Brewster (Ohio Vampires #1)

Chapter 6

Rance hung up the phone. It wasn’t something that he used all the time, but he knew the numbers when they came up on the handset. Thinking about the things that Brew’s mate had told him made him believe that things were about perfect for the couple. Then he thought of his own life.

His parents were both deceased. Rance had no brothers, no sisters. The one uncle that he had had gone rogue about a decade ago and had been put down. He’d never had a mate, no good friends nearby, and the worst part was, the few friends that he did have, other than Brew, were thinking about offing themselves so that they’d not have to be bored with life or go rogue.

His uncle Joe, unlike the other men in his life, had lost his mate. She had gone out for a few hours, and just as he was expecting her to return, her death was felt by the family. His own heart had shattered. Losing someone who was close, especially to a vampire, having spent thousands of years together, it would make a man lose all sense of control.

Joe had gone on a killing spree that was talked about for years after. Even now, occasionally, someone would write about the Great Bleeding as if it had happened only a few days ago. He’d killed nearly three dozen humans. Slashing their throats, leaving them to bleed out. He had killed entire families, single adults with family nearby. It was nothing for him to go into a home and pick and choose the ones that he thought had slighted him and kill them while leaving a bedpartner beside them living. It was one of the reasons that Rance had remained a recluse.

Not finding his mate meant that she couldn’t be killed. There were other factors involved in his reasoning to stay out of sight, but that was the one that he would tell people about when asked. But Brew had found his.

Calla had called him just now. She’d told him that he needed to come to the house to celebrate life. Calla had also told him that if he didn’t show up that she would come for him, and as she had recently figured out, she was the queen of his kind, and she wouldn’t make it easy on him. For some reason, he believed her.

There was something else that he believed about her. While she’d not said anything, she had indicated to him that she would beat his ass if he decided not to do what she’d asked—it wasn’t really a question, but if he didn’t do what she wanted, he was going to be hurting no matter how she put it.

“We’re having a nice wine-tasting party next month.” He told her that he only drank reds. “Good for you. We’ll have reds and whites, all the colors, and if you only drink the one color, you’re going to have a great deal to choose from. However, being here is important to me. Do you understand what I’m saying to you, Rance?” He told her that he did.

“You want me there. However, I don’t know what is going to be going on in a month, so I don’t know what I’m doing.” She told him that, of course, he did. In one month, he was going to be at Brew and her home, tasting wine. “You don’t understand. I have—”

“No, it’s you that don’t understand. Now, as I was saying, we’re having a lovely wine-tasting party, and you will need to be dressed up. Black tie. I hope you have a tux. If not, then we can figure one out for you. If you bring a date, he or she will need to be in black tie apparel as well.” She laughed. “I almost forgot. If you bring someone who wants more than just wine, we’ll have small plates as well. Lots of things that I’ve been playing around with since we came up with this plan. So you don’t have to bring a date that needs to only drink while here.”

He tried once again to tell her that he had no plans of going to a wine-tasting party or any other kind, but she cut him off, telling him of the other parties they were going to have, not giving him any dates. Just telling him that once he moved to this part of Ohio, he’d be close enough that he’d not have to stay with them unless he wanted to.

After hanging up over an hour ago, he still was thinking about how he’d been bullied into going to Ohio by a mate to his best friend. And not only that, but by a human as well. When his butler came into his office, he asked him if he was all right.

“I don’t know.” He told him what had transpired with the phone call. “She’s very pushy, I believe, and I’m actually looking forward to meeting her.”

Bradford laughed. Rance told him that had she been a salesperson, he might well have purchased all that she was hawking and wanted more from her. They both agreed that they’d never get on her bad side as she might well hurt them, even for being as old and magical as they were.

“I should like to meet her myself, your lordship. She sounds like someone that your father would have enjoyed talking to.” He agreed with him and smiled. “So when are you leaving? I’m assuming that you are leaving here soon?”

