Eden's Charms (38 page)

The silhouettes from the rose garden of leafless, thorny, rosebushes resembled skeletons crawling from a grave. “Beautiful view, Savanah.”

Hours from now in that very garden, she was supposed to be marrying the love of her life. Instead, she would attempt to put her best face on and try not to break down into a million pieces in front of her family. They didn’t need the stress of worrying, and she didn’t want the attention.

She yawned, her eyes tearing, and she went back to bed.

****

Jovan paced by Savanah’s room trying to kill two birds with one stone. Calm Rylea down and wake Savanah up. Neither of which were working. The baby cried, and Savanah slept like one.

André met Jovan carrying Rian. “Come on, wake her up. It’s two in the afternoon. Besides some package just arrived for her.”

”What is it?” Jovan asked eyebrows raised.

“I didn’t open it. It’s not mine.”

“Did you at least shake it? See if it’s breakable?”

“And if it is—break it? No,
Cherié
.” André chuckled. “It is on the counter.”

“Who sent it?”

“You’re a nosey little woman.”

“That’s not all I am, André.” Jovan got a hair’s distance from his mouth and ran her finger across his bottom lip. “I miss these warming my flesh.”

The door to Savanah’s room opened. André flipped on the switch and set Rian down beside her in the bassinette.

“Good afternoon, Peanut.”

“Is it?” Savanah asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Will you watch these two for your mum and me?”

“Do I have a choice?”

André grabbed Rylea from Jovan and set the little girl down beside her brother. He wrinkled his nose to his daughter as he closed the door.

Savanah sauntered over to the bassinette and peeked in, her nose catching some nefarious odor. “Your Papa’s a sly one all right. Okay, which one of you left me a present? Probably both of you, right? Is that why they dumped you two on me?” Savanah picked up Rylea and hugged the little girl to her chest. “Good morning, my little squeaker.” Savanah kissed the blonde beauty with the blackest eyes she’d ever seen and traded her for Rian. She found out fast where the odor came from. “You’re the devil in disguise.” Savanah turned away from the diaper. “You’ve a healthy appetite, don’t you?” Savanah got the little blond boy with light blue eyes like his mother’s cleaned, powdered and rewrapped. Feeling confident in her parenting skills, she grabbed them both and headed to the kitchen.

“Morning, Molly,” she said in passing.

“Get back here with at least one of those babies, Missy.”

“Pick one.” An impish grin spread across Savanah’s face. Molly went to grab Rylea, but Savanah twisted from her. “Nope. Try again.” Molly went after Rian and Savanah did the same thing, teasing. “Sorry, Molly. I just love them both, and they’re both being so good. I promise, when one starts to cry they’re all yours.”

“Savanah St. James, it’s a blessing seeing that smile of yours. Been way too long.”

Eyeing a raspberry pie on the counter, Savanah passed Rylea to her. “I can’t hold babies and eat.”

“Then pass me Rian,” Raven offered as she sauntered in at a snail’s pace, her pregnancy weighing her down.

Savanah plunked a big kiss on her aunt’s cheek. “Morning, Aunt Ray, how you feeling?”

“Fat and miserable, thank you. You?”

“Mostly alive.” Savanah gave a half-shoulder shrug.

“Are you going to open the box staring at you on the end of the counter?” Raven waddled to it, inkling her head toward the mystery present.

“It’s probably a razor and since I’ve given up shaving my legs?” Savanah yanked up a pant leg to show she wasn’t kidding.

Raven blurt out, “Dear lord, girl, you’re hairier than Julian.”

“Shush.” She turned to walk to the fridge when a strange tug at her heart gave her pause. She coughed to clear her throat, but still, something was there—lodged. “May I?” She hastily swiped Rian’s bottle of milk, unscrewed the nipple and chugged it.

“That’s breast milk, Savvy. What is it? What’s wrong?”

Savanah’s eyes watered. She pat her chest hard a few times trying to shake the idea her heart really did break, physically. Savanah eyed the box on the end of the counter and swore she could hear a heart beating!
Thump-thump
…
thump-thump
…

Savanah aimed her index finger toward the box. “I’m going to go. And that box is going in the trash. Now.”

Savanah picked up the box and the room went black.

****

“Miss St. James, you have something I want and I have something you need. Shall we make a trade?”

“Where am I? And who am I talking to?” Savanah floated, wearing only her birthday suit in a room with windows everywhere. Bright, warm, light blinded her. She spun in the air, her hair free-floating above her as if she were suspended in a pool of water, weightless.

