"Bad dream princess?" he drawled.
Cassie frowned at him before turning to Chris. "You ok?" he asked.
Cassie looked past him for Devon but he was nowhere to be seen. "Yes. What are you guys doing?"
Julian raised a bottle of tequila and swirled the gold liquid around. "Want some?"
Cassie frowned at him as she shook her head. "No."
"You sure princess, it will help to calm you down." She planted her hands on her hips. "Take a little of the edge off."
"Is that what you're doing? Taking the edge off?" she retorted.
He grinned at her as he took a deep swallow. "Why do you think I went for tequila?"
"Julian," Chris said in a low, warning voice. Julian shrugged as he took another gulp. He drained almost a quarter of the bottle before dropping it back to his side and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Cassie's nose wrinkled as she caught a whiff of the pungent scent of the tequila.
"Where are the others? Where is Devon?" Cassie demanded.
"They have gone to make sure there are no other vampires stalking this sleepy town," Julian answered.
"By themselves?" she squeaked.
"They'll be fine, there are enough of them, and they're a strong group."
"Why didn't they wake me?" she inquired.
"You needed your rest."
Or they just wanted to keep her out of it. Devon wanted to keep her out of it, she realized in dismay. "I can handle this," she said forcefully.
"Of course you can princess, but you should take it easy once in awhile."
Cassie glared at Julian as he raised his bottle again. "Chris?"
His sapphire eyes were clear in the dim lights lining the walkway. "I'll go look for them," he offered. "But I think it's best that you stay here."
"Absolutely not!" She took a step forward, determined to find Devon and the others before something awful happened.
Julian rushed forward and slammed his hand against the wall before her. She took a startled step back as the resounding echo of his palm slapping the wall bounced down the walkway. His cavalier demeanor had vanished; his ice blue eyes were so ferocious that they caused a chill to race down her spine.
"You are not going anywhere," he told her.
It took her a moment to form words as he glared down at her. "Julian you don't understand..."
"I understand everything, far more than you even think."
"But Devon..."
He bent closer to her, silencing her as his nose stopped mere centimeters from hers. If either of them had possessed any breath they would be inhaling each other's now, and she was fairly certain she would end up drunk. "Devon will be fine princess."
"Stop calling me princess!" she retorted as she fought the childish impulse to kick him in the shin. "You don't know that he'll be fine. You don't have any idea what it is going on!"
Julian tried to use his far larger size to intimidate her as he pressed closer. Cassie squared her shoulders as he tried to push her back another step. "I know exactly what is going on. I know what you think Matthew's vision means, and I think that you may be right. I also know that Devon told me to make sure you stay here and I plan on doing exactly that."
Cassie's mouth parted, she gazed imploringly up at him as he continued to hover over her. "Why?"
"You know why princess."
Cassie strived to keep control of the sorrow swelling within her. "I won't harm anyone else."
Julian grasped hold of her chin to force her gaze back to his. "We would all like to believe that Cass, but Devon is right you are a new vampire and therefore more unpredictable. You are doing really well, but we had all forgotten what you are, and we cannot afford to do so again. If it's a human that you go after next time, it will be more difficult to cover up. You should lay low until you have control over yourself."
"But the vision? Devon?"
"We'll worry about that later Cassie."
"What if it happens now, while I'm not with him, or because I'm not with him?" she whispered. "Why didn't he stay here?"
"Because Devon's ability is stronger than mine, and they need him out there."
Anger coursed up to bury the vulnerable feeling trying to swallow her. She was strong; she would be more powerful than all of them if she could learn how to draw on that power. "I can force you out of my way."
Julian leaned even closer to her, but this time she didn't back away from the press of his body. "You probably could princess, but you know as well as I do that you won't."
"Do I?" she demanded as her hands fisted at her sides.
"Yes, you do. Because if you do that there will be no turning back. If you do that then you will know that Matthew's vision had nothing to do with Devon, or any of us, and everything to do with you."
Her anger fizzled much like a popped balloon as she hopelessly gazed up at him. "But Devon..."
"Will be fine. You want some of that tequila now?"
Cassie turned away from him to study the shadows dancing across the parking lot. Devon was out there, he was vulnerable, and there was nothing that she could do to help him. Cassie whipped back around and grabbed the bottle of tequila dangling from Julian's fingertips. Tilting it back, she eagerly gulped down the contents of the bottle. Her eyes watered as the liquor burned all the way down but she didn't stop until the bottle was empty.
"We have to come up with a plan," she said.
Chris and Julian studied her before they both nodded in agreement.
CHAPTER 14
"You got her drunk. You got them both drunk! That was your answer to this mess?"
Julian shrugged absently as he twirled the beer bottle between his fingers and grinned annoyingly at Devon. "Hey it kept her calm and it kept her here. Hell it kept me pretty freaking entertained to be honest with you."
Devon glowered at him as he fought the urge to punch the arrogant smirk off of Julian's face. "I swear Julian..."
"I am not drunk!" Cassie protested a little too loudly. She clung to his side; her eyes sparkled as she grinned up at him. He would have smelled the tequila on her from a mile away and held her up when she stumbled. "Well maybe a little," she admitted happily.
Chris was sitting on the bed, his hair a tussled mess as he placed a bottle of whiskey on the nightstand. Not only had Julian gotten them drunk, but he'd gone straight to the high test with them. He was a little amazed that Cassie was still standing, even if it wasn't that well.