Word of Edgar’s return to the world of the living tore through the brood with the force of a tornado, resulting in everyone coming to the estate. I’d underestimated the number of vampires in the brood; after at least a hundred unfamiliar faces cramming into every available space, I retreated to the one place safe from prying eyes: the master bathroom.
I considered hiding in the walls and scurrying about like a mouse, but I suspected Emerick would fish me out and make me socialize if I remained clothed. A shower would help remove most of the gunk that had transferred from the child onto me, and a soak would go a long way towards restoring my sense of normality. I made it through the showering portion of my venture, but a knock at the door interrupted me before I could transition to soaking in the tub. Muttering curses and grabbing one of the bathrobes, I went to the door and cracked it open.
Emerick grinned at me. “Coming out?”
“No. I have a date with the tub next. You will have to use force to get me to come out there.” I peeked around Emerick to discover at least six people sitting on our bed and engaging in a heated conversation about something. “Tell the strangers I have offered some form of socially acceptable greeting or something. Tell the people who aren’t strangers that this is my bathroom, and they can use the inferior one down the hall. Do not make me escape into the walls like some mouse, Emerick. I will.”
“Reached your limit on how many people are around?”
I nodded.
“All right. Try not to fall asleep in the tub. I’ll come in to check on you, so don’t lock the door. I’ll let them know you’re a little overwhelmed and that you’re still adapting from being a solitary predator to being a pack predator. Will that work?”
“Just tell them I’m a spider and have to weave a web to ensnare you, my prey. I’m just weaving my web with bubbles at the moment. Will Edgar be staying with us?”
“Annora and Gerry are going to take him home for the next few days. They’re better equipped to handle him. Honestly, we won’t get him often. The penthouse isn’t ideal for him, and I’m not sure I can make everything here safe for him. We have to closely supervise him when he’s here. Annora and Gerry will be able to keep him contained and adapt him to modern society.”
“Are you all right with that?”
Emerick nodded. “It’s better I remain both an uncle and a main authority figure. He knows my word is law—and he understands your word is also law. I wish we could treat him fully like a child, but we can’t. He’s a child but he is also a predator, and he’s much stronger than other children his age. He can, if he wants, overpower mortal adults with little effort. We must take care with how we socialize him, especially with other children. Someone could get hurt, and it likely wouldn’t be him.”
“That’s terrible.”
“It is.” Emerick sighed, and he glanced over his shoulder at something. “We did our best to shelter him from as much as possible, but the reality is, we walk on thin ice with him. We always have. We always will. But modern times have brought many good things, including a better understanding of the human body. Maybe we can find a way to allow him to grow. But if not, we’ll cope. It won’t be easy, but we’ll cope.”
“And the situation with my father?”
“If he’s old, he knows about Edgar already and won’t have any interest in him. Edgar is, at current, incapable of maturing beyond the age of four or five. I don’t expect that to change. But he’s safe enough from your father if he is an old vampire, unless he wants an eternal child to dote upon. In which case, I would be very startled, because everyone learned quickly that Edgar’s state as an eternal child is far more of a curse than it is a blessing. People like to claim they don’t want their children to ever grow up, but the truth of it is a terrible thing. It is one thing to embrace the joy of the moment, but it is another to understand an entire future is lost. Which leads me to the next problem.”
“What next problem?”
Emerick sighed, stepped into the bathroom, and closed the door. “Edgar’s learning capacity is… not what it could be. While he’s capable of adapting, he struggles with establishing anything as a permanent memory. It will take him several weeks, likely, to learn who you are and what your role in the family is. He’ll pick some things up faster. If he really likes you, he’ll lock you into his memories quickly. It took him two months to learn who Annora is and four months to learn who Gerry is. Once he learned, he also learned to adore them. That’s also part of why I hesitated to take him from Annora earlier. He remembered her, and I didn’t want to interfere with that imprint.”
“Is there something wrong with him?” I whispered.
Emerick nodded. “Magic only goes so far, and he was turned after perishing from a terrible illness. He didn’t heal quite right, probably due to his age. You will find he is a sweet child, but if you want to teach him anything, you will have to be patient, and you may have to teach in unconventional ways. He expresses himself best with paint, so I will make sure he has the artistic supplies he needs. And, when you see his paintings, try not to be surprised. He spent many of his nights painting because that is what he likes and understands. Consider him a savant, I suppose.”
