Stronger Together chapter 204 (Patreon)

Our introduction to Samuel and Bernard was much less dramatic than  expected. Samuel was a short, slim Turkish man with long hair drawn into  a ponytail and a close trimmed beard. He had a friendly smile on pretty  much all the time and sort of reminded me of Dalton. Mina and he were  apparently close friends, as close as blood siblings actually, which  somewhat explained her fascination with my smuggler. As opposed to  bowing or scraping Samuel just stuck out a hand and offered me a welcome  shake when he met me.

His grin was infectious, and as he  grabbed and pumped my hand he chuckled and said "Nice to meet you boss.  I'm Samuel, but you can just call me Sam. Mimi says you're a pretty nice  guy, so I doubt we'll have any problems and I look forward to working  with you." Out of the corner of my eye I caught Mina's embarrassed glare  at the nickname, and I made a mental note to use it in front of Dalton  when we got back to the states. Teasing your family members was a must.  It was a moral imperative.

Bernard was a much taller man,  about six two, though equally slim, with mahogany skin and a warm, quiet  demeanor. He was just as relaxed as his friend and offered me the same  shake. "It's an honor sir. I'm Bernard. If at all possible I would  prefer you not refer to me as Bernie, though that is of course up to  you." Oddly, unlike Mina's glare, Bernard's straightforward request that  I avoid using a nickname he disliked made me want to actually not do  so. It was unusual for me but he seemed like a good guy so I nodded.

Rather  than bail like the other two Bernard and Samuel sat down in some of the  available chairs. Samuel scowled for the first time since I'd seen him.  "I hate these chairs. Drak kept them purposefully uncomfortable because  it put visitors off balance. He was always like that. Every action was a  mind game, every word was a test hidden inside a trap.." Bernard gave  him a chiding look but he waved his friend off. "Don't look at me like  that. I paid him plenty of respect when he was around but the man was  exhausting."

He turned to give as an apologetic smile.  "You have to understand, though Drak did take us each out of fairly  uncomfortable circumstances he wasn't a benevolent master. He used  Louise, Mina, and Olivia like toys, and though it mostly didn't bother  them that was only because he enforced the idea that he was a superior  creature above reproach. He convinced most of us that we were tools to  be used or discarded at his pleasure. I was the only one who ever saw  him for what he was."

Bernard sighed, cutting off his  friends obviously building rant. "We know, brother. We know you warned  us. But we were never any of us fond of him." He cut his gaze to me  sharply. "Don't misunderstand my lord. We respected him greatly, but  Lord Drakul wasn't the sort of being one could care about. Not really.  Olivia was the only one that got attached." He grimaced "She was the  youngest when Lord Drakul took her. He influenced her more than the  others. She worshiped him, if I'm being honest. I don't know how she's  going to react to his death."

Mina cut in. "I do. She'll  try to kill you, Cameron, and when you prevent her from doing so she'll  take it as proof of your fitness to rule and pledge herself to you.  You'll replace him in her world. Olivia is a powerful and skilled  fighter, but Lord Drakul's attentions on such a young girl broke  something in her. She doesn't know how to make her own decisions. She  needs a master, and if you killed the last one you're the man for the  job. She won't hover or anything, Lord Drakul would never have allowed  it, but she will dedicate herself to any task you set with a feverish  intensity."

That was less than ideal. Knowing she wouldn't  be hovering was of course, nice. But having a psychotic yandere former  child soldier dedicated to fulfilling my every whim did not sound  pleasant. "Ok, well where is she? Hell where are the others. You've  mentioned six of you so far, you told me there were thirteen. Are you  guys just going to drop into my life one at a time with no warning like  the ghosts of Christmas past? Because that seems like a bad situation  for me, especially when I don't know how you'll all react."

Mina  sighed. "There are thirteen of us. Aside from those you've met and  Olivia, there's Mason, Karim, Sergei, Liu, Andretta, Claude, and  Quincy." She caught my surprised look and nodded. "Yes, that Quincy.  Lord Drakul turned us as an abject lesson to his son. Lord Vlad  was...displeased. You probably won't see at least four of them. Karim,  Sergei, Liu, and Claude will most likely vanish. They won't obey unless  you hunt them down and force them to submit. They're stubborn and  prideful and the chance to be their own master will be too tempting to  ignore, even if they respected the master."

I nodded, that  wasn't so bad. "Mason is...damaged. Lord Drakul turned him much too  young. Being stuck as a child has made him unpredictable and  occasionally violent. He lives in a secluded manor estate tended by  powerful supernatural nurses and it would be unwise to disturb him. I  doubt he'll even notice Lord Drakul's death anytime this century.  Andretta is a magic user, the daughter of some powerful wizard who  offended Lord Drakul long before I came here. He leaves her alone for  the most part and vice versa, so I have no clue what she's going to do."

