Page 59 of Silent Stalker
“They have a vampire with a broken mind, and they asked to see if your stakes might help clear his thoughts. I would never deny that to a brood. Even when broken, our vampires are our families. Your stake did not cure his madness, but it, for a time, restored his clarity of thought—enough they were able to identify the source of his madness.”
My eyes widened. “There’s a brood with a mad vampire?”
“There are many broods with mad vampires, held lovingly in comfortable prisons so they might not hurt anyone. It is not uncommon. It turns out there was a magical malady at play that his madness masked. It’s curable. If your father is responsible for your turning, I will make certain to sprinkle in appropriate gratitude while scolding him most fiercely and coming up with a suitable punishment for taking away your choice. As it is, I have made certain to recommend that no brood attempt what was done with you on anyone below the age of twenty-five. This has been accepted, especially with the reminder of Edgar and his challenges.”
“How have you accomplished so much when you slept the day away?”
Emerick grinned at me. “I did it while you were hiding in the bathroom last night, of course. I have learned to make every minute you are not at my side count, as I wish to fully enjoy when I am with you. There will be work, but I look forward to a long life of doing as much work in as little time as possible so I can enjoy more time with you.”
I raised a brow at him. “I’m not ready to lose any wagers yet, Mr. Lowrance, so you’re going to just have to tone back that romantic stuff for a while.”
“The chase is half the fun. Who falls first? And the beauty of it all? This is a game we can continue to play over and over, leading us to the sweetest of victories time and time again.”
If we played that game, we’d drive everyone around us more insane than we’d drive each other. “I’m establishing a rule. Every six months, a tie shall be declared, and there will be at least a week between wagers. I don’t want to die at the hands of our brood.”
“That is a wise thought. But let’s set our first wager to last roughly a year, that way, should a tie be declared, we can enjoy our victory on the anniversary of the night I lured you into my lair.”
“Lured? You mean dragged by force using cuffs.”
“Close enough.”
I laughed. “As far as lairs go, I like this one. It’s not dark or clammy, the bed is comfortable, the vampire seems to be a decent sort, and he has this great bathroom.”
“I have noticed your enjoyment of our bathroom. When you tire of it, let me know. I have selected the theme for the next one.”
“Tell me.”
“A sunny beach with ocean motif. I am thinking that I may have aquariums installed along one wall. There’s plenty of space where the rocks currently are. The space for that bathroom is much larger than it appears, so I can do many glorious things with it.”
“You may need to hold that thought for a few decades, but hold that thought,” I informed him.
“Or I could have it built at the second estate, so we can hop back and forth so you can enjoy both bathrooms.”
“What second estate?”
“I have a property in the Hamptons. Right now, it’s under construction, as it is a recent acquisition. Members of the brood who enjoy working during daytime hours coordinate the daytime workers, and the younger vampires handle the work at night—and we use magic to buffer our neighbors from the sound. When it comes time to install the escape passages, I will show you how it is constructed. I do most of the work on my own on those, although the space is left intact for me to do the work. It is a case of many in the brood knowing the passages are present but they lack any idea where the entrances are—or how to get inside.”
“Clever.”
“I try to be. When I was mortal, I worked often with my hands, and I never forgot that. I just don’t get to do it as often as I would like.”
“Is there any other bad news?”
“Only my general vexations with the situation, as I don’t have enough information to do anything productive with yet.”
I nodded. “And the good news?”
“With her consent, my maker turned your mother. She rose the next evening without complication, far quicker than anticipated. She caught him off guard, and she got to enjoy quite the snack before he took control and calmed her. As it was left up to interpretation what my maker meant by enjoying quite the snack, I believe you inherited some of your impulsiveness from her. She is handling all blood types well, so there’s no need to fear she shares your unique challenges. Her turning was peaceful from start to finish.”
My mother deserved peace, no matter what form it came in. “She’s really all right?”
“She’s all right, although I find it a little upsetting that my maker is being courted by my wife’s mother. At least I can say I was the first to fall prey to the charms of your bloodline. My maker copied me.”
“And what does that mean if my father is a vampire? Will they fight over her?”
“I doubt it. If you were stolen from me, I would turn every stone on this planet upside down to find you. Your father simply lacks much care on the matter. I feel he is treating her disappearance as a formality—or perhaps, as a way to make certain she enters her next life on favorable terms? I do not feel love is something that ever bound those two.”
That much I could agree with. “Then why turn her at all?”
