Chapter 44
Kitty.
It was easier to take Brooke out for little playdates once the days were substantially shorter. By the time we reached November, it felt as if Squatch and I had lived together forever.
Two of the three women I’d chosen were pregnant. They’d tried IVF several times on the third, and it broke my heart that it just didn’t look like her body was going to accept the fertilized egg.
Each of them had been implanted with three eggs. One of the women was pregnant with one child, the other with twins. This meant there would still be three babies, but only two families. When I’d made the agreement, I hadn’t realized they implant multiple eggs at a time. We’d insisted on no more than three, because having seven or eight take and then having to selectively abort some of them was too horrifying to consider. Triplets wouldn’t be a big deal, and we had plenty of money to work with since the ambush was paying, so doing it several times wouldn’t be an issue, if that’s what it took.
I talked to them and kept up to date on what was happening, but there wasn’t much more for me to do from Birmingham.
So, on a crisp November evening, Squatch and I picked Brooke up, settled her in a booster seat behind us, and took her to an arcade/restaurant combo.
And no, the booster seat wasn’t absolutely necessary. Unless a car crash decapitated her, Brooke would quickly heal. However, she’d used one in South Carolina, so I bought one to use when we took her places, and it seemed to make her happy when Squatch adjusted the straps to make sure she was safe and comfortable. It’s also possible she just liked sitting taller, so she could see out.
The arcade was so much fun. We threw balls, we rode virtual motorcycles, we shot at simulated critters, and we played whatever arcade games she wanted to play. And yes, if there were none available, I’m certain she made someone decide to do something else, because one always came available. She sat on my lap while I ate cotton candy, and she sat on Squatch’s lap later when we had ice cream. We all knew she’d taste the sweetness later, when she drank from me. I even had a milkshake on the way back to her house, just to be sure my blood sugar was elevated.
A few weeks later, the three of us joined up with Frost and his family for an escape room. They allow eight in a room, and it was Frost, Cheyenne, Nora, the boys, Brooke, Squatch, and me. Eight people.
I made Brooke promise not to go into the heads of the people running the escape room. She said it wasn’t cheating by vampire law, but she could see why we’d see it that way, so she agreed.
And I watched Brooke with the kids. She was smaller than the boys, who knew she was a vampire because they could smell her, but they didn’t understand this meant she was likely more than a thousand years older than the adults.
Later that night, Squatch held her in his lap while she drank from him, and then we all stretched out on some kind of bed-like platform and snuggled. Comfortable.
“I get it now,” I told her. “Seeing you with the kids. You aren’t a child, and yet, you have fun with them. I enjoyed playing with them too, but seeing them from a child’s body instead of looking down at them...” I stopped because I didn’t want to cause pain. She’d never grow up. Never look down on them as an adult.
“Nora is a bit old for the right connections to happen,” Brooke told us, “but if I’m allowed to be around the boys as they grow older, an attachment will form. Or, it usually does. It means they’ll have political clout in our world, of course, but it will also mean I’ll have friends who’ve grown up around me. It means something.”
She turned a little and looked up at Squatch. “I think it’s probably time I talked to Mad Dog about the agreements we formed years ago. It’s no longer merely a feeding a month in exchange for me allowing the club to purchase my services. It hasn’t been for a while. It’s time we talk about a more involved treaty between us. An agreement between friends rather than mere political allies.”
“I appreciate that, but what does the MC have that we can offer? A tighter relationship helps us because most everyone is terrified of you. How will it help you?”
“Friendship. The ability to come to your daytime indoor festivities, so I can spend time with your people in a social situation. I have no desire to come to your after-hours parties, but I’d love to be able to get to know the women better. The ol’ladies, as you say. I can see them in Kitty’s mind, and it’s been a long time since I was friends with others in that way.”
“Would you like for me to sit down with you and Mad Dog?” Squatch asked.
She turned and snuggled backwards into him. “Perhaps. I would also like to talk to Frost about helping him out with his sadistic urges. I enjoy having a partner to share my kills with; someone who can help in the torturing. I don’t think Frost’s needs are being met.”
