Exton

I'm tempted to just fly down the stairs, but so far only Raina has seen me do that, and I don't want to cause a panic; so I settle for vaulting over the banister about six steps from the bottom and touching down lightly. Raina is all smiles tonight and I think she's never looked lovelier. I gather her into my arms and kiss her soundly, to the general amusement of the taproom.

"Hello, gorgeous. What's the big grin about?"

She squeezes me hard enough to crack ribs - if I was human. "Erik's getting married! I'm going to have a new sister, and I love her already!"

I crease my brow. "Okay, don't tell me, let me guess… One of the gar girls, maybe?"

She punches my shoulder. "You wait. Some day I'll put alum in your blood and you'll starve to death."

"What, it's not one of the gar girls? Then… oh! it must be Star!"

"Brilliant. I just saw Alise and Stoney rushing upstairs. I think we may have a new addition to the family."

"Wow… we keep this up, we'll have to build a church so they'll all have a place to roost."

She punches my shoulder again.

"Ow! Easy, Supergirl! I may be dead, but I still feel pain!"

"Awwww, poor baby…" She kisses my shoulder and looks up at me with wicked eyes. "So tell me, Nick, isn't there something you need to tell me? About vampires?"

Now my look of puzzlement is real. "No… don't know of anything you'd need to know that I haven't told you."

She gives me those eyes again. "Hmmm... you sure about that?" And then she's waving. "Erik! Over here!"