Leilani by LM DeWalt | eBook | Barnes & Noble®

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Leilani

By L.M. DeWalt

Central Avenue Marketing Ltd.

CHAPTER 1

"Why do I have to take them?" Jose Luis hopped across the wooden floor on one foot and plopped onto the plush sofa. "It's only a movie."

"Because it's not safe, that's why! You can't be wandering the city by yourself," I said as I picked his casted foot up off the coffee table and propped it on a throw pillow. "And where are your crutches?"

Christian laughed as he leaned against the doorway watching us. He exchanged an amused look with Jose Luis. I threw my arms up in defeat. "Fine. Have it your way."

"Thank you," Jose Luis smiled broadly. "I'm going with friends and I would feel weird, you know."

"Wait a minute," I crossed my arms. "I didn't say you didn't have to take any. You are still taking one. I'll make sure he keeps his distance."

"But ..."

"That's final. It's either that, or Christian and I go with you," I said with a smug smile of my own.

"Ok, ok. One bodyguard then. But I don't have to like it." His English was definitely improving.

Christian walked over and wrapped his arms around my waist. "You're doing the right thing," he whispered in my ear.

"He doesn't seem to think so," I said and leaned away to look at his perfect face. I say we still follow him ...

"Hey! I can hear you, remember?" Jose Luis threw the remote on the coffee table and pouted.

"Oh, right. I forgot," I said with a laugh. I couldn't stay mad at either one of them for more than a few minutes.

With Melinda, her sister Ryanne, and some of the hunters still running around Lima, I wasn't taking any chances. Christian and I could take care of ourselves, but Jose Luis, being human, though he did possess some powers, needed the extra protection. He was still healing from his wounds after being thrown off the top of the cross on the mountain, and I wasn't willing to take any more chances with his life. Before Aaron's great-grandfather, Aloysius, left for Italy with Fiore, he made sure he left us with his apartment, a car, and bodyguards to protect us. I was taking full advantage of it.

The thought of Aaron's name turned my stomach into knots. Attempting to kill Maia, my begrudging sister, was one of the most difficult things I'd ever had to do, and I'd lost my family because of it. Kalia and Aaron had taken her in, after she told them she was terminally ill, turned her, and treated her as their daughter. That never changed for them. I could still picture the crazed look in Kalia's eyes as Aaron held her, keeping her from running at me, after I slashed Maia's throat. The horror of it was that I had meant to cut her head off, but Kalia pushed me aside, causing only a long gash from my sword.

"Please don't do this, Lily," Christian said, leaning his chin on the top of my head. "You didn't have much of a choice in the matter. She tried to kill both of us. I'm sure, in time, we'll be able to get through to Kalia."

"I hope you're right," I took a deep breath and pushed away from him. "Jose Luis, are you hungry?"

He turned worried eyes to Christian before answering. "No, just thirsty. Inca Kola would be good."

Being a vampire for more than ninety years meant I was not exactly a good cook. I understood his concern, but Carmela, Aloysius's housekeeper, had left some meals already prepared in the freezer for Jose Luis. All I had to do was push some buttons on the microwave we had bought. "I'll get it," Christian said and headed to the kitchen.

"And I'll go get your crutches," I turned a stern look at Jose Luis. "I don't know why you refuse to use them." He laughed and turned on the television, his way of dismissing me.

Bringing a human boy into our lives had never been something I'd considered in the past, but I wouldn't change our decision for anything. Jose Luis, an orphaned fifteen year old, had been sent to kill Christian and me. A group of vampire hunters had taken him in when his parents died in an accident, and with the promise of feeding and supporting him, was using him for his talents. They were also using this newest and youngest member of their pack to do their dirty work while they sat back and kept their manicured nails clean. With Kalia and Aaron not speaking to me, it seemed our best option was to stay in Peru, which was probably best for Jose Luis anyway. As soon as he was well enough, I wanted to hire private tutors so he could finish his schooling.

"What time did he say he's going?" I asked Christian as he walked into Jose Luis's bedroom. I was just pulling the covers over his bed and fluffing his pillows. His crutches lay untouched on the floor by his dresser.

"Since when did you become such a mother?" He smiled, showing he was not trying to be sarcastic. My fuse had been a little short lately.

"I am acting like that, aren't I?" I grabbed the crutches in one hand, a dirty glass in the other.

"Believe me, I like it," He picked up the sneaker in the doorway and tossed it to where its mate lay across the room. "I actually feel like a father myself."

"What if someone decides to claim him? That really scares me. Or what if he's killed because of us?" I leaned on the crutches.

"Neither of us is going to allow that to happen. Anyway, he's going to a nine o'clock show. His friends are meeting him there so he'll be riding with Giovanni. Is that ok?" he asked.

Giovanni, the leader of the bodyguards Aloysius had loaned us before he left, was the best choice to accompany Jose Luis. Though I hadn't known him long, I trusted him.

"That's good. Just make sure he's replaced by someone, maybe Margarita. I don't want the front door unattended. Maybe we should have another guard already in place at the theater, just in case."

"Let's not overdo it. We agreed to one. He'll be fine, and besides, that gives us some time alone." He winked at me. I smiled to ease his mind and followed him to the living room.

