Claiming Emerald (13 page)

“Nothing is wrong. Do we still have those cases of sardines and herring?”

The man nodded. “Of course.” He pulled a ledger from the wall and leafed through it. He showed the entry to Vidar. “The herring is good until anywhere between 2040 and forty-five.” The man paged through and stopped again on a later page. “The sardines have about the same shelf life.”

“Then I suggest that you bring them up and let the humans choose which food they prefer. They should split a can every day between them. It is just as important for the males to get the vitamins, also. If they really like them, they could eat a whole can each, but I’m not sure how big your supply is.”

Vidar signaled to the man with his hand. He removed a key from his belt and unlocked a thick door, pushing it open. Vidar led her inside. Em was stunned. There were rows and rows of cabinets all lined with cans and jars of food. “Everything is accounted for and the expiration dates noted. Any food that is getting close to expiring is sent upstairs to be eaten. We try not to waste anything. Many things here were hermetically sealed and will keep for twenty to thirty years. We hope by then to have our gardening system perfected. Your fortress is said to have a very successful garden.”

“It does. Wesley was a gardener and he oversees everything. We built it on the roof so it gets plenty of sun and there is little chance of animals eating our crops.”

“Interesting. Would you like to see the garden?”

“I guess. Yours would have to be much larger than ours. You have to feed a lot more humans.”

“We have a lot more humans to feed a lot more vampires. Almost everyone here is a coalesce. We have many old vampires to give babies their secondary blood. They no longer need to eat every night, but they still need to feed.”

She grinned. “We have Salt. He is eating less, but doesn’t want to coalesce with anyone but Rory. For some reason, Rory’s blood won’t work.”

“That is because you made Salt and you have Rory’s blood in your body. It would not be secondary blood for Salt because it already exists in his system through you.”

“We figured it was something like that.”

He ushered her out of the storage cave and back to the stairs. They began to walk upward. “It seems as though your fortress is doing well for itself. How is the hierarchy set up?”

Em shrugged. “There really isn’t one. As my title implies, I’m the queen. All serious problems seem to get passed down to me. Rory and Salt are my kings, but no one refers to them as such. The humans rely on us for help and we rely on them for food. We don’t force anyone to do anything. If anything, the community outside makes the rules for themselves. They delegate the work by who is capable of doing it. So far there have been only minor problems that either they can handle themselves, or they come to us for a final call. The biggest problem lately has been the power and the snow on the solar panels.”

“What has been the solution?”

“The vampires clear the panels if it’s snowing at night and the humans do it during the daylight. A few of them have fallen, but our blood has been able to heal all injuries so far. As I said before, we are working on windmills for the power situation.”

He gave her a sly smile. “I suppose it helps to have three very crafty and intelligent vampires now residing in your fortress.”

The way he said it made her wonder what he had to do with them. She had always thought it slightly odd that Adrial, Holden, and Jace had shown up while Em and her men were fighting the purists. They didn’t really need the help, but to have three vampires and two werewolves at their back was comforting. “So you have heard about our handymen?”

“You could say that.”

“Okay, Vidar. Spill it. Did you send them?”

“They don’t know that I sent them, so don’t be angry with them. I merely offered transport and suggested that your fortress was lacking in vampires. I may have mentioned the purists to them, also.”

“You are a conniving little shit.”

He gave her a boyish grin. “Why thank you. I have been known to do so. Are you mad?”

“I don’t know if I would use that particular word. So tell me why you feel the need to meddle in my fortress’s affairs?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it meddling. I was simply concerned about you. I figured that you could use a little help. If I remember correctly, it was my ancestor’s fault that so few vampires were left in your fortress. He and his crew did kill quite a few of them when they stole your humans.”

“So the conversation now conveniently rolls back around to Cobalt and our beginnings. Have you honestly been pining for me since that day we met four years ago?”

He chuckled. “Such a choice of words, Queen Emerald. I would be more inclined to use the phrase ‘considering you.’”

