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“No. How many?”
“About a thousand.”
“Is that all?” His turn to smile.
“Okay, I’m going inside. I need to freshen up a little, but I’ll join you for the meeting.”
“Good. I want you there.”
She didn’t try to prolong the moment. Instead, she located the downstairs bathroom and splashed water on her face. She stayed put, giving herself a little alone time to collect herself.
Ten minutes later, she heard Jude’s deep voice coming from the front living room and headed in his direction. She caught the décor along the way, as well as the style of the architecture and knew instinctively that a woman’s hand had been involved.
Probably his wife’s, the woman he’d lost all those decades ago.
As she entered the living room, she stayed near the entrance to the dining room. Seeing a dozen heavily muscled Guardsmen in one room was an overwhelming experience. Each ranged in height from six-three to six-six and wore what she considered to be their supremely sexy black leather-based uniform.
If the ceiling hadn’t been as high as it was, the room would have felt claustrophobic.
Jude relayed all that he knew about the mist, the sickly-sweet scent, the effects on him and also on Nathan, and his belief that Margetta had used the mist to kill the troll families in the north.
What he didn’t know was whether her wraith-pairs were immune or not. And if they were, the entire realm faced a crisis of enormous proportions.
“But how can we find any of this out?” Paul asked.
“I hate to say this, but only experience will give us the information we need. There’s just no other way. We don’t know where Margetta lives to try to spy on her.”
Hannah added her thoughts. “I get the sense that Margetta is just trying out what might be a new ability for her. If Jude and I make ourselves visible throughout the rest of the night, and the Guardsmen were spread out hunting for mist-sign, we could be anywhere at a moment’s notice.”
All eyes turned toward her, and she felt a warmth spread over her cheeks. For a moment, she wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
But Paul said, “That’s actually a very good idea. Better to have some control by hunting, rather than to wait for another slaughter.”
Jude met her gaze and she felt him press against her mind telepathically. Hannah, I don’t want you in the line of fire.
But Jude, I already am and Paul’s right. Better to have some control in the situation.
Jude nodded, then addressed his men. “As you can imagine, I’m concerned for Hannah’s safety.”
“Everyone here is,” one of the Guardsmen spoke up.
“Here, here,” went around the men.
She knew these men and which ones had wives and families and what each laid down every night to battle the enemy. “I feel the same way about all of you. I hope you know that.”
Another said, “We do, Hannah. That’s why you find a couple of us passed out in your bunkroom every night at dawn.”
Laughter erupted this time and she joined them.
But when her gaze landed once more on Jude, she saw a look in his eye, of deep appreciation, that pierced her heart. She felt two things at once: The huge divide that separated them because the focus of each of their lives was so different and her ever-present affection for him.
She had to look away, to remember that she’d made a promise never to allow what was important to her to be set aside for the needs of a man. Maybe Jude wasn’t Mark Jackson, her ex. And yes, Mark was a real dick for demanding that she sell the bar to basically prove she loved him. But the situation had the same difficult resonance – what she’d have to give up and what Jude wouldn’t.
So she calmed herself down, wanting desperately to keep her perspective as the hours and possibly days wore on.
Jude brought the subject back to the point. “Here’s the way this needs to go. I want every Guardsman on patrol. And Paul, bring in everyone on leave. You’re to give this basic information to each of the men, about the mist, about Hannah, but that we need to draw Margetta out. One of my fears is that she’ll use some of our people again to try out her mist-making ability and more innocent realm-folk will die. So, let’s keep a sharp eye out for the mist. Heavy patrolling everywhere.” Which covered a lot of miles. But Jude’s Vampire Guard was three-hundred strong so no one balked at the order.
“And Reese, I know the shifters aren’t fully ready, but let’s put them on the ground. I’m thinking about that scent, it was sweet but in a way that smelled decayed. Maybe a shifter will have a better chance at locating the next intrusion.”
