It's one of those automatic reflexes.
Fortunately, the only vampire I associate with much likes to talk--so he breathes.
I sat at his side, trying to look harmless and cheerful--but looking around for more vampires.
There was one in the trees; she'd let herself be silhouetted briefly against the sky.
There was no way to communicate what I'd seen to Stefan as there would have been with Adam.
He'd have read the tilt of my head and the paw on his foot.
Bernard's verbal attack hadn't had quite the effect he'd expected ...
or at least been ready for.
But that didn't seem to faze him.
He smiled, showing his fangs.
"She had only you left," he told Stefan.
"Wulfe's been ours for months, and so was Andre.
But he was afraid of you, so he wouldn't let us do anything." There was a world of frustration in the last two words, and he jerked up the gun, threw it casually over his shoulder, and began pacing.
For the first time, he looked to me like what he was.
Somehow, before, he'd always looked like an extra from a Dickens movie-- someone full of pomp and circumstance and nothing more.
Now, in motion, he looked like a predator, the Edwardian facade nothing but a thin skin to hide what was beneath.
Estelle had always unnerved me, but I discovered I hadn't been afraid of Bernard until just then.
Stefan stayed silent while Bernard ranted.
"He was worse than Marsilia, in the end.
He brought that thing ...
that uncontrollable abomination among us." He paused and stared at me.
I dropped my eyes immediately, but I could feel his attention burning into my skin.
"It is good your sheep killed it, though Marsilia couldn't see it.
It would have brought upon us our doom--and she did us the second favor by killing Andre." He stopped speaking for a moment, but his eyes were still on me, digging through fur to see me.
It was uncomfortable and scary.
"We would let her live--and if Marsilia has her way, she is dead-- just like your last flock." Bernard waited for that to sink in.
"Marsilia has minions who work in the day ...
Hell.
With the crossed bones on your coyote's business proclaiming her a traitor to all of us, how long do you think she'll survive? Goblins, harriers, the carrion feeders-- there are a lot of Marsilia's allies who hunt in the day." "She is the Alpha's mate.
The wolves will keep her safe when I cannot." Bernard laughed.