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I look at Cassiopeia. She shakes her head, allowing me to go ahead first. I look back at Nic, and I nod. ”You may question any of my staff if you wish. Henry has been my longest staff member. He’s practically family. But they will tell you what I am about to do. Everyone I dare to bring on goes through a bit of a trial. Everything is treated as normal; if they are good at their job, they move on; if not, no harm is done, and they return to their everyday life. For the ones who make it further, I will sit down and speak with them on a more personal level and have them sign an NDA—more formalities than anything. People who want to work for me believe me to be a billionaire, so signing an NDA is nothing unusual. The unusual comes after that when I tell them about me. I ease them into it a bit more than what happened to you. Some are fine after a period of adjustment; others can’t fathom it. The more rational they are, the easier it is to alter their mind, either by vampire compulsion or Cassi’s unique ability to change memory. If they aren’t rational, their minds are forcibly altered, and they will not recover from that. I send them to a privately funded psychiatric hospital where they are looked after. I am not ignorant enough to know that it is not okay. Their lives are over, but I do the best I can to give them some semblance of a life. I have spent most of my life without staff, but certain appearances have to be kept up. Being in the position I am not to have staff would raise more questions.”

I look over at Cassiopeia, but she takes a sip of her drink. I frowned at her avoidance but gave her the benefit of the doubt. She is probably waiting for Nic to digest what I’ve said.

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Raising my head, I appraise Caden. ”Oh.” The only word I could let out of my mouth. I really thought he was going to say he kills them. I know I should be more in shock or a state of disgust at this revelation, but I can’t bring myself to be. ”I thought you…” I swallow the lump in my throat. ”I’m going to be honest, I expected something worse.” Tugging on my ear, I try to think of how to react to this. ”I know I should probably be disgusted with you, especially as someone who sees more than their fair share of psychiatric patients come through the hospital, but… I can tell you take good care of your own just from the past couple of days. I think if someone was going to endanger me or my family’s livelihood… I think it’s an impossible choice to make and you’ve found a… humane way to take care of it.”

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”I won’t lie to you, Nic. I have killed people more than my fair share, I am sure. I’ve killed humans, and I’ve killed supernatural creatures. I wasn’t always this composed. This life isn’t easy. Being as old as I am, I’ve seen and done a lot.” I look at Cassiopeia again but don’t look away this time.

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I sigh and flop back in my chair. I hate this. I really, really hate this. ”I’m also nearly 300 years old. Caden and I grew up together. Like he said, it hasn’t been easy.” I stare at the table as I talk. I hate talking about myself. It always brings up things I don’t want to think about.

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”Ah.” It’s all I can say in response to Caden. It makes sense that with age, he’s become more composed. I don’t expect the next revelation and have to forcibly keep my mouth from falling open in shock. ”Oh my god, I’m practically a fetus to both of you.” I put my head in my hands in shame. I can’t imagine how immature I must come off as.

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Nic’s reaction makes me smile. I pick at my skirt before I look up at him. ”I was around when they used leeches for inflammation and fertility problems. Do you think they’ll make a comeback?” I teased, to try and break the tension.

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I smile at Cassi and nod to keep her going. ”What about bloodletting? I thought the vampires in Europe were going to die from overindulgence,” I said with a laugh.

”Oh, they’ll definitely bring that one back to help cure all the new diseases. Right, Nic?”

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I look up from my hands, knowing my whole face is probably flush with embarrassment. ”I’m sorry I ever even thought to give either of you first aid kits.” I groan, but my lips twitch to fight a smile. ”Though, please come see me before you try bloodletting in this century.”

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Caden and I both start laughing, the tension officially broken. I finish up my last bit of rice when Caden stands.

”Why don’t you two go through to the sunroom? I’ll bring in dessert,” Caden offers. I look at Nic and stand.

”We could open that wine now,” I suggest.

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I laugh along with them, glad to be able to relax a little. When the sunroom is suggested, I get a little excited, ready to check out what I was sure would be beautiful. Instead of just going along though, I have a debate with myself in my head. I try to decide if I want to take this chance to be with Cass alone and make up for how badly the conversation in the car went or if I should be a better guest to my host. ”Are you sure you don’t want any help?” I ask of Caden, wanting to be polite.

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I smile and shake my head. ”Oh, no. I won’t be long,” I assure him. I cover up the main food dishes once again, knowing they will be fine for a couple of hours.

Meanwhile, Cassiopeia slips out of the room to secure the bottles of wine to take to the sunroom. She waits for Nic though, not wanting him to get lost in the house.

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”Well if you’re sure. Cass, I’m ready to fall in love with your work over some wine.” I say with a smile, meeting her where she was before letting her lead the way to the sunroom. I already know Cass has a green thumb, so I’m a bit excited to see how her plants will go with the house’s theme that Caden has for it.

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I smile and lead the way to one of Caden's sunrooms. I still remember the day he asked me to do this for him. I wanted to start from scratch, not go to the store and buy fully realized plants. It took time and a lot of love, but I think it has really turned out.

I picked a lot of leafy plants that took up space to make it seem more full. I used vining plants along the bottom and helped them shoot up, so they adorned the walls of the sunroom.

A lemon tree sat in one corner to collect sunlight, but not as much as the Areca palm needed in the other corner. Large potted plants and ferns sat on the floor, scattered about. About halfway up the glass walls was a ledge with smaller potted plants. Some of these were just new plants, growing and waiting their turn to be transplanted. I even had a couple venus flytraps and other carnivorous plants to keep the bugs at pay. It really was quite the little ecosystem I built.

