Deception (Absent Shadows Trilogy Book 3) (5 page)

~ Chapter Seven ~

The decision to go to Mladen was an easy one—it was only a question of timing. When I explained what had happened to Mom, she agreed completely, and although she was sad that we’d be going, she knew it had to be this way. We agreed to wait until the end of the month, just after Ceylona’s birthday.

I excused myself and went upstairs to ring Sam—my hands shaking at the thought of speaking to him. It had been two and a half years since I’d seen him; would everything be the same? Could we simply pick up where we’d left off?

I knew I had to make the call quickly—I couldn’t afford to hesitate or I would lose my nerve. I pushed the call button after bringing up his number, and then held my breath as the phone rang out. He didn’t answer. And there was no voice mail. Immediately I thought of Claire, ringing Tom only to find the same thing happen. What was going on with these guys? Had something gone wrong? Was that why he hadn’t answered my emails? I decided to try a bit later, so I waited until after dinner, when Ceylona had gone to bed. I rang his number again, but it was the same thing. No answer—no voice mail.

Two days later, after several more failed calls to Sam, I rang Crystal. She answered on the first ring.

‘Lili! How nice to hear your voice,’ she said, sounding almost breathless. ‘Tell me … has something happened with Ceylona? Is that why you’re ringing?’

‘Yes. She’s definitely a dhampira. She spotted a vampire, and then stood up to him. It was frightening, but at the same time I was so proud of her.’

‘Oh, what a relief—that’s just wonderful news,’ she said, her voice more excited than I’d ever heard it. ‘So, when will you arrive? Shall I meet you at Mladen’s? I think it’s best if you go straight there, don’t you?’

I wanted to ask about Sam, but I was afraid to hear the answer. I swallowed, and took a deep breath instead.

‘Yes, that sounds great, Crystal. I’ll organise the flights now, and send you an email with the details.’

‘When will you come? I suppose tomorrow’s too quick, but how about the following day?’

‘No … we’ll leave the day after Ceylona’s birthday. Mom needs … a little more time.’

‘Oh,’ she said, clearly disappointed. Then after a moment she continued, her voice now sounding resigned. ‘Yes, well, that’s fair enough, I suppose. She’ll miss her; and you. Send me the details when you know them. And Lili, I can’t begin to tell you happy I am.’

~~***~~

The drive to Mladen’s from Perth’s airport was a long one. It was stuffy in the taxi and, after nearly twenty-four hours of travelling, I was struggling to stay awake. I was past exhaustion and heading for delirium.

Ceylona, however, looked quite bright and happy beside me on the back seat. She showed no signs of exhaustion or dehydration, and didn’t seem nearly as tired as I felt. Unlike me, she had slept well on the flight across the Pacific as well as the second flight from Sydney to Perth.

From time to time the driver looked over his shoulder to ask me directions as we made our way further and further inland, heading in a north-east direction. Although he’d admitted he’d never heard of any artist community out this way, the driver had been more than happy to take us; after all it was nearly a two hour trip, and the fare was going to be considerable.

When we left the paved road behind us and headed onto a dusty dirt road that was full of ruts, I could see him grumble a bit, but I assured him we were nearly there. And when we finally pulled up in front of the ornate wrought iron gates, he looked as relieved as I felt.

Crystal was waiting for us at the gates. She stood there in a pale pink sari with her dark hair hanging almost to her waist. She looked even more exotic than I’d remembered, and I couldn’t get over how fresh she looked even in this heat.

As soon as the car stopped, she ran over and opened my door, giving me a hug without even waiting for me to get out.

‘Did you have a good trip, Lili? You can’t imagine how anxious I’ve been, waiting for your arrival,’ she said. Then, before I could reply, she went around to the other side of the car and opened the door, crouching down to greet Ceylona at eye level.

‘Ceylona, happy belated birthday. I’ve been so excited to see you again. I’m sure you don’t remember me, but I certainly remember you,’ she said, handing Ceylona a small present wrapped in beautiful paper with a large bow on it.

‘You’re my Aunty Crystal. You’re going to be my teacher, aren’t you?’

I was standing just behind Crystal now, who turned to look at me, the smile on her face making her radiant.

