Outside of Chinook, Kitchen of the Manor, Mid October

    Nic had never been so happy to see the Sibling in front of him before in his whole life. Sabrina was exactly the Anvidai that he wanted to see. It wasn't because she a viscous, downright blood thirsty fighter in the field. No, he was so glad to see her because Sabrina was also the most compassionate, empathetic person Nic had ever known. Bree was the main reason that the hot headed bunch of meathead Siblings that made up the Ashen War-Kin didn't have more fights. Sure the Siblings would kill anyone or anything that hurt one of them. But they were also a hair triggered fighters that tended to punctuate points with their fists. Bree managed to keep that from happening more often then not. Usually by getting the parties involved to see the others point. A miracle in and of itself.

    She was also one of the best teachers the training center had ever had. Not only was her hand to hand poetry to watch. Only Milosh was better at the hand to hand. Not that any of the siblings were slouches. Bree and Milosh just took it to a whole other level.But she was a suburb teacher in general. The trainee's all gravitated to her and would frequently seek her out for any issues in or outside of the training they were receiving. Bree just exuded calm and had a trustworthy demeanor. something that just about everyone noticed as soon as they saw her. On more than one occasion Niculai had seen small young run towards his Sibling during a fight rather than away from her. And not just Anvidai young but human as well.

    Nic really missed having her out in the field. A sentiment Nic knew Sabrina shared. But with her being pregnant, no one was taking any chances with her health or that of her child. The health and safety of two of them was very important to the household and everyone in it. So, as much as Bree hated it she was out of the field until she either gave birth. And considering how her scent had changed of late Nick knew she was pregnant. Thanks to their sharp sense of smell Anvidai could always tell if a female is pregnant, often before any test.

    Nic was glad for both Bree and Rhuv. Young were a blessing and all of that. But he was worried for the couple as well. There were risks to both the mother and the young. Pregnancy was dangerous enough but childbirth was where the real risk was. Far to many times either one, or worse, both  the mother and young died during labor. Now so wasn't the time to worry about any of that though. Nic needed Bree's help and advice on the conversation that he was going to have with Annik as soon as the meal was done. Something else that Nic really didn't want to think about. This time however he had no choice. If Annik was going to live, the conversation needed to happen today if at all possible.

    It had only taken Bree a couple of minutes of watching the disaster that was Nic trying to cook before she took charge of the whole thing. Nic had zero issues with Bree telling him what to do in the kitchen. I really am pretty hopeless here, Nic mused to himself as he finished another task that Sabrina had assigned him to do. He may be the ruler of the Anvidai but when it came to doing anything in the kitchen Bree was definitely in charge, for very good reason. Nic did want the food that was served to Annik to be wholesome after all. And kitchen fires made Mikal unhappy. Not to mention the rest of the household.

    Looking around the large kitchen Nic was more than a little surprised that Mikal hadn't come in and "helped" by taking over the cooking. After all nothing pleased the Lushidai butler more then taking care of "his" people. The desire to serve was almost self defense when it cam to Nic in the kitchen though. He really had set the kitchen on fire more than once and it had taken months for the Lushidai butler to let Nic even step foot in "his" domain. Nic still wasn't allowed to actually make any meals more complicated than toast or a sandwich. Nic had planned on pushing the rules and make a can of soup for Annik. But Sabrina's arrival meant that he hadn't needed to break any of the kitchen "rules".

    Nic used the First Tongue to get advice from Sabrina about the up-coming convo with Annik. Yeah it was completely rude to speak in a language Annik didn't understand. But not as rude as talking about her like she wasn't there would have been. And if he's used English Annik would have rightly asked questions that Nic wasn't yet ready to answer. And with any luck Bree will have some good advice for me. I feel like I'm running around in a room full of pitfalls wearing a blindfold. If I do this wrong Annik will never trust me, and then when her Tempering starts, she'll die. The thought of Annik dying made Nic's chest clench in sudden panic. Refusing to look to closely at that emotion, Nic decided to chalk the feeling up to not wanting to fuck up and fail Annik the way he had her mother.

    Nic really needed Sabrina to tell him how to tell Annik what was going to happen to her so very soon. The Tempering was the most dangerous time in any Anvidai's life. Even if you weren't a mix-breed, the Tempering was potentially fatal. Sometimes things just went wrong and the young died. For the mix-breed the odds were even worse. In order to survive, Annik was going to need the strongest and purest blood possible to get through her Tempering alive.

    Gods, Nic so wasn't looking forward to this conversation. Not in the slightest. The number of ways that it could go wrong boggled the mind. Nic, who seriously doubted his abilities, only saw failure on his horizon. Maybe Bree would do the talking for him? No, he decided. Probably not. And that would be the cowards way. And boy didn't he wish that the cowards way was an option for him.