“I have a month to appear, and then I don’t know what will happen.” He laughed again. “She threatened to come here and take care that I showed up on time. Bradford, she seems to think that I’m going to be staying with her and Brew in their big house before getting one of my own to live nearby them. Isn’t that the strangest thing?”

“It ‘tis. So shall I begin closing up the house for you? A month isn’t all that long to be able to move yourself and the household there. Or will you be keeping this place as another rental?”

He was telling his man that he should have things closed up within two weeks when he realized what he was doing. Not only did he have a list of things that Bradford could do to expedite his move, but he also had a list of his own to call the bank and other establishments around them that they used. He’d even gone so far as to tell the staff they could have pay for another month after he was gone to help them along. Rance leaned back in his chair.

“She’s bamboozled me.” Bradford quietly left the room after not saying a word. As he was sitting there, thinking of what she’d done to him, he wondered at the others who had been in their group. Did she do the same to Kenneth? To…he thought of her bullying Yosef and wished that he’d had the presence of mind to ask about the others who surely would be there for the party.

It took him about two hours to get his mind straight on what she’d done to him. She’d not used compulsion on him. He would have realized that after ending the call. She’d only told him what he was going to be doing and didn’t take no for an answer. She didn’t even take maybe as an answer either. Wondering at the power of one so young, he laughed until he was crying. His thoughts on what she was doing to his friend Brew was making it difficult for him to walk. Much less breathe.

While making the necessary calls to close up his home, he would catch himself laughing about the young woman. He also wondered again and again if she was just all bluster on the phone or if he could be able to enjoy her wit when he met her. He had a feeling that not only was she keeping Brew on his toes, but she was more than likely keeping him laughing, too. He could almost hear her telling him about the call with him. Brew would be impressed first, and then his humor would kick in. He’d be having a good time hanging out with her like he was looking forward to doing.

By midnight, he had all the paperwork ready to be signed and closed off. He’d had a great deal of his father’s things finished up as well. It had taken him a long time to get his father’s things gathered up as he’d been living overseas and hadn’t thought of getting things prepared at all. He’d not only not left a will, but he’d not made any kind of arrangements for not just the house but the other lands and places that he owned. Thanks to the vampire committee, it was just a matter of him signing his name to all his deeds to have them turned over to him. The money, a great deal of it as it turned out, was his as well after disturbing what he wanted taken care of. His staff and that of his mothers were let go when they decided that they didn’t want to be living in the grand house any longer. Then, he sat down to read over his will again.

He’d made one up and sent it off to his attorneys just after his father had died. The only reason that it was still in his possession was because he’d not sent it back to his attorney. He decided it was high time that he did that in the event that he got himself killed on the way to Ohio. He’d never been one to think that he was going to die because he never left his house. But with all the traveling that he was going to be doing, he had to think about those sorts of things.

There were already several changes that he needed to make in it so that when Brew was in charge of his estate should he turn to ash, he’d not throw up his hands in frustration and not do anything that he wanted. As he went over it, marking the changes, he thought about what it would be like to have a mate.

She’d be insane or have to be if she was his mate. He was entirely too set in his ways to bother with women of this century. They were independent. Mouthy and strong. They knew what they wanted and didn’t care if you got it for them or not. If they wanted it, they knew just how to get it.

They dressed how they wanted, too. He’d seen more different clothing on women in one day than he remembered seeing when women were walking about town. They used to dress up to go out. Took pride in what they looked like. He wasn’t saying that all women didn’t do that today, but the few that he did see that were out didn’t look like they’d brushed their hair, much less gotten out of bed in time to shower. He didn’t like the modern woman of today.

Then there were the kids of today. While he could see the advantages of having a cell phone all the time, he didn’t think they understood that there was a whole life of colors, scents, and sounds that they were missing by having their faces buried into their phone.

There were incidents where they walked into trees, cars, and benches. He saw a baby, who was not very old, sitting in a stroller with one of the devices attached to their pram while the woman had one attached to her ears. It was a shame, he thought, that more people didn’t just close them off, put them away and enjoy life. That made him laugh.

