Chapter 27 #2
Everyone else stayed silent for the most part, but now and then Naomi or Alan added some comment that Anais had missed.
I didn’t utter a word the entire time, except to say thank you for the tea when he brought it over. I knew that I was on dangerous ground and was truly the one to blame for all of this. Bob would work it out and then I might not be so welcome anymore.
This welcome wouldn’t last. Of that I was sure.
“So...” Anais trailed off for a moment. “Here we are. Betrayed to the academy and the Brethren, and none of us know why we were set up and who is behind it. I want to find out though. Leandro and I are going to go after them and find out who is behind all this.”
Bob folded his arms across his chest and looked between Anais and the rest of us at the table.
“Do you want to stay here until you’ve figured this out?” Bob asked.
“If you don’t mind. I thought the place would be empty. We were just going to crash for long enough to figure out our next move.”
“You’re always welcome here. Especially if you’re having problems with the academy.
Your parents didn’t trust them in the end either.
” Bob nodded and everyone paused what they were doing to look at him.
Anais hadn’t said anything about not trusting them.
More that they believed all of us had betrayed them.
“Why didn’t my parents trust them?” Anais asked, not denying his assumption about her attitude to the academy.
He tilted his head to the side but eventually he shrugged.
“They never fully said. Your parents had a lot of secrets. They came here themselves many years ago with you in tow and a similar story. Asked to stick around until they’d figured it out.
Ended up staying long past deciding they didn’t want anything to do with the academy. ”
Anais exhaled, her shoulders slumping. “It definitely explains why they didn’t want me joining the academy and becoming a vampire hunter.”
After a brief pause, Bob came closer and pulled her into a hug.
“It wasn’t that they didn’t want you to become a hunter.
They loved you so much they just wanted you to be safe.
But something happened to them on a mission.
No matter how much we train and have the capacity to fight, there’s always a risk to going out there. ”
Anais let herself be hugged and then sat herself down beside her friends and opposite me. “We should all get some sleep soon and then figure the rest out tomorrow. We’ll have a good breakfast and find out what was shown to the academy and Brethren.”
Bob didn’t sit down. “There’s a bunch of bedrooms in the farmhouse.
All of them are ready for guests. Your mum made me promise to keep them ready in case.
And there’s the guest house too. If our guests of the night also need a food source, there’s two pigs in the back of the stable block that are due for the slaughter.
I know it isn’t the usual fare you like, but with the circumstances, I don’t think I’ve got anything else to offer. ”
I raised an eyebrow and lowered my head in respect toward him. “That’s more than most would offer us. Thank you. Genuinely.”
“I’ve not been able to eat in several days,” Petros said, getting up. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go prep some bacon for everyone’s breakfast.”
The whole table began to chuckle and laugh at the thought of him butchering the pig so they could eat. I considered joining him, but I wasn’t going to go out there until I knew Anais was going to be settled.
As soon as Petros left, making it clear he’d stay in the dark of the stable through the day as well, the rest of the hunters got to their feet. Anais offered to show them to the rooms in the house and before I could say anything, I was left alone with Bob.
I stayed sitting at the table, wanting to make sure I didn’t appear intimidating in any way. Bob studied me.
“You’re not like other vampires, are you?” Bob said, his arms still folded. He’d leaned back against the kitchen counter and looked very at home in his kitchen. He wasn’t scared of me at all.
“I’m Brethren. I’ve been around a long time. And Anais is the first human I’ve met that I can honestly say I could have spent all that time with and still want to spend more time with her.”
“Do you love her?” Bob asked, getting straight to the point.
“I’d die for her. And I’ve made a habit of staying alive.”
He snorted at that last part. “You better mean that.”
“I just lost everything but my life because of this trap. I’m not running, and I’m not abandoning her.”
Bob nodded. “You’ll do well enough then. She needs people who won’t walk out on her. You’re up against big forces, but this new team of hers is far better than the last one, and if you’re going to stand with her, she’ll find a way through.”
There were still questions running through my head. Bob knew some of what her parents must have found out, but Anais came back just then without her team, yawning.
“Is the room at the back where I used to sleep still available?” she asked.
“It’s still set up for you, although the decor might be a bit outdated now. I kept it the way it was in case you came back sometime.”
Anais looked down, swallowing. “If I’d known you were here and it was still an option, I’d have come back in a heartbeat.”
“You clearly had a life to lead and your mark to make. You’ve come back at the right moment. But get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning.”
Without another word, Anais took my hand and led me in another direction, off from the kitchen. I was surprised by her confidence and not hiding what was going on between us, but I also knew that Bob had worked out enough before he even asked me questions about Anais.
She led me down a few hallways, past a study and the dining area, until she reached another room that appeared to have once been a morning room, or parlor of some kind.
It was now a bedroom with a large bed at one end and an assortment of books on a wall of bookshelves, and a serious amount of vampire-related memorabilia.
“They gave me this room to turn into a bedroom when they found I spent most of my night in the study reading anyway.” Anais led me all the way over to the bed.
She paused, her hands in mine as I stared at her for a moment. No matter what was happening around us, I knew I meant every single word I had said to her uncle.
“I want to forget the last week or so,” Anais said. “And just be you and me. Can you help with that?”
A grin spread across my face as my cock hardened at the thought. I knew exactly how to help with that.