Page 38 of Death Dance

It growled at me. “All signs point to yes.”

“What do you suggest, Charlie?”

“The buffet on the second deck. That is more upscale, there is always a table reserved for my use when I am present, and there will be plenty of space for everyone on our team at it. If the buffet cannot tame her, I fear for the safety of all aboard.” My father gestured towards the elevator outside of our suite. “I will send texts to everyone as we go and postpone the conference call. She will not be at her best if she is worried about her next meal.”

I checked on our furry demons, determined they would be fine on their own, and herded everyone out. “We should bring treats back for our children, Emerick.”

“I will inform the kitchen the kittens need to be spoiled.” With a shake of his head, my father sent off texts while we prepared to leave. “And do not be alarmed by her appetite, Emerick. Those sons of mine are also voracious eaters. This is something inherited from me. In time, you will be far more concerned with her regular feeding bill than the blood she requires.”

“I was not worried before, but I am most certainly worried now. I will not be caught unprepared,” my husband swore.

“You are doomed,” my father informed him in a solemn tone. “I wish you the best of luck for you will need it.”

As my father predicted, my brothers and I squabbled, competed over who could eat the most, and made attempts to steal food from each other. I targeted Emerick more often than not.

He had the best eye for the tastiest treats.

The third time he caught me stealing his sushi, he propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his palm. “I’m going to guess you are eating your feelings, but for the life of me, I cannot guess which feelings you devour. I do understand your reasoning for stealing my supper, though. Would you like me to bring you a plate of your own sushi? I will take care with what I bring you.”

My father laughed. “I’ll have them bring her a sampler tower with seafood. The boys will want one each, and I may as well attempt to spoil them somewhat.”

My brothers cheered, and the tables nearby glanced our way, snickered, and went back to their meals.

Eugene winked at me before saying, “We’re different from other vampires, as you well know. We have to be careful with our blood sources, as we can pick up abilities better than other preternaturals. We don’t usually drain corpses dry because of it. New abilities are a pain to train, and Dad will insist on proper training should you show them. You ladies get the short end of the stick. Should you grace your husband with a little one, you’ll be drinking blood banks dry and rampaging on real food to keep the baby fed. What we don’t know is how much blood you’ll need because of our lineage. For all we know, you might even stop needing blood altogether.”

My father shrugged. “That is a possibility. Your mother required alarmingly little blood to properly rise, although Clarke gave her ready access—and gave her more than she needed. Vampires have good reason to avoid pregnancy tests unless actively attempting to procreate. Most mothers don’t wish to know if a child was lost when they are not in a position to carry to term. What is your success rate for pregnancies, Emerick?”

My husband leaned back in his seat and made a thoughtful noise. “Among our human women, quite high; I haven’t lost a woman to labor for over a hundred years, and I mean to keep it that way. If we have a touchy pregnancy, I bring in the best doctors I can, magic is used, and I have no scruples about sending a pair overseas if needed to make certain mother and baby survive. We did lose an infant thirty years ago, but we made the painful decision to terminate the pregnancy at four months.”

“What happened?” I asked, wincing at the thought of an expecting pair losing their child.

“He had anencephaly,” Emerick replied, and he sighed. “He was missing most of his brain. At the time the family made the decision to terminate, the baby had less than a quarter of his brain, and there was no chance of life. We were astonished the pregnancy hadn’t naturally terminated, truth be told. We assumed predisposition was at play. Technology was not as good then, but the scans done had shown problems earlier. The fourth month was when we were certain there was no chance of life. They tried again the following year. Their son will be turned in the next year or two, and I’ll be taking care with him. I intend on using at least twice the normal amount of blood.”

“I will help,” my father offered. “My blood tends to make for easy turnings, and it has been over a thousand years since I’ve failed to have someone rise. I understand their pain.”

Of that I had no doubt. “Thank you, Father.”

“When you do decide to grace your husband with a child, your brothers and I will contribute blood, as will the rest of the family.”

“Won’t that cause problems with the pregnancy?” Emerick asked, his brow furrowing.

“Female blood does help pregnant women because of the hormones in the blood, but the quantity of the blood is more important than the hormones. In my brood, we make certain all expecting mothers have at least a pint of human female blood daily and supplementary human blood every other day. We use high quality bloods for the rest, usually a mix of cow and goat—no chicken. Mammalian blood is required.” My father chuckled, picked up a piece of sushi from his plate, and popped it into his mouth. “Ben, I will just apologize for my daughter’s tendencies now. She inherited them from me. She will cause you problems, especially when it’s time she decides she will be having a child. She shares many of my mother’s traits.”

Ben chuckled, and unlike everyone else at the table, he’d opted against sushi. “I’m just grateful she decided I’ll be on your team.”

I smiled my sweetest smile at Emerick. “I am basking in your wrongness.”

He laughed. “You win. I was convinced you would be upset you have an entire group of people you need to babysit, Ben.”

“I am the most qualified to successfully babysit you all, so I am comfortable with this situation. I already know I work well with Pepper in stressful situations, so that dynamic will work fine. You will tolerate me telling you what needs to be done. You do not have this relationship with the others qualified for my place on the team. Eugene’s easy to work with, and I see nothing apparent that would block me from working well with everyone else. I can’t help but notice this buffet is set up so all the teams are seated together for dinner. Those who aren’t with teams seem to be general support staff, Charlie?”

My father nodded. “For the duration of the voyage, many meals will be set up like this. It allows us to become comfortable with each other in a relaxed environment. This will help us during the stressful planning sessions. I have a list of general assignments for every team, but I wanted a chance to speak with you about it before moving forward with those plans. I’ve been working on numerous contingencies in the past few months, so I’m slightly ahead of you. That’s to be expected. Despite outwardly appearances, I have been working on this problem for a while.” My father twisted in his seat and pointed across the restaurant. “Breanna is over there, where she is having dinner with the first of many batches of amorous vampires, most of them ancient, teaching her about our society. I have not yet decided who will be on her team, but it will be of appropriate suitors motivated to protect her. Our team will have murderous intent, and I would prefer to spare her that if at all possible. Should she decide to become a vampire and be turned, then she can get a closer look at our darker side.”

“I’m not sure she’ll be avoiding any bloodshed if Breckenan is foolish enough to come aboard,” I admitted.

“It would not surprise me if hers is the hand that eliminates him,” my father confessed. “I have armed her with several of your most potent stakes, and upon learning what he did to you, she has all the motivation in the world.”

Color me unsurprised. “Emerick, after dinner, I need to start carving more stakes. I am not sufficiently armed for this venture.”