Page 22 of Prince with a Chance of Darkness (Grimm Cove #7)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Mina

If the war room had a scent, it’d be old books, fresh ink, and pure, unfiltered panic. Well, that and hot dude cologne because the place was overflowing with them, and they all smelled amazing.

It was hard not to notice.

I’d been going through something of a sexual dry spell since the birth of my daughter. Sure, I’d tried going on dates, mostly at my sister’s insistence because it had freaked her out that I used to go out with anything with a penis and then stopped cold turkey.

I wasn’t really looking for anyone. Besides, it’s not like a guy would be able to handle really being with me and all that my life came with. I wasn’t just a single mother of a teenage girl. My daughter was more than human. So was I. And while that had ruled out a lot of the dating pool before, Willa had been quick to point out Grimm Cove was different. Especially now that we knew just how many supernaturals resided here.

I hadn’t entertained the idea until four days ago, when I’d been at my sister’s new home, having lunch with her when Jonathan had come home with a buddy of his.

Henry.

It was very clear my sister had orchestrated the entire thing with some help from Astria. That’s what I got for finally confiding in Willa when our daughters were around the age of ten—how it was that I’d really learned about the cave we’d chained her in.

Henry, who was seated next to me in what the Van Helsings called the war room, hadn’t aged a day in eighteen years. It’s something the me of twenty-two years ago would have questioned. The me post-Romania just ran with it. I didn’t look my age either. A perk of having to live with vampire traits.

Henry was as charming and interesting as I remembered him being. He was still weird about his lab on campus and was still a professor. Plus, he clearly knew about the supernatural seeing as how he was sitting in on the emergency meeting Bram and Jonathan had called. The not aging bit made me wonder what, if any supernatural, he might be.

And best of all, Henry didn’t seem put off by the fact I had a daughter. I had yet to formally introduce them and wasn’t planning on it unless whatever was happening between us progressed. They’d met though through Jonathan. I had a feeling Willa made sure that happened.

Temperance seemed to like him well enough. She didn’t know the two of us used to be an item of sorts. And she wasn’t aware that I’d been spending time with him since I’d been doing it on evenings she was at Willa’s house with Hannah.

So far, Henry and I had gone to dinner twice and had plans to do so tomorrow night. We hadn’t jumped back into the sack together yet, and I wasn’t sure we would. I was different than I used to be. The bloodlust was always there, lingering below the surface, but the constant hunger for sex had vanished after Armageddon night eighteen years ago.

That being said, Henry was still smoking hot, and he smelled great. His pinkie finger brushed mine. I hid my smile as I sat on the edge of a leather chair that probably cost more than my car, my hands flat on the conference table before me as I tried not to bounce my knee.

I’d barely gotten through the front gates of the estate before Van Helsings were ushering Temperance and I inside the manor. Hannah had been waiting inside with movies ready to stream and junk food. There had been mention of pizza and my stomach was still growling. If Bram didn’t speed things along down here, I was likely to get bitey. That would be bad for all involved.

We’d been here nearly two hours, and so far, the brains behind the calling of the meeting had yet to do anything other than pace and talk amongst themselves. I’m sure most of the room could hear their whispers.

I caught a word or two here or there, but my mind wasn’t where it should be. On the drive to the Van Helsing estate, I’d started to feel odd—like something was off. I just couldn’t figure out what.

I cast an annoyed look at my sister, who was across the table from me.

She shrugged.

I motioned lightly to her and nodded toward Jonathan, wanting her to ask him what was happening.

Currently, he, Bram and Seward were doing their best to wear a path on the floor from pacing.

Unable to take it anymore, I stood, prepared to ask the questions I hoped everyone else had too. Like why were we here and when were we going to eat?

Mostly, I cared about eating. The why I was here was quickly becoming second on my list of important items.

A man who looked to be in his early fifties or late forties came rushing in. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a pair of shorts, and flip-flops. He grinned. “I’m here. What the hell is happening?”

When I realized where I knew him from, I gasped.

