De La Cruz
Nervousness crept into my very being when I saw a beautiful white ranch-style house. I glanced up at Lucian. "There's no reason to be nervous Keeyln." his melodic voice said. "If you wish, we can wait until later to see them."
"Are you crazy? Lucian, I've been dreaming of this moment since Dark Secret. I mean, true, Dark Hunger came first, but the library didn't have it. Ever since then, I've absolutely loved the De La Cruz. Not to mention, the first thought that came to mind when I learned Carpathians were real was 'OMG! I get to see the De La Cruz'" I grinned up at him as we approached the porch.
"Okay," he smiled warmly at me. "Though, I do recall your first thoughts weren't about them. It was more that we were insane and it wasn't possible."
"Well, that too," I laughed as the door opened revealing a tall handsome man with broad shoulders and powerful arms. His face was angular with dark black eyes, straight nose, high cheekbones, strong jaw and sensual mouth. His shiny black hair hung freely down his shoulders.
My heart began to race as he greeted Lucian. "Lucian it is a surprise to see you."
"Oh my frickin' god!" I whispered and grabbed Lucian's hand, causing me to get a look from each hunter.
"And who do we have here?" the hunter asked looking at me.
"Oh my frickin' god! You're real?!" I shrieked, ignoring his question.
"Last time I checked," he smiled.
"I apologize for her peculiar behavior..." Lucian started.
"I bet you're Nicolas...no Manolito?" I stated with wonder as my mind raced with descriptions of the De La Cruz.
"Yes, I'm Manolito." he stated warmly, "and you are?"
"A big fan," I replied dumbly.
Lucian chuckled, "this is Skylar's good friend, Keeyln Night. She's staying with us and apparently has known about Carpathians for a while through her favorite romance novel series."
"Yeah, they're called the Dark Series and like my favorites are Dark Hunger, Dark Secret, Dark Possession, and Dark Curse. I absolutely love the De La Cruz brothers. My favorite is Zacarias. Though I didn't like his book because Marguarita Fernadez did not match him. She cannot be his lifemate. Cannot!" I rambled looking at my feet nervously, yelling the last 'cannot' and when I looked up I found that I had gained three more pairs of eyes.
Manolito smiled sadly at the mention of his brother. "Well, I can tell you this, Marguarita Fernadez died in a vampire attack and met Zacarias quite a few times in her young life."
"Oh...so he's still single?" I questioned innocently.
"Unfortunately," said one of the two females that had joined us sadly. I marvelled at her beauty. She had soft-looking coffee-cream skin, a wealth of blue-black long curly hair that if pulled straight reached her waist, full luscious curves, high cheekbones, and chocolate doe eyes.
"Well, we have to fix it," I grinned. "I'll find his lifemate if it kills me!" I stomped my foot.
They all smiled at me. "Why don't you come in and we can discuss it," said the coffee-creamed skin woman.
"Is that okay Lucian? You can go back to Jaxon. I'm okay here, right MaryAnn?" I asked looking at her.
She looked surprised at first, then smiled kindly, "of course."
"Well then, I'll take my leave. Do not leave here without an escort Keeyln," Lucian said looking at me.
"I'm not stupid," I mentioned nodding my head. "I don't want to run into one of those thoughtless buttwipes on my own. I'm not strong enough to beat them, and I'm on a very important mission at the moment."
"Thoughtless buttwipes?" asked the male behind MaryAnn and the female with large emerald eyes and red-gold hair. His black eyes twinkled with amusement.
"You know, vampires." I smiled, "they completely thought of only themselves and they're worthless enough that they could be used for buttwipes, but even that would be too good for them." I growled.
"Such colorful descriptions," laughed Lucian.
"I agree," laughed Manolito.
"Oh leave me alone," I sighed.
"Well, I'll take my leave. Be good Keeyln. I mean it" said Lucian seriously, looking at me.
"I'm always good," I smiled sticking my tongue out at him. "Besides, I'm going to be having fun with my new friends, right Lara and MaryAnn?" I grin mischeivously looking at Manolito and the other.
"Ummm, yeah." smiled the female with red-gold hair.
"Definitely," nodded MaryAnn looking up at Manolito with a mischief glint in her eye.
"I'll be back later to get you." Lucian said, kissing the top of my head.
"Yes dad," I grinned.
"See you later. Have fun," Lucian replied smiling and turning to leave causing my grin to drop and tears began to fill my eyes as a memory from three years ago filled my mind.
"Be good Ladybug," my dad grinned as I hugged his slender waist. "Don't give Ms. Daratrazanoff any problems."
"Yes dad," I grinned rolling my eyes standing beside Skylar.
"See you later. Have fun," he smiled leaving the front porch. I watched as his average build frame got into his black Chevy Camaro. I waved at him happily as he drove off, never thinking that would be the last time I heard his voice again, or that less than 24-hours later I would be at the hospital with my older brother with doctors saying that they were sorry that they couldn't save him.
