All I could think of was Haven, as I kissed her. It was nowhere near as steamy as it had been last night, but this was different in a good way. Instead of demanding and needing, this kiss was slow and playful. I was having quite a bit of fun, but all too soon I had to pull away. Haven groaned, and I laughed at her expression. She was so cute when she pouted.
“I’m sorry.” I smiled down at her. “I have to go talk to Jared for a little bit, will you be alright on your own?” I hated leaving her, but she shot me a look that told me she would be just fine. God I loved this girl. Loved. It was so weird to feel love again, after all this time. I hadn’t thought it was possible for me to ever love again, after my wife betrayed me, but here I was, deeper in love than I had ever thought possible. I leaned down to kiss her forehead, smiling as I pulled away.
I slipped on a shirt as I walked out the door, nearly running head first into Ryan. He moved out of the way just in time though, and I think we were both grateful for his fast reflexes.
“Where are you going?” I asked him, surprised to find him dressed let alone wearing a shirt this early in the morning.
“We’re going hunting.” Danny said, stepping out from behind Ryan.
“I see,” I said. “And what exactly are you planning on hunting?”
“I’ve never had alligator.” Ryan said, smirking.
“If you’re in the mood for something cold-blooded, Jared keeps a store of blood in the refrigerator.” I smiled.
“I know,” Ryan smiled back. “But where’s the fun in that?”
“Do you want to come with us?” Danny asked me, but I shook my head.
“I have to go talk to Jared, thanks.” I declined his offer and they patted me on the back before heading down the stairs and out the front door. I made my way to the kitchen, not surprised when I found Damian lounging around. Or more like lurking.
“Good morning, little bro. Where is your hotter half?” He smirked.
“Don’t you mean better half? And Haven is upstairs.”
“Hmm, not with you for once then?” He grinned mischievously and I resisted the urge to punch him. “Where are you going?”
“To talk to Jared, and no, you can’t come.” I said but Damian just shrugged, he seemed too preoccupied with something else to care.
“Well have fun.” He said, dismissing me. I grabbed a bag of A Positive from the fridge and gulped it down as I walked to Jared’s office. I knocked twice and opened the door. Jared was sitting behind a desk piled with paper.
“No, no. That won’t do. If we don’t get the shipment in by Monday we are going to have problems.” Jared was saying, and it took me a moment to realize that he was talking on the phone, and not to me. Jared looked up at me when I walked in, and gestured for me to take the seat across from him. He held up a finger to say that he would be a minute. I sunk onto the comfortable leather chair, and picked up a stack of papers from his desk. I flipped through them, knowing that he wouldn’t care. The majority of them were account statement, from banks all over the country and some even in Europe. The remaining ones were business receipts, and from the looks of it, Jared was doing some pretty illegal things. I wasn’t surprised at all.
“Aaron.” Jared said smiling, and I realized he had ended the phone conversation. He was now looking at me.
“New business, I see?” I asked, gesturing to the papers I had just gone through and raising an eyebrow. Jared chuckled.
“Money is money, right?” I nodded. “What can I do for you?”
“Just wanted to talk, alone this time.” I said.
“Of course.” Jared smiled one of his rare genuine smiles. “What did you want to talk about?”
“A couple of things.” I evaded, trying to organize my thought. “Mostly about the Wendigo.”
“Ah, the Wendigo.” Jared nodded. “Nasty little problem you got there.”
“Do you think I will be able to take care of it? Honestly.” I asked. Jared paused for a moment, he looked like he was in deep thought.
“You? not a chance. You going up against this thing alone is a suicide mission. But with all of you, that makes five vampires, I’d say you have a fighting chance. But even then it won’t be easy.” I nodded; I had a feeling that Jared would say something like that.
“So what do we do?” I asked, hoping that Jared would have some advice.
“You have to be smarter than that monster. That’s why these things are so dangerous. Not only do they have superhuman abilities, they are also incredibly smart. Your best chance of surviving is to come up with a plan, and not to screw that plan up.” Jared said and I nodded, grateful for his bluntness.
“I see. And is there any way I can protect Haven? What if we preformed the ceremony?” I asked, desperate. My hopes fell when Jared shook his head.
“No, no, that won’t work. It will protect Haven from other vampires, sure, but it will provide no protection what-so-ever from a Wendigo.” He shot me a sympathetic look and I sighed, running a hand through my messy black hair. Our chances of defeating this thing were not great, but we did have some advantages. For instance there were five of us, and only one of him. And we knew how to kill it. But most importantly was the fact that this thing was trying to kill Haven, and I would do anything, anything to stop that from happening. This thing had no idea what it was up against. All we needed now was a plan.
“Thanks Jared.” I said, smiling at the man who had taken me in as a new vampire. I stood up as he returned my smile, and I began to walk towards the door. Jared called out to me before I could leave though.
“How long do you plan on staying?” Jared asked, as I turned back around to face him. I thought for a moment. How long would we be staying? We couldn’t stay too long, we only had a week left of winter break remaining. And now that we had gotten what we came for, there wasn’t really any point in staying.
“I’m not sure. Probably not long though.” I said.
“That’s a shame.” Jared was sincere when he said that. “I insist you stay for Christmas though.”
