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Watch Yourself

Chapter Seventeen

Eve stood at the bottom of the stairs and listened. Five sets of footsteps touched her ears and she smiled to herself, relieved. They had all returned home safe and sound with no casualties. Hopefully no one had gotten hurt.

She blinked and suddenly Eve was looking through one of her parent's eyes. Her mother, she realized as she saw her father glance down and smile with that twinkle in his eye that was reserved for only one woman. The connection broke and Eve was looking through her own eyes again.

A moment later the locks tumbled and the door opened. David walked in first with her parents a step behind him holding hands and whispering to each other, smiling about something. She leaped from the stairs and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, hugging him close to her.

David laughed heartily and wound his arms around her waist. He lifted her up and spun them around once before placing her back on her feet and planting a sound kiss on her lips.

"What was that for?" he murmured looking into her soft brown eyes.

She wound her arms tighter around his neck and pushed up onto the tips of her toes. "For coming home to me unharmed," Eve whispered softly to him and placed a feather light kiss on the edge of his jaw.

The light clearing of a throat broke the couple from their lovers' gaze. They looked at Selene who gave them a wry smile before giving her sheepish looks and breaking apart except for their clasped hands.

"Everything went according to plan, I see," Eve said to her mother, her eyes flickering once to Erazebet who was whispering animatedly with Tanis in the doorway of the parlor and then to the dried blood that covered everyone's clothes and skin. She eyed her mother's leathers and saw that the only blood that was on her was on the soles of her boots. This didn't surprise her much. Blood rarely covered her mother at any given time.

Beside her David had splatters of blood covering his jacket and was soaked through the shirt he wore beneath. Looking at her father, Eve could tell that his chest was covered in blood that wasn't his own beneath the clean long sleeved shirt he wore. But Tanis was the worst for wear. His clothes were completely soaked in blood, too, but it looked like it was his own and not of any lycans from the tear Eve could see at his abdomen. It seemed that he was the only one to get hurt that night.

Erazebet was the only one not covered in blood.

Selene nodded, glancing at Erazebet, too. "A little too easily in my opinion though." Her troubled look at the thought cleared a moment later and she smiled at her daughter, her thoughts turning to a much lighter direction. "But we'll talk more in the morning about that, Eve. Where's Adam?"

"Asleep in his room." Eve grinned suddenly making her mother raise a brow in question. "He wanted to wait up for you and Daddy but fell asleep almost immediately afterwards," she told her.

Selene smiled, imaging her son's serene face as he slept. She felt the impulse to go upstairs and wake him, to make up for all the time that she had been away, but fought it back. Adam needed his rest. He could spend the entire day with her and Michael tomorrow.

A warm hand came down on Selene's shoulder and she leaned into the body beside her out of instinct. Michael smiled down at her lovingly before looking up at their daughter and her husband.

"I think it's time to go to bed and get some rest after all of this," he said, thinking of the last few days. He added them to the days he would rather just forget about. There were too many of them to count after all these years unfortunately.

But Michael wouldn't change a thing if given the chance. He liked the way his life was now despite all of the turmoil.

Tanis with Erazebet close at his side joined the group. "That would be best," he sighed, glancing down to look at where the blade had pierced his body. Once again Tanis was grateful to Selene for saving his life with her immortal blood. If she hadn't done so, he would have been dead many times over by now.

The vampires made arrangements to meet again in the morning to go over the night's events in the morning once they were no longer covered in blood and well rested. One by one they went upstairs to their rooms.

OOOOOO

The next morning Selene and Michael had gone about the manor and closed all of the thick, heavy drapes, blocking out any sunlight that streamed in through the windows. This was so that Erazebet could leave her room without fear of burning to ash. They turned on lights and lit candles in parts of the manor to alleviate some of the darkness.

When the had finished, Michael had gone off to get the blood that Erazebet would most likely need while Selene went to rouse their son from bed and get him dressed for the day. Eventually the others woke and met them in the parlor.

Tanis entered the parlor and sat in what had become his armchair by the fireplace. He watched as Selene and Michael played with Adam, making him squeal in laughter every few minutes. After some time the old historian picked up the old tome on the end table beside him and became absorbed with the words within.

Eventually he became aware of another presence beside him and closed the book, placing it back on the table. Tanis glanced at Erazebet and gave her an unsure smile.

"How are you?"

Erazebet took a long drink from the cup the Corvin lycan had set aside for her before answering. "I've been better."

He nodded and gave her another awkward smile before they fell silent again.

Eve and David entered the parlor almost an hour later. He sat on the loveseat near the window and then pulled her down to sit on his lap before she could sit beside him. They shared a kiss before relaxing and lapsing into the silence that surrounded them except for the occasional peal of laughter from Adam.

Selene pulled Adam onto her lap and placed a sweet kiss on his head before becoming serious again. "Tell us what happened to you," she said, looking at Erazebet.

The vampire gave a grim smile before recounting all that had happened to her from the moment the lycans had attacked the manor and kidnapped her until they had come to rescue her. An entire array of emotions had passed over everyone's faces as they listened to her recount her story, ranging from shock to outrage. Only Selene had stayed stony in expression as she spoke, giving away nothing.

"But why does he want Tanis?" Eve asked when she was done. It didn't make sense. "What does he want with him?"

Tanis himself didn't know the answer. He was just a vampire historian who had cataloged the events that had taken place over time. But as he thought about what the lycan could possibly want from him now, it suddenly became clear.

Dominic still wanted the same thing he had wanted before.

He paled at the thought and brought a hand to his chest. It felt as if his heart would beat out of his chest.

Selene eyed the historian intently. He suddenly seemed scared. "Tanis?"

He met her gaze with wide yellow eyes and watched as she came to the same realization, her eyes narrowing dangerously and turning a shocking blue.

"No."

Confused, Michael looked between the two wondering what he had missed. "What?"

"Dominic wants the same thing as before," she hissed. "And now he knows where we are."

David gave a hiss of his own and pulled Eve tight against his chest. He wasn't going to let some psychotic lycanthrope take her away from him. This family had endured enough hardships to last several lifetimes. When was it ever going to stop?

In case you missed it, check out my new Teen Wolf fic, Red.