The Council (Darkness #5)(2)

It took everything I had not to literally punch Toa in the face. The guy just didn’t have that social awareness that most people did.

“Oh look!” Charles exclaimed as we stepped down off the stoop.

Jen, witch-twin number one, and her three-year-old were weaving in and out of the monstrous warriors, making their way to me. As they passed by, all the fierce eyes and hard faces softened and smiles appeared. People bent down to get eye-level with little Aurora. The little girl preened, half-shy and half-excited to meet her towering playmates, any of which would drop what they were doing for a quick minute with a child.

I had never seen a group of people covet children so much as this group. It amazed me constantly. Even Stefan, an absolute hard-ass except behind closed doors, would get down low, put out his hands, and crack a smile if Aurora came to play. Jen might be human, and more than a little spacy and batty, but without exception if she brought her daughter, she was welcome anywhere in the mansion. She even had a whole mansion full of eager babysitters.

“Hi Aurora!” Charles exclaimed, bending down with his horribly ugly quilt. “Look what I made you.”

“What is that?” Jen asked as they stepped up.

“A blanket!” Aurora giggled as she patted Charles on the arm in greeting. Charles was a favorite. He was the only one she was never shy with.

He swung her up and jiggled her around in his arms. Aurora’s squeals of delight drew in everyone’s eyes and evoked smiles. Jonas put out his hands next, his stern face melting like hot wax when she reached out to him. He flew her through the air like Superman, his laughter matching hers.

“Anyway,” Jen said with a smile as she watched her daughter squealing in delight. “We just came to wish you farewell. The others couldn’t make it in time, but they say good luck and stay safe.”

I nodded, that thrill of danger raging through my stomach again. “Thanks. You guys going to keep coming to learn to use your magic?” I asked, digging my hands in my pockets.

“Yes. We’re doing so well that we don’t want to stop and lose traction. And the Boss said that Jameson will be running the mansion, so he’ll keep an eye on us. No one messes with us, though. After Delilah kicked that kid in the balls when he tried the pheromones, everyone kind of lost interest. And that stuff doesn’t really work now, anyway.”

I nodded as Jonas set Aurora down. The pheromones worked on most people right away, but the longer a human hung out with that ‘motivator’, the less it worked. Apparently this was already known by everybody except me. No one ever thought to mention it to the silly human, it seemed.

Such was my life.

“Well, we should probably go. I’m making everyone late,” I said to Jen.

Jen nodded at me and guided Aurora in front of her until Charles whisked her up again. “Are the shape-changer people going, too?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I answered as I made my way to Stefan. “They’re flying though. They have a truce with this clan, but everyone is so keyed up about this council meeting, and so eager to be the head dick, that—”

“Sasha!” Charles hissed, putting his big palms over Aurora’s ears. “Language!”

“Sorry. But, yeah, we don’t need people fighting before we even get to the Council. The two groups still don’t exist peacefully.”

“Okay, well… good luck! Stay safe!”

I nodded at Jen as I reached Stefan. The world melted away as his eyes delved into mine before glancing at Jonas and Charles. After a silent exchange, he took my hand and guided me into the motorhome. As soon as the door was shut, he settled into the dining area with a sigh.

“Tell me again why we need a vehicle big enough for a family of eight?” I asked, settling in beside him.

“Because I’m the Boss.”

“Didn’t answer my question.”

He smirked, moving his arm so I could lean against his rock-hard chest. After the motorhome waggled into the road, I asked, “How come you don’t have more kids at the mansion? It seems like people love them around.”

His fingers traced strands of my hair lightly. “When I was little, the mansion was attacked. It was more or less a routine situation—the neighboring clans often checked our defenses. Most of the kids were whisked away and sheltered, but two died. After that, we stopped allowing our children at the mansion unless in specific situations.”

“But can’t someone just attack the places where you do have children?”

“The only race interested in attacking us, at present, is our own. Since trouble reproducing is a species-wide trait, and losing even one child pushes us farther behind human populations, we don’t cross that line.”

“But—and I am just playing devil’s advocate here—wouldn’t that be a great way to thin down the opposing forces. The enemy?”

“Yes. And, in turn, a great way to thin down us, as a whole. It would soon be a contest of who could kill the others’ young. There is no faster way to end our species altogether.”

“Well, there is a faster way.”

He quirked an eyebrow at me.

“Tell the humans you are showing up to take over.”

A smile graced Stefan’s full lips. “That is true.”

We listened in silence to the rumble of the motor, the moving box swaying to one side or the other as we turned corners. After a while of quiet contemplation, Stefan still stroking my hair, he said, “When do you think you will conceive? Is that something we can try for soon?”