She smiled then and hugged me. As focused as I was on her, something felt ... off.Jeri had been sitting in her office going over inventories and check...ng order forms. There was something else on her mind other than work though. She had been looking at a magazine when I contacted her. Through her, I saw images of pregnant women and infants in various outfits. The magazine was for maternity and baby clothes. Then idea struck me, and I looked at Jeri.With a soft smile, I pulled her to me and. I put on a pair of short jean shorts and a cute floral blouse that was semi-revealing. As I walked to the door, I smiled, knowing I was going to look great and make him want me, and I was not going to give in to him.Once I saw him standing on my front porch, I opened the door and stepped out, shutting it behind me again. I looked Adam in the eyes, arms crossed across my chest. I asked, "What the hell do you want?" Nice to see you too, Ali. I came to see if my kids were alright."I laughed in his. “Well, that means you’ll be here really quick, huh?” We both laughed. I grabbed my keys, my bottle of scotch, and my pot. I pulled in her driveway and the garage door was open, and she was there waving me to pull my car inside. I shut off my engine and she closed the garage door with her head peeking out from the door to her house. As I got out of my car she said, “Come here, come on inside!” Once inside, I saw her wearing a short jean dress with almost all the buttons on the top undone. She. ”“Azamel has requested you. I just delivered the message.”“Athalia, face it. Kindred may be weaker than your kind, weaker than Uratha too, with only our few elders as a real threat, but we’re very, very good at what we do.”“ ... and that would be?” If skulls could frown, he was sure Athalia’s gaze would be fury incarnate. But, instead, she could only stare at him; it was enough, and he stepped back a couple times as the two glowing dots in the center of her large eye sockets bore a hole through.