RBC06.50 - Marcella, Vampire Mage (23 page)

“I don’t have words, Elizabeth; there aren’t any that could do you justice,” Father was actually flushing.

“You’re so beautiful, Mother, really,” I said.

“As always,” added Kate.

“You girls are ravishing. The young men don’t stand a chance, nor do any girls who try to compete with you,” said Mother proudly.

“I’m just the luckiest man on earth,” sighed Father.

Smiling, he offered his arm to Mother and we left for dinner. As we crossed the courtyard, we could see all the others making their way to the dining room as well, the beautifully gowned women and dapper gentlemen talking and laughing as they entered the hall.

Dinner was wonderful. Candlelight danced across the walls like fairies fluttering in mid-air. Everyone looked splendid, and with all the business of the council now complete, the mood was light and happy. Much to my surprise Mother was welcomed graciously, and several times I noticed that adoring looks were being exchanged between Father and her. The significance of those looks so excited me, I could hardly sit still.

Finally Father rose, and invited everyone to the ballroom, which was across the hall and down the stairs. We led the way, with Father and Mother gliding down the stairway arm in arm; we followed, wishing they would hurry. As we continued down, my eye caught sight of a very handsome group of gentlemen standing around the foot of the stairs, three on one side and three on the other. Having never seen the Voss brothers dressed in tie and tails before, I was stunned at how handsome they all were. There was not a man alive, here or anywhere else, that was a match for any one of our escorts. And of course I had my eye on one of them in particular.

Kate squeezed my hand and whispered, “Easy Kat, you can’t kiss him right here.”

Finally we reached the bottom of the stairs. When Quinn smiled at me and offered his arm, I thought I would melt.

“You’re gorgeous Kat.”

“You’re pretty gorgeous yourself,” I replied to him.

Cedrik escorted Kate over to sit down and we followed. Thomas would be spending the evening with El, of course; the other girls were working at keeping Avery, Simon, and Gregor guessing, but they could have any of girls attending tonight. We danced the night away. I wasn’t surprised that our Watchers knew how to dance, since while I was growing up they had taken turns teaching me. But I didn’t care about the rest of them, I could have spent the rest of my days in Quinn’s arms, looking into his beautiful blue eyes.

“Would you like to go out to the veranda?” he asked softly.

“I’d love to.”

“I would follow him anywhere,”
I thought. It was a perfect spring night, with crisp air and a clear sky filled with thousands of twinkling stars. We walked to the edge of the building, our arms around each other’s waists. I leaned my head on his shoulder and sighed; the night had been perfect and I didn’t want it to end.

“So how are you coping with all the sudden changes in your life?” he asked as he ran his finger down my neck and across my bare shoulder, sending chills down my spine.

“Well it’s been only a day, but I think it’s going to be fine. I’m sure we’ll have times where we won’t be happy with one another—all families have such days—but after the initial shock wore off and Father explained what had happened, I couldn’t be upset. I vowed to find a way to make this work, and look at the two them – they seem so happy. Looking back, it seems that all these years he must have been terribly lonesome; he must have missed her desperately. I know if you went away—”

“Shhh,” he said, touching my lips with his finger. Then slowly, he bent down and kissed me. I didn’t want that kiss ever to end, but when it did he whispered, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Kate called out, “Hey, you two,”

She was arm in arm with Gregor this time, and they were followed by El and Thomas, Rosa and Simon, and Letta and Avery. Cedrik was still inside, basking in the attentions of several young ladies, we were told.

“Look at all of us! I went from having no sisters to having four; and I will have to say that my brothers have never looked so good.”

Just then Cedrik came around the corner with a waiter in tow. The waiter was carefully carrying a tray full of Champagne glasses filled almost to the top. We each took one.

“To what shall we toast?” Cedrik asked.

“To us,” I said, raising my glass. “The family I always wanted.”

“Hear, hear!” they all joined in as we clicked our glasses together.

Later when we’d left the ball, the laughter rang out as we cavorted across the square in a group. Earlier in the evening we informed our parents that Katherine would be moving in with us and had her with us as we made our way back to our quarters. Quinn and I entered the courtyard first, and when we turned we laughed to see that the procession of brothers and sisters seemed to go on for blocks.

“What’s so funny?” El asked.

“It’s just that we look a little like a parade,” I said.

When she turned she could see what I meant, and she laughed too. We lingered for a moment while the rest paraded on seemingly at this moment in a more serious mood now that the evening was at its end. I wanted to sneak Quinn into my room, but knew that was a bad idea…wasn’t it? Yes, it was, I decided.

“I had a wonderful time, even though these suits are really uncomfortable.” Quinn said, pulling at his collar.

“Oh? And these dresses aren’t?” I indicated my corseted waist.

“At least you’re somewhat used to it.”

“Well you wouldn’t know it, but all of you had every lady in attendance tonight drooling.”

“And you, my dear, are so funny. You can’t be totally unaware that men can’t take their eyes off you, not just tonight, but wherever you go? You never seem to notice?”

“Well, I don’t know about that. All I care about is how you look. And where you look.”

“Just look?” he laughed.

“You’re right. I want far more from you than just looking at me.”

We kissed again. I wanted so much more, but there would be plenty of time, I thought.

“Break it up, you two,” Thomas said, “We all have to be up early to train, and everyone has to work especially hard to impress your fathers.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, giving him a mock salute.

“I’m serious, and you’d better be, too,” he said, his brow furrowed in a deep frown.

“Oh, Thomas, you know how serious I am with my training, and you can expect the same from everyone else. I think we’ve found out this past week how important training is. We have to be able to act on instinct at any moment. They all assured me they want to do just that, and I wouldn’t have asked Father to let them stay if I didn’t believe them.”

