Page 6 of Dyson (Walsh’s Lair #3)

Darling wasn’t at all happy. And when she wasn’t happy, things didn’t bode well for those around her. She looked at her daughter, Poppy, and told her to get her feet off the table. She moved them, more than likely sensing her mood, but she’d wanted to fight, and her doing what she asked wasn’t giving her what she wanted.

“When I find that girl, I’m going to have her cremated alive.” Poppy didn’t say anything, which was good, she supposed, but it did make her more pissy. “Don’t you have anything to say? I’m needing an outlet, and you’re not giving it to me.”

“I know. I’m still nursing bruises from the last time you wanted to fight.” Darling huffed. “Where is Father? Shouldn’t he be here taking some of your anger? I don’t like to be the only one that’s around to feel the pain, Mother. And what are you so hyped up about anyway? When the old buzzard dies, we’ll have it all.”

“I don’t know anymore.” Poppy asked her what she meant. “Well, he’s terribly cozy with that girl, Emma. And she’s stuck so far up his ass that I’m sure that she’d telling him things about us. True or not, she should just keep her mouth shut.”

Darling had hated the child since she’d been brought to their home to make it so that she’d have another baby. The old saying that if you adopted a child, then you’d get pregnant wasn’t as true as people thought. For sixteen whole years, she’d put up with that brat only to never have another child but Poppy. When she’d been told that she was too old to carry a child, she’d shipped Emma off to her parent’s house for her to be a slave for them. Little did she know that they’d take the child as their own, going so far as to adopt her as their own child. Darling supposed that made her a part of the family, her step-sister, but she didn’t care to share anything with her, so she never acknowledged her in any way. She looked at her daughter.

“They told me from the start that you were supposed to be a boy. All eight months that I carried you, the scans came back that you were a little boy. How I so wish you would have been one sometimes.” She told her mom that she was glad that she was a girl. “Of course you would. Because you don’t know how things work in the financial world. My father would have left it all to you had you been a boy and not given Emma a second look. But since he didn’t have a grandson to hand things over to, it’s going to take me some time to get your father to turn the running of the company over to me. As the rightful owner.”

“I don’t know that Grandfather thinks that way. And why would he turn it over to Father? I don’t think that he even likes him all that much.” That was true. Her dad hated David more than she did at times. Of course, he was lazy as fuck and drank too much, but he had stayed with her even after having numerous affairs. Even those hadn’t produced another baby. “Do you think that he’ll live much longer? I mean, isn’t there some kind of rule that states that after a certain age, they have to be put away? I think that’s a good rule if you ask me.”

“No, that’s not a rule. Even though I like that too, they’ll let people in their hundreds run around and rule the world like they have some kind of experience or something. Father should have died some time ago, like when Mother died. Had he done what I wanted and been in the car with her, then none of this would be an issue. They’d both be dead, and I’d be spending all his money like I should be able to do.” She thought about killing her mother off, and it pissed her off every time she thought of how Dad hadn’t gone with her to the meeting that she went to every Wednesday night. Damn it all to hell and back. “I think his funeral arrangements are all settled like mom’s were. Had I been in charge of them, I would have had her cremated and no service. But that fucking funeral director thought that people would want to come and see him and wish him a good life. I wonder if he realized that he was spending my money? Stupid bastard. And there is no way to kill him off, either. The man is a nuisance, and I wish him and his family would just die, too.”

Darling had heard somewhere that the director was a vampire. That he sucked the blood from the dead, and that was what kept him alive. She also heard, too, that vampires couldn’t drink from the dead. While not knowing what to believe, she’d tried to get into the funeral home to test the theory, and he’d been waiting for her. Since then, she didn’t go to anyone’s funeral for fear of the big man. Christ, what was this world coming to when you couldn’t even trust anyone to be human anymore. Stupid bastards, all of them.

