Free Summoning Sebastian by Katriena Knights Page A

mind talking to my parents. I didn’t even mind seeing my parents. What I did mind was having to introduce them to my vampire boyfriend in a backwater town in the middle of Siberia that had recently been strafed by a meteorite. I didn’t think I was being petty about that.
    He handed me a cup of coffee and lifted an eyebrow. “You look…twitchy.” It was an accurate enough assessment. “Not making any progress?” he went on.
    â€œOh, we’re making progress, all right,” I told him.
    â€œSo there’s a problem?”
    â€œA big problem.” I looked him straight in the eye and let the bomb drop. “If we go to Siberia, you’ll have to meet my parents.”
    For a split second, I swear he looked utterly terrified. Then he blinked, swallowed and said quite calmly, “Your parents are in Siberia?”
    â€œApparently they are, yes.”
    There was another long pause from Colin. Then he said, still quite calmly, “I see. That should be interesting.”
    â€œInteresting is one way of putting it.”
    With a shrug that fooled nobody, he dismissed the entire conundrum. “We’ll worry about that when the time comes. Right now, I’m thinking it might be time to talk to your friend Eric.”
    â€œEric isn’t my friend… Wait. Why do I need to talk to him?”
    â€œWe’re going to help him with his investigation.”
    Right. That had been my idea. Why did I bother having ideas? They were never that good and almost always involved my having to do things I had no desire to do. “When do you propose we do that?”
    â€œAs soon as possible. No matter what kinds of strings you have that you can pull, it’s going to be a few days before we can get everything sorted so we can leave the country. In the meantime, we have to figure out how to take Sebastian with us. Eric doesn’t know it, but he has some of the answers we need. So we volunteer to help him out.”
    I nodded. It made sense, but that didn’t make me any happier about it.
    Colin wasn’t done. “And by we, I mean me, because you’re staying home.”
    â€œI most certainly am not staying home. This was my idea. You’re not closing me out.” Funny how I suddenly wanted to claim my inconvenient ideas the minute somebody tried to horn me out of any possible excitement.
    â€œI don’t want you out there. It could be dangerous.”
    He was being cagey. I could tell from his expression, because it was really cagey. Complete with shifty eyes and a look that told me he was making shit up on the spot because he had no real justification for his half-assed declarations.
    I planted a hand on my hip. “What? Why do you want me to stay home?”
    â€œI told you. It could be dangerous.”
    â€œYou’ve sent me out night after night to knock on doors and ask vampires for money. I’ve almost died like, ninety-two times.” Okay, three, but who was counting? “Why is this suddenly too dangerous?”
    â€œI don’t like you being around that cop.”
    There. We’d finally hit the crux of the problem. I crossed my arms over my chest. “I see. And why is that?”
    â€œBecause he’s always flirting with you.”
    â€œI don’t even like him. I have told you I don’t know how many times that he’s a pain in my ass prick-faced asshole oh my God, you’re jealous.”
    Both his eyebrows winged up. “Jealous? Why would I be jealous?”
    â€œYou’re jealous because I don’t like him, and you think that means I like him.”
    For a moment, he looked confused. Who could blame him? Then his mouth went into a stubborn line, and I knew I’d hit the mark. “That doesn’t even make any sense.”
    â€œOh yes, it does. And it isn’t true. But keep being jealous. It’s cute. Also? I’m totally coming with you.”
    â€œNo, you’re