Sunny - Mona Lisa Eclipsing

I heard gasps and comments like “Did you see that?” and “Holy shit,” which the home stations would hopefully bleep out. The expression on Charles’s face as he ran up to where I waited for him was one of awe and amazement, mixed with excitement.

“Do you have a watch or handkerchief or something to give me as proof that I was actually here at the curb, here with you, and not just a fancy hologram? I’ll return it to you, of course.”

He removed his watch and passed it to me. “My God, are you really that fast?”

“Yup. See you back where we started.” I streaked back to my original spot in front of the cameras to a lot of startled gasps and white faces. No one fainted, luckily. Holding up Charles’s watch, I said, “Here you go, folks. Proof that I was actually there at the curb and that it wasn’t some cleverly manufactured illusion. You’ll also be able to see that it’s real when you play the footage back in slow motion.”

Charles returned, puffing hard.

“Thanks for the watch, Charles.”

A reporter near the back yelled out the next question. “Are the others with you also Monère?”

Gotta love these guys, they recovered quick; not even a second of silence had passed.

“Yes,” I answered, “let me introduce them to you. From my left here is Nolan Morell, his wife Hannah, and their sons, Quentin and Dante. Behind me is Dontaine. The big guy over here is Lord Amber. And you all already know Jarvis and Kelly.”

“Is Kelly a Monère also?” asked another reporter.

I hesitated. “Do you want to answer that question, Kelly?”

“No, you can tell them,” Kelly said, her face carefully set without any readable expression.

“Kelly is what we call a Mixed Blood, half human and half Monère. Something I believe she was not aware of herself until today.”

More questions were thrown at me. The crowd outside the hospital had gotten much larger now, I noticed, including more policemen. A lot of people from the burn unit had also come outside.

I held up my hand and the shouting subsided. “I and my friends are here as representatives for the Monère people residing in the United States. We would like to live openly among you in peaceful harmony, and that is the reason why we have come forward. Unfortunately, people like FBI Special Agent Richard Stanton over there”—I waved to him again—“feel that since we are not fully human, that we don’t have any rights, and he wishes to take us into custody even though we have not harmed anyone or broken any laws.” My pleasant smile disappeared. “Let me make this very clear. This is a one-shot deal. We are here now, ready and willing to talk about a peaceful and legal coexistence between our people—that is my greatest wish. However, if you persist in your efforts of trying to grab us and hold us against our will, brandishing your guns, and threatening us with violence, I can promise you this: we will simply disappear and go back to living secretly among you, something we have been doing for millions of years.”

I let that sink in for a second before continuing. “Let me introduce you to George McManus, our attorney from the law firm of Adams, McManus, and Kent—and also Dr. Hubert, who is Jarvis’s and Kelly’s physician, and some others from the burn unit. They can tell you more about what they saw and heard upstairs.” I waved them to come over. Stepping back away from the microphone, I said softly, “Jarvis, if you can grab Kelly and follow us, we’ll leave now. Our van is parked several blocks away.”

With cameras still filming us, we ran, blurring out of sight, nothing more than smeared streaks of speed; one moment there, the next moment gone.

IT WAS SORT of anticlimactic to pull into the back parking lot of our hotel and exit the van without anyone gaping or pointing at us. For now, our anonymity was still intact, though I didn’t trust it to last for long.

“Jarvis.”

He turned to look at me.

“Dontaine, Amber, Dante, and I will be here,” I said, pointing to our door. “You and Kelly will be staying in the suite next door with the Morell family. Is that all right?”

“Yes, milady.”

“You both did well. Let’s get some rest while we still can, then we’ll grab something to eat. After that, we’ll get some clothes and supplies for you and Kelly. How does that sound?”

Jarvis seemed both bemused and discomfited on my seeking his opinion. “Of course, milady.”

“Don’t forget to put the Do Not Disturb sign on your door,” I told Nolan, and made sure to hang our own sign outside on the door handle.

“So what do you think?” I said as soon as we were inside. “Do you think it went badly? Did I totally blow it?”

“I thought it went well,” Dante offered. “You made our purpose and our good intent very clear. The next step is up to them.”

We talked for another half hour. The general consensus was that we had handled things pretty well—as best as the situation allowed, anyway.

“You guys must be feeling tired,” I said, noting the time. It was ten thirty in the morning, long past our normal bedtime. “So who gets what room?”

“Where would you like us to stay?” Dontaine asked, his face carefully bland.

“Oh, no you don’t,” I said, walking to the bedroom where Dontaine had unpacked all my stuff. “You guys work out the bedding arrangement. One person can stay with me, but no sex, just sleeping.”

I was already in bed when Amber came into the room with a suitcase.

“The other side,” Amber said, claiming the side closest to the window.

I obediently moved over and watched Amber undress. He was a beautiful beast, I thought, watching him strip down and walk into the bathroom with that lack of self-consciousness all Monère males seemed to possess. From the flashes I remembered of my first life, I hadn’t been shy about baring my body either, and yet now I was. How did that work? Was modesty natural or something learned?

Any further thoughts scattered when Amber returned and slid into bed with me.

One good thing about this hotel was that they didn’t skimp on the curtains. The ones in our room were heavy and thick, blocking out the morning sunlight almost completely; just a thin sliver of light on either side of the drawn curtains penetrated into the room.

“Who got the bedroom and who’s taking the pullout sofa?” I asked.

“Dante is taking first watch. Dontaine is sleeping in the bedroom.”

I turned on my side, and he pulled me in tight, spooning his big body around me. “They’ll switch in a couple of hours.”

“I’ll take the third shift,” I offered.

“That’s mine. You can stand watch after me.”

“Which probably means there won’t be any watch to take after you,” I grumbled. “I’m not a delicate flower that will wilt at the least little bit of work, you know.”

“Hush, we know that,” Amber murmured, his voice a pleasant rumble behind me. “Close your eyes.”

My lids obediently shut. I thought it would take a while to settle down, but I drifted easily into sleep moments later with Amber wrapped snugly around me.

When I blinked my eyes open, hours later, the slices of light coming into the bedroom were much dimmer, and I was alone. For a big man, Amber could move with surprising stealth. He had left the bed without waking me.

I got up and used the bathroom. The television was playing when I stepped out into the living room area where not just the people in our suite, but also everyone from next door, were gathered. They had turned on the volume when they heard me get up, so I had already heard part of the news reporting. But seeing it was an entirely different experience.