Chapter 12: Current Day Nashville, Soirée at the Adams’

On my way to the luxury condominium where the Adams were having their ‘house warming’ party, I was both incredibly anxious with joyous anticipation at seeing Aurora (or ‘Stephanie’ I suppose) again, simultaneously suffering from a horrible lingering fear that I would find myself rejected by a woman who was the exact image of my lover of three hundred years before.

After her death, eventually I was almost able to exist without yearning for my love every minute of every day, only to have all of my feelings resurrected in an instant by the entrance of her clone. My heart was once again in a flux.

I had asked my assistant Maria to accompany me that evening, a task that she immediately accepted. I don’t know if there was anything else that she had planned for the evening, but if so, she dropped it to come at my beck and call. I always felt a slight guilt at having, for all intents and purposes, a slave to my whims. But Maria was obviously doing it for her own purposes. I’d promised her a drop of my blood tonight as a reward — which was akin to offering a fix to an addict.

In truth, Maria was a very beautiful woman, especially when she was made up to go out on the town. She needed very little makeup, just a little to accent her features; her eyes, a bit of blush for her cheeks, because otherwise she had the kind of complexion that would have put cosmetic companies out of business. Of course, like Cleopatra, she also wore red lipstick to advertise her oral skills.

She was dressed this evening in the classic ‘little black dress’ with 4” high-heels. On a relatively short woman like Maria, those shoes had the affect of tautening the muscles of her legs into a state close to perfection, as well as making her tight, rounded little ass something to die for. And I knew that the promise of her body was true, for I’d enjoyed her many times. Even without the added element of my blood, Maria was a passionate, giving (and taking) lover. She was also an intelligent educated friend, as well.

It was tragic that because of my obsession for a woman, now dead for three hundred years, I had no ability to give Maria the love she deserved.

Not unexpectedly, the condominium was in one of the ‘high-end’ developments in Nashville, and security at the entrance to the building had to check a list of invitees before they would let us onto the elevator to reach the Adams’ domicile. But we were quickly through the gatekeeper and on the elevator to the 17th floor.

I turned to Maria as we were about to enter into the Adams’ condo, which, it turned out, took up about half of the floor.

“Maria — I want to talk to Phillip’s fiancée this evening, one on one. If you could help occupy Phillip when you see me with her, I would appreciate it.”

She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Whatever you say, Doc. But how will I know who she is?”

“She’s blond, with very striking blue eyes and she is extraordinarily beautiful. Besides, I will make every effort to introduce you to her.”

There, just inside the entry way stood our hosts — George, Phillip and Alice, greeting their guests with Alice giving out nametags. I introduced Maria to them (as my assistant and friend and by inference, ‘not’ girlfriend.)

When I asked after Stephanie, Phillip waved vaguely in the direction of the great room, telling me that she was circulating among the guests and ensuring that everyone had drinks and food. She was acting as a ‘semi’ hostess for the evening.

The condo itself was impressive, both for the size (over 5000 square feet spread over two floors — the 17th and 18th) and its modern style and décor. There were vistas of glass windows looking out over the University to the west and north to Nashville. I was told that Alice, not Phillip, had selected the furnishings. It still seemed somewhat sterile and bland to me, but most schools of modern design leave me unimpressed.

When I asked George about the cost of the condo, considering that it was really just temporary housing for Phil and the family, he told me that he viewed it as an investment, because the Nashville area was growing with new start-up companies as well as established companies like Nissan, that were leaving high-tax states for Tennessee, with its generally low taxes and no state income tax.

Not having any expertise in the subject, I took his word for it. It surely seemed to make sense to me.

He suggested that after becoming acquainted with the city that he and Phillip might open an office locally and begin building homes and commercial space in some of the more exclusive neighborhoods.

After a minute or two, as new guests arrived, we left our hosts to their duties and Maria and I passed into the great rooms where the other guests were gathered.

It was not a surprise that a pianist sat at a Grand Piano (a Bechstein, I thought) softly playing a variety of pop, jazz and other ‘easy listening’ music. If you can’t find a musician for your party in Nashville, you aren’t looking!

As we circulated greeting the Adams’ new neighbors we met a reasonably well-known country-western singer/composer, who was drawn to introduce himself to us by Maria’s good looks. Ditto a player with the Tennessee Titans football team, who frankly seemed to me to be smaller in person than when I saw him on the television on the playing field. He was, it seems, some sort of running something or another, where speed rather than mass was the critical factor. Not to say that he wasn’t highly muscled, as well.

