Jess stood at the window, watching her children playing outside. "You're going to get frown lines if you keep making that face you know." Jess turned and smiled, "Jaecar! Oh my god I can't believe you're here!" she ran across the room and jumped into his arms. Jaecar laughed and hugged her back. "Hey beautiful, guess I was missed a little hmm?" Jess laughed and pulled him to the couch, sitting down, "Of course you were missed! You haven't shown that handsome face here since the children were born. 5 years is too long to stay away. Where have you been hiding yourself?" Jaecar opened his mouth to answer and was interrupted by a seemingly mind shattering scream of pain. Jess stood and ran to the door as it flew open, her son standing in front of her, blood running from his mouth and soaking into his shirt. "MOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMYYYYYY!" Corin threw himself at his mother, tears streaming down his face as he clung to her.
"Corin…Cori baby what happened!" Jess tried to pull him back away from her to look at him but his grip was too tight. She held him and tried to calm him as his sister calmly walked into the house. "Tari, what happened to your brother?" Taria looked at her mother trying to calm her hysterical twin and then turned her gaze towards the dark haired man standing in the middle of the room watching the scene before him. "He tried to bite Katie, and she punched him," She said calmly, "I told him not to but he never listens. Who's that?"
"CORIN!" Jess pulled her son back away from her and frowned, "I've told you before you can't do that! You have to be careful with your friends." The small blond boy brushed the back of his hand across his eyes, rubbing away his tears. "But we were playing vampire mommy, she said I could bite her." Jess stood, taking her son's hand and smiled at Jaecar, "Don't you dare disappear. Let me go clean this young man up and we will be right back." Jaecar smiled and nodded then sat back on the couch as Jess led her son from the room.
Taria walked over and sat in the chair across from Jaecar. "Hello. I'm Tari. Who are you?" She tilted her head and looked at Jaecar curiously. Jaecar smiled at the little girl, whose features were so much like Nickolas's. Her violet coloured eyes observing him cautiously. "I'm Jaecar…mmmm "uncle" Jaecar." Tari frowned, narrowing her violet eyes at him, "Well, my daddy doesn't have a brother…and mommy doesn't either, so who are you really?" Jaecar looked up as Jess walked back into the room with Corin trailing behind her. "Taria, stop grilling him. No, he's not my brother or your daddy's, but we love him just like you love Corin, so we treat him like he's family. He's known your daddy for a long, long time, so we call him your uncle. Now be polite."
She smiled and sat back down next to Jaecar. Taria moved over slightly to allow her brother to climb up on the chair next to her. "Are you a vampire too like our daddy?" Corin leaned forward slightly, looking intently at Jaecar. Jaecar smiled and flashed his pointed fangs at the children. "That I am little one." Corin laughed and opened his mouth wide, pointing a small finger at his own teeth. "I'm a vampire too, so's Tari. But daddy has pointier teeth than us."
Taria sighed and rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. "Cori. We aren't supposed to tell people that. You never listen." Both Jaecar and Jess laughed at the comment and the annoyed little girl stood, placing her hands on her hips glaring at the two adults. "Well! You said we aren't supposed to tell people and Cori doesn't listen!" Taria frowned and grabbed her brother's hand pulling him from the chair. "We're going now." She told him sternly and the two ran from the room.
Jaecar's laughter faded as the children left the room and Jess turned to him, her smile fading as she looked into his dark eyes. "What is it? Something's wrong…" she touched his hand gently and leaned towards him. Jaecar felt her mind and pushed back, "Jess, don't." He stood and moved to the window, looking out into the darkness. "I'm sorry…it's habit now with Nickolas and Corin." Jess walked over and stood quietly next to the tall vampire. He turned and looked at her questioningly, "Just Nickolas and Corin? Not Taria? You don't read her thoughts?" Jess smiled slightly, "We learned early that Taria was much stronger than Corin. She's always been able to block us. The only one she let's in occasionally is Corin and even that's rare. She's different Jaecar. She's special, ever since she surprised everyone by being born, she's always shown a uniqueness. She has a talent for spells as well as other things. I think she's got some witch in her somewhere." Jaecar nodded, "Then she's the one they want." His voice was quiet, but his words made Jess pale.
"They?"
"The council. They sent me Jess. They've ordered me to bring her back. They want to train her in the old ways…I'm assuming they know about her abilities somehow and they want to encourage them." He stressed the word as his eyes narrowed in anger, his fists clenched at his sides.
"Bring her back…no…Jaecar you can't…you can't take her to them!" Jess's voice made Jaecar turn as he watched her crumple to the floor, sobbing. "You can't…no..no..no.." she whispered the words over and over again as Jaecar dropped down next to her, wrapping his arms securely around her. "Jess…shhh it's ok." He stroked her long auburn hair and silently pushed his thoughts into hers, "I'm not taking her to them…I've come for another reason…Jess, it's ok, she's safe now. I would never…NEVER let them touch Nickolas's child." Jess rocked slowly in his arms, letting her mind absorb his words. "Swear to me…swear to me you won't let them hurt her…or Corin…" her mind barely spoke the words to his as she sat up, looking directly into his near-black eyes, "Swear you won't let them hurt any of my family Jaecar…please." Jess's voice pleaded softly to him.
Jaecar looked into Jess's eyes, the green shining even brighter with her tears as he brushed the drops from her cheek. "I promise Jess. Nothing will hurt your family. Ever."
He blocked the last thoughts from her as she leaned back against his chest, hugging her close. "But I can't promise that I won't hurt them…and you…even more than the council ever could."