Page 48 of Death Dance

My father chuckled at my commentary. “Unlike your brothers, you did not get the luxury of tormenting me when you were a child, so it seems fair that you get to have your chance now. I will be continuing the Harlem project for vampires to have a solid place to live should things continue on their course, but I will manage those with the help of the older broods. This is not a slight against you nor your spouse, of course. You’ve had more than your share of trauma regarding the Harlem properties, so I am hoping to redirect you to more pleasant pursuits. Cleaning up those mines and helping the local villages should work well for that. You can build your brood’s wealth and improve the lives of many people.”

“I don’t understand how anyone can do that to another person,” I admitted in a disgusted tone. “The idea of profiting off the destitution of others angers me.”

“Many of my enterprises have been done to improve the lives of others. Think about your work before joining your husband’s brood, Pepper. What never happened at my corporation?”

I considered his question, frowning. “There was very little complaining about the work environment. I mean, some people bitched, but those people were lazy. They never complained about the benefits or pay. There were complaints about the stress, but isn’t that normal?”

“It is. And many of those complaints were staged. The more vocal of the employees are somehow attached to my brood and did as they did to orchestrate the illusion everything was normal—well, as normal as a corporation like mine can be. That part was a challenge, and I’m grateful I can return to how we operated before you were born. For the most part, nothing will really change for my employees; they just won’t have to hide certain realities from you anymore.” My father closed the lid on his laptop. “Truth be told, I was just reviewing what has been done by the negotiators. The tanzanite mine is the true jewel of the lot due to rarity. The others will be nice and bring your brood prestige and give you more places to employ your vampires. With you around, your brood will see strong growth. Your husband will not be pleased if he can’t engage his youngest vampires in meaningful work—and it’s better for them to have things to do.”

I could understand that. Before I’d fallen in with Emerick, I’d struggled with my lack of purpose.

Eternity dragged when there was nothing to do or a goal in life outside of bringing about the downfall of my enemies.

“Let’s say Breckenan attempts to intercept us at sea. How would he pull this off?”

“Poorly and with many casualties. He’d use modern pirating tactics without realizing this ship is equipped with weaponry specifically designed to deal with piracy. Would you care to see the arsenal?”

I regarded my father with wide eyes. “We have an arsenal?”

“We do, and in the days before we left port, I worked to make it more robust than normal.” My father got up, retrieved his wallet from the nightstand, and pocketed his room key and phone. “I’ve been working with Clarke about preparing for when we’re closer to Europe. He’s made use of some of his less savory contacts to infiltrate the local piracy groups. Money talks, especially among pirates, and we value Breckenan’s death a lot more than Breckenan values catching up with us. He’s not a shipbuilder, nor is he an owner nor operator. He’ll have to rent a ship—or ships. The legitimate companies will not work with him. Clarke spearheaded sending out the alerts, including the warrants for Breckenan’s arrest in the United States. Those warrants are sufficient to prevent most reputable companies from allowing him to hire them—and they’re likely to report him to the United States for tracking purposes. We are attempting to involve international groups, but that’s a work in progress. Clarke’s handling that along with the other team members who are not aboard the ship.”

“And Mom?”

“Let’s just say I’m grateful Clarke is the one who has to deal with her right now. She doesn’t just want to see Breckenan dead and gone. She wants every trace of his fledgling empire eradicated. At this stage, she’s out to make certain not a single remnant of his heritage remains. I’m hoping that Clarke is capable of reining her in a little—so she will at least show some mercy on those turned against their will. I suspect that will take her at least another week or two to accept.”

I lifted a hand and rubbed at my temple. “Well, it’s clear where I got those tendencies from. Dare I ask what your approach is?”

“I will show mercy towards the victims and attempt to secure them justice—but they will learn to be proper vampires or perish. In some ways, my hand is even harsher than hers. She just doesn’t want the problem to have a hope of reviving once Breckenan is dead and gone.” My father shrugged and opened the door. A moment later, he laughed. “I’m sorry, Ben, but I’m going to be ending your play for a bit. I need to borrow Pepper for a while. You’re welcome to accompany us, however, but you’re going to have to leave your stick here. I don’t feel like discovering if my daughter will sprout feathers and flee through flight today.”

In the hallway, my husband laughed. He poked his head into my father’s suite. “After dropping Ben and making your escape, I requested that someone make you hot turkey sandwiches. I was going to do it myself, but I was told there were much better ways I could be making use of my time while on vacation. I feel you’ve earned another gravy volcano.”

I headed to him, gave him a kiss, and stepped into the hallway to face my tormentor. “I am not sorry for escaping.”

Ben snickered, and he handed his stick over to my father, who tossed it into his suite. “I apologize for interrupting your evening, Charlie.”

“Don’t. Having her show up when dealing with life-threatening situations doesn’t bother me in the slightest. She’s way ahead of those sons of mine. They show up after dealing with the life-threatening situations, expecting me to nurse them back to health.”

My brothers, who came down the hall, protested my father’s words.

“You can’t win when he’s being like this,” I reminded my brothers. “Just let him have his fun. It’s probably the first time he’s actually had fun the entirety of my life. You have to ease him into it.”

My father sighed. “Nobody warned me the daughter would end up ruling over the sons with an iron fist and does not at all require their protection. Let this be a lesson, boys.”

Emerick waited for everyone to congregate in the hall before closing the door to my father’s suite. “Do you think vampires tend to favor having sons because were we to have daughters, our species would take over rather rapidly?”

My father’s smile, gentle and reminiscent, caught me by surprise. “It is a matter of our culture and belief system. Back when I was young, women were the tools of creation; they ran the households, they addressed matters of barter—we had money, but money was something only used by merchants traveling to distant lands. We accumulated wealth through the collection of objects.” On the way to the elevator, he paused to gesture to a vase resting on a stand. “Things like this, for example. We were a practical people, as that is what our lives demanded then. Owning something made solely to be admired was a serious display of wealth, power, and prosperity. My mother made things like this when she was ahead of everything, a rarity. She bartered away the ones she did not keep for herself for excess food, cloth, and other supplies. That meant my father toiled less in the fields. And so we prospered, all because she found a few extra hours to craft vases meant to be beautiful. For every four vases she made, she offered one up to the gods.”

“Dad is just being Dad, so don’t worry about his fussing,” Eugene informed me, and he pressed the button for the elevator, which pinged and opened. He waited for me to step inside before adding, “He enjoys complaining that we were not born beautiful daughters, thus cursing him to deal with troublesome sons. He could have a thousand daughters and still not be content.”

My other brothers snickered.

“Daughters are expensive, Father. You got lucky and didn’t have to offer a dowry, as I stole Emerick fair and square. Had a dowry been needed, you would be crying over the lost funds.”

My father rolled his eyes and pressed the button to take us to the top deck. “We can discuss appropriate compensation for taking this troublesome daughter off my hands, Emerick. I’m sure she’s worth at least a nice cow.”

My spouse burst into laughter. “Perhaps a pet shelter? That way, she can help defenseless animals find good homes, and as we would be operating it, she would never have to worry about unwanted pets being killed. Investments in a good cattle farm might be wise; our arrangement with the Japanese won’t last forever.”

“A farm designed to provide premium blood and cattle is viable; American bred Japanese cattle shares many of the same traits. We just need to hire the appropriate infusers for the magical elements that she benefits from. That’s truly the only difference between the Japanese Wagyu blood and the American bred Wagyu blood. But a solid cattle operation would be wise—and a turkey farm.”