Well, it would have been if any of them had survived. As it was, there had been piles of dust and decay to clean up. When a vampire died, they turned into a huge pile of ash. It was horrifying, really. Everyone wanted to believe that if a vampire died, they just vanished, but that wasn’t true. There was something left behind, and it was something people had to clean up.
I had been very aware when Alice and Ida brought me the little jar of ash that it was Elizabeth.
I had been very aware of everything we’d lost that day.
“He sounds like a good brother,” I finally said. I wasn’t going to break her heart. Not today. She wouldn’t believe me, anyway.
“He was the best.”
I couldn’t find it in me to feed from Juliet again. I wanted to. She smelled delicious, and she looked hot as hell sitting on the floor with her dress hiked up to her waist and her legs crossed. She wasn’t wearing panties, and I could see her pussy if I angled myself just right. Oh, I wanted to fuck her. Every bit of me wanted to fuck her.
But I was tired, too.
And I was worn out.
And I hated knowing that Juliet’s brother had been a vampire, but he had lied to her about it.
Why hadn’t Matt told her the truth?
“Tell me more about Matt.”
“What do you want to know?”
“What was it like to have a brother who cared about you? That’s a good place to start.” Norman had never exactly been kind to me. The two of us had never been close.
“You mean Norman isn’t the perfect brother?” She placed her hand on her chest dramatically, as though she couldn’t believe it.
“Not perfect.”
“Matt wasn’t perfect either, but he was good to me.”
“Tell me.”
“Well,” she said. “My parents died. We lived in a human community out in the forests. It was a little village. It was invaded, and pretty much everyone died.”
“Not you, though.”
“Not me, though,” she agreed. “Matt saved me. I don’t know how he heard about Darkvale, but this was the place he brought me. It was still a newer place, and not many people really believed that living with the vampires was possible.”
“Your brother did, though.”
“He was very brave,” she agreed. “And very clever. He got a job working security for Elizabeth and helping her out, and the rest was history.”
“What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You do a great job at the hospital.”
“I have a good team,” she shrugged.
“It sounds like you’re being modest.”
“Perhaps I am,” she smiled.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t like bragging.”