    Annik clearly had no clue about the Tempering and that wasn't the least of what he had to tell Annik. Try telling someone that they weren't actually Human for starters. Add to that gem the fact  that her actual race was the reason that Humans had all the vampire myths. He was going to terrify her so much that she was going to bolt. At least here at the compound she wouldn't be able to get far. Nic didn't want to hold her captive. That kind of thing wasn't in his nature. He'd hated the thought of holding her against her will. But Nic would if she tried to run. Locking her in, chaining her if he had to would be far, far better than Annik's death. Even if she hated Nic afterwards. Annik's hatred would be much easier for Nic to bare than her death, No matter how much Annik's hatred would hurt.

    Well, the Anvidai were part of the reason for the vampire myths at least. The virgin defiling, turning into a bat and all the rest of the Hollywood crap was more because of the Undying Society. Not that they could do any of that besides the defiling part. Which was bad enough. The rest of it was the Human love of romanticizing the dark and dangerous.Sometime Nic wondered how humans had survived for so long. They did the same thing with serial killers for gods sake.

    The only things that the Humans had gotten even partially right was that the Anvidai drank blood and didn't really do sunlight. And the sunlight thing was only partially correct. It isn't sunlight per se that the Anvidai ware sensitive to but UV light, particularly UVB. So early morning, just after dawn, and late evening, just before sunset the Anvidai can easily be out. Especially if it is cloudy or stormy out. Basically any time the UV index is low the Anvidai can go out. But that isn't near as romantic as bursting into flames or whatever it is they show in the movies. God Humans annoyed Nic, they are so full of stupid ideas that it boggled the mind.

    But that was neither here nor there.  So yeah, Nic was definitely not looking forward to their conversation. And really wished that Sabrina would be the one to have it with Annik. He would much rather just kill something for her. Unfortunately her nature wasn't something that he could kill. It just was. So the only way to protect her, help her was to talk to her. Not something that Nic felt particularly good at. But like so many of the tasks Nic had, not something he could avoid either. But damn this was going to suck so very bad. Not that suckage had ever stopped him the past ad wasn't going to stop him now.

    But first he needed help in convincing Annik to stay here where it was safe. Niculai was certain that doing so was going to be just as hard to pull off as finding a good way to tell Annik about her true nature. Nic knew that he would be able to get her to stay a couple of days but more then that? probably not. At least not with any ease. He didn't think that the Undying were going to give up on getting either. From what Annik had said during their car ride, the Undying had been stalking her.And wasn't that a ball shrinker of a thought.

    With the Undying kidnapping Anvidai civilians at any opportunity now. Nic knew he couldn't let her leave the compound. He would lock her in her bedroom if he had too. He told himself it was for her safety and because her Tempering was coming soon. Nic just wasn't sure that he believed that. He couldn't bare the though of Annik leaving for some reason. A fact that Nic refused to look at. Beside there were currently bigger fish to fry than his whiny emotions.

    Bree asked the one question that Nic had been afraid to get an answer to. Was Annik the missing girl? and if so where was her mother. Nic was fairly certain from the contents of the letter he had received that Annik was Ingretta's daughter. After all how many Anvidai being raised Human were there. But where was her mother. Clearly there had been more than one person living in the apartment but there had only been the faintest scent of another person lingering. Nic rather suspected that Ingretta was dead. Which meant that Annik truly was alone in the world.

    For a moment sorrow overwhelmed him. So much so that he stopped dead in his tracks. Just froze where he stood. Unable to move while his brain churned over the implications of Ingretta being dead and Annik being her daughter. It would mean that she was most definitely his responsibility, no matter what else is going on. For some reason Nic didn't mind Annik being his responsibility. Not that he had a lot of free time, cause he didn't. No just the thought of caring for her eased a part of himself he hadn't even known existed.

    Niculai hadn't wanted to look to closely at why it had been so important for him to bring Annik back to the manor. That wasn't S.O.P., normal procedure would have been to send Annik to her clan for help. And if for some reason that wasn't an option than he would have sent her to an other clan to help her, probably Anthony's. But rather then do any of that he had brought her to the manor. A place that no one ever came to. Hell, he hadn't even considered doing anything else. And how whacked was that. Every security precaution went right out the window. Hadn't even registered on his mental radar. All he'd wanted was for Annik to be safe. And the only place she was safe was with him.

    Hell, the trainee's didn't even know that the training center was part of the same complex as the manor. Although they usually figured that our by the time training was over. And even after they learned that it was, they were brought in and out in vehicles that had blacked-out windows or in the case of the vans, no windows. No one, but no one that wasn't a member of the Ashen War-Kin or part of the household's staff ever came to the manor. Until now that is. When he'd brought a female that, oh joy, had been raised Human to one of the most secret places in the race. The only place more secret was the Sanctum and literally only the Ashen War-Kin could go there.

    All he'd been able to think about was getting Annik safe. And since the safest place that Nic knew of was the manor, to the manor she had come. He'd just driven her in like she was one of his Siblings or his mate. For a brief moment Nic wondered what it would be like to have Annik as his mate. Woah fella, you need to pump the brakes on that right now Nic told himself. Nic couldn't believe that had crossed his mind. Annik had just been rescued from abduction by a killer, one of the Undying. And was a pre-temp as well. How could he be so crass, so despicable as to think about her like that. He really was unworthy of his position and rank.

