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"Sari!" Renata, clueless to the tension or deliberately ignoring it, called out to her friend "Come in! Wine or coffee?"

"Kaffe, thank you"

"Of course"

Karen rose to fill another coffee cup as Damien stood motionless at the door Finally, Ava stepped forward and closed it

"What’s the matter with you?" she asked under her breath "She’s not the queen of England"

"She caed with confusion "With… all of you here"

"I have no idea what you’re talking about Get over it"

"I’ll explain later" He nudged her toward the table where Sari had sat "Maybe"

Damien’s eyes burned into Sari as he sat across fro the corner of his lip

"My dove," he finally said, and Ava could als you here--to ht?"

"You know…" Sari sipped the coffee Renata put in front of her "This is uesthouse So technically, I don’t think this is your door"

"I believe that’s what they call ‘splitting hairs’"

Astrid looked aht be soer purpose to this visit than just coffee and cake"

"There was a group of Grigori spotted in Bergen," Sari said

An entirely different tension fell across the table

"How many?" Damien and Renata both asked at once

"Three that we know of But I’d not be surprised if there werethe humans No children They watch for us"

Ava leaned over to Karen "Bergen is the closest town to here, right?"

"The closest one of any real size, yes"

Renata said, "I’ll go"

"I’ll go, too," Damien said

"No," Sari said "This is our territory Renata will take care of them"

"Sari, this is no time for--"

"Besides"--she held up a hand--"I’d like you and Bruno to start doing patrols around the periic, and she wants us to be careful Some protective spells written on the trees would be appreciated"

"Fine," Damien said in a clipped voice "And Bruno and I will start patrols It’s only three Grigori I’m sure Renata can handle that on her own, anyway"

"You just wanted to steal lanced at Ava "I don’t suppose you’ve seen any threats?"