“And you’re part vampire.” Brandy shook her head at him, but this time his dad pulled her into his arms and held her. Chase continued. “Yes. Those men, they did that to you. I don’t know if their plan was to kill you or what, but they changed you enough that you are part of what we are.”
“But that little dragon, he did something to me, didn’t he?” Dad nodded at her and kissed the little mark. “That was very nice, but it doesn’t answer my questions, now does it?”
“No, but you taste good.” His dad looked at him when he cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. But yes, the little dragon touched you. It was to help you heal from what they did to you. You were set on dying, and they knew, even before me, what you were to me and mine. I told you, I’m getting straight now, but it’s taking me a few minutes.”
Emerald pulled Chase up from the couch. They were leaving the room when he heard Brandy giggle. It was nice, he supposed, but also a little strange. His dad had a mate. Not just any mate either, but a slightly human almost vampire one. This was going to be fun, Chase thought. A stepmom that was decades and decades younger than he was.
~~~
Emerald sat at the table at the warehouse that Jewel owned. This was the fourth day in a row that she’d been there, and she didn’t think things were going any better today than they had when she had worked there. The building was coming along, yes. And they were sending out product now, but the employees were no less afraid of the owners than they had been before. It was hurting all of them not to be trusted.
Translating what was being said in three different languages was also taking its toll on her. Not only were they of different nationalities, but also different dialects. Emerald had finally had enough. Standing up on the table, she looked over the group of people there and pressed magic around them.
“Can you all understand me?” Every one of them nodded, and she looked at Jewel. “I should have done this from the start. Okay, go ahead and tell them again what is going to happen with this place. And please, for the love of dragons, don’t mention that you will need to get them green cards again.”
Jewel nodded at her as she stood up on the table beside her. Even as the questions came to her, Emerald knew that things were going to go much better, and a good deal faster. They could all understand each other, and nothing was lost in the translation.
The plant was doing very well. Not only were they hiring a great many people that otherwise wouldn’t be able to work because of different reasons, Jewel had made it easier on the elderly that only wanted to work a day or two a week. And some of her employees had babysitting issues that Jewel made sure were worked around as well.
Jewel had even made it easier for some of the people to get their education. It was just high school level, but it was more of a chance than most of the people had had before. Hot meals were provided, as well as minor medical care if someone was sick or needed stitches, even if it hadn’t been a work-related injury. That was where Emerald was headed now, to the infirmary, not to the offices, where she knew that Kristie would normally be. The woman was going to need bubble wrap if this kept up. She’d been taken to see the doctor just half an hour ago.
“Hello, Kristie, how’s it going?” Kristie was becoming a big part of this place, and Emerald was glad for it. She was nice, and she had a positive attitude that made her smile. “I thought you were going to set up your office today. I know that you had help.”
“Yes, well, I banged my ankle on the chair, and this guy said that I have to have it looked at.” She said ouch when he touched his fingers to the bump. “Jamie is going to have a fit. I promised him that I’d be careful, and now look. I have a bruise that he is going to notice for sure.”
Emerald touched her fingers to the wound and helped her stand up. She needed her for a few moments, and having her going for x-rays wasn’t going to help her. Kristie asked her what she’d done.
“I healed it. I can do small things like that, fix wounds that might require stitches or such. I needed you now, not in a few hours. I have noticed that humans can take a very long time in a place that is supposed to help you heal.” Kristie laughed, and Emerald felt her own smile tug at her lips. “You are very nice. I do hope people figure that out about you quickly.”
“It might take them a little bit, but they get around to it. What did you need? I’m assuming that since you healed me and brought me here to my offices, that you need something legal done?” Emerald sat down and nodded. “Please tell me that it’s not going to be something like you need a contract taken out on someone. Or that you want to sue a drug manufacturing company because they made you hear things.”
“You’re getting that here?” Kristie nodded, and laughed when she did. “No. I have some funds that I’d like for you to add Chase to. Much of it is just investments. I also have a few homes that I rent out when someone wants a vacation.”
“Really? I guess if you’re around for a long time, you can get deals on stuff like ocean front property. Jamie and I want to do that sometime. Invest like that. Right now...well, never mind. I can do that for you. Just let me know the names of the investments and the properties, and I can get right on that.” Emerald started to ask her what she had started to say, but Kristie continued before she could. “I have to take the board here, which I’m to do soon. After that, I can get a start on everything you need. But until then, all I’ll need to do is file the paperwork and you’ll be set. I have things here for you to sign as well. Chase has done the same thing for you.”
Emerald knew that he’d done that. He’d told her today that she needed to go by and sign some forms. She also knew his net worth, as he did hers. Emerald had been around longer, and her savings were a good deal more, but it mattered little to either of them, so long as they had enough money to use to help people. Like, she was beginning to think, the person in front of her.
