Jonas (Darkness #7)(43)

Speaking of human magic-workers, we had a great many. We were looking for humans around the age of puberty, now. Grab ‘em when they were young and so we could start training when their magic manifested—we called it an after-school club. And it was really working. A new mansion one town over was being built. The rights to the larger territory were being squabbled over. And by squabbled, I mean fought over. Whenever Stefan and I showed up, though, the opposing clan took off. They didn’t have a mage or solid leadership. We had a black who had fought in some hairy battles and a leader who the Council was trying to groom to one day take over Cato’s role.

It wasn’t rocket science as to who was going to win the skirmishes.

Stefan and I were happy at the moment, though. We had a “moderately” sized house in the upscale part of town with five bedrooms, a playroom, and a score of other rooms. Anything compared to the Mansion was called moderate, I found out. If it was just our immediate family staying there, we wouldn’t need a quarter of the space. But, of course, we had a great many more people who made our home theirs on a regular basis, so I was glad in the end we got a large place.

“Mommy! She punched me!”

“Sabrina, don’t hit your brother!”

A knock on the door prevented me from moving. The drum forgotten, my exuberant kids went sprinting for the door.

“Ask who it is!” I shouted after them.

I never used to yell and shout this much. I really didn’t. What was it about kids that made a person want to yell all day?

“Who is it?” Sabrina asked in a sweet voice. That was the voice she used right before she stabbed you. Which was why Jonas stopped giving her anything sharp: she’d gotten Stefan’s violent side.

“Who goes there!” Savion demanded. He wanted to wear capes all day. Because I only thought of Trek every time I thought of a cape, I tried to dissuade him.

“The boogeyman,” came Charles’ muffled voice.

“Oh good, I wanted to see him.” Stefan sauntered into the room wearing a fitted black shirt that showed off his flawless torso, and slacks that hugged his defined thighs and scrumptious butt.

“No kids in our bed tonight,” I said in a throaty voice.

His gaze swiveled to me as Jonas and Emmy sauntered into the room after him. Jonas was holding his first-born, a two-month-old baby girl that looked just like her mommy. She’d be a beauty someday. The verdict was out on what kind of magic the baby would have until puberty, as was the case with my kids, but everyone wondered. There hadn’t been so much mixed breeding in history as there had been in our clan—at least, Toa couldn’t find any record of it in the scriptures. But with all the humans wandering around, and with the Mansion’s sexual culture… yeah, we had a ton of kids. A TON of them. Stefan’s people were insane with happiness. We had visitors from all over the country asking us how to snare humans. Also making the humans offers to move. It was ridiculous.

“Don’t you guys have your own house?” I asked Jonas.

“Yeah. In the suburbs. But you don’t need half this space.” He settled next to me on the couch. Emmy took the chair to my right and leaned back.

“We do when you stay here more often than not.” I rubbed my head. “I’m tired.”

Emmy nodded and glanced at Stefan. She refrained from commenting. She’d mostly shed her shyness around Stefan, but she didn’t often cut loose either. It was a slow process. In time she’d come around, but as it stood, she just let loose with the humans and Charles mostly.

Charles sprinted in growling like a bear. Sabrina squealed and laughed in his arms. Savion came barreling after him. As soon as Charles was in the room, he stopped in the middle and jostled Sabrina. “I’ve got your sister. I’ve got your sister!”

Savion took a running leap and kicked Charles in the shin.

“Ow! You little rat.” He put Sabrina gently on the ground as he sank to his knees and pulled Savion into a bear hug. Another knock sounded at the door before I heard it open.

“Must be Ann,” Jonas muttered.

“Thank you, security.” I grinned as Ann sauntered in with jet black hair. She’d given up the blue a while ago for pink. Then it went to purple before she settled on black. I suspected black was to cover up some mistake, but she assured me it was a conscious choice.

“Don’t get my brother!” Sabrina ran in with a dagger.

“Grab her, grab her! Who left a dagger laying around?” I jumped up from the couch as Stefan swung his long arms toward her and scooped her up.

“No, baby. No swords until you get your magic.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead and set her back down sans dagger.

He didn’t yell nearly as much as I did. I had no idea how he kept his cool.

Undeterred, and with her brother still getting attacked by Charles, she ran at them with a determined expression and balled-up fists. She punched Charles in the arm and then wound up and kicked him right between the legs.

“Ow! No—not the balls!” Charles let go of Savion and crumpled to the ground. “White flag, white flag,” he wheezed.

Savion, released, smiled at his sister before turning a gloating expression on Charles.

“Time out, you two. That is not nice!” I used my firm voice. They usually listened with the firm voice. And Jonas’ stare.