He knew that he wasn’t enjoying life either. But he’d been around long enough that he felt that he’d seen it all, from cars to planes. He’d seen the fastest trains to jets zooming through the sky. There had been times when he sat on an ocean liner, the only way to travel from one country to the next for months on end. He’d seen things too.

The Eiffel Tower. Rance had been there when a president had been murdered. The stage had been playing their roles when someone came in and shot him. He’d heard of boats that carried hundreds of people and had a pool on the deck for them. Things were both strange and new. Things that even to this day, he didn’t think could be toppled but usually ended up being so.

Rance thought about traveling to Ohio. To visit or to stay would take him no more than a few seconds with his magic. He could travel by bus, car, or even plane if he wanted. Things today were terrifying and wonderful.

Going up to his bedroom, closing all the curtains and windows, he laid down on his mattress. It wasn’t all that comfortable anymore. He couldn’t even remember the last time that he’d bought something new. He was going to do that first thing in the morning. Not only was he going to buy himself something better to sleep on, but he was also going to buy him something to wear that wasn’t a suit. He’d been wearing black suits with a black tie for longer than he could remember. Christ, he was fucking old, he thought to himself. Too old for a lot of things.

Sleep eluded him. Getting up and walking to the window, he decided to have a seat there. Watching the deer that played in his back yard, he thought of times when that was all he could feed from. The natural wildlife had saved his life on more than one occasion. Realizing that he was getting miserable with his thoughts, he decided that he was going to think happy thoughts for the rest of the month he had until he was to show up in Ohio.

“Like that’s going to bloody happen.”

~*~

Brew loved the smells that were surrounding him. He could find the scent of vanilla and remembered a time when women would use it as their perfume. Going into the kitchen, he found Hattie baking cookies and his Calla Lily decorating them. She had a fine hand for it, he could see.

“I’m having a burger with fries for dinner. I know you won’t eat, but will you please sit with me while I have my dinner?” He said he would go to the ends of the earth for her. “Just to the dinner table is fine. Did I tell you that I’ve still not been able to get in touch with Yosef? I think that he’s avoiding me. That the others have told him that I’m pushy or something.”

“You are a bit pushy. Since I’ve brought you to my home, you’ve become very good at getting what you want. Did you really make the little boy that delivers our newspaper bring it up to the porch?” She pointed out that he was making an extra twenty bucks a week to do that. “So I heard. He’s quite the envy of all the children around town. Also, I heard that you hired a lawn crew for the yard. I didn’t think it was large enough for a crew .”

“I hired two men to help out and their sons. The two families haven’t had a job between them in ten years. I thought that if we could spread a little of having money around, more people would take pride in their own yards. You have to admit that some of them are completely overgrown with weeds and cars.” He nodded, watching as she put a happy face on one of the cookies. “I also hired some of the pack to help out around the house. Hattie has vouched for them, and it helps out the pack, too. They’re not drowning in debt, but it’s difficult for them to keep their jobs when everyone in town seems to have a problem with them being shifters. I had no idea that was still an issue.”

“We need a new influx of younger people in charge of things going on around the town. If you could do that, have some of the thirty something year olds taking over some of the offices, I believe we’d have a better town, too.” She asked him how old the mayor was. “I believe him to be in his late seventies. I remember him when he was but a child and I didn’t care for him then either. He’s running the town like it’s the eighteen hundreds, and he’s the sheriff in town.”

“I’ve also noticed that the library is having trouble with getting people to use it. If this keeps up, there won’t be enough people to fund the thing come election time.” He told her that he thought that it had been on the last election to have more money poured into it. “Did it pass?”

“I don’t believe that it did. That’s why the building looks as if a good wind would have it crumbling down atop them.” She asked him about books. “I don’t know the answer to that. I’m assuming that the same books are on the shelves as the day it was opened. You’re right in saying that people don’t use it much anymore, but I have complete faith in you and that you’re going to take care of it.”

