19. Men. I was surrounded by a pox of men. #2
“We follow his footsteps and uncover his secrets, of course. We seek out the necromantic trinkets he imbued with power, and we make certain they are destroyed. We have the tools for that. Once that surge of magic has been neutralized and is no longer at risk of running wild, then we resume our lives. You will finalize luring your husband into your web, you will attend the ball aboard your ship, and I will even be a generous and kind father and take over most of the planning. I have been planning events aboard that vessel since the day she hit the water. We will work with young Edgar, that baby in Japan, and the twins, and we will see them grow. They will do so with an easier time than you because we learned from you. And your mother and I will still harbor some guilt over that, although we will never regret our choices. Because of what we did, you are here now.”
As he shouldn’t. I regarded Breckenan’s head, regretting it had a significant monetary value—money I would use to right all his many wrongs. “And that wicked god he sought to bring to life?”
“We will hunt for his lairs, we will tear down every one of his idols, tokens, and icons, and we will vanquish any hope of such a dark being rising. Those days are over, and we mean to keep it that way.” My father scowled at the decapitated remains of the man who’d caused us so many problems. “I suppose that meager time we got to toy with him was justice enough—justice he crafted at his own hands, as had he not toyed with such powers, he would have died much sooner. We would have been merciful had he not taken such an option from us.”
Yes, we would have. “Are you happy with this, Ben?”
“I am. This was the best for everyone involved. All we have to do now is finish taking out the trash. Unfortunately, I suspect there is a great deal of trash to be taken out, and we’ll find most of it deep in the heart of Amazon.”
Ugh. The Amazon. “I hate humidity, Ben.”
“We all do. We’ll survive. We won’t like it, but we’ll survive.”
Overconfidence proved to be the source of Breckenan’s downfall—overconfidence and impatience.
Had he waited a single day, he would have had an extra three hundred vampires at his call, which might have been enough to transform our slaughter of their group into something more lethal for us.
With the death of both master and controller, Breckenan’s brood fell into tatters.
The victims, in a state of shock and horror, turned themselves in. They did not beg or plead for mercy.
Instead, they babbled about the nightmare they’d been forced to endure and wept over the blood staining their unwilling hands.
My father and his uncles made the time to interview each and every one. Most returned. Those who did not were shown mercy and given burials along with our promise their loved ones would be cared for.
On the fifth night of our stay in France, I waited for my father to finish one such interview before cornering him. “Are you going to give me a straight answer about the people who aren’t surviving?”
“Their souls were broken beyond repair; the things they were forced to do went so far beyond what they could accept that it was kinder to let them go to their final rest after absolving them of their guilt. The Bible I loaned your husband helped. They found comfort before their deaths, and it was painless, that much I can promise you. My family and I are seeing to their families, not that they have much in the way of family left—that’s the real tragedy. ”
It was then I understood what my father hadn’t said.
They had, much like his grandfather, murdered their families.
“Did his atrocities truly have no boundaries?” I grumbled.
“No. That is part of what it means to be a necromancer. But we have good information about what he meant to do and why, and we should be able to bring all his plans crashing to a complete halt after we venture to the Amazon.”
“Why do you think that?”
“He has living prisoners there, and I’m hopeful the girls’ mother is among them. A vampire, but among them. They spoke of having success turning at least one woman.”
I sucked in a breath. “But won’t they die? Shouldn’t we be going to do something about this?”
My father regarded me with a less-than-impressed expression.
“Settle down, little girl. The prisoners are not in any immediate danger. Fortunately for them, they were expected to fend for themselves for their survival, although they were given basic supplies—supplies enough to last them for at least three to six months. We will not be taking a ship back to the Americas, and we shall fly directly to the nearest airport to his fortress. Getting the information we have is far more valuable than shaving off a few days rescuing them. Because we got the intel, the rescue mission should be simple enough. We will bring a large enough force that any straggler vampires will be easy to subdue. There shouldn’t be many of them at this stage.
” My father shrugged. “The truly guilty are being staked and their bounties claimed. Much to the disgust of my uncles, we are handling the process in a humane fashion.”
That was something. “When do we leave?”
“It won’t be long. We have a few decisions to make on who will go and who will escort your feline princesses to your home in New York, as the Amazon is not the place for kittens. You and your husband will be vaccinated tomorrow, and we will leave when you have recovered.”
Ew, vaccines. “I’m going to get sick again, aren’t I?”
“I would count on it, but your mother will be around to nurse you and your husband back to health. I believe she wishes to play with your kittens, and Clarke has determined it is safe enough to bring her here. They will be going to Paris while we prance through the jungle.”
My mother loved Paris, and I wondered how her view of the city would change now that she was with Emerick’s maker rather than my father. “Well, this sounds like a disaster in the making.”
“While you aren’t wrong, try to rein in your worries.
If I thought we needed to go sooner, we would have gone sooner.
Vaccinations are important, and it took a few nights to figure out which ones you need.
While we are gone, your ship will go get pampered, and she’ll soon be ready for your wedding ceremony.
Focus on getting some rest for now. Once we leave for the Amazon, things will be rather busy. ”
“I really hope there aren’t any miscreants I need to drain dry. I’m a spoiled vampire now, and I prefer from a bottle or my favorite dessert.”
“You wouldn’t want to drink these miscreants down anyway. They are surely diseased, and the last thing you need right now is a severe case of rabies. You’re trouble enough without adding rabies to the mix.”
I laughed. “That’s a good one. I’m going to use it on Emerick whenever possible just to drive him wild.”
“Try not to bite off more than you can chew for a change,” my father advised.