Solara couldn’t help but laugh. He saw the same things she did, but he knew that Nikki wouldn’t hurt Scarlet. He clamped his arms around Kayla and pulled her further away from Nikki.
“Cool it. She didn’t mean anything by it.” Solara was using his calming techniques with her, but with his mind.
“What’s going on? Kayla what’s wrong with you.” Although Scarlet wasn’t surprised, she was curious what set her off like that.
“I think it would be best if we didn’t leave Nikki behind. The last thing we need right now is she and Kayla going head to head.” Stephan was well aware of what was going on but didn’t want Scarlet to find out. Although he was worried about what Nikki was planning in her head.
“No, she will stay and behave. Make every effort not to annoy Kayla. Won’t you Nikki?” He was staring down at her. He also had grown impatient with her. They didn’t have time for love triangles.
“Sure,” Nikki said it through clenched teeth.
Scarlet ignored them, she was sure they weren’t going to tell her what had happened. She dropped her hand from Stephan’s waist and tried to walk away when he caught her.
“I’m just going into the kitchen. I need some coffee.” Stephan moved with her into the kitchen, his arm firmly around her waist.
Vincent blew into the room and stood next to Solara. He whistled at Scarlet, “Nice legs. But I don’t think that t-shirt fits you very well.” He had his usual smile on his face, but his eyes didn’t mirror his smile. There was a hint of sadness in them.
Scarlet chuckled as she put the coffee machine on. Kayla took a seat at the counter, and Stephan leaned against it, his eyes on her.
“The diner is swarming with cops. Joany told all the other girls to head back home. She didn’t want them to see Marcie like that.” Vincent filled them in on the situation at the diner.
“How are you feeling?” Stephan turned her around to look at her face. Her eyes glistened with tears but so far she seemed in control.
“I’m feeling fine.” Scarlet turned back to the coffee machine and stared at it.
“Joany called her parents already. She said she will give us a yell when everything has been arranged.”
Scarlet was well aware of the feeling of loss. But she didn’t understand their pain. The loss of a child was far worse for a parent than she could imagine. She took a deep breath trying to control the grief that was setting in.
“What time are you going?” She tried to change the subject. She couldn’t handle talking about Marcie. She directed her thoughts to the earlier conversation.
“As soon as you give me my shirt back.” Stephan smiled at her, he admired how determined she was to control her emotions.
“Oh. Sure. Kayla, please watch this for me. I’ll be right back.” She let him lead her back to her bedroom. She could feel Nikki’s gaze follow them, and when she turned her head back, she looked right into her eyes.
When they were in her room, she shrugged off his t-shirt and pulled her robe on, before he could react to her naked body. “I think she likes you.”
Stephan put his shirt on in deliberate silence.
“Nikki. I think Nikki likes you.” She raised her voice. She knew he heard her the first time, but decided to beat him at his own game. Now he couldn’t deny he had heard her considering she spoke loud enough for the other immortals downstairs to hear her.
She raised her eyebrow at him when he turned. “Why would you say that?” He acted oblivious to her statement that sounded more like an accusation.
“It may be the holes her eyes are burning into me, her dislike for me, or Kayla’s reaction to whatever thoughts she had against me.” She was pulling her flannel pants up, under the robe.
“You don’t have to worry about that.” She had her back turned to him. “And you are going to leave her here with me. Aren’t you concerned about my safety?”
“Vincent and Kayla will be with you. Besides Kayla seems prepared to take her down if she so much as frowns at you. And if it does come to a fight, it’s two on two. Vampires are more superior in that arena.”
“Oh? How so?” That fact comforted her, but she was sure it wouldn’t come to that.
“When we phase, we are stronger. But depending on what you phase into you could be limited. If you are on all fours, you will be able to sense the danger but, the reaction to multiple dangers will not be fast enough.” He tried to demonstrate it so that she could understand.
“The turning part isn’t as fast. And when they climb on your back, you can’t throw them off. But it does have its advantages.”
