"I am looking forward to this stage in my life," he informed me over a glass of blood substitute mixed with wine. "Even though the Alliance worlds are quite tolerant toward our kind, it is a great relief to walk freely on the streets at any time and know I belong there."
"I know," I said, smiling at him. "And when we get this university built, it will be open to all vampires, taught by vampires and run by vampires. We may open it up to a few foreign students, but they'll be screened carefully."
"The library as well," Aryn's smile was wider, now. "Imagine all the books that our resident vampires have brought with them. I hope we can convince them to share at least parts of their collections, so that all may have access. Some of those volumes are ancient and the information may have been lost to others. We will have it again and we can transfer all of it into permanent storage. I will be handing over most of my collection as soon as the building is completed."
"That sounds like heaven," I sighed. "I just want to go through the stacks and smell them, one day."
"You will have that day and soon," Aryn promised. Yeah, he wasn't hard to look at. Not at all.
It took me a few days to realize that I hadn't seen Rolfe. I saw Giff every day and her baby pouch was quite large. When I asked her about Rolfe, she pouted.
"They came to get him—Wlodek and Charles. They wanted him to help fight those things—you know—those things."
"The Ra'Ak-enhanced humanoids?"
"They call them Rees," Giff was giving me the phonetic pronunciation. REH could sound like Ree easily enough. I smiled.
"Giff, this means he'll be able to walk in daylight now and eat dinner with you when he gets back," I said. "That's their gift to him, for helping out with this. You just have to be patient."
"I know. But father still has no memory of me and I miss him. We used to do everything together and I wanted him with me, when the child comes." She patted the baby sac carefully.
"Well, we're both in that boat," I told her, giving her a hug. There was a hole in my heart where Roff belonged. I saw him now and then, usually following Flavio when they attended Council meetings or came to the palace. He glanced my way often—in a curious way, I'm sure. Each time I was the one to look away—so I wouldn't weep.
My Falchani came back after two more months had passed. I'd missed them so much and we spent a few wild nights together. Nope, no details, but we were all happy afterward. An invitation was delivered, too, addressed to all my mates and me. It was for dinner and a reception at Gryphon Hall, to celebrate the destruction of the REHs.
"Gavin, stop grumbling," I swatted his ass as I passed him. He was already dressed in a suit and tie. My twins had taken him, Shadow, Erland and Garde shopping. They'd all come home with some very nice things. I was trying to dress myself—Giff and Rolfe were going, too, so Giff was having her own little tizzy about what to wear so the baby pouch would be nicely covered. Comesuli had eleven-month pregnancies—go figure. Of course, the babies did have full sets of teeth and could eat meat right out of the birthing sac, so there was that, I guess.
Kifirin showed up just as I was about to pull Gavin into the hall to join the others. Gavin hates parties, so this was a forced march for him. Kifirin folded all of us, this time.
All Saa Thalarr, Spawn Hunters and Healers were in Adam's huge ballroom, laughing, talking and drinking. As soon as my bunch showed (a few minutes late, of course) Kiarra called for our attention. She got us seated on chairs around the room first before going on to other things.
"I wanted all of you to come so you can meet our newest Spawn Hunters. They will be doing other things in between assignments, but they have already proven themselves admirably. First off, Jeral joined us."
That was a bit of a surprise. I knew I hadn't seen him around, but hadn't asked. I thought he was staying with Griffin, since they were brothers and were becoming close. Jeral walked in looking just the same, only he wore a confident smile on his face. The transition had been good for him. He went to sit with Griffin and Amara, who were there with Wyatt. My little brother, I realized. I had a brother for real, now. The though made me dizzy.
Rolfe was introduced next, and I'd already seen the transformation in him. He didn't seem self-conscious about his height now, whereas he had been before, towering as he did over everybody. Now he wore it comfortably. I was more than happy for him.
"And now, for the ones Belen chose," Kiarra announced. Someone folded to her side, smiling. I was on my feet in a second. Thomas Williams was grinning at me as I rose to go to him. He took my hands and bent down to kiss my cheek.
"It's so good to see you again," he whispered.
"I know," I was trying not to cry. I'd watched him die on a dark night in North Dakota. His family had accepted me and I'd become a member of the Sacramento Pack after Winkler was forced to move my membership from the Dallas Pack. Thomas went to sit next to Martin—they'd renewed their friendship, I could tell. I wanted to get the full story but that would come later.
I went back to my seat between Gavin and Garde. The next one to fold in had Gavin on his feet, though, and I'd never heard that sound come from him before. I realized why after only a second or two. "This is Aurelius," Kiarra introduced the vampire. He had a lion's mane of dark-gold hair and he was a bear of a man—strong and authoritative. When Gavin went to him, Aurelius welcomed his son, crushing him against him and weeping. That was a reunion I never thought to see. Garde pulled me into his lap so Aurelius could sit beside Gavin. They were both misty-eyed when they took their seats.
"You are Gavin's—the Vampire Queen?" Aurelius asked when he settled on the chair beside us.
"Yeah." I wanted to cry for Gavin, too—happy tears. "I can't tell you how glad I am that you're here," I said. "And I want you to meet Connegar soon," I added. Aurelius flashed me a brilliant smile and nodded.
"And now, last but not least," Kiarra was smiling as someone else folded in.
He was tall, black haired, black eyed, and moved with the grace of a werewolf. He wasn't wearing a suit, either, but had settled for jeans and a pullover. No socks were worn with the designer loafers and the grin that came was like a gift from heaven.
"Winkler!" I was shouting his name as I ran as fast as I could in his direction. He took the hit as I crashed into him and he lifted me off the floor, kissing me hard and fast. I was saying his name repeatedly as I kissed every bit of his face I could reach. He finally set me down and got my face between his hands, holding it still for one long, deep, I'll-never-let-you-go-again kiss.
Do you know how much I love you? He sent the mental message.
Not as much as I love you, I returned.
I think not, he argued, giving me a mental chuckle.
"Come on, baby, we're being stared at," Winkler lifted me up and carried me off to the side. Two more chairs were brought so we could sit down.
"The last announcement I have to make before we sit down for dinner," Kiarra called for our attention again, "is that there are Rogue Copper Ra'Ak out there again. The ones that were out planting REHs are now among the worlds of light and Belen says they're making spawn as quickly as possible. The Saa Thalarr and Spawn Hunters will be given schedules to hunt them down. We hope to contain them quickly, before they have a chance to spread again. In the meantime, enjoy yourselves. You've earned it."
"Let's eat," Winkler pulled me from my chair. He was hungry. Well, some things won't ever change.
The End