A/N - The events of this story take place four years after Dark Promise. You met Natalia at the very end of Dark Sanctum. Consider this story the stuff that happens after Dark Promise and then after I'm done with it, I will go back and reopen Dark Promise and continue Lena's story from there.
Lena is in this story, but Natalia is the main character since it is her and her Hunter that happen to be the main focus of the story. I'm still trying to figure some of this vibe out, but the story starts off a little slow in the beginning. Bear with me, please.
Natalia Rosa Rivera showed up at Lena's house bright and early that Saturday morning. She could still remember what the old house used to look like. It had been a little blue thing with two stories and a drafty basement. And then Andriev had arrived in Danica's life.
He had had some serious money because now the house was totally remodeled. It had been made into three stories, for starters, but the inside had been altered ridiculously: Italian marble tile, crown molding and deep well chosen colors. Paintings and sculptures, as well as other forms of fine art and the best furniture money could have custom made. It looked to her, in one word: Rich.
Though Andriev and Danica still got into debates about the paintings on the wall, the place looked more than well put-together. It looked like a home. There had also been a huge gate and shrubs installed around the entire property. Andriev had purchased the abandoned house right next door all those years ago and only last year had gotten around to taking the property gate and shrubs and expanding them to include the other property. The workmen had just finished renovating that other home since Andriev, apparently, planned to use it as a guesthouse for whenever anyone from The Dark Troubadors or when any other Carpathian couples, like Manolito and MaryAnn, came to visit.
Natalia rang the bell and waited. It was still a little chilly out despite it being the end of spring. It looked like it was going to be one of those years where summer straggled in kind of late. But once it got going, she knew it was going to be really hot, humid and stuffy as any other usual New York summer.
The housekeeper that kept an eye on Lena in the daytime, even though she was in college now, answered the door. Marietta smiled widely, her ample bosom straining at her apron. "Come on in, Nat," said the woman with her heavy southern accent. "I'm trying to bake up these pies for you girls party."
Natalia's grin was instant. "You're going to make them?"
"Of course I'm going to make some pies for my girls!" she exclaimed with a huge smile and a laugh. "Get in here and give me some sugar!"
Natalia happily walked into the home and hugged Marietta and let the older black woman kiss her cheeks like she was a brand name going out of style. The woman had been a God-send for her and Lena. Lena had her own stuff she'd struggled with through the years, but Natalia's issue had been a case of near neglect. Her mother hadn't kept an eye on her as much as she should have and as a result Natalia was headed for becoming a statistic when Marietta landed in her life. As a result, Natalia spent a lot of her time over at Lena's house and was basically swallowed up by their family, their dynamic… and their secrets. It was nearly unavoidable to learn it all since she was 'strange' in her own way. And just like Lena, she had taken it all in stride with an understanding of how important it was to keep her mouth shut. In return, she was given a lot more attention there than she had been given at home. And her parents seemed to be grateful that she was out of their hair.
"Go on up to Lena's room and see if she's up yet," said Marietta. "You two come on into the kitchen later and help me with the food."
"Thanks, Miss Mari," Natalia called her by the shortened name both girls had come up with for her when she'd first shown up. She ran up the steps and went down the hall that was longer than it used to be and knocked on her friend's door. "You awake, Lena?"
"Come in," said a sleepy voice.
Natalia opened her door and stepped into the room that had almost doubled in size after renovations. Lena was in college, the same as Nat, but her room still looked rather girlish. Half the room had a vanity and walk-in closet while the other half of the room sported sci-fi/fantasy and video game posters of Mass Effect and Final Fantasy. Andriev had put his foot down about her hanging Legacy of Kain posters.
Her friend was sitting up in bed, groggy. "What time is it?" she asked, bleary eyed.
"Nine o'clock. Am I too early?"
"Nah," Lena shook her head. "Thanks for coming now. I'd have just kept on sleeping and I promised Aunt Mari I'd help her with the stuff in the kitchen at noon. I'm getting up now." She struggled up out of bed and stumbled into her bathroom.
Natalia sat at Lena's vanity and looked at herself. She studied her reflection from several angles then started messing around with her long dark brown hair. "You think it's a good idea to have this get-together with our study group? I mean… most of them are okay."
"You talking about Jane, right?" Lena said from behind the bathroom door.
Natalia flinched. She couldn't stand that girl, not even the sound of her name. From the time their group had begun their study sessions the year before, everyone realized that Jane was a little bit of a drama queen. At first, it was nothing too over the top. But as time went on, it was obvious to everyon that she had a real problem with Natalia in particular. Lena had wanted to put her out of the group, but Natalia insisted she was fine and could handle her.
Studying was one thing, but socializing? "I don't know what her problem is with me. It's like she sees me and she just—she just gets nasty. What's up with that?"
Lena exclaimed from behind the door, "You're prettier than her! She hates you for that!"
Natalia laughed. "Yeah, a fat chick with hazel eyes. Pretty."
"Would you shut up!" Lena thundered at her. "Thin is not the be-all end-all of beautiful."
