25. Not a day went by without the kittens getting into trouble somehow. #2
I’d been exposed to a great deal of magic in the Amazon, and life and death were opposite faces of the same coin.
If his guess proved to be correct, I’d become a magnet for the life energy the necromantic forces had smothered, resulting in that magic taking advantage of the first opportunity available once the conditions for a successful pregnancy had been met.
He believed that same magic would make certain the little girls would make it into the world alive and well. I would worry about predisposition until they were old enough to be turned—if they needed to be turned—but some things we would not know until after we welcomed them into the world.
My father had taken care of contacting Japan, informing them of our experiment, and requesting the specialty blood I needed, as neither of us had expected the idea to work.
In exchange for a promise to help one of their couples through attempting the experiment a second time, he’d procured the entire supply for free.
Until the girls showed up, I would be drinking the highest grade Wagyu fully sourced from younger cows, either heifers or below the age of five.
The ones that weren’t heifers were pregnant, and my father had purchased those cows—and their calves—outright in case my requirement for blood harmed the mothers or babies.
Thus far, everyone seemed fine, especially as I only required a pint of the hormone-rich blood once a week and we used a herd of thirty cows to acquire it.
Once the calves were born and ready to be weaned, the entire herd would be coming to America to become pets, where they’d live their lives until it was time for them to serve their next purpose when they were old, worn, and unable to sustain a good quality of life.
We would trade the best of the calves back to the Japanese in exchange for another supply of blood to help Edgar as he aged.
The trick was hiding the ridiculous quantity of blood I consumed, treating it like most did water. I still needed water and regular meals, too, which ensured I was constantly drinking or nibbling something to keep my body from turning on the precious babies I carried.
Drinking five bottles of Wagyu a day at a minimum with an additional forty ounces of regular water tested my patience. Worse, due to the touchy nature of my situation, I’d made the difficult decision to abandon my coffee drinking ways altogether.
I realized I’d stared out into space and sighed at my antics. “I’m woolgathering again!”
“We’re getting married properly tonight. You’re allowed to woolgather.” Emerick regarded me with a less than impressed expression, and he heaved a sigh. “However, your Mercedes being nice is no reason to cry.”
I hissed at him. “Yes, it is. She’s purple, she’s practical, she’s beautiful, and she’s sporty. She’s perfect for taking our furry children to the vet in.”
“That part I can’t argue with, especially as you were brave enough to drive them to the vet all by yourself yesterday evening. Nobody, the car included, was injured during this monumental occasion.”
I giggled, regarded the pile of excess I had gathered, and shrugged. “It seems I am trying hard to overpack.”
“You did not try. You succeeded. As we don’t have to be the bastards to lug it around, I don’t care. Having extra gooshy goos for our kittens is not an issue.”
I regarded the pair, who napped off their morning playtime. In the past year, they’d grown worse than weeds, with Klepto ringing in at eleven pounds while Typhoon weighed in at fifteen with some growing left to do. “They aren’t really kittens anymore, are they?”
“They aren’t, but they’re still going to be kittens even when they’re old, tired, and spend most of their time in their beds being pampered.
” Emerick smiled, and he gave my cheek a kiss.
“I’m dying to see what this dowry is, Pepper.
If you can leave them for a few hours, we should get this party started.
I’m eager to start the rest of our lives together. ”
If only he knew. I grinned, skipped across the penthouse, and grabbed my new purse, which my mother had sent over a week ago for my adventure around the world.
“Then let’s go. Knowing my family, they’re loitering in the lobby, regretting they hadn’t asked to start earlier.
Let’s just hope we have only the Originals rather than the Sleepers, their children’s broods, and the favorites of their children’s broods.
Also, I found a property in Hawai’i, and I already bought it with my bounty money without telling you.
My father seems to think if he leaves us there long enough, he might get grandchildren out of it. ”
Emerick laughed. “However much I would enjoy that, alas, there are many steps we have to take just to prepare for our first try, but we can start making arrangements for when we get home if you’d like.”
Soon enough, he’d find out such things were not necessary, although we would be making other arrangements when we returned, including a complete removal of stress from my work schedule, pampering, and figuring out how we’d renovate the penthouse to handle two children without costing us our sanity.
“I only have one rule: we will not be competing for highest number of children with anyone.”
I was such a liar.
“I’m hoping for happy and healthy, personally.”
“Then we’re agreed. We’ll aim for happy and healthy.” I headed for the door. “Grab your things and let’s go, Emerick. Don’t forget your passport, your wallet, your phone, and whatever else you need to begin your plans to take over the world.”
“But taking over the world is so much work,” he complained. “How about I start with you in our stateroom on the ship tonight?”
“That’s the plan.”
A purple truck idled in front of the estate with a four horse trailer hooked to the back of it.
The future occupants of the trailer, four black horses I recognized as Friesians, waited with picture perfect patience right outside the lobby.
I laughed, skipped over, and began the serious work of introducing myself to the animals.
A quick check informed me I dealt with a quartet of mares, and all of them seemed to enjoy affection.
My father chuckled. “These aren’t the same type of horses I grew up with as a child, but these horses are spoiled and would love to be your friends, as we determined it would be ridiculous trying to haul that much stuff around with horses.
