I also wondered if my brother was going to leave earlier than planned since his goal of getting me to agree to a merger had failed. I wasn’t going to sign away part of my city to him. I didn’t want to rule over Darkvale jointly. It was hard enough to rule on my own without having to agree with another person on every little choice.
When we arrived at the dining room, we sat in the same seats we’d been in the day before. Alice joined us, as well as a few of the other vampires who resided in the house.
“This is a bit pompous, don’t you think?” Norman asked, waving at the table.
“What is?”
“Feeding vampires human food.”
“There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the finer things in life,” I told him.
“The finer things? No, the finer things would be if you had a human spread out on the table for us all to feed from.”
“And that’s why I’m not sharing my city with you,” I snapped, tired of his whining.
Norman was silent for the rest of the meal. We all ate turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. Juliet seemed to like the meal a lot. I noticed that she took second helpings of just about everything, which was good. I had a feeling that she was usually pretty busy with work and didn’t always have a chance to eat. That was unfortunate. She was a sweet person and she deserved to be taken care of.
She deserved to have someone watching over her.
I could be that person.
The thought left just as quickly as it had come. Juliet didn’t really need a watcher, now did she? The idea of me being important and valuable enough to watch over her seemed a bit simplistic. That was where we were, though.
After dinner was finished, Ida and Alice cleared the table. A couple of the vamps had events to go to, so they took off. That left me with Norman and Juliet: a combination I wasn’t exactly thrilled about.
“Where did your humans run off to?” I asked him. “If they’re hungry, I’m sure there are plenty of leftovers.” I’d invited them to dinner earlier, so I wasn’t really sure why they hadn’t joined us.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “They’re probably just tired.”
Tired.
Sure.
I’d be tired, too, if some asshole vampire was sucking my blood without a care in the world. I’d be tired and I’d be exhausted, and I’d probably go hide away, as well.
“I understand,” I said. “Shall we go to the sitting room?”
I didn’t want to go to the sitting room.
I wanted to take Juliet back to the bedroom and feed from her. I wanted to fuck her until she was sore and tired and sated. Then I wanted to fall asleep with her in my arms and not a care in the damn world. Those were the things that I wanted.
“Of course,” said my brother.
Of course.
So, the three of us went to the sitting room and I started a fire. Juliet and I sat on one couch while Norman sat across from us.
“So, Juliet,” Norman said once I had settled in. “How long have you been fucking my brother?”
I wanted to punch him.
I wanted to make him hurt.
I wanted to brutalize him.
How dare he?
How dare he go after the woman I was crazy about?