“Mother, did you know that someone said that the Walsh family is considered to be the richest people in the world? I think that it was in the newspaper last month. We should try and get into their good graces somehow.” She asked her if she thought that was true. “I don’t know why not. Have you seen the houses that they all live in? They wear designer clothing even when walking in town. Could be that they’re richer than grandfather too.”

“I doubt that. He’s a millionaire several times over. There aren’t that many people around here that have as much money as he does. Even if they say they do, who are you going to believe.” She thought of something. “Are any of them single? I mean, you might be onto something by saying something about getting into the family. What would you say to marrying one of them? Or at the least pretending to be knocked up by one of them so they have to take care of you.”

“I have no desire to have any children. For any reason. I’d rather be homeless than to have some baby sucking the life out of me.” She shivered, and Darling asked her what experience she had with children. “Minx has three of them. They cling to her like she’s a tree and they’re a bunch of monkeys. Christ, when one of them isn’t sucking at her tit, the other two are sitting around in shitty diapers screaming to be changed. No way, no how am I going to even pretend to have a kid for money.”

“All right then, that’s a good thing. No grandchildren. And if dumbass gets with child someday, it won’t be related to me only by adoption. Why they did that is beyond me. She was supposed to be their servant, not their child. I don’t need a step-sister for Christ’s sake.” She decided to look up the Walsh family on her phone. “Christ, Poppy, they are more wealthy than Father is. It says here that their wealth is uncalculatable there is so much. I think that I could count very far, and they’re saying it’s more than that.”

She read how two of the brothers were married and that they were a happy family. Good to the community as well as anyone that needed help. They talked about some of the investments that they worked on as well as how they were responsible for the pool in the city being open all the time as well as some of the charities around town able to be so generous with their funding to help out the homeless as well as others that were around. They were a big deal. Perhaps she’d find them out and about and try to sink her claws into one of them. It was worth a shot, she told herself.

The front doorbell rang, and Poppy went to answer it. After calling her to the front door, she had to sign for a registered letter that was from a law firm of Shuttle and Shuttle. Not bothering with thanking the man, she closed the door in his face after he told her that he had recorded her receiving the letter. The man had some nerve laughing at her when she asked him what it was about.

Opening the letter up, several business cards fell to the floor. While having Poppy pick them up, she read the letter that had come with them. Sitting down hard, she was shocked to see that her father had gone to all the trouble of letting her know that he was moving into the big house again with her step-sister Emma Walsh and her new husband.

“It says here that I’m not allowed on the property, nor am I going to be able to set foot in the house. What the fuck does that mean? It was my childhood home.” She didn’t bother trying to figure out what Poppy was saying but continued to read the letter. “It also says that while I’m mentioned in the will of my father, I’m not going to be receiving anything but a bill of laden for all the things that I’m supposed to have stolen or borrowed from him and never returned. What the hell kind of bullshit is this? I don’t owe him anything? Emma put him up to this. I just know it.”

“Does that mean that I won’t get anything either? Not as his only grandchild?” She told her that there was no mention of her. “Good. Maybe that means that he’s going to be leaving it all to me. That would be wonderful. Now you have to be nice to me, or I won’t allow you to live in the big house with me.”

“You’ll have me living there, or I’ll kill you where you stand if you try anything like that.” She just looked at her, and Darling went back to the letter. “Oh, here it is. It says that any offspring that I’ve had will not be considered family either and that they will not be mentioned in the will. I suppose that means you since you’re the only offspring I’ve ever had.” She was on the second page when she had to put the letter down.

“What is it, Mother? Did he say what he’s going to be doing with his money? If he leaves it to some charity, I’m going to be really pissed off. I’ve been waiting my whole life for some of that cash, and he’d better not be giving it away to some down and trodden place that doesn’t need it as much as I do.” Darling didn’t say anything to her daughter, thinking about what the rest of the letter said. “If you’re not going to tell me, at least let me read it. I don’t like the look on your face, Mother. I need to know.”