As such, I decided you get to take these fine ladies to their new home, which is not far from here.
After that, we’ll go to where your dowry actually is. ”
“How far is not far?” Emerick asked.
“You know that warehouse seven blocks from here that took up an entire city block?” my father asked.
“The one that got torn down two months ago? Yes, I’m aware of it. I’m mad I didn’t get to it first. It sold before I realized it was on the market.”
“It never went on the market. I contacted the warehouse owners, pitched them an offer for it, and they agreed to the sale. I had it rezoned to be residential, the warehouse torn down, and a stable installed. The house is currently under construction, but the pasture and the wall to keep the horses in is already in place. There’s currently a log cabin on the property so the caretakers can enjoy their stay.
They are members of my brood, and they’ll be taking care of your beasts while you are gone.
There is a barn, and you have seven barn cats, who were originally ship cats.
The stone wall is high enough they can’t readily jump it, and I hired someone to work some significant magic to protect the property. ”
I resisted the urge to clap my hands at the news, and I gave each horse a kiss on her nose. “This is great, Emerick. We can rotate people in through the horse house for good behavior. I’d say we’d take it over, but the brood will not allow that ever.”
My father laughed. “There will even be a pair of guest houses for your security team to use when you are in residence. Ben was quite thorough in explaining how the brood safeguards the lord and lady of the house. His precautions are a little extreme, but I don’t blame him for that.”
Of the brood, Ben was the only one who knew about the experiment and the results of said experiment, and he worked hard to trick Emerick into thinking everything was as it should be while discouraging taking much in the way of nips.
Fortunately for me, most vampires couldn’t actually detect if a woman was pregnant until she was at least four to five months along. Nobody knew why that was, but it had served us well.
Emerick would still be discouraged from taking nips, albeit for a completely different reason.
Following the news there were two girls on the way, and we had to continue our experimentation to make certain they safely arrived, Ben had transformed into a demon, one hellbent on keeping an eye on us at every moment. “Where is Ben?”
“Ben has been convinced I can handle driving your truck to your stable, giving you a tour, then taking you to where your dowry is before driving you to the ship so you can board early and make preparations for the dance and the ceremony. I am highly amused you requested a murder mystery with you two being the ones murdered so you can relax and observe the festivities before the ceremony.”
“It’s going to take them all of five minutes to figure out Ben did it,” I muttered. “At least I accepted I wasn’t going to be outwitting a bunch of old men and women without costing me my sanity. Instead, I opted for the easiest murder mystery to solve on the planet and a scavenger hunt.”
Each guest had their own scavenger hunt to accomplish, and everyone in the brood had taken a turn hiding clues, creating a spreadsheet with the location of all clues, and making certain every guest would find their prize.
I had handled Emerick’s clues while he had handled mine.
For some reason, I expected neither one of us would be hunting for our prize until a few nights after the ceremony.
I took the lead line for the first of my mares and walked her into the trailer, secured her as my father instructed, and gave her another kiss before fetching the next and repeating the process until I had all my babies put away.
Once I closed the gate, following my father’s instructions on how to do so, I climbed into the back of the truck so I could lure my husband inside.
He cooperated, and after I was buckled in, I settled into the serious business of snuggling close.
My father got behind the wheel, started the engine, and took his time navigating through the tight streets of SoHo, going around the block, and heading through what had once been a warehouse sector, which as promised, underwent a great deal of construction.
When we pulled up, a pair of men wrangled the oversized chain gate so we could access the property.
Half of the block had been turned into a pasture for the horses, a space for their barn and stable, and a pair of arenas, one meant for show jumping and the other for dressage.
My father parked close to the pasture gate and killed the engine.
“Once we release the beasts, we will unhook the truck and go to our next destination. This is part of your dowry, however. When I was young, the dowry was to provide for the daughter and start the family, and this will be an excellent place for young vampiric children to grow.” My father pointed at the stone wall along the far side of the pasture.
“Three blocks down, an old hotel is being torn down from structural problems. I have purchased it, and it will be made as a place for vampires with young children to come so they can play with the horses at this estate. There will, eventually, be the patter of many little feet enjoying these fields with their friends. The horses will be taught to work well with children, and this will be a place filled with joy.”
I hoped my father recovered from the trauma of my birth, my death, and my unexpected revival. Until then, I would remain patient, make certain he could come see the girls whenever he wanted, and enjoy the true fruits of his efforts: a better future for all vampires and their families.
Women would still need to put in a great deal of work and effort to have a child, but outside of needing to drink down more high grade cattle blood, it could be done.
There wouldn’t be a need for human donors, and families would have safer options for adding to their families down the road.
The experiment to help Edgar, Robert’s nieces, and the Japanese baby thrive had resulted with two additional but wanted consequences.
“I’m really liking this whole dowry business. I get the woman and presents from the woman’s family.”
I laughed. “And we won’t have to go far to visit our horses.”
“It’s in walking distance as long as we don’t mind a parade of paranoid vampires.”
Shaking my head, I went to work helping my father to release the beasts into their pasture.
“Nobody has time for that sort of drama, Emerick. You’re just going to have to wait until we’re back from our trip to become close friends with our new horses.
I want to see what else my father has gotten up to without proper supervision. ”
“A great deal,” my father replied with a smile.