Nineteen…

 

Nineteen: Moonlight Sonata

Pic above found at art4linux.org

This chapter contains some nudity.

As Vaclav drove into the city, Aubrey glanced back at the enormous bridge. The monstrosity stretched on for miles; much like her desire to be reunited with her son.

Vaclav took Aubrey to a nightclub lounge. Feeling ravenous, she hurriedly ate as they sat on the rooftop.

Meanwhile, Vaclav drank wine.

Shadowvale’s city skyline could be seen for miles, its twinkling lights matching the stars in the sky. It was a beautiful sight… and somewhere in that city, her son awaited his mother’s discovery. That made it seem all the more beautiful.

Aubrey had ice cream for dessert. Intermittently, she looked upward and caught Vaclav staring at her. His eyes were so bright, so intense. She couldn’t help but be fascinated by them.

Aubrey smiled at him, wondering when Vaclav would mention their son and any plans to get him back.

It wasn’t until later when he finally broached the subject, after going to another club.

“Jakub, Lucius and I will go in a few weeks to get him,” he said, barely concealing his excitement.

“Really? Can I come with you?”

“No. It’s too dangerous.”

“Seriously? I’ll wear the necklace you gave me!”

“Wouldn’t that be a first.”

“Okay, I’m sorry I haven’t been wearing it. I didn’t want Shawn to see it,” she said. “Please let me go. I want to see him so badly; I never got to see him after he was born.”

“I don’t want you to go. You’re pregnant.”

“But the necklace, the talisman. It’ll protect me, right? I won’t get hurt as long as I wear it.”

Eyes of glowing steel penetrated hers.

“Okay,” he muttered. “Just wear the damn necklace.”

“But at the very first sign of trouble, you’re going back to the manor.”

“Thank you! I can’t believe I’m finally going to see him.”

“I mean it, Aubrey. I won’t lose you and the baby in exchange for my son,” he said. “I want all of you alive, healthy and in one piece.”

“Okay,” she said trying to control her enthusiasm. “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay, I’ll be careful.”

Silence enveloped them. Aubrey thought about the tragedy Vaclav lived through, his young daughter who died so many years before. But she didn’t dare bring it up.

Vaclav scooted closer to her. In turn, she became rigid with anxiety.

Why is he getting closer to me? Is he going to bite me too? Or is he going to hit on me?

“Do you hear that?” he said.

Aubrey listened closely. A song played inside the club, but she couldn’t quite make it out. She knew Vaclav’s senses were sharper than hers.

“It’s the song you played at your makeshift wedding,” he said. “What were the words? Ah, yeah. All my life, I’ve prayed for someone like you… and I thank God that I finally found you.”

“And I hope… I wish you felt the same way I do,” he continued.

Her emotions tangled into a tight ball in her stomach, and she wasn’t sure whether to laugh at him or cry.

Vaclav draped his arm around her.

“Actually, I should change the words a little: All my centuries, I’ve prayed for someone like you,” he joked.

Aubrey laughed.

“Look at the moon,” he added. “Remember that’s exactly how it looked that night?”

She turned to face him. “What night?”

“The night I took your virginity,” he replied.

Before she realized, their lips touched.

“It’s getting late,” she said. “We should be going now.” Translation: I don’t trust myself with you. Let’s go before something else happens.

“I know. We’ll go in a moment,” he replied.

Just a few miles from home, Aubrey told Vaclav to stop the car. They got out and strolled across the tattered bridge.

“I’m going crazy wondering if the baby’s yours or Shawn’s,” she said. “Do you know if it’s yours? I mean, you knew when we conceived our son, so—”

“It’s mine,” he said.

“It is?”

“I hope so,” he replied.

Aubrey thought she’d explode in frustration.

“Either it is, or it isn’t!”

“I hope it’s mine, but I’m not that much of a psychic. When you got pregnant with our son, I just knew. It was a feeling I couldn’t shake.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? Worry about this for the next seven or eight months?”

“No,” he said.

“No?” she echoed, confused.

“No because the baby is a dhampir. A dhampiric pregnancy lasts about seven months. So if you had our son at nine months, he was drastically overdue.”

“I had him at eight months,” she said. “They never even mentioned his weight.” Anger ignited a small flame in her heart, causing it to pound faster.