“Oh. So you had me in mind, but had no yearnings to be with me?”

His laughter caused his chest to bounce. They had reached the uppermost landing and he handed her a pair of sunglasses. Em frowned. “I think that I have already established that I can’t go outside in the sun.”

“The glass we used for our greenhouse is restrictive. It allows for the energy to grow the plants to pass through, but blocks the sun’s fire so we won’t be burned by it. It is quite an ingenious setup.”

Em suddenly realized that he wasn’t showing her the greenhouse. He was showing
off
the greenhouse like a teenager with his first car. It was meant to impress her. Vidar opened the door and Em slammed the glasses on her face. The room was incredibly bright and there were rows and rows of fresh vegetables. He gestured her in and Em waited to feel herself burning. The sensation wasn’t present. She gazed around longingly. The vampires that lived in the caves could go out in the sun any time they wanted. She wandered down the aisle. The entire thing was set up on hydroponics. Tomatoes and squash were growing above bins of lettuce and spinach. Even in the winter their humans had a wide variety of fresh vegetables to choose from. The next aisle over was filled with long strands of peas and beans, all hanging with ready to pick produce. There were pots with towering plants, the roots covered with oversized potatoes. Mitchell had tasted like potatoes. “This is amazing.”

“If we walk back the way we came in and follow it out, there is also an orchard. Our people have devised a way to grow dwarf trees that produce three times the amount of fruit. We also have a thriving community of bees to pollinate our crops.”

Em saw large green praying mantis walking among the potato plants. She walked closer, staring in awe. She hadn’t seen a mantis since she was a child. “He is beautiful.”

“I believe it is a female, but I agree. We breed bugs to feed them. Of course, the bugs won’t hurt our crops, but the mantis thrives well here. I believe we have twenty-seven different varieties. Would you like to take some eggs home with you?”

Em turned to face him, the mantis forgotten. “I would love to. Will I be allowed to go home?”

He nodded slowly, almost reluctantly. “I’ve been considering this all day. I would appreciate it if you would stay for a while just until we see if anyone has conceived. If necessary, I would like to try again after they have eaten some of the fish to see if it helps. If I allow you to go home, will you return?”

Em’s heart leapt from her chest. “Of course. All you have to do is let Dennis know and send transport. I will be happy to help. Why the sudden change of heart?”

“I don’t think it was just one thing. I have been listening to you talk about your fortress and your humans. It made me realize how important they were to you. I also have to think that you are very important to them. To have Rory and Russell deny you sex puzzles me, though. Why did they? Dream sex is very real.”

“They told me that if I made love to them, I was less likely to agree to have sex with you. They want me home at any cost.”

“Noble. I guess you actually did give Rory back his heart.”

She couldn’t help the smile that bloomed on her face. “I did.”

“You are an extremely impressive woman, Queen Emerald.”

“Thank you. You are an impressive man, Vidar. Do you have a last name?”

“No. I was only called Vidar as a child. My village was destroyed in a battle and I ran. I was too young to fight anyway. I was taken in by a family in another village. I could not use their name because I was not their child. I am simply Vidar.”

The sadness on his face was shadowed by the sunglasses. Em longed to see his eyes. He had such beautiful eyes.

Em moaned in her sleep and Vidar looked up from his book. He wondered what she was dreaming about. He didn’t think it was a real connective dream. It was simply something created by her mind.

What an amazing mind she had. She was quick witted and Vidar could completely understand how she had taken Rory’s heart. Rory was a noble man, but the grief over losing his human family had always overshadowed his life. He put the marker in his book and got up, walking over to the safe. He dialed in the combination and opened the door. There was a thick file with Emerald Slade’s name on it. He had read it from cover to cover, but Vidar had an urge to look at it again.

He sat down, leafing through the pages. She had an interesting collection of men. Salt had his own checkered past and Vidar knew Rory personally.