“Devil Dave?” I asked, surprised to see him. He owned and operated Chicken on a Pitchfork—a place we ate a ton of food from while attending college because Astria had a job there and brought home free food. He’d not aged a day either.

Weirdly, I kind of hoped Dave was catering the meeting. I was hungry.

He glanced at Willa. “Forget to tell her about me?”

Willa blushed. “Yes. Sorry. Things have been busy.”

“He’s a supernatural too?” I questioned, wondering how it was I’d never realized the guy who ran the local chicken on a stick, or pitchfork if he had anything to say on the matter, was more than human.

Henry chuckled. “Yes.”

“Are you?” I asked, finally letting the question fly that I’d had on our dates but resisted mentioning.

Henry tensed but nodded.

“Wow. Is everyone in this town one?” I shot back.

Dave grinned. “Not all. But most are.”

My eyes widened.

“So, why are we all here, Van Helsing?” Dave demanded, his arms crossing over his muscular chest.

“I’m with Devil Dave,” I said, standing. “Why are we all here?”

“Mina,” said Willa, motioning for me to sit down.

“No. I stopped everything, packed bags and rushed out here with Temperance, someone better start talking or they’re going to have me to deal with. I haven’t eaten dinner yet. I’m hangry.”

Willa cringed. “Uh, in that case, guys, you’re going to want to speed this along. No one wants her to start staking things.”

“By things she means you, Boss,” said Austin, who was in his mid-to-late twenties. He had the trademark Van Helsing dark hair and height.

“Shut up, Austin,” said Elis Van Helsing. I’d learned he was who ran things, at least to the public, when it came to Van Helsing organizations. In truth, Bram was in charge.

Austin grinned. “Can I go watch movies with the girls and Marcy? I’m bored.”

Jonathan sighed and looked at Bram. “I often wonder if you were like him when you were his age.”

“No,” said Bram, his voice clipped. “I was not an overgrown child.”

Austin leaned back in his chair, propped his feet on the table, and put his hands behind his head, looking way too pleased to be called a manchild.

Elis, who was next to him, pushed Austin’s feet off the table, making Austin jerk upright in the seat. Elis then proceeded to swat Austin on the back of the head.

“Ouch! You’re not my dad, Elis,” said Austin with a whine.

Just then, a tall man stepped up behind Austin and did it to him.

Austin twisted around in his seat, his mouth open, as if to comment, only to snap it shut.

Elis grinned. “Yeah, but he is.”

“Feed me or free me,” I said, my hand going to my hip.

“Mina, you’re not a prisoner,” said Willa with a sigh.

“Really? If I try to leave, a bunch of Van Helsings aren’t going to try to stop me?” I asked, glancing around the room.

The room, which was filled to the brim with Van Helsing males, fell silent.

Jonathan made his way toward me with his hands raised. “Mina, they won’t have to. The Harker wolves will. It’s not safe for you or Temperance out there right now. You may not like it, but that is the truth.”

“Why?”

“Why will my pack stop you?” he asked. “Like I said, because it’s not safe.”

“No. Why isn’t it safe? I want details. Now. And a pizza,” I said with a grunt.

“We should start with the pizza,” added Willa. “She’s so cranky when she’s hungry.”

“And you’re not?” I shot back.

She bit her lower lip. “Guilty. Oh, can we get pickles and cream cheese on the pizza?”

My gaze whipped to Jonathan. “Wow, England. Two weeks with her, and you’ve already got another bun in the oven. I hope it’s twin girls. This town is choking on testosterone.”

“He is quick, isn’t he?” asked the woman I’d been avoiding because of excessive pep, sashayed into the room. Marcy’s long blonde hair was down and she had a wide smile on her face. She was wearing a see-through, light pink top with a shirt under it that said, “My Honey-Bear is Making Me Wear This.” The shirts were paired with a long light pink skirt.

Seward saw the shirt and laughed. “You wore it!”

“I cannot believe you had that made for her,” said Bram, glaring at Seward.

