Gabriel (Book 1)

Friends Come and Go But Family Stays Forever

FRIENDS COME AND GO BUT FAMILY STAYS FOREVER...

May 30th, 2011

"Please prepare for descent, the plane will be landing in about 10 minutes." The cheery face of the flight attendent is eerily pleasant. The chipper voice, perfectly pinned up hair, and pearl white teeth pushing her deliciously rosy cheeks upwards.

I started licking my lips, she is completely yummy looking and I am a tad hungry.

"Uncle Gabriel," Sophia says while nudging me in the ribs.

I look at her sitting in the airplane seat next to me and blink away the red glow haunting my eyes.

"Yes?"

"No trying to eat the flight attendents," she jokingly warns.

I hug her and assure her that I wouldn't.

I look away from the stewardess and out the small window, outside the houses and features of Ireland are growing larger as the plane gets closer to the ground.

I hugged Sophia as thoughts of our Russian journey filled my mind. Images of us running around St.Petersburg flustered, and the wonder on her face when we toured the Romanov palace. Also part of my memories were when she dressed in a pretty green dress and I took her to a barn party. It was technically a father daughter dance but Sophia and I never obey the rules. There was some modern russian favorites as well as traditional dances which I greatly enjoyed while I spun Sophia around and around. Lifting her into the air and then spinning her, the way she smiled and squealed in delight. And then there were the other kids her age, while the kids danced I talked to their fathers. I think our favorite memory was the night I took her on top of the Peterhoff palace and watched her eyes go wide, trying to capture each and every detail of the busy Russian night. It was just midnight but it was still so busy. The bright streetlights and shop lights illuminated all of Russia beautifully.

"Its-" her breath caught in her throat, "-beautiful."

"Wait for it," I whisper.

A minute of silence later and the star spotted sky broke out into a spectrum of vibrant colors, loud bangs and trickling lights.

Down below on the street people stopped and stared at the fireworks, applauding and praising them, thinking they had the best view.

But Sophia and I lay down on top of the dome shaped roof and stared overhead, watching the fireworks explode in the heavens and then trickle down to the Earth.

"Uncle Gabriel?"

I look at her and the green glow of a firework illuminating her face.

"Yes, my beautiful niece?"

"Will we come here ever again? Just you and me?" I see my reflection in her blue eyes, my face illuminated by a red explosion above.

"You tell me when you want to come back and we will." I promise.

Nothing was going to change, I would forever remember this moment, how perfect and together my life finally is.

Sophia was smiling brilliantly as she turned her head back to the stars.

Yes, Russia had changed so much but so had I. I was no longer stuck in the age that would never come again, but I was moving through the world- not as a man from the 1300's but as a vampire of the current age.

The wheels touched the ground and Sophia and I went to gather our things.

Soon the taxi was pulling up in front of Jordan's house. As Sophia opened the door on her side Jordan threw open the house door and raced to hug her baby, Josh was barely a second behind her. I smiled politely and brought Sophia's things inside while she was being hugged to death. It was sweet but I felt as if I had lost her, I felt like she was no longer mine and I started to miss her even though she hadn't gone anywhere.