Lena was put into bed that evening by Rusti. "You know, I'm kind of too old for this," she smiled as Rusti tucked her in.

"I know. But I missed seeing you for a long time," said the redhead as she sat on the side of the teenager's bed.

Looking hesitant at first, she finally said, "There are things that no one will tell me. Why won't they tell me?"

"Why are you asking me, Lena?" she asked with a small smile.

"My aunt, she- she thinks I can't handle it. But I think I can. I know I can! I can tell that everyone in this house, except for me and her, are not human. I can tell you're not human anymore, either," she shrugged, "but I know and I'm okay with it. But she still won't talk to me about it."

Rusti sighed. "Remember the first time you met me and you spoke to me, just not with direct words?"

"Yes."

"Your aunt, she's not good with that. You were open about it because you were so young. I mean, you were practically still just a baby. You saw that we were the same and you were excited about it. It takes her a little bit longer to acknowledge that stuff because growing up she was the only one…until we met. So do her and yourself a favor. Don't get angry with her because she takes awhile to accept this stuff. Give her some time. She'll tell you. And if she won't tell you, maybe she'll give Andriev permission to tell you instead."

Lena shook her head, not satisfied, but ready to take Rusti's word for it. "Okay."

Rusti leaned forward and looked into the girl's eyes. "I need you to understand that when people keep secrets, they don't do it to hurt you on purpose. At least not most of the time they don't. They do it because they think they're doing what's right for you. They sometimes forget that-" she faltered in her words and sighed as she shrugged. "But always remember, we're all here to protect you," she reassured her. "There are lots of people now who will always want to protect you."

"People like you?" she fished.

"Lena," she warned with the shake of her finger.

"All right. Yes, I know."

Rusti saw that the teenager had another question. But she saw the smile the girl was barely holding in. "What is it?"

"Is it true?" she whispered. "Is Desari actually coming here? Danica said you travel with the band or something, that you're the mechanic? Is that true?"

The redhead grinned. "Yes, I'm the mechanic and I travel with them. You do know that my husband that you're so scared of is her older brother, right? He's head of security-"

Lena sat straight up in bed and did a full-on teenager fan scream! "Ahhhhhh! For REAL!? Her brother!"

"Keep it down!" said Rusti, but she couldn't stop herself from laughing at the girl's reaction. Her acute hearing picked up the sound Carpathian males rushing to a female's rescue. "You've done it now."

Both males, Andriev and Darius, came bursting through the doorway with preternatural speed. Lena looked patently embarrassed, but still excited. "Is it true?" her words rushed out at Darius as she jumped up and out of bed and grasped his arms, eyes wide with excitement, "Are you Desari's brother? Really actually her for real brother? The cameras never catch you fully! I've seen only half your face in a tabloid picture!" Lena edited out the thought of The National Enquirer's claims that the band was full of vampires. There was some truth to that claim, but like everything else lately, she saw the truth was hinged somewhere in the middle. She didn't care at that point. "Oh my goodness, am I actually going to get to meet her? I love her song Just Be True, oh my God!" she said as she jumped up and down. "And her song Don't Say 'Never' helped me when my parents died! Oh my goodness, is she actually really coming here? Like to my house? Natalia is going to flip OUT!"

Andriev reminded her, "You are supposed to be in bed, young lady."

Without giving it a second thought, Lena jumped back into bed and began pulling the covers up around her but continued talking, "But is she really really coming here? Like for real?"

Darius' found his heart softening. This young girl who had been through so much was in a flurry of excitement over the visit of a celebrity. "Yes, my sister is coming here. She should be here tomorrow with-"

"Are you okay!" said Danica as she finally made it upstairs and through the door. "You guys are fast," she panted, only slightly out of breath from sprinting up the steps so quickly. She was grateful for her regular gym workouts.

"You didn't tell me that Desari was coming here! Actually HERE!" Lena said with still wide eyes.

"Ah, yes, the scream," Dani shook her head, hands on her hips. "Okay, I'm surprised you're still in bed after finding that out."

Rusti laughed. "Andriev made her get back in."

"Okay, okay, I'm good now," said Lena as she raised both hands and did an exaggerated exhaling sigh, visibly calming herself. She began lying backward. "I'm going to bed now, y'all."

"What happened to you?" asked Rusti.

"If I stay up too late, she takes a video game away for a week," whispered the teenager as she flicked her eyes quickly at her aunt whom was standing there with her arms now folded, a no-nonsense expression on her face. "I'm this close to beating this game and I can't have it taken away now."

The redhead laughed and leaned down, gave the girl a kiss on the forehead. "Sleep well."

"I will."

Everyone filed out of the room. "Should we close the door?" asked Rusti.

