7
Piper
The room couldn't be more quiet than after mister purple people eater made his groundbreaking announcement. He basically said we are powerless before them. All because of this guy Caleb who could have been my creepy uncle.
Then there was the undead child bride latched onto my hand. What the hell was up with that? Like, weren't there rules against making children into vampires? If not, there should be. It was just beyond fucking freaky.
"My apologies," the purple people eater stood and gave a theatrical bow. "We have not been properly introduced. I am Tuma. And you have already been introduced to Caleb and the little darling before you is..."
"Odette," the undead child bride announced quite happily. "And you're Piper."
I forced a smile. "Yes, I'm Piper."
"Come on, you can sit by me." She tugged me by the hand, stronger than I'd have expected from a child of her age but not of a vampire. I had no choice but to follow, glancing over my shoulder at the guys for some kind of tip or help of some kind.
Odette led me to the other side of the table and the other two made room for me to sit between Odette and purple people eater, excuse me Tuma. Though, I couldn't complain. I’d rather have the monster who looks like what he is than the one who conceals himself behind normality.
Purple people eater shifted his body toward me, throwing an arm around the back of the couch. "Now that we are all cozy just like family. Why don't we discuss why we are here?"
"This is my dolly..." Odette picked up her doll completely ignoring Tuma's words. "Her name's Fiona." She beamed up at me waiting for me to answer.
I forced a smile. "She's very nice."
Odette flashed her fangs at me. "My mommy gave her to me. As a gift. I love my mommy." She said it in such a creepy way while she stroked her doll's blonde hair. It was almost a replica of the girl herself.
I flicked my eyes toward the guys who were a mixture of apprehension and fear. Only Antoine seemed perfectly at ease. Which was funny since I was confused as all get out. What the hell was going on here?
Turning my attention back to Odette, I asked, "And where is your mommy?"
Odette smiled calmly at her doll before peering up at me. "I ate her."
Well...uh...okay.
I thought perhaps I'd have an ally in the undead child bride, but it seems like she might just be the psycho of the bunch. The only one who seemed remotely like they might see some reason was the purple people eater.
Shifting, I asked Tuma, "You were saying? About why we were here?"
"It seems that we have a little bit of a problem here." Tuma tapped his cane on the heel of his shoe. "While I have no issue with you, Miss Piper. You have taken care of some of our more sensitive problems before we even knew they were problems."
"Okay..." I drew in a breath, leveling my eyes on the guys before turning back to Tuma. "So, what's the problem?"
"Are you having sex with all these men?"
I stiffened at the sound of Caleb's voice. A neutral tone with no emotional inflection whatsoever. Shifting in place, I confronted the vampire. "Excuse me?"
Caleb turned his brown eyes onto me, his facial expression not changing in any way. "If I am correct in my information and I always am, you are having sexual intercourse with all of the Durand vampires."
A throat cleared, I thought it was Drake, but it was Marcus who answered, "Not all of us."
I shot a look at Marcus, who didn't so much as acknowledge me. I was two seconds away from kicking him in the nuts again. At this rate, he'd be lucky to use his parts let alone get them anywhere near me.
"Very well," Caleb conceded. "Five of the six vampires of the House of Durand have a sexual relationship with you."
I frowned, not understanding where this line of questioning was going. "And your point is?"
"Have you been coerced or are you just a whore?" Caleb's eyes zeroed in on me as if he wanted to destroy my very soul. It was the first emotion I had gotten from him - if you could call it emotion.
There was a movement on the other side of the room. Drake and Rayne both tried to move forward but were stopped by the others. Marcus and Allister held onto the shoulders of Drake while Antoine held onto Rayne with a simple hand on his arm. The warning in Antoine's eyes told them to keep their cool. I was with him. They were playing with us. Trying to get a reaction out of us.