Wading through the sea of Tracey's hope for her upcoming future with the love of her life, I hoped she was able to let Ben's oddities go. For one, I didn't want her to ever find out what Teren and I were. And secondly, I wanted my good friend to be happy, not always questioning whether her husband was a good man or not. He was. Aside from the secrets he was forced to keep, Ben was loyal and honest, entirely devoted to her.
Hearing the conversation emanating from the kitchen, our trio headed that way. Tracey was leaning back against the counter, a champagne bottle clenched in her hand. In between questions, she was chugging. Seeing three more bottles behind her, I figured she was also sampling wines for the nuptials.
Finally hearing us, she turned her head mid gulp. She didn't finish the process and wine sputtered everywhere. Coughing on the harsh liquid, her eyes widened drastically. "What are you guys doing here?"
Her eyes flashed over to Halina, narrowing to points. Tracey had always thought the vixen had messed around with Ben. And it was sort of true, Halina had enjoyed messing with him, just not like how Tracey pictured. She'd once gotten a kick out of tormenting a terrified Ben, chiding him for a fear that she'd loved to provoke. That had ended the day he'd staked a vamp though.
Her eyes never leaving Halina, Tracey said to Ben, "What is she doing here?"
Halina smirked and stepped forward. Teren sighed and stepped forward too. Tracey's eyes immediately locked onto him, remembering that she believed that he was the true psychopath in the room. I had to bite my lip to not smile. Tracey's caution over Halina was way more on the mark than her analysis of Teren.
Tilting her head, Halina stepped in between her and Teren, breaking Tracey's connection with him. Hot Ben put a hand on Tracey's arm, but directed his comment to Halina. "Don't take too much," his brow furrowed attractively, "and let her think we all had a good time tonight."
Halina rolled her eyes as Tracey's face snapped to Ben's. "What the holy hell is going on around here?"
Halina's fingers snatched her chin, dragging Tracey's attention back to her. The blonde started shaking with the contact as she held gazes with the intimidating vampire. As I stepped forward, to offer whatever comfort I could, Halina began to speak.
"Relax."
Tracey instantly stopped shaking, turning into putty in Halina's hands. Halina's fingers ran back through her blonde hair, curling a long strand between them. In a soothing voice that she often used on the children, she told her, "Tonight, you went to a movie with your friends. You had a wonderful time, and then you came home to spend the remainder of your evening with Ben." Flicking a quick glance at him, she added, "He rocked your world for hours, giving you multiple satisfying releases."
Tracey smiled softly as Hot Ben turned bright red. Teren beside me dropped his head and shook it back and forth, a wry smile on his lips.
Halina continued while I tried not to laugh. "You will remember nothing of a note written in blood. You will not think your fiance and friends are hiding anything from you, and you will not believe that Teren is capable of murder." As Tracey stared silently at Halina, I whispered something to the vampire. Giving me a crooked grin, she twisted back to Tracey. "And you will choose the teal bridesmaid dresses over the obnoxious pink ones."
I smiled and Teren shook his head at me disapprovingly. I shrugged; he hadn't seen the god awful cotton candy color she'd been leaning towards.
After Halina was done with her, Tracey was calm, collected, and slightly dazed. Recognizing the same look of near hypnotic peace from when Halina had altered Carrie's memories, I figured it had worked. That and the fact that Tracey was no longer yelling at us. Hot Ben smiled and kissed her and Tracey virtually ignored the three of us. She quite possibly didn't even see us, since Halina had told her that she'd come home with Ben alone to...finish off their evening. As their kiss started deepening dramatically, I started to think that that part of their evening may not just be a suggested memory after all.
Teren and I physically pulled Halina away from the pair as Tracey starting lifting up Hot Ben's shirt. Once out of eyeshot of Ben's very nicely shaped body, Halina focused again on what really mattered to her - Gabriel.
Her expression tight, she held her hand out to Teren. "Show me."
Teren grabbed the note from his pocket, handing the distressed paper to her. Her eyes flicked over the page, her brows furrowing as her lips compressed. Her head snapped back up to Teren. "You saw him? He gave this to you?"
Teren nodded, then shrugged. "He never approached us, but he clearly left it for us to pick up."
Halina hissed then looked up at the sky. Feeling how much time was left before the sun reached her, she shifted her gaze down south. "I have to get this to Gabriel. I have to tell him what happened."
She made to immediately blur away, but Teren grabbed her arm. Her pale eyes swung back to him, fear there, buried under the bravado. "Be careful around him." Teren shrugged." I don't want you to find yourself... in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Halina nodded, but seemed torn. I could see that she wanted to stay near her family, stay safe for their sake. I could also see that she'd willing throw herself in front of a stake if it meant saving the man she loved. Having to choose was starting to make her face show its age, emotionally if not physically.
Placing a hand on Teren's arm and then my own, she looked between the two of us. "I don't see why he would bother you again, since he's gotten his message through loud and clear, but..." she bit her lip, "be careful."
Teren nodded and squeezed her tight. She hugged him, twisted to quickly hug me, then dashed out of sight, to the other house of vampires that she called home.