“There are a lot of things that are on their way to the dumpster. Or something like that. Did you notice the grocery store has burnt to the ground? Several years ago? The only place that people around here can stock up on things is the Dollar General, and that’s not exactly close enough for some people who need to walk there. Don’t even get me started on prices either.” They talked about how a grocery store had been planning to come to town, but Covid had hit, and all kinds of things that had been in the works had been put off. “Hattie was telling me that jobs are hard to get around here, too, since the basket company went belly up. I know there is one in town, but I don’t know enough about it to know if they’re hiring or not.”

“I don’t know either. I tend to stay out of the way of new businesses in town. I know that I should take better care of being informed, but I have been feeling sorry for myself and haven’t done much of anything around here. I plan to change that.” She thanked him. “You’re so very welcome.”

He watched as she spread icing on one of the broken cookies and popped it into her mouth. He didn’t want to say anything, but watching her eat made his cock hard. It didn’t matter what she ate, though when she ate fries, it was all he could do not to jump her. He would feel like she was taking little nibbles of him at the same time. He needed to stop making love to her hourly, she told him, as she was exhausted all the time. Brew just couldn’t get enough of her.

“Tonight, we’ve been invited to the mayor’s home for a tea party. His wife is having the tea party, and her husband is having a cigar smoke off. I haven’t any idea what that means, but you’re supposed to come with me. I don’t know what I’m going to do there anyway. I can’t stand tea no matter how many flavors someone puts into it.” He laughed, enjoying her honesty more than anything else about her. “There will be five couples, not including the Jacksons.”

“Who are they?” She glared at him and told him that was the mayor’s name. “Oh. I’m sorry. I did mention that I’ve been out of the loop for some time now.”

“You’d have to be about dead not to notice all the election signs all over the yard for the upcoming election. Also, so you know, I’ve convinced Mr. Candace to run this year. I’ve banked him a bit so he can afford signs, too.” He didn’t dare ask who that was, but she seemed to understand that he didn’t know him. “He’s the vice principal of the high school. He’s only in his early thirties and has some good ideas for the town. One of them is getting the library back up in shape.”

They talked about all kinds of things that needed to be taken care of in the town. He knew that she’d lived here for some time now, but she seemed to have a better handle on things than he had, and he’d lived here for over two hundred years. Then she pulled out her list. She was forever making lists and handed it to him.

Looking it over, he was shocked to find his name on a couple of buildings. Apparently, someone had asked him if he’d sponsor the building getting the repairs it needed, and they’d put his name on it. There was the Smith Five and Ten that was still up and running. Also, there was a building that would resell clothing that was donated, and the money would go for baskets in the fall for people who didn’t have enough income to support a holiday meal much less toys for their children. Landon remembered it being about ninety years ago that he’d been asked, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember anyone coming to him about it.

“Must have been in your feeling sorry for yourself phase.” Brew told her that it was his depressed stage. “You might well have been depressed because you were feeling sorry for yourself. I’ve seen you pouting around when I’m busy. You need to find yourself something to do that doesn’t involve chasing me around the house.”

“I was not pouting around the house.” She ignored him, and he wanted to beat her butt. However, when he’d tried that on her last night, she seemed to enjoy it more than he had. The things this woman could get him to do was— “What did you just say?”

“I said that you have an appointment with your attorney in the morning. Apparently, it’s been set up for a month now before I came along.” He didn’t remember that either. Another appointment was made when he’d been depressed, not pouting. “He called here to confirm it, and since I don’t have access to your calendar, I didn’t know what to tell him.”

“I don’t have a calendar.” She glared at him again, but all he could think of was how sexy she looked for him. “I don’t know that I’ve ever had one. I’ve done just fine on my own.”

“Says the man who missed two meetings this week when he was out chasing his wife around the woods.” She laughed and told him that she loved him. All he could think about now was how much fun that had been. Calla Lily was up for just about any adventure and fun.

