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I heard myself sigh with relief. “I knew it, Sol. I never doubted your strength and ability to resist for a minute.”
He leaned forward on the couch with his palms on his knees. “I knew you didn’t and I appreciate your faith in me. You had faith in me when I wasn’t sure I had any in myself.”
“You are the victor over the temptation and it’s behind you, so let’s talk about the Jenn and Avery situation. This is a new one for us, so how do we handle this?”
Sol motioned for me to come sit with him on the couch. “I have spoken with Jenn and she doesn’t trust herself with Avery. She refuses to see her sister without me by her side. She trusts herself with me for some reason.”
I sat on the opposite end of the couch and asked, “You have that effect on people whether you know it or not, but how do you feel about that? Are you ready to see Avery?”
He nodded confidently. “I’m over it. I can handle seeing her. In fact, I’m ready to show her how she doesn’t have control over me.”
I reached over and bumped his arm with my fist. “Now, that’s what I’m talking about. You ready for me to bring Avery into the living room?”
“Yeah. Jenn and I will be up in minute after I reiterate protocol to her.”
I stood from the couch. “Okay. We’ll meet you there.”
I climbed the stairs two at a time, ecstatic about Sol’s quick recovery from the effects of Avery’s blood, and found all of the girls already in the living room. “I just spoke with Sol. He is bringing Jenn up to see Avery.”
I heard the sudden acceleration of Avery’s heart. “Avery, it’s alright. No one will let Jenn hurt you.”
She laughed sarcastically as she replied, “It’s not Jenn I’m worried about.”
I tried to reassure her of her safety. “He doesn’t crave you, Avery.”
She appeared shocked by my words. “How can that be? None of the others could resist wanting more.”
“After much thought, I believe Sol is able to show more restraint because he is older than the young vampires you encountered at Vincent’s. He is a master of self-control. It’s his job to teach others how to restrain,” I explained.
“I mean no disrespect, but I think I need to see it to believe it,” she replied.
I looked to the door and saw Sol escorting Jenn through it with a tight grip on her arm. “Here they are now, so I guess you’ll get the proof you need.”
Avery began walking toward Jenn and I reached out to stop her. Her eyes darted to me and I said, “No. You can’t touch her and you must keep your distance for the time being. No closer than this.”
“Jenn wouldn’t hurt me,” she explained.
She moved to take another step toward her sister and I gripped her arm tightly. “Your sister wouldn’t hurt you, but the vampire transitioning inside of her would rip out your throat without hesitation.”
Jenn called out from across the room. “Curry is right. It is for your own protection, so you shouldn’t come closer. I’m unpredictable.”
“Are you being treated well?” Avery called across the room.
Jenn smiled and answered, “I’m being treated very well. They’re helping me sort through this.”
“I’m sorry, Jenn,” Avery apologized. “I shouldn’t have asked it of Vincent, but I couldn’t bear losing you after he killed Mom and Dad. I didn’t want to be alone,”
“It’s okay, Ave. I wouldn’t have chosen this for myself, but I’m not angry with you. I understand why you asked for this.”
I watched the expression on Jenn’s face change and I recognized it well. “It’s time for Jenn to go, Sol,” I called across the room as I acted as the barrier to prevent Jenn from getting to Avery and Chansey behind me.
Jenn struggled to free herself from Sol so she could charge toward Avery and Chansey, but Sol held a firm grip and pulled her down the stairwell to the basement.
Avery stifled her scream with her hand over her mouth as she stared in disbelief. When Sol and Jenn were gone, she turned to me. “What have I done to my sister?”
There was a time when I would have coldly told Avery that she had condemned her sister to a life of misery because of her own selfishness, but being with Chansey had softened me and I restrained. “Don’t worry. We will help her learn to control it.”
Her tearful golden brown eyes stared up at me and I couldn’t help but think about how the golden flecks around her irises reminded me of those in Chansey’s. “Thank you,” she murmured softly.
“No thanks needed. It’s what The Coven of Landra does.”
I could still feel Chansey’s fear and surprise and I was glad she got to see the unpredictability of a transitioning vampire willing to kill her own sister. Maybe it would be enough to halt this ridiculous desire of hers to become a monster.
Sol reappeared at the top of the stairs. As he bolted the heavy metal door behind him, he spoke to Avery with his back to her. “Jenn won’t always be like that. She will be the sister you once knew, but it will take a little time.”
