Pigalle Palace (11 page)

“Don't, Legend...”

“Why not leave right now? Why wait until tomorrow?”

“You want me to leave right now?”

“Why not? Since you're so unhappy.”

“So, you're going to be a jackass about this and put me out?”

“I think you should leave right now before I lose my cool with you.”

“I still have another twenty-four hours…”

“I'm not giving you twenty-four hours. I want you to leave right now. Do you need some money to go to a hostel?” I drank and poured more.

“A hostel? Are you serious? You can't be serious.”

“Oh, I'm dead serious.”

“Don't play games right now.”

“You don't play games. You pull this insane antic on me after I made a very serious commitment to you and you expect me to be nice about it. Trust me when I say that this was a big mistake.”

“So, this is now the Legend show. Well, let me be the one to break it to you, baby. This is about me, too. …I'll go ahead and leave right now.” She turned to walk away.

“Hey, I don't beg women to stay. I can get any woman I want.”

She spun around quickly. “Then go get her.”

After I grabbed the ring and the debit card, I stormed off to my bedroom. I placed them on the dresser in my bedroom. I took off all my clothes except for my boxers before getting in the bed. I
needed some sleep.

Chantal walked in and went into the bathroom. I heard her flush the toilet before she washed her hands and turned off the light. She stopped at the dresser briefly before she lay in the bed next to me, not touching me at first, but then took her hands and placed them in my boxers to rub my dick. She let out a subtle moan as she rested her face, soaked with tears, in the crook of my neck against my dreads.

“Legend,” she managed to say through her sniffles. “Don't let me go.”

That was all she had to say to soften my heart.

She was becoming my world and it almost felt like my new world was going to end if she left it. Therefore, she stayed.

“Hey, you,” Soleil greeted me from behind the bar as she cleaned glasses to prep for the night.

Even though she had just left my bed, seeing her face at work was like seeing her for the first time in a long time.

“How are you feeling? Is the baby giving you any problems?”

“No, the baby is doing just fine. Kicking me like crazy, though.”

“You look beautiful as always.”

“Thank you, my love.”

I wanted to pull her over the bar and land a huge kiss, but that would've been inappropriate. I let my thoughts do all the imagining.

“Have you talked to Azura yet?” she asked.

“Yeah. I talked to her. She supports whatever we want to do.”

“That's good.”

I leaned over the bar and placed a kiss on her lips briefly. I couldn't help myself. Her glossed lips were begging me to touch them.

Rain cleared his throat from behind me. “We have a family meeting upstairs. Right now.”

I nodded and winked at her. “I'll see you later.”

“I'll be right here,” she replied.

I headed to the elevator with Rain.

“You're one lucky man,” he stated. “I never noticed how hot Soleil was before you starting messing with her.”

“Keep not noticing, my brotha, because she's all mine.”

“Are you nervous about the pregnancy?”

“Of course I am. I'm worried about what the Préfet will say.”

“I understand you on that. Well, the pressure is definitely more on me now. That's for sure. Do you realize how hard it's been for me? It's too much pressure.”

“Rain, can I ask you something?”

“What's up?”

“Have you tried daywalking?”

Rain answered honestly, “Not yet.”

“Then, how do you know that you can't?”

He became silent. Rain and his damned silence was irritating. Rain was afraid to take responsibility and face it. He wanted to be free and do whatever he pleased, but time was ticking and he needed to be King if that was his true destiny.

The Divination said that one from our bloodline would reign over Pigalle Palace. He would be the one to finally rule after the murder of King Allemand and his wife, Queen Christione. All broods would have to obey the laws of the new King. Rain wasn't ready for that.

We entered the conference room. Father was sitting at the head of the round table with Mother, Legend, and Azura. We joined them.

“I called this family meeting because our family is on the brink of self-destruction,” Father said. “If we don't act fast, we all won't be shown any mercy and beheaded. So, I want to address these matters. Let's start with Rain. I hear Essence is returning to school.”

Rain immediately spoke, “She has and I've told her everything to keep a low profile.”

“Do you really think that's going to work?”
Mother questioned.

“I'm keeping a very close eye on her,” Rain shot back defensively.

“There's something you should know, my son,” Mother said. “If I'm correct, Essence has broken the marriage by sleeping with another man.”

Rain tilted his head to the side. “No, she hasn't. I keep a very close eye on my wife.”

“Your wife is no longer your wife, Rain.”

Rain's chest heaved up and down. “Bullshit.”

“I have facts and as your mother, you will respect me. You lower your voice when you speak to me.”

“I will never disrespect you, Mother. Let me talk to her. I'm sure this is all one big misunderstanding.”

“There's no misunderstanding. Trust what I tell you.”

Rain sat back in his chair. I never saw Rain look so defeated. He was always so poised and so confident.

“Legend,” Father said.

“Yes, Father.”

“You're the first born and out of everyone, we expect you to know better than to accidentally change a strange woman into one of us… I question your state of mind when you committed this accident. Chantal is trying to go back to a normal human life from what I hear as well,” Father said.

“She was going through a phase, but that's over now,” Legend said.

“Why do you think Chantal is so eager to get back to Chicago?” Father asked with a frown.

“I don't know.”

“Did you know that Chantal has a husband already?” Mother asked.

“She's not married.”

“You didn't check.”