How much are we paying Kristie to work for us? Chase said that he didn’t know, that Grayson had set it up. I’m thinking that whatever it is, we need to seriously look into giving them more. I don’t think they’re struggling, not really, but they have a baby coming soon, and until the pay kicks in for Jamie, I think they might be a little tight. Especially if she has to take time off. I bet she doesn’t realize that we’re paying her full pay while she’s off, either. We are, aren’t we?
I’ll ask him. I do know that the house that they’re living in is a rental. I don’t know what the rent is, but now that you mention it, there should be no cost to that either. We own the house and the things in it. She asked him where their things were. They didn’t have anything much. His parents collected rent from them. The furnishings that were in the house, I heard, belonged to them as well. I got the feeling from the moving company that they stood over them when they were there, making sure that they only packed what belonged to them. And get this, I don’t think they’re very happy about the baby either.
Fuckers. It was a word that she’d heard used over and over by Ryan, Chase’s brother when he was talking about something or someone. She thought in this instance, it worked well. They need something of their own. And they need to be able to use any of our homes abroad when they want. I mean, none of your family has to do that. I don’t know what they might even have, but between the two of us, we can let them tour the world and never have to pay out for a place to stay.
All right. I like that idea. And to get them to go, which I’m thinking might be harder than you’d believe, we’ll say that they have to check out the properties so that we can have a good eye on them. That way, it’ll seem less like they’re sponging off us, and they will think it’s a working vacation. She told him he was brilliant. Yes, well, you bring that out in me. Also, we have to go before the vampire board and tell them why we killed six of the new vamps. They know why, but they need to make this formal. Jason is in charge of this realm, but he can’t be a part of this, being my brother and all.
All right, I can do that. I know most of them anyway. She had helped form the
board, as a matter of fact. I have to finish up here, and then I have one more stop to make. It’s about Bates. He’s in the hospital, and I need to make it clear to him, somehow, that I’m not going to tolerate him trying to capture me. He might live longer if he backs off.
Do you think that’ll work? She told him it was worth a try. Yes, well, so long as you don’t expect too much from it. He seems like a man that is set on doing things his way.
After getting the things done she needed with Kristie, she set Soto to stay with her today. She didn’t want her to over extend herself, and Emerald had a feeling that she would, simply because she liked what she was doing. Soto said he’d take good care of her.
On her way to the hospital, she heard from Grayson. He said that he’d not thought of how things were so tight without the extra income of Jamie, and would double her pay. Also, he said the family was going to help them get a house and furnishings. All in all, she hoped that the rest of her day was just as good. But she knew, somehow, that it wouldn’t be.
Chapter 10
Harold thought about looking around the big emergency room. He’d been in here before. He’d been handcuffed like some kind of criminal, and had let them know how unfair it was. But this time, with his head pounding like someone was taking a rock to it, he didn’t. Not that he didn’t have a great deal to complain about, but his head aching kept him from being too loud about it.
When his nose itched, he pulled his hand up and scratched it. He was just putting his hand back on the bed when he realized that he wasn’t cuffed. Moving his other hand, just enough to test the waters, so to speak, he was happy to find out he was free. But that still left his feet, so he gingerly moved them and found they too were free of shackles.
“Mr. Bates, I’m going to stitch up your head now.” He didn’t so much as nod at her. He knew that he was safe from her seeing his face; the large blue paper-like thing over him prevented that. “I guess he’s still out. Did you want me to wait or just go ahead and fix this?”
“Do it. I don’t have time to wait on his ass all day. Stitch his wound up, and then I’ll take him back to his cell. Hopefully he’ll remain out and I can have some peace and quiet for a change.” The woman laughed, and he knew that it was the officer that had given him such a hard time when he was incarcerated. “I have never known a man that was so set in the late forties before. He has the mentality of a man twice his age when it comes to women in the workplace.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that his way was the way it should have been, but kept it to himself. If he was going to be able to get out of here soon, he’d have to keep his opinions to himself. There was work afoot, and he needed to not be in here to get it done.
He didn’t feel the pain in his head after the initial pin prick. Harold figured that they’d not numb his head, just to be mean to him. But after she was done, which seemed to him took entirely too long, he heard the two of them leave the room.
It was imperative that he get out of here now. He knew that he’d not get another chance, not with the way things were going for him of late. Just as he pulled the paper off his face, he knew that it was time to move. He was alone in the cubical, and the door was standing wide open.
Standing proved to be a bit more difficult than he had thought it should have been. But once he was steady enough to get going, he grabbed his shoes from under the bed and made his way out of the curtained off area toward the door.
They were busy, thankfully. And he wasn’t stopped once on his way to freedom. However, almost as soon as he was near enough to see outside, two officers came in with a man between them. He was screaming bloody murder and telling them they had the wrong guy when Harold moved back, just leaned against the wall like he belonged there.