Avery’s heart had calmed after Sol and Jenn went down to the basement, but the sudden sound of his words directed toward her ignited another run of acceleration in her heart rate.
He turned from the door after checking it and casually strolled past Avery. “You can calm down. I’m not going to hurt you. Your blood doesn’t control me.”
She stared at him and stepped behind me as he passed. Sol huffed at her gesture and I saw his sour mood resurface before he sat on the living room couch.
The tension was thick in the room and Chansey took a chance on lightening the mood. “Gia and Lairah will be returning to New Orleans soon. I think we should have dinner together tonight. I think it would be nice and it will give Avery the chance to get to know us better.”
“That’s a great idea,” Gia called out from the back of the house.
“I agree,” Lairah followed.
Chansey turned to Avery. “Will you join us?”
She shrugged and timidly answered, “I...guess so.”
Chansey winked at me and turned to Solomon, “What about you? Think you can get your panties out of a wad long enough to join us?”
I heard Gia and Lairah cackling from the back of the house and one of them yelled out, “Ooh...Burn!”
Sol narrowed his eyes at Chansey as he crossed his arms. “Count me in, dear sister.”
21 Expect The Unexpected
When Chansey and Avery finished cooking dinner, we gathered in the dining room for the first meal to be shared at the Savannah compound. Solomon and I each sat at an end of the table. Gia and Lairah sat together on one side and after Chansey took her place by my side, the only seat remaining was the one between Sol and Chansey.
Avery grimaced and reluctantly took her seat next to Sol, but didn’t dare to make eye contact with him as she looked at everything not in his direction.
“Sebastian always leads the Sacrament,” Lairah said.
Sol cleared his throat. “I am the leader here, so I will lead the Sacrament. Let us all join hands, even those not partaking of the Blood Swan.”
I reached for Chansey’s hand on one side and Lairah’s on the other, noting the difference in temperature between the two. I lowered my head in respect although I would not be partaking from the Blood Swan as Sol said, “We, the Coven of Landra, give our humblest gratitude in recognition of the Blood Swan, Julia, for her selfless gift of sustenance.”
Sol, Gia and Lairah voiced in unison, “Thank you, Julia, for your gift of The Life, which sustains our existence and gives us strength to do the needed tasks before us.”
Avery slowly lifted her face and appeared stunned as she looked at Sol for the first time. He met her eyes, refusing to lose the stare down. She looked down at his hand cupped around hers and abruptly jerked it away as though she had been burned. Sol slowly took his hand from the table where it remained and said, “Miss Ferrand, I easily recognize your fear and anxiety around me, but it’s unnecessary. I’m not go
ing to hurt you.”
She refused to meet his eyes or answer him, so he reached for his goblet as he scooted his chair back across the dining room floor. “I should check on Jenn.”
“Am I sensing a little romance in the air?” Lairah asked when Sol was gone. “Is that what has him acting so strange? I mean...stranger than his usual self.”
Avery squirmed uncomfortably in her chair. “Definitely not.”
“Oh, no. I meant romance with Jenn, not you,” Lairah laughed. “That kind of thing doesn’t happen with vampires and humans, except Agápes, so you don’t have to worry about Solomon being interested in you. Count it as a blessing.”
Avery looked down at her plate, embarrassed by her assumption. “Of course, I wasn’t thinking. Is he interested in my sister?”
“Who knows with his brooding ass?”
“Take it easy, Lairah,” I warned. “He’s had a hard couple of days.”
Gia lounged back in her chair with her goblet and changed the subject. “Chansey, have you chosen to follow Jenn’s transition?”
Avery quickly turned to Chansey to hear her explanation.
Chansey looked at me and then laid her fork down on her plate before she turned to Avery. “You understand that Curry and I aren’t...normal, but there is much more to our complicated story. Eventually, I will die and he won’t, but I want to become a vampire because I want to be with my husband forever. This is where we disagree. He wants to keep me human because he doesn’t want me to become like him. He thinks vampires are monsters.”
Avery looked around the table for a reaction from the others and Chansey continued, “I have chosen to follow Jenn’s transition because observing the transformation of a new vampire is a prerequisite for Curry to consider turning me. He thinks he can scare me out of wanting to become a vampire.” She leaned closer to Avery and whispered, “But, he’s wrong.”
I cringed at her words.
“What’s going to happen to my sister during this transition?” Avery asked.
