Compassion
"Mina, takes these folders will you?" Otis called and Mina stopped her task. She closed the whiteboard marker and placed it on its shelf to skip over to her teacher. Smiling, she took the folders and shouldered her bag. "Would you also, please, refrain from writing strange little expressions on my whiteboard?"
"It's not that strange!" She countered while leaving the classroom. Otis closed his briefcase and stood to follow her. A smile played on his lips.
He paused by the door as she held it open to look back and read the board aloud. "Sugar wrapped in sunshine and laced with sprinkles from rainbows...With a little pastry underneath." Mina laughed and they exited the classroom.
"I think it's a cute cupcake!"
"Speaking of baking, would you be so generous as to bake more red velvet cupcakes?" Otis said smoothly with Mina sliding a sly look at him.
"Only if you would be so generous as to assign less homework." A booming laugh came from Otis and Mina simply grinned in reply. They entered Otis's car and the teacher and student left the school towards their home.
"Where were you and Vladimir on Halloween?" The pleasant silence of the car ride was broken and the teenager turned to Otis. A small blush grew on her cheeks as she thought about how she should explain.
"We went to Casimir's party at the Crypt. He always has an after party for Elysia only that last well into the night. Since he was tired we just had him stay with me at Caz's."
"You should have told me you were staying with the Dracula's." Otis spoke in a hushed voice. His eyes remained on the road and Mina looked up at him. "A young vampire in the city on Halloween is a dangerous threat."
"Otis, you know me. I would never do that." She said hurriedly and he broke her off.
"I was worried, Mina." She quieted and looked down. "I understand that the Dracula's take great care of you and you are safe in their hands. But you are my ward, in a sense, and I'm not used to caring for a teenager. Vlad enough is a challenge for me."
"I'm sorry, Otis. You're right...I wasn't really thinking that night."
Otis nodded and a small smile, unreadable to Mina, broke loose on his lips. "Did anything happen with Vladimir?"
"Otis!" Mina shrieked and he shrugged.
"He is my nephew, and you are his mate. Judging from the way he acted when Jonathan was over, I had thought something were to happen." Mina's brow knitted together and she searched Otis's expression.
"What are you talking about?"
Before the elder vampire answered, they had arrived at the house on Lugosi Trail. She walked closed behind them as they entered the house through the back door and placed all of Otis's papers down. Just as Mina was about to restate her question, Tristan came running down the steps in a rush.
He seemed flushed and worried and he was speaking in a fast voice before the vampires had time to react to his presence. Mina drew into the man's thoughts quickly to discover what the problem was. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, she felt her body freeze for a fraction of a moment before she ran up the stairs in such a hurry that she was unsure if she used super speed. Yet to her surprise, Otis had beaten her into the room and was already ranting loudly.
"You are a damned fool, old man! You should have allowed Tristan to contact me. What if the garlic had gotten into your system before you could throw it up, or had entered a cut in your mouth? You could have died."
"Vikas!" Mina whispered in a gasp of shock. She knelt by his side, evading Otis, Vlad, and Tristan in the process. Her hand slipped into his and her face was contorted in fear. "You look like death!"
