The Reluctant Vampire Page 0,111
as she slipped out from under Dani's arm and made her way into the dining room.
"She's worried about turning no-fanger and being put down," Harper murmured, watching Stephanie walk away.
"We're all worried about that," Mirabeau said on a sigh, and then shook her head with frustra on. "It isn't fair. She's a good kid. There has to be something we can do to help her."
Drina leaned against Harper, her gaze slipping through the door to the dining room and the kitchen beyond, where Stephanie was retrieving a bag of blood from a cooler on the kitchen counter and asking Tiny if she could help him with anything. "I've been thinking about that."
"So have I," Mirabeau admi ed. "We need to find older edentates and see if any of them had to deal with this and how they did." She paused to frown, and then added, "But that can take a while, and I don't know how long Stef can handle being bombarded with thoughts and energy."
Drina nodded. She'd considered the same thing and the same problem. "We have a li le me before we leave. We'll just keep thinking, maybe have a brainstorming session after we eat."
"Good idea," Mirabeau said.
"Speaking of ea ng," Harper murmured. "Just the sight of that bag of blood Stephanie's puncturing with straws is making my fangs ache. I need blood."
"Me too," Drina admitted on a sigh, allowing him to urge her out of the entry. Harper hung up Teddy's phone with a weary sigh and stood up to stretch in front of the desk in the dining room. He'd been making calls for the last hour while Tiny and the women brainstormed in the living room with Stephanie over ways to help her. He knew that Drina had included the girl in an effort to reassure her and give her some sense of hope, but when he entered the room, he found Stephanie curled up on the couch sound asleep and the others gathered in chairs at the other end of the living room talking quietly.
"Any luck?" he asked quietly as he settled on the arm of Drina's recliner and rubbed her back.
"We had a couple of good ideas, I think," Drina said, pping her head up to smile at him crookedly. "But we're all so exhausted . . ." She shrugged, and then said, "You were on the phone a long me. Was there a problem arranging for the helicopter?"
Harper shook his head. "It's coming for us at midnight. That gives us . . ." He automa cally glanced down at his wrist, but recalling that his watch had been another vic m of the fire, glanced around the room for a clock. He spo ed the digital me readout on the DVR beside Teddy's television. It was 10:58. "Thirteen hours to sleep, take turns at the shower, and get ready. We should also be able to fit in another brainstorming session before it arrives."
"Good thinking," Tiny rumbled, catching Mirabeau's hand and standing up. "We'll be more clearheaded then."
"Yeah," Mirabeau sighed, slipping her arm around Tiny, and then glancing to Drina and Harper with a grimace. "Are you two going to be all right in the recliners? I feel bad that we get the bed."
"Don't," Drina said, a wry smile curving her lips. "I'm so exhausted I could sleep on a bed of nails."
"We'll be fine," Harper assured them. Teddy had decided the sleeping arrangements; Tiny and Mirabeau got the spare bedroom, Stephanie, Drina, and he got the living room, and Anders was presently sharing Teddy's bed. Or possibly sacked out on Teddy's bedroom floor, Harper thought with amusement as he recalled Anders's expression when Teddy had made the announcement. He hadn't looked terribly pleased, but it was Teddy's house, so his rules.
No one was fooled. The police chief had made Anders share his room so he could keep an eye on him and ensure he didn't try to slip away with Stephanie while the rest of the house slept. Drina's and Harper's sleeping in the living room with Stephanie was the second safeguard against that as well as the possibility of another attack by Leonius.
Harper sincerely hoped there wouldn't be another a ack. He was exhausted. They all were. If they could just make it through the next thirteen hours without Leonius trying something, they would get Stephanie away from here and at least that risk. Then they'd only have to worry about helping her handle her new gifts and convincing Lucian to