“He’s good at painting?”
“He’s very good at painting. We never tried to teach him how to improve at his art, either. All we do is praise him, no matter what he paints. It is his happy place, and it is our duty to preserve that for him. He has few others. He can’t read or write, and I don’t know if he ever will be able to. We try to teach him his letters, but it never stuck. I don’t know if his time asleep will have changed that. He is much as I remember, though.” Emerick raised a hand and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m asking a lot of you.”
Was he joking? I supposed I could understand why he might be concerned; we hadn’t discussed the situation. Maybe someone else would be offended by not having a say in the fate of a child who needed capable parents, but not me. Edgar would have more than two parents, something I found agreeable. More parents meant more love, and the child deserved that much.
To play his game, I staggered in the direction of the tub, sank down on the ledge, and flung the back of my hand against my forehead. “Oh, woe is me. I will have to help care for an adorable child who happens to drink blood. I am so burdened,” I stated in my most sarcastic tone. I sat straighter and met his gaze, narrowing my eyes, “How dare you bring an adorable child I get to play with and dote on into this household! As penance, we get him at least once a week so we can properly dote on him.”
“I see you have embraced the change to our brood with full enthusiasm.”
I nodded. “Are you going to be all right, knowing he’d been in the park the whole time?”
Emerick sighed, but he nodded. “Knowing where he was buried wouldn’t have changed anything beyond knowing where he was and holding hope he might rise again. And because he’s a child, we just don’t know how long it takes for him to heal when in the ground—or if he’d heal at all. He obviously did, but I would have spent those years wondering instead of assuming he’d met his final death somehow. While a shock, this is better. We grieved and we moved on after we lost hope for him, rather than grieved and holding onto a slim hope that might never come to pass.”
“Ben was turned before he disappeared in 1866,” I stated.
“Ben was a younger vampire then, but yes.”
“You had mentioned a hundred years when discussing him.”
Emerick smiled a sly smile. “No, I said trauma was treated much differently a hundred years ago. You assumed he had been injured then.”
What a sneaky, cunning vampire. “Okay. That’s on me. You tricked me.”
“While I may have tricked you, I told you nothing but the truth. When I intervened with Ben, accidents like his led to death or a vastly shortened lifespan. In his case, he would have died. I still grieve that his wife could not accept what he was, but that is part of why the brides broods came to be. At the time, it allowed the women to have a fresh start. She could abandon the cruelty of a bad husband. While the mistresses mostly dictate the selection of grooms for their brides, the bride does have some say in her fate. The mistresses will not partner a woman with a man she hates, for example. Change was a long time coming, but I think it will be what’s best for us. But we will see. If your mother rises, then we have another option for how to safely make our women into vampires. When combined with the changes to be made to the brides broods, we all benefit.”
“But what about the mistresses of the brides broods? What will become of them?”
“If more women rise, especially to become vampire hunters, enforcers, and so on, they will still hold their positions—and they can still arrange marriages for those who wish for their marriage to be arranged. Some women do. But, as you correctly mentioned, there are not as many in this era. Sometimes our age blinds us.” Emerick eyed the door, heaved a sigh, and muttered, “I’ll start redirecting the party to elsewhere so you can come out of the bathroom sometime tonight. I’d expected you to join one of the smaller groups rather than flee.”
“There are no smaller groups. There are people everywhere.” I gestured to the spacious bathroom. “They get sweat and body heat. I get paradise.”
“I can’t argue with paradise, so I won’t. Enjoy your soak. I’ll come join you as soon as I’m done with the eviction. I will even bring some books, and should they get wet, I will have them replaced without regret. Perhaps that will help you unwind. Might I tempt you with some hot chocolate?”
“If you were not intending on that offer to be a date, it is now a date. You get to make sure I don’t drown after the sun comes up, because I don’t know if I’ll willingly leave the tub.”
“I believe I can handle that without incident, although I suspect my wife is using her wits to try to secure her place as the victor of a certain wager.”
I leered at him. “I don’t know why you might think that. As it seems most of the brood showed up, I want a good report in the morning on the vampires we rescued, a status update on my mother, and anything new we have on my father’s activities. We won’t get anywhere if we sit around and do nothing.”
