The Reluctant Vampire Page 0,109

and knocked on the sliding glass door, I could make them remember me?"

she asked, staring at the people in the house.

"Yes," Drina admitted.

"But you'd stop me from doing that, wouldn't you?"

Drina hesitated, and then shook her head. "No. If you really want to, I won't stop you."

Stephanie turned to look at her sharply, her eyes widening with surprise. "You mean that."

Drina shrugged. "Why stop you now? If you're determined to do it, you'd just come back and do it at a later date."

"Right." Stephanie frowned and glanced back to the house. "But trying to have any kind of contact with them would be superselfish, wouldn't it?"

Stephanie said grimly, "They'd have to be taken into protective custody to keep them safe from Leonius in case he got wind of them. My brothers and sisters would lose all their friends, and my parents would lose their jobs and friends, and everyone would lose our aunts and uncles and cousins. No more family picnics, or trips up north. Their whole lives would be disrupted and wrecked like mine was. And it would be my fault."

Drina glanced to the house. They looked like a big, busy but happy family from here, like millions of other families in the world, cha ering and smiling over their breakfast. She couldn't blame Stephanie for wan ng to stay a part of that. But even being here was endangering that very normalcy. Stephanie and Dani had been kidnapped up north, six or seven hours from Windsor. Lucian didn't think Leonius knew where Stephanie and Dani's family lived. But even if he'd sought out that informa on, he hadn't shown up to bother them, probably because he knew the family believed the two females dead and knew nothing. But her coming here could change things if he found out about it. If he didn't already know, Drina thought, suddenly worried that she and Harper might have led the man here from the gas sta on. She had been so distracted by worries for Stephanie, she hadn't considered that possibility.

"We should go," Stephanie said suddenly, worry now in her voice too, and Drina knew she'd plucked her thoughts from her mind.

She slipped her arm around the girl's shoulders and turned her to walk back to Harper, saying, "Don't worry. We'll call Lucian before we leave town and have him send a couple of men over. They'll watch for trouble and get your family out of here if there's any sign of Leonius."

"What if he's here now and does something before they get here?" Stephanie asked, suddenly stopping. Drina frowned and glanced back toward the house, torn.

"What's wrong?" Harper asked, moving to join them.

"Leonius may have followed us from Port Henry," Drina pointed out unhappily. Harper shook his head. "I was watching for anyone following us. We weren't."

Drina stared at him blankly, both embarrassed and angry at herself for not thinking of it. She was supposed to be the professional here.

"Thank you," she breathed on a sigh. "I should have thought to watch for it myself."

Harper smiled crookedly. "I told you I'm good with details."

"Yes, but I'm the rogue hunter here," she pointed out with vexa on, as he caught her free hand and tugged to urge them to move again. "I should have - "

"Hey," he interrupted, squeezing her fingers gently. "You were worried about Stephanie."

"So were you," she pointed out dryly, as they approached the end of the alley.

"Yeah, but you haven't slept in more than forty-eight hours. I have," he countered.

"Has it been that long?" Drina asked with a frown.

"I'm afraid so," Harper said.

"Actually it's forty-seven hours and ten minutes right now," Stephanie murmured. "We got up at eight the day before yesterday and you sat up on the stool all night while Harper and I were healing from the fire."

"Right," Drina murmured with a shake of the head, and then they'd spent the day playing cards, looking for Stephanie, and then driving down here to search for her. Harper and Stephanie hadn't slept in almost twenty-four hours. Stephanie could sleep in the backseat on the way back, but Harper . . . She glanced to him, and asked, "Are you okay for driving?"

"I think so. Besides, we don't have blood. We have to get back," he pointed out quietly. The reminder made her glance to Stephanie, and she frowned when she no ced her pallor. Unless they wanted to find emergency donors, they had to get back.

"I can't feed on people the normal way," Stephanie pointed out