Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) (5 page)

“I can’t go, Becky. I’m sorry. I don’t have any money yet. We’ll go when I start getting paid for being a maid, okay?”

“You’re a maid? Nuh-uh. No way! You are something special. You started out at one of the highest paying jobs here. That is so not fair! Not that I mind, but I’m still stuck in the kitchen and I’ve been here for two years. And don’t worry about the cash. Didn’t Rainey tell you? When you come to the island to stay they give you a start-up fund of five hundred dollars, just to get you settled. Only thing is, if you decide to leave you can’t take any of this stuff with you.”

“That’s great. I really needed some clothes; these are Rainey’s. I’ll tell you what. You help me figure out why I am so special and surely, if I’m special enough, I can get you moved up to maid service with me, deal?”

“Deal! Now go get your ass in the shower.”

C
HAPTER 7

Rainey couldn’t control her laughter when she walked into her lair. She knew she would be chastised for it but, looking at Abe right now, she would gladly take any disciplinary action that was given to her.

“It’s very becoming of you, my Lord.”

“What are you talking about?” Abe was sitting in a chair with his boots propped up on a foot stool, smoking one of the new Cuban cigars he’d received in the latest shipment to the island and reading the latest Cosmopolitan he’d swiped off Rainey’s coffee table.

“Don’t be upset with me. I can fix it in two minutes, if you don’t like it. But I think it’s hot. Electric.” Rainey grabbed her hand held mirror and handed it to Abe. She plopped in the chair across from him and planted her new high-heeled boots on the coffee table in front of her.

Abe tossed the magazine to the couch and snatched the mirror from Rainey, frowning menacingly at her. “I hate to think,” he muttered before he glanced at his reflection. “What the… how the… Blue? Rainey, you have two minutes,” he growled.

Rainey jumped up and ran giggling to her cabinet to get the little vial of antidote she’d prepared for emergencies such as this. The thin vial slipped through her fingers, hit the edge of the counter, and shattered all over the floor.

“Shit!”

“Please tell me, for the sake of your life, that wasn’t the only cure for this accident on my head?”

“I’m sorry, Abe. I can make more, of course, but I need to go to Spellbound to pick up some ingredients. And since I really need to talk to you about the last vision I had, why don’t you put this toboggan on and go with me?” Rainey held out the hat, hoping he’d agree; she didn’t want to try and figure this vision out on her own. She also couldn’t believe she’d turned the High Vampire’s hair electric blue. He would never get Ariana to fall for him looking like that; Rainey didn’t even want to begin thinking of the consequences she would have to endure if that happened. “Come on, Abe, please. My windows are blacked out, the sun can’t get to you and no one will see you. Please?”

“They’d better not. If I become the laughing stock of my own island…”

“I know, Abe. I’m sorry and I take full responsibility for everything. I’ll get this fixed fast and then we can work on you and Ariana living happily ever after.”

Rainey was counting on Abe’s mood brightening whenever he thought of Ariana and, to her amusement, it worked. Abe smiled and put the toboggan on, being careful to hide every single blue hair.

“Let’s get this over with. Oh, and you can call me My Lord until you get this fixed.” Abe pointed to his head.

“No need to be so sour about it,” Rainey muttered, a little subdued. “You never know, it might even catch on. You could be the first trend-setting High Vampire in history.”

Abe shot her a hard look through narrowed eyes and walked ahead of her out of the lair. They took the back way to the garage. Rainey was lucky; they didn’t run into anyone that might notice the High Vampire’s new hair-do. They climbed into Rainey’s Lotus and were halfway on the other side of the island before Rainey got up enough courage to tell Abe her latest vision.

“I don’t know what it means. I knew there was a chance some people would be unhappy with your decision, but I never imagined there could be anything to make you that upset. You were crying, Abe – I mean, My Lord. I’ve never seen you cry before. This is serious. We need to figure out what is going to happen, so that we can prevent it. I guess I can take Ariana back to the mental hospital and erase her memory, too, if that’s what it takes.”

