Around dinner time that night, Torsten called to let us know that he was boarding a train with Dexter to Boston. This surprised us all to know ends.
"Do you think he's trying to shake us off his trail?" Riona asked.
"No, I was there when Rowanne gave him specific instructions to check in on Sophia and Vincent."
"So does that mean either Vincent or my Mom could be in Boston?" Ruby asked.
"It could be just one of many stops, Rubes." Rowanne added wisely. "May be he's getting a connection from Boston to somewhere else."
"To Salem?" Lee asked.
"I doubt he'd put them in the Witch capital of the world when he knew these Preachers or Witch hunters, whatever you want to call them, would be searching for Witches and the like." Nana said, pouring out tea as we all gathered round the dining room table. "What we need to do now is find safe houses for us all to stay. I love having you all here but there's just not enough room to accommodate you all and, I can imagine, it's not too comfortable either."
"Perhaps Rowanne and I could take Ruby to her mother's cottage near Penn Peaks?" Riona suggested.
"Yes, if you could take Lee with you that would be appreciated."
"We could go back to our place." Leonard said, pouring himself a mug of coffee.
"Though we will always be close by." Riley promised, speaking only to me.
"Stay." I whispered.
"If you insist." He smirks.
"Can I move down from the loft?" Matilda asks, anxiously.
"Why?" Nana asks confused.
Matilda sighs, "To be honest, I'm just a little frightened of being on my own. What with Chrisitian..."
The unfinished sentence hung heavily in the air around us.
"She can bunk with me." Dulcie offered. "I don't mind."
"Well, if that's all right with Matilda it's all right with me." Nana smiled kindly.
The following morning I woke to find Riona, Rowanne, Ruby, Nana and Lee already up at the breakfast table, their bags and cases gathered at the foot of the stairs already.
"Wow, you're not wasting any time are you?"
"It's better if we go early so we can settle in properly."
"Just let me change and I'll take you over."
Taking the stairs two at a time, I rushed back to find my bedroom empty. Riley had spent the night, just like I'd asked him to, after scaling the porch roof and climbing through my open window. Now he was nowhere to be seen.
"Riley?" I whisper.
"Behind you." Came his voice from behind the door.
I snap the door shut to find Riley smiling down at me. Taking me in his arms, he lazily carries me back to bed, kissing me all the while.
"You slept well last night." He commented.
"The best I've slept in weeks. Did you?"
"Sound as a pound, love." He said, trailing kisses down my jaw.
I gasp. "I said I'd take the others to Sophia's cottage on Ivy Row. Do you want to come with?"
"Sure. Let me get dressed."
A smile stretches broadly over my lips as I watch in awe as this finely sculptured vamp pulls on his jeans and shirt from yesterday. He begins to climb back out the way he came in as I start to pull on a clean red sweater, skinny black jeans and a pair of playful canvas pumps. The moment my right foot leaves the bottom step, the doorbell rings. I smiled as I allow Riley across the threshold.
