“Understood,” I echoed back at him. “Text me times that work for the family.” I leaned closer to my laptop, moving the mouse so I could close the video call window.
“Love you, Jade,” Mom called, starting the chorus from my brothers.
“I love you guys too—have a good night.” I smiled, exited out of the call, then bolted across my small apartment.
When I made it to my door, I undid the various locks—I’d installed more since Considine had broken my door down saving me, not that another lock or two would do much to keep him out—and opened the door. “Sorry, Sunshine! I called my family, and it went long—” I snapped my jaw shut when I opened the door enough to see the whole hallway.
Sunshine was leaning against the opposite wall—today she was wearing a brilliant saffron colored sweater with billowy sleeves, and had a very complicated smile.
Standing in the center of the hallway—a respectable distance away from Sunshine and also likely responsible for her expression—was Considine, in black jeans, black boots, and a black shirt made trendy by a tailored black jacket.
Considine was blank faced—which made his dark red eyes sharper—until he met my eyes and he grinned. “Good evening, Tea Time. Ready to go?”
I looked from Considine to Sunshine, speechless.
“Don’t look at me,” Sunshine said. “I didn’t invite him.”
I looked back at Considine. “Why?”
Considine tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking confoundingly modern despite being older than long gone empires. “Why, what?”
“Why are you here?”
“To accompany you and Sunshine to work, obviously,” Considine said.
I blinked.
“I live next door, Tea Time. Did you really think I was going to deprive myself of the pleasure of your company?”
I looked back at Sunshine.
“He’s got a car,” Sunshine said. “I’m pretty sure it’s a nice one based on the set of keys he jingled while we waited for you.”
I frowned. “He’s already won you over?”
“Not hardly. I’m not won over until you are,” Sunshine said. “But I’m not opposed to using the offered ride as extra backup, since we have no idea what Gisila is up to, but we do know she’s terrified of him.”
That made sense, but I had a feeling my slayer family wouldn’t be happy about it.
I don’t think this is a trap. He’s not trying to hide anything, and when vampires get motivated enough to set traps for betrayals and the like, you never see it coming. Unless he’s hiding a trap layers beneath his show of emotions?
My head was going to start hurting again from overthinking things.
I scrunched my eyes shut. “Fine. But you’re sitting in front with him. Let me grab a thicker shirt and my stuff, and we can go.”
“That’s fine, I’ll just come inside to wait,” Considine said with too much cheer.
“No.” I held a finger up at him as he took a step toward me. “You’re waiting out here.” I glanced at Sunshine, trying to communicate with my eyes that I wanted her to monitor him.
She gave me a playful wink, but as I started to close the door, her good humor faded away and she studied the vampire.
This is weird.I shook my head when the door clicked shut.I’ve spent my life dedicated to learning how to fight vampires. Mom’s right, I was never prepared for one to grow interested in me.
At the endof the work week, Considine was deemed competent enough to be sent out on modified patrols—modifiedbecause they were essentially practice patrols that gave me an opportunity to drill him on task force protocols and get him some experience.
For the first patrol—which Sarge had decided on rather last minute—we were sent downtown.
Brody was dispatched with Considine and me—supposedly to exemplify task force conduct, but I was pretty sure he was actually with us because as much as Sarge and Captain Reese said they were happy to exploit Considine’s powers for the team, they were still being careful.