“She wasn't wearing a wedding ring the night we met.”

“Did you ask her?”

“Of course not,” Legend replied.

“Maybe you should've because she's very much married and he's trying to locate her as we speak. He's the reason why she wants to go back to her old life.”

“She can't go back to him,” Legend said.

“You need to let her go,” Father asserted.

Mother looked worried. “The Préfet isn't going to like this at all...”

“Why would the government be so upset about any of this?” Rain asked, leaning back into the chair.

“Turning the wrong humans into vampires can start a war between the humans and vampires. We stay in our own community for a reason. You want a wife, then you get a vampire. We have so many great resources. You two forced these women to do what they didn't want to do, and now we all have to suffer the consequences of your actions,” Father bellowed.

“I didn't force Essence,” Rain replied.

“You can be in denial all you want, Rain. The truth is the truth. She didn't willingly let you suck her blood. You seduced her. You mesmerized her and then took what you wanted,” Mother said.

Rain didn't respond.

“Chantal begged for me to turn her,” Legend stated.

Mother shifted in her seat. “Regardless, she didn't mean it. I want you all to listen to me. We have to end this now and you all know what we must do.”

Silence ate up the room for a few moments. They were moving down the line, in no particular order of birth. They were addressing what needed to be addressed. I was going to be next. I had created the biggest mishap—a child.

“Onyx,” Father said.

“Yes, Father.”

“You're challenging the Divination. You have managed to do something that hasn't been done for centuries. You and Soleil are expecting a child that has half the DNA that you two share… For that reason, you believe your child will be a Daywalker.”

“I don't challenge the Divination,” I replied, “But, isn't that what happened the last time a vampire child was conceived? He was our last King. He was a Daywalker.”

“Yes, your child will automatically be viewed as royalty around here. If, in fact, your child is born a Daywalker, he or she will be the new King or Queen of Pigalle Palace without question. The Préfet will want to test this out, of course. As soon as the baby is born, we will have to take the child to them and they will expose the child to the sun. If the child burns, they will continue to let the child burn to death.”

“What?” I asked.

“That's the way it has to be, son.”

Before I could finish my protest, Mother spoke over me, “Another thing. We have to kill Chantal and Essence.”

“No!” Rain stood up. “I won't kill my wife!”

Father exploded, “Sit your ass down!”

Rain sat reluctantly.

“Essence is no longer your wife! She has broken the bond! She must die!” Father shouted.

“Let me talk to her, please. Essence wouldn't do anything like that to me.”

“Fine… Do what you think is best,” Mother answered. “We'll keep everything under control on our end and we'll try to mask all of this by staying quiet. That means that none of your women can be in this club. Soleil can no longer work the bar. She will
start showing soon. These women must stay hidden. If any of these women go against what we are ordering, I'll rip their heart outs myself.”

“Anything you would like to address me about?” Azura asked.

“The only thing I want you to do,” Father answered, “is look after your brothers. If you see anything suspicious or feel anything suspicious, you tell us.”

“Of course.”

“Are we done here?” Rain asked in an irritated tone.

“That's it,” Father replied.

We all stood. Legend, Rain, and I filed out of the room, leaving our parents and Azura to themselves. Rain was quiet as we walked down the corridor. Essence was a very sensitive subject for him and anything regarding the Divination as well. He had been too wound up and was becoming too unpredictable.

The government was growing tired of ruling Pigalle Palace. We were in need of a King.

I broke the silence. “What was that about, Rain? You accused our parents of being wrong. When have they ever been wrong?”

“They are controlled by the Préfet.”

“The Préfet has done nothing but protect us since the King was murdered.”

“Who gives a flying fuck about the Préfet? I'm so sick of living by their fucked-up rules,” Rain exploded. “This is our family. The government is stupid. If the women we choose decide to leave us, who cares?”

“Everything has an order, brother,” Legend spoke up. “You do understand that the Préfet can kill us, right?”

“Do you really think they'll do that? When was the last time you heard about them executing
a vampire?” Rain questioned.

“It's been hundreds of years; yet, they do have the power to do whatever they want to do. We would stand trial. I have to be honest; this whole ordeal that we've created can start a war,” I said.

Rain was silent and Legend ran his hand through his dreads as we proceeded to the elevator.

I said, “I'm going to have to break the news to Soleil. This is going to be tough for us. She may want to have an abortion now.”

“Don't let her do that. She can't have an abortion,” Rain replied. “She could possibly be carrying our next King.”

I didn't think I would hear Rain admit that. If she were carrying our next King, then Rain wouldn't be the chosen one after all.

We walked out of the elevator to the front of the club.

“Soleil and I are going out for a little bit. You want to go?”

“Nah, I'm going to stock the bar,” Rain responded.

“What about you, Legend?”

“I have to go see about Chantal.”

“Understood,” I replied.

Soleil's eyes were bright and she wore an incredible smile on her face as soon as our eyes met. An elegant goddess was standing before me and I felt like I was in heaven.

“You ready to go, baby?” I asked her.

“Let's go.”

  *  *  *  

Soleil lay in my lap as we watched some sappy love movie she had been dying to see. I was more of an action kind of person, so the movie wasn't holding my attention whatsoever.

I bent down so I could give her an upside-down kiss while my hands traveled from her stomach to her breasts.