ALL DONE! …. Well sort of, some of you have pointed out some errors in my work and I will be taking some time to correct them before I start the next book. (Then I plan to enjoy some time off this summer!)

For those of you that would like more, I hope to start posting the next book in the fall, perhaps October'ish. It doesn't look like I will have much time to write this summer! Sorry!

Please let me know what you think of my work and any improvements that I should work on for the next book! This story doesn't have a lot of reviews to date! I assume that if you read up to this point, you may have a suggestion or two... or just tell me what you think!

Chapter 26

Safe

I was safe, Thomas was with me.

Joe was safe, Jesse was with him.

Lindsay was safe, Theresa was with her.

It was going to be OK.

"Mmmh," I grunted.

"How are you feeling dear?" It was Ella.

"Good actually," I answered the voice, not sure if I was awake or dreaming.

"Thomas said that you missed supper last night, are you hungry?"

I opened my eyes and noticed I was not in my room. I was in Thomas's bed, and my shirt was missing.

"Ella?" I asked, putting pieces together in my head.

"Yes?"

"Ella!" I suddenly realized who I was talking to. "You're back!"

I sprang up out of my bed and wrapped her in a warm hug. The light peering through the windows told me that it was early morning.

She laughed.

"Joey! Where's Joe?"

"He's in the other room with Jesse," Ella started.

Instantly, I found my feet running towards the bathroom that joined the two rooms. I threw open both sets of doors and saw my brother sitting in the center of the bed talking to Jesse, Lindsay and Theresa. Once I got to the edge of the bed I planted both feet on the ground and pumped myself into the air flying towards the body sitting innocently in the middle. I wrapped my arms around my brother giving him a huge bear hug.

"Settle down!" Joe protested, trying to worm free from my grasp.

I ignored him. I missed him, but I would never tell him that. Instead I thought of a question to ask him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine, a little smothered right now, but otherwise I'm good," he said, hinting for release.

I hesitantly loosened my grip, but only a little.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I was worried about you. Were you scared?"

"Don't get all mushy on me, Danny," Joe answered. "Yeah, I was freaked out, but for the most part I don't remember anything, they kept sucking my blood or something. I kept passing out. I don't even remember Ellie taking me from them."

"Ellie?"

"Yeah, grandpa Eli. You're the one that gave him that nickname. Don't you remember?"

An image of a man with short dark hair, deep brown eyes and bronze skin suddenly appeared in my head. He was a young looking man, who had kind eyes. I remembered marveling at how perfect and warm his skin was, the heat that radiated from his body always put me to sleep when I was tired and throwing a temper tantrum about not wanting to go to bed.

I never realized that Ellie was my grandfather. I haven't seen him since I was a child.

Ella and Thomas walked through the open bathroom doors.

"Can you take your slayer off of me please?" my brother asked Thomas in a mocking tone.

I grunted, and then was pulled off the bed by a pair of cool, gentle hands. As I was being towed away, I gave my brother a jibe in the shoulder – for good measure – and then stood on my own two feet beside Thomas, holding his hand.

"So, you know all about our weird family now and stuff?" I was looking into my brother's eyes.

"Yeah, Ellie filled me in on most of it. I also remembered some of the stories that Ella told us as kids, Jesse filled me in on the rest this morning."

"What do you think?"

"It's kinda surreal, but whatever. As long as I don't run into anymore blood sucking shifters…"

I winced.

"So, I heard you took on a couple of those leeches? Are you a full blown slayer now or what?" Joe asked.

"Um no. I had help, some werewolves came, otherwise…"

"Alexi and Jenna," my aunt cut in.

"Huh?"

"Those werewolves' names are Alexi and Jenna, they are your cousins."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Jenna is a year old than me and Alexi is a year older than you," Lindsay added.

"How did they know to help? They came just in time," I asked anyone in the room.

"Your mom called her brother as soon as I got off the phone with Thomas, the girls just happened to be close by, so your uncle told them to stop and see if they could help," Jesse answered.

"We have an uncle? Cousins? Werewolf cousins?" I pinched the bridge in my nose as I spoke. I was still tired, and a family heritage lesson was hurting my brain.

"Lucky for you, yes you do," Ella agreed.

"Come. I need to talk to you."

I felt the small tug on my arm as the voice filled my head. He started to pull me towards his room. This did not escape Ella's notice.

"William is making everyone brunch, it will be ready in a couple of hours. I'll see you two downstairs then," she requested.

Thomas nodded at her. I waved to everyone as I was being pulled out of the room. Once Thomas closed the doors behind us, I yawned.

"You are still tired," he noticed, scooping me up and placing me down on his bed. He covered me with blankets and laid down beside me, pressing his body against mine, and whispered in a low, soft voice into my ear.

"You should sleep, it's the fastest way for you to recharge."

My eyes were starting to feel heavy.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked, a little dreary.

"Next time you kill a shifter, you don't need to incinerate them, it takes way too much energy and it's not necessary."

"You're scolding me on slay tactics?"

"No, you're just really tired, and I'm letting you know the reason."

"What else?"

"You did well last night. I'm proud of you," he whispered as he kissed my cheek and gave my body a gentle squeeze.

I was too tired to be embarrassed.

"What about Preston? Is he coming back?" I mumbled.

"I am not sure, Christina said he would."

"What?" I screeched, waking up a little. "I thought you killed her."

"No, she surrendered. She is looking for her brother, just happy to be alive. She warned us about Preston's convincing nature and how he easily manipulates others to follow him. Apparently he's not easily deterred."

"So what do we do? Wait until he attacks?"

"He sensed my abilities when we were fighting, he knows I have some sort of mind reading talent, though he's not sure what it is, or how to beat it. I've been able to hear his thoughts; he isn't planning on coming back yet."

"But he is planning on coming back?"

"Maybe, time will tell."

I grunted.

"I will protect you, always," he whispered assuring me. I felt his hands stroking my hair as I let out a yawn. "Sleep Danny."

"But I have so many questions… I have cousins, and a grandfather! Who is my uncle? Why didn't mom tell me about them?"

A small laugh radiated from beside me.

"Sleep, we will talk to your mom later."

I sighed and then yawned, again.

I was safe, Thomas was with me.

Joe was safe, Jesse was with him.

Lindsay was safe, Theresa was with her.

It was going to be OK.

For now.

But tomorrow was another day.

Please come back for book two in October 2010! In the meantime, let me know how I did!