“He’s giving it all to Emma. Every stock and bond, every piece of property. Home and car. All of it is going to Emma as she has been his rock since she’d been his child.” She thought of the last line of the letter. “He said that he’s letting us know so that we can move on with our lives and not think about ways to get back at him or Emma since it would result in us being put in jail until well after he’s gone. It’s as if he’s thinking that now that we know, we’ll just give up on the money and the house and act as if it’s all right for him to be turning it all over to her. Christ, I’m going to be sick.”

She laid back on the couch she was on and closed her eyes. However, it was as if every word of what he’d said to her was burned into her brain. How could he do that to her? This wasn’t right. None of it was.

“What are you going to do?” She couldn’t think past the thought of what her father, her only father, was doing to her. “Mother? What do you want to do now? You’re not going to just give up, are you? That’s not like you at all.”

“I need to think, and I can’t do that with you jabbering all the time.” Poppy was pissed off and huffing and puffing all around the room. “Poppy. For Christ’s sake, will you just shut the fuck up and allow me to think for a minute. The entire world had just taken a big dump on me, and I need to figure out what I’m going to do about it.” Poppy took the letter from her fingers and looked it over. “You’re not getting anything either. That’s not right either. It mentions your father, too, on how he’s not even mentioned in the will as he doesn’t like him either.”

There were other things that had been said in the letter. How she was to pay back the four point three million dollars that she had borrowed from him over the years. The other two million dollars in things that she’d taken from the home and sold. It went on to list those items as well as the money that she’d gotten for them. How did he know that? How did he have such an exact price on the things that she’d taken to sell off and where she’d sold them too.

She must have fallen asleep at some point and woke up to an empty room. Good. With Poppy gone, she’d be able to think better. She did love her daughter but there were times that she wished she’d never had her. All she did was run her mouth on things that didn’t concern her and go on about things too that she had no idea what was going on. She needed to talk to her husband. Maybe he had an idea of what they could do to get their money back from her father.

“I got a letter from him as well. Right here during a business meeting.” Darling told him that Poppy had been here with her. “Yes, it does mention that any offspring that you had wouldn’t be getting anything either. I wish I had an attorney like his. Whoever it is, they’re good. Not a single loophole that I can find. And I looked hard, too. Did you read the business cards that came with the letter? He’s been tested for being sound of mind, so you can’t even get him on that either. Also, he has a clean bill of health from his doctor. There isn’t even a loop that we can use saying that he’s not fit to be making changes like this to his will. Christ, Darling, he’s going to do it. Take away all the shit that we’ve had to put up with over the years. Had I known he was going to do this, I swear I’d of never married you in the first place. Much less had a daughter. What plans do you have now? I think he’s well and truly fucked us over. So anything you come up with will have to be solid.”

“I don’t know what to do. Killing him off won’t do me a bit of good. The will has been changed and filed. He made it a point to tell me that as well.” David said that he’d seen that too. “Poppy is more than likely going to go and try to suck up with him to see if she could get into the will as well, but I don’t see that happening. It’s too little too late, I think.”

“Poppy never cared for him or the manor. What does she think she’s going to say to him that will have him change his mind? That she’s had a change of heart? He won’t believe that any more than I would.” Someone spoke to him, and he answered. “I have to go, Darling. Now that things aren’t going to go our way, I’m going to have to keep my job so that we can have a roof over our heads. Christ, he surely has fucked us over, Darling.”

“I know.” She hung up when he told her again that he had to go. She realized in that moment that she had no idea what it was he did for a living as it had never come up before. For all she knew, he could be an attorney who could get them out of this mess with her father, but she just didn’t know. After all these years of marriage, she wasn’t sure that it was a good time to ask him. Just go on pretending like she has forever. It had served her well, not knowing anything that was going on around her.

