"The English maybe would do such a thing. Is what they did with the criminals, so maybe they would send you the smelly cats. But no the Italians. We would no be so cruel."
"Well, I don't know what the hell it was doing out this time of year anyway," Teddy said. "I thought they hibernated."
"They go into a torpor, not a true hibernation," Leonora explained quietly. "And it was probably hungry. They will sometimes wake up and come out in search of food if it warms a bit, and it did warm up quite a bit last night." There was a pause, and then Leonora said, "I just feel sorry for the poor little thing having to sit down there in the kitchen all by herself like some sort of outcast. She looked so miserable when I went down to ask Anders if he'd managed to reach Lucian yet."
"Had he?" Teddy asked sharply.
"No, I'm afraid not. He said he's left several messages, though. I'm sure Lucian will call soon."
There was a gusty sigh, and Teddy said, "Well, he'd better. You're all welcome to stay here, of course. But this is a small house. I only have the two bedrooms. You'll all be sleeping in shifts until he calls and gives some sort of instruction."
Harper was having trouble following the conversation. What the hell was a smelly cat and who had been playing with it? For that matter, what was wrong with playing with a cat? And what was that about Lucian and instructions?
Harper forced his eyes open and turned his head to peer toward the voices and found he was in bed in a room he didn't recognize and that Alessandro, Teddy, and Leonora were having their rather strange little discussion by the door.
Movement beside him in the bed drew his attention, and Harper turned his head the other way to find Stephanie lying beside him. Her eyes were open, and she looked much less confused than he felt.
"Drina was sprayed by a skunk," Stephanie explained quietly, apparently reading his confusion. "Alessandro calls them smelly cats."
"Ah." Harper sighed and supposed he should have recalled as much. He had a vague recollection of hearing the name "smelly cat" before from the man, but it had been sometime ago.
"You're awake," Teddy said grimly.
Harper turned his head to watch the trio approach the bed.
"How do you feel?" Leonora asked, bending to smooth his hair back from his forehead and check his eyes for he knew not what.
"Better than I did earlier," he said dryly, recalling the "earlier" in question. Roaring flames, bubbling skin, the stench of burnt meat, and knowing it was his flesh. Being engulfed by fire was a most unpleasant and terrifying experience. It wasn't something he'd soon forget.
Leonora moved around the bed to Stephanie now and repeated the same question and actions; feeling her forehead he realized now, not just brushing hair back, and checking her eyes, perhaps to see if they were clear or how much silver there was in them. It could be a good gage of many things, including passion levels and blood levels.
Harper heard Stephanie murmur that she was fine. He didn't believe her for a minute. He had no doubt the poor kid was traumatized. Hell, he was traumatized, and he wasn't a teenager who until just recently had been mortal. Fire was one of the few things that could kill their kind. If they hadn't gotten out of that room and found help to douse the flames, they could have died there.
The thought disturbed him and made him shift unhappily. "Where's Drina?"
"Er . . . She was sprayed by a skunk," Teddy said with a grimace.
"Yes, Stephanie said so, but where is she?" What he really wanted to know was why the hell she wasn't there with him. He'd nearly died, dammit. He wanted her with him.
"Well, she's down in the kitchen at the moment."
"They won't let her out of the kitchen because they don't want her to smell up the house," Stephanie told him, no doubt plucking the explanation from someone's head. He didn't care whose.
"She's very worried about you, though," Leonora reassured him. "She wanted to be here with you both. She's probably fretting herself sick down there."
The words soothed him somewhat but not completely, and Harper sat up and started to get out of bed, pausing when the blankets covering him fell away revealing a Port Henry Police T-shirt and black joggers.
"Your clothes were pretty much just charred bits melted into your skin. They fell away with the damaged skin as you healed. Teddy was kind enough to loan you those and help Alessandro dress you while Dawn and I dressed Stephanie," Leonora explained quietly.
He glanced back to Stephanie to see that she wore a similar getup. Grunting, he stood, his gaze sliding over a garbage bin brimming with empty blood bags. They were really going through them. In fact, he wondered that they'd had enough to deal with the accident, Tiny's turn, and now this.
"Leonora opened up the blood bank, and she and Edward brought back a bunch more blood," Teddy announced, catching where his gaze had gone.
Harper nodded. Leonora had insisted on coming out of retirement after her turn and taken a position at the local blood bank, which had distressed Alessandro no end. Not that he really minded having a wife who worked. It was just distressing to him because they were still new turns, and Leonora's position meant she had to leave their bed more frequently than he'd liked when she'd taken it on. Especially when he was wealthy enough that she needn't work at all if she chose.
"Thank you," he murmured to Leonora, heading for the door.
"Wait for me," Stephanie said, throwing the covers aside to follow him.