Page 11 of Brewster

“What is wrong with you? Did someone stub your toe or something? You’re crankier now than I remember.” He said he was having a bad day. “Don’t take it out on me, you bastard. I called because I’m going to end my life, and you promised to do that for me by removing my head.”

That shut him up. Not only did he not seem to have anything to say, but he couldn’t hear him breathing either. A good sign that he was shocked to his heart. After waiting a few more minutes, Sirous continued.

“I’m to see the others before I go. Brew has told me that he’s bringing them all to him to meet his mate, and it will be then that I have my final wishes taken care of. I’ve had enough of this world and the people in it, and I want to meet and see my parents again in the other world.” Yosef asked him if he was serious. “As serious as my name proclaims. I’ve called to see if you’re still the one that will end it all for me. If not, tell me now, as I wish to have my ending lined up so that I don’t have to go looking for someone to do it for me.”

“I’ll do it. If you still wish it. ‘Twill be hard on me, as you might know. You’re about the only one that I’ve ever talked to in the last few hundred years. Are you—no, don’t answer that. I know you’re ready. You’ve more than likely been planning this for a good long time, too. I’m betting that you have your will made out and all your things given away before the vampire committee gets their hands on things.” He told him that things were lined up for him. “You’re leaving it all to me? That will set some asses on fire, don’t you think?”

“I know that you, of all people, will do as I have asked and make sure that the money goes where I want it to. I had been going to ask Brew, but with his new mate, I figured that he’d be too busy right now.” Yosef huffed. He was better at that noise than anyone that he’d ever met. The man made it his life’s work to be the best at it, too. “There are only a few things that I’ve left undone, and I figure that you would know how to take care of them when the time comes.”

“And what if you’re like Brew and meet your other half while you’re with him.” He told him that his plans were set and that he wanted his life to end no matter what. “Well, I’m not going to hold you to that. If you meet her, and I’m not saying that you will, then I’ll leave you be. You deserve happiness or whatever comes from having a mate more than most. You’ve had a rough life, my friend, and I don’t want to begrudge you something special.”

“Special? It sounds like a great deal of work. He’s in New York with her now instead of Ohio, where he belongs. She’s dragging him all over the place and spending his money. We both know he has a great deal of it. And he’ll spend it all in the first decade. Then where will he be?”

“Now you sound like me.” They both laughed. “Nay, I want you to know now that I’ll not do it if you find your mate. If she spends all your money, then that’s the way that it should be. Youbroke with a woman that has it all. I’ll do it only if you have no mate, and that’s where I stand on things. You can’t change my mind, so don’t even try.”

The rest of their conversation was about the trip he was on. Yosef had been a kiss leader in his time, something that he didn’t think the rest of them had done. He’d complained about it from the moment the first vampire had moved in and still complained about it today. He thought that his good friend would continue to complain about it well into the next few centuries as well. It was what made him love the old man, his way of turning anything good into a complaint.

~*~

Calla had been warned about the release of her uncle. She wasn’t as afraid as she’d been about it, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think that he was going to die on the steps of the police station, either. The things that they’d found out about him were vast, and she didn’t understand how he’d been free all this time in the first place. He’d murdered several people who hadn’t complied with his demands of helping kill her off.

“I should have told him that I can’t die but to remove my head.” She’d been talking to herself for the last hour while weeding the herb garden. It was nice to be out in the sunshine and doing something productive. Hattie was making her comfort food for dinner tonight, and she was looking forward to it. “That’s what he’d do too. Remove my head before I have a chance to see him bleed out.” The wolves told her that he’d not get close to her. But she knew better than to think that was going to be that easy. He’d get by them in some way, and that would be all she wrote.

“Have you found all the little tabs to sign?” She’d forgotten about that, to sign off on the last of the paperwork for Brew. After telling him that she was going to do it right now, she looked at how much she’d gotten done and how much more she had togo. “Go ahead and finish it. I know you want to.”

She laughed and told him to join her. But he couldn’t. He had a meeting with his attorney that he couldn’t miss again. He’d been doing that a great deal since she’d come into his life. Missing meetings and phone calls to spend time with her. She’d told him just yesterday that he was going to miss something that she needed to do for herself if he kept that up and decided that he’d stick to his schedule. Calla pointed out to him that they had the rest of their lives together and that missing a few hours here or there wouldn’t matter that much in the long run. He begrudgingly agreed with her.

