vampires of san francisco 07 - suckers lost and found by Jessica McBrayer

Next thing I know Aidan has her and is whipping up a wind storm.” I hear Julian on the phone with Aidan. I should be calling him not having to spend precious moments with retelling. But they need to know. “Aidan grabbed this guy and me with Lily in his arms. She wasn’t moving but she was wide awake.”
          “He doesn’t speak English so I called for Julian. He’s been very cooperative. Turns out he had been ordered to give the equivalent of a vampire roofie. She’s paralyzed but is aware of what is going on.”
          Hannah is on him in an instant. It takes Diel and me to pull her off.
          “Hannah, he had no choice. He would have been killed if he hadn’t done it,” I explain.
          Liam and Andrew each hold a baby. Finn whimpers and Hannah finally backs down.
          I walk over to Lily then and kiss her forehead and whisper in her ear. “Je t’adore ma petite.”
          “Lily, if you can hear me, blink,” Hannah yells at her. Finn starts wailing. Of course Lily can’t blink so Hannah starts to freak out until Diel explains that to her again. He also reminds her Lily isn’t deaf. Thank fuck for that because now Fiona is crying, trying to outdo her brother. Andrew and Liam take the babies back to their room. Hades starts to bark, upset with the twins crying. But he follows them anxiously.
          The owners of the villa are upset. Diel talks to them and smooths things over. He doesn’t have years of etiquette and negotiation skills for nothing. I shake the waiter just because I need to take some of my frustration out. 
          Aidan pops in holding a syringe. Julian takes it from him.
          “Any luck finding Cristian?” I ask.
          “He’d already left the scene of the crime and he’s gone to ground somewhere. I didn’t get a good enough fix on him to follow him.”
          “Helena, lay Lily down on the bench and I will give this to her,” Julian says.
          Helena takes extra care making Lily comfortable. I hand the Italian to Diel and go to put Lily’s hand in my lap. I hold her hand while Julian plunges the antidote into a vein. The result is almost instantaneous. She starts stirring and then yelling.
          “That Italian fuck head! Aidan, he knows something. He told me he liked to play with his toys and that he specializes in making vamps disappear,” Lily says in a whoosh. Aidan looks stricken and his body starts to flicker. Lily lunges for him and holds on. I think she is the only thing grounding him at the moment.
          “Easy, ma petite. I think he is coming back to us. You need a minute to rest and let your body acclimate. Have you been following everything we’ve said so far?”
          “Yes, I have,” she says through gritted teeth. I’m overjoyed at her response. She’s showing fang and I can feel her body trembling, ready to take someone down. This is a good response. Any fear is long gone.
          “I want to beat the shit out of something,” she says as she eyes the waiter from over Aidan’s shoulder. Aidan is holding on for dear life. He finally lets go, touching his forehead to Lily’s. I see him mouth ‘Thank you.’
          “Oh no, Lily. He is an innocent bystander, he had no choice,” Julian says to her anticipating her moves.
          “He still gave it to me,” Lily mutters petulantly. “We need to find Cristian. I would love to ‘talk’ to him. More like kick him in the junk.”
          “Right behind ya, babe. Ganja Momma is coming out of retirement. Hells yeah,” Hannah yells.
          Diel shakes his head. We catch each other’s eyes and laugh. We can’t help grinning at our little kick-ass women. And me with relief that Lily is okay. Aidan puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes.
          “Just think you have to be legally tied to this woman in a day,” he says. He’s calmed a bit. Perhaps the women’s fierceness