"I know, baby girl," Frank put his arms around me. "You need to stop shivering. This isn't good for you."
"Crying isn't good for you either," Shane pointed out dryly.
"Does my face look awful?" I worried my lower lip.
"Lissa, you've never looked better to me in my life," Shane grinned.
"How much do you remember?" I searched his face.
"Everything," his grin widened.
"And he doesn't mind talking about it," Tomas interrupted. He was smiling, too, so it wasn't a problem. Tomas had an Asian heritage with a lovely nose, dark eyes and a square jaw.
"We just can't spill the beans with Mom and Dad," Franklin cautioned.
"I won't be talking to your father," I muttered, drinking my soup.
"Yeah. I heard," Frank sighed.
* * *
"Baby, we were scared to death." Drew lifted me and almost cracked a rib; he hugged me so hard. Frank, Shane and Tomas had finally gotten me warmed up and convinced me to return to the villa. I'd learned that Conner, when she looked human, that is, was married to Martin Walters, Russell, Will, Graegar, Barrigar and Lynx, one of the Saa Thalarr I hadn't met. Frank laughed at me as I stared at him in shock—he'd attempted to explain who was mated to whom. It was overwhelming, and I still wanted to know what being married to a Larentii was like.
"Drew, I can't breathe," I wheezed. He kissed me when he set me down, and then Drake moved his brother aside and did exactly the same. I had no idea what to do with both of them. I knew what they wanted to do with me, though—that had been evident when they hugged me.
Frank, Shane and Tomas all got a hug before they left, and Drake and Drew herded me straight into the kitchen for more food.
"No more of this freezing shit," Mike muttered as he thumped a mug of hot tea in front of me. "I got mindspeech from Conner. You don't ignore mindspeech from Conner."
"I didn't mean to get you in trouble," I sighed, staring at my mug of tea.
"You didn't. But Conner has a way of pointing out how you haven't been treated with the proper respect. While she's Conner, that's no problem. If it's the Guardian, she'll scare the holy hell out of you."
"And he's not speaking metaphorically," Drake draped an arm around my shoulders. Plates of food were passed around, Dragon and Crane appeared and we ate. Franklin, Shane and Tomas, followed by Drake and Drew, had helped a bad day turn into a not so bad day.
* * *
I was shocked to find Charles sitting on my bed when I came out of the bathroom later, dressed in PJs and brushing my teeth. I'd had to push Drake and Drew out my bedroom door—they wanted to stay. Hold on, I sent mindspeech to Charles and went back to rinse out my mouth. Charles wouldn't be asking for sex. Not from me. Besides, he was fully dressed. I imagine that Kifirin, or even Drake or Drew, would be either naked or mostly so if they'd been on my bed. And not in a sitting position, either.
"What is it, Charles?" I asked, walking out of the bathroom again. At least I didn't look like a foaming, rabid animal this time.
"We have a problem in California," Charles got right to business. "We can wrap this up quickly if you help."
"What's the problem?" I asked.
"Locals and tourists are disappearing on the coast between L.A. and Monterey. Eight that we know of, in the last two weeks," Charles said, his hazel eyes reflecting the concern in his voice. "People have been warned and they're taking extra precautions, but they're disappearing anyway. And we've gotten word from the vampires that run the Council's blood substitute banks. They've seen a drop in orders from the area. Flavio's worried that some of ours have gone rogue."
"You can't do that Looking thing to find this out?" I asked, sitting on the bed next to Charles.
"Not allowed to use it for this. It's one of the conditions of keeping my job with the Council. I can't use those abilities; it's unethical. I can only use what I have normally." Charles offered a crooked grin and rubbed my back.
"That's gotta suck. When do you want me to go?" I'd already made up my mind.
"It'll be dark there in another four hours. Can you be packed and ready to go in a few minutes?"
"How are you going to get me there?"
"Hey, three hundred years have passed—we're way more efficient in travel these days," Charles's grin widened. "It'll take little more than an hour, and most of that time will be taken up in getting you to the ship station. After that, you'll just orbit over. The pods don't have windows anyway, so it's a great way for vamps to travel."
"This is a Low Earth Orbit?" I asked.
"Yeah. It's great. The pods dock at stations positioned around the globe and then you're taken down to the ground. Neat, huh?"
"Yeah. Neat. Thank goodness I can mist if I have to," I said.
"You won't need to. It's really safe. You'll be going with Gavin and Tony. I'll wait while you pack."
If I hadn't already said I'd go, I would have said no right then. Tony wouldn't be so bad, but Gavin? He didn't want anything to do with me and I wasn't prepared for contemptuous scowls from my former vampire husband.
"What about the family dinner at Grey House?" I asked, trying to find an excuse to wriggle out of going. "Cleo said she and Kyler would come get me and take me to Grey House." Wherever that was.
"They can come get you wherever you are—just send mindspeech. Don't fret," Charles reassured me. "Do this, Lissa. You can get this over with quickly; I just know it. Anybody else will take twice as long."
"I'll need a bag—I don't have anything," I grumped. I'd said yes; now Charles was holding me to my word.
"Give me a few minutes," Charles said. "Don't go anywhere," he turned, pointing a finger at me and grinning. He folded away. Man, I wanted to do that. I dressed while Charles was gone and he was back in less than five minutes with two bags in his hands.
"Did you get those from Wlodek's basement, too?"
Charles looked at me with a puzzled expression, until he remembered. I'd gotten some expensive luggage from him the first time we'd met. He claimed it came from Wlodek's basement.
"Just pack casual clothes, maybe four or five days' worth," he instructed. I was folding and arranging quickly. Toiletries I'd bought in London were now being packed into a bag. "Good enough," Charles said when everything was loaded in and the bags closed. Zippers still worked, I noticed. Then, before I could change my mind, he folded me to Flavio, who patiently waited in Wlodek's old study.