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“That was…unwise,” Nathan scolded Dara a few minutes later. “Running straight for him like that. You should have listened to me and stayed back. Your husband might have been too confused to recognize you. He could have easily killed you.” Lines of tension bracketed the vampire’s mouth. He was gripping the back of a kitchen chair with both strong hands, and Lucy had the feeling he really wanted to be harsher with Dara, but he was controlling himself.
Dara, for her part, looked completely unconcerned by the vampire’s lecture, her mouth set at an obdurate angle. “No,” she said, “Jason would never hurt me.” She had run through a quick round of introductions, and now she was sitting on a barstool at her kitchen island. Jason, who’d donned a t-shirt and his glasses, was perched beside her. They were holding hands, their fingers threaded together.
“No,” Jason agreed, “I would never hurt her.” He turned to his wife, gazing at her in a way Lucy instantly found enviable—because it wasn’t only love shining from his eyes, it was adoration. And Dara was looking back at him the exact same way. These two cherished one another, Lucy realized with a warm flurry in her heart, and there were probably no games or pretenses between them. She had no trouble believing Jason’s statement; as long as he retained even a shred of self-control, he would never hurt Dara.
Nathan seemed less convinced, but he didn’t argue anymore. He let go of the chair and stalked back and forth across the polished wooden floorboards. As he paced, he quickly outlined the current situation for Jason, assuring him the elixir Kiefer was bringing over would calm his hunger and keep him from losing control again. Even as he was explaining, Kiefer showed up and rang the doorbell. While Dara jogged down the stairs to let him in, Nathan concluded his rundown of everything that’d happened while Jason had been asleep.
Jason turned to Lucy and Jessica, giving them each an assessing glance. “You said you guys went to the same high school as Dara?” he asked, scratching his head.
“Seward High,” Lucy nodded. “Just a few blocks from here.”
“She never mentioned you to me. How long have you all been, uh, hanging out?”
Jessica and Lucy exchanged a glance. Lucy said, “Well, we haven’t ever really—”
“We’ve never hung out before,” Dara cut in, springing back into the room with Kiefer at her heels, “because Jessica hated me in high school.”
“I didn’t hate you!” Jessica cried.
“Well, you didn’t like me.”
“You stole my boyfriend,” Jessica retorted, but Lucy could tell there was no real heat behind the accusation anymore.
“Yeah, that sounds like Dara,” Jason quipped, “a regular Jezebel.”
Dara chuckled and said, “Jason, this is Kiefer. Kiefer, this handsome comedian is my husband, Jason. The elixir is for him.”
Jason jutted his chin at Kiefer, who’d changed his clothes and cleaned up. His hair was damp, and he smelled like Lever 2000.
“I brought you some blood, too,” Kiefer said, setting a brown paper bag on the island. When all the humans gave him a wary look, he added, “Animal, of course. It’s cow’s blood. I keep some from the butcher for Nathan. Anyway, you could drink the elixir straight, but mixing it with blood will make it go down easier and help it work a lot faster.”
“Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear anyone say to me,” Jason murmured, pulling the bag toward himself. He shook Kiefer’s hand and thanked him for bringing over the supplies.
While Dara set about opening cabinets and drawers, getting a mug and spoon out for her husband, Lucy tugged at Nathan’s sleeve. “Um, Nathan?”
He peered down at her with a kindly smile. “Yes, sweetheart?”
“Can we please go to my place soon? I’m worried Aaron might’ve woken up, too, and if he’s as confused as Jason was…well...” Her concern for Aaron’s well-being took precedence, of course, but she was anxious about her apartment now, too. She pictured the door to her own bedroom closet exploding in a shower of wood chips and its immaculate contents being reduced to chaos. She could reorganize her stuff again later—and probably have a ball doing it—but the landlord would never forgive her for the physical damage. One look at the crater left behind in her room, and she could kiss her deposit goodbye.
“Yes, of course,” Nathan said in answer to her question.
“I’ll come, too,” Jessica piped up.
“And so will we,” Dara added, unstopping a glass vial she’d extracted from the paper bag. “As soon as Jason’s taken his, uh, medicine here, anyway.”
Nathan looked alarmed. “No. There is no need for that. Lucy can let us into her apartment, and then Kiefer and I can handle the situation from there. The rest of you should stay here, where it is relatively safe.” He looked pointedly at Jessica.
“Are you sure?” Dara sniffed the vial and wrinkled her nose, and then emptied the syrupy substance inside into the mug. “It just seems like we should all stay together, doesn’t it? To fight the vampire?” She looked to Jason for his opinion.
Jason popped the plastic lid off a Styrofoam carton, glanced at the contents, and winced. “Yeah, just give me a minute to, uh, chug this stuff, and then I’ll put in my contacts, throw on some real pants, and we’ll come with.” He added the blood to the mug Dara had prepared. She dipped in the spoon and stirred casually, like she was mixing up nothing more noxious for him than a cup of hot cocoa.
Nathan compressed his lips, his expression tinged with confusion.
“What?” Jessica asked him.
“I would not have expected how well all of you would handle this situation.”
“I told you from the beginning we weren’t wimps,” she chided. “I said we would do whatever it took to fix this mess.”
“Yes, you did tell me that,” Nathan admitted. “Even so, I would not have guessed any of you would be so eager to…pitch in. On a vampire hunt.”
“That’s just
