The kitchen was actually the remainder of the house attached to the lighthouse. It had been renovated to show off the vaulted ceilings with bare wooden beams, and the natural stone fireplace. The kitchen part of the space was to the left, which took up a portion of the ocean view and made good use of it via a bank of windows. To the right of that was the dining table with even more windows showing off the north view of the ocean and shore.
The far side of the space was broken up by a wall that jutted out, hiding a couple cots back there for visitors who might be ill, or for the caretaker of the place to stay overnight if needed. It used to be a closed-in bedroom, but the remodel had taken that out in favor of a more open space that could be used as a meeting place if needed.
And that’s exactly what they were using it for.
Other than the kitchen, dining room table, bedroom, and the door to the bathroom, the rest of the place was a mix of couches and chairs. A few wooden tables gave extra sitting space against walls, one with a checkerboard, one with a stack of extra brochures, another with a box labeled: RAINGEARtucked beneath it.
The array of mismatched throw rugs on the wooden floor helped to soak up some of the voices and conversations going on in the room.
Looked like we were the last to arrive.
On one side of the room, lounging in a couple couches and chairs, were the vampires. Old Rossi, the prime of the vampire clan, looked dark and lean and uncharacteristically tight as a coil as he sat in a chair. Gone was the frilly apron and friendly smile.
Behind him stood Evan, who usually worked at the cat rescue shelter in town, but right now looked like the bodyguard he actually was. The light-haired twins Page and Senta who were part of the emergency response personnel, were crammed on the couch. Next to them were Keenan and Axel: the former part of the night-shift at the local lumber yard, the latter a mechanic who repaired cars and farm equipment and had the arms to prove it.
The couches and chairs opposite were covered in werewolves.
Small, deadly, the steely quiet Granny was the alpha of her pack. She sat in the middle of the couch, her saucer glasses adding weird light to her eyes. Behind her were either sons or nephews or cousins or nieces, about ten of them, all bulky, all silent, all a part of the family, the pack. Burly Rudy sat on one side of Granny and on her other, to my huge surprise, was Jame.
I quickly noted that Fawn, his cousin, sat next to him, her hand on the back of his neck in comfort as much as in protection. She was glaring daggers at the vampires.
Other than Myra, the only other person in the room was a god.
Thanatos, Death himself, was the only god who had come to this meeting, though I had no idea why he was interested in what was going on.
“Hello, everyone,” I said. “Thanks for coming.”
“Delaney,” Old Rossi greeted me, his voice low, even, and cool. No tea and friendship there. No New Age peace and love either. Just wariness, and deadly focus.
Granny Wolfe nodded but did not take her eyes off Rossi and his crew. Neither did any of the other Wolfes, who were all staring at the vamps like they were food that wouldn’t stop twitching.
“Rossi. Granny. Than. Good to see you all. This is neutral ground and there will be no blood shed here, no pain. We work together, we save Ben and kill Lavius. Understood?”
“Yes,” Rossi said.
“Delaney, you come sit down and we can see what we can see.” Granny pointed to her couch.
Myra stood across the room at parade rest. She gave me a look that probably mirrored my own. This tension between the two factions was going to catch fire. Sooner rather than later if we didn’t do something about it.
“Benoni is not dead,” Than said smoothly into the silence.
Crack, boom. Tension busted.
Jame’s swollen, red-rimmed eyes jerked to Death’s face.
“Benoni lives,” Than continued as if we were talking about upcoming movie times. “I would know if he did not. I believe you would too, Travail, is that not true?”
If Rossi was bothered by Death using his first name, he didn’t show it. If anything, some of the tightness around his eyes eased slightly, though his jaw still twitched as he ground his teeth together.
“I would know,” Rossi agreed softly.
“Yes, then. There is hope.” Than smiled, as if he had never had the chance to say that before and liked the sound of it. “Is there also tea?”
Jean moved over to the kitchen. “I’ll see what I can find. Anyone else want tea?”
Silence, then Ryder finished strolling into the room bringing that confidence and challenge that sat so well on him and did something to center the room, to ground the moment into the reality of people gathering together to find solutions.
“Coffee, if you have it,” he said.