As soon as they were gone, he went out into the cold. It was both refreshing and painful. Slipping on his shoes, he realized that he didn’t have a coat, and shivered a couple of times as he made his way to the hotel. He figured that he had just about enough time to get there and out before anyone in this town noticed that he was gone. They were stupid enough to leave him alone and uncuffed, after all. So in his mind, they were getting what they deserved.
It took him far longer than he thought it should to find the hotel he’d been staying in. But as soon as he saw it, he knew that he wasn’t going to get his things. The place was surrounded by cops, and they were walking around like they were set to stay. As one more pulled up in front of the place, he saw an opportunity that he just could not let go. Reaching into the car, he not only was rewarded with a coat, but also a handgun.
“If these idiots worked for me, then I’d have all their asses on the line. Or fired.” He pulled the coat up over his jacket and was disturbed by the slight smell. The person who had worn this item must have one of those wives that liked to spread their perfume all over themselves, then hug their husbands as they went out the door. “I have to smell like a whore all day now.”
Harold moved between the buildings to watch what they were doing, and wasn’t surprised to see them talking it up and acting like there was nothing amiss. He was a wanted man, he was sure, yet none of them seemed to be in the least bit of a hurry to bring him in. Then he saw her.
She was sitting on one of the cars, her coat discarded at some point, yet she looked to be as warm as toast sitting there. It was then that he realized she was looking right at him, as if she knew he was lurking about. Instead of coming after him, as he thought she might, or even warning the others he was there, she saluted him. Like he was getting away, simply because she was allowing it.
Harold watched her as she sat there, wondering what anyone would do if he were to aim his gun at her and fire. But when he felt a pain in his head, he paused in lifting it up. There was a fear that was there now, and he knew that she’d been responsible for planting it there. Harold wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but he was positive that it had been her.
You have balls, I’ll give you that. What other person do you know that would return to the scene of the crime like you have? He looked around for the person who spoke to him and wondered where they were. It’s me, Bates. Emma Green, I think you might know me by. You’ve fucked up badly, so you know. However did you get away with this shit when you were working for the Bureau?
“How are you doing this?” She laughed then, a hardy laugh that made his skin crawl and his balls tighten to his body. “How are you speaking to me from over there? Is this some sort of trick? Do you have a speaker here?”
I’m magical. And if you don’t want to have your ass hauled back to jail right now, I would suggest that you speak to me as I am you. Just think of what you want to say. That’ll work. He didn’t want to try that. That would mean that she had some sort of power over him. And Harold didn’t want anyone, especially a woman, having anything over him.
I don’t believe you. Yet when he spoke to her, he knew that she could understand and hear him while the others did not. You have had them plant something in my head when they stitched me up. That’s it, isn’t it? Who told you how to do this? Your boss? The one that made you like you are? Who is he?
No, I didn’t. If I would have wanted them to plant something in your head, it might have been a brain. I think yours is somewhere in the vicinity of your ass. And no one taught this to me. I was created this way. As a dragon warrior. He started to lift the gun, thinking to end her life now. You try that, Bates, and you’ll never pull the trigger.
He put the gun in his pocket. It was much too tempting to use it on her. Having it put away like it was, he thought he could try and have a conversation with her that didn’t end in her death. He needed the man who had done this to her.
I have come all this way to talk to you. I have an idea that you’re given some sort of medicine or herb that makes you appear young. Is that it, there is a drug you take? She told him no. Then how is it possible that you can be the same woman you have been throughout the decades? I have aged, why haven’t you?
Becau
se, as I said, I’m magical. What I don’t understand is how you can believe that I can be immortal, yet not that I could be talking to you in your head. By the way, do you know that most of the people who work with you aren’t human either? He told her that wasn’t possible. He’d had all his men screened. Being a paranormal won’t show up on a screening, you moron. They have to have someone sniff them out, or better yet, tell you that they’re not human. Or a vampire. That’s what my mate is. A vampire. The entire Crosby family is.
You lie. She shrugged, and he wanted to kill her right then and there. Come back with me. Tell me how you have been able to be ageless, and who the person is that did this for you. And I don’t for a moment believe that you’re immortal. You can be killed like anyone else can.
Nope. I have been around for centuries. Fought in wars that you would have read about, some you might never know. I have used more magic than most people are aware of, and I command dragons to do as I wish. He told her there was no such thing as dragons. Again, you have a strange and screwed up way of thinking. Yes, there are dragons. And vampires, as well as faeries and brownies. There is even a pack of unicorns on the queen of faeries land that are so beautiful that they hurt your heart when you see them.
Why must you say things like that? Are you trying your best to piss me off? Everyone knows that there are no such things as faeries. Nor are there things like wolves that can change into men. And I cannot believe that you would even think I’d believe that there are things such as dragons. She told him to look to his left. Why, are there things that go bump in the night?
Laughing at his own joke, he turned to his left. A man stood there, one that he’d not seen before, and when he tipped his hat to him, he changed. The big wolf standing in his place made Harold think of all the horror movies he’d ever seen. Then in the blink of an eye, he was a man again.
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