In both cases, the tightening of Maria’s grip on my arm told me that she certainly appreciated their good looks and talents. If only she hadn’t been on a mission for me that night I suspect one of the two men, or perhaps both, would have been very lucky. Indeed, she whispered into my ear, “I hope you know just how much I sacrifice for you!” We both laughed.

As we walked, I kept my eye out for Aurora/Stephanie, I could sense her presence, but I hadn’t seen her yet. Suddenly, I shivered.

A hand reached out and touched my arm. It was she.

As I turned my head our eyes met and in a glance, I knew that she too felt the connection between us. She had a startled look in her eyes; a look of surprise. She had felt the electricity as well, but she recovered quickly.

“I’m so glad that you were able to make it tonight, Christian,” she said, her voice the essence of sweetness to my ears. “And who is your lovely companion?” Ah, the green eyed monster!

Maria and I turned towards her.

“This is my assistant, Maria de Leon. And Maria, this is Aurora — oh, pardon me! Maria this is ‘Stephanie’ Molyneux.”

They exchanged greetings and then Stephanie smiled and said to me (directed to Maria as well), “I know this may sound odd to you, Christian, but somehow when you call me Aurora it just, I don’t know, it just sounds right. To everyone else, I am Stephanie, but to you, I am Aurora.”

I had to close my eyes and focus on keeping my body from trembling. Merci dieu!

Having been introduced, Maria excused herself to find us drinks, leaving Aurora and me alone. Yes, there we were in a room full of cheerful, happy, outgoing people, but we were alone.

“Your assistant is very attractive,” she observed.

“Yes, she is. And she’s very competent as well. But she is just a friend,” I replied, just to again clarify the issue.

Aurora just raised an eyebrow at me and smiled.

To regain some of the momentum, I decided to direct the conversation away from Maria. I didn’t want to tell Aurora the truth (yet), but I knew that I would never lie to her.

“We didn’t really have much of a chance to talk about you the other night. Phillip said that you were completing a PhD., but I didn’t get much more in the way of details.”

She smiled, an indication that she was enjoying her PhD. work, something not shared by all candidates.

“My degree will be in French 17th Century history, specifically about the court of Louis XIV and the life of the royal courtiers living at Versailles, at the time.”

I nodded at her.

“Hasn’t that ground been covered in great detail, already?” I pointed out.

“Oh, yes, of course. But I have a unique advantage; original documents, previously unknown. My grand-mère was at the court during that period for several years and she kept a meticulous diary. That, and I have other papers from my family that have never been made public before,” she told me excitedly.

“Your ‘grandmother’?” I asked with a look of incredulity on my face.

She laughed and the bells of heaven sounded, “Well — my grandmother many, many times removed. But I just call her my grandmother. I used to talk to my actual grandmother about Aurora, l’Comtesse, before my real grandmother passed away. I always felt as if I had a connection with the Comtesse, despite the generations. It was one of the ways that I improved my French, my grandmother and I sitting in her parlor reading and translating Aurora’s diaries. My grandmother used to tell me that I was just like her, you know the first Aurora, which I always knew was silly. After all, how could she know? But then she would lean over and touch the side of her nose and tell me that ‘Some of us have the sight.’”

At that I had to smile. Sometimes Aurora would say the same thing to me. She would tell me something like, “I don’t believe that you are a mortal man!” and I would ask her how she concluded that. She, too, would touch the side of her nose and tell me, “Some of us have the sight.” Then she would implore me not to say anything about it to anyone, with a legitimate fear at that time that should anyone hear her say that she had a special ‘sight’, she could be accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake.

“Perhaps she did. Have the sight, that is,” I said agreeably.

“Yes, I think she did. Alas, though, she died young from childbirth fever, having her first child. It was she and her husband’s only child — a son, thank goodness for them. He must have loved her immensely, because he never remarried.”

I had to keep from laughing at her somewhat mistaken conclusion — l’Comte never remarried because Aurora had already given him a son and an heir; not to mention that he wasn’t interested in women! But I didn’t interrupt her train of thought.

“He was a military man and died in the last great battle against the Duke of Marlborough during the War of the Spanish Succession.”