Page 67 of Death Dance

“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.