She handed it over to Aldric who thumbed the accept call button and a video image popped up on the screen, showing Marc with Jake in his lap and Kaylee leaning into his side. Faith crowded next to Aldric to see, and was pretty sure she blushed when he wrapped his arm around her back and started smoothing his thumb up and down her spine. Marc definitely noticed but aside from a raised eyebrow said nothing.
"Aldric, I am so glad to see you awake! How're you feeling?" Marc asked.
"Like I have been in a battle and gotten badly wounded," Aldric answered drily.
Marc chuckled. and Kaylee leaned in. "Are you going to be okay, Uncle Aldric?"
Faith sensed him still for a moment, then he smiled and his thumb started moving again. Who knew that would be so soothing?
"I will be perfectly fine, I promise. In a few days it will be like I was never injured," he assured her. Jake nodded solemnly in agreement.
"I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing, and the kids were worried. Tamika's organized more frequent regular patrols of the borders, and a standing guard on both the house here and the clinic while you guys are there. We're not taking any more risks. Faith, you're getting a bodyguard, and so are the kids, and this time we're not being so relaxed about it."
Faith nodded and Aldric made a sound of approval.
"And I have called a clan meeting for this Saturday. You should be back here by then. Our people deserve to know what's happening, even if we don't tell them everything." He glanced at Faith when he said that last part and she appreciated it.
"Thank you. We shall be there," Aldric nodded.
"Great. Anything to add, kids?" Both kids yelled to Aldric that he needed to get better and heal and come home and other such things, and he took the time to reassure them that he would be back soon, and by the time he thumbed the end call button on the screen, they were grinning at the way both kids had perked up at the reassurance.
"Well, that was amusing. And loud,” Faith laughed.
Aldric just smiled as he put the phone down on the table by their cups and wrapped his arm around her waist.
She looked over at him and noticed the paler than usual skin and tired lines around his eyes. "Go on to sleep, handsome. Even badass vampires need their rest, it seems."
She grinned when he tightened his hold on her for a moment.
"Yes, I know I should rest..."
"Marc wasn't reassuring just the kids with that call, you know. But now that we’ve both seen that Kaylee and Jake are okay, and I'm not going anywhere for a while. Sleep. I'll be here," she said, and she felt him relax beside her.
Unsurprisingly, Aldric wasn't the only one who slept.
Faith had not quite realized how many people were in the Frostwalker Clan. Aldric had been hovering near her the entire time she was outside in the large backyard, and now she understood why it was so big in the first place. It needed to be to fit this many people in one place!
There were folding tables set up along one side of the house and people were dropping off dishes and coolers, and Kenya and Ori were standing there ostensibly to help organize, but Faith noticed that neither of them kept anything in their hands for more than a moment or two.
Ori was mostly back to his punk rock self, his mohawk now a turquoise blue, and his fashionably shredded jeans and scruffy boots seemed to be permanently replaced by his enforcer gear, but the spiked jacket and attitude made up for it. Kenya was similarly outfitted, though her shirt was a bright blue with something scrawled across it in swooping letters that Faith couldn't make out.
There were a dozen kids playing on the equipment from preschoolers to too-cool-for-everything teens, and Faith understood that, now, too. It had seemed a bit overindulgent for just one kid to have what amounted to his own private playground, but now it made sense.
There were enforcers there, as well. Tamika kept a close eye on the kids, and she had two others with her that Faith hadn't met yet, all of them like Ori and Kenya were in a variation of what seemed to be the enforcers' uniform. Kaylee still stayed closer to Tamika than not, but she and Jake were laughing and swinging and playing tag with the rest of the kids.
There were still more enforcers dotted around the tree line, and Aldric kept glancing at them, checking in and assessing even though Marc kept yelling at him to sit down and rest or take a nap or just get out of the damn office because he’s supposed to be recovering dammit. Aldric was not being the most patient of patients.
Marc had sat down with her that morning while the kids were having breakfast in front of the TV– Saturday morning cartoons were still a tradition in this house it seemed, even though they were streamed now rather than broadcast– and apologized for not being able to save Crissy.
"As soon as the attack started I tried to get to you, but..." he shook his head and grimaced, staring into his coffee cup as if it held an alternate reality that he could remember in place of what happened. "I'm fast, but I'm not as fast as a vampire that's fed recently, and there were so many blighthounds between me and her. I am so sorry, Faith. I