~*~

Dyson loved the big room that he’d been assigned. It was the master suite, one that had a big enough bed for him and Emma was on the second floor with Emitte in separate rooms. Standing at one of the biggest windows he’d ever seen, he looked around the backyard and marveled at the color of the trees that were there. The changing weather was making the backyard a wash of warm colors, and he could stare at it for hours and not see all of it.

“Can I talk to you?” He turned around and smiled at Emma. “I’ve just gotten off the phone with your sister-in-law, Amy. She said that we’re married in the eyes of the court system, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have a real wedding later. Why would she do that without asking?”

“I would say she thought that she was doing us a favor when it came to us having everyone believe that we’re married already so there won’t be any trouble with you using any credit cards that I’ve had made for you.” He walked to one of the three dressers that were in the room. “Here you go. I meant to give them to you earlier. Also, you should know that your grandda had her put our names on the deed to this place and every other place that he owns and is leaving to you.”

“To us. He’s left everything to us. And speaking of which, he’s decided that he wants immortality for a little while. He said that he wanted to wait around a bit and see if we have children so he can go back to his Sally, my grandma and tell her all the stories that he’s come to be a part of. Did you want to have children someday?” He told her that he would like to have as many as she wanted. “I don’t know how that is supposed to work. Do I have—speaking of dragons, there is one on my arm.”

She showed him the little dragon that seemed to be clinging to her skin. After asking her if it hurt, she said that it didn’t that she could feel him move when he did. Showing her his, a much larger dragon, he told her that he was there to protect her when she needed it. He mentioned a house fire and a car accident that his brother told him about. She didn’t seem all that concerned about it but only nodded when he finished.

“Will we need to have sex at some point soon to bond? I have a wolf friend who told me that I’d be safer if we were to have sex. I don’t know if I believe him or not, but he seemed to be sincere when he was telling me.” Dyson told her that it was true, that she’d be stronger and have more magic. “I have that too. Magic now. I only just realized that I could change my clothing at will and that when I want something, a glass of something to drink, it’s right there for me to enjoy. You’re saying that I’ll have more than that.”

“A great deal more, as I’ve been told.” She nodded and moved around the room. “I feel bad for taking this room from you. Are you sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable up here and me take one of the smaller rooms?” She stood beside him without speaking and seemed to be engrossed in the window’s view. “If you wanted, we could both sleep in here with separate beds if you’d like.”

“I want to sleep with you. No sex right now. I’ve never slept with anyone before. But I would like to get used to having someone in the bed with me.” He said that nothing would happen unless she wanted it to. “I’m glad to hear you say that. I’m not ready for sex just yet. I mean, we’ve only known one another for a few days. I’d like to get to know you by asking you questions about yourself and being a dragon.” She looked up at him. “Can I see him? Now?”

“We’d have to go outside. I’m fairly large and would ruin the house if I were to shift into him. But I’d love for you to see him. I know that he’s ready to show off for you.” She turned and left him in the room. Dyson had to laugh. She wasn’t one to waste words when she wanted something, and he liked that about her. Going down the stairs, she said she was going to the backyard there should be plenty of room out there for him to shift.

“My dragon can come to me in parts. What I mean is I can shift just my hand into him or bring out my tail a little. I don’t have to shift all the way if that would be something that you’d like.” Emma told him that she wanted to see his entire dragon. “All right. Just don’t get too close to his tail. It’s quite large and sometimes has a mind of its own. It’s very sharp and could harm you. He won’t want to, but it could happen.”

Even though she said she wanted to see his entire dragon, he took his time in shifting. First, his body elongated, and then his great arms and legs. As each part of him moved to be his other half, Dyson was careful that she didn’t seem frightened by him. When he was fully dragon, he laid down on the cool grass and watched her.

“You’re beautifully scary, if that makes any sense.” He told her that it did. That all his brothers were scary. But not so much as their mother was. “I would imagine that with her job as a time adjuster, she’d have to be large enough to shift the world around.”

