Deathless (17 page)

After dinner, they had spent more than an hour decorating the tree with brightly colored decorations and tiny white lights. All the while, Christmas carols played joyfully from the stereo. They finished by wrapping strands of silver garland around the tree, and the result was the most beautiful tree Leesa had ever seen. When she had finally gone to bed, she had fallen asleep with “Frosty the Snowman” playing over and over in her head. Something about the magic in the song was especially appealing to her.

And now, this morning was even better than last evening.

They were all gathered in the living room. Leesa was sitting her in favorite place, the rocking chair. Max was beside her, as always, and she absently scratched his furry head. Her mom, Aunt Janet and Bradley were all on the couch. Uncle Roger, looking jolly in a worn Santa Claus hat, was taking his time pulling presents from beneath the tree and passing them out to the proper recipient one by one. The room was fragrant with the scent of the recently cut tree and more Christmas carols played in the background.

Even the Old Man Winter had cooperated, sprinkling a light dusting of snow over the area last night while they slept. The snowfall totaled barely an inch, but it had still managed to turn everything into a white, winter wonderland. For a girl from San Diego, an inch was more than enough. Leesa was a bit disappointed they wouldn’t be able to build a snowman, but it sure looked beautiful outside. She was planning on going out later to make a snow angel or two on the front lawn.

Uncle Roger pranced over to her, chortling “Ho, ho, ho,” for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning and carrying a small package wrapped in candy cane wrapping. A bright red ribbon bow covered most of the front of the package. He handed the present to her.

“
This one’s for you, from your Aunt and me.”

Ever the practical one, Leesa carefully pulled the bow from the box and set it aside so it could be used again next year. Sliding her finger under the wrapping paper, she gently peeled it off. Inside was an i-Phone.

“
Wow! Thank you, Aunt Janet and Uncle Roger.” Leesa got up and gave her uncle a big hug.

The phone was the perfect gift. She had been thinking it was probably time to get a cell again, and now she had one. Even better, this was from a totally different service from her last one, so if that guy who claimed to be her father was still trying to find her, it would be that much harder for him.

Uncle Roger turned to Leesa’s mom. “Judy, don’t you have something for Leesa that goes along with this?”

Judy crossed to the tree and pulled another small package from beneath it. This one was wrapped in red paper decorated with small Christmas trees. She smiled and handed it to Leesa.

“
This is from Bradley and me.”

Leesa smiled back. Her mom and brother didn’t have much money, so any gift was thoughtful. She unwrapped this present with equal care. Inside was a purple rubber bumper for her new phone. She laughed.

“
Since you broke your last one, we figured we should get you some extra protection for this one,” Bradley said, grinning.

“
Ha! You’re right about that,” Leesa said as she began working her phone into the bumper.

“
You’ve been without a phone for awhile now,” Aunt Janet said. “Your uncle and I figured a college girl needed a phone—especially a girl with a boyfriend.”

“
Thanks, Aunt Janet, but Rave doesn’t use phones, remember?”

Leesa wondered if the rubber bumper would keep Rave’s magical energy from frying the phone if he touched it, but she doubted it. She stifled a giggle as a totally absurd thought popped into her head. If the rubber bumper did manage to protect the phone from Rave’s heat, maybe she could get a pair of those thick rubber lips people wore for costumes and use them to protect her when she and Rave kissed. She shook her head and chased the foolish thought away.

“
Oh, that’s right,” Aunt Janet said. “I forgot. Still, your uncle and I will feel better knowing we can get in touch with you anytime we want, and that you can reach us if you need to. I’m sure that goes double for your mother.”

“
It’s great, Aunt Janet,” Leesa said. “I’d been thinking it was time to get a new one. Now I don’t have to.”

“
Speaking of Rave,” Judy said, “where has he been? Are we going to see him for the holidays?”

“
No, I don’t think so,” Leesa said. “His clan has all gone away for a bit, on some kind of pilgrimage.”

“
All of them?” Uncle Roger asked, puzzled. He had grown up not too far from the Maston settlement. “I don’t remember ever hearing about them doing that.”

“
Is it a religious thing, for Christmas?” Aunt Janet asked.

Leesa shook her head. “No, it’s not really religious. It has something to do with the solstice. I don’t completely understand it, but it’s not something they do every year. There’s something special about this year.”

“
Where did they go?” Judy asked.

“
Somewhere up north… in New Hampshire.”

Uncle Roger grinned. “Never heard of anyone making a pilgrimage to New Hampshire,” he said. “Those people are certainly strange. No offense, Leesa.”

Leesa smiled. “None taken.”

She noticed Bradley was watching her, a very thoughtful look on his face.

“
What is it?” she asked him.

Bradley hesitated, clearly uncomfortable. “Is Rave a vampire,” he asked, finally.

Leesa was stunned. Where had that come from?

“
What?” she managed to stammer. “Not hardly. Why on earth would you ask that?”

Bradley looked chagrined. “Just something I was thinking,” he said. “You told us the other night the solstice makes vampires extra hungry or something. And now you say Rave is gone, also because of the solstice.”

“
So?” Leesa asked, not clear yet where her brother was going with this.

“
So I was wondering if maybe Rave’s gone away right now so he wouldn’t be tempted, to…you know.”