“We need stakes before we can hunt. While we have some in reserve if we need to hunt, we’re mostly tapped dry. If these vampires wanted to reduce our supply of stakes temporarily, they’ve succeeded.”
“I can carve and listen at the same time,” I promised, wondering what kind of stakes my latest branches would become. The branch with the bird’s nest I’d rescued, including its collection of smaller branches and twigs, would be the first I worked with, and I meant to use as much of the wood as possible. “I don’t know if I can carve them quickly, though. It could be a few weeks. But honestly, I’ve never carved in such a nice setting before.”
“You’ll be fine. It’s you that makes your stakes potent, not where you carve them. If anything, having the ability to carve in a time of peace might make them even more potent for what we want to use them for. Anyway, vampires play the long game,” Emerick reminded me. “I think we’ll have a while before this brood starts making another move. We’ve missed whatever they planned this time, and frankly spoken, I’m of the belief their mistake was due to ignorance about what happens when a vampire is starved beyond the brink of bloodlust. Had they been released at an earlier stage of starvation, we would be in a far different situation. I suspect the dumping of those vampires was the conclusion of their plan rather than the beginning, a plan years in the making. I do believe Breckenan is involved. It fits well with the discovery of the women buried in shallow graves and your rising.”
“Him,” I grumbled.
“Him. It disgusts me that I am, in part, grateful for his actions. For all his evil against you, he is part of why you’re here now. My gratitude is quite limited, however. I would merely thank his corpse once finished with it.”
“You mean once I’m finished with it.”
“We can fight over his body,” he replied.
I considered that, and after a moment, I nodded. “Go evict everyone so you can come bathe with me. I must wear down your resistance through temptation. I expect a long battle between us.”
“I will do my best not to disappoint.”
One day, I might stay awake through an entire sunrise. My efforts ended in typical failure, although I blamed Emerick for some of my problems with resisting the sun’s rays. Safety, warmth, and comfort conspired against me, and he held responsibility for all those things. Keeping me company on one of the comfortable couches near a window contributed to my failure as well.
Rousing due to an excitable child bouncing on the bed went to the bottom of my list of ways to start a night. Rather than voice a complaint, I observed Edgar do his best to drag my beleaguered albeit amused husband out from under the covers.
“Sorry,” Annora said from the doorway, not sounding at all sorry for her method of disturbing our rest. “We haven’t figured out the blood supply issue for him yet, and all the Wagyu is here. Then Salania expressed some concern, as you both slept in. The sun has been down for two hours. I was sacrificed, along with little Edgar, to get you up.”
“I have no excuse beyond not wanting to get out of bed while Pepper enjoyed her sleep,” Emerick admitted, stretching with a yawn. “She did a little better trying to stay awake for the sunrise.”
“Were you measuring in minutes or seconds?” Annora asked with a grin.
“Unfortunately, I was measuring in seconds this time. I may have contributed to the situation. We were on the couch, and I encouraged her to be comfortable. Comfort does not keep young mistresses awake at sunrise.”
I yawned, checked to confirm I wore pajamas, and escaped bed, staggering in the direction of the bathroom. “Why am I so damned tired?”
“You gathered branches for stakes,” Emerick reminded me.
I halted in the doorway to the bathroom and turned to face him. “I don’t get why that means I feel like I was kicked by a mule.”
“The entire process of making stakes takes magic and energy. You were only retrieving one or two branches at a time before last night, so you likely didn’t catch on to how tiring it can be. You brought in many branches, and you took care with each one. It’s natural for you to be tired.” Emerick got out of bed, caught Edgar in an arm, and carried the child in the direction of the kitchen. “Soak for a while, as you’re probably sore, too. And I solemnly swear I didn’t do anything nefarious during the day. After I carried you to bed, I was lured into sleeping due to your peaceful slumber. You are such a bad influence, Mrs. Lowrance.”
I laughed. “I’m expecting you to bring me some hot chocolate for breakfast.” My stomach gurgled, making it clear it wanted something, too. “And apparently, it’s a breakfast morning?”
“I’ll make you something to eat,” he promised.
A soak, some hot chocolate, two bottles of blood, and waffles woke me up, and by the time I got dressed, Annora and Gerry had run off with Edgar, leaving me alone with Emerick. “I guess we got morning visitation rights?”
