She made her way slowly along the tunnel, holding on to the wall, her hand trembling as she opened the entrance leading to the kitchen. She could hear Marie’s quiet weeping, the low murmur of Stefan’s voice as he attempted to comfort her.
The couple was on the sofa in the sitting room, Marie’s head on Stefan’s shoulder, his arm around her. They both looked older somehow. Alexandria knelt in front of them and put a hand over their linked ones. “Aidan will bring Joshua back. He knows where he is and managed to weave some kind of protective spell for him. We both think another hunter is in the area and will come to Aidan’s aid if need be.” Her voice was pitched low and was compelling. “I believe in Aidan, and you must, too. We won’t lose either of them tonight.”
She could feel the power of what she had become rushing through her. Despite the fact that she was weak and pale and needed to feed, she still felt the power. Her mind was strong, and she had assets she had never dreamed of before. They could be used for good, as now, to ease the suffering of the loyal older couple. Stefan and Marie had grown to love Joshua, and both believed themselves to be in some way responsible for his abduction.
Stefan’s large frame shuddered. “I’m sorry, Alexandria, we let you down. The attack was so unexpected, but I should have been with Joshua, kept him by my side.”
“I thought he was safe while he was in the house,” Marie moaned softly, lifting her apron to cover her face.
Alexandria pushed the apron down and circled both of them with her slender arms. She could hear the blood pumping through their veins, the ebb and flow of life. The scent of nourishment beckoned, but she knew now that she could control herself, trust herself. “No one is to blame for this,
Marie. Not you and not Stefan. We’ll get through this thing together, as a family. You two and Aidan and Joshua and me. There can be no blame.”
Stefan’s hand came up to touch her hair. “Do you mean that, Alexandria? It’s what you really feel inside?”
She nodded. “Joshua belongs to all of us. It was wrong of me to try to hold him to myself. Now, when he is in danger, we all blame ourselves. Aidan does, because he thinks he failed me. I do, because somehow I let all this happen. You do, because Joshua is a little boy and didn’t do as you instructed. The truth is, what happened just happened. And Aidan will bring our boy home to us.” She said it with absolute conviction.
Stefan’s faded eyes held hers steadily. “And if… if something goes wrong?”
She felt the blow in the pit of her stomach but didn’t visibly react. She kept her sapphire gaze locked with his. “Then we will all deal with it together, won’t we?”
I will not fail you, cara.
Aidan’s voice in her mind, the reassurance, brought her a measure of comfort. Don’t think about me right now, Aidan. Be careful. I will be here, merged with you, if you need to draw on my strength. And she meant to monitor the skies for him. To ferret out any trap the vampire had laid. Aidan would not be alone in this. If something went wrong, he would not carry the load on his own shoulders as he had done for so many centuries. She was determined to share it with him.
“You’re very weak, Alexandria,” Stefan said softly. “If you’re to help Aidan, you must have something to…” He trailed off.
For the first time, Alexandria smiled. “It’s all right, Stefan. I’m not going to be so silly as to fling myself out the door again.”
“I would willingly volunteer,” he offered.
She was already shaking her head when a black fury swirled in her mind. Aidan’s resistance to the idea had more to do with jealousy than with his vow never to use those who served him, she realized. Alexandria tucked that knowledge away for examination at a better time. “I could never, Stefan, but thank you.”