Sanctuary

Chapter 13

Jaynah

"Oh. I'm so sorry. No one should have to lose their parents at that age." I glanced at her and couldn't sense any falsehood in her sympathy. She seemed to be genuine in her sorrow.

I smiled and took hold of her hands. "Thank you. But I was lucky. My brother could take care of me until I graduated and could look after myself. Plus the whole community in Lyon gathered around us to help."

"Lyon? You're French?" Fiona's face worked itself into a frown as her mind raced to put things together.

"Half French. My mother was English. She took my sire's name when they mated."

"What was her name?"

My eyes searched her face for any reason she would be interested in that, but she wasn't giving anything away. "Katrina Gallagher. When she mated my sire, she became Katrina Durand. Most called her Kate though."

A smile that held a tinge of embarrassment appeared on her face and the tension she was holding herself with, drained from her. "For a moment, you reminded me of an orphan I raised back in Scotland, except she was a blonde." She kissed me in French fashion, on both cheeks, then clasped my hands in hers as she stepped back again. "I hope you stay and pull this young man into line. He was always getting into trouble when he was younger."

"Hey! Half the trouble I got into was because of Kelly!"

Fiona laughed and nodded her head in agreement. "I don't know who was worse."

"Well we're both in for trouble. I think Julian and Tami will be just as bad."

Fiona shook her head and smiled, a twinkle in her eyes that told me she knew, or suspected, more than she was letting on. "No. Those two will be worse. Better stock up on gunna paste and tissues. I know I'm going to." Her words confirmed it. She knew more than she was telling. "I'll join you another night. Pete and Rachel asked me to eat with them tonight."

"Kind of reminds you of your grandmother, doesn't she?" Luke's voice startled me and I blushed as I nodded in response. "Don't worry. She has that effect on most people. She's one of the few people I've seen get Duncan behaving like a naughty schoolboy when she scolds him."

Laughter bubbled to the surface before I could control it. "She scolds Duncan? I didn't think it was possible."

Luke winked at me. It was hard not to match his grin. "Fiona has been the stronghold's grandmother since just after it was built. She was one of the first teachers assigned here, and she's been friends with Duncan since they were kids."

"Please tell me she wasn't his Kelly."

"Nah. She was his Caitlyn." The confusion I felt must have made itself plain on my face. Luke laughed and explained himself. "Caitlyn was a den mother to Dad, Jess and their friends when they were growing up. They were all so close that when vampires killed her younger brother Tom, no one thought twice, they descended on Sydney to be there for both Caitlyn and Mike."

"Tom was Caitlyn's brother? Mike said nothing about it."

"Mike told you about Tom? That's the first time he's talked to anyone about him in twenty years."

I turned to face Dieter, a small frown creasing my brow. "I kind of forced the issue. When I got off the plane in Sydney, I could see how close he was to Jess. So I asked why he hadn't bonded with her."

Dieter grinned as we made our way through the queue to get our food. "I'm impressed."

My shoulders lifted as a small smile crept onto my face. "I think he was just glad to have someone who didn't know Tom to talk to. Surrounded by people who knew and loved Tom, who also looked to him for leadership. He may not have felt like he could talk to anyone without making that person's grief worse."