“Something like that. Edgar needs to be acclimated to modern society, and the best way to do it is to let him explore the world and ask questions. Because of his age and his difficulties retaining information, it’ll be a lengthy process, but he’ll get there. He has an appointment with Giovanni before bed, so we’ll get a better idea of his current state. We just don’t know what being in the ground for so long might have done to him.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
Emerick regarded me with a surprised expression. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“It just seems to be a lot. A week ago, you thought he’d gone on to his final rest. It’s a lot of work caring for a child.”
“Oh, I see. I’m fine—better than fine, really. We, as a brood, are ready to handle unexpected children. The mortal wives tend to enjoy surprising their randy spouses with pregnancies. Right now, none of the women are pregnant, which makes the timing quite good. There are a few mortal children Edgar’s age, but we must do a lot of work with Edgar before they can meet and play together. Edgar struggles with controlling his strength, so we have to establish strict rules on how they play together. Edgar does understand he can hurt his playmates, but he is still a child who gets excited, and excited children make mistakes. Before he disappeared, we kept a close watch to make certain no one got hurt. We’ll have to be careful, but it’s manageable.”
“And you’re not upset Annora and Gerry have him?”
“Not at all. We’ll get to see him several times a week, and we’ll pick nights where we get to watch him. All I care about right now is knowing he’s all right.” Emerick winced. “Well, as all right as he gets.”
“You regret he was turned at such a young age.”
“How can I not? He isn’t truly capable of comprehending all that he’s lost. He is a joyful burden and a reminder of why we must take care with our children, both in life and in death.”
“I’m genuinely surprised there aren’t more like him,” I admitted.
“Before his age, burial practices were different. Ceremonies and rituals were performed, and they consisted of many little things that worked well to prevent a child from rising from their grave. Superstitions also played a role. They did things hundreds of years ago that would horrify you. But those things kept children from rising from their graves. I take care to maintain some of those practices. However much we love him, we don’t want there to be another Edgar.”
The realization I might have shared Edgar’s fate chilled me. “That might have been me.”
“When I first saw you, I worried. The relief upon hearing your age was real. You had not been robbed of your childhood, and you had not been locked in an underdeveloped body. You’re still younger than I prefer to turn, but you had experienced life before death, and that’s important. Edgar hasn’t.”
“You wish he could grow up.”
“I wish he could have all that life has to offer. I wish he could choose if he wants to be a romantic, or to go at life alone, what type of work he wants to do—I want him to have it all. He can’t. We had to stop having birthday celebrations for him because he didn’t understand why he isn’t like everyone else. Instead, we will celebrate his accomplishments. He’s too aware of the weight of age. He’ll never be able to enjoy a candlelit dinner with a glass of wine and excellent company. There’s so much life he simply can’t experience. It is my hope that we might be able to overcome whatever prevents him from growing, but we would have to learn the why of it.”
“Well, I’d say magic had a lot to do with it. If stakes can paralyze us and kill us on contact, why can’t magic unravel whatever is preventing him from aging? Maybe some of my stakes can help?”
“That’s something we’ve never tried before, but truth be told, it’s something we’ve never been willing to try before. You’re the first carver I’ve seen whose stakes comfort rather than harm.”
“We’ll have to deal with one problem at a time, but it’s worth trying. Do we have any new information on the current situation?”
Emerick went to the sitting room and sat on the couch, stretching out his legs and staring into the fire. I joined him, giving him a chance to gather his thoughts.
“Do you want the good or the bad news first?”
“Let’s start with the bad.”
“Whomever is behind this is damned good at cleaning up after themselves. The police located the vans, but the only DNA evidence they found came from the victims. The security camera footage from nearby buildings caught some images, but they’re not clear enough to learn much. We know each van had at least two or three people in them, likely male judging from their size. But that’s it. They went in understanding they would be recorded and were masked and covered up. We can’t even identify skin color from the footage we have. That leads us to believe we’re dealing with a brood, likely consisting of criminals and those used to working beyond the limits of the law. That’s a dangerous combination. As it’s probable they’re a young brood, they are going to get a nasty surprise.”
“They are?”
“We vampires have been policing ourselves for centuries, Mrs. Lowrance. When we find a mutual enemy or threat to our survival, we join forces. There are no broods approving what has been done to these men—and potentially to you. My maker’s word has sway, and when he says someone faced atrocities he does not wish to speak of, he is believed. But that leads me to another interesting thing. Not a problem, but interesting.”