I was brought out of my reverie as I felt a tear slide down my cheek and a strong hand on my shoulder. "You will be back, right?" I asked, my throat feeling tight. Lucian turned and looked at me softly.
"Of course Keeyln. You have my word."
"Okay," I said, wiping my eyes and turning to MaryAnn. "can I meet the others now?"
Nicolas chuckled softly, removing his hand from my shoulder and letting us females in the house.
Lara and MaryAnn led me into living room where I met Colby, Rafael, Paul, Ginny, Juliette, Riordan, and Juliette's sister Jasmine. My nervousness and sadness brought from the memory of my father's death was replaced with excitement when Rafael asked about how I knew about Carpathians.
"Well, where do I start?" I laughed. "I learned about them in a novel series called the Dark series. It's my favorite series ever."
"And I take with your ramblings on the porch, you're favorites are us?" Manolito grinned as he stood behind MaryAnn who was sitting on the couch across from me.
"Of course," I smiled back. "The De La Cruz, Dragonseeker, and Malinovs are my favorites. Since Dark Secret when Rafael and Nicolas had to kill Kirja Malinov, I began rooting for the Malinovs, but in Dark Slayer, I found out that they were the bad guys, so then I felt bad. But, I have to say, Ivory is pretty cool." I nodded.
"Tell us about your stories." Riordan prompted.
"What do ya wanna know? Cuz I can tell you, I can talk all night about them." I laughed.
"Anything," he replied.
"Well that don't help you dope," I giggled, "but I guess I can do the basic stuff and then go from there. How's that?"
"That sounds good to me."
"Okay, the series is a series, but not a chronological one, meaning you can read any of them in whatever order. Dark Prince is first and that's Raven and Mikhail's story, but I'll get back to that. Anywho, each novel is based on lifemated pairs, such as Raven and Mikhail or Dominic and Solange. That's the quick and watered down version of what the series is about. There's 22 novels in all and I have them all." I grinned.
"You don't mind us reading them do you?" Nicolas asked wearily.
"Of course not, though, you're not getting my hard copies. I'll give you a copy of my ebooks. I don't lend any of my hard copies out...except for Skylar. Anyways, I would suggest that you start with Dark Curse, Nicolas." I giggled.
"What's Dark Curse?" asked Colby.
"Oh, it's Nicolas and Lara's story. If he reads that one first, he can see what a big dope he is." I laughed, getting everyone else laughing. "I have to say Lara, my favorite quote of all time comes from you. 'You might be the hottest man in the village, but your brain is about the size of a pea.'" Laughter roared from Nicolas's brothers.
When the laughter died down, Rafael looked at me seriously, "Keeyln, I have a question for you."
"Shoot," I said, laughter still present in my voice.
"Who's your number one favorite Carpathian and why?"
"And you look all serious for that? Ha. Male, Zacarias. Why? I have no earthly idea. I've liked him since he was mentioned in Dark Secret. Female, has to be Ivory because she's the only good Malinov left, plus she kicks ass...oops...butt. She kicks butt." I grinned.
"You mean to tell me, I'm not your favorite?" snorted Riodran. While everyone seemed to be in sad thoughts.
"Sorry, but no," I laughed. "My top five are Zacarias, Dominic, Nicolas, Rafael, and Manolito, only cause they're dopes." Rafael, Manolito, and Nicolas all looked like dumbfounded while everyone else laughed. "You got off to easy Rio."
"Did I?" he asked looking over at Juliette.
"Yeah, I mean your story was one of the shortest ones, and I have to say, you didn't do anything stupid. I think Falcon got it the easiest though, cause he wrote a diary to his lifemate and Sara ended up finding it and falling in love with him before she ever met him." I rambled, earning more laughs.
Hours flew by, and the next thing I knew, it was close to dawn. "Keeyln," Nicolas started, "since it is so close to dawn, why don't you stay here until nightfall."
"Sure," I sighed tiredly, snuggling closer into Rafael's shoulder. Just then, a piercing sensation entered my skull. 'Oh buggers,' I thought as my vision began to become spotted.
A man with raven black hair that reached his broad shoulders was standing as dawn approached. His slashing steel grey eyes closed tiredly as the sun touched his light skin. He dropped to his knees as the sun rose higher, burning him.
"NO!" I screamed as I jumped from Rafael and ran to the front door.
"Keelyn, it's not safe outside," Nicolas scolded as he stopped me from opening the door.
"Let me go Nicolas. Please. I'll be okay. I have to go." I pleaded as tears stung my eyes. I didn't know who he was, but I couldn't let him die, at least not alone. "Please. I have to save him."
Curiousness crept into Nicolas's face, and I took advantage and ran past him as dawn began to lighten the sky.
"No no no no," I chanted as I continued to run, ignoring my new friends' calls.