“Hmm.”
“Stephan, we need to talk about what happened last night when you get back.” She dug her fingers in her head and squint her eyes. “I have been trying not to think about it as much as I can. But the image of her… the message on the wall.” She bit her lip and shook her head.
“We will. Just get some rest for now. When you think about her, think about the good things. Did I ever tell you she helped me set up the beach that night?”
“She did?”
“That is how you should always remember her as a kind person, trusting and full of life.” He would never forgive himself for being the cause of her death. “Ok, enough of that I need to get going. I will be back as soon as I can.”
He kissed her lips, slowly at first then intensely. Gathering her into his arms and holding her against him. Scarlet could feel her knees weaken, she thought of how glad she was that she wasn’t on her feet. He had lifted her so that he didn’t bend so low to kiss her. He loved how small she was compared to him, but wasn’t fond of how low he had to bend down to kiss her.
“Hey, Xavier.” When Scarlet saw she got his full attention, she continued what she was saying a stern look on her face. “My door isn’t going to fix itself. So when you get back you’re going to get right on that.”
Xavier flashed her one of his devilish grins, which looked so perfect on his face. He nodded and followed Stephan to the car.
***
Scarlet stayed home with Vincent, Kayla, Eric, and although she protested, Nikki. She didn’t spend more than five minutes at a time in the same room as them. She sat at the doorstep most of the time, looking out to the street.
“Kayla you never told me what she did that got you all worked up.” They were on the sofa watching TV. Vincent sat between them with the remote in his hands flipping through the channels.
“It was nothing.” Kayla sat up so that she could look at Scarlet over Vincent’s head. “She has a thing for Stephan. You know how the male beasts kind of fight each other to be alpha or something that ridiculous. Yeah, that’s what she was thinking when Stephan held you.”
Scarlet was glad for Kayla, she didn’t think, no she was sure that she would never win a fight against Nikki regardless of what the prize was.
“What about Stephan?” it was a ridiculous question, but she always wondered what would happen if a woman closer to his kind would come along. Nikki was beautiful and her tanned skin made her all the more so.
“Is that a serious question? I can’t tell you what he thinks of her but I can sure tell you what I see when he is with you.” She reached out to tap her shoulder, “Don’t worry about it. As far as I can tell Stephan likes his women tender.”
***
“This is going to take a while, why didn’t we just run there?” Xavier was still complaining about using the car. “Don’t get me wrong Solara, it is a nice piece of machinery, but it’s not fast enough.”
“Don’t worry about it, as soon as we get to a less populated area, preferably somewhere with a lot of trees we will go the rest of the way on foot.” Stephan decided to put him out of his misery. They always drove there but Xavier was too impatient. He also wanted to get there as soon as possible so that he could get back to Scarlet.
They ran the rest of the way as promised, they were all fast on their feet but Stephan was much faster. When they got to the house, Stephan took the lead. He didn’t want Mathias to see Solara or the beasts first and think he was being attacked.
He knocked on the door and waited for the usual old man to open, but it was a beautiful Asian girl who was there. They let her lead them to the living room where the vampire in question was. He sat in his chair in the dark corner. It was a very strategic place to sit. He could see all the exits and entries in the room.
“Stephan. I was sure you will be here today.”
Stephan’s gaze followed the Asian girl as she sat on the arm of the chair Mathias sat in.
“There was a bit of a scuffle and the old man lost. But I think she is more inviting.”
“That is not my concern Mathias. I am here about what we talked about.”
“Why don’t you introduce me to the beasts’ first zookeeper?”
Stephan was offended by the remark but decided to ignore it. He was pleased that Xavier and Sam didn’t react to it either.
“Xavier, Sam and you know Solara.” They each nodded to their names, all except Solara.
“Yes we have met. So I suppose you have brought them into the fold”. Mathias stood from the chair and met them at the center of the room.