She beamed. “Jack, I wore it because you were right. He did see me in this,” she tugged at the outer shirt, “and tell me I couldn’t go out of our bedroom in it. He said other men would see my breasts. I tried to explain if the men here hadn’t seen a pair of breasts by now, maybe they did need to see mine. He didn’t seem to agree. Then he looked like he might burst a blood vessel if I went against his wishes. I took pity on him and put the shirt you got me under it. See. All better now, Honey-Bear.”

I glanced at Willa. Was Marcy for real?

Willa was too busy staring at her stomach to notice me.

Jonathan twisted around, his eyes wide. “Marcy? Is Willa expecting?”

“Are you asking if she has a package arriving from the post office or if she’s pregnant?” questioned Marcy. She tugged at the ends of her hair. “Um, if it’s a package. You should know, I might have sort of ran into your mailbox earlier today. Don’t worry, I’ll fix it.”

“You were driving?” asked Bram, drawing her closer to him.

They seemed like such an odd pairing, but they worked.

He touched her chin. “Marcy, I assigned a driver to you.”

“I know, Honey-Bear, but he was stuck in the bathroom, and I really needed to run an errand,” she said before sighing loudly. “I’ve had long talks with the spirits here about playing practical jokes on the living, but you know how naughty the dearly departed can be. They wanted to play a prank on him, but I didn’t have time for it. No worries. I got what I needed. But you might want to see to it Jonathan gets a new mailbox. His is in the trunk of your car.” She tugged at her lower lip and averted her gaze. “So is the stop sign from Dead Man Crossing. And the one from Fortune Lane.”

Bram looked tired.

I can’t say I blamed him.

Jonathan moved closer to her and waved a hand in front of her face, pulling his attention to him. “Marcy, is Willa pregnant?”

Marcy put her hands on her husband’s chest. “It will be so nice to have all the babies around here. So many pregnancies are happening all at once. As it was meant to be. Your girls will love playing with Bram’s.”

The man I’d learned was the head of the local wolf-pack was standing at the far end of the room. He was Bram’s son-in-law and was expecting a child with Bram’s daughter. He lifted a hand. “I’m not sure Dana is going to be the best playmate. She’s freaking out that she’s not mother material as it is. But if you’re talking about our little one…”

Marcy laughed. “Don’t be silly. Dana is going to be a wonderful mother. And I meant Bram’s other daughter, Jeffrey.”

Seward stepped back. “Bram, you have another daughter out there somewhere?”

“No,” said Bram, confusion coating his expression as he drew his wife closer.

Jonathan stood there looking dumbfounded too. “Is my mate pregnant?”

“Speak in little sentences, he’s having trouble with this,” I said to Marcy, enjoying razzing my brother-in-law.

“Yes, Jonathan,” Marcy said. “Your mate is pregnant. With twins. Girls.”

Jonathan vaulted over the end of the table like an Olympic athlete and was to my sister in the blink of an eye. He went to one knee next to her chair. “Don’t panic.”

He clearly knew her well.

She started to panic.

He moved closer and kissed her lips chastely. “I love you. This is a good thing.”

She glanced at me fast.

I smiled. “He’s right. It’s a good thing.”

She calmed slightly and clutched her husband’s hands for dear life.

Seward shook his head. “I’m still wondering when it was Bram had another daughter and how he doesn’t know about her.”

I lifted my hand as if it were a classroom and Bram was the teacher.

Bram’s gaze met mine. “Yes?”

“One, I was serious about the pizza. I’m hungry. Feed me. Two, I think your wife might be telling you she’s pregnant,” I said.

Marcy’s smile managed to get wider. “Mina gets me. We’re going to be such great friends. So are our little ones.”

I snorted. “My little one is seventeen and not so little anymore.”

She caressed Bram’s chest, all while he looked a bit faint. “Tempi is going to be wonderful with the little ones, but I meant your other little ones. Your other two girls.”

“Uh, I think you’re confusing me with Willa.” I pointed to my sister. “She’s the one who is pregnant again. Not me.”

“For now,” said Marcy.

I gasped. “What does that mean? I’m done having babies. I’d have to be having sex for that to happen. News flash, I am not having any sex.”