Sometimes, Brooke says something alarming, or sickening, and you get the idea she honestly doesn’t understand how different she is than most everyone else on the planet. And yet, it’s who she is, and I never want to make her feel as if I’m judging her, so I have to channel my thoughts in the hopes she won’t pick up on it.
“I don’t think my kitten knew about Frost’s proclivities, Brooke.”
She frowned for a second, and shrugged. “He’s a sadist. He needs to hurt people sometimes. Usually, he finds jobs that need doing. I don’t think the current Owl King is utilizing him as the former one did. Whether that’s because they’re handling their wet-work in house, or are finding other ways, I don’t know, though I’ve decided I need to know more about the new king’s inner policies, so I’ll know soon enough. Either way, it feels as if I need to clear my intentions regarding Frost with your president. I know your club acts as a democracy, but Frost still belongs to the club, which is run by Mad Dog, so he should know.”
“I don’t think you have to involve our Prez, but it’s probably better if you do.”
I considered the politics. In the Pack, Brooke would have to go to the Alpha to involve a member in what amounted to murder. If Frost were a lion, she wouldn’t have to go to the Amakhosi, but since she has a good relationship with him, she likely would. Depending on her treaty with the owls, she might have to go to the Owl King about an owl, but Frost had basically been kicked out of owl society, which is why he could be in the MC. Frost didn’t belong to Mad Dog the way he would’ve belonged to his king, but he did belong to the MC. I could see her logic.
“I’m not sure that was a secret that was yours to tell,” Squatch told her.
She was once again quiet a few moments. “It wasn’t a supernatural secret. I didn’t break a Concilio law. Nor did I break a Slayer law.”
Squatch shook his head. “But you told Kitty a secret about him that should be his to tell. He might not want her knowing of his proclivities.”
“And he’s your brother. You feel the need to protect him.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve had so much fun playing with...” She sighed. “Another Master Vampire. He loves to torture, and he doesn’t mind letting me make the final kill. I’m good with alternating, but he enjoys the torture aspects more than the killing, so he’s happy to let me feel them as they take their final breath, and as their heart beats for the final time. However, he makes the torture sexual. I’m good with that because it’s fun to watch him rape their ass, and their throat, and sometimes a hole we punch in their belly. Their humiliation is practically divine, sometimes. However, I think Frost will help me torture without the sexual aspect.”
She ran a hand over my hair. “Kitty watched Mike’s torture and death, and she took pleasure in it because he’d hurt her, but it wasn’t revenge for her. It’s hard to explain the difference between justice and revenge, but it’s there, and it was the former, for her. I’ll never ask her to help me torture and kill. She won’t enjoy it.”
“Thank you.” And I meant it. I had no desire to see her in action.
Brooke turned her head to look at Squatch behind her. “But you have two people I believe will enjoy partnering with me.”
“Two?” Squatch asked.
“Frost and Freckles.”
“Freckles still needs to be voted in. I’m not certain he will be. He’s a bit of a hot-head. He’ll have to prove to us he can calm the fuck down.”
“He can. He’ll never be an enforcer, but he learned his lesson when...” They went silent, and I knew they were telepathing. Clearly, she knew more about the MC’s secrets than me, but since she can read everyone’s mind, it wasn’t like I could be jealous.
And yet, I was. Just a teeny, tiny bit.
“Ya’ll are being rude,” I told them.
“Freckles and another prospect got in one too many fights,” Squatch told me, “so I dragged them downstairs and made them fight for real — loser turns his patches in and walks out. When Freckles won, we were clear that we were tired of his shit and it was going to take a lot longer before he had a chance of being voted in.”
“I wasn’t demanding you tell me.”
“I know.”
“I apologize,” Brooke told me. “It wasn’t until I’d started the sentence that I realized I knew something you didn’t.”
“I’m pretty sure I know more than most of the ol’ladies. Not Velvet, because I think she knows everything, but Squatch tells me a lot. That wasn’t really something I needed to know. Mostly, I want to know about the stuff that affects Squatch — something he could be arrested for, or something that could get him hurt or killed.”