Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Three weeks had passed. Everyone at the Cressida House was taken with our newly found family, and we went all in to help them acclimate. Slowly but surely, the boys were learning speech and how to live in a world that loved them and wanted them. Michael had attached himself to me and rarely left my side. He was my new little shadow. Ethan had been a bit shocked that I wanted to adopt all fifty but went with it. He was teaching the boys to play football just like he had with Samuel.

Samuel had laughed when I’d explained that he had fifty new brothers and made plans to come back and live at the Cressida House with us for a while. He’d been off having his own adventures, and I missed him desperately. Having him home was my wish come true. I was living my best freaking life.

Life in the Cressida House had a new normal.

Walking through the Grand Ballroom while Martha and Jane were teaching school to the boys was alarmingly beautiful. Tracy had decided to stay on for a bit and was monitoring the lessons.

“Listen up, boys,” Martha yelled. “What do you do when someone gets in your face?”

“Killllll dem,” Henry answered, getting a thumbs up from the rest of the boys.

“FUCK NO,” Martha bellowed. “A right hook is a good start.”

“Followed by a kick to the balls,” Jane added. “We only off motherfuckers when it’s self-defense. There ain’t no pleasure in killin’. You got that?”

A chorus of garbled yeses was the answer from the students.

I was seriously worried about the profanity the old biddies were using, but Tracy was teaching speech classes where Martha and Jane were not involved. Only time would tell if I had fifty sons with filthy mouths. Even Paris Hilton had come up from the Australian Dominion to help with the boys. It made my non-beating heart happy to have so many people I loved under one roof.

“Astrid,” Poosh said as she entered the Grand Ballroom with Augustus and Felix in tow. She held a big box in her arms and was all business.

She’d been living in a guest suite and courting Augustus. Every latrine in the compound had been defiled by their love. I didn’t care. It didn’t look like they were leaving any time soon. And since Vamps didn’t go to the bathroom, the latrines weren’t used for anything else.

I had no problem with them staying. The trio had come through in a big way and saved the human women. Augustus and Felix had wiped the horrid memories, and Poosh had comforted them. They then brought the women to a shelter where they’d been reunited with their families. We couldn’t give them back the lost time, but we had saved their lives. It was a happy ending for some deserving people.

“What can I do for you, Poosh?”

She plopped the box down at my feet. It was filled with potato chips.

“I was thinking,” she began.

“That’s kind of dangerous,” I pointed.

“Right?” she agreed with a shrill giggle. “Anyhoo, I’ve been inspired by you adopting the boys and since Augustus has undead swimmers and can’t knock me up, we’re going to adopt too!”

“Mmkay,” I said, staring down at the contents of the box. “And you need chips to do that?”

Her grin was sly. I had no clue where the conversation was going, but from her expression, it was going to be terrifying.

“Yes! My daughter loves chips!” she squealed.

I almost choked on my tongue. “You’re adopting Cooch?”

“We are,” Augustus bellowed with pride. “The old voodoo hag isn’t happy living in a cemetery and we have the room and the love to spare. I’m going to be a daddy!”

“And where are you going to live?” I asked.

“Here!” Felix announced. “And I shall be a wonderful uncle to the see-through nightmare!”

“It’s so exciting,” Poosh cooed. “I’m having a baby without stretching out my va-jay-jay! Win-win.”

They took my open-mouthed speechlessness as approval and poofed away with the chips.

My knees buckled, and I sunk to the floor. This shit had gotten out of hand.

“Is the weather nice down there?” Ethan inquired as he squatted down next to me.

“Cloudy with thunderstorms on the horizon,” I muttered.

He raised a brow and pulled me to my feet. “I’ve always heard there are rainbows after storms.”

“From your mouth…,” I said with a weak laugh.

Ethan had dealt with the rest of his people in the last three weeks. Thankfully, Charlton, Josephine, Petro and Stephano were the only ones involved in the despicable plan for world domination. They were dead, and so was the problem. Ethan was cracking down hard on his representatives. Life, as we went forward, would involve many more summits. That gave me gas. Granted, I had no bodily functions, but if I did, the entire Cressida House would smell like a giant toilet. However, I agreed with his thought process. Vamps were tricky, older than dirt, and often thought they were infallible. It was our job to keep them in line.

God, I was tired.

Ethan gently cupped my chin and raised my gaze to his. “I love you, Astrid.”

“Love you more,” I replied.

“Impossible,” he shot back with a chuckle. “I have an idea.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Does it involve sitting in a room with stuffy Vamps who don’t like me?”

“No. It involves you and me naked in a villa I own in France.”

“I’m listening,” I said, waggling my brows.

“A week. No phones. No interruptions. No deadly issues to solve.”

“Would it happen to include orgasms?” I inquired, tracing his full lips with my finger.

“Soooo many orgasms,” he promised with a grin that set my panties on fire—metaphorically speaking, of course.

“And when would this idea be put into motion?”

He kissed the tip of my nose. “How about now?”

“But I have to pack,” I told him as my mind raced with all the things I needed to do.

“Nope. I do believe it’s already been established that this is a clothes-free vacation,” he reminded me.

“Say that again,” I begged.

“Clothes free?”

“Nope, vacation. Say that again.”

“Vacation. Vacation. Vacation,” he replied with a chuckle.

More lovely words had never been spoken.

“Wait,” I said, concerned. “What about Samuel? He’s coming home.”

“He already knows, and we have his full approval to get away for a week. He’ll hold down the fort here.”

“Awesome!” I shouted. “Let’s bust a move!”

In less time than it took to blink, Ethan and I poofed to a villa nestled in a private, picturesque vineyard in the south of France. I didn’t think my life could get any better.

But let me tell you something… It sure as Hell did.

The End… for now.