Three days later, Brooke hosted the negotiations in a large business conference room in Birmingham. The sign on the door said it was a real estate company, and I assumed it was one of Brooke’s many businesses. The first part of the meeting, eighty or maybe ninety percent of it, Brooke talked and acted like a child when she spoke up to act as mediator — her face the picture of innocence, her voice light and sweet, and somehow, her eyes didn’t give away the centuries she’d lived.
My father seemed to know better at first, and yet, after a while he didn’t appear to take her as seriously as I knew he’d have done if she were a large male vampire.
The tiny Master Vampire was in this big, comfortable looking throne she’d had placed at the head of the conference room table. The rest of us were in regular chairs, and she was curled up in a throne made of rich, polished wood and accented with golden hardware, so she appeared even smaller than she is.
She sat with her body wedged into a corner and her legs beside her, propped up and all comfy. Sweet and innocent — the child who only spoke to ask questions every once in a while. The dress she wore kind of looked like a nightie, once she was all curled up. She’d been in dress shoes, but she took them off, so we saw bare feet.
The negotiations for how many people we could bring had taken two days. The Amakhosi and Brooke were the mediators, and my father and I were each allowed five people.
Frost, Bobcat, and our lawyer, Tess, were at the table with me. Squatch and Dementor were my muscle, standing behind us. My people knew what I was willing to accept and what was off the table.
Brooke had told me her goal was to help us find an agreement both sides could live with. She’d promised His Majesty she wouldn’t use vampire powers to change anyone’s mind, but she refused to promise she’d stay out of everyone’s head.
“If I know what both sides will and won’t accept, I can more easily craft a solution,” she’d told him.
And he’d countered with, “We all know you aren’t impartial. Any solution you craft will weigh more heavily in Val’s favor than Vincenzo’s.”
She’d merely shrugged. “I fail to see a problem with that. The past nineteen years have weighed completely in Vincenzo’s favor.”
“We’re supposed to be impartial.”
“You’re supposed to be impartial. I’m just a kid ya’ll are letting sit at the table.”
“We all know that isn’t the case, Brooke.”
“I’ve promised not to influence either side in any way. Vincenzo’s decisions will be his own. Nothing will compel him to agree or disagree with any solution I propose. That’s the best you’re going to get from me.”
“Any solution that you or anyone else proposes,” he countered.
“Of course.”
He’d nodded, and that was that.
But now we were here, and I was a nervous wreck. My father was seated with men I didn’t recognize, but who seemed to be attorneys. My brothers stood at his back. It was us against them, and it made my heart hurt.
Bobcat put his hand on my arm. “Breathe, Kitty.”
I heard Brooke in my head. It’s going to be okay. Your father only has a few things he’d like to change. He’s mostly happy with your proposal. You’re sitting between a bobcat and a mongoose, you have a wolf and a grizzly bear at your back, and I’m right here. You’re safe, and you are going to walk out of here with your freedom.
My father’s legal representative and Tess negotiated while we all stared at each other from across the table. We were in a windowless room, with a door at either end. Brooke’s people guarded both doors, and our muscle stood behind us.
I wrote a note and sat back. Tess looked down to see what I’d written. You haven’t mentioned the sperm donor yet.
Bobcat had a notebook too, and he wrote, Give her time.
I wanted the boy in Texas to be given the opportunity to negotiate his own relationship with his children if he was interested in doing so. If he wasn’t interested in being in their lives while they grew up, then I wanted the kids to have access to him once they were of age. Brooke was aware of this, and shortly into the meeting she told me, The sperm donor is too young to know what