“And we care about her.” Fallon shrugged off her father’s hand and marched over to Bennett. “That’s why we did what we did, Bennett. We love you. Don’t you get that? Don’t you get that you’re part of our family? Don’t you get that…that it would destroy us if something happened to you?” Fallon’s voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. “We love you, Bennett, and what’s done is done. You’ve saved our lives twice, so the least you can do is accept that we’re trying to save yours.”

Bennett’s eyes misted over, and she took a moment before she dared to speak. “When did you become so bossy?”

Fallon’s face brightened instantly. “I’ve been watching you.”

“Come here.” Bennett wrapped her arms around Fallon and held on tightly. “Thank you for what you did, but I swear to God if you ever do something like that again, I’ll—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Fallon said, giggling as she extricated herself.

“Well, now that all the fences have been mended,” Max said, picking up a few of the photos. “Bennett, we’ll be out of daylight soon, so you really need to look at these.”

***

Twenty minutes later, Bennett stood at the desk, dutifully impressed with Fallon’s drone wizardry. The photographs were crisp and clear, giving them a bird's-eye view of the property, and having slowly circled the house with the drone, Fallon had zoomed in on the structure showing them the location of every window and door.

For the most part, the photos held more good news than bad. There was only one road leading to Napoleon’s house, which meant that anyone traveling it could be walking into a trap. It also ensured that if Napoleon released his emaciated vampires and they had no one to chase, they’d most likely follow that road to leave the property, and traps work both ways. The photos also showed several footpaths around the home, most likely used for evening constitutionals. They were meandering and intertwining, and their layout assured that all who journeyed down those dirt paths would eventually find themselves back at the house and nowhere else.

Centered on the property directly behind the home was what was once called the castle keep. In medieval times, the three-story fortified tower was sometimes the last refuge for those in retreat. People could hunker down behind the stone walls, peeking out the narrow openings that dotted the facade until help arrived. Once Max and Bennett realized the tower had stayed true to form, they paid no further mind to its existence. The lookouts in the stone had no shutters, so even though it provided mortals with protection, vampires wouldn’t be so lucky if they became trapped inside and the sun came up.