"No," Danica whispered as the men preceded them down the stairs. "She gets terrible nightmares. And I mean they're terrible. She wakes up in a cold sweat screaming sometimes. I used to sleep in her room on the floor and it made her feel better for awhile to know I was there. Then she kicked me out, said she was too old for me to be sleeping in her room."

"Teenagers," Rusti smiled. But she was sad that the girl was having such terrible nightmares. "You've done an amazing job with her," she whispered when they reached the very bottom of the stairs.

Dani looked over at the two men speaking with one another to make certain they couldn't overhear. She turned and looked back at her friend, tears threatening to slip free. "Rusti, I don't know what I'm doing with her. I never thought I'd have kids, you know, what with the way I feel about men…well, most men," she laughed as she gave Andriev a sideways glance. "And I've got a teenager now? She's a really good kid, but she's been through so much she didn't deserve to happen to her! And she just keeps on trucking and keeps on smiling and that's not because of me. My sister raised her that way. I woke up one day and I was a single parent and I have no idea what I'm doing! I don't know if I'm raising her right. If I'm too hard or too soft on her? I don't know," she admitted as tears finally rolled down her face.

Rusti saw Andriev approaching to comfort Danica. "You're one of the strongest people I know," said Rusti to Danica as she hugged the much taller woman. "Your sister started an excellent job with Lena and you'll complete an excellent job with her. I can already see it happening."

Andriev reached them both and removed the tall woman from the petite ladies grasp, pulled Danica so very close to him, enveloped her in his arms. "Your friend is correct. I have seen into you. You are made of the strongest materials. And you are making the child into the same. Do not underestimate who and what you are."

Rusti saw that Dani sank into Andriev's large arms. Her heart warmed to see a friend of hers so comforted by another, but she wondered if Dani would be able to choose sooner rather than later the path she needed to take.

She looked over at Darius and remembered how she had forced his hand in completing the conversion process. Do not remind me of your defiance of me, my Tempest, came Darius' thought into her mind. She found herself giggling. He never appreciated her not listening to him.

Too bad, tough guy!

Dani was very tempted to stay there in the man's arms. Everything about him beckoned, welcomed her to remain exactly where she stood. But she knew there were things that needed to be discussed. She tried to disengage herself from Andriev's grasp. The furthest she got was removing herself from his arms, but he maintained a serious hold on one of her hands. She shook her head and said, "Let's talk about Lena. I need some answers about all of this while she's upstairs."

The adults took advantage of the fact that they were able to speak, unedited, for the first time that evening and gathered in her living room. Darius sat on the loveseat taking Rusti with him. Danica sat on the couch and Andriev sat next to her, still holding onto her hand. She tried to ignore the fact that he was positively huge next to her, and she was not a small woman as it was. Just having him there made her heart jump.

"What's going to happen now?" asked Danica of the two men, trying to distract herself from her feelings for the Carpathian sitting next to her. "I mean, once Julian gets here, what happens then?"

"We wait," said Darius. "It is inevitable. The vampire will return to the area in search of the child. And we will be waiting for him."

"Do you not think it would perhaps be better for us to find his lair?" asked Andriev. "First strike. He would not expect us to do so."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" asked Danica, openly worried.

"Yes, it would be," said Darius. "However, with three hunters we would stand a better chance of success. But there is one part to that scenario that I do not like."

Both men turned and looked at the women staring at them. "Oh, you have to be kidding me!" Rusti said with a shake of her head. "You're afraid of leaving the womenfolk alone?"

"It is a concern," said Darius.

"It is a legitimate concern," Andriev added with one agreeable nod of his head in Darius' direction.

"Oh, well, if stupid comes in doubles I see them right in my living room!" shouted Dani.

Rusti found herself laughing behind her hand. "They are infuriating, aren't they?" she said almost under her breath.

"If I affect you so," said Andriev to Danica, "then you must have deep feelings for me."

"Oh, the arrogance!" said Danica as she tried to get him to release her hand. He wouldn't. "It's like he glued it on, or something!" she nearly wailed as she continually tried to shake him loose.

He released her hand, but then pulled her close under his shoulder and held her there. "We are simply discussing the facts this night. Once Julian comes, the equation will change again. He may agree to stay behind and keep an eye on the family home."

"So then there's only two of you going up against a vampire that's what, how old? Nearly a master, you said?" Rusti shook her head. "No way, guys. Bad idea. Safety in numbers. If I don't know anything else about this combat thing, I know that."

"And what if during our search for him he leaves his place of rest and diverts here?" asked Darius.

"What about my shield?" asked Danica. "He hasn't been able to find Lena because of it. Andriev says it's a natural shield and nothing can be detected while I'm around. What about that?"