“What interesting thing?”
“You, my wife, have quite the club of admirers. Word of your stake carving has spread through the preternatural community, along with the more medicinal properties of your stakes. Upon hearing we’re using your stakes as treatments for the abused vampires, a brood made a request of me, which I immediately granted.”
“What request?”
“They have a vampire with a broken mind, and they asked to see if your stakes might help clear his thoughts. I would never deny that to a brood. Even when broken, our vampires are our families. Your stake did not cure his madness, but it, for a time, restored his clarity of thought—enough they were able to identify the source of his madness.”
My eyes widened. “There’s a brood with a mad vampire?”
“There are many broods with mad vampires, held lovingly in comfortable prisons so they might not hurt anyone. It is not uncommon. It turns out there was a magical malady at play that his madness masked. It’s curable. If your father is responsible for your turning, I will make certain to sprinkle in appropriate gratitude while scolding him most fiercely and coming up with a suitable punishment for taking away your choice. As it is, I have made certain to recommend that no brood attempt what was done with you on anyone below the age of twenty-five. This has been accepted, especially with the reminder of Edgar and his challenges.”
“How have you accomplished so much when you slept the day away?”
Emerick grinned at me. “I did it while you were hiding in the bathroom last night, of course. I have learned to make every minute you are not at my side count, as I wish to fully enjoy when I am with you. There will be work, but I look forward to a long life of doing as much work in as little time as possible so I can enjoy more time with you.”
I raised a brow at him. “I’m not ready to lose any wagers yet, Mr. Lowrance, so you’re going to just have to tone back that romantic stuff for a while.”
“The chase is half the fun. Who falls first? And the beauty of it all? This is a game we can continue to play over and over, leading us to the sweetest of victories time and time again.”
If we played that game, we’d drive everyone around us more insane than we’d drive each other. “I’m establishing a rule. Every six months, a tie shall be declared, and there will be at least a week between wagers. I don’t want to die at the hands of our brood.”
“That is a wise thought. But let’s set our first wager to last roughly a year, that way, should a tie be declared, we can enjoy our victory on the anniversary of the night I lured you into my lair.”
“Lured? You mean dragged by force using cuffs.”
“Close enough.”
I laughed. “As far as lairs go, I like this one. It’s not dark or clammy, the bed is comfortable, the vampire seems to be a decent sort, and he has this great bathroom.”
“I have noticed your enjoyment of our bathroom. When you tire of it, let me know. I have selected the theme for the next one.”
“Tell me.”
“A sunny beach with ocean motif. I am thinking that I may have aquariums installed along one wall. There’s plenty of space where the rocks currently are. The space for that bathroom is much larger than it appears, so I can do many glorious things with it.”
“You may need to hold that thought for a few decades, but hold that thought,” I informed him.
“Or I could have it built at the second estate, so we can hop back and forth so you can enjoy both bathrooms.”
“What second estate?”
“I have a property in the Hamptons. Right now, it’s under construction, as it is a recent acquisition. Members of the brood who enjoy working during daytime hours coordinate the daytime workers, and the younger vampires handle the work at night—and we use magic to buffer our neighbors from the sound. When it comes time to install the escape passages, I will show you how it is constructed. I do most of the work on my own on those, although the space is left intact for me to do the work. It is a case of many in the brood knowing the passages are present but they lack any idea where the entrances are—or how to get inside.”
“Clever.”
“I try to be. When I was mortal, I worked often with my hands, and I never forgot that. I just don’t get to do it as often as I would like.”
“Is there any other bad news?”
“Only my general vexations with the situation, as I don’t have enough information to do anything productive with yet.”
I nodded. “And the good news?”
“With her consent, my maker turned your mother. She rose the next evening without complication, far quicker than anticipated. She caught him off guard, and she got to enjoy quite the snack before he took control and calmed her. As it was left up to interpretation what my maker meant by enjoying quite the snack, I believe you inherited some of your impulsiveness from her. She is handling all blood types well, so there’s no need to fear she shares your unique challenges. Her turning was peaceful from start to finish.”
My mother deserved peace, no matter what form it came in. “She’s really all right?”
“She’s all right, although I find it a little upsetting that my maker is being courted by my wife’s mother. At least I can say I was the first to fall prey to the charms of your bloodline. My maker copied me.”
“And what does that mean if my father is a vampire? Will they fight over her?”
