Except Ididn’tknow. Did he mean he liked her? Or that he knew about what made her unique?
Which meant I had to ask. “Why? Why did you feel like you had to keep an eye on Allie?”
His shoulders rose, then fell. “‘Cause she’s your daughter. And if you’re hunting … well, like I said. A demon took out almost my whole family even though most of them didn’t know the score. And, well, you know.” His eyes darted to Allie, then to the ground. “I like her.”
Allie’s cheeks turned as pink as her shirt.
“I get it,” I said gently. To be honest, I liked this kid. He seemed genuine, and he seemed to genuinely like my daughter. Plus, if she was going to date anybody it was good to date someone she wasn’t going to have to keep secrets from. Not that I was ready for them to start doing the dating thing. Not at all.
The oven timer dinged, and I pushed up off the pouf. “I need coffee,” I said. “And one of the cinnamon rolls. You guys wantto continue this in the kitchen? Allie, why don’t you go get the rolls out of the oven and put them on the table? Is that good for everybody or does anyone want anything else?”
“I’d love coffee and a cinnamon roll,” Jared said. “To be honest, I don’t usually get up early enough for Mass. But I wanted to talk to Allie.”
“I didn’t see you in Mass,” Allie said. “But I noticed you when I came out,” she added with a shy smile.
“No? I saw you in there. I was sitting pretty far in the back though.”
“Allie, rolls. Eddie, you coming?”
Eddie pushed himself out of the chair. “I made a promise to myself years ago to never turn down a cinnamon roll. And I’m a man who keeps his promises.”
Allie laughed. “Come on, Gramps. I’ll get you a new mug for coffee.”
He started shuffling that way, and I went along with him. Jared walked with us, making idle chatter about how nice it was that we were letting him and Allie go out, and how good the cinnamon rolls smelled.
Our living area is right next to the kitchen area, so it wasn’t a long walk. But the areas are divided by three things—the currently open baby gate, the line the separates the carpet from the kitchen tile, and a sideboard with an ornate mirror where we keep the good china.
As we passed, I glanced at the mirror out of habit. And that’s when I saw it.
At the same time, I heard Eddie’s strangled little gasp, and knew that he’d seen the same. I clutched his arm, ostensibly to steady him, but really to prevent him from doing or saying anything.
As soon as we reached the table, Jared hesitated, as if uncertain where to sit. I took advantage of his hesitancy to reachonto the nearby counter top and grab the wooden spatula handle I’d tossed there yesterday.
And then—in one lightning-fast move—I spun around and pushed the kid back hard so that he fell into the chair. I stepped on his feet so he couldn’t stand, pressed him against the chair’s back with a firm hand on his shoulder, and jabbed the wooden stake right toward his treacherous little heart.
CHAPTER 13
“Mother!”
Allie’s shrill voice stopped me just in time from pounding the spatula stem straight through Jared’s unbeating heart. (Okay, that’s not entirely true. Demon-Hunting Kate knows better than to immediately stake enigmatic vampires who protect her daughter from boardwalk-trolling demons. Mom-Kate isn’t quite so rational about a vampire flirting with her baby girl.)
“Do you think I missed that shimmer in the mirror? Talk,” I demanded, pulling the stake back a few millimeters, but otherwise not moving. He wanted to get out of that chair and come at me? He’d encounter the dull-but-still-functional end of my spatula.
“I’m here to help,” he said, his hands lifting in surrender. “Swear to God.”
“Excuse me?”
He shrugged. “Figure of speech.”
I put the end of the stick into his ear. “Another smart aleck remark and you’ll be as mindless as a zombie, and immortality will feel pretty damn long.”
“Mo-ther. Will you please just chill?”
“I promise,” Jared said, keeping his eyes on me. “I only want to help.”
“The hell you do.”
“Mother!”