‘You didn’t tell me she was speaking so well, Lili?’ she said. Then she turned back to Ceylona and continued, ‘yes, Ceylona, I’ll be your teacher for a little while; along with a few others. You’ll like this place, I promise. Let’s go inside and put your suitcases away and get you settled in, shall we?’

Ceylona peeked around Crystal to catch my eye, and when I nodded in approval, she took Crystal’s hand and got out of the car, still clutching her birthday present firmly in her tiny fist.

I paid the driver as he handed me our suitcases, then followed Crystal and Ceylona along the driveway to the school.

As I watched the pair of them walking ahead of me, I couldn’t help but see the similarities in them. Ceylona, who I would swear had grown at least an inch over the past few days, seemed to move in the same floating fashion that Crystal did. And not only had she grown taller, she’d also lost the round babyish look, taking on a rather slender, delicate look.

I could only assume that it had something to do with the encounter with the vampire at Coyote Point—maybe it had triggered some sort of growth spurt. For not only had she grown suddenly, but as Crystal had noted, she was also talking like a much older child.

They’d stopped in the foyer, and I could see Crystal introducing Mladen to Ceylona. As I approached, Mladen turned to look at me, his face expressionless. I felt my heart begin to pound as I tried to read his reaction to seeing me. Did he despise me for keeping Ceylona away for so long? Or did he have sympathy for me, even now?

Mladen saved me further panic when he came up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders to pull me toward him in a gentle hug.

‘Welcome back, Lili,’ he said, a smile warming his previously expressionless face.

‘Thank you, Mladen. I’m sorry I’ve been away so long.’

‘No, don’t be sorry. These things take time. We understand. But you must be tired after your long journey; let me show you upstairs to your room. I’m afraid the room you’ve had previously is in use, but we’ve made up another down the hall. I hope you’ll find it just as nice. We thought you might like to share with Ceylona—at least for a few days—while she settles in.’

‘Yes, thank you Mladen. That would be perfect,’ I replied, my uneasiness fading.

‘Oh, and Crystal tells me that you’ve discovered that you’re related to my dear friend and colleague, Francis. He’s a very talented dhampir, your great-grandfather. I hope that someday you will be able to meet him.’ Once again his face showed no emotion, so I wasn’t sure if he’d been surprised by the news, or if he’d just taken it in his stride. Had he known dhampirs were capable of producing offspring?

‘Are you still in touch with him, Mladen?’

‘No, my dear, I’m afraid I’ve not heard from him for many years, but that’s not to say I won’t at some stage. I’ll keep alert for word. He’ll turn up, sooner or later. Now, Crystal, would you be so kind as to bring Ceylona, and follow us upstairs to their room?’

‘Of course,’ she said, taking Ceylona’s small hand in hers.

As I watched Crystal take her hand, I could see that Ceylona was already slipping from me. She was part of their world now. I’d known it would happen, from that moment at the beach, but knowing it didn’t make it any easier. I dreaded the day I would have to leave, and she would have to stay.

I swallowed hard, then turned back to see that Mladen had picked up the two suitcases and disappeared up the stairs. I headed up after him. It was very quiet in the building and as I walked along the hallway I could hear the soft echo of my footsteps. The others seemed to walk silently—even Ceylona.

I wondered if there were any other young dhampirs or dhampiras being trained at the moment. Would Ceylona have any friends? Ben and Henry were still here of course, but even though they were not much older than Ceylona, unlike her they’d been growing as normal dhampirs do—they would be nearly full grown adults now and not exactly playmates for Ceylona.

As I thought of them I wondered—would I recognise them? And would they recognise me?

~~***~~

Dinner had always been fairly casual on my previous visits, but not tonight. The large table was beautifully set, with a white linen table cloth, and large candlesticks made of highly-polished gold and silver. The china was incredibly fine white porcelain, so delicate that the pieces were nearly translucent at the edges. And the silverware was trimmed with gold that shone as if it had been polished by jewellers. It seemed to me that Mladen must be trying to impress one of the guests, but I couldn’t imagine it was me.

Mladen sat at the head of the table, and although he didn’t look any older than Crystal, his manner hinted of his age. I’d never been told exactly how old he was, but I did know that he was several hundred years old, and was thought to be the oldest dhampir in Australia.

