8. Emerick, fix this travesty, and fix it now! #2
My father’s gaze fixed on the ancient cruise ship, which was lit up bright as day as workers prepared for her journey.
“It’s easier to ask what industries I don’t have involvement with, young Emerick.
For as long as men have sought ways to become wealthy, I have been accumulating my fortunes.
Take these piers, for example. How did I get space at a pier for this ship on such short notice?
It’s simple. I own these piers. I have an agreement with the local port authority for keeping my operations legal, but only ships I wish to be here may be here.
The empire you know of was built for my daughter’s sake.
I built my cruise liner empire for Benoit’s sake.
Alisander’s empire is made of jewels ethically eased from the ground and sold for excessive amounts to the ridiculously wealthy.
Jewels from those mines rest upon the heads of queens and kings around the world.
Eugene’s empire is in the hospitality field, featuring prestigious hotels, resorts, and places people go to capture happiness for a while.
Of course, my spoiled sons have made their own way rather than take over the empires I built for them, but should I secure my final rest, I will have done my duty and provided for all my children.
Should I have another child, which is unlikely despite my daughter’s prodding, I will build them an empire as well. ”
As a child, there was one hotel we had frequented often, and I’d loved the place; it had boasted a play area where hotel staff would keep an eye on the children of guests. “Is that hotel in Delaware one of yours?”
“It is. I had it built shortly after your birth, as I knew you would need other vampires keeping an eye on you when I could not. When I was in meetings with your mother, we’d host them there so vampires in my brood could watch you interact with their human children—the girls who were present were children of friends and relatives of vampires.
It allowed me to socialize you with other children safely.
And if you did start showing fang, one of my brood could attend to you as needed.
You never did show any fang, and as you loved the visits to the playroom, we often made excuses to have those meetings.
” My father offered me a gentle smile. “You were a remarkably sweet child, especially for a child of a vampire—especially for being a vampire. Every time we had to rein you in, I think it hurt us far more than it hurt you.”
I considered his point of view, and after a while, I could accept and acknowledge the truth of his words.
“I would like to remind you that I rip off the heads of miscreant vampires for a living, and I drink them dry of their blood before accepting sinful amounts of money for having had the pleasure of killing them.”
He chuckled. “Sweet doesn’t mean helpless. If you were to rank her viciousness to the undeserving, how would you rank her, Emerick?”
“Kittens are more dangerous. Cotton poses more of a material risk to life and limb. Limp noodles whipped at the unsuspecting are more likely to leave a mark.”
I gasped over the ruthlessness of his reply. “Excuse you, Mr. Lowrance!”
“Where’s the lie, Mrs. Lowrance? I’ve seen you catch spiders and release them outside because you couldn’t bear the thought of killing it for being a spider.”
I scowled. “It was a daddy long legs, and it was just doing its job. I just gave it a new job to kill bugs outside rather than in our bedroom, and then I got bug spray and killed every non-spider in our room with ruthless ferocity. I only spared one bug. The rest fell to my prowess.”
“The other bugs hitchhiked from the branches and dared to bite you.”
“We need to do a full spraying of the penthouse. Any bugs biting me is unacceptable. I am the biter here, not some stupid insect.” I directed my ire to my father and pointed at the ancient cruise ship. “Scrap her and you will regret it for tens of thousands of years, old man.”
My father burst into laughter. “I already told your brother to work on the project. Just don’t come crying to me when you find out you want to keep a royal pain in the ass floating, because while she is beautiful, she is a royal pain in the ass.
She costs a fortune, she requires frequent dry docking, and she enjoys vexing me. ”
“I couldn’t care less, Dad. If we have to dry dock her yearly for a thousand years, so be it.”
“Should she come to a premature demise on this venture, I will have her rebuilt for you,” my father offered. “I can’t promise she’ll survive this venture, but should she, you may have her for however long she makes you happy.”
“Emerick, find me some new miscreants to drain dry and claim the bounty for. Our new daughter is expensive, and I need money.”
My father bowed his head, lifted his hand, and rubbed his temple.
“For as long as she is in service, you don’t have to worry about her bills.
She pays for herself. That is how a profitable business works.
I keep the ships that make profits and decommission or sell the ones that don’t.
And I suspect, should she no longer be serviceable as a cruise ship, she will have a bright future as a floating museum ahead of her, especially if we allow patrons to spend the night aboard her and treat her as a hotel a few times a year.
I will find a way to keep her legacy alive if that is what you wish for her. ”
I narrowed my eyes and considered the ship. “Emerick, can we host the ball on the ship? Can we reenact a cruise as though we were sailing back when she was new?”
“I’m sure the ship has been significantly modernized, but we could dress the part readily enough, I suppose. Why?”
“Wouldn’t it be fun to have a grand ball on a ship? Like back on the Titanic except with no close encounters with icebergs?” I smiled at the elegant ship, marveling over all the many years since her commissioning. “Can we take a tour of her, Dad?”
After narrowing his eyes, my father sighed, checked something on his phone, and dialed a number.
“Sorry to bother you, Alberto, but it seems my daughter has become the Eclipse ’s biggest fan and wishes to see if she is as magnificent on the inside as she is on the outside.
If the state rooms haven’t been assigned, I fear my daughter and her husband are going to insist on traveling to Europe aboard the vessel.
If they’ve been assigned already, punt someone to a different suite, and I’ll make certain they understand their place. ”
My father would, and I rolled my eyes over his attitude.
Rather than call him out on it, I waited for him to finish his call.
Once he hung up, he said, “In good news for my sanity, cabin assignments haven’t been made yet, so we will tour the state rooms and you will pick the one that will be reserved permanently for your use.
If you pick my state room, I will pick a new one.
I am not telling you which one it is because you will take it because you can. ”
I would, too. “When do we set sail?”
“Our current schedule is to depart the morning after Dagan confirms Breckenan has done his check in and is headed back to his fortress. That should give us a week at sea before he realizes something is amiss. Breckenan will likely attempt to meet us at port in Europe, not understanding that he will be stepping into quite the elaborate trap, one filled with the preternatural who will stop at nothing to see him eradicated. I will also be giving you lessons on how to change into various other shapes while we cruise. The same goes for you, Emerick. While cats are most excellent creatures, and I approve of your natural tendencies, I want you to swim rather than sink, and should it be needed, be able to take to the air. My daughter will far surpass you on this, as it is her nature. It is not yours.”
Emerick chuckled, and he stared out over the water past the cruise ships in port. “Why have you hid who and what you are until now, Charlie?”
“I never needed to expose it until now, that is why. What Jeremy Breckenan has done and will do will forever change life for preternaturals. I have witnessed what happens when lifeless gods come into being at the wish of the devout. And back in those days, those were not wishes for death and destruction, not like what Breckenan and his ilk does. If such things come to pass again, monsters far worse than vampires might spring to life. We simply don’t know. I do not wish to find out.”
Neither did I. “Will killing him and his brood be enough?”
“It should be. When the power of belief wanes, the god shrivels and dies. Cutting off the head will kill the body in this case. But should some dark god of greed and destruction be born, I can’t even imagine the level of damage they might do.
I have already seen what newly birthed vampires can do.
I know how many died to usher my family into their second lives.
But that is what sets us apart from the other vampires, Pepper.
We cannot fall to bloodlust—it isn’t in our blood nor our nature.
We drink because we must, but we always have the choice to not drink.
Even when you were driven by thirst, you never lost control, not even when you bordered close to death. ”
“Did I?” I asked, furrowing my brows. “Did I border close to death?”