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The basis of our new plan was to try and save the children Teren was co to terms with the fact that I may or may not survive the shift, but with every day that passed by, there was a greater chance that we could save the research inover premature deliveries, how to incubate and preserve children that were only the size of sest issue If Ithat would be the hardest part I eagerly poured over this research with hi and night, like his previous research had been
His manic need to savebefore he was "interviewing" doctors and specialists, although in aan article on preeazine he worked for It was the first tiloated a bit about that Hot Ben helped him with this too and I s home with black eyes anyerly too, ordering (and in so) supplies that they&039;d need Pretty soon, a rooht next to ours was set up as a sort of nursery Sort of, because it mainly resembled a hospital room - two incubators, a couple heart rate monitors, and vials and vials of some sort of medicines I wasn&039;t sure if any of the vaoing to try It was the only option left to us
Teren told ht, a week beforein a doctor Worst case scenario, if nothing he did was going to save the them to the ranch Then he&039;d have Halina wipe them, once the children were out of the woods He&039;d do it as many times as was necessary to keep the hi with hiave me a sheepish srateful that it seemed my children may actually survive this Now, the only real question ould I?
Halina shocked ive me her blood I stared at her after she said that - she didn&039;t do that, ever, she was actually firainst the idea She had certain resentments over her life, and wouldn&039;t restrict someone else with her affliction She&039;d even admitted that she hoped I didn&039;t end up like her And if I had her blood in ing a hole in the ground if I had to, to escape the day But, it was better than being dead, I suppose
Although, I already had v-juice in me I wasn&039;t sure if I could be turned twice Here&039;s where knowing another mixed would come in handy Especially one that had tried to turn someone But, she promised she&039;d try If I didn&039;t come around, she&039;d try Besides, I was already a va She said that in the end,around anymore She followed that with, "You&039;re far too entertaining to just let die"
But, like I said, eren&039;t sure ould happen towell And noas pretty sure ere done with rustling up vampire nests Teren was done anyway Even if he hadn&039;t admitted that he couldn&039;t handle it anymore, Halina " was over She&039;d ripped hiht trip
It had been very late the following evening when she&039;d rushed back to the ranch She&039;d woken us both up and berated hiood hour and a half on his foolish behavior, the rest of his fa their concerns as well Teren sheepishly looked attheir chastisement Halina had arrived at that nest just as he&039;d been about to end that poor woet him to back down, but he&039;d been set on his course of action and had si on his arnore Halina
She&039;d torn in there, called his name, and then pushed him into a hen he hadn&039;t responded to her Froh the wall into another room The terrified vao join up with the love she&039;d been protecting
Frootten a little hairy Teren had been furious that Halina let her get away and had actually charged his great-grandh another wall At this point, Teren said Ben disappeared on hined up for torture Halina towering over hiht out of it He hadn&039;t seen it that way, until that very hed and buried his head indirectly at Halina She went on to tell otten Teren to leave, she&039;d stayed, looking around the countryside for the female, since she didn&039;t have time to run holared at him "No, I didn&039;t find her, but you can bet that her boyfriend now has a huge score to settle with you"
He hung his head again, his ar I clutched hiht body still in a scolding position Then her expression changed and a sly smile lit her lips "A different male came to the nest shortly before dawn He looked around the remains of his house and was naturally curious, so I filled hirinned in such a way after that, that I had no doubt that he&039;d done a little "filling in" as well
I shook ain, his eyes hopeful "Did he?"
He didn&039;t finish that, but Halina shot him a look "No, Teren Noher head, an air of authority seemed to shimmer around her and I was reminded then, that this woardless of iain "I will check out the nahed and then nodded, his head still down She sighed and walked over to hi it He avoided eye contact for a moment, but then looked back at her Her face softened and she murmured low, fast Russian phrases He sed, his eyes , and then nodded She finished with the phrase for "I love you", and then left us in the roo to soak in a bath before she had to hide away for the day
Teren had been subdued after that, embarrassed by his actions,so about it He spent a lot of tiuilty about it His need to protect o, had driven hiht and wrong That gray realer with every hard decision wein that real into the black side wasn&039;t an option for hi back a bit, letting sohtly less) take over, then so be it If it would save his soul, then so be it
And so we stopped focusing onon the children
It was a brilliantly beautiful spring day, just a couple beforeourselves fro the nursery Well, nursery/hospital We had a can of pale yellow and a can of pale green, since we still didn&039;t know if I was having boys or girls, or one of each, I suppose The funored it And even though I detested painting, I cherished the moment, cherished the connection I felt with reen roller over a section of one of the walls while I laughingly blurred overback to her hu Even slower than most since her joints were a little stiff where the scars on her body were thick