The last three nights, he’d made love to her outside of the house. It had been taking a chance, he knew, for her to be seen by the pack, but that, to him, made it more fun. While watching for a wolf to catch them, he’d not only taken her against the tree but had eaten her pussy until he thought he’d die from the pleasure of it. Christ, she was almost too much for him. And he’d never been so healthy as he was now.

He didn’t need to feed daily, and with her being his mate, he didn’t have to wander too far for sustenance. Calla Lily was forever up for whatever he had in mind, and she had some great ideas herself. She was everything that he could have hoped for in a mate and more so. Christ, he loved everything about her.

“I do have some things that we need to go over before my friends arrive.” She told him that she’d be done with the cookies soon. “There is no need for you to rush or anything. I’ve decided to buy some of the houses around town and have them fixed up for them. That way, they can move right in once you’ve bullied, I mean, convinced them to stay.”

“I did not bully anyone. I was nice, but I didn’t take no for an answer.” He said that he’d heard her with Rance. “Yes, well, he needed to be bullied. I believe that he was going to be holed up in that house of his when it fell down around him. His butler, Brandon, said that they’ve had more water dripping in from the leaks than they do to cook with. They’d have to buy more buckets. I guess his staff still eats. Anyway, he said that the roof needed to be replaced and that the garage that held the cars fell into itself last year, and no one had even called the insurance company.”

“You’ve called them all but Yosef, correct?” She told him that she’d not been able to get in touch with Kenneth either. “He’s out of the country on a mission that he’s been doing for years. He takes used clothing to other countries and gives it to the people who do not have much in the way of anything, much less clothing. Also, he builds houses in places where they’re needed. Of all of us, Kenneth is the kindest person. He works hard and does whatever he can to pay forward anything that he gets from people. You should see his warehouses. He had pallets of things that he could ship out at a moment’s notice. For places that have seen destruction and mayhem that has taken lives.”

“I might like him best of all. Please tell me that you help him out with his endeavors?” He said that all of them did, sending him anything and everything he needed, including millions of dollars to help out annually. “Yes, I’m going to love meeting him. I bet he might be too busy to come here. That would be sad, don’t you think?”

“I think that if you asked him to come here, he would move mountains to come. He’s a good man and a better friend than I’ve ever had.” She smiled at him and leaned in for a kiss. “What was that for?”

“For being the best husband in the world. I’m going to have fun setting your friends up with women so they can find their mates. I need women friends, and they’re going to help me get them.” He asked her if that was all she wanted. “No, I want good friends like Kenneth. I was bullying friends like your friend Yosef. All of them are going to find their mates like we have, and they’re going to be so happy that none of them will meet their deaths so long as I’m around. I need…you and I need them in our lives, and they’re going to come to realize that as soon as they find their other halves.”

He wasn’t sure that her plan was going to work, but he decided that he was going to help her in any way that she asked him to. Even if they didn’t find their mates, it would be wonderful just to have them around. Someone that he could hang out with and talk to about the old times. Yes, he would do whatever she needed of him because he loved her.

Brew walked into town to find the houses that were on his list. He decided that he was going to offer them to his friends but not force anything on them. The very fact that they would be close was enough for him to know that the next step in getting them close was having fun again. He’d almost forgotten what fun was like, and he resolved never to forget that again.

The first three houses were a bust. They should have been torn down a long time ago. When he pulled up the listing for them, he could see that even the realtor had become lazy. The picture that was on their website for them had them looking nearly brand new and not the falling down upon itself places they were now. He really had been slacking in this town, and he was going to bring it back to being alive. Right now, it resembled a town on its last legs, and it needed some good blood put back into its bones. Even the school, now that he had time to look it over, looked as if it needed not just a complete overhaul but torn down and started again. It was that bad. But he was determined to make this place somewhere that he could be proud to call home. Yes, he thought, he and his lovely mate were going to do great things for their little town.