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“Wrong,” I cut her off, stopping only once I’m a single breath away from her. “You don’tleta hunter get behind you.”
Calla scowls, propping her hands on her hips. “Don’t ask me questions if you’re not going to give me a chance to answer them.”
I ignore the attitude in her voice. “The opponents you could be up against are mostly human. They are trained to kill vampires, but they don’t share our preternatural speed and strength. So as long as you stay focused on your surroundings and don’t allow yourself to be caught by surprise, you’ll have the upper hand.”
Her brows tug closer as she digests what I’ve said. “You saidmostlyhuman.” She shakes her head. “Do you think I’ll be up against other vampires?”
“It’s something we can’t rule out,” Gabriel chimes in. “If things work out positively with the hunters, there will be some angry vampires, and we can’t determine with complete certainty what they’ll do in retaliation.”
“Super,” she deadpans. “Either way, we’re facing a battle.”
“Yes,” I answer honestly. “Would you rather side with the vampires and wipe out the hunters, or try to reconcile with the hunters and take the chance of making enemies in our world?”
“Why are you asking me as if it’smychoice?”
I cross my arms, shrugging. “It’s not. I’m just curious.”
She doesn’t know it yet, but the decision has already been made. I spoke to Scott Ellis after Calla fell asleep last night, and after a very long, very tense conversation, he reluctantly agreed to meet with us in a neutral spot to discuss our…relationshipmoving forward.
“You know what I think. I’ve made it quite clear. We need to try to figure things out with the hunters. That path has the least amount of senseless fighting and casualties. There’s always going to be a black sheep in every group of people—human, vampire, or otherwise.”
“Otherwise?” Kade calls out, ducking under Lex’s arm before he can grab him.
Calla shrugs. “Figure I shouldn’t rule anything out at this point. Vampires and witches exist, so I’m going to assume other supernaturals do too.”
Gabriel and I exchange a brief look.
She’s not wrong, but this isn’t a conversation for today.
“Let’s see how the meeting goes and we’ll take it from there,” Gabriel says.
Calla turns her gaze toward him. “Why does it sound like you’ve alreadyarrangeda meeting?”
“We have,” I answer. “A very circumstantial one.”
Her heart beats faster, and she wets her lips before saying, “That was fast. How many vampires did Marcel contact that will agree to work with us and meet with the hunters?”
Kade and Lex take a break from attacking each other and join us, breathing heavily with sweat dampening their hair.
“Marcel is still in the process of contacting people, but he’s gotten mixed feedback so far. A lot of the younger vampires are more open to it, but as we suspected, the older ones prefer the way things are and are more likely to side with the vampires planning to eradicate the hunters.
“As you know, Fallon and Jase will stand with us, and besides, this meeting isn’t for all of us to sit around a campfire and hold hands. I don’t want a lot of people there on either side.” Thein case things go sidewaysgoes without saying.
“When is the meeting?” she asks, focusing on me again.
“Tomorrow night. So, you better be prepared to train again tomorrow morning, because there’s no way you’ll be coming with us if I’m not fully confident you’re ready.”
“What the hell?” she says in a confused tone, shaking her head. “Didn’t I just prove myself to you?”
“What happens if someone gets hurt and bleeds?” Lex offers. “Are you going to be able to fight with the smell of blood in the air?”
Her jaw clenches, and she shoots an icy glare at him. “I don’t know. Let’s stab you and see how well I can focus.”
None of us bother mentioning that human blood would have an entirely different effect. She knows it by now.
“If you can’t keep your cool in here with us, how can we know you’ll be able to handle being at this meeting?” Kade points out.
“I can handle it,” she says firmly. “Why are you guys pushing me? Haven’t I proven myself enough times?”