“They helped last night and have volunteered to help me.” Stephan held his hands behind his back as he spoke, making his shoulder muscles look bigger.
“You mean to die.” He chuckled, “Yes I heard about what happened last night.”
Solara took a step forward, towards Mathias. He was sure he had something to do with it and the grin he had on his face when he referred to Marcie’s death set him off. Sam quickly stepped beside him and placed his hand on his chest.
Mathias looked at Solara but showed no sign of attacking or retreating. He stood his ground and only his eyes followed Solara around.
“Zen was here last night.” He returned his gaze to Stephan, “He told me what he did and he was very pleased with himself.” He chuckled once. “He told me he knew where you were, but instead of going at you directly, he was going to cause as much pain before he finally kills you.”
“He is just a coward. If he thinks he will wear me down he is wrong.” Stephan was determined to stay strong. He had to make sure Scarlet was safe. She only had six weeks before she left for Washington, where she would be much safer away from the craziness he attracted.
“He knows the house, but he doesn’t know who lives there.” Solara’s head tilted to the side while he read Mathias’ mind. “He plans to attack again, but only when he has the hunters with him. But he won’t do it immediately. He is going to take his time to prepare.”
Mathias stared at him, “You know it is very rude to eavesdrop.”
Xavier spoke up for the first time since they got there, “We also prepare, and while we do that anticipate his attack.”
Stephan slightly turned his head to look at Solara, “So he doesn’t know about Scarlet.”
“Yes, he does,” Mathias spoke up before Solara could. “He knows her by name though. He says the girl he killed kept calling her phone to reach you.”
Stephan looked at Solara to confirm it and with a nod he did. The only thing that worried him was how Zen had found him. He knew how the other vampires had found him, with Vincent’s scent. But that was only because they wanted Vincent, and him being with him was a bonus on their part.
“How did he find us?” His head was still inclined at Solara. This was important and he didn’t want anything to be left out.
“The seer.” Mathias was laughing harder, “Zen visited him and he spilled the beans. He told him about Solara and his strange friend and told him where to find you. So Zen went to the house but didn’t find anyone, then he…”
Solara jumped in at this point, “he went to the diner. He was going to go in until he saw you talking to Marcie outback. He thought you were attached to her, so he waited for her to be alone. And when the opportunity finally presented itself he killed her.” Solara’s voice trailed off on the last word.
“Anyway, he killed the seer. Which I think was a bad judgment call.” Stephan face changed from amusement to a deathly expression, “because he won’t see it when I finally kill him.” his whole body language changed. His fingers were balled into a fist and his eyes turned blood red.
Xavier was glad, they needed all the help they could get and anyone who wanted Zen dead was welcome. The remark about him volunteering for his death still lingered in his mind. They hadn’t ever faced the vampires in a fight, so he didn’t know how their tactics or what numbers they would come in. They only received the usual training from their elders, most of them had fought against them and won.
“I assume you and your coven will join us.” Xavier took a step forward.
“I will join, but as for the rest of the coven, they will have to decide for themselves. This house is run on free will. I will reach you once the decision has been made.” Mathias stepped back into the dark corner where his chair was.
Stephan and the others left the house. He knew Mathias had to discuss it with his people. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to convince them to walk to their deaths. He only hoped that there were others there who hated Zen as much as he did.
“Solara, what made Mathias decide to join us?” Stephan wasn’t sure why he had quickly come to that decision.
“Zen asked him to join him and he said no. So on his way out, he took off the old man’s head. Mathias surprisingly cares for the people in that house and wasn’t too happy that Zen had openly challenged him like that.”
Solara was driving as fast as the car could. He was anxious to get back home, especially since he found out Zen knew where they lived, and was planning another attack. His eyes darted to his phone every two seconds, he was worried that Kayla hadn’t called him, but was glad because it meant everything was fine.
“Do you think we can trust him?” he directed the question to Solara, he was the only one who was familiar to his mind.