“So what do you think, Mrs. Connor?” Jared asked. “Can Allie and I go to the beach?”
“Excuse me?” Allie’s voice rose with indignation. “You’re just going to ask for me?”
Jared’s brow furrowed as he looked from Allie to me and then back to Allie again. “I thought you wanted to.”
“Yeah,” she said in the sarcastic tone that I was well familiar with. “At least, I did before you turned out to be Dracula with an agenda.”
“Agenda?”
“It might not be so bad, girlie.” Eddie said. “I worked with a vamp once. Nice gal. Tiger between the shee?—”
“Eddie!” I nailed him with a hard glare.
“Yeah, well, just saying that vamps can make good partners. All depends on how much they’re on the sauce, just like the kid said.”
“He’s not a kid,” I pointed out. “Not by a long shot.” To the extent Allie was interested in Jared as a boyfriend, I needed to nip that one in the bud.
“No, I’m not,” he said. “That’s why I can protect you,” he looked hard at Allie. “You don’t have to worry if I’m around.”
“I don’t need your protection.” I could hear the indignation shifting into fury.
“Okay...” He dragged the word out just like your typical teenager who was less than a century old. “You’re probably right. But you can ask me questions. I probably have a lot I could teach you.”
“There’s not a thing I want from you right now.” She pushed back from the table and stood. “I’ll see you in school in September. Mom, I’ve got some things I need to do in my room.” And with that, she stormed out of the kitchen in a huff.
Across the table from me, Jared looked with wide eyes from me to Eddie. “What? What did I do?”
I fought the urge to shake my head. This poor, clueless boy. How could he have walked this earth for over a century, and still not understood the female population?
“You’ve been seventeen for most of your life, and you really don’t know?” Eddie apparently had no qualms about calling the boy out.
“What? She needs more training. She needs to be in the field. I can work with her. I can help her. I can go out there with her and let her get some honest to goodness experience hunting demons.”
“There are so many things wrong with that statement,” I said. “For one—no, actually let’s just forget the first one.” I would never hear the end of it if I told this boy that Allie thought he was truly boyfriend material. “The bottom line is that I don’t know you well enough to let you take her out on a demon-hunting excursion with just the two of you.”
“But it’s the perfect scenario. It’ll look like she’s out with a guy from her school. Do you want to bring along her friend? What was her name? Eliza? The one at the Church?”
“She’s my cousin.”
“So, does she know the sitch?”
“She does. And she could take you out if necessary.”
He winced at that. “It wouldn’t be necessary. But bring her along.”
“She’s not available for the next few days.”
He sagged in defeat. “Look, I just want to make sure that Allie’s safe. If she is what rumor says she is, she’s going to be important.”
I stifled a shiver. “What exactly do you think she is?”
He offered a twisted smile, looking boyish again. “Honestly? I don’t really know. Some new breed, I guess. But she sure got the demon population buzzing. They’re out for her, you know that right? Because if you don’t, you should. She needs someone watching her back, all the time. And what better than a boyfriend?”
I exhaled. For better or for worse, I believed what he was saying. “Look, it wasn’t a stupid plan, at least assuming I trust you, which I’m still not sure about. But you may have shot yourself in the foot if the end game is taking Allie out to protect and train.”
“What do you mean?”
Men. Some things never change.