Darius looked at Andriev as if to say, 'why did you tell her the truth of her ability?' "I could not lie to my lifemate," shrugged Andriev at the unasked question.

Darius then pulled Rusti to sit under his shoulder as he put his arm around her and she rolled her eyes, but let him do so. "Your shield may yet be penetrable. We do not know this for a fact. It is a risk I would rather not take," Darius admitted.

"Why don't you put safeguards on the house?" asked Rusti.

"Safeguards?" asked Danica.

"It's kind of like spells," her friend clarified.

"So now you're engaging in muo fa? Witchcraft?" asked Danica, horrified.

We subsist on blood and witchcraft is your main concern? Andriev laughed in her mind.

She turned and smacked at his big chest, but all she succeeded in doing was hurting her hand a little. She felt her blood begin to melt in her veins when he lifted her hand as he held intense eye-contact with her and slowly kissed it. What was that shiver going up her arms. She cleared her chest and shook off the effect. "Spells?" she asked, wondering if he was using some kind of wizardry on her at that moment.

"It is from our association with an ancient race that has since died out," he answered. "They taught us many secrets. And safeguards, warding is the word you might understand, is one of those secrets we use to protect ourselves and the ones we love."

Danica sat there and realized how far in over her head she was. She thought she could do this. She thought she could roll with this for Lena's sake. "I'm going to have to," she whispered to herself as she looked toward the stairway. That girl upstairs was worth whatever it took. But she looked over at Andriev and wondered what kind of life could she have with him without converting into one of his people? Why should she even have to do that? She looked over at Rusti and what she had become. She looked the same…almost. But she couldn't walk in daylight anymore or even eat food, this she knew. How was she going to take care of Lena that way in the daytime? It was all happening too fast.

She eased herself out of Andriev's grasp and stood. He understood that at that moment he needed to let her go and he let her stand up. She began pacing back and forth as she said aloud, "I'm her mom now. So you have to find this guy and take him out, okay? He can't be allowed to hurt her. Bad enough as it is she's having nightmares worse than before and- you have to take him out," she said as she looked back and forth between the men, tears in her eyes. "I don't like the thought of anyone dying, but if all he's going to do is try over and over to take her from me and do God knows what with her, he can't live anymore. This Julian, if he wants to stay with us and make you feel better about leaving us alone so you can focus, fine, do that. Do whatever it takes and do it soon."

Andriev did not like the thought of a male he did not know coming near her, even if he was another student of Gregori. At least this male here at the house was Gregori's younger brother. But he forced himself to concentrate on the moment. He would deal with whoever Julian was later. He could his Danica was truly aggrieved at the thought of someone being killed. "My love, this being condemned himself to this life the moment he fed for the power of the kill," he said as he stood and held her shoulders, forced her to look up into his eyes. "He is no longer truly living. His sole mission in life is to cause hurt, death and mayhem. He must be consigned to death before he inflicts more hurt upon the world than it already contains."

"How do you say that so easily?" she asked. "How do you kill so easily?"

"Because I am darkness," he admitted. "You are now the only thing keeping me from that path. That or-"

It felt like a spear in her side. "Don't say that again," she begged, holding her hand to his mouth. "Don't talk about walking into the sun like it's nothing, all right? I don't know what I'm going to do about this, about us! I don't know what's happening here. I admit that I'm really confused. But I don't want you to think you have to do that anymore, okay?"

"You must understand the darkness in me, Danica," he insisted as he looked down into her lovely silver eyes. "I do not want you to be shocked at what you see when you finally decide to merge your mind with mine."

"How can you be all darkness?" she asked as she looked up at him not realizing the look of adoration she was giving him. "Look how you've been to Lena! She's not even yours and already you think about her first. I don't believe you're darkness. I just don't. You've had it rough, that's all. It will make anyone turn kind of hard." She turned and looked over at Darius and then back at Andriev. "How long do your brothers still out there have to do this? Running around, saving the world, nothing for themselves, not even a 'thank you'? Because no one even knows. Waiting years and years to find that one person." She shook her head. "No wonder you turn dark. Who wouldn't under those circumstances? What kind of life is that for anyone? It isn't fair. None of you should ever have had to do it. But you two, you did it. And you survived." She wiped her tears. "If you can do it, then I can endure the uncertainty and the fear for now until I figure out what I'm going to do. So I'll stop complaining now. You do what you have to do and make sure you bring yourself back in one piece," she said as she looked up at Andriev. "No judging from me on darkness or light."

Rusti knew, then, her friend had already decided to convert and she just didn't realize it.


A/N - Next chapter is already mostly written! Thank you all for your patience.

J. Shane