“Physically, Miss St. James, your body is on your kitchen floor. Your family is trying to revive you as we speak. Metaphysically, welcome to my world. Please tell me you haven’t forgotten me so soon. I introduced myself to you in New Orleans.”

“Where are my freaking clothes? Am I dead? Did I just have a heart attack? I died from a broken heart, didn’t I? Why isn’t my heart hurting right now? I feel nothing other than cold.”

“Do you really want the answers?”

“I don’t know. Do I? What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I so cold? Please tell me why I’m naked. Oh crap! Can you see me?” A sudden case of self-effacing panic shrouded around her. Trying to cross her legs proved impossible to do in her current state of void. She was neither here nor there, but she was both.

“You are in between life and death right now. I believe I heard you say a few times now you, ‘just wanted to die.’ Do you really? Choose your words wisely, Miss St. James. What caused you to give up on life?”

“Did my Papa get me drunk again? Am I dreaming? If I am dreaming I want Ethan not some voice asking me annoying questions, giving me another question in place of an answer.”

“What is it about Ethan you would choose death to be with him now?”

Savanah tried scratching her head. That movement alone stopped her. She couldn’t feel her hands or head or anything other than an insatiable itch she couldn’t reach. She looked down. Her body lay crumpled on the floor with her Aunt Raven screaming and her Uncle Jonah doing CPR. “He has my heart, Ethan. I handed it to him on a platter. He kept me safe, made me feel beautiful and loved. And I wanted him to feel the same way.”

“Miss St. James, I’ll say it once more. I have something you need and you have something I want.”

“What?”

“My book.”

“Are you the vamp that bit me?”

“What do you think?”

“There you go again answering me with a bloody question. I’m finding this whole conversation a bit too surreal. If I say yes than I’m talking to Dracula in the nether-world. If I say no I’m certifiably dead.”

“Why didn’t you open the box? Where were you headed before you dropped off the face of the earth?”

“Just so you know? That doesn’t have a nice ring to it. To answer you, I was going to the store to tell the woman I no longer need my wedding dress. Been in denial since Ethan died. I just haven’t had the heart to cancel it. I guess I really don’t have one now do I?” Savanah laughed. And just as quickly she stopped. “Is this purgatory?”

“No. Purgatory is for sinners. Your soul is pure.”

“But I melted a mutant. Oh, and Devon’s fingers. Not sure if his penis is still attached. He stopped me mid-charm.”

“Your soul is safe. The beings you destroyed were mutants, just as Androgen man. As for Devon, the jury’s still out.”

Savanah found a peculiar smile working its way to her lips. “Are you really Dracula? How are you here?”

“Believe it or not, I have friends in high places, Miss St. James. Life really isn’t all black and white, nor death. I must tell you, when you were in New Orleans, your Ethan did something to me that no man has done in at least three hundred years of my soulless existence. He restored my faith in man. He did nothing but go on and on about you telling me he’d die to save you. He kept his promise. He said he’d go willingly through the gates of Hell if I allowed you safe passage. Do you remember fighting me in New Orleans? You said the exact things your Ethan did even after only knowing the man a few days. That is why I released him and that is why I had to see you once more and give you this option. Now, for the last time, do we have an accord as your uncle says?”

“What deal? Am I really making a deal with the devil?”

“Pretty damn close. Trade with me.”

“What do I get?”

“Your heart’s desire.”

“Okay, then why does my heart ache again?”

Chapter Twenty

Serina jumped inside Savanah’s body as soon as she heard the screams from Raven and Molly. She found nothing at all wrong with her niece. She was as healthy as a horse—well with the exception that she’d turned a putrid shade of blue, had no pulse or respirations…and died!

“Savanah? Please, Serina—save her.” Jovan knelt beside her daughter, blindsided by tears. Her hands shook as she touched her daughter’s clammy face. “André,” Jovan choked, “This isn’t happening. Babies aren’t supposed to die before parents.”

André wiggled his daughter’s toes. “Please don’t leave me, baby,” he whispered. “Please, Peanut, don’t leave your papa.”

In the far corner of the kitchen Julian was sheet white, except for the red eyes from crying. Lucian stumbled to him and hugged him. Duncan, in no better shape, walked in between both men and held on. Jonah sat on the floor next to Raven, with his arm around Savanah’s legs.

