Norman didn’t need to talk like that. He didn’t need to make any snide comments like that, yet he had. Why? Because he could, and because nobody had ever called him out on his crap before.
Fortunately, Juliet had spent plenty of time around vampires. She was completely nonplussed and didn’t seem to mind his harsh language or his negative attitude. I was impressed with her and the way she’d been able to
handle herself this week.
Perhaps most of all, I was shocked that she’d been able to assess him so quickly. She worked with vampires every day. She knew we could be a fussy bunch. To be handle that with grace and patience showed a great deal of character.
“I’m not a vampire, so forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that question is considered wildly rude no matter what your undead status is.”
“Is it?”
“It’s pretty rude,” she nodded.
“So, you’re scared to answer.”
“I’m not scared of you,” she said. “I pity you.”
My brother’s gaze narrowed as he looked at Juliet, and he sat his glass down. He’d been sipping on blood wine, but apparently, it wasn’t enough to take the edge off what she’d just said to him. If anything, he found her words even more wildly frustrating.
“Pity?”
“A bit,” she nodded. “You’re so pathetic that you traveled here to see if your little brother was willing to share his toys. He said no, but now you won’t go away.”
Fuck.
If I didn’t love seeing my brother squirm so much, I’d tell her to stop. She was egging him on and being a total bitch, but I kind of liked it. Norman had always given me shit. He’d always been the person who gave me a hard time in life. Now that I had someone to back me up, I wondered why I’d always cowered to him.
Well, I wasn’t cowering this time. Elizabeth certainly never had, either. She and Norman couldn’t stand one another, so we’d rarely been in a room all together. It was interesting to me that Juliet hated him every bit as much as my wife had.
Norman dove at Juliet and his hand was around her throat before I could stop him. He lifted her up by the neck. She gasped for breath, reaching for his hand.
“Never say that,” he hissed at her. “Never!”
9
Juliet
I COULDN’T BREATHE.
I didn’t realize just how much I took breathing for granted until I was unable to. It’s funny how humans are always like that, isn’t it? It’s like when you get a papercut on your thumb and suddenly, it feels like you have to use your thumb for everything. Getting a glass of water? You have to use your thumb. Driving? Thumbs. Oh, you need to do your laundry? Yep, you’re going to need your thumb for that.
Colin rose and threw Norman off of me. The two of them started screaming at each other, but I just reached for my neck, gasping for breath. Okay, I definitely shouldn’t have taunted the vampire. That was a bad, bad choice. Someone like Norman should never be taunted by someone like me. I was wildly human, I knew. I was weak. I didn’t know how to fight.
“Get out!” Colin screamed. “Leave this place! You are no longer welcome.” Colin had tried to be patient with his brother. I knew that. He’d let Norman stay past his welcome, which, to be fair, wasn’t very long at all.
“Fine,” Norman snapped. “This visit has been terrible, anyway.” Norman sounded a little bit like a toddler who wasn’t allowed to have extra dessert. I don’t even like stupid chocolate cake, anyway!
“I never want to see you again,” Colin told his brother decisively.
“The feeling is mutual,” he said. Norman sneered at me and pointed at me. “This is all your fault,” he said. I didn’t want to upset him anymore, so I didn’t say anything else. Instead, I just sat there, trying not to look weak and broken.
“The sun is rising,” Colin said. “I’m not a monster. You can stay until nightfall, but then you need to leave. Stay in your quarters until then.”
“Of course.”
Norman left without another word, and I just sat there on the couch with Colin. My heart was racing, and my body hurt. I felt weak and stupid and silly. I shouldn’t have let him get so close to me. I hadn’t been careful enough, and Norman had gotten the jump on me.
“I’m sorry he hurt you,” he said.