Brother Blood

Chapter 10: the ex

"Stefa."

My breath came in shallow spurts as I processed the implications. Ralph and Mel seemed more concerned about Grant's appearance in the living room than the news. We hadn't told them the whole story, and now, it was going to put my pack face to face with a powerful, angry vampire.

"My god," Grant sighed. "I bet she followed my father and is waiting for news. I wouldn't doubt she's with the rest of your men at the hotel. We're dead. We're dead men walking."

"She won't kill me," I pointed out.

"Tell me she won't kill everyone between you and her," Grant snapped.

"She won't," I replied. "If she's trying to win me back, she won't kill anyone. If she wanted to butcher my pack, then we'd already be dead. Since we're not, I assume she has other plans."

"You would know her best," Grant conceded.

Mr. Danube was still standing slack jawed in the middle of all this. He watched Grant as if he didn't recognize him, but I supposed Grant's pale skin and angular face would be new to his father.

"You've turned," Mr. Danube's voice caught, and he looked away, focusing his attention on Ralph and Mel. "What is this place? I knew that Conor was a strange werewolf, but you are assuredly human, right?"

"Peter, I think you are be the only human on the property," Mel told him. "And you have just complicated our lives more than you know." She turned to Grant and me. "What do we do now?"

"Have my father call his men and tell them there's been a misunderstanding. Conor was here, but he and his family moved out to Wisconsin just last week," Grant said, pacing the hardwood floors with purpose. "We need to at least throw her off our scent. Conor, you and I have to stay in the house for at least the next couple of days. That'll buy us some time, but she'll know she's been lied to and will come back here in a week or so." He shuddered. "Never in a thousand years did I think Stefa was going to be the problem."

"Um, apologies for speaking out of turn, but wasn't Stefa Conor's girlfriend?" Aidan asked. "Why is she so scary?"

"I drink Conor's blood and I can go outside and help feed cows," Grant said. "Stefa drinks his blood, she can go on an invincible war path slaughtering anyone who opposed her. She can step out in broad daylight. If she feels like sharing, then so can her army. We would be tipping the balance of a vampire war in her favor."

"The balance is already in her favor," Mr. Danube grumbled. "Someone has put a sudden halt to the massacres in the Midwest. Hunters are turning up dead without warning; vampires' heads are being mailed to our facilities. If this is Stefa, she's purging the damn country." He inspected me for a moment. "And she was interested in you? No offense, but you don't seem her type."

Grant snorted. "Stefa loves Conor. She had me rip apart an entire campus of hunters, murdering dozens of people because Conor got hurt. I don't think it has to do with type as much as obsession."

The members of the pack were emerging from the hallway. Most of them hadn't really heard what happened to me and they definitely didn't know what happened to Grant. I didn't like the look of fear that passed over Katie and Susie Lynn's faces. Grant noticed it too and stared at his feet.

Mr. Danube didn't say anything, but his eyes moved from me back to his son.

"Made you?" he choked out.

"No," Grant said quietly. "The only thing Stefa did was introduce me to human blood. The rest happened when I turned. You know what happens to fresh vampires."

He stepped back to leave the room, but Aidan stopped him.

"We have to talk about this," Aidan said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "As a pack and as a team. What is our plan? We're beyond containment. I think that Grant is right. Call your team off and send the search to Florida or wherever. The rest of us are safe."

"Sending Stefa away gives us time to plan," Ralph mused.

"No, it doesn't," Grant said. "Conor and I have to get out of here and we'll need that time to get as far away from here and..."

They all started talking at once. Ralph and Mel argued that I wasn't going anywhere and Katie grabbed Aidan's arm, chattering about how I just got back. Mr. Danube used the confusion to move towards Grant. Slowly, as they were yelling at each other, I backed out of the room and out the front door, into the stormy weather. It wasn't snowing yet, but grey clouds were rolling in and the temperature was cold and biting. I sighed, knowing that I wouldn't get very far. Instead of running away, I rounded the house, opening my window to slip back into my room to climb inside. The covers were rumpled from my pack sleeping on the bed with me, and I pulled these under my chin when I got into bed.

Stefa had found me. Of course, we didn't know for sure, but I had known in my heart that she would come looking for me as soon as the orders wore off. I almost wanted to see her again, I wanted to believe that she was sorry for what had happened in New Mexico. I missed her; I'd be lying if I didn't.

"Conor!" I heard Mel shout.

I curled up tighter in the comforter, unwilling to move. Others started calling my name and I just stayed in bed for a little longer. They were all making decisions for me. No one asked me what I wanted. Everyone wanted to protect me as if I was the fragile one, but I had survived more than they had. I had been a wolf. I had tangled with a werewolf and survived. I had been kidnapped, tortured, pitted in fights against vampires, hunters and werewolves. I had fallen in love. I wasn't dead. I wasn't broken. I was sometimes inarticulate about my feelings, but that didn't mean everyone could speak for me.

Even I knew that hiding wasn't a good idea. I heard the door open and someone sit down next to me, brushing my hair out of my face. It reminded me of Stefa and I flinched away.

"Hey," said Katie's voice. "I thought I would find you down here. They're looking for you all over the farm now."

"I know," I said, sitting up in the bed. "I'm sorry."

"They like to argue over you, don't they?" she remarked. "I could hardly hear myself think upstairs. We still should go let them know you're okay. You know," she squeezed my shoulders; "I seem to remember a crazy scrawny young man who just a couple months ago who told me to stand up for myself."

"That young man hadn't been collared so he couldn't speak, couldn't shift. That young man would be left on a treadmill for hours and run until he was too weak to stand." I sighed, resting my head on Katie's shoulder. "Everyone thinks they knows what I want."

"What do you want?" she inquired softly.

"I want to talk to Stefa," I replied. "I can reason with her. She wants me; she'll leave everyone else alone."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Katie remarked. "But if that's what you want."

When I nodded, she released me, rising from my bed. I detangled myself from my sheets and stood as well. I took a deep breath and headed out the door, Katie following behind.

____