Chapter 34- Lander

As James paused in the open doorway of the library, Lander looked up from an array of color photographs that his wife Ella had spread out before him on the squat table in the center of the room. She had a gift that extended beyond her artist’s eye for beauty: Ella’s camera lens was often drawn to vampire locations, both the brotherhood and hunter. It was in part how she and Lander met the past summer; now it wasn’t unusual for the mate to return from occasional daytime outings to the city and suburbs with pictures that proved useful to the Brotherhood’s recon efforts topside. But this particular collection was something different.

Even from a distance, James’s eye was drawn to vibrant, sunlit images of the mansion's winter grounds and gardens. The ice glistened on branches like diamonds, and in one of the shots, a red cardinal was captured in close-up, a blast of shocking color amid a field of fresh white snow. A few of the pictures were taken in the city, some showing children in on