Page 17 of Midnight Serenade
Total silence.
“Huh. It makes sense,” her mom said.
“What do you mean it makes sense!” Grace wailed. “I just told you I’m a supernatural creature of myth and legend and you say it makes sense!”
“Now, Gracie girl. You’re still you, hun.”
Thank you, Miss Liora. That was what I’d been telling her. I could see she only started to believe it once her mom said it, and I didn’t at all take offense. Moms had their own brand of supernatural gifts regarding their children. Wise and mystical gifts that I respected.
“Does that mean that the cruise is full of supernaturals?”
“Mom,” Grace growled, rubbing a weary hand over her eyes. Then she sighed. “Yes. In fact, the owner is a vampire, and he’s offered to turn you.”
“Oooh, will I be young and beautiful?” Mama Liora sounded excited at the prospect.
My lips quirked as I scrawled my signature at the bottom of the restock form for the next port. “A few minor things willchange. Her eye color will deepen. Her skin will tighten. She’ll look about twenty years younger, but she won’t ever go back to being in her twenties, if that’s what she’s asking. She will be beautiful, but she will remain the same age.”
“Did you hear that, Mama?”
“Yes, I did! And who is that delicious-sounding man?”
Grace groaned. “He’s the vampire that offered to change you, and he can hear everything you’re saying.”
“Good! No sense in handing out compliments to people if they can’t hear me.”
I wanted to laugh. I really did. But I had the sense that Grace would try to skewer me alive with her laser eyes if I did, so I coughed a bit, my eyes watering like mad as I tried to hold my laughter at bay.
Grace poked me with a capped pen and gave me a dirty look.
“I want to talk to him,” Mama said.
Grace sighed in resignation as she handed me the phone.
“Good evening, Mama Liora,” I said, running computations of the numbers Rafe had given me this morning in my head as I spoke. “What can I do for you?”
“Is my Grace safe on your ship?”
“I assure you she is. My lion is protecting her, and I have a few bodyguards guarding her as well when I or my cruise director cannot be with her.”
Mama Liora sighed. “Thank you. I’ve been concerned. She doesn’t leave the house anymore. I was excited that she was finally doing something fun, but worried about what she’d find.”
I paused. “Mama Liora? If you’d like, I can send a plane to pick you up and bring you to Hilo, Hawaii, our first port. There’s plenty of room in Grace’s suite.”
“I’m all packed and ready,” she assured me.
I pulled a scrap piece of paper toward me. “Can I get your address?” I nodded as I wrote it down. “Could you be ready in an hour? I’ll have a car pick you up and take you to the airport.”
“What can I call you?”
“My name is Sebastian, ma’am.”
“Sebastian, that all sounds wonderful, and I’d sure love to be there with Gracie, but you see, I have my cat, Sir Winsor, and I don’t have anyone to take him for a full month.”
“Bring him. My lion will look after him.”
“He won’t eat him?”
“Mama Liora, I assure you that Kazi is a gentleman. He will not eat Sir Winsor.”
