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“I don’t know if that has to be.” Unlike the others, Larkin had already cleared his plate and was going for more. “I’ve been listening to all of this.”
“How can your ears work when your mouth is so busy?” Blair wondered.
He only smiled as he scooped up more fish, more rice. “It’s good food,” he said to Glenna. “If I don’t eat it, how would you know I appreciated it?”
“I’d like to know where you put all that appreciation. But you were saying,” Blair added, gesturing.
“These things happened in sleep, so it would seem to me the spell doesn’t work on the conscious mind. Wouldn’t it take more power to…” He fell back on Blair’s term. “To whammy someone when they were awake and aware?”
“It would.” Hoyt nodded. “Of course, it would.”
“And not just sleeping, not this day. Moira was all but ill with exhaustion from what she was part of today. Blair was worn through as well. I don’t know what it was like when it happened to you Glenna, but—”
“I was beat—worn out, upset. It was one of the reasons I didn’t think to take any precautions before I fell into bed.”
“There you have it then, I’m thinking. Not just sleep, but sleep when the body is weak and the mind at its most vulnerable. So it seems to me that whatever, whoever, she might be using isn’t as strong as what we have right here at this table.”
“You have been listening.” Blair considered him. “Dragon-boy here makes a good point. She hit us when our defenses were down, and she came damn close to getting lucky. What do we do about it?”
“Hoyt and I will work on protection. I’ve been using the most basic shield to this point.” Glenna looked at Hoyt. “We’ll pump it up.”
“Be good if we could do something for the house, too,” Blair pointed out. “Some sort of general woo-woo so they can’t get inside, even with an invite.”
“You can’t block an invitation.” Cian sat back with his wine. “You can withdraw it, with the right spell, but it can’t be blocked.”
“Okay, maybe not. Maybe something that extends the perimeters, creates a safe area around the house itself.”
“We’ve tried.” Hoyt laid his hand over Glenna’s. “We haven’t been able to find the way.”
“Something to work on. It would be another layer. The more layers they have to get through the better. Think vamp-free zone.”
“Perhaps I should move into a nice B and B,” Cian suggested, and had Blair frowning at him until she understood.
“Oh. Oh, right. Sorry. Forgot. Can’t have a vamp-free zone with a vamp in residence.”
“We haven’t been able to find a way to exclude him from it,” Glenna explained. “We have a few ideas. More like concepts than actual ideas,” she admitted. “And Hoyt’s been working for some time
on conjuring a kind of shield for you, Cian, so that you could go outside during the day. In the sun.”
“Others have tried and failed on that. It can’t be done.”
“People used to believe the world was flat,” Blair pointed out.
“True enough.” Cian shrugged. “But I’d think if it could be done it would have been in the thousands of years since our existence. And experimenting with it at this point isn’t the best use of time.”
“It’s my time,” Hoyt said quietly.
“We could have used you today.” Glenna spoke after a long beat of silence. “In Kerry, at the cliffs. It’s worth the time. We think we’d have more success if we had some of your blood.”
“Oh?” Cian said dryly. “Is that all?”
“Think about it. Still, our first priority will be protection. Hoyt and I will put that together.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “Why don’t we get started?”
“Meanwhile, nobody sleeps until we have protection. I’ve got some extra crosses, some holy water, in my gear.” Blair got to her feet. “Cian, unless you’re planning to go out, I’d like to set up basic precautions at doors and windows.”
“Have at it. But those kind of trinkets won’t supercede an invitation.”
“Layers,” Blair said again.
