“Mucc Ooo, Ookie.”
Fairly certain he’d understood exactly what Odin had just said, Kerestyan smiled at Vouclade. “He’s your brother, too.”
Vouclade melted through the wall between the living room and kitchen, but not before countering. “Genetics are thicker than blood.”
By the time Kerestyan put the book away and made it to the table in the back corner of the kitchen, opposite the hallway leading to the bedrooms, Vouclade was already sitting with his hands neatly folded in front of him.
“So tell me, Kerestyan, what’s so interesting about your human.”
Knowing how Vouclade preferred to get right to the point, Kerestyan sat down and did his best to appease him. “Aside from needing basic medical care, I believe she’s suffered some kind of emotional trauma.”
“And?”
“And I would imagine she’d benefit from some kind of therapy. I thought you would be more than capable of helping her. You are the family doctor.”
A single obsidian brow arched over the top of Vouclade’s wire rimmed glasses. “I’m well aware of my station, thank you. However, not every human needs therapy, Kerestyan. What makes you believe she does, and that she’d even agree to it?”
“For a human, she’s remarkably detached and entirely disengaged from the world around her. Her emotional responses are few and far between, and it takes an extreme amount of provocation to elicit one.”
Vouclade cocked his head, his long, black dreadlocks sliding across his leather clad shoulder with the movement. “Have you tried to provoke her?”
Kerestyan nodded. “I threatened to kill her, to which she seemed completely unmoved. I also physically accosted her and forced her to make a decision between death and imprisonment, to which her emotional response was minimal at best.”
“Maybe she knew you didn’t mean it.”
Kerestyan relaxed in his chair and closed his eyes. He should have known his brother would try to psycho analyze him first. “At the time, I was more than serious and had every intent to do so.”
“But you didn’t.”
He opened his eyes. “No, I didn’t. She’s strangely intriguing for a human. It’s not often you find one who’s been exposed to vampires, with no explanation for our existence, who shows such little concern for our presence. She simply accepted it and adjusted accordingly.”
Vouclade didn’t appear to be impressed. Then again, his cold and logical demeanor didn’t lend well to emotional displays of any kind. “Odin told me he suspects she’s lived on the streets for quite some time. Perhaps her survival instincts have been honed to a fine point. Maybe she realized there was little she could do about the heathens roaming your city and thought it best to stay away instead of inquiring as to why they had fangs.”
Kerestyan caught the whisper of bare feet against hardwood a second before he heard Logan’s voice. “Actually, I just didn’t care.”
He focused past Vouclade to see her, dressed in the clothes he’d given her, standing at the other end of the kitchen. He stood up and rested a hand on the back of the chair he intended to pull out for her as a flood of warm sensations rippled in his blood.
Bathed, she looked like an entirely different woman.
Her glossy black hair hung in her eyes, lending her a sexy, playful quality he hadn’t noticed before. Her skin, although still pale, starkly contrasted the dark t-shirt and satin pants, making her green eyes glow with an alluring intensity. And her lips, once tight and colorless, now relaxed and taunted him with a dusky pink hue even from across the room.
The light scents of mint and juniper invaded his senses as she slowly moved towards him, the gentle sway of her stride allowing him to see the erect state of her nipples as his t-shirt shifted over her small breasts.
Though she wasn’t what the general human population would consider beautiful, there was something in her confident manner, something about the way she sauntered up to him and stood only inches away that made every inch of his body acutely aware of hers.
It was the parting of her lips and the flash of her perfect teeth that pulled his attention back to her eyes. “I take it you approve of the way I clean up, Lord Vampire?”
He nodded, taken even more by her direct nature. “I do.” He reached out and tucked an unruly strand of hair behind her ear, enjoying the soft, warm feel of her skin and the damningly seductive curve of her lips as she smiled up at him. “I’ve never wished to repossess a shirt before.”
