Of Blood & Consequence (Book 2 of The Blood Bond Series)

30. Baby Bond

"Have some more tea, Gran," Delia coaxed as she got comfortable in the cushy bucketseat of the plane.

Michael had gone all out, carrying boxes and boxes of unfinished and finished projects, skeins upon skeins of yarn, needles of varying sizes. It was lucky that they didn't try to fly commercial. Some of the sizes of knitting needles would have certainly given TSA pause about letting them onto a tin can full of soft, human bodies.

"Thank you, Dee." Her grandmother's voice was a soft coo, and the syllables stretched far longer than they should have. She was dealing with a migraine, and the medicine she took made her a little lethargic, slow-witted, and droopy-eyed.

She lifted the to-go cup to her lips, smacking them when she pulled it away before Delia caught it and placed it in a cupholder for her.

Her brow furrowed, deepening the lines that worried a path across her forehead until Michael attempted to smooth it away with a soft glance of his hand. Her mouth tilted in a smile, and he came to sit down next to her, grabbing her hand to place it on his thigh, their fingers intertwined.

Sasha was to stay behind to keep an eye on the house. She'd tried to weasel her way into coming, but since it wasn't Michael and Delia's place they would be staying, she didn't have any leeway in the matter.

Delia was almost about to invite her to their condo just to put the Jensen's off their scent, but she figured the woman was her mother, and wishing death upon her wasn't all that healthy. She didn't trust Michael's parents not to kidnap and use her as leverage to get him to accede to whatever demands they made in the future. They were trifling, horrible people who would do anything to get their way, and anything was a possibility when it came right down to it.

They took off twenty minutes later, the guard that had accompanied them materializing out of thin air once they'd gotten back on the plane. Where he'd stayed in the interim was up for debate, but he was still there when they boarded, looking as crisp and clean as a newly minted dollar bill, nodding to them all as they took their seats. Gran thought he was a very somber flight attendant before Michael told her he would be helping with the moving of her things into Cassie's and Eli's abode.

The whine of the engines faded as they began to fly at altitude in a westerly direction before being told they were allowed to move about the cabin.

Delia stood, stretching her arms above her and catching a glimpse of her grandmother's snoozing form.

"Tea?" she asked softly.

Michael nodded back. He always put a little extra something in it whenever he brought her some. "I'll warm it up for her when she wakes."

Delia bobbed her head back, allowing some of the sinking sensation in her belly to drift away. She'd come to some understanding of her grandmother's wishes, and she was grateful that Michael was with her on keeping the woman comfortable in her last days.

Before leaving for LA, Gran's prognosis remained grim. Caroline Parker could live out maybe another month at the fast progress that the tumor was growing. Even if she decided on radiation and chemotherapies, the chances were only minimal that she would live another six months.

Delia walked to the opposite side of the plane, leaning over to look out the window at the tops of clouds and patches of earth thousands of miles beneath them. Even with a vampire's keen senses she couldn't actually see the people, and only the largest of tractor trailers were barely distinguishable from their height.

"It all looks so small," she murmured as she felt Michael press against her side as her vision blurred.

"That's the human in you talking," he stated. "The world is much larger than you suspect when you're mortal. The reason being is that people change. They grow old and feeble around you, then there's a new set of people to learn and get to know. It's ever-changing, beautiful and tragic at the same time."