The shuttle takes us to another castle.
A guard comes up to us. "Who may I say is visiting, sir?"
"Alden. My brother is already here."
"Yes sir. Right this way."
We get led to the king's office. This is the way daddies was. A conference table and desk. No weird tv's. No elevators to get in. The king smiles at me, "You do look like her. I can tell you're sisters."
I shake my head. "She looks like me. I'm older."
"Sibling rivalry for sure." He shakes Alden's hand. "I'm sure you have your hands full."
"I sure do."
Victor moves from the end spot at the visiting end of the table and Alden sits down. Tobias isn't here. Maybe he's still at his parents' castle.
"Elek is with his mom. She is crying all over him."
Alden sits back. "I imagined that's what would happen. They said Elek hasn't been here in years. If he wants to stay, we understand. He's not a hostage."
"He knows that. I don't think he wants to be on the planet with her if he can't have her. Until she decides whether to keep the bond or not, he'll be broken. It'll do him good to try to keep busy with other things."
Tobias and Elek come in together with a woman. She must be Elek's mom. Tobias has blood running down his head.
"His little brothers don't want him to go. They attacked."
"I imagine they miss him." I smile at Elek. "If you want some time here, it's fine. We can come back in a couple of weeks or months. It's whatever you decide."
"No. I need to go. I can't sit here and go crazy."
Another man at the other end of the table stands up. "I'm going with him. I just need Tera."
"We'll be back in a week or 2. I need to give Luke his presents. This isn't going to be a super long trip. You can come back here while I do that. It'll give you some time to relax and think as well."
Elek walks out with the man that stood up.
The man at the end smiles. "What are the presents for?"
"On my planet, kids have birthday parties every 50 years. So I owe Luke 8 presents. He's my favorite nephew. And when a prince turns 400, the kings that would go to the party will give him a gold bar. Victor is a king now. I'm making him give Luke a gold bar too. It helps them grow their vaults."
"What other kind of presents are you giving him?"
"I don't know yet. I'm still thinking. Marcus said I can't give him a boat."
The woman tilts her head at me. "So he's having a party?"
"No. It's what I do. I'm used to it and he's my nephew. It'll only be me giving him things."
"Hold on a second."
"I'm giving him stuff too." Victor throws a pencil at me. "I already know 2 of the gifts, 3 if you count the gold I have to steal from you."
The woman walks out. Then she comes back 3 seconds later. 2 other women are with her. "Start again please. On your planet..."
"Ok. On my planet, kids have birthday parties every 50 years. And Luke is my favorite nephew. I don't want him to miss out on the presents. So, I'm bringing him 8 presents next time I come back. And since he's a prince, the kings he would have invited to his 400th birthday party would give him a gold bar if they were able. It helps the princes grow their vaults."
"What kind of gifts for the other birthdays?"
"It depends on the age and what the kid is into. Luke said he likes fishing, so I asked Marcus if I could get him a fishing boat for the river. He said no. He likes animals too. I'm thinking about bringing some animals from my planet, so he can pet them. But we can't relocate them permanently. Of course, we'll give him the gold bar for 400."
"What about other ages?"
"It depends. Momma said when I was 50 someone gave me a gorgeous hand-made blanket. Another gave me a bath set. My grandma gave me 10 gold bars for being born." They laugh. "As I grew up I got things like books, socks, dance lessons, new swords, art stuff, random toys, jewelry, clothes, tickets to a play. Gifts are all over the place."
"And what would you do at the party?"
"Whatever really. I would be forced to dress like a princess and be royal the entire time. Thanking everyone for coming constantly. When I was younger, I would play with other kids. That was nice. There would be food. Presents were usually opened later though, with family there."
Alden kisses my head. "It evolved a little more than that over the years. They usually eat the kids' favorite food or have pizza for everyone. Then, they have cake and ice cream for dessert. I've seen parties around movies. Everyone would rent a big place and watch the kids favorite movie. Bounce houses or some kind of fun entertainment for the kid."
Victor nods. "It's meant to be a couple of hours of doing what the kid likes. Make them feel special."
I smile. "I'm going to bring the animals. He can pet and ride some of them. Then I'll get him a little figurine of each animal he seen. Our animals are so different. I think he would like that. He seems to like those little figurines too."
"That would be a good gift baby." I get another head kiss.
I smile and wiggle. "I need 6 more."
Victor shakes his head. "I'm not doing 8. I can only think of 3."
"That's fine. 8 is a lot. But it's not supposed to be 8 at once either. It's supposed to be 1 every 50 years."
"So can the gift be a ticket to a play and I would have the other?"
"The gift is whatever the giver wants it to be, so you technically can do whatever you want. My daddy always said, try to think like them and ask yourself what they would want. If you don't do that, you're only buying what you want for yourself. So ask yourself, would he want that play and go with you, or is that more of a gift to you?"
"That would be a gift to me." The women laugh.
"That reminds me of another gift I got. It was a letter, saying whenever something comes up that I want to do or see, contact them, and we would make a day of it. I ended up seeing a play and having dinner with my aunt and uncle. I had a lot of fun that day. And it was a play I picked. That was my gift from them. I might do something like that for 1 of my gifts to him. But I'm not sure how that would work, it's not like I live in the village."
"It still might work baby. Put on there, you need a 24-hour notice though. Do I have to come up with 8 gifts too?"
"No, they're from us."
"Ok."
Victor laughs. "She comes up with the idea, and you pull it off somehow. Good luck getting all those animals on the ship."
Then Elek and the man come back in. Now they have a female with them. "This is my brother Elroy and his mate Tera. Do you mind if they come for a couple of weeks too?"