His mom and Aunt Ember, Mom’s sister, had been time adjusters forever. They would go about the world, changing things that perhaps would take out a single person that might be needed in the future. Or his descendants. They were so good at it that there would never be that many flaws in the timeline that would have people confused. One time, his mother told him she’d had to make it so that a mountain didn’t come down on a little town so that a child that his family would need later wouldn’t die. They both did that until they met their mates. That, as a matter of fact, was how she’d met his dad.

“My father is a vampire and older than dirt. However, my mother is much older than him and can do things that not even my dad can do. Amy too. She has some traits of a vampire that is even older than Dad, and he’s as proud of her as he is one of us. Dad loves all the women in the family.” He told her how Amy could jump from flame to flame and move all over the world in just a few seconds. “She even saved my brother’s life once when his head had nearly been removed.”

When she started to walk around him, he made sure to keep his tail under control. His beast would sometimes wag his tail, much like a dog did when he was happy. He was careful not to swing it around too much and kill her. At the very least, hurt her in some way. When she came back to his head, she had a large scale of his.

“Does it hurt when you lose these?” He was so shocked that she had it in her hands that he didn’t answer her right away. “I’m sorry. Should I have left it where it lay? I thought that you could put it back or something.”

“No, I can’t…Emma, those weigh nearly five thousand pounds each when they’re fresh. And you just picked it up. They weigh a great deal less when they get dried out. That’s what the faeries count on when they get one. For it to be flexible and easily cut down.” She asked him if she could have one of them make her a bracelet of it. She had an idea that she needed it. “Whatever you wish, my love.”

Calling to the faeries that were forever around, Emma explained to them what she wanted. They got to work right away on it and even on some of the pieces that they’d use for their homes. Roofs and doors. Sometimes, when the weather was bad, other shingles would blow off their homes but not dragon scales. They were perfect for keeping a home nice and warm. The faeries used them for other things, too, and were excited to have one that was so fresh so that they could cut it down.

It didn’t take them long to cut down to size the bracelet that she wanted. Once it was put on her arm, one of the little people helped her seal it around her wrist. Asking her what she needed it for, she put her hand with the scale encircling her wrist into the air, and she was encased in scales that covered her from above her head to several inches into the ground. Nothing would be able to get to her if she were in trouble. Once the scales disappeared, she looked at him with a large smile. It did his heart good to see it.

“While I’m not sure of all the things that this can do, I know that it will protect me against anything that comes after me.” He asked her if she could breathe all right. “I can. It’s as if all the comforts of being in a room are right here for me. Light, air, and even a little cot that I can lay on while whatever is going on, I’ll be rested.”

While she sat in his palm, telling him what she could do with the scale of his, they watched the faerie cut down the scale in no time and fly away with its parts. The only thing that was left that hadn’t been used was a small sliver of it that she picked up and showed him what she was going to have done with it.

“It’ll be a beautiful gem for me to wear with my other piece. I think that I’ll wear them when we go out to dinner. With all the colors that are around it, I’m betting that it will match anything that I wear. I just love it.” He said that he’d make sure that if he had any more fall off, he’d make sure that she didn’t want anything from it first. “No, the faeries get the most use out of it. They need it. I have everything that I need from your scales.” She fingered the bracelet and told him how much she loved having a part of him with her at all times. He was going to have to think of something that he could get from her so that he had something similar when they weren’t together. After a while, he realized that she’d fallen asleep in his hand, and he laid his own head down and watched her. She was perfection to him.

When the sun was fully down, he woke her so that he could shift into his other self. Walking hand in hand back into the house, he asked one of the little people to help out his mate by having a necklace made just for her. They were nearly falling all over themselves, wanting to help their new mistress. He knew when they were in the big bed together that, by morning, not only would she have what she wanted but that every one of the faeries had had some small hand in making it for her. Dyson again thought of how lucky he was to have such a wonderful mate as Emma Walsh in his life.