His greeting was returned with a hiss, "Elisabeth!"
Confusion replaced Jackson's horror. Is Victor scared?
Sarah remained immobile as Elisabeth snarled, "I don't believe you and your friend were invited."
Victor turned his attention to Jackson, recrimination dripping from his voice. "Are you aware you have a werewolf in your home?"
Cassandra yelled, "Werewolf!" And lunged at Elisabeth. Before Jackson could reach her, she had grabbed Cassandra by the throat from mid-air and held her above her head. The vampire struggled to break free, a blur of flailing limbs. Elisabeth shook her as she spat, "You better put a leash on this one." With that, she launched Cassandra at Victor so forcefully he fell back into the wall. The vampire landed in a heap at his feet, whimpering. Elisabeth continued toward Victor, met him face to face, and growled, "Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"
Victor gathered up Cassandra and hurried to the door cursing, then yelled back, "This is not over!"
Elisabeth donned a guilty smile. Her face had already begun softening, and the warm sienna reclaimed her eyes. The three stood looking at each other, speechless, until Jackson broke the silence in his best Hispanic accent, "Lucy… you got some splainin' to do." They all cracked up.
Elisabeth hugged him. "Maybe we should sit down and sort through this."
"Good idea. Sarah, you want to go first, or shall I?"
"Um, you better, I'm not sure I even know what happened here."
He exhaled a long breath and tapped his index finger on his lips. "Okay, where to start? How about… why didn't Victor kill you?"
"Because he can't."
Jackson took a step back. "How's that?"
"I regenerate blood faster than it can be drained."
He squinted. "You mean to tell me, if I could get my fangs to work, and your blood didn't give me third degree burns, I could feed to my heart's content without hurting you?"
She shifted under his gaze. "Pretty much."
"Well isn't that a kick in the ass... all right, let's move on… how freaking strong are you?"
"Strong enough to put major hurt on Victor."
"Holy shit. Can you kill him?"
"Not unless I catch him at the full moon."
"Huh... you seem to know him pretty well, why is that?"
Weariness settled on her brow as she rubbed her eyes. "If you wanted to take over the world, what would be first on your 'To Do' list?"
"What? Oh, of course. Wipe out my only natural enemy."
"Exactly. Victor is responsible for the deaths of countless werewolves. He and his army almost decimated our population in the eighteen hundreds... can I ask you a question?"