and I wondered what he'd been doing since he'd left Adam's.
What was there for him to do? Maybe I wasn't the only one who was trying to find some action to take that wouldn't get me and everyone I cared about killed.
Still, I couldn't let him get away with calling me ...
"Weak?" I said.
Samuel turned on Stefan with a growl.
"Stupid vampire.
My father had her nearly talked into going, and you ruined it." I laughed.
I couldn't help it.
I hoped going to Spokane would keep my friends safe, and they hoped me going to Spokane would keep me safe.
Maybe we were both right.
Bran's phone rang, and we all listened to Charles tell us that Amber was married to Corban Wharton, a moderately successful corporate lawyer about ten years her senior.
They had an eight-year-old son with some sort of disability, hinted at in various newspaper articles but not expressly stated.
He rattled off an address or two, cell phone numbers and real phone numbers ...
and social security numbers and most recent tax reports, personal and business.
For an old wolf, Charles knows how to make computers sit up and beg.
"Thank you," said Bran.
"I can go back to sleep now?" asked Charles.
He didn't wait for an answer, just hung up his end of the connection.
I looked at Samuel.
"It will make your life easier if I leave." He nodded.
"We can protect ourselves ...
but you are too vulnerable.
And if you aren't here, if Marsilia doesn't know where you are, we can get her to the table for negotiations." Bran looked at Stefan.
"A vampire might draw too much attention in Spokane." Stefan shrugged.
"I'm not without resources.
I was in this room for a quarter of an hour, and none of you noticed me.
If I feed well, no one will know what I am." "You always smell like vampire to me," I told him.
Vampire and popcorn.
The good buttery kind.
No, I don't know why.