“Want to be?” asked Austin with a waggle of his dark brows, earning him another swat from his father.

Henry stood, his hand finding mine. “Mina, is that something you want? More children?”

I eased my hand from his, disliking everyone staring at me. And I was in no way ready to discuss having more children with Henry of all people. “Why are we all here, Bram? What is this emergency meeting about?”

Seward had to elbow him because the man was too busy staring at his wife’s stomach like it might bite. Ironic, since he was the vampire in the situation. Bram didn’t budge.

Seward grunted. “Dracula and The Weird Sisters are coming to town. They may already be here.”

“They’ve come before a lot of times,” said Austin’s father. “What is with the panic now?”

I had the same question. Why was everyone freaking out now about some old dude showing up if he’d been making frequent visits to the area over the years?

“Yes, they’ve come here before,” said Lucian as he strolled into the room. “But a warning about this time came from a trusted friend. With Dracula comes great darkness.”

“Again, I ask, how is this different?” asked Austin. “And don’t you count as a great darkness?”

Every man who had been sitting stood, all eyes on Lucian. I didn’t love the guy or anything, but he had saved my sister’s life in Romania, even if it did leave her a wolf-shifter, and he’d protected my niece two weeks back.

As far as I knew, Helen was down here in the lower levels of the Van Helsing estate being held in a cell. I hope she rotted in it.

I pushed through the gathered group, and put myself in front of Lucian to keep the room full of angry men from making a move against him.

“Anyone who wants to take a go at the dickhead has to go through me first,” I said.

Lucian chuckled. “Uh, thanks. I think.”

I shrugged. “Least I can do.”

“Dickhead though?” he asked.

I lifted a brow. “Did you or did you not originally lead Willa and me to that cave in Romania with the hopes of freeing Dragos?”

He cringed. “Dickhead works.”

“Question,” said Austin, his hand up now. “I was asking Jonathan about this a few days back, wondering how it is we had to deal with Dragos a few months ago here if that seal holding him wasn’t officially broken twenty-two years ago when you and your sister were lured there by that asswipe. Any theories?”

Lucian grunted. “Asswipe?”

I elbowed him lightly. “Focus. Do you know how Dragos finally gained his freedom?”

He shook his head. “No. The seal could only be broken by way of a mystical dagger and the shedding of blood—a lot of blood, mind you—by at least two people tied to one of the original individuals who sealed him away to start with. I have no living descendants. It was not someone from my line. Bram has a daughter but she is alive and well and the bloodshed needed to occur within the confines of the cave. She has never been there from my understanding.”

Elis stood. “All Van Helsings are accounted for.”

“Same with the Harkers,” said Dwayne.

“Morris?” asked Seward before lifting both hands. “And it wasn’t anyone from my line. I’m the last of my people and I don’t have any little ones running around out there that I’m unaware of.”

“If you say so.” Marcy giggled.

“Wait, what?” demanded Seward.

Marcy tipped her head, staying close to Bram. “It wasn’t any of your lines.”

“Another Murray?” I asked, feeling sick. We’d not had a chance to reconnect with our uncles who we’d been estranged from since we were ten. Were they dead? Had someone lured them to the caves and used their blood—their deaths to free Dragos?

Marcy shook her head. “Nope.”

“Then who?” asked Austin.

Marcy shrugged. “I’m not sure. I just know it wasn’t any of you.”

Jonathan wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the conversation. He was too busy glaring at Lucian. “Who in the hell let you in?”

Willa rose to her feet, next to Jonathan, and took his hand in hers. “Probably your daughter. You know she has a soft spot for him and trusts him.”

“She has questionable judgment,” snapped Jonathan.

Willa rolled her eyes. “I trust him too.”

“Well then she gets that questionable judgment from her mother, Love,” said Jonathan, who looked to be fighting a smirk. “Really hope the next two get mine.”

“Next two?” asked Lucian.

I nodded. “She’s got two more buns in the oven. Girls.”