“I doubt it. If you were stolen from me, I would turn every stone on this planet upside down to find you. Your father simply lacks much care on the matter. I feel he is treating her disappearance as a formality—or perhaps, as a way to make certain she enters her next life on favorable terms? I do not feel love is something that ever bound those two.”
That much I could agree with. “Then why turn her at all?”
For a long time, Emerick remained silent, staring into the fire. “A debt owed and repaid.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Because of her, he has you. He was much more frantic when you were taken, and he calmed and returned to his aloof state the instant he learned you had risen and recovered—and placed within a reputable brood. It supports our belief he is a vampire, and an old one at that. And it would not surprise me if he suspects my maker had gone off with your mother.”
I needed to remember that when pressed about a subject, he would often tell me something I inevitably wouldn’t like. “Why do you think that?”
“He questioned us about her with no evidence of skepticism. He seemed satisfied with our responses, and he only wanted enough information to confirm we were not directly involved. If we’re playing diplomacy by the rules of vampires, he established sufficient doubt of our involvement for his requirements. It allows him to step away from the situation, begin processing your mother’s probable death as required by mortal society, and move on with his eternal life. He will, of course, put on a proper show of grief at the standards expected of his empire, but he has what he wants: an eternal heir, you. That is often the goal of many an old vampire, to have an heir for their empire. The mother of the heir doesn’t matter much to the vampire, especially if mortal. I raise my vampires to shun the unsavory parts of the old ways.”
“You want the wives of your vampires to become their eternal brides.”
“Precisely, and I have been long in discussion with the mistresses to make it happen, assuming we could work around the problem with raising women in this era. But the problem seems easier to solve than we believed. We let the women choose their fates, and my first thought is to hold marriage ceremonies for the newly turned women and their vampires as part of their turning ceremonies while welcoming them into the brood. And the brides broods can help with that, which appeals to the mistresses.” Emerick got up to stir the fire and add a new log to the flames. “The more I think about it, the more I do believe your father is an old vampire—possibly even older than I am.”
“Why do you think that?”
“The birth certificate was the first major clue. Only ancient vampires tend to realize the need to take those precautions. He’s probably been his own father for hundreds of years, making arrangements with a woman wanting a child to continue the ruse. He would create a birth certificate for himself and for their child, allowing appearances to be maintained. He would then pay the woman off with a tidy sum of money, and she’d have a cover story for the father—possibly him, possibly another man. She would have the child, he would likely support her and the child until their natural deaths, and he would, if the child was his, confirm if the child rose or not at death—or ensure the child would not rise. Or, if he was an active parent, raise the child to be a vampire once an adult.”
“That doesn’t make sense, especially if he wanted a son.”
“Ah, but what if he wanted a daughter all along?” Emerick replied, returning to his seat beside me. “A daughter is the true prized jewel among vampire fathers. Most women who are turned are either the beloved of a vampire or the product of a vampire slowly going mad, like Annora. I do not believe Annora would have chosen to become a vampire on her own. Her father was mad and heavily pressured her. It was not her nature, and it was against her beliefs at the time. But Gerry was turned, he was what she knew, her father knew she appreciated him. When she was turned, she fixated on Gerry and did everything she could to be with him. Since they were both turned against their will, the brides opted to change their ways to undo some of the harm done to them. Then they were brought to my maker, who sent them on to me, because I have the gentle hand he doesn’t.”
“He seems gentle enough to me.”
“With you and your mother, his hand will be as gentle as mine, although in a different way. He thrives on challenging young vampires. You do not need a challenge, as you were forged in adversity. What more could he do to you? He won’t challenge you because you have done far more than any of his young vampires, so he feels you have earned a gentle hand. Your mother? He will challenge her. He will run so she will chase him, and she will chase because she is being taught all she will ever see from him is love—even when that love is making sure she doesn’t bite an innocent. There are times he will have to control and contain her, but he will never be cruel.”
“Not like my father was cruel,” I whispered.
Emerick nodded. “The more I think about it, the more I marvel at the sheer complexity of your father. You were not an accident. Your mother’s behavior leads me to believe you would have spontaneously turned on your own. One night, you would have died and rose all on your own, without a drop of blood from anyone—which makes what had been done to you even worse. Something so demeaning and cruel being so unnecessary angers me more than I care to think about.”
