Candy: Book 5 of the Lord Emperor Vampire Saga

It’s shy of my usual ten…but it was a good place to stop.


Chapter 223: Tears of the Emperor

“I didn’t think that you were so fragile, Papa.”

What? Huh? I stirred out of my stunned misery and looked up at my red head of a daughter. She just vibrated with....fury? Fear? I frowned and wiped my eyes. Damn it. When it rains, it pours.

“Hey there, Coppertop.” Gees, my voice sounded watery.

“I just came from an introduction to a big brother who looks as stunned as Uncle Marcus did when he came into the studio. Now, you’re sitting here looking like the world just caved in.”

Get up. Get up and get on your feet. Get up now. I just sat there and stared down at the tiled floor. I took a deep shuddering breath and tried to pull myself together. Damn it. A sob broke out of me. Red and Gold and Jade feathers wrapped around me and my daughter plastered herself to my back in a hug. Damn it. If I break down now, I wasn’t going to be able to do anything else. I could feel Sex and Skell regarding me but either of them were rushing forward to take any of this agony from me. I made this mess. Both of these messes, Armor and Kain and it was up to me to clean them up. Gawww. Isn’t that what Armor said, I just took from everyone and I expected it?

“Papa...”

And here I am taking from my daughter. I reached up and patted her clasped hands. Who was the parent here? “I’m okay.”

“You look about as okay as Wolfgang did, yesterday. Lexy and Jax fixed him up. Maybe you should go and see Uncle Armor and get him to fix you.”

Take a knife and twist it into my chest, baby girl. “No...no...I’m just a little tired.”

“Papa, this seems like more than just a little tired.”

“This is grown up stuff, Riassa.”

“In case you didn’t know it, Papa. I’m grown up.”

Talking halted my spiral into misery. “Oh, yeah. I noticed how grown up you are. About that cheerleader outfit, wasn’t it a little provocative?”
“Ike said that his mom asked everyone to be in hunting gear. I knew it was kind of short but I knew nothing would happen.”

I shifted my weight over to one butt cheek and turned my head toward my beautiful girl. “How do you know that? You got a touch of Lanny?”

“I was with Ike.” So innocent and trusting.

“He’s still a puppy, Coppertop. He’s big and strong but he’s still just a puppy.”

“Ike would never let anything happen to me just like I would never let anything hurt him. We’re betrothed.”

Love can be such a bitch. Here I am with my heart glistening in a million pieces, like a shattered glass once cherished keepsake and here is my daughter all bright and shiny and fresh out of the box. I wasn’t going to be the one to put the first smudge on her heart. Armor might call me a bastard, but I’m not that much of one. “It’s good, you look out for each other but you are just a fledgling too. A Von Drachenfeld, but still a fledgling.”

“You don’t need to lecture me, Lexy did that all ready and don’t worry, all of us listened to him. Not that I don’t love Alexander, but he can get more autocratic than Cali and that’s saying something.”

I blinked as she reached up and brushed at my cheeks. “Thank you, little girl.”

“I don’t like to see you cry, Papa. I feel so helpless that you’re hurting and I can’t do anything to help you.”

“Who’s the parent here?”

Riassa kissed my forehead. “I know I can run to you if I need to. Uncle Marcus is an emotional wreck so I know you are too.”

“Marcus is Azrael’s.”

“Uncle Marcus is Uncle Armor...and Uncle Armor belongs with you. Should you two be fighting right now?”

“Life doesn’t let us pick our battles all the time, Coppertop. How is Kain?”

“You really didn’t know anything about him?”

“No, I didn’t know anything about him. It’s still no excuse for him having to grow up without a father.”

Riassa tilted her head in a unconscious gesture that mimicked me. “So, you have a touch of Lanny now too?”

“Huh?”

“Kain’s mother knew she was pregnant. She never told you. She knew where you were and could have told you long before she got sick. I can tell you right now, Papa, that when I get pregnant...”

“Which better not be anytime in near future.” I warned but it was negated by a sniffle.

“Before I was interrupted...when I get pregnant the father is going to know. If I have to run him to ground, I will. Kain’s mom made a choice, Papa. She chose not to tell you that you were going to be a father. That is not your fault. When she got sick, I don’t think she tried too hard to find you. Any detective would have been able to find Grandma and Grandpa. Are you and Uncle Armor fighting because Kain thought he was his father?”

Perceptive little winglet. She tightened her arms around my shoulders. “Partly. More stuff just kind of bubbled up at the same time.”

“Timing kind of sucks, Papa.”

“Tell me about it.” I reached up and cupped her head with my hand and then pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. “Thank you, Coppertop. Everything is just exploding in my face right now. I’m just a little shell shocked, and I was having my own pity party.” I climbed to my feet and took a deep fortifying breath.

“Everybody needs a pity party once in a while.”

“I’m done.” I turned and wrapped my arms around my little girl. “What do you think of him?”

“I know he thinks he doesn’t need a father; but, everybody needs one. Maybe you can start off being a friend. We’re kind of overwhelming Kain right now. Vampires and Lycan. His eyes are a little glazed ...and we haven’t even gotten into the multiple Papas and Uncle.s My gut feeling is that he wants to belong to a family but everyone he’s depended on has died on him. I think he’s scared of getting hurt again.”