That was something to look forward to. We hadn't been alone since we were married. The trip to Lima was supposed to be our honeymoon, a gift from Aaron, Kalia, and Fiore. But before we knew it, it had been one problem after another and all our vampire friends were here to help us in yet another battle that had nothing to do with them. That battle had not turned out well. We had managed to get Jose Luis back but lost everything else in the process.

"Your cell phone is charged. Anything at all happens, you call us. What Giovanni says goes, you hear me?" I asked as Jose Luis put his jacket on. He nodded.

"I will be fine. I am sure I'm the only poor kid running around Lima with a bodyguard."

"Believe me, Jose Luis. We don't like it much either but it's for the best. Just as soon as things settle down again, we can live normally," Christian assured him.

"I am sorry to give you this news, but neither one of you is normal." Jose Luis laughed.

"You know what he means," I lightly smacked his back, trying not to knock him over. "Anything at all out of the ordinary, you call."

"Ok, ok. I promise." He kissed my cheek and waved to Christian. He hobbled out the door to meet Giovanni. I saw he'd already been replaced by Margarita, who sat in her chair paging through a magazine. She raised her head and nodded a greeting. I nodded in return and closed the door.

"You're uncomfortable with the whole bodyguard thing, aren't you?" Christian beckoned me to the sofa.

"It's just really weird. I spent so many years alone, talking to people only when I absolutely had to, and now, I'm surrounded. I feel like we have no privacy." I lay my head back and sighed. "I'm married with a child, too."

He laughed and took my hand. "It sure does feel like we have a child, and I like it. He's a good kid."

"I know he is," I turned my head to look at him. "I just hope we can keep him that way. And I wish he would stop thinking of himself as poor."

"That's probably going to take a little time for him to get used to, considering where he came from."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

A couple of hours later, we lay in each other's arms under the covers and sighed.

"How perfect is this?" Christian said as he snuggled me closer.

"It is, isn't it? I wish it could be like this all the time," I wished.

"Yeah, but you know," He sat up a bit and pushed me away so that he could look into my eyes. "Our relationship was forbidden in the beginning and no matter what we did to stay away from each other, it never worked. We are magnets attracted to each other, no matter what. I think all the difficulties we face only make our love for each other stronger. It just wouldn't be the same without the chaos."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I said and climbed on top of him. "I can show you some chaos right now."

He smiled and nibbled my bottom lip. "I'd definitely like to see the kind of chaos you have in mind."

Once we were back in the living room, I was back in the real world and checking my phone every few minutes. Christian kept laughing at me but wasn't doing a great job of masking the worry in his eyes. A little after midnight, the front door was pushed open and Giovanni rushed in, Jose Luis in his arms. Margarita ran in behind him, leaving her post unattended. She carried his crutches under her arm.

"What the hell happened?" I yelled as Giovanni gingerly set Jose Luis down on the sofa.

"I am ok," Jose Luis assured us before Giovanni could answer.

Giovanni took the crutches from Margarita and signaled for her to return to her post outside the door before turning to face us. "When we were coming out of the theater and into the lobby, a shot was fired. People started running and screaming. It was total chaos. Jose Luis was knocked down to the floor and someone landed on top him. I searched for whoever fired the shot but didn't see anyone with a gun."

I ran to sit at Jose Luis's side. A black and blue bump was already visible on his forehead. "I am ok, really," he assured me. "A girl tripped and knocked me down. I hit my head on the bar where they sell the food."

"You left him alone?" I turned a furious gaze to Giovanni.

"He was down and covered. I took that opportunity to look for the shooter," Giovanni argued, his shoulders squared, his posture confident. I knew he was the best we had. "Whoever fired that shot must have run back out in all the commotion."

"Could it have been a random robbery?" Christian asked.

"I highly doubt it," Giovanni said. "I think I sensed another vampire in the lobby when we first left the theater, but only for a moment."

"Were the police involved?" Christian asked.

"Of course not, at least not while we were still there. I took Jose Luis back into the theater and exited through the emergency door on the side. There was so much commotion in the lobby, I don't think anyone even noticed," Giovanni explained.

"You honestly don't think it was a robbery?" I was grasping at straws.

"I'm sorry but no. Jose Luis was definitely the target. The bullet hit the wall behind him. Had someone not noticed the gun and screamed, causing chaos before the gun was even fired, it would have hit him."

"Thank God for the girl," I sighed.

CHAPTER 2

"Do you think we do what we do just to ruin your image?" I asked Jose Luis as I set his glass of Inca Kola on the coffee table. He looked at me with no expression on his bruised face.

"Lily, maybe we should just let him rest a while," Christian suggested. His tender look calmed me down, just a bit.

"He just got up," I argued and went to open the living room curtains, letting sunlight flood the white room. Christian shielded his eyes. "I want him to understand that this is not a game. I'm not exactly ecstatic about having extra people around me all the time either but, I'm not arguing about it!"

As hard as they tried to conceal their laughter, they weren't able to and I shot cold looks at both of them. "I'm sorry ... I'm sorry," Jose Luis managed between laughs. "I will be serious now." But he couldn't stop the laughter. I huffed, making him and Christian laugh so hard they held their stomachs.

