"Like what?" Aaron said.
"I have no idea," Lucas said. "But I'm open to suggestions."
We all looked at one another...and said nothing.
A Most Unwelcome Intrusion
WE BOARDED THE JET. OUR FIRST STOP WOULD BE Atlanta. Although tomorrow was Sunday, Aaron had to work. Well, he didn't have to, but he'd promised a friend he'd take his shift and, since it didn't look like we'd be hot on Edward's trail just yet, he didn't want to break that promise. When we had a line on Edward, Aaron wanted to come back and help out. Being a vampire meant he had a lot of unused sick days, so he didn't expect to have any trouble getting time off his bricklaying job.
When Lucas returned from conferring with the pilot, he suggested we all try to sleep.
"It's not the most comfortable environment," he said. "But I doubt anyone slept much last night, and these next few hours may be our only chance tonight."
Cassandra nodded. "You and Paige should definitely try to sleep. I'm not tired, though, so I'll sit in the rear cabin, if you don't mind."
Lucas escorted Cassandra into the tiny private cabin behind ours.
"Did she sleep at all last night?" Aaron whispered to me when they were out of earshot.
I shook my head. "She says...she says she's not sleeping much lately."
His eyes filled with quiet grief, as if this was the answer he'd been both expecting and dreading.
"I'll sit up with her," he said.
As I pulled pillows and a blanket from the closet, Lucas disappeared into the crew area. He returned a few minutes later carrying two mugs of tea. He slid my "forgotten" bottle of painkillers from his pocket. I opened my mouth to argue, then caught his look, nodded, and held out my hand. He shook two into it, then sat beside me.
"How are you doing?" he asked.
"Shaken, but okay. When we heard Edward and Nastasha were into dark stuff, I steeled myself for what we thought was the worst--that they were experimenting with humans. But the scale...the number of people they must have--"
I gulped my tea and sputtered as the hot liquid burned my throat. Lucas took my mug with a rush of apologies.
"No, that's my fault," I said. "I always tell you to make it hot. I drank it too fast."
I took the mug from his hands. As I moved it to my side table, my hands shook so badly that tea sloshed over the side, nearly burning me again.
"Damn it," I muttered, then managed a small smile. "Guess I'm not so okay after all."
He squeezed my hand. "Completely understandable."
"I know I have to be able to handle this better," I said. "If I'm going to help you, I need to get over my squeamishness. I'm too--"
"You're fine," he said. "I'm not feeling too 'okay' myself. I can guarantee, as a, uh, partner in my endeavors, you'd likely never see anything on this scale again."
"Partner?" I said, my smile turning genuine. "Don't think I didn't notice the hitch in your voice. Don't worry. I have no plans to shoehorn myself into your life that way. I'll be here to help when you need me, but that's it."
"That wasn't--That is to say, I certainly don't mind, if you're interested..."
"I'm not. Well, I am, but I can't be, right? Between the council and the new Coven, my plate's already full." I inhaled. "We screwed up. The council, I mean. We should have caught this."
"You can't keep tabs on every vampire--"
"Can't we?" I said. "The Pack does it with werewolves, and there are more of them to police and fewer people to do it. I don't mean we need to be breathing down every vampire's neck, but we need to be more proactive in general. There were rumors. We should have heard them. I can't blame Cassandra for that. It's everyone's responsibility. I want to change things, to start paying closer attention. But I also want to start this new Coven. I need to do that. It's what I'm supposed to do."
"Because your mother would have wanted it," he said softly.
"Not just that. I wanted--or I thought I wanted..." I rubbed my hands over my face. "I know rebuilding the Coven is important, but some days I feel like there are other things I should be doing, things I'd rather be doing, and the Coven...I'm not sure it's still my dream, or that it ever really was."