Page 87 of Love Lives

"We don't need you to babysit us."

"You need to go now," Silas insisted, backing me up. I turned to the vampire.

"How bad is he?"

"He says it's not that bad, but I know he's lying." Silas's expression turned panicked. "What if something's wrong with the baby?"

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Puck asked as if he were suddenly on board. I suppressed the need to roll my eyes at him.

"We can watch out for ourselves while you're gone," I said, even though I wasn't at all sure that this was true. Puck was a valuable ally. I didn't like him, but I liked having him here. If only for his powers of teleportation.

"The lights in the house will flash if the alarms are tripped," Puck informed me. "I suggest that you do your best to get away if that should happen."

"Understood," I said, even as Puck and Silas were already on their way up the stairs. I looked after them for a minute, tiredness setting in as the adrenaline of the moment ebbed away. I still hadn't slept.

If I went back up to my room, though... Well, I got the feeling that 'sleep' wasn't on the forefront of my vampire's mind.

Collin and Luke were still occupying the couch in the living room, though Luke was stirring now, roused by the sound of our voices, most likely. He shot me a questioning look while slowly disentangling himself from Collin.

"Nothing to worry about," I said. "Puck's taking Jared for a check-up."

Luke yawned and uttered a question that I couldn't quite make out but that ended in, "The baby?"

"It's probably nothing."

Luke rubbed his eyes. "Have you been up all night?"

I shrugged. "It's difficult to just go to sleep with everything..." I trailed off and gestured vaguely, the night's events replaying themselves once more before my mind's eye. Failing at the séance, Aldrich dragging that man into my room... digging into Aldrich's memories and finding all the pain buried there...

"I'm gonna head back upstairs."

"Yeah, I think I want my bed too."

Luke followed me up.

"Weird being back here, isn't it?" I asked, wanting to make sure that my little brother was okay sleeping in this house. This was where he'd initially lost Damian, after all. Those had been bleak days, after the attack.

"It's a little weird," Luke admitted. "But it's okay." He tried a smile, and though it didn't reach his eyes, I didn't think that was because of our current location. It was because of everything else going on. I couldn't blame him for that.

"We'll figure a way out of this," I promised him, even though I didn't know yet how I was going to make good on that promise. I'd been an only child, back before I'd been adopted, but even as a kid, I'd liked my new role as a big brother. I wanted to live up to it.

"Don't worry about me," Luke said, as if that was something I could control. "Just try to get some sleep." With that, he opened the door to his old room and disappeared inside.

I made my way back to my own room, two doors down. My vampire sat on the bed, waiting for me.

"What was that about?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I guess Jared's having cramps or something? Puck's taking him to get checked out."

The vampire’s brows furrowed. "So we're on our own for a while."

"I guess so."

"Come here."

"I really need to get some sleep," I warned the vampire. Briefly, I'd toyed with the thought of lying down in another room, but the idea had felt wrong. It wouldn't be right to leave him alone. Not after all the shit I'd made him confront tonight.

"I think I can tire you out," Aldrich responded as if that was exactly what I'd been getting at.