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“Young vampire,” Dev repeated. “Not able to mindfuck people who understand how it works and recognize it, and not the full strength of a mature vampire yet, plus he was out of control and not thinking straight. Still, Ezra was impressive. He attacked him and took him down without getting bitten, and with only a few claw marks that aren’t terribly deep. Elijah took care of the girl as best he could, mostly just stretching her out on the floor and helping to talk her through breathing while he told her she was safe now, over and over, which she says helped. They brought the doc in because she had a concussion and her voice wasn’t quite right, but he said she’d be okay without a trip to the hospital.”

“So, the boys played hero and they have more privileges?”

“They’d gained the privileges before being heroes and not just playing at it. In all likelihood, they saved the human girl’s life. But yes, they have a little broader freedom now than I’d originally planned for the near future. For now, they have to check in with me before they can leave the suite, and have to tell me where they’re going. If something comes up and they need to go somewhere else, they must tell me that, too. So, if they plan to go to the workout room and back to the suite, but decide to detour to the kitchen on the way back, they’ll need to tell me. If I’m not available, they must stay put until I’m available — neither you nor Remy can give permission. If Brooke is on the property they can ask her, but otherwise, they aren’t to bother her with this. Within a month, I expect they’ll havethe freedom to move around as their clearance allows without needing specific permission. When they’re with you, you’ll have to use the elevator and not the stairwell, and they’ll have to use their palmprints to call the elevator, not yours.”

Right, because she could get to the garage level with either the stairwell or the elevator.

The way the house was built, the garage level was at the top, just below the level of the yard, with the entrance set into a small hill. The rest of the house was deeper underground, below the garage level. She’d had the sense, the first time she was brought in, that the house went under the outer fence, which, now that she thought about it, made sense. If they were attacked, it would be strategic to be able to exit at what appeared to be a neighbor’s property. An open staircase led between the two middle floors, but to get to any other level, you had to use the stairwell or elevator.

“The cook tells me,” Dev said, “we’re starting with French onion soup, and then having fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and his spicy green beans, with apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert.”

“He texted me yesterday and asked if I’d rather have chicken noodle soup or French onion. He also talked to me the day after the carnival, and asked me about the foods of my childhood, and what represented home, safety, adventure, and all kinds of other things. I had no idea I had foods associated with adventure until he asked me.” She closed her eyes again. Rested her head against the headrest. “I understand the main coterie house has lots of staff. People to handle pretty much everything. You usually just have a security team and the cook, and occasionally a gofer or two.”

“Someone comes to pick up the laundry and then brings it back the next day, and they change the sheets out on my bed when they pick it up. The people I’m training are responsible forvacuuming, dusting, and helping with the dishes in the kitchen. On the rare occasion I’m not training someone, Brooke sends someone to handle the once-a-week cleaning, and I help out with the dishes. Everyone who feeds a vampire, or vampires, is fed by a cook who knows the ingredients they can and can’t have, depending upon who they are on the schedule to feed in the next week.”

He sighed. “Magic and technology don’t work so well together in close proximity. In the past, we’ve had the bracelet to keep achangeaway on one wrist, and a shock bracelet on the other, so the slave can’t leave the house or property without being shocked. Our cats need an anti-changebracelet on each wrist, which means they can’t wear a shock bracelet. I don’t want to put a shock collar on them because I don’t like the message it sends. Bracelets aren’t as emotionally charged as collars.” Another sigh. “We have the butt plugs, but I don’t want them constantly plugged. We’re trying to slowly phase them out of the pleasure-slave mindset.”

“I don’t think they want to escape,” Genie told him.

“I agree, but if I do something to piss them off? All bets are off.” He shrugged. “Odds are, I’m going to piss them off regularly until they finish growing into freepersons. The plugs work for outings. I used them for the carnival, and when I took them for a ride Christmas day, and we also took a short walk in a forest, thanks to the plugs.”

“I bet they enjoyed the ride and the walk. More privileges?”

“Yes. Brooke bought me a sports car for Christmas. Convertible, which isn’t practical in December, but it’ll be a lot of fun this spring and summer.”

Genie thought she’d splurged big time for Dev, but next to a motherfuckingcar, her gift paled.

“Why did that upset you? Brooke got me the car because of the three of you, so in a way, it’s a gift for us all. She said I needed a way to take ya’ll out that was fun and joyful.”

“It’s a really nice gift.”

“It is, but she has so much money she’ll never spend it all. She’s amassed multiple fortunes in multiple countries, and she keeps them separate, so if the currency fails in one country, she still has useable money in other places. She also has precious metals, gemstones, and real estate — things of value no matter the value of currency. For her, giving me a car is the same as someone else buying me a pair of boots, which I would also love.”

“Did Remy like his coat?”

“He did.”

Dev pulled off the road onto the driveway, rounded a few curves that kept the gate hidden from passers-by, and then pulled through the gate as it opened. Home at last.

“Two things,” she said, her head against the headrest and her eyes still closed. “One, it’s good to be home, and two, I just realized I’m considering this home. It feels more like home than my apartment, and I don’t know when that happened.”

“Brooke told me she’s talked to her building engineer about how to add to my suite. The one beside mine is meant for two people who are close but who don’t sleep together. It has a living room area, kitchen area, and two bedrooms with a shared bathroom between. She tells me they can put a hallway in so the bedrooms can be reached from our sitting room, and the other sitting room can be turned into a bedroom and closet for you, and our construction team can use the plumbing connections in the existing kitchen to create a private bathroom for you. We’ll likely all sleep together in my bedroom, but everyone will have their own private space. Since you may want to sleep longer after working several shifts, she can also soundproof your room. Thesuites are soundproofed so people in the hallways and adjoining suites can’t hear, but individual rooms inside the suites usually are not.”

“She’ll want me to oath to her before I officially move in though, right?”

“You have two options. You can either reinforce your oaths to me and the twins, and we can make it so it’s an intentional bonding rather than the unintentional one we have now, or you can oath to the coterie. Oathing to our little poly group lets you continue to come and go from this location as you please, but not to the other locations. It also doesn’t put you on the coterie’s insurance policy, which means you can’t drive the vehicles, which probably isn’t important, but you need to understand it will limit you in more ways than just the supernatural kind.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Genie awoke alone in bed, feeling as if she were hungover. She’d had some brandy right before bed, with her apple pie and ice cream, but not enough to make her feel like this. She’d have to drink two or more gallons of brandy to be hung over, and she’d had two glasses.

She looked at the analog clock on the wall, the light coming under the door enough so she could see it, though barely. Twelve twenty-five. She’d gone to sleep a little before nine in the morning, which meant she’d been asleep either three and a half hours, or fifteen and a half hours. Considering how badly she needed to pee, she was betting it was the latter, which would also explain the hungover feeling. Food and liquids would help.

Dev usually went to sleep between four and six in the morning and awoke around noon. Genie was in the habit of staying awake until eight in the morning even on her days off, so she wouldn’t get off her schedule. She’d been splitting the difference with him and they’d gone to bed around six or seven in the morning on the days she didn’t work. Last night, she understood the twins had slept a few hours and then woke so they could eat with her this morning, and then everyone had gone to bed together and slept. No sex. Or, if the others had, she wasn’t aware of it.

She peed, washed her hands, brushed her teeth and hair, and added a touch of contour and eye shadow. She’d do it right later, when she got dressed. For now, she was in one of Dev’s shirts, which came to her knees.

Dev was in the sitting room in the suite, but the twins were not.