They had had this conversation already more than once. "Whatever. Did you finish that poem yet?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Check my desk notebook. I already told you, though, I can't write poetry for nothing, so don't expect anything great."
Natalia went over to Lena's desk and opened the binder. She began reading and nodding, the words instantly playing out like lyrics in her mind and she couldn't help but sing them:
"'Sounds of the warm East Wind
Your hand at my chin
I'll wait for you…
I'm still waiting for you
As the sun we forsake
The second half of my heart you make
It's waiting for you…
I'm still waiting for you—'"
Lena came rushing out of the bathroom then. "That's not the one!"
"I like it!"
"You can't have it!" she said, a little bit angry.
Natalia looked at Lena then and realized what this was. "East wind," she translated it into Spanish, "'Solano'! As in Armand Solano-" She shook her head as her expression fell. "I'm sorry." She felt awful!
Lena sat down on her bed in a huff, half dressed. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have gotten angry like that. You didn't know it was the wrong notebook. I should never have left it there, anyway."
Natalia sat next to her. "It's really good. I can take this and change it a tiny bit, make it into a song. The band would love it."
"Ah, the band!" Lena laughed as she got up and went into her walk-in closet to finish getting dressed.
"Are you sure you don't want to become a back-up singer and dancer?"
"Girl, I can dance," she said from inside her closet, "but I sure cannot sing. Not unless you're trying to attract dogs to your act who want to howl along with me!" She laughed out loud at herself.
"Your singing is not that bad," Natalia insisted. "You just need some time with a vocal coach."
"Is that code for 'your ass can't sing?'"
"Promise me this. You'll be an alternative back-up for the back-up?"
Lena obviously didn't think anything would come of it. "Sure," she shrugged haphazardly. "Why not?"
##
The two girls went down into the kitchen and helped Miss Marietta for the rest of the afternoon, baking and cooking for their get-together. Around 7 o'clock Andriev himself appeared in the kitchen and gave both girls kisses about the forehead. "Are you two young ladies ready to leave in half an hour?" he asked them since he was going to drive them there and help set up.
Both girls giggled as they instantly turned 14 again every time he showed up at the beginning of every evening. "Yes!" they both said in sing-song unison.
Marietta grinned. "They been really good in this kitchen! Made a lot less work for me by helping, I can say that."
"Danica says she shall help you clean up," said Andriev as he began looking for the keys to the van.
"Let Monty drive you there," said Marietta as she shooed him out of her kitchen. "Get outta here now, Andy!" she called him by her little nickname, "Or I'll swat your backside!"
Andriev gave the housekeeper a quick kiss to the cheek. He loved the old couple very much and already his heart ached that they were so close to being gone from his life so soon. He made certain to enter their bodies as pure energy and check up on them on a regular basis while they slept, made certain their arteries and hearts functioned at peak efficiency, made certain their brains continued to run smoothly. Already he had prevented a heart attack in Monty, a stroke in Marietta and a host of other maladies that had attempted to creep in and debilitate the old couple.
They would stay here with them as long as he could hold them to this side of life.
##
The girls sat in the back of the vehicle talking as Monty drove them downtown. Andriev sat next to the older man in the front passenger seat.
Everyone could smell the freshly cooked food in the trunk. "That food smells so good!" exclaimed Natalia.
"I know," Lena agreed. "I can't wait to eat that macaroni salad."
Natalia sucked her teeth. "I hope Jane keeps her mouth shut tonight."
"You know what I said about that girl!" Monty interjected with his rapid southern cadence of speech and while laughing. "Just slap her in the face and run!"
Both young ladies laughed out loud. "The campus has a no-violence policy," Natalia informed him. "So I can't do that."
"Well you can't say Uncle Monty didn't try to help!" he laughed.
Andriev shook his head. He was still having a difficult time grasping some of this centuries humor, what was said in jest or what was meant as sarcasm. He was very concerned, however, about this situation involving Natalia. From what he could deduce from her memories, this young lady Jane had been nearly vitriolic in her hatred for her. She had been a little slighting toward Lena, but Natalia seemed to get the brunt of Jane's ire. It wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that Jane's father contributed a large chunk of money toward the college every year and she seemed to think she owned the establishment, as a result. Andriev had also contributed funds, but not so much that it drew attention to him or his family. That was a no-no.
He thought of what Lena maintained the real problem was. Jane was simply jealous of her best friend. He had to admit that Natalia was a very lovely and gregarious young lady. His Lena was still pretty standoffish toward those she didn't know well, but once she warmed up to someone, she was hilarious. Put the two girls together and it was one joke after another. He knew that when Natalia showed up to events, she very quickly and unintentionally became almost like the life of the party. Perhaps, he thought to himself, this Jane was lacking friends and envious of their friendship? Or perhaps she was envious of the people Natalia was able to naturally draw to her? That piece of Natalia's magnetism, he realized, was a part of her telepathic talents. There were so many reasons this Jane could have for disliking Natalia. But for now, he simply didn't know.
So he decided that for that night he would accompany the girls and see for himself the situation with this Jane.