Page 40 of Crimson Oath
“You can still have those things.” He frowned a little bit. “You’ve seen very little of vampire life so far, and you’re not in a… typical vampire court.”
She huffed out a breath. “So the vampires in your organization live quiet lives, do they? Get married. Settle down. Only pick up the battle-ax Monday through Friday?”
“No.” He smiled. “The men and women of my druzhina live warriors’ lives. Some of them are mated, but they usually do not have families.”
“So what Elene had is not?—”
“But one of my daughters in Minsk adopted two children last year with her human partner.” Oleg sighed and started walking again. “I would prefer that they married in the church, but Polina said it is not necessary, and I am trying to be understanding of her modern ways.”
“What?” Tatyana could only blink. Oleg sounded so… conventional. So paternal. “She has human children?”
Oleg turned and kept his voice low. “I trust you to keep that information to yourself. Please recognize that their lives are precious to all in my clan, but their mortal nature puts them at increased risk from my enemies.”
“I would never” —she shook her head— “I would never tell anyone.”
“Thank you.” He continued walking, cocking out his elbow and waiting for her.
Tentatively, Tatyana put her arm in his. “She’s your daughter?”
“For four hundred years now, yes. A brilliant businesswoman and a very fair-minded governor. She overseas my territory in what is called Belarus now. The borders are different than when I conquered it, because of humans. But it’s in that region.”
“I didn’t know.”
She’d known Oleg’s vampire brother was in charge of the area around Sochi and Crimea where her mother lived. She supposed it made sense that one man couldn’t rule a vast empire without overseers of some kind.
“All I am saying,” Oleg continued, “is that most immortal organizations are much like human governments. Yes, there are martial wings of every court—every king must have an army—but much of the day-to-day business of what I do is mundane. We make money. We invest. We build factories and create jobs.”
Tatyana was swiftly shifting pieces of knowledge in her mind. “I remember seeing some payroll accounts when I worked for Zara, but I thought it was all…”
“A front?” Oleg smiled. “For our nefarious operations?” He chuckled a little bit. “No, it is all real. One of my companies is a leading manufacturer of agricultural equipment in Europe and Central Asia.”
What Oleg was describing sounded much more like a modern multinational corporation than a criminal organization. “People will always need to eat.”
Oleg grunted. “Yes, and wise immortals understand that the health of humanity directly affects our well-being.”
Vampires, of course, also needed to eat.
“Over the centuries, I have made many things,” Oleg said. “I like being productive. My sire enjoyed making war, and I have waged war when it was necessary, but war is wasteful. I avoid it when I can.”
“I wish human governments understood that better.”
“Hmm.” Oleg shrugged. “Whether at war or peace, farming is a good industry. Plows and harvesters feed soldiers and civilians alike.”
“One of Zara’s companies was a greenhouse manufacturer.” Tatyana remembered some of the accounts. “At the time I thought that was normal, but after I knew what she was, it seemed strange.”
“She had greenhouses for many reasons,” Oleg said. “Some of them legitimate.” He pressed her hand into his side. “So you see, even my juvenile and unstable daughter employed many people. Including you when you were human.”
“Until she stopped paying me.”
“Imagine if she hadn’t.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “We would never have met if she’d just paid her bills.”
“Oleg—”
“I can’t regret it,” he said quietly. Oleg stopped at the apex of a bright red pedestrian bridge that looked over the water and stared down at her, her arm still locked with his. “Can you blame me?”
His eyes were soft, and with her enhanced vision, the night took on a luminescent grey quality that looked more like twilight than darkness.
For a moment he looked like just a man. A warm man who smelled of cedar cologne, holding her arm safe in his.
