pack. Easy. You would think.

TWO / LILITH

“Lily, I can’t find my cufflinks,” Sebastian whines. Well, maybe he’s not exactly whining but everything sounds whiny to me at this point.

“That’s because I already packed them, dearest. In fact your packing is almost done. You just need some casual clothes for the boat and sight-seeing.”

“Thank you, ma cherie, I’ll work on that now.” He bends down and kisses me chastely. I sigh. He’s worth all this. So worth it.

“I love you, Bast.”

“As I love you.” He kisses me again, longer this time. When he pulls back his eyes are hooded and full of lust.

“Oh no, mister, I have too much to do,” I say. But I grin, swatting him on the behind as I sashay past him.

“You wound me, ma petite.”

“Pulease…” He doesn’t argue with me. He laughs his deep, sexy laugh sending tingles through me.

I return to packing, almost done. We’ve got Sebastian’s mother’s diamond and sapphire necklace out of the vault and some of my mother’s prize possessions, a stunning set of diamond combs to hold my hair back. We had to reset it in platinum like the necklace since as a werevamp I no longer have a tolerance for silver.

Aidan is going to deliver all our luggage as well as us to the dock in Florida tomorrow evening. Thank goodness the boat departs at six pm for Hannah, Liam, Andrew and me since we sleep all morning.

We feed before we set sail from Florida. Our entire family is present. 

Sebastian, who speaks with a slight French accent, created a forties-themed dance club for my birthday and it is one of the foremost dance clubs in the city. Julian and Helena spend most of their time doing research on everything from botany to vampire genetics and loving one another. I worked for a Suicide Prevention Hotline in San Francisco, until I had a melt down and I got fired. Now I am on a journey to discover who I am except a big part of who I am is on hold until we find Manda. 

There is a lot of mischief for a jinni to get into on a cruise of twenty-eight days and eighteen ports of call, not that Aidan will feel up to it. We end up in Venice and then will wind our way to Florence for the wedding by land. We did most of our research on Italy and the church options on the internet and aided by what Helena and Julian remembered. Helena’s suggestion was to get married at the Basilica di San Lorenzo, the parish church of the Medici family. The church, consecrated in 393, was the burial place of many of the Medicis. Art work by Michelangelo and Donatello are pieces of pride for the church. 

The ceremony will take place at sunset lit by hundreds of candles. It was a challenge to secure the church, requiring a lot of persuasion. They don’t schedule weddings there because of its historical importance. The priest also hesitated over Sebastian and me living in sin. Oops. Thank goodness Julian speaks Italian so well.

I stretch out in the luxurious four-poster bed in the master cabin. The room is decorated in greys and blues, very soothing. I am awake for the day, with so many thoughts running through my head. I can hear Sebastian calling room service for some coffee and I jump in the shower. I am brushing the fangsters when he comes up behind me. There is barely enough room in our small bathroom for me, so it makes for a tight squeeze. He kisses my neck and bare shoulders, and he is about to undo my towel when room service knocks on the door. Sebastian groans making me smile. I love having so much space between us and our family. It is like we live on our own. I have been thinking about that a lot lately. The manse is getting very crowded now that Liam has moved in too.