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Sam gave Kyla a cautious nod.
“You’re not patched,” Tristan noted.
“I am not.” Sam confirmed.
“And? Still?” Tristan was tense, ready to strike.
“I’m good. Completely. More on that during our conversation with Sergey. I only left it off because of some things he’s said. You’re not going to have to worry about her setting me off. Things have changed because of what you two now have. The patch wasn’t giving me empathy. Well, maybe it did initially but I don’t need it to keep that. I feel the same, bro.”
“Hm,” was Tristan’s non-committal response, “You moved that trunk??”
“I did.”
“Where?”
“Boat house.”
The large trunk they’d brought with them contained a daggered Adrian Constantin.
The headed up the stairs.
“So, Sergey?” Tristan inquired.
Sam nodded, “Solid.”
“Yeah?” Tristan’s eyebrows furrowed. He almost seemed disappointed.
“Definitely,” Sam said firmly, still nodding. Sam’s eyebrows rose, “I really think you should consider this coalition, bro. I’m not kidding. It’s been enlightening. He hasn’t said much about what’s happened with you two, after you turned her, but what little he has said to me sounds all good. Your call man but I suggest we do this dinner, talk, and you and I meet later or maybe tomorrow after you’ve had a chance to think on it. I see this for us and I’d be happy to be part of it, you leading the way.”
“Let’s see how this first meeting goes,” Tristan said, “then we’ll talk.”
“Alright. Don’t judge anything based on the food, though, man. Sasha’s cooking so the meal part of the evening could be a disaster.”
Kyla smiled and followed them into Sasha’s entrance on the middle level of the house. Sasha was in the kitchen. It was a disaster zone and she looked completely frazzled. There was a burnt scent in the air as well as something spicy and yet cinnamony and that combination did not smell at all appetizing.
“Oh hi. I, uh… sit down. Beverage?”
“I can get one. How can I help?” Kyla asked.
Sasha definitely needed help. She appeared to be making a stir fry.
She had noodles in a bubbling pot, a frying pan of assorted vegetables cooking, and another pan with chicken in a brown sauce but that was what smelled both burnt and strange. Cinnamon mixed with teriyaki and a whole lot of garlic permeated the air. Kyla loved all those smells individually but together? She usually loved the scent of cooking garlic. She knew Tristan did, too, but this wasn’t a good garlic smell. At all. It smelled like burnt garlic.
A vampire who overdid it on the garlic. Ha!“Nope, I’m uh… I’m good,” Sasha said.
She really wasn’t.
Kyla opened the fridge and grabbed an opened bottle of wine from the top shelf and topped up Sasha’s wine glass, which had been sitting, half empty, on the counter smack dab in the midst of a mess of carrot peelings, pepper ends and seeds, onion skin, and broccoli and cauliflower stalk clippings.
“Thanks!” Sasha said brightly, adding a whole lot of salt to the pan with the chicken.
Kyla looked to Tristan and Sam who were sitting at the table but Tristan was sitting sideways at the chair closest to Kyla, in arm’s reach. Kyla poured herself some wine.
“Beer?” Sam asked.
“Water,” Tristan replied.
Kyla passed Tristan a bottle of water and went to pass Sam the beer bottle but Tristan intercepted it and he passed it to Sam himself.
Kyla started picking up peelings and put them in a small bucket that was on the other end of the counter, that had some apple and orange peels in it, looking like it was dedicated to food waste for composting. Sasha started frantically scraping at the chicken, which appeared to be sticking to the bottom of the frying pan, intensifying the burnt teriyaki and cinnamon smell.
Sam wrinkled his nose and shook his head at her, silently communicating his feelings about his sister’s cooking.
Sasha caught the expression and pointed her finger at him.
“Want me to set the table?” Kyla asked.
“Sure. I, uh, have my hands kinda full. Placemats and dishes are all right where you are. Drawers, cupboards.”
“Where is he?” Tristan asked.
“Shower. He’ll be down any minute. He’s staying in the room you two used when you were here.”
“How many vamps with him?”
“Nope,” Sam answered pointedly.
“No? Pets?”
“None,” Sam said.
“None?” Tristan asked, but then Tristan bolted to his feet and blocked Kyla against the counter by the sink by standing directly in front of her, against her, his hand wrapped around the back of her, pinning her front to his back. She felt his skin’s temperature drop. She jolted and tried to prepare for the worst.
Please, not more worse…They’d had enough worse to last a lifetime!
“I’ve got you,” he said over his shoulder and he’d turned his head in that direction so she saw his eyes briefly. His pupils were black and he’d dropped his fangs.
“No, Tristan, I don’t travel with pets.” A guy appeared in the kitchen, having come down the stairs. Kyla peeked around Tristan’s bicep and took him in.