Fairy lights crisscrossed across the ceiling to light the room during the twilight and night hours. Low light lamps sat by the couch and bookshelf to allow enough light to see by.

I walked to the table and set the wine and glasses down. I started opening the bottle of wine while I scanned the room, looking to see where I needed to start for the evening.

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My eyes widen as I look around the room with a smile. ”Did you use plants local to the area?” Many of the plants look like they came straight from the forest that lines the property. I creep closer to one of the larger ones, gently touching its leaves and finding myself happy that it feels healthy. There is so much to look at that I can’t stay still, slowly going from one plant to the next. ”Cass, this is amazing.” I breathe, smiling widely.

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”Some,” I say with a nod. ”The lemon tree I grew from its seeds. It's not easy, mind you, but he’s doing so well now. A few I propagated from plants on the property. The carnivorous plants I had to order in. Others are native from Europe and the UK, but those have more medicinal properties,” I say, glancing at Nic as he wanderers.

I pour out the glasses of wine before setting the bottle down. I don’t sit down, though. I grab the ladder from the corner and set it up so I can check on the plants growing on the shelf.

”Hello, ladies. Getting along, okay? Nic, the bookcase has some drawers. The top one on the left has scissors, can you bring them to me, please?” I ask, after examining the pothos plants. ”Na gabh dragh a nighean bheag. Ceartaichidh mi thu.” I pinch off a couple of clusters that will bud flowers while I wait for Nic. The plant seems to respond to my touch, perking up and turning its leaves towards me. ”Oidhche mhath.

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I nod as she talks, impressed with her gardening skills. Citrus trees are hard to grow even from a sapling, but she did it with just the seeds. Hearing her talk to the plants made me almost grin. I’m not the only one who coos to their plants. Following her instructions, I open the drawers to find some scissors. I walk over to where she is on the ladder, using one hand to steady it and the other to offer the tool to her. ”What language is that, by the way?” I ask. She’s beautifully in her element and I’m able to momentarily forget why I came here tonight.

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I reach down to grab the scissors from Nic. I note how he steadies the ladder for me, and I smile slightly before I stand back up to tend to the plant.

”Gaelic,” I inform him. ”I’m Scottish,” I add for his benefit. I fix up the overgrowth of the plant before allowing her to fall back naturally. I examine a couple of others on this part of the shelf before I climb down and move the ladder to another section.

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I walk into the sunroom and shake my head. ”Don’t be up there all night, Cass. You have to help me answer questions.” She throws me a vulgar gesture, and I smirk, sitting down with a glass of wine.

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I beam up at her when she smiles at me. I stay close just in case, following her as she moves the ladder to begin at a new spot, even though I’m sure she can more than handle herself just fine. ”That explains the tipsy accent.” I say in reply, a little chuckle escaping me. Caden enters the room and I turn to smile at him in greeting and hold my tongue from asking, She’s been helping?

”Watch it, she’ll threaten to leave us again and I don’t know how I’ll cope being alone with you.” I shoot him a wink.

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”Aye, yee wish I ‘ad been. I’d drink yee both under,” I state, my accent thick once more. ”I’ve been around for a while. I can turn it on and off,” I say, sounding ‘American’ again.

I waved the scissors at them both before climbing the ladder. ”I can fix and talk,” I assure them.

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I laugh. ”Don’t worry, Nic. I’ll be gentle,” I say with a wink. ”Come, I’m sure you have more questions.”

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I laugh heartily at both of them before I go join Caden where he sits. I pull my notebook out of my pocket and open it to where we left off. ”I don’t want to make you both answer everything in one night, plus I’ll probably think of more questions tomorrow.” I tell the room honestly. ”I think the biggest request I have is what are some common supernatural things that can happen to humans and if there’s anything I can do to help if I come across someone who’s been in, uh, not good contact with your world.”

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I watch Cassiopeia up on the ladder, perfectly in her element. I sip my wine and mull over Nic’s question. I pick up my bowl of matcha ice cream and sit back in the chair.

”Well, if that happens, I want you to call Cassi or me. After that, well… If someone is possessed or not in their right mind, there isn’t much you can do. If you want to save the person, that only really happens with demon possession, and you can exercise the demon, but we’d have to teach you the Latin phrase to do that. If you come across a person who's been attacked, well, you do what you already know, and you take them to the hospital where they can be cared for. We can show you what a werewolf bite looks like, versus a vampire versus a djinn. Or a windigo’s claw marks, but really, that all comes with practice.” I eat my ice cream slowly, thinking about it all. ”We have history and knowledge books, but those aren’t readily available anymore. I contain pretty well any volume ever written about the supernatural community, but I am always searching for more. Those books, however, are limited to mine or Cassi’s,” I tell him truthfully. I am certain Nic wouldn’t damage anything, but I don’t want his father coming across those books or some random person he invites over for a meal.

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Listening to him, I write down that also djinn and wendigos apparently exist. ”Would you ever let me come over and read them? I wouldn’t want to take them with me. Between my bike and my backpack, I’d end up destroying it.” And I definitely cannot afford to replace them, but my thirst for knowledge is all consuming. ”Only because I don’t think Wiki will be a reliable source for all this.” I try a bite of the ice cream and pleasantly hum at how delicious it is. ”Or maybe I could help update those books from a medical standpoint? If that’s of any use.” I just want to help in any way I can.