“Whoa! Alice! Easy!” Jack yelled. He rushed over and took Daisy from me, so I let go of her. She buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing, and he held her to him.

I stood there in shock as he rubbed her back, comforting her. Milo helped Bobby to his feet, and he didn’t have a scratch on him. Other than scaring the hell out of him, Daisy hadn’t hurt Bobby at all.

“Is everything okay?” Mae called from another room.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Peter told her, and I looked over, noticing him for the first time. He stood off to the side, watching Jack and Daisy to make sure everything was okay. “How is she?”

“She’s fine,” Jack said, stroking Daisy’s hair. He tilted his head, trying to get a look at her face. “You’re okay, aren’t you, Daisy?” She nodded, sniffling.

“Okay. Seriously. What the hell is going on here?” I asked, gaping at them all.

“What do you mean?” Jack asked, pulling his gaze from Daisy to me. “Peter’s here.” He pointed his thumb back at Peter, who glanced over at me but didn’t let his eyes linger. “Mae and Ezra are talking in the other room. We don’t wanna disturb them.”

“She almost killed Bobby, and you’re comforting her?” I gestured to Daisy, who only snuggled deeper to him when I shouted. “You were just as against her as I was!”

“Alice, she can hear,” Jack glared at me.

“She wasn’t attacking Bobby,” Peter said, almost apologetic. “She was just excited, and you… scared her.”

“I scared her?” I snapped.

“She had a long flight,” Peter said and stepped towards Jack. “Why don’t I take her to lie down?”

Jack carefully untangled her from him and handed her over to Peter. Neither one of them glared at each other or showed an animosity. Jack just handed her off, and cradling her in his arms, Peter carried her upstairs.

“What the hell, Jack?” I asked. “I was gone with Bobby, and it’s like stepping into the Twilight Zone.”

“Where were you, by the way?” Milo asked. He had an arm wrapped protectively around Bobby, and he’d been giving Daisy a wary look, which made me feel a bit better about all of this.

“Alice gave me a ride home from school.” Bobby rolled his neck. “I hurt my neck when Daisy knocked me back. I think I should go lie down too.”

“I hate that kid,” Milo grumbled, leading Bobby away by the hand.

Wisdom

“So what’s going on?” I crossed my arms and stared up at Jack. “They’ve been here for an hour, and now you’re all buddy-buddy with Peter and the demon spawn?”

“I thought you’d be happy I was getting along with Peter,” Jack muttered. “And she’s not a demon spawn. She’s just a little kid, Alice.”

“You don’t know what she’s capable of!”

“Yes, I do! Better than you do! I’ve been a vampire a lot longer than you, remember?” He shook his head and turned to walk to the kitchen. “I know a few things. I don’t know why you always think I’m such a moron.”

“I don’t think you’re a moron.” I chased after him. “I just want to know what’s going on. How come you’re all pro-baby vampire, when you weren’t before?”

“I’m not pro anything. Mae did a really stupid thing.” Jack leaned against the island and lowered his voice, probably so Mae and Ezra wouldn’t hear him. “But that’s not Daisy’s fault. She’s still just a child who really can’t control her actions. And I’m not saying we should let her run wild without recourse, but there’s gotta be something better we can do than treating her like a monster.”

“I’m not treating her like a monster. I just don’t like it when she attacks me or my friends,” I said. “You cared more about her safety than you did Bobby’s.”

“She wasn’t attacking Bobby!” He rolled his eyes. “She was running around and playing with me and Matilda, and then she heard you guys coming and got excited. She likes Bobby, okay? She’s thinks he’s fun or something.”

“Where is your dog?” I asked.

“She’s outside now,” Jack gestured vaguely to the French doors.

“Did Peter tell you that she kills animals?” I asked him. “She killed a wombat and tried to drink its blood.”

“You can’t drink animal blood.” Jack shook his head and brushed it off.

“No, you can’t, but she still tried.” I rested my arms on the island and leaned in towards him. “I know she’s not evil, but she’s really, really dangerous, Jack.”

“You sound like Ezra.” He sighed and stepped away from me.

“Ezra knows things! He’s not a bad person to sound like.” I stood up straighter as Jack paced the kitchen. “How did you become such a big fan of hers so quickly?”

“She was just playing with dolls, being a little kid.” He shrugged and scratched the back of his head. “And she just seems so small and helpless. I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I’m not really bonded with her either. She was just scared, and I didn’t want to see her scared.”

“Don’t get attached to her, Jack. She can’t stay here.”

“I know.” He walked over to me, his blue eyes looking sad and far away. Brushing a hair back from my face, he just stared down at me for a minute. “Are we okay?”

“Yeah, we’re okay,” I smiled up at him.

“Good.” He wrapped his arms around me, and I leaned into him, resting my head against his chest. “You’re getting pretty bad ass.”

“What do you mean?”

“The way you pulled Daisy off Bobby. You’re getting tough,” he grinned. “You don’t need me to protect you anymore.”

“Maybe not. But I’ll always need you.” I smiled and pressed him tighter to me. “In other ways.”

Ezra had been talking with Mae in their old room, but he came out by himself. He walked into the kitchen and stopped, but he didn’t look at either me or Jack. He breathed heavily and his fists clenched and unclenched at his sides.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, pulling away from Jack.