“That I can identify with.” I kissed Riassa’s forehead and brushed at my eyes with the back of my hands.

“Papa?”

“My girl?”

“You bring that little brother home safely. It doesn’t matter how he came to be. He deserves to have a home…just like Kain.”

“That’s the plan, Coppertop. That’s the plan.”

“Another thing. Did you mean it? When you said the betrothal was over?”

I nodded. “Nobody needs to be forced into get married in this day and age just to cement alliances and besides, Papa Azrael is now King. King of the Lycan and the Lord Emperor of the Vampires are as bonded as it’s going to get...so yeah, Riassa. You’re not going to have to marry Ike for the sake of the two Blood Nations.”

“Thanks, Papa.” She turned and headed back out of the music room then paused at the doorway. “Since Kain is our big brother, does that make him the next in line for succession as Lord Emperor?”

I staggered over to the crimson grand piano. Duh...

“Sorry, Papa. You have enough on your plate right now.”

“I’ll have to find out about that, Riassa.”

“I won’t say anything. I think Kain’s head is going to explode if we keep cramming everything in there. Oh, Chesterton was looking for you.”

“I’ll find him.” Riassa turned on her heel and bounced out of the music room. I leaned heavily on the concert grand and stared across the highly polished lacquered finish. Technically, Riassa was right. Kain would be the next in line to the Vampire Throne. That would throw the Advisory Council into a panic. Could a human inherit? I wouldn’t deny him. Kain had been denied enough. Too much. Too much spinning around in my head right now.

My cell phone rang. It was on the fifth and final ring by the time I scoped it out of my suit pocket. “Von Drachenfeld.”

Riot’s voice sounded in my ear. “My Lord, Silverstyx is done.”

“What is it?”

“I...don’t know, sir.”

“Tommy?”

“I’m not familiar with magic, Sir. I was in the room with him but I have no idea what he did and he sealed whatever he made in an aluminum case. We are returning to Von Drachenfeld now. ETA twenty minutes.”

“Fine. See you when you get here.”

Shake it off. Walk it off. Get it off. Gaw...Armor fucked off. He called me an abusive husband and walked. I could fix this. I would fix this, but right now I had to get focused. Father’s mantra floated back through my head.

Do what you must to get what I want.

What do I want? I want Six here at home where he belongs, surrounded by a loving family. I had Kain here already, hopefully safe from harm and surrounded by his family. His brothers and sisters and step-puppies. I want Armor here with me, content that he knows I love and value him.

So, what must I do?

Step one: Destroy Serephina. Step Two: Destroy Orel Wessel. Step Three: Free Six. Step Four: Take Armor away, just the two of us and rediscover what I took for granted and what Armor had forgotten.

How was I going to do that?

I had talented people around me. The Loyal understood the danger Orel Wessel presented to the House of Von Drachenfeld and the Vampire Nation at large. Alphas from the Northern Pack were hungry for blood. High Alpha, Prince Haley had been taken from them by nefarious means which in turn cost them their beloved Britta the Elder. Hellcats would come at her Majesty’s call. A Seer was here to serve. Father and Hades would be my blades. Marcus...a sharp stab of agony hit my heart. Marcus would be my eyes...and Ripley, a Fey, would be my shield.

I doubt that this is what Serephina envisioned when she started off on this path of vengeance. She dragged Orel Wessel in with her hatred and while I despised them and their mantra as long as they stuck to the shadows, I was willing to let him exist. I could feel a burning start in my chest. I headed out for the burning room. I was content to be a husband to my wife and husbands. I was satisfied with being a father and uncle to my brood and my extended wolflings. I was glad to be in the shadows, out of the limelight for a while. But if this is what I had to become to protect what I cherished so be it.

I stripped off in the ante room absently looking for one of my blooded kilts then remembered Ripley’s and mine little short and curly tug of war in my bedroom at Shadoe Inc. Apparently I was beloved by the Unending Plain. Naked I walked onto the cool thermal tiles and looked up at the tractable roof above me. I sent my will out and activated the toggle that would open the roof of Von Drachenfeld to the afternoon sky. The warmth of the day enveloped me and I closed my eyes against the brightness. The Phoenix within me burst into being. The bejewelled kilt glittered around my waist and hit just above my knees. I let my anger and my sorrow go and the blue fire of my wings blazed hotter. The warm wind spun around me sending my hair into my eyes for a moment until I could feel it get pulled upward in the thermal of my own making.

I opened my eyes and found Claudius looking through the tempered safety glass window of the retaining wall. No, I was not what Serephina envisioned when she started this campaign, I was more. We were more: Husband, Son, Father, Brother, Uncle, Master Assassin and Chief Executive Officer. Serephina had factored those possibilities into her equations however, she had left out the most important one.

I lifted my head and let loose of roar to the blue flames and blue skies above me.

I was the Blood Emperor of the Thirteen Blood Nations.

I will do what I must to get what I want.

And you do not fuck with me.

Ever.

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