10. You will be paying for that later, my little girl.
TEN
You will be paying for that later, my little girl.
In what surely classified as a miracle, my tiny tuxedo kitten had escaped her fall without serious injury. The bruising would heal in a matter of days, and she was old enough to accept wet food with some replacer milk to give her some additional nutrients.
I named her Typhoon, expecting her to sweep through our household with the force of a storm.
The orange kitten, as she was as wise as she was adorable, decided I was her human, and that was that. After she stole Emerick’s socks, I changed her name from Sunshine to Klepto.
After discussion with my husband, the other two kittens went to Breanna; they could provide her with companionship when we couldn’t be with her.
Like me, Breanna loved cats.
I foresaw the woman making off with one of our vampires once she figured out they could turn into sleek panthers one and all. Once she settled, I would encourage her hunt and make recommendations on which men I felt would best fit with her.
“I’m amazed you gave her two of them,” my husband commented while we wrestled with the first of the two robotic litter boxes we would have to keep in the penthouse.
In a display of mercy, my father had acquired us four of them, two of which we’d given to Breanna for her growing feline empire.
He also helped with the installation, checking the manual while we plugged in everything and made certain our beasts were large enough to use the devices.
“I also question why you are encouraging Klepto. Not only did she steal my socks, she took one while it was still on my foot!”
“That’s your fault for wiggling your toes where she could see them.
” The kitten in question, upon the successful thieving of Emerick’s socks, had passed out with her prizes beside her new bed rather than in it.
Typhoon slept nearby, although she’d claimed a toy before the excitement of the evening had caught up with her.
“Why did the vet want to wait until we’re at sea to handle their spaying? ”
My father glanced up from reading the directions, rolled his eyes, and resumed his share of the work.
“Typhoon needs a chance to recover from her tumble, that’s all.
We will cone the kittens and put them in onesies to protect their stitches, and we’ll keep things quiet in our suite during their recovery.
Typhoon is a very lucky little girl. I expect we’ll spend a great deal of time in our suite catching up on rest and relaxation.
As you’ll find out soon enough, we don’t get enough of either, so this behavior will be expected of us. ”
I pondered his opinion, nodding my agreement with his assessment of the situation.
We both tended to work hard, push our limits, and struggle to balance our lives. “We should spend some time on the voyage talking about how we’re going to address some of these problems. We do need rest.”
My father muttered something under his breath, handed the manual to Emerick, and announced, “That is my cue to leave, as I do not want to at all be involved with how you two plan on catching up on rest.”
I burst into laughter. “The kind where we get under the blankets, snuggle close, close our eyes, and take extended naps. But if it makes you feel better, go check on Breanna, help her with her litter boxes, raid the kitchen downstairs, and pretend you’re normal, quite possibly for the first time in your life. ”
“You will be paying for that later, my little girl, that much I promise you. I will call you tomorrow midday with our itinerary, Emerick.”
“Sounds good. If I find out anything new, I’ll let you know then.”
We escorted my father out, and once we had the door closed, I snickered.
“We can indulge in the other forms of rest as well. But if I’m going to be expected to operate on fumes because vampires can get away without sleeping for extended periods of time, I’m going to need breaks.
I love sleeping—and I don’t mean the mutually beneficial version of sleep. ”
Emerick smiled at me. “You can get as much rest as you want. Planning a cruise for the beginning and ending of the season would cover our basic requirements for extended rest and permit everyone to pamper you as you deserve. That would also allow your father to plan his pampering of your person in a leisurely fashion. And yes, he will attempt to pamper you at every opportunity now that he can. We vampire men are obnoxious like that.”
I grinned back at him. “I’m finding it’s much easier to accept the whole situation now that I know the truth. I honestly thought I would need a lot more therapy about it, but I feel like I’m coping with it rather well.”
“You are seeing the evidence of how much he loves you, and while that doesn’t make your childhood better, it does frame everything in a way that’s easy to accept.
My brood has Edgar because we are among the few who are willing to make the sacrifices needed to care for a child unable to grow.
Your childhood is going to pave the way for other children to have a chance at a long and happy life as vampires.
Some parents will still opt to stake their deceased children, and do so faster than we have by tradition, but I expect there will be wakes now—and our wakes might have unexpected surprises. ”
“Like me.”
Emerick sighed and he herded me to our kitchen, where he went to work making hot chocolate.
“Your father is a marvel, and the longer I think about everything he has done for you, the more amazed I am. He likely meant to give himself and your mother a chance to accept your death, drawing back on ancient burial traditions without revealing to her his precise age. Don’t get me wrong.
Your mother understands vampires can be ancient, but your father goes beyond merely ancient. ”
No kidding. “How does understanding my father’s origins change things for us?”
My husband stared at my glowing kettle, his expression thoughtful.
“That’s a question I can’t answer. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I simply cannot fathom how things will be now that he has revealed the truth—and that the Originals aren’t just a band of vampires brought together by the first master. ”
“They’re family. My family.” I winced. “They’re your family now, too.”
“Well, yes. I think you are the equivalent of an Original considering how you were raised. You had zero intervention.”
“Wouldn’t that make the baby in Japan an Original as well?”
Emerick shrugged. “I’ll ask your father tomorrow when I speak to him, but I suspect so—or on the same level as the Sleepers.”
“Why are the children of the Originals called Sleepers, anyway? It’s just because they’re old vampires who tend to go into hiding?”
He nodded, pulling down a pair of mugs from the cupboard.
“That’s really it. We’re both complicated and simple beasts.
The Originals were named as such because nobody could find much information on any other vampires from that era; there were some, but they were uncommon and died out—or were killed by members of your family for being a threat to humanity. ”
“Right. My father and his father weren’t the only vampires made by that… god?”
“God, surge of magic; use whatever you’re comfortable with.
Clearly, your family believed in this divine entity with enough vigor their belief manifested into something that was better left asleep.
However much I appreciate my extended lifespan, I also acknowledge we tend to do a lot more harm than good. ”
I struggled to imagine my father as a devout worshipper of anything.
In my childhood, he’d been careful to expose the science behind religious belief, which had done a good job of preventing me from believing in anything. With the understanding of why he’d taken such care, I made the decision to approach religion with caution.
Might humanity repeat the past?
I hoped not.
Emerick finished making us hot chocolate and handed me the first steaming mug.
“Try to relax. I know it’s hard, especially with how many uncertainties we have right now.
As long as we make it to boarding the cruise ship without Breckenan, everything will work out.
Should he attempt to intercept us while we’re at sea, he will find himself attacking many angry preternatural eager for a chance to win the honor of sending him to his final rest. Should he set foot on European soil, he will learn that the Lowrance brood, while American now, began where he thinks to hunt.
He has chosen poorly, which you will witness for yourself soon enough. ”
“As long as these Europeans don’t attempt to steal you, my prize, from me, they can help eradicate Breckenan. I’m tired of this.” I sipped my hot chocolate and sighed. “I just want some peace, Emerick.”
“It’s why you hunt,” my husband replied in a gentle voice.
“You want to pull people out of the darkness and back into the light, and you accomplish that through saving others. Whenever someone like Smith-Howards shows up and threatens the peace you want for others, you’re consumed with the need to be the change you want in the world.
That’s never going to change. I’ll be working to limit how often you leave my bed after sunrise to hunt miscreants. ”
“As long as you aren’t trying to stop me, because if a miscreant comes onto my turf, I am dealing with them personally.”
“Can I watch?”