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Silence reigned for a good long moment, until Merl stepped away from the wall and turned to face the room. “We’re good. ” Vela shifted as well.
Samuel glanced from one astonished face to the other, adrenaline still flowing through every vein present and all but singing through the air.
Vela planted her hands on her hips.
“Well, that was fun. ” Everyone laughed.
Samuel crossed to her and took her in his arms. His head fucking hurt, but Vela lived and right now nothing else mattered.
Back in Endelle’s private suite, Vela sat on Samuel’s lap in the large purple chair that faced away from the open air wall. Endelle had called the gathering to announce that for the first time in over 200 hundred years, the Warriors of the Blood would have a new member.
An hour earlier, they’d each shared their experiences with Endelle in her private office, with Thorne present as well. Endelle had made her position clear.
“You’d better join up, asshole, and start working out with your new brothers, or next time you and your woman might not be so lucky. We clear?” Samuel had surprised Vela by merely nodding. “Yes, Madame Endelle. It would be my honor to serve. ” Now they were here among a gathering of some of Second Earth’s most powerful vampires.
From her position, she could see everyone clearly, including those who ranged behind the chair in which she sat.
Even baby Helena flew from ascender to ascender, up to her antics that kept the warriors saying, “Just like her dad. ” Kerrick stood near Alison, smiling and holding his left arm in a crook for the baby to land. Apparently, they’d been teaching her bounda
ries but the challenges of parenting, true from the beginning of time, never ceased.
Luken, Zacharius, and Santiago addressed the real flying-baby problem, having formed a line in front of the space where a wall should have existed. Endelle had built the palace with lots of open-air balconies and no windows. Baby Helena, in true ‘like father’ mode, kept testing all three warriors, trying to find her way into the wild.
Vela watched Helena fly toward the men, but each started jumping up and down and waving his arms, which kept the toddler from moving forward. Fortunately, she grew fatigued easily, so Santiago formed an arm-crook, and Helena made another landing. She leaned her head on his arm and he spoke to her with the softest smile on his lips, as the flutter of her wings kept her balanced.
At a right angle to Vela’s position, and not far from the three un-bonded warriors, Alison stood talking quietly to Fiona, who in turn leaned against her breh, Jean-Pierre.
On the far wall, near the entrance to the room, Antony and Parisa stood together, looking fatigued since they’d just gotten back from a wings of fire demonstration in Europe Two, just outside of Paris. Antony had his arm around Parisa, holding her close. He kept dipping down and whispering things to her that made her blush. She’d then lift up, and kiss him on the lips. Even though Parisa stood five-ten in her bare feet, Antony towered over her at six-seven.
On the couch nearest Vela, Havily sat beside Marcus. They held hands, but from the time they’d entered the room, the pair had engaged in an argument about some web-campaign or other. Between clashes, however, Marcus would lift their joined fingers and plant a couple of kisses on the back of her hand that always made Havily smile.
Directly across from Vela, in a matching, warrior-sized purple chair, Grace sat on Leto’s lap, her head buried in his shoulder. She sighed several times.
The breh-hedden had invaded their lives in a serious way only a month ago. The joke made the rounds often that they were on their breh- moon. From the way Leto stared at Grace, Vela knew he wasn’t thinking about anything in this room right now, maybe just how soon he could be alone with his woman.
Thorne stood guard at the door, his arms folded over his chest, his expression serious. She could almost read his mind, that his thoughts remained in his Command Center and with the hundreds of thousands of Militia Warriors at risk because of three rogue generals.
Thorne’s breh, Marguerite, was the only one of the group not present. But she’d put in a long day with her Seers and because she carried twins in her seventh month, she needed her rest and had begged off from the meeting.
As for Merl, he hung back, leaning against the wall a few feet beyond Luken.
He occasionally drew a lit cigarette to his lips, which he held low and away. His gaze, however, rarely strayed from Endelle. Vela thought Braulio might be wise to find his way back to Second Earth, the sooner the better. To leave a woman hanging for a month, especially one like Endelle, didn’t bode well for the longevity of the relationship.
Samuel hadn’t lost physical contact with her from the time they’d been in the darkening, always holding her hand, touching her, drifting his hand up and down the center of her back. Her chest kept expanding.
Samuel had been right. She’d loved her adventurous life and the death vampire attack so many decades ago had stolen that from her. But her spirit had been reborn over the past two days through so many harrowing experiences.
She wouldn’t be a counselor; she’d made that decision. But just what would occupy her time she couldn’t say except that Endelle had just added Vela to her immediate staff as a Third Earth Liaison, duties to be defined as events unfolded.
“Because we have Vela’s future settled as well,” Endelle said, turning toward Samuel, “I think I need to make something clear to you, Warrior. We haven’t had an induction into the Warriors of the Blood since Jean-Pierre here,” she waved a hand in his direction to her left.
“And that was over two-hundred-years ago. You’d better do us proud. ” She then called out to Luken, “How about you take it from here. ” Luken stepped away from the balcony, moving past Endelle so that he could face Samuel. Kerrick shifted back into position next to Santiago, to make sure his daughter didn’t escape.
Luken was the biggest of all the warriors and had a tenderness unsurpassed, for a man built for war. His crystal blue eyes never looked less than haunted and Vela knew his gaze skated everywhere struggling hard not to land on Havily, who he’d loved from the time of her Ascension over a hundred years ago.
Luken was a good man, a worthy man, former European Two royalty, and wore his long blond hair, like all the What-Bees did, caught back in the cadroen.
“Warrior Samuel, back-up Section Leader for the Thunder God Warriors, I invite you to join the Warriors of the Blood. If you accept, you’ll be under my direct leadership and subject to terms of service as dictated by the Supreme High Administrator of Second Earth. And I do mean dictated. ” A masculine chuckle flowed through the room.
