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Secrets of the Night

Brenna didn't make it downstairs until almost 2PM, after a very LONG hot bath. Her three guests had made themselves busy with cleaning. All the salt had been removed from the surfaces of the kitchen. If she wasn't in so much pain she could almost imagine that nothing had happened.

Soup simmered on the stove, smelling as good as anything Jason would have made. William looked up at her he had several items from the altar in the basement spread across the table. As she approached, he moved them aside and gestured for her to sit. Lily came out of the basement at that moment with another bundle of items.

"Sorry Brenna, we have to get them out," Lily said apologetically. "We're still trying to figure out what got out last night. Some people will be coming by later tonight to meet with us… discuss things. They are very special actually- coming from out of town."

"Don't worry about that now, how do you feel?" William asked.

"Like I got hit by a train," Brenna said favoring a sore rib.

"Nothing's broken thank heaven for that," William sighed.

"What happened last night?"

"Well, as I explained, this house is like a magnet- or maybe more accurately the house with you in it is a magnet. The more I read of this diary, the more I realize just what a unique girl you are" William smiled as he said the words- an attempt at comfort.

"Did anyone die in my backyard last night?" Brenna asked cutting to the point abruptly.

"Yes," Evan answered her from the door. He was leaning against the frame in one of Jason's sweaters and a pair of khaki pants that made him look three years older.

"I need to know what's happening," Brenna whispered letting her chin fall to her hands.

"There was a fight, the vampires were swarming toward the house when a whole cache of weres came out of the woods. We thought they would feel the calling. We think whatever dark thing was down there in the basement- that was what was really calling them. It tried to keep you, but Guthrie- he came through the front door and threw you into the kitchen. We couldn't catch you." Evan spoke as if he had heard someone else telling the story. "You hit the table- the smoke or whatever it was couldn't enter the kitchen…"

Brenna saw his face tighten, and she wanted to ask what happened to Guthrie, but she was afraid she already knew.

"Don't think about it," Lily suggested as she set a bowl of floating parts in front of her. "Just noodles and veggies I promise."

"What happened after I lost consciousness?" Brenna enquired.

"We kept you safe in the kitchen and put ice on your wound." Lily answered sitting on a stool.

"Outside the clash continued almost until sun up. We expect the vampires will be back tonight, but we are going to try to have someone bar the place with a sort of shield." William calmly relayed "There were casualties on both sides- if vampires can die that is."

"Guthrie was here… Jason?" Brenna asked fearfully.

"No, Jason is still healing, he won't become full were until his first full moon." William said with a sigh. "He's safe, we can't bring him here. He's safe and entertained.

"We have to continue going through these things we want the basement clear before anyone arrives tonight. You should rest though."

"Auberon," the word rest brought him suddenly to mind. The darkness and Auberon, Auberon she never dreamed of away from home. The darkness she had fallen into and dreamt of Auberon. She felt shaken, and betrayed. Auberon was somehow connected to the darkness.

"Brenna?" Evan asked her as he placed another stack of relics on the table.

"Auberon- I dream of a person, and when I fell into the darkness he was there. I fell and he was there." Brenna's eyes watered. "He-" he'd taken her, had sex with her. He'd apologized hadn't he? He'd changed right before her eyes. "I'm so stupid."

William came over and knelt down in front of her, "we need to know about him, but you can wait until the others arrive to tell us if you want. Everything will be ok, you'll see. My life isn't usually this violent, and I've been a wolf since I was five."

Brenna nibbled her lip and looked at Lily through her lashes. "Me too, actually its not so bad. Jason might even like it once he wears his new skin a few days. It's like a pair of jeans they get better the longer you wear them."

"Do you want to stay with us?" William asked as he sat sorting things at the table.

"Sure," Brenna sighed. "Oh, and Jason's cd player is somewhere around here if anyone wants music."

William spoke to her as he examined all the items from the basement. He seemed to be making stacks. He laughingly said they were the "Good, Bad, and Ugly" stacks- but she thought that might not be too far from the truth. Brenna tried not to touch anything.

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