Lucian’s eyes moistened slightly, enough for me to see because I was close to him, but I wasn’t sure if anyone else noticed. “Congratulations. Children are a blessing.”

Jonathan opened his mouth to say something.

Willa put her hand over his mouth. “Thank you, Lucian. That’s what he was going to say.”

Jonathan’s brow crinkled and he mumbled something that sounded like, “bloody hell.”

Willa grinned at Lucian. “Did Hannah let you in?”

Lucian’s grin faded. “No. The front door was wide open. I let myself in.”

Seward rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Marcy, did you happen to go out front again to talk to the stars, again , and forget to shut the front door— again ?”

“Nope. Wasn’t me,” she said, patting her husband’s cheek gently. “You look a bit pale, Honey-Bear. You should sit down.”

“What is wrong with Bram?” asked Lucian.

“Just found out he’s going to be a daddy—again,” I supplied, not missing the way Lucian flinched slightly as if the news was happy and painful for him.

“We are with child?” Bram asked, his voice barely there. “I am to have another daughter?”

“We are, and you are,” Marcy said in a loving tone, patting his cheek more. “Burgess is so excited. He thinks we should name her Dandelion. It was between that and Peanut, but that one is only because they’re his favorite treats. Buffy voted for Trash Can, but I think we all know why. I vetoed that one. I’m going to miss her when she’s gone.”

“Gone?” asked Austin, worry in his voice. “Where is she going? Is she sick? Is everything all right?”

“Everything is fine, but she’ll be with her new family before long,” said Marcy. “Where she was always supposed to be.”

Yeah. She was a tender soul but crazy as all could be.

“Dandelion?” asked Bram, totally out of it.

Seward clasped the man on the back and shook him. “Congratulations, brother. And word to the wise, settle on the name Dandelion or Marcy may suggest something like Moonbeam Sparkle Stars.”

Marcy began to jump up and down, causing her breasts to bounce. All of the unmated males in the room took notice. “Ohmygod, that one! Let’s name her that! It gets Jack’s vote too!”

“It does?” asked Seward.

She pouted slightly.

He groaned. “Fine. It gets my vote too.”

Lucian touched my shoulder and leaned, putting his mouth near my ear. “Hannah? Where is she?”

Henry’s gaze narrowed on Lucian. “I don’t like you being so close to her.”

“I don’t like you at all, so there is that,” said Lucian, staying close to me.

“Uh, up on the main level with Temperance, watching movies and eating junk food. Marcy was just with them,” I said with a shake of my head. “I can’t believe you could miss them. They watch movies at a volume level people ten states over can hear. If that isn’t a big enough indicator, the army of alpha-male wolf shifters Jonathan makes follow his daughter around should be.”

Lucian squeezed my shoulder. “Mina, there are no shifters above. The girls are not there.”

“W-what?” I asked, my stomach dropping. “Of course they are.”

Marcy stepped back from Bram. “The shifters you and Jonathan left on guard duty tonight are busy.”

“Busy?” Jonathan asked with a growl. “Their only job while I’m down here is to guard Hannah and Temperance.”

“They were called away,” she said.

“By who?” he demanded.

Her brow furrowed. “You.”

“Marcy, I didn’t call them away,” said Jonathan, worry slashing through his eyes—one green, one brown like my niece’s.

Lucian sniffed the air and snarled. “Dark magik! It’s creeping onto the grounds. I can sense it.”

“Because you’re an evil asshole,” said Jonathan before kissing Willa’s forehead. “Stay here. I’m going to find Hannah and Temperance.”

“So am I,” said Lucian.

“Yep,” said Devil Dave with a sharp nod. “I’m going too.”

Every man in the room also announced they were planning to assist. It made me realize that they really had adopted us into their family dynamics.

“Me too,” I added.

“Same,” said Willa.

I pointed at her. “You’ll sit your butt here and not move. You’re pregnant.”

Jonathan’s gaze moved to Jeffrey. “I need you and Brett to stay and guard Willa and Marcy.”

“Done. The rest of the pack will be here within thirty minutes,” he said, no questions asked.

“Thank you,” said Jonathan.