Page 26 of Bonded By Blood

“And do you realize that working somewhere without a single vampire around to protect you will only put you in more danger?”

“How am I actually in danger?” Kendall asked. “We don’t have any reason to think Tobias knows I’m connected to you. Even if he saw me coming here, he’d just assume I’m another blood slave.”

Brianna pinched the bridge of her nose. “Kendall.”

“Hey, Trista’s right, that’s what they are.”

Brianna drew in a long breath and held it for a count of ten. This wasn’t the time to re-hash the debate of whether or not their paid employees were actually slaves. I wish Mother would stop calling them that.

“So, if that was it, I’m gonna go home,” Kendall said, turning down the hall. “I’ll let you know if I have any trouble, okay?”

“What? Kendall, don’t do that,” Brianna said, starting after her.

“Do what?” Kendall asked over her shoulder. “Live my own life? You’re the one who insisted I be human. This is what humans do, Bri.”

Before she could reply to that, one of the guards stepped up, clearing his throat. “Lady Brianna. He’s awake.”

Brianna closed her eyes for a long second.

“Sounds like you’re busy,” Kendall said. “I’ll see you in a day or two.” She didn’t wait around for goodbyes.

“Lady Brianna?”

Why did she have to make it difficult? Brianna looked over at the messenger. “Has he fed?”

“Not yet, ma’am.”

“Have Garvin meet me in the room with glasses for two, then,” she said. “Also, contact the head of my security detail. I want a team of two to four guards keeping watch on Kendall, and Kendall’s home, until this mess with the Wilsons is over.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He bowed at the shoulders, twisted around, and walked away with long, purposeful strides.

Watching him walk reminded Brianna that he’d been some form of military in his human life. What had it been? One of the World Wars, I think. Not that it mattered, really. He’d long lost his European accent, but he thrived with the formality of the way her mother ran their Family. Many of them did. She’s good at what she does. It was Trista who’d kept so many of them alive for so long.

Sometimes, Brianna forgot that.

It was easy to become flustered, or get angry, with her mother. Easy, living with her every day for eternity, to forget that her mother wasn’t just her mother. She was also the oldest vampire in the world. The Queen of them all. She had to consider the politics of their entire species, had to set an example for them, had to enforce the rules when someone stepped out of line. She had to keep up appearances. Because, sometimes, appearances did matter. And sometimes that meant making the unpopular, unfavorable decisions.

Brianna sighed, again, and adjusted course. She needed to check on Joe now that he’d woken from his rest. Later, she’d apologize to her mother. She still believed Joe would want to handle the situation with his werewolf friends differently, but now that she’d taken a breath, she understood her mother’s situation a bit better.

It was never easy.

****

“Wait,” Joe said, working to wrap his mind around what Brianna had just told him. “You’re saying you have humans on call who donate their blood on a regular basis in exchange for a paycheck?”

Brianna trailed a finger along her glass. “They’re staff, specifically, and they get a bit more than a paycheck. But yes, essentially.”

Joe gulped a third of his glass and shook his head. He’d more or less assumed the First Family were the real recipients of at least most of the state’s frequent blood drives. “I’m not sure if that’s inhumane or genius.”

Her lips twitched and she sipped again at her drink before replying. “I think Kendall’s still trying to figure that out, too, if it’s any consolation.”

“Maybe a little,” he said. In the end, it was working in his favor. If nothing else.

Brianna smiled. “Let’s talk about you. Are you feeling better?”

Joe lowered his glass again and hesitated. “I suppose.” He glanced at her and sighed. “I still feel like I’m adjusting, but at this point I think a lot of it’s psychological.”

“That’s going to be a big part of it,” she said. “But that adjustment will get easier once you’ve gotten used to your new senses and abilities.”