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay. At least I’ll get to see him soon.”

She leaned over and planted a quick kiss on his lips.

As she drew away, she saw his expression of surprise and pleasure.

Afterward, Vaclav drove her back to the manor.

Aubrey strolled into the pavilion.

Halting, she saw someone in the hot tub. Was it Vaclav? Lucius?

                                                           …

He turned and glanced at her; then rose from the hot tub.

At first she thought he was Vaclav, but then noticed the tattoos…

and his nakedness.

“Holy sh—”

He got out. Water streamed down every inch of his body, his hair wet and slicked back.

“I’m Jakub,” he casually said. “Vaclav’s son. You must be Aubrey.”

She gaped at him.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“Um… likewise.” Her eyes darted downward. It looked so much like… Vaclav’s. Can penis size be inherited? 

She focused once more on Jakub’s eyes and said, “thank you for helping to get my son back.”

 

“You’re welcome. We’re vampires, it’s what we do. We fight for what we believe in; and I’ll definitely fight for my brother.”

Do you believe in clothes? she wondered.

He finally bent over and retrieved a towel, wrapping it around his waist.

“I can’t believe how much you look like him,” she said, tempted to touch his face.

“Don’t say I look like my father. I look nothing like him,” he fired back.

Aubrey was shocked at his sudden anger. She took a step back.

Jakub brushed past her, walking off.

What the hell? she thought.

Several minutes later, Aubrey entered the sitting room.

Her husband was chatting with Jakub.

Aubrey glared at Vaclav’s son, wondering why he got so irritated earlier. She should have been the one angry. How could a man be so disrespectful as to show a strange woman his nudity?

Asshole.

Shawn looked at Aubrey. “Hi babe,” he said.

He walked over to her. “You still mad at me?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

Nevertheless, he wrapped his arms around her.

As the old cliché goes: can’t live with him, or without him.

…and she’d never mention the kiss she shared with Vaclav three weeks earlier; or mention to Vaclav about the wounds on her neck and wrist that Shawn inflicted.

The secrecy spread like an illness.

As they kissed next to him, Jakub grimaced in annoyance.

Shawn knelt down to rub her stomach. Indeed, at nearly three months of pregnancy it was starting to swell into a small hump.

Vaclav strolled into the room. His look of contempt matched his son’s.

The day of reckoning had arrived.

By dawn the next day, Aubrey would be holding her son in her arms. Or would she?

Only hours before leaving to get her son, Aubrey ran into Jakub.

“The wolves are howling tonight,” he muttered.

Aubrey listened. A chorus of mournful howls played outside.

Jakub opened the door and peered outside. “There’s one,” he said.

Curious, Aubrey followed him to the front porch.

He glanced to the left, seeing another one skulk to the backyard.

Aubrey gazed at the creature near the gates.

“It’s summoning you,” Jakub droned. “Maybe you should follow it.”

She knew it was dangerous, but something in the wolf’s eyes intoxicated her, forcing her legs to follow as the animal loped away.

The wolf bounded down the steps and headed for the tunnel. A stone griffon stood guard over the land; its cold, watchful eye seeming to follow the animal.

Growling, the wolf slipped through the gate and into the angular structure.

Aubrey reached out to the threshold. The gate fell open, and she stepped inside.

Like magic, an amber flame erupted as tiny specks of light danced around. The wolf, now nothing but a baying silhouette. Then it all just vanished.

Am I losing my mind or what? she wondered.

She felt hands against her temples.

Her heart stopped…

Those hands covered her eyes and a voice whispered: “guess who?”

“I told you I’d come back for you,” he said, triggering a memory…

“You’ve lucked out… for now.”

“Did you enjoy the little magic show? That’s the awesome thing about being a vampire. You can force hallucinations onto humans. Well, at least if you’re as talented as I am.”  

Aubrey’s lips parted as she tried to scream, but couldn’t.

She reached out.

“You shouldn’t be anywhere near the Haas Clan. Your father’s a Shadow, your grandfather as well… and you, Aubrey, you’re a Shadow, and you’ll be killed just like a Shadow.”

                                                          ****

Thanks for reading, as always. Chapter 20 coming this Friday…