****

With all of her family gathered around her in the kitchen hysterical, Savanah wondered what possible atrocity brought them together this time? “What’s going on? What did I miss?”

Jovan gasped and passed out. Savanah sprung up from the floor as if she not about met her death and rushed to her mother’s side.

“Mum?”

No one moved, other than all eyes following her.

“Hey! Mum passed out. What’s up with you guys? Some help?” Savanah yelled.

“Peanut? Are you okay?”

“I’m not the one down for the count,” she yelled louder as she cradled her mother’s head in her arms.

“She’s fine, Savanah,” Serina answered. Serina grabbed a cool cloth and washed Jovan’s face. Jovan came round and smiled as if she’d been given back the gift of life when she saw Savanah.

Serina added, “You, on the other hand, Missy, died on us.”

“Aunt Serina, did you screw up another spell?”

Julian answered, “Death, the final frontier, the pearly gates?”

“All right, Rod Sterling, now I know you’re pulling a fast one on me. I feel fine except my chest hurts.”

Jonah told her, “Because I did chest compressions on you.”

Savanah inspected each and every member of her family waiting for one of them to admit this was a giant hoax. Awkward silence filled the kitchen. “My God, you’re serious.”

Serina nodded yes.

“Holy cow! I knew my heart ached—unbearably for the past months, but death? Guess I better be more careful what I wish for.” Savanah’s eyes were drawn to the end of the counter. The box struck a raw nerve. She grabbed the container and a pulse wave shot up the length of her arm making her gasp. Julian stood beside her before she finished inhaling.

“What is it?” Julian reached for the box.

“Don’t touch it, Jules.” Savanah opened the box with caution keeping her head far away just in case something popped out.

So slowly, André piped in, “Much longer and I’ll be the next one dead.” That comment immediately followed Jovan elbowing him in his side.

Inside the container sat a black lacquer box with a soured aroma permeating the area. Savanah shrieked, “It’s a heart!” and dropped the box on the floor.

Spilling like a broken wheel, the rotted organ tumbled unevenly to Raven’s feet. She stepped back faster than she’d moved in months.

“What sick psycho would send you a heart and better yet, whose is it or was it to be more precise?” Jonah asked.

“Open the other box, Savvy.” Duncan pointed to the larger of the two boxes.

“Not really sure I want to, Duncan. Body parts weren’t on my wish list this year unless it came in one package, healthy and breathing and looked and acted and sounded exactly like…” Savanah stopped and chomped on her cheek.
Ethan
…

A piece of parchment glided to the counter while her anger shredded the brown paper. Eyes fixed on the contents, she pulled out the golden cup. Covering her mouth didn’t stop the scream that squeaked its way free.

Jovan tugged at Savanah’s jeans. “What’s the paper say?”

“Have a drink with me at midnight in the garden of Eden.”

“What the hell?” André scratched his head. “Where is the garden and who wants to drink with you?”

Savanah explained, “The Maestro swiped this cup before he fled Sinsations. I saw him pocket it. I told you all the history behind it. It’s Draque’s cup. He wants it back.”

“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I let you go have a drink with that ghoul and what garden?” Julian said staunchly.

“Our rose garden, I think. It’s the only thing I can think of. Why would he send me a heart?”

Serina bent down and grabbed the defiled organ and tossed it into the sink. “It’s a vamp’s heart all right.” A little nudge and it slipped into the garbage disposal. Serina flipped on the switch.

“Okay, that’s really vile. I’m out of here.” Jonah walked out followed by Molly and Duncan.

“Me too. Look, I’ve gotta go into town. I’ll be home in a while.” Savanah threw her coat on, and headed for the door.

“Take someone with you. What happens if you black out again?” Jovan asked.

“Mum, I’m fine. It won’t happen again unless I don’t show up in the rose garden tonight. This guy wants his cup back. I got everything returned from Sinsations and have everything he owns in storage in England and all he wants is his cup?” Savanah shrugged her shoulders.

“Wait up, Peanut. I’m coming whether you like it or not.” André followed Savanah out the door, wiping his eyes dry.

****

Gathered in the kitchen, the entire St. James’ family smiled when Payton turned to them holding a thirty-five pound turkey, golden brown with sage stuffing pouring out the end of the bird. On the counter sat a twenty pound spiral-sliced, honey-glazed ham and next to that a standing rib roast, surrounded by baby roasted red potatoes with rosemary and thyme.