Chapter 16 Full House
Teren and I kept a mental tab on Halina as we headed over to pick up our kids a little while later. The vampire was quickly streaking away from us, running rather than driving. She did that whenever she was in a hurry, since she could fly faster than any sports car on the planet. It exhausted her on long journeys, but she'd do it if it was necessary. And streaking to Gabriel was a necessity to her.
I thought of the teenage vampire explaining our evening to him and squeezed Teren's hand tighter. Shutting the car off in my mom's drive, he looked over at me. His jaw under that perfect layer of light stubble clenched as he thought about our evening too. Twisting to me, he nodded his head at my mom's house. "Maybe we should have your mom spend the night for a few days...just to help us keep an eye on the kids."
I looked through the warm, cheery glass of my mom's front windows. I knew he wasn't really worried about keeping eyes on the kids. We could sense them. A child of ours being abducted wasn't really a concern for us. But my mom and Ash didn't spout GPS like the rest of my family. He wanted her close to keep an eye on her.
Twisting back to him, I nodded. "Yeah...Ash too."
He nodded grimly, then relaxed his face into a smile. "It's probably nothing, Great-Gran is right, we did our part. He has no real reason to come near us again." His eyes twisted to where we could feel our kids hovering around the front door, waiting for us. "He has no reason to come anywhere near our family."
I nodded and kissed his hand before letting him go. We'd probably never see that vampiric thief again, but I'd sure feel better with my untraceable family members close enough to hear.
Stepping out of the car, we walked up to the door together. It slowly opened as we approached. I smiled at the angelic face of my daughter in the cracked opening. She flung it wide and rushed out to me. "Mommy!"
Laughing, I nuzzled my face into hers as I picked her up. Julian was a step behind her, flinging himself into Teren's arms. "Daddy!"
We looked at each other, squeezing them tight.
My mom showed up a moment later, her face, while not surprised to see us since the twins would have alerted her to our return, seemed confused over why we were back so early. "That bad?" she asked.
I blinked until I understood that she meant the movie we'd been heading out to see. It seemed a lifetime ago, so much had happened that had deterred us from what was probably a horrid remake anyway. I still would have rather seen it than what we had. I frowned as I walked into her house. "Yes and no."
While I vaguely explained what had gone down, mainly that a nice man had given us a message to give to Grandpa Gabby, Teren sped-wrote a note to my mom. He handed it to her while I bounced Nika on my knee. My mom's deep brown eyes widened as she read it.
Teren and I both kept up calm, comforting smiles, not wanting to spook the kids, and my mom sputtered a few times before throwing on her no-care-in-the-world grin. Teren had asked her to come over in the note, just as a precaution, and looking between the two of us, she nodded. Kneeling down to Julian standing by Teren's side, holding his hand, she asked, "Julian, would you like it if Grandma came to stay with you for a few days?"
Julian's mouth dropped open like she'd just asked him if he wanted Santa Claus to come early. Nodding and smiling wide, he broke apart from Teren to clasp her body in a hug. Nika quickly joined him, clapping her hands. Exclaiming their joy and agreeance at her idea, they shifted to me simultaneously. "Can Grandma come over, Mommy?"
Maintaining my smile, even though it felt a little tight to me, I locked eyes with my mom. "I think that would be a great idea." Standing up, I put my hands on my hip. "In fact, we should make it a party. We should see if Auntie Ash wants to come too."
My mother subtly nodded at me as the kids cheered even louder. Once we gathered up all the kids' various toys and treats, and my mom packed up an overnight bag, we headed over to Ashley's. She naturally seemed surprised to see us. "Hey," she looked past Teren and I, to our mom sitting in-between the twins in the car, tickling Julian's belly, "what's going on?"
Sighing, Teren showed her the exact same note he'd shown my mom earlier. Her deep brown eyes widened just like hers had. "Oh, oh, yeah...okay. Let me just get some stuff."
Twisting to head into the house, she paused. Looking back our way, her brow furrowed, she shook her head. "Should Christian come over too?"
I smiled that Ashley had someone to worry about. Shaking my head, I shrugged. "This is just a precaution, Ash. Nothing's going on." I smiled encouragingly. "Your boyfriend's perfectly safe." As safe as any of us are, I guess. I didn't mention that to her though.
Shutting the bright red door of our grandmother's home behind her, Ashley followed us back to our place in her car. Teren unpacked the kids and helped everyone remove their bags from the cars while I converted one of the rooms upstairs from a playroom to a guest bedroom. Against their wishes, Teren and I immediately put the kids to bed. It took some coaxing, since mom had hopped them up on sugary ice cream not too long ago.
After wrangling my daughter back into her bed for the hundredth time, I finally got her to stay there. It wasn't too much longer that I heard the yawns and goodnights start. Knowing their high was wearing off and they'd be asleep soon, I walked downstairs to where I could hear my husband talking with Mom and Ashley in the living room.
Once I joined the trio, Mom put on her serious face. "Okay, so tell me what's going on. The real story, not the one you water down so you won't worry me." She raised an eyebrow at me and I sighed. "Who is having you deliver threatening messages, and why?"