Alden shakes his head. "No, that's fine."
The girl runs over and hugs me. "Thank you." She is damn near shaking.
"My pleasure."
She pulls me up. "Help me pack." She helps me walk quickly to an apartment. "This is mine. I don't know what to bring. Alden is your mate, right?"
"Yea, and your mate's name is Elr..."
"Elroy. I'm so excited about going with you."
"I don't know how exciting it's really going to be. Probably go to my castle. My parents should be waking up in a week or so."
"Oh that's right. You were hidden for 500 years. You are all anyone has talked about for weeks. They say you're more powerful than Nadine is. I saw her throw you on the floor. Didn't that make you mad?" She starts packing.
"Not really. She was excited. Alden was pissed but he got over it."
"How?"
"Blowjob."
"It's amazing how much they can fix."
"It really is. I had no idea it could go into my throat though. That really put him in a good mood."
"What?"
"What?"
"It can go in your throat?"
"Yea, vampires don't need an airway. It takes a good push to get it in there. And you'll tear up the first couple of times. But it doesn't hurt. A little odd feeling, like your body is getting used to having something there."
"I know what I'm doing later."
"Me too."
We laugh, and she throws something else in her box. "Elroy was taken and tortured for 60 years. When we first got together, we barely left this room. I was so bored and lonely. I almost left him. He's gotten a lot better since. We go to the village sometimes and visit Dipak's castle once a month. This will be the first time we're really going away together."
"Are you worried about him?"
"Yes and no. I don't want him to get scared or panic. It would be horrible. On the other hand, he missed his brother so much and he always trusted Elek. Even when he was bad, Elek could take him out and do things with him. He always felt safe with Elek. I'm hoping it's still like that."
"If he has any issues or panics or anything, let me know. I don't want him suffering. We can always come right back here, anytime."
"Thank you for that."
"Of course. I know it can't be easy for him. At least he's trying."
I see a tear fall. "He always tries so hard for me. I worry I push him too much."
"He seems stable and happy. You're the only thing he thought to grab. I'd say he's happy and comfortable with you. He wasn't trying to take a vacation from you. I think you're doing fine."
She smiles and hugs me. "Thank you." Then she picks up the box and hands it to me. "I need a couple of things back here."
"WHAT are you 2 talking about?"
I flip around and throw the box at Elroy and Alden. "BLOWJOBS." They crack up laughing. "Sorry. You scared me love." I glance at Tera, and she's holding her stomach laughing.
"Of all things to scream." She laughs harder.
"From now on, whenever anyone asks us what we're talking about, the answer is blowjobs."
Alden shakes his head and picks up the box. "Are you 2 ready?"
"I haven't packed yet." She runs down the hallway.
Elroy stares at her. "Woman, what were you doing?"
"TALKING ABOUT BLOWJOBS."
"Woman."
"I'm sorry, but the throat thing came back up."
Elroy's head rips around. "What throat thing?"
"You'll see soon enough. Tell her not to pack a lot of clothes, the ship has some already. We have soap and stuff like that. She won't need jewelry. I really can't think of anything she will need."
He looks at Alden. "What throat thing?"
Alden smirks. "You'll like it."
She comes back with her hands full of stuff and throws it in the box.
Victor comes in. "What is taking so long?"
I stretch. "Elroy needs a blowjob."
"We all do. Let's go. You people are all stuck in place this time."
"BUT."
"WALK. THE SHIP HAS STUFF AND WE'RE NOT TRAVELING TO A DESERTED ISLAND."
Victor walks behind us all the way out the front door. Then Tobias looks at him. "What was the hold up?"
"Elroy needs a blowjob, apparently."
"Me too."
"That's what I said."
We get on the shuttles and a few minutes later we're on the ship.
Elek and Elroy get a room picked out, then we sit at the command room conference table and eat dinner. Elek is quiet and Elroy's eyes keep going dark.
"We have no more planets to stop at, we're going home, right?"
"Yes. Home. I need to get Jenny to fix the box for me. I need more clothes."
I smile at him. "You can wear crowns now too."
"Yes, I need those too."
I glance at Elroy and laugh. "Elroy, every time you stop talking, your eyes go dark."
"I'm about ready to grab my mate and drag her to our room."
"Go for it. I think we're all exhausted. Going from 1 planet to another, we always seem to get to the new planet earlier in the day than when we left. Sleep is never right doing this. Nobody wake me up on our planet's morning. I need some actual sleep."
Victor checks his phone. "Well, it's 5 am there now, we'll be getting up in an hour. Good morning."
I shake my head. "This day has been like 40 hours already."
Alden nods. "Yea, we're going to get to the planet and keep sleeping. We need some real sleep. Do not go exploring the ship tomorrow. Certain floors and levels are off limits. You can stay on the first 2 levels here. Once we get everyone a tour, it won't matter so much, but I am about to fall asleep sitting here. After we wake up, we'll head down to the planet. Which 1 of you 2 want to pilot if something goes wrong tonight?"
Tobias swallows hard. "I can. I'm alright."
"Go to our planet and stay in orbit, but notify Tobias if anything weird happens. And Tobias, notify me if anything really weird happens. But try not to, I need sleep."
Victor looks at Tobias. "You can summon me for the moderately weird. I like seeing weird things."
"And no going anywhere else, we are going home."
I stand behind Alden and rub his shoulders, "Let's go before I fall asleep standing here." I watch us switch to hyperspace out the window.
Alden picks me up, and we don't waste time going to bed. I think I'm asleep before he gets to bed.