Through the opening they could glimpse beach and blue sea and then they were turning into a circle in front of the main building and coming to a halt.
Christian followed Raffaele out of the van when the driver opened the door. He tried to tip the man, but the driver grinned and waved his money away, assuring him it was all taken care of as he moved over to speak to someone in a white shirt and dark pants with a clipboard and a name tag.
"Where's our luggage?" Giacinta peered up the road the way they'd come.
"I'm sure it's coming," Christian said mildly, but couldn't resist looking for the second van himself. It didn't hold just their luggage, but the coolers of blood they would need while here.
"Oh yes, it is coming." Their driver was suddenly beside them again, and began to usher them toward another van, explaining, "I cannot drive you to your villa, but they will take you."
Christian glanced toward the new van with the resort logo on it, and supposed outside vehicles weren't allowed on the private roads.
"They will bring your luggage when it arrives," the man added as he urged them into the new van. "Have a nice stay."
Before anyone could respond, he'd closed the door and stood smiling and waving as the van moved slowly away from the entry.
"You are the new band."
Christian tore his gaze from their old driver to turn forward and peer at their new one, noting the white shirt and dark pants. "Yes."
"I'm Adam. Genie will be relieved that you are here," the man said, flashing a wide smile at them in the rearview mirror.
"Genie's the entertainment coordinator?" Christian asked, recalling his mother mentioning the name.
"Yes. You must be famous to be in the estate villas.
Usually bands stay in lower rooms or find their own accommodations, but you are in one of the big villas."
"One of the big villas?" Christian asked with a frown.
"Oh, yes. They are beautiful with their own pool and chef. Yours has four bedrooms."
"All right! Our own pool," Zanipolo said. "Midnight dips after the gig. Awesome."
The others smiled, but Christian scowled, knowing his father had arranged it. Not that he wasn't glad to be in a villa rather than one of the "lower rooms," but he'd rather have arranged it himself and wasn't pleased with his father paying his way. The man tended to forget he was grown up and his own man now.
Well, he'd just have to pay him back for it, he decided as the van crawled along the curving, narrow private road that wound its way up the side of the mountain. The lower roads held long two story buildings with balconies running their lengths. He supposed those were the single suites or lower rooms. At the end of the first road, they turned in a small turnaround and headed back, taking the upper road to another turnaround allowing them to head up yet another road where another set of long buildings stood. Two more turnarounds brought them to a road where villas were set out side by side and clinging to the mountain like ivy. After two more turnarounds and they were cruising past more villas.
There wasn't enough room for two vehicles on the narrow lanes and Christian was just wondering what happened if a vehicle was coming down when another was going up when a vehicle appeared on the road before them. Their driver slowed, but the other driver spotted him and immediately stopped and backed up, pulling tight to the side of the road at the turnaround. He waited there until they had pulled into the turnaround and then scooted past and down the lane, waving cheerfully as he went.
"Man, I see why they don't let just anyone drive their vehicles up here," Zanipolo muttered as the two vans passed within a whisper of each other.
Christian grunted, but didn't comment and they were silent as they went through two more turnarounds, all of them peering curiously at the tropical vegetation on either side. Green plants and flowering bushes spilled out between buildings and along the road. It was quite lush and beautiful and they soaked it in, knowing it would be the only time they'd see it in sunlight. None of them would waste the blood necessary to come out during the day to see it again. Instead, they would have to make due with enjoying their surroundings at night. They wouldn't be seeing it now but it had been a scramble to get everyone together, pack and get here. Arriving in daylight had been unavoidable.
"Here you are."
Christian glanced toward the two-story white villa the man was stopping the van in front of. The moment he'd followed Raffaele out of the vehicle, Christian walked along the road until he was past the villa and could peer beyond it and down the mountain. It was beautiful, the green mountainside dotted with white buildings with salmon-colored roofs, running all the way down to the sea. The sun sparkled off the blue Caribbean as if it was full of diamonds. Christian simply stood there soaking it in.
"Man, daywalkers have the best of both worlds," Giacinta said with a sigh, drawing his attention to the fact that she had followed and stood at his side.
"But only for a short time," Santo pointed out, rubbing his bare scalp with a pained expression.
"We should go in," Christian said reluctantly.
They all turned as one, then paused as the van went zipping past, the driver smiling and waving.
"Where's he going?" Zanipolo asked with alarm.
"What about keys? He didn't give us keys."