Page 17 of The Vampire and the Barista

“Nice. Think of the fun we can have,” Jack said. “Spencer and I are looking for the secret library that’s hidden somewhere in this house. You can help us search for it.”

Karl grinned at him. “We can do that.”

“We can,” Kitty added.

“But not tonight. It’s getting late,” Seth said, looking at Jack.

“That’s okay, we can have more adventuring tomorrow. Spencer is on the phone with Stefan anyway,” he replied, grinning.

“Off to bed now, then,” Gio said.

Jack hugged Seth and Gio. “See you all in the morning.” And with a final wave, Jack went off to bed.

“Once you’ve finished eating, we can show you to your rooms,” Dave said.

“We should think about getting back,” Bert said. He was sat next to Max, his arms crossed on the table, his hand on Max’s arm.

“Thought about it, don’t wanna,” Gabe grumped out, leaning into Mathis.

Mathis kissed the side of his head.

“Things going well then?” Ivan asked.

“Too well, there is so much to go through, and we keep uncovering more,” David replied. “We’ll have a quick catch-up before we head back.”

Ivan looked at Jamie and his siblings and saw they had all finished eating. “Let’s show these guys to their rooms and get them settled. Seth can catch me up later.”

“In that case, I’ll show you the rooms I helped Davy and Louise get ready for you, as they’ll want to stay and catch up with what’s going on,” Annie offered.

“Thanks,” Jamie said, starting to tidy the plates up.

“Leave them, I’ll clear up,” Thomaz said.

“Are you sure? We can help,” Kitty replied.

“Yep, go get settled. If you see a dog and a puppy, no stealing them.”

“Dog?” Karl grinned, just as Kitty said, “Puppy?”

“Yep, they’ve taken to sleeping at the top of the stairs. It’s quite funny watching Diablo climb the stairs.”

“If we bump into them, I’ll introduce you,” Ivan told them, standing up and walking over to the bags that had all been dumped to one side. He noted the large bags Cairo and Troy had packed. He handed the backpacks to Karl and Kitty and picked up the two large ones.

“The dark blue one is Kitty’s,” Cairo told Ivan, before looking at her and Karl. “We packed up everything we could for you. Sorry if we forgot anything.”

“Thanks for that, whatever you packed will be perfect,” Kitty replied, beaming a smile his way.

“Yep, what she said,” Karl added. “Also, thanks for coming to rescue us, for healing us and bringing us somewhere safe and for the food.”

“You’re more than welcome,” David replied.

“Let me show you your rooms,” Annie said, heading for the door.

“See you all tomorrow,” Ivan said as he ushered Jamie and his siblings out of the kitchen.

There was silence for a moment, the only sound came from plates being collected and the table being cleared.

“Young Karl was lucky; his head injury was severe. It was lucky we got to him when we did,” Gabe said.