"Yes, Bea, the one," I say irritatedly, emptying the bottle.
I know that it's not my sister's fault that my mate happens to be a human, but I simply can't control my irritation. Beatrice ignores my reaction because she's in shock, too. Usually, she would scold me for drinking this much and this fast, but now she doesn't even pay attention to that.
Katie, a girl who should've come for a job interview to be our maid, is the woman I'm going to claim. The woman I've waited for during too many years to count. The woman I almost lost hope of finding. The woman I'm going to marry, the one I'll spend the rest of my eternal life with. She simply doesn't know it yet. And I probably made her hate me right now.
"But why did you let her go?" she asks carefully, and I give her anAre you serious?look.
"What was I supposed to do?" I throw the bottle into the trash bin and the glass into the sink. "Tell her that I'm a vampire and then tie her to the chair, waiting until she falls in love with me?"
I walk from the kitchen into the living room and begin to make a fire. Beatrice silently follows me and takes a seat on the couch.
When I'm nervous, I always have to do something, and I can't stop until my anxiety disappears. I may run for hours before I come to my senses again.
But this time, everything is different. This is not a nerve; it's a more dangerous story. Because if my mate rejects me, I'll stay alone forever. And by saying'forever,'I seriously mean it since vampires are immortal.
Beatrice silently watches me make the fire. She knows that I'm gonna talk to her soon when the time is right; she only needs to wait until I'm ready.
I put too much firewood on because I know that it's going to be a sleepless night. Vampires don't sleep, but we usually spend each night working. I work on my business projects, and Beatrice is reading or writing a romance novel, dreaming of becoming an author one day.
Eventually, after everything is done, I take a seat in the chair and look at my sister again. She expresses fear, and it's obvious. To fall in love after all these years of loneliness is hard, but to fall in love with a human is torture. And we both know that.
"I smelled her even before she came in." I am the first to ruin the silence. "At first I thought that maybe I was hallucinating: After being alone for so many years, I’d lost hope that I'll meet her."
Beatrice looks at me with pity, and I hate her for this. I'd like her to express joy and happiness for her brother, or at least to pretend that she is, but she's perfectly aware of the chances of a human falling in love with a vampire: they are closer to zero.
"But when I opened the door and sawher," I continue, even though it's hard for me to speak, "that's when I knew for sure."
A long pause comes next. Beatrice stares at me, waiting for me to continue; I gaze into the abyss, completely lost in my thoughts. And we sit like that for a while, listening to the fire bursting. "What did you tell her?" My sister is finally breaking the silence, I guess realizing that if she doesn't do this, we'll probably stay like this forever.
"I acted like a complete asshole," I confess, shaking my head out of that thought, reminding myself of that episode. "I was afraid to touch her, and that's why I told her she was late and went straight to the living room without waiting for her. I thought that it would give me time to come to my senses."
I was wrong. When she took her coat and came into the room a minute after, even though she was wearing jeans and a sweater, she was the most beautiful creature I've ever seen in my life. I wanted to claim her right then and there; I couldn't think straight.
"I didn't want to touch her, but then she cut her hand and..." I exhale loudly, unable to continue, the words stuck in my throat.
I close my eyes and press my palms to my face, massaging it. It always helps me to calm down a little. I know for sure that it's not gonna help now.
"Is it true?" Bea asks after a long pause.
"It is," I whisper and nod in response.
She's talking about a thunderbolt that you feel between your mate when you touch her for the first time. It's proof that your gut isn't lying to you. Sometimes vampires feel fake love for people who are not their mates, simply because they're too lonely, walking all over the world for centuries alone. I've never felt that—maybe because I’m not lonely. I have my sister, and we’re friends, but I’ve heard about it from others. That's why you need this thunderbolt: as proof that you were right.
"Wow" is the only thing that comes out of Beatrice's mouth.
We sit like that silently, unable to talk any longer. I'm trapped in my own thoughts while Bea is trying to figure out how to help me, I'm sure. Unfortunately, I know that she can't. Nobody can do it but me.
At first, I wanted Katie to start working at our house for a couple of days while I tried to figure out how to make her fall in love with me. Or at least like me. And then, when she feels something for me, I'll let her know who I really am.
But everything happened exactly the opposite way. I was rude to her and threw her out because I got scared of the thunderbolt. Because that's when I realized that I won't be able to be in the house while she's working. I would rather scare her with my possessiveness or claim her right away and never let her go, even if she begged me.
Because I was waiting for her for so long that I'm going crazy thinking about her.
Tomorrow's another day,I tell myself, trying to calm down. I'll call Katie to apologize and offer her another job. I don't know which one yet, but my future wife won't be a maid. I'll figure something out. That's one of the reasons I like to be rich: you can always find ways to deal with anything. Well, except feelings.
Fuck, I'm screwed.
Chapter Four