“M’awake.”
“No, you’re not.”
He rolled over blindly and dragged a pillow over his face. “School’s canceled,” he mumbled.
“No, it isn’t.” I removed the pillow. His eyes remained closed. “Sit up.”
A long-suffering groan emerged from beneath the blankets before he finally pushed himself upright.
Success. For approximately four seconds. Then his head tipped sideways, and he fell asleep sitting up.
Okay, I had to admit it was an interesting talent.
“CJ.”
No response.
“CJ.”
He flopped backward dramatically.
“Already awake,” he mumbled.
“You are actively unconscious.”
Eventually, after repeated attempts involving opening curtains, cold washcloths, and Billie jumping onto his bed yelling “the eggs know!”, all three children made it downstairs.
Breakfast resembled a gathering of elegant zombies. Bianca ate mechanically as she read. CJ blinked blearily at his plate, and Billie attempted to wear a slice of strawberry as an earring.
But they were eating. Too quietly, though.
In my experience, this indicated the calm before the storm.
I watched them carefully over my second cup of tea. They weren’t malevolent, merely wounded children who viewed nannies as temporary intruders who disrupted their fragile routine with their father.
I understood that.
Unfortunately for them, I had survived considerably worse than emotionally complicated rich children. And occasionally things not entirely human. Compared to the things I’d witnessed, Billie Lawrence throwing produce hardly registered.
Eventually, breakfast ended, backpacks were gathered, shoes were located after dramatic negotiations, and children were ushered out the door.
CJ hugged me on impulse, then looked startled by his own behavior. Bianca thanked me for the presentation-quality lunch, which I believed was sincere praise. Billie informed me she would miss me “with medium intensity.”
Progress already.
Once the house emptied completely, silence settled around me at last. I wasted twenty minutes feeding the squirrels before starting my security preparations.
Experience had taught caution thoroughly.
Tiny motion sensors went near lower entrances and vulnerable windows. Not magical exactly, though lightly enhanced. If triggered, the system would sound an alarm directly inside my casket.
Was I paranoid? Possibly.
Alive—or adjacent enough to alive—far longer than most vampires I knew?
Also, yes.
Preparation was essential, especially because the world contained far stranger things than humans realized.