“True. How about your sister? Do you have any idea if she has any experience with weapons, riding or any kind of self defense?”

“No, but I’ll ask her when I get back. She is my twin after all, and if nothing else, you can bet she’s a fast learner. Did you send someone for her trunks, Thomas?”

“Sarah was way ahead of you, as usual. Katherine’s all settled in, including additional supplies Sarah thought she might need.”

“I don’t know why I even open my mouth. Sarah always seems to read my mind.”

“Well, let’s get you back so you can get some rest,” Quinn said. “You must be ready right after sunrise.”

“Very well,” I said with a pout.

Quinn walked me to my door, gave me a quick kiss, opened the door, and wished me goodnight.

From inside we heard a chorus of four voices, crooning, “Goodnight, Quinn.”

I leaned against the door for a moment and sighed, “That was great.”

Everyone in agreement.

“You were right Kat, there’s not a bad one in the bunch. Those brothers are amazing,” Kate said.

“Absolutely delicious,” El said, licking her lips and looking straight at me. “You know what I mean, right Kat?”

“What do you two know that we don’t?” Letta said.

“You two have been getting personal attention at snack time haven’t you?” said Rosa. “It’s always the quiet ones isn’t it?”

“Is that true Katrina?” Katherine said, her eyes widened.

“It’s true,” confirmed Eleanor, “Thomas told me he suspected because he saw cuts on Quinn’s wrist and Quinn told him it was necessary.”

“Oh, please,” Rosa groaned.

“It was, Rosa. The first time I nearly went dormant from lack of blood, and then after I fainted yesterday.”

“Very well, I’ll allow you that one, but that’s not why you’ll do it next time,” Rosa said.

“What do you mean?” Letta asked.

“Because it’s as good as having sex, that’s why.”

“Katherine!” we all exclaimed.

“It’s true, and I’ll bet you’ve compared the two. Am I right Rosa?”

Rosa nodded. “She’s right.”

“So, I’m the only one here who’s never fed directly from a human?” Letta said.

Kate laughed, “I guess so, but the way you were looking at Avery and the way he was looking at you, I doubt it will be long.”

“Well I don’t have anything to compare it to, not that I wouldn’t like to,” I said, “but it was amazing and that’s exactly what I was thinking when I was drinking Quinn’s blood, that this must be what it would be like to make love to him. What’s more, I could tell he was having the same experience I was.”

“Really? So Thomas wasn’t just doing it for my benefit, huh?”

“Yes, out of the goodness of his heart,” Rosa scoffed.

“Well he probably only had Quinn’s word. It’s rather hard to explain to someone until you’ve experienced it yourself,” Kate explained.

“I can see why it’s forbidden though, can’t you? I’m not sure I’d be strong enough to stop myself. It’s like a drug; one could become addicted,” I said.

Rosa and Kate agreed.

El looked around at all of us and said, “Well, I think I’ll have to try a couple more times to make sure.”

We all laughed again.

We all were getting tired, so Sarah helped us with our ball gowns and we combed out each other’s hair and put on our nightgowns.

“Remember, we have to be at the training grounds tomorrow just after dawn, so we’ll need to be up an hour earlier.” Everyone groaned.

“By the way, Kate have you been in training with weapons before you came here?”

“We did some fencing and archery.”

“Well, you will find that this training will be a little more intense, but as you heard, it’s time to take it seriously, and you never know when you’ll need to defend yourself or those you love, right?”

I heard several voices chime in “right” along with Kate’s. I was glad that that we were all in agreement on this and suggested we climb into bed. I snuggled down into my soft comforter and promptly fell into an exhausted sleep.

I had the strangest dream. I was at the ball dancing with Quinn, and I was so happy I gave him a hug and snuggled my head into his shoulder. When I straightened to resume my dancing form, I looked up expecting to gaze into the beautiful blue pools of Quinn’s eyes, but instead the smoldering dark eyes of Damien stared back at me. Strangely, I didn’t seem shocked but just laughed and kept right on dancing as if nothing had happened, and then I woke up.

“What was that all about?
”I asked myself. I sat up trying to figure out what time it was. It was still dark. I flopped back down on my pillow. I loved Quinn; there was no doubt in my mind about that; so why had I dreamt about Damien? He was different from Quinn in nearly every way. Of course there were the obvious differences: Damien was a mature vampire, from an elite royal blood line at that. Damien was my equal; I wouldn’t outlive him, which was a problem I would have to deal with eventually, because Quinn was human.

The girls and I had discussed the difficulties that came along with serious relationships and the quandary that falling in love with a human would bring. We talked of this often and had decided, like many of our kind, that the intensity of the relationship was the important thing. Such bondings were so uncommon, that to deny one just because the other party was a human was to deny ourselves the love we desperately needed to make life bearable. We also understood that just because you have a relationship with someone who lives as long as you, doesn’t mean you will always stay together— or that the relationship would not end by other means. Vampires can be killed or die too, for that matter. I didn’t want to dwell on the negative. Damien and Quinn were utterly different. Their personalities were different, and although they were both, handsome, they were handsome in very different ways.

“This is ridiculous,” I thought. “If Damien were here— which he’s not—I would still choose Quinn, wouldn’t I?”

“Oh for crying out loud,”
I told myself sternly
. “Just get up!”
I threw off the down comforter and swung my legs over the side of the bed.

Why did everything in my life have to be so complicated?

I was glad to be training this morning. The intense concentration and focus necessary to stay ahead of my trainers always cleared my mind. During a session, I felt complete and totally in my element, as if this was what I was meant to do.