"Little hungry are we?"
"You have no idea."
"How long has it been?"
"Thirty-two hours."
"Wow, that's gotta be a record for you. Why didn't you pack some blood?"
He squinted his eyes with sarcasm. "I don't know Sarah, thought it might be fun to torture myself."
Elisabeth had made her way into the house, "You all right?"
"Yeah." The pounding started to subside and the blood had soothed his throat somewhat. He poured a tall glass and headed to the drawing room. Elisabeth and Sarah joined him.
"So," asked Sarah, "how did it go with the witch?"
They had not discussed what to tell her yet. Since he still wasn't thinking clearly, Jackson let Elisabeth field this one. "Well, she wants to do a little research to see if she can find an explanation."
"That's pretty vague. Why do I get the feeling you're holding something back."
Elisabeth sighed, "Samantha thinks you may be right about the whole protection thing."
Sarah jumped up. "I knew it!"
Jackson laid his head back and closed his eyes. He felt in no condition to deal with this. "Sarah, please, cut me some slack here."
"All right, I'm going to bed, but this is far from over."
Elisabeth stood behind the sofa, rubbing Jackson's shoulders and neck. He moaned softly, "Thank you, that feels wonderful."
He woke at 2:30 a.m. Elisabeth had covered him with a blanket and either gone upstairs or home. Climbing the stairs, he hoped to find her in his bed. She lay there, sound asleep. He watched for a few minutes, then undressed and joined her. She stirred and cuddled into him. "Feeling better?"
"Much. What were you dreaming about?"
"I don't remember, why?"
"You were smiling."
"Then I must have been dreaming of you." She nuzzled her face into his neck and fell back asleep. He sighed contentedly as her warmth engulfed him.