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“I’m centuries older than you. Also, the stakes are higher for my kind when we lose control. Doing so isn’t tolerated once you reach your seventh decade, and punishment is usually harsh after somewhere around the third or fourth decade, depending on the vampire in charge. And not only do we have to suffer extreme punishment from our Masters, but we’re all well aware the slayers can kill us for losing control even once.” A vampire got a free-pass from their Master when we went up a level in power, but you were expected to get it under control so there wasn’t a second incident.
He met my gaze a half-second and quickly looked away. “Slayers don’t usually have control issues, nor do we fight for dominance amongst ourselves.”
“No, but you recognize when a vampire is far out of your league, right? You can tell before you engage when you need to call someone else in.”
He nodded. “Works for Strigorii, but not for Lugat, so yeah, it’s probably my Slayer magic testing your vampire magic.”
I propped the piece of wood I was holding against the wall. It was a little over half of my side of the table, and I didn’t see a way to put it back together.
“Unless we bring another table in, we’re probably done for the day.”
“I’ll pay for another one, and I’ll tell them it was my fault. I’m truly sorry I lost control.”
“I thought the table tennis idea would work. Perhaps we shouldn’t engage in competition for a while? See if we can get used to being on the same side?”
“Maybe a doubles tennis game against Ruth and Pat?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yes, that might work. Teamed up together. If you don’t want to explain the reason to your friends then, when we return, perhaps we can play against Marco and Cora, or Venom and his lion.”
“Ruth will see the truth of the table. Gideon might, but maybe not. I’m just going to claim it was my fault and refuse to explain what happened. We’ll go out holding hands, clearly not at odds with each other. You have a great wall you put up when you don’t want to share information. Stick with that while trying to look at least moderately friendly?”
I don’t often do friendly, but I’ve been trained for it, so I could pull it off when necessary. I nodded agreement and suggested, “Maybe a few kisses to smell the room up a little? They’ll scent aggression and lust, and will make assumptions that are a little embarrassing, but preferred over them knowing the truth.”
Chapter 29
Ryan
I was horrified I’d lost control. Embarrassed was an understatement.
And Etta had not only refrained from striking back, she’d immobilized me without injuring me, and then let me up the very instant I told her I was back in control.
If I couldn’t do better, I’d have to remove myself from whatever we were doing — but not until she was safe from my parents. I owed it to her to keep her safe from them.
I left a note on the broken table that it was my fault and I would pay for a replacement, and we left the training facility through a side door so we didn’t have to face anyone.
I remembered her closing her eyes around me when I’d first met her, and thinking that she’d have let me kill her without a fight. What had changed? I considered it all the way out to the car, and asked her once inside.
“I was aware of where you were in the room while I went through Leesa’s memories,” she told me. “But you’re right that I didn’t have as much to live for at the time. I wouldn’t have let you take me without a fight, but I wasn’t as proactive about staying alive, either.” She shrugged. “It felt like you’d have waited until after we tried to save the kids before you killed me, so it seemed safe enough to focus on Leesa more than you.”
I couldn’t help my smile because she was exactly right. While there was a chance of saving human children, I’d have waited to kill her, if that had been my intention.
Etta’s eagle was restrained to the bed with the remote, snacks, and plenty to drink, but we headed back to check on him and give him a bathroom break.
The windows looking out towards the ocean were still covered, to be certain my parents didn’t snipe us from half a mile away, and it was a stark reminder of why we were here. This wasn’t a vacation. People were trying to kill Etta, and possibly me, too. Not just any people. My parents. To date, they were batting a thousand: every person they’d been assigned to kill was dead, and they are still alive. The odds were in their favor.
I released Largo from the chains and fixed several bacon burgers for the two of us. Etta sat with us as we ate, and I’d expected it to feel awkward, eating in front of her, but she kept the conversation going and it wasn’t.
I heard the vehicle next door leave with two heartbeats in it, but I expected Ruth and Pat had made arrangements for others to be close. I heard others leaving as well, their heartbeats going away from us, until it was just our heartbeats in the vicinity. I was about to pick up the phone and call Ruth when something slammed into Etta a microsecond after I heard the crash of glass breaking and the percussion of a gunshot.
It ripped into her shoulder and tore an artery apart. Blood pulsed once, and she stopped her heartbeat. I sensed her drawing energy from Largo, who was squatted low and dragging her by her good arm towards the gunsafe. She’d gone down of her own accord, which meant she was staying as low as possible in an effort to not give them another bead on her.
I approved, and I ran in front of them and had vests ready to put on them when they arrived.
It turns out, Etta had gone to the floor to heal the damage. Once she’d repaired the artery, she levitated them both off the floor a few inches and moved them, with both lying flat.
She took a few moments to heal the lesser blood vessels once we were safely in the gunroom with the door closed, and then everyone quickly got into the bullet-proof vests without argument, thank goodness.
I grabbed a rifle I’ve shot before and felt good about, along with a forty-five pistol and several already-loaded mags for both. “Ya’ll grab whatever is familiar to you,” I told them. “My parents must’ve created a disturbance in another part of town. I expect Pat and Ruth heard the shots and will return quickly, but we’re on our own for now.”
