I stepped forward. "How about I come visit you and Linda in a few weeks?"
Jenna's expression lit up. "We'd love that."
The urge to hug her struck me. I hesitated. It had been a long time since I'd been physically affectionate toward my sister, and I wasn't sure how to initiate.
Ah, to hell with it. This could very well be the last time I saw her if I didn't solve my current problems.
I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her, braced for rejection.
"I love you, little sis," I whispered when she didn't move. "And I'm sorry I've been difficult."
Jenna breathed in sharply, as if forcing down a sob. Her arms clenched around me as she hugged me tight. "I love you too, Lena. I'm sorry I made you feel like you couldn't talk to me."
She leaned back, her smile crooked and a suspicious sheen to her eyes. "I don't mean to be a judgmental bitch." She shrugged. "It's just habit."
That surprised a water logged laugh out of me.
I untangled myself from her embrace, dashing away any wetness that might have slipped out. It wouldn't do if someone saw the badass vampire getting teary eyed over something like this.
"Alright, get out of here. I really do have work," I told her.
Jenna backed away, raising a hand in good bye. "See you soon."
I nodded, lifting my own hand in a wave.
I really hoped I didn't end up breaking my promise to her.
*
I walked into my apartment to find a standoff taking place between Connor and my two roommates. Hostility and distrust crackled back and forth.
"Aileen, what is this fanger doing here?" Inara demanded, rising from the counter.
Wings clad in every shade of green imaginable beat at the air, the fast movement making light play over them. They shimmered, reminding me of tree leaves rustling in the wind.
She hovered in midair, her features set in a scowl.
No taller than the length of my hand, Inara had a body that was humanoid and eyes a tad too big for her face. Her teeth were sharp and pointed, the better for tearing into her kills. Pixies, despite their small size, made excellent hunters—especially when their court was bigger than two.
She would have been right at home in a forest with the faint greenish cast to her skin that would have allowed her to blend right in.
Her consort, Lowen, was her opposite in almost all ways. Calm where Inara was a tempest, he wore jewel tones of blue and purple on his wings. His skin was burnished copper.
Usually I could count on him to be the voice of reason in any situation—except, apparently, this one.
He glared at our guest from his vantage in the vent near the ceiling. In his hands he held a bow and a nocked arrow, pointed directly at Connor.
For someone else, seeing a pixie hold a tiny bow with an equally tiny arrow would have been funny, but I'd seen what they could do with one of those. I didn't think Connor would appreciate having an arrow fired into his eye, even less so with the tip coated, I suspected, with poison.
"What the hell are you two doing?" I asked.
Inara lifted higher into the air. "Defending what's ours."
My stare could have lit her wings on fire. "Would you like to rephrase that?"
This apartment was mine. They were squatting here without permission.
Inara’s chin tilted up, defiance in her posture.