    Never mind that Annik was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. that her scent made his heart stop, then pound like he had run a marathon. Filling up places he hadn't known were empty. That her lithe body was clearly as strong as her spirit was. The fact that she stood up to him, argued with him, just made her more beautiful to Nic's thinking. No one argued with him. At least not when he put on his figurative crown and gave commands. But Annik had just squared her shoulders and told him NO.

    Against his better judgement she had gotten her way, well partially at least. They had gone to her apartment and picked up some of her stuff before heading here. Nic had a feeling that if he had insisted on bringing her here, Annik would have refused to get into the car at all. Never mind her safety. Of course Annik had no clue about what had almost taken her. She thought that the killer had only been a man, not an Undying defiler. But she was going to learn the truth no matter how much it cost Nic to tell her.

       It had taken about two hours all told to finish what had turned out to be a full meal. Instead of the quick bowl of soup that Nic had thought to make. Since Mikal had long ago decreed that if it didn't go into the nuker Nic wasn't allowed to try. Bree hadn't lied, he really had set fire to the kitchen, multiple times, before Mikal had forbidden him to ever do anything else. Guess he'd gotten tired of running in here with a fire extinguisher when the alarm goes off, Nic thought to himself while he finished his coffee. That at least he could make coffee without wrecking the place. Nic almost lived on the brown juice of the gods, so he was a true Washingtonian in that for all that he wasn't Human at all.

    Nic was just getting ready to stand and clear the table when Rhuv and Tomas came into the kitchen. The looks on their faces told Nic without words that they had found no other Undying tonight. Nic didn't have to ask. He knew that after they had placed the tracer in that Killers car, they had continued on their patrol without him. And not only because that was procedure and what he had told them to do. No it was because ghosting in as he had been rescuing Annik had only wet their appetites and they had been looking forward to more. Fights with the Undying. Fights that not only kept the race safe and  their skills up. The fights also kept them from being bored. After all they had been bred to do this kind of work. The Siblings were all very proud of their work and enjoyed the fights even as they hated the reasons for them.

    Considering the look on their faces, the no further contact report came as no surprise. And boy they were so disappointed in the dead, no fight night. Nic almost laughed at the look on their faces but decided against it. Mainly because he didn't want to start a fight with them in front of Annik. Nor did he want to upset Sabrina, especially in front of her mate. So Nic controlled his face and didn't laugh at the hang dog looks they were both sporting. They always felt like they were letting him down whenever they didn't have something to report to him. Which was the other reason Nic didn't needle them about it. The two of them felt bad enough, Nic didn't want them to think he was disappointed in them. It wasn't like they could control how many Killers were out in the field at any given place or time.

    The report was given in the First Tongue. Not something they normally did, but wasn't surprising considering the outsider in their midst. Nic didn't have to tell them that Annik probably wasn't going to stay an outsider for long. After all they all had a sense of smell and could detect her change as easily as he could. Through it all Nic was having to fight to keep a straight face. The look on his Siblings faces as he took their report was almost priceless. It wasn't often that they saw him get stymied by someone and she had handed him his own ass in front of them.  Nic wasn't sure what was more surprising to T and Rhuv, the fact that she had talked back to him or the fact that he had let her. He was glad that he had some amusement right now. Once he took Annik to the library and started talking to her it was going to get serious, fast.

    The last thing he told his Siblings was that the sensor that detected GPS trackers and or listening devices in any of the cars had gone off. Could they please make sure that it was dealt with. After all they weren't the only ones that used high tech toys. Fortunately the Ahshee that Pyetr put up protected the manor from tech as well as magic. And his boys would make sure any device on his car would be removed long before he needed to take it out of the Ahshee's field.

   Once the report was as done and they cleared had the dishes. There was no washing the dishes of course, Mikal would have a fit if they did more then stack them by the sink. As far as Mikal was concerned not only could Nic not cook, he couldn't clean either.  Not that Nic really wanted to clean anything, but he did feel like a right heel for not doing so on occasion. And tonight was one of those, although that might have more to do with wanting to delay his happy little talk with Annik than any desire to help out around the place. Ya that was probably it.

    As Nic led Annik to the library he knew it was time for that discussion. This was so a rip the band-aid off situation. For a once the beauty of the foyer didn't register on Nic's mind. He had just started up the stairs when Wiket jumped off of the banister and onto Nic's shoulder. Turning his head while he caught the cat, mainly to keep his shoulder intact. Nic looked into Wiket's eyes and faltered. The cat looked like she knew exactly what was going on and approved. All while telling Nic to be gentle with her person or else.

    "Okay cat," Nic said under his breath. "I will be as gentle as I can be. But this isn't going to be easy for her. so please don't shit in my shoes. Deal? Deal."

    They reached the library door while Nic was still muttering to the cat. He wasn't even sure if he was talking to Wiket or himself. God this was going to suck.