Thanks again, Mistrus. I realize now that I just took for granted that everyone reading this would have read Feehan's books and would be familiar with most of the other characters (the only one I introduced was Aleksandra) and situations. Apologies for that presumption--- a short description of the original characters borrowed from Christine Feehan's books follows this chapter. I haven't read all the books myself so any inconsistencies pointed out would be much appreciated.
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Aleksandra wandered, bored. Apparently, most of the people here were like her brother --- which meant she would be alone for several hours yet until the sun went down. So she began to explore.
What did they call this place—an estate? It was huge and there were several houses, not just one. She wasn't sure she understood that --- wasn't it kind of wasteful when it seemed they didn't really make use of the place? So far she had explored three of maybe five or six houses built into the mountain at different levels, so cunningly camouflaged with trees and foliage that she doubted they could be seen from above. The main house was old – she'd been hard-pressed to shut off all the energies bombarding her when she touched the ancient wooden door. Centuries' worth. Huge, set in carved stone, so tall it seemed it had been built to let giants pass, the old wood had absorbed the energies of all those centuries of people walking through it, all the excitements and tragedies of a place that had been well and truly lived in. How did that old saying go --- the walls have ears? Well maybe not ears but walls certainly had memories. If people knew how much a wall or even a door could tell someone who knew how to listen they would probably never do or say anything indoors. This particular door had so much to say that it was overwhelming to her so she refrained from touching it and continued her exploration. She had yet to encounter a single soul.
That changed as she explored the next house, some way down the slope. Unlike the main house, this one was brand spanking new with gleaming fixtures and fancy amenities. Geometric lines to everything --- clean circular furniture here, sharply angled decorations there. White and blinding-shiny chrome everywhere. Recessed lighting. Drawers and closets that slid open and shut with barely a push of a finger. Fancy faucets that ran hot water and cold water and any combination of the two. Sparkly bathrooms of cavernous size that showed no signs of wear. What was that phrase that so amused her? Top of the line. Yes, that was it --- everything here was top-of-the-line. Just the sight of it screamed money – demanded you not only acknowledge but salute the fact that no expense had been spared. This was apparently a place where ostentation was venerated.
Sensing a presence she went in search of it. She found a kitchen the size of a baseball field and opened the door of what turned out to be a humongous larder filled with food. A pair of huge eyes stared out at her from the dark nook under the lowest shelf.
"My word, you are fond of dark tight places, aren't you?"
The eyes blinked and Aleksandra reached out and drew the culprit from his hiding place. "I get the feeling you have people looking for you again," she said to the child, a little boy maybe a year and a half old with tawny hair and bright green eyes. He blinked and touched her face for a moment and then squirmed to get free. Aleksandra laughed and put him down, following him as he toddled out the door with the rolling, unsteady gait of one who has just learned how. She caught him as he tripped over the threshold and he giggled as she swung him up and tossed him in the air.
"Oh my God you've found him!" Aleksandra turned as a young woman came rushing up and grabbed the child from her arms. His mother, she figured instantly ---- she had the same tawny hair flowing down her back and the same green eyes, liquid now with tears. She hugged the child tight.
"He was just exploring," Aleksandra said, her tone one of reassurance as she sensed the genuine depths of the woman's distress.
"Thank you for finding him!" the young woman said to her. Aleksandra could tell she was trying hard to keep from crying. She wasn't doing a very good job. Aleksandra somehow got the feeling this lady cried a lot--- the aura of tears and despair surrounded her like a shroud and she actually found herself taking a step back to distance herself from it.
"You're Aleksandra aren't you?," the child's mother said tearfully. "Manolito told me you found him in the jungle yesterday. I haven't had a chance to thank you."
Aleksandra shrugged a little. "It was almost by accident, really."
"It's just that since he's learned to walk, he's been going everywhere. I just need…"
"He needs to be locked up so he doesn't get into trouble," an acerbic voice cut in from behind them.
They both turned as another young woman, shaggy-haired and wearing guns and knives strapped to various parts of her body, strode into the room. Aleksandra straightened and her eyebrows lifted. The newcomer looked extremely annoyed --- and she gave off the impression that annoyance was a permanent state of being for her rather than just an emotion passing through. Just like sadness had been to the first. Holy heaven, she found herself thinking, what a pair.
