Page 84 of Death Dance

I hissed at him. “Yes, it is. She’s purple, she’s practical, she’s beautiful, and she’s sporty. She’s perfect for taking our furry children to the vet in.”

“That part I can’t argue with, especially as you were brave enough to drive them to the vet all by yourself yesterday evening. Nobody, the car included, was injured during this monumental occasion.”

I giggled, regarded the pile of excess I had gathered, and shrugged. “It seems I am trying hard to overpack.”

“You did not try. You succeeded. As we don’t have to be the bastards to lug it around, I don’t care. Having extra gooshy goos for our kittens is not an issue.”

I regarded the pair, who napped off their morning playtime. In the past year, they’d grown worse than weeds, with Klepto ringing in at eleven pounds while Typhoon weighed in at fifteen with some growing left to do. “They aren’t really kittens anymore, are they?”

“They aren’t, but they’re still going to be kittens even when they’re old, tired, and spend most of their time in their beds being pampered.” Emerick smiled, and he gave my cheek a kiss. “I’m dying to see what this dowry is, Pepper. If you can leave them for a few hours, we should get this party started. I’m eager to start the rest of our lives together.”

If only he knew. I grinned, skipped across the penthouse, and grabbed my new purse, which my mother had sent over a week ago for my adventure around the world. “Then let’s go. Knowing my family, they’re loitering in the lobby, regretting they hadn’t asked to start earlier. Let’s just hope we have only the Originals rather than the Sleepers, their children’s broods, and the favorites of their children’s broods. Also, I found a property in Hawai’i, and I already bought it with my bounty money without telling you. My father seems to think if he leaves us there long enough, he might get grandchildren out of it.”

Emerick laughed. “However much I would enjoy that, alas, there are many steps we have to take just to prepare for our first try, but we can start making arrangements for when we get home if you’d like.”

Soon enough, he’d find out such things were not necessary, although we would be making other arrangements when we returned, including a complete removal of stress from my work schedule, pampering, and figuring out how we’d renovate the penthouse to handle two children without costing us our sanity. “I only have one rule: we will not be competing for highest number of children with anyone.”

I was such a liar.

“I’m hoping for happy and healthy, personally.”

“Then we’re agreed. We’ll aim for happy and healthy.” I headed for the door. “Grab your things and let’s go, Emerick. Don’t forget your passport, your wallet, your phone, and whatever else you need to begin your plans to take over the world.”

“But taking over the world is so much work,” he complained. “How about I start with you in our stateroom on the ship tonight?”

“That’s the plan.”

A purple truck idled in front of the estate with a four horse trailer hooked to the back of it. The future occupants of the trailer, four black horses I recognized as Friesians, waited with picture perfect patience right outside the lobby. I laughed, skipped over, and began the serious work of introducing myself to the animals. A quick check informed me I dealt with a quartet of mares, and all of them seemed to enjoy affection. My father chuckled. “These aren’t the same type of horses I grew up with as a child, but these horses are spoiled and would love to be your friends, as we determined it would be ridiculous trying to haul that much stuff around with horses. As such, I decided you get to take these fine ladies to their new home, which is not far from here. After that, we’ll go to where your dowry actually is.”

“How far is not far?” Emerick asked.

“You know that warehouse seven blocks from here that took up an entire city block?” my father asked.

“The one that got torn down two months ago? Yes, I’m aware of it. I’m mad I didn’t get to it first. It sold before I realized it was on the market.”

“It never went on the market. I contacted the warehouse owners, pitched them an offer for it, and they agreed to the sale. I had it rezoned to be residential, the warehouse torn down, and a stable installed. The house is currently under construction, but the pasture and the wall to keep the horses in is already in place. There’s currently a log cabin on the property so the caretakers can enjoy their stay. They are members of my brood, and they’ll be taking care of your beasts while you are gone. There is a barn, and you have seven barn cats, who were originally ship cats. The stone wall is high enough they can’t readily jump it, and I hired someone to work some significant magic to protect the property.”

I resisted the urge to clap my hands at the news, and I gave each horse a kiss on her nose. “This is great, Emerick. We can rotate people in through the horse house for good behavior. I’d say we’d take it over, but the brood will not allow that ever.”

My father laughed. “There will even be a pair of guest houses for your security team to use when you are in residence. Ben was quite thorough in explaining how the brood safeguards the lord and lady of the house. His precautions are a little extreme, but I don’t blame him for that.”

Of the brood, Ben was the only one who knew about the experiment and the results of said experiment, and he worked hard to trick Emerick into thinking everything was as it should be while discouraging taking much in the way of nips.

Fortunately for me, most vampires couldn’t actually detect if a woman was pregnant until she was at least four to five months along. Nobody knew why that was, but it had served us well.

Emerick would still be discouraged from taking nips, albeit for a completely different reason.

Following the news there were two girls on the way, and we had to continue our experimentation to make certain they safely arrived, Ben had transformed into a demon, one hellbent on keeping an eye on us at every moment. “Where is Ben?”

“Ben has been convinced I can handle driving your truck to your stable, giving you a tour, then taking you to where your dowry is before driving you to the ship so you can board early and make preparations for the dance and the ceremony. I am highly amused you requested a murder mystery with you two being the ones murdered so you can relax and observe the festivities before the ceremony.”

“It’s going to take them all of five minutes to figure out Ben did it,” I muttered. “At least I accepted I wasn’t going to be outwitting a bunch of old men and women without costing me my sanity. Instead, I opted for the easiest murder mystery to solve on the planet and a scavenger hunt.”

Each guest had their own scavenger hunt to accomplish, and everyone in the brood had taken a turn hiding clues, creating a spreadsheet with the location of all clues, and making certain every guest would find their prize.

I had handled Emerick’s clues while he had handled mine.

For some reason, I expected neither one of us would be hunting for our prize until a few nights after the ceremony.