She  winced at the last name. "Quincy...Quincy will be angry. You have to  understand that Quincy hated Lord Vlad passionately. He was also  extremely attracted to me when we were human. I was married so I turned  him down, but when Lord Drakul turned us he favored Quincy's combat  skills. He..." Her face clouded. Not in pain exactly but discomfort. "He  gave me to Quincy. Until Quincy tired of me. But despite that lack of  affection it gave Lord Drakul a special place in Quincy's heart. He  became fiercely loyal, and he will be deeply upset by our masters loss."

She  seemed to be hesitating because I looked angry. Like seriously,  incredibly, mind numbingly angry. Which I was. I closed my eyes and took  a deep breath. "I'm sorry. Don't misunderstand my anger, it isn't  directed at you. If Quincy comes here and tries to hurt me or anyone  else here I will kill him." I locked eyes with my majordomo. "Anyone  means you too. If he tries to touch you in any way you don't like you  tell me and I'll take care of that. That shit doesn't fly for my  people."

I wouldn't allow anyone under my banner to treat  others or be treated like a tool or a victim. I would try to help Olivia  as best I could through her trauma, maybe get her a shrink, and I would  kill Quincy Morris before he laid a hand on Mina again. I wanted to  help Mason too, but I'd need to talk to Odin and maybe do some research  into the how of that. Immortal child that drank blood was a level of  fucked up I was in no way qualified to deal with. I needed advice from  someone who had been around a while.

I sighed, looking at  my three new...servants? Family members? Employees? "This seems like a  complicated issue with lots of moving parts, so since it seems like  meeting the others will be far off. So is there anything more short term  I might need to know? Anything that's going to bite me in the ass  anytime soon I mean? Because I don't want to ignore this and then have  it bite me in the ass later, but if there's nothing I can do for the  moment worrying about it would be a waste of time." I'd learned a long  time ago that needless worrying was a bad idea, and I would prefer to  avoid falling into old habits.

Mina  chuckled a bit but shook her head. "Not immediately no. Though I suspect  Olivia will arrive within a few days. She was always proactive. She'll  challenge you openly however so you need not worry about that. In the  meantime Samuel and Bernard can keep an eye out for Quincy. They were  called back to play security guard in any case so it's hardly a  departure for them." She glared at Samuel, clearly still annoyed about  the nickname thing. "Samuel can take the night shift, we all know how he  loves the nightlife. No need for Bernard to suffer."

The  Turkish Darkling winced. "You get mean when you're around new people.  But fine, if it'll stop you from trying to figure out how to use looks  to kill I'm willing to stay up a bit late." He turned his head staring  dramatically off into the middle distance. "Sometimes we have to spend  our time out in the cold to see who our true friends are. It's ok. I can  take it. You don't need to feel sad for me." We all rolled our eyes at  the dramatic man and I had to smile, Samuel was a character but he was a  fun guy.

After  we got all the intros out of the way Louise came back with Benjamin to  escort us to our rooms. We waved goodbye to the others and followed the  two servants up the long flight of stone steps. They led us up to a long  expansive of hallway with doors lining the wall ever fifteen or twenty  feet. The walls were also lined with old paintings, and I recognized  some of them as being from famous artists. I swear I saw a Monet on the  wall. It might have been water lilies but it was hard to say.

Finally  we reached my room and I headed inside. The girls had their own rooms.  As I entered mine I stopped and gaped. This place was amazing. The bed  was absolutely massive, big enough for four people easily, with thick  soft looking red comforters and huge plus pillows. At the foot of the  bed was a steamer trunk left open for me to leave my things in, and off  to one side was a dresser with a huge mirror that reflected the whole  room. It showed the bed perfectly. I dropped my stuff in the trunk then  headed to the bathroom.

I  expected it to be one of those old timey castle bathrooms with a  chamber pot or something, but to my surprise it was covered with a nice  layer of heated tiles. The tub was on a raised stage with carpet around  it and surrounded by mirrors and the toilet was catty corner to the tub  platform, directly across from the tiled shower with grated door and a  knob next to it to control the steam room portion of the shower. I made a  mental note to take a shower later and enjoy this bathroom and then  headed back out into the room proper.

Or  improper as the case may be. My heartbeat quickened as I saw the naked  purple haired goth sitting with her legs crossed on my bed. Her eyes  were hot as she stared at me, and despite having so much time with the  girls on the plane I was reminded of how good sex with Raven could be.  She smiled as she felt my arousal. "I told Barb and Cindcr to enjoy the  night together. I wanted you to myself. Now." She uncrossed her legs,  spreading them invitingly. "Why don't we break in your new bed?"