Leesa suddenly got it. “To drink my blood, you mean?”

“
No… I mean, yes. Don’t get me wrong, Rave seems like a really great guy, and I can tell he’s crazy about you. So, when you started talking about the solstice again, I thought, maybe…because he’s crazy about you…maybe that’s why he’s not around right now.”

“
Oh, come now, Bradley,” Judy said. “Just because Rave’s people left for a pilgrimage doesn’t make him a vampire.”

“
There’s more to it than that,” Bradley said. Now that he had opened up the subject, he was determined to follow through with it. “There’s the whole thing about no phones or cars or anything. And how easily he caught that
grafhym
when we needed its blood for you, Mom.”

Leesa shook her head. Not much got past her brother. He was so far from the truth it was laughable, but at the same time, he was closer than he knew. Before she could reply, Uncle Roger joined in.

“
Didn’t you say he had Special Forces training or something, Leesa?” he asked. “Back when Rave captured the one-fang for you?”

“
Not Special Forces, but lots of special training,” Leesa replied. “Trust me, Bradley. Rave is
not
a vampire. I assure you.”

“
If Rave was a vampire, honey,” Judy said to Bradley, “why would Leesa have had to offer herself to that monster Stefan in order to free you?”

Bradley had no answer to that. “I guess you’re right. That wouldn’t make any sense.” He turned to Leesa. “I’m sorry, pumpkin. I was just worried about you.”

Thank you, Mom
, Leesa thought. “That’s okay, big brother.” She smiled to let him know it truly was okay. “Old habits are hard to break. You looked after me for a lot of years. No reason you should stop now.”

“
Now that we’ve got that settled,” Judy said cheerfully, “there’s still a few more presents under the tree.”

Leesa was relieved to have the focus taken off Rave. Still, she wondered how much longer she would be able to keep his true nature a secret—and what would happen when her family finally learned the truth.

23. A WELCOME GUEST

T
hree days after Christmas, Leesa and Bradley were in the new apartment, assembling inexpensive furniture purchased from the IKEA store in New Haven. They had driven down the day before in Uncle Roger’s Expedition and picked out everything they thought they would need for their mom and Bradley to be at least semi-comfortable. Leesa would be going back to school in less than a week, so they had just borrowed an air mattress from Uncle Roger for her to sleep on up in the loft. They didn’t really have to figure out how to furnish the loft until school ended for the summer.

They had already put together a bed for their mom and one for Bradley. The instructions were clear and simple and few tools were necessary. Leesa was now assembling a pair of dining chairs to go with the table Bradley was building. Their mom was at the bakery, working. Bradley had set up a CD player, but all of Leesa’s music was back at the dorm, so they were listening to a collection of Christmas carols borrowed from Aunt Janet. Leesa did not mind extending the holiday spirit a little longer at all.

A knock on the door surprised them both. They were not expecting visitors—indeed, no one other than Aunt Janet and Uncle Roger even had the new address yet.

Leesa looked over at Bradley and saw he was in the middle of attaching one of the legs to the table.

“
I’ll get it,” she said.

She laid the chair she was working on down on its side and stood up. She guessed it was probably the apartment manager at the door, or maybe one of the maintenance staff, but when she opened the door she found herself looking at the last person she expected.

“
Rave!” she exclaimed joyously.

Without thinking, she leaped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and hugging him tightly. She had missed him fiercely, but hadn’t known just how much until this moment.

Rave held her weight easily. “It’s nice to see you, too,” he said, smiling.

“
It’s a good thing you are not human, Rave,” a voice from behind him said in a joking tone. “Otherwise, this one might have broken your back.”

Leesa looked over Rave’s shoulder and saw two volkaanes grinning at her. She felt herself blush as she disentangled herself from Rave’s arms and lowered her feet back to the ground.

That Rave’s companions were volkaanes was obvious. They were both outrageously handsome—though not quite as gorgeous as Rave, of course—with the same dark copper locks and bronze skin. They appeared to be around Rave’s age, though with volkaanes you could never be sure. All three were wearing jeans and long-sleeved flannel shirts. Rave’s was black and white, the other two red and black.

Rave eased to the side and introduced his friends.

“
Leesa, this is Dral and Bain. They are my birth mates and my friends.”

Leesa grinned sheepishly, still a bit embarrassed about her recent display, and held out her hand. The two volkaanes each shook it in turn. Both exuded the same warmth from their hands as Rave.

“
She is as pretty as you described, Rave,” Dral said, grinning.

Leesa blushed again and began twirling her fingers in her hair. Still, she was thrilled to hear that Rave talked about her to his volkaane friends.

“
Nice to meet you both,” she said. “I’m not sure what birth mates are, but any friend of Rave is certainly a friend of mine.”

“
We were all born from the same Festival of Renewal,” Dral explained.

“
We grew up and trained together,” Bain added.

Leesa remembered Rave telling her that volkaane offspring were raised communally and were not considered adults until they were forty. No wonder they were close.

“
How did you find me, Rave? We just moved in here yesterday.”

“
We stopped at your aunt and uncle’s. Your aunt gave me the address.”

“
Oh. Well, come in, everyone,” Leesa said, grabbing Rave’s arm.