The acute sound of choking that emanated from the living room, followed by unnecessarily loud coughing, reminded Kerestyan they weren’t exactly alone. He withdrew his hand and pulled out the chair across from Vouclade. “Please, sit and accept my apologies. I meant no offense by talking about you when you weren’t present.”
He sucked in a sharp breath when, instead of walking around him, Logan slipped her thin body between him and the back of the chair. He stiffened as her taut nipples grazed his chest, rousing the slumbering animal inside him. He pressed his lips together, struggling to keep his fangs from growing as he moved to retake his own seat.
It’d been a long time since merely the touch of a woman had stirred the beast inside him. He shifted as a surge of blood rushed to his groin. It’d been even longer since anything but the promise of feeding had stirred that, too.
He focused back on Logan as she smiled at Vouclade, who watched her through curious eyes. “Is Kerestyan always so damn polite and courteous?”
The bastard nodded. “Yes. If you find it distasteful now, imagine being subjected to it for ten millennia.”
She wrinkled her nose as she braced her hands against the arms of the chair then curled her long legs beneath her. “Now that would be torture.” She eyed Vouclade’s black leather shirt as disbelief touched her eyes. “But ten thousand years? That’s just an exaggeration for effect, right?” She didn’t sound the least bit convinced.
Although Kerestyan wasn’t sure it was possible anymore, by the way Vouclade’s spine straightened, he actually appeared offended. He narrowed his grey eyes on her. “I deal in facts, Logan, not exaggerations nor theories which hold no merit. Why is ten thousand years so difficult for you to accept? What would you say if I told you I was twice Kerestyan’s age?”
She arched a brow. “I’d say you’re full of shit. I spent a lot of time at the public library on subzero and blistering days, reading and watching movies. I’m pretty sure if anything more than spear chucking humans were around 20,000 years ago, science would know. Or at the very least, found signs of more than crude stone tools.” She tipped her head to the side and flashed Vouclade a brilliant, taunting smile. “You’re just messing with me.”
Kerestyan forcefully cleared his throat. Concerned Logan might be overwhelmed by the amount of information Vouclade had the propensity to spout, he pinned his brother with a hard glare. “Why don’t we focus on the matter at hand? I’m not sure now is the best time to explain ancient history to Logan.”
Vouclade, whose cold grey eyes were still locked on Logan, completely ignored the request. “Human scientists and historians know of the world, only what we want them to know,” he said in a dry but serious tone. He raised a boney hand and motioned towards Logan’s head. “The difficulty your mind is experiencing at this moment is exactly why we release historical truths in very small, carefully timed doses. The human brain has great difficulty reconciling advanced civilizations existed so long ago. I believe it has something to do with the human ego, which absolutely despises the thought of not being the superior species. However, it’s that very ego which allows most humans to reason away any interaction with a supernatural creature. They dismiss what is sometimes obvious as a side effect of stress or an over active imagination. The human mind is our greatest ally in terms of keeping our existence hidden. That is, until our true nature is revealed to someone like you.”
Kerestyan watched as Logan’s green eyes shimmered with a dark but strangely beautiful light, which only worsened his surging blood problem.
She narrowed her eyes on Vouclade. “Yeah, well, I stopped ignoring what was right in front of my face a long time ago.” She relaxed and brushed the hair from her eyes with pale, delicate fingers. “I won’t lie. When I realized vampires were real, it scared the crap out of me. But after a few weeks, I was shocked at how much more sense my world made.”
Kerestyan smiled as she absently stroked the hollow of her throat. “The truth has an odd habit of illuminating even the darkest places.”
She shifted her gaze to him. “Speaking of dark,” she said, peering at him through long black lashes. “I looked outside before I came out here. I thought vampires slept all day?”
“The young ones do,” Vouclade offered before he had a chance. “However, as we age, our vulnerability to the sun’s crushing presence wanes. Unfortunately, our resistance doesn’t extend to its rays.” He glanced up at the ceiling for a moment before refocusing on Logan. “In other words, while we’re more than functional during the day, we still can’t venture outdoors.”