“No!” Abe hit the console and left a perfect impression of a fist. Rainey jumped. For the first time in seventeen years she was afraid for her position and afraid for her life. Abe could end it all with just one word or the back of his hand across her face. It would only take one hit. Vampires were extremely fast and strong and there were only three things that could kill or weaken them – lack of blood, cutting their head off and the sun. The myths about garlic and crosses and wooden stakes were simply myths.

“Do not ever speak of returning her to the mainland unless it is her choice alone. Do you understand? I’m starting to question your worth to me, Rainey. I hope you are just having a bad week. Make no mistake, you are only valuable to me until you stop giving me what I need.”

Rainey stiffened and swallowed loudly. He’d never spoken to her like that before. “I am sorry, My Lord. Please forgive my errors. I will not disappoint you again. I will figure out what is to happen and take care of it.”

Abe bowed his head and, for the first time in his life, he felt ashamed. What was happening to him? What were all these emotions roiling inside him? Would this be something he’d have to get used to, like a temperamental new car or a wild stallion that needed breaking? Just man up and deal with it? And if he couldn’t? Was there anything he could do about any of this, at all?

“I’m sorry, too, Rainey. I don’t know what’s got into me. I’ve never felt like this before. It’s unsettling. I’m… confused. Maybe a little anxious, too. It’s so hard to define. I didn’t mean what I said. We… We’ll figure this out together. I am very thankful for your services to me. If this… if this thing I’m feeling is love, can you at least tell me how to control it? Give me a few pointers here.”

“You cannot control love, My Lord. Love is the strongest thing on earth. If you try and fight it, you will lose every time. You can turn your back on it, but it is still there, every day, reminding you of the mistake you made. I warned you of this before you made your decision. I have a feeling that love isn’t going to be the only new thing in your life. You’ve just apologized to me. Why? Before I brought her here, you wouldn’t have apologized for anything. You would have never admitted you could be wrong about anything. And yesterday, on the phone, you said that you were worried about me and Ariana. You – worried? See what I mean?”

Abe looked at Rainey and frowned. “I felt… ashamed to have scolded you when you were only trying to help me. I also have another feeling I’m not sure I like. I’m scared.” Abe folded his hands in his lap and looked at them as they started to tremble. “Look at me, Rainey, I’m a fucking mess. The High Vampire is not supposed to fall apart.”

Rainey wasn’t sure what she should do about her King having a nervous breakdown in the passenger seat of her car, so she pulled into a store parking lot and cut the engine.

“My Lord, I am sorry. It is I who should be blamed for all your grief. If I’d kept the vision of Ariana to myself, none of this would be happening. It is too late now; we’ll just have to deal with the problems as they come. I will help you and hopefully it will get easier with time. There are good things about emotions, too. You are just overwhelmed right now. Soon, you will be able to recognize and understand a lot of it when it happens. You remember I was only a young teenager when my talents came to me and you found them of worth to you?”

Abe smiled then. “I remember that day well. You had a vision of an attack on the island and you were beating on the Palace gates for hours before anyone would take you seriously.” Abe laughed out loud. “Your knuckles and hands were so bruised and cut up, and you were so mad that no one believed you. Your face was so red and you were in tears, screaming at me ‘They’re coming, you big idiot’.” Abe’s face turned solemn. “Then it happened. We almost didn’t get reinforcements in time, and there were a few lives lost. I told myself then I needed you and would never doubt your visions again. Despite that, I did doubt them once again seventeen years later, when you told me I was to fall in love. How could I be so stupid? I am so sorry, Rainey. I guess even I make mistakes.”

Rainey smiled a little. “Stop it, you big idiot, you’re making me blush. Is my head swelling? I think I can feel it getting bigger.” Rainey started the engine again and put it in drive. “Let’s get these herbs so I can get your hair back to normal, then we’ll figure out your crazy love life. Okay, Prince Charming?”

Abe rolled his eyes.

C
HAPTER 8

Ariana knew she needed to hurry, but the hot water felt so good. There were jets coming from the shower walls as well as the ceiling, and the high pressure of the water hit all her muscles, re-awakening them from their lethargy. The soaps and shampoos were perfectly fragranced. Ariana lathered and rinsed twice, luxuriating in the clean feeling. If nothing else good came of her moving here, this was enough. Well, ten minutes would have been enough to get her feeling clean, but she was definitely going to have another shower before bed, or maybe she would try that big jet tub in the corner.

