Page 25 of John’s Yearning

John chuckled. “They cramping your style?”

“More than you know.”

Despite his words, John knew that Cain was only joking. He loved his children, and if they lived separate from him and Faye, he would only worry. And then John would have to hire even more vampire bodyguards to protect them. Already now, each of them had a personal security detail.

Faye suddenly appeared from the corridor and joined them. “How’s Nicolette?”

John grinned. “Getting fatter every day.” And he’d never seen anything lovelier.

Faye smiled. “Not much longer now, right?”

“Another month at least.”

“I doubt it. When I saw her last week, she looked like it could be any day now.”

Cain put his arm around his wife’s waist. “Since when are you a doctor?”

“I’m not. But women know these things.” Then she looked back at John. “You did tell her that she’s invited to tonight’s celebrations, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I relayed the invitation. She wasn’t sure how she was feeling, so I left it up to her to decide later. I know she wanted to take a nap. She might come later.”

“And drive herself?” Faye asked, in surprise.

“Of course not. I made sure there’s a car and driver available for her if she wants to join us later.”

Faye let out a breath of relief. She was ever the doting queen. “Thank goodness. I really hope that she’ll feel well enough to join the festivities.”

“Me too,” John said.

“You know, I was thinking,” Faye added, exchanging a quick look with Cain. “Why don’t you two stay at the king’s guard cottage until the baby comes? Then we could keep an eye on her while you’re on duty.”

“That won’t be necessary,” John said and pointed to Cain. “Cain’s ordered me to take a vacation starting as soon as the birthday celebrations are over.” He would have never asked for it, but Cain had come to him the night before, announcing his decision in a tone that brooked no refusal. Not that John would have protested. Spending more time with Nicolette before she gave birth to their baby was the best gift his friend could have given him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Faye said to Cain and slapped him on the shoulder. “I would have personally thanked you for being so nice to John.”

“Oh, you already thanked me earlier,” Cain claimed and smirked.

A meaningful gaze passed between them, and John had to shake his head. They were still lovebirds, even after such a long time together. Just like John and Nicolette. Though he and Nicolette hadn’t been lucky enough to be blessed with children in their first year of marriage, as Faye and Cain had been. But then, the king and queen had had help: since both of them were vampires, they had asked Maya, a vampire physician from Scanguards, to perform her ground-breaking stem cell treatment on Faye, so she could conceive. Something vampire females hadn’t been able to do before Maya had made her discovery. Maya’s treatment turned a vampire female’s womb into a human womb. The resulting fetus was therefore half vampire, half human, incorporating some of the human DNA from the donor’s stem cells into its genetic makeup.

The treatment had worked on the first attempt and resulted in triplets. Three tiny, screaming, and always hungry hybrids that kept everybody in the kingdom on their toes.

And now they were suddenly sixteen years old.

“Is everything ready for tonight?” Cain asked.

“The fireworks are being set up as we speak. The decorations are up. Very goth.” John chuckled to himself.

Faye clapped her hands. “I don’t know how to thank you, John! I can’t believe you came up with the idea of hosting a vampire-themed birthday party. It solves all our problems with the kids’ human guests. Since everybody’s going to be in vampire costumes, nobody will blink an eye if one of us is seen drinking blood or exposing a fang.”

“It’s genius,” Cain agreed.

John shrugged. “I figured with all those vampire books on the bestseller lists and that new vampire series on TV—which is, by the way, totally unrealistic—no human would find it strange that three teenagers requested a vampire-themed party.”

“Just as well that those vampires on TV are nothing like us,” Cain commented. “As long as they keep getting half of what we do and how we live wrong, we won’t have to worry about them ever figuring us out. Our secret is safe.”

“I hope it remains that way.” John motioned to the door. “I’d better check that everything is ready for our guests.”

“You do that. I’ll have a word with the kids, reiterate the rules for tonight.” Cain winked at him. “Just in case. You know how they are when they get excited.”