The garden was looking good when she finally went into the house. Hattie and Landon were off tonight, and she was going to have a cold-cut sandwich. Understanding why the others had stopped eating, she was bored with having to have a meal all by herself. She was going to have to get her some friends so that they could join her once in a while for a meal as well. However, she did enjoy giving Brew his meal. Christ, it was like every day he’d find new ways to make love to her that would bring her over the mountain of relief more and more.

“I have two things that I have to get taken care of.” She was surprised to find Hattie in the kitchen when she went into the house. “Did you know that I can order food for the house and not have to go to the store? I’m thinking that I’m going to love that. And as you have your friends over, we’ll be cooking more. Oh, I baked you some of those cookies that you love. Also, the second thing. There is a farmers market on Saturday mornings in Zanesville. I’m going to be heading up there for some of the herbs that I’ve seen there before. We’ll trade them out of the garden once I get them. And the market, now you’re going to love this. They have coffee and tea there that you can serve to your new friends.”

“I don’t have any friends.” She told her that she didn’t haveany friends yet. “Yes, well, I don’t have any yet. You really think that I’ll have some soon?”

“You’re a wonderful addition to this town. Well, you’ve been here before but now people are going to want to get closer to you because you’re queen of the vampires. You do know that his lordship is the king, don’t you?”

“He never mentioned it.” She said it would be like him not to tell her. “I thought that he didn’t care for a kiss.”

“Oh, he doesn’t. But that’s not the same thing. He’s the king of all the others, and a kiss is where a bunch of them will live together in a single dwelling. It doesn’t work out too well, them all being so old and sometimes mean, but Brew he doesn’t live with anyone but you. And when his friends come to visit, he did tell you about them, didn’t he?” She told her that he had. “Good. When they come around, it won’t be a kiss but a friendly get-together with them. And they’re about as nice as they could be, according to Landon. He’s looking forward to it as well.”

“Well, good.” She didn’t know what to think about having visitors, but she wanted Brew to have whatever he wanted. As they talked about the other things that the market had, she was excited to go there and pick up some flowers for the house as well. Calla loved having flowers all over the house, inside and out. “What time do they open?”

After working out the logistics about the marketplace, the two of them decided that they’d go together. It would be a nice way to get up in the sunshine, and they served fresh donuts as well. It was only Thursday, so she was excited about the weekend.

For the rest of the evening, she and Brew sat on the couch and read their books. A new one had come out with his favorite author, so he was engrossed in that. She was reading a book about herbs that she’d found and was happily taking notes when their front doorbell rang. Landon—instead of being off, he was working in the kitchen with Hattie on the new menu programthat they’d found. She didn’t care. She loved the food that they were making for her.

“I’d like to see my niece.” She was behind the door when she heard the voice on the other side of the door. “I’ve been told that she’s supposed to be married to the man that lives here, and I want to talk to her.”

“She’s not willing to talk to you, sir. Now, if there is nothing else, I shall close the door in your face. It’s much nicer than I really want to do.”

The door closed, and Landon looked at her with a broad smile. When he made his way toward the kitchen, she laughed. Brew joined her in the hallway just as Hattie was telling him to knock the man into next month. She had a feeling that was going to happen when the doorbell sounded again.

“You have no right to slam the—who the hell do you think you are?” Landon told him that he was the butler of the house. “If she can afford a butler, she can well surely afford to pay me some walking around money. Tell her to get her ugly ass in here—”

“I believe myself to think that all asses are ugly. I’ve not had the opportunity to see the mistress of the house, not that I would even if given the chance, but I would say that all people have the same form and shape to them. Why would you wish to speak to her ass anyway? There isn’t going to be any conversation with it.” Daniel asked him what he was talking about. “You asked to speak to her ass. Also, I’m not sure how you expect anything but her ass to come to the door as it is attached to her. You might say that it’s a part of her, but I’m not sure one hundred percent about that.”

“Just get her in here.” Brew was standing next to her and laughing as well. She’d not known that Landon had such a warped sense of humor, but she loved it. When clearing his throat, Brew went to the door himself. “You there. I don’t want to talk to you. You’ve made threats against me, and I’m going to callthe police on you. They already know that if anything happens to me, it’s because you did it.”

“I’m sure that they do. You were warned about coming here.” Daniel said that he didn’t take warnings. “Too bad for you. You might well want to have a look behind you, Mr. Marshall. It seems that you were warned by the wolf pack as well to save me the trouble of killing you. I believe that they’ll make it harder on you than I will. I would just slice open your throat and be done with you, but they’ll I do believe that they’ll play with you for a while before actually killing you. Good for them.”

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