Parker must hear it too because a small crease forms between his eyebrows. “The movie ran long. We were just heading out to grab something to eat.”
“Have you showed Ashley the garage? She might find your collection of cars impressive.”
“My collection?”
“Oh, I love cars!” The girl named Ashley gushes, her blonde waves swaying in a manner I’m sure men find charming.
“It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes,” Caleb insists, almost shooing the couple toward the back of the house. Ashley doesn’t even look my direction, but Parker does. Coming to his own conclusion about what happened he follows Ashley, his smile not as bright.
Ten minutes should be enough time to clean up the front before Ashley sees.
Leo drops a heavy duffle bag on the floor beside me as Caleb disappears.
“This is some pretty heavy artillery,” he says skeptically. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you were going hunting.”
Leo and I shared a class my freshman year. Greek and Roman Mythology. It wasn’t hard to narrow down the smell of damp earth coming from him. And because of his heritage I knew he would also know about the existence of vampires, so it was easy to befriend him. I guessed right that he would be able to handle himself in a fight.
And he knows a very abbreviated version of me. As in, he knows I know about vampires.
“It’s an insurance policy,” I explain, looking down at the hefty bag. A lot of it should be pure silver which is challenging to come by. “Where did you find the pieces?”
“My brother has connections through his job.”
Turning to him, I ask to speak privately in the hallway. In no way can Nathan return to his apartment right now. Dmitri and Viktor have probably followed his scent back home and Nathan will need a place to stay. Plus, some kind of protection.
Explaining my dilemma, Leo is far more accommodating than I thought.
“I owe you.”
“It’s no problem,” Leo claims. “Nathan can stay here, goodness knows there’s enough room, and we can carpool to campus for a few weeks.”
I gratefully nod my head. I’m hoping to draw the vampires away from the area when I return home. Hopefully Nathan can return to his apartment then.
Caleb returns from cleaning up the bodies strewn across the lawn and driveway the same time I try to explain the plan to Nathan. If it went well talking to Leo, the opposite is true for Nathan.
“You want me to what?”
“Just for a little while. The time will fly by—”
“Vampires aren’t real!”
“Nathan—”
“No!”
Rubbing my temples to relieve a painful throbbing that started about ten minutes ago, I’m worried Caleb and Leo are going to tie Nathan down. After another ten minutes of my explaining I start to wonder if there are any tranquilizers in the house.
The very loud “discussion” is silenced by three echoing raps from the front door, putting everyone on edge. Vampires can’t come in unless invited. It’s one of their rules. Opening the door isn’t strictly an invitation, but the knock could be a trap. Caleb and Leo retrieve their stashed weapons, raising them in defense as Leo opens the door.
A squeak of surprise sounds from the porch. They didn’t. How could they track me here?
“Well are you going to shoot us or can we come in?” Ben asks, already looking past their shoulders to what awaits inside.
“How . . . what . . . how could you possible know I was here?” my voice so eloquently articulates as I rise from a chair I had plopped into during the fighting.
“Please,” Eliza states, breezing past the two stunned men. “Ben installed a tracking device on your phone before you even left home. We can find you anywhere.”
“You what?”
“Well it’s a good thing we did,” she verifies, pulling me into a hug before I feel two cats rub up against my legs.
Looking down in surprise, I don’t have time to ask about the tabbies before Eliza explains. “They knew something was wrong and stowed away. How your cats know whenever there’s trouble is beyond me.”
“My cats?”
“Yes, your cats.”
“Animal intuition,” Ben claims as he checks out the house with appreciation. “I was waiting for the unbearable yowling to accompany our road trip as every cat displays, but they just stared. Thinking back on it I think I would have rather had the yowling.”
“Why is that?” Leo questions, keeping his eyes on the felines.
“Because they’re far smarter than any animal I know. Heck, even some people I know. Their quietness was just a reminder.”
Crouching down, I willingly stroke the necks of the Twins as I call them. They have gotten me through more kerfuffle’s during my time at Hillbrook than I care to admit and are an excellent warning system for lurking danger.
“We should get going.” The sooner I walk through my front door the better I’ll feel. It’s not that I’m worried vampires will break into my parent’s house. I’m anxious about the eight-hour drive and what can happen between here and there.
“But we just got here! Don’t you want to introduce me to your friends?” Eliza complains, pulling one of the tabby’s off of a nearly comatose Nathan. All that arguing must have worn him out and I look to Leo who takes the cue. Once I hear their steps climbing the padded stairs, I unzip my duffle bag of goodies to see what Leo procured.
About a year ago I put in an order for him to collect a series of weapons capable of fighting all forms of evil. Crossbows, swords, and throwing knives gleam back at me, plus several other weapons I don’t recognize.
I look up at Eliza incredulously. “Eliza, priorities!”
“Oh, fine then, keep your other friends to yourself,” she sulks, only perking up when I hand her a set of throwing knives.
“We can take our car,” Ben interjects, eyeing a hefty rigged crossbow which I hand him.
“My car is better fortified.”
“Or we can just take both,” Eliza says.
“What’s going on?”
