“They’re wolves. Shifters. They were sent here by Melisandre, I think.” She asked Don if he thought she might need protection. “Yes. That’s something else we need to talk to you about. The reason you need the magic too.”
The dogs were going wild, and she stood at the front window to see who they were barking at. Just as she was ready to tell the dogs to come to her, a man got out of a car. The glass shattered in the front window just as CJ took her to the floor.
“Are you hurt?” Pfeiffer just stared at her. “Are you hurt? Tell me before I have to strip you down to figure it out. Pfeiffer, please tell me you’re not—”
“I’m all right. What was that?” Don was gone, and she could hear someone screaming. She started to get up, but CJ told her to stay down, that someone else might be out there. Just as she was feeling the pain of being thrown to the floor, a little bitty person stood on her chest and asked her if she was all right. “I think so. I’m a little sore from being pushed out of the way. Are you a faerie?”
“Yes, mistress. I am at that. My name is Matt. I’ve come to be with you. I only just arrived, so I was unable to warn you because we have no connection, but I told Lady CJ, and she acted quickly.” She asked him how they could get a connection. “The usual way, my lady. I just take a wee bit of your blood, and we can talk all the time. I will warn you. I’m not one to empty my head just to hear my teeth clanking together. I will talk to you when I need to or if we’re talking, but not all the time.”
It didn’t startle her at all that there was a faerie on her chest. Nor that he had wings. She was not even that upset that what she thought had happened was that someone had shot at her. And right now, Don was out there doing something…well, she didn’t want to think about what he might be doing to the person. The cut-off screams had given her enough terrible thoughts.
While she lay there, she gave her blood to the little man. It really didn’t take all that much for him, and she didn’t need to take his. She wasn’t even sure how that would work, so she didn’t bring it up. Getting the okay to sit up, she did feel a little sore, but almost as soon as she felt the pulls to her body, they were gone. CJ was sitting on the floor with her when Don came back into the house.
“I’m assuming he’s gone.” Don nodded and smiled at her. “Don’t tell me, please. I’m at that overwhelmed part right now, and I can’t take much more. How about we go into the kitchen, and I figure out how to get the window fixed?”
“I’ll fix it.” Pfeiffer didn’t ask. She didn’t want to know how it was going to be fixed by CJ but offered Don a cup of her homemade tea. Her sister joined them a few minutes later. “I reinforced the window this time. You won’t have to worry about standing in front of any of the windows now. All right?”
“Am I really in danger? Because someone wants you?” CJ nodded and told her everything, including the part where she was related to the queen of faeries. “So, because you were given to our parents to be hidden away, some jackass thinks we’re going to be all right with you being taken from us. I don’t think so. I’ve raised two girls all the way up into adulthood. No one will mess with me and be able to walk away unscathed.”
Both CJ and Don laughed. It was just what they all needed. Pulling down her cookie tin, she laid the cookies on the table while she brewed the tea. There was something so very calming about having to make tea with the leaves. Steeping the tea in hot water and then adding sugar or lemon to it. When she sat the cups in front of the other two and then sat down with her own, she not only felt calmer but less overwhelmed as well.
“This person out there today. I’m assuming he was a human.” Don told her that he had been hired, but yes, he’d been human. “What sort of person is coming for you? I don’t want to get it wrong here if someone comes calling for you. Will I have to be on the lookout for anything abnormal?”
“I’ll give you a little more magic that will help you tell when a person is a human or a shifter. Also, if they have any kind of ill-will in their hearts.” The touch was light to her arm, but the magic that CJ gave her seemed to make her head swim just a little. “What do you see when you look at me, Pfeiffer?”
“Wings. Do you have them?” She nodded. “I thought you might. Also, you have a glow around you. White. Like there isn’t anything impure in your soul at all. Is that what I’m going to be looking for when I look at someone?”
“Look at Don. Remember, he’s not human either.” She turned and looked at the big man. She could see him in two different ways. When cocking her head, she could see his beast, the monster side of him. But he didn’t look at her like he wanted her hurt. It was as if he was showing himself to her. Letting her see the real vampire. “Do you see him?”
“I do. I can see both of