I laughed at her and continued painting at a regular speed, wanting to savor this bonding moment with my sister Teren was at work, but Alanna looked in on us periodically to check our progress and offer us snacks Even Jack poked his head in, slinging an arm around each of us, a fatherly pride on his face as he examined our work "It&039;s beautiful, Eht as he looked over one of the two-toned walls we&039;d co into his side, taking in the scent on him that was so siirls looks-wise, that sometimes it slipped my mind that this burly ranchmy arm around his waist and laid my head on his shoulder, he flushed and looked a little embarrassed by the display Then he quickly kissed my head and darted out of the room I heard him sniffle once he was in the hallway and I felt my eyes water He may try to hide it, but he orried aboutover what details she knew of pre her nursing classes, than anyone else in the house, I heard the sound of tires crunching up gravel I paused in painting, a growl burrowing up from my chest Ashley paused rowl before; that was generally so my head as I listened I wasn&039;t sure why, but I was having a reaction to whoever was approaching It wasn&039;t Teren, he was still miles away in San Francisco, and it wasn&039;t my mom or Tracey, they were both at their jobs I suppose it could be Hot Ben, but so inside ofharder, but other than Jack asking Alanna rong, Ashley breathing heavily, and the two fast and fluttery heartbeats insidewith my own, the house was deadly quiet; all of the awake va just as hard as I was
As the tires stopped and the car shut off, I set downunpleasantly with Ashley&039;s fear "What is it, Eoing to coh the walls For a second, I wondered if that had been how I&039;d looked to Teren, when I hadn&039;t been in the know and he&039;d heard strange noises
I tried to throw on a casual s face "Someone&039;s here I&039;m sure it&039;s just Peter or a friend of Jack&039;s" Ashley nodded and set down her roller She knew that the ranch had help come in sometimes, and she&039;dThe fa anyone here, until my situation was resolved, but Ashley didn&039;t need to know that
Look at , I tried to push awaycompletely honest with my sister True, I wasn&039;t sure as here, but my body kneas a potential threat, and that sort of ruled out any ranch hand
As calmly as I could, I walked to the door, Ash close behind me I paused in the doorway and looked down to the other end of the hall, where Alanna was sien behind her was blinking in the faded, hazy light in the hallway, even those weak rays causing her pain Jack stepped past the two of theen whispered that she wanted to see as here, but Alanna told her to stay in her room, that ould check it out I nodded at Alanna after she said that and then started down the hallway towards her and Jack
Ashley behindhers around ht footsteps outside, casually strolling up to the door at an unhurried pace, I looked down at Ashley attached to en," I told her
Ashley looked at ht it was just a friend" I bitmy error Ashley noted my reaction and stiffened her stance as we reached the stairs "I&039;ling around her shoulders "I&039;hed and then stopped as Alanna caught up to us Locking eyes with ue with her She was a Taylor after all, and we had a tendency to bestubborn Sighing again, I nodded over at Alanna and Jack beside us "Stay behind us, then"
Ashley nodded as we all started walking down the stairs Outside, I could hear the person cal I could even hear their sht and all, that they would be hu her stance so she was holding ht behind Jack and Alanna Not sure as here, s dropped down Ashley&039;s eyes widened at seeing the to her, and I breathed out slowly, gaining control again and retracting them The human outside, may or may not know about us I didn&039;t want to accidently tip off a could-be hunter
That person silently waited, still not even knocking, and Alanna closed her eyes for a briefon a farm boy smile, Jack stepped forward to open the door I held my breath as the war with it Even with all that was going on, my body could sense the blood in the air Soly, ly, that I had to clench Ashley&039;s hand to stopacross the fields to find the wounded beast I clenchedthat I&039;d lose control onthe person who&039;d ed to rile up a house of vamps, helped quench that desire It was a short, tan, blonde, Valley girl, or so I&039;d iy crop of ridiculously over styled hair, and sunglasses so dark and round that they sort of reseuhtly at us Dressed in high heels and a designer dress, she looked very out of place here Clutching her Prada bag to her side, she extended a hand out to Jack before he could even say hello
"Hi-ya, I hear you&039;re looking for htly as well, her voice saccharinely sweet
Jack opened and closed his mouth, not sure what this head-to-toe manicured woman, who had clearly never shoveled cow poop in her life, wanted with him As he mumbled an, "excuse irl outside
She turned her head to Alanna, still srass blades; the sound was loud to lasses off, shoving theaze locked on Alanna&039;s, and it then became perfectly clear that she wasn&039;t here for Jack
Still bright and cheery, she said to her, "You&039;ve been causing quite a stir, looking for ht I&039;d come find out why"
Her face turned to me as Ashley and I stepped down to stand on her other side Her eyes were a blue-green, and see she appeared to be As I scrunched my face, confused, and Ashley whispered, "Who is she, E on her gu as she stared at reen eyes "What do you itha step back at the sudden viciousness in her tone, I sputtered, "I don&039;t know, I don&039;t even knoho you are"
The wood, with the stories I&039;ve heard, you&039;ve knocked on every nest, in every state in the southwest, looking for aveto be expected"
My already wide eyes opened coistered Alanna , "I don&039;t believe it," but I could only gape The tiny debutante in front of me had a pair of perfectly white, and on her, perfectly dainty, fangs, just visible inside her wry shed at reat humor in my surprise "Yes, I&039;m mixedjust like you," she looked back to Alanna when she said that
My eyes watered and I nearly wanted to hug the girl We&039;d been looking so long, Teren had risked soup on our doorstep A hand flew toher arms around me and I heard her sniffle
The woman seemed confused as to ere so emotional over her arrival I wasn&039;t sure what Teren had been telling the vamps he&039;d run into, but this woman didn&039;t seem to realize who I was, and e needed from her She only seemed to sense that the heartbeatless Alanna was aa pale eyebrow at me, she repeated, "What do you ith me?"
I reached out for her arm and she hissed atat casualness, but she ary of this group ofon vampires&039; doors to find her I didn&039;t blaesture of peace "We just want to talk to you To knowif you kno to help o"