“All this just for me?” he asked softly.
“If you say you don’t deserve it, I’m gonna beat the crap out of you,” I threatened.
Caleb laughed. “No, I won’t say that anymore.”
“Good,” Pierce said with a smile. “I went through a lot of effort having it prepared for you.” He fished a key out of his pocket and placed it in Caleb’s hand. “Here you are. For the time being, it’s all yours.”
“Woo!” Theo yelled, thrusting his arms in the air. “Party at Caleb’s place!”
As Theo and Caleb rushed inside, I turned to Pierce. “Hey,” I began quietly, “about those safeguards you implemented…”
Pierce put his hand comfortingly on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. I meant what I said. Caleb will have someone with him at all times.”
“Like a bodyguard?”
A strange, amused look crossed Pierce’s face. “Something like that, yes.”
“But he can’t have one forever,” I said. “I don’t want him to live in constant fear of Margaret.”
Pierce’s expression turned solemn. He let out a deep sigh. When he spoke, it was quiet and low. “I will be honest with you, Benji. I don’t think Margaret is long for this world. Even if Caleb was worried about her presence, I doubt he’ll have to deal with it for much longer.”
A sober feeling descended upon me. “Oh.”
“I didn’t want to mention it earlier and put a damper on things,” he murmured. “But in any case, he will have protection. For as long as that may need to be.”
I nodded gravely. “Okay.”
A cough sounded from behind us. Adriel stood with his hands jammed deeply in his coat pockets and a mild glare on his face.
“Ah, Adriel,” Pierce said. “You’ve finally joined us.”
“You summoned me,” Adriel growled. “For what reason, brother?”
Pierce had a thinly veiled shit-eating grin on his face as he clapped Adriel on the back. “You see, I’ve appointed you with a very important task.”
Adriel sneered and peeled Pierce’s fingers away. “Which is?”
“You’ll be guarding Caleb from Margaret.”
“Excuse me?” Adriel hissed.
At that moment, Theo popped his head out of the window. “Oh, hey, you’re finally here! Come check this out, Caleb has this cool video game and it’s multiplayer so we need more people!”
Adriel shot Pierce a burning glare that might have melted him if he was anything other than a vampire. Pierce just grinned.
I held back a snort of laughter.Maybe he’s more evil than I thought.
“Why me?” Adriel whispered harshly.
For a moment, Pierce turned serious. “Because Theo still believes Margaret can be trusted. He’s soft. But you and I know the truth, don’t we? That Margaret has lost it.”
Adriel’s mouth tightened into a severe line. “Yes. Unfortunately, you’re correct.”
Pierce nodded. “So you know how important this task is. You cannot let Caleb come to harm while Margaret is still alive.”
With a long exhale, Adriel smoothed back his silky black hair. A few strands fell in front of his forehead. “Fine. But only until Margaret returns to health - or to the earth from whence she came.”
I wondered if, despite the current state of things, Adriel secretly wished for Margaret to become better. I hadn’t known her until after she contracted whatever illness she had, but there must have been a lot of history between her and the brothers that I wasn’t privy to. Either way, there was no way it was easy for them to see her descend into madness like this.