The newcomer had marched in with the kind of arrogant authority you would see in a wolf pack alpha. Apparently this woman ran the show here. Or thought she did. The little boy's eyes filled with tears at the sound of her voice and his small face crumpled up as he pressed closer to his mother.
"Yes now you cry – do you know the trouble you've caused with your wandering? Your mother doesn't need this kind of grief!"
Aleksandra could tell that part of the woman's anger came from real concern, even fear, but there was something else there that went deeper. Some misdirected resentment she couldn't quite figure out --- well what on earth could there be to resent about a year-and-a-half old child? Even one who kept finding his way into dark places he shouldn't?
"He's just a baby," Aleksandra said before she could stop herself.
The young woman whirled in her direction and then stopped a moment, her eyes wide. Then, catching herself, she said "Who the hell are you?"
"Solange, this is Aleksandra," the other girl said in her soft voice. "She found Gael just now. She's the one who found him yesterday in the jungle."
Along with a lot of other interesting things, Aleksandra thought to herself, watching the woman, who stared for a moment and then tore her eyes away.
"Jasmine, you'll need to control him better --- he can't be allowed to wander around, putting himself and everyone else in danger. Lock him in his room if you can't watch him properly!"
"No, don't," Aleksandra cut in again even as the other girl shrank visibly from Solange's wrath. "He's just a baby --- you can't cage him."
"I don't recall asking for your opinion!" she snapped.
"I don't recall ever needing someone to ask for my opinion before I give it," Aleksandra said mildly. "You don't lock babies up --- they need to explore. Jaguar especially."
Aleksandra felt the jolt of emotion as she said the word 'jaguar'. She frowned a little. Something was going on here --- something that had to do with Jasmine's tearful, fearful spirit and Solange's jaw-dropping arrogance. Not normally curious about other people's lives, Aleksandra found herself intrigued. She wondered how it all tied up with this incomprehensible attitude towards a baby.
"What do you know about jaguar?" Solange threw back at her with obvious disdain.
"More than you, obviously, if you think that locking this child up will solve your problems."
Solange glared at her. "I'm going to get Nestor to fix the locks on his door," she said to Jasmine and then swung on her heel and left.
Aleksandra watched her go and then turned to the tearful girl who stood there, hugging her baby. Unable to help herself she said "So you're just going to let her do it? You're going to let her lock up your baby?"
"You don't understand," Jasmine said softly. "She's just trying to protect us. She's always protected us."
"Why does she have to protect you? Haven't you learned to protect yourself?"
Jasmine gave her a startled look, almost like the thought had never occurred to her.
Aleksandra shook her head as she said. "She may be armed to the teeth but she will never be able to protect you twenty-four hours out of every day. If there's something you're afraid of then you need to prepare yourself, not hide and let someone else run your life. And your baby's."
Jasmine bit her lip.
Aleksandra, unused to the feeling of helplessness that this woman projected so strongly, thought a moment. Helplessness was not something she was intimate with for it was neither an emotion nor a state of being that she had ever tolerated. Helpless was a warning that it was time to find/make/manipulate a solution --- not a signal to go wallow and hide. "If you want," she began slowly, "I can teach…"
The sound of Solange calling out her name made them both turn and Jasmine looked apologetically at Aleksandra. "I have to go."
"I'll watch your baby if you want. He'll come to no harm with me."
Jasmine bit her lip again and gazed at her with true gratitude. "Thank you. Maybe another day."
Then she was gone.
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Some of Christine Feehan's original characters:
Julian – is Julian Savage, a Carpathian whose friendship with Dimitri was mentioned in the book Dark Celebration.
The delaCruz brothers- Zacarias, Manolito, Rafael, Riordan, Nicolas are the "hosts" of the gathering. All but Zacarias have lifemates.
Jasmine and Solange – sister and cousin to Riordan's lifemate Juliette, both with some sort of traumatic past alluded to in previous books. At the end of Dark Possession they were to live at the ranch in a separate house.
Gabriel, Lucian and Gregori Daratrazanoff- brothers who are among the most ancient and most powerful of the Carpathians. All with lifemates (Jaxon in Chapter 2 was Lucian's)
Skyler- Gabriel's adopted daughter, also with some sort of traumatic past, who found out she was Dimitri's lifemate in Dark Celebration but was too young and traumatized to be claimed. This story begins about 2 years after that event.
Mikhail- Prince of the Carpathians