"Fine," I threw my arms up in defeat again. "Whatever. You think it's funny that I'm all motherly? Go ahead and laugh, suit yourselves. You can take care of yourselves, too. I'm going to take a bodyguard and go shopping. We are almost out of people food."

"People food? As opposed to what?" Christian asked.

The laughter died down only after I slammed the bedroom door. Once alone, I smiled. The truth was that I loved seeing Christian so happy. He'd endured so much confusion, sadness, and actual torture since he met me. He was quickly becoming a father figure to Jose Luis and a protector to me, something I hadn't had since my own father.

"Lily?" Christian poked his head into the room. "Why don't you make a list for Carmela, just this once? We can spend some time with Jose Luis; maybe get him to open up a little."

"That might be a good idea. I don't much feel like fighting crowds right now anyway." Aloysius had been kind enough to not only leave us his apartment, but also his housekeeper. Though I had been more than a little reluctant to be in her presence in the past, since she is a human who not only knows about vampires but also works for one, I felt more comfortable with her since she had supplied us with weapons. She never asked questions and she never judged, no matter what she was asked to do. Jose Luis also felt comfortable with her and that was important. I pulled out my cell, dictated a shopping list to Carmela, and then followed Christian out to the living room. We sat on the chairs opposite him and regarded him expectantly.

Jose Luis sat on the sofa paging through a comic book. He threw it onto the coffee table, looking at us through narrowed eyes. "What did I do now?"

Christian laughed and glanced at me. "Nothing. We just want to chat," I said.

"You never just want to chat. You want to know something." He sat up straighter, waiting.

Christian nodded for me to continue. "We just want to know what happened last night. What did you see and hear? Did you recognize anybody?"

He shook his head, his dark hair falling in his eyes. "I did not see anyone I knew, except my friends, of course. We were leaving the cinema, all of us in a line, and people started screaming and running. A girl was pushed into me and we fell. All I could see was her pretty face. Then there was a very loud boom." He blushed and Christian's eyes lit up with amusement.

"That's it? You don't remember anything else?" I insisted.

"I hit my head on the snack thing. People were really screaming. It was so loud. Then it got quiet and the girl got off me, stood up. She gave me her hand to help me up. Then Giovanni came and picked me up and took me back into the cinema, to another door, and we went out to the street. When we drove past the front, the police were just getting there," he explained.

"You sensed nothing?"

He folded his arms over his chest and shook his head. "No. I was ..." He looked at me and then at Christian. "I was sitting with that girl, the one that fell on me. I was not even watching the movie."

"You were on a date?" I yelled. Christian laughed and I ignored him.

"Yes. And it was not my first date, either."

"You're too young for that." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Lily, he's fifteen. He's not a child, but that's not the issue here," Christian said noticing my displeasure. "Someone was there to shoot him. That's what we need to focus on." He turned to look at Jose Luis. "I know you don't like this any more than we do, but from now on you will have more than one bodyguard whenever you go out."

"Why? Other kids my age don't run around the city with bodyguards." Jose Luis turned on the sofa and put both feet on the floor.

"Other kids your age aren't constant targets, either. It's only for your own safety," I said. "I don't think the hunters want you back. I think they want you dead. You don't want to die, do you?"

He looked at both us, his face still expressionless. "No. So why can't we leave here, go to America?"

A lump formed in my throat at the thought of no longer having a home with Kalia and Aaron. Christian took my hand and squeezed it. I couldn't speak and he knew it.

"That's not an option right now. We don't have a home there anymore," he explained.

"So, we can get a new one," Jose Luis offered.

"It's not that simple. We have things to finish here. If we don't end this here and now, they will only follow us and find us no matter where we go. When we know we're safe, and only then, we can think about where we want to settle down more permanently. So for now, this is home." Christian looked at me and I nodded, assuring him I was fine.

"Right now, I would like to talk about what you want," I sat at the foot of the sofa and placed his casted foot on my lap. Focusing only on his recovery, the question of whether or not he wanted to stay with us had been left unasked. "We want to know what you want to happen."

"I don't understand what you are asking." He looked at Christian.

"I think what she's trying to say is that we want to know if you want to stay with us from now on or if there someone else you want to live with, maybe a relative somewhere? Maybe a family friend you'd rather live with?"

Jose Luis's eyes grew wide. He pushed the hair out of his eyes and looked at me with sadness. "No. There is no one. I thought you knew what I wanted."

"We hoped but we didn't know for sure. I'd feel better if you told us." I held my breath, nervous about his response.

"I want to stay with you. There is no one else, but if there was, I would still want to stay with you." His eyes watered and he blinked against the coming tears.

"We are very happy to hear that. That's what Christian and I wanted," I looked at Christian who looked as confused as I felt over Jose Luis's tears. I turned back to Jose Luis as he wiped his eyes with the corner of his blanket. "If that's what you want, then why are you crying?"

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Leilani by L.M. DeWalt. Copyright © 2014 LM DeWalt. Excerpted by permission of Central Avenue Marketing Ltd..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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