Vidar had always found it interesting that Emerald had captured the heart of a shifter. Shifters and Vampires were once mortal enemies, but things had changed since the sonic was dropped. He wouldn’t exactly call them friends, but they had learned to cohabitate.

He closed the file and put it back in the safe. Vidar wanted Emerald as his mate, but as things stood, that would never happen. She was too committed to her life. He had shown her the wonders of his world and yet, she was unwilling to change. Vidar had given her a preview of the sexual wonders he had to offer. He knew that she was into his preferences, but she would never allow herself to enjoy them. For her to consider sex with him akin to prostitution had given him a clear picture of her mentality. Emerald was still clinging to the morals of a human where love was the all important emotion.

Had he come to love her? More likely he had come to cherish his dreams of the woman who now rejected his advances. Things would change in time and if they didn’t, Vidar would see to it that they did.

* * * *

Em sat straight up in bed. She looked around the room, but nothing seemed amiss. Vidar was sitting at the small table on the other side of the room. He was flipping through papers, reading, and then leaning back to think. Em didn’t trust him. There was something about the man that wasn’t quite as he appeared. He had been kind to her and had even decided that she could go home, but there was a catch to her release. A man as old and powerful as Vidar didn’t give up that easily, and Em had a feeling that he was used to getting what he wanted.

She lay back down quietly, not wanting him to know that she was awake. She wanted to know what he was thinking. Wanted to know what was in his mind. Vidar was letting her go, but with a promise that she would return. She closed her eyes, forcing her mind back into sleep. Em called out for Rory. He was beside her, one eye cocked in irritation as he often did when disturbed. “What’s up?”

“Vidar is letting me come home.”

Rory was completely awake, a large grin on his movie star face. “He is. When?”

“I don’t know exactly, but soon. How well do you know him?”

“I know him. Not well, but I have talked to him. We met in England seventy or so years ago.”

“Do you trust him?”

Rory guffawed. “Absolutely not. So why did he suddenly decide to let you go?”

“I’m not exactly sure. I brought up the point that the people he was trying to have conceive were probably vitamin D deficient. That can severely impact conception. As it turns out, they have cans of herring and sardines in their vast food stores. They are going to try to get the D levels up and then have me come back. I don’t want to come back, but if I didn’t agree it could be months before any of them are even capable of having a child. He gave me a tour of the huge garden they have. Vidar reminded me of a teenager with his first car. He is very proud of what he had a hand in creating. Anyway, then he said he was going to let me come home. Earlier he told me to walk, now he is even agreeing to give me transport. I want to come home, but I don’t like it.”

“I can’t say that I do either. He is up to something. I guess the only way to find out is to wait and see.”

“I agree. I wanted your input.”

He stroked her cheek. “I miss you so much. Every night is like an eternity without you here.”

“I miss you that much, too. Hopefully he will let me go soon.”

“Hopefully. Go get some real sleep. You look exhausted.”

“I am.”

Rory kissed her and then faded out again. Em let her mind rest. She was tired of thinking.

When Em opened her eyes, she was surprised to find herself alone. The clothing from the night before was piled at the bottom of her bed. On top of the pile was the brush that Vidar used to do her hair. There was a note beneath it. Em picked it up and read it to herself.

Queen Emerald. Please take the brush and clothing as my gift to you. I’m sorry to have detained you against your will. If you go down to the hanger, you will find Nelson waiting to take you home. Have a good flight. I will call for you once I think the D levels are higher. Probably in a few months. Vidar.

She turned the letter over, wondering if there was more. A chill ran up her spine. He was just setting her free? The fact that he wasn’t even saying good-bye in person made the uneasiness worse. The man was definitely up to something.

She hopped out of bed, tugging on her jeans and grabbing the pile. Em put the brush in between the shirts and hurried out the door. She strode to the hanger and went into it, finding Nelson reading a book. Em opened the door of the helicopter and got inside. She put her things on the floor and buckled her seatbelt. Without a word, Nelson got the motor running and took off into flight.