“Yes.”
“And what,” Norman sipped his drink. “Do you advise my brother about?”
So, this was the brother. This was the guy who needed all of that blood I’d ordered. This guy was the reason I was here with Colin. If Colin hadn’t ordered extra blood and I hadn’t deleted it from the order sheet, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t have just fed Colin from my thigh in the shower.
I had a sneaking suspicion that if I wasn’t careful, Colin was going to answer questions for me tonight. While there was nothing wrong with his need for control, it was misplaced. Norman was the kind of guy who wasn’t only an asshole, but who was also pretentious. If I wasn’t careful, he’d try to walk all over me. Worse: he’d try to use me to hurt Colin. I knew immediately that I needed to stand up for my relationship with Colin. I needed to make sure that I was viewed as being a woman who thought for herself. Norman didn’t need to think I was a bimbo.
“Whatever he needs at the moment,” I said.
“And what does my brother need?”
“He’s a very important vampire in our city,” I said. I reached for the wine goblet in front of me. I hoped against all hope that it was actually wine and not blood because I was about to sip it. “Surely, even you know that.” I sipped the wine while making eye contact with Norman.
Yep, it was definitely wine.
Lucky.
“Very important indeed,” Norman said. “Although, I must confess I find it strange I’ve never heard of you,” he said, cocking his head. So, he was going to go that route, was he? He wanted to find out why I was important to his brother. Obviously, it was apparent that Colin viewed me as essential. Otherwise, Norman would have no interest in me.
“I’ve never heard of you either,” I said coldly. “So, I suppose that makes us even.” I stared at Norman as I sipped my wine again. I needed to be careful or I’d down the entire goblet. It was probably a bad idea to get drunk on my first night as a vampire companion. Whether there was sex or not, drinking too much meant my behavior was going to be sloppy and unpolished.
Colin chuckled to himself as Norman glared at me. Oh, he hadn’t liked that I was snarky. Colin laughed a little bit louder, and Norman and I both turned toward him.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He didn’t look very sorry, though. I had the feeling that Colin found the situation wildly amusing. He seemed to think it was funny that I had been short-tempered with Norman.
“What about you, little brother?” Norman said. “What do you think you need advising on? Perhaps I can help.” Norman set his own wine glass down and propped his elbows on the table. He laced his fingers together and looked at Colin, as though there was nothing else in the world he cared about. He definitely gave off the impression that he was here to help his brother, but it was obvious that this was all an act.
“Perhaps you can start by telling me why you wanted to visit,” Colin countered. He leaned back in his seat and shifted, making himself comfortable. Colin watched his brother and raised an eyebrow. Interesting. The two of them really didn’t like each other, and apparently, the purpose for Norman’s visit hadn’t exactly been communicated ahead of time. Wasn’t that odd? I thought you were always supposed to tell someone why you were visiting.
Norman shot a look at me, as though I couldn’t be trusted. He didn’t say a word to Colin. Instead, he just kept staring at me, as though doing so was going to burn a hole in my head.
Interesting.
“Anything you have to say can be said in front of Juliet,” Colin told his brother. “I trust her with my life.”
“You aren’t alive.”
“I still trust her.”
“Very well,” Norman said. He sipped his drink again, and then he put his goblet in front of him on the table. His lips were red, which made me think that his goblet definitely had blood in it. There was no food on the table yet: only wine. I wondered if we were actually going to eat food or if we were just going to talk about eating.
“I’m listening.”
“I want to talk about a merger.”
“A merger?”
“Of our towns.”
I tried not to look surprised or nervous about this. That could be a problem. The reason Darkvale ran so well was that it was on its own. We had trade agreements with neighboring cities, but we didn’t have a joint ruler. When vampires had created their own cities, the idea was that each community would run best by having its own ruler. Each vampire could be responsible for his or her own city. No vampire would be left behind, but neither would any city.
“No,” Colin said.
Well, that was a pretty clear-cut answer. Colin didn’t seem bothered at all by the request. If he was surprised, he didn’t let it show. I admired the way he was able to just shut down the request. There was no arguing. There was no debating. It was just “no.”
Norman wasn’t about to let go of the plan that easily, though.
“Hear me out.”