Page 1 of Bishop's Flight
One
Rebecca Garcia O’Hara exited the freeway onto Flamingo Drive and headed west, her trusty minivan joining the last dregs of revelers early on Monday. The roads near the Strip were mostly clear. After all, it was eight in the morning, not at night.
“Mama?” Her two-year-old daughter Anna spoke from her car seat in the back. “Anis and Wose?”
“Yes, baby, we’re going to Aunt Agnes and Aunt Rose’s house today. You’re going to work with Mommy because Cece has the week off, remember?”
“Dey wake up?”
Lucas piped up to answer her question. “They aren’t awake during the day, remember, Anna? They’re asleep because they’re different from us.”
Rebecca smiled. Her children understood as much about vampires as was safe for them to know. It was hard for her not to explain everything to bright and curious Lucas, but Anna was still a baby. She accepted what her mama told her even if it meant missing out on her two favorite people… vampires. People. They were people first.
It had been a shock and a process she’d had to work through when she first discovered the truth while working at the casino. She’d been nothing more than a housekeeper until she’d stumbled onto Rose feeding on a problem guest in a room she’d been sent to clean.
Rebecca had been certain she was going to die until the vampire with blood dripping down her chin noticed her seven-months-pregnant belly. Rose’s eyes had lit up and she’d cooed. “Ohhhh! When are you due?”
Life for the past six years had been one surprise after another.
Rebecca’s minivan wound through the sleepy streets until it went into the hills and reached the guard gate of the exclusive community where Agnes Wong and Rose Di Marco made their home.
Or rather, Rebecca made it for them and they enjoyed it.
Felix the guard stepped out of the guardhouse and peeked at the kids. “Hey, guys! You going to work with mom today? Hey, Rebecca.”
“Hey, Felix.” She waited for the gate to slowly open. “How’s Tiffany?”
“She’s good!” Felix bent down to Rebecca’s window. “I heard that you and the kids were going to be moving in with Agnes and Rose—is that right?”
Rebecca put a finger to her lips and nodded to Lucas. “It’s possible they finally convinced me.” She kept her voice low. “There are some empty rooms on the second floor that might be occupied soon.”
“I feel like you already live here.” Felix laughed.
“That could be how they convinced me.” She smiled. “They kept adding hours to my day.”
It was partly true.
Felix waved her through, and Lucas and Anna waved their little hands.
“See you later, Felix!”
“Bye, guys!” The friendly guard grew smaller in her side mirror as Rebecca pulled into the lush and private gated community where Agnes and Rose lived. Where she would live soon. They were the last house in the corner of the neighborhood, butting up to the edge of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
Agnes had told her once that it was important for her and Rose to be near open space. Rebecca wasn’t quite sure why, but she didn’t question it. She knew as much as she needed to about the vampire world of Las Vegas that Agnes and Rose managed, and she didn’t really want to know more.
Rebecca turned in to the side street next to the walled estate and hit the button for the automatic gate. She waited for the gate to close behind her, as Agnes had instructed, then pulled into her parking spot and got the kids out of the car.
“Mom, can I go play in the game room? I want to play chess.”
“By yourself?”
“Agnes probably made her moves on the boards.”
“Oh right; go ahead.”
Rose had made it clear that nothing in the house was off-limits for the kids except the usual things that would be unsafe for a child. The indoor pool, the sauna, and places like that. But her employers gave her the run of the house and made her children welcome too.
Once Agnes had taught Lucas chess, the game room was his favorite place to be. They had half a dozen chessboards set up on the game table, and they took turns making moves on each.
