"It's a superb game, Julia," interjected Fergus seriously.
"Don't you start," she warned him, wagging a finger at him and grinning. "Seriously, though, Simon would be perfect for the job. Lucy would have to stay here, of course. Rebecca, I know you would like to go with us, but I would really appreciate it if you would keep Lucy company while we're away."
"Bex, she's right," I decided to stick my oar in, hoping I wouldn't have to spell it out for her. She was brave, and she was an iron metaboliser, so she would be stronger and faster than most people, and even some of the blood drinking vampires. But she couldn't fight like the rest of them. I looked around the table at the faces of the Byrne brothers, and Oliver and Julia. These guys had spent decades, centuries even, honing their deadly skillset, and by all accounts they were lethal. Bex would never be able to keep up, and even her ability to shock the hell out people was a bit too unpredictable to be of any real use in the coming days. I looked at her, silently pleading for her to accept this out she'd been given.
She looked at me for a few seconds, saying nothing. Then she glanced up at Angus, who gazed back at her levelly. I silently cursed his insistence on treating her as an equal. I knew she'd agree if he told her to stay, but he was so bound and determined to let her make her own decisions that there was no chance he'd ever do something like that. And although Hugo was her father, he held no sway over her then.
"OK," she sighed eventually. "I'll stay."
Angus nodded and smiled at her, relief in his eyes, and she leaned closer to him and tucked her hand in his. I watched their easy and unspoken interaction and hoped that one day I'd have something that came even close to what they had.
"But you're going to have to keep me updated," she told us. "I want a verbal report every two hours at least. None of this disappearing for hours business that you pulled the last time."
"It will be my pleasure," Hugo reassured her. She smiled her gratitude at him.
"Right," said Oliver with an evil grin. "Let the games begin!"
Angus
We decided we'd be leaving in three days' time.
We would all travel together to the Colborne residence. Hugo had told us that at least one of the blood feeders knew about our family estate, and it was very likely that they knew of the Colborne's place, but the Colborne house had a safe room that was set up with the latest in electronic surveillance and communication equipment. Hugo and Simon could monitor the perimeters of that place, and be in that strongroom in seconds if an attack came. And once that steel door shut behind them, there was little that anyone could do to get them out. Oliver had also designed it in such a way that it was impossible for anyone to shut off the power to the house unless they were prepared to dig a couple of metres down in a couple of very specific spots. Only a mind as devious as Oliver's could have come up with a backup plan for a backup plan like that. I had been a frequent visitor to his thought processes over the past few days, and was greatly impressed at the sheer cunning and astuteness of his mind. He would make a terrifying enemy.