“You think he’s a vampire, then.”
“So far, it’s the only thing that makes sense. It would have been impossible, as far as I can tell, for some outside influence to do the work. At the very least, he was behind it. But his behavior implies he was giving you his own blood. You said he would cook, and most days, you shared a meal with him, correct?”
I nodded.
“The blood would be easy to hide in any sauce, especially something savory. And if you liked rare stakes, it would have made his work even easier. That your diet began to change so drastically during your childhood implies that the magic was taking hold and working on turning you into a vampire long before you were kidnapped. We’ve thought about other scenarios, but none of them fit. One day, you will have to confront him about it.”
I considered the situation. While Breckenan took the credit for turning me into a vampire, had he truly been the one responsible? “Breckenan had a hold on me from the process of making me into a vampire, correct?”
“He had a bond with you, yes… but I don’t know if he’s really the one who made you a vampire. Considering your mother’s circumstances, I am of the opinion you would have turned no matter how you died. It just happened you got a huge influx of potent blood at your time of death, and that made you what you are now. But the foundational work? That is your father’s doing. Or a vampire closely connected to your father and working with him daily. But your meals were mostly during the day, which tells me that your father is old—very old. Possibly even older than I am. Those I can think of who can flawlessly walk under the sun with zero sign of being vampires are few and far between.”
“Are you one of them?”
“I can walk under the sun without being detected for a time, but I am hardly flawless. But I am quite old. I don’t know if I could pull off what your father has done. And that is truly remarkable. The dedication to his cause is a thing of splendor.”
“Do you have a crush on my father now?” I teased.
“To my shame, in some ways, I admire what he has accomplished, despite loathing what he has done. Without him, you would not exist as you are now. The amount of work, care, and effort required to cultivate someone so they become such a jewel is astounding. I am forced to admire that.”
“You’re also shamefully biased, Emerick.”
“There is nothing shameful about being biased in favor of my wife.”
“I’m not sure how to respond to that,” I complained.
“Run to our bed, fling off your clothes, and invite me to enjoy my victory,” he suggested.
I burst into laughter. “You’re stooping to just asking me to lose now?”
“If it works, it is worth the sacrifice to my pride.”
I giggled, propped my feet up on the coffee table, and regarded him with a sly smile. “What happened to the thrill of the chase?”
“That’s a good question. I’m not sure. I keep trying to think about important things, like other possibilities, and I just get sidetracked and think I’d rather just go back to bed and take a nap.” Emerick slumped his shoulders. “Ben reminded me I’ve been working days and nights for about a month straight now. As such, I’m so sleep deprived that I can’t think straight. I thought about sending him to Tremont, but Edgar wanted his Uncle Ben to teach him a new game.”
“Sucker,” I informed him. “If you’re tired, why don’t you just stretch out on the couch while I work on carving a stake? That way, I do my share of the work while you rest. If you want a nap, take a nap.”
“But napping is so much nicer when you’re naked.”
I bet. Shaking my head and grinning at the absurdity of it all, I went into the bedroom where the gathered branches waited, and I picked the one that’d held on until I’d gotten the bird’s nest off it. I returned to the sitting room armed with both of my pocketknives and a plastic container to store the leaves, bark, and wood shavings in. I sat on the far end of the couch, made myself comfortable, and patted my lap to invite Emerick to join me.
He laughed, stretched out on the couch, and rested his head on my leg. “If you don’t want embarrassing pictures spreading around the brood, wake me up before the sun rises.”
“Why would I be embarrassed by napping on the couch with my husband?”
“Well played, Pepper. Well played. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Is the big, scary, ancient vampire afraid of being seen in a gentle, peaceful position?” I teased.
“We might give the brood a heart attack if they find us just passed out on the couch, fully clothed and appearing to be all innocent. They’ll question our actions.”
“And then they’ll see my carving station, realize I spent all the night picking wood shavings out of your hair while you dozed, dreadfully bored with how long it takes me to whittle a stake.”
“A shower can fix wood shavings, so I’m not worried about that.”
“Is that because you’re all bark and no bite?”
Emerick snorted on a laugh. “As soon as I lure you to bed, I’m so punishing you for that, Mrs. Lowrance. But don’t worry, we’ll both enjoy it.”
“That better be a promise, Mr. Lowrance.”
“Oh, believe me. It is.”