As she was patting herself dry with one of the biggest, fluffiest towels she had ever used, she took a minute and looked around the large bathroom that she would share only with Becky. It was big enough for ten people to sleep in. The walls were covered in beautiful artwork that matched the hall and foyer. The floors were done in glossy off-white marble with little specks of stones that shined when they caught the light. Everything else was marble, too, in warm, neutral colors.

“Man, I feel like Cinderella.” Pity her Prince couldn’t be here with her. She let a tear fall for Michael and then wiped it quickly away. She’d cried a lot on the plane, but all that grieving over her loss also made her realize that she might as well get on with her life; no amount of tears would ever bring Michael back. Besides, he would have wanted her to be happy, even in this strange, improbable universe full of mythical creatures she still found hard to accept as being real.

She put on the clothes Becky had laid out for her, pushing thoughts of Michael to the back of her mind. She hurriedly dried her hair and used the flat iron from one of the drawers to style it to perfection. When she opened up Becky’s make-up case she almost passed out. There must have been five thousand dollars’ worth of make-up in there. Every type of foundation in at least five different shades, with powders to match, pressed and loose, blushes, eyeliners, eye shadows and mascara, of many different brands and colors. She fell in love with the lip glosses and lipsticks; there were so many – so hard to choose.

She had to breathe deeply once or twice, to help steady her hands, but soon she was finally ready to face this new world.

“About time, girl. I’m wasting away here, waiting for you. Let’s go eat!” Becky said from the doorway. She was obviously determined there would be no further delays from her new roommate.

“You’re not going to lock it, with all that expensive stuff in there?”

“No point. Everyone has access to the same things and you can’t ever be short of money. We don’t have any bills to pay, so the money we earn we can blow however we want. You, my friend, make a lot more than I do, and I’m dying to know why.”

Becky stepped into the elevator behind Ariana and pushed the first floor button.

“I’d really like to know why myself. I am typically a boring person. I’ve never had a lot of money; I’ve learned to appreciate the simple things in life. I feel like a princess here, compared to where I came from.”

“It is nice here and you ain’t seen anything yet. I’ll show you a little at a time; I don’t want to overwhelm you. You’ll see a lot of it when you’re cleaning, anyway. You will only have certain areas to clean on your job. There are a lot of maids. And when you get your job done, you’re done for the day – that’s the best part, I think. I try to hurry so I can go shopping, or to the club, or play around with a hottie. Okay, here’s the mess hall. I usually do the silverware, but sometimes I get to cook. Kevin likes me and he’s the chef. He taught me how to make chicken cordon bleu. The vamps don’t eat, so we only cook for the witches and humans that live or go to school here in the palace. Here, get your tray and a drink and they will do the rest, just tell them what you want.”

Ariana and Becky sat down at the end of a table set for eight. There were only about twenty people in the vast dining area and they were mostly talking. There was one girl in her late teens levitating a spoon off the table while her friends cheered her on.

“Some people like to show off, I’m sure you’ll find that out,” Becky said in an envious tone.

Ariana thought the trick was pretty cool and knew she couldn’t do anything that neat, but she wasn’t a witch and Becky was. She figured Becky was a little jealous, perhaps because she couldn’t do that yet.

“Do they have classes here to help witches improve on their magic?”

“Yeah, they do, but you’ve got to pay for them just as you would for college. It’s not that expensive, but I always find other things I want to buy and by the registration deadline I’m usually all out of money.”

“Can a human take those classes?”

“I guess, but if you don’t have any witch blood in you it won’t do you any good. Unless you just want to watch a lot of cool stuff. The professors are really good. Rainey is one of them, and she is awesome. She might be able to show you how to mix herbs to do different things, but that isn’t really magic. There are potions to relax muscles and take headaches away and clear acne, but other than that there’s not much you can do without witch blood.”

Ariana wished Rainey would hurry back so she could do that test or whatever it was to see if she had any witch blood in her at all. Nothing strange had ever happened in her life to make her think she could be a witch, but maybe that was why she was here. Maybe that was why Rainey had a vision of her. She really wasn’t hungry anymore, even though she had only taken about four bites. There was just too much to think about.