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deliriously happy for the
last month in fact, but her time was up. She had to tell Grand-pops about
Jonathan, and not even to herself would she admit how nervous she felt at the
possibility that the two most important people in her life could end up hating
each other.
    Somehow she
got her feet to move, Jonathan’s hand a reassuring presence at her back, and
she pushed open the heavy door left open as usual. Jonathan clucked his
disapproval.
    “I know. I
keep telling him, but he won’t listen. Anyone could walk in.”
    “Hardly anyone, Anna.”
    Her eyes
widened in the gloom of the long hallway, as she stared down the barrels of a
shot gun. Her beloved grandfather stood on the bottom of the unused stairs, his
grey eyes trained on Jonathan with unwavering directness. The heavy gun in his
hands was rock steady and ready for use, she noticed.
    “Grand-pops,
what on earth are you doing?” she asked, instinctively moving in front of
Jonathan to shield him as much as she could. Not that he was letting her.
    He stepped
around her putting himself in the direct line of fire.
    “Wooden shot
I take it? Enough to bring me down and enable you to take my head?” Jonathan
put his hand up to silence Anna, and she complied immediately. He was in full
alert don’t-mess-with-me-mode, which was sexy as hell in the bedroom, not so
much when he was facing her grandfather who seemed intent on killing him.
    “I told you
fifteen years ago if I ever saw your kind near my granddaughter again I’d kill
you with my bare hands. I have enough of the slayer’s weapons left. I may be an
old man, but I will not let you corrupt my Anna.”
    “Grand-pop,
I—”
    “Let me
handle this, little one. Go and wait in the car for me.” Jonathan interrupted
her.
    “No.” Anna
crossed her arms and stamped her foot. “I am not going anywhere, and you two
can stop this macho bullshit right now. Grand pops, put that gun down before
you fall down. I’ll make you an Earl Grey, and we’ll discuss this like
reasonable people. There is no need for violence, and if you kill the man I
love, I will never forgive you.”
    Two pairs of
eyes settled on her, one blue, one grey, eyebrows raised in disapproval, and
Anna glared at them both.
    “I love you
both. You’re the most important people in my life, and this is my fault. I
should have told you straight away, but I knew you would react like this. I’m
not Mummy, Grand-pops, and I’m not under the influence or whatever you want to
call it. You’ve raised me to know my own mind, to know right from wrong, to
make my own choices, and my choice is Jonathan. He isn’t like the others. All
the things that Dad drummed into us were half-truths at best.   Jonathan helped me to research him. He wanted
to be turned, you know. But the vampire he loved said no. It’s against the
rules to turn a human, so he killed her. And then he couldn’t stop killing. He
became obsessed, turning against the ones he once wanted to be like.”
    She ran out
of breath, having rushed the words as fast as she could, needing to make him
see sense, and slowly that barrel lowered until it pointed to the floor.
Jonathan stepped forward palm up.
    “May I?” he
asked, and Anna blew out the breath she’d been holding when Grand-pops nodded.
He swayed, but before she could do anything Jonathan had him propped up against
him. Grand pops looked old and frail now that he’d surrendered the weapon, and
allowed himself to be led to his favorite spot in front of the Aga.
    Anna sank to
her knees and rested her head on his thigh, like she used to do as a child,
whilst Jonathan stood back to give them some privacy.
    Grand-pops’s
fingers, bent by arthritis, stroked her hair, and Anna shut her eyes.
    “I would have
shot him in an instant. I still would if he ever hurts you, Anna.”
    She looked up
just in time to see the look of understanding pass between the two men.
    “I would lay
down my life for your granddaughter, Sir. I would never hurt her,