Chapter Twenty-eight
After I talked with Esther the first day she was in the Russet Mansion, three things became known to me:
She was indeed supporting them with all the money she could send.
She had not seen her family in three years.
I was speechless for a good thirty seconds after I learned that.
“You are going to see them now,” I said the moment I could speak. “A week of paid vacation. That will be your start of working for us.”
Esther protested but I insisted and now that the mouse shifter was back I could see from the wide smile on her face that it was a good decision.
When I asked about her trip Esther immediately pulled out her phone and showed me hundreds of photos and videos. There were so many kids of different ages. So many kids. My head would explode if I had to deal with as much shrieking as I heard in the videos. I could do a few kids, but so many? Ugh.
But Esther looked radiant among the horde of munchkins and that gave me an idea.
“What do people in the supernatural community do with their kids?” I mused to Matthias while I observed his training routine. He tried to coax me to exercise along with him, or even learn martial arts, but I was enjoying being able to laze around and not spend hours upon hours doing manual labor.
“Obviously, we eat them,” Matthias rolled his eyes.
“No, I mean, are there, like, supernatural kindergartens?” I asked, poking his knee with my foot as he did reps with barbells.
“Most of the supernatural communities keep to themselves so not really. The ones that have social structures, like werewolves with their packs, often have a ‘it takes a village to raise a kid’ mentality so they may have a designed minder to keep watch while the kids play, but the communities are usually too small to have what could be considered a proper kindergarten. And the less social supernatural creatures usually care for the kids alone until their offspring have enough of a handle on their abilities to not reveal themselves in front of a nanny,” Matthias said.
He was training without a t-shirt and the sight was very distracting but I made myself pay attention to the words.
“That must be hard,” I mused.
“It is. And a pain in the ass for our organization because when one of the Sanguine from the less social group decides to have kids we lose an agent for a few years,” Matthias grumbled.
After that conversation, I spoke on the topic with Theo and Tristan as well and I had a brilliant idea.
Sure, Esther could work for us and do menial labor like cleaning and cooking but what if she become a proper member of the Sanguine?
An asset to the organization, with a very specific set of skills like every other member I met or have heard about.
A Special Agent Babysitter.
“Huh. That... could be really useful,” Tristan admitted when I told him my idea.
“And not only for freeing the Sanguine members who can’t go out into the field because of their toddlers.
If Esther gains the trust of the community and learns how to handle kids with special supernatural needs.
.. people would be willing to pay for that.
With money or with favors. But I have one concern. ..”
“What is it?” I asked, crossing my fingers for this to work out.
“She is prey. A little mouse. And while adults can keep a handle on their instincts, kids are ruled by them. It’s likely she would have a problem dealing with predator species. And that’s almost all of the shifters.”
I imagined Esther handling a lion cub and my eager smile dropped. Shit. He was right.
“Maybe it won’t be that much of a problem if she stays human,” Tristan smiled at me apologetically. “If Esther would be amenable to try the idea out in a controlled environment I could invite one of the Sanguine to come here with her kid. Leila has a three-year-old tiger cub.”
I talked about it with Esther and two days later Leila visited us with her kid. We set up a safe play space in one of the spare rooms and added a table and chairs for us to observe from. After the introductions, Leila set the cub down on the plush mat of the room in front of Esther.
The kid crawled towards her curiously and sniffed the extended arm. I could see when the scent of prey hit him. The toddler froze and then tried to bite the hand.
It was over.
Or so I thought, but Esther took her hand away quickly, then in one smooth motion grabbed the back of the kid's neck. What did you know? Scruffing worked even when the tiger shifter was in human form! After Esther let go the kid didn’t try to bite her again and he approached the mouse shifter with respectful weariness.
“Well, color me surprised,” Leila said with amusement. “I think this is going to work. Miss Esther showed my son he is lower than her in the hierarchy and it seems that is more important than her being a mouse.”
The test was a success!
“Are you going to pursue this?” I asked Esther when Leila was getting ready to leave and I got to hold the cub, who tired himself out and shifted into his cat form, for a few minutes. He was so cute!
“I think so. Yes. Cleaning isn’t a bad job but, no offense, if I could get paid to spend time with kids it would be my dream come true,” Esther said shyly. She observed me with the cub intently. “Do you want kids, Victoria?”
“One day... maybe just one. Or two,” I nodded to myself. “I like kids but they can be overwhelming and a big responsibility. I think I will concentrate on myself for now. On reclaiming the time I lost to the Cornellos.”
I caught the vampires sneaking glances at me and Esther quietly discussed pregnancy, breastfeeding, and other joys and pitfalls of parenthood with me.
When we were left alone, only the four of us, Matthias was the first to start the conversation.
“You know we can’t give you kids,” he blurted out. He looked sad, while Theo was nervous, and Tristan grim.
“Can’t you?” I snorted at their downtrodden expressions. Such drama queens. “I don’t need your DNA to have a kid. Sperm banks and donors exist.”
The jealousy rose in the room almost like a tangible cloud.
“You are mine,” Matthias growled.
“Ours,” Theo said with a stubborn set to his mouth. “No one else's.”
“If you want to experience pregnancy... If you really want that... Another source would be the only way,” Tristan said, trying to stay level-headed about this, but red was spilling into his eyes and I knew he was fighting with his possessive vampiric instincts.
“I want you to have everything you want,” he said and he sounded so pained I had to put him out of his misery.
“I don’t care about nurturing a life in my belly. From all I had heard pregnancy sucks so I have no problem with missing that step,” I met each of the vampires' gazes with a smile. “If we ever want a kid we can adopt.”
“Oh thank god,” Theo wheezed out in a rush, deflating.
“You stirred us up on purpose,” Matthias pointed an accusing finger at me.
“So what if I did?” I grinned. “Are you going to spank me?”
They did.
We tabled the conversation about kids for later because the day I had been waiting for was finally coming.
The day of my revenge.