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Before we got out of the car he said in a whisper, “You will forgive her.” He said, again a statement of fact.
I sighed, “I know.”
The question was, when?
The Coven and the others had disappeared inside the warehouse type building. I followed Jonathon, still wiping away stray tears, and I didn’t need the Pulmers or the Coven to see any more of this behavior from me. I’m embarrassed enough as it is. I don’t need to give them more reason to think of me as weak.
Jonathon found a door into the building. I hadn’t even noticed there was a door because it was so seamlessly hidden into the wall. I wasn’t sure how the Coven even saw it but then again this was their dwelling, they would know all the entrances and, of course, they would have to be hidden so riff raff couldn’t wander in.
The warehouse reminded me of the cave where we had first met the Coven. It was dark and damp and smelled awful. I wanted to plug my nose but that would seem rude so I settled for holding my breath for brief periods of time.
I took in another lungful of breath and cut off my air supply when Jonathon said, “Why are your cheeks puffed out like that?”
The air in my lungs came shooting out with a whooshing sound. I chuckled, “Because it smells in here.”
He laughed as well. “Your human, your sense of smell isn’t as good as mine, so how do you think I feel?”
“You’re a vampire you don’t feel anything. Plus, you can hold your breath forever. I can’t,” I countered with a smile. He always managed to make me feel better.
He laughed harder this time, “Oh, since I’m a vampire I can’t feel anything can I? So then explain to me how I can feel love for you,” he grinned.
I punched him in the arm to prove my point, “See, you didn’t feel me punch you.”
“Is that what that was? It felt like a moth’s wing brushing against my arm,” he chuckled, his warm silver eyes glowing.
“Jonathon,” I moaned exasperated. He always had to win.
His arms wrapped around me. His fingers found my stomach and my ticklish spot.
“Jonathon,” I said laughing, “Stop it! That tickles!”
Someone cleared their throat and Jonathon instantly let go of my wiggling figure.
Aleksei.
His angry red scar seemed to glow like a beacon in the dark hallway.
“If you two would like to stop you’re goofing off and join in strategic planning, now would be the time. I assumed there was a serious matter at hand but here you two are, the ones all this planning is about, the ones people are willing to risk their lives for and you’re playing,” He spat the word like it was a curse. I flinched. Aleksei was scarier than all of the vampires I had met, well maybe not scarier than Selena... or Gabriel for that matter. I looked at Jonathon and his expression made him look as if he was being burned at the stake.
We were silent. With Aleksei, I had discovered, it was better not to speak. He turned sharply on his heel and we knew to follow unless we wanted to get into more trouble.
He led us into a large room that looked to be a training arena. There were mats, trampolines, a track around the perimeter of the whole room, weights, bars, targets for bows and arrows, anything you could possibly need to train to take down a vampire was in this room. And this was the room where our family and the Coven were gathered. I hadn’t noticed it outside but the Coven had nearly tripled in size. We had brought back up and so had they. I couldn’t believe the Coven was willing to give up this many of its members to fight with a group of vampires against only one target.
“Mr. Pulmer, I have found your nephew and pet,” Aleksei called into the room.
Patrick’s head swiveled in our direction. “You can call me Patrick if you’d please. But you will most definitely call her by her name, Kylie,” Patrick growled.
“As you wish,” said Aleksei in his regal voice and a wave of his hand as if he were bating away an annoying fly. I glared at the back of his head wishing I had laser vision and could sear a hole straight through his too thick skull.
Jonathon and I joined the rest of his family and the others. I couldn’t help but notice that Luigi had disappeared with my mother. I was sad that I felt relieved. The vampires peered across at the Coven and the Coven at them. No one would cross the invisible line that was them and us. Everything they were saying was just a bunch of gibberish to me. They talked about fighting techniques, weapons, safe places, and other various things related to a battle. The thought of all these people and vampires fighting against one enemy made me shiver. Selena was dangerous, more dangerous than Jonathon wanted me to know; why else would all these people be needed to fight against her?
As they schemed, I imagined what I might be doing right now, had Selena not been a problem. Maybe Jonathon would be painting my picture, or we’d be riding around on the vespa, maybe just hanging out in Katherine’s garden. The possibilities were endless.
Jonathon, his shoulders tight with tension, finally spoke. “We need to get going. We should be out of Romania by nightfall and we’re running out of time.” This was the first time Jonathon had spoken since Aleksei had found us.
“Jonathon is right. I think we’ve discussed all that needed to be discussed,” Patrick said, glaring beseechingly at Aleksei for conformation.
“Yes, it is probably best to be leaving,” Aleksei said with a bored expression.