On his right sat Crystal, looking as beautiful as always in a pale gold sari. On his left was a very striking woman I’d never met. She was dressed in red, and had long jet-black hair. Ben and Henry, who seemed unable to take their eyes off this dark woman, were seated to Crystal’s right. And directly across from them, and to the left of this dark woman, was one of the teachers who I recalled meeting briefly when I was here last time. On his other side sat a rather plain looking woman whom I assumed was here to give birth to a dhampir. Ceylona and I were seated side by side at the opposite end of the table—directly across from Mladen.

When we were all settled, Mladen made the introductions. As I’d guessed, the plain woman, Jenny from Tasmania, was due to have her child in a few days.

The teacher beside her was Sebastian. He’d been here with Mladen for many years, but this was his first meeting with Jenny.

Then the woman on Mladen’s left was introduced. Her name was Angelica, and she was a young dhampira from Spain. When she looked at me, I thought her eyes seemed to narrow ever so slightly, but only for a fraction of a second. Then her face turned to a soft smile. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but she hadn’t been in Australia long, so I couldn’t have met her before. It seemed that she’d heard about Crystal, and had come to Australia to meet her, and learn from her.

When she spoke to me, Angelica was quite pleasant and polite, gently batting her eyelashes at Ben and Henry as she told me how pleased she was to meet the mother of such charming young dhampirs. Her accent was as exotic as her appearance; but it was not at all like the Spanish I was used to hearing in California—it was deeper, with more rolling of the r’s than I was used to.

I had to agree that she was right, however; my boys were charming, as well as handsome and well educated. Their conversation throughout dinner was light and free flowing without so much as an ‘err’ or ‘umm’ to be heard from either of them. I’m not entirely sure why I was surprised by this; after all, they were following in the footsteps of Michael who was always such a gentleman. But when I’d last seen Ben and Henry they were playing with toy trucks and fire engines, and it just seemed impossible that three years later they could be these sophisticated young men.

The most pleasing part of the night was to see how taken my boys were with their younger sister. Their conversation over dinner was mostly stories of their years here with Mladen, and they seemed to take great pleasure in making Ceylona giggle at some of their antics. It was such a delight to see the three of them together that I found myself feeling terribly guilty for having denied them her company for so long. But at least they had each other now, and knowing this took a little of the sting out of having to leave her—she would be with family.

Dinner was to be followed by coffee and brandy, but I made our excuses to return to our room. It seemed forever since I’d had any sleep, and even though Ceylona was a dhampira, she was still growing and I felt she needed her rest. We said our goodnights and slipped upstairs to our room.

Shortly after I’d gone to our room there was a light tap on the door. It was Crystal, wanting to know if I was still awake so that we could chat. I looked over my shoulder at Ceylona; she was fast asleep. No harm could come to her here. I pulled the door shut behind me, and then followed Crystal along the hall and down the staircase into a sitting room just off the main foyer. We sat on a small sofa, side by side, and for the first time all day we were alone.

‘She’s so beautiful, Lili. You should be very proud of her. But I’m sure you are,’ Crystal said, taking my hand.

‘Yes, I am. And you know she’s just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She’s hardly ever said a cross word. Well, just that one time, but I’ve told you about that—the day at the beach. But other than that, she never loses her temper, never cries, never throws temper tantrums like you see with other children. She has been, without a doubt, the perfect child.’

‘Hmmm, yes, I’m sure of that. And I’m just so glad you’re here now. So, the flight was good?’

‘Fine … the travelling didn’t seem to bother Ceylona one bit,’ I replied. ‘Oh, and I meant to thank you for Ceylona’s birthday gift. It was so thoughtful of you. The locket is similar to the one I have, with my parent’s photos in it. But I guess you knew that—that must be why you thought of it? And the photos—they’re the ones in the photo I sent Sam, aren’t they?’

‘Yes,’ she replied, with a shy smile. ‘I always thought it was really lovely that you wore that locket—keeping your parents close to your heart. And I thought it would be nice for Ceylona—to have you and Sam close to her heart.’

We both smiled, and then sat there in silence for a moment. Then we both spoke at the same time. We laughed, each telling the other to go ahead. Finally, I started.